Chapter 119.--The Grace of Regeneration Washes Away All Past Sin and All Original Guilt.
Now in whichever of these four stages (as we may call them) the grace of regeneration finds any particular man, all his past sins are there and then pardoned, and the guilt which he contracted in his birth is removed in his new birth; and so true is it that "the wind bloweth where it listeth," [1322] that some have never known the second stage, that of slavery under the law, but have received the divine assistance as soon as they received the commandment.
[1322] John iii. 8
Chapter 120.--Death Cannot Injure Those Who Have Received the Grace of Regeneration.
But before a man can receive the commandment, it is necessary that he should live according to the flesh. But if once he has received the grace of regeneration, death shall not injure him, even if he should forthwith depart from this life; "for to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and the living;" [1323] nor shall death retain dominion over him for whom Christ freely died.
[1323] Rom. xiv. 9
Chapter 121.--Love is the End of All the Commandments, and God Himself is Love.
All the commandments of God, then, are embraced in love, of which the apostle says: "Now the end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned." [1324] Thus the end of every commandment is charity, that is, every commandment has love for its aim. But whatever is done either through fear of punishment or from some other carnal motive, and has not for its principle that love which the Spirit of God sheds abroad in the heart, is not done as it ought to be done, however it may appear to men. For this love embraces both the love of God and the love of our neighbor, and "on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets," [1325] we may add the Gospel and the apostles. For it is from these that we hear this voice: The end of the commandment is charity, and God is love. [1326] Wherefore, all God's commandments, one of which is, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," [1327] and all those precepts which are not commandments but special counsels, one of which is, "It is good for a man not to touch a woman," [1328] are rightly carried out only when the motive principle of action is the love of God, and the love of our neighbor in God. And this applies both to the present and the future life. We love God now by faith, then we shall love Him through sight. Now we love even our neighbor by faith; for we who are ourselves mortal know not the hearts of mortal men. But in the future life, the Lord "both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God;" [1329] for every man shall love and praise in his neighbor the virtue which, that it may not be hid, the Lord Himself shall bring to light. Moreover, lust diminishes as love grows, till the latter grows to such a height that it can grow no higher here. For "greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." [1330] Who then can tell how great love shall be in the future world, when there shall be no lust for it to restrain and conquer? for that will be the perfection of health when there shall be no struggle with death.
[1324] 1 Tim. i. 5
[1325] Matt. xxii. 40; comp. Rom. v. 5
[1326] 1 Tim. i. 5; 1 John iv. 16
[1327] Comp. Matt. v. 27 and Rom. xiii. 9
[1328] 1 Cor. vii. 1
[1329] 1 Cor. iv. 5
[1330] John xv. 13
Chapter 122.--Conclusion.
But now there must be an end at last to this volume. And it is for yourself to judge whether you should call it a hand-book, or should use it as such. I, however, thinking that your zeal in Christ ought not to be despised, and believing and hoping all good of you in dependence on our Redeemer's help, and loving you very much as one of the members of His body, have, to the best of my ability, written this book for you on Faith, Hope, and Love. May its value be equal to its length.
On the Catechising of the Uninstructed [1331]
In One Book.
Translated by
Rev. S. D. F. Salmond, D.D.,
Professor of Systematic Theology, Free Church College, Aberdeen.
Introductory Notice.
In the fourteenth chapter of the second book of his Retractations, Augustin makes the following statement: "There is also a book of ours on the subject of the Catechising of the Uninstructed, [or, for Instructing the Unlearned, De Catechizandis Rudibus], that being, indeed, the express title by which it is designated. In this book, where I have said, Neither did the angel, who, in company with other spirits who were his satellites, forsook in pride the obedience of God, and became the devil, do any hurt to God, but to himself; for God knoweth how to dispose of souls that leave Him:' it would be more appropriate to say, spirits that leave Him,' inasmuch as the question dealt with angels. This book commences in these terms: You have requested me, brother Deogratias.' "
The composition so described in the passage cited is reviewed by Augustin in connection with other works which he had in hand about the year 400 A.D., and may therefore be taken to belong to that date. It has been conjectured that the person to whom it is addressed may perhaps be the same with the presbyter Deogratias, to whom, as we read in the epistle which now ranks as the hundred and second, Augustin wrote about the year 406, in reply to some questions of the pagans which were forwarded to him from Carthage.
The Benedictine editors introduce the treatise in the following terms: "At the request of a deacon of Carthage, Augustin undertakes the task of teaching the art of catechising; and in the first place, he gives certain injunctions, to the effect that this kind of duty may be discharged not only in a settled method and an apt order, but also without tediousness, and in a spirit of cheerfulness. Thereafter reducing his injunctions to practical use, he gives an example of what he means by delivering two set discourses, presenting parallels to each other, the one being somewhat lengthened and the other very brief, but both suitable for the instruction of any individual whose desire is to be a Christian."
[This treatise shows what was thought in the age of Saint Augustin to be the most needful instruction in religion. The Latin text: De Cactechizandis Rudibus, is in the sixth vol. of the Benedictine edition, and in the handy ed. of C. Marriott: S. Augustini Opuscula quædam, Oxford and London (Parker & Co.) 4th ed. 1885. An earlier and closer English Version by Rev. C. L. Cornish, M. A., of Exeter College, Oxford, appeared in the Oxford "Library of the Fathers" (1847, pp. 187 sqq.,) under the title On Instructing the Unlearned. H. De Romestin reproduces the Oxford translation in the English version of Marriott's ed. of five treatises of St. Augustin, Oxford and London, 1885, pp. 1-71.--P.S.]
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