Letter 50028: Augustine to Jerome, his most beloved lord, brother, and fellow presbyter, worthy of being honored and embraced with...

Augustine to Jerome, his most beloved lord, brother, and fellow presbyter, worthy of being honored and embraced with the most sincere devotion -- Greetings. 1. No face was ever more familiar to another than the peaceful, joyful, and truly noble dedication of your studies in the Lord has become to me. For although I long greatly to know you personally, I feel that my knowledge of you is lacking in only one small respect -- your physical appearance. And even that gap I can hardly claim, since my most blessed brother Alypius (now invested with the office of bishop, of which he was already truly worthy) has seen you. When he returned and I saw him, his account of you imprinted your image almost completely on my mind. Indeed, I might say that while he was seeing you there, I was seeing you through his eyes. For anyone who knows us can say that in body alone -- not in mind -- are we two people, so great is our unity of heart, so firm the intimate friendship between us (though in merit we are not alike, for his far exceeds mine). Since you love me -- both from long standing through our communion of spirit and more recently through what you know of me from my friend's report -- I feel it is not presumptuous (as it would be from a stranger) to commend to your brotherly regard our brother Profuturus. We trust that the happy omen of his name ("Good-speed") may be fulfilled through our efforts, furthered by your aid -- though it may actually be more fitting that I be commended to you by him than he by me. I ought perhaps to write no more if I were content with a formal letter of introduction. But my mind overflows into conversation with you about the studies we pursue in Christ Jesus our Lord, who is pleased to provide us generously, through your love, with many benefits and helps along the way he has marked out for his followers. 2. We -- and with us all who are devoted to study in the African churches -- ask you not to refuse the labor of translating into Latin the commentaries of the Greek writers on our Scriptures. You may thereby make these authors available to us as well, especially the one whose name you seem to take particular pleasure in sounding throughout your writings [Origen]. But I urge you: when you translate the canonical books of Scripture into Latin, please follow the method you used in your translation of Job -- adding notes to make it plain where your version differs from the Septuagint, whose authority deserves the highest respect. For my part, I cannot adequately express my surprise that anything should still be found in the Hebrew manuscripts that escaped so many translators who were perfectly fluent in the language. I say nothing about the Septuagint translators -- regarding whose remarkable unity of mind and spirit, surpassing what is found even in a single individual, I dare not pronounce a definitive judgment, except that in my view extraordinarily high authority must be granted to them in this work. What perplexes me more are the later translators who, although they had the advantage of working after the Septuagint was complete, and were reportedly well acquainted with Hebrew vocabulary, syntax, and idiom, still failed to agree among themselves and left many things yet to be discovered. If those passages were obscure, you are as likely to have been mistaken as anyone else. If they were clear, it is hard to believe the Septuagint could have gotten them wrong. I lay out my perplexity and appeal to your kindness for an answer. 3. I have also been reading some writings attributed to you on the epistles of the Apostle Paul. In your commentary on Galatians, I came to the passage where the apostle calls Peter back from a course of dangerous pretense. To find there a defense of falsehood -- whether by a person of your stature or by any author -- causes me, I must confess, great sorrow. For it seems to me that the most disastrous consequences follow from believing that anything false is found in the sacred books -- that the men through whom Scripture was given to us put down anything untrue. Whether a good person may sometimes have a duty to deceive is one question. Whether a writer of Holy Scripture could ever have had such a duty is no question at all. For if you once admit into that high sanctuary of authority a single false statement made "as a duty," there will not be left a single sentence in those books that cannot, by the same fatal principle, be explained away whenever it strikes anyone as difficult to practice or hard to believe -- on the grounds that the author deliberately and dutifully wrote what was not true. 4. For if the Apostle Paul was not telling the truth when he rebuked Peter by saying, "If you, being a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, why do you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?" -- if Peter was actually doing the right thing, and Paul said and wrote otherwise merely to pacify troublesome opponents -- then what answer shall we give when perverse men arise, as Paul himself prophetically described, "forbidding marriage" (1 Timothy 4:3), and they defend themselves by claiming that Paul's statements affirming the lawfulness of marriage were likewise false -- written not because he believed them, but to appease those who, out of love for their wives, might have become troublesome? By this logic, even passages praising God could be dismissed as pious falsehoods designed to kindle love in slow hearts. Nowhere in the sacred books would the authority of pure truth remain secure. We see how carefully the same apostle safeguards the truth when he writes: "If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:14-15). If someone said to him, "Why be so troubled by this falsehood, when what you said, even if untrue, greatly glorifies God?" -- would he not recoil in horror from such madness? Would he not open the depths of his heart to protest that speaking well of a lie told on God's behalf is a crime no less serious -- perhaps even greater -- than speaking ill of the truth about him? 5. For my part, I would devote all the strength the Lord gives me to showing that every text commonly cited in defense of the usefulness of falsehood ought to be understood differently, so that the sure truth of these passages may be consistently upheld. This, however, I leave to your judgment. If you bring more careful attention to the passage, you may see what I mean far more readily than I do. What should move you to this more careful study is the realization that the authority of Scripture becomes dangerously unstable -- everyone free to believe what they want and reject what they don't -- if we once concede that the men who delivered these writings to us could, out of a sense of duty, include statements they knew to be false. Unless, perhaps, you propose to supply us with specific rules for knowing when falsehood might or might not be a duty. If this can be done, I ask you to set out those rules with reasoning that is neither ambiguous nor fragile. And I beg you, by our Lord in whom Truth was incarnate, not to consider me burdensome or presumptuous in making this request. This brother carries some of my writings with him. If you are willing to read them, I implore you to review them with candid, brotherly rigor. For the scriptural words -- "The righteous will correct me in mercy and reprove me, but the oil of the sinner shall not anoint my head" -- I understand to mean that a truer friend is one who heals me by his criticism than one who flatters me with ointment. I find it extraordinarily difficult to judge my own work rightly, being either too cautious or too careless. Sometimes I see my own faults -- but I prefer to hear them pointed out by better judges, lest after rightly accusing myself of error, I begin to flatter myself again and conclude that my self-criticism arose merely from excessive self-doubt.

From Augustine to Jerome (A.D. 394 or 395) Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — all for only $19.99... To Jerome, His Most Beloved Lord, and Brother and Fellow-Presbyter, Worthy of Being Honoured and Embraced with the Sincerest Affectionate Devotion, Augustine Sends Greeting. Chapter 1 1. Never was the face of any one more familiar to another, than the peaceful, happy, and truly noble diligence of your studies in the Lord has become to me. For although I long greatly to be acquainted with you, I feel that already my knowledge of you is deficient in respect of nothing but a very small part of you — namely, your personal appearance; and even as to this, I cannot deny that since my most blessed brother Alypius (now invested with the office of bishop, of which he was then truly worthy) has seen you, and has on his return been seen by me, it has been almost completely imprinted on my mind by his report of you; nay, I may say that before his return, when he saw you there, I was seeing you myself with his eyes. For any one who knows us may say of him and me, that in body only, and not in mind, we are two, so great is the union of heart, so firm the intimate friendship subsisting between us; though in merit we are not alike, for his is far above mine. Seeing, therefore, that you love me, both of old through the communion of spirit by which we are knit to each other, and more recently through what you know of me from the mouth of my friend, I feel that it is not presumptuous in me (as it would be in one wholly unknown to you) to recommend to your brotherly esteem the brother Profuturus, in whom we trust that the happy omen of his name (Good-speed) may be fulfilled through our efforts furthered after this by your aid; although, perhaps, it may be presumptuous on this ground, that he is so great a man, that it would be much more fitting that I should be commended to you by him, than he by me. I ought perhaps to write no more, if I were willing to content myself with the style of a formal letter of introduction; but my mind overflows into conference with you, concerning the studies with which we are occupied in Christ Jesus our Lord, who is pleased to furnish us largely through your love with many benefits, and some helps by the way, in the path which He has pointed out to His followers. Chapter 2 2. We therefore, and with us all that are devoted to study in the African churches, beseech you not to refuse to devote care and labour to the translation of the books of those who have written in the Greek language most able commentaries on our Scriptures. You may thus put us also in possession of these men, and especially of that one whose name you seem to have singular pleasure in sounding forth in your writings [Origen]. But I beseech you not to devote your labour to the work of translating into Latin the sacred canonical books, unless you follow the method in which you have translated Job, viz. with the addition of notes, to let it be seen plainly what differences there are between this version of yours and that of the LXX., whose authority is worthy of highest esteem. For my own part, I cannot sufficiently express my wonder that anything should at this date be found in the Hebrew manuscripts which escaped so many translators perfectly acquainted with the language. I say nothing of the LXX., regarding whose harmony in mind and spirit, surpassing that which is found in even one man, I dare not in any way pronounce a decided opinion, except that in my judgment, beyond question, very high authority must in this work of translation be conceded to them. I am more perplexed by those translators who, though enjoying the advantage of labouring after the LXX. had completed their work, and although well acquainted, as it is reported, with the force of Hebrew words and phrases, and with Hebrew syntax, have not only failed to agree among themselves, but have left many things which, even after so long a time, still remain to be discovered and brought to light. Now these things were either obscure or plain: if they were obscure, it is believed that you are as likely to have been mistaken as the others; if they were plain, it is not believed that they [the LXX.] could possibly have been mistaken. Having stated the grounds of my perplexity, I appeal to your kindness to give me an answer regarding this matter. Chapter 3 3. I have been reading also some writings, ascribed to you, on the Epistles of the Apostle Paul. In reading your exposition of the Epistle to the Galatians, that passage came to my hand in which the Apostle Peter is called back from a course of dangerous dissimulation. To find there the defense of falsehood undertaken, whether by you, a man of such weight, or by any author (if it is the writing of another), causes me, I must confess, great sorrow, until at least those things which decide my opinion in the matter are refuted, if indeed they admit of refutation. For it seems to me that most disastrous consequences must follow upon our believing that anything false is found in the sacred books: that is to say, that the men by whom the Scripture has been given to us, and committed to writing, did put down in these books anything false. It is one question whether it may be at any time the duty of a good man to deceive; but it is another question whether it can have been the duty of a writer of Holy Scripture to deceive: nay, it is not another question — it is no question at all. For if you once admit into such a high sanctuary of authority one false statement as made in the way of duty, there will not be left a single sentence of those books which, if appearing to any one difficult in practice or hard to believe, may not by the same fatal rule be explained away, as a statement in which, intentionally, and under a sense of duty, the author declared what was not true. 4. For if the Apostle Paul did not speak the truth when, finding fault with the Apostle Peter, he said: If you, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why do you compel the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?— if, indeed, Peter seemed to him to be doing what was right, and if, notwithstanding, he, in order to soothe troublesome opponents, both said and wrote that Peter did what was wrong; Galatians 2:11-14 — if we say thus, what then shall be our answer when perverse men such as he himself prophetically described arise, forbidding marriage, 1 Timothy 4:3 if they defend themselves by saying that, in all which the same apostle wrote in confirmation of the lawfulness of marriage, 1 Corinthians 7:10-16 he was, on account of men who, through love for their wives, might become troublesome opponents, declaring what was false, — saying these things, forsooth, not because he believed them, but because their opposition might thus be averted? It is unnecessary to quote many parallel examples. For even things which pertain to the praises of God might be represented as piously intended falsehoods, written in order that love for Him might be enkindled in men who were slow of heart; and thus nowhere in the sacred books shall the authority of pure truth stand sure. Do we not observe the great care with which the same apostle commends the truth to us, when he says: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain: yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ; whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 1 Corinthians 15:14-15 If any one said to him, Why are you so shocked by this falsehood, when the thing which you have said, even if it were false, tends very greatly to the glory of God? would he not, abhorring the madness of such a man, with every word and sign which could express his feelings, open clearly the secret depths of his own heart, protesting that to speak well of a falsehood uttered on behalf of God, was a crime not less, perhaps even greater, than to speak ill of the truth concerning Him? We must therefore be careful to secure, in order to our knowledge of the divine Scriptures, the guidance only of such a man as is imbued with a high reverence for the sacred books, and a profound persuasion of their truth, preventing him from flattering himself in any part of them with the hypothesis of a statement being made not because it was true, but because it was expedient, and making him rather pass by what he does not understand, than set up his own feelings above that truth. For, truly, when he pronounces anything to be untrue, he demands that he be believed in preference, and endeavours to shake our confidence in the authority of the divine Scriptures. 5. For my part, I would devote all the strength which the Lord grants me, to show that every one of those texts which are wont to be quoted in defense of the expediency of falsehood ought to be otherwise understood, in order that everywhere the sure truth of these passages themselves may be consistently maintained. For as statements adduced in evidence must not be false, neither ought they to favour falsehood. This, however, I leave to your own judgment. For if you apply more thorough attention to the passage, perhaps you will see it much more readily than I have done. To this more careful study that piety will move you, by which you discern that the authority of the divine Scriptures becomes unsettled (so that every one may believe what he wishes, and reject what he does not wish) if this be once admitted, that the men by whom these things have been delivered unto us, could in their writings state some things which were not true, from considerations of duty; unless, perchance, you propose to furnish us with certain rules by which we may know when a falsehood might or might not become a duty. If this can be done, I beg you to set forth these rules with reasonings which may be neither equivocal nor precarious; and I beseech you by our Lord, in whom Truth was incarnate, not to consider me burdensome or presumptuous in making this request. For a mistake of mine which is in the interest of truth cannot deserve great blame, if indeed it deserves blame at all, when it is possible for you to use truth in the interest of falsehood without doing wrong. Chapter 4 6. Of many other things I would wish to discourse with your most ingenuous heart, and to take counsel with you concerning Christian studies; but this desire could not be satisfied within the limits of any letter. I may do this more fully by means of the brother bearing this letter, whom I rejoice in sending to share and profit by your sweet and useful conversation. Nevertheless, although I do not reckon myself superior in any respect to him, even he may take less from you than I would desire; and he will excuse my saying so, for I confess myself to have more room for receiving from you than he has. I see his mind to be already more fully stored, in which unquestionably he excels me. Therefore, when he returns, as I trust he may happily do by God's blessing, and when I become a sharer in all with which his heart has been richly furnished by you, there will still be a consciousness of void unsatisfied in me, and a longing for personal fellowship with you. Hence of the two I shall be the poorer, and he the richer, then as now. This brother carries with him some of my writings, which if you condescend to read, I implore you to review them with candid and brotherly strictness. For the words of Scripture, The righteous shall correct me in compassion, and reprove me; but the oil of the sinner shall not anoint my head, I understand to mean that he is the truer friend who by his censure heals me, than the one who by flattery anoints my head. I find the greatest difficulty in exercising a right judgment when I read over what I have written, being either too cautious or too rash. For I sometimes see my own faults, but I prefer to hear them reproved by those who are better able to judge than I am; lest after I have, perhaps justly, charged myself with error, I begin again to flatter myself, and think that my censure has arisen from an undue mistrust of my own judgment.