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ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE
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by St Augustine of Hippo |
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Ch 37. Use of rhetoric and dialectic |
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55. This art, however, when it is learnt, is not to be used so
much for ascertaining the meaning
as for setting forth the meaning when it is ascertained. But the
art previously spoken of, which
deals with inferences, and definitions, and divisions, is of the
greatest assistance in the discovery
of the meaning, provided only that men do not fall into the error
of supposing that when they have
learnt these things they have learnt the true secret of a happy
life. Still, it sometimes happens that
men find less difficulty in attaining the object for the sake of
which these sciences are learnt, than
in going through the very intricate and thorny discipline of such
rules. It is just as if a man wishing
to give rules for walking should warn you not to lift the hinder
foot before you set down the front
one, and then should describe minutely the way you ought to move
the hinges of the joints and
knees. For what he says is true, and one cannot walk in any other
way; but men find it easier to
walk by executing these movements than to attend to them while
they are going through them, or
to understand when they are told about them. Those, on the other
hand, who cannot walk, care
still less about such directions, as they cannot prove them by
making trial of them. And in the
same way a clever man often sees that an inference is unsound more
quickly than he apprehends
the rules for it. A dull man, on the other hand, does not see the
unsoundness, but much less does
he grasp the rules. And in regard to all these laws, we derive
more pleasure from them as
exhibitions of truth, than assistance in arguing or forming
opinions, except perhaps that they put
the intellect in better training. We must take care, however, that
they do not at the same time
make it more inclined to mischief or vanity,--that is to say, that
they do not give those who have
learnt them an inclination to lead people astray by plausible
speech and catching questions, or
make them think that they have attained some great thing that
gives them an advantage over the
good and innocent.
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Ch 38. The science of numbers not created, but only
discovered, by man |
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56. Coming now to the science of number, it is clear to the
dullest apprehension that this was not
created by man, but was discovered by investigation. For, though
Virgil could at his own pleasure
make the first syllable of Italia long, while the ancients
pronounced it short, it is not in any man's
power to determine at his pleasure that three times three are not
nine, or do not make a square, or
are not the triple of three, nor one and a half times the number
six, or that it is not true that they
are not the double of any number because odd numbers have no half.
Whether, then, numbers are
considered in themselves, or as applied to the laws of figures, or
of sounds, or of other motions,
they have fixed laws which were not made by man, but which the
acuteness of ingenious men
brought to light.
57. The man. however. who puts so high a value on these things as
to be inclined to boast
himself one of the learned, and who does not rather inquire after
the source from which those
things which he perceives to be true derive their truth, and from
which those others which he
perceives to be unchangeable also derive their truth and unchangeableness, and who, mounting up
from bodily appearances to the mind of man, and finding that it
too is changeable (for it is
sometimes instructed, at other times uninstructed), although it
holds a middle place between the
unchangeable truth above it and the changeable things beneath it,
does not strive to make all
things redound to the praise and love of the one God from whom he
knows that all things have
their being;-- the man, I say, who acts in this way may seem to be
learned, but wise he cannot in
any sense be deemed.
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Ch 39. To which of the above-mentioned studies
attention should be given, and in what spirit |
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58. Accordingly, I think that it is well to warn studious and able
young men, who fear God and are seeking for happiness of life, not
to venture heedlessly upon the pursuit of the branches of learning
that are in vogue beyond the pale of the Church of Christ, as if
these could secure for them the happiness they seek; but soberly
and carefully to discriminate among them. And if they find any of
those which have been instituted by men varying by reason of the
varying pleasure of their founders, and unknown by reason of
erroneous conjectures, especially if they involve entering into
fellowship with devils by means of leagues and covenants about
signs, let these he utterly rejected and held in detestation. Let
the young men also withdraw their attention from such institutions
of men as are unnecessary and luxurious. But for the sake of the
necessities of this life we must not neglect the arrangements of
men that enable us to carry on intercourse with those around us. I
think, however, there is nothing useful in the other branches of
learning that are found among the heathen, except information
about objects, either past or present, that relate to the bodily
senses, in which are included also the experiments and conclusions
of the useful mechanical arts, except also the sciences of
reasoning and of number. And in regard to all these we must hold
by the maxim, "Not too much of anything;" especially in the case
of those which, pertaining as they do to the senses, are subject
to the relations of space and time.
59. What, then, some men have done in regard to all words and
names found in Scripture, in the Hebrew, and Syrian, and Egyptian,
and other tongues, taking up and interpreting separately such as
were left in Scripture without interpretation; and what Eusebius
has done in regard to the history of the past with a view to the
questions arising in Scripture that require a knowledge of history
for their solution;--what, I say, these men have done in regard to
matters of this kind, making it unnecessary for the Christian to
spend his strength on many subjects for the sake of a few items of
knowledge, the same, I think, might be done in regard to other
matters, if any competent man were willing in a spirit of
benevolence to undertake the labour for the advantage of his
brethren. In this way he might arrange in their several classes,
and give an account of the unknown places, and animals, and
plants, and trees, and stones, and metals, and other species of
things that are mentioned in Scripture, taking up these only, and
committing his account to writing. This might also be done in
relation to numbers, so that the theory of those numbers, and
those only, which are mentioned in Holy Scripture, might be
explained and written down. And it may happen that some or all of
these things have been done already (as I have found that many
things I had no notion of have been worked out and committed to
writing by good and learned Christians), but are either lost amid
the crowds of the careless, or are kept out of sight by the
envious. And I am not sure whether the same thing can be done in
regard to the theory of reasoning; but it seems to me it cannot,
because this runs like a system of nerves through the whole
structure of Scripture, and on that account is of more service to
the reader in disentangling and explaining ambiguous passages, of
which I shall speak hereafter, than in ascertaining the meaning of
unknown signs, the topic I am now discussing.
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Ch 40. Whatever has been rightly said by the heathen,
we must appropriate to our usesid |
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60. Moreover, if those who are called philosophers, and
especially the Platonists, have said aught
that is true and in harmony with our faith, we are not only not to
shrink from it, but to claim it for
our own use from those who have unlawful possession of it. For, as
the Egyptians had not only
the idols and heavy burdens which the people of Israel hated and
fled from, but also vessels and
ornaments of gold and silver, and garments, which the same people
when going out of Egypt
appropriated to themselves, designing them for a better use, not
doing this on their own authority,
but by the command of God, the Egyptians themselves, in their
ignorance, providing them with
things which they themselves, were not making a good use of; in
the same way all branches of
heathen learning have not only false and superstitious fancies and
heavy burdens of unnecessary
toil, which every one of us, when going out under the leadership
of Christ from the fellowship of
the heathen, ought to abhor and avoid; but they contain also
liberal instruction which is better
adapted to the use of the truth, and some most excellent precepts
of morality; and some truths in
regard even to the worship of the One God are found among them.
Now these are, so to speak,
their gold and silver, which they did not create themselves, but
dug out of the mines of God's
providence which are everywhere scattered abroad, and are
perversely and unlawfully prostituting
to the worship of devils. These, therefore, the Christian, when he
separates himself in spirit from
the miserable fellowship of these men, ought to take away from
them, and to devote to their
proper use in preaching the gospel. Their garments, also,--that
is, human institutions such as are
adapted to that intercourse with men which is indispensable in
this life,--we must take and turn to
a Christian use.
61. And what else have many good and faithful men
among our brethren done?
Do we not see with what a quantity of gold and silver and garments
Cyprian, that most persuasive
teacher and most blessed martyr, was loaded when he came out of
Egypt? How much Lactantius
brought with him? And Victorious, and Optatus, and Hilary, not to
speak of living men! How
much Greeks out of number have borrowed! And prior to all these,
that most faithful servant of
God, Moses, had done the same thing; for of him it is written that
he was learned in all the
wisdom of the Egyptians. And to none of all these would heathen
superstition (especially in those
times when, kicking against the yoke of Christ, it was persecuting
the Christians) have ever
furnished branches of knowledge it held useful, if it had
suspected they were about to turn them to
the use of worshipping the One God, and thereby overturning the
vain worship of idols. But they
gave their gold and their silver and their garments to the people
of God as they were going out of
Egypt, not knowing how the things they gave would be turned to the
service of Christ. For what
was done at the time of the exodus was no doubt a type prefiguring
what happens now. And this I
say without prejudice to any other interpretation that may be as
good, or better.
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Ch 41. What kind of spirit is required for the study
of Holy Scripture |
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62. But when the student of the Holy Scriptures, prepared in the
way I have indicated, shall
enter upon his investigations, let him constantly meditate upon
that saying of the apostle's,
"Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth." For so he will feel
that, whatever may be the riches
he brings with him out of Egypt, yet unless he has kept the
Passover, he cannot be safe. Now
Christ is our Passover sacrificed for us, and there is nothing the
sacrifice of Christ more clearly
teaches us than the call which He himself addresses to those whom
He sees toiling in Egypt under
Pharaoh: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. Take my
yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart:
and ye shall find rest unto your
souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." To whom is it
light but to the meek and lowly
in heart, whom knowledge does not puff up, but charity edifieth?
Let them remember, then, that
those who celebrated the Passover at that time in type and shadow,
when they were ordered to
mark their door-posts with the blood of the lamb, used hyssop to
mark them with. Now this is a
meek and lowly herb, and yet nothing is stronger and more
penetrating than its roots; that being
rooted and grounded in love, we may be able to comprehend with all
saints what is the breadth,
and length, and depth, and height,--that is, to comprehend the
cross of our Lord, the breadth of
which is indicated by the transverse wood on which the hands are
stretched, its length by the part
from the ground up to the crossbar on which the whole body from
the head downwards is fixed,
its height by the part from the crossbar to the top on which the
head lies, and its depth by the part
which is hidden, being fixed in the earth. And by this sign of the
cross all Christian action is
symbolized, viz., to do good works in Christ, to cling with
constancy to Him, to hope for heaven,
and not to desecrate the sacraments. And purified by this
Christian action, we shall be able to
know even "the love of Christ which passeth knowledge," who is
equal to the Father, by whom all
things, were made, "that we may be filled with all the fullness of
God." There is besides in hyssop
a purgative virtue, that the breast may not be swollen with that
knowledge which puffeth up, nor
boast vainly of the riches brought out from Egypt. "Purge me with
hyssop," the psalmist says,
"and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me to hear joy and
gladness." Then he immediately adds, to show that it is purifying
from pride that is indicated by
hyssop, "that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice."
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Ch 42. Sacred Scripture compared with profane authors |
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63. But just as poor as the store of gold and silver and garments
which the people of Israel
brought with them out of Egypt was in comparison with the riches
which they afterwards attained
at Jerusalem, and which reached their height in the reign of King
Solomon, so poor is all the
useful knowledge which is gathered from the books of the heathen
when compared with the
knowledge of Holy Scripture. For whatever man may have learnt from
other sources, if it is
hurtful, it is there condemned; if it is useful, it is therein
contained. And while every man may find
there all that he has learnt of useful elsewhere, he will find
there in much greater abundance things
that are to be found nowhere else, but can be learnt only in the
wonderful sublimity and wonderful
simplicity of the Scriptures.
When, then, the reader is possessed of the instruction here
pointed out, so that unknown signs
have ceased to be a hindrance to him; when he is meek and lowly of
heart, subject to the easy
yoke of Christ, and loaded with His light burden, rooted and
grounded and built up in faith, so
that knowledge cannot puff him up, let him then approach the
consideration and discussion of
ambiguous signs in Scripture. And about these I shall now, in a
third book, endeavour to say what
the Lord shall be pleased to vouchsafe.
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