Quod ad justitiae observationem etiam compellendum sit
Compelled by Love and Truth
Augustine argues from Scripture that believers may be divinely compelled into justice and truth, citing the great banquet and Paul's conversion as examples of Christ's loving violence.
Augustine shows, in a letter written to Vincent, that people should in fact be compelled to pursue justice, "What do you think?" he says. "No one should be compelled to pursue justice, when you read that the householder said to his servants: 'Whoever you find, force them to come in'?✦ (Luke 14:23.) And when you read that even Saul at first, and later Paul, was compelled by the great violence of Christ to know and hold fast to the truth? (Acts 9.) And do you think no force should be applied to a person, so they may be set free from the ruin of error, when you see the Lord himself — who loves us more profitably than anyone — doing exactly this through the clearest examples, and you hear Christ say: 'No one comes to me unless the Father has drawn them'?✦
The Heart Compelled to Return
Augustine reflects on how fear of divine judgment and the discipline of Mother Church work together to break stubbornness and bring the will freely to truth.
(John 6:44.) This is what happens in the hearts of everyone who turns to God out of fear of divine anger. Whatever the true and lawful mother Church does, even if it is felt as harsh and bitter, does not repay evil for evil, but applies the good of discipline by driving out the evil of iniquity (ibid.). . You see, then, that what matters isn't that someone is compelled, but what compels them — whether it's good or evil. Not that anyone can be made good against their will, but that by fearing what they don't want to suffer, they either let go of the stubbornness that holds them back, or they're compelled to acknowledge the truth they didn't know — so that, out of fear, they may reject the falsehood they were clinging to, or seek the truth they were unaware of, and now willingly hold on to what they once refused. For it is not a good thing for a person to conquer another person, but it is a good thing for a person that truth should conquer them when they are willing, because it is an evil thing for a person that truth should conquer them when they are unwilling. For truth itself must conquer — whether the one it conquers denies or confesses.
Passing Over Familiar Words
Augustine concludes by invoking Gregory's well-known teaching on wholesome compulsion but chooses to pass over it, trusting its familiarity to the reader.
Blessed Gregory speaks most sweetly and most abundantly in his thirty-sixth homily about this wholesome compulsion. Because these things are most familiar and worn by the practice of reading, and so the thought would not grow too lengthy here, I have decided to pass over them.1
Read the original Latin
Quod ad justitiae observationem etiam compellendum sit, Augustinus ad Vincentium demonstrat dicens (epist. 48): « Putas, inquit, neminem debere cogi ad justitiam, cum legas patremfamilias dixisse servis: Quoscunque inveneritis cogite intrare? (Luc. XIV, 23.) cum legas etiam ipsum primo Saulum, postea Paulum, ad cognoscendam et tenendam veritatem magna violentia Christi cogentis esse compulsum? (Act. IX.) Et putas nullam vim adhibendam esse homini, ut ab erroris pernicie liberetur, cum ipsum Dominum, quo nemo nos utilius diligit, certissimis exemplis hoc facere videas, et Christum audias dicentem: Nemo venit ad me, nisi quem Pater attraxerit?
(Joan. VI, 44.) Quod fit in cordibus omnium qui se ad Deum divinae iracundiae timore convertunt. Quidquid vero facit vera et legitima mater Ecclesia, etiamsi asperum amarumque sentiatur, non malum pro malo reddit, sed bonum disciplinae expellendo malum iniquitatis apponit (ibid.) . Vides igitur non esse considerandum quod quisque cogitur, sed quale sit illud quo cogitur, utrum bonum an malum: non quo quisque bonus esse possit invitus; sed timendo quod non vult pati, vel relinquit impedientem animositatem, vel ignoratam compellitur agnoscere veritatem, ut timens vel respuat falsum de quo contendebat, vel quaerat verum quod nesciebat, et volens jam teneat quod nolebat. Non enim bonum hominis est hominem vincere, sed bonum est homini ut eum veritas vincat volentem, quia malum est homini ut eum veritas vincat invitum. Nam ipsa vincat necesse est, sive negantem, sive confitentem.
» De hac salubri coactione et beatus Gregorius in homilia trigesima sexta more suo dulcissime et abundantissime dicit. Quae quia notissima et usu lectionis trita sunt, et ne prolixior foret sententia, hic praetermittere censui.
Scripture echoes
Notes
- 1 ↩Quae is taken as a relative pronoun with antecedent implied from the preceding discussion (the things Gregory treats). quia is causal. foret is subjunctive of sum in a purpose/result clause (ne prolixior foret sententia).
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