Prologus 7

Of the Same Author, Prologue. On the Judgment of God. By the goodness and philanthropy of the good God, in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, through the energy of the Holy Spirit, having been delivered from the error of the external tradition, and having been raised from above and from the beginning by Christian parents, I learned from them from infancy the sacred writings as well, leading me to knowledge of the truth. When I became a man, and often engaging in travels, and encountering, as is natural, more affairs, I observed in the other arts and sciences such great mutual agreement among those who accurately practice each one; but in the Church of God alone, for which Christ died, and upon which the Holy Spirit poured forth abundantly, I beheld a great and excessive discord both among themselves and with the divine Scriptures on the part of the many; and most horrifying of all, that its very leaders stand in such great difference of opinion and belief among themselves, and employ such great opposition to the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ, mercilessly tearing apart the Church of God, and ruthlessly disturbing his flock, so that now, if ever, the saying of the Anomoeans who have arisen is fulfilled among them: "From among yourselves men will arise speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.

Seeing these and similar things, and being at a loss as to what and whence the cause of such great evil, I at first lived as if in deep darkness, and as if on a balance, I inclined now this way, now that, one thing drawing me to itself in one way, because of the long-standing custom of men, or again another thing thrusting me away in another way, because of the truth recognized in the divine Scriptures. Suffering this for a long time, and busying myself with the cause I have mentioned, I recalled the book of Judges, which relates that each did what was right in his own eyes, and also reveals the cause in saying, In those days there was no king in Israel. Remembering these things, I considered also concerning the present that which it is perhaps fearful and paradoxical to say, but most true to perceive: that perhaps now also, because of the rejection of the one and great, the true and only king of all, God, such discord and strife arises in the Church, each one departing from the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, and defending certain reasonings and definitions of his own by authority, and wishing rather to rule contrary to the Lord than to be ruled by the Lord. Having considered this, and being alarmed at the excess of impiety, and investigating further, I was persuaded no less from the affairs of life that the aforementioned cause is true. For I saw that every good order and harmony of a multitude was accomplished up to that point, as long as the common obedience of the others to one particular ruler is preserved.

all discord and division, and polyarchy as well, arising from anarchy. I myself once saw a multitude of bees marshaled by the law of nature, following their own king in good order. And many such things I have seen, and many I have heard; and those who are occupied with these matters know even more, so that from these things also the saying is shown to be true. For if those who look to a single nod and make use of one king are characterized by good order with harmony, then all discord and division is a sign of anarchy. According to the same reasoning, such discord and division, found among us both with regard to the commandments of the Lord and with one another, would be an accusation either of withdrawal from the true king, according to the saying: "Only the one who now holds sway, until he is removed from the midst," or of denial of him, according to the saying: "The fool said in his heart, 'There is no God.'" To which, as a sign or proof, is added: "They were corrupted and became abominable in their practices." Here, then, the argument has shown the manifest wickedness as a kind of character of such impiety lurking unnoticed in the soul. The blessed apostle Paul, turning more vehemently to fear of God's judgments those who have lost heart, defines this as a punishment: that those who have neglected true knowledge of God are condemned. For what does he say? "And just as they did not deem it fit to have God in recognition, God delivered them over to a reprobate mind, to do what is not fitting, being filled with all injustice, wickedness, greed, vice, full of envy," and so forth.

And I think the Apostle understood this judgment, not from himself (for he had Christ speaking within him), but guided by that very voice of his, in which he says that he speaks to the crowds in parables so that they may not understand the divine mysteries of the Gospel, because they themselves, having anticipated, closed their eyes, and heard heavily with their ears, and their senseless heart was thickened; so that they might have, instead of punishment, to endure blindness concerning greater matters, they who, having voluntarily anticipated, blinded the eye of the soul and were darkened; which David, fearing to suffer, said: "Enlighten my eyes, lest I fall asleep into death." From these and similar things, then, I considered it evident that, in general, the evil of the passions, through ignorance concerning God, instills spurious knowledge; and in particular, the discord of the many with one another, because we have rendered ourselves unworthy of the Lord's oversight, supervenes. And as for the examination of such a life, if ever I did resolve to approach it, I had no means to measure the magnitude of such insensibility, or irrationality, or desperation, or, due to the excess of evil, I have nothing to say. For if even among irrational animals we find such harmony with one another accomplished through obedience to their leader, what would we say of ourselves, found in such dissension with one another and such opposition to the commandments of the Lord?

Or do we not consider that all these things are now set before us by the good God for our instruction and correction, and that on the great and fearful day of judgment they will be brought forward for the shame and condemnation of those who are not taught, by the very one who has already spoken and always says: "The ox knows its owner, and the donkey the manger of its master; but Israel has not known me, and the people have not understood me," and many other such things? And that saying of the Apostle: "If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it," and: "So that there may be no divisions in the body, but the members care for one another," being moved, evidently, by the one soul that dwells within. For what purpose was this arranged? I think, so that such order and good discipline might be preserved much more in the Church of God, to which it is said: "You are the body of Christ, and members each in part," with the one and only true head, which is Christ, evidently holding and binding each to the other in harmony. But among those where harmony is not achieved, the bond of peace is not kept, gentleness in spirit is not preserved, but dissension, strife, and jealousy are found.

It would be a great boldness to call such men members of Christ, or to say that they are ruled by Him; but it is of simple understanding, to speak with frankness, that the mind of the flesh prevails and reigns there, according to the voice of the Apostle, who says definitively, "For you present yourselves as slaves to obedience, you are slaves to whom you obey"; and who clearly sets forth the characteristics of such a mind, as when he says, "For where among you there is zeal and strife and dissensions, are you not fleshly?"; and who at the same time teaches authoritatively both the harshness of their outcome and their incompatibility with piety, through what he says, "The mind of the flesh is enmity toward God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor can it be, because no one can serve two masters," as the Lord says. Then, when the only-begotten Son of God, our Lord and God Jesus Christ, through whom all things were made, cries out, "I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me," and "I do nothing of myself," and "I received a command what to say and what to speak"; and when the Holy Spirit, who distributes great and wonderful gifts and works all things in all, and speaks nothing of itself, but whatever it hears from the Lord, that it speaks—how is it not much more necessary that the whole Church of God, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, fulfill that which is said in the Acts, that "the heart and soul of the multitude of believers was one"?

Obviously, no one sets up his own will, but all together seek in the one Holy Spirit the will of the one Lord Jesus Christ, who said, "I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me," to whom he says, "I ask not only about these things, but also about those who believe in me through their word, that all may be one." Having been fully assured by these things, and by more that have been passed over in silence, that the agreement of the whole Church of God together, according to the will of Christ in the Holy Spirit, is necessary, while disobedience to God in division from one another is dangerous and destructive (for he who disobeys the Son, it is said, will not see life, but the wrath of God will remain upon him), I considered it fitting to examine next what sins can obtain pardon from God, and how many and how great one must sin to become liable to the judgment of disobedience.

I find, then, upon taking up the divine Scriptures, in the Old and New Testament, that neither in the multitude of sins committed nor in the magnitude of the sins, but solely in the transgression of any commandment whatsoever, is disobedience to God clearly judged, and the judgment is common for every act of disobedience to God. In the Old Testament, I read that terrible end of Achar, or the story concerning the one who gathered wood on the Sabbath, each of whom is found never to have sinned against God in any other way, nor to have wronged any man, neither in great nor in small matter at all. But the one, for the mere and first collection of wood, pays inexorable penalty, finding no place even for repentance; for by a commandment of God he is immediately stoned by the whole people. The other, because he merely took something from the votive offerings not yet brought into the synagogue, nor yet received by those appointed for such things, became the cause of destruction not only for himself, but also for his wife and children, and moreover for the very tent together with all his possessions. And the evil of the sin was already about to consume the whole people like fire, and this even though they neither knew what had happened nor had consented with the sinner, had not the people, upon the fall of the men who were put to death, been quickly crushed, perceiving the wrath of God; it fell.

soever, that the penalty is inflicted. For Joshua the son of Nun, having sprinkled dust together with the elders, was thus discovered by lot to be guilty and paid the aforementioned penalty. But perhaps someone will say that these men are naturally suspected of other sins as well, from which they were also caught in these; but that only these sins, as more severe and worthy of death, are mentioned by the Holy Scripture. But even if such a person were so bold as to add or subtract something, would he not also accuse Mary, the sister of Moses, of a multitude of sins, whose virtue I think is known to none of the faithful? She, because she said something against Moses, only in the way of censure, and that true (for she said, "He took an Ethiopian woman as his wife"), experienced such great indignation from God that not even Moses' entreaty could remit the penalty for her sin. Therefore, when I see Moses himself, that great servant of God, who was deemed worthy of such and so great honor from God, and was so often testified to by him as to hear, "I know you above all, and you have found favor before me"; when I see him at the water of contradiction for no other reason than merely to say to the people murmuring for lack of water, "Shall we not bring water for you from this rock?"—for this alone he immediately receives a threat that he will not enter the promised land, which was then the chief of the promises to the Jews; when I see him entreating and not being permitted—

When I see that, despite such great achievements, he is deemed worthy of no pardon for that brief utterance, I truly behold the severity of God, according to the Apostle, and I am truly persuaded that this saying is true: "If the righteous man is barely saved, where will the impious and sinful man appear?" And why do I say this? When I hear that terrible pronouncement of God, which He also delivers against one who has transgressed a single commandment in ignorance, I have no way to fear the magnitude of His wrath adequately. For it is written: "And if a soul sins, and commits one of all the commandments of the Lord which ought not to be done, and does not know, and errs, and incurs the sin, he shall bring an unblemished ram from the flock, of silver value, for a trespass to the priest. And the priest shall make atonement for him, concerning his ignorance which he was ignorant of, and he himself did not know, and it shall be forgiven him. For he has committed a trespass against the Lord." If, in cases of ignorance, the judgment is so inexorable, and the sacrifice for purification is necessary—which even the righteous Job is attested to offer for his sons—what could one say about those who sin knowingly, or about those who acquiesce to them? And lest we seem to infer their condemnation only by plausible conjectures, it is necessary again to recall inspired Scripture itself, which suffices for the present to demonstrate the judgment of such persons through a single narrative. "And the sons," it says, "of Eli the priest, sons of pestilence.

Since these things were as they are, because the father did not proceed more vehemently, he stirred up such wrath by the forbearance of God that, when the foreigners rose up, his sons were slain by them in the war on a single day, the entire people was defeated, and many of them fell, and things happened concerning the ark of the holy covenant of God such as had never been heard before, so that that which it was not lawful for Israelites, nor even for all the priests, nor at all times to touch, and which no ordinary place received, was carried about from place to place by impious hands, and instead of being in holy places, was deposited in temples of idols. How great a thing this was, and how it brought laughter and mockery even against the name of God among the foreigners, one may conjecture. In addition to these things, Eli himself is recorded as having met a most pitiful end, having received a threat that his seed would also be removed from the priestly office, which indeed came to pass. So many things befell the people. Such things the father suffered because of the lawlessness of his sons, who, although he was never accused of anything on account of his own life, and did not even endure to keep quiet about them, but admonished them much about no longer persisting in similar things, saying, "Do not, children, do not; the reports I hear about you are not good," and, constructing the magnitude of the sin more vehemently, he set before them the danger more fearfully: "For if a man sins," he says, "against a man, they will pray for him to the Lord. But if he sins against God, who will pray for him?

Nevertheless, as I said, because he did not display the proper zeal against them, the aforementioned events occurred. Such, then, are the very many judgments against all disobedience that I find in the Old Testament. But when I come to the New Testament, our Lord Jesus Christ, while not releasing from punishment even those sins committed in ignorance, yet intensifies the threat more vehemently against those who sin knowingly, through what he says: "That slave who knows the will of his master and does not prepare himself nor act according to his will will be beaten many times; but the one who does not know, yet does things worthy of blows, will be beaten few times." When I find such pronouncements of the only-begotten Son of God himself, and the indignation of the holy apostles against sinners, I observe that such and so great sufferings of those who have committed even a single sin are not less than those mentioned in the Old Testament, but rather greater, and I perceive the severity of the judgment. For they to whom much has been entrusted will be required to render much more. Behold, then, the blessed Paul, simultaneously indicating the dignity of the calling and the indignation against every sin, says such things as: "For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful with God for the demolition of strongholds, destroying reasonings and every height raised up against the knowledge of God, and taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." And not only this, but: "And we are ready to avenge every disobedience.

There also, if one examines each of the things said more carefully, it is possible to know the intention of divine Scripture more precisely, that it has not left us to be led astray by certain deceptive opinions, each soul slipping into sins, thinking that some sins are avenged, while others are left unavenged. But what does it say? "Cleansing the thoughts, and every arrogance raised against the knowledge of God," so that every sin, on account of contempt for the divine commandment, is called an arrogance raised against the knowledge of God, which is also shown more clearly in the book of Numbers. For after God enumerated the involuntary sins and prescribed the sacrifices for them, and was about to legislate for the people what was fitting also concerning the voluntary ones, he begins thus: "And a soul which acts with a hand of arrogance" (calling the hand of arrogance the audacity of those who sin voluntarily, which the Apostle calls an arrogance raised against the knowledge of God), "a soul, then," he says, "which acts with a hand of arrogance, whether from the natives or from the proselytes, this one will provoke God, and that soul will be destroyed from the midst of its people. Because it despised the word of the Lord and scattered his commandments; that soul will be utterly destroyed; its sin is in it." Here it must be observed that, unless that soul is utterly destroyed, its sin is not only in it, but also upon those who have not displayed good zeal, as has been written in many places and has often happened.

And so that we might be educated by the lesser matters into fear concerning the greater, let us observe in Deuteronomy what kind of indignation it expresses against a priest or judge who disobeys. It says then: "And a man, if he acts in arrogance by not obeying the priest who stands to minister in the name of the Lord your God, or the judge who may be in those days, that man shall die, and you shall remove the evil one from Israel. And all the people, having heard, shall be afraid, and they will no longer commit impiety." In response to these things, it is fitting to see how one, being worthily moved, might be struck with greater awe. Then it says: "And taking every thought captive into obedience to Christ—every thought, not this one or that one." And having vengeance ready at hand; and here again, not this or that disobedience, but every disobedience. So then, has the most evil habit deceived us? So then, has the perverted tradition of men become the cause of great evils for us, on the one hand ostensibly excusing some sins, on the other hand indifferently choosing others, and pretending to be vehemently indignant against some, such as murder and adultery and the like, while judging others as not even worthy of a mere rebuke, such as anger, or abuse, or drunkenness, or greed, and all such things, against all of which Paul, speaking in Christ, has elsewhere given the same verdict, saying that those who do such things are worthy of death.

Wherever every high thing raised up against the knowledge of God is cast down, and every thought is taken captive into obedience to Christ, and every disobedience is punished equally, there nothing is left uncast down, nothing unpunished, nothing is left outside the obedience of Christ. For the apostle Paul showed that a common and greatest impiety lies against all disobedience, when he said: "You who boast in the law, by the transgression of the law you dishonor God." But are these things only words, and not deeds? Behold then: in Corinth, the man who had his father's wife, accused of nothing else but this alone, is not only himself delivered over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, until he corrects the offense by the worthy fruits of repentance, but he also envelops the whole Church together, because it did not proceed against the sin, with those same charges: "What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod?" And shortly after: "And you are puffed up, and have you not rather mourned, so that the one who did this deed might be removed from your midst?" And what then of Ananias, in the Acts?

What other evil is he found to have done than that very thing? Where, then, does he appear worthy of such great wrath? Having sold his own property, he brought the money and placed it at the feet of the apostles; having embezzled part of the price, for this, at that very hour, together with his wife, he is condemned to death, not even deemed worthy to learn the words concerning repentance for the sin, nor finding at least time to be stricken with remorse for this, nor receiving a period for repentance. But the servant of such and so great a judgment, the minister of such great wrath of God against the sinner, the blessed Peter, who was preferred above all the disciples, and alone was more than the others witnessed and blessed, who was entrusted with the keys of the kingdom of heaven, when he hears from the Lord, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me," what heart, even one of stone, will not be shamed into fear and trembling at the judgments of God? And these things he did without giving any indication of sin or contempt, but rather using an excessive honor toward the Master, and displaying the reverence befitting a servant and disciple. For seeing his own and everyone's God and Lord, and King, and Master, and Teacher, and Savior, and all things together, girded with a towel in the guise of a servant, and wishing to wash his feet, immediately, as if coming to a realization of his own unworthiness, and struck with awe at the dignity of the one approaching,

he cried out, "Lord, are you washing my feet?" and again, "You shall never wash my feet." For this he receives such a great threat, that if he had not, knowing again the truth of the Lord's words, anticipated by obedience to correct his contradiction, nothing of what had gone before—neither his own achievements, nor the beatitudes, gifts, and promises from the Lord, nor even the revelation of the good will of God the Father, of such a kind and so great, toward his only-begotten Son—would have sufficed to soothe his present disobedience. But if I wished to recount all that I find from both the Old and New Testaments, time would perhaps fail me as I narrate. And now, when I come to the very words of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel—the words of him who will judge the living and the dead, which are more trustworthy to the faithful than any history or any other proof—I observe in them a great necessity, so to speak, of obedience to God in all things; but no forgiveness at all left for those who do not repent of their disobedience, in regard to any commandment, unless one dares something else and even conceives of it, in the face of such bare, clear, and absolute declarations: "For heaven," he says, "and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." There is no distinction here, no division, nothing at all left anywhere. He did not say, "These or those," but, "My words," all of them evidently, "will never pass away." For it is written: "The Lord is faithful in all his words.

whether forbidding something, or commanding, or promising, or threatening, and whether concerning the doing of forbidden things or the omission of commanded things. For that omission of good works is punished equally with the doing of evil, the previously mentioned judgment concerning Peter would suffice for proof and assurance even to a soul not suffering from complete disbelief: he, having done nothing forbidden, nor having omitted any such command as would accuse the one omitting of negligence or contempt, but only having been scrupulous about receiving service and honor from the Lord, received such a threat as he would not have escaped if, as previously said, he had not anticipated the anger by the speed and intensity of his correction. However, since the good and compassionate God, being patient with us, has deigned, and often shown us the same thing through many means, so that by the multitude and continuity the soul, barely moved and drenched, might at last be able to wipe away the long-standing habit of lawlessness, it is necessary for the present to mention only those standing on the left of our Lord Jesus Christ on the great and fearful day of judgment, to whom the one who received all authority of judgment from the Father, the one coming to illuminate the hidden things of darkness and to reveal the plans of hearts, said: "Go from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." And he added the reason, not—

That you committed murder, you say, or committed fornication, or lied, or wronged someone, or did some other of the forbidden things, even the very least, you did; but what? That you neglected good works. For I was hungry, he says, and you did not give me food; I was thirsty, and you did not give me drink; I was a stranger, and you did not take me in; I was naked, and you did not clothe me; I was sick and in prison, and you did not visit me. These and such things by the grace of the good God, who wishes all men to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth, and who teaches man knowledge, having learned in the divinely inspired Scriptures, and having recognized the most dreadful cause of such discord of the many both with each other and with the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ, and having been instructed in that terrible judgment of such lawlessness, and having been taught also that every disobedience to every judgment of God is avenged equally; and further, having learned that terrible judgment upon those who have not sinned but have nevertheless partaken of the wrath, because they did not show good zeal against those who sinned, even though they often did not even recognize the sin; I considered it necessary, even if late in the day, because I always wait for those who have taken up the same struggle of piety, and do not trust myself alone, but not inopportunely perhaps, now at least for the reminder to those contending in the struggle of piety, having selected from the divinely inspired Scriptures both what displeases God and what pleases him to set forth, so that I may be able, according to common prayers.

so that we might be deemed worthy, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching of the Holy Spirit, having both leapt away from the habit of our own wills and from the observance of human traditions, and having aligned ourselves with the Gospel of the blessed God Jesus Christ, our Lord, and having lived in the present time in a manner pleasing to him through both a more intense withdrawal from forbidden things and a more diligent attention to approved things, we might in the future age of immortality be able to flee the wrath that comes upon the sons of disobedience, and be found worthy of eternal life and of the heavenly kingdom promised by the Lord Jesus Christ to all who keep his covenant and remember his commandments, in order to fulfill them. And remembering the Apostle who said, "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith energized through love," I considered it both fitting and necessary first to set forth the sound faith and pious belief concerning Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and then to append the ethical matters.