Chapter 31.--The Argument of the Apollinarians to Prove that Christ Was Without the Human Soul of This Same Sort.
Although, then, this question remains unsolved by these passages of Scripture, which are certainly indecisive so far as pertains to the point before us, yet I am quite sure of this, that those persons who think that the soul of the first woman did not come from her husband's soul, on the ground of its being only said, "Flesh of my flesh," and not, "Soul of my soul," do, in fact, argue in precisely the same manner as the Apollinarians argue, and all such gainsayers, in opposition to the Lord's human soul, which they deny for no other reason than because they read in the Scripture, "The Word was made flesh." [2394] For if, say they, there was a soul in Him also, it ought to have been said, "The Word was made man." But the reason why the great truth is stated in the terms in question really is, that under the designation flesh, Holy Scripture is accustomed to describe the entire human being, as in the passage, "And all flesh shall see the salvation of God." [2395] For flesh alone without the soul cannot see anything. Besides, many other passages of the Holy Scriptures go to make it manifest, without any ambiguity, that in the man Christ there is not only flesh, but a human--that is, a reasonable--soul also. Whence they, who maintain the propagation of souls might also understand that a part is put for the whole in the passage, "Bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh," in such wise that the soul, too, be understood as implied in the words, in the same manner as we believe that the Word became flesh, not without the soul. All that is wanted is, that they should support their opinion of the propagation of souls on passages which are unambiguous; just as other passages of Scripture show us that Christ possesses a human soul. On precisely the same principle we advise the other side also, who do away with the opinion of the propagation of souls, that they should produce certain proofs for their assertion that souls are created by God in every fresh case by insufflation, and that they should then maintain the position that the saying, "This is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh," was not spoken figuratively as a part for the whole, including the soul in its signification, but in a bare literal sense of the flesh alone.
[2394] John i. 14.
[2395] Luke iii. 6, and Isa. xl. 5.
Chapter 32 [XIX.]--The Self-Contradiction of Victor as to the Origin of the Soul.
Under these circumstances, I find that this treatise of mine must now be closed. It contains, in fact, all that seemed to me chiefly necessary to the subject under discussion. They who peruse its contents will know how to be on their guard against agreeing with the person whose two books you sent me, so as not to believe with him, that souls are produced by the breath of God in such wise as not to be made out of nothing. The man, indeed, who supposes this, however much he may in words deny the conclusion, does in reality affirm that souls have the substance of God, and are His offspring, not by endowment, but by nature. For from whomsoever a man derives the origin of his nature, from him, in all sober earnestness, it must needs be admitted, that he also derives the kind of his nature. But this author is, after all, self-contradictory: at one time he says that "souls are the offspring of God,--not, indeed, by nature, but by endowment;" and at another time he says, that "they are not made out of nothing, but derive their origin from God." Thus he does not hesitate to refer them to the nature of God, a position which he had previously denied.
Chapter 33.--Augustin Has No Objection to the Opinion About the Propagation of Souls Being Refuted, and that About Their Insufflation Being Maintained.
As for the opinion, that new souls are created by inbreathing without being propagated, we certainly do not in the least object to its maintenance,--only let it be by persons who have succeeded in discovering some new evidence, either in the canonical Scriptures, in the shape of unambiguous testimony towards the solution of a most knotty question, or else in their own reasonings, such as shall not be opposed to catholic truth, but not by such persons as this man has shown himself to be. Unable to find anything worth saying, and at the same time unwilling to suspend his disputatious propensity, without measuring his strength at all, in order to avoid saying nothing, he boldly affirmed that "the soul deserved to be polluted by the flesh," and that "the soul deserved to become sinful;" though previous to its incarnation he was unable to discover any merit in it, whether good or evil. Moreover, that "in infants departing from the body without baptism original sin may be remitted, and that the sacrifice of Christ's body must be offered for them," who have not been incorporated into Christ through His sacraments in His Church, and that "they, quitting this present life without the laver of regeneration, not only can go to rest, but can even attain to the kingdom of heaven." He has propounded a good many other absurdities, which it would be evidently tedious to collect together, and to consider in this treatise. If the doctrine of the propagation of souls is false, may its refutation not be the work of such disputants; and may the defence of the rival principle of the insufflation of new souls in every creative act, proceed from better hands.