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 Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow XXXVI.: ST. AUSTIN'S WORDS Letter 204,154 to Donatus. - A Philosophical Commentary on These Words of the Gospel, Luke 14.23, 'Compel Them to Come In, That My House May Be Full'

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XXXVI.: ST. AUSTIN’S WORDS Letter 204,154 to Donatus. - Pierre Bayle, A Philosophical Commentary on These Words of the Gospel, Luke 14.23, ‘Compel Them to Come In, That My House May Be Full’ [1686]

Edition used:

A Philosophical Commentary on These Words of the Gospel, Luke 14.23, ‘Compel Them to Come In, That My House May Be Full’, edited, with an Introduction by John Kilcullen and Chandran Kukathas (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2005).

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


XXXVI.

ST. AUSTIN’S WORDS

Letter 204,154 to Donatus.

If you think it unlawful to constrain Men to do good, pray consider that a Bishoprick is a good Office, since the Apostle has said as much; yet there are a great many on whom Violence is actually exercis’d to oblige ’em to accept of it. They are seiz’d, they are hurry’d away by main force, they are shut up and confin’d till they are forc’d to desire this good thing.

ANSWER

Here’s an Argument drawn from the days of yore, and which there was no great danger, that either the Archbishop of Paris, or any other Prelate of France, wou’d publish with the rest of St. Austin’s Sophisms; they don’t desire, the People shou’d know they attain to the Episcopacy, by Methods so unlike those of the unaspiring Antients, whom ’twas necessary to<490> force; that they run headlong to it, rise by Intrigue, and by making their Court, Year after Year, to P. la Chaize, or some other Idol of the cringing Tribe. But say they, be that how it will, heretofore at least there were those whom ’twas necessary to constrain to be Bishops. Now a Bishoprick is a good thing; therefore they were constrain’d to do good: Such Constraint therefore is not always unlawful.

To dispel the Illusion of this Parallel, I have only one Remark to make, to wit, That they who refus’d a Bishoprick, did not act from an Opinion of its being evil; but from an Opinion of their own Insufficiency and Unworthiness. Such was their Humility and Modesty, that they cou’d not perceive they had Strength enough to support the weight of this Office; and as they knew, that the Glory of God, and the Good of the Church, depended on the filling this Post with fit Persons, they believ’d, that by accepting it they shou’d only obstruct a greater measure of good and greater Benefits from a worthier Hand. They likewise believ’d, that the Person ought to feel an inward Call to this Office, or otherwise not accept of it; but wait God’s Time, till he declar’d himself, either by a Vocation clearly communicated to the Ears of the Soul, or a Conjuncture of Circumstances, by which one might safely conclude, that such was the Will of God. These Circumstances might either be the persevering of those who offer’d the Dignity, in exhorting and pressing to accept it; an Earnestness that he wou’d comply, express’d by Compulsions, and little obliging Captivitys; repeated Commands on pain of Disobedience, and<491> other things of a like nature; which, far from grieving or violating the Conscience, might and ought to deliver it from all kind of Scruple: For it’s matter enough of Comfort, upon accepting a Charge which one believes above his Strength, if he accepts it only to give way to repeated instances, and in some measure to the Commands of his Superiors and Directors. He may rest satisfy’d, that by doing his best Endeavors, he shall have no cause to reproach himself on the thoughts of occupying a Station, which might be fill’d by a more deserving Person. So that the Parallel between a Man who is made a Bishop, as it were by force, and a Person constrain’d to abjure his Religion, won’t hold.

1. He who was forc’d to the Bishoprick, was persuaded ’twas an excellent thing: whereas a Heretick constrain’d to abjure, believes the Religion he’s compel’d to exceeding bad.

2. He who refus’d the Bishoprick, refus’d it only from a Principle of Humility and Modesty: whereas the Heretick refuses from an Aversion to the thing propos’d: Accordingly in such a degree as it’s obliging to press the one to accept the good thing, who trembles at the Thoughts of it; in such a measure, is it rude and brutal pressing the other to throw himself headlong into a Pit, which gives him a horror. St. Austin compares these two things together (judg you whether the Comparison be just) the Action of a Man, who keeps another to dinner, seats him at the upper end of his Table, and constrains him to submit to a thousand Civilitys, which he modestly refus’d; and the Action of a Man, who<492> goes to another’s House, and drubs him with a Cudgel out of his own Home.

3. The constraining to a Bishoprick, was a proper means of quieting all Scruples upon the Point, and did effectually remove ’em: whereas the constraining a Heretick, does but afflict him in Body and Mind, without affording the least Ray of Light; and exposes him to a thousand distracting Thoughts and criminal Devices.

4. Last of all, there’s this further difference between the two Cases: that he who shou’d peremptorily refuse a Bishoprick, and plead, that the Experience of his own Infirmitys wou’d not in Conscience permit him to undertake such a Charge; that another might sustain it much more gloriously for the Honor of God and the Church; wou’d be sent home again in Peace, and admir’d for his Humility: whereas a Heretick sees no end to his Miserys unless he abjure.

[154. ]In the modern numbering, Letter 173.