confessions and enchiridion [213]
Of these two, the first is ignorance of the evil; the second, weakness. We must surely fight against both; but we shall as surely be defeated unless we are divinely helped, not only to see what we ought to do, but also, as sound judgment increases, to make our love of righteousness victor over our love of those things because of which -- either by desiring to possess them or by fearing to lose them -- we fall, open-eyed, into known sin. In this latter case, we are not only sinners -- which we are even when we sin through ignorance -- but also lawbreakers: for we do not do what we should, and we do what we know already we should not. Accordingly, we should pray for pardon if we have sinned, as we do when we say, "Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors." But we should also pray that God should guide us away from sin, and this we do when we say, "Lead us not into temptation" -- and we should make our petitions to Him of whom it is said in the psalm, "The Lord is my light and my salvation"[187]; that, as Light, he may take away our ignorance, as Salvation, our weakness. 82. Now, penance itself is often omitted because of weakness, even when in Church custom there is an adequate reason why it should be performed. For shame is the fear of displeasing men, when a man loves their good opinion more than he regards judgment, which would make him humble himself in penitence. Wherefore, not only for one to repent, but also in order that he may be enabled to do so, the mercy of God is prerequisite. Otherwise, the apostle would not say of some men, "In case God giveth them repentance."[188] And, similarly, that Peter might be enabled to weep bitterly, the Evangelist tells, "The Lord looked at him."[189] 83. But the man who does not believe that sins are forgiven in the Church, who despises so great a bounty of the divine gifts and ends, and persists to his last day in such an obstinacy of mind -- that man is guilty of the unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit, in whom Christ forgiveth sins.[190] I have discussed this difficult question, as clearly as I could, in a little book devoted exclusively to this very point.[191]
CHAPTER XXIII The Reality of the Resurrection 84. Now, with respect to the resurrection of the body -- and by this I do not mean the cases of resuscitation after which people died again, but a resurrection to eternal life after the fashion of Christ's own body -- I have not found a way to discuss it briefly and still give satisfactory answers to all the questions usually raised about it. Yet no Christian should have the slightest doubt as to the fact that the bodies of all men, whether already or yet to be born, whether dead or still to die, will be resurrected. 85. Once this fact is established, then, first of all, comes the question about abortive fetuses, which are indeed "born" in the mother's womb, but are never so that they could be "reborn." For, if we say that there is a resurrection for them, then we can agree that at least as much is true of fetuses that are fully formed. But, with regard to undeveloped fetuses, who would not more readily think that they perish, like seeds that did not germinate?[192] But who, then, would dare to deny -- though he would not dare to affirm it either -- that in the resurrection day what is lacking in the forms of things will be filled out? Thus, the perfection which time would have accomplished will not be lacking, any more than the blemishes wrought by time will still be present. Nature, then, will be cheated of nothing apt and fitting which time's passage would have brought, nor will anything remain disfigured by anything adverse and contrary which time has wrought. But what is not yet a whole will become whole, just as what has been disfigured will be restored to its full figure. 86. On this score, a corollary question may be most carefully discussed by the most learned men, and still I do
CHAPTER XXIII The Reality of the Resurrection 84. Now, with respect to the resurrection of the body -- and by this I do not mean the cases of resuscitation after which people died again, but a resurrection to eternal life after the fashion of Christ's own body -- I have not found a way to discuss it briefly and still give satisfactory answers to all the questions usually raised about it. Yet no Christian should have the slightest doubt as to the fact that the bodies of all men, whether already or yet to be born, whether dead or still to die, will be resurrected. 85. Once this fact is established, then, first of all, comes the question about abortive fetuses, which are indeed "born" in the mother's womb, but are never so that they could be "reborn." For, if we say that there is a resurrection for them, then we can agree that at least as much is true of fetuses that are fully formed. But, with regard to undeveloped fetuses, who would not more readily think that they perish, like seeds that did not germinate?[192] But who, then, would dare to deny -- though he would not dare to affirm it either -- that in the resurrection day what is lacking in the forms of things will be filled out? Thus, the perfection which time would have accomplished will not be lacking, any more than the blemishes wrought by time will still be present. Nature, then, will be cheated of nothing apt and fitting which time's passage would have brought, nor will anything remain disfigured by anything adverse and contrary which time has wrought. But what is not yet a whole will become whole, just as what has been disfigured will be restored to its full figure. 86. On this score, a corollary question may be most carefully discussed by the most learned men, and still I do