or showing how they are to be reconciled. This defect is still
more apparent in the 144th Sermon, which is on the same text, but
evidently written at a different time. In it he says, " The desire
arises in us of knowing, why He says the Holy Spirit will convince
the world of this alone, as if it were man's only sin not to believe
in Christ : but if it is evident that there are many other sins of
men beyond this unbelief, why of this alone will the Holj- Spirit
392 NOTE Q.
convince the "world? Is it because all sins are retained by unbe-
lief, and remitted by faith ; -n-herefore God imiiutes before others
this one, by which it happens that the others are not forgiA'cn,
"while the haughty man refuses to believe on a humble God ? For
thus it is written : God resisteth the proud, but giceth grace to the
humble. Of sin, therefore, unbelievers, that is, the lovers of the
"world, are convinced ; for they are signified by the term
world, — of no other sin than that they do not believe on Christ.
Finally if this sin does not exist, no sins "will remain, because to
him who is justified by a living faith all sins are remitted. But
there is much difference, whether any one believes in the ex-
istence of Christ, and whether he believes in Christ. For the
Devils believe in Christ's existence, yet Devils do not believe in
Christ. He truly believes in Christ, who both hopes in Christ
and loves Christ. For if he have faith without hope and love, he
believes Christ to exist, yet does not believe in Christ. Therefore
he who believes in Christ, by believing in Christ, Christ comes
into him, and In a certain manner is united to him, and is ren-
dered a member in His body. Which thing could not be done
except hope and love were present."
These passages sufficiently prove that, according to Augnstln's
conception, Faith is something much higher, more living, and
more powerful, than mere belief Yet even he did not set the
true idea of Faith clearly and distinctly before his mind, any more
than any other divine in the long interval between St. Paul and
Luther. In the Commentary of Thomas Aquinas, which is
assuredly a most favorable sample of the exegesis of the Middle
Ages, the explanations of Chrysostom and Augustin are set side
by side, but without any attempt to exercise judgment by giving a
preference to either, or to elicit the portions of the truth which
each had inadequately expressed. In fact, notwithstanding the
extraordinary subtilty exhibited by many of the Schoolmen, and
the genius which manifested itself during the Middle Ages in
divers regions of thought and art, the human mind in many re-
spects was still in its nonage, under, tutors and governors until the
time appointed by the Father.
In Anselm's Treatise De Concordia Gratiae et Liheri Arbitrii
(c. vii.), the question Is discussed, " Why are those condemned,
who receive not the AVord of God, when they are unable to do so
except by grace directing their will ?" and this discussion is found-
NOTE Q. 393
ed on our text. "For the Lord says concerning tlic Holy Spirit:
He shall convince the icorld of sin, hecause they believed not on Me.
Though it may perhaps be difficult to answer this, yet so far as I
am able, by the assistance of God, I ought not to remain silent.
It is to be remarked that the inability which arises from guilt can
be no excuse while the guilt remains. Wherefore in infants, in
â– whom God requires that righteousness from human nature, which
it received in our first parents together with the power of perpetu-
ating it in their whole race. He will not accept the inability of
possessing righteousness as an excuse, since human nature fell into
this impotence on account of guilt. Since, then, the race forsook
righteousness by sinning, that inability which it produced In Itself
by sinning is charged to it as a sin. Not only the inability of pos-
sessing righteousness, but also the inability of knowing it, in
like manner, in the case of unbaptized ^^ersons, is accounted sin ;
for It equally arises from sin. We are able also rationally to
assert, that because man's nature has become deteriorated and
corrupted from the oi-Iginal dignity, power, and excellence of his
condition, sin Is Imputed to It. For thereb}', it has diminished as
much as it was able to do, the honor and glory of God. For In
proportion to the dignity of a work is the wisdom of the Artificer
praised and proclaimed. By as much, therefore, as human nature
diminished and polluted in Itself the precious work of God, by
â– which He was to be glorified, by so much did It dishonor God.
Which act was imputed to It as a sin so great, that it could not
be destroyed except by the death of the Son of God. Sacred
authority Indeed sufficiently shows, that those passions or appe-
tites to which we arc subject, as brute beasts, on account of the
sin of Eve, are imputed as sin. For when the Lord says of the
mere passion of anger, unaccompanied by -word or act: Whoso-
ever is ongry with his brother, shall be in danger of the Judgment.
He clearly shows the guilt not to be of trivial importance, which
is followed by so weighty a condemnation, viz.: that of death.
And M'hcn Paul says of those who are sensible of lusts of the
flesh working against their will : There is therefore noio no condem-
nation to them which are in Christ Jesus, icho ivalk not after the
Jlesh, I. e. do not consent in will, without doubt He signifies, that
those who are not In Christ, seek their condemnation as often as
they are sensible of carnal desire, although they walk not accord-
ing to it. For man was so formed that he ouf^ht not even to feel
894 NOTE Q.
such a desire. If any man therefore will diligently consider what
I have said, he can by no means doubt, that those who are unable
to receive the word of God on account of their own guilt, may be
properly reproved."
This passage, although there must needs be a ground of deep
truth in whatever proceeds from one of the greatest masters in
Theology, contains two or three questionable positions, which
seem to border closely on awful errors. Indeed it can hardly be
otherwise, when the processes of logic are employed to draw
inferences from the mysterious realities of religion : for in every
reality there is something which logic cannot ajjpreciate, and
through the neglect of which the conclusions deduced by logic
concerning its formal verities become more or less inapplicable.
In the first place Anselm's remarks, in their bearing on God's
justice, are warped by that proneness, which is so grievously com-
mon among divines, to close their eyes against the light of con-
science, and against that idea of Justice and Eight, which is one
of the pole-stars of the human mind, and to pare and screw down
the notion of Justice into accordance with the scheme of propo-
sitions which they have built up into their theological system. It
has been contended indeed by many, that we can have no correct
conception of Justice, except what we derive from the Bible : so
fond are men of pampering their sloth and self-siifRciency by
assuming that they have the only key to all knowledge in their
hands, and that every thing else is naught. But, without stopping
to argue against this debasing fallacy, — which all history and
philosophy and poetry and the laws of all nations refute, — or to
show how the reverse is implied in every page of the Bible itself,
sijeaking, as it everywhere does, to the reason and the conscience,
it is sufficient to call to mind that sublime question, Shall not the
Judge of all the earth do right ? that is. Shall He not do ivhat shall
be recognized to he right hy man's reason and conscience? This
question, be it remembered, is one which man was permitted to
ask, and that too beneath the early dawn of Revelation, when
divine Truth was just beginning to exercise its informing power
upon the understanding: nor do we read that this question was
regarded as presumptuous, but on the contrary that the Judge of
all the earth vouchsafed to give ear to it, and to justify His ways.
Moreover we should never allow ourselves to lose sight of the
great principle declared by St. Paul, that, in all cases in which
NOTE Q. 395
God can be contemplated as reckoning witli man, the scale of this
reckoning will be according to ichat a mem has, and not according
to what he has not : and we must scrupulously beware of repre-
senting God, after the manner of so many, as dealing with men
like a sophist or a juggler, making believe that they have what
they have not, and that they have not what they have. It may
indeed happen that inferences, which we regard as legitimately
deduced from other coordinate scriptural truths, will seem to mili-
tate against this principle : but let us rather distrust our logic
than our conscience, and be assured that such inferences, how-
ever correct they may appear, must in some point or other have
started aside like a broken bow. Let us never doubt that no man
will be condemned by the All-righteous Judge for the want of that
which he could not have had. Our condemnation will be, and is,
that we have not that which we might have had, and that we have
a clinging, crushing weight of sin, which we have gathered and
heaped upon ourselves, which benumbs all our efforts, and palsies
all our faculties, and from which, if we had given ear to the
exhortations of our better monitors, inward and outward, we
might have been free.
Again in what Anselm says about God's glory, and its being
impaired by the sinfulness of man, there is a leaning toward the
notion that God's glory is shown forth by the qualities of His
â– works, rather than in the manifestation of His own Holiness and
Righteousness and Truth and Mercy and Love. The remark too
on our Lord's words concerning anger imjilies an indistinct appre-
hension of that great evangelical truth, that the essential sinful-
ness of sin lies in the heart, in the inward feeling when indulged,
and not merely in the outward act, of which alone Law can take
cognizance. Finally it is any thing but a legitimate conversion of
St. Paul's words, to say that there is condemnation to those who are
not in Christ Jesus, even though they do not tcaU: according to the
Jiesh. If we look at the whole passage connectedly, we shall
perceive that they who are not in Christ Jesus, and have not the
power of the Spirit to support them, cannot do otherwise than
waUc according to the flesh, through the infirmity of their will,
by reason whereof they do that tchich theg cdlow not, and do not
that tchich they would.
Tauler, in his sermon on our text, merely speaks of the Spirit
as reproving sin, without reference to the particular sin, of which
396 NOTE Q.
it is liere declared that He -n-as to convict the world. But Avliat
he says has his characteristic depth. " He vrill reprove them for
their sins. What are their sins? Now know that the eternal
God made all things, and appointed each for its right end. Thus
He made fire, that it should rise up, and stones, that they should
fall doAvn. Thus nature has given to the eyes to see, to the ears
to hear, to the hands to work, and to the feet to walk ; and thus
each member is obedient to the natural will, without any opposi-
tion, whether the matter be easy or hard, sweet or sour, if so be
that the will thoroughly Avills it ; thus too the members are thor-
oughly obedient, even when it is an affair of life or death. This
appears often in many lovers of this world, how they cast away
all ease merrily and joyfully, and riches thereto, and honor, for
that which they so wantonly and foolishly love, to the end that
their carnal kist may thus be satisfied. Now the Spirit says in us,
Who in this age is thus obedient to God, and thus exact in all His
commandments, giving up himself and all earthly thing-s accord-
inf' to His will ? though God verily ought to be our Euler. This
Sin the Holy Ghost reproves, when He comes, that man so
greatly and so often resists this Divine Will and its good admoni-
tions. This sin, and many hidden offences, the Holy Ghost
rebukes, when He comes to a man. This rebuke works a
quick, sharp, hard judgment in a man, and a helHsh pain, and an
intolerable woe, whereof worldly men, who live according to
nature, know little. This is one of the surest signs that the Holy
Ghost is in truth present. When this judgment is indeed borne,
the case is safe. For a thousand offences, which a man truly
acknowledges and confesses himself to be guilty of, are not so
perilous and so mischievous to him, as a single offence, which thou
wilt not recognize, nor allow thyself to be convinced of. Now
know, those spii'itual men, who are so much pleased with them-
selves, with what they do and what they do not, are all in danger-
ous sin ; and nothing will ever come of such self-willed men."
Thus here again, if we desire to dive into the mysterious depths
of meaning contained in this declaration concerning the Com-
forter, we must come down to the age of the Reformation.
Luther explains it with his usual fulness and energy. " What (he
asks) is the Holy Ghost to rebuke ? Christ mentions three things,
and says, He shall rebuke the world hy reason of sin, and of right-
eousness, and of judgment ; and He Himself explains what He
NOTE Q. 397
means. They are dark words, however, and a strange speech, to
those who do not understand, and arc not used to the Scriptures.
But to those who know the doctrine of the Gospel concerning
Christ from the writings of the Apostles, especially of this Evan-
gelist John, they ought not to be strange or unintelligible.
" The first thing is : He will rebuke the loorld for sin, because
tliey believe not in Me. What is this ? Is not sin already rebuked
and condemned in the world ? Who does not knoAv that adul-
tery, murder, stealing, etc., are wrong ? Have not even the
Heathens forbidden and punished such things ? What need we
then the Holy Ghost to rebuke sin ? But what manner of sin is
ibis of which lie speaks, that thoj believe not in Me ? Has He
nothing else to rebuke ? It is plain. He does not speak of those
sins, whicb the world sees and rebukes. This He shows suffi-
ciently by those words, that they believe not in Me : for who ever
heard that this is to be the sin which condemns the whole world,
the not believing in Christ ? — Seeing however that this rebuke
for sin is to pass upon the whole world, universally and without
distinction, and that no one is to be exempted, be he who he may,
it follows that the sins for which all men are to be rebuked by the
Holy Ghost, must be different from those which are notorious,
and recognized by the world. For one cannot rebuke every-
body on account of these ; since there are many who live so that
no one can reprove or blame them, but all the world must praise .
them as honest, honorable, nay, as upright, who not only avoid
sin, but also exercise themselves in a handsome, honorable walk,,
and in good works. Should you ask however, What sin have
they ? or, What is rebuked in them ? Christ makes answer, fJiat
they believe not in Me. Here stands in brief what makes them
all sinners, and condemns them ; and all is comprised in this one
thing, they are without the faith and knowledge of Christ. Thus
they are shortly and roundly concluded under sin, so that one
need not seek long and ask, Which, and what manner of sin is to
be rebuked in each ? or How many various sins may there be ?
Here you have it all in one word, that this one thing is rebuked
in all at once, and is the sin of the whole world, that they are
without Christ, or have not faith.
" Therefore the meaning of these words is briefly, that the
Holy Ghost shall pass this judgment on all mankind, as they are
found upon earth, be they Gentiles or Jews, guilty or innocent
34
398 NOTE Q.
before the world, and on all tliat tliey do and are, even on what
they deem the best and greatest holiness, that they are and must
continue under the wrath and condemnation of God, and that
they cannot be delivered from this, unless they beheve in Christ.
Let who can, come and boast of his or other men's honesty, vir-
tues, good works, and holy life : here you are told that it is
nothing worth, when the Holy Ghost, with His breath, that is,
through the ofSce of preaching, (as Isaiah says, xl. 7), breathes
and blows upo7i it. For this rebuke passes upon all, so that all
their glory must fall, and whatever they do or may be cannot
avail them before God. This He does by the mouth of St. Paul,
near the beginning of the Epistle to the Romans, where He casts
all, both Jews and Gentiles, under sin, and says that for this rea-
son was the Gospel revealed from heaven, that all the world might
be forced to confess themselves guilty of sin. For, he sa} s (iii.
23), there is no difference ; for all have sinned, and come short of
the glori/ n-hich they ought to have before God. With this word all
the glory and pride of men is smitten to the ground. They may
have the glory of being mighty, noble, learned, well-behaved,
praiseworthy rulers, honorable, honest foll
called holy before the world, and may have such glory and advan-
tage as St. Paul gives to the Jews, that they are God's people, the
children of the hoi}- patriarchs, that they have the law and prom-
ises of God, and that Christ was to be born of them : but what is
all such glory, if they have not the glory which they ought to have
before God ? What have they, if they have not God ? — that
they must be eternally lost.
" Do }-ou ask, Why ! how can this be ? What is wanting In
these things, that they are of no worth before God ? Is all this to
be matter of condemnation, thcii' being well-behaved, honest, hon-
orable folks, governing well and laudably, not stealing, robbing, or
committing adultery, but living chastely, orderly, obediently, and
performing many good works according to the Law ? Are not
aU these excellent gifts of God, and praiseworthy virtues ? Ay,
verily, that say we too, and teach moreover, that God has com-
manded these things, and that it is His will that men should live
thus, and be honest. Why then is this rebuked here, and turned
into sin ? Thei'c Is another Judge, who judges all men's lives and
souls, and has much sharper eyes to see sin and to rebuke it, than
we can understand or conceive. This Judge says, that all are sin-
NOTE Q. 399
ner?, and to be rebuked for their sin. Ilim surely we ouglit to
believe, and to grant that He speaks rightly and truly : for He re-
bukes us also on account of this very blindness, that we do not see
or jierceive how we with all our doings are sinners before God.
" You must know however that lie is not speaking here of
men's outward life and conduct, which the world can weigh and
judge, but that He pierces inward to the very bottom of the heart,
which is the source and fountain where the true main sin lies hid,
such as the worship of false gods, neglect of God, unbelief, disobe-
dience, evil concupiscence, and resistance against God's command-
ments, in short, what St. Paul (Rom. viii. 7) calls heing fleslily
minded; to which he gives the title and name, that it is enmity
against God, and cannot he subject to the laio of God. This Is the
stem and the root of all other sins, the very prime sin which we
inherit from Adam out of Paradise, so that, were it not for this,
there Avould never be any robbery, or murder, or adultery, etc.
Now the world does indeed see these outward evil deeds, nay,
wonders and complains that people are so bad, but knows not how
it comes to pass. It sees the stream of water flowing along, and
all manner of fruits and leaves sprouting out of the evil tree ; but
whence the fountain flows, and where the root lies, it knows not.
It sets to work and tries to remedy the matter, to check wicked-
ness, and to make people good, by laws and the lash of punish-
ment. But although this may last a long while, nothing la pro-
fited thereby. The course of the waters may be cheeked ; but the
main source is not stopped : the suckers may be cropped oiF; but
this does not take any thing from the root. Now it is lost labor,
it is of no avail, so long as one checks and patches and heals out-
wardly, while the stem and root and source of evil abides within.
The first thing to do is to stop the source, to take away the root
of the tree : else it will break and burst out in ten places, when
you have stopped and checked it in one. The cure must be rad-
ical : else you may smear and cover over everlastingly with oint-
ments and plasters ; the wound will keep on inflaming and fester-
ing, and only become worse. In fine, experience teaches, and the
world must confess, that it cannot even check outward gross vices
and misdeeds, although it represses and punishes them with all its
might; as indeed it ought to do. Much less can it take away that
sin, which lies inwardly in man's nature, and which is the main
sin, but which the world knows not.
400 NOTE Q.
" Therefore tliis sin abides over the "tvhole world ; and tins judg-
ment i^asses uj^on all that may be thought and done by all men,
as they are born of Adam, be it evil or good, right or wrong, in
the eyes of the â– world. Nor can any one escape here, or boast
above another ; but all are alike before God ; and all must confess
themselves guilty, and worthy of everlasting death and condem-
nation ; and all must have remained eternally therein ; nor could
any counsel or help against it have been found in any creature, if
God had chosen to deal with us according to our merits, and to
His justice. But now, forasmuch as out of His unfathomable good-
ness He took compassion upon this our misery. He sent Christ,
His dear Son, from Heaven to counsel and help us ; in order that
He might take our sin and condemnation upon Himself, and might
atone for it by the offering of His Body and Blood, and reconcile
God to us. And He gave commandment that this should be
preached In all the world, and that this Christ should be set before
all mankind, so that they might cleave by faith to Him, if they
would come out of sin, God's wrath, and eternal condemnation, to
redemption and reconcilation, and to the kingdom of God.
" Thus this sermon has two parts : first it sets before all the
world, that they are all under sin and wrath, condemned by the
Law, and requires that we should acknowledge this ; next it
shows how we may obtain redemption from this state, and favor
with God, namely, by this one means, that we take hold of Chi'ist
lay faith.
" But, when this sermon begins, then comes forth the true sin
which is spoken of here, and which that sermon produces, namely
tliat they believe not in Me. For the world will not listen to this
sermon, that they are all to be sinners before God, and that their
righteous deeds are of no worth before Him, and that only through
this crucified Christ can they obtain grace and salvation. This
unbelief In Christ then becomes the all-embracing sin, which brings
auen into condemnation, so that there is no remedy.
" Even before, as I have said, unbelief was the main sin in all
men, the beginning and the first sin In Paradise itself, and will
continue doubtless the last of all sins. For when Adam and Eve
had God's word, which they ought to have believed, and when, so
long as they clave thereto, they had God and life therein, they
were assailed in the first instance by unbelief in this word. Yea^
said the serj^ent to Eve, Jiath God said, ye shall not eat of every
NOTE Q. 401
tree in the garden f Here lie makes his first thrust against her
faith, so that she may leave hold of the word, and not esteem it as
God's word. For what he cared chiefly for, was not the eating of
the forbidden apple, but to bring them out of the faith wherein
they liA'cd before God, into unbelief; from which, he knew, would
follow disobedience and all sin, as its fruits.
" The unbelief however, spoken of in the text, is not merely
that which is planted by Adam in man's nature, but plainly this,
that men believe not in Chi'ist, that is, when the Gospel of Christ
is preached, in order that we may confess our sins, and through
Christ seek and obtain grace. For when Christ came, the sin of
Adam and of the whole human race, nam^ely, their previous un-
belief and disobedience, was taken away before God by Christ's
suiTerings and death ; and He built a new Heaven of grace and
forgiveness ; so that the sin which we have inherited from Adam,
shall no longer keep us under God's wrath and condemnation, if
we believe in this Saviour. And henceforward he who is con-
demned must not complain of Adam and of his inborn sin : for