Augustine - On Christian DoctrineBOOK I. CONTAINING A GENERAL VIEW OF THE SUBJECTS TREATED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. ARGUMENT. THE AUTHOR DIVIDES HIS WORK INTO TWO PARTS, ONE RELATING TO THE DISCOVERY, THE OTHER TO THE EXPRESSION, OF THE TRUE SENSE OF SCRIPTURE. HE SHOWS THAT TO DISCOVER THE MEANING WE MUST ATTEND BOTH TO THINGS AND TO SIGNS, AS IT IS NECESSARY TO KNOW WHAT THINGS WE OUGHT TO TEACH TO THE CHRISTIAN PEOPLE, AND ALSO THE SIGNS OF THESE THINGS, THAT IS, WHERE THE KNOWLEDGE OF THESE THINGS IS TO BE SOUGHT. IN THIS FIRST BOOK HE TREATS OF THINGS, WHICH HE DIVIDES INTO THREE CLASSES,--THINGS TO BE ENJOYED, THINGS TO BE USED, AND THINGS WHICH USE AND ENJOY. THE ONLY OBJECT WHICH OUGHT TO BE ENJOYED IS THE TRIUNE GOD, WHO IS OUR HIGHEST GOOD AND OUR TRUE HAPPINESS. WE ARE PREVENTED BY OUR SINS FROM ENJOYING GOD; AND THAT OUR SINS MIGHT BE TAKEN AWAY, "THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH," OUR LORD SUFFERED, AND DIED, AND ROSE AGAIN, AND ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN, TAKING TO HIMSELF AS HIS BRIDE THE CHURCH, IN WHICH WE RECEIVE REMISSION OF OUR SINS. AND IF OUR SINS ARE REMITTED AND OUR SOULS RENEWED BY GRACE, WE MAY AWAIT WITH HOPE THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY TO ETERNAL GLORY; IF NOT, WE SHALL BE RAISED TO EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT. THESE MATTERS RELATING TO FAITH HAVING BEEN EXPOUNDED, THE AUTHOR GOES ON TO SHOW THAT ALL OBJECTS, EXCEPT GOD, ARE FOR USE; FOR, THOUGH SOME OF THEM MAY BE LOVED, YET OUR LOVE IS NOT TO REST IN THEM, BUT TO HAVE REFERENCE TO GOD. AND WE OURSELVES ARE NOT OBJECTS OF ENJOYMENT TO GOD; HE USES US, BUT FOR OUR OWN ADVANTAGE. HE THEN GOES ON TO SHOW THAT LOVE--THE LOVE OF GOD FOR HIS OWN SAKE AND THE LOVE OF OUR NEIGHBOR FOR GOD'S SAKE--IS THE FULFILLMENT AND THE END OF ALL SCRIPTURE. AFTER ADDING A FEW WORDS ABOUT HOPE, HE SHOWS, IN CONCLUSION, THAT FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE ARE GRACES ESSENTIALLY NECESSARY FOR HIM WHO WOULD UNDERSTAND AND EXPLAIN ARIGHT THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. CHAP. 1.--THE INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE DEPENDS ON THE DISCOVERY AND ENUNCIATION OF THE MEANING, AND IS TO BE UNDERTAKEN IN DEPENDENCE ON GOD'S AID. THERE are two things on which all interpretation of Scripture depends: the mode of ascertaining the proper meaning, and the mode of making known the meaning when it is ascertained. We shall treat first of the mode of ascertaining, next of the mode of making known, the meaning;--a great and arduous undertaking, and one that, if difficult to carry out, it is, I fear, presumptuous to enter upon. And presumptuous it would undoubtedly be, if I were counting on my own strength; but since my hope of accomplishing the work rests on Him who has already supplied me with many thoughts on this subject, I do not fear but that He will go on to supply what is yet wanting when once I have begun to use what He has already given. For a possession which is not diminished by being shared with others, if it is possessed and not shared, is not yet possessed as it ought to be possessed. The Lord saith "Whosoever hath, to him shall be given."(1) He will give, then, to those who have; that is to say, if they use freely and cheerfully what they have received, He will add to and perfect His gifts. The loaves in the miracle were only five and seven in number before the disciples began to divide them among the hungry people. But when once they began to distribute them, though the wants of so many thousands were satisfied, they filled baskets with the fragments that were left.(2) Now, just as that bread increased in the very act of breaking it, so those thoughts which the Lord has already vouchsafed to me with a view to undertaking this work will, as soon as I begin to impart them to others, be multiplied by His grace, so that, in this very work of distribution in which I have engaged, so far from incurring loss and poverty, I shall be made to rejoice in a marvellous increase of wealth. CHAP. 2.--WHAT A THING IS, AND WHAT A SIGN. 2. All instruction is either about things or about signs; but things are learnt by means of signs. I now use the word "thing" in a strict sense, to signify that which is never employed as a sign of anything else: for example, wood, stone, cattle, and other things of that kind. Not, however, the wood which we read Moses cast into the bitter waters to make them sweet,(3) nor the stone which Jacob used as a pillow,(4) nor the ram which Abraham offered up instead of his son;(5) for these, though they are things, are also signs of other things. There are signs of another kind, those which are never employed except as signs: for example, words. No one uses words except as signs of something else; and hence may be understood what I call signs: those things, to wit, which are used to indicate something else. Accordingly, every sign is also a thing; for what is not a thing is nothing at all. Every thing, however, is not also a sign. And so, in regard to this distinction between things and signs, I shall, when I speak of things, speak in such a way that even if some of them may be used as signs also, that will not interfere with the division of the subject according to which I am to discuss things first and signs afterwards. But we must carefully remember that what we have now to consider about things is what they are in themselves, not what other things they are signs of. CHAP. 3.--SOME THINGS ARE FOR USE, SOME FOR ENJOYMENT. 3. There are some things, then, which are to be enjoyed, others which are to be used, others still which enjoy and use. Those things which are objects of enjoyment make us happy. Those things which are objects of use assist, and (so to speak) support us in our efforts after happiness, so that we can attain the things that make us happy and rest in them. We ourselves, again, who enjoy and use these things, being placed among both kinds of objects, if we set ourselves to enjoy those which we ought to use, are hindered in our course, and sometimes even led away from it; so that, getting entangled in the love of lower gratifications, we lag behind in, or even altogether turn back from, the pursuit of the real and proper objects of enjoyment. CHAP. 4.--DIFFERENCE OF USE AND ENJOYMENT. 4. For to enjoy a thing is to rest with satisfaction in it for its own sake. To use, on the other hand, is to employ whatever means are at one's disposal to obtain what one desires, if it is a proper object of desire; for an unlawful use ought rather to be called an abuse. Suppose, then, we were wanderers in a strange country, and could not live happily away from our fatherland, and that we felt wretched in our wandering, and wishing to put an end to our misery, determined to return home. We find, however, that we must make use of some mode of conveyance, either by land or water, in order to reach that fatherland where our enjoyment is to commence. But the beauty of the country through which we pass, and the very pleasure of the motion, charm our hearts, and turning these things which we ought to use into objects of enjoyment, we become unwilling to hasten the end of our journey; and becoming engrossed in a factitious delight, our thoughts are diverted from that home whose delights would make us truly happy. Such is a picture of our condition in this life of mortality. We have wandered far from God; and if we wish to return to our Father's home, this world must be used, not enjoyed, that so the invisible things of God may be clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,(6)--that is, that by means of what is material and temporary we may lay hold upon that which is spiritual and eternal |
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