Distinction II

GRATIAN. PART I. Since, however, a discourse concerning penance has once begun, it seems that the matter must be taken up again somewhat more deeply, setting forth openly the opinions of different persons fortified by sure authorities. Some say that penance is useful only once. For it is one and cannot be repeated. But if it is repeated, the preceding penance was not penance. And even if, by the sentence of that person’s judge, the person’s sins deservedly seem to have been remitted, nevertheless, in the presence of him to whom all future things are present, they are never held to have been remitted, because that sentence of the true priest was not observed: “Go, and now sin no more.” Likewise: “Behold, you have been made well; now sin no more, lest something worse happen to you.” Likewise, from the Eighth Synod:

If anyone has once been marked by the vice of envy or contention and falls again into that very thing, let that person know that the first cause from which envy or contention is born lies stored in the inner marrow. Therefore, it is necessary that the person be cured by contrary and opposed things, that is, by the practice of humility. The exercises of humility are these: if one subjects oneself to lowlier duties and assigns oneself to more unworthy ministries. For in this way the vice of arrogance and human glory can be cured, so that, once the affection has been habituated to humility, it no longer falls into the offense of arrogance and vainglory. But a similar cure is applied to every individual vice of this kind.

GRATIAN. Likewise, without charity no sin is remitted to an adult. But one who will at some time sin criminally does not possess charity. Hence Augustine to Count Julian:

“Charity that can be abandoned was never true.”

“Has charity taken root? Be secure; nothing evil can proceed from it.”

“‘Love is strong as death.’ For love is compared to the power of death, because it utterly kills, to delight in the world, the mind that it has once seized.”

“Charity is, as it seems to me, a right will, wholly turned away from all earthly and present things, inseparably joined and united to God, kindled by a certain fire of the Holy Spirit, from whom it is and to whom it is referred; foreign to every defilement, ignorant of corruption, subject to no vice of mutability, exalted above all things that are loved carnally, the most powerful of all affections, eager for divine contemplation, always unconquered in all things, the summit of good actions, the salvation of conduct, the end of the heavenly precepts, the death of crimes, the life of virtues, the strength of those fighting, the palm of the victors, the soul of holy minds, the cause of good merits, the reward of the perfect; without it no one has pleased God, with it no one either could sin or will be able to sin; fruitful in penitents, joyful in those advancing, glorious in those persevering, victorious in martyrs, active in absolutely all the faithful, from which whatever good work exists will live.”

Likewise: § 1. “This is true, genuine, perfect charity, which the holy Apostle calls a more excellent way. For just as no one arrives where one is tending without a way, so without charity, which has been called the way, human beings cannot walk, but wander.”

Likewise, [in the same work, c. 15]: § 2. “Therefore, if we show charity to God and to our neighbor from a pure heart, a good conscience, and an unfeigned faith, we easily resist sin, abound in all good things, despise the allurements of the age, and accomplish with love all things that are difficult or even harsh to human frailty, provided nevertheless that we love God with perfect charity, which is from him for us, from our whole heart and whole soul and all our strength. For each person sins from that part from which one loves God less; if we love him from the whole heart, there will be nothing in us from which we serve the desires of sin. And what is it to love God except to be occupied with him in mind, to conceive the affection for enjoying the sight of him, hatred of sin, weariness of the world, and also to love one’s neighbor, whom he judged must be loved in himself; to preserve the lawful measure in that love and not overturn the established order of love? Those overturn the order of love and do not preserve the measure of loving who either love the world, which is to be despised, or love their bodies, which are to be loved less, more; or do not love their neighbors as themselves; or perhaps do not love God more than themselves.”

Likewise: § 3. “Our body, because it is a part of us, is to be loved by us for this purpose: that we may naturally take counsel for its welfare and frailty and act so that, orderly subjected to the spirit, it may attain eternal salvation after receiving immortality and incorruption.”

Likewise: § 4. “But we then love our neighbors as ourselves if we love them not because of some advantages of ours, not because of benefits hoped for or received, not because of affinities or blood relationships, but for this alone: that they are participants in our nature.”

Likewise: § 5. “Not only those whom a degree of blood joins to us are to be believed our neighbors; rather, all human beings who participate in our nature, as I have said, are to be believed our neighbors.”

Likewise: § 6. “Accordingly, we love all our neighbors as ourselves when we take counsel for their welfare, as for our own, toward good conduct and the attainment of eternal life; when we consider ourselves in their sins and dangers and come to their aid just as we would wish aid to be given to us, or, if capacity is lacking, retain the will to give aid. Therefore the whole of love for one’s neighbor is this: that you will for your neighbor the good that you wish to be conferred upon yourself. But those love God more than themselves who, for love of him, do not spare their temporal welfare, hand themselves over to tribulations and dangers, are prepared to be stripped of their own possessions, to become exiles from their homeland, and to renounce parents, wives, and children; and, to say the whole, not only do not shrink from bodily death but even receive it willingly, choosing to depart from the life of their body rather than from God, the life of their life.”

“Meanwhile it must be asked how it was a special sign for recognizing the Son of God that the Spirit descended upon him and remained.

§ 1. What great thing is it for the Son of God that the Spirit is asserted to remain in him? It must be noted that the Holy Spirit always remained in the Lord; but in holy human beings, as long as they bear a mortal body, in part he remains forever, and in part he withdraws, to return. For he remains with them so that they persist in good actions, love voluntary poverty, attain meekness, mourn from desire for eternity, hunger and thirst for justice, embrace mercy, purity of heart, and the tranquillity of peace; but also so that they do not fear to suffer persecution for the observance of justice and desire to persist in alms, prayers, fasts, and the other fruits of the Spirit. But he withdraws for a time so that they do not always have the capacity to cure the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, or even prophesy. He remains always so that they may possess virtues and may themselves live wondrously. He comes for a time so that through signs of miracles it may shine forth also to others what sort of persons they are within.”

“Charity never falls away.”

[Tractate 3.] “The invisible anointing is the Holy Spirit; the invisible anointing is charity, which, in whomsoever it shall be, will be like a root for that person, which cannot wither although the sun burns; it is nourished by the sun’s heat, not withered.”

“The winged living creatures do not turn back at all when they advance, because the holy preachers so pass from earthly actions to spiritual things that they are thereafter by no means turned back to the things they had abandoned.” And a little later: “‘No one putting his hand to the plow, etc.’ For to put one’s hand to the plow is, as it were, to open the earth of one’s heart by a certain plowshare of compunction to bring forth fruits. But one looks backward after the plow who, after beginnings of a good work, returns to the evils that one abandoned. Because this does not at all happen to God’s elect, it is rightly said now through the prophet, ‘They did not turn back when they advanced.’” And a little later: “Hence also Paul says, ‘But one thing: forgetting the things that are behind, and stretching myself toward the things that are ahead, I pursue toward the palm of the heavenly calling.’ For, stretched toward the things ahead, he had forgotten those behind, because, despising temporal things, he sought only those that are eternal.”

“‘They did not turn back when they advanced,’ because all the elect so tend toward good things that they do not return to perpetrate evils. ‘For the one who has persevered to the end, this one will be saved.’ And, as is said through Solomon, ‘The path of the just, like a shining light, proceeds and grows unto the perfect day.’ For in their mind good desire and understanding of the inward light are already a part of the day; but because they advance in virtue until the end of life, they then come to the perfect day, when, having been led to the heavenly kingdoms, they will no longer have anything less in that light which they desire.”

“The movement and mobility of the Spirit can be understood thus. In the hearts of the saints he always remains in respect of certain virtues; but in respect of certain others he comes in order to withdraw, and withdraws in order to come. For in faith, hope, and charity, and in the other good things without which one cannot reach the heavenly homeland—such as chastity, humility, justice, and mercy—he does not desert the hearts of the perfect. But in the power of prophecy, eloquence of teaching, and display of miracles, he is at times present to the elect and at times withdraws himself.” And a little later: § 1. “Accordingly, in those virtues without which one does not at all reach life, the Holy Spirit remains in the hearts of his elect; hence he is rightly called stable. But in those through which the power of holiness is shown, he is at times mercifully present and at times mercifully withdraws.” Hence Ambrose on the Second Letter to the Corinthians, [at c. 6]:

“That charity which abandons in adversity is feigned.”

PART II. GRATIAN. Therefore, from the foregoing it appears that charity, once possessed, is not thereafter lost. But one who has once possessed charity will thereafter be unable to sin criminally, so that the impossibility is referred to grace, not to nature. Augustine testifies that one possessing charity cannot sin criminally, saying in the Book of Fifty Homilies, homily 8:

“Because cupidity is the root of all evils and charity is the root of all good things, and the two cannot exist together, unless one has been torn out by the root, the other cannot be planted. Someone strives in vain to cut off the branches if one does not endeavor to tear out the root.”

GRATIAN. Therefore, since one who sins criminally is proved never to have possessed charity, it is evidently gathered that a person who at any time sinned criminally does not perform penance. Hence Augustine:

“Charity is the water of which the Lord says in the Gospel, ‘Whoever drinks from the water that I shall give will not thirst forever.’”

GRATIAN. Therefore, since the reprobate, consigned to eternal fires, will thirst forever, how will that person drink the living water, or how will one drink the water springing up into eternal life, who, sunk like lead into the depths, pays the penalties of eternal condemnation?

Likewise: Without charity, how will anyone be able to possess true contrition of heart? How, therefore, remission of offenses? If they are not remitted, how are absolutely all of them not to be exacted for punishment?

Likewise the Lord says, “Amen, amen, I say to you: one who believes in me has eternal life.” Therefore one who does not have eternal life does not believe in Christ. But one who possesses charity believes in Christ. For to believe in Christ is to tend toward him by loving. This is the faith, as the Apostle defines it, that works through love; remission of offenses is promised to this alone. But if charity cannot be separated from the faith of Christians, to which alone pardon is promised, how did one who did not possess charity possess the faith of Christians, that is, believe in Christ? How, therefore, did that person receive pardon of offenses? If one did not receive it, how are absolutely all one’s works not to be struck with eternal torments?

Likewise the Lord says, “I am the living bread that descended from heaven; if anyone eats from this bread, that person will live forever.” Therefore one who does not live forever did not eat the living bread; but one who did not eat did not believe in him. For to eat the living bread is to believe in Christ, that is, to tend toward him by loving. Since, therefore, the reprobate did not believe in him whom one did not eat, and thus did not possess the faith of Christians, by which alone sins are released, how—if the Lord lives, to whom the Father gave all judgment—will that person escape the judgment of perpetual condemnation for all sins, not only actual but also original?

PART III. § 1. These things said concerning charity can be understood concerning perfect charity, which, once possessed, is never lost. But the beginnings of charity are nurtured so that they may grow, and are trampled so that they may fail. For no one suddenly becomes highest; rather, in a good manner of life, which does not exist without charity, each begins from the least things so as to arrive at great ones. Accordingly, there are degrees not only between virtue and virtue, but also in the same virtue. Hence Gregory writes on Ezekiel, [homily XV], saying:

“When the Lord receives the holy church, he is recognized in its steps, because his glory is declared through its increases. For to the degree that the holy church advances by ascending, God becomes known to human beings from its virtue. Concerning these steps blessed Job also speaks, saying, ‘Through each of my steps I shall proclaim him.’ For one proclaims the almighty Lord through each of one’s steps who, through the increases of the virtues that one receives, always renders him praise for his loving-kindness. If there were not certain steps in the heart’s ascent, the Psalmist would not say, ‘They will walk from virtue to virtue.’ Nor is it remarkable if there are steps from virtue to virtue, when each individual virtue itself is increased by certain steps, as it were, and is thus led through increases of merits to the summit.

§ 1. For one thing is the beginning of virtue, another its advancement, another its perfection. For if even faith itself were not led to its perfection by certain steps, the holy Apostles would by no means have said, ‘Increase our faith.’ And a certain man came to the Lord who wished his son to be cured; but when asked whether he believed, he replied, ‘I believe, Lord; help my unbelief.’ Consider, I ask, what is said. If he believed, why did he say ‘unbelief’? But if he knew that he possessed unbelief, how did he believe? Rather, because through the hidden inspiration of grace faith grows by the steps of its merits, at one and the same time the person who did not yet believe perfectly both believed and was unbelieving.

§ 2. The Lord describes these steps under the name of the harvest, saying: ‘Thus is the kingdom of God: as if a man casts seed upon the earth and sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows while he does not know it. For the earth bears fruit of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear; and when it has produced the fruit from itself, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the time of harvest is present.’ A person casts seed upon the earth when one plants a good intention in one’s heart; and after one has cast the seed, one sleeps, because one now rests in the hope of the good work. But one rises by night and day, because one advances amid adverse and prosperous things; and the seed sprouts and grows while the person does not know it, because, even when one is still unable to measure one’s increases, the virtue once conceived is led to advancement. And the earth bears fruit of itself, because, as grace precedes, the human mind spontaneously rises to the fruit of good work. But this same earth produces first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. To produce the blade is to possess the still-tender state of a good beginning. But the blade comes to the ear when the virtue conceived in the mind draws itself onward to the advancement of good work. And it bears the full grain in the ear when the virtue has now advanced so far that it is capable of robust and perfect work. But when it has produced the fruit from itself, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the time of harvest is present. For almighty God, when the fruit has been produced, sends the sickle and cuts down his harvest, because, when he has led each person to perfect works, he cuts off that person’s temporal life by a sentence sent forth, so as to lead his grain to the heavenly barns. Therefore, when we conceive good desires, we cast seed into the earth. When we begin to work right things, we are the blade. But when we grow toward the advancement of good work, we come to the ear; and when we are made firm in the perfection of that same work, we now bring forth the full grain in the ear.

§ 3. For Peter had been the blade when, at the time of the Passion, following the Lord through love, he feared to confess him before the voice of a maidservant. There was already greenness in his mind, because he believed in the Redeemer of all; but, still very flexible, it was trampled by the foot of fear. He had now risen into the ear when, at the angel’s announcement, he saw living in Galilee the one whom he had feared to confess when that one was about to die. But he reached the full grain in the ear when the Spirit came from above and strengthened his mind in love of him, and he was so made firm that, when beaten, he despised the powers of the persecutors and freely preached his Redeemer amid the lashes.

§ 4. Accordingly, let no one who is perceived still to be in the tenderness of mind toward a good purpose be despised, because God’s grain begins from the blade so that it may become grain. Therefore the man comes to the gate because our Lord and Redeemer leads his entering members to himself; and he ascends through its steps, because, as we advance, he is exalted the more insofar as he is recognized to be high and incomprehensible. For he is said to ascend in the steps of our virtues because he is shown to us to be so much more sublime, the more our mind is separated from the lowest things.”

Hence Augustine also says in the Book on Free Choice, [c. 17]:

“One who wishes to perform God’s commandments and cannot do so indeed already possesses a good will, but one that is still small and weak. That person will be able when one possesses a great and robust will. For when the martyrs performed those great commandments, they certainly performed them with a great will, that is, with great charity, concerning which the Lord himself says, ‘No one has greater charity, etc.’” And a little later: § 1. “The apostle Peter did not yet possess that charity when he denied the Lord three times out of fear. And nevertheless, although small and imperfect, charity was not absent from him when he said, ‘Lord, I shall lay down my soul for you.’”

The same on the Letter of John, [tractate 5]: § 2. “If anyone possesses such charity that the person is prepared even to die for one’s brothers, charity is perfect in that person. But is it already completely perfect as soon as it is born? It is born so that it may be perfected; when it has been born, it is nurtured; when it has been nurtured, it is strengthened; when it has been strengthened, it is perfected; when it has come to perfection, what do you say? ‘For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.’”

“Just as a bristle draws in the thread, so fear draws in charity; charity grows, fear diminishes, and conversely.”

“Perhaps charity has been born in you, but is not yet perfect; do not despair; nurture it, lest perhaps it be choked.”

“Charity is perfect in some, imperfect in others; but the most perfect charity cannot be possessed in this life.”

“If my discourse finds in your hearts some spark of the gratuitous love of God, nurture that very spark; take care to summon yourselves to increase it.” And a little later: “Blow upon it; nurture it within yourselves, so that, when it has grown and made a most worthy flame, it may consume the wood of all cupidities.”

GRATIAN. Conversely, it is also proved that degrees exist in virtue because the degrees of sin itself also appear evidently. For just as no one suddenly becomes the highest, so no one suddenly becomes base. Hence also Augustine in Book I of the Sermon of the Lord on the Mount, [c. 23]:

“Just as sin is reached by three degrees—suggestion, delight, and consent—so there are three differences of sin itself: in the heart, in the deed, and in custom, like three deaths. One is as though in the house, that is, when consent is given in the heart to lust; another as though now carried outside the gate, when consent proceeds into the deed; the third when the mind is pressed beneath the mass of an evil custom, as though now putrefying in the tomb. Whoever reads the Gospel recognizes that the Lord raised these three kinds of dead persons.”

“It must certainly be known that sin is committed in three ways. For it is perpetrated either through ignorance, or weakness, or deliberate purpose; and one sins more gravely through weakness than through ignorance, but much more gravely through deliberate purpose than through weakness.”

“Among these things it must be known that it is one thing for the mind to suffer from the temptation of the flesh, but another when it is bound to delights through consent. For it is very often struck by a depraved thought, but resists. Very often, however, it conceives something perverse within itself and even turns it over through desire. And certainly an unclean thought does not defile the mind when it strikes, but when it subjugates the mind to itself through delight.

Hence the eminent preacher says, ‘Let no temptation apprehend you except a human one.’ For human temptation is that by which we are very often touched in thought even unwillingly, because the fact that unlawful things sometimes come to mind is certainly something we possess within ourselves from the weight of corruptible humanity. But temptation is now demonic and not human when the mind binds itself through consent to that which the corruptibility of the flesh suggests.”

“For three crimes of Damascus, etc.,” as above.

GRATIAN. It is not remarkable if degrees are said to exist in virtue, since the degrees of sin also are shown so evidently.

§ 1. Accordingly, this charity, which in Peter before the denial was the blade and which is born in each person before it is strengthened, is lost and restored before its perfection. Hence Augustine in the Book on Correction and Grace, [c. 7]: “Whoever have been distinguished from that original condemnation by this bounty of divine grace, there is no doubt that the Gospel is procured for them; and when they hear, they believe and persevere to the end in the faith that works through love. And if at any time they wander outside the course, being corrected they are amended; and some of them, even if they are not reproved by human beings, return to the way they had abandoned, and the rest.”

“‘God’s firm foundation stands, having this immovable seal: The Lord knows who are his.’ Their faith, which works through love, assuredly either does not fail at all, or, if there are any whose faith fails, they are restored before this life is ended; and, after the intervening iniquity has been blotted out, perseverance to the end is reckoned to them.”

“None of them ends this life changed from good to evil.”

“For such persons who love him, God makes all things work together for good—altogether all things to such an extent that, even if some of them deviate and wander outside the course, he will cause this very thing also to profit them for good.”

“Circumcision is nothing, nor is uncircumcision, but faith that works through love. And this was formerly in you, because you were running well through the works of faith and from love.”

“God is not so unjust that he forgets your work, etc.”

GRATIAN. The work by which they made all their things common—and this from love, and this for God’s glory. Behold a threefold good, as if he were saying: Formerly you performed many things for which, if you repent of evils, God will do good to you. Also, when the Apostle reproved the Romans and Galatians, he proves that by the merit of faith they attained remission of sins, sanctification in the Holy Spirit, and the justice of good work; all these things either were never truly in them without charity, or those who gloried in the works of the law possessed true charity, from which they afterward fell. Likewise Augustine says concerning any adult:

“Remove charity; hatred holds possession.”

Likewise: § 1. “Everyone who does not love hates.”

Likewise in the Gospel: § 2. “No one can serve two lords; for either one will hate the one and love the other, or one will uphold the one and despise the other.”

GRATIAN. But Adam, since he was created by the Lord at a manly age, before he was tempted by the devil—while his wife was being formed from his side, while, rapt in ecstasy, he was present in the angelic court, while, awakening, he foretold the future sacraments of Christ and the church—possessed either charity or hatred. But if he possessed hatred, the devil was not the author of our sin. Likewise, if he was created by God without charity, he by no means received God’s likeness in his creation. Likewise, if he was created without charity, he was not made just and innocent by God; for a creature capable of reason and free choice cannot participate in justice and innocence without charity. It is therefore gathered that before Adam sinned he possessed charity, without which he could not be just and innocent. Hence Augustine in Genesis According to the Letter, [book VI, c. 24]:

“How are we said to be renewed if we do not receive what the first human being lost? We plainly receive this, because [we receive] the justice from which he fell through sin.” And a little later, [c. 7]: § 1. “‘Stripping yourselves of the old human being, put on the new, who is renewed in the knowledge of faith according to the image of him who created that person.’ Adam lost through sin this image impressed upon the spirit of the mind.” And after a few words: § 2. “That first robe is justice itself, from which Adam fell.”

“When the prince of all vices saw Adam, made from the clay of the earth in God’s image, adorned with chastity, ordered by temperance, and splendid with charity, he stripped the first parents of those gifts and such great goods and killed them together. For when he had taken chastity and continence from the human being, he subjected the person to his dominion.” And a little later: § 1. “After temperance had been lost, Adam became intemperate; after charity had been lost, he was found evil.”

“When Adam was alone, he did not transgress, because his mind adhered to God.”

“The first human being, God’s fresh work, a constant conversational partner, had been planted with the virtues of the saints.”

“That soul is painted by God which possesses within itself the shining grace of the virtues and the splendor of piety. That soul is well spoken of in which the likeness of divine operation shines forth. That soul is well painted in which there is the splendor of glory and the image of the Father’s substance. According to this image, which shines, the painting is precious. According to this image Adam was depicted before sin; but when he fell, he put it away.”

“To be like God is to possess justice and wisdom and to be perfect in virtue.”

“The wise person is never empty, but always possesses within oneself the raiment of prudence and can say, ‘I put on justice; I clothed judgment.’ For these are the interior coverings of the mind, which no one else can take away, except when one’s own fault strips someone. Thus, finally, Adam, having been stripped, was found naked.”

“But neither was the first Adam naked, whom innocence clothed.”

“‘When they knew that they were naked.’ And indeed they were naked before, but not without a covering of virtues.”

GRATIAN. That also is objected which every authority proclaims: if he had remained as he was before sin, he would have been translated into the glory that the saints will possess; but no adult enters without charity. Therefore he possessed charity.

§ 1. Likewise, an objection is made concerning Moses, whose faith the Apostle, commending it in his letter to the Hebrews, proclaimed his merits with worthy praises: when Moses denied that he was a son of Pharaoh’s daughter, preferring to be afflicted with his brothers rather than to enjoy the pleasure of a temporal palace; when, suffering with his brother, he buried the Egyptian in the sand; when, fearing the animosity of the king, he left Egypt; when, fortified by divine aid, he despised the king’s fury and led the people out of Egypt in the power of signs. With what praises are all these things to be extolled if charity was not in him then, when a branch of good work has no greenness within itself unless it proceeds from the root of charity? But how did he not possess charity, to whom the Lord spoke face to face, as a person is accustomed to speak with one’s friend? How did he not possess charity who, supplicating for the people, said, “Either forgive it this offense, or blot me out of your book”? Did he not love his neighbor, who, interposing himself for the people, freed them from destruction? Did he not love God, who, raging against the worshipers of the calf for his sake, ground the head of that calf into powder and, mixed with water so that it might be cast out into the privy, gave it to the Israelites to drink, ordering some of its worshipers to be struck with the sword so that he might reconcile to God the people whose destruction would otherwise have been greater? Did he not possess charity, from whose spirit the Lord took and placed it upon the seventy elders of Israel? Yet, at the water of contradiction, doubting God’s power or his kindness, although he had promised the other things with sure faith, when about to bring forth water from the rock, he exclaimed distrustfully, saying, “Shall I be able to bring water forth for you from this rock?” Let this seem light to no one, since as punishment for that offense it was said to him and Aaron by the Lord: “Because you did not hearken to my voice so that you might glorify me before the children of Israel, you will not bring this people into the land that I gave them.”

§ 2. Did Aaron not possess charity when he was given as a helper to his brother, so that he would be his mouth to the people and so that signs would be done through him in Egypt? Yet he afterward gave his consent to the people in the worship of the calf. Did he not possess charity when, alone from the entire multitude of the children of Israel, he was chosen by the Lord to exercise the pontificate before him? If he did not possess charity, he was not good; but if he was not good, why was he chosen by the Lord before the others as pontiff? Did he not possess charity when, with the censer, he placed himself against the conflagration on behalf of the people and appeased the wrath? And nevertheless, as was said before, he afterward provoked the Lord’s wrath against himself at the water of contradiction.

§ 3. Did David also not possess charity, upon whom the Spirit of the Lord was directed from the day of his anointing? Or perhaps it will be said that it was directed upon him so that from then he would possess the grace of prophesying, not so that from it he would receive the grace of divine love? It plainly seems absurd to think this concerning the one of whom the Lord says, “I have found a man according to my heart.” How also did he not possess charity, who spared the one seeking his soul and, because he cut off the hem of that person’s cloak, afterward his heart struck him heavily, as he cried out, “Whom do you persecute, O king of Israel—a dead dog and a single flea?” How did he not possess charity, who bore the death of his enemy so very heavily? How did he not possess charity, who did not drink the water from the cistern of Bethlehem offered to him at the peril of his men, but poured it out before the Lord? How did he not possess charity, who, mocked by Michal, the daughter of Saul, because he had danced before the ark of the Lord while striking the cithara and psaltery, said, “I shall play and become more vile in my eyes”? If he did not possess charity, with what security of conscience did he invoke against himself, saying, “If I have rendered evils to those repaying me, let me deservedly fall empty before my enemies”? If he did not possess charity, with what temerity did he ask to be judged justly, saying, “Judge me, O Lord, according to my justice and according to my innocence over me”? Likewise: “Judge me, O Lord, because I have entered in my innocence.” And nevertheless, after so many and innumerable other proofs of divine and heavenly love, how gravely he transgressed no one who has heard of his adultery with Bathsheba and his killing of Uriah does not know. If he offered his penance to the Lord without charity, he did not possess true contrition of heart. How, therefore, did he dare to promise to the Lord the sacrifice of a contrite heart and troubled spirit, saying, “If you had wished for sacrifice, I would surely have given it; you will not delight in burnt offerings. A sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit, etc.”? Finally, since no remission is promised by God to false penance, how did he merit to hear from the prophet, “Your sin has been remitted,” if he did not possess true contrition of heart? Accordingly, it appears evidently that he then possessed charity and, from charity, offered to the Lord the sacrifice of a contrite heart and troubled spirit. Otherwise he would rashly have asked, “Turn your face away from my sins,” and the other things contained in the same psalm, unless hatred of evil and love of good had provoked him to the humility of penance. Concerning him also Saint Ambrose writes in the Book on the Soul and Isaac, [c. 3], saying: “Holy David had fled the hatreds of King Saul, not by leaving the lands, but by avoiding the contagions of a cruel and proud king, because his mind adhered to God,” to whom no adult can adhere without charity. And nevertheless, how gravely he afterward transgressed in the census of the people was indicated by the punishment for that offense.

§ 4. Likewise, according to this opinion, one who transgresses criminally did not obtain true remission of sins in baptism, whether the person approached baptism in the years of infancy or as an adult, because the person did not possess the love of God, without which no one ever finds grace. And thus, according to the heresy of Jovinian, if anyone has truly been reborn from water and the Spirit, that person cannot afterward sin criminally; or, if one sins criminally, one is proved to have been reborn by water alone, not by the Spirit. That passage from the Letter of John seems to agree with this opinion: “Everyone who is born of God does not commit sin, because his seed remains in that person; and one cannot sin because one is born of God. In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest.” And at the end of the letter: “Everyone who is born of God does not sin, but the generation of God preserves that person, and the evil one does not touch that person.” But how much this authority of the Apostle favors that opinion, and how contrary to truth that sect of error is, Jerome shows, writing against Jovinian, [book II, at the beginning]:

“For if, he says, ‘everyone who is born of God does not sin and cannot be tempted by the devil,’ how does he command them to take care lest they be tempted, saying, ‘Little children, keep yourselves from idols’? And again in the same letter: ‘If we say that we do not have sin, we seduce ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, so as to remit our sins to us and cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.’ I judge that blessed John, a baptized man, wrote to baptized persons, and that every sin is from the devil. He confesses himself a sinner and hopes for remission of sins after baptism. And my Jovinian says, ‘Do not touch me, because I am clean.’ What, then? Does the Apostle speak things contrary to himself? By no means. For in the same place he immediately declared why he said this: ‘My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin; but if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just, and he is the propitiation for our sins—not for ours alone, but also for those of the whole world. And in this we know that we have known him: if we observe his commandments. One who says that one knows God and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But one who keeps his word, truly in this person the charity of God is perfect. In this we know that we are in him. One who says that one remains in him ought oneself also to walk just as he walked.’ For this reason I write to you, my little children: everyone who is born of God does not sin. Therefore I tell you not to sin, and to know that you remain in the generation of the Lord for as long as you have not sinned; indeed, those who persevere in the generation of the Lord cannot sin. For what fellowship has light with darkness? Christ with Belial? Just as day and night cannot be mingled, so neither can justice and iniquity, sin and good works, Christ and antichrist. If we receive Christ into the lodging of our breast, immediately we put the devil to flight. If we sin and the devil enters through the door of sin, immediately Christ withdraws. Hence David also says after sin, ‘Restore to me the joy of your salvation,’ namely, that which he had lost by sinning. ‘One who says that one knows God and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.’ Christ is called Truth—indeed, he is Truth: ‘I am,’ he says, ‘the way and the truth and the life.’ In vain do we applaud ourselves in him whose commandments we do not perform. ‘To one knowing good and not doing it, it is sin. For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.’ Nor should we think it a great thing that we know the one God, since even the demons believe and tremble. ‘One who says that one remains in him ought oneself also to walk just as he walked.’

PART IV. § 1. Let the adversary choose whichever of two alternatives he wishes; we give him the choice. Does he remain in Christ, or does he not remain? If he remains, then let him walk as Christ did. But if it is rash to promise the likeness of the Lord’s virtues, he does not remain in Christ, because he does not walk as Christ did. He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth; when he was cursed, he did not curse in return, and like a lamb before its shearer, so he did not open his mouth. To him the prince of this world came and found nothing in him. Although he had committed no sin, God made him sin for us. But according to the letter of James, we all sin in many things; and no one is clean from sins, not even an infant if that person’s life has been only one day. For who will glory that one possesses a chaste heart? Or who will trust that one is clean from sins? And we are held guilty in the likeness of Adam’s transgression. Hence David also says, ‘Behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in offenses my mother bore me.’ And blessed Job says, ‘If I am just, my mouth will speak impious things; and if without crime, I shall be found depraved; and if purified in snow and washed with clean hands, you have sufficiently stained me with filth, and my garment has become execrable.’ But lest we despair utterly, judging that we cannot be saved after the sins committed after baptism, he immediately tempers this very thing: ‘And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just, and he is the propitiation for our sins—not for ours alone, but also for those of the whole world.’ He speaks this to believers after baptism and promises the Lord as advocate for their offenses. Nor does he say, ‘If you sin in any respect, you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, and he is the propitiation for your sins,’ lest you say that they had obtained baptism without full faith; rather, he says, ‘We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, and he is the propitiation for our sins,’ and not only for the sins of John and the others, but also ‘for those of the whole world.’ But in the whole world are both the Apostles and all believers. From these things it is clearly proved that one can sin after baptism. For in vain do we have Jesus Christ as advocate with the Father if it is not possible to sin. The apostle Peter, to whom it had been said, ‘One who is washed has no need to wash again,’ and, ‘You are Peter, and upon this rock I shall build my church,’ denies after being terrified by a maidservant. And the Lord himself says, ‘Simon, behold, Satan has sought you so that he might sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail.’”

And below: § 2. “If we do not sin after baptism, why do we ask that sins be remitted to us which were already remitted in baptism? It is another matter if this prayer, ‘Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors,’ pertains to catechumens and does not befit the faithful and Christians. Paul, a vessel of election, chastises his body and reduces it to servitude, lest, while preaching to others, he himself be found reprobate.

§ 3. Writing also to the Hebrews, he says: ‘For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and tasted the heavenly gift and were made participants in the Holy Spirit, who likewise tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and have fallen away, to be renewed again to penance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and hold him up to display.’ Certainly we cannot deny that those who were enlightened and tasted the heavenly gift, were made participants in the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God were baptized. But if the baptized cannot sin, how does the Apostle now say, ‘And they have fallen away’? Yet, lest Montanus and Novatus return from this passage, who contend that those who have crucified for themselves the Son of God and held him up to display cannot be renewed through penance, he subsequently resolves this error and says, ‘But we trust concerning you, most beloved, better things and things nearer to salvation, even if we speak thus. The Lord is not unjust, so as to forget your work and the love that you showed in his name, you who ministered to the saints and now minister.’ And it would truly be great injustice in God if he punished only sins and did not receive good works. The Apostle says: I have spoken thus so that I might draw you back from sins and make you more cautious through fear of despair. Nevertheless, I trust concerning you, most dear, better things and things nearer to salvation. For neither does it belong to God’s justice that he forget the good works and ministry that you have shown and show to the saints on account of his name, and remember only sins.”

And a little later: § 4. “God created us with free choice, and we are drawn by necessity neither to virtue nor to vices; otherwise, where there is necessity there is no crown. Just as in good works God is the perfecter—for it is not of the one willing nor of the one running, but of God who has mercy and helps, so that we may be able to reach the finish—so in evils and sins the seeds and incitements are ours, and the perfection belongs to the devil. When he sees that we have built hay, wood, and stubble upon the foundation of Christ, then he sets fire beneath it. Let us build gold, silver, and precious stones, and he will not dare to tempt. Although even in this the possession is not certain and secure. For the lion sits in ambush to kill the innocent in secret; and the furnace tests the potter’s vessels, but the temptation of tribulation tests just persons. And in another place it is written, ‘Son, when you approach the service of God, prepare yourself for temptation.’ Again the same James says, ‘Be doers of the word and not hearers only. If anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, that person is like a man who considers the countenance of his birth in a mirror; he considered it, and immediately, withdrawing, forgot what sort of person he had been.’ He admonished them in vain to join works to faith if they could not sin after baptism. ‘One who,’ he says, ‘has kept the whole law and sins in one thing has become guilty of all.’ Who among us is without sin? God has enclosed all things under offense, so that he might have mercy on all. Peter also says, ‘God knows how to rescue the pious from temptation.’ And concerning false teachers: ‘These are springs without water and mists driven by whirlwinds, for whom the gloom of darkness is reserved. For, speaking proud things of vanity, they entice in the desires of fleshly luxury those who had escaped for a little while and were turned back to error.’ Does the apostolic discourse not seem to you to have depicted a new faction of ignorance? For they open, as it were, springs of knowledge that contain no water of doctrines; like prophetic clouds, they promise rain to which the truth of God may come, and they are driven by whirlwinds of demons and vices. They speak grand things, and their whole discourse is pride—for everyone who exalts one’s heart is unclean before God—so that those who had taken refuge for a little while from sins return to their error; and they persuade them toward the luxury of foods and the delights of the flesh. For who would not willingly hear, ‘Let us eat and drink, and we shall reign forever’? They call wise and prudent persons depraved, but they give a fuller hearing to those who are sweet in speech. The apostle John—or rather, the Savior writing in John—says to the angel of the church of Ephesus: ‘I know,’ he says, ‘your works and labor and patience, and that you endured for my name and did not fail; but I have against you that you have abandoned your first charity. Remember from where you have fallen, and perform penance, and do the first works. Otherwise, I shall come to you and move your lampstand from its place unless you perform penance.’ Similarly, he provokes the other churches—Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea—to penance, and threatens them unless they return to their former works; and in Sardis he says that he has a few who have not defiled their garments and will walk with him in white because they are worthy. But to whom does he write, ‘Remember from where you have fallen,’ and, ‘Behold, the devil is about to send some of you into prison so that you may be tempted,’ and, ‘I know where you dwell, where the seat of Satan is,’ and, ‘Hold in mind how you received and heard,’ and, ‘Keep it and perform penance,’ and the rest? Certainly he says it to one who believed and was baptized and, having once stood, fell through offense.

§ 5. I had for a little while deferred examples from the Old Testament, because whenever it speaks against them they are accustomed to say, ‘The law and the prophets were until John.’ Yet who does not know that under the deep dispensation of God all the saints of old were of the same merit as Christians now are? Just as Abraham then pleased in marriage, so now virgins please in perpetual chastity. He served the law and his time; let us too serve the law and our time, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. David, chosen according to the Lord’s heart, who was to perform all his wills and who had said in a certain psalm, ‘Judge me, O Lord, because I have entered in my innocence, and, hoping in the Lord, I shall not be weakened. Prove me, O Lord, and tempt me; burn my reins and my heart,’ afterward, tempted by the devil and penitent after sin, says, ‘Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy.’ A great sin wishes to be blotted out by great mercy. Solomon, beloved by the Lord and to whom God had been revealed twice, departed from the love of God because he was a lover of women. The Book of Days relates that Manasseh, a most impious king, was restored to his former dignity after the Babylonian captivity. And Josiah, a holy man, was pierced by the Egyptian king on the plain of Megiddo. Joshua also, the son of Josedech, the high priest, although in type he preceded the Savior, who bore our sins and joined to himself the church as a foreign woman from among the nations, nevertheless according to the letter is introduced as defiled after the priesthood, and the devil stands at his right hand, and afterward white garments are restored to him. It is superfluous to write concerning Moses and Aaron, that they offended God at the water of contradiction and did not enter the promised land, since blessed Job recalls that even angels and every creature can sin, saying, ‘For what? Is a human being clean before God? Or is a man without stain from his works? If he does not trust his servants and has found something depraved in his angels, how much more those dwelling in houses of clay, of which we also are from the same clay? The life of a human being upon earth is temptation.’ And Lucifer fell, who sent to all the nations; and the one who was nourished among twelve stones in the paradise of delights, wounded from the mountain of the Lord, descended to the lower regions. Hence also the Savior says in the Gospel, ‘I saw Satan falling like lightning from heaven.’ If that highest sublimity fell, who could not fall? If there are ruins in heaven, how much more on earth. And nevertheless, although Lucifer fell—indeed, after his fall, the ancient serpent—his strength is in his loins and his power over the navel of his belly. Great trees are overshadowed in him, and he sleeps beside the rush and reed and sedge. He is the king of all who are in the waters, where, namely, are pleasure and luxury and the propagation and irrigation of marriages.”

And below: § 6. “We have passed to the second division, in which he denies that those who obtained baptism with whole faith can afterward sin; and we have taught that, excepting God, every creature is subject to fault—not because all have sinned, but because they can sin—and that the fall of like persons should be a fear to those standing.”

GRATIAN. Accordingly, it appears evidently from the foregoing that some possess charity, which they afterward lose by transgressing criminally. But if anyone contends that this is to be understood not concerning virtue but concerning the work of virtue, let that person consider what one should reply concerning the innocence of Adam, the justice of David, Moses, and the others who approached baptism with full faith. Although they were afterward to fall, nevertheless they taste the heavenly gifts and become participants in the Holy Spirit, so that not only before human beings but also before God’s eyes they are found reborn from water and the Holy Spirit. If they did not possess charity before God’s eyes, they would be regenerated by water alone, not by the Spirit. For works or participation in the sacraments, unless they proceed from charity, furnish neither justice nor innocence before God. “For if,” says the Apostle, “I shall possess all faith, so that I move mountains, and if I distribute all my possessions as food for the poor, and if I hand over my body so that I burn, but do not possess charity, it profits me nothing.”

§ 1. But because it is conceded by some concerning those predestined to life that they lose charity and recover it after it is lost, it must also be considered concerning the reprobate whether they possess charity, after losing which they are afterward condemned. Concerning them Augustine writes thus in the Book on Correction and Grace, [c. 9]:

“The Apostle, knowing that some love God and do not remain in that good to the end, immediately added, ‘to those who according to purpose are called saints, etc.’”

In the same work, [c. 6]: § 1. “Will this person, still unwilling to be corrected, also be able to say, ‘What have I done that I did not receive?’ It is certain that the person received and by one’s own fault lost what one had received. I can, one says, I can indeed, when you reprove me, say that I have now fallen back from a good life into an evil one by my own will: What have I done that I did not receive? For I received the faith that works through love, but I did not receive perseverance in it to the end.”

In the same work, [c. 9]: § 2. “Without doubt I wished them to remain in good; they certainly were in good, but they did not remain in it.”

In the same work, [c. 13]: § 3. “For the sake of the usefulness of this secret, it must be believed that some of the children of perdition, without receiving the gift of persevering to the end, begin to live by the faith that works through love, and afterward fall,” etc.

GRATIAN. There are many similar things concerning the reprobate, also from the Gospel: “The one who has persevered to the end, etc.” In the same work: “Again this man began, etc.”

“It is to be wondered why God gives to certain children of perdition faith working through love, but does not give perseverance in it.”

GRATIAN. Likewise that saying of the Gospel: “Not the one who begins, but the one who has persevered to the end, this one will be saved.”

“Many begin well who end life in evil.”

GRATIAN. But one who never works from charity does not begin well. But if one does something from charity, it is also necessary that charity be in that person at some time.

PART V. § 1. But that saying of Gregory, “Those who can be seduced, never at any time to return, etc.,” is to be understood not generally concerning all the reprobate, but specifically concerning hypocrites. This is given to be understood evidently from the words of the same author. For when he proposed the question why the merciful God permits these things to happen—that Leviathan, either now through cunning suggestions or through that condemned man whom he fills, subjects to himself either the rays of the sun, that is, all the learned and wise, or gold, that is, men shining with the brightness of holiness, laying them beneath himself like mud by defiling them with vices—he immediately added in the solution of the same question, saying:

“We quickly answer this: the gold that could be spread like mud by his depraved persuasions was never gold before God’s eyes. For those who can be seduced, never at any time to return, seem to lose before human eyes the holiness that they had, but they never possessed it before God’s eyes. For often a person is entangled in many secret sins and appears great in one particular virtue; this virtue itself also, becoming empty, fails, because, when it becomes known to human beings, without doubt it is praised, and their favor is greedily sought. Hence it comes to pass that this very virtue is not virtue before God’s eyes, since the person conceals what displeases and discloses what pleases. What merits, therefore, can there be before God when the evils are hidden and the good things public? For very often, as we have said, pride lies hidden and chastity becomes known. And therefore chastity shown for a long time is lost near the end of life, because hidden pride is retained uncorrected to the end. Another devotes oneself to alms and distributes one’s possessions, but nevertheless serves many injustices, or perhaps exercises one’s tongue in detractions; and it very often comes to pass that one who had been merciful blazes near the end of one’s life with the goads of rapacity and cruelty. This is done by a very just judgment, so that the person loses even before human beings that by which one pleased human beings, since that person never took care to correct that by which one displeased God. Another applies oneself to patience but does not take care to avoid envying others and preserving malice in the heart; the person at some time becomes impatient because one long lay hidden in pain. Accordingly, these persons are gold in one respect and mud in another. And this gold is spread like mud when, as their hidden sins exact, even the virtue that had shone publicly is dissipated.

§ 1. But we believe it worthwhile if in these things we weigh more subtly the power of the heavenly order. For often almighty God tolerates their hidden evils for a long time and dispenses their manifest goods so that they may profit the uses of his elect. For some, by no means utterly abandoning the world, enter the narrow way without being destined to persevere, but by their example kindle those who are destined to persevere to seek the narrow way. Hence it very often happens that, by the very fact that they seem to live well, they live not for themselves but rather for the elect alone, since, though not destined to persevere, by their examples they provoke others who are destined to persevere toward the pursuits of living well. For we often see certain persons enter upon a way and hasten toward a proposed place; others, because they see them going, follow and seek the same place together with them. But it very often comes to pass that, when some entangling difficulty rushes in, those who were going before turn back behind them, and those who were following reach the place. Thus certainly are those who do not persevere and who enter the way of holiness. For this reason they begin the path of virtue without being destined to arrive: so that they may show those who are destined to arrive the way upon which they should walk. Even their fall serves with no small usefulness for the advancement of the elect, because, when the elect behold their fall, they tremble concerning their own state; and the ruin that condemns the former humbles the latter. For they learn to trust in the protection of heavenly aid when they behold many fall by their own strength. Therefore, when the reprobate seem to act well, they show, as it were, a level way to the elect following them. But when they fall into the collapse of wickedness, they show, as it were, to the elect proceeding behind them a pit of pride that must be avoided.”

GRATIAN. But the fact that the reprobate are denied to eat the bread that descended from heaven or drink the living water is not to be understood so that they are believed altogether foreign to charity, but so that they are understood not to plant a root in charity. For it is one thing to eat or drink, and another to taste. Hence in the Gospel it is read concerning Christ: “And when he had tasted, he refused to drink.” Therefore, one who plants a root in charity drinks the living water and eats the bread that descended from heaven; one tastes who shares it to some degree but afterward withdraws from it by transgressing. Concerning such persons the Apostle says, “It is impossible for those who were once enlightened and tasted the heavenly gift and after all these things have fallen away to be renewed again to penance.”

§ 1. Hence also the devil is denied to have stood in truth, not to have been created in it. For he was established in truth; but when he presumed concerning himself by growing proud, he was made foreign to it. But how is he declared to have been created in truth if he is proved to have been created without love for his Creator? Or how is he asserted to have been established good by God if he received nothing of divine direction in his creation? How did he exist without vice before the movement of pride if he did not love his Creator in any way? Or how is he said to have been created equal or more excellent than the others if, while some of them were established in the love of God, he was made empty of his love? But from where did this difference between the good and evil angels proceed? If from the Creator, God seems unjust, who inflicts punishment before sin or punishes what he infused by creating. But if not from the Creator, since it is not from propagation, it remains that the vice of pride proceeded into the angelic nature from the judgment of its own liberty. Therefore that nature was established good which by its own vice was changed from good into evil. But how could it have been good if it wholly lacked love? For neither was the angel made like us, whom weakness burdens until a determinate time of life, so that neither virtue nor any vice obtains a place in us. Therefore he received love in his creation, as did the others, concerning whom it is said, “The angelic powers that persisted in the love of God.” He does not say, “that began to love God,” but “that persisted in his love,” which had begun to love from creation, so that the beginning of divine love is believed common to all, but perseverance is understood to belong only to those who merited to receive this in reward: that, having been confirmed, they could no longer fall and would know this most certainly concerning themselves. Hence it is well said in Moses that heaven was made first and then the firmament, because, namely, the angelic nature was first established equally subtle in the higher things, and afterward was wondrously confirmed in those persisting in love of their Creator.

§ 2. Hence also Gregory in the Moralia, repeatedly treating many things concerning the perfection of angelic creation, denies that the devil was filled with charity; he does not assert that he was wholly empty of it. If he had wholly lacked it, the things said concerning his excellence could never suitably be understood of him.

“For blessed Gregory says, ‘Behemoth is called the beginning of the ways of God because, certainly, when the Creator made all things, he established this one first and made him more eminent than the other angels. The prophet beholds the eminence of his primacy when he says, “The cedars were not higher than he in the paradise of God; the fir trees did not equal his summit; the plane trees were not equal to his foliage; no precious tree of the paradise of God was likened to him and to his beauty, because he made him beautiful with many dense branches.” For what can be understood in the cedars, fir trees, and plane trees except those troops of heavenly powers of towering loftiness, planted in the greenness of eternal joy? Although they were established exalted, nevertheless they were neither preferred nor equaled to this one, who is said to have been made beautiful with many dense branches, because the degree to which he was set over the other legions rendered him more beautiful was as great as the multitude of angels placed beneath him adorned him. That tree in the paradise of God had as many dense branches, as it were, as it beheld legions of heavenly spirits placed beneath it. And therefore, sinning, he was condemned without pardon because he had been created great beyond comparison. Hence it is again said to him through the same prophet, “You, the seal of likeness, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, were in the delights of the paradise of God.” For, being about to speak many things concerning his greatness, in the first word he comprehended all. For what good did one who was the seal of God’s likeness not possess? From the seal of a ring such a likeness is expressed as an image as is contained essentially in that same seal. And although the human being was created in God’s likeness, nevertheless, as though attributing something greater to the angel, he does not say that he was established in God’s likeness, but that he was the very seal of God’s likeness, so that, the subtler his nature is, the more fully God’s likeness is believed to have been expressed in him.

§ 1. Hence, still intimating the power of his primacy, the same prophet adds, “Every precious stone was your covering: sardius, topaz, jasper, chrysolite, onyx, beryl, sapphire, carbuncle, and emerald.” He named nine kinds of stones because there are certainly nine orders of angels. For when angels, archangels, thrones and dominions, virtues, principalities, powers, cherubim, and seraphim are recalled in an open narration through the sacred writings, it is shown how many distinctions there are among the heavenly citizens. Yet this Behemoth is described as having been covered with them, because he possessed as a garment for his ornament those whose brightness he surpassed and, by comparison with them, was brighter.

§ 2. Concerning his description he further adds, “Gold was the work of your beauty, and your perforations were prepared on the day when you were established.” Gold was the work of his beauty because he shone with the brightness of wisdom, which he received when created good. But perforations are made in stones for this reason: that, bound with gold, they may be joined in the composition of the ornament, and that those whom the interposed gold binds by filling their perforations may by no means part from one another. Therefore the perforations of this stone were prepared on the day of its establishment, because he was created capable of charity. If he had wished to be filled with it, he could have adhered to the standing angels like stones set in the king’s ornament. For if he had rendered himself penetrable to the gold of charity, joined to the holy angels in the ornament, as we have said, he would have remained a fixed royal stone. Therefore this stone had perforations, but through the vice of pride they were not filled with the gold of charity. For because stones are bound with gold so that they do not fall, this one therefore fell because, although perforated by the artisan’s hand, he disdained to be bound by the bonds of love. But now the other stones, which had been perforated similarly here, are bound by charity, penetrating one another; and when this one fell, they merited this in the gift: that they would no longer be loosened from the royal ornament by falling.

§ 3. Still beholding the loftiness of his principality, the same prophet adds, “You were the extended and protecting cherub upon God’s holy mountain, and you walked perfect in the midst of the fiery stones.” For cherub is interpreted as fullness of knowledge, and therefore this one is called cherub because it is not doubted that he surpassed all in knowledge. He walked perfect in the midst of the fiery stones because, among the hearts of angels kindled by the fire of charity, he existed illustrious in the glory of his establishment. He well calls him extended and protecting. For whatever we protect while extended over it, we overshadow, because he is believed to have overshadowed the brightness of the others by comparison with his own brightness; he is found to have been extended and protecting. For he covered the others as though by overshadowing them, since he surpassed their greatness with greater excellence.

§ 4. Therefore what there is called beautiful with many branches, what there is called the seal of likeness, what there is called cherub, what there is called protecting—this is what here, by the Lord’s voice, this Behemoth is called the beginning of the ways of God. Concerning him, therefore, he intimates such wondrous things, in which he once was and which he lost, so that he may show a human being what that person, if proud, will suffer for the fault of one’s exaltation, since in striking he refused to spare the one whom in creating he exalted in the glory of such great brightness. Therefore let an exalted human being consider what one merits on earth, if one preferred to angels is cast down in heaven.’”

PART VI. GRATIAN. But charity that is abandoned in adversity is declared to be feigned, that is, earthen and fragile, just as the faith from which charity proceeds is denied by the Apostle to be feigned, that is, fragile. Similarly, charity that can be abandoned in adversity is said never to have been true. For as Jerome writes against Jovinian, “Every creature is subject to fault, not because every creature has sinned, but because there is none that cannot sin.” But, as Augustine says, to be able to sin is not to be able to do something; rather, it is not to be able to do something. Hence he alone is called omnipotent who cannot do this, because he can do all things in which ability is the ability to do something. Therefore, just as in comparison with him who knows no mutability every creature is called faulty because it is capable of mutability, according to that saying, “No living being will be justified in your sight,” and, “The stars are not clean in his sight,” so in comparison with that creature which does not receive change, every creature that is changed is proved not true but vain. Hence every human being is called a liar and made like vanity.

§ 1. Hence Ecclesiastes also says that all things beneath the sun—that is, those that receive the succession of times—are called not merely vanity, which inheres in every creature by reason of mutability, but also vanity of vanities by the variation of change that they receive. Thus, therefore, in comparison with divine charity no virtue is proved true; or in comparison with that charity which is not abandoned, that which is lost is said to be true; thus also charity that is abandoned is denied in its own manner to be true. But just as every creature is said in its own manner to be good and true, so also charity that is abandoned is shown in its own manner to be true; otherwise, if it were in no manner in that person, it would be abandoned by no one. For what in no manner truly exists can in no manner be abandoned. But if it is truly abandoned in some manner, it must also truly exist in some manner.