“We are in His hands”
"TO
HIS HOLY BROTHER AND FELLOW-BISHOP HONORATUS,
AUGUSTINE SENDS HEALTH IN THE LORD.
"I thought the copy of my letter to
our brother Quodvultdeus, which I sent to you, would have been sufficient, dear
brother, without the task you put on me of counselling you on the proper course
to pursue under our existing dangers. It was certainly a short letter; yet I
included every question which it was necessary to ask and answer, when I said
that no persons were hindered from retiring to such fortified places as they
were able and desirous to secure; while, on the other hand, we might not break
the bonds of our {135} ministry, by which the love of Christ has engaged us not
to desert the Church, where we are bound to serve. The following is what I laid
down in the letter I refer to:—'It remains, then,' I say, 'that, though God's
people in the place where we are be ever so few, yet, if it does stay, we,
whose ministration is necessary to its staying, must say to the Lord, Thou art
our strong rock and place of defence.'AUGUSTINE SENDS HEALTH IN THE LORD.
"But
you tell me that this view is not sufficient for you, from an apprehension lest
we should be running counter to our Lord's command and example, to flee from
city to city. Yet is it conceivable that He meant that our flocks, whom He
bought with His own blood, should be deprived of that necessary ministration
without which they cannot live? Is He a precedent for this, who was carried in
flight into Egypt by His parents when but a child, before He had formed
Churches which we can talk of His leaving? Or, when St. Paul was let down in a
basket through a window, lest the enemy should seize him, and so escaped his
hands, was the Church of that place bereft of its necessary ministration,
seeing there were other brethren stationed there to fulfil what was necessary?
Evidently it was their wish that he, who was the direct object of the
persecutors' search, should preserve himself for the sake of the Church. Let,
then, the servants of Christ, the ministers of His word and sacraments, do in
such cases as He enjoined or permitted. Let such of them, by all means, flee
from city to city, as are special objects of persecution; so that they who are
not thus attacked desert not the Church, but give meat to those their
fellow-servants, who they know cannot live without it. But in a case when all
classes—I mean bishops, clergy, and people—are in some common danger, let not
those who need the aid of others be deserted by those whom they need. Either
let one and all remove into some fortified place, or, if any are obliged to
remain, let them not be abandoned by those who have to supply their
ecclesiastical necessity, so that they may survive in common, or suffer in
common what their Father decrees they should undergo."
Then he
makes mention of the argument of a certain bishop, that "if our Lord has
enjoined upon us flight, in persecutions which may ripen into martyrdom, much
more is it necessary to flee from barren sufferings in a barbarian and hostile
invasion," and he says, "this is true and reasonable, in the case of
such as have no ecclesiastical office to tie them." But he continues:
"Why
should men make no question about obeying the precept of fleeing from city to
city, and yet have no dread of 'the hireling who seeth the wolf coming, and
fleeth, because he careth not for the sheep?' Why do they not try to reconcile
(as they assuredly can) these two incontrovertible declarations of our Lord,
one of which suffers and commands flight, the other arraigns and condemns it?
And what other mode is there of reconciling them than that which I have above
laid down? viz., that we, the ministers of Christ, who are under the pressure
of persecution, are then at liberty to leave our posts, when no flock is
left for us to serve; or again, when, though there be a flock, yet there are
others to supply our necessary ministry, who have not the same reason for
fleeing,—as in the case of St. Paul; or, again, of the holy Athanasius, bishop
of Alexandria, who was especially sought after by the emperor Constantius,
while the Catholic people, who remained together in Alexandria, were in no
measure deserted by the other ministers. But when the people remain, and the
ministers flee, and the ministration is suspended, what is that but the guilty
flight of hirelings, who care not for the sheep? For then the wolf will
come,—not man, but the devil, who is accustomed to persuade such believers to
apostasy, who are bereft of the daily ministration of the Lord's Body; and by
your, not knowledge, but ignorance of duty, the weak brother will perish, for
whom Christ died.
"Let us
only consider, when matters come to an extremity of danger, and there is no
longer any means of escape, how persons flock together to the Church, of both
sexes, and all ages, begging for baptism, or reconciliation, or even for works
of penance, and one and all of them for consolation, and the consecration and
application of the sacraments. Now, if ministers are wanting, what ruin awaits
those, who depart from this life unregenerate or unabsolved! Consider the grief
of their believing relatives, who will not have them as partakers with themselves
in the rest of eternal life; consider the anguish of the whole multitude, nay,
the cursings of some of them, at the absence of ministration and ministers.
"It may
be said, however, that the ministers of God ought to avoid such imminent
perils, in order to preserve themselves for the profit of the Church for more
tranquil times. I grant it where others {137} are present to supply the
ecclesiastical ministry, as in the case of Athanasius. How necessary it was to
the Church, how beneficial, that such it man should remain in the flesh, the
Catholic faith bears witness, which was maintained against the Arians by his
voice and his love. But when there is a common danger, and when there is rather
reason to apprehend lest a man should be thought to flee, not from purpose of
prudence, but from dread of dying, and when the example of flight does more
harm than the service of living does good, it is by no means to be done. To be
brief, holy David withdrew himself from the hazard of war, lest perchance he
should 'quench the light of Israel,' at the instance of his people, not on his
own motion. Otherwise, he would have occasioned many imitators of an inactivity
which they had in that case ascribed, not to regard for the welfare of others,
but to cowardice."
Then he goes
on to a further question, what is to be done in a case where all ministers are
likely to perish, unless some of them take to flight? or when persecution is
set on foot only with the view of reaching the ministers of the Church? This
leads him to exclaim:
"O,
that there may be then a quarrel between God's ministers, who are to remain,
and who to flee, lest the Church should be deserted, whether by all fleeing or
all dying! Surely there will ever be such a quarrel, where each party burns in
its own charity, yet indulges the charity of the other. In such a difficulty,
the lot seems the fairest decision, in default of others. God judges better
than man in perplexities of this sort; whether it be His will to
reward the holier among them with the crown of martyrdom, and to spare the
weak, or again, to strengthen the latter to endure evil, removing those from
life whom the Church of God can spare the better. Should it, however, seem
inexpedient to cast lots,—a measure for which I cannot bring precedent,—at least,
let no one's flight be the cause of the Church's losing those ministrations
which, in such dangers, are so necessary and so imperative. Let no one make
himself an exception, on the plea of having some particular grace, which gives
him a claim to life, and therefore to flight.
"It is
sometimes supposed that bishops and clergy, remaining at their posts in dangers
of this kind, mislead their flocks into staying, by their example. But it is
easy for us to remove this {138} objection or imputation, by frankly telling
them not to be misled by our remaining. 'We are remaining for your sake,' we
must say, 'lest you should fail to obtain such ministration, as we know to be
necessary to your salvation in Christ. Make your escape, and you will then set
us free.' The occasion for saying this is when there seems some real advantage
in retiring to a safer position. Should all or some make answer, 'We are in His
hands from whose anger no one can flee anywhere; whose mercy every one may find
everywhere, though he stir not, whether some necessary tie detains him, or the
uncertainty of safe escape deters him;' most undoubtedly such persons are not
to be left destitute of Christian ministrations.
"I have written these lines, dearest
brother, in truth, as I think, and in sure charity, by way of reply, since you
have consulted me; but not as dictating, if, perchance, you may find some
better view to guide you. However, better we cannot do in these perils than
pray the Lord our God to have mercy upon us."—Ep. 228.
4.
The luminous
judgment, the calm faith, and the single-minded devotion which this letter
exhibits, were fully maintained in the conduct of the far-famed writer, in the
events which followed. It was written on the first entrance of the Vandals into
Africa, about two years before they laid siege to Hippo; and during this
interval of dreadful suspense and excitement, as well as of actual suffering,
amid the desolation of the Church around him, with the prospect of his own
personal trials, we find this unwearied teacher carrying on his works of love
by pen, and word of mouth,—eagerly, as knowing his time was short, but
tranquilly, as if it were a season of prosperity. He commenced a fresh work
against the opinions of Julian, a friend of his, who, beginning to run well,
had unhappily taken up a bold profession of Pelagianism; he wrote a treatise on
Predestination, at the suggestion of his friends, to meet the objections urged
against former works of his on the same subject; sustained a controversy with
the Arians; and began a history of heresies. What makes Augustine's diligence
in the duties of his episcopate, at this season, the more remarkable, is, that
he was actually engaged at the same time in political affairs, as a
confidential friend and counsellor of Boniface, the governor of Africa (who had
first invited and then opposed the entrance of the Vandals), and accordingly
was in circumstances especially likely to unsettle and agitate the mind of an
aged man.
At length
events hastened on to a close. Fugitive multitudes betook themselves to Hippo.
Boniface threw himself into it. The Vandals appeared before it, and laid siege
to it. Meanwhile, Augustine fell ill. He had about him many of the African
bishops, and among other friends, Possidius, whose account of his last hours is
preserved to us. "We used continually to converse together," says
Possidius, "about the misfortunes in which we were involved, and
contemplated God's tremendous judgments which were before our eyes, saying,
'Thou art just, O Lord, and Thy judgment is right.' One day, at meal time, as
we talked together, he said, 'Know ye that in this our present calamity, I pray
God to vouchsafe to rescue this besieged city, or (if otherwise) to give His
servants strength to bear His will, or, at least, to take me to Himself out of
this world.' We followed his advice, and both ourselves, and our friends and
the whole city offered up the same prayer with him. On the third month of the
siege he was seized with a fever, and took to his bed, and was reduced to the
extreme of sickness."
Thus, the
latter part of his prayer was put in train for accomplishment, as the former
part was subsequently granted by the retreat of the enemy from Hippo. But to
continue the narrative of Possidius:—"He had been used to say, in his
familiar conversation, that after {140} receiving baptism, even approved
Christians and priests ought not to depart from the body without a fitting and
sufficient course of penance. Accordingly, in the last illness, of which he
died, he set himself to write out the special penitential psalms of David, and
to place them four by four against the wall, so that, as he lay in bed, in the
days of his sickness, he could see them. And so he used to read and weep
abundantly. And lest his attention should be distracted by any one, about ten
days before his death, he begged us who were with him to hinder persons
entering his room except at the times when his medical attendants came to see
him, or his meals were brought to him. This was strictly attended to, and all
his time given to prayer. Till this last illness, he had been able to preach
the word of God in the church without intermission with energy and boldness,
with healthy mind and judgment. He slept with his fathers in a good old age,
sound in limb, unimpaired in sight and hearing, and, as it is written, while we
stood by, beheld and prayed with him. We took part in the sacrifice to God at
his funeral, and so buried him."
Though the
Vandals failed in their first attack upon Hippo, during Augustine's last
illness, they renewed it shortly after his death, under more favourable
circumstances. Boniface was defeated in the field, and retired to Italy; and
the inhabitants of Hippo left their city. The Vandals entered and burned it,
excepting the library of Augustine, which was providentially preserved.
The
desolation which, at that era, swept over the face of Africa, was completed by
the subsequent invasion of the Saracens. Its five hundred churches are no more.
The voyager gazes on the sullen rocks which line its coast, and discovers no
token of Christianity to cheer the gloom. Hippo has ceased to be an episcopal
city; but its great Teacher, though dead, yet speaks; his voice is gone out
into all lands, and his words unto the ends of the world. He needs no
dwelling-place, whose home is the Catholic Church; he fears no barbarian or
heretical desolation, whose creed is destined to last unto the end.
