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For these men, while they either fear to lose earthly riches or covet to acquire them, do not hide the commandments of Christ, that is, Joshua's spies, in the sun-room of their heart, but hand them over to their persecuting enemies, being either terrified by fear, or set aflame by the fire of depraved desire. Nor do they have the scarlet cord, by whose sign that house was saved, hung out through the window of their house—those who do not confess their faith, but deny the sacraments. For the scarlet cord displayed the mystery of the blood of Christ:
which cord he keeps hung out through the window of his house who, strengthened in faith by God's protection against pagans or against any heretics whatsoever, and carefully guarding his faith, confesses himself redeemed by the blood of Christ. For which reason the Savior himself says: Whoever shall confess me before men, I also will confess him before my Father, who is in heaven; but whoever shall deny me before men, I also will deny him before my Father, who is in heaven (Matt. x, 32). Although, therefore, the persecuting enemy may strive to slay Joshua's spies in the lower parts, that is, to unnerve the strength of the Christian faith by earthly promises or terrors;
yet if anyone has placed in the upper parts the faith of the Trinity, by which he believes the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit to be one God in substance, he will not fear all the black errors (or perhaps: terrors) of the persecutor, nor all the snares of the seducer. CHAPTER XXII. Accordingly, not only ought those whom the guilt of a repeated baptism holds ensnared to run back swiftly to the Church, and with tears and almsgiving to entreat God for so great a crime; but also, if any perchance without a repeated baptism, being enticed by gifts or by fear of punishments, denying the sacrament of the Catholic faith, have slipped into the deadly fellowship of heretics,
let them resume the faith which they denied, and return swiftly to the Church, so that when Joshua comes, they may be found within that house outside of which no one can be delivered from destruction: for as in Jericho whoever was outside that house could obtain no help of life, so outside the Catholic Church no one will receive the pardon of sins; and as within the Catholic Church man believes with the heart unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Rom. x, 10), so outside that same Church an evil belief is not reckoned unto righteousness, but unto punishment, and a wicked confession does not acquire salvation for the one confessing, but brings upon him death.
Outside this Church neither does the Christian name profit anyone, nor does baptism save, nor is a pure sacrifice offered to God, nor is the remission of sins received, nor is the felicity of eternal life found. For the Church of Christ is one, one dove, one beloved, one bride: in which the Trinity is believed to be one God, of one nature and substance; in which no insult of diminution is inflicted upon either the Son or the Holy Spirit; in which one and the same worship, and one honor, is offered to the one Trinity, which is the true God. This is the one true Church, which so believes and preaches one essence of the Trinity that it dares not prefer, among the three, any one person to another.
For thus she shows that she worships nothing diverse in the substance of the Godhead, confessing the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, that is, the very Trinity, to be the one true and only God; and she neither runs, in the name of unity, into the error of Sabellian confusion, nor forgets, in the appellation of Trinity, to avoid the deadly ruin of Arian diversity. For, retaining the rule of apostolic preaching, just as she acknowledges the Trinity in the persons of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, so she preaches the right faith of the one God, because in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit she preaches a natural unity. CHAPTER XXIII.
If any who are outside this Church, established in diverse errors, they will then receive the pardon of sins, if, while they are established in this world, they have been converted to this same Church by right belief and by the humility of a contrite heart. Therefore let them run, while there is time, to their lawful mother, who, as she diligently keeps and nourishes the sons born of her own womb, so she does not spurn those born of a handmaid when they return; nay rather, with the bowels of mercy she seeks out the erring, and unceasingly invites them out of affection, that she may lead them into the fellowship of the paternal inheritance. For in them she considers not the condition of the servile womb, but recognizes the truth of the paternal seed.
For what is the truth of the paternal seed, save baptism received in the name of the Trinity? Whomever she finds possessing this, she recognizes, as a lawful mother, to be of her own right. For she knows, like Rachel (Gen. xxx), not only to bear sons of her own womb, but also to claim, as a lawful mother, under her own name, those begotten of a handmaid. This is what is needed: that they should not neglect to seek again the fraternal fellowship, if they wish not to lack the gift of the paternal inheritance. Therefore, forsaking heresy, let them return swiftly to the Catholic Church; let them neither doubt concerning the possession of the inheritance, nor despair concerning the remission of sins.
For whoever does not believe that within the Catholic Church all sins can be forgiven, he denies to himself the remission of sins, if, persevering in the same hardness of an impenitent heart, he departs from this world alienated and cut off from ecclesiastical fellowship. CHAPTER XXIV. Such a man, therefore, speaks a word against the Holy Spirit which is to be forgiven neither in this age nor in that to come (Matt. xii, 32). For the charity of God, which covers a multitude of sins (1 Pet. iv, 8), is poured out, as the Apostle says, in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us (Rom. v, 5).
This charity, because it keeps the fellowship of fraternal unity uncorrupted, therefore covers a multitude of sins, and does not permit those to perish who persevere in unity with most certain hope. If anyone, therefore, holding the faith which works through charity (Gal. v, 6), so does penance for any former error whatsoever, that neither the fellowship of another error holds him, nor the chain of deadly despair binds him fast, he will be free from that word which is spoken against the Holy Spirit, which is not forgiven to the one speaking it, neither in this age nor in that to come. For by this word our Lord and Savior did not imply that any sins are to be forgiven in the age to come which were not forgiven in this age;
but to those who understand rightly he shows that no other sins, but only those, are to be forgiven in the age to come which in this age were forgiven to each one in the one and true Catholic Church. For to her alone the Lord granted the power of binding and loosing, saying: To thee I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth shall be bound also in the heavens; and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth shall be loosed also in the heavens (Matt. xvi, 19). What, therefore, holy Church has not loosed in this age remains so insoluble that it cannot in any way be loosed even in the age to come. And bound is every good man whom she has not loosed;
nor will he obtain any benefit of loosing who, not turned to penance, has hoped for a pardon of sins to be granted to him outside the Church. That man, therefore, speaks the irremissible word against the Holy Spirit who, despising the riches of God's goodness and patience and long-suffering, according to his hardness and impenitent heart treasures up for himself wrath in the day of wrath and of the revelation of the just judgment of God, who will render to each one according to his works (Rom. ii, 4). CHAPTER XXV. For whether it be charity, and that from a pure heart, or the communion of fraternal unity, or the paternal possession of the heavenly inheritance, they consist in the gift of the Holy Spirit. Concerning charity, indeed, the Teacher of the nations says:
the charity of God is poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us (Rom. v, 5). He commends the unity of the Spirit together with that same charity, saying: I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthily of the vocation to which you are called, with all humility and meekness, with patience supporting one another in charity, being solicitous to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph. iv, 1, 2, 3). He confirms also that the communion is of the Holy Spirit, saying: The grace also of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity of God, and the communication of the Holy Spirit be with you all (2 Cor. xiii, 13). Concerning our inheritance also he speaks thus:
You were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the pledge of our inheritance (Eph. i, 13, 14). Hope itself, too, which expels the vice of despair, the blessed Apostle assigns to the Holy Spirit, saying: Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope and in the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. xv, 13). That man, therefore, attains the perennial fellowship of the heavenly inheritance who, keeping within the Catholic Church the unity of fraternal charity, before he ends the present life, lays aside the deadly hardness of an impenitent heart, and does not despair that in the one and truly Catholic Church the remission of all sins is given to the converted through the Holy Spirit.
This our Savior himself also showed. For after he rose again, breathing upon the disciples, and bestowing on them the gift of the Holy Spirit, he granted them the power of remitting sins, saying: Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; whose you shall retain, they are retained (John xx, 22, 23). CHAPTER XXVI. Let them not, therefore, by deadly despair, close against themselves the door of pardon, who, separated from the Catholic Church, are held bound fast in the error of any heresy or schism whatsoever. Let them lay aside the hardness of heart, if they do not wish to be tormented with unending evils. For it is written that A hard heart shall fare ill at the last, and he who loves danger shall perish in it (Sirach
iii, 27). But what is more dangerous than not to render obedience to the divine words, and to spurn the will of God who calls? For which reason, in the book of holy Job, just as a glorious eternity is promised to those who are converted, so to the impious, because they do not obey, the gifts of salvation are denied. For thus it is written: They who are converted from iniquity, if they hearken and obey, shall complete their days in good things, and their years in glory. But the impious he does not make safe, because they were unwilling to know God, and, when they were admonished, they were disobedient (Job xxxvi, 11 ff.). Let them not, therefore, spurn the time of obedience granted them, but let them return to the Catholic Church;
in which alone, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, charity has begun to cover a multitude of sins (1 Pet. iv, 8). If there are also any within the Catholic Church who live wickedly, before they end this life, let them hasten to depart from an evil life; nor let them think the Catholic name suffices for their salvation, if they do not do the will of God. For our Savior says: Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of my Father, who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matt. vii, 21). For in the book of Psalms also it is written: The Lord is nigh to all who call upon him in truth;
he will fulfill the desire of those who fear him, and will hear their prayers, and will save them (Ps. cxliv, 18, 19). For which reason, in the Proverbs also, each one of us is commanded both to fear the Lord and to depart from evil. For there it is said: Fear the Lord, and turn away from every evil, and there shall be peace to thy body, and health to thy bones (Prov. iii, 7, 8). For in the book of Sirach also each of the faithful is thus admonished, lest he do evil: Do no evils, and they shall not lay hold of thee. Depart from the unjust, and evils shall depart from thee. Sow not evils in the furrows of injustice, and thou shalt not reap them sevenfold (Sirach vii, 1, 3).
In the same book again, lest anyone, adding sins to sins, should wish to flatter himself with a vain thought concerning the mercy of God, wholesome doctrine confronts him with words of this kind: Add not sin upon sin, and say not: The mercy of God is great; for mercy and wrath are with him, and his wrath will look upon sinners (Sirach v, 5, 6, 7). And again holy Job said: Shall there not be destruction for the unjust, and estrangement for those who work iniquity (Job xxxi, 3)? In the Proverbs it is written: His own iniquities catch the impious; and each one is bound fast with the cords of his own sins. He dies with the undisciplined, and out of the multitude of his own life he is cast forth, and he perishes through folly (Prov.
v, 22, 23). CHAPTER XXVII. And lest anyone think that any sins of men lie hidden from God, let us be instructed by the words of holy Job, who says: Thou hast numbered my thoughts, and nothing of my sins has escaped thee. Thou hast sealed up my iniquities as it were in a bag, thou hast noted whatever I have erred against my will (Job xiv, 16, 17, according to the Seventy). But lest anyone suppose he will go unpunished if he has been unwilling to be converted, let him listen intently to the words of the same holy man, who says: Nay rather, let no one, when he is wicked, be confident that he will go unpunished, whatever in his anger he provokes against God, as though there would be no inquiry made concerning him.
For this reason a wholesome admonition is brought forth in Sirach, that neither conversion should fail us, by which sins are avoided, nor supplication, by which past sins can be forgiven. For thus it is said: My son, hast thou sinned? Add not again; but also make supplication for thy former sins, that they may be forgiven thee. Flee from sins as from the face of a serpent. If thou approach them, they will lay hold of thee, and, like a lion's teeth, they will slay thee in devouring (Sirach xxi, 1, 2). But neither is this passed over in silence, that the impious and sinners who have been unwilling to do penance for their impiety or iniquity are to be assigned in the end to eternal torments, but that our Lord bestows mercy on those who have done penance. For indeed in the book of Sirach it is thus set down:
Because the Most High also has had mercy on the penitent, and to the impious and to sinners he will render vengeance (Sirach xii, 7). Again in the same volume it is thus said: Remember that wrath will not tarry. Humble thy spirit greatly, for the vengeance upon the flesh of the impious is fire and the worm (Sirach vii, 18, 19). Isaiah also says: For their fire shall not be quenched, and their worm shall not die (Isa. lxvi, 24). Again in Sirach it is set down: The gathered assembly of sinners is like tow, and their end is a flame of fire. The way of sinners is paved with stumbling-blocks, and at their end are hell, and darkness, and punishments (Sirach xxi, 10, 11). CHAPTER XXVIII.
This is the death that shall seize those who live according to the flesh, as the holy preaching of blessed Paul testifies, thus saying: Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you shall die; but if by the spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live (Rom. viii, 12, 13). Now the deeds of the flesh follow, if anyone either yields to worldly desires, or wishes to remain a captive in impiety: whereas spiritual doctrine instructs us in nothing else than that, having renounced impiety, we should also lay aside worldly desires. Which the Teacher of the nations conveys in these words:
Now the grace of the Lord has appeared to all men, instructing us that, renouncing impiety and worldly desires, we should live soberly, and justly, and piously in this world, looking for the blessed hope and the coming of the glory of the great God, and of our Savior Jesus Christ (Titus ii, 11 ff.). Theirs, therefore, is the blessed hope, theirs the sure expectation, theirs the future felicity, who, renouncing impiety and worldly desires, have lived soberly, and justly, and piously in this world. Sobriety, therefore, and justice, and piety ought to be most diligently guarded by Christians. And sobriety he guards who orders his morals and his life.
And that man lives justly who neither inflicts any evil upon his neighbor and, so far as he is able, expends the help of good works. He too lives piously who neither believes nor speaks anything perverse concerning God. Whoever therefore wishes to attain the kingdom of heaven, let him live soberly in himself, keep justice toward his neighbor, and persevere piously in God. Chapter 29. These things, moreover, will then profit in the life to come if they are held fast in the life of the present age. For this the blessed Apostle both knew and taught, who charged us to live soberly and justly and piously in this world (same place): teaching, that is, that those will obtain mercy in the judgment who before the Judgment have led a just life in this world.
On this account divine Scripture forewarns us in the book of Ecclesiasticus, saying: Before judgment prepare justice for yourself, and in the sight of God you shall find propitiation (Ecclus. 18:19). Therefore whoever desires to find propitiation in the sight of God ought to prepare justice for himself here. For what a man has not laid up as treasure for himself in the present age, he will not have in the time of the future recompense. And that this may be shown, as far as is sufficient, by the testimonies of the divine Scriptures, let us first bring this book to a close, so that we may consequently be able to give a fitting beginning to the remaining part of the question. SECOND BOOK.
I am not unaware that at the beginning of the previous book we undertook, in the name and with the help of God, to treat the question concerning the remission of sins in such a way that a threefold division of the discussion might be made. For since we said that neither mercy nor justice is lacking to our Lord, that is, to the true God (which also we took care to show by the most manifest attestation of the divine Scriptures), we said that from this the truth could more easily appear to inquirers: to what sort of persons God forgives sins, where He forgives, and when He forgives. Of this threefold division, having now discharged the twofold part, I am not unaware that I am a debtor for the third.
To what sort of persons God forgives sins, and where He forgives, I judge to have been suitably shown in the previous book, so far as God in His mercy granted us His help. For it is established that remission of sins is not bestowed except on the converted who are set within the Catholic Church. For there can true conversion be, where true faith is adorned by the companionship of a holy manner of life, and the zeal for living well is defiled by no staining of depraved belief. For a good life is not truly so called which is corrupted by the vice of perverse belief; nor does the faith of one believing rightly suffice for salvation, if his manner of life is disturbed by obscene conduct and works.
PropterquodsicutmortuamsineoperibusfidembeatusJacobusprædicat (Jac. II, 17), sicomnequodnonestexfidepeccatumessePaulussuapredicationeconfirmat (Rom. xiv, 23). 384 CAPUTII. Nuncauteminquantumnobisalucevera, quæilluminatomnemhominemvenienteminhuncmundum (Joan. I, 9), donaturilluminationisauxilium, aggredimurostenderequandopœnitentibusdeturremissiopeccatorum. Steriliscnimpœnitentiaremissionisfructuprivabitur, sidivinitusindultitemporisopportunitasomittatur. PropterquodbeatusPetrusdicit:
On this account, just as the blessed James proclaims faith without works to be dead (James 2:17), so Paul confirms by his preaching that everything which is not of faith is sin (Rom. 14:23). Chapter 2. Now, however, insofar as the help of illumination is granted to us by the true light which enlightens every man coming into this world (John 1:9), we undertake to show when remission of sins is given to the penitent. For a barren repentance will be deprived of the fruit of remission, if the opportunity of the time divinely granted is let slip. On this account the blessed Peter says:
The Lord does not delay His promise, as some suppose Him to delay, but bears patiently on your account, unwilling that any should perish, but that all should be converted to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9). I beseech you, most beloved Euthymius, do not be reluctant to weigh with intent consideration how much weight there is in this apostolic force of speech. For it ought not to be despised as trifling that the blessed Peter says God bears patiently for this reason, because He does not will that any should perish, but that all should be converted to repentance. For here repentance profits the sinner, where God does not hasten to condemn the one sinning, so that He may grant remission of sins to the one converted to repentance.
For if the repentance of the wicked could be in any degree fruitful even after this life, the blessed Peter would not say that God bears patiently for this reason, because He does not will that any should perish—of those, namely, whom He foreknew and predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29). Of these none perishes. And who resists His will? These, before the end of the present life, are freely prevented by the mercy of God; they are savingly pierced with a contrite and humbled heart, and all are converted to repentance by the divine gift, to which they were divinely predestined through gratuitous grace, so that being converted they may not perish, but may have eternal life.
These without doubt are all those whom, according to the proclamation of the blessed Paul, God wills to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4). For because He wills this who has done all whatsoever He willed, what He wills He always does insuperably. This indeed is fulfilled in them which the will of Almighty God has, unchangeable and insuperable; whose will, as it cannot be changed in its disposition, so neither is His power prohibited nor impeded in its work: for neither can anyone justly reprehend His equity, nor can anyone withstand His mercy. Whence our Savior rebukes the malevolence of the unbelieving city with such words:
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not! (Matt. 23:37). Now Christ said this in order to show its evil will, by which it strove in vain to resist the insuperable divine will, since the good will of God can neither be overcome by those whom it abandons, nor can fail to accomplish anything that it wills. That Jerusalem, then, so far as pertains to its own will, was unwilling that its children be gathered to the Savior; yet He gathered together all whom He willed. And thereby it willed to resist the Almighty, and was not able:
because God who, as it is written, has done all whatsoever He willed (Ps. 134:6), converts to Himself by gratuitous justification whomsoever He wills, prevening them, that is, by the gift of superabounding grace—those whom He could indeed justly condemn if He willed. Therefore when the apostle Peter says that God bears patiently, unwilling that any should perish, but that all should be converted to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9), let us not so take the word 'all' as though there were none who is not going fittingly to repent; but by 'all' here we ought to understand those to whom God so gives repentance here that He also gives perseverance: that is, those who are so converted by the divine prevening mercy that, by that same mercy
following after, they in no way return to the crimes which they renounce. These are they to whom, as Paul says, God gives repentance to know the truth, that they may recover themselves from the snares of the devil, by whom they are held captive to his will (2 Tim. 2:25). Whoever takes care to perform this repentance in this present age, he himself will be able to find with God the fruit of his repentance. Chapter 3. But we read in the book of Wisdom that certain persons will indeed have repentance on the day of judgment, yet will not divinely receive pardon. It is finally so written: Then shall the just stand in great constancy against those who have straitened them and who have taken away their labors.
Seeing this they shall be troubled with horrible fear, and shall marvel at the suddenness of unexpected salvation, saying among themselves, having repentance and groaning through anguish of spirit: These are they whom we once held in derision and as a byword of reproach; we senseless ones esteemed their life madness, and their end without honor. How are they reckoned among the sons of God, and their lot is among the saints? (Wisd. 5:1ff.). But let no one, when he reads that it is said the wicked will marvel at the suddenness of unexpected salvation, suppose that salvation, unexpectedly, is to be divinely conferred upon those who end the present life in crimes.
For the unexpected salvation of the just, though it be despaired of as ever to be given by the wicked, nevertheless abides for the just who hope. Whence the blessed David sang in one passage of a psalm both the hope of the just and their salvation, saying: But the salvation of the just is from the Lord, and He is their protector in the time of tribulation: and the Lord will help them and deliver them, and will rescue them from sinners and save them, because they have hoped in Him (Ps. 36:39-40). Hence it is that the wicked, destined to eternal torments, will say concerning the just: These are they whom we once held in derision and as a byword of reproach; we senseless ones esteemed their life madness, and their end without honor.
This is the unexpected salvation, because they esteemed the life of the just as madness; and while they themselves were insane, they believed themselves to be sound, and did not hope for the recompense of divine justice, and on that account neglected to correct their life. For indeed they delighted here to live luxuriously for a few days, and did not believe that afterward they would be tormented with eternal punishments. On that account, when they shall see the just in that glory of the sons of God, of which the blessed Paul says: In which we stand and glory in the hope of the glory of the sons of God (Rom. 5:2), then the wicked will marvel at the glory of the just, that is, of the sons of God; because the just themselves are sons of God.