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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

78.

Calumniosa ergo imperitia Moyses reprehenditur, quod bella gesserit, qui minus reprehendi debuit, si sua sponte gereret, quam si deo iubente non gereret. Ipsum vero deum, quod talia iusserit, audere reprehendere vel deum iustum et bonum talia iubere potuisse non credere hominis est, ut mitius loquar, cogitare non valentis divinae providentiae per cuncta summa atque ima tendenti nec novum esse, quod oritur, nec perire, quod moritur, sed in suo singula quaeque ordine sive naturarum, sive meritorum vel cedere vel succedere vel manere, hominum autem rectam voluntatem divinae legi coniungi, inordinatam vero cupiditatem divinae legis ordine coerceri, ut nec bonus aliud quam praecipitur velit, nec malus amplius quam permittitur possit, ita sane, ut non impune possit, quod iniuste voluerit. p. 678,16 Ac per hoc in omnibus, quae humana infirmitas horret aut timet, sola iniquitas iure damnatur; cetera sunt vel tributa naturarum vel merita culparum. Fit autem homo iniquus, cum propter se ipsas diligit res propter aliud assumendas et propter aliud appetit res propter se ipsas diligendas. Sic enim, quantum in ipso est, perturbat in se ordinem naturalem, quem lex aeterna conservari iubet. Fit autem homo iustus, cum ob aliud non appetit rebus uti, nisi propter quod divinitus institutae sunt, ipso autem deo frui propter ipsum, seque et amico in ipso deo propter eundem ipsum deum. p. 678,27 Propter deum enim amat amicum, qui dei amorem amat in amico. Sive autem iniquitas sive iustitia, nisi esset in voluntate, non esset in potestate. Porro si in potestate non esset, nullum praemium, nulla poena iusta esset, quod nemo sapit, nisi qui desipit. Ignorantia vero et infirmitas, ut vel nesciat homo, quid velle debeat, vel non omne, quod voluerit, possit, ex occulto poenarum ordine venit et illis inscrutabilibus iudiciis dei, apud quem non est iniquitas. Proditum est enim nobis peccatum Adam fideli eloquio dei; et quia in illo omnes moriuntur, et quia per illum peccatum intravit in hunc mundum et per peccatum mors, veraciter scriptum est; et quia ex hac poena corpus corrumpitur et aggravat animam et deprimit terrena habitatio sensum multa cogitantem, verissimum nobisque notissimum est, et quia de hac iusta poena non liberat nisi misericors gratia, certum est. p. 679,12 Et hinc apostolus gemebundus exclamat: Infelix ego homo! Quis me liberabit de corpore mortis huius? Gratia dei per Iesum Christum dominum nostrum. Sed quae sit distributio iudicantis et miserantis dei, cur alius sic, alius autem sic, occultis fit causis, iustis tamen. Non tamen ideo nescimus omnia ista iudicio aut misericordia dei fieri, licet in abdito positis mensuris et numeris et ponderibus, quibus omnia disponuntur a deo creatore omnium, quae naturaliter sunt, nec auctore, sed tamen ordinatore etiam peccatorum, ut ea, quae peccata non essent, nisi contra naturam essent, sic iudicentur et ordinentur, ne universitatis naturam turbare vel turpare permittantur, meritorum suorum locis et condicionibus deputata. p. 679,24 Quae cum ita sint et cum per hoc secretum iudiciorum dei motusque humanarum voluntatum eisdem prosperitatibus alii corrumpantur, alii temperanter utantur, et eisdem adversitatibus alii deficiant, alii proficiant, cumque ipsa humana mortalisque vita temptatio sit super terram, quis hominum novit, cui prosit aut obsit in pace regnare vel servire vel vacare vel mori, in bello autem imperare vel pugnare vel vincere vel occidi, cum hoc tamen constet et cui prodest nonnisi per divinum prodesse beneficium et cui obest nonnisi per divinum obesse iudicium. p. 680,6

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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

78.

It is therefore mere groundless calumny to charge Moses with making war, for there would have been less harm in making war of his own accord, than in not doing it when God commanded him. And to dare to find fault with God Himself for giving such a command, or not to believe it possible that a just and good God did so, shows, to say the least, an inability to consider that in the view of divine providence, which pervades all things from the highest to the lowest, time can neither add anything nor take away; but all things go, or come, or remain according to the order of nature or desert in each separate case, while in men a right will is in union with the divine law, and ungoverned passion is restrained by the order of divine law; so that a good man wills only what is commanded, and a bad man can do only what he is permitted, at the same time that he is punished for what he wills to do unjustly. Thus, in all the things which appear shocking and terrible to human feebleness, the real evil is the injustice; the rest is only the result of natural properties or of moral demerit. This injustice is seen in every case where a man loves for their own sake things which are desirable only as means to an end, and seeks for the sake of something else things which ought to be loved for themselves. For thus, as far as he can, he disturbs in himself the natural order which the eternal law requires us to observe. Again, a man is just when he seeks to use things only for the end for which God appointed them, and to enjoy God as the end of all, while he enjoys himself and his friend in God and for God. For to love in a friend the love of God is to love the friend for God. Now both justice and injustice, to be acts at all, must be voluntary; otherwise, there can be no just rewards or punishments; which no man in his senses will assert. The ignorance and infirmity which prevent a man from knowing his duty, or from doing all he wishes to do, belong to God's secret penal arrangement, and to His unfathomable judgments, for with Him there is no iniquity. Thus we are informed by the sure word of God of Adam's sin; and Scripture truly declares that in him all die, and that by him sin entered into the world, and death by sin. ¹ And our experience gives abundant evidence, that in punishment for this sin our body is corrupted, and weighs down the soul, and the clay tabernacle clogs the mind in its manifold activity; ² and we know that we can be freed from this punishment only by gracious interposition. So the apostle cries out in distress, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord." ³ So much we know; but the reasons for the distribution of divine judgment and mercy, why one is in this condition, and another in that, though just, are unknown. Still, we are sure that all these things are due either to the mercy or the judgment of God, while the measures and numbers and weights by which the Creator of all natural productions arranges all things are concealed from our view. For God is not the author, but He is the controller of sin; so that sinful actions, which are sinful because they are against nature, are judged and controlled, and assigned to their proper place and condition, in order that they may not bring discord and disgrace on universal nature. This being the case, and as the judgments of God and the movements of man's will contain the hidden reason why the same prosperous circumstances which some make a right use of are the ruin of others, and the same afflictions under which some give way are profitable to others, and since the whole mortal life of man upon earth is a trial, ⁴ who can tell whether it may be good or bad in any particular case--in time of peace, to reign or to serve, or to be at ease or to die--or in time of war, to command or to fight, or to conquer or to be killed? At the same time, it remains true, that whatever is good is so by the divine blessing, and whatever is bad is so by the divine judgment.