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ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE
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by St Augustine of Hippo |
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Ch 14. Beauty of diction to be in keeping
with the matter |
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30. And so much labour has been spent by men on the beauty of
expression here spoken of, that
not only is it not our duty to do, but it is our duty to shun and
abhor, many and heinous deeds of
wickedness and baseness which wicked and base men have with great
eloquence recommended,
not with a view to gaining assent, but merely for the sake of
being read with pleasure. But may
God avert from His Church what the prophet Jeremiah says of the
synagogue of the Jews: "A
wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land: the
prophets prophesy falsely, and the
priests applaud them with their hands; and my people love to have
it so: and what will ye do in the
end thereof?" O eloquence, which is the more terrible from its
purity, and the more crushing from
its solidity! Assuredly it is "a hammer that breaketh the
rock in pieces." For to this God Himself has by the same prophet
compared His own word spoken through His holy prophets. God
forbid, then, God forbid that with us the priest should applaud
the false prophet, and that God's people should love to have it
so. God forbid, I say, that with us there should be such terrible
madness! For what shall we do in the end thereof? And assuredly it
is preferable, even though what is said should be less
intelligible, less pleasing, and less persuasive, that truth be
spoken, and that what is just, not what is iniquitous, be listened
to with pleasure. But this, of course, cannot be, unless what is
true and just be expressed with elegance.
31. In a serious assembly, moreover, such as is spoken of when
it is said, "I will praise Thee among much people," no pleasure is
derived from that species of eloquence which indeed says nothing
that is false, but which buries small and unimportant truths under
a frothy mass of ornamental words, such as would not be graceful
or dignified even if used to adorn great and fundamental truths.
And something of this sort occurs in a letter of the blessed
Cyprian, which, I think, came there by accident, or else was
inserted designedly with this view, that posterity might see how
the wholesome discipline of Christian teaching had cured him of
that redundancy of language, and confined him to a more dignified
and modest form of eloquence, such as we find in his subsequent
letters, a style which is admired without effort, is sought after
with eagerness, but is not attained without great difficulty. He
says, then, in one place, "Let us seek this abode: the
neighbouring solitudes afford a retreat where, whilst the
spreading shoots of the vine trees, pendulous and intertwined,
creep amongst the supporting reeds, the leafy covering has made a
portico of vine." There is wonderful fluency and exuberance of
language here; but it is too florid to be pleasing to serious
minds. But people who are fond of this style are apt to think that
men who do not use it, but employ a more chastened style, do so
because they cannot attain the former, not because their judgment
teaches them to avoid it. Wherefore this holy man shows both that
he can speak in that style. for he has done so once, and that he
does not choose, for he never uses it again.
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Ch 15. The Christian teacher should pray
before preaching |
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32. And so our Christian orator, while he says what is just, and
holy, and good (and he ought
never to say anything else), does all he can to be heard with
intelligence, with pleasure, and with
obedience; and he need not doubt that if he succeed in this
object, and so far as he succeeds,
he will succeed more by piety in prayer than by gifts of oratory;
and so he ought to pray for
himself, and for those he is about to address, before he attempts
to speak. And when the hour is
come that he must speak, he ought, before he opens his mouth, to
lift up his thirsty soul to God,
to drink in what he is about to pour forth, and to be himself
filled with what he is about to
distribute. For, as in regard to every matter of faith and love
there are many things that may be
said, and many ways of saying them, who knows what it is expedient
at a given moment for us to
say, or to be heard saying, except God who knows the hearts of
all? And who can make us say
what we ought, and in the way we ought, except Him in whose hand
both we and our speeches
are? Accordingly, he who is anxious both to know and to teach
should learn all that is to be
taught, and acquire such a faculty of speech as is suitable for a
divine. But when the hour for
speech arrives, let him reflect upon that saying of our Lord's, as
better suited to the wants of a
pious mind: "Take no thought how or what ye shall speak; for it
shall be given you in that same
hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the
Spirit of your Father which speaketh
in you." The Holy Spirit, then, speaks thus in those who for
Christ's sake are delivered to the
persecutors; why not also in those who deliver Christ's message to
those who are willing to learn?
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Ch 16. Human directions not to be
despised though God makes the true teacher |
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33. Now if any one says that we need not direct men how or
what they should teach, since the
Holy Spirit makes them teachers, he may as well say that we need
not pray, since our Lord says,
"Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask
Him;" or that the Apostle Paul
should not have given directions to Timothy and Titus as to how or
what they should teach
others. And these three apostolic epistles ought to be constantly
before the eyes of every one who
has obtained the position of a teacher in the Church. In the First
Epistle to Timothy do we not
read: "These things command and teach?" What these things are, has
been told previously. Do we
not read there: "Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a
father?" Is it not said in the Second
Epistle: "Hold fast the form of sound words,; which thou hast
heard of me?" And is he not there
told: "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that
needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth?" And in the same place:
"Preach the word; be instant in season,
out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and
doctrine." And so in the Epistle
to Titus, does he not say that a bishop ought to "hold fast the
faithful word as he has been taught,
that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to
convince the gainsayers?" There, too,
he says: "But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:
that the aged men be sober,"
and so on. And there, too: "These things speak, and exhort, and
rebuke with all authority. Let no
man despise thee. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities
and powers," and so on. What
then are we to think? Does the apostle in any way contradict
himself, when, though he says that
men are made teachers by the operation of the Holy Spirit, he yet
himself gives them directions
how and what they should teach? Or are we to understand, that
though the duty of men to teach
even the teachers does not cease when the Holy Spirit is given,
yet that neither is he who
planteth anything, nor he who watereth, but God who giveth the
increase? Wherefore though holy
men be our helpers, or even holy angels assist us, no one learns
aright the things that pertain to
life with God, until God makes him ready to learn from Himself,
that God who is thus addressed
in the psalm: "Teach me to do Thy will; for Thou art my God." And
so the same apostle says to
Timothy himself, speaking, of course, as teacher to disciple: "But
continue thou in the things
which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom
thou hast learned them." For
as the medicines which men apply to the bodies of their fellow-men
are of no avail except God
gives them virtue (who can heal without their aid, though they
cannot without His), and yet they
are applied; and if it be done from a sense of duty, it is
esteemed a work of mercy or benevolence;
so the aids of teaching, applied through the instrumentality of
man, are of advantage to the soul
only when God works to make them of advantage, who could give the
gospel to man even
without the help or agency of men.
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Ch 17. Threefold division of the various
styles of speech |
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34. He then who, in speaking, aims at enforcing what is good,
should not despise any of those
three objects, either to teach, or to give pleasure, or to move,
and should pray and strive, as we
have said above, to be heard with intelligence, with pleasure, and
with ready compliance. And
when he does this with elegance and propriety, he may justly be
called eloquent, even though he
do not carry with him the assent of his hearer. For it is these
three ends, viz., teaching, giving
pleasure, and moving, that the great master of Roman eloquence
himself seems to have intended
that the following three directions should subserve: "He, then,
shall be eloquent, who can say little
things in a subdued style, moderate things in a temperate style,
and great things in a majestic
style:" as if he had taken in also the three ends mentioned above,
and had embraced the whole in
one sentence thus: "He, then, shall be eloquent, who can say
little things in a subdued style, in
order to give instruction, moderate things in a temperate style,
in order to give pleasure, and great
things in a majestic style, in order to sway the mind."
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Ch 18. The Christian orator is constantly
dealing with great matters |
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35. Now the author I have quoted could have exemplified these
three directions, as laid down by himself, in regard to legal
questions: he could not, however, have done so in regard to
ecclesiastical questions,--the only ones that an address such as I
wish to give shape to is concerned with. For of legal questions
those are called small which have reference to pecuniary
transactions; those great where a matter relating to man's life or
liberty comes up. Cases, again, which have to do with neither of
these, and where the intention is not to get the hearer to do, or
to pronounce judgment upon anything, but only to give him
pleasure, occupy as it were a middle place between the former two,
and are on that account called middling, or moderate. For moderate
things get their name from modus (a measure); and it is an abuse,
not a proper use of the word moderate, to put it for little. In
questions like ours, however, where all things, and especially
those addressed to the people from the place of authority, ought
to have reference to men's salvation, and that not their temporal
but their eternal salvation, and where also the thing to be
guarded against is eternal ruin, everything that we say is
important; so much so, that even what the preacher says about
pecuniary matters, whether it have reference to loss or gain,
whether the amount be great or small, should not seem unimportant.
For justice is never unimportant, and justice ought assuredly to
be observed, even in small affairs of money, as our Lord says: "He
that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in
much." That which is least, then, is very little; but to be
faithful in that which is least is great. For as the nature of the
circle, viz., that all lines drawn from the centre to the
circumference are equal, is the same in a great disk that it is in
the smallest coin; so the greatness of justice is in no degree
lessened, though the matters to which justice is applied be small.
36. And when the apostle spoke about trials in regard to
secular affairs (and what were these but matters of money?), he
says: "Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law
before the unjust, and not before the saints? Do ye not know that
the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged
by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not
that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to
this life? If, then, ye have judgments of things pertaining to
this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the Church.
I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man
among you? No, not one that shall be able to judge between his
brethren? But brother goes to law with brother, and that before
the unbelievers. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you,
because ye go to law one with another: why do ye not rather take
wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?
Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren. Know ye not
that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?" Why is
it that the apostle is so indignant, and that he thus accuses, and
upbraids, and chides, and threatens? Why is it that the changes in
his tone, so frequent and so abrupt, testify to the depth of his
emotion? Why is it, in fine, that he speaks in a tone so exalted
about matters so very trifling? Did secular matters deserve so
much at his hands? God forbid. No; but all this is done for the
sake of justice, charity, and piety, which in the judgment of
every sober mind are great, even when applied to matters the very
least.
37. Of course, if we were giving men advice as to how they
ought to conduct secular cases, either for themselves or for their
connections, before the church courts, we would rightly advise
them to conduct them quietly as matters of little moment. But we
are treating of the manner of speech of the man who is to be a
teacher of the truths which deliver us from eternal misery and
bring us to eternal happiness; and wherever these truths are
spoken of, whether in public or private, whether to one or many,
whether to friends or enemies, whether in a continuous discourse
or in conversation, whether in tracts, or in books, or in letters
long or short, they are of great importance. Unless indeed we are
prepared to say that, because a cup of cold water is a very
trifling and common thing, the saying of our Lord that he who
gives a cup of cold water to one of His disciples shall in no wise
lose his reward, is very trivial and unimportant. Or that when a
preacher takes this saying as his text, he should think his
subject very unimportant, and therefore speak without either
eloquence or power, but in a subdued and humble style. Is it not
the case that when we happen to speak on this subject to the
people, and the presence of God is with us, so that what we say is
not altogether unworthy of the subject, a tongue of fire springs
up out of that cold water which inflames even the cold hearts of
men with a zeal for doing works of mercy in hope of an eternal
reward?
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Ch 19. The Christian teacher must use
different styles on different occasion |
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38. And yet, while our teacher ought to speak of great matters, he
ought not always to be
speaking of them in a majestic tone, but in a subdued tone when he
is teaching, temperately when
he is giving praise or blame. When, however, something is to be
done, and we are speaking to
those who ought, but are not willing, to do it, then great matters
must be spoken of with power,
and in a manner calculated to sway the mind. And sometimes the
same important matter is treated
in all these ways at different times, quietly when it is being
taught, temperately when its
importance is being urged, and powerfully when we are forcing a
mind that is averse to the truth
to turn and embrace it. For is there anything greater than God
Himself? Is nothing, then, to be
learnt about Him? Or ought he who is teaching the Trinity in unity
to speak of it otherwise
than in the method of calm discussion, so that in regard to a
subject which it is not easy to
comprehend, we may understand as much as it is given us to
understand? Are we in this case to
seek out ornaments instead of proofs? Or is the hearer to be moved
to do something instead of
being instructed so that he may learn something? But when we come
to praise God, either in
Himself, or in His works, what a field for beauty and splendour of
language opens up before man,
who can task his powers to the utmost in praising Him whom no one
can adequately praise,
though there is no one who does not praise Him in some measure!
But if He be not worshipped,
or if idols, whether they be demons or any created being whatever,
be worshipped with Him or in
preference to Him, then we ought to speak out with power and
impressiveness, show how great a
wickedness this is, and urge men to flee from it.
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