The Enchiridion 25

St Augustine of Hippo (AD 354–430) · De fide spe et charitate · PL 40, 230–290

25 God’s Judgments Upon Fallen Men and Angels. The Death of the Body is Man’s Peculiar Punishment PL 40, 244

And yet such a nature, in the midst of all its evils, could not lose the craving after happiness. Now the evils I have mentioned are common to all who for their wickedness have been justly condemned by God, whether they be men or angels. But there is one form of punishment peculiar to man—the death of the body. God had threatened him with this punishment of death if he should sin, leaving him indeed to the freedom of his own will, but yet commanding his obedience under pain of death; and He placed him amid the happiness of Eden, as it were in a protected nook of life, with the intention that, if he preserved his righteousness, he should thence ascend to a better place.

Poenae peccatis irrogatae. Quae tamen natura in malis suis non potuit amittere beatitudinis appetitum. Verum haec communia mala sunt et hominum et angelorum pro sua malitia Domini justitia damnatorum. Sed homo habet et poenam propriam, qua etiam corporis morte punitus est. Mortis ei quippe supplicium Deus comminatus fuerat, si peccaret: sic eum munerans libero arbitrio, ut tamen regeret imperio, terreret exitio; atque in paradisi felicitate tanquam in umbra vitae, unde justitia custodita in meliora conscenderet, collocavit .

Philip Schaff (ed.), Buffalo/New York: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886-1889. Public domain: English translation first published 1885-1900 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series). Latin: Migne, Patrologia Latina (1844-1855), public domain; transcription from Corpus Corporum (University of Zurich).

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