Sin may be the cause or the punishment of sin. 113 XXV. speedily wiped out by penitence, is either a sin, and a cause Book of sin, or else a sin, and the punishment of sin. For a sin which penitence does not wash away, soon leads on, by its very weight, to another. Whence it is not only a sin, but a sin, and a cause of sin. For, from that sin, a succeeding fault takes its rise, by which the blinded mind is led on to endure greater bondage from another. But a sin which arises from a sin, is no longer merely a sin, but a sin, and a punishment of sin. Because Almighty God obscures, by a just judgment, the heart of a sinner, that he may fall into other sins also, through desert of his former sin. For the man whom He willed not to set free, He has smitten by forsaking him. That, then, is not improperly called the punishment of sin, which, in consequence of a just blindness having been inflicted from above, is committed by way of punishment for former offences. And it is the result of a system, ordained indeed above, but thrown into confusion by men's wickedness below, that a preceding sin is the cause of that which follows, and, again, a subsequent sin the punishment of that which precedes it. This seed, as it were, of error, Paul had clearly observed in the unbelieving and unstable, when saying, Who when they had known God, glorified Him not Rom. 1, as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their 21. thoughts. But he immediately added that which sprang up from this seed of error, saying, Wherefore God gave them up Rom. 1, to the desires of their own heart unto uncleanness, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves. For because, though knowing God, they wittingly committed the sin of pride, they are also so blinded as not to be aware of the sin they are committing. And they who are unwilling to follow their own understanding in sin, that is the cause of sin, are deprived of the light of understanding in sin, that is the punishment of sin. The pitfal of subsequent sins is covered over by the demerits of former sins, in order that he, who knowingly commits sin, may afterwards fall, even unwittingly, in other sins. 23. It is provided, in fact, that some faults are smitten with other faults, in order that their very growth in sin may be the punishment of sinners. For because Almighty God grants time for repentance, which human wickedness perverts, never 24. 114 Permission to go on in sin, the heaviest judgment. 25. Rev. 22, JOB 34, theless, to the practice of its own iniquity, our guilt is doubtless permitted to increase by the just judgment of God, in order that it may be heaped up, for Him to strike it at last a heavier blow. For hence the Apostle Paul says again of 1 Thess. certain persons, To fill up their sins alway. Hence it is 2 said to John by the voice of the angel, He that hurteth let 11. him hurt still, he that is filthy let him be filthy still. Ps. 69, Hence David says, Add iniquity unto their iniquity, that 27. they may not enter into Thy righteousness. Hence again it Ps. 78, is said of the Lord by the same Psalmist, Suggestions' by evil Immis-angels He made a way for the path of His anger. For the siones. Lord justly permits the heart which has been weighed down 49.50. 16. Deut. 35. by former demerits, to be deceived also by the subsequent persuasions of malignant spirits, for, when it is deservedly led into sin, its guilt is increased in its punishment. Whence also the Lord is said to have made a way for His wrath out of a path. For a way is broader than a path. But to make out of a path a way for His wrath, is, by strictly judging to extend the causes of His wrath, that they who refused, when enlightened, to act rightly, may, when justly blinded, still so act as to deserve a greater punishment. Hence it is said by Gen. 15, Moses, The sins of the Amorites are not yet full. Hence the Lord says by the same Moses, For their vine is of the 32,32-vineyard of Sodom, and their stock is of Gomorrah. Their grape is a grape of gall, and the cluster of bitterness is in them. Their wine is the fury of dragons and the rage of asps, which cannot be healed. Are not all these things stored up with Me, and sealed up in My treasures? In the day of vengeance I will repay them. How many of their sins has He revealed, and yet He immediately subjoins, In the time when their foot shall have stumbled. Behold, their most abominable misdeeds are described, and yet for the day of vengeance, their subsequent fall is looked forward to, whereby their faults are to be heaped up to the full. They already have enough to deserve punishment; but their sin is still suffered to increase, in order that, sinning, a heavier punishment may torture them. Sin, the cause of sin, already deserves punishment; but it is still deferred, in order that sin, the punishment of sin, may supply an increase of suffering. 24. But frequently one and the same sin is also a sin such as Progress from sin to sin. God blinds, as not enlightening. 115 XXV. is both a punishment, and a cause of sin. We shall BOOK make this more plain, by bringing forward some instances. For unrestrained gluttony excites the fulness of the flesh to the heat of lust. But lust, when committed, is frequently concealed either by perjury or murder, for fear it should be punished by the vengeance of human laws. Let us suppose to ourselves then, that a man has given the reins to his gluttony, that, being overcome by his gluttony, he has committed the sin of adultery, that being detected in adultery, he has secretly murdered the husband of the adulteress, lest he should be brought to judgment. This adultery then, standing between gluttony and murder, springing from the one, and giving being to the other, is a sin, and both the punishment, and the cause of sin also. It is in truth a sin of itself, but the punishment of sin, because it has increased the guilt of gluttony; but it is the cause of sin, because it also gave birth to the subsequent murder. One and the same sin, then, is both the punishment of the preceding, and the cause of the subsequent, sin: because it both condemns past sins, while it adds to their amount, and sows the seeds of future sins, to deserve condemnation. Because then the eye of the heart is blinded by previous sins, that blindness which confuses the mind of the sinner, by condemning him for his former offence, is properly designated night:' because by this the light of truth is concealed from the eye of the sinner. It is therefore well said, For He knoweth their works, and therefore will He bring night on them, and they shall be crushed. Because, as has been often observed, they doubtless commit previous offences, in order that they should be involved again in sin by the darkness which follows, so that they are now as unable to behold the light of righteousness, as they were unwilling to behold it when they were able. But the Lord is said to bring night on them, not because He Himself brings on the darkness, but because He does not enlighten in His mercy the darkened hearts of sinners. So that His having blinded men in the night is His not having willed to deliver them from the gloom of blindness. It follows, Ver. 26. He hath smitten them as ungodly men, in the place of beholders. JOB 34, 26. X. 2 Cor. 6, 10. John 1, 14. 8. 116 Evil men smitten, though placed where God is seen. 25. In holy Scripture the word 'as,' is wont to be used, sometimes for resemblance, sometimes for reality. For it is used for resemblance, as when the Apostle says, As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing: but for the reality, as John says, We beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-Begotten of the Father. But in this passage it makes no difference, whether it is put for resemblance, or reality: for, in whatever way it is taken, the evil life of the wicked is plainly signified. But holy Scripture specially calls unbelievers' ungodly.' For sinners are distinguished from ungodly by this difference, that though every ungodly man is a sinner, yet every sinner is not ungodly. For even a man who is godly in the Faith 1 John 1, can be called a sinner. Whence John says, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. But a man is properly called ungodly' who is estranged from the holiness of Ps. 1, 5. religion. For of such the Prophet says, The ungodly shall not rise up in the judgment. But Holy Church is called the place of beholders. For people rightly assemble therein, in order that the True Light, which is God Himself, may be Ex. 33, seen. Whence it is said to Moses, There is a place by Me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock, when My Majesty ib. 23. passeth by. And shortly afterwards, I will take away My hand, and thou shalt see My back parts. For, by the place, is typified the Church, but by the rock, the Lord, but by Moses, the multitude of the people of Israel, which did not believe, when the Lord was preaching upon earth. It stood, therefore, on the rock, beholding the back of the Lord, as He was passing by: because in truth having been brought into Holy Church, after the Passion and Ascension of the Lord, it obtained a knowledge of the faith in Christ, and beheld the back parts of Him, Whose presence it had not seen. Let it be said, then, of those whom Divine Vengeance finds within Holy Church, still persisting in their iniquities; let it be said of these, whose conduct Paul describes thus, Tit. 1, Who confess that they know God, but in words they deny Him: let it be said of these, He hath smitten them AS ungodly in the place of beholders. For they were standing in that place, where they seemed to see God. They loved darkness in that very place, where the light of truth is beheld. And although they had had their eyes opened in 21.22. 16. How sin and hypocrisy lead to unbelief. 117 XXV. Is. 56, faith, yet they kept them closed in their works. Whence it Book is also well said of Judæa, Her watchmen are blind, because, namely, they did not behold in works that which they saw in 10. profession. Whence it is written also of Balaam, Who Num. 24, 16. falling hath his eyes open. For, falling in works, he kept his eyes open in contemplation. In like manner these also, who open their eyes in faith, and who see not in works, who are placed, from their appearance of piety, within the Church, are found, by their ungodly conversation, without the Church. Of whom it is well written in another place, I saw the ungodly buried, who when they were alive, were Eccles. in the holy place, and were praised in the city, as men just works. of8, 10. 26. But the very tranquillity of the peace of the Church conceals many under the Christian name, who are beset with the plague of their own wickedness. But if a light breath of persecution strikes them, it sweeps them away at once as chaff from the threshing floor. But some persons wish to bear the mark of Christian calling, because, since the name of Christ has been exalted on high, nearly all persons now look to appear faithful, and from seeing others called thus, they are ashamed not to seem faithful themselves; but they neglect to be that which they boast of being called. For they assume the reality of inward excellence, to adorn their outward appearance: and they who stand before the heavenly Judge, naked from the unbelief of their heart, are clothed, in the sight of men, with a holy profession, at least in words. 27. But some persons maintain the faith in their inmost heart, but are not careful to live faithfully. For they assail in their conduct that which they reverence in profession. And it frequently happens that they lose, by Divine judgment, even that which they wholesomely believe, through the wickedness of their lives. For they unceasingly pollute themselves by wicked deeds, and do not believe that the vengeance of just judgment can fall in retribution upon this conduct. And frequently, when they neglect to live strictly, they fall into unbelief, even when no one persecutes them. For they who do not believe that a strict judgment is hanging over them, who imagine that they can sin, without being |