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The City of God

Chapter 27.--Against the Belief of Those Who Think that the Sins Which Have Been Accompanied with Almsgiving Will Do Them No Harm.

It remains to reply to those who maintain that those only shall burn in eternal fire who neglect alms-deeds proportioned to their sins, resting this opinion on the words of the Apostle James, "He shall have judgment without mercy that hath showed no mercy." ¹ Therefore, they say, he that hath showed mercy, though he has not reformed his dissolute conduct, but has lived wickedly and iniquitously even while abounding in alms, shall have a merciful judgment, so that he shall either be not condemned at all, or shall be delivered from final judgment after a time. And for the same reason they suppose that Christ will discriminate between those on the right hand and those on the left, and will send the one party into His kingdom, the other into eternal punishment, on the sole ground of their attention to or neglect of works of charity. Moreover, they endeavor to use the prayer which the Lord Himself taught as a proof and bulwark of their opinion, that daily sins which are never abandoned can be expiated through alms-deeds, no matter how offensive or of what sort they be. For, say they, as there is no day on which Christians ought not to use this prayer, so there is no sin of any kind which, though committed every day, is not remitted when we say, "Forgive us our debts," if we take care to fulfill what follows, "as we forgive our debtors." ² For, they go on to say, the Lord does not say, "If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will forgive you your little daily sins," but "will forgive you your sins." Therefore, be they of any kind or magnitude whatever, be they perpetrated daily and never abandoned or subdued in this life, they can be pardoned, they presume, through alms-deeds.

But they are right to inculcate the giving of aims proportioned to past sins; for if they said that any kind of alms could obtain the divine pardon of great sins committed daily and with habitual enormity, if they said that such sins could thus be daily remitted, they would see that their doctrine was absurd and ridiculous. For they would thus be driven to acknowledge that it were possible for a very wealthy man to buy absolution from murders, adulteries, and all manner of wickedness, by paying a daily alms of ten paltry coins. And if it be most absurd and insane to make such an acknowledgment, and if we still ask what are those fitting alms of which even the forerunner of Christ said, "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance," ³ undoubtedly it will be found that they are not such as are done by men who undermine their life by daily enormities even to the very end. For they suppose that by giving to the poor a small fraction of the wealth they acquire by extortion and spoliation they can propitiate Christ, so that they may with impunity commit the most damnable sins, in the persuasion that they have bought from Him a license to transgress, or rather do buy a daily indulgence. And if they for one crime have distributed all their goods to Christ's needy members, that could profit them nothing unless they desisted from all similar actions, and attained charity which worketh no evil He therefore who does alms-deeds proportioned to his sins must first begin with himself. For it is not reasonable that a man who exercises charity towards his neighbor should not do so towards himself, since he hears the Lord saying, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," ⁴ and again, "Have compassion on thy soul, and please God." ⁵ He then who has not compassion on his own soul that he may please God, how can he be said to do alms-deeds proportioned to his sins? To the same purpose is that written, "He who is bad to himself, to whom can he be good?" ⁶ We ought therefore to do alms that we may be heard when we pray that our past sins may be forgiven, not that while we continue in them we may think to provide ourselves with a license for wickedness by alms-deeds.

The reason, therefore, of our predicting that He will impute to those on His right hand the alms-deeds they have done, and charge those on His left with omitting the same, is that He may thus show the efficacy of charity for the deletion of past sins, not for impunity in their perpetual commission. And such persons, indeed, as decline to abandon their evil habits of life for a better course cannot be said to do charitable deeds. For this is the purport of the saying, "Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me." ⁷ He shows them that they do not perform charitable actions even when they think they are doing so. For if they gave bread to a hungering Christian because he is a Christian, assuredly they would not deny to themselves the bread of righteousness, that is, Christ Himself; for God considers not the person to whom the gift is made, but the spirit in which it is made. He therefore who loves Christ in a Christian extends alms to him in the same spirit in which he draws near to Christ, not in that spirit which would abandon Christ if it could do so with impunity. For in proportion as a man loves what Christ disapproves does he himself abandon Christ. For what does it profit a man that he is baptized, if he is not justified? Did not He who said, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of God," ⁸ say also, "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven?" ⁹ Why do many through fear of the first saying run to baptism, while few through fear of the second seek to be justified? As therefore it is not to his brother a man says, "Thou fool," if when he says it he is indignant not at the brotherhood, but at the sin of the offender,--for otherwise he were guilty of hell fire,--so he who extends charity to a Christian does not extend it to a Christian if he does not love Christ in him. Now he does not love Christ who refuses to be justified in Him. Or, again, if a man has been guilty of this sin of calling his brother Fool, unjustly reviling him without any desire to remove his sin, his alms-deeds go a small way towards expiating this fault, unless he adds to this the remedy of reconciliation which the same passage enjoins. For it is there said, "Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." ¹⁰ Just so it is a small matter to do alms-deeds, no matter how great they be, for any sin, so long as the offender continues in the practice of sin.

Then as to the daily prayer which the Lord Himself taught, and which is therefore called the Lord's prayer, it obliterates indeed the sins of the day, when day by day we say, "Forgive us our debts," and when we not only say but act out that which follows, "as we forgive our debtors;" ¹¹ but we utter this petition because sins have been committed, and not that they may be. For by it our Saviour designed to teach us that, however righteously we live in this life of infirmity and darkness, we still commit sins for the remission of which we ought to pray, while we must pardon those who sin against us that we ourselves also may be pardoned. The Lord then did not utter the words, "If ye forgive men their trespasses, your Father will also forgive you your trespasses," ¹² in order that we might contract from this petition such confidence as should enable us to sin securely from day to day, either putting ourselves above the fear of human laws, or craftily deceiving men concerning our conduct, but in order that we might thus learn not to suppose that we are without sins, even though we should be free from crimes; as also God admonished the priests of the old law to this same effect regarding their sacrifices, which He commanded them to offer first for their own sins, and then for the sins of the people. For even the very words of so great a Master and Lord are to be intently considered. For He does not say, If ye forgive men their sins, your Father will also forgive you your sins, no matter of what sort they be, but He says, your sins; for it was a daily prayer He was teaching, and it was certainly to disciples already justified He was speaking. What, then, does He mean by "your sins," but those sins from which not even you who are justified and sanctified can be free? While, then, those who seek occasion from this petition to indulge in habitual sin maintain that the Lord meant to include great sins, because He did not say, He will forgive you your small sins, but "your sins," we, on the other hand, taking into account the character of the persons He was addressing, cannot see our way to interpret the expression "your sins" of anything but small sins, because such persons are no longer guilty of great sins. Nevertheless not even great sins themselves--sins from which we must flee with a total reformation of life--are forgiven to those who pray, unless they observe the appended precept, "as ye also forgive your debtors." For if the very small sins which attach even to the life of the righteous be not remitted without that condition, how much further from obtaining indulgence shall those be who are involved in many great crimes, if, while they cease from perpetrating such enormities, they still inexorably refuse to remit any debt incurred to themselves, since the Lord says, "But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses?" ¹³ For this is the purport of the saying of the Apostle James also, "He shall have judgment without mercy that hath showed no mercy." ¹⁴ For we should remember that servant whose debt of ten thousand talents his lord cancelled, but afterwards ordered him to pay up, because the servant himself had no pity for his fellow-servant, who owed him an hundred pence. ¹⁵ The words which the Apostle James subjoins,"And mercy rejoiceth against judgment," ¹⁶ find their application among those who are the children of the promise and vessels of mercy. For even those righteous men, who have lived with such holiness that they receive into the eternal habitations others also who have won their friendship with the mammon of unrighteousness, ¹⁷ became such only through the merciful deliverance of Him who justifies the ungodly, imputing to him a reward according to grace, not according to debt. For among this number is the apostle, who says, "I obtained mercy to be faithful." ¹⁸

But it must be admitted, that those who are thus received into the eternal habitations are not of such a character that their own life would suffice to rescue them without the aid of the saints, and consequently in their case especially does mercy rejoice against judgment. And yet we are not on this account to suppose that every abandoned profligate, who has made no amendment of his life, is to be received into the eternal habitations if only he has assisted the saints with the mammon of unrighteousness,--that is to say, with money or wealth which has been unjustly acquired, or, if rightfully acquired, is yet not the true riches, but only what iniquity counts riches, because it knows not the true riches in which those persons abound, who even receive others also into eternal habitations. There is then a certain kind of life, which is neither, on the one hand, so bad that those who adopt it are not helped towards the kingdom of heaven by any bountiful alms-giving by which they may relieve the wants of the saints, and make friends who could receive them into eternal habitations, nor, on the other hand, so good that it of itself suffices to win for them that great blessedness, if they do not obtain mercy through the merits of those whom they have made their friends. And I frequently wonder that even Virgil should give expression to this sentence of the Lord, in which He says, "Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that they may receive you into everlasting habitations;" ¹⁹ and this very similar saying, "He that receiveth a prophet, in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man, in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous man's reward." ²⁰ For when that poet described the Elysian fields, in which they suppose that the souls of the blessed dwell, he placed there not only those who had been able by their own merit to reach that abode, but added,--

"And they who grateful memory won

By services to others done;" ²¹

that is, they who had served others, and thereby merited to be remembered by them. Just as if they used the expression so common in Christian lips, where some humble person commends himself to one of the saints, and says, Remember me, and secures that he do so by deserving well at his hand. But what that kind of life we have been speaking of is, and what those sins are which prevent a man from winning the kingdom of God by himself, but yet permit him to avail himself of the merits of the saints, it is very difficult to ascertain, very perilous to define. For my own part, in spite of all investigation, I have been up to the present hour unable to discover this. And possibly it is hidden from us, lest we should become careless in avoiding such sins, and so cease to make progress. For if it were known what these sins are which, though they continue, and be not abandoned for a higher life, do yet not prevent us from seeking and hoping for the intercession of the saints, human sloth would presumptuously wrap itself in these sins, and would take no steps to be disentangled from such wrappings by the deft energy of any virtue, but would only desire to be rescued by the merits of other people, whose friendship had been won by a bountiful use of the mammon of unrighteousness. But now that we are left in ignorance of the precise nature of that iniquity which is venial, even though it be persevered in, certainly we are both more vigilant in our prayers and efforts for progress, and more careful to secure with the mammon of unrighteousness friends for ourselves among the saints.

But this deliverance, which is effected by one's own prayers, or the intercession of holy men, secures that a man be not cast into eternal fire, but not that, when once he has been cast into it, he should after a time be rescued from it. For even those who fancy that what is said of the good ground bringing forth abundant fruit, some thirty, some sixty, some an hundred fold, is to be referred to the saints, so that in proportion to their merits some of them shall deliver thirty men, some sixty, some an hundred,--even those who maintain this are yet commonly inclined to suppose that this deliverance will take place at, and not after the day of judgment. Under this impression, some one who observed the unseemly folly with which men promise themselves impunity on the ground that all will be included in this method of deliverance, is reported to have very happily remarked, that we should rather endeavor to live so well that we shall be all found among the number of those who are to intercede for the liberation of others, lest these should be so few in number, that, after they have delivered one thirty, another sixty, another a hundred, there should still remain many who could not be delivered from punishment by their intercessions, and among them every one who has vainly and rashly promised himself the fruit of another's labor. But enough has been said in reply to those who acknowledge the authority of the same sacred Scriptures as ourselves, but who, by a mistaken interpretation of them, conceive of the future rather as they themselves wish, than as the Scriptures teach. And having given this reply, I now, according to promise, close this book.

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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XXVII: Contra eorum persuasionem, qui putant sibi non obfutura peccata, in quibus, cum elemosynas facerent, permanserunt.

Restat eis respondere, qui dicunt aeterno igne illos tantummodo arsuros, qui pro peccatis suis facere dignas elemosynas neglegunt. propter illud quod ait apostolus Iacobus: iudicium autem sine misericordia illi, qui non fecit misericordiam. qui ergo fecit, inquiunt, quamuis non correxerit perditos mores, sed nefarie ac nequiter inter ipsas suas elemosynas uixerit, cum misericordia illi futurum est iudicium, ut aut non damnetur omnino aut post aliquod tempus a damnatione nouissima liberetur. nec ob aliud existimant Christum de solo dilectu atque neglectu elemosynarum discretionem inter dextros et sinistros esse facturum, quorum alios in regnum, alios in supplicium mittat aeternum. ut autem cottidiana sibi opinentur, quae facere omnino non cessant, qualiacumque et quantacumque sint, per elemosynas dimitti posse peccata, orationem, quam docuit ipse dominus, et suffragatricem sibi adhibere conantur et testem. sicut enim nullus est, inquiunt, dies, quo a Christianis haec oratio non dicatur, ita nullum est cottidianum qualecumque peccatum, quod per illam non dimittatur, cum dicimus: dimitte nobis debita nostra, si quod sequitur facere curemus: sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. non enim ait dominus, inquiunt: si dimiseritis peccata hominibus, dimittet uobis pater uester cottidiana parua peccata, sed: dimittet, inquit, uobis peccata uestra. qualiacumque ergo uel quantacumque sint, etiamsi cottidie perpetrentur nec ab eis uita discedat in melius commutata, per elemosynam ueniae non negatae remitti sibi posse praesumunt. sed bene, quod isti dignas pro peccatis elemosynas commonent esse faciendas; quoniam si dicerent qualescumque elemosynas pro peccatis et cottidianis et magnis et quantacumque scelerum consuetudine misericordiam posse inpetrare diuinam, ut ea cottidiana remissio sequeretur, uiderent se rem dicere absurdam atque ridiculam. sic enim cogerentur fateri fieri posse, ut opulentissimus homo decem nummulis diurnis in elemosynas inpensis homicidia et adulteria et nefaria quaeque facta redimeret. quod si absurdissimum atque insanissimum est dicere, profecto si quaeratur, quae dignae sint pro peccatis elemosynae, de quibus etiam Christi praecursor ille dicebat: facite ergo fructus dignos paenitentiae, procul dubio non inuenientur eas facere, qui uitam suam usque ad mortem cottidianorum criminum perpetratione confodiunt; primum, quia in auferendis rebus alienis longe plura diripiunt, ex quibus perexigua pauperibus largiendo Christum se ad hoc pascere existimant, ut licentiam malefactorum ab illo se emisse uel cottidie potius emere credentes securi damnabilia tanta committant. qui si pro uno scelere omnia sua distribuerent indigentibus membris Christi, nisi desisterent a talibus factis habendo caritatem, quae non agit perperam, aliquid eis prodesse non potest. qui ergo dignas pro suis peccatis elemosynas facit, prius eas facere incipit a se ipso. indignum est enim, ut in se non faciat, qui facit in proximum, cum audiat dicentem deum: diliges proximum tuum tamquam te ipsum; itemque audiat: miserere animae tuae placens deo. hanc elemosynam, id est, ut deo placeat, non faciens animae suae quomodo dignas pro peccatis suis elemosynas facere dicendus est? ad hoc enim et illud scriptum est: qui sibi malignus est, cui bonus erit? orationes quippe adiuuant elemosynae; et utique intuendum est quod legimus: fili, peccasti, ne adicias iterum et de praeteritis deprecare, ut tibi dimittantur. propter hoc ergo elemosynae faciendae sunt, ut, cum de praeteritis peccatis deprecamur, exaudiamur; non ut in eis perseuerantes licentiam malefaciendi nos per elemosynas conparare credamus. ideo autem dominus et dextris elemosynas ab eis factas et sinistris non factas se inputaturum esse praedixit, ut hinc ostenderet quantum ualeant elemosynae ad priora delenda, non ad perpetua inpune committenda peccata. tales autem elemosynas non dicendi sunt facere, qui uitam nolunt a consuetudine scelerum in melius commutare. quia et in hoc quod ait: quando uni ex minimis meis non fecistis, mihi non fecistis, ostendit eos non facere etiam quando se facere existimant. si enim Christiano esurienti panem tamquam Christiano darent, profecto sibi panem iustitiae, quod ipse Christus est, non negarent; quoniam deus, non cui detur, sed quo animo detur, adtendit. qui ergo Christum diligit in Christiano, hoc animo ei porrigit elemosynam, quo accedit ad Christum, non quo uult recedere inpunitus a Christo. tanto enim magis quisque deserit Christum, quanto magis diligit quod inprobat Christus. nam quid cuiquam prodest, quod baptizatur, si non iustificatur? nonne qui dixit: nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua et spiritu, non intrabit in regnum dei, ipse etiam dixit: nisi abundauerit iustitia uestra super scribarum et Pharisaeorum, non intrabitis in regnum caelorum? cur illud timendo multi currunt baptizari, et hoc non timendo non multi curant iustificari? sicut ergo non fratri suo dicit: fatue, qui cum hoc dicit non ipse fraternitati, sed peccato eius infensus est - alioquin reus erit gehennae ignis - , ita e contrario, qui porrigit elemosynam Christiano, non Christiano porrigit, qui non in eo diligit Christum; non autem diligit Christum, qui iustificari recusat in Christo. et quemadmodum si quis praeoccupatus fuerit hoc delicto, ut fratri suo dicat: fatue, id est, non eius peccatum uolens auferre conuicietur iniuste, parum est illi ad hoc redimendum elemosynas facere, nisi etiam quod ibi sequitur remedium reconciliationis adiungat - ibi enim sequitur: si ergo offeres munus tuum ad altare et ibi recordatus fueris, quia frater tuus habet aliquid aduersum te, relinque ibi munus tuum ad altare et uade prius, reconciliari fratri tuo, et tunc ueniens offeres munus tuum - : ita parum est elemosynas quantaslibet facere pro quocumque scelere et in consuetudine scelerum permanere. oratio uero cottidiana, quam docuit ipse Iesus, unde et dominica nominatur, delet quidem cottidiana peccata, cum cottidie dicitur: dimitte nobis debita nostra, atque id quod sequitur non solum dicitur, sed etiam fit: sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris; sed quia fiunt peccata, ideo dicitur, non ut ideo fiant, quia dicitur. per hanc enim nobis uoluit saluator ostendere, quantumlibet iuste in huius uitae caligine atque infirmitate uiuamus, non nobis deesse peccata, pro quibus dimittendis debeamus orare et eis, qui in nos peccant, ut et nobis ignoscatur, ignoscere. non utique propterea dominus ait: si dimiseritis peccata hominibus, dimittet uobis et pater uester peccata uestra, ut de hac oratione confisi securi cottidiana scelera faceremus, uel potentia qua non timeremus hominum leges uel astutia qua ipsos homines falleremus; sed ut per illam disceremus non putare nos esse sine peccatis, etiamsi a criminibus essemus inmunes; sicut etiam legis ueteris sacerdotes hoc ipsum deus de sacrificiis admonuit, quae iussit eos primum pro suis, deinde pro populi offerre peccatis. nam et ipsa uerba tanti magistri et domini nostri uigilanter intuenda sunt. non enim ait: si dimiseritis peccata hominibus, et pater uester dimittet uobis qualiacumque peccata, sed ait: peccata uestra. cottidianam quippe orationem docebat et iustificatis utique discipulis loquebatur. quid est ergo: peccata uestra nisi peccata sine quibus nec uos eritis, qui iustificati et sanctificati estis? ubi ergo illi, qui per hanc orationem occasionem perpetrandorum cottidie scelerum quaerunt, dicunt dominum significasse etiam magna peccata, quoniam non dixit: dimittet uobis parua, sed peccata uestra: ibi nos considerantes qualibus loquebatur et audientes dictum peccata uestra nihil aliud debemus existimare quam parua, quoniam talium iam non erant magna. uerumtamen nec ipsa magna, a quibus omnino mutatis in melius moribus recedendum est, dimittuntur orantibus, nisi fiat quod ibi dicitur: sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. si enim minima peccata, sine quibus non est etiam uita iustorum, aliter non remittuntur, quanto magis multis et magnis criminibus inuoluti, etiamsi ea perpetrare iam desinant, nullam indulgentiam consequuntur, si ad remittendum aliis, quod in eis quisque peccauerit, inexorabiles fuerint, cum dicat dominus: si autem non dimiseritis hominibus, neque pater uester dimittet uobis. ad hoc enim ualet quod etiam Iacobus apostolus ait, iudicium futurum sine misericordia illi, qui non fecit misericordiam. uenire quippe debet in mentem etiam seruus ille, cui debitori dominus eius relaxauit decem milia talentorum, quae postea iussit ut redderet, quia ipse non misertus est conserui sui, qui ei debebat centum denarios. in his ergo, qui filii sunt promissionis et uasa misericordiae, ualet quod ait idem apostolus consequenter adiungens: superexsultat autem misericordia iudicio, quoniam et illi iusti, qui tanta sanctitate uixerunt, ut alios quoque recipiant in tabernacula aeterna, a quibus amici facti sunt de mammona iniquitatis, ut tales essent, misericordia liberati sunt ab eo, qui iustificat inpium, inputans mercedem secundum gratiam, non secundum debitum. in eorum quippe numero est apostolus, qui dicit: misericordiam consecutus sum, ut fidelis essem. illi autem, qui recipiuntur a talibus in tabernacula aeterna, fatendum est quod non sint his moribus praediti, ut eis liberandis sine suffragio sanctorum sua possit uita sufficere, ac per hoc multo amplius in eis superexsultat misericordia iudicio. nec tamen ideo putandus est quisquam sceleratissimus, nequaquam uita uel bona uel tolerabiliore mutatus, recipi in tabernacula aeterna, quoniam obsecutus est sanctis de mammona iniquitatis, id est de pecunia uel diuitiis, quae male fuerant adquisitae, aut etiamsi bene, non tamen ueris, sed quas iniquitas putat esse diuitias, quoniam nescit quae sint uerae deliciae, quibus illi abundant, qui et alios recipiunt in tabernacula aeterna. est itaque quidam uitae modus nec tam malae, ut his qui eam uiuunt nihil prosit ad capessendum regnum caelorum largitas elemosynarum, quibus etiam iustorum sustentatur inopia et fiunt amici qui in tabernacula aeterna suscipiant, nec tam bonae, ut ad tantam beatitudinem adipiscendam eis ipsa sufficiat, nisi eorum meritis, quos amicos fecerint, misericordiam consequantur. - mirari autem soleo etiam apud Vergilium reperiri istam domini sententiam, ubi ait: facite uobis amicos de mammona iniquitatis, ut et ipsi recipiant uos in tabernacula aeterna; cui est et illa simillima: qui recipit prophetam in nomine prophetae, mercedem prophetae accipiet; et qui recipit iustum in nomine iusti, mercedem iusti accipiet. nam cum Elysios campos poeta ille describeret, ubi putant habitare animas beatorum, non solum ibi posuit eos, qui propriis meritis ad illas sedes peruenire potuerunt, sed adiecit atque ait: quique sui memores alios fecere merendo, id est, qui promeruerunt alios eosque sui memores promerendo fecerunt; prorsus tamquam eis dicerent, quod frequentatur ore Christiano, cum se cuique sanctorum humilis quisque commendat et dicit: memor mei esto, atque id ut esse possit promerendo efficit. - sed quis iste sit modus, et quae sint ipsa peccata, quae ita inpediunt peruentionem ad regnum dei, ut tamen sanctorum amicorum meritis inpetrent indulgentiam, difficillimum est inuenire, periculosissimum definire. ego certe usque ad hoc tempus cum inde satagerem ad eorum indaginem peruenire non potui. et fortassis propterea latent, ne studium proficiendi ad omnia cauenda peccata pigrescat. quoniam si scirentur quae uel qualia sint delicta, pro quibus etiam permanentibus nec prouectu uitae melioris absumptis intercessio sit inquirenda et speranda iustorum, eis secura se obuolueret humana segnitia, nec euolui talibus inplicamentis ullius uirtutis expeditione curaret, sed tantummodo quaereret aliorum meritis liberari, quos amicos sibi de mammona iniquitatis elemosynarum largitate fecisset. nunc uero dum uenialis iniquitatis, etiamsi perseueret, ignoratur modus, profecto et studium in meliora proficiendi orando et instando uigilantius adhibetur et faciendi de mammona iniquitatis sanctos amicos cura non spernitur. uerum ista liberatio, quae fit siue suis quibusque orationibus siue intercedentibus sanctis, id agit ut in ignem quisque non mittatur aeternum, non ut, cum fuerit missus, post quantumcumque inde tempus eruatur. nam et illi, qui putant sic intellegendum esse quod scriptum est, adferre terram bonam uberem fructum, aliam tricenum, aliam sexagenum, aliam centenum, ut sancti pro suorum diuersitate meritorum alii tricenos homines liberent, alii sexagenos, alii centenos, hoc in die iudicii futurum suspicari solent, non post iudicium. qua opinione quidam cum uideret homines inpunitatem sibi peruersissime pollicentes, eo quod omnes isto modo ad liberationem pertinere posse uideantur, elegantissime respondisse perhibetur, bene potius esse uiuendum, ut inter eos quisque reperiatur, qui pro aliis intercessuri sunt liberandis, ne tam pauci sint, ut cito ad numerum suum uel tricenum uel sexagenum uel centenum unoquoque eorum perueniente multi remaneant, qui erui iam de poenis illorum intercessione non possint et in eis inueniatur quisquis sibi spem fructus alieni temeritate uanissima pollicetur. haec me illis respondisse suffecerit, qui sacrarum litterarum, quas communes habemus, auctoritatem non spernunt, sed eas male intellegendo non quod illae loquuntur, sed hoc potius putant futurum esse quod ipsi uolunt. hac itaque responsione reddita librum, sicut promisimus, terminamus.