( YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. 'T^HE PUBLISHERS have now the pleasure of issuing to their Subscribers the Third Volume of the anti-Pelagian Writings, This completes the series as originally contemplated, with the exception of the Life by Rev. Dr. Rainy. This has, from various causes, been unavoidably delayed, and some time must yet elapse before it can be published. Messrs. Clark can assure their Subscribers that it will be well worth waiting for ; but, in the circumstances, they are ready to return the proportion of the fourth year's subscription to those who may desire at once to close the Series. They hope shortly to issue their Prospectus of the Works of St. Chrysostom. Edinburgh, 38 George Street, December 1876. THE WOEKS AURELIUS AUGUSTINE, BISHOP OF HIPPO. . A NEW TRANSLATION. (EBiteB fju tf)e REV. MARCUS DODS, D.D. VOL. XV. THE ANTI-PELAGIAN WOEKS OF ST. AUGUSTINE. VOLUME III. EDINBUEGH: T. & T. CLAEK, 38 GEOEGE STEEET. MDCCCLXXVI. PRINTED BY MURRAY AND GIBB, por T. & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH. LONDON, HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. DUBLIN, ROBERTSON AND 00. NEW YORK, .... SCRIBNER, WELFORD, AND ARMSTRONG. THE ANTI-PELAGIAN WORKS SAINT AUGUSTINE, BISHOP OF HIPPO. Cranslatcfc bp " PETER HOLMES, D.D., F.R.A.S., DOMESTIC CHAPLAIN TO THE RIGHT HON. THE COUNTESS OF ROTHES ; AND CURATE OF PENNYCROSS, PLYMOUTH ; Rev. ROBERT ERNEST WALLIS, Ph.D. INCUMBENT OF CHRIST CHURCH, COXLEY, SOMERSET. 1... VOLUME III. »• - EDINBUEGH: T. & T. CLAEK, 38 GEOEGE STEEET. MDCCCLXXVI. CONTENTS. Extract from Augustine's " Retractations,'' Book II., Chap, lxvi., on the De Gratia et Libero Arbitrio, . . 1 Two Letters from Augustine to Valentinus and the Monks of Adrumetum, and forwarded with the following Treatise, . ... 3 On Grace and Free- Will, . . 13 On Rebuke and Grace, . .69 On the Predestination of the Saints, . . 119 On the,Gift of Perseverance, ... 171 Against Two Letters of the Pelagians, — book first, . . .237 book second, . . 270 book third, . . 296 book fourth, 328 NOTE. Pages 1 to 68 are translated by Dr. Holmes; Page 69 to end, by Dr. Wallis. DE GEATIA ET LIBEKO AEBITEIO : A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. By AUEELIUS AUGUSTINE, Bishop of Hippo ; addressed to valentinus and the monks of adrumetum, and completed in one book : written in a. d. 426 or a.d. 427. Extract from " Tlie Retractations" Booh II. chap. 66, respecting this Treatise. There are some persons who suppose that the freedom of the will is denied whenever God's grace is maintained, and who on their side defend their liberty of will so peremptorily as to deny the grace of God. This grace, as they assert, is bestowed according to our own merits. It is in consequence of their opinions that I wrote the book entitled De Gratia et Idbero Arbitrio. This work I addressed to the monks of Adrumetum,1 in whose monastery first arose the controversy 1 Adrumetum, a maritime city of Africa, was the metropolis of the Province of Byzacium, as Procopius informs us, De Aedificiis Justmiani VI. It was in a monastery here that the monks resided for whose instruction Augustine com posed the two following treatises, — the former entitled De Gratid et Libera Arbitrio, and the latter De Oorreptione et Gratia, in the year of Christ 426 or 427. In our opinion,, no later date can he well assigned to these writings, inas much as they are mentioned in The Retractations, which was puhlished about the year 427 ; nor can they he placed earlier in date, because they are in that work mentioned the very last. XV. A 2 EXTRACT FROM AUGUSTINE S " RETRACTATIONS. on that subject, and that in such a manner that some of them were obliged to consult me thereon. The work begins with these words : " Propter eos qui liberum hominis arbitrium sic prcedicant " [" With reference to those persons who preach up the liberty of the human will "]. TWO LETTERS written by AUGUSTINE TO VALENTINUS AND THE MONKS OP ADRUMETUM; AND FORWARDED >• WITH THE FOLLOWING TREATISE. LETTER L [The 214th of Augustine's' Epistles.] TO MY VERY DEAR LORD AND BROTHER VALENTINUS, WORTHY OF ALL HONOUR AMONG THE MEMBERS OF CHRIST, AND TO THE BRETHREN THAT ARE WITH YOU,- AUGUSTINE SENDS GREETING IN THE LORD. 1. riTWU young men, Cresconius and Felix,, have found their A. way to u& and introduced themselves as belonging to your brotherhood. They told us that your monastery was dis turbed with no small commotion, because certain amongst you preach up Grace in such a manner as to deny that the will of man is free; and maintain — a more serious matter — that in the day of judgment God will not render to every man according to his works. At the same time, they pointed out to us, that several of you do not entertain this opinion, but allow that the free-will of man is assisted by the grace of God, so as to enable us to think and to do aright ; so that, when the Lord shall come to render unto every man according to his works,2 He shall find those works of ours good which God has prepared for us to walk in.3 They who think this think rightly. ' See the Second Letter, chap. iii. 1 See Matt. xvi. 17, and Rom. ii, 6t 3 Eph. ii. 10. 4 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [LET. I. 2. " I therefore beseech you, brethren," even as the apostle besought the Corinthians, " by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you." For, in the first place, the Lord Jesus, as it is written in the Gospel of the Apostle John, " came not to condemn the world, but that the world by Himself might be saved."1 Then, afterwards, as the Apostle Paul writes, " God shall judge the world 2 when He shall eome," as the whole Church confesses in the Creed, "to judge the quick and the dead." Now, I would ask, if there is no grace of ,God, how does He save the world ? and if there is no free will, how does He judge the world? That book of mine, therefore, or epistle, which the above-mentioned brethren have brought with them to you, I wish you to understand in accordance with this faith, so that you may neither deny God's grace, nor uphold free-will in such wise as to separate the latter from the grace of God, as if without it we could by any means either think ,or do anything in God's way, — an achieve ment which is quite beyond our power. On this account, indeed, it is, that the Lord when speaking of the fruits of righteousness said, " Without me ye can do nothing." s 3. From this you may understand why I wrote the letter which has been referred to,4 to Sixtus, presbyter of the Church at Eome, against the new set of Pelagian heretics, who say that the grace of God is bestowed aeeording to our own merits, so that he who glories has to glory not in the Lord, but in himself, — that is to say, in man, not in the Lord. This, however, the apostle forbids in these words: "Let no man glory in man ;"s while in another passage he says, " He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord."6 But these heretics, under the idea that they are justified by their own selves, just as if God did not bestow on them this gift, but they themselves obtained it by themselves, consistently enough glory in them selves, and not in the Lord. Now, the apostle asks the question, "Who maketh thee to differ from another?"7 and this he does on the ground that out of the mass of perdition 1 John iii. 17. s Rom. iii. 6. 3 John xv. 5. 4 Ep. 194. 5 1 Cor. iii. 21. 6 1 Cor. i. 31, and 2 Cor. x. 17. i 1 Cor. iv. 7. LET. I.] GOOD OR EVIL DESERTS ARE WITHIN US, 5 which arose from Adam, none but God puts any difference on a human being to make him a vessel to honour, and not to dishonour.1 Lest, however, the carnal man in his foolish pride should, on hearing the question, " Who maketh thee to differ from another?" either in thought or in word answer and say : My faith, or my prayer, or my righteousness causes me to differ from other men, the apostle at once adds these words to his question, and so meets all such notions of the carnal man, saying, " What hast thou that thou didst not receive ? now, if thou didst receive ity why dost thou glory, as if thou didst not receive it ?"z Now, they boast as if they did not receive their gifts by grace, who think that they are justified of their own selves, and who, on this account, glory in themselves, and not in the Lord. 4. There are within us either good or evil deserts. There fore I have in this letter, which now reaches you, shown by passages of Holy Scripture, which you can examine for your selves, that our good works and pious prayers and a right faith could not possibly have been developed in us unless we had received them all from Him, concerning whom the Apostle James says, " Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights."3 And no man can say that it is by the merit of his own works, or owing to his own prayers, or by virtue of his own faith, that God's grace has been conferred upon him ; nor suppose that the doctrine is true which those heretics hold, that the grace of God is given us in proportion to our own deservings. This is altogether a most erroneous opinion ; not, indeed, because there is no good desert in pious persons, or evil in impious ones (for how else shall God judge the world ?),4 but because a man is converted by that mercy and grace of God, of which the Psalmist says, " As for my God, His mercy shall prevent me;"5 so that the unrighteous man is justified, that is, becomes just instead of righteous, and begins to possess that good desert which God will crown when the world shall be judged. 5. There was a good deal of information which I wanted to send you, by the perusal whereof you would have been able 1 Rom. ix. 21. 2 1 Cor. iv. 7. 3 Jas. i. 17. * Rom. iii. 6. 6 Ps. lix. 10. 6 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [LET. I. to gam a more exact and plenary knowledge of what has been 'done by the bishops in their councils against these Pelagian heretics. But the brethren were in haste who came to us from your company. By them we have sent you this letter ; which is, however, not an answer to any communica tion, because, in truth, they brought us no epistle from your beloved selves. Yet we had no hesitation in receiving them ; for their simple manners proved to us clearly enough that there could have been nothing unreal or deceptive in their visit to us. They were, however, in mueh haste, as wishing to spend Easter at home with you ; and my earnest prayer is, that so sacred a day may, by the Lord's help, bring peace to you, and not dissension. 6. You will, indeed, take the better course (as I earnestly request you), if you will not refuse to send to me the very person by whom they say they have been disturbed. For [one of two things has probably happened] either he does not understand my book, or else, perhaps, he is himself misunderstood, when he endeavours to solve and explain a question which is a very difficult one, and intelligible to few. For it is none other than the question of God's grace which has caused persons of no understanding to think that the Apostle Paul prescribes it to us as a rule, " Let us do evil that good may come."1 It is in reference to these that the Apostle Peter writes in his second Epistle : " Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent, that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot and blameless : and account that the long- suffering of our Lord is salvation ; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them in these things ; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction."2 7. Take good heed, then, to these fearful words of the great apostle; and when you feel that you do not understand a question, then put your faith in the inspired word of God, and believe both that man's will is free, and that there is also God's grace, without whose help man's free-will can neither be 1 Rom. iii. 8. 2 2 Pet. iii. 14-16. LET. II.] NO OBEDIENCE WITHOUT LIBERTY OF WILL. 7 turned towards God, nor make any progress in God. And what you piously believe, that pray that you may have a wise understanding of. And, indeed, it is for this very purpose, — that is, that we may have a wise understanding, that we are endowed with a freedom of will. For if we had not a perfect liberty in understanding and exercising wisdom, it would not be enjoined to us in the words of Scripture, " Understand now, ye simple among the people ; and ye fools, at length be wise."1 The very precept and injunction which calls on us to be intelligent and wise, requires also our obedience ; and we could exercise no obedience without liberty of will. If, indeed, it were in our power to obey this precept to be understanding and wise by our free choice merely, without the help of God's grace, it would be unnecessary to say to God, " Give me under standing, that I may learn Thy commandments;"2 nor would it have been written in the gospel, " Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures ;"3 nor should the Apostle James address us in such words as, " If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not ; and it shall be given him."4 But the Lord is able to grant, both to you and to us, that we may rejoice over very speedy tidings of your peace and pious unanimity. I send you greeting, not in my own name only, but of the brethren also who are with me ; and I ask you to pray for us with one accord and with all earnest ness. The Lord be with you. LETTEE II. [The 215th of Augustine's Epistles.] TO MY VERY DEAR LORD AND BROTHER VALENTINUS, WORTHY OF ALL HONOUR AMONG THE MEMBERS OF CHRIST, AND TO THE BRETHREN THAT ARE WITH YOU, AUGUSTINE SENDS GREETING IN THE LORD. 1. rFIHAT Cresconius and Felix, and another Felix, the JL servants of God, who came to us from your brother hood, have spent Easter with us is known to your love.5 We 1 Ps. xciv. 8 (Sept.). 2 Ps. cxix. 73. 3 Luke xxiv. 45. 4 Jas. i. 5. 5 [The phrase of Christian salutation, vestra caritas = "your loving or beloved selves." 8 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [LET. II. detained them somewhile longer in order that they might return to you better instructed against the new set of Pela gian heretics, into whose error every one falls who supposes that it is in proportion to any human merits that the grace of God is given to us, which alone delivers a man through Jesus Christ our Lord. But he, too, is in no less error who thinks that, when the Lord shall come to judgment, a man is not judged according to his works who has been able to use throughout his life perfect freedom of will For only infants, who have not yet done any works of their own, either good or bad, will be condemned for original sin alone, when they have not been delivered by the Saviour's grace in the laver of regeneration. As for all others who, in the use of their free will, have added to the sin of their birth sins of their own com mission, but who have not been delivered by God's grace from the power of darkness, and removed into the kingdom of Christ, will receive judgment according to the deserts not of their original sin only, but also ofthe acts of their own will and choice. The good, indeed, shall receive their reward according to the merits of their own good-will, but then they received this very good-will through the grace of God ; and thus is accomplished that sentence of Scripture, " Indignation and wrath, tribula tion and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile : but glory, honour, and peace to every man that worketh good ; to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile."1 2. Touching the very difficult question of free-will and grace, I felt no need of treating it further in this letter, having given them another letter also when they were about to return in greater haste. I wrote a book likewise for you,2 and if you, by the Lord's help, read it, and have a lively understanding of it, I think that no further dissension on this subject will arise among you. They take with them other documents besides, which, as we supposed, ought to be directed to you, in order that from these you may ascertain what means the Catholic Church has adopted for repelling, in God's mercy, the poisonous principles of the Pelagian heresy. Now, our letter 1 Rom. ii. 8, 9. 2 The following treatise is here referred to,— De Gratid et Libera Arbitrio. LET. II.] THE TEACHING OF ST. CYPRIAN. 9 to Pope Innocent, Bishop of Eome, on the Council of the province of Carthage, and on the Council of Numidia, and one held with exceeding care by the five bishops, and his rescripts to these three; our letter also to Pope Zosimus about the African Council, and his rescript addressed to all bishops throughout the world; and a brief constitution, which we drew up against the error itself for a later plenary Council of all Africa ; and the above-mentioned book of mine, which I have just written for you, — all these we have both read over with them, while they were with us, and have now despatched by their hands to you.1 3. Furthermore, we have read to them the work of the most blessed martyr Cyprian on the Lord's Prayer, and have pointed out to them how He taught that all things pertaining to our morals, which constitute right living, must be sought from our Father which is in heaven, lest, by presuming on our liberty of will, we fall from divine grace. From the same treatise we have also shown them how the same glorious martyr has taught us that it behoves us to pray even for our enemies, who have not yet believed in Christ, that they may believe ; which would of course be all in vain unless the Church believed that even the evil and unbelieving wills of men might, by the grace of God, be converted to good. This book of St. Cyprian, however, we have not sent you, because- they told us that you possessed it among yourselves already. My letter, also, which had been sent to Sixtus, presbyter of the Church at Eome,2 and which they brought with them to us, we read over with them, and pointed out how that it had been written in opposition to those who say that God's grace is bestowed according to our merits, — that is to say, in opposi tion to the same Pelagians. 4. As far, then, as lay in our power, we have used our influ ence with them, as both your brethren and our own, with a view to their persevering in the soundness of the Catholic faith, which neither denies our liberty of will whether to choose an evil or a good life, nor attributes to it so much power that it can avail anything without God's grace, or that it can change itself from evil to good, or persevere in the pursuit of good, or 1 See Ep. 175-177, and 181-183. 2 Ep. 194. 10 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [LET. II. attain to eternal good with no further fear of failure. To yourselves, too, my most dearly beloved, I, even in this letter, give the same exhortation which the apostle addresses to us all, " not to think of yourselves more highly than you ought to think ; but to think soberly, aceording as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."1 5. Mark well the counsel which the Holy Ghost gives us by Solomon : " Make straight paths for thy feet, and order thy ways aright. Turn not aside to the right hand nor to the left, but turn away thy foot from the evil way ; for the Lord knoweth the ways on the right hand, but those on the left are perverse. He will make thy ways straight, and will direct thy steps in peace."2 Now consider, my brethren, that in these words of Holy Scripture, if the will were not free to choose, it would not be said, " Make straight paths for thy feet, and order thy ways; turn not aside to the right hand, nor to the left" Nor yet, were this possible for us to achieve without the grace of God, would it be afterwards added, " He will make thy ways straight, and will direct thy steps in peace." 6. Decline, therefore, neither to the right hand nor to the left, although the paths on the right hand are praised, and those on the left hand are blamed. This is why he added, " Turn away thy foot from the evil way," — that is, from the left-hand path. This he makes manifest in the following words, saying, " For the Lord knoweth the ways on the right hand ; but those on the left are perverse." In those ways we ought surely to walk which the Lord knows ; and it is of these that we read in the Psalm, " The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish;"3 for this way, which is on the left hand, the Lord does not know. As He will also say at last to such as are placed on His left hand at the day of judgment: "I know you not."4 Now what is that which He knows not, who knows all things, both good and evil, in man ? But what is the meaning of the words, " I know you not," unless it be that you are now such as I never made you ? Precisely as that passage runs, which is spoken of the Lord Jesus Christ, that "He knew no sin."5 1 Rom. xii. 3. " Prov. iv. 26, 27 (Sept.). • Ps. i. 6. * Matt. vii. 23. 6 2 Cor. v. 21. LET. II.] OUR OWN WILL INSUFFICIENT. 1 1 How knew it not, except that He had never made it ? And, therefore, how is to be understood the passage, " The ways which are on the right hand the Lord knoweth," except in the sense that He made those ways Himself, — even " the paths of the righteous," which no doubt are " those good works that God," as the apostle tells us, "hath before ordained that we should walk in them" I1 Whereas the left-hand ways — those perverse paths of the unrighteous — He truly knows nothing of, because He never made them for man, but man made them for himself. Wherefore He says, " The perverse ways of the wicked I utterly abhor ; they are on the left hand." 7. But this is the answer we get : Why did He say, " Turn not aside to the right hand, nor to the left," when he clearly ought rather to have said, Keep to the right hand, and turn not off to the left, if the right-hand paths are good ? On what principle do we think so, except this, that the paths on the right hand are so good that it is not good to turn off from them, even to the right ? For that man, indeed, is to be understood as declining to the right who chooses to attribute to himself, and not to God, even those good works which appertain to right-hand ways. Hence it was that after saying, " For the Lord knoweth the ways on the right hand, but those on the left hand are perverse " (as if the objection were raised to Him, Wherefore, then, do you not wish us to turn aside to the right ?), He immediately added as follows : " He will Himself make thy paths straight, and will direct thy ways in peace." Understand, therefore, the precept, "Make straight paths for thy feet, and order thy ways aright," in such a sense as to know that whenever you do all this, it is the Lord God who enables you to do it. Then you will not turn off to the right, although you are walking in right-hand paths, not trusting in your own strength ; and He will Himself be your strength, who will make straight paths for your feet, and will direet your ways in peace. 8. Wherefore, most dearly beloved, whosoever says, My own will suffices for me to perform good works, declines to the right. But, on the other hand, they who think that a good way of life should be forsaken, when they hear God's grace * Eph. ii. 10. 12 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [LET. II. preached up so intensely as to lead to the supposition and belief that it of itself turns men's wills from being evil to becoming good, and it even of itself guards and keeps them after it has turned them, and who, as the result of this opinion, go on to say, " Let us do evil that good may come,"1 — these persons decline to the left. This is the reason why he said to you, " Turn not aside to the right hand, nor to the left ;" in other words, do not uphold free-will in such wise as to attribute good works to it without the grace of God, nor so defend and maintain grace as if, by reason of it, you may love evil works in security and safety, — which may God's grace itself avert from you ! Now it was the words of such thinkers as these which the apostle had in view when he said, " What shall we say, then ? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound ?"2 And to this cavil of erring men, who know nothing about the grace of God, he returned such an answer as he ought in these words : " God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein ? " Nothing could have been said more succinctly, and yet to the -point. For what more useful gift does the grace of God confer upon us, in this present evil world, than our dying unto sin? Hence he shows himself ungrateful to grace itself who chooses to live in sin by reason of that whereby we die unto sin. May God, however, who is rich in mercy, grant you both to think soundly and wisely, and to continue perseveringly and progressively to the end in every good determination and pur pose. For yourselves, for us, for all who love you, and for those who hate you, pray that this gift may. be attained, — pray earnestly and vigilantly in brotherly peace. Live unto God. If I deserve any favour at your hands, let brother Florus come to me. 1 Rom. iii. & 2 Rom vi. 1, 2. ON GEACE AND FEEE-WILL. IN THIS TREATISE THE AUTHOR TEACHES US NOT TO MAINTAIN GRACE BY DENY ING FREE-WILL, NOR FREE-WILL BY DENYING GRACE ; FOR THAT IT IS EVIDENT FROM THE TESTIMONY OF SCRIPTURE THAT THERE IS IN MAN'S WILL AN" INHERENT LIBERTY OF CHOICE ; THAT THERE ARE ALSO IN THE SAME SCRIPTURES INSPIRED PROOFS GIVEN OF THAT VERY GRACE OF GOD WITHOUT WHICH WE CAN DO NOTHING GOOD. AFTERWARDS, IN OPPOSITION TO THE PELAGIANS, HE PROVES THAT GRACE IS NOT BESTOWED IN PROPOR TION TO OUR MERITS. HE EXPLAINS HOW ETERNAL LIFE, WITH WHICH GOOD WORKS ARE RECOMPENSED, IS REALLY OF GRACE. HE THEN GOES ON TO SHOW THAT THE GRACE WHICH IS GIVEN TO US THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST IS NEITHER THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LAW, NOR NATURE, NOR SIMPLY REMISSION OF SINS ; BUT THAT GRACE ITSELF MAKES US FULFIL THE LAW, AND CAUSES NATURE TO BE LIBERATED FROM THE DOMINION OF SIN. HE DEMOLISHES THAT VAIN SUBTERFUGE OF THE PELAGIANS, TO THE EFFECT THAT " GRACE, ALTHOUGH IT IS NOT BESTOWED ACCORDING TO THE MERITS OF GOOD WORKS, IS YET GIVEN IN PROPORTION TO THE DESERTS OF THE ANTECEDENT GOOD-WILL OF THE MAN WHO BELIEVES AND PRAYS." HE INCIDENTALLY TOUCHES THE QUESTION, WHY GOD COMMANDS WHAT HE MEANS HIMSELF TO GIVE, AND WHETHER HE IMPOSES ON US ANY COMMANDS WHICH WE ARE UNABLE TO PERFORM. HE CLEARLY SHOWS THAT THE LOVE WHICH IS INDISPENSABLE FOR FULFILLING THE COMMANDMENTS IS ONLY WITHIN US FROM GOD HIMSELF. HE POINTS OUT THAT GOD WORKS IN MEN'S HEARTS TO INCLINE THEIR WILLS WHITHERSOEVER HE WILLETH, EITHER TO GOOD WORKS ACCORDING TO HIS MERCY, OR TO EVIL ONES IN RETURN FOR THEIR DESERTS — HIS JUDGMENT, INDEED, BEING SOMETIMES MANIFEST, SOMETIMES HIDDEN, BUT ALWAYS RIGHTEOUS. LASTLY, HE TEACHES US THAT A CLEAR EXAMPLE OF THE GRATUITOUSNESS OF GRACE, NOT GIVEN IN RETURN FOR OUR DESERTS, IS SUPPLIED TO US IN THE CASE OF THOSE INFANTS WHICH ARE SAVED, WHILE OTHERS PERISH THOUGH THEIR CASE IS IDENTICAL WITH THAT OF THE REST. Chap. 1. [i.] — The occasion and argument of this work. WITH reference to those persons who preach up the liberty of the human will, and maintain it with such pertinacity as boldly to deny, and endeavour to do away with, that grace of God which calls us to Him, and delivers us from the evils we have deserved, whereby also we obtain the 14 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE- WILL. [CHAP. 2. meritorious qualities which lead to everlasting life, we have already said a good deal in discussion, and committed it to writing, so far as the Lord has vouchsafed to enable us. But since there are some persons who [take the opposite course, and] so defend God's grace as to deny man's free-will, or else suppose that free-will is denied when grace is defended, I have determined to write some thoughts on this point to your love, my brother Valentinus, and the rest of you, who are serving God together under the impulse of a mutual charity. Now it has been told me concerning you, brethren, by some members of your brotherhood who have visited us, and are the bearers of this communication of ours to you, that there are dissensions among you on this subject. This, then, being the case, dearly beloved, I counsel you not to be disturbed by the obscurity of this question, and to thank God for such things as you understand ; but as for all which is beyond the reach of your mind, pray for understanding from the Lord, observing, at the same time, peace and charity among yourselves ; and until He Himself lead you to perceive what at present is beyond your comprehension, walk firmly on the ground of which you are sure. This is the advice of the Apostle Paul, who, after saying that he was not yet perfect,1 a little later adds, " Let us, therefore, as many as are perfect, be thus minded,"2 — meaning perfect to a certain extent, but not having attained to a perfection sufficient for us ; and then immediately adds, " And if, in any thing, ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereunto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule." 3 For by walking according to our present attainments we shall advance to further stages of knowledge, — God revealing to us [degrees of truth] if we have other views about it [in our immature minds at present], provided we do not give up what portions thereof He has already revealed to us. Chap. 2. [n.] — He proves tlie existence of free-will in man from the precepts addressed to him by God; these precepts are given that there may be no excuse from ignorance. Now He has revealed to us, through His Holy Scriptures, that there is in man's will a liberty of choice. But how He 1 Phil. iii. 12. 2 Phil. iii. 15. - Phil. iii. 16. CHAP. 3.] THE WILL HATH LIBERTY TO CHOOSE. 15 has revealed this I do not attempt to explain by human testimony, but by divine. There is, to begin with, the fact that God's precepts themselves would be of no use to a man unless his will were at full liberty to choose, so that by its assent he might obtain the promised reward as he obeys the precepts. For these are given that no one might be able to plead the excuse of ignorance, as the Lord says concerning the Jews in the gospel : "HI had not come and spoken unto them, they would not have sin ; but now they have no cloak [or excuse] for their sin." x Of what sin does He speak but of that great one which He foreknew, while speaking thus, that they would make their own — that is, the death they were going to inflict upon Him ? For they had no sin before Christ came to them in the flesh. The apostle also says : " The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all un godliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness ; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them ; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him are from the creation of the world clearly seen — being understood by the things that are made —even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse." 2 In what sense does he pronounce them to be " without excuse," except of such excuse as human pride is apt to allege in such words as, " If I had only known, I would have done it ; I did not do it because I was ignorant of it ;" or, " I would do it if I knew how ; but I do not know, therefore I don't do it " ? All such excuse is removed from them when the precept is given them, or the knowledge is made manifest to them how to avoid sin. Chap. 3. — Sinners are convicted when attempting to excuse themselves by blaming God, because they have free-will. There are, however, persons who attempt to find excuse for themselves even from God. The Apostle James says to such : " Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God ; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then, when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin ; and sin, when it is finished, 1 John xv. 22. 2 Rom. i. 18-20. 1 G A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [CHAP. 4. bringeth forth death." 1 Solomon, too, in his book of Proverbs, has this answer for such as wish to find an excuse for them selves from God Himself : " The folly of a man spoils his ways ; but he blames God in his heart." 2 And in the book of Ecclesiasticus we read : " Say not thou, It is through the Lord that I fell away ; for thou oughtest not to do the things that He hateth : nor do thou say, He hath caused me to err ; for He hath no need of the sinful man. The Lord hateth all abomination, and they that fear God love it not. He Himself made man from the beginning, and left him in the hand of His counsel. If thou be willing, thou shalt keep His com mandments, and perform true fidelity. He hath set fire and water before thee : stretch forth thine hand unto whether thou wilt. Before man is life and death, and whichsoever pleaseth him shall be given to him."3 Observe how very plainly is set before our view the liberty of the human will Chap. 4. — The divine commands which are most suited to the will itself illustrate its freedom. What is the import of the fact that in so many passages God requests His commandments to be kept and fulfilled, and of the way in which He makes this request, if the will is not free ? What means " the happy man," of whom the Psalmist says that " his pleasure [or will] 4 has been in the law of the Lord Vs Does he not clearly enough show that a man, by his own will and choice, takes his stand in the law of God ? Then, again, there are so many commandments which in a certain way expressly adapt themselves to the human will ; for instance, there is, " Be not overcome of evil," 6 and others of similar import, such as, " Be not like a horse or a mule, which have no understanding ; " 7 and, " Eeject not the counsels of thy mother ; " 8 and, " Be not wise in thine own conceit ; " 9 and, " Despise not the chastening of the Lord ; " 10 and, " Forget not my law ; " u and, " Forbear not to do good to the poor ; " 12 and, " Devise not evil against thy friend ; " 13 and, " Give no 1 Jas. i. 13-15. 2 Prov. xix. 3. 3 ecc1us. xy u_17> « &y?.* (Sept.) » Ps. i. 2. 6 Eom_ xii L 7 Ps. xxxii. 9. ¦ Prov. i. 8. e prov. iii. 7. 10 Prov. iii. 11. » Prov. iii. 1. 12 prov. iii. 27. 13 Prov. iii. 29. CHAP. 4.] SCRIPTURE TEACHES THAT THE WILL IS FREE. 1 7 heed to a worthless woman ; " J and, " He is not inclined to understand how to do good ; " 2 and, " They refused to attend to my counsel ; " * with numberless other passages of the inspired Scriptures. And what do they all show us but the liberty of man's will in its preferences and choice ? So, again, in the evangelical and apostolic portions alike of the New Testament what other lesson is taught us ?. As when it is said, " Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth ; " * and, "Fear not them which kill the body;"6 and, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself ; " 6i and again, " Peace on earth to men of good will" 7 So also what the Apostle Paul says : " Let him do. what he willeth ; he sinneth not if he marry. Nevertheless, he that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well." 8 And so again, " If I do this willingly, I have a reward ; " ' while in another passage he says, " Be ye sober and righteous, and sin not ; " 10 and again, " As ye have a readiness to will, so also let there be a prompt performance ;"u then he remarks to Timothy about the younger widows, " When they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they choose to marry." So in another passage, " All that will [or choose] to live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution ; " 12 while to Timothy himself he says, "Neglect not the gift that is in thee." 13 Then to Philemon he addresses this explanation : " That thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but of thine own will." 14 Servants also he advises to obey their masters " with a good will" 15 In strict accordance with this, James : " Do not err, my beloved brethren . . . and have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with respect of persons ; " ie and, " Do not speak evil one of another." 17 So also John in his Epistle writes, " Do not love the world," 18 and other things of the same import. Now wherever it is said, " Do not do this," and " Do not do that," and wherever there is any : Prov. v. 2. 2 Ps. xxxvi. 3 (Sept.). 3 Prov. i. 30 (Sept.). * Matt. vi. 19. 6 Matt. x. 28. 6 Matt. xvi. 24. 7 Luke ii. 14. 8 1 Cor. vii. 36, 37, 9 1 Cor. ix. 17. 10 1 Cor. xv. 34. " 2 Cor. viii. 11. 12 2 Tim. iii. 12. 13 1 Tim. iv. 14. " Philemon 14. 15 Eph. vi. 7. '» Jas. i. 16, and ii. 1. « Jas. iv. 11. M 1 John ii. 15. XV. B 18 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [CHAP. 5. requirement in the divine admonitions for the work of the will to do anything, or to refrain from doing anything, there is at once a sufficient proof of the liberty of the will. No man, therefore, when he sins, can in his heart blame God for it, but every man must impute the fault to himself. Nor does it detract at all from a man's own freedom of will when he performs .any act in accordance with the will of God. Indeed, a work is then to be pronounced a good one when a person does it willingly ; then, too, may the reward of a good work be hoped for from Him concerning whom it is written, " He shall reward every man according to his works." J Chap. 5. — He shows that ignorance affords no such excuse as shall free the ojjender from punishment ; that to sin with knowledge is a graver thing than to sin in ignorance. Ignorance is twofold, — of those wlw are unwilling to know, and simply of those.who lack knowledge. All excuse such as men are in the habit of alleging from ignorance is really removed from those persons who are acquainted with God's commandments. Nor will even they be exempt from punishment who know not the law of God. " For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law ; and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law." 2 Now the apostle does not appear to me to have said this as if he meant that they would have to suffer something worse who in their sins are ignorant of the law than they who know it. [in.] It is seemingly worse, no doubt, " to perish " than " to be judged ; " but inasmuch as he was speaking of the Gentiles and of the Jews when he used these words, the former being without the law, which the latter formally received, who can venture to say that the Jews who sin in the law will not perish, since they refused to believe in Christ, when it was of them that the apostle said, " They shall be judged by the law " ? For without believing in Christ no man can be delivered ; and therefore the judgment which they shall undergo will be that they perish. If, indeed, the condition of those who are ignorant of the law of God is worse than the condition of those who know it, how can that be true which the Lord says in the gospel : " The servant who knows not his lord's will, and 1 Matt. xvi. 27. a Rom. ii. 12. ' CHAP. 5.] IGNORANCE EXCUSES, BUT NOT WHOLLY. 19 commits things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes ; whereas the servant who knows his lord's will, and commits things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with many stripes "I1 Observe how clearly He here shows that it is a graver matter for a man to sin with knowledge than in ignorance. And yet we must not on this account betake our selves for refuge to the shades of ignorance, with the view of finding our excuse therein. It is one thing to be ignorant, and another thing to be unwilling to have knowledge. For the will is at fault in the case of the man of whom it is said, " He is not inclined to understand how to do good." 2 But even the ignorance, which is not theirs who refuse to learn knowledge, but is theirs who are, as it were, simply ignorant, does not so far excuse a man as to exempt him from the punishment of eternal fire, even if his failure to believe in Christ has been the result of his not having at all heard what it is he should believe, though probably his punishment may be a milder one. For there is good reason why it is said in God's word, " Pour out Thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known Thee ; " 3 and again for the declaration of the apostle, " When He shall come from heaven in flaming fire to take vengeance on them that know not God." 4 But in truth the human will is expressly adapted to the purpose of our procuring knowledge as such, so that none of us can fairly say, " I was ignorant," " I did not hear," " I understood not ; " and in reference to this endowment of the will it is said to us, " Be ye not as the horse or as the mule, which have no understanding," 5 although that is evidently a still worse case of which it is written, "A stubborn servant will not be reproved by words ; for even if he understand, yet he will not obey." 6 But when a man says, " I cannot do what I am taught and commanded to do, because I am mastered by my evil concupiscence," he has no longer any excuse to plead from ignorance, nor reason to blame God in his heart ; he acknowledges the evil to be in himself, and laments it ; still to such an one the apostle's words are suitable : " Be not over- ' [In this inverted order does the author inexactly quote Luke xii. 47, 48.] 2 Ps. xxxvi. 3 (Sept.). 3 Ps. Ixix. 6. 4 2 Thess. i. 7, 8. " Ps. xxxii. 9. 6 Prov. xxix. 19. 20 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [CHAP. 6. come by evil, but overcome evil with good ; " 1 and of course the very fact that the injunction, " Be not overcome," " Consent not to be overcome," is addressed to him, undoubtedly shows that his will possesses the power of choice and determination. Chap. 6. [iv.] — God's grace to be maintained against the Pelagians; the Pelagian heresy not an old one. There is, however, a fear of all these and similar testimonies of Holy Scripture (and undoubtedly there are a great many of them) being understood, in the maintenance of free-will, in such a way as to leave no room for God's assistance and grace in leading a godly life and a good conversation, to which the eternal reward is due ; and a fear, moreover, of a poor wretched man so misunderstanding his own case, when he leads a good life and performs good works (or rather thinks that he leads a good life and performs good works), as to dare to glory in himself, and not in the Lord, and to put his entire hope of righteous living in himself alone ; so that the prophet Jeremiah's malediction follows him when he says, " Cursed is the man who trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord." 2 Understand, my brethren, I pray you, this passage of the prophet. For the prophet did not say, " Cursed is the man who puts his hope in his own self." It might seem to some that the passage, " Cursed is the man who trusteth in man," was spoken in the sense that no man should have any confidence in any other person, but in himself. In order, therefore, to show that his advice to a man was not to have any confidence in himself, even after saying, " Cursed is the man who trusteth in man," he immediately added, "And maketh flesh his arm" [or " strengtheneth the flesh of his arm "].3 He used the word " arm " to designate power in operation. By the term "flesh" however, must be understood human frailty. And therefore he strengthens the flesh of his arm who supposes that a power which is frail and weak (in a word, human) is sufficient for him to perform good works, and therefore puts not his trust in God for help. This is the reason why he subjoined the further clause, " And whose heart departeth from the Lord." ' Rom. xii. 21. 2 Jer. xvii. 5. 3 [Augustine's reading of this clause is : Etfirmat carnem brachii sui.] CHAP. 7.] THE NECESSITY OE GRACE. 21 Of this character is the Pelagian heresy, which is not an ancient one, but has only lately come into existence. Against ' this system of error there was first a good deal of discussion ; then, as the ultimate resource, it was referred to. sundry episcopal councils, the proceedings of which, not, indeed, in every instance, but in some, I have despatched to you for your perusal In order, then, to our performance of good works, let us not put our trust in man, strengthening the flesh of our own arm ; nor let our heart ever depart from the Lord, but let it say to him, " Be Thou my helper ; forsake me not, nor despise me, 0 God of my salvation." 1 Chap. 7. — Grace is necessary along with free-will to lead a good life. Continence the result of God's gift and free-will. They to whom it is given order their will so as to accomplish its desire. Therefore, my dearly beloved, as we have now proved by our former quotations of Holy Scripture that there is in man's will a freedom of choice and determination in order to lead a good life and perform right actions, so now let us see what inspired passages there also are concerning the grace of God, without which we are not able to do any good thing. And first of all, I will say something about the very profession which you make in your brotherhood. Now your society, in which you are leading lives of continence, could not hold together unless you forbore the pleasure of matrimony. Well, the Lord was one day conversing on this very topic, when His disciples remarked to Him, " If such be the case of a man with his wife, it is not good to marry." He then answered them, " All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given." 2 And was it not to Timothy's free-will that the apostle appealed, when he exhorted him in these words : " Keep thyself pure " [Contine te ipsum, " Exercise continence "] ? 3 He also explained the power of the will in this matter when He said, " He standeth stedfast in heart, — having no necessity, but possessing power over his own will, — to keep his virgin." 4 And yet all men do not receive this saying, except those to whom the power is given. Now they to whom this is not given either are unwilling or do not fulfil their will ; whereas they to whom it is given so order their 1 Ps. xxvii. 9. 2 Matt. xix. 10. 3 1 Tim. v. 22. 4 1 Cor. vii. 37. 22 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [CHAP, 8. will as to accomplish what they wish. In order, therefore, that this saying, which is not received by all men, may yet be received by some, God's grace and free-will combine in securing to them the gift. Chap. 8. — Conjugal chastity is itself the gift qf God. Without the grace of God His commandments cannot be kept. The law without grace. It is, indeed, concerning the very chastity of the married state that the apostle treats, when he says, "Let him do what he will, he sinneth not if he marry ; " 1 and yet even this is God's gift, for the Scripture says, " It is by the Lord that the woman is joined to her husband." Accordingly the apostle, who is the especial teacher of the Gentiles, in one of his discourses commends both conjugal chastity, the great preventative of adultery, and the still more perfect chastity which foregoes all fleshly embraces, and shows how both one and the other are severally the gift of God. Writing to the Corinthians, he admonished married persons never to defraud each other in the joys of their conjugal estate ; then, after his admonition to these, he added : " But I could wish that all men were even as I am myself,"2 — meaning, of course, that he abstained from all connubial embraces ; and then proceeded to say : " But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that." 3 Now, do the many precepts which are written in the law of God, purporting to forbid all fornication and adultery, indicate anything short of the freedom of the will ? Surely such precepts would not be given unless a man had a will of his own, wherewith to obey the divine commandments; and yet it is God's gift which is indispensable for the observance of the precepts of chastity. Accordingly, it is said in the Book of Wisdom : " When I knew that no one could be chaste and continent, except God gave the grace, then this became a point of wisdom to know whose gift it was."4 "Every man," however, "is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed " 5 not to observe and keep these holy precepts of chastity. If he should say in respect of these commandments, I wish to keep them, but am mastered by my concupiscence, then the Scrip- 1 1 Cor. vii. 36. 2 1 Cor. vii. 7. 3 1 Cor. vii. 7. * Wisd. viii. 21. 6 Jas. i. 14. CHAP. 9.] OF GRACE AND PRAYER. 23 ture has this answer for him, — addressed to his free-will, as I have already had occasion to say : " Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." 1 In order, however, that this victory may be gained, grace renders its help ; and were not this help given, then the law would only show itself [to be the measure of] the strength and power of sin. For concupis cence is increased and receives greater energies from the prohibition of the law, if the spirit of grace be not at hand to help. This explains the statement of the great Apostle of the Gentiles, when he says, " The sting of death is sin^ and the strength of sin is the law." 2 See, then, I pray you, whence originates this confession of weakness, when a man says, I desire to keep what the law commands, but am overcome by the strength of my concupiscence. But when his will even consents to the prohibition, and it is said to him, "Be not overcome of evil," of what avail is anything but the succour of God's grace to the accomplishment of the precept ? This the apostle himself afterwards stated ; for after saying, " The strength of sin is the law," he immediately subjoined, "But thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ." 3 It follows, then, that the victory in which sin is vanquished is nothing else than the gift of God, who in this contest helps the free-will of the comljatant. Chap. 9. — Entering into temptation. Prayer is a proof of grace. Wherefore, our Heavenly Master also says : " Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." 4 Let every man, therefore, when fighting against his own concupiscence and evil desire, pray that he enter not into temptation ; in other words, that he be not drawn aside and enticed by his lust. He does not enter into temptation who conquers his evil con cupiscence by the bent of his will to good. And yet the human will is insufficient to refuse to enter into temptation, unless the Lord grant it victory in answer to prayer. What, indeed, affords clearer evidence of the grace of God than the acceptance of prayer in any petition ? If our Saviour had only said, "Watch that ye enter not into temptation," He would evidently have done nothing else than admonish man's 1 Rom. xii. 21. 2 1 Cor. xv. 56. 3 1 Cor. xv. D7. 4 Matt, xxvi, 41. 2-1 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [CHAP. 10. will ; but since He added the words, " and pray," He showed that God helps us not to enter into temptation. It is to the free-will of a man that the words are addressed : " My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord " [" Fail not under it," noli deficere~\} And the Lord said : " I have prayed for thee, Peter, that thy faith fail not." 2 So that a man is assisted by grace, in order that his will may not be ineffectually appealed to with a command. Chap. 10. [v.J — Free-will and God's grace are simultaneously commended. Tlie error of the Pelagians that grace is given according to men's merits. A passage in Zechariah abused. Coming to Christ. When God says, " Turn ye unto me, and I will turn unto you," 3 one of these clauses — that which invites our return to God — is evidently addressed to our free-will ; while the other, which promises His return to us, appertains to His grace. Here, possibly, the Pelagians think they have a justification for their opinion which they so prominently advance, that God's grace is given in proportion to our merits. In the East, indeed, that is to say in the province of- Palestine, in which is the city of Jerusalem, Pelagius, when examined in person by the bishop,4 did not venture to affirm this. For it happened that among the objections which were brought up against him, this in particular was alleged, that he maintained that the grace of God was bestowed according to our merits an opinion which was so diverse from Catholic doctrine, and so hostile to the grace of Christ, that unless he had anathema tized it, as laid to his charge, he himself must have left the Council under anathema. He pronounced, indeed, the required condemnation of the dogma, but how insincerely his later books plainly show ; for in them he maintains absolutely no other opinion than that the grace of God is bestowed in pro portion to our own deserts. Such deductions do they make out of the Scriptures, — like the one which I just now quoted, " Turn ye unto me, and I will turn unto you," — as if it were owing to the merit of our conversion to God that His grace were given us, wherein He Himself even turns unto us. Now the persons who hold this opinion fail to observe that, 1 Prov. iii. 11. * Luke xxii. 32. 3 ZecJlt j_ g> 4 [See De Gestis Pelagii, translated in vol. i. chap. xiv. (30).'] ' CHAP. 11.] THE PELAGIAN ABUSE OF SCRIPTURE. 25 unless our conversion to God were itself God's gift, it would not be said to Him in prayer, " Turn us again, 0 God of hosts;"1 and, "Thou, 0 God, wilt turn and quicken us;"2 and again, "Convert us, 0 God of our salvation,"8 — with other passages of similar import, too numerous to mention here. For, with respect to our coming unto Christ, what else does it mean than our being turned and converted to Him upon our believing ? And yet He says : " No man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father." 4 Chap. 11. — Other passages of Scripture which the Pelagians abuse. Then, again, there is the Scripture contained in the second book of the Chronicles : " The Lord is with you when ye are with Him : and if ye shall seek Him ye shall find Him ; but if ye forsake Him, He also will forsake you."6 This passage, no doubt, clearly shows that the will is free. But they who maintain that God's grace is given according to our merits, receive these testimonies of Scripture in such a manner as to beheve our merit lies in the circumstance of our "being with God," while His grace, in pursuance of this merit, results in the reciprocity of " His being Himself with us." In like manner, our merit lies in the fact of " our seek ing God," and then His grace is bestowed upon us in propor tion to this merit, to the effect of " our finding Him." Again, there is a passage in the first book of the same Chronicles which declares the liberty of the will : " And thou, Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve Him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts ; if thou, seek Him, He will be found of thee ; but if thou forsake Him, He will cast thee off for ever." 6 But these people find some room for human merit in the clause, " If thou seek Him," and then the grace is conferred on the scale of this merit in the result described by the ensuing words, " He will be found of thee ;" and so they labour with all their might to show that God's grace is bestowed in return for merits of our own, — in other words, that grace is 1 Ps. lxxx. 7. 2 Ps. lxxxv. 6 (Sept.). 3 Ps. Ixxxv. 4. 4 John vi. 65. b 2 Chron. xv. 2. 6 1 Chron. xxviii. 9. 26 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [CHAP. 12. not grace. For, as the apostle most plainly and expressly says, to them who receive reward according to their desert the recompense is " not reckoned of grace but of debt." 1 Chap. 12. — He proves out of St. Paul that grace is not given according to men's merits. Now there was, no doubt, a decided merit in the Apostle Paul, but it was an evil one, while he persecuted the Church, and he says of it : "I am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God."2 And it was while he was in possession of this evil merit that a good one was rendered to him instead of the evil ; and, therefore, he went on at once to say, " But by the grace of God I am what I am." 3 Then, in order to exhibit the action of his free-will besides, he added in the next clause, " And His grace within me was not in vain [or idle], but I laboured more abundantly than they all." This freedom of will in man he consistently appeals to in the case of others also, as when he says to them, " We beseech you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain "4 [so as to be idle]. Now, how could he enjoin any effort on them, if they received God's grace in such a manner as to merge in it, and lose their own will ? However [there was the other extreme to guard against], the will itself must not be deemed capable of doing any good thing without the grace of God ; therefore, after saying, " His grace within me was not in vain," or idle, " but I laboured more abundantly than they all," he immediately added the qualifying clause, " Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." 3 In other words, Not I alone, but only the grace of God. Nor was he himself solitary in action, but God's grace operated along with him. For the accomplishment, however, of the radical change within him, — his call from heaven, and his conversion by that great and most effectual call, — God's grace operated alone, because his merits, though great, were yet evil Then, to quote one passage more, he says to Timothy : " But be thou a partaker with me in the work6 of the gospel, according to the power of God, who saveth us and calleth us with His holy calling, — not according to our works, but accord- 1 Rom. iv. 4. 2 1 Cor. xv. 9. 3 j Qor xv_ 10 4 2 Cor. vi. 1. 5 1 Cor. xv. 10. 6 [Collabora evangelio.] CHAP. 13] GRACE NOT BESTOWED ACCORDING TO DESERTS. 27 ing to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus." x Then, elsewhere, he enumerates his merits, and gives us this description of their evil character : " For we ourselves also were formerly foolish, unbelieving, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another." 2 Nothing, to be sure, but punishment was due to such a course of evil desert ! God, however, who returns good for evil by His grace, which is never bestowed according to our deserts, enabled the apostle to conclude his statement with this happy turn : " When, however, the kindness and love of our divine Saviour shone upon us, — not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the laver of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Ghost, whom He shed upon us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour ; that, being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." 3 Chap. 13. [vi.] From these and similar passages of Scripture, we gather the proof that God's grace is not given according to our merits. The truth is, we see that it is bestowed not only when there are no good deserts, but when even evil ones precede ; and we still observe the same unmerited gifts conferred day after day. But it is plain that when grace has been given, even our merits begin to be good, — only it is by grace ; for, were that only to withdraw itself, man falls, not raised up, but only precipitated by his free-will. Wherefore no man ought, even when he begins to possess good merits, to attribute them to himself, not to God, who is thus addressed by the Psalmist : "Be Thou my helper, forsake me not."4 By saying, "Forsake me not," he shows that if he were to be forsaken, he is unable of himself to do any good thing. He had gone so far once as to declare : " I said in my prosperity, I shall never be moved," 6 for he thought that he had such an abundance of wealth to call his own as to ensure him perfect stability. But in order that he might be taught whose that was, of 1 2 Tim. i. 8, 9. 2 Titus iii. 3. 3 Titus iii. 4-7. 4 Ps. xxvii. 9. 6 Ps. xxx. 6. 28 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [CHAP. 14, which he had begun to boast as if it were his own, he was admonished by the gradual desertion of God's grace ; and the result he thus describes : " 0 Lord, in Thy good pleasure Thou didst add strength to my beauty. Thou didst, however, turn away Thy face, and then I was troubled and distressed." x So necessary is it for a man that he should be not only justified when unrighteous by the grace of God, — that is, to be changed from unholiness to righteousness, — when he is requited with good for his evil ; but that, even after he has become justified by faith, grace should accompany him on his way afterwards, and he should lean upon it, lest he stumble and fall. On this account it is written concerning the Church herself in the book of Canticles : " Who is this that cometh up in white raiment, leaning upon the arm of her beloved kinsman ? " 2 She, who could by no possibility have been so pure in vesture by herself alone, has become clad in white. And by whom has she been thus whitened, except by Him who says by the prophet, "Though your sins be as purple, I will make them white as snow " ? 3 At the time she was made white, she deserved nothing good ; but now that she is white, she walketh rightly ; — but it is only by her continuing ever to lean upon Him by whom she was whitened. Wherefore, Jesus Himself, on whom the Church leans in her raiment of white, said to His disciples, " Without me ye can do nothing." 4 Chap. 14. Let us return now to the Apostle Paul, who, as we have observed, obtained God's grace, who recompenses good for evil, when, so far from having any good deserts of his own, he was really involved in many evil ones. Let us see what he says when his sufferings at the end of his Hfe were approaching. These are his words, writing to Timothy : " I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I haye fought a good fight ; I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." 5 He enumerates these as being now his good merits ; that, as after his ill deserts he obtained grace, so now, after his good merits, he might receive the crown. Observe, 1 Ps. xxx. 7. - Cant. viii. 5. 3 Isa. i. IS. 4 John xv. 5. a 2 Tim. iv. 6, 7. CHAP. 15.] GOD CROWNS IN US HIS OWN GIFTS. 29 therefore, what follows : " There is henceforth laid up for me," he says, "a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day." 1 Now, to whom could the righteous Judge award the crown, except to him on whom the merciful Father had bestowed grace ? And how could the crown be one " of righteousness," unless the grace had preceded which "justifieth the ungodly ? " How, more over, could the one now be awarded as a debt, unless the other had been before bestowed as a free gift ? Chap. 15. — The Pelagians profess that the only grace which is given according to our merits is that of the forgiveness of sins ; God crowns in us His own gifts, not our merits. When, however, the Pelagians say that the only grace which is not awarded according to our merits is that whereby a man has his sins forgiven him, but that the final grace which is bestowed upon us, even eternal life, is given in return for pre ceding merits, they must not be allowed to go without an answer. If, indeed, they understand our merits in such a sense as to acknowledge even them to be the gifts of God, then their opinion would not deserve reprobation. But inas much as they preach up human merits to such an extent as to declare that a man has them of his own very self, then the apostle's reply becomes an absolutely correct one : " Who maketh thee to differ from another ? And what hast thou, that thou didst not receive ? Now, if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it ? " 2 To a man who holds such views, it is perfect truth to say : It is His own gifts that God crowns, not your merits, although you hold these as done by your own self, not by Him. If, indeed, they are of such a character, they are evil, and God does not crown them ; but if they are good, they are God's gifts, be cause, as the Apostle James says, " Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights."3 In accordance with which John also, the Lord's forerunner, declares : " A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven"4 — from heaven, of course, for from thence came also the Holy Ghost, when Jesus ascended up 1 2 Tim. iv. 8. 2 J2'Cor. iv. 7. f 3 Jas. i. 17. 4 John iii. 27. 30 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [CHAP. 16. on high, led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.1 Inas much, then, as your merits are God's gifts, God does not crown your merits as such, but only as His own gifts. Chap. 16. [vii.] — The apostle's saying, "It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy," 2 is incapable of conversion or transposition. Let us, therefore, consider those very merits of the Apostle Paul which he said the Eighteous Judge would recompense with the crown of righteousness; and let us see whether these merits of his were really his own — I mean, whether they were obtained by him of himself, or were the gifts of God. " I have fought," says he, " a good fight ; I have finished my course ; I have kept the faith." 3 Now, in the first place, these good works were nothing, unless they had been preceded by good thoughts: Observe, therefore, what he says concern ing these very thoughts. His words, when writing to the Corinthians, are to this effect : " Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God."4 Then let us look at each several merit. " I have fought a good fight." Well, now, I want to know by what power he fought. Was it by a power which he possessed of himself, or by strength given to him from above ? It is impossible to suppose that so great a teacher as the apostle was ignorant of the law of God, which proclaims the following in Deuteronomy : " Say not in thine heart, My own strength and energy of hand hath wrought for me this great power ; but thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, how it is He that giveth thee strength to acquire such power." 5 And what avails " a good fight," unless followed by a victory ? And who gives the victory but He of whom the apostle says himself, " Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" ?6 Then, in another passage, having quoted from the Psalm these words : " Because for Thy sake we are killed all the day long"; we are accounted as sheep for slaughter," 7 he went on to declare : " Nay, in all these 1 See Ps. Ixviii. 18, and Eph. iv. 8. * Rom. ix. 16. 3 2 Tim. iv. 7. 4 2 Cor. iii. 5. 6 'l he immediately added, " We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should, walk in them." 4 [And here question after question arises.] What is the pur port of his saying, "Not of works, lest any man should boast," while commending the grace of God? And then why does he afterwards, when giving a reason for using such words,, say, " For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works " ? Why, therefore, does it run, " Not of works, lest any man should boast " ? Now, hear and understand the point. The excluding phrase, " Not of works," is spoken of the works which you suppose have their origin in yourself alone; but you have to think of works to' which God has moulded (that is, has formed and created) you. For of these he says, " We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works." Now he does not here speak of that creation which 1 Rom. vi. 23. 2 John xv. 5. a Eph. iii. 8„ 9i. *¦ Eph. ii.. 10. XV. © 34 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [CHAP. 21. made us human beings, but of that in reference to which one said who was already in full manhood, "Create in me a clean heart, 0 God ; " x concerning which also the apostle says, "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away ; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God." 2 We are moulded, therefore, that is, formed and created, " unto the good works, which " we have not ourselves prepared, but " God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." It follows, then, dearly beloved, beyond all doubt, that as your good life is nothing else than God's gift and grace, so also the eternal life which is the re compense of' a good life is the gift and grace of God ; moreover it is a free and gratuitous gift, even as that was a free and gratuitous gift of which it is the recompense. But the good Life, thus rewarded, is solely and simply grace ; therefore the eternal life, which is its reward — and because it is its reward — is grace for grace, as if it were- the remuneration of righteous ness ; in order that that may be realized, because it is true, that God " shall reward every man according to his works." 3 Chap. 21. [is.] — Eternal life is " Grace for Grace." Perhaps you ask whether we ever read in the Sacred Scrip tures of "grace for grace." Well, you possess the Gospel according to John, which is perfectly clear in its very great light. Here John the Baptist says of Christ : " Of His ful ness have we all received — even grace for grace." * So that out of His fulness we have received, according to our humble measure, our particles of ability as it were for leading good lives — ¦¦" according as God hath dealt to every man his measure of faith ; " 5 because " every man hath his proper gift of God ; one after this manner, and another after that." 6 And even this is real grace, but, over and above this, we shall receive even grace for grace, when we shall have awarded to us that eternal life, of which the apostle spake in the words : " The gift [or grace] of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord," 7 having just said that " the wages of sin is death." Deservedly 1 Ps. li. 12. 2 2 Cor. v. 17, 18. 3 Mat. xvi. 27 ; Ps. lxii. 12 ; Rev. xxii. 12. * John i. 16. 5 Rom. xii. 3. * 1 Cor. vii. 7. 7 Rom. vi. 23. CHAP. 22.] ETERNAL LIFE IS " GRACE FOR GRACE." 35 did he call it " wages" because everlasting death is awarded as its proper due to the service of the devil. Now, when it was in his power to say, and rightly to say : The wages or recompense of righteousness is eternal life, he yet preferred to express it thus : " The gift [or grace] of God is eternal life ; " in order that we may hence understand that God does not, for any merits of our own, prolong our existence to everlasting life, but from His own divine compassion towards us. Even as the Psalmist says to his soul [concerning the Lord], "Who crowneth thee with mercy and compassion." a Well, now, is not a crown given as the reward of good and excellent deeds ? It is, however, only because He performs by His operation in good men these very deeds of excellence, of whom it is said, " It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." 2 Hence the Psalm has it, as just now quoted: "He crowneth thee with mercy and compassion," because it is through His mercy that we perform the good deeds to which the crown is awarded. It is not, however, to be for a moment supposed, because he said, " It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of His own good pleasure," that he meant to do away with the liberty of the will. If this, indeed, had been his meaning, he would not have said just before, "Work out your own salvation with fear and tremb ling."3 [The balance is well kept], for when they are requested " to work," their free-will comes into account ; and when it is added, "with fear and trembling," they are warned against boast ing of their good deeds as if they were their own, by attributing to themselves the performance of anything good. It is pretty much as if the apostle were put on his trial, and had this question put to him : " Why did you use the phrase, ' with fear and trembling'?" And as if he answered the inquiry of his examiners by telling them, "For it is God which worketh in you." Because if you fear and tremble, you do not boast of your good works — as if they were your own, since it is God who works within you. Chap. 22. [x.] — Who is the transgressor of fhe law ? " The oldness of its letter. The newness of its spirit. " Therefore, brethren, you ought by means of your free-will 1 Ps. ciii. 4 (Sept.). 2 Phil. ii. 13. 3 Phil. ii. 12. 36 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [CHAP. 22. to avoid evil and to do good ; this, indeed, is the lesson taught us in the law of God, in the Holy Scriptures— both Old and New. Let us, however, read, and by the Lord's help understand, what the apostle tells us : " Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight ; for by the law is the knowledge of sin." 1 Observe, he says " the knowledge," not the commission of sin. Now, whenever a man acquires the knowledge of sin, and grace does not help him to guard against its commission, notwith standing his knowledge, then undoubtedly the law has the effect of producing [God's] anger.2 And no less than this the apostle explicitly informs us in another passage. His words are : " The law worketh wrath." 3 The reason of this statement lies obviously in the fact that God's anger is greater in the case of the wilful transgressor, who, through the law, understands what sin is, and yet commits it. It is this wil fulness that makes the man a transgressor of the law ; even as the apostle says in another sentence, " For where no law is, there is no transgression." 4 It is in accordance with this principle that he elsewhere says, "That we may serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter."5 Now as he wishes ihe law to be here understood by " the oldness of the letter," what else is meant by " newness of spirit " than grace ? Then, that it might not be thought that he had brought any accusation, or suggested any blame, against the law, he immediately takes himself to task, with this inquiry : " What shall we say, then ? Is the law sin ? God forbid." He then adds the statement : " Nay, I had not known sin but by the law ; " 6 which is of the same import as the passage above quoted : " By the law is the knowledge of sin." 7 Then [he enlarges thus on the deep subject] : " For I had not known lust, except the law had said, ' Thou shalt not covet.' 8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once ; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I 1 Rom. iii. 20. 2 [Lex iram operator.] 3 Rom. iv. 15. *. Rom. iv. 15. 5 Rom. vii. 6. ° Rom. vii. 6, 7. » Rom. iii. 20. 8 Ex. xx. 17. CHAP. 23.] PELAGIAN IDEA THAT THE LAW IS GRACE. 37 found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by its means slew me. Wherefore the law is holy ; and the commandment holy, just, and good. Was, then, that which is good made death unto me ? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, worked death in me by that which is good, — in order that the sinner,1 or his sin, might by the commandment become exceeding sinful."2 And to the Galatians he writes : " Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, except through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law ; for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." 3 Chap. 23. [xi.] — The Pelagians maintain that the law is the grace of God which helps us not to sin. What, therefore, do those very vain and perverse persons who follow Pelagius mean by saying that the law is that grace of God which helps us to avoid sin ? Do they not, by making such an allegation, unhappily and beyond all doubt contradict the great apostle ? He, indeed, says, that through the law sin received its strength and power against man ; and that man, through the commandment, although it be holy, and just, and good, dies, death working in him through that which is good, from which death there could be no deliverance unless the Spirit quickened him, whom the letter had killed, — as he says in another^ passage, " The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." 4 And yet those obstinate persons, blind against God's light, and deaf to His voice, maintain that the letter which killeth gives life, and thus gainsay the quicken ing Spirit. "Therefore, brethren" (that I may warn you with better effect in the words of the apostle himself), " we are debtors not to the flesh, to live after the flesh ; for if ye live after the flesh ye shall die ; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." 5 I have quoted this language of the apostle to deter your free-will from evil, and to exhort it to good ; but yet you must not therefore glory in man, — that is to say, in your own selves, — but in the Lord, when you live not after the flesh, but through 1 [Utjiat supra modum peccator, aut peccatum, etc.] 2 Rom. vii. 7-13. 3 Gal. ii. 16. 4 2 Cor. iii. 6. 5 Rom. viii. 12-13. 38 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [CHAP. 24. the Spirit mortify the deeds of the flesh. For in order that they to whom the apostle addressed this language might not exalt themselves, thinking that they were themselves able of their own spirit to do such good works as these, and not by the Spirit of God, after saying to them, " If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh, ye shall live/' he at once added, " For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." x When, therefore, you by the Spirit mortify the deeds of the flesh, that you may have life, glorify Him, praise . Him, give thanks to Him by whose Spirit you are so led as to be able to do such things as show you to be the children of God ; " for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Chap. 24. [xii.] — Who may be said to wish to establish their own righteousness. " God's righteousness, " so-called, which man has from God. The righteous ness of tlie law. As many, therefore, as are led by their own spirit, trusting in their own virtue, with the addition merely of the law's assistance, without the help of grace, are not the sons of God. Such are they of whom the same apostle speaks as "being ignorant of God's righteousness, and wishing to establish their own righteousness, who have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God." 2 He said this of the Jews, who in their self-assumption rejected grace, and therefore did not believe in Christ. Their own righteous ness, indeed, he says, they wish to establish ; and this right eousness is of the law,— not that the law was established by themselves, but they had set up their righteousness in the law which is of God, when they supposed themselves able to fulfil that law by their own strength, ignorant of God's righteousness, — not indeed that by which God is Himself righteous, but that which man has from God. And that you may know he designated as theirs the righteousness which is of the law, and as God's that which man receives from God hear what he says in another passage, when speaking of Christ : " For whose sake I counted all things as loss ; and not only so, but I deemed them to be dung, that I might win Christ, and be found in Him — not having my own 1 Eom- ™i. 14. s Eom. x. 3. CHAP. 25.] WITHOUT GRACE THE LAW KILLS. 39 righteousness, which is of the law ; but that which is through the faith of Christ, which is of God." J Now what does he mean by " not having my own righteousness, which is of the law," when the law is really not his at all, but God's, except this, that he called it his own righteousness, although it was of the law, because he thought he could fulfil the law by his own will, without the aid of grace which is through faith in Christ ? Wherefore, after saying, " Not having my own righteousness, which is of the law," he immediately subjoined, "But that which is through the faith of Christ, which is of God." This is what they were ignorant of, of whom he says, " Being ignorant of God's righteousness," — that is, the righteousness which is of God (for it- is given not by the letter, which kills, but by the life-giving Spirit), " and wishing to establish their own righteousness," which he expressly described' as the righteousness of the law, when he said, " Not having my own righteousness, which is of the law." To God's righteousness they were not subject; in other words, they submitted not themselves to the grace of God. They were under the law, not under grace, and there fore sin had dominion over them, from which a man is not freed by the law, but by grace. On which account he else where says, " For sin shall not have dominion over you ; because ye are not under the law, but under grace." 2 Not that the law is evil ; but because they are under its power, whom it makes guilty by imposing commandments and giving no assistance to keep them. It is grace which helps any man to be a doer of the law; and without this grace, he who places himself under the law will be a hearer of the law and nothing else. To such persons he addresses these words : " Ye who are justified by the law are fallen from grace." 3 Chap. 25. [xiii.] — As the law is not, so neither is our nature itself that grace by which we are Christians. If justification were either by. the law or by nature, Clirist would liave died in vain. Now who can be so insensible to the words of the apostle, who so foolishly, nay, so insanely ignorant of the purport of his statement, as to venture to affirm that the law is grace, when he who knew very well what he was saying emphatically 1 Phil. iii. 8, 9. 2 Rom. vi. 14. 3 Gal. v. 4. 40 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [CHAP. 26. declares, " Ye who are justified by the law are fallen from grace " ? Well, but if the law is not grace, seeing that it is not the law, but only grace which can give any help to the law itself being kept, will not nature at any rate be grace ? For this the Pelagians have been bold enough to aver, Gratiam esse naturam ; that nature is the grace in which we were created in such wise as to possess a rational mind, by which we are enabled to understand, — formed as we are in the image of <3od, that we have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that creepeth upon the earth. This, however, is not the grace which the apostle commends1 ito us through the faith of Jesus Christ. For it is certain that we possess this nature in common with ungodly men and unbelievers ; whereas the grace which comes through .the faithof Jesus Christ belongs only to them to whom the faith itself appertains. " For all men have not faith" 2 Now, as the apostle, with perfect truth, says to those who by wishing to be justified by the law have fallen from grace, " If righteousness [or justification 3 ] come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain;"4 so likewise, to those who think that the grace which he commends, and the faith of Christ receives, is nature, the same language is with the same degree of truth applicable : if righteousness come from nature, then Christ is dead in vain. But the law was in existence up to that time, and it did not justify ; and nature existed too, but it did not justify. It was not, then, in vain that Christ died, in order that the law might be fulfilled through Him who said, " I am come not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it ; " 5 and that our nature, which was lost through Adam, might through Him be recovered, who said that " He was come to seek and to save that which was lost ; " G towards whose coming the old fathers likewise who loved God had directed their faith. Chap. 26.— The Pelagians contend that the grace, which is neither the law nor nature, avails only to the remission of past sins, but not to the avoidance of future ones. They also maintain that God's grace, which is given through the faith of Jesus Christ, and which is neither the 1 Commendat. 2 2 Thess. ni. 2. 3 Justitia. 4 Gal. ii. 21. » Matt. v. 17. « Matt, xviii. 11 ; Luke xix. 10. CHAP. 27.] SUBTERFUGE OF THE PELAGIANS. 41 law nor nature, avails only to the remission of sins that have been committed, and not to the avoidance of future ones, or the subjugation of those which are now assailing us. Now if all this were true, surely after offering the peti tion of the Lord's Prayer, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors," we could hardly go on and say, "And lead us not into temptation." l The former petition we present that our sins may be forgiven ; the latter, that they may be avoided or subdued, — a favour which we should by no means beg of our Father who is in heaven if we were able to accomplish the end by virtue of our human will. Now I strongly advise and earnestly require your beloved fraternity2 to read attentively the book of the blessed Cyprian which he wrote On the lord's Prayer. As far as the Lord shall assist you, make out its meaning, and commit it to memory. In this work you will see how he appeals to the free-will of those whose edification he affects in his treatise ; yet in such a way as to show them, that whatever commandments they have to fulfil in the law, they must ask for [grace to enable them] in the prayer. But this, of course, would be utterly in vain if the human will were sufficient for the performance without the help of God. Chap. 27. [xrv.] — Grace effects the fulfilment of the law, the deliverance of nature, and the suppression of sin's dominion. Subterfuge of the Pelagians. It has, however, been shown to demonstration, that instead of really mamtaining the freedom of the will, they have only inflated a theory of it, which, having no stability, has fallen to the ground. Neither the knowledge of God's law, nor nature, nor the mere remission of sins represents [as they pretend] that grace which is given to us through our Lord Jesus Christ; but it is this very grace which accomplishes the fulfilment of the law, and the liberation of nature, and the removal of the dominion of sin. Being, therefore, frustrated on these points, they resort to another expedient, and endeavour to show in the best way they can that the grace of God is given us according to our merits. For they say : " Granted that it [grace] is not given to us in propor- 1 Matt. vi. 12, 13. i Caritalem vestram. 42 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [CHAP. 28. tion to the merits of our good works, inasmuch as it is through it that we do any good thing, still it is bestowed upon us in proportion to our merits of a good will ; for," say they, "the good will of him who prays precedes his prayer, even as the good will of the believer preceded his faith^ so that in proportion to these deserts the grace of God follows, as He hears [and answers the prayer]." Chap. 28. — Faith is the gift of God. I have already discussed -1 the point concerning the faith, that is, the disposition and will of the man who believes ; and I went so far as to show that it appertains to grace, — so that the apostle did not tell us that he obtained mercy because he was faithful ; but he said, " I have obtained mercy of the Lord in order to be faithful" 2 And there are many other passages of similar import, — among them that in which he bids us " think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the proportion of faith ; " 3 and that which I have already quoted : " By grace are ye saved through faith ; and that not of yourselves ; it is the gift of God ; " 4 and again another in the same Epistle to the Ephesians : " Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ ; " 6 and to the same effect that passage in which he says, " For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake ; " 6 [from which we learn] that both endowments alike are due to the grace of God, — the faith of those who beheve, and the patience of those who suffer, because the apostle spoke of both as given. Then, again, there is the passage, especially noticeable, in Which he says, " We, having the same spirit of faith," 7 for his phrase is not the knowledge of faith, but "the spirit of faith;" and he expressed himself thus in order that we might under stand how that faith is given to us, even when it is not sought, so that other blessings may be granted to it at its re quest. For "how," says he, " shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed ? " 8 The spirit of grace, therefore, causes 1 [See above, chap. vii. (16, 17, 18).] s 1 Cor_ vii_ 25 8 Rom. xii. 3. 4 Eph. ii. 8. s Epll Tj 23 6 Phil. i. 29. ' 2 Cor. iv. 13. » Rom. x.' 14.' CHAP. 29.] GRACE IS NOT MERITED. 43 us to have faith, in order that through faith we may, on praying for it, obtain the ability to do what we are commanded. On this account the apostle himself constantly puts faith before the law; since we are not able to do what the law commands unless we obtain the strength to do it by the prayer of faith. Chap. 29. — God is able to convert opposing wills, and to take away from the heart its hardness. Now if faith is simply the property of man's free-will, and is not the gift of God, why do we pray for those who will not beheve that they may have faith ? This it would be absolutely useless to do, unless we beheve, with perfect pro priety, that Almighty God can turn to the practice of belief men's wills, however perverse and opposed to faith they may be. Man's free-will is addressed when it is said, " To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts."1 But if God were not able to remove from the human heart even its obstinacy and hardness, He would not commission the prophet to say, " I will take from them their heart of stone, and will give them a heart of flesh."2 That all this was foretold in reference to the New Testament is shown clearly enough by the apostle when he says, "Ye are our epistle, . . . written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God ; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly " [or carnal, " camalibus " ] "tables of the heart."3 We must not, of course, suppose that such a phrase as this is used as if those might live "carnally" who ought to lead spiritual lives ; but inasmuch as a stone has no feeling, with which man's hard heart is compared, what was there left Him to compare man's intelligent heart with but the flesh, which possesses feeling ? God, speaking by the mouth of the prophet Ezekiel, says, " I will give them another heart, and I will put a new spirit within you ; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh ; that they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them : and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, saith the Lord." 4 Now can we possibly, without extreme absurdity, maintain that there has previously existed in any man the meritorious recommendation of a good will, to entitle him to the removal of his stony heart, when 1 Ps. xcv. 7, 8. 8 Ezek. xi. 19. 3 2 Cor. iii. 2, 3. 4 Ezek. xi. 19, 20. 44 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [CHAP. 30. all the while this very heart of stone signifies nothing else than the harshest will, such as is absolutely inflexible against God ? For wherever a good will precedes, there is, of course, no longer existing a heart of stone. Chap. 30. — The grace by which the stony heart is removed is preceded not by any good deserts, but by evil ones. In what manner God's name is sanctified in the elect. In another passage, also, by the same prophet, God, in the clearest language, shows us that it is not owing to any good deserts on the part of men, but for His own name's sake, that He effects these conversions. This is His language : " This I do, 0 house of Israel, not for your sakes, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them ; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle you with clean water, and ye shall be clean : from all your own filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you ; and the stony heart shall be taken away out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and will cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." x Now who is so blind as not to see, and who so stone-like as not to feel, that this grace is not given for any merits of a good will, when the Lord declares and testifies, " It is I, 0 house of Israel, who do this," [not for your sakes], " but for my holy name's sake " ? Now why did He use such emphatic words as these, were it not that the nation should refrain from thinking that it was owing to their own good deserts that all these things were happening, as the Pelagians hesitate not unblushingly to say ? But there were not only no good deserts in the case, but the Lord shows that evil ones actually preceded His grace ; for He says, " But for my holy name's sake, which ye 1 Ezek. xxxvi. 22-27. CHAP. 31.] FREE-WILL CO-OPERATES WITH GRACE. 45 have profaned among the heathen!' Who can fail to observe how dreadful is the evil of profaning the Lord's own holy name ? And yet, because of this very name of mine, says He, which ye have profaned, I, even I, will make you good, but not for your own sakes ; and, as He adds, " I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them." He says that He sanctifies His name, which He had already declared to be holy [sanctum]. Well, this is just what we pray for in the Lord's Prayer — " Hallowed [sanctified] be Thy name." x We ask for the hallowing among men of that which is in itself undoubtedly always hallowed and sacred. Then it follows, " And the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you." Although, then, He is Himself always sanctified and holy, He is, never theless, sanctified in those on whom He bestows His grace, by taking from them that stony heart of theirs by which they profaned the name of the Lord Chap. 31. [xv.] — Free-wiU does something in the heart's conversion; God gives what He commands. In what sense it is said, "If thou wilt, thou shalt keep the commandments. " Lest, however, it should be thought that men themselves in this matter do nothing by their free-will, it is said in the Psalm, " Harden not your hearts ; " 2 and in Ezekiel himself, " Cast away from you all your transgressions, which ye have impiously committed against me ; and make you a new heart and a new spirit ; and keep all my commandments. For why will ye die, 0 house of Israel, saith the Lord ? for I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God : wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye." 3 We should remem ber that it is He who says, " Turn yourselves and live," to whom it is said in prayer, " Turn us again, 0 God." 4 We should not forget that He says, " Cast away from you all your transgressions," when it is even He who justifies the ungodly. We should bear in mind that He says, " Make you a new heart and a new spirit," who also promises, " I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit will I put within you."6 How ' Matt. vi. 9. 2 Ps. xcv. 8. 3 Ezek. xviii. 81, 32. 4 Ps. lxxx. 3. 6 Ezek. xxxvi. 26. 46 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [CHAP. 32. is it, then, that He who says, " Make you," also says, " I will give you " ? Why does He command, if He means Himself to give ? Why does He give if man is to make, except 'it be that He gives what He commands when He helps him to obey upon whom He lays His command ? There is, how ever, always within us a free-will, — but it is not always good ; for it is either free from righteousness when it serves sin, — and then it is evil, — or else it is free from sin when it is the servant of righteousness, — and then it is good. But the grace of God is evermore good ; and by its means it comes to pass that a man is under the influence of a good will, though he was pre viously possessed by an evil one. By the same grace it also comes to pass that the very will, which has now begun to be good, is enlarged, and grows so great as to be able to fulfil what ever divine commandments it may wish, when it has once firmly and completely formed its desire. This is the purport of what the Scripture says : " If thou wilt, thou shalt keep the commandments ; " x so that the man who has the will but not the power discovers that he does not yet possess a perfect will, and prays that he may have it so perfected that it may be sufficient for keeping the commandments ; and then, indeed, he receives assistance enough to perform what he is com manded. The will is then of use when we have the power ; just as the power is also then of use when we have the will. For what does it profit us if we possess will without power, or else lack the will when we possess the power ? Chap. 32. [xvi.] — God commands some things beyond our power, that we may know what we ought to ask of Him. In what sense it is rightly said that, if we like, we keep God's commandments. The Pelagians think that they know something great and important when they assert that " God would not command what He knew could not be done by man." Who can be ignorant of this ? But still God commands some things which we cannot do, in order that we may know what we ought to ask of Him. For this is faith itself, which obtains by prayer what the law commands. He, indeed, who said, " If thou wilt, thou shalt keep the commandments," did in the same book of Ecclesiasticus afterwards say, " Who shall 1 Ecclus. xv. 15 (Sept.). CHAP. 32.] WE WILL WHENEVER WE LIKE. 47 set a watch before my mouth, and a seal of wisdom upon my lips, that I fall not suddenly thereby, and that my tongue destroy me not."1 Now he had certainly heard and re ceived these commandments : " Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile." 2 Forasmuch, then, as what he said is true : " If thou wilt, thou shalt keep the commandments," why does he want a watch to be set before his mouth, like him who says in the Psalm, " Set a watch, 0 Lord, before my mouth " ? 3 Why is he not satisfied with God's commandment and his own will, since, if he has the will, he shall keep the commandments ? How. many of God's commandments are directed against pride ! He is quite aware of them ; if he will, he may keep them. Why, therefore, does he shortly afterwards say, " 0 God, Father and God of my life, give me not a proud look " ? 4 The law had long ago said to him, " Thou shalt not covet ;" 5 let him then only will, and do what he is bidden, because, if he has the will, he shall keep the commandments. Why, there fore, does he afterwards say, " Turn away from me concupis cence " ? 6 Against luxury, too, how many commandments has God enjoined ! Let a man observe them ; because, if he will, he may keep the commandments. But what means that cry to God, " Let not the greediness of the belly nor lust of the flesh take hold on me ! " ? 7 Now, if we were to put this question to him personally, he would very rightly answer us and say, From that prayer of mine, in which I offer this particular petition to God, you may understand in what sense I said, " If thou wilt, thou mayest keep the commandments." For it is certain that we keep the com mandments when we will ; but because the will is prepared by the Lord, we must ask of Him for such a force of will as suffices to make us act in willing. It is certain that we will whenever we like, but it is He who makes us will what is good, of whom it is said (as he has just now expressed it), " The will is prepared by the Lord." 8 Of the same Lord it 1 Ecclus. xxii. 27. 2 Ps. xxxiv. 13. 8 Ps. cxli. 3. " Ecclus., xxiii. 4. 5 Ex. xx. 17. B Ecclus. xxiii. 5. 7 Ecclus. xxiii. 6. 8 [This is Augustine's version of the Septuagint : 'Em/tiigircu oUnris leecfk Kvpiev — Prov. viii. 35.] 48 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [CHAP. 33. is said, " The steps of a [good] man are ordered by the Lord, and his way doth He will." 1 Of the same Lord again it is said, " It is God who worketh in you, even to will I"2 It is certain that we act whenever we- set to work ; it is He, however, who causes us to act, by applying thoroughly effica cious powers to our will, who has said, " I will cause you to walk in my statutes, and to observe my judgments, and to do them." 3 When He says, " I will cause you ... to do them " [Faciam ut faciatis, " cause you to act "], what else does He say in fact than, " I will take away from you your heart of stone," 4 from which used to arise your inability to act, " and I will give you a heart of flesh," 6 in order that you may act ? And what does this promise amount to but this : I will remove your hard heart, the spring of your former neglect of my commandments, and I will give you an obedient heart, which shall prompt you to keep them ? It is He who causes us to keep them, to whom the human suppliant says, " Set a watch, 0 Lord, before my mouth." e That is to say : Make or enable me, O Lord, to set a watch before my mouth, — a benefit which he had already obtained from God who thus described its influence : " I set a guard upon my mouth." 7 Chap. 33. [xvii.] — A good will, when small and weak; an ample will, great love. Operating and co-operating grace. The burden of human sufferings a heavy weight for an infirm will; a light one for charity. He who wishes to keep God's commandment, but is unable to do so, already possesses a good will, but as yet a small and weak one ; he will, however, become able when he shall have acquired a great and robust will. When the martyrs kept the great commandments which they obeyed, they acted under a mighty will, — that is, with a great love. Of this intense charity the Lord Himself thus speaks : " Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." 8 In accordance with this, the apostle also says, " He that loveth his neighbour hath fulfilled the law. For this : Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, 1 Ps. xxxvii. 23. * Phil. ii. 13. " Ezek. xxxvi. 27. 4 Ezek. xi. 19, and xxxvi. 26. 5 Ezek. xxxvi. 26. 6 Ps. cxli. 3. 7 Ps. xxxix. 1. 8 John xv. 13. CHAP. 33. J OPERATING AND CO-OPERATING GRACE. 49 Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not covet ; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.1 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour : therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." 2 This perfection of love the Apostle Peter did not yet possess, when he for fear thrice denied the Lord.3 " There is no fear in love," says the Evangehst John in his first Epistle, " but perfect love casteth out fear." 4 But yet, however small and imperfect his love was, it was not wholly wanting when he said to the Lord, " I will lay down my life for Thy sake ;"5 for he supposed himself able to effect what he felt himself willing to do. And who was it that had begun to give him his love, however small, but He who prepares the human will, and perfects by His co-operation what He initiates by His operation ? Forasmuch as He begins His influence by working in us that we may have the will, and completes it by working with us when we have the will.6 On which account the apostle says, " I am confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." 7 He operates, therefore, without us, in order that we may become willing ; but when we once possess the will, and so use it as to act, He co-operates with us. We can, however, ourselves do nothing to effect good works of piety without Him either working that we may will, or co-operating when we will. Now, concerning the former point — His operation to produce will in us — it is said : " It is God which worketh in you, even to will."8 While of His co-operation with us, when we possess the will and proeeed to put it into action, the apostle says, " We know that all things work together for good [or, He co-operates in all things for good] to them that love God." 9 What does this phrase, " all things," mean, but the terrible and cruel sufferings which affect our condition? That burden, indeed, of Christ, which is heavy for our in firmity, but becomes Hght to love, — for to such dispositions 1 Lev. xix. 18. 2 Rom. xiii. 8-10. 3 Matt. xxvi. 69-75. 4 1 John iv. 18. 5 John xiii. 37. 6 [Comp. Art. X. of the Church of England.] 2 Phil. i. 6. 8 Phil. ii. 13. 9 Rom. viii. 28. XV. D 50 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [CHAP. 34. did the Lord say that His burden was light,1 — such as Peter's was when he suffered for Christ, but not as it was when he denied Him. Chap. 34. — The apostle's eulogy of love. Correction to be administered with love. This charity, in other words, this will, glowing with intensest love, the apostle eulogizes with these words : " Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword ? (As it is written, For Thy sake we are lolled all the day long ; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, [nor powers], nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 2 And in another passage he says, " And yet I show unto you a more excellent way. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not eharity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge ; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed, the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth ; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth."3 And a Httle afterwards he says, "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. FoHow after charity." 4 He also says to the Gala tians, " For, brethren, ye have been caned unto Hberty ; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve 1 Matt. xi. 30. « Rom. viii. 35-39. 3 1 Cor. xii. 31, xiii. 8. 4 1 Cor. xiii. 13, and xiv. 1. CHAP. 35] CHARITY AND CORRECTION. 51 one another. For all the law is fulfiUed in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." x This is the same in effect as what he writes to the Eomans : " He that loveth another hath fulfiUed the law." 2 In like manner he says to the Colossians, " And above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness." 3 And to Timothy he writes, " Now the end of the commandment is charity;" and he goes on to describe the quality of this grace, saying, " Out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned. " 4 Moreover, when he says to the Corinthians, "Let aU your things be done with charity,"5 he shows plainly enough that even those chastisements which are deemed sharp and bitter by those who are corrected thereby, are to be administered with love. Accordingly, in another passage, after saying, " Warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward aU men," he immediately added, " See that none render evU for evil unto any man." 6 Therefore, even when the unruly are corrected, it is not rendering evU for evil, but contrariwise, good. However, what but charity worketh aU these things ? Chap. 35. — Commendations of love. The Apostle Peter, likewise, says, " And, above aU things, have fervent charity among yourselves : for charity shaU cover the multitude of sins." 7 The Apostle James also says, "If ye fulfil the royal law, according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well." 8 So also the Apostle John says, " He that loveth his brother abideth in the right ; " 9 again, in another passage, " Whoso ever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother ; for this is the message which we have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another."10 Then he says again, "This is His command ment, that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another." u Once more : " And this 1 Gal. v. 13, 14, and Lev. xix. 18. 2 Rom. xiii. 8. 3 Col. iii. 14. 4 1 Tim. i. 5. 6 1 Cor. xvi. 14. 6 1 Thess. v. 14, 15. 7 1 Pet. iv. 8. 8 Jas. ii. 8. 9Uohnii. 10. 10 1 John iii. 1 0, 11. « 1 John iii. 23 52 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [CHAP. 37. commandment have we from Him, that he who loveth God love his brother also."1 Then shortly afterwards he adds, " By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments; for this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments : and His commandments are not grievous." 2 While, in his second Epistle, it is written, "Not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another." 3 Chap. 36. — Love commended by our Lord Himself. Moreover, the Lord Jesus Himself teaches us that the whole law and the prophets depend upon the two pre cepts which enjoin love to God and love to our neigh bour. Concerning these two commandments the foUowing is written in the Gospel according to St. Mark : " And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that He had answered them weU, asked Him : Which is the first commandment of aU ? And Jesus answered him : The first of all the commandments is, Hear, 0 Israel ! the Lord our God is one Lord ; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with aU thy soul, and with aU thy mind, and with aU thy strength.4 This is the first commandment. And the second is like unto it : Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.5 There is none other com mandment greater than these." 6 Also, in the Gospel according to St. John, He says, " A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another ; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love to one another." 7 Chap. 37. [xviii.]— The love which fulfils the commandments is not of ourselves, but oj God. The law without grace is the letter that killeth. AU these commandments, however, respecting love or charity (which are so great, and such that whatever action a man may think he does weU is by no means weU done if done without charity) would be given to men in vain if they 1 1 John iv. 21. 2 1 John v. 2, 3. * 2 John ver. 5. " Deut. vi. 4, 5. 5 Lev. xix. 18. « Mark xii. 28-31. 7 John xiii. 34, 35. CHAP. 38.] THE LAW WITHOUT GRACE KILLETH. 53 possess not a wiU to choose freely. But forasmuch as these precepts are given in the law, both old and new (although in the new came the grace which was promised in the old, the law, moreover, being without grace the letter which kiUeth, but under grace the Spirit which giveth Hfe), from what source is there in men the love of God and of one's neighbour but from God Himself ? For indeed, if it be not of God but of men, the Pelagians have gained the victory ; but if it come from God, then we have vanquished the Pelagians. Let, then, the Apostle John sit in judgment between us ; and let him say to us, " Beloved, let us love one another." x Now, when they begin to extol themselves on these words ot John, and to ask why this precept is addressed to us at all if we have not ability of our own selves to love one another, the same apostle proceeds at once, to their confusion, to add, " For love is of God." 2 It comes not of ourselves, therefore, but it is of God. Wherefore, then, is it said, " Let us love one another, for love is of God," unless it be as a precept to our free-wiU, admonishing it to seek the gift of God ? Now, this would be indeed a thoroughly fruitless admonition if the will did not previously receive some donation of love, which might seek to be enlarged with such completeness as might fulfil whatever injunction was laid upon it. When it is said, " Let us love one another," it is law ; when it is said, " For love is of God," it is grace. For God's " wisdom carries law and mercy upon her tongue." 3 Accordingly, it is written in the Psalm, " For He who gave the law wUl give blessings." 4 Chap. 38. — We should not love God unless He first loved us. The apostles chose Christ because they were chosen; they were not chosen because tliey chose Christ. Let no one, then, deceive you, my brethren, because we should not love God unless He first loved us. John again gives us the plainest proof of this when he says, " We love Him because He first loved us."5 Grace makes us lovers of the law; but the law itself, without grace, makes us breakers of the law. And nothing else than this is shown us by the words of our Lord when He says to His disciples, 1 1 John iv. 7. 2 1 John iv. 7. 3 Prov. iii. 16 (Sept.). 4 Ps. lxxxiv. 6 (Sept.). 6 1 John iv. 19. 54 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [CHAP.' 39 " Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you." 1 For if we first loved Him, in order that by this merit He might love us, then we first chose Him that we might deserve to be chosen by Him. He, however, who is the Truth says another thing, and flatly contradicts this vain conceit of men. "You have not chosen me," He says. If, therefore, you have not chosen me, undoubtedly you have not loved me (for how could they choose one whom they did not love ?). "But I," says He, " have chosen you." And then could they possibly help choosing Him themselves afterwards, and preferring Him to aU the blessings of this world ? But having been themselves chosen, they chose Him ; yet it was not because they chose Him that they were themselves chosen. There could be no merit in men's choice of Christ, if it were not that God's grace was prevenient in His choosing them. Whence the Apostle Paul pronounces in the Thessalonians this benedic tion : " The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward aU men." 2 This benediction to love one another He gave us, who had also given us a law that we should love each other. Then, in another passage addressed to the same church, seeing that there now existed in some of its members the disposition which he had wished them to cultivate, he says, " We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you aU toward each other aboundeth."3 This he said lest they should make a boast of the great good which they were en joying from God, as if they had it of their own mere selves. Because, then, your faith has so great a- growth (this is the purport of his words), and the love of every one of you aU toward each other so greatly abounds, we ought to thank God concerning you, but not to praise you, as if you possessed these gifts of yourselves. Chap. 39.— The spirit of fear a great gift of God. The apostle also says to Timothy, "For God hath not given to us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 4 Now in respect of this passage, indeed, 1 John xv. 16. 2 1 Thess. iii. 12. 3 2 Thess. i. 3. 4 2 Tim. i. 7. CHAP. 40.] THE SPIRIT OF FEAR A GIFT, 55 of the apostle, we must be on our guard against supposing that we have not received the spirit of the fear of God, which is undoubtedly a great gift of God, and concerning which the prophet Isaiah says, " The Spirit of the Lord shaU rest upon thee, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and piety, the spirit of the fear of the Lord." 1 Now it is not the fear with which Peter denied Christ that we have received the spirit of, but of that fear concerning which Christ Himself says, " Fear Him who hath power to destroy both soul and body in hell ; yea, I say unto you, Fear Him." 2 This, indeed, He said, lest we should deny Him from the same fear which shook Peter ; for such cowardice He plainly wished to be removed from us when He, in the preceding passage, said, "Be not afraid of them that kiU the body, and after that have no more that they can do." 3 It is not of this fear that we have received the spirit, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. And of this spirit the same Apostle Paul discourses to the Eomans : " We glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience ; and patience, experience ; and experience, hope ; and hope maketh not ashamed ; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us." 4 Not by ourselves, therefore, but by the Holy Ghost which is given to us, does it come to pass that, through the very action of that very love, which he shows us to be the gift of God, tribulation does not do away with patience, but rather produces it. Again, he says to the Ephesians, " Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith." 5 Great blessings these ! Let him teU us, however, whence they come. " From God the Father," says he immediately afterwards, " and the Lord Jesus Christ." These great blessings, therefore, are nothing else than God's gifts to us. Chap. 40. [xix.] — The dark ignorance of the Pelagians m maintaining that the knowledge of the law comes from God, but that love comes from ourselves. It is no wonder that Hght shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not.8 In John's Epistle the 1 Isa. xi. 2. 2 Luke xii. 5. 3 Luke xii. 4. 4 Rom. v. 3, 4, 5. 6 Eph. vi. 23. 6 John, i. 5. 56. A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [CHAP. 40. Light declares, "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." 1 And in the Pelagian writings the darkness says, " Love comes to us of our own selves." Now, if they only possessed the true love, that is, Christian charity, they would also know whence they obtained possession of it ; even as the apostle knew when he said, " But we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." 3 John says, " God is love." 3 And thus the Pelagians affirm that they actually have, not God Himself from God, but from their own selves ; and although they allow that we have the knowledge of the law from God, they wiU yet have it that love springs out of our very selves. Nor do they listen to the apostle when he says, " Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth." 4 Now what can be more absurd, nay, what more insane and more alien from the very sacredness of love itself than to maintain that from God proceeds the knowledge which, apart from love, puffs us up, whUe the love which prevents the possibility of this inflation of knowledge springs from our selves ? And again, when the apostle speaks of " the love of Christ as surpassing knowledge," 5 what can be more insane than to suppose that the knowledge which must be subor dinated to love comes from God, whde the love which sur passes knowledge comes from man ? The true faith, however, and sound doctrine declare that both graces are from God ; the Scripture says, " From the presence [of the Lord] cometh knowledge and understanding ; " 6 and another Scripture says, " Love is of God." 7 We read of " the Spirit of wisdom and understanding." 8 Also of " the Spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 9 But love is a greater gift than knowledge ; for whenever a man has the gift of knowledge, love is necessary by the side of it, that he be not puffed up. For " charity envieth not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up."10 1 1 John iii. ]. 2 1 Cor. ii. 12. s i j0jjn jv 16 4 1 Cor. viii. 1. " Eph. iii. 19. 6 prov y 6 ^ept.). 7 1 John iv. 7. 8 Isa. xi. 2. 9 2 Tim. i 7 10 1 Cor. xiii. 4. CHAP. 41.] SIN AS A PUNISHMENT. 57 Chap. 41. [xx.] — The wills of men are so much in fhe power of God, that He can turn them whithersoever it pleases Him. Some sins are the punishment of other sins. I think I have now discussed the point fully enough in opposition to those who vehemently oppose the grace of God, which, however, does not take away the human wiU, but changes it from bad to good, and assists it when it is good. I think, too, that I have so discussed the subject that it is not so much I my self as the inspired Scripture which has spoken to you in the clearest testimonies of truth ; and if this divine record be looked into carefuUy, it shows us that not only men's good wills, which God Himself converts from bad ones, and (when converted) directs to good actions and to eternal Hfe, but also those which foUow the world are so entirely at the disposal of God, that He turns them whithersoever He wiUs, and whensoever He wiUs, — to bestow kindness on some, and to heap punishment on others, as He Himself judges right by a counsel most secret to Himself, indeed, but beyond aU doubt most righteous. For we find that some sins are even the chastisement of other sins, as are those "vessels of wrath" which the apostle describes as " fitted to destruction;"1 as is also that obstinacy of Pharaoh, the purpose of which is said to be to set forth in him the power of God ;2 as, again, is the flight of the IsraeHtes from the face of the enemy before the city of Ai. Fear arose in their heart, so that they fled ; and this took place that their sin might be punished in the way it was right that it should be ; by reason of which the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, " The children of Israel shaU not be able to stand before the face of their enemies." 3 What is the meaning of, " They shaU not be able to stand ? " Now, why of their own accord did they not stand firm, but, with a will perplexed by fear, took to flight, were it not that God has the lordship over men's wiUs, and when He is angry turns to fear and trembling whomso ever He pleases ? Was it not of their own accord that the enemies of the children of Israel abstained not from fighting against the people of God, as led by Joshua, the son of Nun ? And yet the Scripture says, " It was of the Lord to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, 1 Rom. ix. 22. 2 See Ex. vii. 3, and x. 1. 3 See Josh. vii. 4, 12. 58 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [CHAP. 41. that they might be exterminated." 1 And was it not Hkewise of his own accord that the wicked son of Gera, Shimei, cursed King David ? And yet what says David, full of true, and deep, and pious wisdom ? What did he say to the impetuous friend who wanted to smite the revUer ? " What," said he, " have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah ? Let him alone and let him curse, because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David. Who, then, shaU say, Wherefore hast thou. done so?"2 And then the inspired Scripture, as if it would confirm the king's profound utterance by repeating it once more, teUs us : " And David said to Abishai, and to aU his servants, Behold, my son, which came forth from my bowels, seeketh my life : how much more may this Benjamite do it ! Let him alone, and let him curse ; for the Lord hath bidden him. It may be that the Lord wiU look on my humiliation, and wiH requite me good for his cursing this day." 3 Now what prudent reader wiU fail to understand in what way the Lord bade this profane man to curse David ? It was not by a positive command that He bade him, in which case his obedience would be praiseworthy, but He inclined the man's wiU, which had become debased by his own per- verseness, to commit this heartless sin ; [inclined it, I say,] by His own just and secret judgment. Therefore it is said, " The Lord said unto him." Now if this person had obeyed an express command of God, he would have deserved to be praised rather than punished, as we know he was afterwards punished for this sin. Nor is the reason an obscure one why the Lord told him to curse David after this manner. " It may be," said the humbled king, "that the Lord wiU look on my humiliation, and wUl requite me good for his cursing this day." See, then, what proof we have here that God uses the hearts and minds of even wicked men for the praise and assist ance of the good. Thus did he make use of Judas when betraying Christ ; thus did He make use of the Jews when they crucified Christ. And how vast the blessings which from these instances He has bestowed upon the nations that should beheve in Him ! He also uses our worst enemy, the devil himself, but in the best way, to exercise and try the faith 1 Josh. xi. 20. 2 2 Sam. xvi. 9, 10. 3 2 Sam. xvi. 11, 12, CHAP. 42.] THE POWER OF GOD OVER THE WILL. 59 and piety of good men, — not for Himself indeed, who knows aU things before they come to pass, but for our sakes, for whom it was necessary that such a discipHne should be gone through with us. Could Absalom help choosing of his own wiU the counsel which was detrimental to him ? And yet the real reason of his doing so was that the Lord had heard his father's prayer that it might be so ; because the Scripture teUs us that " the Lord appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring aU the evU upon Absalom." 1 It caUed Ahithophel's counsel " good," because it was for the moment of advantage to his purpose. It was in favour of the son against his father, against whom he had rebeUed ; and might have crushed him, had not the Lord defeated the counsel which Ahithophel had given, by acting on the heart of Absalom in such a manner that he rejected this counsel, and chose another which was not expedient for him. Chap. 42. [xxi. ] — God does whatsoever He wills in the hearts of even wicked men. Who can help trembling at those judgments of God by which He does in the hearts of even wicked men whatsoever He wills, at the same time rendering to every man according to their deeds ? Eehoboam, the son of Solomon, rejected the wise and salutary counsel of the old men, to the effect that be should not deal harshly with the people, and preferred hasten ing to the words of the young men of his own age, by returning a rough answer instead of the gentle one which he ought to have given. Now whence arose such conduct, except from his own wilfulness ? Upon this, however, the ten tribes of Israel revolted from him, and chose for themselves another king, even Jeroboam, that the wiU of God in His anger might be accompHshed which He had predicted would come to pass.2 For what says the Scripture ? " The king hearkened not unto the people ; for the cause was from the Lord, that He might perform His saying, which the Lord spake to Ahijah the ShUonite concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat." a AU this, indeed, was brought about by the wiU of man, although the cause was from the Lord. Eead the books of the Chronicles, 1 2 Sam. xvii. 14. 2 1 Kings xii. 8-14. 3 1 Kings xii. 15. 60 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [CHAP. 42. and you will find the foUowing passage in the second book : "Moreover, the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the PhUistines, and of the Arabians, that were neigh bours to the Ethiopians; and they came up to the land of Judah, and ravaged it, and carried away aU the substance which was found in the Idng's house." 1 Here it is shown that God stirs up enemies to devastate the countries which He adjudges deserving of such chastisement. StiU, did these Philistines and Arabians invade the land of Judah to waste it with no wiU of their own ? Or were their movements so directed by their own wiU that the Scripture Hes which teUs us that " the Lord stirred up their spirit " to do aU this ? Both statements to be sure are true, because they both came of their own accord, and yet the Lord stirred up their spirit ; and this may also with equal truth be stated the other way : The Lord both stirred up their spirit, and yet they came of their own accord. For the Almighty sets in motion even in the inner most hearts of men their wiUs and inclinations, so that He does through their agency whatsoever He wiUs them to do, — even He who knows not how to wiU anything in unrighteous ness. What, again, is the purport of that which the man of God said to King Amaziah : " Let not the army of Israel go with thee ; for the Lord is not with Israel, even with aU the children of Ephraim : for if thou shalt think to obtain with these, the Lord shall put thee to flight before thine enemies : for God hath power either to strengthen or to put to flight" ? 2 Now, how does the power of God help some in war by giving them confidence, and put others to flight by injecting fear into them, except it be that He who has made all things according to His own will, in heaven and on earth,3 also works con- tinuaUy in the hearts of men ? We read also what Joash, kiug of Israel, said when he sent a message to Amaziah, king of Judah, who wanted to fight with him. After certain other words, he added, "Now tarry at home; why dost thou chaUenge me to thine hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee ? " 4 Then the Scripture has added this sequel : " But Amaziah would not hear ; for it came 1 2 Chron. xxi. 16, 17. 2 2 Chron. xxv. 7, 8. a Ps. cxxxv. 6. * 2 Kings xiv. 10. CHAP. 42.] THE WICKED ACCOMPLISH GOD'S WILL. 6 1 of God, that he might be delivered into the hands [of the enemy], because they sought after the gods of Edom." 1 Behold, now, how God, wishing to punish the sin of idolatry, operated in this man's heart (with whom He was indeed justly angry) not to Hsten to sound advice, but, despising it, to go to the battle, in which he with his army was routed. God says by the prophet Ezekiel, " If the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a tiring, I the Lord have deceived that prophet : I wiH stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel."2 Then there is the book of Esther, who was a woman of the people of Israel, and in the land of their captivity became the wife of the foreign King Ahasuerus. In this book it is written, that, being driven by necessity to interpose in behalf of her people, whom the king had ordered to be slain in every part of his dominions, she prayed to the Lord. So strongly was she urged by the necessity of the case, that she even ventured into the royal presence without the king's command, and contrary to her own custom. Now observe what the Scripture says : " He looked at her with fierce and intense indignation ; 3 and the queen was afraid, and her colour changed as she fainted ; and she bowed herself upon the head of her delicate maiden which went before her. But God changed the king, and turned his indignation to gentleness." 4 The Scripture says in the Proverbs of Solomon, " Even as the rush of water, so is the heart of a king in God's hand; He wiU turn it in whatever way He shaU choose."5 Again, in the 104th Psalm, in reference to the Egyptians, one reads what God did to them : "And He turned their heart to hate His people, to deal subtiUy with His servants." 6 Observe, Hkewise, what is written in the letters of the apostles. In the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Eomans occur these words : " Wherefore God gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts ; " 7 and a Httle afterwards : " For this cause God gave them up unto vUe affections ; " 8 again, in the next 1 2 Chron. xxv. 20. 2 Ezek. xiv. 9. 3 [Intuitus est earn tanquam taurus impetu indignationis sues.] u Esther v. (sec. 1 in the Sept.). 6 Prov. xxi. I. 6 [This is written in Ps. cv. 25.] 7 Rom. i. 24. 8 Rom. i. 26. 62 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [CHAP. 43. passage : " And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient." 1 So also in his second Epistle to the Thessalonians, the apostle says of sundry persons, "Inasmuch as they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved ; therefore also God shaU send them strong delusion, that they should beHeve a He; that they aU might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2 Chap. 43. — God operates on men's hearts to incline their wills whithersoever He pleases. From these statements of the inspired word, and from similar passages which it would take too long to quote in full, it is, I think, sufficiently clear that God works in the hearts of men to incline them after the pleasure of His own wiU, whether to good deeds — according to His mercy, or to evil — after their own deserts ; His own judgments indeed controlling them, which are sometimes manifest, sometimes secret, but always righteous. This ought to be the fixed and immoveable conviction of your heart, that there is no unrighteousness with God. Therefore, whenever you read in the Scriptures of Truth, that men are led aside, or that their hearts are blunted and hardened by God, never doubt that some iU deserts of their own have first occurred, so that they are justly requited with the delinquency and obduracy. Thus you wiU not run counter to that proverb of Solomon : " The fooHshness of a man perverteth his ways, yet he blameth God in his heart." 3 Grace, however, is not bestowed according to men's deserts ; otherwise grace would be no longer grace.4 For grace [gratia] is so designated because it is given freely [gratis]. Now if God is able, either through the agency of angels (whether good ones or evU), or in any other way whatever, to operate in the hearts even of the wicked, in return for their deserts, — whose wickedness He did not Himself create, but it was either derived originally from Adam, or grew through their own wilfulness, — what is there to wonder at if, through the Holy Spirit, He works good in the hearts of the elect, through whose sole operation it was that their hearts became good instead of evU ? 1 Rom. i. 28. 2 2 Thess. ii. 10-12. 3 Prov. xix. 3. 4 Rom. xi. 6. CHAP. 44.] GRATUITOUS GRACE. 63 Chap. 44. [xxii.] — Gratuitous grace exemplified in infants. Men, however, may suppose that there are certain good deserts which they think previously exist, that they may be entitled to be justified through God's grace ; all the whUe failing to see, when they express such an opinion, that they do nothing else than deny grace. But, as I have aheady remarked, let them think what they Hke respecting the case of adults, in the case of infants, at any rate, the Pelagians find no means of answering the difficulty. Infants in receiv ing grace possess no wiU, from the influence of which they can pretend to any precedence of merit. We see, moreover, how they cry and struggle when they are baptized, and feel the sacred elements. Such conduct would, of course, be charged against them as a great impiety, if they were already endued with freedom of wiU; and notwithstanding this, grace cleaves to them even in their resisting struggles. But most certainly there is no prevenient merit, otherwise the grace would be no longer grace. Sometimes, too, this grace is bestowed upon the children of unbeHevers, when they happen by some means or other to fall, by reason of God's secret providence, into the hands of pious persons; but, on the other hand, the children of beHevers faU to obtain grace, some hindrance occurring to prevent the approach of help to reseue them in their danger. These things, no doubt, happen through the secret providence of God, whose judgments are unsearchable, and His ways past finding out. These are the words of the apostle ; and you should observe what he had previously said, to lead him to add such a remark. He was discoursing about the Jews and Gentiles, when he wrote to the Eomans — themselves Gentiles — to this effect : " For as ye, in times past, have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbeHef ; even so have these also now not beHeved, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy ; for God hath concluded them aU in un belief, that He might have mercy upon aU." 1 Now, after he had thought upon what he said, full of wonder at the cer tain truth of his own assertion, indeed, but astonished at its ' Rom. xi. 30-32. 64 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [CHAP. 45. great depth, how God concluded aU in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all, — as if doing evil that good might come, — he at once exclaimed, and said, "0 the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out ! " 1 These unsearchable judgments and untrace able ways, indeed, perverse men, who never reflect but are ever prone to censure, being unable to understand, sup posed the apostle to say, and censoriously gloried over him for saying, " Let us do evil, that good may come ! " God forbid that the apostle should say so ! But men, without understanding, thought that so much was in fact said, when ever they heard these words of the apostle : " Moreover, the law entered, that the offence might abound ; but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." 2 But grace, indeed, effects this purpose — that good works should now be wrought by those who previously did evU ; not that they should per severe in evU courses, and suppose that they are recompensed with good. Their language, therefore, ought not to be : " Let us do evU, that good may come ; " but : We have done evil, and good has come ; let us henceforth do good, that in the future world we may receive good for good, who in the present Hfe are receiving good for evil Wherefore it is written in the Psalm, " I wiU sing of mercy and judgment unto Thee, 0 Lord." 3 When the Son of man, therefore, first came into the world, it was not to judge the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.4 And this dispensa tion was for mercy ; by and by, however, He wiU come for judgment — to judge the quick and the dead. And yet even in this present time salvation itself, is not occurring without judgment — although it be a hidden one ; therefore He says, " For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not may see, and that they which see may be made blind." 5 Chap. 45. [xxiii.] — The reason why one person is assisted by grace, and another is not helped, must be referred to tlie secret judgments of God. You must refer the matter, then, to the hidden determina tions of God, when you see, in one and the same condition, 1 Rom. xi. 33. 2 Rom. v. 20. 3 Ps. ci. 1. * John iii. 17. 5 John ix. 39. CHAP. 45.] GOD'S MERCY AND JUDGMENT. 65 such as aU infants unquestionably have, — who derive their hereditary evU from Adam, — that one is assisted so as to be baptized, and another is not helped, so that he dies in his very bondage [of sin] ; and again, that one baptized person is left and forsaken in his present life, whom God foreknew that he would be ungodly, while another baptized person is taken away from this life, " lest that wickedness should alter his understanding ; " * and be sure that you do not in such cases ascribe unrighteousness or want of wisdom to God, in whom is the very fountain of righteousness and wisdom, but, as I have exhorted you from the commencement of this treatise, " whereto you have already attained, walk therein ; " 2 and " even this shaU God reveal unto you," 3 — if not in this life, yet certainly in the next, " for there is nothing covered that shaU not be revealed."4 When, therefore, you hear the Lord say, " I the Lord have deceived that prophet," 5 ' and likewise what the apostle says : " He hath mercy on whom He wiU have mercy, and whom He wiU He hardeneth," 6 beHeve that, in the case of him whom He permits to be deceived and hardened, his evU deeds have deserved the judgment ; whilst in the case of him to whom He shows mercy, you should loyaUy and unhesitatingly recognise the grace of the God who " rendereth not evU for evU ; but contrariwise blessing." 7 Nor should you with draw from Pharaoh his free-will, because in several pass ages God says, " I have hardened Pharaoh ; " or, " I have hardened or I wiU harden Pharaoh's heart ; " 8 for it does not by any means follow that Pharaoh did not, on this account, harden, his own heart. The truth is, that this is actuaUy said of him, after the removal of the fly-plague from the Egyptians, in these words of the Scrip ture : " And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also ; neither would he let the people go." 9 Thus it was that both God, by His just judgment, and Pharaoh, by his own free will, were both engaged in the work of induration. Be ye 1 Wisd. iv. 11. 2 Phil. iii. 16. 3 Phil. iii. 15. 4 Matt. x. 26. 5 Ezek. xiv. 9. « Rom. ix. 18. 7 1 Pet. iii. 9. « See Ex. iv. 21, vii. 3, xiv. 4. 9 Ex. viii. 32. XV. E 66 A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE-WILL. [CHAP. 46. then weU assured that your labour will never be in vain, if, setting before you a good purpose, you persevere in it to the last. For God, who does not render simply to those whom He liberates according to their deeds, wiU then " recompense every man according to his works." x God wiU, therefore, certainly recompense both evU for evil, because He is just; and good for evU, because He is good-; and good for good, because He is good and just; only, evU for good He wiU never recompense, because He is not unjust. He wUl, there fore, recompense evU for evU — punishment for unrighteous ness ; and good for evU — grace for unrighteousness ; and good for good — grace for grace. Chap. 46. [xxiv.] — Understanding and wisdom must be sought from God. Peruse attentively this treatise, and if you understand it, give God the praise ; but where you fail to understand it, pray for understanding, for God wiU give you this faeulty. Eemember what the Scriptures say : " If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men HberaUy, and upbraideth not ; and it shaU be given to him." 2 Wisdom itself cometh down from above, as the Apostle James himself teUs us.3 There is, however, another wisdom, which you must repel from you, and pray against its remaining in you; this the same apostle expressed his detestation of when he said, " But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, . . . this^ is not the wisdom which descendeth from above, but is earthly, sensual, devUish. For wherever there is envying and strife, there is also confusion, and every evil work. But the wisdom which is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good works, without partiality, and without hypocrisy."4 What blessing, then, wiU that man not have who has prayed for this wisdom and obtained it of the Lord ? And from this you may understand what grace is ; because if this wisdom were of ourselves, it would not be from above ; nor would it be an object to be asked for of the God who 1 Matt. xvi. 27. a Jas. i. 5. 3 Jas. i. 17, and iii. 17. 4 Jas. iii. 14-17. CHAP. 46.] CONCLUSION. 67 created us. Brethren, pray ye also for us, that we may Hve " soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world ; 1 look ing for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ," 2 to whom belong the honour, and the glory, and the kingdom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen. 1 [Thus fulfilling the triple duty of the Christian, — to himself, to his neigh- hour, and to God.] 2 Titus ii. 12. Extract from the Second Book of " The Betractations," the last Chapter, referring to the following Treatise : — "DE COEEEPTIONE ET GEATIA." I wrote again to the same persons 1 another treatise, which I entitled De Correptione et Gratia [ " On Bebuke and Grace " ], because I had been told that some one there had said — that no man ought to be rebuked for not doing God's commandments, but that prayer only should be made on his behalf, that he may do them. This book begins on this wise, "I have read your letters, dearly beloved brother Valentine." 1 Valentine, to wit, and the monks with him who inhabited the convent of Adrumetum. A TEEATISE ON EEBUKE AND GRACE. By AUEELIUS AUGUSTINE, Bishop of Hippo, IN ONE BOOK. ADDRESSED TO VALENTINE, AND WITH HIM TO THE MONKS OF ADRUMETUM. A.D. 426 oe 427. IN THE BEGINNING THE WRITER SETS FORTH WHAT IS THE CATHOLIC FAITH CONCERNING LAW, CONCERNING FREE-WILL, AND CONCERNING GEACE. HE TEACHES THAT THE GRACE OF GOD BY JESUS CHEIST IS THAT BY WHICH ALONE MEN ARE DELIVERED FROM EVIL, AND WITHOUT WHICH THEY DO ABSOLUTELY NO GOOD ; AND THIS NOT ONLY BY THE FACT THAT IT MANI FESTS WHAT IS TO BE DONE, BUT THAT IT ALSO SUPPLIES THE MEANS OF DOING IT WITH LOVE, SINCE GOD BESTOWS ON MEN THE INSPIRATION OF A GOOD WILL AND DEED. HE TEACHES THAT THE EEBUKE OF EVIL MEN WHO HAVE NOT RECEIVED THIS GEACE IS NEITHEE UNRIGHTEOUS — SINCE THEY ARE EVIL BY THEIE OWN WILL — NOE USELESS, ALTHOUGH IT MUST BE CONFESSED THAT IT IS ONLY BY GOD'S AGENCY THAT IT CAN AVAIL. THAT PERSEVERANCE IN GOOD IS TRULY A GREAT GIFT OF GOD, BUT THAT STILL THE EEBUKE OF ONE WHO HAS NOT PEESEVEEED MUST NOT ON THAT AC COUNT BE NEGLECTED ; AND THAT IF A MAN WHO HAS NOT EECEIVED THIS GIFT SHOULD RELAPSE OF HIS OWN WILL INTO SIN, HE IS NOT ONLY DESERV ING OF REBUKE, BUT IF HE SHOULD CONTINUE IN EVIL UNTIL HIS DEATH, HE IS MOEEOVEE WOETHY OF ETERNAL DAMNATION. THAT IT IS INSCRUT ABLE WHY ONE SHOULD EECEIVE THIS GIFT AND ANOTHER SHOULD NOT RECEIVE IT. THAT OF THOSE WHO AEE PEEDESTINATED NONE CAN PEEISH. AND THAT THE PEESEVEEANCE, WHICH ALL DO NOT EECEIVE WHO ARE HERE CALLED CHILDREN OF GOD, IS CONSTANTLY GIVEN TO ALL THOSE WHO AEE TEULY CHILDEEN BY GOD'S FOREKNOWLEDGE AND PREDESTINATION. HE ANSWERS THE QUESTION WHICH SUGGESTS ITSELF CONCEENING ADAM — IN WHAT WAY HE SINNED BY NOT PEESEVEEING, SINCE HE DID NOT EECEIVE PEESEVEEANCE. HE SHOWS THAT SUOH ASSISTANCE WAS AT THE FIRST GIVEN TO HIM, AS THAT WITHOUT IT HE COULD NOT CONTINUE IF HE WOULD, NOT THAT WITH IT IT MUST RESULT THAT HE WOULD. BUT THAT NOW THEOUGH CHEIST IS GIVEN US NOT ONLY SUCH HELP AS THAT WITHOUT IT WE CANNOT CONTINUE EVEN IF WE WILL, BUT MOEEOVEE SUOH AND SO G9 70 A TREATISE ON REBUKE AND GRACE. [CHAP. 1 GEEAT AS THAT BY IT WE WILL. HE PROVES THAT THE NUMBEE OF THE PEEDESTINATED, TO WHOM A GIFT OF THIS KIND IS APPROPEIATED, IS CER TAIN, AND CAN NEITHEE BE INCEEASED NOE DIMINISHED. AND SINCE IT IS UNKNOWN WHO BELONGS TO THAT NUMBEE, AND WHO DOES NOT, THAT MEDICINAL EEBUKE MUST BE APPLIED TO ALL WHO SIN, LEST THEY SHOULD EITHER THEMSELVES PEEISH, OE BE THE RUIN OF OTHERS. FINALLY, HE CONCLUDES THAT NEITHER IS REBUKE TO BE CHECKED BY GRACE, NOE IS GRACE TO BE DENIED BY EEBUKE. CnAr. 1. [i.] — Introductory, addressed to Valentine, etc. I HAVE read your letters' — Valentine, my dearly beloved brother, and you who are associated with him in the service of God — which your love sent [to me] by brother Florus and those who came to us with him ; and I gave God thanks that I have known your peace in the Lord, and the agreement in the truth and order in love [evidenced] in your discourse delivered to us. But that an enemy has striven among you to the subversion of some, has, by the mercy of God and His marveUous goodness in turning those arts to the advantage1 of His servants, rather avaUed to this result, that while none of your friends were cast down for the worse, some were built up for the better. There is therefore no need to reconsider again and again aU that I have abeady transmitted to you, sufficiently argued out in a lengthy treatise ;2 for your replies indicate how you have received this. Nevertheless, do not in any wise suppose that, when once read, it can have become sufficiently weU known to you. Therefore if you de sire to have it exceedingly productive, do not count it a grievance by re-perusal to make it thoroughly famiHar ; so that you may most accurately3 know what and what kind of ques tions they are, for the solution and satisfaction of which there arises an authority not human but divine, from which we ought not to depart if we desire to attain to the point whither we are tending. Chap. 2.— The Catholic faith concerning law, grace, and free-will. Now the Lord Himself not only shows us from what evil we should decline, and what good we should do, which is aU 1 Or according to some mss., "progress." 2 Treatise on Grace and Free- Will, see supra. " Or, "most clearly." CHAP. 3.] LAW, GRACE, AND FREE-WILL. 71 that the letter of the law is able to effect ; but He moreover helps us that we may decHne from evil and do good,1 which none can do without the Spirit of graee ; and if this be want ing, the law comes in merely to make us guilty and to slay us. It is on this account that the apostle says, " The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life."2 He, then, who lawfully uses the law learns therein evU and good, and if he do not confide in his own strength, flees to grace, by the help of which he may decline from evil and do good. But who is there who flees to grace except when "the steps of a man are ordered by the Lord, and He shaU determine his way" ? 3 And by this means also the desire of the help of grace is the beginning of grace ; of which, says he [the Psalmist], " And I said, Now I have begun ; this is the change of the right hand of the Most High."4 It is to be confessed, therefore, that we have free choice to do both evU and good ; but in doing evil every one is free from righteousness and a servant of sin, while in doing good no one can be free, unless he have been made free by Him who said, " If the Son shaU make you free, then you shall be free indeed."5 Neither is it thus, that when any one has been made free from the dominion of sin, he no longer needs the help of his Deliverer ; but rather thus, that hearing from Him, "Without me ye can do nothing,"6 he himself also says to Him, " Be thou my helper ! Forsake me not."7 I rejoice that I have found in our brother Florus also this faith, which without doubt is THE TRUE AND pro phetical AND APOSTOLICAL AND CATHOLIC FAITH ; whence those are the rather to be corrected — whom indeed I now think to have been corrected by the favour of God — who did not understand him, Chap. 3. [n.] — What the grace of God" through Jesus Christ is. For the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord must be apprehended, — -as that by which alone men are delivered from evU, and without which they do absolutely no good thing, whether in thought, or wiU and affection, or in action ; 1 Ps. xxxvii. 27. 2 2 Cor. iii. 6. 3 Ps. xxxvii. 23. 4 Ps. Ixxvi. 10 [LXX.]. 6 John viii. 36. 6 John xv. 5. 7 Ps. xxvii. 9 [LXX.]. 72 A TREATISE ON REBUKE AND GRACE [CHAP. 4. in order not only that they may know, by the manifestation of that grace, what should be done, but moreover that, by its enabling, they may do with love what they know. Certainly the apostle asked for this inspiration of good wiU and deed on behalf of those to whom he said, " Now we pray to God that ye do no evil, mot that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is good." x Who can hear this and not awake and confess that we have it from the Lord God that we turn aside from evil and do good ? — since the apostle indeed says not, We admonish, we teach, we exhort, we re buke ; but he says, " We pray to God that ye do no evil, but .that ye should do that which is good."2 And yet he was also in the habit of speaking to them, and doing aU those things which I have mentioned, — he admonished, he taught, he exhorted, he rebuked. But he knew that aU these things which he was doing in the way of planting and watering on the surface3 were of no avaU unless He who giveth the in crease in secret should give heed to his prayer on their behalf. Because, as the same teacher of the GentUes says, " Neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase."4 Chap. 4. — The children of God are led by the Spirit of God. Let those, therefore, not deceive themselves who say, Wherefore is it preached and prescribed to us that we should turn away from evil and do good, if it is not we that do this, but " God who worketh in us to wUl and to do it" ?5 But let them rather understand that if they are the chUdren of God, they are led by the Spirit of God8 to do that which should be done ; and when they have done it, let them give thanks to Him by whom they act. For they are influenced that they may act, not that they may themselves do nothing ; and in addition to this, it is shown them what they ought to do, so that when they have done it as it ought to be done — that is, with the love and the dehght of righteousness — they may rejoice in having received " the sweetness which the Lord 1 2 Cor. xiii. 7. -' Ibid. » In aperto. * 1 Cor. iii. 7. " Phil. ii. 13. <* Rom. viii. 14. CHAP. 6.] THE NEED OF REBUKE. 73 has given, that their1 land should yield her increase."2 But when they do not act, whether by not doing at aU or by not doing from love, let them pray that what as yet they have not, they may receive. For what shaU they have which they shaU not receive ? or what have they which they have not received ?3 Chap. 5. [in.] — Rebuke must not be neglected. " Then," say they, " let those who are over us only prescribe to us what we ought to do, and pray for us that we may do it ; but let them not rebuke and censure us if we should not do it." Certainly let aU such things be done, since the teachers of the churches, the apostles, were in the habit of doing all such things, — as weU of prescribing what things should be done, as of rebuking if they were not done, and of praying that they might be done. The apostle enjoins, saying, " Let aU your things be done with charity."4 He rebukes, 'saying, " Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye have judgments among yourselves. For why do ye not rather suffer wrong ? Why are ye not rather defrauded ? Nay, ye do wrong and defraud ; and that, your brethren. Know ye not that the unrighteous shaU not possess the kingdom of God?"5 Let us hear him also praying: "And the Lord," says he, " multiply you, and make you to abound in love one towards another and towards aU men."6 He prescribes that love should be maintained ; he rebukes, because love is not indulged ; he prays that love may abound. 0 man ! learn in his precept what you ought to possess ; learn in his rebuke 1 that it is by your own fault that you possess it not ; learn in his prayer whence you may receive what you desire to have. Chap. 6. [iv.] — Objections to the use of rebuke. " In what way," says he [the semi-Pelagian], " is it regarded as my fault that I have not what I have not received from Him, by whom unless it is given, there is no other at aU whence such and so great a gift can be had ?" Suffer me a little, my brethren, not as against you whose heart is right with God, 1 Some mss. have "his land." 2 Ps. lxxxv. 12. 3 1 Cor. iv. 7. * 1 Cor. xvi. 14. 5 1 Cor. vi. 7, et seq. " 1 Thess. iii. 12. 74 A TREATISE ON REBUKE AND GRACE. [CHAP. 7. but as against those who mind earthly things, or as against those human modes of thinking themselves, to contend for the truth of the heavenly and divine grace. For they who say this are such as in their wicked works are unwiUing to be rebuked by those who proclaim this grace. " Prescribe to me what I shaU do, and if I should do it, give thanks to God for me who has given me to do it ; but if I do it not, I must not be rebuked, but He must be besought to give what He has not given ; that is, that very beheving love of God and of my neighbour by which His precepts are1 observed. Pray, then, for me that I may receive this, and may by its means do freely and with good wUl that which He commands. But I should be justly rebuked if by my own fault I had it not ; that is, if I myself could give it to myself, or could receive it, and did not do so, or if He should give it and I should be unwiUing to receive it. But since even the wiU itself is prepared2 by the Lord, why dost thou rebuke me because thou seest me unwiUing to do His precepts, and dost not rather ask Him Himself to work in me the wiU also ? " Chap. 7. [v.] — The necessity and advantage of rebuke. To this we answer : whoever you are that do not the com mandments of God that are already known to you, and do not wish to be rebuked, you must be rebuked even for that very reason that you do not wish to be rebuked. For you do not wish that your faults should be shown to you ; you do not wish that they should be touched, and that such a salutary pain should be caused you that you may seek the Physician ; you do not desire to be shown to yourself, that, seeing yourself to be deformed, you may wish for the Eeformer, and may supplicate Him that you may not continue in that repulsiveness. For it is your fault that you are evU; and it is a greater fault to be unwiUing to be rebuked because you are evil, as if faults should either be praised or regarded with indifference, so as neither to be praised nor blamed, or as if, indeed, the dread, or the shame, or the suffering of the rebuked man were of no avaU, or were of any other avail in health- 1 Origen and some mss., "fiant," scil. " may be observed." 3 Prov. xvi. 1. CHAP. 8] THE BENEFIT OF REBUKE. 75 fully stimulating, except to cause that He who is good may be besought, and so out of evU men who are rebuked may make good men who may be praised. For what he who wiU not be rebuked desires to be done for him, when he says, Pray for me rather — he must be rebuked for that very reason that he may himself also do for himself; because that suffering with which he is dissatisfied with himself when he feels the sting of rebuke, stirs him up to a desire for more earnest prayer, that, by God's mercy, he may be aided by the increase of love, and cease to do things which are shameful and grievous, and do things praiseworthy and gladly to be acknowledged. This is the benefit of rebuke that is whole somely appHed, sometimes with greater, sometimes with less severity, in accordance with the diversity of sins, and it is then wholesome when the supreme Physician looks down [on the appHcation]. For it avaUs nothing unless when it makes a man repent of his sin. And who gives this but He who looked upon the Apostle Peter when he denied,1 and made him weep ? Whence also the Apostle Paul, after he said that they were to be rebuked with moderation who thought other wise, immediately added, " Lest perchance God give them repentance, to the acknowledging of the truth, and they recover themselves out of the snares of the devil." 2 Chap. 8. — Further replies to those who object to rebuke. But wherefore do they, who are unwiUing to be rebuked, say, " Only prescribe to me, and pray for me that I may do what you prescribe " ? Why do they not rather, in accordance with their own evU iucHnation, reject these things also, and say, I neither wish you to prescribe to me, nor to pray for me ? For what man is shown to have prayed for Peter, that God should give him the repentance wherewith he bewaUed the denial of his Lord ? What man instructed Paul in the divine precepts which pertain to the Christian faith ? When, therefore, he was heard preaching the gospel, and saying, "For I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it from man, nor did I learn it, but by the revelation of Jesus 1 Luke xxii. 61. 2 2 Tim. ii. 25. 76 A TREATISE ON REBUKE AND GRACE. [CHAP. 9. Christ," x — would it be repHed to him : Why are you troubling us to receive and to learn from you that which you have not received nor learnt from man ? He who gave to you is able also to give to us in Hke manner as to you. Moreover, if they dare not say this, but suffer the gospel to be preached to them by man, although it cannot be given to man by man, let them concede also that they ought to be rebuked by those who are set over them, by whom Christian grace is preached ; although it is not denied that God is able, even when no man rebukes, to correct whom He wiU, and to lead him on to the wholesome suffering of repentance by the most hidden and mighty power of His medicine. And as we are not to. cease from prayer on behalf of those whom we desire to be corrected, — even although without any man's prayer on behalf of Peter, the Lord looked upon him and caused him to bewaU his sin, — so we must not neglect rebuke, although God can make those whom He will to be corrected, even when not rebuked. But a man then profits by rebuke when He pities and aids, — who makes. those whom He wiU to profit even without rebuke. But wherefore these are caUed to be reformed in one way, those in another way, and others in stUl another way, after different and innumerable manners, be it far from us to assert that it is the business of the clay to judge, but of the potter. Chap. 9. [vi.]— Wliy tliey may justly be rebuked who do not obey God, altlwugh tliey have not yet received the grace of obedience. The apostle says, say they, "For who maketh thee to differ? And what hast thou that thou hast not received? Now also if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it ? " 2 " Why, then, are we rebuked, censured, reproved, accused ? What do we do if we have not received ?" They who say this wish to appear beyond blame in respect of their not obeying God, because assuredly obedience itself is His gift ; and that gift must of necessity be in him in whom dweUs love, which without doubt is of God, and the Father gives it to His children. " This," say they, " we have not received. Why, then, are we rebuked, as if we were able to give it to ourselves, and of our own choice would not give it ?" 1 Gal. i. 11. 2 2 Cor. iv. 7. CHAP. 10.] THE RESULT OF REBUKE. 77 And they do not observe that, if they are not yet regenerated, the chief reason why, when they are reproached for their disobedience to God, they ought to be dissatisfied with them selves is, that God made man upright from the beginning of the human creation, and there is no unrighteousness with God. And thus the first depravity, whereby God is not obeyed, is of man, because, falling by his own evil wiU from the rectitude in which God at first made him, he became depraved. But is not such depravity as that to be rebuked in a man because it is not pecuHar to him who is rebuked, but is common to aU? Yes, indeed; let it also be rebuked in individuals, if it is common to aU. For the circumstance that none is altogether free from it is no reason why it should not attach to each man. Those original sins, indeed, are said to be the sins of others, because individuals derived them from their parents ; but they are not unreasonably said to be our own also, because in that one [parent], as the apostle says, aU have sinned.1 Let, then, the damnable source be rebuked, that from the pain of rebuke may spring the wiU of regeneration, — if, indeed, he who is rebuked is a child of promise, — in order that, by the noise of the rebuke sounding and lashing from without, God may by His hidden inspiration work in him from within to wiU also. If, however, being already regenerate and justified, he relapses of his own wiU into an evU Hfe, assuredly he cannot say, "I have not received," because of his own free choice to evU he has lost the grace of God, that he had received. And if, stung with compunction by rebuke, he wholesomely bewaUs [his sin], and returns to good works sinular [to his first], or even better, certainly here most manifestly appears the advantage of rebuke. But yet for rebuke by the agency of man to avail, whether it be of love or not, depends only upon God. Chap. 10. — All perseverance is God's gift. Is such an one as is unwiUing to be rebuked stiU able to say, " What have I done since I have not received ? " when it appears plainly that he has received, and by his own fault has lost that which he has received. " I am able," says he, " I am 1 Rom. iii. 23. 78 A TREATISE ON REBUKE AND GRACE. [CHAP. 10. altogether able, — when you reprove me for having of my own wUl relapsed from a good Hfe into a bad one, — stiU to say, What have I done, seeing that I have not received ? For I received faith, which worketh by love, but therein I have not received perseverance to the end. WiU any one dare to say that such a perseverance as that is not the gift of God, and that so great a possession as this is ours in such wise that if any one have it the apostle could not say to him, ' For what hast thou, which thou hast not received ?' x since he has this in such a manner as that he has not received it ? " To this, indeed, we are not able to give a denial, that perseverance in good, progressing even to the end, is also a great gift of God ; and that it is not [given] save by Him of whom it is written, " Every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights." 2 But the rebuke of him who has not persevered must not on that account be ne glected, " lest God perchance give unto him repentance, and he recover himself from the snares of the devil ; " 3 since to the usefulness of rebuke the apostle has subjoined this deci sion, saying, as I have above mentioned, "Eebuking with moderation those that think differently, lest at any time God give them repentance."4 For if we should say that such a perseverance, so laudable and so blessed, is man's in such wise as that he has it not from God, we first of aU make void that which the Lord says to Peter : " I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not." B For what did He ask for him, but perseverance to the end? And assuredly, if a man could have this from man, it should not have been asked from God. Then when the apostle says, " Now we pray to God that ye do no evU," ° beyond a doubt he prays to God on their behalf for perseverance. For neither does he do no evU who forsakes good, nor is he persevering in good who is inclined to evil, from which he ought to turn aside.7 In that place, moreover, where he says, " I thank my God in every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you aU making 1 1 Cor. iv. 7. 2 Jas. i. 17. a 2 Tim. ii. 25. * 2 Tim. ii. 25. 6 Luke xxii. 32. « 2 Cor. xiii. 7. 7 Erasmus reads, " Who forsakes good from which he ought not to turn aside, and is inclined to evil. " CHAP. 10.] MEANING OF PERSEVERANCE. 79 request with joy for your feUowship 1 in the gospel from the first day untU now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you wiU perform it until the day of Jesus Christ," 2 — what else does he promise to them from tbe mercy of God than perseverance in good to the end ? And again where he says, "Epaphras saluteth you, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, always striving for you in prayer, that you may stand perfect and fulfilled in all the wiU of God," 3 — what is " that you may stand," but " that you may persevere " ? Whence it was said of the devil, " He continued not in the truth ; " 4 because he was there, but he did not continue. For assuredly those [above spoken of] were already standing in the faith. And when we pray that he who stands may stand, we do not pray for anything else than that he may persevere. Jude the apostle, again, when he says, "Now unto Him that is able to keep you without offence, and to estabhsh you before the presence of His glory, immaculate in joy," 5 does he not most manifestly show that perseverance in good unto the end is God's gift ? For what but a good perseverance does He give who preserves without offence that He may place before the presence of His glory immaculate in joy ? What is it, moreover, that we read in the Acts of the Apostles : " And when the GentUes heard, they rejoiced and received the word of the Lord ; and as many as were ordained to eternal Hfe believed " ? 6 Who could be ordained to eternal Hfe save by the gift of perseverance ? And when [we read], " He that shaU persevere unto the end shall be saved;"7 with what salvation but that which is eternal ? And when, in the Lord's Prayer, we say to God the Father, " HaUowed be thy name," 8 what do we ask but that His name may be haUowed in us ? And as this is already accompHshed by means of the laver of regeneration, why is it daUy asked by beHevers, except that in that which is already done in us [they seek] that we may persevere ? 9 For the blessed Cyprian also understands this in this manner, 1 Many mss. read " communication." 2 Phil. i. 3, et seq. 3 Col. iv. 12. * John viu. 24. c Jude 24. 6 Acts xiii. 48. ? Matt. x. 22. 8 Matt. vi. 9. 8 According to Alhin : " Except that what is done in us may continue in us." 80 A TREATISE ON REBUKE AND GRACE. [CHAP. 11. inasmuch as, in his exposition* of the same prayer, he says : "We say, 'Hallowed be thy name,' not that we wish for God that He may be haUowed by our prayers, but that we ask of God that His name may be haUowed in us. But by whom is God sanctified, since He Himself sanctifies ? WeU, because He said, ' Be ye holy, since I also am holy ; ' 1 we ask and entreat that we who have been sanctified in baptism may persevere in that which we have begun to be." 2 Behold the most glorious martyr is of this opinion, that what in these words Christ's faithful people are daUy asking is, that they may persevere in that which they have begun to be. And no one need doubt, but that whosoever prays from the Lord that he may persevere in good, confesses thereby that such perseverance is His gift. Chap. 11. [rn.]—They who have not received tlie gift qf perseverance, and have relapsed into mortal sin and have died therein, must righteously be condemned. If, then, these things be so, we stiU rebuke those, and reasonably rebuke them, who, although they were living weU, have not persevered therein ; because they have of their own wiU been changed from a good to an evU course of Hfe, and on that account [are worthy] of rebuke ; 3 and if rebuke should be of no avail to them, and they should persevere in their ruined life untU death, they are also deserving of divine condemnation for ever. Neither shaU they excuse themselves, saying, — as now they say, Wherefore are we rebuked? — so then, Wherefore are we condemned, since indeed ([as a reason] that we should return from good to evU) we have not received that perseverance by which we should abide in good ? They shaU by no means deHver themselves by this excuse from righteous condemnation. For if, according to the word of truth, no one is deHvered from the condemnation which was incurred through Adam except through the faith of Jesus Christ, and yet from this condemnation they shaU not deHver themselves who shaU be able to say that they have not heard the gospel of Christ, since "faith cometh by hear- 1 Nearly all MSS. : "even as I am holy.'' 2 Cyprian, Treatise on the Lord's Prayer, Clark's Trans. Works, vol. i. P- 406' 3 Or, ''are rebuked." CHAP. 13.] ALL WITHOUT PERSEVERANCE EQUALLY LOST. 81 ing," x how much less shaU they deliver themselves who shaU say, We have not received perseverance 1 For the excuse of those who say, We have not received hearing, seems more equitable than that of those who say, We have not received perseverance ; since it may be said, 0 man, in that which thou hadst heard and kept, in that thou mightest persevere if thou wouldest; but in no wise can it be said, That which thou hadst not heard thou mightest beHeve if thou wouldest. Chap. 12. — They who have not received perseverance are not distinguished from the mass of those that are lost. And, consequently, both those who have not heard the gospel ; and those who, having heard it and been changed by it for the better, have not received perseverance ; and those who, having heard the gospel, have refused to come to Christ, that is, to beheve on Him, since He Himself says, " No man cometh unto me, except it were given him of my Father ;"2 and those who by their tender age were unable to beHeve, but might be absolved from original sin by the alone washing of regeneration, and yet have not received this washing, and have perished in death, are not distinguished from that mass which it is plain is condemned, as aU go from One into condemna tion. Some are distinguished, however, not by their own merits but by the grace of the Mediator ; that is to say, they are justified freely in the blood of the second Adam. There fore, when we hear, " For who maketh thee to differ ? and what hast thou that thou hast not received ? Now, if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it ? " s we ought to understand that from that mass of per dition which originated through the first Adam, no one can be made to differ except he who has this gift, [which] who soever has, has received by the grace of the Saviour. And this apostoHcal testimony is so considerable, that the blessed Cyprian writing to Quirinus put it in the place of a title, when he says, "That we must boast in nothing, since nothing is our own."4 Chap. 13. — Electionis of grace, not of merit. Whosoever, then, are separated from that original con- * Rom. x. 17. 2 John vi. 65. 3 1 Cor. iv. 7. 4 Cyprian, Testimonies; Clark's Trans, vol. ii. p. 143, sec. 4. XV. V 82 A TREATISE ON REBUKE AND GRACE. [CHAP. 14. demnation by such bounty of divine grace, there is no doubt but that for such it is provided that they should hear the gospel, and when they hear they beheve, and in the faith which worketh by love they persevere unto the end ; and if, perchance, they deviate from the way, when they are rebuked they are amended; and. some of them, although they may not be rebuked by men, .return into the path which they had left ; and some who have received grace in any age whatever are withdrawn from the perils of this life by swiftness of death. For He worketh aU things in them who made them vessels of mercy, who also elected them in His Son before the founda tion of the world by the election of grace.: "And if by grace, then is it no more of works, .otherwise grace is no more grace."1 For they were not caUed in such.a manner as that they should not be elected, in respect of which (sett, such a calling) it is said> " For many are caUed but few are chosen ; "2 but because they were eaUed according to the purpose, they are of a .certainty also elected by the election, as it is said, of grace, not of any precedent merits of theirs, because to .them grace is aU their merit. Chap. 14. — None, of the elect and predestinated can perish. Of such says the .apostle, " We know that to those that love God He worketh together ,aU things for good, to them who are caUed according to His purpose; because those whom He before foreknew, He also did predestinate, con formed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first born among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did pre destinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified." 3 Of these no one perishes, because aU are elected. And they are elected because they were caUed according to the purpose—the purpose, however, not their own, but God's ; of which He elsewhere .says, "That the purpose of God according .to election might stand, not .of works, but of Him that calleth, it was said unto her that the elder shaU serve the younger."4 And in another place he says, " Not according to our works, but .according to His own purpose and grace." 5 1 Rom. xi. 6. 2 Matt. xx. 16, s Rom. viii. 28 ff. 4 Rom. ix. 11. » 2 Tim. i. $, CHAP. 15.] RELATION OF ELECTION TO CALLING. 83 When, therefore, we hear, " Moreover, whom He did predesti nate, them He also caUed," 1 we ought to acknowledge that they were caUed according to His purpose ; since He thence began, saying, " He worketh together all things for good to those who are called according to His purpose," and then added, " Because those whom He before foreknew, He also did predestinate, conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren." And to these promises He added, " Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called." He wishes these, therefore, to be understood whom He caUed according to His purpose, lest any among them should be thought to be caUed and not chosen, on account of that sentence of the Lord's : " Many are caUed but few are chosen." 2 For whoever are elected are without doubt also caUed ; but not whosoever are caUed are as a con sequence elected. Those, then, are elected, as has often been said, who are caUed according to the purpose, who are also predestinated and foreknown. If any one of these perishes, God is mistaken ; but none of them perishes, because God is not mistaken. If any one of these perish, God is overcome by human sin ; but none of them perishes, because God is overcome by nothing. Moreover, they are elected to reign with Christ, not as Judas was elected, to a work for which he was fitted. Because he was chosen by Him who well knew how to make use even of wicked men, so that even by his damnable deed that venerable work, for the sake of which He Himself had come, might be accompHshed. When, therefore, we hear, " Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devU ? " 3 we ought to understand that the rest were elected through mercy, but He through judgment ; those to obtain His kingdom, He to shed His blood ! Chap. 15.— ^Perseverance is given to the end. Eightly follows the word to the kingdom of the elect : " If God be for us, who can be against us ? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us aU, how has He not also with Him given us aU things ? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect ? God who justifieth ? Who 1 Rom. viii. 29. 2 Matt. xx. 16. 3 John vi. 70. 84 A TREATISE ON REBUKE AND GRACE. [CHAP. 16. condemneth ? Christ who died ? yea, rather who rose again also, who is at the right hand of God, who also soHciteth on our behalf I"1 And of how stedfast a perseverance even to the end they have received the gift, let them foUow on to say : "Who shaU separate us from the love of Christ? shaU tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or perU, or sword ? As it is written, Because for thy sake we are kiUed aU the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. But in aU these things we are more than con querors, through Him that hath loved us. For I am certain, that neither death, nor Hfe, nor angel, nor principaHty, nor things present, nor things to come, nor power, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shaU be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 2 Chap. 16. — Whosoever do not persevere are not distinguished from the mass of perdition by predestination. Such as these were they who were signified [in the Epistle] to Timothy, where, when it had been said that Hymenseus and Philetus had subverted the faith of some, it is presently added, "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord has known them that are His." 3 The faith of these, which worketh by love, either actuaUy does not faU at all, or, if there are any whose faith faUs, it is restored before their Hfe is ended, and the iniquity which had intervened is done away, and perseverance even to the end is aUotted to them. But they who are not about to persevere, and who shaU so faU away from Christian faith and conver sation that the end of this Hfe shaU find them in that case, beyond aU doubt are not to be reckoned in the number of those above mentioned, even in that season wherein they are Hving well and piously. For they are not made to differ from that mass of perdition by the foreknowledge and predestina tion of God, and therefore are not called according to God's purpose, and thus are not elected ; but are caUed among those of whom it was said, "Many are caUed," not among those of whom it was said, " But few are chosen." And yet who can deny that they are elected, since they beheve and are baptized, and live according to God ? Manifestly, they are 1 Rom. viii. 31 ff. 2 Rom. viii. 35 ff. 3 2 Tim. ii. 19. CHAP. 17.] GOD'S WATS PAST FINDING OUT. 85 called elect by those who are ignorant what they shall be, but not by Him who knew that they would not have the perseverance which leads the elect forward into the blessed Hfe, and knows that they will so stand, as He would have foreknown that they would faU. Chap. 17. [viii.] — Why perseverance should be given to one and not another • is inscrutable. Here, if I am asked why God should not have given them perseverance to whom He gave that love by which they might Hve as Christians, I answer that I do not know. For I do not speak arrogantly, but with acknowledgment of my smaU measure, when I hear the apostle saying, " 0 man, who art thou that repHest against God ?"1 and, " 0 the depth of the riches ofthe wisdom and knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways untraceable!"2 So far, therefore, as He condescends to manifest His judgments to us, let us give thanks ; but so far as [He thinks fit] to conceal them, let us not murmur against His counsel, but beHeve that this also is the most wholesome for us. But whoever you are that are hostUe to His grace, and thus ask, what do you yourself say ? it is weU that you do not deny yourself to be a Christian and boast of being a CathoHc. If, therefore, you confess that to persevere to the end in good is God's gift, I think that equaUy with me you are ignorant why one man should receive this gift and another should not receive it ; and in this case we are both unable to penetrate the unsearchable judgments of God. Or if you say that it pertains to man's free choice — which you defend, not in accordance with God's grace, but in opposition to it — that any one should persevere in good, or should not persevere, not by the gift of God if he persevere, but by the action of human wiU, why wiU you strive against the words of Him who says, " I have prayed for thee, Peter, that thy faith faU not"?3 WiU you dare to say that even when Christ prayed that Peter's faith might not fail, it would still have faUed if Peter had willed it to fail ; that is, if he had been unwiUing that it should continue even to the end ? As if Peter could in any measure wiU otherwise than Christ had asked for him that he might will. For who does not know 1 Rom. ix. 20. a Rom. xi. 33. 3 Luke xxii. 32. 86 A TREATISE ON REBUKE AND GRACE. [CHAP. 18. that Peter's faith would then have perished if that wUl itself by which he was faithful should fail, and that it would have continued if that same wiU should abide ? But because " the wiU is prepared by the Lord," 1 therefore Christ's petition on his behalf could not be a vain petition. When, then, He prayed that his faith should not faU, what was it that he asked for, but that in his faith he should have a most free, strong, invincible, persevering wiU ? Behold to what an extent the freedbm of the wiU is defended in accordance with the grace of God, not in opposition to it ; because the human wiU does not attain grace by freedom, but rather attains free dom by grace, and a delightful constancy, and an insuperable fortitude that it may persevere. Chap. 18. — Some instances of God's amaang judgments. It is, indeed, to be wondered at, and greatly to be wondered at, that to some of His children — whom He has regenerated in Christ — to whom He has given faith, hope, and love, God does not give perseverance also, when to strange chUdren He forgives such wickedness, and, by the bestowal of His grace, makes them His own chUdren. Who would not be moved at this ? Who would not be exceedingly astonished at this ? But, moreover, it is not less marveUous, and stUl true, and so manifest that not even the enemies of God's grace can find any means of denying it, that some chUdren of His friends, that is, of regenerated and good beHevers, departing this life as infants without baptism, — although He certainly might pro vide the grace of this laver if He willed, since in His power are aU things, — He aHenates from His kingdom into which He introduces their parents ; and some children of His enemies He causes to come into the hands of Christians, and by means of this laver [sett, of regeneration] introduces them into the kingdom, from which their parents are aHens ; although, as well to the former infants there is no evU deserving, as to the latter there is no good, of their own proper will. Certainly, in this case the judgments of God, because they are righteous and deep, may neither be blamed nor penetrated. Among these also is that concerning perseverance, of which we are 1 Prov. viii. 35 [LXX.]. CHAP. 19.] GOD'S WAYS PAST FINDING OUT, 87 now discoursing. Of both, therefore, we may exclaim, " 0 the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are His judgments !" * Chap.- 19. —God's ways past finding, out. Nor let us wonder that we cannot trace His unsearchable ways. For, to say nothing of innumerable other things which are given by the Lord God to some men, and to others are not given, since with Him is no respect of persons-; and those things that are not conferred on the deservings of dispositions, such as are bodUy swiftness,, strength, good health, and beauty, marveUous inteUects and mental natures capable of many arts, or such asfaU to man's lot from without, such as are wealth, nobiHty, honours, and other things of this kind, which it is only in the power of God that a man should have ; not to dweU even on the baptism of infants (which none of those objectors can say does not pertain, as might be said of those other matters, to the kingdom- of God), why it is given to this in fant and not given to that, since both of them are equaUy in God's power, and without that sacrament none can enter into the kingdom of God ; — to be sUent, then, on. these matters, or to leave them on one side, let men consider those very special cases of which we are treating. For we are discoursing of such as have not perseverance in goodness, but die in the decHne of their good disposition from good to evU. Let the objectors answer, if they can, why, when these were Hving faithfully and piously, God did not then snatch them from the perils of this life, " lest wickedness should ehange their under standing, and lest deceit should beguUe their souls " ? 2 Had He not this in His power, or was He ignorant of their future sin fulness ? Assuredly, nothing of this kind is said, except most perversely and insanely. Why, then, did He not do this ? Let them reply who mock at us when in such matters we exclaim, " How inscrutable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!"3 For either God giveth this to whom He wiU, or certainly that Scripture is wrong which says con cerning the death of the righteous man, as if it were immature, " He was taken away lest wickedness should change his under- 1 Rom. xi. 33, 2 Wisd. iv. 11. * Rom. xi. 33. 88 A TREATISE ON REBUKE AND GRACE. [CHAP. 20. standing, or lest deceit should beguUe his soul." 1 Why, then, does God give this so great benefit to some, and not give it to others, seeing that in Him is no unrighteousness5 nor accept ance of persons,3 and that it is in His power [to determine] how long every one may remain in this Hfe, which is called a state of trial upon earth ?4 As, then, they are constrained to confess that it is God's gift for a man to end this Hfe of his before it can be changed from good to evil but they do not know why it is given to some and not given to others, so let them confess with us that perseverance in good is God's gift, according to the Scriptures, from which I have abeady set down many testimonies ; and let them condescend with us to be ignorant, without a murmur against God, why it is given to some and not given to others. Chap. 20. [ix.] — Some are children of God according to grace temporally received, some according to God's eternal foreknowledge. Nor let it disturb us that to some of His chUdren God does not give this perseverance. Be this far from being the case, however, if these were of those who are predestinated and caUed according to this purpose, — who are truly the chUdren of the promise. For the former, whUe they Hve piously, are caUed children of God ; but because they wiU live wickedly, and die in the same impiety, the foreknowledge of God does not caU them God's chUdren, For they are chU dren of God whom as yet we have not, and God has already, of whom the Evangelist John says, " that Jesus should die for that nation, and not for that nation only, but that also He should gather together in one the chUdren of God which were scattered abroad ;" 5 and this certainly they were to become hy believing, through the preaching of the gospel. And yet before this had happened they had already been enroUed as sons of God with unchangeable stedfastness in the memorial of their Father. And, again, there are some who are caUed by us children of God on account of grace received even in temporal things, yet are not so called by God ; of whom the same John says, " They went out from us, but they were not of us, because if they had been of us they would, no ' Wisd. iv. 11. 2 Rom. ix. 14. 3 Rom. ii. 11. 4 Job vii. 1 [LXX.]. 6 John xi. 51, 52. CHAP. 21.] GOD'S TRUE CHILDREN. 89 doubt, have continued with us." x He does not say, They went out from us, but because they did not abide with us they are no longer now of us ; but he says, " They went out from us, but they were not of us," — that is to say, even when they appeared [to be] among us, they were not of us. And as if it were said to him, Whence do you prove this ? he says, " Because if they had been of us, they would assuredly have continued with us." 2 It is the word of God's children ; John is the speaker, who was ordained to a chief place among the children of God. When, therefore, God's children say of those who had not perseverance, " They went out from us, but they were not of us," and add, " Because if they had been of us, they would assuredly have continued with us," what else do they say than that they were not chUdren, even when they were in the profession and name of children ? Not because they simulated righteousness, but because they did not con tinue in it. For he does not say, For if they had been of us, they would assuredly have maintained a real and not a feigned righteousness with us ; but he says, " If they had been of us, they would assuredly have continued with us." Beyond a doubt, he wished them to continue in goodness. Therefore, they were in goodness ; but because they did not abide in it, — that is, they did not persevere unto the end, — he says, They were not of us, even when they were with us, — that is, they were not of the number of children, even when they were in the faith of children ; because they who are truly children are foreknown and predestinated, conformed to the image of His Son, and are caUed according to His purpose, that they should be elected. For the son of promise does not perish, but the son of perdition.3 Chap. 21. — Who may be understood as given to Christ. Those, then, were of the multitude of the called, but they were not of the small number of the elected. It is not, therefore, to His predestinated children that God has not given perseverance, for they would have it if they were in that number of children ; and what would they have which they had not received, according to the apostoHcal and true 1 1 John ii. 19. 2 Rom. viii. 29. 3 John xvii. 12. 90 A TREATISE ON REBUKE AND GRACE. [CHAP. 22. judgment ? And thus such children would be given to Christ the Son in such a way as that He Himself says to the Father, " That all that Thou hast given me may not perish, but have eternal Hfe.",1 These, therefore, are understood to be given to Christ who are ordained to eternal Hfe. These are they who are predestinated and caUed according to the purpose, of whom not one perishes. And by this means none of them ends this life in a state of change from good to evil, because he is so ordained, and for that purpose given to Christ, that he may not perish, but may have eternal Hfe. And again, those whom we caU His enemies, or the infant children of His enemies, whomever of them He wiU so regenerate that they may end this life in that faith which worketh by love, are already, and before this is done, in that predestination His children, and are given to Christ His Son, that they may not perish, but have everlasting life. Chap. 22. — True children of God are true disciples of Christ. FinaUy, the Saviour Himself says, " If ye continue in my word, ye are my disciples indeed." 2 Is Judas, then, to be reckoned among them, since he did not continue in His word ? Are they to be reckoned among them of whom the gospel speaks in such wise, where, when the Lord had commanded His flesh to be eaten and His blood to be drunk, the Evangelist says, " These things said He in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. Many, therefore, of His disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is a hard saying ; who can hear it ? But Jesus, knowing in Himself that His disciples were mur muring at it, said to them, Doth this offend you ? What and if ye shaU see the Son of man ascending where He was before ? It is the Spirit that quickeneth, but the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I have spoken unto you are spirit and Hfe. But there are some of you who believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who were the beHeving ones, and who should betray Him ; and He said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man cometh unto me except it were given of my Father. From this time many of His disciples went away back from Him, and no longer walked with Him." 3 Are 1 Matt. xx. 16. 2 John viii. 31. 3 John vi. 59 ff. CHAP. 23.] CALLING ACCORDING TO THE PURPOSE. 91 not these even in the words of the gospel caUed disciples ? And yet they were not truly disciples, because they did not continue in His word, according to what He says : " If ye continue in my . word, then are ye my disciples indeed." 1 Because, therefore, they possessed not perseverance, as not being truly disciples of Christ, so they were not truly chUdren of God even when they appeared to be so, and were so caUed. We, therefore, caU men elected, and Christ's disciples, and God's chUdren, because they must be so called whom, being regenerated, we see to Hve piously ; but they are then truly what they are caUed if they shaU abide in that on account of which they are so caUed. But if they have not perseverance, — that is, if they continue not in that which they have begun to be, — they are not truly caUed what they are caUed and are not ; for they are not this in the sight of Him to whom it is known what they are going to be, — that is to say, [that they will become] from good men, bad men. Chap. 23. — Those who are called according to the purpose alone are predestinated. For this reason the apostle, when he had said, " We know that to those who love God He worketh aU things together for good," — knowing that some love God, and do not continue in that good way unto the end, — immediately added, "to them who are the caUed according to His purpose." 2 For these in their love for God continue even to the end ; and they who for a season wander from the way return, that they may con tinue [their course] unto the end which they had begun to be in good. Showing, however, what it is to be called according to His purpose, he- presently added what I have already quoted above, " Because whom He did before foreknow, He also predestinated, conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called," to wit, ac cording to His purpose ; " and whom He caUed, them He also justified ; and whom He justified, them He also glorified." 3 AU those things are already done. He foreknew, He pre destinated, He caUed, He justified ; because both aU are already foreknown and predestinated, and many are already caUed and 1 John viii. 81. 2 Rom. viii. 28. 3 Rom. viii. 29. 92 A TREATISE ON REBUKE AND GRACE. [CHAP. 24. justified ; but that which he placed at the end, " them He also glorified" (if, indeed, that glory is here to be understood of which the same apostle says, " When Christ your Hfe shaU appear, then shaU ye also appear with Him in glory "1), this is not yet accomplished. Although, also, those two things — that is, He called, and He justified — have not been effected in aU of whom they are said, — for stiU, even untU the end of the world, there remain many to be caUed and justified, — neverthe less, He used verbs of the past tense, even concerning things future, as if God already arranged from eternity that they should come to pass. For this reason, also, the prophet Isaiah says concerning Him, " Who has made the things that shaU be."2 Whosoever, therefore, in God's most providential ordering, are foreknown, predestinated, caUed, justified, glori fied, — I say not, even although not yet born again, but even although not yet born at aU, are already chUdren of God, and absolutely cannot perish. These truly come to Christ, because they come in such wise as He Himself says, " AU that the Father giveth me shaU come to me, and him that cometh to me I wUl not cast out ;" 3 and a Httle after He says, " This is the wiU of the Father which hath sent me, that of aU that He hath given me I shall lose nothing."4 From Him, therefore, is given also perseverance in good even to the end ; for it is not given save to those who shaU not perish, since they who do not persevere shall perish. Chap. 24. — Even the sins of the elect are turned by God to their advantage. To such as love Him, God worketh all things together for good ; so absolutely all things, that even if any of them go astray, and break out of the way, even this itself He makes to avaU them for good, so that they return more lowly and more instructed. For they learn that in that very way of righteous ness they ought to rejoice with trembhng ; not with arrogating to themselves any confidence of abiding as if by their own strength; not with saying, in their abundance, "We shaU not be moved for ever." 5 For which reason itis said to them, " Serve the Lord in fear, and rejoice unto Him with trembling, lest at 1 Col. iii. 4. 2 Isa. xiv. 11 [LXX.]. 3 John vi. 37. 4 John vi. 39. 6 Ps. xxx. 6. CHAP. 24.] SINS OF THE ELECT TURNED TO GOOD. 93 any time the Lord should be angry, and ye perish from the right way." x For He does not say, And lest ye come into the right way ; but He says, Lest ye perish from the right way. And what does this show, but that those who are already walking in the way of righteousness are reminded to serve God in fear ; that is, " not to be high-minded, but to fear " ? 2 which signifies, that they should not be haughty, but humble. Whence also He says in another place, " Not minding high things, but consenting to the lowly ; " 3 let them rejoice in God, but with trembHng ; glorying in none, since nothing is ours, so that he who glorieth may glory in the Lord, lest they perish from the way of righteousness in which they have already begun to walk, while they are ascribing to themselves the very assurance that they are in it. These words also the apostle made use of when he says, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembHng." 4 And set ting forth why with fear and trembling, he says, " For it is God that worketh in you, both to wiU and to do for His good pleasure." 6 For he had not this fear and trembling who said in his abundance, " I shaU not be moved for ever." 6 But because he was a chUd of the promise, not of perdition, he experienced in God's desertion for a Httle while what he himself was : " Lord," said he, " in Thy favour Thou gavest strength to my honour ; Thou turnedst away Thy face from me, and I became troubled" 7 Behold how better instructed, and for this reason also more humble, he held on his way, at length seeing and confessing that in His favour God had endowed his honour with strength which he had attributed to himself and presumed of himself, in such abundance as God had afforded it, and not of Him who had given it, and said, " I shall not be moved for ever ! " Therefore he became troubled so that he found himself, and being lowly minded learnt not only [the truth] of eternal life, but, moreover, of a pious con versation and perseverance in this Hfe, as that in which hope should be maintained. This might moreover be the word of the Apostle Peter, because he also had said in his abundance, " I 1 Ps. ii. 11. 2 Rom. xi. 20. ' Rom. xii. 16. * Phil. ii. 12, 13. 5 Phil. ii. 13. 6 Ps. xxx. 6. 7 Ps. xxx. 7. 94 A TREATISE ON REBUKE AND GEACE. [CHAP. 26. wiU lay down my life for Thy sake ; " l attributing to himself, in his eagerness, what was afterwards to be bestowed on him by his Lord. But the Lord turned away His face from him, and he became troubled, so that in his fear of dying for Him he thrice denied Him. But the Lord again turned His face to him, and washed away his sin with his tears. For what else is, " He turned and looked upon him," 2 but, He restored to him the countenance which, for a little while, He had turned away from him ? Therefore he had become troubled ; but because he learned not to be confident concerning himself, even this was of excellent profit to him, by His agency who works together for good aU things to those who love Him ; because he had been called according to the purpose, so that no one could pluck him out of the hand of Christ, to whom he had been given. Chap. 25. — Therefore rebuke is to be used. Let no one therefore say that a man must not be rebuked if he deviates from the right way, but that his return and perseverance must only be asked for from the Lord for him. Let no considerate and believing man say this. For if such an one is called according to the purpose, beyond all doubt God is working together for good to him even in the fact of his being rebuked. But since he who rebukes is ignorant whether he is so called, let him do with love what he knows ought to be done ; for he knows that such an one ought to be rebuked. God wiU show either mercy or judgment ; mercy, indeed, if he who is rebuked is separated by the bestowal of grace from the mass of perdition, and is not found among the vessels of wrath which are completed for destruction, but among the vessels of mercy which God has prepared for glory;3 but judgment, if among the former he is condemned, and is not predestinated among the latter. Chap. 26, [x.]— Whether Adam received the gift of perseverance. Here arises another question, not reasonably to be slighted, but to be approached and solved in the help of the Lord in whose hand are both we and our discourses. For I am asked, in respect of this gift of God which is to persevere in 1 John xiii. 37. 2 Luke xxii. 61. 3 Rom ix_ 22, 23. CHAP. 27.] WHY DID NOT ADAM PERSEVERE ? 95 good to the end, what I think of the first man himself, who assuredly was made upright without any fault. And I do not say: If he had not perseverance, how was he without fault, seeing that he was in want of so needful a gift of God ? For to this interrogatory the answer is easy, that he had not perse verance, because he did not persevere in that goodness in which he was without sin ; for he began to have sin from the point at which he feU ; and if he began, certainly he was without sin before he had begun. For it is one thing not to have sin, and it is another not to abide in that good ness in which there is no sin. Because in that very fact, that he is not said never to have been without sin, but he is said not to have continued without sin, beyond aU doubt it is demonstrated that he was without sin, seeing that he is blamed for not having continued in that goodness. But it should rather be asked and discussed with greater pains in what way we can answer those who say, If in that uprightness in which he was made without sin he had perseverance, beyond aU doubt he persevered in it ; and if he persevered, he certainly did not sin, and did not forsake that his uprightness. But that he did sin, and was a forsaker of goodness, the Truth declares. Therefore he had not perseverance in that goodness; and if he had it not, he certainly received it not. For how should he have both received perseverance, and not have perse vered ? Further, if he had it not because he did not receive it, what sin did he commit by not persevering, if he did not receive perseverance ? For it cannot be said that he did not receive it, for the reason that he was not separated by the bestowal of grace from the mass of perdition. Because that mass of perdition did not as yet exist in the human race before he had sinned from whom the corrupted source was derived. Chap. 27.— The answer. Wherefore we most wholesomely confess what we most accurately beheve, that because the God and Lord of aU things in His strength created aU things good, and foreknew that evU things would arise out of good, and knew that it per tained to His most omnipotent goodness even to do good out of evil things rather than not to aUow evil things to be at 96 A TREATISE ON EEBUKE AND GRACE. [CHAP. 27. aU, He so ordained the life of angels and men that in it He might first of all show what their free choice could do, and then what the kindness of His grace and the judgment of His righteousness could do. FinaUy, certain angels, of whom the chief is he who is caUed the devU, became by free choice out casts from the Lord God. Yet although they fled from His goodness, wherein they had been blessed, they could not flee from His judgment, by which they were made most wretched. Others, however, by the same free choice, stood fast in the truth, and merited the knowledge of that most cer tain truth that they should never faU.1 For if from the Holy Scriptures we have been able to attain the knowledge that none of the holy angels shaU faU evermore, how much more have they themselves attained this knowledge by the truth more sublimely revealed to them ! Because to us is promised a blessed Hfe without end, and equality with the angels,2 from which promise we certainly gather that when after judgment we shaU have come to that Hfe, we shaU not fall from it ; but if the angels are ignorant of this truth concerning themselves, we shaU not be their equals, but more blessed than they. But the Truth has promised us equality with them. It is certain, then, that they have known this by sight, which we have known by faith, to wit, that there shaU be now no more any fall of any holy angel. But to the devU and his angels,3 although they were blessed before they feU, and did not know that they should fall unto misery; there was stUl some thing which might be added to their blessedness, if of free wiU they had stood in the truth, untU they should receive that fulness of the highest blessing as the reward of that very continuance of theirs ; that is, that by the great abundance of the love of God, given by the Holy Spirit, they should ab solutely not be able to faU any more, and that they should know this with the utmost certainty concerning themselves. They had not this plenitude of blessedness ; but since they were ignorant of their future misery, they enjoyed a blessedness 1 " Eamque [scil. veritatem] de suo casu nunquam futuro eertissimam scire.'' 9 Matt. xxii. 30. 8 The translator is compelled to read "diabolo et angelis," in order to con struct this sentence at all. CHAP. 29.]' ADAMrS SIN AND ITS RESULTS. 97 which was less, indeed, but stUl without any defect. For if they had known their future faU and eternal punishment, they cer tainly could not have been blessed, since the fear of so great an evil as this would compel them even then to be miserable. Chap. 28. — Tlie first man himself also might have stood by Ms free-will. Thus also He [God] made man with free-wUl ; and although ignorant of his future faU, yet therefore happy, because he thought it was in his own power both not to die and not to become miserable. In which state of uprightness and freedom from sin, if he had wiUed by his own free choice to continue, assuredly without any experience of death and of infelicity he would have received by the merit of that continuance the fulness of blessmg with which the holy angels also are blessed ; that is, the impossibility of faUing any more, and the know ledge of this with absolute certainty. For even he himself could not be blessed although in Paradise, nay, he would not be there, where it would not become him to be miserable, if the foreknowledge of his faU made him wretched with the dread of such a disaster. But because of his free choice he forsook God, he experienced the just judgment of God, that with his whole race, which being as yet all constituted in him had sinned with him, he should be condemned. For as many of this race as are delivered by God's grace are certainly deHvered from the condemnation in which they are already held bound. Whence, even if none should be deHvered, no one could justly blame the judgment of God. That, therefore, in comparison of those that perish few, but in their absolute number many, are deHvered, is effected by grace, is effected freely.1 Thanks must be given that it is effected that no one may be Hfted up as of his own deservings, but that every mouth may be stopped,2 and he that glorieth may glory in the Lord.3 Chap. 29. [xi.] — Distinction between the grace given before and after tlie Fall. What then ? Did not Adam have the grace of God ? Yes, truly, he had it largely, but of a different kind. He was placed in the midst of benefits which he had received from the goodness of his Creator ; for he had not procured 1 Gratia— "gratis." 2 Rom. iii. 19. s Jer. ix. 24. XV. G 98 A TREATISE ON REBUKE AND GRACE. [CHAP. 30' those benefits by his own deservings ; in which benefits he suffered absolutely no evil. But saints in this life, to whom pertains this grace of deliverance, are in the midst of evUs out of which they cry to God, " DeHver us from evU." 1 Ee [Adam] in those benefits needed not the death of Christ : the blood of that Lamb absolves them from guUt, as weU inherited as their own. He had no need of that assistance which they implore when they say, " I see another law in -my members warring against the law of my mind, and making me captive in the law of sin which is in my members. 0 wretched man that I am ! who shall deHver me from the body of this death ? The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord." 2 Because in them the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and as they labour and are imperilled in such a contest, they ask that by the grace of Christ the strength to fight and to conquer may be given them. Ee, however [sett. Adam], tempted and disturbed- in no such con flict concerning himself against himself, in that position of blessedness enjoyed his peace with himself. Chap. 30.— The Incarnation of the Word. Hence, although these do not now require a grace more joyous for the present, they nevertheless need a more power ful grace ; and what grace is more powerful than the only- begotten -Son of God, equal to the Father and co-eternal, made man for them, and, without any sin of His own, either original or actual, crucified by men who were sinners ? And although He rose again on the third day, never to die any more, He yet bore death for men who gave Hfe to the dead, so that redeemed by His blood, having received so great and such a pledge, they could say, " If God be for us, who is against us ? He who spared not His own Son, but deHvered Him up for us aU, how has He not with Him also given to us aU things ?"3 God therefore took upon Him our nature— that is, the rational soul and flesh of the man Christ — by an undertaking singularly marvellous, or marveUously singular ; so that with no preced ing merits of His own righteousness He might in such wise be the Son of God from the beginning, in which He had begun 1 Matt. vi. 13. 2 Ram. vii. 23. 3 Rom. viii. 31, 32. CHAP. 31.] MODE OF CHRIST'S SINLESSNESS. 99 to be man, that He, and the Word which is without beginning, might be one person. For there is no one bHnded by such ignorance of this matter and the Faith as to dare to say that, although born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, the Son of man, yet of His own free-wiU by righteous living and by doing good works, without sin, deserved to be the Son of God ; in opposition to the gospel, which says, " The Word was made flesh." 1 For where was this made flesh except in the womb of the Virgin, whence was the beginning of the man Christ ? And, moreover, when the Virgin asked how that should come to pass which was told her by the angel, the angel answered, " The Holy Ghost shall come over on to thee, and the power of the Highest shaU overshadow thee, therefore that holy thing that shaU be born of thee shall be called the Son of God."2 "Therefore," He said; not because of works, which certainly of a yet unborn infant there are none ; but " therefore," because " the Holy Ghost shaU come over on to thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, that holy thing which shaU be born of thee shaU be caUed the Son of God." That nativity, absolutely gratuitous, conjoined, in the unity of the person, man to God, flesh to the Word ! Good works foUowed that nativity ; good works did not merit it. For it was in no wise to be feared that the human nature taken up by God the Word in that ineffable manner into a unity of person would sin by free choice of wiU, since that taking up itself was such that the nature of man so taken up by God would admit into itself no movement of an evil wUl. Through this Mediator God makes known that He makes those whom He redeemed by His blood from evil, everlast ingly good ; [through this Mediator], whom He in such wise assured that He never would be evU, and, not being made out of evU, would always be good.3 Chap. 81. — Tlie first man had received the grace necessary for his persever ance, but its exercise was left in his free choice. The first man had not that grace by which he should never wiU to be evU; but assuredly he had that in which if he 1 John i. 14. 2 Luke i. 35. 3 Some editions have, instead of "and not being made," etc., "lest being made of evil he should not always be good." 100 A TREATISE ON REBUKE AND GRACE. [CHAP. 32. willed to abide he would never be evU, and without which, moreover, he could not of free choice be good, but which, nevertheless, by free choice he would forsake. God, therefore, did not wiU even him to be without His grace, which He left in his free choice ; because free-wiU is sufficient for evU, but is of little avaU 1 for good, unless it is aided by Omnipotent Good. And if that man had not forsaken that assistance of his free-wiU, he would always have been good ; but he forsook it, and he was forsaken. Because such was the nature of the aid, that he could forsake it when he would, and that he could continue in it when he would; but not such that he could be made to wiU his continuance. This first is the grace which was given to the first Adam; but more powerful than this is that in the second Adam. For the first is that whereby it is effected that a man may have righteousness if he wiU ; the second, therefore, can do more than this, since by it it is even effected that he will, and wiUs so much, and loves with such ardour, that by the wUl of the Spirit he overcomes the wUl of the flesh, that lusteth in opposition to it.2 Nor was that, indeed, a smaU grace by which was demonstrated even the power of free choice, because man was so assisted that without this assistance he could not continue in good, but could forsake this assistance if he would. But this latter grace is by so much the greater, that it is a smaU matter for a man by its means to regain his lost freedom ; it is of Httle account, finaUy, not to be able without it either to apprehend the good or to continue in good if he wiU, unless he is also made to will. Chap. 32.— The gifts of graces conferred on Adam in creation. At that time, therefore, God had given to man a good wiU,3 because in that wiU He had made him, since He had made him upright. He had given help without which he could not continue therein if he would ; but that he should will, He left in his free choice. He could therefore continue if he would, because the help was not wanting whereby he 1 Some mss. read, "of no avail." ' 2 There are other readings of this passage, but coming to the same substan tial result. 3 Some mss. read, "a free-will." CHAP. 32.] MAN'S FREE-WILL BEFORE AND AFTER THE FALL. 101 could, and without which he could not, perseveringly hold fast the good which he would. But that he wUled not to continue is absolutely the fault of him whose merit it would have been if he had wUled to continue ; as the holy angels did, who, whUe others feU of their own free choice, themselves by the same free choice stood, and deserved to receive the due reward of this continuance — to wit, such a fulness of blessing that by it they might have the fullest certainty of always abiding in it. If, however, this help had been wanting, either to angel or to man when they were first made, since their nature was not made such that without the divine help it could abide if it would, they certainly would not have faUen by their own fault, because the help would have been wanting without which they could not continue. Now, however, to those to whom such assistance is wanting, it is the penalty of sin ; but to those to whom it is given, it is given of grace, not of debt ; and by so much the more is given through Jesus Christ our Lord to those to whom it has pleased God to give it, that not only we have that help without which we cannot continue even if we wUl, but, moreover, we have so great and such a help as [to cause us] to will. Because by this grace of God there is caused in us, in the reception of good and in the per severing hold of it, not only to be able to do what we wiU, but- even to wiU to do what we are able. But this was not the case in the first man ; for the one of these things was in him, but the other was not. For he was not without the grace to receive good, because he had not yet lost it ; but he was with out the aid of grace to contmue in it, and without this aid he could not do this at all ; and he had received the ability if he would, but he had not the wUl to exercise the ability ; for if he had possessed it, he would have persevered. For he could persevere if he would ; but that he would not was the result of free choice, which at that time was in such wise free that he was capable of willing weU and UI. For what shall be more free than free-wiU, when it shaU not be able to serve sin ? and this wiU be to man also as it has been made to the holy angels, the reward of deserving. But now that good deserving has been lost by sin in those who are delivered, that has become the gift of grace which would have been the reward of deserving. 102 A TREATISE ON REBUKE AND GRACE. [CHAP. 34. Chap. 33. [xii.] — What is the difference between the ability not to sin, to die, and to forsake good, and the inability to sm, to die, and to forsake good ? On which account we must consider with diligence and attention in what respect those two things differ from one another, — to be able not to sin, and not to be able to sin ; to be able not to die, and not to be able to die ; to be able not to forsake good, and not to be able to forsake good. For the first man was able not to sin, was able not to die, was able not to forsake good. Are we to say that he who had such a free-wiU could not sin ? Or that he to whom it was said, " If thou shalt sin thou shalt die by ' death,' " could not die ? Or could not he forsake good, when he would forsake this by sinning, and so die ? Therefore the first Hberty of the wiU was to be able not to sin, the last was much greater, not to be able to sin ; the first immortaHty was to be able not to die, the last was much greater, not to be able to die ; the first was the power of perseverance, to be able not to forsake good — the last was vthe fehcity of perseverance, not to be able to forsake good. But because the last blessings were preferable and better, were those first ones, therefore, either no blessings at aU, or trifling ones ? Chap. 34. — The aid without which a thing does not come to pass, and the aid with which a thing comes to pass. Moreover, the helps themselves are to be distinguished. The assistance without which a thing does not come to pass is one thing, and the assistance with which a thing comes to pass is another. For without food we cannot Hve ; and yet although food should be at hand, it would not cause a man to live who should wiU to die. Therefore the aid of food is that without which it does not come to pass that we Hve, not that with which it comes to pass that we Hve. But, indeed, when the blessedness which a man has not is given him, he becomes continually blessed. For the aid is not only that without which that does not happen, but also with which that does happen for the sake of which it is given. Wherefore this is an assistance both by which it comes to pass, and with out which it does not come to pass ; because, on the one hand, if blessedness should be given to a man, he becomes con- tinuaUy blessed ; and, on the other, if it should never be given CHAP. 35.] PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS;. 103 he wUl never be so. But food does not of necessity cause a man to Hve, and yet without it he cannot live. Therefore to the first man, who, in that [condition of] good in which he had been made upright, had received the abUity not to sin, the abihty not to die, the abUity not to forsake that very [condi tion of] good, was given the aid ef perseverance ; not that by it, it might come to pass that he should persevere, but because without it he could not of free-wUl persevere. But now to the saints predestinated to the kingdom of God by God's grace, the aid of perseverance that is given is not such as the former, but such that to them perseverance itself is bestowed ; not only so that without that gift they cannot persevere, but, moreover, so that by means of this gift they cannot help persevering. For not only did He [Christ] say, " Without me ye can do nothing," x but He also said, " Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain."2 By which words He showed that He had given them not only right eousness, but perseverance therein. For when Christ thus ordained them that they should go and bring forth fruit, and that their fruit should remain, who would dare to say, It sh.aU not remain ? Who would dare to say, Perchance it wiU not remain ? " For the gifts and calling of God are without re pentance ; " 3 but the calling is of those who are called accord ing to the purpose. When Christ intercedes, therefore, on behalf of these, that their faith should not fail, doubtless it wiU not faU unto the end. And thus it shaU persevere even unto the end; nor shaU the end of this Hfe find it anything but continuing.. Chap. 35. — There is a greater freedom now in the saints than there was before in Adam. Certainly a larger liberty is necessary in the face of so many and so great temptations, which had no existence in Paradise, — a liberty fortified and confirmed by the gift of per severance, so that this world, with aU its loves, its fears, its eiTors, may be overcome : the martyrdoms of the saints have taught this. In fine, he [Adam], not only with nobody to make him afraid, but, moreover, in spite of the authority of 1 John xv. 5. 2 John xv. 16. 3 Rom. xi. 29. 104 A TREATISE ON REBUKE AND GRACE. [CHAP. 35. God's fear, avaUing himself of his free-wUl, did not continue in such a state of happiness, in such a facUity1 of [not] sinning. But these [the saints], I say, not under the fear of the world, but in spite of the rage of the world lest they should stand, stood firm in the faith ; whUe he could see the good things present which he was going to forsake, they could not see the good things future which they were going to receive. Whence is this, save by the gift of Him from whom they obtained mercy to be faithful ; from whom they received the spirit, not of fear, whereby they would yield to the persecutors, but of power, and of love, and of continence, in which they could over come all threatenings, all seductions, all torments ? To him, therefore, without any sin, was given the free-wUl with which he was created ; and he made it to serve sin. But although the wUl of these had been the servant of sin, it was deHvered by Him who said, " If the Son shall make you free, then shaU ye be free indeed."2 And by that grace they receive so great a freedom, that although as long as they Hve here they are fighting against sinful lusts, and some sins creep upon them unawares, on account of which they daUy say, " Forgive us our debts,"3 yet they do not any more obey the sin which is unto death, of which the Apostle John says, " There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it."4 Concern- • ing which sin (since it is not expressed) many and different notions may be entertained. I, however, say, that that is the sin [in question], to forsake even unto death the faith which worketh by love. This sin they who are not free on the first condition, as Adam was, no further obey ; for they are freed by the grace of God through the second Adam, and by that de liverance they have that free-wUl which enables them to serve God, not by which they may be made captive by the devil. From being made free from sin they have become the servants of righteousness,6 in which they will stand tiU the end, by the gift to them of perseverance from Him who foreknew them, and predestinated them, and caUed them according to His 1 The original is, in tanti peccandi facilitate. Of course, non must be inserted, but the translator ventures to conjecture facultate instead of facilitate. 2 John viii. 36. 3 Matt. vi. 12. « 1 John v 16 5 Rom. vi. 18. CHAP. 37.] WHAT GOD FOREKNOWS HE FULFILS. 105 purpose, and justified them, and glorified them, since He has even already formed those things that are to come which He promised concerning them. And when He promised, " Abraham believed Him, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." J For " he gave glory to God, most fuUy be- Heving," as it is written, " that what He has promised He is able also to perform."1 Chap. 36. — God not only foreknows that men will be good, but Himself makes them so. He Himself, therefore, makes those men good, to do good works. For He did not promise them to Abraham because He foreknew that of themselves they would be good. For if this were the case, what He promised was not Eis, but theirs. But it was not thus that Abraham believed, but " he was not weak in faith, giving glory to God ; and most fuUy believing that what He has promised He is able also to perform."2 He does not say, What He foreknew, He is abie to promise ; ner what He foretold, He is able to manifest ; nor what He pro mised, He is able to foreknow : but what He promised, He is able also to do. It is He, therefore, who makes them to per severe in good, who makes them good. But they who fall and perish have never been in the number of the predestinated. Although, then, the apostle might be speaking of all persons regenerated and living piously when he said, " Who art thou that judgest another man's servant ? To his own master he standeth or faUeth;" yet he continuaUy had regard to the predestinated, and said, " But he shall stand ;" and that they might not arrogate this to themselves, he says, " For God is able to make him stand." 3 It is He Himself, therefore, that gives perseverance, who is able to establish those who stand, so that they may stand fast with the greatest perseverance ; or to restore those who have faUen, for " the Lord setteth up those who are broken down."4 Chap. 37. — To a sound will is committed the power of persevering or of not persevering. As, therefore, the first man did not receive this gift of God, — that is, perseverance in goodness, — but it was left in his own 1 Rom. iv. 3, and 20, 21. s Rom. iv. 19. 3 Rom. xiv. 4, etc. " Ps. cxlv. 8 [LXX.]. 106 A TREATISE ON REBUKE AND GRACE. [CHAP. 37. choice to persevere or not to persevere, his wiU had such strength, — inasmuch as it had been created without any sin, and there was nothing in the way of concupiscence of himself that withstood it, — that the choice of persevering could worthily be entrusted to such goodness and to such facility in Hving weU. But God at the same time foreknew what he would do in unrighteousness ; foreknew, however, but did not force him to this ; but at the same time He knew what He Himself would do in righteousness concerning him. But now, since that great freedom has been lost by the desert of sin, our weakness has remained to be aided by stUl greater gifts. For it pleased God, in order most effectuaUy to quench the pride of human presumption, "that no flesh should glory in His presence" — that is, "no man."1 But whence should flesh not glory in His presence, save concerning its merits ? Which, indeed, it might have had, but lost ; and lost by that very means whereby it might have had them, that is, by its free- wUl ; on account of which [loss] there remains nothing to those who are to be delivered, save the grace of the DeHverer. Thus, therefore, no flesh glories in His presence. For the unrighteous do not glory, since they have no ground of glory ; nor the righteous, because they have a ground from Him, and have no glory of theirs, but Himself, to whom they say, " My glory, and the lifter up of my head."2 And thus it is that what is written pertains to every man, " that no flesh should glory in His presence." To the righteous, however, pertains that Scrip ture : " He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." 3 For this the apostle most manifestly showed, when, after saying " that no flesh should glory in His presence," lest the saints should suppose that they had been left without any glory, he pre sently added, " But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sancti fication, and redemption : that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."4 Hence it is that in this abode of miseries, where trial is the Hfe of man upon the earth, "strength is made perfect in weakness."5 What strength, save " that he that glorieth should glory in the Lord " ? 1 1 Cor. i. 29. 2 Ps. iii. 3. 3 1 Cor. i. 31. 4 1 Cor. i. 30. 5 2 Cor. xii. 9. CHAP. 38.] MAN'S GOOD WILL DEPENDENT ON GOD'S. 107 Chap. 38. — What is the nature of the gift of perseverance that is now given to the saints. And thus God willed that His saints should not — even concerning perseverance itself in goodness — glory in their own strength, but in Himself, who not only gives them aid such as He gave to the first man, without which they cannot persevere if they wiU, but in them He also causes the will ; that since they wUl not persevere unless they both can and wiU, both the capabUity and the wiU to persevere should be bestowed on them by the liberality of divine grace. Because by the Holy Spirit their wiU is so much enkindled that they therefore can, because they so will, they therefore so will, because God works in them to will. For if in so much weak ness of this life (in which weakness, however, for the sake of checking pride, strength behoved to be perfected) their own wiU should be left to themselves, that they might, if they wUled, continue in the help of God, without which they could not persevere, and God should not work in them to wiU, in the midst of so many and so great weaknesses their wiU itself would give way, and they would not be able to persevere, for the reason that faUing from infirmity they would not will, or in the weakness of wUl they would not so wiU that they would be able. Therefore aid was brought to the infirmity of human wiU, so that it might be unchangeably and invincibly in fluenced by divine grace ; and thus, although weak, it still might not faU, nor be overcome by any adversity. Thus it happened that man's wUl, weak and incapable, in good as yet small, persevered by God's strength ; whUe the will of the first man, strong and healthful, having the power of free choice, did not persevere in a greater good ; because although God's help was not wanting, without which it could not persevere if it would, yet it was not such a help as that by which God would work in man to will. Certainly to the strongest He yielded and permitted to do what He willed ; to those that were weak He reserved that by His own. gift they should most invincibly will what is good, and most invincibly refuse to forsake this. Therefore when Christ says, " I have prayed for thee that thy faith faU not," x we may understand that it was said to him 1 Luke xxii. 32. 108 A TREATISE ON EEBUKE AND GRACE. [CHAP. 40. who is buUt upon the rock. And thus the man of God, not only because he has obtained mercy to be faithful, but also because faith itself does not fail, if he glories, must glory in the Lord. Chap. 39. [xiii.] — The number of the predestinated is certain and defined. I speak thus of those who are predestinated to the kingdom of God, whose number is so certain that one can neither be added to them nor taken from them ; not of those who, when He had announced and spoken of [the kingdom], were multipHed beyond number. For they may be said to be called but not chosen, because they are not caUed aceording to the purpose. But that the number of the elect is certain, and neither to be increased nor diminished, — although it is signified by John the Baptist when he says, " Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance: and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father : for God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham," J to show that those [whom he ad dressed] were in such wise to be cut off if they did not pro duce fruit, that the number which was promised to Abraham would not be wanting, — is yet more plainly declared in the Apocalypse : " Hold fast that which thou hast, lest another take thy crown."2 For if another would not receive unless one should have lost, the number is fixed. Chap. 40. — No one is certain and secure of his own predestination and salvation. But, moreover, that such things as these are so spoken to Saints who will persevere, as if it were reckoned uncertain if they wiU persevere, is a reason that they ought not otherwise to hear these things, since it is well for them " not to be high- minded, but to fear." 3 For who of the multitude of beHevers can presume, so long as he is Hving in this mortal state, that he is in the number of the predestinated? Because it is necessary that in this condition that should be kept hidden ; since here we have to beware so much of pride, that even so great an apostle was buffeted by a messenger of Satan, lest he should be lifted Up.4 Hence it was said to the apostles, 1 Matt. iii. 8, 9. 2 Eey yj_ u 3 Rom. xi. 20. 4 2 Cor. xii. 7. CHAP. 41.] UNCERTAINTY ABOUT FUTURE PERSEVERANCE. 109 " If ye abide in me;"1 and this He said who knew for a cer tainty that they would abide ; and through the prophet, " If ye shaU be wUling, and wiU hear me," 2 although He knew in whom He would work to wiU also. And many similar things are said. For the sake of the benefit of this secrecy, lest, perchance, any one should be Hfted up, but that aU, even although they are running weU, should fear, in that it is not known who may attain, — for the sake of the advantage of this secrecy, it must be beheved that some of the chUdren of perdi tion, who have not received the gift of perseverance to the end, begin to live in the faith which worketh by love, and Hve for some time faithfuUy and righteously, and afterwards fall away, and are not taken away from this Hfe before this happens to them. If this had happened to none of these, men would have that very wholesome fear, by which the sin of presumption is kept down, only so long as untU they should attain to the grace of Christ by which to Hve piously, and afterwards would for time to come be secure that they would never faU away from Him. And such presumption in this condition of trials is not fitting, where there is so great weakr ness, that security may engender pride. FinaUy, this also shall be the case; but it shall be at that time, in men also as it already is in the angels, when there cannot be any pride. Therefore the number of the saints, by God's grace predestinated to God's kingdom, with the gift of perseverance to the end bestowed on them, shall be guided thither in its completeness, and there shaU be at length without end pre served in its fuUest completeness, most blessed, the mercy of their Saviour stiU cleaving to them, whether in their conver sion, in their conflict, or in their crown ! Chap. 41. — Even in judgment God's mercy will be necessary to us. For the Holy Scripture testifies that God's mercy is then also necessary for them, when the Saint says to his soul con cerning the Lord its God, " Who crowneth thee in mercy and compassion." s The Apostle James also says : " He shall have judgment without mercy who hath showed no mercy ;" 4 where 1 John xv. 7. 2 Isa. i. 19. 3 Ps. ciii. 4. 4 Jas. ii. 13. 110 A TREATISE ON REBUKE AND GRACE. [CHAP. 42. he sets forth that even in that judgment in which the righteous are crowned and the unrighteous are condemned, some wUl be judged with mercy, others without mercy. On which account also the mother of the Maccabees says to her son, " That in that mercy I may receive thee with thy brethren." 2 " For when a righteous king," as it is written, "shaU sit on the throne, no evil thing shaU oppose itself to him. Who wiU boast that he has a pure heart ? or who wUl boast that he is pure from sin 1" 2 And thus God's mercy is even then neces sary, by which he is made " blessed to whom the Lord has not imputed sin." 3 But then, in proportion to the merits of good works, even mercy itself shaU be aUotted by righteous judgments. For when it is said, " Judgment without mercy to him that hath showed no mercy," it is plainly shown that in those in whom are found the good works of mercy, judg ment shaU be executed with mercy ; and thus even that mercy itself shaU be returned to the merits of good works. It is not so now ; when not only no good works, but many bad works precede, His mercy prevents a man so that he is delivered from evils, — as weU from evUs which he has done, as from those which he would have done if he were not controlled by the grace of God ; and from those, too, which he would have suffered for ever if he were not plucked from the power of darkness, and transferred into the kingdom of the Son of God's love.4 Nevertheless, since even that life eternal itseU, which, it is certain, is given as due to good works, is caUed by so great an apostle the grace of God, although grace is not rendered to works, but is given freely, it must be con fessed without any doubt, that eternal Hfe is caUed grace for the reason that it is rendered to those merits which grace has conferred upon man. Because that saying is rightly under stood which in the gospel is read, " grace for grace," 5 — that is, for those merits which grace has conferred. Chap. 42. — The reprobate are to be punished for merits of a different kind. But those who do not belong to this number of the pre destinated, whom — whether that they have not yet any free 1 2 Mace. vii. 29. 2 Prov. xx. 8 [LXX.]. 3 Ps. xxxii. 2. * Col. i. 13. 6 John i. 16. CHAP. 43.] REBUKE CONSISTENT WITH GRACE. Ill choice of their wiU, or with a choice of will truly free, because it is freed by grace itself — the grace of God brings to His kingdom, — those, then, who do not belong to that most certain and blessed number, are most righteously judged according to their deservings. For either they lie tinder the sin which they have inherited by original generation, and depart hence with that inherited debt which is not put away by regeneration, or by their free choice have added other sins besides ; their wUl, I say, free, but not freed, — free from righteousness, but enslaved to sin, by which they are tossed about by divers mischievous lusts, some more evU, some less, but all evil; and they must be adjudged to diverse punishments, according to that very diversity. Or they receive the grace of God, but they are only for a season, and do not persevere ; they forsake and are forsaken. For by their free-will, as they have not received the gift of perseverance, they are abandoned to the righteous and hidden judgment of God. Chap. 43. [xiv.] — Rebuke and grace do not set aside one another. Let men then suffer themselves to be rebuked when they sin, and not conclude against grace from the rebuke itself, nor from grace against rebuke ; because both the righteous penalty of sin is due, and righteous rebuke pertains to it, if it is medicinally appHed, even although the salvation of the ailing man is uncertain ; so that if he who is rebuked belongs to the number of the predestinated, rebuke may be to him a whole some medicine, and if he does not belong to that number, it may be to him an instrument of punishment. Under that very uncertainty, therefore, it must of charity be applied, although its result is unknown ; and prayer must be made on his behalf to whom it is appHed, that he may be healed. But when men either come or return into the way of righteous ness by means of rebuke, who is it that worketh salvation in their hearts but that God who giveth the increase, whoever plants and waters, and whoever labours on the fields or shrubs, — that God whom no man's will resists when He wUls to give salvation ? For to wUl or not to will is in the power of Him who wUleth or wiUeth not, so that it hinders not the divine wUl nor overcomes the divine power. For even con- 112 A TREATISE ON REBUKE AND GRACE. [CHAP. 45. cerning those who do what He wills not, He [God] Himself does what He will Chap. 44. — In what way God wills all men to be saved. And what is written, that " He wUl have aU men to- be saved," 1 whUe yet aU men are not saved, may be understood in many ways, some of which I have mentioned in other writ ings2 of mine ; but here I wUl say one thing : " He wiU have aU men to be saved," is so said that aU predestinated people may be understood by it, because every race of men is among them. Just as it was said to the Pharisees, " Ye tithe every herb ;" 3 where the expression is only to be understood of every herb that they had, for they did not tithe every herb which was found throughout the whole earth. According to the same manner of speaking, it was said, " Even as I also please aU men in all things." 4 For did he who said this please even so many of his persecutors ? But he pleased every kind of men that assembled in the Church of Christ, whether they were already established therein, or were to be introduced into it. Chap. 45. — Scriptural instances wherein it is proved that God has men's wills more in His power than they themselves have. It is not, then, to be doubted that men's wiUs cannot with stand the wUl of God, " who hath done aU things whatsoever He pleased in heaven and in earth," 5 and who also " has formed those things that are to come,"6 in such wise as to prevent His doing what He wiUs, since He does even concerning the wUls themselves of men what He wUl, when He wUl. Unless, per chance (to mention some things among many), when God willed to give the kingdom to Saul, it was so in the power of the Israelites, as it certainly was placed in their will, either to subject themselves or not to the man in question, that they could even prevail to withstand God. God, however, did not do this, save by the will of the men themselves, doubtless having the most omnipotent power of inclining men's hearts whither it pleased Him. For thus it is written : " And Samuel sent the 1 1 Tim. ii. 4. 2 Enchirid. c. 103 ; City of God, xxii. 1, 2. 3 Luke xi. 42. * 1 Cor. x. 33. 5 Ps. cxxxv. 6. 6 Isa. xiv. 11 [LXX.]. CHAP. 45.] MAN'S WILL IN GOD'S CONTROL. 113 people away, and every one went away unto his own place. And Saul went away to his house in Gibeah : and there went away with Saul mighty men, whose hearts the Lord touched. And [some] pestilent chUdren said, Who shaU save us ? This man ? And they despised him, and brought him no presents." 1 WiU any one say that any of those whose hearts the Lord touched to go with Saul would not have gone with him, or that any of those pestilent fellows, whose hearts He did not touch to do this, would have gone ? Of David also, whom the Lord ordained to the kingdom in a more prosperous succession, we read thus : " And David continued to increase, and was magnified, and the Lord was with him." 2' This having been premised, it is said a Httle afterwards, " And the Spirit clothed Amasai, chief of the thirty, and he said, We are thine, 0 David, and we wiU be with thee, 0 son of Jesse : Peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thy helpers ; because the Lord has helped thee." 3' Could he withstand the wiU of God, and not rather do the wiU of Him who wrought in his heart « by His Spirit, with which he was clothed, to wUl, speak, and do thus ? Moreover, a Httle afterwards the same Scripture says, "AU these warlike men, setting the battle in array, came with a peaceful heart to Hebron to estabhsh David over aU Israel"4 By their own wiU, certainly, they appointed David king. Who cannot see this ? Who can deny it ? For they did not do it under constraint or without good-wiU, since they did it with a peaceful heart. And yet He wrought this in them who worketh what He wiU in the hearts of men. For which reason the Scripture premised, " And David con tinued to increase, and was magnified, and the Lord Omni potent was with him." And thus the Lord Omnipotent, who was with him, induced these men to appoint him king. And how did He induce them ? Did He constrain thereto by any bodUy fetters ? He wrought within ; He stirred their hearts, and drew them by their own wiUs, which He Himself wrought in them. If, then, when God wills to set up kings in the earth, He has the wUls of men more in His power than they themselves have, who else causes rebuke to be wholesome and » 1 Sam. x. 25 ff. 2 1 Chron. xi. 9. 3 1 Chron, xii. 1& * 1 Chron. xii, 38. XV. H 114 A TREATISE ON REBUKE AND GRACE. [CHAP. 46. correction to result in the heart of him that is rebuked, that he may be estabHshed in the kingdom of heaven ? Chap. 46. [xv.] — Rebuke must be varied -according to the variety of faults. There is no punishment in the Church greater than excommunication. Therefore, let brethren who are subject he rebuked by those who are set over them, with rebuke that springs from love, varied according to the diversity of faults, whether smaUer or greater. Because that very penalty that is eaUed condemna tion, x which episcopal judgment inflicts, than which there is no greater punishment in the Church, may, if God wiU, result and be of advantage for most wholesome rebuke. For we know not what may happen on the coming day ; nor must any one be .despaired of before the end of this life ; nor can God be contradicted, that He may not look down and give repentance, and receive the sacrifice of a troubled spirit and a contrite heart, and absolve from the charge of damnation, however just, .and so Himself not condemn the condemned person. Yet the necessity of the pastoral office requires, in order that the terrible contagion may not creep through the many, that the diseased sheep should be separated from the sound ones ; perchance, by that very separation, to be healed by Him to whom nothing is impossible. For as we know not who belongs to the number of the predestinated, we ought in such wise to be influenced by the affection of love as to wiU aU men to be saved. For this is the case when we endeavour to lead every individual to that point where they may meet with those agencies by which we may prevaU, to the accompHshment cf the result, that being justified by faith they may have peaoe with God,2— -iwhich peace, moreover, the apostle announced when he said, "Therefore, we discharge an embassage for Christ, as though God were exhorting by us, we pray you in Christ's stead to be reconeUed to God."3 For what is " to be reconcUed " to Him but to have peace towards Him ? For the sake of which peace, moreover, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself said to His disciples, " Into whatsoever house ye enter first, say, Peace be to this house ; and if the son of peace be there, your peace shaU rest upon it.; but if not, it shaU return to you 1 Query, Excommunication? 2 Rom. v. J. 32 Cor. v. 20. CHAP. 47.J THE PREACHING OF PEACE. 115 again." 1 When they preach the gospel of this peace of whom it is predicted, " How beautiful are the feet of those that pub- Hsh peace, that announce good things ! " 2 to us, indeed, every one then begins to be a son of peace who obeys and beHeves this gospel, and who, being justified by faith, has begun to have peace towards God ; but, according to God's predestination, he was aHeady a son of peace. For it was not said, Upon whom soever your peace shaU rest, he shaU become a son of peace ; but Christ says, " If the son of peace be there, your peace shaU rest upon that house." Already, therefore, and before the announcement of that peace to him, the son of peace was there, as he had been known and foreknown, by — not the evangeHst, but — God. For we need not fear lest we should lose it, if in our ignorance he to whom we preach is not a son of peace, for it wiU return to us again — that is, that preaching wiU profit us, and not him ; but if the peace proclaimed shall rest upon him, it wiU profit both us and him. Chap. 47. — Another interpretation ofthe apostolic passage, " Who will have all men to be saved." That, therefore, being ignorant who shaU be saved, God commands us to wUl that aU to whom we preach this peace may be saved, and Himself works this in us by diffusing that love in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us, — may also thus be understood, that God wiUs all men to be saved, because He makes us to wUl this ; just as " He sent the Spirit of His Son [into our hearts], crying, Abba, Father ;"3 that is, making us to cry, Abba, Father ! Because, concerning that same Spirit, He says in another place, " We have received the Spirit of adoption, in whom we cry, Abba, Father ! " 4 We therefore cry, but He is said to cry who makes us to cry. If, then, Scripture rightly said that the Spirit was crying by whom we are made to cry, it rightly also says that God wills, when by Him we are made to wiU. And thus, because by rebuke we ought to do nothing save to avoid any departure from that peace which is towards God, or to induce the return to it of him who had departed, let us do in hope what we do. If he whom we rebuke is a son of peace, our peace shaU rest upon him ; but if not, it shaU return to us again. 1 Luke x. 5, 6. 2 Isa. Ui. 7. 3 Gal. iv. 6. * Rom. viii. 15. 116 A TREATISE ON REBUKE AND GRACE. [CHAP. 49. Chap. 48. — The purpose of rebuke. Although, therefore, even whUe the faith of some is sub verted, the foundation of God standeth sure, since the Lord knoweth them that are His, stiU, we ought not on that account to be indolent and negUgent in rebuking those who should be rebuked. For not for nothing was it said, " EvU communications corrupt good manners ; " 1 and, " The weak brother shaU perish in thy knowledge, for whose sake Christ died." 2 Let us not, in opposition to these precepts, and to a wholesome fear, pretend to argue, saying, "Well, let evU communications corrupt good manners, and let the weak brother perish. What is that to us ? The foundation of God standeth sure, and no one perishes but the son of perdition." [xvi.] Be it far from us to babble in this wise, and think that we ought to be secure in this neghgence. For it is true that no one perishes except the son of perdition, but God says by the mouth of tbe prophet Ezekiel : 3 " He shaU surely die in his sin, but his blood wiU I require at the hand of him who is privy to it." 4 Chap. 49. — Conclusion. Hence, as far as concerns us, who are not able to distinguish those who are predestinated from those who are not, we ought on this very account to wish aU men to be saved. Severe rebuke should be medicinaUy appHed to aU by us that they perish not themselves, or that they may not be the means of destroying others. It belongs to God, however, to make that rebuke useful to them whom He Himself has foreknown and predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son. For, if at any time we abstain from rebuking, for fear lest by rebuke a man should perish, why do we not also rebuke, for fear lest a man should rather perish by our withholding it ? For we have not greater bowels of love than the blessed apostle who says, " Eebuke those that are unruly ; comfort the feeble-minded ; support the weak ; be patient towards all men. See that none render to any man evU for evU."* 1 1 Cor. xv. 33. 2 1 Cor. viii. 11. 3 Ezek. iii. 18. 4 Speculatoris=exec\iti, /> 130 ON THE PREDESTINATION OE THE SAINTS. [CHAP. 9. cerning this matter ; which God revealed to me as I sought to solve this question when I was writing, as I said, to the Bishop SimpHcianus. This testimony, therefore, of the apostle, when for the sake of repressing man's conceit he said, " For what hast thou which thou hast not received ? " 1 does not aUow any beHever to say, I have faith which I received not. All the arrogance of this answer is absolutely repressed by these apostolic words. Moreover, it cannot even be said, Although I have not a perfected faith, yet I have its beginning [scil. which I have not received], whereby I first of aU believed in Christ. Because here also is answered : " But what hast thou that thou hast not received ? Now, if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory as if thou receivedst it not ? " Chae. 9. [v.] — The purpose of the apostle in. these words. The notion, however, which they entertain, that these words, " What hast thou that thou hast not received ? " cannot be said of this faith, because it remained in the same nature, although degraded, which at first was endowed with health and perfection, is perceived to have no force for the purpose that they desire, if it be considered why the apostle said these words ; for he was .concerned that no one should glory in man, because dissensions had sprung up among the Corin thian Christians, so that every one was saying, " I, indeed, am of Paul, and another, I am of ApoUos, and another, I am of Cephas ; " 3 and thence he went on to say : " God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise ; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to con found the strong things ; and God hath chosen the ignoble things ofthe world, and contemptible things, and those. things which are not, to make of no account things which are ; that no flesh should glory in God's presence." 3 Here the design of the apostle is of a certainty sufficiently plain against the pride of man, that no one should glory in man ; and thus, no one should glory in himself. FinaUy, when he had said " that no flesh should glory in God's presence," in order to show in what man ought to glory, he immediately added, " But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who is made unto us 1 1 Cor. iv. 7. 3 1 Cor. i. 12. 3 1 Cor. i. 27. CHAP. 10.] EVERYTHING RECEIVED FROM GOD. 131 wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption : that according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." x Thence that purpose of his progressed, tiU afterwards rebuking them he says, " For ye are yet carnal; for whereas there are among you envy ing and contention, are ye not carnal, and walk according to man ? For whUe one saith I am of Paul, and another, I am of ApoUos, are ye not men ? What, then, is ApoUos, and what PaiU ? Ministers by whom you believed ; and to every one as the Lord has given. I have planted, and ApoUos watered ; but God gave the increase. Therefore, neither is he that planteth anything, nor he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase." 2 Do you not see that the sole purpose of the apostle is that man may be humbled, and God alone exalted ? Since in all those things, indeed, which are planted and watered, he says not that even the planter and the waterer are anything, but God who giveth the increase. Since the very fact, also, of the one's planting and the other's watering he attributes also not to themselves, but to God, when he says, " To every one as the Lord hath given ; I have planted, ApoUos watered." Hence, therefore, persisting in the same purpose he comes to the point of saying, " There fore let no man glory in man," 3 for he had already said, " He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." After these and some other matters which are associated therewith, that same purpose of his is carried on in the words : " And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to ApoUos for your sakes, that ye might learn in us that no one of you should be puffed up for one against another above that which is written. For who maketh thee to differ ? And what hast thou which thou hast not received ? Now, if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory as if thou receivedst it not ? " 4 Chap. 10. — It is God's grace which specially distinguishes one man from another- In this the apostle's most evident intention, in which he speaks against human pride, that none should glory in man, but in God, it is too absurd, as I think, to regard God's natural gifts [as comprehended], whether man's entire and perfected nature 1 1 Cor. i. 30. 2 1 Cor. iii. 3 ff. 3 1 Cor. iii. 21. * 1 Cor. iv. 6. 132 ON THE PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS. [CHAP. 10. itself, as it was bestowed on him in his first state, or the remains, whatever they may be, of his degraded nature. For is it by such gifts as these, which are common to aU men, that men are distinguished from one another ? But here he first said, " For who maketh thee to differ ?" and then added, " And what hast thou that thou hast not received ? " ' Because a man, puffed up against another, might say, My faith makes me to differ, or my righteousness, or anything else of the kind. In reply to such notions, the good teacher says, " But what hast thou that thou hast not received?" And from whom but from Him who maketh thee to differ from another, on whom He bestowed not what He bestowed on thee ? " Now if," says he, " thou hast received it, why dost thou glory as if thou receivedst it not ?" Is he concerned, I ask, about anything else save that he who glorieth should glory in the Lord ? But nothing is so opposed to this feeHng as for any one to glory concerning his own merits in such a way as if he him self had made them for himself, and not the grace of God, — a grace, however, which makes the good to differ from the wicked, and is not common to the good and the wicked. Let the grace, therefore, whereby we are living and reasonable creatures, and are distinguished from cattle, be attributed to nature ; let that grace also by which, among men themselves, the handsome are made to differ from the ill-formed, or the intelligent from the stupid, or anything of that kind, be ascribed to nature. But he whom the apostle was rebuking did not puff himself up as contrasted with cattle, nor as con trasted with any other man, in respect of any natural endow ment which might be found even in the worst of men. But he ascribed to himself, and not to God, some good gift which pertained to a holy Hfe, and was puffed up therewith when he deserved to hear the rebuke, " Who hath made thee to differ ? and what hast thou that thou receivedst not ?" For though it is a natural endowment to be able to have faith, is it also natural to have it ? " For all men have not faith," 1 although aU men have the capacity to have faith. But the apostle does not say, " And what art thou able to have, the abUity to have which thou receivedst not?" but he says, "And what hast 1 2 Thess. iii. 2. CHAP. 11.] GOD'S MERCY IN ELECTION. 133 thou which thou receivedst not?" Accordingly, the abUity to have faith,1 as the abUity to have love, belongs to men's nature ; but to have faith, even as to have love, belongs to the grace of believers. That nature, therefore, in which is given to us the capabiHty of having faith, does not distinguish man from man, but faith itself makes the believer to differ from the unbeliever. And thus, when it is said, " For who maketh thee to differ ? and what hast thou that thou receivedst not ?" if any one dare to say, I have faith of myself, I did not, there fore, receive it, he directly contradicts this most manifest truth, — not because it is not in the power of man's will to beHeve or not to beHeve, but because in the Elect the wiU is prepared by the Lord. Thus, moreover, the passage, " For who maketh thee to differ ? and what hast thou that thou receivedst not ?" refers to that very faith which is in the wiU of man. Chap. 11. [vi.] — That some men are elected is of God's mercy. Many hear the word of truth ; but some believe, while others contradict. Therefore, the former wiU to believe ; the latter do not wiU. Who does not know this ? Who can deny this ? But since in some the wiU is prepared by the Lord, in others it is not prepared, we must assuredly be able to distinguish what comes from God's mercy, and what from His judgment. "What Israel sought for," says the apostle, " he hath, not ob tained, but the election hath obtained it; and the rest were bHnded, as it is written, God gave to them the spirit of com punction,— eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, even to this day. And David said, Let their table be made a snare, a retribution, and a stumbHngblock to them ; let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see ; and bow down their, back always."2 Here is mercy and judg ment, — mercy towards the election which has obtained the righteousness of God, but judgment to the rest which have been blinded. And yet the former, because they wiUed,3 1 Thence says Bernard, in his treatise On Grace and Free-will, ch. i. : " God is the author of salvation. Free-will is only capable of it." Comp. de Vocat. Gentium, lib. ii. ch. 2, and Fulgentius, Lib. de Incarn. et Grat. D.N.J.C, ch. 22, 23, and 24. 2 Rom. xi. 7. 3 According to the Vatican mss. is read, "The former who willed," and below, " The latter who willed not." 134 ON THE PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS. [CHAP. 12. believed; the latter, because they did not wiU believed not. Therefore mercy and judgment were manifested in these very wiUs. Certainly such an election is of grace, not at all of merits. For he had before said, " So, therefore, even at this present time, the remnant has been saved by the election of grace. And if by grace, now it is no more of works ; otherwise grace is no more grace."1 Therefore the election obtained what it obtained freely ; there preceded none of those things which they might first give, and it should be given to them aga.in. He saved them for nothing. But to the rest who were blinded, as is there plainly declared, it was done in recompense. "AU the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth."2 But His ways are unsearchable. Therefore the mercy by which He freely delivers, and the truth by which He righteously judges, are equaUy unsearchable. Chap. 12. [vn.J— Why the apostle said that we are justified by faith and not by works. But perhaps it may be said : " The apostle distinguishes faith from works ; he says, indeed, that grace is not of works, but he does not say that it is not of faith." This, indeed, is true. But Jesus says that faith itself also is the work of God, and commands us to work it. For the Jews said to Him, "What shaU we do that we may work the work of God? Jesus answered, and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." 3 The apostle, therefore, distinguishes faith from works, just as Judah is dis tinguished from Israel in the two kingdoms of the Hebrews, although Judah is Israel itself. And he says that a man is justified by faith and not by works, because faith itself is first given, from which may be obtained other things which are speciaUy characterized as works, in which a man may Hve righteously. For he himself also says, " By grace ye are saved through faith ; and this not of yourselves ; but it is the gift of God," 4 — that is to say, And in saying, " through faith," [I meant] even faith itself is not of yourselves, but is God's gift. " Not of works," he says, " lest any man should be hfted up." For it is usually said. He deserved to believe, because 1 Rom. xi. 5. 2 Ps. x^, 10# 8 John vi. 28. « Eph. ii. 8. CHAP. 13.] ALL GOOD WORKS ARE OF GOD. 135 he was a good man even before he beUeved. Which' may be said of CorneHus,1 since his alms were accepted and his prayers heard before he had beUeved on Christ ; and yet with out some faith he neither gave alms nor prayed. For how did he caU on Him on whom he had not beUeved ? But if he could have been saved without the faith of Christ, the Apostle" Peter would not have been sent as an architect to buUd him up ; although, " Except the Lord buUd the house, they labour in vain who buUd it." 2 And we are told, Faith is of ourselves ; other things which pertain to works of righteousness are of the Lord ; as if faith did not belong to the budding, — as if, I say, the foundation did not belong to the building. But if this primarily and especiaUy belongs to it, he labours in vain who seeks to build up the faith by preaching, unless the Lord in His mercy buUds it up from within. Whatever, therefore, of good works Cornelius performed, as well before he believed in Christ as when he beUeved and after he had beUeved, are aU to be ascribed to God, lest, perchance, any man be lifted up. Chap. 13. [viii.]— The effect of divine grace. Accordingly, our only Master and Lord Himself, when He had said what I have above mentioned, — " This is the work of God, that ye beHeve on Him whom He hath sent," — says a little afterwards in that same discourse of His, "I said unto you that ye also have seen me and have not believed. All that the Father giveth me shaU come to me." 3 What is the mean ing of " shaU come to me," but, " shaU believe in me " ? But it is the Father's gift that this may be the case. Moreover, a Httle after He says, " Murmur not among yourselves. No one can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him ; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shaU be aU teachable4 of God. Every man that hath heard of the Father, and hath learned, cometh unto me." s What is the meaning of, " Every man that hath heard of the Father, and hath learned, cometh unto me," except that there is none who hears of the Father, 1 Acts x. 2 Ps. cxxvii. 1. 3 John vi. 36. 4 Docibiles. 5 John vi. 43 ff. 136 ON THE PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS. [CHAP. 14. and learns, who cometh not to me ? For if every one who has heard of the Father, and has learned, comes, certainly every one who does not come has not heard of the Father ; for if he had heard and learned, he would come. For no one has heard and learned, and has not come ; but every one, as the Truth declares, who has heard of the Father, and has learned, comes. Far removed from the perceptions of the flesh is this teaching in which the Father is heard, and teaches to come to the Son. Engaged herein is also the Son Himself, because He is His word by which He thus teaches ; and He does not do this through the ear of the flesh, but of the heart. Herein engaged, also, at the same time, is the Spirit of the Father and of the Son; and He, too, teaehes, and does not teach separately, since we have learned that the workings of the Trinity are inseparable. And that is certainly the same Holy Spirit of whom the apostle says, " We, however, having the same Spirit of faith." 1 But this is especially attributed to the Father, for the reason that of Him is begotten the Only Begotten, and from Him proceeds the Holy Spirit, of which it would be tedious to argue more elaborately ; and I think that my work in fifteen books on the Trinity which God is has already reached you. Very far re moved, I say, from the perceptions of the flesh is this instruction wLerein God is heard and teaches. We see that many come to the Son beeause we see that many believe on Christ, but when and how they have heard this from the Father, and have learned, we see not. It is true that that grace is exceedingly secret, but who doubts that it is grace ? This grace, there fore, which is hiddenly bestowed in human hearts, is rejected by no hard heart, because it is given for the sake of first taking away the hardness of the heart. When, therefore, the Father is heard within, and teaches, so that a man comes to the Son, He takes away the heart of stone and gives a heart of flesh, as in the declaration of the prophet He has promised. Because He thus makes them children and vessels of mercy which He has prepared for glory. Chap. 14. — Why the Father does not teach all that they may come to Christ. Why, then, does He not teach all that they may come to 1 2 Cor. iv. 13. CHAP. 14.] HOW GOD TEACHES ALL MEN. 137 Christ, except because all whom He teaches, He teaches in mercy, whUe those whom He teaches not, in judgment He teaches not ? Since, " On whom He will He has mercy, and whom He wiU He hardeneth." 1 But He has mercy when He gives good things. He hardens when he recompenses what is deserved. Or if, as some would prefer to distinguish them, those words also are his to whom the apostle says, " Thou sayest then unto me," so that he may be regarded as having said, " Therefore hath He mercy on whom He wiU, and whom He wiU He hardeneth," as well as those which foUow, — to wit, " What is it that is stiU complained of ? for who resists His wUl ?" Does the apostle answer, " 0 man, what thou hast said is false ? " No ; but he says, " 0 man, who art thou that repHest against God? Doth the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus ? Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump?"2 and what foUows, which you very well know. And yet after a certain measure the Father teaches aU men to come to His Son. For it was not in vain that it was written in the prophets, " And they shaU aU be teachable of God." 3 And when He too had premised this testimony, He added, " Every man, there fore, who has heard of the Father, and has learned, cometh to me." As, therefore, we speak justly when we say, concerning any teacher of Hterature who is alone in a city, He teaches Hterature here to everybody, — not that all men leam, but that there is none who learns Hterature there who does not learn from him, — so we justly say, God teaches aU men to come to Christ, not because aU come, but because none comes in any other way. And why He does not teach all men the apostle explained, as far as he judged that it was to be explained, because, " wUHng to show His wrath, and to exhibit His power, He endured with much patience the vessels of wrath which were perfected for destruction ; and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He has prepared for glory." 4 Hence it is that the " word of the cross is foolishness to them that perish; but unto them that are saved it is the power of God." 5 God teaches all such to come 1 Rom. ix. 18. 2 Ibid. ff. 3 John vi. 45. 4 Eom. ix. 22. 6 1 Cor. i. 18. 138 ON THE PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS. [CHAP. 15. to Christ, for He wiUs all such to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. And if He had wUled to teach even those to whom the word of the cross is fooHshness to come to Christ, beyond aU doubt these also would have come. For He neither deceives nor is deceived when He says, " Every one that hath heard of the Father, and hath learned, cometh to me." Away, then, with the thought that any one cometh not, who has heard of the Father and has learned. Chap. 15. — It is believers that are taught of God. " Why," say they, " does He not teach aU men ? " If we should say that they whom He does not teach are unwiUing to learn, we shaU be met with the answer : And what becomes of what is said to Him, " 0 God, Thou wUt turn us again, and quicken us" I1 Or if God does not make men willing who were not willing, on what principle does the Church pray, according to the Lord's commandment, for her persecutors ? For thus also the blessed Cyprian2 would have it to be understood that we say, " Thy wiU be done, as in heaven so in earth," — that is, as in those who have already believed, and who are, as it were, heaven, so also in those who do not beHeve, and on this account are stiU the earth. What, then, do we pray for on behalf of those who are unwiUing to beHeve, except that God would work in them to wiU also ? Certainly the apostle says, " Brethren, my heart's good desire, indeed, and my prayer to God for them, is made for their salvation." 3 He prays for those who do not believe, — for what, except that they may beHeve ? For in no other way do they obtain salvation. If, then, the faith of the petitioners precede the grace of God, does the faith of them on whose behalf prayer is made that they may beHeve precede the grace of God, since this is the very thing that is besought for them, that on them that beHeve not — that is, who have not faith — faith itself may be bestowed? When, therefore, the gospel is preached, some believe, some beHeve not ; but they who beHeve at the voice of the preacher from without, hear of the Father from within, 1 Ps. lxxx. 7. 2 Cypr., Treatise on tlie Lord's Prayer (Trans, vol. i. p. 410). 3 Rom. x. 1. CHAP. 16.] TO COME TO CHRIST IS TO BELIEVE. 139 and learn ; whUe they who do not believe, hear outwardly, but inwardly do not hear nor learn ; — that is to say, to the former it is given to beHeve ; to the latter it is not given. Because " no man," says He, " cometh to me, except the Father which sent me draw him." J And this is more plainly said after wards. For after a Httle time, when He was speaking of eat ing His flesh and drinking His blood, and some even of His disciples said, "This is a hard saying, who can hear it? Jesus, knowing in Himself that His disciples murmured at this, said unto them, Doth this offend you ?" 2 And a Httle after He said, " The words that I have spoken unto you are spirit and life ; but there are some among you which beHeve not." 3 And immediately the evangelist says, " For Jesus knew from the beginning who were the believers, and who should betray Him ; and He said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me except it were given him of my Father." Therefore, to be drawn to Christ by the Father, and to hear and learn of the Father in order to come to Christ, is nothing else than to receive from the Father the gift by which to beHeve in Christ. For not the hearers of the gospel were distinguished from those who did not hear, but the beHevers from those who did not beHeve, by Him who said, "No man cometh to me except it were given, him of my Father." Chap. 16. — Why tlie gift of faith is not given to all. Faith, then, as weU in its beginning as in its completion, is God's gift ; and let no one have any doubt whatever, unless he desires to resist the plainest sacred writings, that this gift is given to some, whUe to some it is not given. And [the question] why it is not given to aU ought not to disturb the beUever, who believes that aU have gone from one into a condemnation, which undoubtedly is most righteous ; so that even if none were delivered therefrom, there would be no just cause for finding fault with God. Whence it is plain that it is a great grace for many to be deHvered, and to acknowledge in those that are not deHvered what would be due to them selves; so that he that glorieth may glory not in his own 1 John vi. 44. 2 John vi. 60 ff. 3 John vi. 63 ff. 140 ON THE PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS. [CHAP. 17. merits, which he sees to be equaUed in those that are con demned, but in the Lord. And why He delivers one rather than another, " His judgments are unsearchable, and His ways past finding out."1 For it is better in this case for us to hear or to say, " 0 man, who art thou that repliest against God?"2 than to dare to say, as if we could know what He has chosen to be kept secret. Since, moreover, He could not wiU anything unrighteous. Chap. 17. [ix.] — His argument in his letter against Porphyry. But that which you remember my saying in a certain small treatise of mine against Porphyry, under the title of The Time of the Christian Beligion, I so said for the sake of escaping this more careful and elaborate argument about grace ; although its meaning, which could be unfolded else where or by others, was not whoUy omitted, although I had been unwiUing . in that place to explain it [at large]. For, among other matters, I spoke thus in answer to the question proposed, why Christ should have come after so long a time : "Accordingly, I say, since they dp not object to Christ that aU do not foUow His teaching (for even they themselves feel that this could not be objected at aU with any justice, either to the wisdom of the phUosophers or even to the deity of their own gods), what will they reply, if—leaving out of the question that depth of God's wisdom and knowledge where perchance some other divine plan is far more secretly hidden, without prejudging also other causes, which cannot' be traced out by the wise — we say to them only this, for the sake of brevity in the arguing of this question, that Christ wiUed to appear to men, and that His doctrine should be preached among them, at that time when He knew, and at that place where He knew, that there were some who would believe on Him.3 For at those times, and in those places, at which His gospel was not preached, He foreknew that aU would be in [respect of] His preaching such as, not indeed all, but many of them, were in His bodUy presence, who would neither beHeve on Him, nor on the dead who were raised by Him; such as many whom we can now see, although the 1 Rom. xi. 33. s Rom. ix. 20. CHAP. 17.] FROM THE LETTER AGAINST PORPHYRY. 141 declarations of the prophets concerning Him are fulfiUed by such manifestations, stUl unwiUing to believe, and professing to resist by human astuteness, rather than to yield to divine authority so clear and perspicuous, and so lofty, and subHmely made known, so long as the human understanding is small and weak in its approach to divine truth. What wonder is it, then, if Christ knew the world in former ages to be so full of unbelievers, that He should reasonably refuse to appear, or to be preached to them, who, as He foreknew, would beHeve neither His words nor His miracles ? For it is not incredible that all at that time were such, as from His coming even to the present time we marvel that there have been and are so many. And yet from the beginning of the human race, some times more hiddenly, sometimes more evidently, as to Divine Providence seemed to be more fitting, there was neither a faUure of prophecy [concerning Him], nor were there wanting those who beUeved on Him; as weU [in the period] from Adam to Moses, as in the people of Israel itself, which by a certain special mystery was a prophetic people ; and in other nations before He had come in the flesh. For as some are mentioned in the sacred Hebrew book, as early as the time of Abraham, — neither of his fleshly race nor of the people of Israel, nor of the extraneous society among the people of Israel, — who were, nevertheless, sharers in their sacrament' [scil. of circumcision], why may we not beHeve that there were others elsewhere among other people, here and there, although we do not read any mention of them in the same authorities ? Thus the salvation [announced by] this reHgion, by which, as the only true one, true salvation is faithfully promised, never faUed him who was worthy of it ; and whoever it faUed was not worthy of it. And from the very beginning of the pro pagation of man, even to the end, the gospel is preached, to some for a reward, to some for judgment ; and thus also those to whom the faith was not announced at aU were foreknown as those who would not beHeve ; and those to whom it was announced, although they were not such as would believe, are set forth as an example for the former ; whUe those to whom it is announced who should beHeve, are prepared for the king dom of heaven, and the company of the holy angels." 142 ON THE PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS. ' [CHAP. 19. Chap. 18. — Tlie gist of the preceding argument. Do you not see that my desire was, without any prejudg ment of the sacred counsel of God, and of other [possible] reasons, to say something that might seem sufficient about Christ's foreknowledge, to convince the unbelief of the pagans who had brought forward this question ? For what is more true than that Christ foreknew who should beHeve on Him, and at what times and places they should beHeve? But whether by the preaching of Christ to themselves by them selves they were to have faith, or whether they would receive it by God's gift, — that is, whether God only foreknew them, or also predestinated them, I did not at that time think it necessary to inquire or to discuss. Therefore what I said, " that Christ wiUed to appear to men at that time, and that His doctrine should be preached among them when He knew, and where he knew, that there were those who would beHeve on Him," may also thus be said, That Christ wUled to appear to men at that time, and that His gospel should be preached among those, whom He knew, and where He knew, that there were' those who had been elected in Himself before the foundation of the world. But since, if it were so said, it would make the reader desirous of asking about those things which now by the warning of Pelagian errors must of necessity be discussed with greater copiousness and care, it seemed to me that what at that time was sufficient should be briefly said, making exception, as I said, of the depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God, and with out prejudging other reasons, concerning which I thought that we might more fittingly argue, not then, but at some other time. Chap. 19. [x.]— In what respects predestination and grace differ. Moreover, that which I said, " That the salvation offered by this reHgion has never failed him who was worthy of it, and that he whom it failed was not worthy," — if it be discussed and asked whence any man can be worthy, there are not wanting those who say— by human will But we say, by divine grace or predestination. Further, between grace and predestination CHAP. 19.] GRACE AND PREDESTINATION. 143 there is only this difference, that predestination is a prepara tion for grace, while grace is actuaUy the endowment itself. When, therefore, the apostle says, " Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus in good works,"1 it is grace ; but what foUows — " which God hath prepared that we should walk in them "-*- is predestination, which cannot exist without foreknowledge, although foreknowledge may exist without predestination ; because God foreknew by predestination those things which He was about to do, whence it was said, " He made those things that shaU ba"2 Moreover, He is able to foreknow even those things which He does not Himself do^ — as aU sins whatever ; because, although there are some which are in such wise sins as that they are also the penalties of sins, whence it is said, " God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient,"3 it is not in such a case the sin that is God's, but the judgment Therefore God's predestina tion in [respect of] good is, as I have said, the preparation of grace ; which grace is the effect of that very predestination. Therefore when God promised to Abraham in his seed the faith of the nations, saying, " I have established thee a father of many nations," 4 whence the apostle says, " Therefore it is of faith, that the promise, aceording to grace, might be established to aU the seed,"5 He promised not concerning the power of «ur wiU, but concerning His own predestination. For He promised what He Himself would do, not what men would -do. Because, although men do those good things which pertain to God's worship, He Himself makes them to do what He has commanded ; it is not they that cause Him to do what He has promised. Otherwise the fulfilment of God's promises would not be in the power of God, but in that of men ; and thus what was promised by God to Abraham would be given to Abraham by men themselves. Abraham, however, did not beHeve thus, but " he beUeved, giving glory to God, that what He promised He is able also to perform."6 He does not say, " to foreteU." He does not say, " to foreknow ;" for He can foreteU and foreknow the doings of strangers also ; but 1 Eph. ii. 9, 10. 2 Isa. xiv. 11 [LXX.]. s Rom. i. 28. 4 Gen. xvii. 5. B Rom. iv. 16. ° Rom. iv. 21. 144 ON THE PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS. [CHAP. 21. He says, " He is able also to do ;" and thus He is speaking not of the doings of others, but of His own. Chap. 20. — Did God promise the good works of the nations, and not their faith, to Abraham t Did God, perchance, promise to Abraham in his seed the good works of the nations, as He would promise that which He Himself does, and not the faith of the nations, which men make for themselves; but as He would promise what He Himself does, did He so foreknow that men would effect that faith ? The apostle, indeed, does not speak thus, because God promised chUdren to Abraham, who should foUow the footsteps of his faith, as he very plainly says. But if He promised the works, and not the faith of the nations, certainly since they are not good works unless they are of faith (for "the righteous lives of faith,"1 and, "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin,"2 and, " Without faith it is impossible to please [God] " 3), nevertheless it is in man's power that God should fulfil what He has promised. For unless man should do what without the gift of God pertains to man, he wiU not cause God to give it, — that is, unless man have faith of himself. God does not fulfil what He has promised, that works of righteousness should be given by God. And thus that God should be able to fulfil His promises is not in God's power, but in man's. And if truth and piety do not forbid our beHev ing this, let us believe with Abraham, that what He has promised He is able also to perform. But He promised chUdren to Abraham; and this men cannot be unless they have faith, therefore He gives faith also. Chap. 21. — It is to be wondered at that men should rather trust to their own weakness than to God's strength. Certainly, when the apostle says, " Therefore it is of faith that the promise may be sure according to grace,"4 I marvel that men would rather entrust themselves to their own weak ness, than to the strength of God's promise. But sayest thou, God's will concerning myself is to me uncertain ? What then ? Is thine own will concerning thyself certain to thee ? and dost thou not fear, — " Let him that thinketh he standeth take 1 Hab. ii. 4. ¦¦> Rom. xiv. 23. 3 Heb. xi. 6. « Rom. iv. 16. CHAP. 22.] GOD'S CONDITIONAL PROMISES. 145 heed lest he faU " ?T Since, then, both are uncertain, why does not man commit his faith, hope, and love to the stronger will., rather than to the weaker ? Chap. 22^ — Godrs promise is sure.- "But," say they, "when it is said, 'If thou believest, thou shalt be saved,' one of these things is required ; the other is offered. What is required is in man's power ; what is offered i3 in God's." Why are not both in God's, as weU what He com mands as what He offers ? For He is- asked to give- what He commands. Believers ask that their faith may be increased ; they ask on behalf of those who do not beHeve,. that faith may be given to them; therefore both in its increase and in its beginnings, faith is the gift of God. But it is said thus : " If thou beHevest, thou shalt be saved," in the same way that it is said, " If by the Spirit ye shaU mortify the deeds of the flesh, ye shaU Hve." * For in this case also, of these two things one is required, the other is offered. It is said, " If by the Spirit ye shall mortify the deeds of the flesh, ye shaU Hve." There fore, that we mortify tbe deeds of the flesh is required, but that we may Hve is offered. Is it, then, fitting for us to say, that to mortify the deeds of the flesh is not a gift of God, and not to> confess it to be a gift of Godi, because we hear it required of us, with the offer of Hfe as a reward if we shaU do it ? Away with the notion of this being approved by the partakers and ehampions of grace ! This is the damnable error of the Pelagians, whose mouths the apostle immediately stopped when he added, " For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God ; " 3 lest we should beHeve that we mortify the deeds of the flesh, not by God's Spirit, but by our own. And of this Spirit of God, more over, he was speaking in that place where he says, " But aU these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing unto every man what is his own, as He wiU ; " 4 and among all these things, as you know, he also named faith. As, therefore, although it is the gift of God to mortify the deeds of the flesh, yet it is required of us, and Hfe is set before us as a reward 1 1 Cor. x. 12. * Rom. viii. 13. * Rom. viii. 14. ' 1 Cor. xii. 11. XV. K 146 ON THE PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS. [CHAP. 24. [for doing it] ; so also faith is the gift of God, although when it is said, " If thou believest, thou shalt be saved," faith is required of us, and salvation is proposed to us as a reward. For these things are both commanded us, and are shown to be God's gifts, in order that we may understand both that we do them, and that God makes us to do them, as He most plainly says by the prophet Ezekiel. For what is plainer than when He says, " I wUl cause you to do"?1 Give heed 2 to that very passage of Scripture, and you will see that God promises that He wiU make them to do those things which He commands to be done. He truly is not disguising the merits, but the evU deeds, of those to whom He shows that He is returning good for evU, by the very fact that He causeth them thenceforth to have good works, in causing them to do the divine commands. CHAflf. 23. [xii.} — Remarkable illustrations .of grace and predestination in infants, and in Christ. But all this reasoning, whereby we maintain the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord to be truly grace, that is, that it is not given according to our merits, although it is most manifestly asserted by the witness of the divine declarations ; yet, among those who think that they are withheld from all desire of piety unless they can attribute to themselves some thing, which they first give that it may be recompensed to them again, [among such, I say, this reasoning] involves somewhat of a difficulty in respect of the condition of grown-up people, who are already .exercising the free choice of their wiU. But when we come to the case of infants, and to the Mediator between God and man Himself, the man Christ Jesus, there is wanting any assertion of human merits that precede the grace of God, because the former are not distinguished from others by any pre ceding good deserts that they should belong to the Deliverer of men ; any more than He Himself, being Himself a man, was made the Deliverer of men by virtue of any precedent human merits. Chap. 24. — That no one is judged according to wliathe would have done if he had lived longer. For who can hear that infants, baptized in the condition of 1 Ezek. xxxvi. 27. 2 According to some editions, here is inserted "dearest brethren,'' not found in mss. CHAP. 24.] GROUND OF GOD'S JUDGMENT. 147 mere infancy, are said to depart from this Hfe according to their future merits, and that others not baptized are said to die in the same age because their future deservings are fore known, — but foreknown as evU, — so that what God rewards or condemns in them is not their good or evU life, but no life at all ? The apostle, indeed, fixed a limit which man's incautious suspicion, to speak gently, ought not to transgress, for he says, " We shaU all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ ; that every one may receive according to the things which he has done by means of the body, whether it be good or evil recompense." x " Has done," he said ; and he did not add, " or would have done." But I know not whence this thought should have entered the minds of such men, that the future merits of infants which shall never exist (scil. the merits) should be punished or honoured. And why is it said that a man is to be judged according to those things which he has done by means of the body, although many things are done by the mind alone, and not by the body, nor by any member of the body ; and for the most part things of such importance, that a most righteous punishment would be due to such thoughts, such as, — to say nothing of others, — that " The fool hath said in his heart there is no God " ? 2 What, then, is the meaning of, " According to those things that he hath done by means of the body," except according to these things which he has done during that time in which he was in the body, so that we may understand "by means of the body" as meaning " throughout the season of bodily Hfe " ? But after the body, no one wiU be in the body except at the last resurrection, [and then] not for the purpose of establishing any claims of merit, but for the sake of receiving recompenses for good deservings, and enduring punishments for evU deserv ings. But in this intermediate period between the putting off and the taking again of the body, the souls are either tormented or they are in repose, according to those things which they have done during the period of the bodily life. And to this period [of the bodily life] moreover pertains, what the Pelagians deny, but Christ's Church confesses, original sin ; and according to whether this is by God's grace loosed, or by 1 2 Cor. v. 10. 2 Ps. xiv. 1. 148 ON THE PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS. [CHAP. 25. God's judgment not loosed, when infants die, they pass, on the one hand, by the merit of regeneration from evU to good, or on the other, by the merit of their origin from evU to evU. The Catholic faith acknowledges this, and even some heretics, without any contradiction, agree to this. But in the height of wonder and astonishment I am unable to discover whence men, whose inteUigence your letters show to be by no means contemptible, could entertain the opinion that any one should be judged not according to the merits that he had as long as he was in the body, but according to the merits which he would have had if he had Hved longer in the body ; and I should not dare to beHeve that there were such men, if I could venture to disbeHeve you. But I hope that God will interpose, so that when they are admonished they may at once perceive, that if those sins which are said to have1 been about to exist can rightly be punished by God's judgment in those who are not baptized, they may also be rightly remitted by God's grace in those who are baptized. For whoever says that future sins can only be punished by God's judgment, but cannot be pardoned by God's mercy, ought to consider how great a wrong he is doing to God and His grace ; as if future sin could be foreknown, and could not be foregone.1 And if this is absurd, it is the greater reason that help should be afforded to those who would be sinners if they Hved longer, when they die in early Hfe, by means of that laver wherein sins are washed away. Chap. 25. [xiii.]— Possibly the baptized infants would have repented if they had lived, and the unbaptized not. But if, perchance, they say that sins are remitted to peni tents, and that those who die in infancy [unbaptized] are not baptized because they are foreknown as not Hkely to repent if they should live, while God has foreknown that those who are baptized and die in infancy would have repented if they had lived, let them observe and see that if it be so it is not in this case original2 sins which are punished in infants that die without baptism, but what would have been the sins of each one had he Hved ; and also in baptized infants, that it is not original sins that are washed away, but their own future sins 1 Prcenosci possit, nee possit ignosci. '* Query, Actual ? CHAP. 26.] PELAGIAN VIEW OF INFANT BAPTISM. 149 if they should live, since they could not sin except in more mature age ; but that some were foreseen as such as would repent, and others as such as would not repent, therefore some were baptized, and others departed from this life without baptism. If the Pelagians should dare to say this, by their denial of original sin they would thus be reHeved of the necessity of seeking, on behalf of infants outside of the king dom of God, for some place of I know not what happiness of their own ; especiaUy since they are convinced that they can not have eternal life because they have not eaten the flesh nor drunk the blood of Christ ; and because in them who have no sin at aU, baptism, which is given for the remission of sins, is falsified. For they would go on to say that there is no original sin, but that those who as infants are released are either baptized or not baptized according to their future deservings if they should live, and that according to their future merits they either receive or do not receive the body and blood of Christ, without which they absolutely cannot have life; and are baptized for the true remission of sins although they derived no sins from Adam, because the sins are remitted unto them concerning which God foreknew that they would repent. Thus with the greatest ease they would plead and would win their cause, in which they deny that there is any original sin, and contend that the grace of God is only given according to our deservings. But that the future merits of men, which merits wiU never come into existence, are beyond aU doubt no merits at aU, it is absolutely most easy to see : for this reason even the Pelagians were not able to say this ; and much rather those [who are only semi- Pelagians] ought not to say it. For it cannot be said with what pain I find that they who with us on Catholic authority condemn the error of those heretical [Pelagians], have not seen [the absurdity of] this, which the Pelagians themselves have seen to be most false and absurd. Chap. 26. [xiv.] — Reference to Cyprian's treatise " On the Mortality." Cyprian wrote a work On the Mortality,1 known with ap proval to many and almost all who love ecclesiastical literature, 1 Cyprian, Works (Trans, vol. i. p. 452). 150 ON THE PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS. [CHAP. 26. wherein he says that death is not only not disadvantageous to believers, but that it is even found to be advantageous, because it withdraws men from the risks of sinning, and establishes them in a security of not sinning. But wherein is the ad vantage of this, if even future sins which have not been com mitted are punished ? Yet he argues most copiously and weU that the risks of sinning are not wanting in this Hfe of ours, and that they do not continue after this life is done ; where also he adduces that testimony from the book of Wis dom : " He was taken away, lest wickedness should alter his understanding." 1 And this was also adduced by me when you said that those brethren of yours had rejected it on the ground of its not having been brought forward from a canonical book ; as if, even setting aside the attestation of this book, the thing itself were not clear which I wished to be taught therefrom. For what Christian would dare to deny that the righteous man, if he should be prematurely laid hold of by death, wiU be in repose ? Whoever should say this, wiU any man of sound faith think that he can withstand it ? More over, if he should say that the righteous man, if he should depart from his righteousness in which he has long lived, and should die in that impiety after having Hved in it, I say not a year, but one day, wUl go hence into the punishment due to the wicked, his righteousness having no power in the future to avail him, — wUl any beUever contradict this evident truth ? Further, if we are asked whether, if he had died then at the time that he was righteous, he would' have incurred punish ment or repose, shall we hesitate to answer repose ? This is the whole reason why it is said, — whoever says it, — " He was taken away, lest wickedness should alter his understanding," For it was said in reference to the risks of this life, not with reference to the foreknowledge of God, who foreknew that which was about to be, not that which was not about to be — that is, that He would bestow on him an immature 2 death in order that he might be withdrawn from the uncertainty of temptations ; [and who did not foreknow] that he would sin, since he was not about to remain in temptation. Because, concerning this life, we read in the book of Job, " Is not the 1 Wisd. iv. 11. * Scil. "early." CHAP. 27.] THE BOOK OF WISDOM AUTHORITATIVE. 151 life of man upon earth a [state of] trial?"1 But why it should be granted to some to be taken away from the perUs of this life while they are righteous, while others who are righteous until they fall from righteousness are kept in' the same risks in a more lengthened life, — who has known the mind of the Lord ? And yet it is permitted to be understood from this, that even those righteous people who maintain good and pious characters, even to the maturity of old age and to the last day of this Hfe, must not glory in their own merits, but in the Lord, since He who took away the righteous man from the shortness of life, lest wickedness should alter his understanding, Himself guards the righteous man in any length of Hfe [however pro longed it may be], that wickedness may not alter his under standing. But why He should have kept the righteous man here to faU, when He might have withdrawn him before, — His judgments, although absolutely righteous, are yet unsearchable. Chap. 27. — The book of Wisdom obtains in the Church the authority of canonical Scripture. And since these things are so, the judgment of the book of Wisdom ought not to be repudiated, since for so long a course of years that book has deserved to be read in the Church of Christ, from the position of the readers of the Church of Christ, and to be heard by all Christians, from bishops downwards, even to the lowest lay behevers, penitents, and catechumens, with the veneration paid to divine autho rity. For assuredly, if, from those who have been before me in commenting on the divine Scriptures, I should bring for ward a defence of this judgment, which we are now caUed upon to defend more carefuUy and copiously than usual against the new error of the Pelagians, — that is, that God's grace is not given according, to our merits, and that it is given freely to whom it is given, because it is neither of him that wiUeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy ; but that by righteous judgment it is not given to whom it is not given, because there is no un righteousness with God ; — if, therefore, I should put forth a defence of this opinion [gathered] from CathoHc commentators on the divine oracles who have preceded us, assuredly these 1 Job vii. 1 [LXX.]. 152 ON THE PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS. [CHAP. 28. brethren for whose sake I am now discoursing would acquiesce, for this you have intimated in your letters. What need is" there, then, for us to look into the writings of those who, before this heresy sprang up, had no necessity to be conversant in a question so difficult of solution as this, which beyond a doubt they would have done if they had been compeUed to answer such [objections as these] ? Whence it arose that they touched upon what they thought of God's grace briefly in some passages of their writings, and cursorUy ; but on those matters which they argued against the enemies of the Church, and in exhortations to every virtue by which to serve the Hying and true God for the purpose of attaining eternal life and true happiness, they dwelt at length. But to the recapitulations of prayers God's grace simply seemed to be what it could do ; for what God commands to be done would not be asked for from God, unless it could be given by Him that it should be done. Chap. 28. — Cyprian's treatise " On. the Mortality." But if any wish to be instructed in the opinions of those who have handled the subject, it behoves them to prefer to aU commentators the book of Wisdom, where it is read, " He was taken away, that wickedness should not alter his under standing;" because iUustrious commentators, even in the times nearest to the apostles, preferred it to themselves, seeing that when they made use of it for a testimony, they believed that they were making use of nothing but a divine testimony; and certainly it appears that the most blessed Cyprian, in order to commend the advantage of an earher death, contended that those who end this life, wherein sin is possible, are taken away from the risks of sins. In the same treatise, among other things, he says, " Why, when you are about to be with Christ, and are secure of the divine promise, do you not embrace [the assurance] of being caUed to Christ, and rejoice that you are free from the devil ? " x And in another place he says, " Boys escape the peril of their un stable age." 2 And again, in another place, he says, " Why do 1 Cyprian, On the Mortality (Trans, vol. i. 2 Ibid. vol. i. p. 461. CHAP. 29. J GOD DEALS WITH NO CONTINGENT MERITS. 153 we not hasten and run, that we may see our country, that we may haU our relatives ? A great number of those who are dear to us are expecting us there, — a dense and abundant crowd of parents, brethren, sons, are longing for us ; already secure of their own safety, but stiU anxious about our salva tion." 1 By these and such hke sentiments, that teacher sufficiently and plainly testifies, in the clearest light of the CathoHc faith, that perils of sin and trials are to be feared even until the putting off of this body, but that afterwards no one shaU suffer any such things. And even if he did not testify thus, when could any manner of Christian be in doubt on this matter ? How, then, should it not have been of advantage to a man who has lapsed, and who finishes his life wretchedly in that same state of lapse, and passes into the punishment due to such as he, — how, I say, should it not have been of the greatest and highest advantage to such an one to be snatched by death from this sphere of temptations before his faU ? Chap. 29. — God's dealing does not depend upon any contingent merits of men. And thus, unless we indulge in reckless disputation, the entire question is concluded concerning him who is taken away lest wickedness should alter his understanding. And the book of Wisdom, which for such a series of years has deserved to be read in Christ's Church, and in which this is read, ought not to suffer injustice because it withstands those who are mistaken on behalf of men's deservings, [in supposing] that they may come in opposition to the most manifest grace of God : which grace chiefly appears in infants, of whom, whUe some who are baptized, and some who are not baptized, come to the end of this Hfe, they sufficiently point to God's mercy and His judgment. His mercy, indeed, gratuitous ; His judgment, of debt. For if men should be judged according to the merits of their Hfe, which merits they have been pre vented by death from actually having, but would have had if they had Hved, it would be of no advantage to him who is taken away lest wickedness should alter his understanding ; it would be of no advantage to those who die in a state of lapse if they should die before. And this no Christian will 1 Cyprian, On the Mortality, vol. i. p. 468. 154 ON THE PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS. [CHAP. 30. venture to say. Wherefore our brethren, who with us on be half of the Catholic faith assaU the pest of the Pelagian error, ought not to such an extent to favour the Pelagian opmion, wherein they conceive that God's grace is given according to our merits, as to endeavour (which they cannot dare) to invalidate a true sentiment, plainly and from ancient times Christian, — "He was taken away, lest wickedness should alter his understanding;" and to buUd up that which we should think, — I do not say, no one would beHeve, but no one would dream, — to wit, that any deceased person would be judged according to those things which he- would have done if he had lived for a more lengthened period. Surely thus what we say manifests itself clearly to be incontestable, — that the grace of God is not given according to our merits ; so that ingenious men who contradict this truth should be constrained to say those things which must be rejected from the ears and from the thoughts of aU men. Chap. 30. [xv.] — The most illustrious instance of predestination is Christ Jesus. Moreover, the most Ulustrious Light of predestination and grace is the Saviour HimseU, — the Mediator Himself between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And, pray, by what preceding merits of His, whether of works or of faith, did the human nature which was in Him procure for Him that He should be this ? Let this have an answer, I beg. That man, whence did He deserve this, — to be taken* up by the Word into unity of person with the co-eternal Father, and be the only-begotten Son of God ? Was it because any kind of goodness in Him preceded ? What did He do before ? What did He believe ? What did He ask, that He should attain to this unspeakable excellence ? By the act and the assumption of the Word did not that man Himself, from the time He began to be, begin to be the only Son of God ? Did not that woman, full of grace, conceive the only Son of God ? Was He not born the only Son of God, of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, — not of the lust of the flesh, but by God's peculiar gift ? Was it to be feared that as age matured such a man as He would sin of free-wUl ? Or was the wiU in Him not free on that account ? and was it not so much the more free CHAP. 51.] PREDESTINATION OF CHRIST. 155 in proportion to the greater impossibility of His becoming the servant of sin ? Certainly, in Him human nature — that is to say, our nature — specially received aU those specially admirable gifts, and any others that may most truly be said to be pecuHar to Him, by virtue of no merits of His which preceded. Let a man here answer to God if he dare, and say, Why was it not I also ? And if he should hear, " 0 man, who art thou that repliest against God ? " 1 let him not at this point restrain himself, but increase his impudence and say, " How is it that I hear, Who art thou, 0 man ? since I am what I hear, — that is, a man, and He of whom I speak is but the same ? Why should not I also be what He is ? For it is by grace that He is such and so great ; why is grace dif ferent when nature is common ? Assuredly, there is no respect of persons with God." I say, not what Christian man, but what madman wiU say this ? Chap. 31. — Christ predestinated to be the Son of God. Therefore in Him who is our Head let there appear to be the very fountain of grace, whence, according to the measure of every man, He diffuses Himself through all His members. It is by that grace that every man from the beginning of his faith becomes a Christian, by which grace that one man from His beginning became Christ ; the former also is born again by the same Spirit of which the latter was born. By the same Spirit is effected in us the remission of sins, by which Spirit it was effected that He should have no sin. God certainly fore knew that He would do these things. This, therefore, is that same predestination of the saints which most especiaUy shone forth in the Saint of saints ; and who is there of those who rightly understand the declarations of the truth that can deny this predestination ? For we have learned that the Lord of glory Himself was predestinated in so far as the man was made the Son of God. The teacher of the Gentiles exclaims, in the beginning of his epistles, " Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God (which He had promised afore by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures) concerning His Son, which was made of the 1 Rom. ix. 10. 156 ON THE PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS. [CHAP. 31. seed of David according to the flesh, who was predestinated [to be] the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of sanctification by the resurrection of the dead." 1 Therefore Jesus was predestinated, so that He who was to be the Son of David according to the flesh should yet be in power the Son of God, according to the Spirit of sanctification, because He was born of the Holy Spirit and of the Virgin Mary. This is that ineffably accomplished special taking up of man by God the Word, so that He might truly and properly be called at the same time the Son of God and the Son of man, — Son of man on account of the taking up of the man, and the Son of God on account of the God only-begotten who took Him up, so that a Trinity and not a Quaternity might be believed in. Such a transplantation of human nature was predestinated, so great, so lofty, and so subhme that there was no possibUity of exalting it more highly, — just as on our behalf that divinity itself had no possibility of more humbly putting itself off, save by the assumption of man's nature with the weakness of the flesh, even to the death of the cross. As, therefore, that one man was predestinated to be our Head, so we being many are predestinated to be His members. Here let human merits which have perished through Adam keep sUence, and let that grace of God reign which reigns through Jesus Christ our Lord, the only Son of God, the one Lord. Let whoever could find in our Head the merits which preceded that peculiar genera tion, seek in us His members for those merits which preceded our manifold regeneration. For that generation was not re compensed to Christ, but given; that He should be born, namely, of the Spirit and the Virgin, remote from aU obliga tion of sinning. Thus also our being born again of water and the Spirit is not recompensed to us for any merit, but freely given ; and if faith has brought us to the laver of regeneration. we ought not therefore to suppose that we have first given anything, so that the regeneration of salvation should be recompensed to us again ; because He made us to beHeve in Christ, who made for us a Christ on whom we believe. He makes in men the beginning and the completion of the faith in Jesus who made the man Jesus the beginner and finisher 1 Rom. i. l ff. CHAP. 33.] THE TWOFOLD CALLING. 157 of the faith;1 for thus, as you know, He is caUed in the epistle which is addressed to the Hebrews. Chap. 32. [xvi.] — The twofold calling. God indeed caUs many of his chUdren to be predestinated, to make them members of His only predestinated Son, — not with that calHng with which they were caUed who would not come to the marriage, since with that caUing were caUed also the Jews, to whom Christ crucified is an offence, and the GentUes, to whom Christ crucified is fooHshness ; but with that vocation He caUs them predestinated which the apostle dis tinguished when he said that he preached Christ, the wisdom of God and the power of God, to them that were caUed, Jews as weU as Greeks. For thus he says, " But unto them which are caUed,"2 in order to show that there were some who were not caUed ; knowing that there is a certain definite calHng of those who are caUed according to God's purpose, whom He has foreknown and predestinated before to be conformed to the image of His Son. And it was this caUing he meant when he said, " Not of works, but of Him that calleth ; it was said unto her, That the elder shaU serve the younger."3 Did he say, " Not of works, but of him that believeth " ? Eather, he actuaUy took this away from man, that he might give the whole to God. Therefore he said, " But of Him that caUeth," — not with any sort of calHng whatever, but with that calling wherewith a man is made a beUever. Chap. 33. —It is in fhe power of evil men to sin ; but to do this or that by means of that wickedness is in God's power alone. Moreover, it was this that he had in view when he said, "The gifts and caUing of God are without repentance."4 And in that saying also consider for a little what was its purport. For when he had said, " For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, that ye may not be wise in yourselves, that bHndness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the GentUes be come in, and so aU Israel should be saved ; as it is written, There shaU come out of Sion one who shaU deliver, and turn away impiety from Jacob : and this is the covenant to them from me, when I shall take 1 Heb. xii. 2. 2 1 Cor. i. 24. 3 Rom. ix. 12. " Rom. xi. 29. 158 ON THE PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS. [CHAP. 33. away their sins ; " 1 he immediately added, what is to be very carefully understood, " As concerning the gospel, indeed, they are enemies for your sakes: but as concerning the election, they are beloved for their fathers' sakes."2 What is the meaning of, "as concerning the gospel, indeed, they are enemies for your sakes," but that their enmity wherewith they put Christ to death was, without doubt, as we see, an advantage to the gospel ? And he shows that this came about by God's order ing, who knew how to make a good use even of evil things ; not that the vessels of wrath might be of advantage to Him, but that by His own good use of them they might be of ad vantage to the vessels of mercy. For what could be said more plainly than what is actuaUy said, " As concerning the gospel, indeed, they are enemies for your sakes " ? It is, therefore, in the power of the wicked to sin ; but that in sinning they should do this or that particular thing by that wickedness is not in their power, but in God's, who divides the darkness and regulates it; so that hence even what they do contrary to God's wUl is not fulfiUed except as God's wiU. We read in the Acts of the Apostles that when the apostles had been sent away by the Jews, and had come to their own friends, and shown them what great things the priests and elders said to them, they all with one consent lifted up their voices to the Lord, and said, " Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and aU things that are therein ; who, by the, mouth of our father David, thy holy servant, hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the peoples imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes were gathered together against the Lord, and against His Christ. For in truth, there have assembled together in this city against Thy holy chUd Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, Herod and PUate, and the people of Israel, to do whatever Thy hand and counsel predestinated to be done."3 See what is said : " As concerning the gospel, indeed, they are enemies for your sakes." Because God's hand and counsel predestinated such things to be done by the hostile Jews as were necessary for the gospel, for our sakes. But what is it that follows ? " But as concerning the election, they are beloved for their fathers' sakes." For are 1 Rom. xi. 25 ff. 2 Rom. xi. 28. 3 Acts iv. 24 ff. CHAP. 33.] ELECTION OF THE ISRAELITES. 159 those enemies who perished in their enmity, and those of the same people who stiU perish in their opposition to Christ, — are those chosen and beloved ? Away with the thought ! Who is so utterly foolish as to say this ? But both expressions, although contrary to one another — that is, "enemies" and " beloved " — are appropriate, though not to the same men, yet to the same Jewish people, and to the same carnal seed of Israel, of whom some belonged to the faUing away, and some to the blessing of Israel himself. For the apostle previously explained this meaning more clearly when he said, "That which Israel wrought for, he hath not obtained; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded."1 Yet in both cases it was the very same Israel. Where, therefore, we hear, " Israel hath not obtained," or, " The rest were blinded," there are to be understood the enemies for our sakes ; but where we hear "that the election hath obtained it," there are to be understood the beloved for their fathers' sakes, to which fathers those things were assuredly promised ; because " the promises were made to Abraham and his seed,"2 whence also in that olive-tree is grafted the wild olive-tree of the GentUes. Now subsequently we certainly ought to faU in with the elec tion, of which he says that it is according to grace, not accord ing to debt, because "there was made a remnant by the election of grace."3 This election obtained it, the rest being bHnded. As concerning this election, the Israelites were be loved for the sakes of their fathers. For they were not caUed with that caUing of which it is said, " Many are caUed," but with that whereby the chosen are called. Whence also after he had said, " But as concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes," he went on to add those words whence this discussion arose : " For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance," — that is, they are firmly estabHshed with out change. Those who belong to this calling are all teach able by God ; nor can any of them say, " I believed in order to being thus called," because the mercy of God prevented him, because he was so called in order that he might beHeve. For aU who are teachable of God come to the Son because they have heard and learned from the Father through the Son, 1 Rom. xi 7. 2 Gal. iii 16. • Rom. xi. 5. 160 ON THE PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS. [CHAP. 34. who most clearly says, "Every one who has heard of the Father, and has learned, cometh unto me."1 But of such as these none perishes, because "of all that the Father hath given Him, He wiU lose none."2 Whoever, therefore, is of these does not perish at all ; nor was any who perishes ever of those. For which reason it is said, " They went out from among us, but they were not of us ; for if they had been of us, they would certainly have continued with us." 3 Chap. 34. [xvii.] — The special calling of fhe elect is not because they have believed, but in order that they may believe. Let us, then, understand the calHng whereby they become elected, — not those who are elected because they have beUeved, but who are elected that they may beHeve. For the Lord Himself also sufficiently explains this vocation when He says, " Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you."4 For if they had been elected because they had beUeved, they themselves would certainly have first chosen Him by beHeving in Him, so that they should deserve to be elected. But He takes away this supposition altogether when He says, " Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you." And yet they themselves, beyond a doubt, chose Him when they beUeved on Him. Whence it is not for any other reason that He says, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you," than because they did not choose Him that He should choose them, but He chose them that they might choose Him ; because His mercy prevented them according to grace, not according to debt. Therefore He chose them out of the world while here He was wearing flesh, but as those who were already chosen in Him self before the foundation of the world. This is the memor able truth concerning predestination and grace. For what is it that the apostle says, " As He hath chosen us in Himself before the foundation of the world " ?5 And assuredly, if this were said because God foreknew that they would believe, not because He Himself would make them behevers, the Son is speaking against such a foreknowledge as that when He says, " Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you ; " when God should rather have foreknown this very thing, that they them- 1 John vi. 45. 2 John vi. 39. 3 John ii. 19. 4 John xv. 16. ? Eph. i. 4. CHAP. 35.] ELECTION TO HOLINESS. 161 selves would have chosen Him, so that they might deserve to be chosen by Him. Therefore they were elected before the foundation of the world with that predestination in which God foreknew what He Himself would do ; but they were elected out of the world with that caUing whereby God fulfilled that which He predestinated. For whom He predestinated, them He also caUed, with that calling, to wit, which is according to His purpose. He did not caU others, therefore, but those whom He predestinated, them He also called ; nor [did He justify] others, but those whom He so caUed, them He also justified ; nor [did He glorify] others, but those whom He predestinated, caUed, and justified, them He also glorified assuredly with that result which has no end. Therefore God elected behevers ; but He chose them that they might be so, not because they were already so. The Apostle James says : " Has not God chosen the poor in this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which God hath promised to them that love Him V'1 By electing them, therefore, He makes them rich in faith, as He makes them heirs of the kingdom ; be cause He is rightly said to choose that in them, which that He might make in them He chose them. I ask, who can hear the Lord saying, " Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you," and can dare to say that men beHeve in order to be elected, when they are rather elected to believe ; lest against the judgment of truth they be found to have first chosen Christ to whom Christ says, " Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you " ? 2 Chap. 35. [xviii.] — Election is for the purpose of holiness. Who can hear the apostle saying, " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us in aU spiritual blessing in heavenly [places] in Christ ; as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without spot in His sight in love ; pre destinating us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His wiU, wherein He hath shown us favour3 in His beloved Son ; in whom we have redemption through His blood, the remission of sins 1 Jas. ii. 5. 2 John xvi. 16. 3 Gratificavit[Vulg.]. XV. "^ L 162 ON THE PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS. [CHAP. 36. according to the riches of His grace, which hath abounded to us in aU wisdom and prudence ; that He might show to us the mystery of His wiU according to His good pleasure, which He hath purposed in Himself, in the dispensation of the fulness of times, to restore aU things in Christ, which are in heaven, and in the earth, in Him : in whom also we have obtained a share, being predestinated according tq [His] purpose who worketh aU things according to the counsel of His wiU, that we should be to the praise of His glory;"1 — who, I say, can hear these words with attention and intelligence, and can dare to have any doubt concerning a truth so clear "as this which we are defending ? God chose Christ's members in Him be fore the foundation of the world ; and how should He choose those who as yet did not exist, except by predestinating them ? Therefore He chose us by predestinating us. Would he choose the unholy and the unclean ? Now if the question be pro posed, whether He would choose such, or rather the holy and unstained, who can ask which of these he may answer, and not give his opinion at once in favour of the holy and pure ? Chap. 36. — God chose the righteous ; not those whom He foresaw as being so of themselves, but those whom He predestinated for the purpose of making so. . " Therefore," says the Pelagian, " He foreknew who would be holy and immaculate by the choice of their free-wiU, and on that aceount elected them before the foundation of the world in that same foreknowledge of His in which He fore knew that they would be such. Therefore He elected them," says he, " before they existed, predestinating them to be chU dren whom He foreknew to be such as would be holy and immaculate. Certainly He did not make them so, nor did He foresee that He would make them so ; but [He foresaw] that they would be so." Let us, then, look into the words of the apostle and see whether He chose us before the foundation of the world because we were Hkely to be holy and immacu late, or in order that we might be so. " Blessed," says he, " be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us in all spiritual blessing in heavenly [places] in Christ; even as He hath chosen us in Himself before the foundation of the 1 Eph. i. 3 ff. CHAP. 37.] ELECTION TO HOLINESS. 163 world, that we should be holy and unspotted." 1 Not, then, because we were to be so, but that we might be so. As suredly it is certain, — assuredly it is manifest. Certainly we were to be such for the reason that He has chosen us, predes tinating us to be such by His grace. Therefore He so blessed us with spiritual blessing in heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus, as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and immaculate " in His sight, pre destinating us in love to the adoption of chUdren through Jesus Christ to Himself." Attend to what he then adds : " According to the good pleasure," he says, " of His wUl ;" that we might not in such a benefit of grace glory concerning the good pleasure of our will. " In which," says he, " He hath shown us favour in His beloved Son," — in which, certainly His own wiU, He hath shown us favour. Thus, it is said, He hath shown us grace by grace, even as it is said, He has made us righteous by righteousness. " In whom," he says, " we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, accord ing to the riches of His grace, which has abounded to us in all wisdom and prudence; that He might show to us the mystery of His wiU, according to His good pleasure." In this mystery of His wiU, He placed the riches of His grace, according to His good pleasure, not according to ours, which could not possibly be good unless He Himself, according to His own good pleasure, should aid it to become so. But when he had said, " According to His good pleasure," he added, " which He purposed in Him," that is, in His beloved Son, " in the dispensation of the fulness of times to restore aU things in Christ, which are in heaven, and which are in earth, in Him : in whom also we too have obtained a share, being predestinated according to His purpose who worketh aU things according to the counsel of His wiU; that we should be to the praise of His glory." Chap. 37. — We were elected and predestinated, not because we were likely to be holy, but that we might be so. It would be too tedious to argue about single points. But you see without doubt, you see with what evidence of apos- toHc declaration this grace is defended, in opposition to which 1 Eph. i. 3. 164 ON THE PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS. [CHAP. 38. human merits are set up, as if man could first give something, for it to be recompensed to him again. Therefore God elected us in Christ before the foundation of the world, predestinating us to the adoption of chUdren, not because we were about to be of ourselves holy and immaculate, but He elected and pre destinated us that we might be so. Moreover, He did this according to the good pleasure of His wiU, so that nobody might glory concerning his own wiU, but about God's will towards himself. He did this according to the riches of His grace, according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in His beloved Son, in whom we have obtained a share, being pre destinated according to the purpose, not ours, but His, who worketh aU things to such an extent as that He worketh in us to will also. Moreover, He worketh according to the counsel of His good pleasure, that we may be to the praise of His glory.1 For this reason it is that we cry that no one should glory in man, and thus not in himself ; but whoever glorieth let him glory in the Lord, that he may be for the praise of His glory. Because He Himself worketh according to His purpose that we may be to the praise of His glory, certainly holy and immaculate, for which purpose He caUed us, predestinating us before the foundation of the world. Of this His purpose is that special caUing of the elect for whom He worketh together all things for good, because they are caUed according to His purpose, and " the gifts and calHng of God are without repentance." 2 Chap. 38. [xix.]— What is tlie view of tlie Pelagians, and what of tlie semi-Pelagians, concerning predestination. But these brethren of ours, about whom and on whose behalf we are now discoursing, say that the Pelagians are- re futed by this apostolical testimony in which it is said that we are elected in Christ and predestinated before the foundation of the world, in order that we should be holy and immacu late in His sight in love. For they themselves think that "having received God's commands we are made holy and immaculate of ourselves by the choice of our free-wiU in His sight in love ; and since God foresaw that this would be the case," they say, " He therefore chose and predestinated us in 1 Phil. ii. 13. 4 Rom. xi. 29 CHAP. 39.] GOD FOREKNOWS AND GIVES FAITH. 165 Christ before the foundation of the world." Although the apostle says that it was not because He foreknew that we should be such, but in order that we might be such by the same election of His grace by which He showed us favour in His beloved Son. When, therefore, He predestinated us, He foreknew His own work by which He makes us holy and immaculate. Whence the Pelagian error is rightly refuted by this testimony. " But we say," say they, " that God did not foreknow any faith of ours except that by which we begin, to believe, and that He chose and predestinated us before the foundation of the world, in order that we might be holy and immaculate by His grace and by His work." But let them also hear in this testimony the words where he says, " We have obtained a share, being predestinated according to His purpose who worketh aU things."1 He, therefore, worketh the beginning of our behef who worketh aU things ; because faith itself does not precede that caUing of which it is said : "For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance;"2 and of which it is said : " Not of works, but of Him that caUeth " 3 (although He might have said, " of Him that believeth ") ; and the election which the Lord signified when He said : " Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you." 4 For He chose us, not because we believed, but that we might beHeve, lest we should be said first to have chosen Him, and so His word be false (which be it far from us to think pos sible), "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you." Neither are we caUed because we beUeved, but that we may beHeve ; and by that calling which is without repentance it is effected and carried through that we should beHeve. Neither are aU things to be unfolded concerning this matter so fully as those of which we have spoken. Chap. 39. — The beginning of faith is God's gift. FinaUy, also, in what follows this testimony, the apostle gives thanks to God on behalf of those who have believed ; — not, certainly, because the gospel has been declared to them, but because they have believed. For he says, "In whom 1 Eph. i. 11. 2 Rom. xi. 29. 3 Rom. ix. 12. * John. xv. 16. 166 ON THE PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS. [CHAP. 39. also after ye had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation ; in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the pledge of our inheritance, to the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory. Wherefore I also, after I had heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and [love] towards all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you." x Their faith was new and recent on the preaching of the gospel to them, which faith when he hears of, the apostle gives thanks to God on their behalf. If he were to give thanks to man for that which he might either think or know that man had not given, it would be called a flattery or a mockery, rather than a giving of thanks : " Do not err, for God is not mocked ; " 2 for His gift is also the beginning of faith, unless the apostolic giving of thanks be rightly judged to be either mistaken or faUacious. What is that if it does not appear as the beginning of the faith of the Thessalonians, of which, nevertheless, the same apostle gives thanks to God when he says, " For this cause also we thank God without ceasing, because when ye had received from us the word of the hearing of God, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God, which effectuaUy worketh in you who3 have believed " ?4 What is that for which he here gives thanks to God ? As suredly it is a vain and idle thing if He to whom he gives thanks did not Himself do the thing. But, since this is not a vain and idle thing, certainly God, to whom he gave thanks concerning this work, Himself did it ; that when they had received the word of the hearing of God, they received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God. God, therefore, worketh in the hearts of men with that calling according to His promise, of which we have spoken a great deal, that they should not hear the gospel in vain, but when they hear it, should be converted and believe, receiving it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God. 1 Eph. i. 13. ff. 2 Gal. vi. 7. 3 Original has cui, which is clearly a misprint for qui, although it appears in more than one edition. 4 1 Thess. ii. 13. CHAP. 41.] THE BEGINNINGS OF FAITH. 167 Chap. 40. [xx.] — Apostolic testimony to the beginning of faith being God's gift. Moreover, we are admonished that the beginning of men's faith is God's gift, since the apostle signifies this when, in the Epistle to the Colossians, he says, " Continue in prayer, and watch in the same in giving of thanks. Withal praying also for us that God would open unto us the door of His word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which also I am in bonds, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak." 1 How is the door of His word opened, except when the sense of the hearer is opened so that he may believe, and, having made a beginning of faith, may admit those things which are declared and reasoned, for the purpose of building up wholesome doc trine, lest, by a heart closed through unbelief, he reject and repel those things which are spoken ? Whence, also, he says to the Corinthians: "But I wUl tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. For a great and evident door is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries." 2 What else can be under stood here, save that, when the gospel had been first of aU preached there by him, many had believed, and there had appeared many adversaries of the same faith, in accordance with that saying of the Lord, " No one cometh unto me, unless it were given him of my Father ; " 3 and, " To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given"? 4 Therefore, there is an open door in those to whom it is given, but there are many adversaries among those to whom it is not given. Chap. 41. — Further apostolic testimonies. And again, the same apostle says to the same people, in his second Epistle : " When I had come to Troas for the gospel of Christ, and a door had been opened unto me in the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus, my brother : but, making my fareweU to them, I went away into Macedonia." 5 To whom did he bid fareweU but to those who had believed, — to wit, in whose hearts the door was opened for his preaching of the gospel ? But attend to what 1 Col. iv. 2 ff. 2 1 Cor. xvi. 8. 3 John vi. 66, * Luke viii. 10. 6 2 Cor. ii. 12, 13. 168 ON THE PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS. [CHAP. 42. he adds, saying, " Now thanks be unto God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place : because we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ in them who are saved, and in them who perish : to some, indeed, we are the savour of death unto death, but to some the savour of Hfe unto life." x See concerning what this most zealous soldier and invincible defender of grace gives thanks. See concerning what he gives thanks, — that the apostles are a sweet savour of Christ unto God, both in those who are saved by His grace, and in those who perish by His judgment. But in order that those who Httle understand these things may be less enraged, he him self gives a warning when he adds the words : " And who is sufficient for these things ? "3 But let us return to the open ing of the door by which the apostle signified the beginning of faith in his hearers. For what is the meaning of, " Withal praying also for us that God would open unto us a door of the word," 3 unless it is a most manifest demonstration that even the very beginning of faith is the gift of God ? For it would not be sought for from Him in prayer, unless it were beUeved to be given by Him. This gift of heavenly grace had descended to that seUer of purple 4 for whom, as Scripture says in the Acts of the Apostles, " The Lord opened her heart, and she gave heed unto the things which were said by Paul ; " for she was so called that she might beHeve. Because God does what He will in the hearts of men, either by assistance or by judgment ; so that, even through their means, may be fulfilled what His hand and counsel have predestinated to be done. Chap. 42. — Old Testament testimonies. Therefore it is in vain, moreover, that objectors have aUeged, that what we have proved by Scripture testimony from the books of Kings and Chronicles has nothing to do with the subject of which we are discoursing:6 such, for instance, as that when God wills that to be done which ought only to be done by the intelligence of men, their hearts are 1 2 Cor. ii. 14 ff. 2 2 Cor. ii. 16. 3 Col. iv. 3. 4 Acts xvi. 14. 5 Hilary's Letter, sec. 7. CHAP. 42.] GOD EFFECTS MEN'S WILLS. 169 inclined to will this, — inclined, that is to say, by His power, who, in a marveUous and ineffable manner, worketh in us also to will. What else than this is to say nothing, and yet to contradict ? Unless, perchance, they have given some reason to you for the view that they have taken, which reason you have preferred to say nothing about in your letters. But what that reason can be I do not know. Whether, possibly, since we have shown that God has so acted on the hearts of men, and has induced the wUls of those whom He pleased to this point, that Saul or David should be established as king, — do they not think that these instances are appropriate to this subject, because to reign in this world temporally is not the same thing as to reign eternaUy with God ? And so do they suppose that God inclines the wiUs of those whom He pleases to the attainment of earthly kingdoms, but does not incline them to the attainment of a heavenly kingdom ? But I think that it was in reference to the kingdom of heaven, and not to an earthly kingdom, that it was said, " Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies ; " x or, " The steps of a man are ordered by the Lord, and He wiU wUl His way ; " 2 or, " The wUl is pre pared by the Lord ; " 3 or, " Let our Lord be with us as with our fathers ; let Him not forsake us, nor turn Himself away from us ; let Him inchne our hearts unto Him, that we may walk in all His ways ; " 4 or, " I wiU give them a heart to know me, and ears that hear;"5 or, "I wUl give them another heart, and a new spirit wUl I give them." 6 Let them also hear this, " I wUl give my Spirit within you, and I wUl cause you to walk in my righteousnesses; and ye shaU observe my judgments, and do them."7 Let them hear, " Man's goings are directed by the Lord, and how can a man understand His ways ? " 8 Let them hear, " Every man seem eth right to himself, but the Lord directeth the hearts." 9 Let them hear, "As many as were ordained to eternal Hfe be Ueved." 10 Let them hear these passages, and whatever others of the kind I have not mentioned in which God is declared 1 Ps. cxix. 36. 2 Ps. xxxvii. 23. 3 Prov. viii. [see LXX.] 4 1 Kings viii. 57. 5 Baruch ii. 31. e Ezek. xi. 19. 7 Ezek. xxxvi. 27. 8 Prov. xx. 24. 8 Prov. xxi. 2. 10 Acts xiii. 48. 170 ON THE PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS. [CHAP. 43. to prepare and to convert men's wiUs, even for the kingdom of heaven and for eternal Hfe. And consider what sort of a thing it is to beHeve that God worketh men's wiUs, for the foundation of earthly kingdoms, but that men work their own wiUs for the attainment of the kingdom of heaven. Chap. 43. [xxi.] — Conclusion. I have said a great deal, and, perchance, I could long ago have persuaded you what I wished, and am stiU speaking this to such inteUigent minds as if they were obtuse, to whom even what is too much is not enough. But let them pardon me, for a new question has compeUed me to this. Because, although in my former little treatises I had proved by suffi ciently appropriate proofs that faith also was the gift of God, there was found this ground of contradiction, viz. that those testimonies were good for this purpose, to show that the increase of faith was God's gift, but that the beginning of faith, whereby a man first of aU beHeves in Christ, is of the man himself, and is not the gift of God, — but that God requires this, so that when it has preceded, other gifts may foUow, as it were on the ground of this merit, and these are the gifts of God ; and that none of them is given freely, although in them God's grace is declared, which is not grace except as being gratuitous. And you see how absurd aU this is. Wherefore I determined, as far as I could, to set forth that this very beginning also is God's gift. And this if I have done at a greater length than perhaps those on whose account I did it might wish, I am prepared to be reproached for it by them, so long as they nevertheless confess that, although at greater length than they wished, although with the disgust and weari ness of those that understand, I have done what I have done : that is, I have taught that even the beginning of faith, as con tinence, patience, righteousness, piety, and the rest, concerning which there is no dispute with them, is God's gift. Let this, therefore, be the end of this treatise, lest too great length in this one may give offence. A TREATISE ON THE GIFT1 OF PERSEVERANCE. By AUEELIUS AUGUSTINE, Bishop of Hippo. THE SECOND BOOK. ADDRESSED TO PROSPER AND HILARY. A.D. 428 OR 429. IN THE FIRST PART OF THE BOOK HE PROVES THAT THE PERSEVERANCE BY WHICH A MAN IS ENABLED TO PERSEVERE IN CHRIST TO THE END IS GOD'S GIFT ; FOR THAT IT IS A MOCKERY TO ASK OF GOD THAT WHICH IS NOT BELIEVED TO BE GIVEN BY GOD. MOREOVER, THAT IN THE LORD'S PRAYER SCARCELY ANYTHING IS ASKED FOR BUT PERSEVERANCE, ACCORDING TO THE EXPOSITION OF THE MARTYR CYPRIAN, BY WHICH EXPOSITION, INDEED, THE ENEMIES TO THAT GRACE ITSELF WERE CONVICTED BEFORE THEY WERE BORN. HE TEACHES THAT THE GRACE OF PERSEVERANCE IS NOT GIVEN ACCORDING TO THE MERITS OF THE RECEIVERS, BUT TO SOME IT IS GIVEN BY GOD'S MERCY ; TO OTHERS IT IS NOT GIVEN, BY HIS RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT. THAT IT IS INSCRUTABLE WHY, OF ADULTS, ONE RATHER THAN ANOTHER SHOULD BE CALLED ; JUST AS, MOREOVER, OF TWO INFANTS IT IS INSCRUT ABLE WHY THE ONE SHOULD BE TAKEN, THE OTHER LEFT. BUT THAT IT IS STILL MORE INSCRUTABLE WHY, OF TWO PIOUS PERSONS, TO ONE IT SHOULD BE GIVEN TO PERSEVERE, TO THE OTHER IT SHOULD NOT BE GIVEN ; BUT THAT THIS IS MOST CERTAIN, THAT THE FORMER IS OF THE PREDESTI NATED, THE LATTER IS NOT. HE OBSERVES THAT THE MYSTERY OF PRE DESTINATION IS SET FORTH IN OUR LORD'S WORDS CONCERNING THE PEOPLE OF TYRE AND SIDON, WHO WOULD HAVE REPENTED IF THE SAME MIRACLES HAD BEEN DONE AMONG THEM WHICH HAD BEEN DONE IN CHORAZIN. HE SHOWS THAT THE CASE OF INFANTS IS OF FORCE TO CONFIRM THE. TRUTH OF PREDESTINATION AND GRACE IN OLDER PEOPLE ; AND HE ANSWERS THE PASSAGE OF HIS THIRD BOOK ON FREE-WILL, UNSOUNDLY ALLEGED ON THIS POINT BY HIS ADVERSARIES. SUBSEQUENTLY, IN THE SECOND PART OF THIS WORK, HE REBUTS WHAT THEY SAY, — TO WIT, THAT THE DEFINITION OF PREDESTINATION IS OPPOSED TO THE ADVANTAGE OF EXHORTATION AND REBUKE. HE ASSERTS, ON THE OTHER HAND, THAT IT IS ADVANTAGEOUS 1 In some editions the title is, " On the Benefit (de Bono) qf Perseverance." 172 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 1. TO PREACH PREDESTINATION, SO THAT MAN MAY NOT GLORY IN HIMSELF, BUT IN THE LORD. AS TO THE OBJECTIONS, HOWEVER, WHICH THEY MAKE AGAINST PREDESTINATION, HE SHOWS THAT THE SAME OBJECTIONS MAY BE TWISTED IN NO UNLIKE MANNER EITHER AGAINST GOD'S FOREKNOWLEDGE OR AGAINST THAT GRACE WHICH THEY ALL AGREE TO BE NECESSARY FOR OTHER GOOD THINGS (WITH THE EXCEPTION. OF THE BEGINNING OF FAITH AND THE COMPLETION OF PERSEVERANCE). FOR THAT THE PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS IS NOTHING ELSE THAN GOD'S FOREKNOWLEDGE AND PREPARATION FOR HIS BENEFITS, BY WHICH WHOEVER ARE DELIVERED ARE MOST CER TAINLY DELIVERED. BUT HE BIDS THAT PREDESTINATION SHOULD BE PREACHED IN A HARMONIOUS MANNER, AND NOT IN SUCH A WAY AS TO SEEM TO AN UNSKILFUL MULTITUDE AS IF IT WERE DISPROVED BY ITS VERY ANNOUNCEMENT. LASTLY, HE COMMENDS TO US JESUS CHRIST, AS PLACED BEFORE OUR EYES, AS THE MOST EMINENT INSTANCE OF PREDESTINATION. Chap. 1. [l] — Of fhe nature of fhe perseverance here discoursed of. I HAVE now to consider the subject of perseverance with greater care ; for in the former treatise also I said some things on this subject when I was discussing the beginning of faith. I assert, therefore, that the perseverance by which we persevere in Christ even to the end is the gift of God ; and I call that the end by which is finished that Hfe wherein alone there is a risk of faUing. Therefore it is uncertain whether any one has received this gift so long as he is stUl alive. For if he fall before he dies, he assuredly is said not to have persevered ; and most truly is it said. How, then, should he be said to have received or to have had persever ance who has not persevered ? For if any one have conti nence, and fall away from that virtue and become incontinent, — or, in like manner, if he have righteousness, if patience, if even faith, and faU away, he is rightly said to have had these virtues and to have them no longer ; for he was conti nent, or he was righteous, or he was patient, or he was beHeving, as long as he was so ; but when he ceased to be so, he no longer is what he was. But how should he who has not persevered have ever been persevering, since it is only by persevering that any one shows himself persevering, — and this he has not done ? But lest any one should struggle against this, and say, If from the date at which any one became a believer he has lived — for the sake of argu ment — ten years, and in the midst of them has faUen from the faith, has he not persevered for five years ? I am CHAP. 2.] PERSEVERANCE TO THE END, GOD'S GIFT. 173 not contending about words. If it be thought that this also should be caUed perseverance, as it were for so long as it lasts, assuredly he is not to be said to have had in any degree that perseverance of which we are now discoursing, by which one perseveres in Christ even to the end. And the beUever of one year, or of a period as much shorter as may be conceived of, if he has Hved faithfully until he died, has rather had this perseverance than the believer of many years' standing, if a Httle time before his death he has faUen away from the stedfastness of his faith. Chap. 2. [n.] — Faith is the beginning of a Christian man. Martyrdom for Christ's sake is his best ending. Which matter being settled, let us see whether this perse verance, of which it was said, " He that persevereth unto the end, the same shaU be saved," x is a gift of God. Because, if if be not, how is that saying of the apostle true : " Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to beHeve on Him, but also to suffer for His sake " ? 2 Of these things, certainly, one has respect to the beginning, the other to the end [scil. of life]. Yet both axe the gift of God, because both are said to be given ; as, moreover, I have aHeady said above. For what is more truly the beginning for a Christian than to beHeve in Christ ? What end is better than to suffer for Christ ? But so far as pertains to beHeving in Christ, whatever kind of contradiction has been discovered, that not the beginning but the increase of faith should be caUed God's gift, — to this opinion, by God's gift, I have answered enough, and more than enough. But what reason can be given why persever ance to the end should not be given in Christ to him to whom it is given to suffer for Christ, or, to speak more distinctly, to whom it is given to die for Christ ? For the Apostle Peter, showing that this is the gift of God, says, " It is better, if the wiU of God be so, to suffer for weU-doing than for evU-doing." 3 When he says, " If the wUl of God be so," he shows that this is given from heaven, yet not to aU saints, to suffer for Christ's sake. For it is not those whom the wiU of God does not choose to attain to the expe rience and the glory of suffering, that do not attain to • the ' Matt. x. 22. 2 Phil. ii. 29. 3 1 Pet. iii. 17. 174 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 3. kingdom of God if they persevere in Christ to the end. But who can say that this perseverance is not given to those who die in Christ from any weakness of body, or by any kind of accident, although a far more difficult perseverance is given to those by whom even death itself is undergone for Christ's sake ? Because perseverance is much more difficult when the persecutor is engaged in preventing a man's perse verance ; and therefore he is sustained in his perseverance unto death. Hence it is more difficult to have the former perseverance, — easier to have the latter ; but to Him to whom nothing is difficult it is easy to give both. For God has promised this, saying, "I wiU put my fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from me." x And what else is this than, Such and so great shaU be my fear that I wiU put into their hearts that they wiU perseveringly cleave to me ? Chap. 3. — God is besought for it, because it is His gift. But why is that perseverance asked for from God if it is not given by God ? Is that a mocking petition when that is asked from Him which it is known that He does not give, but, although He gives it not, is in man's power ; just as that giving of thanks is a mockery, if thanks are given to God for that which He did not give nor do ? But what I said on that subject 2 I say also here again : " Be not deceived," says the apostle, " God is not mocked."3 0 man, God is a witness not only of your words, but even of your thoughts. If you ask anything in truth and faith of one who is so rich, believe that you receive from Him from whom you ask, what you ask. Abstain from honouring Him with your lips' and ex- toUing yourself over Him in your heart, beHeving that you have from yourself what you are pretending to beseech from Him. Is not that perseverance, perchance, asked for from Him ? He who says this is not to be rebuked by any arguments, but must be covered4 with the prayers of the saints. Is there any of those who does not ask for himself from God that he may persevere in Him, when in that very prayer which is called the Lord's — because the Lord taught it — when it is 1 Jer. xxxii. 40. 2 De Predest. Sanct. c. 39, p. 165, supra. 3 Gal. vi. 6. « Some editions lead "recalled." CHAP. 4.] CYPRIAN ON THE LORD'S PRAYER. 175 prayed by the saints, scarcely anything else is understood to be prayed for but perseverance ? Chap. 4. — Of fhe Pelagian doctrine there are three leading points. Eead with a Httle more attention the exposition of this in the treatise of the blessed martyr Cyprian, which he produced con cerning this matter, the title of which is, On the lord's Prayer ; and see how many years ago, and what sort of an antidote was prepared against those poisons which the Pelagians were one day to use. For there are three points, as you know, which the Catholic Church chiefly maintains against them, — one of which is, that the grace of God is not given according to our merits ; because even every one of the merits of the righteous is God's gift, and is conferred by God's grace. The second is, that no one Hves in this corruptible body in right eousness of any degree without sins of any kind. The third is, that man is born obnoxious to the first man's sin, and bound by the chain of his condemnation, unless the condition of guUt which is contracted by generation be loosed by re generation. Of these three points, that which I have placed last is the only one that is not treated of in the above-named book of the glorious martyr ; but of the two others the dis course there is of such perspicuity, that the above-named heretics, modern enemies of the grace of Christ, are found to have been convicted long before they were born. Among these merits of the saints, then, which are no merits unless they are the gifts of God, he says that perseverance also is God's gift, in these words : " We say, ' HaUowed be Thy name ; ' not that we ask for God that He may be haUowed by our prayers, but that we beseech of Him that His name may be haUowed in us. But by whom is God sanctified, since He Himself sanctifies ? WeU, because He says, Be ye holy because I also am holy, we ask and entreat that we, who were sanctified in baptism, may persevere in that which we have begun to be." x And a Uttle after, stiU arguing about that selfsame matter, and teaching that we entreat persever ance from God, which we could in no wise rightly and truly do unless it were His gift, he says : " We pray that this 1 Cyprian, On the Lord's Prayer, Works, vol. i. p. 406 (Eng. Trans.). 176 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 6. sanctification -may abide in us ; and because our Lord and Judge warns the man that was healed and quickened by Him to sin no more, lest a worse thing happen unto him, we make this suppHcation in our constant prayers; we ask this day and night, that the sanctification and quickening which is received from the grace of God may be preserved by His protection." x That doctor, therefore, understands that we are asking from Him for perseverance in sanctification, that is, that we should persevere in sanctification, when we who are sanctified say, " Hallowed be Thy name." For what else is it to ask for what we have abeady received, than that it be given to us also not to cease from possession ? As, therefore, the saint, when he asks God that he may be holy, is certainly asking that he may contmue to be holy, so certainly the chaste person also, when he asks that he may be chaste, the continent that he may be continent, the righteous that he may be righteous, the pious that he may be pious, and the like, — which things, against the Pelagians, we maintain to be God's gifts, — they are asking, without doubt, that they may persevere in those good things which they have acknowledged that they have received. And if they receive this, assuredly they also receive . perseverance itself, the great gift of God, whereby His other gifts are preserved. Chap. 5. — The second petition in fhe Lord's Prayer. What, when we say, " Thy kingdom come," do we ask else, but that that should also come to us which we do not doubt wiU come to all saints ? And therefore here also, what do they who are already holy pray for, save that they may persevere in that holiness which has been given them ? For no otherwise wiH the kingdom of God come to them; which it is certain wiU come not to others, but to those who persevere to the end. Chap. 6. [in.] — The third petition. How lieaven and earth are understood in the Lord's Prayer. The third petition is, " Thy wUl be done in heaven and in earth;" or, as it is read in many codices, and is more frequently made use of by petitioners, " As in heaven, so also ' Cyprian, On the Lord's Prayer, Works, vol. i. p. 406 (Eng. Trans.). CHAP. 6.] AS IN HEAVEN, SO- HM EARTH. 177 in earth," which many people understand, that we also may do Thy wUl as the holy angels do. That doctor and martyr wiU have heaven and earth, however, to be understood as spirit and flesh, and says that we pray that we may do the wiU of God with the full agreement of both our natures. He saw in these words also another meaning, fitting to the soundest faith, of which meaning. I have already spoken above, — to wit, that for un- beHevers, who are as yet earth, bearing in their first birth only the earthly man, behevers are understood to pray, who, being clothed with the heavenly man, are not unreasonably caUed by the name of heaven; where he plainly shows both that the beginning of faith is God's gift, since the holy Church prays not only for behevers, that faith may be increased or may con tinue in them, but, moreover, for unbehevers, that they may begin to have what they have not had at aU, and against which, besides, they were indulging hostile feelings. Now, however, I am arguing not concerning the beginning of faith, of which I have already spoken much in the former book, but of that perseverance which must be had even to the end, — which assuredly even the saints, who do the wUl of God, seek when they say in prayer, "Thy wiU be done." For, since it is already done in them, why do they still ask that it may be done, except that they may persevere in that which they have begun to be ? Although it may here be said that the saints do not ask that the will of God may be done in heaven, but that it may be done in earth as in heaven, — that is to say, that earth may imitate heaven, that is, that man may imitate the angel, or that an unbeHever may imitate a beUever ; and thus that the saints are asking that that may be which is not yet, not that that which is may continue. For, by whatever hoHness men may be distinguished, they are not yet equal to the angels of God ; not yet, therefore, is the wiU of God done in them as it is in heaven. And if this be so, in that portion indeed in which we ask that men from unbeHevers may become believers, it is not perseverance, but beginning that seems to be asked for ; but in that in which we ask that men may be made equal to the angels of God in doing God's wiU, — where the saints pray for this, they are found to be praying for perseverance ; since no one attains to that highest blessed- xv. M 178 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 8. ness which is in the kingdom, unless he shaU persevere unto the end in that holiness which he has received on earth. ¦Chap. 7. [iv.] — The fourth petition. The fourth petition is, "Give us this day our daUy bread," x where the blessed Cyprian shows how here also perseverance is understood to be asked for. Because he says, among other things, " And we ask that this bread should be given to us daUy, that we who are in Christ, and daUy receive the Eucha rist for the food of salvation, may not by the interposition of some heinous sin be separated from Christ's body by being withheld from communicating and prevented from partaking of the heavenly bread." 2 These words of the holy man of God indicate that the saints ask for perseverance directly from God, when with this intention they say, " Give us this day our daily bread;" that they may not be separated from Christ's body, but may continue in that holiness in which they allow no crime by which they may deserve to be separated from it. Chap. 8. [v.] — The fifth petition. Itis an error ofthe Pelagians that Ae righteous are free from any sin. In the fifth sentence of the prayer we say, " Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive -our debtors," 3 in which peti tion alone perseverance is not found to be asked for. For the sins which we ask to be forgiven us are past, but perse verance, which saves us for eternity, is indeed necessary for the time of this Hfe ; but not for the time which is past, but for that which remains even to its end. Yet it is worth the labour to consider for a Httle, how even already in this petition the heretics who were to arise long after were transfixed by the tongue of Cyprian, as if by the most invincible dart of truth. For the Pelagians dare to say even this: that the righteous man in this Hfe has no sin at aU, and that in such men there is even at the present time a Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, which is the one and only bride of Christ ; as if she were not His bride who throughout 1 Matt. vi. 11. 2 Cyprian, On the Lord's Prayer (Eng. Trans.), vol. i. p. 414. " Matt. vi. 12. CHAP. 10.] PERSEVERANCE OBTAINED BY PRAYER. 179 the whole earth says what she has learnt from Him, " Forgive us our debts." But observe how the most glorious Cyprian destroys these. For when he was expounding that very clause of the Lord's Prayer, he says among other things : " And how necessarUy, how providently, and salutarily are we ad monished that we are sinners, since we are compelled to entreat for our sins ; and whUe pardon is asked for from God, the soul recaUs its own consciousness [of guilt] ! Lest any one should flatter himself that he is innocent, and by exalting himself should more deeply perish, he is instructed and taught that he sins daUy, in that he is bidden daUy to entreat for his sins. Thus, moreover, John also in his Epistle warns J us, and says,2 ' If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.' " 3 And the rest, which it would be tedious to insert in this place. Chap. 9. — When perseverance is granted to a person, he cannot but persevere. Now, moreover, when the saints say, " Lead us not into temptation, but deHver us from evU,"4 whatever do they pray for but that they may persevere in holiness ? For, assuredly, when that gift of God is granted to them, — which is sufficiently plainly shown to be God's gift, since it is asked of Him, — that gift of God, then, being granted to them that they may not be led into temptation, none of the saints faUs to keep his per severance in holiness even to the end. For there is not any one who ceases to persevere in the Christian purpose unless he is first of all led into temptation. If, therefore, it be granted to him according to his prayer that he may not be led [into temptation], certainly by the gift of God he persists in that sanctification which by the gift of God he has received. Chap. 10. [vi.] — The gift of perseverance can be obtained by prayer. But you write that these brethren wUl not have this perse verance declared in such a way as that it cannot be obtained by prayer or lost by obstinacy. In this they are little care ful in considering what they say. For we are speaking of that perseverance whereby one perseveres unto the end, and if 1 "Potens " or "ponens " are different readings. 2 1 John i. 8. 3 Cyprian, "Works (Trans.), vol. i. p. 413. * Matt. vi. 13. 180 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 11. this is given, one does persevere unto the end ; but if one does not persevere unto the end, it is not given, which I have already sufficiently discussed above. Let not men say, then, that perseverance is given to any one to the end, except when the end itself has come, and he to whom it has been given has been found to have persevered unto the end. Certainly, we say that one whom we have known to be chaste is chaste, whether he should continue or not in the same chastity ; and if he should have any other divine endowment which may be kept and lost, we say that he has it as long as he has it ; and if he should lose it, we say that he had it. But since no one has perseverance to the end except he who does persevere unto the end, many people may have it, but none can lose it. For it is not to be feared that perchance when a man has persevered unto the end, some evU wUl may arise in him, so that he does not persevere unto the end. This gift of God, therefore, may be obtained by prayer, but when it has been given, it cannot be lost by contumacy. For when any one has persevered unto the end, he neither can lose this gift, nor others which he could lose before the end. How, then, can that be lost, whereby it results that even that which could be lost is not lost ? Chap. 11. — Effect qf prayer for perseverance. But, lest perchance it be said that perseverance even to the end is not indeed lost when it has once been given, — that is, when a man has persevered unto the end, — but that it is lost in some measure when a man by contumacy so acts that he is not able to attain to it, as we say that a man who has not persevered unto the end has lost eternal Hfe or the kingdom of God; not what he had aHeady received and actuaUy had, but what he would have received and had if he had persevered,— let us lay aside controversies of words, and say that some things even which are not possessed, but are hoped to be possessed, may be lost. Let any one who dares, teU me whether God cannot give what He has commanded to be asked from Him. Certainly he who affirms this, I say not is a fool, but he is mad. But God commanded that Hia saints should say to Him in prayer, " Lead us not into temp- CHAP. 12.] GOD'S TEMPTATIONS BENEFICIAL. 181 tation." Whoever, therefore, is listened to when he asks this, is not led into the temptation of contumacy, whereby he could or would be worthy to lose perseverance in holiness. Chap. 12. — Of his oum will a man forsakes God, so that he is deservedly forsaken of Him. But, on the other hand, of his own wiU a man forsakes God, so as to be deservedly forsaken by God. Who would deny this ? But it is for that reason we ask not to be led into temptation, so that this may not happen. And if we are heard, certainly it does not happen, because God does not allow it to happen. For nothing comes to pass except what either He Himself does, or Himself aUows to be done. There fore He is powerful both to turn wUls from evU to good, and to convert those wiUs that are inchned to fall, or to direct them into a way pleasing to Himself. For to Him it is not said in vain, " 0 God, Thou shalt turn again and quicken us ; " x it is not vainly said, " Give not my foot to be moved ; " 2 it is not vainly said, " Give me not over, 0 Lord, from my desire to the sinner ; " 3 finaUy, not to mention many passages, since probably more may occur to you, it is not vainly said, " Lead us not into temptation." * For whoever is not led into temptation, certainly is not led into the temp tation of his own evU wiU ; and he who is not led into the temptation of his own evU wUl, is absolutely led into no temp tation. For " every one is tempted," as it is written, " when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed ; " 6 " but God tempteth no man," 6 — that is to say, with a hurtful temptation. For temptation is moreover beneficial by which we are not deceived or overwhelmed, but proved, according to that which is said, " Prove me, 0 Lord, and try me." 7 Therefore, with that hurtful temptation which the apostle signifies when he says, " Lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain," 8 " God tempteth no man," as I have said, — that is, He brings or leads no one into temp tation. For to be tempted and not to be led into temptation is not evU, — nay, it is even good ; for this it is to be proved. 1 Ps. lxxxiv. 6. 2 Ps. lxvi. 9. 3 Ps. cxl. 8. 4 Matt. vi. 13. 5 Jas. i. 14. 8 Jas. i. 13. 7 Ps. xxvi. 2. 3 1 Thes. iii. 5. 182 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 13. When, therefore, we say to God, " Lead us not into tempta tion," what do we say but, " Permit us not to be led" ? Whence some pray in this manner, and it is read in many codices, and the most blessed Cyprian thus uses it : " Do not suffer us to be led into temptation." In the Greek gospel, however, I have never found it otherwise than, "Lead us not into temptation." We Hve, therefore, more securely if we give up the whole to God, and do not entrust ourselves partly to Him and partly to ourselves, as that venerable martyr saw. For when he would expound the same clause of the prayer, he says among other things, "But when we ask that we may not come into temptation, we are reminded of our infirmity and weakness in that we thus ask, lest any should insolently vaunt himself, — lest any should proudly and arrogantly assume anything to himself, — lest any should take to himself the glory either of confession or suffering as his own, when the Lord Himself, teaching humUity, said, ' Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation ; the Spirit indeed is will ing, but the flesh is weak.' So that whUe a humble and sub missive confession comes first, and aU is attributed to God, whatever is sought for suppHantly, with the fear of God, may be granted by His own loving-kindness." * Chap. 13. [vii.] — Temptation fhe condition of man. If, then, there were no other proofs, this Lord's Prayer alone would be sufficient for us on behalf of the grace which I am defending ; because it leaves us nothing wherein we may, as it were, glory as in our own, since it shows that our not departing from God is not given except by God, when it shows that it must be asked for from God. For he who is not led into temptation does not depart from God. This is absolutely not in the strength of free-wiU, such as it now is ; but it had been in man before he feU. And yet how much this freedom of wiU avaUed in the exceUence of that primal state appeared in the angels ; who, when the devil and his angels feU, stood in the truth, and deserved to attain to that perpetual security of not falling, in which we are most certain that they are now established. But, after the faU of man, God 1 Cyprian, On the Lord's Prayer (Eng. Trans.), vol. i. p. 416. CHAP. 16.] GOD'S HAND UPON MAN, 183 wUled it to pertain only to His grace that man should approach to Him; nor did He wiU it to pertain to aught but His grace that man should not depart from Him. Chap. 14. — It is God's grace both that man comes to Him, and that man does not depart from Him.- This grace He estabHshed " in Him in whom we have obtained a share, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh aU things." x And thus as He worketh that we come to Him, so He worketh that we do not depart. Wherefore it was said to Him by the mouth of the prophet, " Let Thy hand be upon the man of Thy right hand, and upon the Son of man whom Thou madest strong for Thyself, and we wUl not depart from Thee." 2 This certainly is not the first Adam, in whom we departed from. Him, but the second Adam, upon whom His hand is placedrso that we do not depart from Him. For Christ altogether with His members is — with reference to the Church, which is His body — the fulness of Him. When, therefore, God's hand is upon Him, that we depart not from God, assuredly God's work reaches to us (for this is God's hand) ; by which work of God we are caused to be abiding in Christ with God — not, as in Adam, departing from God. For in Christ we have obtained a share, being predestinated aceording to His purpose who worketh aU things. This, therefore, is God's hand, not ours, that we depart not from God. That, I say, is His hand who said, " I will put my fear in their hearts, that they depart not from me." 3 Chap. 15. — Why God willed that He should be asked for that which He might give without prayer „ On which account also He wUled that He should be asked that we may not be led into temptation, because if we are no*t so led, we by no means depart from Hink And this might have been given to us even without our praying for it, but by our prayer He wUled us to be admonished from whom we receive these benefits. For from whom but from Him do we receive from whom it is right for us to ask ? Truly in this matter let not the Church look for laborious disputations, but 1 Eph. ill. " Ps. lxxx. 17, 18. 3 Jer. xxxii. 40. 184 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 16.' consider its own daily prayers. It prays that the unbeheving may believe ; therefore God converts to the faith. It prays that believers may persevere ; therefore Ood gives persever ance to the end. God foreknew that He would do this. This IS THE VERY PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS," whom He has chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, that they should be holy and unspotted before Him in love; predestinat ing them unto the adoption of chUdren by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His wiU, to the praise of the glory of His grace, in which He hath shown them favour an His beloved Son, in whom they have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace, which has abounded towards them in aU wisdom and prudence ; that He might show them the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Him, in the dispensation of the fulness of times to restore aU things In Christ which are in heaven and which are in earth; in Him, in whom. also we have obtained a share, being predestinated according to His purpose who worketh aU things." x Against a trumpet of truth so clear as this, what man of sober and watchful faith can receive any human arguments ? Chap. U6. [viii.] — Why is not grace given according to merit? But why, says one, is not the grace of God given according to men's merits ? I answer, Because God is merciful Why, then, it is asked, is it not given to all ? And here I reply, Because God is a Judge.2 And thus grace is given by Him freely ; and by His righteous judgment it is shown in some what grace confers on those to whom it is given. Let us not then be ungrateful, that according to the good pleasure of His will a merciful God deHvers so many to the praise of the glory of His grace from such deserved perdition ; as, if He should deHver no one therefrom, He would not be unrighteous. Let him, therefore, who is delivered love His grace. Let him who is not deHvered acknowledge his due. If, in remitting a debt, goodness is perceived, in requiring it, justice — un righteousness is never found to be with God. 1 Eph. i. 4-11. , * Eom. ix. 20. CHAP. 18.] DIVERSE JUDGMENTS IN SIMILAR CASES. 185 Chap. 17. — The difficulty ofthe distinction made in tlie choice ofone and the rejection of another. " But why," it is said, " in one and the same case, not only of infants, but even of twin chUdren, is the judgment so diverse? " Is it not a similar question, Why in a different case is the judgment the same ? Let us recaU, then, those labourers in the vineyard who worked the whole day, and those who toUed one hour. Certainly it is a differing case of labour expended, and yet there was the same judgment in paying the wages. Did the murmurers in this case hear anything from the householder except, Such is my wiU? Certainly such was his HberaHty towards some, that there could be no injustice towards others. And both these classes, indeed, are among the good. Nevertheless, in what refers to justice and grace, it may be truly said to the guUty who is condemned, even concerning the guUty who is delivered, " Take what thine is, and go thy way; "x "I wiU give unto this one that which is not due ; " " Is it not lawful for me to do what I wUl ? is thine eye evU because I am good ?" And how if he should say, Why not to me also ? he wiU hear, and with reason, "Who art thou, 0 man, that rephest against God?"2 And although assuredly in the one case you see a most benignant benefactor, and in your own case a most righteous exactor, in neither case do you behold an unjust God. For although He would be righteous even if He were to punish both, he who is deHvered has good ground for thankfulness, he who is condemned has not any ground for finding fault. Chap. 18. — But why should one be punished more than another? " But if," it is said, " it was necessary that, although aU were not condemned, He should stUl show what was due to all, and so that He should commend His grace more freely to the vessels of mercy ; why in the same case will He punish me rather than another, or deliver him rather than me ? " I say not this. If you ask wherefore, [I say] that I confess that I can find no answer to make. And if you further ask why is this, it is because in this matter, even as His anger is righteous and as His mercy is great, so His judgments are unsearchable. 1 Matt. xx. 14, etc 2 Eom. ix. 20. 186 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 20. Chap. 19. — Why does God mingle those who will persevere wifh those who will not f Let the inquirer stiU go on, and say, " Why has He not given to some who have in good faith worshipped Him to persevere to the end ? " Why except because he does not speak falsely who says, " They went out from among us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, doubtless they would have continued with us."1 Are there, then, two natures of men ? By no means. If there were two natures there would not be any grace, for there would be given a gratuitous deliverance to none if it were paid as a debt to nature. But it seems to men that aU who appear good behevers ought to receive perseverance to the end. But God has judged it to be better to mingle some who would not persevere with a certain number of His saints, so that those for whom security from temptation in this life is not desirable may not be secure. For that which the apostle says, checks many from mischievous elation : " Wherefore let him who seems to stand take heed lest he faU."2 And he who faUs, faUs by his own wUl, and he who stands, stands by God's wilL " For God is able to make him stand,"3 therefore he is not able to make himself stand, but God. Nevertheless, it is good not to be high-minded, but to fear. Moreover, it is in his own thought that every one either faUs or stands. Now, as the apostle says, and as I have men tioned in my former treatise, " We are not sufficient to think anything of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God." i FoUowing < whom also the blessed Ambrose ventures to say, " For our heart is not in our own power, nor are our thoughts." And this everybody who is humbly and truly pious feels to be most true. Chap. 20. — Ambrose on God's control over men's thouglds. And when Ambrose said this, he was speaking in that treatise which he wrote concerning the avoidance of the world, wherein he taught that this world was to be shunned not by the body, but by the heart, which he argued could not he done except by God's help. For he says : " The discourse to us is frequent concerning the avoidance of this world, and I 1 John ii. 19. >1 Cor. x. 12. 3 Rom. xiv. 4. * 2 Cor. iii. 5. CHAP. 21.] GOD'S JUDGMENTS UNSEARCHABLE. 187 would that in proportion to the facility of the discourse on the subject, the disposition of mind were careful and soHcitous; but what is worse, the enticement of earthly lusts constantly creeps in, and the pouring out of vanities takes possession of the mind ; so that what you desire to avoid, this you think of and consider in your mihd. And this is difficult for a man to beware of, but impossible to get rid of. Finally, the prophet bears witness that it is a matter of wish rather than of accomphshment, when he says, ' Incline my heart to Thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.'1 For our heart and our thoughts are not in our own power, and these, poured forth unexpectedly, confuse our mind and soul, and draw them in a different direction from that which you have proposed to your self; they recaU you to worldly things, they interpose things of time, they suggest voluptuous things, they inweave enticing things, and in the very moment when we are seeking to elevate our mind, we are for the most part fiUed with vain thoughts and cast down to earthly things."2 Therefore it is not in the power of men, but in that of God, that men have power to become sons of God. Because they receive it from Him who gives pious thoughts to the human heart, by which it has faith, which worketh by love ; for the receiving and keeping of which benefit, and for carrying it on perseveringly unto the end, we are not sufficient to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God, in whose power is our heart and our thoughts. Chap. 21. [ix.] — Instances of the unsearchable judgments of God. Therefore, of two infants, equaUy bound by original sin, why the one is taken and the other left ; and of two wicked men already mature in years, why this one should be so called that he foUows Him that caUeth, while that one is either not called at aU, or is not caUed in such a manner, — the judg ments of God are unsearchable. But of two pious men,» why to the one should be given perseverance unto the end, and to the other it should not be given, God's judgments are even more unsearchable. Yet to believers it ought to be a most certain fact that the former is of the predestinated, the 1 Ps. cxix. 36. 2 Amhrose, De Fuga ScecuU, c. 1. 188 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 22. latter is not. " For if they had been of us," says one of the predestinated, who had drunk this secret from the breast of the Lord, " certainly they would have continued with us."1 What, I ask, is the meaning of, " They were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would certainly have continued with us"? Were not both created by God — both born of Adam ? Had not both been made from the earth, and received from Him who said, "I have created aU breath,"2 souls of one and the same nature ? Lastly, had not both been called, and .foUowed Him that called them ? and had not both become, from wicked men, justified men, and both been renewed by means of the laver of regeneration ? But if he were to hear this who beyond all doubt knew what he was saying, he might answer and say, These things are true. In respect of aU these things, they were of us ; nevertheless, in respect of a certain other distinction, they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they certainly would have continued with us. What then is this distinction ? God's books He open, let us not turn away our view ; the divine Scripture cries, aloud, let us give it a hearing. They were not of them, because they had not been called according to God's purpose ; they had not been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world ; they had not gained a share in Him; they had not been predestinated according to His purpose who worketh aU things, For if they had been this, they would have been of them, and without doubt they would have continued with them. Chap. 22. — It is an absurdity to say that the dead will be judged for sins which tliey would have committed if they had lived. For hot to say how possible it may be for God to convert the wills of men averse and opposed to His faith, and to operate on their hearts so that they yield to no adversities, and are overcome by no temptation-so as to depart from Him, — since He also can do what the apostle says, not allow them to- be' tempted above that which they are able ; — not, then, to say this ; God foreknowing that they would fall, was certainly able to take them away from this life before that faU should occur. Are we to return to that point of still arguing how absurdly it is said that dead men are judged even for those sins which 1 1 John ii. 19. » Isa. Ivii. 16 [see LXX.]. CHAP. 23.] CASE OF THE PEOPLE OF TYRE AND SIDON. 189 God foreknew that they would have committed if they had Hved? which is so abhorrent to the feelings of Christians, or even of human beings, that one is even ashamed to rebut it. Why should it not be said that even the gospel itself has been preached, with so much labour and sufferings of the saints, in vain, or is even stUl preached in vain, if men could be judged, even without hearing the gospel, according to the contumacy or obedience which God foreknew that they would have had if they had heard it ? Tyre and Sidon would not have been condemned, although more slightly than those cities in which, although they did not believe, wonderful works were done by Christ the Lord ; because if they had been done in them they would have repented in dust and ashes, as the utterances of the Truth declare, in which words of His the Lord Jesus shows to us the loftier mystery of predestination. Chap. 23. — Why for fhe people of Tyre and Sidon, who would have believed, fhe miracles were not done which were done in other places which did not believe. For if we are asked why such miracles were done among those who, when they saw them, would not believe them, and were not done among those who would have beUeved them if they had seen them, what shaU we answer ? Shall we say what I have said in that book1 wherein I answered some six questions of the Pagans, yet without prejudice of other matters which the wise can inquire into ? This indeed I said, as you know, when it was asked why Christ came after so long a time: that at those times and in those places in which His gospel was not preached, He foreknew that all men would, in regard of His preaching, be such as many were in His bodily presence, — people, namely, who would not believe on Him, nor on those who were raised from the dead by Him. -Moreover, a Httle after in the same book, and on the same question, I say, What wonder, if Christ knew in former ages that the world was so filled with unbelievers, that He was, with reason, unwiUing for His gospel to be preached to them whom He foreknew to be such as would not beHeve either His words or His miracles ? Certainly we cannot say this of Tyre and Sidon ; and in their case we acknowledge that those divine judgments had reference to those causes of predestina- 1 Epis. 102, Qucest. 2. 190 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 23. tion, without prejudice of which latent causes I said that I was then answering such questions as those. Certainly it is easy to accuse the unbelief of the Jews, arising as it did from their free-wUl, since they refused to beHeve in such great wonders done among themselves. And this the Lord, reproach ing them, declares when He says, " Woe unto thee, Chorazin and Bethsaida, because if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which have been done in you, they would long ago have repented in dust and ashes."1 But can we say that even the Tyrians and Sidonians would not beHeve such mighty works done among them, or would not have beUeved them if they had been done, when the Lord Himself bears witness to them that they would have repented with great humility if those signs of divine power had been done among them? And yet in the day of judgment they wUl be punished; although with a less punishment than those cities which would not beHeve the mighty works done in them. For the Lord goes on to say, " Nevertheless, I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you."2 ' Therefore the former shaU be punished with greater severity, the latter with less ; but yet they shaU be punished. Again, if the dead are judged even in respect of deeds which they would have done if they had Hved, assuredly since these would have been behevers if the gospel had been preached to them with so great miracles, they certainly ought not to be punished ; but they wiU be punished. It is there fore false that the dead are judged in respect also of those things which they would have done if the gospel had reached them when they were alive. And if this is false, there is no ground for saying, concerning infants who perish because they die without baptism, that this happens in their case so far deservedly, because God foreknew that if they should live and the gospel should be preached to them, they would hear it with unbelief. It remains, therefore, that they are kept under the obligation of original sin alone, and for this alone they go into condemnation ; because we see that in others having the same condition this is not remitted, except by the gratuitous grace of God in regeneration, and that, by His secret yet righteous 1 Luke x. 13. 2 Matt. xi. 22. CHAP. 24.] MEN NOT JUDGED FOR WHAT THEY MIGHT BE. 191 judgment — because there is no unrighteousness with God — that some, even after baptism, who wiU perish by evil Hving, are yet kept in this Hfe until they perish, who would not have perished if bodily death had forestalled their lapse into sin, and so come to their help. Because no dead man is judged by the good or evU things which he would have done if he had not died, otherwise the Tyrians and Sidonians would not have suffered the penalties in respect of what they did ; but rather, in respect of those things that they would have done, if those evangeHcal mighty works had been done in them, they would have obtained salvation by great repentance, and by the faith of Christ. Chap. 24. [x.] — It may be objected that fhe people qf Tyre and Sidon might, if they had heard, have believed, and have subsequently lapsed from their faith. A certain Cathohc commentator of no mean reputation so expounded this passage of the gospel as to say, that the Lord foreknew that the Tyrians and Sidonians would" have after wards departed from the faith, although they might have beUeved the miracles done among them ; and that by mercy He had not done those miracles there, because they would have been obnoxious to severer punishment if they had for saken the faith which they had once held, than if they had at no time held it. In which opinion of a learned and exces sively shrewd man, why am I now eoneerned to say what is stiU reasonably to be required, when the opinion itself is advantageous to us for the purpose at which we aim ? For if the Lord in His mercy did not do mighty works among them, by which works they might become believers, so that they might not be more severely punished when they should sub sequently become unbeHevers, which He foreknew that they would be, it is sufficiently and plainly shown that no dead person is judged for those sins which He foreknew that he would have done, if in some manner assistance were not given him lest he should do them ; as Christ is said to have come to the aid of the Tyrians and Sidonians, if that opinion be true, who He had rather should not eome to the faith ,at aU, than that by a much greater wickedness they should depart from the faith, which, if they had come to it, He had foreseen that they would have done. Although if it be said, Why did it 192 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 25. not happen that they should rather believe, and- this gift should be bestowed on them, that before they forsook the faith they should depart from this life ? I am ignorant what reply can be made. For he who says that to those who would forsake their faith it would have been granted, as a kindness, that they should not begin to have what, by a more serious impiety, they would subsequently forsake, sufficiently indicates [by this assertion] that a man is not judged by that which it is foreknown he would have done UI, if by any act of kindness he may be prevented from doing it. There fore it is an advantage also to him who is taken away, lest wickedness should alter his understanding. But why this advantage should not have been shared by the Tyrians and Sidonians, that they might beHeve and be taken away, lest wickedness should alter their understanding, he perhaps might answer who was pleased in such a way to solve the above question ; but, as far as concerns what I am discussing, I see it to be enough that, even according to that very opinion, men are shown not to be judged in respect of those things which they have not done, even although they may have been fore seen as certain to have done them. However, as I have said, let us think shame even to refute this opinion, whereby sins are supposed to be punished in people who die or have died because they have been foreknown as certain to do them if they had lived ; so that we also may not seem to have thought it to be of some importance what opinion we would rather repress by argument than pass over in sUence. Chap. 25. [si.]— God's ways, both in mercy and judgment, past finding out. Accordingly, as says the apostle, " It is not of him that wiUeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy;"1 seeing that He also comes to the help of such infants as He wiU, although they neither wUl nor run, since He chose them in Christ before the foundation of the world as those to whom He intended to give His grace freely, — that is, with no merits of theirs, either of faith or of works, preced ing ; and seeing that He does not come to the help of those who are more mature, although He foresaw that they would 1 Rom. ix. 16. CHAP. 26.] NO UNRIGHTEOUSNESS WITH GOD. 193 beHeve His miracles if they should be done among them, because He wiUs not to come to their help, since in His predestination He, secretly indeed, but yet righteously, has otherwise deter mined concerning them. For "there is no unrighteousness with God j"1 but " His judgments are unsearchable, and His ways are past finding out ; aU the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth."2 Therefore the mercy is past finding out by which He has mercy on whom He wUl, although no deservings of his precede ; and the truth is unsearchable by which He hardeneth whom He wiU, even although his merits may have preceded, but merits for the most part common to him with the man on whom He has mercy. As of two twins, of which one is taken and the other left, the end is unequal, whUe the deserts are common, yet in these the one is in such wise deHvered by God's great goodness, that the other is condemned by no injustice of God's. For is there unrighteousness with God ? Away with the thought ! but His ways are past finding out. Therefore let us beHeve in His mercy in the case of those who are delivered, and His truth in the case of those who are punished, without any hesitation ; and let us not endeavour to look into that which is inscrutable, nor to trace that which cannot be found out. Because out of the mouth of babes and sucklings He perfects His praise,8 so that what we see in those whose dehverance is preceded by no good deservings of theirs, and in those whose condemnation is only preceded by original sin, common ahke to both ; — this we by no means shrink from as occurring in the case of grown up people, that is because we do not think either that grace is given to any one according to his own merits, or that any one is punished except for his own merits, whether they are alike who are deHvered and who are punished, or have unequal degrees of evU ; so that he who thinketh he standeth may take heed lest he faU, and he who glorieth may glory not in himself, but in the Lord. Chap. 26. — The Manichceans do not receive all the books ofthe Old Testament, and of the New only those that they choose. But wherefore is " the case of infants not allowed," as you write, " to be aUeged as an example for grown-up people," by * Rom. ix. 14. 2 Ps. xxv. 10. 3 Ps. viii. 2. XV. N 194 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 27. men who do not hesitate against the Pelagians to affirm the doctrine of original sin, whieh entered by one man into the world, in consequence of which from one aU have gone into condemnation ? And this, moreover, the Manichseans receive not, who not only do not hold all the Scriptures of the Old Testament as of any authority, but even receive those which belong to the New Testament in such a manner as that each man, by his own prerogative as it were, or rather by his own sacrUege, takes what he likes, and rejects what he does not like , — in opposition to whom I treated in my writings on free- wiU, whence they think that they have a ground of objection against me. I have been unwiUing to deal plainly with the very laborious questions that occurred, lest my work should become too long, in a ease which, as opposed to such perverse men, I could not have the assistance of the authority of the sacred Scriptures. And I was able, — as I actuaUy did, whether anything of the divine testimonies might be true or not, seeing that I did not definitely introduce them into the argument, — nevertheless, by certain reasoning, to conclude that God in aU things is to be praised, without any necessity of believing, as they would have us, that there are two co-eternal, confounded substances of good and evil Chap.. 27. — Reference to the "Retractations.'' Finally, in the first book of the Betraetations} which wotIc of mine you have not yet read, when I had come to the recon sidering of those same books, that is, on the subject of free will, I thus .spoke : " In these books, I say, many things were so discussed that some questions which occurred, and which either I was not able to elucidate, or which required a long discussion at once, might be put off in such a way as that from either side, or from all sides, of those questions in which what was most in harmony with the truth did not appear, yet my reasoning might be" of effect for that result, that which ever of them might be true, God might be believed, or even might be shown, to be worthy of praise. Because that dis cussion was undertaken for the sake of those who deny that the origin of evU is derived from the free choice of the wiU, 1 Retractations, book i. c. 9. CHAP. 27.] FROM THE "RETRACTATIONS." 195 and contend that God, — if He be so, — as the Creator of aU natures, is worthy of blame; desiring in that manner, according to the error of their impiety (for they are Mani- chaeans), to- introduce a certain immutable nature of evil co-eternal with God. Also, after a Httle time, in another place I say : Then it was said, From which misery, most righteously inflicted on sinners, God's grace delivers, because man of his own accord, that is by free-will, could faU, but could not also rise. To which misery of just condemnation pertain the ignorance and the difficulty which every man suffers from the beginning of his birth, and no one is delivered from that evU except by the grace of God. And this misery the Pelagians wiU not have as descending from a great con demnation, because they deny original sin ; although even if the ignorance and difficulty were the natural beginnings of man, God would not even thus desire to be reproached, but to be praised, as I have argued in the same third book.1 Which argument must be regarded as against the Manichseans, who do not receive the holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, in which original sin is narrated; and whatever thence is read in the apostohc epistles, they contend was introduced with a detestable impudence .by the corrupters of the Scriptures, assuming that it was not said by the apostles. But against the Pelagians that must be maintained which both Scriptures commend, as they profess to receive them." These things I said in my first book of Betraetations, when I was reconsider ing the treatises on free-wiU. Nor, indeed, were these things aU that were said by me there about these treatises, but there were many others also, which I thought it would be tedious to insert in this work for you, and ' not necessary; and this I think you also wiU judge when you have read all. Although, therefore, in the third book on free-wiU I have in such wise argued concerning infants, that even if what the Pelagians say were true, — that ignorance and difficulty, without which no man is born, are elements, not punishments, of our nature, — stiU the Manichaeans would be overcome, who wiU have it that the two natures, to wit, of good and evU, are co-eternal. Is, therefore, the faith to be called in question or forsaken, which 1 Retractations, book i. c. 20. 196 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 29. the CathoHc Church maintains against those very Pelagians, asserting as she does that it is original sin, the guUt of which, contracted by generation, must be remitted by regeneration ? And if they confess this with us, so that we may at once, in this matter of the Pelagians, destroy error, why do they think that it must be doubted that God can deHver even infants, to whom He gives His grace by the sacrament of baptism, from the power of darkness, and translate them into the kingdom of the Son of His love ? In the fact, therefore, that He gives that grace to some, and does not give it to others, why wiU they not celebrate to the Lord His mercy and judgment? But wherefore is it given to them, rather than to those who have known the mind of the Lord ? Who is able to look into unsearchable things ? who to trace out that which is past finding out ? Chap. 28. [xii.] — God's goodness and righteousness shown in all. It is therefore settled that God's grace is not given accord ing to the deserts of the recipients, but according to the good pleasure of His wUl, to the praise and glory of His own grace; so that he who glorieth may by no means glory in himself, but in the Lord, who gives to those men to whom He wiU because He is merciful ; what if, however, He does not give, He is righteous : and He does not give to whom He wiU not, that He may make known the riches of His glory to the vessels of mercy. For by giving to some what they do not deserve, He has certainly wUled that His grace should be gratuitous, and thus genuine grace ; by not giving to all, He has shown what aU deserve. Kind in His kindness to some, righteous in the punishment of others, and good in respect of all ; because it is good when that which is due is rendered, and righteous in respect of aU, since that which is not due is given without wrong to any one. Chap. 29. — God's true grace could be defended even if there were no original sin, as Pelagius maintains. But God's grace is maintained even without merits, that is, His true grace ; even if infants, when baptized, according to the view of the Pelagians, are not plucked out of the power of darkness, because they are held to be guUty of no sin, as the CHAP. 30.] ORIGINAL SIN NOT NECESSARY TO GRACE. 197 Pelagians think, but are only transferred into the Lord's king dom : for even thus, without any deservings, the kingdom is given to those to whom it is given ; and without any evil deservings it is not given to them to whom it is not given. And this we are in the habit of saying in opposition to the same Pelagians, when they object to us that we attribute God's grace to fate, when we say that it is given not in respect to our merits. For they themselves rather attribute God's grace to fate in the case of infants, if they say that when there is no deserving it is fate. Certainly, even according to the Pelagians themselves, no merits can be found in infants to cause that some of them should be admitted into the kingdom, and others should be aHenated from the kingdom. But now, as in order to show that God's grace is not given according to our merits I preferred to maintain this truth in accordance with both opinions, — both in accordance with our own, to wit, who say that infants are bound by original sin, and according to that of the Pelagians, who deny that there is original sin, — yet neither on that account can I doubt that infants have what He can pardon them who saves His people from their sins. So in the third book on free-will, according to both views, I have withstood the Manichseans, whether ignorance and diffi culty be punishments or elements of nature without which no man is born ; and yet I hold one of these views. There, moreover, it is sufficiently evidently declared by me, that that is not the nature of man as he was ordained, but his punish ment as condemned. Chap. 30. Therefore it is in vain that it is objected to me concerning the antiquity of that book of mine, that I am not arguing the case as I ought to argue it in respect of infants ; and that thence I am persuading my opponents by the Hght of a mani fest truth, that God's grace is not given according to men's merits. For if, when I began my treatises concerning free-will as a layman, and unfolded them as a presbyter, I stiU doubted of the condemnation of infants not born again, and of the deHverance of infants that were born again, no one, as I think, would be so unfair and envious as to hinder my progress, and 198 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 81. judge that I must continue in that uncertainty. But since it might more correctly be understood that it ought to be beUeved that I did not doubt in that matter, for the reason that they against whom my purpose was directed seemed to me in such wise to be rebutted, as that whether there was a punishment of original sin in infants, according to the truth, or whether there was not, as some mistaken people think, yet in no degree should such a confusion of the two natures be beheved in, to wit, of good and evil, as the error of the Mani chseans introduces. Be it far from us so to forsake the case of infants as to say to ourselves that it is uncertain whether, being regenerated in Christ, if they die in infancy they pass into eternal salvation ; but that, not being regenerated, they pass into the second death : because that which is written, " By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon aU men,"1 cannot be rightly understood in any other manner ; nor from that eternal death which is most righteously repaid to sin does any deHver any one, smaU or great, save He who, for the sake of remitting our sins, both original and actual, died without any sin of His own, either original or actual. But why some rather than others ? Again and again we say, and do not shrink from it, " 0 man, who art thou that repliest against God ? " 2 " His judgments are unsearchable, and His ways past finding out." 3 And let us add this, " Seek not out the things that are too high for thee, and search not the things that are above thy strength." 4 Chap. 31. — That infants are not judged according to that which they are foreknown as likely to do if they should live. For you see, beloved, how absurd it is, and how foreign from soundness of faith and sincerity of truth, for us to say that infants, when they die, should be judged in respect of those things which they are foreknown as Hkely to do if they should live. For to this opinion, from which certainly every human feehng, on however Httle reason it may be founded, and especiaUy every Christian feeling, revolts, they are com pelled to advance who have chosen in such wise to be with drawn from the error of the Pelagians as stiU to think that they ' Rom. v. 12. s Eom. ix. 20. •' Rom. xi. 33. * Ecclus. iii. 21. CHAP. 31.] ELECTION OF GOD IN INFANTS. 199 must beHeve, and, moreover, must profess in argument, that the grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, by which alone after the faU of the first man, in whom we all feU, help is afforded to us, is given according to our merits. And this behef Pelagius himself, before the Eastern bishops as judges, condemned in fear of his own condemnation. And if this be not said of the good or bad works, to wit, of those who have died, which they would have done if they had lived, — and thus of no works, and works that would never exist, even in the foreknowledge of God, — if this, therefore, be not said, and you see under how great a mistake it is said, what wiU remain but that we confess, when the darkness of contention is removed, that the grace of God is not given according to our merits, which position the CathoHc Church defends against the Pelagian heresy ; and that we see this in more evident truth especiaUy in infants? For God is not compelled by fate to come to the help of these infants, and not to come to the help of those, — since the case is alike to both; or shall we think that human affairs in the case of infants are not managed by Divine Providence, but by fortuitous chances, when rational souls are either to he condemned or deHvered, although, indeed, not a sparrow falls to the ground without the wUl of our Father which is in heaven ; J or must we so attribute it to the neghgence of parents that infants die without baptism, as that heavenly judgments have nothing to do with it ; as if they themselves who in this way die badly had of their own wUl chosen the negUgent parents for themselves of whom they were bom ? What shaU I say [in case] that an infant expires a little time before he can possibly be advantaged by the ministry of baptism? For often when the parents are eager and the ministers prepared for giving baptism to the infants, it stiU is not given, because God does not choose ; since He has not kept it in this Hfe for a Httle while in order that baptism might be given it. What, moreover, [shaU I say in the case] that sometimes aid could be afforded by baptism to the chUdren of unbelievers, that they should not go into perdition, and could not be afforded to the chUdren of behevers ? In which case it is certainly shown that there is no 1 Matt. x. 29. 200 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 33. acceptance of persons with God ; otherwise He would rather deliver the children of His worshippers than the chUdren of His enemies. Chap. 32. [xnr.] But now, since we are now treating of the gift of perse verance, why is it that benefit is afforded to the person about to die who is not baptized, while to the baptized person about to fall, aid is not afforded, so that he might die pre viously ? Unless, perchance, we shaU still Hsten to that absurdity by which it is said that it is of no advantage to any one to die before his fall, because he wUl be judged according to those actions which God foreknew that he would have done if he had Hved. Who ean hear with patience this perversity, so violently opposed to the soundness of the faith ? Who can bear it ? And yet they are driven to say this who do not confess that God's grace is not bestowed in respect of our deservings. They, however, who wUl not say that any one who has died is judged in respect of those things which God foreknew that he would have done if he had lived, considering with how manifest a falsehood and how great an absurdity this would be said, have no further reason to say, what the Church condemned in the Pelagians, and caused to be condemned by Pelagius himself, — that the grace of God, namely, is given in respect of our merits, — when they see some infants not regenerated taken from this Hfe to eternal death, and others regenerated, to eternal life ; and those themselves that are regenerated, some going hence, persevering even to the end, and others kept in this life even until they faU, who certainly would not have faUen if they had departed hence before their lapse ; and again some faUing, but not departing from this life until they return, who certainly would have perished if they had departed before their return. Chap. 33. From aU which it is shown with sufficient clearness that the grace of God, which both begins a man's faith and which enables it to persevere unto the end, is not given in respect of our merits, but is given according to His own most secret and CHAP. 33.] ALL MAN'S WORK AND WILL IS OF GOD. 201 at the same time most righteous, wise, and beneficent wiU ; since those whom He predestinated, them He also caUed,1 with that caUing of which it is said, " The gifts and caUing of God are without repentance." 2 To which caUing there is no man that can be said by men with any certainty of affirmation to belong, untU he has departed from this world ; but in this Hfe of man, which is a state of trial upon the earth,3 he who seems to stand must take heed lest he faU.4 Since (as I have already said before) fl those who wiU not per severe are, by the most foreseeing wiU of God, mingled with those who wiU persevere, for the reason that we may learn not to mind high things, but to consent to the lowly, and may " work out our own salvation with fear and trembling ; for it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure." 6 We therefore wiU, but God worketh in us to wiU also. We therefore work, but God worketh in us to work also for His good pleasure. This is profitable for us both to beHeve and to say, — this is pious, this is true, that our confession be lowly and submissive, and that aU should be given to God. Thinking, we beHeve ; thinking, we speak ; thinking, we do whatever we do ; 7 but, in respect of what concerns the way of piety and the true worship of God, we are not sufficient to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.8 For " our heart and our thoughts are not in our own power ; " whence the same Ambrose who says this says also : " But who is so blessed who in his heart always rises upwards ? And how can this be done without divine help ? Assuredly, by no means. FinaUy," he says, " the same Scripture affirms above, ' Blessed is the man whose help is of Thee; 0 Lord,9 ascent is in his heart.'"10 Assuredly to say this, Ambrose was not only enabled by read ing in the holy writings, but as of such a man is to be without doubt believed, he felt it also in his own heart. Therefore, what is said in the sacraments of believers, that we 1 Rom. viii. 30. 2 Rom. xi. 29. 3 Job vii. 1 [LXX.]. 4 1 Cor. x. 12. 5 Supra, c. xiv. e Phil. ii. 12, 13. 7 2 Cor. iii. 5. 8 Ambrose, De Fuga Sceculi, c. 1. 0 Ps. Ixxxiv. 5 [LXX.]. 10 LXX. : "In his heart he has purposed to go up.'' 202 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 34. should Hft up our hearts to the Lord, is God's gift ; for which gift they to whom this is said are admonished by the priest after this word to give thanks to our Lord God Himself; and they answer that it is " meet and right so to do." x For, since our heart is not in our own power, but is lifted up by the divine help, so that it ascends and takes cognizance of those things which are above,2 where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, and not those things that are upon the earth, to whom are thanks to be given for so great a gift as this unless to our Lord God who doeth this, — who in so great kindness has chosen us by dehvering us from the abyss of this world, and has predestinated us before the foundation of the world ? Chap. 34. [xiv.] — Tlie doctrine of predestination not opposed to the advantage of preaching. But they say that the explanation of predestination is opposed . to the advantage of preaching,3 — as if, indeed, it were opposed to the preaching of the apostle ! Did not that teacher of the heathen so often, in faith and truth, as well commend predestination, as without ceasing preach the word of God ? Because he said, " It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure," * did he not also exhort that we should both wiU and do what is pleasing to God ? or because he said, " He who hath begun a good work in you shaU carry it on even unto the day of Christ Jesus," 5 did he on that account cease to persuade men to begin and to persevere unto the end ? Doubtless, our Lord Himself commanded men to beHeve, and said, " BeHeve in God, beHeve also in me:" 6 and yet His judgment is not there fore false, nor is His explanation idle when He says, "No man cometh unto me " — that is, no man beHeveth in me — "except it were given him of my Father."7 Nor, again, because this explanation is true, is the former precept vain. Why, there fore, do we think the explanation of predestination useless to preaching, to precept, to exhortation, to rebuke, — aU which things the divine Scripture repeats frequently, — seeing that the same Scripture commends this doctrine? 1 See English Prayer Book, "Holy Communion." 2 Col. iii. 1. 3 In the Letters of Hilary and Prosper. * Phil. ii. 13. 4 PhiL i. 6. e John xiv. 1. 7 John vi. 66. CHAP. 35.] MEANING OF PREDESTINATION. 203 Chap. 35. — What predestination is. WiU any man dare to say that God did not foreknow those to whom He would give to believe, or whom He would give to His Son, that of them He should lose none ?x And, cer tainly, if He foreknew these things, He as certainly foreknew His own kindness, wherewith He condescends to deliver us. This is THE PREDESTINATION OF THE saints, — nothing else ; to wit, the foreknowledge and the preparation of God's kindnesses, whereby they are most certainly delivered, whoever they are that are deHvered. But where are the rest left by the right eous divine judgment except in the mass of ruin, where the Tyrians and the Sidonians were left? who, moreover, might have beUeved if they had seen Christ's wonderful miracles. But since it was not given to them to believe, the means of be Heving also was denied them. From which fact it appears that some have in their understanding itself a naturally divine gift of intelligence, by which they may be moved to the faith, if they either hear the words or behold the signs fitted for their minds ; and yet if, in the more lofty judgment of God, they are not by the predestination of grace separated from the mass of perdition, neither those very divine words nor deeds are appHed to them by which they might believe if they only heard or saw such things. Moreover, in the same mass of ruin the Jews were left, because they could not believe such great and eminent mighty works as were done in their sight. For the gospel has not been sUent about the reason why they could not beHeve, since it says : " But though He had done such great miracles before them, yet they beUeved not on Him ; that the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfiUed which he spake,2 Lord, who hath beUeved our report, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed ? And, therefore, they could not beHeve, because that Esaias said again,3 He hath bHnded their eyes and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them."4 Therefore the eyes of the Tyrians and Sidonians were not so 1 John xviii. 9. 2 Isa. Iiii. 1. 3 Isa. vi. 10. * John xii. 37 ff. 204 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 36. blinded nor was their heart so hardened, since they would have beUeved if they had seen such mighty works as the Jews saw. But it did not do them any good that they were able to believe, because they were not predestinated by Him whose judgments are inscrutable and His ways past finding out. Neither would it have been a hindrance to them that they could not believe, if they had been so predestinated as that God should Uluminate those bhnd eyes, and should wUl to take away the stony heart from those hardened ones. But what the Lord said of the Tyrians and Sidonians may per chance be understood in another way: yet that no one comes to Christ unless it were given him, and that it is given to those who are chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, he confesses beyond a doubt who hears the divine utterance, not with the deaf ears of the flesh, but with the ears of the heart ; and yet this predestination, which is plainly enough unfolded even by the words of the gospels, did not prevent the Lord's saying as well in respect of *the commencement, what I have a little before mentioned, " BeHeve in God ; believe also in me," as in respect of perseverance, " A man ought always to pray, and not to faint."1 For they hear these things and do them to whom it is given ; but they do them not, whether they hear or do not hear, to whom it is not given. Because, " To you," said He, " it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given." 2 Of these, the one refers to the mercy, the other to the judgment of Him to whom our soul cries, " I wiU sing of mercy and judgment unto Thee, 0 Lord." 3 Chap. 36.— -Truth of God's grace not to hinder the preaching of predestination. Therefore, by the preaching of predestination, the preaching of a persevering and progressive faith is not to be hindered ; and thus they may hear what is necessary to whom it is given that they should obey. For how shall they hear without a preacher? Neither, again, is the preaching of a progressive faith which continues even to the end to hinder the preaching of predestination, so that he who is Hving faithfully and obediently may not be Hfted up by that very 1 Luke xviii. 1. 2 Matt. xiii. 11. " ps, ci. 1. CHAP. 37.] EARS TO HEAR. 205 obedience, as if by a benefit of his own, not received ; but that he that glorieth may glory in the Lord. For " we must boast in nothing, since nothing is our own." And this Cyprian most faithfuUy saw and most fearlessly explained, and thus he pronounced predestination to be most assured.1 For if we must boast in nothing, seeing that nothing is our own, certainly we must not boast of the most persevering obedience. Nor is it so to be caUed our own, as if it were not given to us from above. And, therefore, it is God's gift, which, by the confession of all Christians, God foreknew that He would give to His people, who were called by that caUing whereof it was said, "The gifts and caUing of God are without repentance."2 This, then, is the predestination which we faithfuUy and humbly preach. Nor yet did the same teacher and doer, who both beUeved on Christ and most perseveringly Hved in holy obedience, even to suffering for Christ; cease on that account to preach the gospel, to exhort to faith and to pious manners, and to that very perseverance to the end, because he said, " We must boast in nothing, since nothing is our own," when he declared without ambiguity the true grace of God, that is, which is not given in respect of our merits : which because God foreknew that He would give, predestination was announced beyond a doubt by these words of Cyprian ; and if this did not prevent Cyprian from preaching obedience, it certainly ought not to prevent us. Chap. 37. — Ears to hear are a willingness to obey. Although, therefore, we say that obedience is the gift of God, we stiU exhort men to it. But to those who obediently hear the exhortation of the truth is given that very gift of God — that is, to hear with obedience ; whUe to those who do not thus hear it is not given. For it was not any one whatever in general, but Christ who said, " No man cometh unto me, except it were given him of my Father ; " 3 and, " To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given." 4 And concerning continence He says, " Not 1 Cyprian, "Works (English Trans.), vol. ii. p. 143. 2 Rom. xi. 29. 3 John vi. 66. * Matt. xiii. 11. 206 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 37. aU receive this saying, but they to whom it is given." x And when the apostle would exhort married people to conjugal modesty, he says, "I would that all men were even as I myself ; but every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, another after that ; " 2 where he plainly shows not only that continence is a gift of God, but even the chastity of those who are married. And although these things are true, we stiU exhort to them as much as is given to any one of us to be able to exhort, because this also is His gift in whose hand are both ourselves and our discourses. Whence also says the apostle, " According to this grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise architect, I have laid the founda tion." 3 And in another place he says, " Even as the Lord hath given to every man : I have planted, ApoUos has watered, but God has given the increase. Therefore neither is he that planteth anything, nor he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase." * And thus as only he preaches and exhorts rightly who has received this gift, so assuredly he who obediently hears him who rightly exhorts and preaches is he who has received this gift. Hence is what the Lord said, when, speaking to those who had their fleshly ears open, He nevertheless told them, " He that hath ears to hear let him hear;"6 which beyond a doubt He knew that not aU had. And from whom they have, whosoever they be that have them, the Lord Himself shows when He says, " I wiU give them a heart to know me, and ears to hear." 6 Therefore, hav ing ears is itself the gift of obeying, so that they who had that came to Him, to whom " no one comes unless it were given to him of His Father." Therefore we exhort and preach, but they who have ears to hear obediently hear us, while they who have them not, in them it comes to pass that is written, that hearing they do not hear, — hearing, to wit, with the bodily sense, they do not hear with the assent of the heart. But why these should have ears to hear, and those have them not, — that is, why to these it should be given by the Father to come to the Son, while to those it should not be given, — who has known the mind of the Lord, or who 1 Matt. xix. 11. * 1 Cor. vii. 7. 3 1 Cor. iii. 10. 4 1 Cor. iii. 5. b Luke viii. 8. 6 Baruch ii. 31. CHAP. 38.] HOW PREDESTINATION IS TO BE PREACHED. 207 has been His counseUor ? Or who art thou, 0 man, that repliest against God ? Must that which is manifest be denied, because that which is hidden cannot be comprehended ? ShaU we, I say, declare that what we see to be so is not so, because we cannot find out why it is so ? Chap. 38. [xv.] — Against the preaching of predestination the same objections may be alleged as against predestination. But they say, as you write : " That no one can be aroused by the incentives of rebuke if it be said in the assembly of the Church to many hearers : The definite judgment of God's wUl concerning predestination stands in such wise, that some of you wiU receive the wUl to obey, and wUl come out of unbeUef unto the faith, as you will receive perseverance and abide in the faith ; but others who are lingering in the delight of sins have not yet arisen, for the reason that the aid of pitying grace has not yet indeed raised you up. But yet, if there are any who are not yet caUed, whom by His grace He has predestinated, ye shall receive that grace by which you may wiU and be elected ; and if any obey, if ye are predes tinated to be rejected, the strength to obey shall be withdrawn from you, so that you may cease to obey." Although these things may be said, they ought not so to deter us from con fessing the true grace of God, — that is, the grace which is not given to us in respect of our merits, — and from confess ing the predestination of the saints in accordance therewith, even as we are not deterred from confessing God's foreknow ledge, although one should thus speak to the people concern ing it, and say : Whether you are now living righteously or unrighteously, you shaU be such by and by as the Lord has foreknown that you wiU be, — either good, if He has foreknown you as good, or bad, if He has foreknown you as bad. For if on the hearing of this some should be turned to torpor and slothfulness, and from striving should go headlong to lust after their own desires, is it therefore to be counted that what has been said about the foreknowledge of God is false ? If God has foreknown that they will be good, wUl they not be good, whatever be the depth of evil in which they are now engaged ? And if He has foreknown them evU, will they not be evil, whatever- goodness may now be discerned in them ? 208 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 40. There was a man in our monastery, who, when the brethren rebuked him for doing some things that ought not to be done, and for not doing some things that ought to be done, repHed, "Whatever I may now be,. I shaU be such as God has foreknown that I shaU be." And this man certainly both said what was true, and took no advantage by this truth, but so far made way in evU as to desert the society of the monas tery, and become a dog returned to his vomit ; whUe, never theless, it is uncertain what he might yet become. For the sake of souls of this kind, then, is the truth which is spoken about God's foreknowledge either to be denied or to be kept back, — at such times, for instance, when, if it is not spoken, other errors are incurred ? Chap. 39. [xvi.]— Prayer and exhortation. There are some, moreover, who either do not pray at aU, or pray coldly, because, from the Lord's words, they have learnt that God knows what is necessary for us before we ask it of Him. Must the truth of this declaration be given up, or shaU it be regarded as to be erased from the gospel because of such people ? Nay, since it is manifest that God has prepared some things to be given even to those who do not pray for them, such as the beginning of faith, and other things not to be given except to those who pray for them, such as perseverance even unto the end, certainly he who thinks that he has this latter from himself does not pray to have it (from God). Therefore we must take care lest, whUe we are afraid of exhortation growing lukewarm, prayer should be stifled and arrogance stimulated. Chap. 40. — When the truth must bespoken, when kept back. Therefore let the truth be spoken, especially when any question impels us to declare it ; and let them receive it who can receive it, lest, perchance, whUe we are silent on account of those who cannot receive it, they be not only defrauded of the truth, but be taken captive by falsehood, who are able to receive the truth, whereby falsehood may be avoided. For it is easy, nay, and it is useful, that some truth should be kept back because of those who are incapable of apprehending it. CHAP. 40.] REASONS AGAINST RESERVE. 209 For whence is that word of our Lord : " I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now " ? J And that of the apostle : " I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal : as if unto babes in Christ I have given you to drink milk, and not meat, for hitherto ye were not able, neither yet indeed now are ye able " ? 2 Although, in a certain manner of speaking, it might happen that what is said should be both mUk to infants and meat for grown-up persons. As "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,"3 what Christian can keep it back ? What Christian can receive it ? or what in sound doctrine can be found more comprehensive ? And yet this is not kept back either from infants or from grown-up people, nor is it hidden from infants by those who are mature. But the reason of keeping back the truth is one, the necessity of speaking the truth is another. It would be a tedious business to inquire into or to put down aU the reasons for withholding the truth; of which, nevertheless, there is this one,. — that we may not make those who do not understand worse, whUe we wish to make those who do understand more wise ; since they, indeed, although they do not become wiser when we withhold anything of the kind, certainly do not become worse. When, however, a truth is of such a nature that he who cannot receive it is made worse by our speaking it, and he who can receive it is made worse by our withholding it, what do we think is to be done ? Must we not say the truth, that he who can receive it may receive it, rather than withhold it, so that not only neither may receive it, but that even he who is more intelHgent should himself be made worse ? For if he should hear and receive it, by his means also many might learn. For in proportion as he is more capable of learning, he is the more fitted for teaching others. The enemy of graee presses on and urges in aU ways that we should beHeve that grace is given in respect of our deservings, and that thus grace is no more grace ; and are we unwiUing to say what we can say by the testimony of Scripture ? Do we fear, forsooth, to offend by our speaking him who is not able to receive the truth ? and » John xvi. 12. 2 1 Cor. iii. 1. 3 John i. 1. XV. o 210 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 41. are we not afraid lest by our sUence he who can receive the truth may be involved in falsehood ? Chap. 41. — He proves that what is alleged against fhe preaching of predestination may be said against God's grace. For either predestination must be in such wise preached, in the way and degree in which the Holy Scripture plainly declares it, that in the predestinated the gifts and calHng of God are without repentance ; or it must be avowed that God's grace is given in respect of our merits, — which is the opinion of the Pelagians ; although that opinion of theirs, as I have often said already, may be read in the doings of the Eastern bishops to have been condemned by the Hps of Pelagius him self. Further, from the heretieal perversity of the Pelagians, those on whose account I am discoursing are only removed, inasmuch as, although they wiU not confess that they who by God's grace become obedient and so abide are predestinated, they stiU oonfess, nevertheless, that this grace prevents their wiU to whom it is given; in such a way certainly as that grace may not be thought to be given freely, as the truth declares, but rather according to the merits of a preceding wiU, as the Pelagian error says, in contradiction to the truth. Therefore, also, grace precedes faith ; otherwise, if faith precedes grace, beyond a doubt wiU also precedes it, because there cannot be faith without will But if grace precedes faith because it precedes wUl, certainly it precedes aU obedience ; it also pre cedes charity, hy which alone God is truly and pleasantly obeyed. And aU these things grace works in him to whom it is given, and in whom it precedes aU these things, [xvn.] Among these benefits there remains perseverance unto the end, which is daily asked for in vain from the Lord, if the Lord by His grace does not effect it in him whose prayers He hears. See now how foreign it is from the truth to deny that perseverance even to the end of this life is the gift of God ; since He Himself puts an end to this life when He wiUs, and if He puts an end before a faU that is threatening, He makes the man to persevere even unto the end. But more marveUous and more manifest to behevers is the HberaUty of God's good ness, that even to infants, although there is no possibility of giving obedience to that age, this grace is given. To whom- CHAP. 42.] PREDESTINATION NO HINDRANCE TO ACTION. 211 soever, therefore, God gives those gifts of His, beyond a doubt He has foreknown that He wiU bestow them on him, and in His foreknowledge He has prepared them for him. Therefore, those whom he predestinated, them He also caUed with that calHng which I am not reluctant often to make mention of, of which it is said, " The gifts and calHng of God are without repentance." 1 For in His foreknowledge, which cannot be deceived and changed, the ordering of His future doings is absolutely, and is nothing but, predestination. But, as he whom God has foreknown as being chaste, although he may regard it as uncertain, so acts as that he may be chaste, so he whom He has predestinated to be chaste, although he may regard that as uncertainty, does not, therefore, not act in such a manner as to be chaste because he hears that he wiU be what he wUl be by the gift of God. Nay, rather, his love rejoices, and he is not puffed up as if he had not received it. Not only, therefore, is he not hindered from this work by the preaching of predestination, but he is even assisted to it, so that although he glories he may glory in the Lord. Chap. 42. — The adversaries cannot deny predestination to those gifts of grace which they themselves acknowledge, and their exhortations are not hindered by this predestination nevertheless. And what I have said of charity may be said also of faith, of piety, of charity, of perseverance, and, not to enumerate single virtues, it may be said with the utmost truthfulness of aU the obedience with which God is obeyed. But those who place only the beginning of faith and perseverance to the end in such wise in our power as not to regard them as God's gifts, nor to think that God works on our thoughts and wiUs that we may have and retain them, grant, nevertheless, that He gives other things, since they are obtained from Him by the faith of the believer , why are they not afraid that exhor tation to these other things, and the preaching of these other things, should be hindered by the limitation of predestination ? Or, perchance, do they say that such things are not predesti nated ? Then they are not given by God, or He has not known that He would give them. Because, if they are given, 1 Rom. xi. 24. 212 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 43. and He has foreknown that He would give them, assuredly He has predestinated them. As, therefore, they themselves also exhort to chastity, charity, piety, and other things which they confess to be God's gifts, and cannot deny that they are also foreknown by Him, and therefore predestinated ; nor do they say that their exhortations are hindered by the preaching of God's predestination, that is, by the preaching of God's foreknowledge of those future gifts of His : thus they may see that neither are their exhortations to faith or to persever ance hindered, even although those very things may be said, as is the truth, to be gifts of God, and that those things are foreknown, that is, predestinated to be given; but let them rather see that by this preaching of predestination only that most pernicious error is hindered and overthrown, whereby it is said that the grace of God is given in respect of our deservings, so that he who glories may glory not in the Lord, but in himself. Chap. 43. — Further development of the foregoing argument. And in order that I may more openly unfold this for the sake of those who are somewhat slow of apprehension, let those who are endowed with an inteUigence that flies in ad vance bear with my delay. The Apostle James says, " If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shaU be given him." x It is written also in the Proverbs of Solomon, " Be cause the Lord giveth wisdom."2 And of continency it is read in the book of Wisdom, whose authority has been used by great and learned men who have commented upon the divine utterances long before us ; there, therefore, it is read, "When I knew that no one can be continent unless God gives it, and that this was the very part of wisdom, to know whose gift this was."3 Therefore these are God's gifts, — that is, to say nothing of others, wisdom and continency. Let those also acquiesce : for they are not Pelagians, to con tend against such a manifest truth as is with hard and hereti cal perversity. " But," say they, " that these things be given to us of God is obtained by faith, which has its beginning 1 Jas. i. 5. " Prov. ii. 6. * Wisd. viii. 21. CHAP. 44.] PREACHING CONSISTENT WITH PREDESTINATION. 213 from us ; " which faith also to begin to have, and to abide in" it even to the end, they contend is our own doing, as if we received it not from the Lord. This, beyond a doubt, is in con tradiction to the apostle when he says, " For what hast thou that thou hast not received V1 It is in contradiction also to the saying of the martyr Cyprian, " That we must boast in nothing, since nothing is our own."2 When we have said this, and many other things which it is wearisome to repeat, and have shown that both the commencement of faith and per severance to the end are gifts of God ; and that it is impossible that God should not foreknow any of His future gifts, as well what should be given as to whom they should be given ; and that thus those whom He deHvers and crowns are predestinated by Him; they think it weU to reply, " that the assertion of predestination is opposed to the advantage of preaching, for the reason that when this is heard no one can be stirred up by the incentives of rebuke." When they say this, " they are unwilling that it should be declared to men, that coming to the faith and abiding in the faith are God's gifts, lest despair rather than exhortation should appear to be suggested, inas much as they who hear think that it is the uncertainty of human ignorance on which God bestows, or on which He does not bestow, these gifts." Why, then, do they themselves also preach with us that wisdom and continency are God's gifts ? But if, when these things are declared to be God's gifts, there is no hindrance of the exhortation with which we exhort men to be wise and continent ; what is after aU the reason for their thinking that the exhortation is hindered wherewith we exhort men to come to the faith, and to abide in it to the end, if these also are said to be God's gifts, as is proved by the Scriptures, which are His witnesses ? Chap. 44. — Exhortation to wisdom, though wisdom is God's gift. Now, to say nothing more of continency, and to argue in this place of wisdom alone, certainly the Apostle James above mentioned says, " But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, modest, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, inestimable,3 without hypo- 1 1 Cor. iv. 7. 2 Cyprian (trans.), vol. ii. p. 143. 3 Vulg. ; "nonjudicans." 214 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 44 j, crisy." : Do you not see, I beseech you, how this wisdom descends from the Father of Lights, laden with many and great benefits ? Because, as the same apostle says, " Every excellent gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of Lights." 2 Why, then — to set aside other matters — do we rebuke the impure and contentious, to whom we nevertheless preach that the gift of God is wisdom, pure and peaceable ; and are not afraid that they should be influenced, by the uncertainty of the divine wiU, to find in this preaching more of despair than of exhortation ; and that they should not be stirred up by the incentives of rebuke rather against us than against themselves, because we rebuke them for not having those things which we ourselves say are not produced by human wiU, but are given by the divine liberality ? FinaUy, why did the preaching of this grace not deter the Apostle James from rebuking restless souls, and saying, " If ye have bitter envying, and contentions are in your hearts, glory not, and be not Hars against the truth. This is not the wisdom that cometh down from above, but is earthly, animal, devUish ; for where envying and contention are, there are inconstancy and every evU work " ? 3 As, therefore, the restless are to be rebuked, both by the testimony of the divine declarations, and by those very impulses of ours which they have in common with ourselves ; nor is it any argument against this rebuke that we declare that peaceful wisdom whereby the contentions are corrected and healed to be the gift of God ; unbeHevers are in such wise to be rebuked, as those who do not abide in the faith, without any hindrance to that rebuke from the preaching of God's grace, although that preaching commends that very grace and the continu ance in it as the gifts of God. Because, although wisdom is obtained from faith, even as James himself, when he had said, " If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to aU HberaUy and upbraideth not, and it shaU be given him ; " * immediately added, " But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering." It is not, however, because faith is given before it is asked for by him to whom it is given 1 Jas. iii. 17. s Jas. iii. 17. * Jas. iii. 14. * Jas. i. 5. CHAP. 46.] EXHORTATION TO PERSEVERANCE.. 215 that it must therefore be said not to be the gift- of God, but to be of ourselves, because it is given to us without our asking for it. For the apostle very plainly says, " Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." 1 From whom, therefore, are peace and love, from Him also is faith ; wherefore, from Him we ask not only that it may be increased to those that possess it, but. also that it may be given to those that possess it not. Chap. 45. — Exhortation to other, gifts of God in like manner. Nor do those on whose account I am saying these things, who cry out that exhortation is checked by the preaching of predestination and grace, exhort to those gifts alone which they contend are not given by God, but are of ourselves, such as are the beginning of faith, and perseverance in it even to the end ; which certainly they ought to do, in the way only of exhorting unbeHevers to beHeve, and behevers to continue to believe. But those things which, with us they do not deny to be God's gifts, so as with us to demoHsh the error of the Pelagians, such as modesty, continence, patience, and other virtues that pertain to a holy Hfe, and are obtained by faith from the Lord, they ought to show as needing to be besought, and to pray for only, either for themselves or others, but not to exhort any one to strive after them and retain them. But when they exhort to those things^ — as they can, and confess that men ought to be exhorted, — certainly they show plainly enough that exhortations are not hindered by that preaching, whether they are exhortations to faith or to perseverance to the end, because we also preach that such things are God's gifts, and are not given by any man to himself, but are given by God. Chap. 46. — A man who does not persevere fails by his own fault. But it is said, " A man by his own fault forsakes the faith, when he yields and consents to that temptation which is the cause of his desertion of the faith." Who denies it ? But because of this, perseverance in the faith is not to be said not 1 Eph. vi. 23. 216 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 47. to be God's gift. For it is this that a man daUy asks for when he says, " Lead us not into temptation ; " a and if he is heard, it is this that he receives. And thus, as he daily asks for perseverance, he assuredly plaoes the hope of his perse verance not in himself, but in God. I, however, am loth to exaggerate the ease with my words, but I rather leave it to them to consider, and see what it is of which they have per suaded themselves — to wit, "that by the preaching of pre destination, more of despair than of exhortation is impressed upon the hearers." For this is to say that a man then despairs of his salvation when he has learned to base his hope not in himself, but in God, although the prophet cries, " Cursed is he who has his hope in man." 2 Chap. 47. — Predestination is sometimes signified under the nameof foreknowledge. These gifts, therefore, of God, which are given to the elect who are caUed according to God's purpose, among which gifts is both the beginning of belief and perseverance in the faith to the termination of this Hfe, as I have proved by such a concurrent testimony of reasons and authorities, — these gifts of God, I say, if there is no such predestination as I am maintaining, are not foreknown by God; but they are fore known. This, therefore, is the predestination which I main tain, [xviii.] Whence sometimes the same predestination is signified also under the name of foreknowledge ; as says the apostle, " God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew." 3 Here, when he says, " He foreknew," the sense is not rightly understood except as " He predestinated," as is shown by the context of the passage itself. For he was speaking of the remnant of the Jews whieh were saved, whUe the rest perished. For above he had said that the prophet had declared to Israel, " All day long I have stretehed forth my hands to an unbe lieving and a gainsaying people." * And as if it were answered, What, then, has become of the promises of God to Israel ? he added in continuation, " I say, then, has God cast away His people ? God forbid ! for I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin." Then he added 1 Matt. vi. 13. 2 Jer. xvii. 5. 3 Rom. xi. 2. * Rom. x. 21 et seq. CHAP. 48.] FOREKNOWLEDGE EQUALS PREDESTINATION. 217 the words of which I am now treating : " God hath not cast away His people whom He foreknew." And in order to show that the remnant had been left by God's grace, not by any merits of their works, he went on to add, " Know ye not what the Scripture saith in [respect of] Ehas, in what way he maketh intercession with God against Israel V1 and the rest. " But what," says he, " saith the answer of God unto him ? ' I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee before Baal' " 2 For He says not, " There are left to me," but, " I have reserved to myseH." " Even so, then, at this present time also there is made a remnant by the election of grace. And if of grace, then it is no more by works ; otherwise grace is no more grace." And connecting this with what I have above quoted, " What then ? " 3 and in answer to this inquiry, he says, " Israel hath not obtained that which he was seeking for, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded." Therefore, in the election, and in this remnant which were made so by the election of grace, he wished to be understood the people which God did not reject, because He foreknew them. This is that election by which He elected those whom He willed in Christ before the foundation of the world, that they should be holy and without spot in His sight, in love, pre destinating them unto the adoption of sons. No one, there fore, who understands these things is permitted to doubt that, when the apostle says, " God hath not cast away His people whom He foreknew," he intended to signify predestination. For He foreknew the remnant which He should make so according to the election of grace. That is, therefore, He predestinated them ; for without doubt He foreknew if He predestinated ; but to have predestinated is to have foreknown that which He should do. Chap. 48. fxix.] — Practice of Cyprian and Ambrose. What, then, hinders us, when we read of God's foreknow ledge in some commentators on God's word, and they are treating of the calHng of the elect, from understanding the same predestination ? For they would perchance have 1 Rom. xi. 4 et seq. 2 Rom. xi. 5. 3 Eom. xi. 7. 218 ON the gift of PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 49. rather used in this matter the word which, moreover, is better understood, and which is not inconsistent with, nay, is in accordance with, the truth which is declared concern ing the predestination of grace. This I know, that no one HAS BEEN ABLE TO DISPUTE, EXCEPT ERRONEOUSLY, AGAINST that predestination which I am maintaining in accord ance with the Holy Scriptures. Yet I think that they who ask for the opinions of commentators on this matter ought to be satisfied with men so holy and so laudably cele brated everywhere in the faith and Christian doctrine as Cyprian and Ambrose, of whom I have given such clear tes timonies; and that for both doctrines — that is, that they should both believe absolutely and preach everywhere that the grace of God is gratuitous, as we must beHeve and de clare it to be ; and that they should not think that preaching opposed to the preaching whereby we exhort the indolent or rebuke the evil ; because these celebrated men also, although they were preaching God's grace in such a manner as that one of them said, " That we must boast in nothing, because nothing is our own ; " x and the other, " Our heart and our thoughts are not in our own power ; " 2 yet ceased not to exhort and rebuke, in order that the divine commands might be obeyed. Neither were they afraid of its being said to them, " Why do you exhort us, and why do you rebuke us, if our part is to have no good thing, and if our hearts are not in our own power ? " These holy men could by no means fear that such things should be said to them, since they were of the mind to understand that it is given to very few to receive the teaching of salvation through God Himself, or through the angels of heaven, without any human preaching to them ; but that it is given to many to believe in God through human agency. Yet, in whatever manner the word of God is spokeD to man, beyond a doubt for man to hear it in such a way as to obey it, is God's gift. Chap. 49.— Further references to Cyprian and Ambrose. Whence the above-mentioned most exceUent commentators on the divine declarations both preached the true grace of God 1 Cyprian, vol. ii. p. 143 (Eng. Trans.). 2 Ambrose, De Fuga Sceculi, c. 1. CHAP. 49.] TESTIMONY OF AMBROSE. 219 as it ought to be preached, — that is, as a grace preceded by no human deservings, — and urgently exhorted to the doing of the divine commandments, that they who might have the gift of obedience should hear what commands they ought to obey. For if any merits of ours precede grace, certainly it is the merit of some deed, or word, or thought, wherein also is understood a good wiU itself. But he very briefly comprehended the kinds of all deservings who said, " We must glory in nothing, be cause nothing is our own." And he who says, " Our heart and our thoughts are not in our own power," did not pass over acts and words themselves also, for there is no act or word of man which does not proceed from the heart and the thought. But what more could that most glorious martyr and most luminous doctor Cyprian say concerning this matter, than when he impressed upon us that it behoves us to pray, in the Lord's Prayer, even for the adversaries of the Christian faith, when he showed what he thought of the beginning of the faith, that it also is God's gift, and showed that the Church of Christ prays daUy for perseverance unto the end, because none but God gives that perseverance to those who have persevered ? Moreover, the blessed Ambrose, when he was expounding the passage where the Evangelist Luke says, " It seemed good to me also," x says, " What he declares to have seemed good to himself cannot have seemed good to him alone. For not alone by human will did it seem good, but as it pleased Him who speaks in me as Christ, who effects that that which is good may also seem good to us : for on whom He has mercy He also caUs. And therefore he who foUows Christ may answer, when he is asked why he wished to become a Christian, ' It seemed good to me also.' And when he says this, he does not deny that it seemed good to God ; for the wiU of men is prepared by God. For it is God's grace that God should be honoured by the saint." 2 More over, in the same work, — that is, in the exposition of the same Gospel, when he had come to that place where the Samaritans would not receive the Lord when His face was as of one going to Jerusalem, — he says, " Learn at the same time that He could not be received by those who were not con- 1 Luke i. 3. 2 Ambrose, super Lucam. 220 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 50. verted in simpleness of mind. For if He had been wUling, He would have made them devout who were undevout. And why they would not receive Him, the evangeHst himself men tioned, saying, ' Because His face was as of one going towards Jerusalem.' x But the disciples earnestly desired to be re ceived into Samaria. But God calls those whom He makes worthy, and makes religious whom ; He wiU." 2 What more evident, what more manifest do we ask from commentators on God's word, if we are "delighted to hear from themselves what is clear in the Scriptures ? But to these two, who ought to be enough, let us add also a third, the holy Gregory, who testifies that it is the gift of God both to beHeve in God and to confess what we beHeve, saying, " I beg of you confess the Trinity of one godhead ; but if ye wish otherwise, say that it is of one nature, and God will be besought that a voice shall be given to you by the Holy Spirit ;" that is, God wiU be besought to aUow a voice to be given to you by which you may confess what you believe. " For He wiU give, I am certain. He who gave what is first, wiU give also what is second." 3 He who gave the faculty of beHef, will also give the power of confession. Chap. 50. — Obedience not discouraged by preaching God's gifts. Such doctors, and so great as these, saying that there is nothing of which we may boast as if of our own which God has not given us ; and that our very heart and our thoughts are not in our own power, and thus giving the whole to God ; and confessing that from Him we receive that we are converted to Him in such wise as to continue, so that that which is good appears also to us to be good ; and we wish for it, so that we may honour God and receive Christ, so as from undevout people to be made devout and reHgious ; so that we may beHeve in the Trinity itself, and also confess with our voice what we believe ; — aU these things they cer tainly attribute to God's grace, they acknowledge as God's gifts, they testify that from Him they come to us, and are not from ourselves. But will any one say of these, that they in such wise confessed that grace of God as to dare to deny His 1 Luke ix. 53. 2 Ambrose, in Lucam, lib. 7, p. 27. 3 Greg, of Nazianz. Orat. 44 in Pentecosten. CHAP. 51.] PREDESTINATION TO BE PREACHED. '221 foreknowledge, which not only learned but unlearned men also confess ? Again, if they had in such wise known that God gives these things as not to be ignorant that He fore knew that He would give them, and could not have been ignorant to whom He would give them, beyond a doubt they had known the predestination which, as preached by the apostles, we laboriously and diligently maintain against the modern heretics. Nor would it be with any manner of justice said, nevertheless, to those who preach obedience, and who fer vently exhort, to the extent of the ability of each one, to its practice, If you do not wish that the obedience to which you are stirring us up should grow cold in our heart, forbear to preach to us that grace of God by which you confess that God gives what you are exhorting us to do. Chap. 51. [xx.] — Predestination must be preached. Wherefore, if both the apostles and the teachers of the Church who succeeded them and imitated them did both these things, — that is, both truly preached the grace of God which is not given according to our merits, and inculcated by wholesome precepts a pious obedience, — what is it which these people of our time think themselves rightly bound by the invincible force of truth to say, " Even if what is said of the predestination of God's benefits be true, yet it must not be preached to the people " ? 1 It must absolutely be preached, so that he who has ears to hear, may hear. And who has them if he has not received them from Him who says, " I wiU give them a heart to know me, and ears to hear " ? 2 Assuredly, he who has not received may reject; although, nevertheless, he who receives may take and drink, may drink and Hve. For as piety must be preached, that, by him who has ears to hear, God may be rightly worshipped ; modesty must be preached, that, by him who has ears to hear, no UHcit act may' be perpetrated by his fleshly nature ; charity must be preached, that, by him who has ears to hear, God and his neighbours may be loved ; — so also must be preached such a predestination of God's benefits that he who has ears to hear may glory, not in himself, but in the Lord. 1 In the letter of Prosper and Hilary. 3 Baruch ii. 31. 222 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 53. Chap. 52. — Previous writings anticipated the Pelagian heresy. But in respect of their saying " that it was not necessary that so many hearts of people of little inteUigence should be disquieted by the uncertainty of disputation of this kind, since the CathoHc faith has been defended for so many years, with no less advantage, without this definition of predestination, as weU against others as especiaUy against the Pelagians, in so many books that have gone before, as weU of CathoHcs and others as our own ; " J — I mueh wonder that they should say this, and not observe — to say nothing of other writings in this place — that those very treatises of mine were both composed and published before the Pelagians had begun to appear ; and that they do not see in how many passages of those treatises I was unawares cutting down a future Pelagian heresy, by preaching the grace by which God dehvers us from evU errors and from our habits, without any preceding merits of ours, — doing this according to His gratuitous mercy. And this I began more fuUy to apprehend in that disputation which I wrote to SimpHcianus, the bishop of the Church of MUan, of blessed memory, in the beginning of my episcopate, when, moreover, I both perceived and asserted that the beginning of faith is God's gift. Chap. 53. — Augustine's "Confessions." And which of my smaUer works could be more generaUy and more agreeably known than the books of my Confessions ? And although I pubHshed them before the Pelagian heresy had come into existence, certainly in them I said to my God, and said it frequently, " Give what Thou commandest, and command what Thou wiUest." 2 Which words of mine, Pelagius at Eome, when they were mentioned in his presence by a certain brother and fellow-bishop of mine, could not bear ; and contradicting somewhat too excitedly, nearly came to a quarrel with him who had mentioned them. And what, indeed, does God primarily and chiefly command, but that we believe on Him ? And this, therefore, He Himself gives, if it is well said to Him, " Give what Thou commandest." And, 1 The Epistle of Hilary, 8. 2 Confessions, lib. x. c. 19, 31, and 37. CHAP. 54.] GOD GIVES THE BEGINNING AND END OF FAITH. 223 moreover, in those same books, in respect of what I have related concerning my conversion, when God converted me to that faith which, with a most miserable and raging talkative ness, I was destroying, do you not remember that it was so narrated how I showed that I was granted to the faithful and daily tears of my mother, that I should not perish ? 1 Where certainly I declared that God by His grace converted the wiUs of men to the true faith, not only when they had been turned away from it, but even when they were opposed to it. Further, in what manner I besought God concerning my growth in perseverance, you know, and you are able to review if you wish it. Therefore, that all the gifts of God which in that work I either asked for or praised, who can dare, I wUl not say to deny, but even to doubt, were foreknown by God that He would give, and that He could never be ignorant of the persons to whom He would give them ? This is the manifest and assured predestination of the saints, which subse quently necessity compelled me more carefully and laboriously to defend when I was already disputing against the Pelagians. For I learnt that certain special heresies introduced certain questions peculiar to the Church — against which the sacred Scripture might be more earefuUy defended than if no such necessity compeUed their defence. And what compeUed those passages of Scripture in which predestination is commended to be defended more abundantly and clearly by that labour of mine, than the fact that the Pelagians say that God's grace is given according to our merits ; for what else is this than an absolute denial of grace ? Chap. 54. [xxi.]— Beginning and end -of faith is of God. Therefore that this opinion, unpleasing as it is to God, and hostUe to those gratuitous benefits of God whereby we are deHvered, may be destroyed, I maintain that both the beginning of faith and the perseverance therein according to the. Scriptures even to the end — of which Scriptures I have already quoted many — are God's gifts. Because if we say that the beginning of faith is of ourselves, so that by it we deserve to receive other gifts of God, the Pelagians conclude 1 Confessions, lib. iii. e. 11 and 12, lib. ix. c. 8. 224 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 55. that God's grace is given according to our merits. And this the CathoHc faith held in such dread, that Pelagius himself, in fear of condemnation, condemned it. And, moreover, if we say that our perseverance is of ourselves, not of God, they answer that we have the beginning of our faith of ourselves in such wise as the end, thus arguing that we have that beginning of ourselves much more, if of ourselves we have the continuance unto the end, since to perfect is much greater than to begin; and thus repeatedly they conclude that the grace of God is given according to our merits. But if both are God's gifts, and God foreknew that He would give these His gifts (and who can deny this ?), predestination must be preached, — that God's true grace, that is, the grace which is not given according to our merits, may be maintained with insuperable defence. Chap. 55. — Testimony of his previous writings and letters. And, indeed, in that treatise of which the title is, Of Bebuke and Grace1 which could not satisfy all my lovers, I think that I have so estabHshed that it is the gift of God also to persevere to the end, as I have either never before or almost never so expressly and evidently maintained this in writing, unless my memory deceives me. But I have now said this in a way in which no one before me has said it. Certainly the blessed Cyprian, in the Lord's Prayer, as I have already shown, so explained our petitions as to say that in its very first petition we were asking for perseverance, asserting that we pray for it when we say, " Hallowed be Thy name," 2 although we have been already haUowed in baptism, — so that we may persevere in that which we have begun to be. Let those, however, to whom, in their love for me, I ought not to be ungrateful, who profess that they embrace, over and above that which comes into the argument, all my views, as you write, — let those, I say, see whether, in the latter portions of the first book of those two which I wrote in the beginning of my episcopate, before the appearance of the Pelagian heresy, to SimpHcianus, the bishop of MUan,3 there remained anything 1 On Rebuke and Grace, c. 10 ; ante, p. 77 ff. 2 Matt. vi. 9. 3 Two books to SimpHcianus. CHAP. 56.] PROGRESS IN OPINION. 225 whereby it might be called in question that God's grace is not given according to our merits ; and whether I have not there sufficiently argued that even the beginning of faith is God's gift; and whether from what is there said it does not by consequence result, although it is not expressed, that even perseverance to the end is not given, except by Him who has predestinated us to His kingdom and glory. Then, did not I many years before publish the same letter which I had already written to the holy Paulinus,1 bishop of Nola, against the Pelagians, which letter they have lately begun to con tradict ? Let them also look into that letter which I sent to Sixtus, the presbyter of the Eoman Church,2 when we con tended in a very sharp conflict against the Pelagians, and they wiU find it such as is that one to PauHnus. Whence they may gather that the same sort of things were already said and written some years ago against the Pelagian heresy and that it is to be wondered at that these should now displease them ; although I should wish that no one would so embrace aU my views as to foUow me, except in those things in which he should see me not to have erred.- For I am now writing treatises in which I have undertaken to retract my smaUer works, for the purpose of demonstrating that even I myself have not in all things f oUowed myself ; but I think that, with God's mercy, I have written progressively, and that I have not begun from perfection ; since, indeed, I speak more arrogantly than truly, if even now I say that I have at length in this age of mine arrived at perfection, without any error in what I write. But the difference is in the extent and the subject of an error, and in the faciHty with which any one corrects it, or the pertinacity with which one endeavours to defend his error. Certainly there is good hope of that man whom the last day of this Hfe shaU find so progressing that whatever was wanting to his progress may be added to him, and that he should be adjudged rather to need perfecting than punishment. Chap. 56. — God gives means as well as end. Wherefore if I am unwiUing to appear ungrateful to men who have loved me, because some advantage of my labour has 1 Letter to Paulinus, 168. 2 Letter to Sixtus, 194. XV. p 226 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP..57. attained to them before they loved me, how much rather am I unwiUing to be ungrateful to God, whom we should not love unless He had first loved us and made us to love Him ! since love is -of Him,1 as they have said whom He made not only His great lovers, but' also His great preachers. And what is more ungrateful than to deny that very grace of God, by saying that itis given to us according to our merits ? And this the Catholic faith shuddered at in the Pelagians, and this it objected to Pelagius himself as a capital crime; and this Pelagius himself condemned, not indeed from love of God's truth, but yet for fear of his own condemnation. And who ever as a faithful Catholic shrinks from saying that the grace of God is given according to our merits, let him not withdraw that very faith of God's grace, whereby he obtained mercy that he should be faithful ; and then let him attribute to God's grace the perseverance also to the -end, whereby he obtains the mercy 'which he daily asks for, of not being led into tempta tion. But between the beginning of faith and the perfection of perseverance there are those means whereby we live right eously, which they themselves are agreed in regarding as given by God to us at the prayer of faith. And aU these things — the beginning of faith, to wit, and His other gifts even to the end — God foreknew that He would bestow on His called. It is a matter, therefore, of too excessive contentiousness to contradict predestination, or to doubt concerning predesti nation.Chap. 57. [xx-n.] — How predestination must be preached without giving offence. And yet this doctrine must not be preached to congregations in such a way as to seem to an unskUled multitude, or a people of slower understanding, to be in some measure con futed by that very preaching of it. As, moreover, the fore knowledge of God, which certainly men cannot deny, seems to be refuted if it be said to them, " Whether you run or sleep, you shall be that which He who cannot be deceived has fore known you to be." And it is the part of a deceitful or an unskilled physician so to compound even a useful medica ment, that it either does no good or does harm. But it must 1 1 John iv. 7. CHAPi 59.] DISCRIMINATION IN PREACHING. 227 be said, " So run that you may lay hold ; x and thus by your very running you may know yourselves to be foreknown as those who should run lawfully:" and if in any other manner the foreknowledge of God may be preached, so that the sloth- fulness of man may be repulsed. Chap. 58. — The doctrine to be applied with discrimination. Although, therefore, the definite decree of God's wiU con cerning predestination is of such a kind that some from un beUef receive the wUl to obey, and are converted to the faith or persevere in the faith, while others who abide in the deUght of damnable sins, if even they have been predestinated, have not yet arisen, because the aid of pitying grace has not yet Hfted them up ; — for if any are not yet caUed whom by His grace He has predestinated to be elected, they wiU receive that grace whereby they may wUl to be elected, and may be so ; and if any obey, but have not been predestinated to His kingdom and glory, they are [obedient] for a season, and wiU not abide in the same obedience to the end ; — although, therefore, these things are true, yet they must not be said to the multitude of hearers in such a way as that the address may be appHed to themselves also, and those words of such may be said to them which you have set down in your letter, and which I have above introduced : " The definite decree of God's wiU concerning predestination is of such a kind that some of you from unbelief shaU receive the will to obey, and come to the faith." What need is there for saying, " Some of you " ? For if we speak to God's Church, if we speak to believers, why do we say that " some of them " had come to the faith, and seem to do a wrong to the rest, when we may more fittingly say the definite decree of the will of God concerning predestination is of such a kind that from unbeUef you shall receive the wUl to obey, and come to the end, and shaU receive perseverance, and abide in the faith ? Chap. 59. — Offence to be avoided. Neither is what follows by any means to be said, — that is, " But others of you who abide in the dehght of sins have not 1 1 Cor. ix. 24. 228 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 61. yet arisen, because the aid of pitying grace has not yet Hfted you up ; " when it may be and ought to be weU and con veniently said, " But if any of you are stiU delaying in the dehghtfulness of damnable sins, lay hold of the most whole some discipHne ; and yet when you have done this be not Hfted up, as if of your own works, nor boast as if you had not received this. For it is God who worketh in you both to wUl and to do for His good wUl,1 and your steps are directed by the Lord, so that you choose His way.2 But of your own good and righteous course, learn .carefuUy that it is attribut able to the predestination of divine grace." Chap. 60. — The application to the Church in general. Moreover, what foUows where it is said, " But yet if any of you are not yet caUed, whom by His grace He has pre destinated to be caUed, you shaU receive that grace whereby you shaU wiU to be, and be, elected," is said more hardly than it could be said if we consider that we are speaking not to any men in general, but to the Church of Christ. For why is it not rather said thus : " And if any of you are not yet caUed, let us pray for them that they may be caUed. For perchance they are so predestinated as to be granted to our prayers, and to receive that grace whereby they may wiU, and be made elected " ? For God, who fulfiUed aU that He predestinated, has wUled us also to pray for the enemies of the faith, that we might hence understand that He himself also gives to the unbeHevers the gift of faith, and makes men willing out of those that were unwiUing. Chap. 61. — Use of fhe third person rather than the second. But now I marvel if any weak brother among the Christian congregation can hear in any way with patience what is con nected with these words, when it is said to them, " And if any of you obey, if you are predestinated to be rejected, the power of obeying wiU be withdrawn from you, that you may cease to obey." For what does saying this seem, except to curse, or in a certain way to predict evUs ? But if, how ever, it is desirable or necessary to say anything concerning 1 Phil. i. 13. 2 Ps. xxxvii. 23. CHAP. 62.] USE OF THE THIRD PERSON IN PREACHING. 229 those who do not persevere, why is it not rather at least said in such a way as was a Httle while ago said by me, — first of all, so that this should be said, not of them who hear in the congregation, but about others to them ; that is, that it should not be said, " If any of you obey, if you are predestinated to be rejected," but, " If any obey," and the rest, using the third person of the verb, not the second ? For it is not caUed a desirable, but an abominable matter, and it is a most harsh and hateful coUision to address as it were the face of an audience, when he who speaks to them says, " And if there are any of you who obey, and are predestinated to be rejected, the power of obedience shaU be withdrawn from you, that you may cease to obey." For what is wanting to the doc trine if it is thus expressed : " But if any obey, and are not predestinated to His kingdom and glory, they are only for a season, and shall not continue in that obedience unto the end " ? Is not the same thing said both more truly and more fittingly, so that we may seem not as it were to be desiring so much the evil for them, as to relate it of others, which they hate, and think that it does not belong to them, by hoping and praying for better things ? But in that manner in which they think that it must be said, the same judgment may be pronounced almost in the same words also of God's foreknow ledge, which certainly they cannot deny, so as to say, " And if any of you obey, if you are foreknown to be rejected you shaU cease to obey." Doubtless this is very true, assuredly it is; but it is very monstrous, very inconsiderate, and very un suitable, not by its false declaration, but by its declaration not wholesomely appHed to the health of human infirmity. Chap. 62. — Prayer to be inculcated nevertheless. But I do not think that that manner which I have said should be adopted in the preaching of predestination ought to be sufficient for him who speaks to the congregation, except he adds this, or something of this kind, saying, " You, there fore, ought also to hope for that perseverance in obedience from the Father of Lights, from whom cometh down every exceUent gift and every perfect gift,1 and to ask for it in 1 Jas. i. 17. 230 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 63. your daily prayers; and in doing this ought to trust that you are not aliens from the predestination of His people, because it is He Himself who bestows even the power of doing this. And far be it from you to despair of your selves, because you are bidden to have your hope in Him, not in yourselves. For cursed is every one who has hope in man ; x and it is good rather to trust in the Lord than to trust in man, because blessed are aU they that trust in Him.2 Holding this hope, serve the Lord in fear, and rejoice unto Him with trembHng.3 Because no one can be certain of the Hfe eternal which a God who does not He has promised to the children of promise before the times of eternity, — no one, unless that life of his, which is a state of trial upon the earth, is completed* But He wiU make us to persevere in Himself unto the end of that Hfe, since we daily say to Him, ' Lead us not into temptation.' " 5 When these things and things of this kind are said, whether to few Christians or to the multi tude of the Church, why do we fear to preach the predesti nation of the saints and the true grace of God, — that is, the grace which is not given according to our merits, — as the Holy Scripture declares it ? Or, indeed, must it be feared that a man should then despair of himself when his hope is shown to be placed in God, and should not rather despair of himself if he should, in his excess of pride and unhappiness, place it in himself? Chap. 63. [xxiii.] — The testimony of the whole Church in her prayers. And I wish that those who are slow and weak of heart, who cannot, or cannot as yet, understand the Scriptures or their explanations, would so hear or not hear in this question our arguments as to consider more carefully their prayers, which the Church has always used and will use, even from its beginnings, until this age shall be completed. For of this matter, which I am now compelled not only to mention, but absolutely to protect and defend against these new heretics, the Church has never been silent in its prayers, although in its discourses it has not thought that it need be put forth, as there was no 1 Jas. xvii. 5. 2 Ps. cxviii. 8. 3 Ps. ii. 12. 4 Job vii. 1. » jjattt T;_ 13> CHAP. 64.] TENOR OF THE CHURCH'S PRAYERS. 231 adversary compelling it. For when was not prayer made in the Church for unbehevers and its opponents that they should beHeve ? When has any believer had a friend, a neighbour, a wife, who did not beHeve, and has not asked on their behalf from the Lord for a mind obedient to the Christian faith ? And who has there ever been who has not prayed for himself that he might abide in the Lord ? And who has dared, not only with his voice, but even in thought, to- -blame the priest who invokes the Lord on behalf of behevers, if at any time he has said, " Give to them, 0 Lord, perseverance in Thee to the end !" and has not rather responded, over such a benediction of his, as weU with confessing Hps as believing heart, " Amen" ? Since in the Lord's Prayer itself the behevers do not pray for anything else, especiaUy when they say that petition, " Lead us not into temptation," save that they may persevere in holy obedience. As, therefore, the Church has both been born and grows and has grown in these prayers, so it has been born and grows and has grown- in this faith, by which faith it is beUeved that God's grace is not given according to the merits of the receivers. Since, indeed, the Church would not pray that faith should be given to unbelievers, unless it believed that God converts the wiUs of men, both averse from and adverse to Himself. Nor would the Church pray that it might perse vere in the faith of Christ, not deceived nor overcome by the temptations of the world, unless it believed that the Lord has our heart in His power, in such wise as that the good which we do not hold save by our own wiU, we nevertheless do not hold except He worketh in us to wiU also. For if the Church indeed asks these things from Him, but thinks that the same things are given to itself by itself, it makes use of prayers which are not true, but perfunctory, — which be far from us ! For who truly groans, desiring to receive what he prays for from the Lord, if he thinks that he receives it from himself, and not from the Lord ? Chap. 64. — In what sense fhe Holy Spirit solicits for us, crying, Abba, Father. EspeciaUy since " we know not what to pray for as we ought," says the apostle, " but the Spirit Himself maketh in tercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered ; and 232 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 65. He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to [the wiU of] God," 1 — what is " the Spirit Him self maketh intercession," but, "causes to make intercession," " with groanings that cannot be uttered," but " truthful," since the Spirit is truth ? For He it is of whom the apostle says in another place, " God hath sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father ! " 2 And here what is the meaning of " crying," but, " making to cry," by that figure of speech whereby we caU a day that makes, people glad, a glad day ? And this he makes plain elsewhere when he says, " For you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear, but you have received the Spirit of the adoption of sons, in whom we cry, Abba, Father." 3 He there said, " crying," but here, " in whom we cry ; " opening up, that is to say, the meaning with which he said " crying," — that is, as I have already explained, * causing to cry," when we understand that this is also itself the gift of God, that with a true heart and spirituaUy we cry to God. Let them, therefore, observe how they are mistaken who think that our seeking, asking, knocking is of ourselves, and is not given to us ; and say that this is the case because grace is preceded by our merits ; that it foUows them when we ask and receive, and seek and find, and it is opened to us when we knock. And they wiU not understand that this is also of the divine gift, that we pray ; that is, that we ask, seek, and knock. For we have received the spirit of adoption of sons, in which we cry, Abba, Father. And this the blessed Ambrose also said.4 For he says, " To pray to God also is the work of spiritual grace, as it is written, No one says, Jesus is the Lord, but in the Holy Spirit." Chap. 65. — The Church's prayers imply the Church's faith. These things, therefore, which the Church asks from the Lord, and always has asked from the time she began to exist, God so foreknew that He would give to His caUed, as He has already given them in predestination itself; as the apostle 1 Rom. iii. 26. 2 Gal. iv. 6. 3 Rom. viii. 15. 4 Ambrose, in Comment, sup. Isaiam. CHAP. 66.] THE CHURCH'S PRAYERS IMPLY HER FAITH. 233 declares without any ambiguity. For, writing to Timothy, he says, " Labour with the gospel according to the power of God, who saves us, and caUs us with His holy calHng, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the times of eternity, but is now made manifest by the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ." x Let him, therefore, say that the Church at any time has not had in its belief the truth of this predestination and grace, which is now maintained with a more careful heed against the late heretics ; let him say this who dares to say that at any time it has not prayed, or not truthfully prayed, as weU that unbelievers might believe, as that believers might persevere. And if the Church has always prayed for these benefits, it has always believed them to be certainly God's gifts ; nor was it ever right for it to deny that they were foreknown by Him. And thus Christ's Church has never faUed to hold the faith of this predestination, which is now being defended with new sohcitude against these modern heretics. Chap. 66. [xxiv.] — Recapitulation and exhortation. But what more shaU I say ? I think that I have taught sufficiently, or rather more than sufficiently, that both the beginning of faith in the Lord, and continuance in the Lord unto the end, are God's gifts. And other good things which pertain to a good Hfe, whereby God is rightly worshipped, even they themselves on whose behalf I am writing- this treatise concede to be God's gifts. Further, they cannot deny that God has foreknown aU His gifts, and the people on whom He had been about to bestow them. As, therefore, other things must be preached so that he who preaches them may be heard with obedience, so predestination must be preached so that he who hears these things with obedience may glory not in man, and therefore not in himself, but in the Lord ; for this also is God's precept, and to hear this precept with obedience — to wit, that he who glories should glory in the Lord 2 — in like manner as the rest is God's gift. And he who has not this gift, — I shrink not from saying it, — whatever 1 2 Tim. i. 8, etc. 2 1 Cor. i. 31. 234 ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. 67. others he has, has them in vain. That the Pelagians may have this we pray, and that our own brethren may have it more abundantly. Let us not, therefore, be prompt in argu ments and indolent in prayers. Let us pray, dearly beloved, let us pray that the God of grace may give even to our enemies, and especially to our brethren and lovers, to understand and confess that after that great and unspeakable destruction wherein we have aU faUen in one, no one is deHvered save by God's grace, and that that grace is not repaid according to the merits of the receivers as if it were due, but is given freely as true grace, with no merits pre ceding. Chap. 67. — Tlie most eminent instance qf predestination is Christ Jesus. But there is no more iUustrious instance of predestination than Jesus Himself, concerning which also I have aheady argued in the former treatise;1 and in the end of this I have chosen to insist upon it. There is no more eminent instance, I say, of predestination than the Mediator himself. If any believer wishes thoroughly to understand this doctrine, let him consider Him, and in Him he wiU find himself also. The beUever, I say ; who in Him beHeves and confesses the true human nature that is our own, however specially elevated by the taking up of God the Lord into the only Son of God, so that He who undertook, and what He undertook, should be one person in Trinity. For it was not a Quatemity that resulted from the assumption of man, but it remained a Trinity, inasmuch as that assumption ineffably made the truth of one person in God and man. Because we say that Christ was not only God, as the Manichsean heretics contend ; nor only man, as the Photinian heretics assert ; nor in such wise man as to have less of anything which of a certainty pertains to human nature, — whether a soul, or in the soul itself a rational mind, or flesh, not taken of the woman, but made from the Word converted and changed into flesh, — all which three false and empty notions have made the three various and diverse parties of the Apollinarian heretics ; but we say that Christ was true God, born of God the Father without any beginning 1 De Predestinat. Sanct. c. 30 ; ante, p. 154. CHAP. 68.] PREDESTINATION OF CHRIST. 235 of time ; and that He was true or very man, born of human mother in the certain fulness of time ; and that His humanity, whereby He is less than the Father, does not diminish aught from His divinity, whereby He is equal to the Father. For both of them are One — are Christ — who, moreover, most truly said in respect of God, " I and the Father are one ; " x and most truly said in respect of the man, "My Father is greater than I."2 He, therefore, who made of the seed of David this righteous man, who never should be unrighteous, without any merit of His preceding wiU, is the same who also makes righteous men of unrighteous, without any merit of their wiU preceding ; that He might be the head, and they His members. He, therefore, who made that man with no precedent merits of His, neither to deduce from His origin nor to commit by His wUl any sin which should be remitted to Him, the same makes beHevers on Him with no preceding merits of theirs, to whom He forgives aU sin. He who made Him such that He never had or should have an evU will, the same makes in His members a good wiU out of an evil one. Therefore, He predestinated both Him and us, because both in Him that He might be our head, and in us that we should be His body, He foreknew that our merits would not precede, but that His doings should. Chap. 68. — Conclusion. Let those who read this, if they understand, give God thanks, and let those who do not understand, pray that they may have the inward Teacher, from whose presence comes knowledge and understanding.3 But let those who think that I am in error, consider again and again carefuUy what is here said, lest perchance they themselves may be mistaken. And when, by means of those who read my writings, I become not only wiser, but even more perfect, I acknowledge God's favour to me ; and this I especially look for at the hands of the teachers of the Church, if what I write comes into their hands, and they condescend to acknowledge it. 1 John x. 30. 2 John xiv. : 8. 3 Prov. ii. 6 [LXX.]. Extract from "The Betraetations" Book II. chap. 61. Then foUow four books which I wrote to Boniface, bishop of the Eom an Church, in opposition to two letters of the Pelagians, because when they came into his hands he had sent them to me, finding in them an artful mention of my name. This work commences on this wise : " I had indeed known you by the very frequent announcement of fame." [Noveram te quidem faml celeberrima prsedicante.] 236 FOUK BOOKS By AUEELIUS AUGUSTINE, Bishop of Hippo. WRITTEN TO BONIFACE, BISHOP OF THE ROMAN CHURCH, IN OPPOSITION TO TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. A.D. 420, OB A LITTLE LATEP.. BOOK I. AUGUSTINE REPLIES TO A LETTEE SENT BY JULIAN, AS IT WAS SAID, TO EOME ; AND FIRST OF ALL VINDICATES THE CATHOLIC DOCTEINE FKOM HIS CALUM NIES ; THEN DISCOVERS AND CONFUTES THE HEEETICAL SENSE OF THE PELAGIANS HIDDEN IN THAT PROFESSION OF FAITH WHICH THE AUTHOR OF THE LETTER OPPOSED TO THE CATHOLICS. Chap. 1. — Introduction. I HAD indeed known you by the very frequent announce ment of fame; and by very numerous and veracious messengers I had learned how you were fiUed with the grace of God, most blessed and venerable Pope Boniface ! But after my brother Alypius saw you even in bodily presence, and, being received by you with aU kindness and sincerity, enjoyed at the bidding of affection conversations with you, and Hving with you, and, although only for a short time, united with you in earnest affection, poured out to your mind both himself and me, and brought back you also to me in his mind, the more assured was your friendship, the greater became in me the conviction of your holiness. For you, who mind not high things, however loftily you are placed, did not dis dain to be a friend of the lowly, and to return the love bestowed upon you. For what else is Friendship [amicitia], 237 238 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 3. which has its name from no other source than love [amore], AND IS NOWHERE FAITHFUL BUT in Christ, in whom alone it can be as weU eternal as happy ? Whence, also, having re ceived a greater assurance by means of that brother, through whom I have learned to know you more familiarly, I have ventured to write something to your blessedness concerning those things which at this juncture are claiming by a later stimulus the episcopal attention to vigUance, as far as we are able, on behalf of the Lord's flock. Chap. 2. — Why heretical writings must be answered. For later heretics, enemies of the grace of God, which is given by Jesus Christ our Lord to smaU and great, although they are already shown as needing more openly to be avoided by a manifest disapprobation, stiU do not cease by their writings to try the hearts of the less cautious and less learned. And these must certainly be answered, lest they should con firm themselves or their friends in that wicked error ; even if we were not afraid that they might deceive any of the Catholics by their plausible discourse. But since they do not cease to growl at the entrances to the Lord's fold, and from every side to tear open approaches with a view to tear in pieces the sheep redeemed at such a price ; and since the pastoral watch-tower is common to aU of us who discharge the office of the episcopate (although you are prominent therein on a loftier height), I do what I can in respect of my smaU portion of the charge, as the Lord condescends by the aid of your prayers to grant me power, to oppose to their pestUent and crafty writings, healing and defensive writings, so that the madness with which they are raging may either itself be cured, or may be prevented from hurting others. Chap. 3. — Why he addresses his book to Boniface. But these words which I am answering to their two letters, —the one, to wit, which Juhan is said to have sent to Eome, that by its means, as I beHeve, he might find or make as many allies as he could ; and the other, which eighteen so- caUed bishops, sharers in his error, dared to write to Thes- salonica, not to any body in general, but to the bishop of CHAP. 5.] RELATION OF FREE-WILL TO ADAM'S SIN. 239 that very place, with a view of tempting him by his craftiness and bringing him over, if it could be done, to his views ; — these words which, as I said, I am writing in answer to those two letters of theirs in respect of that argument, I have determined to address especially to your sanctity, not so much for your learning as for your examination, and, if perchance anything should displease you, for your correction. For my brother intimated to me that you yourself condescended to give those letters to him, which could not come into your hands except by the most watchful diligence of my brethren, your sons. And I thank your most sincere kindness to me that you have been unwiUing that those letters of the enemies of God's grace should be hidden from me, seeing that in them you have found my name ealumniously as weU as plainly expressed. But I hope from my Lord God that not without the reward which is in heaven do they tear me with their scurrilous teeth to whom I oppose myself on behalf of the little ones, that they may not be left to be destroyed to the deceitful flatterer Pelagius, but may be presented to be delivered to the truthful Saviour Christ. Chap. 4. [n.] — The calumny of Julian concerning the free-will in us taken away by Adam's sin. The Pelagians, as formerly Jovinian, call the Catholics Manichceans. Let us now, therefore, reply to Julian's letter. " Those Manichseans say," says he, "with whom now we do not communicate, — that is, the whole of them with whom we differ, — that by the sin of the first man, that is, of Adam, free-will perished ; and that no one has now the power of Hving weU, but that aU are constrained to sin by the necessity of their flesh." He caUs the CathoHcs Maniehseans, after the manner of that Jovinian who a few years ago, as a new heretic, destroyed the virginity of the blessed Mary, and placed the marriage of the faithful on the same level as her sacred virginity. And he did not object this to the Catholics on any other ground than that he wished them to seem to be either accusers or condemners of marriage. Chap. 5. — Free choice did not perish with Adam's sm. What freedom did perish. But by defending free-wiU they are hastening to a confi- 240 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 5. dence rather in doing righteousness of free-wiU than of God's aid, and so that every one may glory in himself, and not in the Lord.1 For which of us can say that by the sin of the first man free-wiU perished from the human race ? Through sin Hberty indeed perished, but it was that liberty which was in Paradise, of having a fuU righteousness with immortaHty ; on account of which loss human nature is without divine grace, since the Lord says, " If the Son shall make you free, then shall ye be free indeed"2 — certainly free to Hve well and righteously. For free-wiU did not so far perish in the sinner, but that by it aU sin, — especiaUy they who sin with dehght and with love of sin ; they wUl what pleases them. Whence also the apostle says, " When ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness."3 Behold, they are shown to have been by no means able to serve sin except by another freedom. They are not, then, free from righteousness except by the choice of the wiU, but they do not become free from sin save by the grace of the Saviour. For which reason the admirable Teacher also distinguished these very words : " For when ye were the servants," says he, '' of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye, then, in those things whereof ye are now ashamed ? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin and become ser vants to God, ye have your fruit unto hoHness, and the end eternal Hfe."3 He caUed them free from righteousness, not freed ; but from sin not free, lest they should attribute this to themselves ; but most watchfuUy he preferred to say made free, referring this to that declaration ot the Lord, " If the Son shaU make you free, then shaU ye be free indeed."4 Since, then, the sons of men do not Hve well unless they are made the sons of God, what is this but that He wills to give the power of good Hving to free-wiU, since this power is not given save by God's grace through Jesus Christ our Lord, as the gospel says : " And as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God " ? 5 1 1 Cor. i. 31. 2 John viii. 36. 3 Eom. vi. 20. • John viii. 36 ff. 6 John i. 12. CHAP. 6.] TO RECEIVE CHRIST IS TO BELIEVE ON HIM. 211 Chap. 6. [in.] — Grace is not given according to merits. But lest perchance they say that they are aided to the re sult of having power to become the sons of God, but that in order to deserve to receive this power they have first received Him by free-wUl with no assistance of graee, because this is the purpose of their endeavour to destroy graee, that they may contend that it is given according to our deservings ; lest per chance, then, they so divide that evangehcal statement as to refer merit to that portion of it wherein it is said, " But as many as received Him," and then say that in that which foUows, grace is not given freely, but is repaid to this merit, " He gave them power to become the sons of God ;" if it is asked of them what is the meaning of " received Him," wUl they say anything else than " believed on Him" ? And in order, therefore, that they may know that this also pertains to grace, let them read what the apostle says : " And that ye be in nothing terrified by your adversaries, which indeed is to them a cause of perdition, but of your salvation, and that of God; for unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to beHeve on Him, but also to suffer for His sake."1 Certainly he said that both were given. Let them read what he said also : " Peace be to the brethren, and love, with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus- Christ."2 Let them also read what the Lord Himself says : " No man can come to me, except the Father who hath sent me shaU draw him."* Where, lest any one should suppose that anything else is said in the words " come to me " than " believe in me," a Httle after, when He was speaking of His body and blood, and many were offended at His discourse, He says, " The words which I have spoken unto you are spirit and life; but there are some of you which beHeve not,"4 Then the EvangeHst added, "For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed, and who should betray Him. And He said, Therefore I said unto you that no man can come unto me except it were given him of my Father." & He repeated, to wit, the saying, in which He had said, " No man can come unto me, except the Father who 1 Phil, i. 28, 29; s Eph. vi. 23. 3 John vi. 44. * John vi. 64, * John vi. 64 ffi XV. Q 242 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 7. hath sent me shaU draw him." And He declared that He said this for the sake of behevers and unbelievers, explaining what He had said, "except the Father who hath sent me shaU draw him," by repeating the very same thing in other words in that -which He said, " except it were given him of my Father." Because he is drawn to Christ to whom it is given to believe on Christ. Therefore the power is given that they who beHeve on Him should become the sons of God, since this very thing is given, that they beHeve on Him. And unless this power be given from God, of free will there can be none, because it wUl not be free in good if the deHverer have not made it free ; but in evil he has a free-wiU in whom a deceiver, either secret or manifest, has grafted the love of wickedness, or he himself has persuaded himself of it Chap. 7.— He concludes that he does not deprive tlie wicked of free-will. It is not, therefore, true, as some affirm that we say, and as that correspondent of yours ventures moreover to write, that " all are forced into sin," as if unwiUingly, " by the necessity of their flesh ;" but if they are already of the age to use the choice of their own mind, they are both retained in sin by their own wiU, and by their own wUl are hurried along from sin to sin. For even he who persuades and deceives does not act in them, except that they may commit sin by their wiU, either by ignorance of the truth or by delight in iniquity, or by both evUs, — as weU of blindness as of weak ness. But this wiU, which is free in evU because it takes pleasure in evil, is not free in good, for the reason that it has not been made free. Nor can a man will any good thing unless he is aided by Him who cannot wiU evU, — that is, by the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. For " everything which is not of faith is sin."1 And thus the good will which withdraws itself from sin is faithful, because the just by faith lives.2 And it pertains to faith to believe on Christ. And no man can beHeve on Christ — that is, come to Him — unless it be given to him.8 No man, therefore, can have a righteous wiU, unless, with no 1 Rom. xiv. 23. 3 Hab. ii. 4. 2 Rom. i. 17. CHAP. 9.] JULIAN'S CALUMNY ABOUT MARRIAGE. 243 foregoing merits, he has received the true, that is, the gra tuitous grace from above. Chap. 8. [iv.] — The Pelagians demolish free-will. These proud and haughty people wiU not have this ; and yet they do not maintain free-wUl by purifying it, but de- moHsh it by exaggerating it. For they are angry with us who say these things, for no other reason than that they disdain to glory in the Lord. Yet Pelagius feared the epis copal judgment of Palestine ; and when it was objected to him that he said that the grace of God is given according to our merits, he denied that he said so, and condemned those who said this with an anathema. And yet nothing else is found to be defended in the books which he afterwards wrote, think ing that he had put a deceit upon the men who were his judges, by lying or by hiding his meaning, I know not how, in ambiguous words. Chap. 9. [v.] — Another calumny of Julian, that it is said that marriage is not appointed by God. But now let us see what fpUows. "They say also," he says, " that those marriages which are now celebrated were not appointed by God, which is read in Augustine's book,1 against which I rephed in four pamphlets. And the words of this Augustine our enemies have taken up by way of hostUity to the truth." To these most calumnious words I see that a brief answer must be made, because he repeats them afterwards when he himself wishes to insinuate that such men as they could say anything against my words. On that point, with God's assistance, I must contend with him as far as the matter shaU seem to demand. Now, therefore, I reply that marriage was ordained by God both then, when it was said, "Therefore shaU a man leave his father and his mother, and shaU cleave unto his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh,"2 and now, in respect of what is written, "A woman is joined to a man by the Lord."3 For nothing else is even now done than that a man cleave to his wife, and they 1 Treatise on "Marriage and Concupiscence " [Vol. ii. Clark's Trans. Anti. Pelagian Writings]. ' 2 Gen. ii. 24. 3 Prov, xix. 24 [LXX.]. 244 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 10. become two in one flesh. Because concerning that very mar riage which is now contracted, the Lord was consulted by the Jews whether it was lawful for any cause to put away a wife. And to the testimony of the law on that occasion mentioned, He added, "What, therefore, God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."1 The Apostle Paul also appHed this witness of the law when he admonished husbands that their wives should be loved by them.2 Away, then, with the notion that in my book that man should read anything opposed to these divine testimonies ! But either from not understanding, or rather by calumniating, he seeks to twist what he reads into another meaning. But I wrote my book, against which he mentions that he rephed in four pamphlets, after the con demnation of Pelagius and Coelestius. And this, I have thought, must be said, because that man avers that my words had been taken up by his enemies in hostihty to the truth, lest any one should think that these new heretics were con demned as enemies of the grace of Christ on account of this book of mine. But in that book is found the defence rather than the censure of marriage. Chap. 10. — The third calumny, — the assertion that conjugal intercourse is condemned. "They say also," says he, "that sexual desire and the intercourse of married people were devised by the devU, and that therefore those who are born innocent are guUty, and that it is the work of the devU, not of God, that they are born of this diabolical intercourse. And this, without any ambiguity, is Manichseism." Nay, as I say that marriage was appointed by God for the sake ofthe ordinance of the begetting of chUdren, so I say that the propagation of chUdren to be begotten could not have taken place without sexual desire, and without inter course of husband and wife, even in Paradise, if children were begotten there. But whether such desire and intercourse would have existed, as is now the case with shameful lust. if no one had sinned, here is the question concerning which I shaU argue hereafter, if God wiU. 1 Matt. xix. 3, 6. * Eph. v. 25. CHAP. 12.] CONJUGAL INTERCOURSE NOT DIABOLICAL. 245 Chap. 11. [vi.] — Thepurpose ofthe Pelagians inpraising the innocence of conjugal intercourse. Yet what it is they wish, what they purpose, to what result they are striving to bring the matter, the words that are added by that writer declare, when he asserts that I say, " that there fore they who are born innocent are guUty, and that it is the work of the devU, not of God, that they are born of this diabohcal intercourse." Since, therefore, I neither say that this intercourse of husband and wife is diaboHcal, especiaUy in the case of behevers, which is effected for the sake of generating chUdren who are afterwards to be regenerated ; nor that any men are made by the devU, but, inasmuch as they are men, by God"; and nevertheless that even of believing husband and wife are born guUty persons, as if a wUd oHve were produced from an oHve, on account of original sin, and on this account are under the devU unless they are born again in Christ, because the devU is the author of the fault, not of the nature ; what, on the other hand, are they labouring to bring about who say that infants inherit no original sin, and therefore are not under the devU, except that that grace of God in infants may be made of no effect, by which He has plucked us out, as the apostle says, from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love ? x [vn.] — When, indeed, they deny that infants are in the power of darkness even before the help of the Lord the dehverer, they are in such wise praising in them the Creator's work as to destroy the mercy of the Eedeemer. And because I confess this both in grown-up people and in infants, he says that this is without any ambiguity Manichseism, although it is the most ancient CathoHc dogma by which the new heretical dogma of these men is overturned. Chap. 12. — The fourth calumny, — that the saints of the Old Testament are said to be not free from sins. " They say," says he, " that the saints in the Old Testament were not without sins, — that is, that even by correction they were not free from crimes, but in their guilt they were seized by death." Nay, I say that either before the law, or in the time of the Old Testament, they were deHvered from sins, — not 1 1 Cor. i. 13. 246 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 13. by their own power, because " cursed is every one that hath put his hope in man," x and without any doubt they are under this curse whom also the sacred Psalm notifies, " who trust in their own strength ; " 2 nor by the old covenant which gendereth to bondage,3 although it was divinely given by the grace of a sure dispensation ; nor by that law itself, holy and just and good as it was, where it is written, " Thou shalt not covet," 4 since it was not given as being able to give life, but it was added for the sake of transgression until the seed should come to whom the promise was made ; but [I say] that they were deHvered by the blood of the Eedeemer Himself, who is the one Mediator of God and man, the man Christ Jesus. But those enemies of the grace of God, which is given to smaU and great through Jesus Christ our Lord, say that the men of God of old were of a perfect righteousness, lest they should be supposed to have needed the incarnation, the passion, and resurrection of Christ, by the beHef of whom they were saved. Chap. 13. [viii.] — The fifth calumny, — that it is said that Paul and the rest of fhe apostles were polluted by lust. He says, " They affirm that even the Apostle Paul, even all the apostles, were poUuted by immoderate lust." What man, however profane he may be, would dare to say this ? But doubtless this man thus misrepresents because they contend that what the apostle said, " I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing, for to wiU is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not," 6 and other such things, he said not of himself, but that he introduced the person of somebody else, I know not who, who was suffering these things. Wherefore that passage in his epistle must be carefuUy considered and investigated, that their error may not lurk in any obscurity of his. Although, therefore, the apostle is here arguing broadly, and with great and lasting conflict maintaining grace against those who were boasting in the law, yet we do come upon a few matters which pertain to the matter in hand. On which subject he says : " Be cause by the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight. 1 Jer. xvii. 5. * Ps. xlix. 6 [LXX.]. 3 Gal. iv. 24. 4 Ex. xx. 7. 5 Rom. vii. 18. CHAP. 13.] THE RELATION OF LAW TO SIN. 247 For by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteous ness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God by the faith of Jesus Christ unto aU them that beHeve. For there is no difference. For aU have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." x And again : " Where is boasting ? It is excluded. By what law ? Of works ? No ; but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the works of the law." 2 And again : " For the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but by the righteousness of faith, For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise- made of none effect. Because the law worketh wrath, for where no ¦law is there is no transgression." 3 And in another place : " Moreover, the law entered that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded grace did much more abound." 4 In stiU another place -r " For sin shaU not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace." 5 And again in another place : " Know ye not, brethren (for I speak to them that know the law), that the law hath dominion over a man so long as he liveth ? For the woman which is under a husband is joined to her husband by the law so long as he Hveth ; but if her husband be dead, she is freed from the law of her husband." 6 And a Httle after : " Therefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should belong to another, who has risen from the dead that we should bring, forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh the passions of sins which are by the law did work in our members* to bring forth fruit unto death, but now we are deHvered from the law of death in which we were held, so that we may serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." 7 With these and such Hke testimonies that teacher of the heathen showed with sufficient evidence that the law could not take away sin, but rather increased it, and that grace takes it away ;. since the law 1 Rom. iii. 20. 2 Rom. iii. 27. 3 Rom. iv. 13, etc. 4 Rom. v. 20. 8 Rom. vi. 14. c Rom. vii. 1, 2. 7 Rom. vii. 4 ff. 248 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 14. knew how to command, to which command weakness gives way, whUe grace knows to assist, whereby love is infused. And lest any one, on account of these testimonies, should re proach the law, and contend that it is evU, the apostle, seeing what might occur to those who iU understand it, himself pro posed to himself the same question. " What shaU we say, then ? " said he. " Is the law sin ? Far from it. But I did not know sin exeept by the law."1 He had already said before, " For by the law is the knowledge of sin." It is not, therefore, the taking away, but the knowledge of sin. Chap. 14. — That the apostle is speaking in Ms own person and that of others who are under grace, not still under law. And from this point he now begins the matter on account of which I undertook the consideration of these things, to introduce his own person, and, as it were, to speak about him self ; where the Pelagians wiU not have it that the apostle himself is to be understood, but say that he has transfigured another person into himself, — that is, a man placed stiU under the law, not yet deHvered by grace. And here, indeed, they ought at least to concede that in law no one is justified, as the same apostle says elsewhere ; but that the law is of force for the knowledge of sin, and for the transgression of the law itself, so that sin, being known and increased, grace may be sought for through faith. But they do not fear that those things should be understood ooncerning the apostle which he might also say concerning his past doings, but they fear those things which foUow. For here he says x " I had not known lust if the law had not said, Thou shalt not covet. But the occasion being taken, sin wrought in me by the commandment all manner of lust. For without the law sin was dead. But I was aHve without the law once, but when the commandment came sin revived, and I died, and the commandment which was for life was found to me to be death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Therefore the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, just, and good. Was, then, that which is good made death unto me ? By no means. But sin, that it might appear sin, worked death to me by that which is good, that 1 Rom. vii. 7. CHAP. 15.J THE WILL MUST BE CONFORMED TO THE LAW. 249 the sinner or the sin might become by the commandment excessive." x AU these things, as I have said, the apostle may seem to have mentioned from his past Hfe : as in respect of that which he says, " For I was aHve without the law once," he may have wished his first age from infancy to be under stood, before the years of reason ; but when he added, " But when the commandment came, sin revived, but I died," he would fain show himself capable of the commandment, but not a doer of it, and therefore a transgressor of the law. Chap. 15. [ix.] — He sins with his wiU who is only deterred from sinning by fear. Nor let us be disturbed by what he wrote to the Philippians : " Touching the righteousness which is in the law, one who is without blame." 2 For he might have been within in evil affections a transgressor of the law, and yet fulfil the manifest works of the law, either by the fear of men or of God Himself; but by the terror of, punishment, not by the love and by the delight of righteousness. For it is one thing to do good with the good wUl of doing good, and another thing to be so inclined by one's wiU to do evU, that one would even do it if it could be aUowed without punishment. For thus assuredly he is sinning within in his wiU itself, who abstains from sin not by good wiU but by fear. And in these his internal affections, the apostle, knowing himself to have been such before the grace of God which is through Jesus Christ our Lord, elsewhere confesses this very plainly. For writing to the Ephesians, he says : " And you, though ye were dead in your trespasses and sins, wherein sometime ye walked accord ing to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, that spirit that now worketh in the chUdren of disobedience, in whom also we aU at one time had our conversation in the lusts of our flesh, doing the wiU of our flesh and our affections, and were by nature the chUdren of wrath, even as others also. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us even when we were dead in sins, quickened us together with Christ, by whose grace we are saved." 3 Again to Titus he says : " For we ourselves also were sometime fooHsh and unbeheving, erring, 1 Rom. vii. 7 ff. 2 Phil. iii. 6. 8 Eph. ii. 1 £ 250 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 16. serving various lusts and pleasures, Hving in malice and envy, hateful, and holding one another in hatred." * Such was Saul when he says that he was, touching the righteousness which is in the law, without reproach. For since he had not profited in the law, and changed his character so as to be without reproach after this hateful life, he plainly shows to them what foUows, when he says that he was not changed from these evUs except by the grace of the Saviour. For adding also this very thing, here as weU as to the Ephesians, he says : " But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour shone forth, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and of the renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He shed on us most abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour, that being justified by His grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal Hfe." 2 Chap. 16. — How sin died, and how it revived. And what he says in that passage of the Epistle to the Eomans, " Sin, that it might appear sin, wrought death to me by that which is good,"3 agrees with the former passages where he said, " But I had not known sin but by the law, for I had not known lust unless the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." 4 And previously, " By the law is the knowledge of sin," for he said this also here, " that it might appear sin ; " that we might not understand what he had said, " For without law sin was dead," except in the sense of being hidden as if it were not, — it does not appear, it is completely ignored, as if it were buried in I know not what darkness of ignorance. And in that he says, " And I was ahve once without the law," what does he say except, I seemed to myself to Hve ? And with respect to what he added, " But when the commandment came sin revived," what else is it but sin shone forth, became apparent ? Nor yet does he say lived, but revived. For it had lived formerly in Paradise, where it appeared sufficiently admitted in opposition to the given command ; but when it is inherited by children coming into the world, it Hes concealed, as if it were dead, untU its evU, resisting righteousness, is 1 Tit. iii. 3. ' Tit. iii. 4 ff. 3 Rom. vii. 13. * Rom. vii. 7. CHAP. 17.] HOW PAUL CALLS HIMSELF CARNAL. 251 felt by its prohibition. When one thing is commanded and approved, another thing dehghts and rules, then in some measure sin revives in the knowledge of the man that is born, although it had Hved already for some time in the knowledge of the man as at first made. Chap. 17. [x.] — " The law is spiritual, but I am carnal," to be understood of Paul. But it is not so clear how what foUows can be understood concerning Paul " For we know," says he, " that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal." x He does not say, " I was," but, " I am." Was, then, the apostle when he wrote this carnal ? or does he say this with respect to his body ? For he was stiU in the body of this death, not yet made what he speaks of elsewhere : " It is sown an animal body, it shaU be raised a spiritual body." 2 For then, of the whole of himself, that is, of both parts of which he consists, he shaU be a spiritual man, when even the body shaU be spiritual For it is not absurd that in that Hfe even the flesh should be spiritual, if in this life in those who stUl mind earthly things even the spirit itself may be carnal. Thus, then, he said, " But I am carnal," because the apostle had not yet a spiritual body, as he might say, But I am mortal, which assuredly he could not be understood to have said except in respect of his body, which had not yet been clothed with immortality. More over, in reference to what he added, " sold under sin," 3 lest any one think that he was not yet redeemed by the blood of Christ, this also may be understood in respect of that which he says : " And we ourselves, having the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." 4 For if in this respect he says that he was sold under sin, that as yet his body has not been redeemed from corruption, or that it was sold once in the first transgression of the commandment so as to have a corruptible body which drags down the soul,5 what hinders the apostle here from being understood to say about himself that which he says in such wise that it may be understood also in himself, even if in his person he wishes 1 Rom. vii. 14. 2 1 Cor. xv. 44. 3 Rom. vii. 14. 4 Rom. viii. 23. s Wisd. ix. 15. 252 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 19. not himself alone, but aU, to be received who had known themselves as struggUng, without consent, in spiritual dehght with the affection of the flesh ? Chap. 18. — How the apostle said that he did the evil fliat he would not. Or by chance do we fear what foUows, " For that which I do I know not, for what I will I do not, but what I hate that I do," x lest perhaps of these words any one should suspect that the apostle is consenting to the evil works of the lust of the flesh ? But we must consider what he adds : " But if I do that which I wiU not, I consent to the law that it is good." For he says that he rather consents to the law than to the lust of the flesh, because this he caUs by the name of sin. Therefore he said that he acted and laboured not with the desire of consenting and fulfilling, but by the very impulse of lusting. Hence, then, he says, " I consent to the law that it is good." I consent because I do not wUl what it does not will Afterwards he says, " Now, then, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dweUeth in me." 2 What does he mean by " now then," but, now at length, under the grace which has deHvered the delight of my wiU from the consent of lust ? For, " it is not I that do it," cannot be better understood than that he does not consent to set forth his members instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. For if he lusts and consents and acts, how can he be said not to do a thing himself, even although he may grieve that he does it, and deeply groan at being overcome ? ^t> Chap. 19. — What it is to accomplish what is good. And now does he not most plainly show whence he says what foUows, "For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dweUeth no good thing " ? 3 For if he did not explain what he said by the addition of " that is, in my flesh," it might, perchance, be otherwise understood when he said, " in me." And thus he reflects as he repeats the same thing, and urges, " For to wiU is present with me, but to perform that which is good is not." 4 For this is to perform that which is good, that a man should not even desire [otherwise]. For the good is 1 Rom. vii. 15. * Rom. vii. 17. 3 Rom. vii. 18. « Rom. vii. 18. CHAP. 21.} PAUL SPEAKS OE HIS FLESH AS HIMSELF. 253 incomplete when one lusts, even although a man does not con sent to the evU of lust. " For the good that I would," says he, " I do not ; but the evU that I would not, that I do. Now, if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dweUeth in me." x This he repeated impressively, and as it were to stir up the most slothful from slumber. " I find then a law," said he, " that when I would do good, evil is present with me." 2 That law, then, is present to one who would do good, while evU is present from lust, and he does not consent to this who says, " It is no longer I that do it." Chap. 20. — In me, that is, in j And he declares both more plainly in what foUows : " For I deHght in the law of God after the inward man ; but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity in the law of sin which is in my members." a But in that he said, " bringing me into captivity," he can move if there is no consent. Whence, in respect of those three things, two, to wit, of which we have already argued, that he says, " But I am carnal, and sold under sin," and this third, " Bringing me into captivity in the law of sin, which is in my members," the apostle seems to be describing a man who is stUl Hving under the law, and is not yet under grace. But in that I have expounded the former two sayings in respect of the flesh stiU corruptible, so also this latter may be understood as if he had said, " bringing me into captivity," in the flesh, not in the mind ; in movement, not by consent ; and bringing me into captivity, because even in the flesh itself it is our own nature, not an aHen one. As, there fore, he himself expounded what he had said, " For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dweUeth no good thing," so also now out of the exposition of that we ought to learn the meaning of this passage, as if he had said, " Bringing me into captivity," that is, my flesh, "in the law of sin, which is in my members." Chap. 21. — No condemnation m Christ Jesus. Then he adds the reason why he said aU these things : " 0 ' Rom. vii. 20. 2 Rom. vii. 21. 3 Rom. vii. 21, 22. 254 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 23. wretched man that I am ! who shaU deHver me from the body of this death ? The graee of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord ! " And thence he concludes : " Therefore I myself with the mind serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin." x To wit, " with the flesh, the law of sin," by lusting ; but " with the mind, the law of God," by not con senting to that lust : " For there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." 2 For he is not condemned who does not consent to the evU of the lust of the flesh. " For the law of the Spirit of Hfe in Christ Jesus has made thee free from the law of sin and death, lest, to wit, the lust of the flesh should claim for itself thy consent." And what foUows plainly more and more manifests the same meaning. But moderation must be used. Chap. 22. — Why fhe passage referred to must be understood of a man established under grace. And it had once appeared to me also that the apostle was in this argument of his describing a man under the law. But afterwards I was constrained to give up the idea by those words where he says, " Now, then, it is no more I that do it." For to this pertains what he says subsequently also : " There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." And because I do not see how a man under the law should say, " I delight in the law of God after the inward man," since that very dehght in good, by which, moreover, he does not consent to evU, not from fear of penalty, but from love of righteousness (for this is meant by " dehghting "), can only be attributed to grace. Chap. 23. [xi.] — What it is to be delivered from the body of this death. For when he says also, " Who shaU deHver me from the body of this death ? "3 who can deny that when the apostle said this he was stiU in the body of this death ? And cer tainly the wicked are not delivered from this, to whom the same bodies are made eternal for the purpose of torment. Therefore, to be deHvered from the body of this death is to be healed of aU the weakness of the lust of the flesh, and to receive the body, not for penalty, but for glory. With this 1 Rom. vii. 24, 25. * Rom. viii. 1. 3 Rom. vii. 24. CHAP. 24.] KNOWLEDGE OF SIN BY THE LAW. 255 passage also those words are sufficiently in harmony : " Our selves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption — to wit, the redemption — of our body." For surely we groan with that groaning wherein we say, " O wretched man that I am ! who shaU deliver me from the body of this death ? " That also where he says, " For what I do, I know not ; " what else is it than; I wiU not, I do not approve, I do not consent, I do not do ? Otherwise it is contrary to what he said above, " By the law is the knowledge of sin," and, " I had not known sin but by the law," and, "Sin, that it might appear sin, worked death in me by that which is good." For how did he know sin, of which he was ignorant, by the law ? How does sin appear which is not known? Therefore it is then said, I know not, I do not, because I myself commit that with no consent of mine, in the way in which the Lord wiU say to the wicked, " I know you not," x although, beyond a doubt, nothing can be hid from Him; and as it is said, "Him who had not known sin,"2 which means who had not done sin, for He had not known what He con demned. Chap. 24. — He concludes that fhe apostle spoke in his own person, and that of those who are under grace. On the careful consideration of these things, and things of the same kind in the context of that apostolical Scripture, the apostle is rightly understood not, indeed, to have signified himself alone in his own person, but others also established under grace ; and with himself, those who are not yet estabhshed in that perfect peace in which death shaU be swaUowed up in victory,3 of which he afterwards says, " But if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. If, then, the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dweUeth in you, He that raised up Jesus from the dead shaU also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dweUeth in you." 4 Therefore, our mortal bodies being quickened, not only wiU there be no consent to sinning, but not even the lust of the flesh itself, to which there is no consent, wiU remain. Not to have the resistance to the spirit of this in the 1 Matt. vii. 23. 2 2 Cor. v. 21. » 1 Cor. xv. 54. 4 Eom. viii. 10, 11. 256 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 27. mortal flesh was only possible to Him who came not by the flesh into humanity. And that the apostles, because they were men, and carried about in the mortaHty of this Hfe a body which is corrupted and weighs down the soul,1 were, therefore, always poUuted with excessive lust, as that man injuriously affirms, be it far from me to say. But I say that they were free from the consent of depraved lusts, but that they stiU groaned concerning the lust of the flesh, which they bridled by restraint with such humihty and piety, that they desired rather not to have it than to over come it. Chap. 25. [xn.] — The sixth calumny, — that I assert that even Christ was not free from sins. In Hke manner as to what he added, that I say, " that Christ even was not free from sins, but that, from the necessity of the flesh, he spoke falsely, and was stained with other faults," he should see from whom he heard these things, or in whose letters he read them ; for that, indeed, he perchance did not understand them, and turned them by the deceitfulness of mahce into calumnious meanings. Chap. 26. [xiii.] — The seventh calumny,— that I assert that in baptism all sins are not remitted. "They also say," says he, "that baptism does not give remission of aU sins, nor take away crimes, but that it smooths them over, so that the roots of aU sins are kept in an evU flesh." Who but an unbeHever can affirm this against the Pelagians ? I say, therefore, that baptism gives aU remission of sins, and takes away guUt, and does not trim them off in such wise that the roots of aU sins may be preserved in an evU flesh, as if of hair trimmed on the head, whence the sins cut down may grow again. For it was I that found out that simiHtude for them to use for the purposes of their calumny, as if I thought and said this. Chap. 27. — In what sense lust is called sin in the regenerate. But concerning that lust of the flesh of which they speak, I beHeve that they are deceived, or that they deceive ; for 1 Wisd. ix. 15. CHAP. 27.] CONCUPISCENCE IS NOT SIN. 257 with this even he that is baptized must struggle with a pious mind, however carefuUy he profits and is led by the, Spirit of God. But even if this is caUed sin, it is certainly so caUed not because it is sin, but because it is done by sin, as a writing is said to be the hand of anybody because the hand has written it. But they are sins which are done unlawfuUy, and spoken and thought according to the lust of the flesh, or in ignorance — things which, once done, keep their doers guilty if they are not forgiven. And that very lust of the flesh is in such wise put away in baptism, that although it is inherited by all that are born, it in no respect hurts those that are born anew. And yet from these, if they carnaUy beget chUdren, it is again derived ; and again it wiU be hurtful to those that are born, unless by the same form it is remitted to them as being born again, and remains in them in no way hindering the future life, because its guUt, derived by generation, has been put away by regeneration ; and thus it is now no more sin, but is caUed so, whether that it became what it is by sin, or that it is stirred by the dehght of sinning, although by the con quest of the deHght of righteousness consent is not given to it. Nor is it on account of that lust, whose guUt has already been taken away in the laver of regeneration, that the baptized people say in their prayer, " Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors;" 1 but on account of sins which are com mitted, whether in the consentings of lust, when what is right is overcome by that which pleases, or when by ignorance evU is accepted as if it were good. And they are done, whether by acting, or by speaking, or — and this is the easiest and the qiuckest — by thinking. From aU which things what behever ever wiU boast that he has his heart pure ? or who wiU boast that he is pure from sin ? 2 Certainly that which foUows in the prayer is said with respect to this very lust : " Lead us not into temptation, but deHver us from evil." " For every one," as it is written, " is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed ; then, when lust hath con ceived, it bringeth forth sin." 3 1 Matt. vi. 12. a Prov. xx. 9; 3 Jas. i. 14. XV. 258 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 29, Chap. 28. [xiv.] — Many without crime, none without sin. All these products of lust, and the old guUt of lust itself, are put away by the washing of baptism. And whatever that lust now begets, if they are not those products which are called not only sins, but moreover erimes, are purified by that method of daUy prayer when we say, " Forgive us our debts, as we forgive," and by the sincerity of almsgiving. For no one is so foolish as to say that that precept of our Lord does not refer to baptized people : " Forgive and it shaU be forgiven you, give and it shaU be given you." x But none could rightly be ordained a minister in the Church if the apostle had said, " If any is without sin," where he says, " If any is without crime ; " 2 or if he had said, " Having no sin," where he says, " Having no crime." 3 Because many baptized believers are without crime, but I should say that no one in this life is without sin, — with whatever madness the Pelagians are inflated, and burst asunder against me because I say this : not because there remains anything of sin which is not re mitted in baptism ; but because by us who remain in the weak ness of this Hfe such sins do not cease daUy to be committed, as are daily remitted to those who pray in faith and work in mercy. This is the soundness of the CathoHc faith, which the Holy Spirit everywhere sows, — not the vanity and pre sumption of spirit of heretical pravity. Chap. 29. [xv.]— Julian opposes the faith of his friends to lite opinions of Catholic believers. First of all, of free-will. Now therefore let us see, concerning the rest, in what way — after thinking that he might maliciously object against me what I beHeve, and feign what I do not believe — he himself professes his own faith or that of the Pelagians. " In opposi tion to these things," he says, " we daUy argue, and we are unwUling to yield our consent to transgressors, because we say that free-wUl is in all by nature, and that men could not perish by the sin of Adam; which assertion is confirmed by the authority of all Scriptures." This, if in any degree it is neces sary to say, you should not say against the grace of God, — you 1 Luke vi. 37, 38. - Tit. i. 6. Vulg. ; "sine crimine." 3 "¦ Tim. iii. 10. Vulg. . "nullum crimen habentes." CHAP. 32.] ANSWERS TO PELAGIAN OBJECTIONS. 259 should not give your consent to transgressors, but you should correct your opinion. But about this, as much as I could, and as far as it seemed to be sufficient, I have argued above. Chap. 30. — Secondly, of marriage. "We say," says he, "that that marriage which is now celebrated throughout the earth was ordained by God, and that married people are not guUty, but that fornicators and adulterers are to be condemned." This is true and cathohc doctrine ; but what you want to gather from this, to wit, that from the intercourse of male and female those who are born derive no sin to be put away by the laver of regeneration, — this is false and heretical. Chap. 81. — Thirdly, of conjugal intercourse. " We say," says he, " that the sexual impulse — that is, that the desire of procreation itself, without which there can be no intercourse — is ordained by God." To this I reply that the sexual impulse, and, to make use of the word, the desire of procreation, without which there can be no intercourse, was in such wise appointed by God that there was in it nothing to be ashamed of, for it was not fit that His creature should blush at the work of his Creator ; but by a just punishment the disobedience of the members was the retribution to the dis obedience of the first man, for which disobedience they blushed when they covered with fig leaves those shameful parts which previously were not shamefuL Chap. 32. [xvi.] — The girdles which Adam and Eve wore. For they did not use for themselves tunics to cover their whole bodies after their sin, but aprons, which some of the less careful of our interpreters have interpreted; as coverings. And this indeed is true ; but covering is a general name, by which may be understood every kind of clothing and veil. And ambiguity ought to be avoided, so that, as the Greek caUed them •K&pt%d>^aTa, by which only the ; shameful parts of the body are covered, so also the Latin should either use the Greek word itself, because now custom has come to use it instead of the Latin, or, as some do, use the word [succinctoria] aprons, 260 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 33. or, as others have better named them, [campestria] wrestling girdles. Because this name is taken from that ancient Eoman custom whereby the youth covered their shameful parts when they were exercised naked in the field ; whence even at this day they are caUed [campestrati] clad with the campestre, or wrestHng apron, with which they cover and bind those members. Although, if those members by which sin was committed had been to be covered after the sin, men ought not to have been clothed in tunics, but to have covered their hand and mouth, because they sinned by taking and eating. What, then, is the meaning, when the prohibited food was taken, and the transgression of the precept had been committed, of the look turned towards those members ? What unknown novelty is^felt there, and compels itself to be noticed, which is signified by the opening of the eyes ? For their eyes were not closed, either when Adam gave names to the cattle and birds, or when Eve saw the trees to be beautiful and good ; but they were made open — that is, attentive — to consider; as it is written of Agar, the handmaid of Sarah, that she opened her eyes and saw a weU,1 although she certainly had not had them closed before. As, therefore, of their nakedness, which they were daUy in the habit of looking upon, and were not confused by it, they were so suddenly ashamed that they could now no longer bear those members naked, but immediately took care to cover them ; did not they — he in the open movement, she in the secret impulse — perceive those members to be disobedient to the choice of their wiU, which certainly they ought to have ruled Hke the rest by their wiU and pleasure ? And this they deservedly suffered, because they themselves also were not obedient to their Lord. Therefore they blushed that they in such wise had not manifested service to their Creator, that they should deserve to lose dominion over those members by which children were to be procreated. Chap. 33". — The shame of nakedness. This kind of shame — this necessity of blushing — is cer tainly born with every man, and in some measure is com manded by the very laws of nature ; so that, in this matter, 1 Gen. xxi. 19. CHAP. 84.] WAS THERE LUST BEFORE THE FALL ? 261 even modest married people are ashamed. Nor can any one go to such an extreme of evil and disgrace, as, because he knows God to be the author of nature and the ordainer of marriage, even to have intercourse with his wife in any one's sight, or not to blush at those impulses and seek secrecy, where he may shun the sight not only of strangers, but even of all his own relatives. Therefore let human nature be permitted to acknowledge the evU that happens to it by its own fault, lest it should be compeUed either not to blush at those impulses of its own, which is most shameless, or to blush at the work of its Creator, which is most ungrateful ; which evU, nevertheless, modest marriage makes good use of for the sake of the benefit of the begetting of chUdren. But to consent to lust for the sake of carnal pleasure alone is sin, although it may be conceded to married people with pardon. Chap. 34. [xvii.] — Whetlier there could be lust in Paradise before the fall. But, maintaining the Pelagian honourableness and fruitful- ness of marriage, determine, if nobody had sinned, what you would wish to consider the Hfe of those people in Paradise, and choose one of these four things. For beyond a doubt, either as often as ever they pleased they must have had intercourse ; or they would bridle their desire when intercourse was not tecessary ; or desire would arise at the summons of wiU, just at the time when a chaste forethought would have some pre sentiment that intercourse was necessary ; or, with no desire existing then at ' all, as every other member served for its own work, so for its own work the organs of generation also would obey the commands of those that wUled, without any difficulty. Of these four suppositions, choose which you please ; but I think you wiU reject the two former, in which lust is either obeyed or resisted. For the first one would not be in accordance with so great a virtue, and the second not in harmony with so great a happiness. For be the idea far from us, that the glory of so great a blessedness as that should either be most basely enslaved by always foUowing a preced ing desire, or, by resisting it, should not enjoy the most abounding peace. Away, I say, with the thought that that mind [sett, of our parents in Paradise] should either be grati- 262 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. ' [CHAP. 35. fied by consenting to satisfy the lust of the flesh, not occa- sionaUy arising for the sake of procreation, but with unregu lated excitement, or that that quiet should find it necessary to restrain it by refusing. Chap. 35. — Desire in Paradise was either none al all, or it was obedient to the impulse of the will. But whichever you choose of the two other alternatives, there is no necessity for striving against you with any disputation. For even if you should refuse to elect the fourth, in which there is the highest tranquiUity of aU the members in obedi ence without any desire, since already the urgency of your arguments has made you hostile to it, that wiU doubtless please you which I have put in the third place, that that carnal concupiscence, whose excitement attains to the final pleasure which delights you, should never arise in Paradise at the bidding of the wiU except when it would be necessary for procreation. If it is agreeable to you to arrange this in Paradise, and if, by means of such a desire of the flesh which should neither anticipate, nor impede, nor exceed the bidding of the wiU, it appears to you that chUdren could have been begotten, I have no objection. For, as far as I am concerned in this matter, it is enough for me that such a desire of the flesh is not now among men, as you concede there might have been in that place of happiness. For what it now is, the sense of aU men certainly confesses, although with modesty, because it both soHcits with excessive and importunate un easiness the chaste, even when they are unwiUing and check ing it by moderation, and frequently withdraws itself from the willing and inflicts itself on the unwilling ; so that, by its dis obedience, it testifies that it is nothing else than the punish ment of that first disobedience. Whence, reasonably, both then the first men when they covered their nakedness, and now whoever considers himself to be a man in respect of that concupiscence, every modest and immodest person is con founded — far be it from us to say by the work of God, but — by the penalty of the first and ancient sin. You, however, not for the sake of rehgious reasoning, but for excited con tention, — not on behalf of human modesty, but for your own madness, that even the lust of the flesh itself should be CHAP. 37.] MAN DOES GOOD ONLY BY GOD'S HELP: 263 thought to be corrupted, and original sin to be derived from it, — are endeavouring by your argument to recaU it abso lutely, such as it now is, into Paradise ; and to contend that that desire could have been there which would either always be foUowed by a disgraceful consent, or would sometimes be restrained by a pitiable refusal. I, however, do not greatly care what it delights you to think of that desire. StUl, whatever of men is born by its means, if it is not born again, without doubt it is damned ; and it must be under the dominion of the devil, if it is not deHvered thence by Christ. Chap. 36, [xviii.] — Julian's fourth objectionrthatman is God's work, etc. " We maintain," says he, " that men are God's work, and that no one is forced unwiUingly by His power either into evU or good, but that man does good or UI of his own wUl ; but that in doing good, he is always assisted by God's grace, while to evU he is always incited by the suggestions of the devil" To this I answer, that men, in so far as they are men, are the work of God ; but in so far as they are sinners, they are under the devU, unless they are plucked from thence by Him who became the- Mediator between God and man, for no other reason than because He could not be a sinner of men. And that no one is forced by God's power unwiUingly either into evU or good, but that when God forsakes a man, he deservedly goes to evil, and that when God assists, without deserving he is converted to good. For a man is not good if he is unwiUing, but by the grace of God he is even assisted to the point of being wUHng ; because it is not vainly written, " For it is God that worketh in you, both to wUl and to do for His good pleasure," x and, " The wiU is prepared by God." 2 Chap. 37. [xix.] — Tlie beginning of a good will is the gift of grace. But you think that a man is so aided by the grace of God in a good work, that in stirring up his wiU to that very good work you beHeve that grace does nothing; for this your own words sufficiently declare. For why have you not said that a man is incited by God's grace to a good work, as you have said that he is incited to evU by the suggestions of ' Phil. ii. 13. 2 Prov. viii. 35. 264 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 37. the devil, but have said that in a good work he is always aided by God's grace ? As if by his own wUl, and without any grace of God, he undertook a good work, and were then divinely assisted in the work itself, for the sake, that is to say, of the merits of his good wiU ; so that grace is rendered as due, — not given as not due, — and thus grace is made no more grace,1 but is that which, in the Palestinian judgment, Pelagius with a deceitful heart condemned, — that the grace of God, namely, is given according to our merits. TeU me, I beseech you, what good Paul, whUe he was as yet Saul, wUled, and not rather great evUs, when breathing out slaughter he went, in horrible darkness of mind and madness, to lay waste the Christians ? 2 For what merits of a good wUl did God convert him by a marveUous and sudden calHng from those evils to good things ? What shaU I say, when he himself cries, " Not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us " ? 3 What is that which I have already mentioned as having been said by the Lord, " No one can come to me," — which is understood as " believe on me," — " unless it were given him of my Father " ?4 Whether is this given to him who is already willing to beHeve, for the sake of the merits of a good wUl ? or rather is the wiU itseU, as in the case of Saul, stirred up from above, that he may beheve, even although he is so averse from the faith as even to persecute the behevers ? For how has the Lord com manded us to pray for those who persecute us ? Do we pray thus that the grace of God may be recompensed them for the sake of their good wiU, and not rather that the evil wUl itself may be changed into a good one ? As we beHeve that at that time the saints whom he was persecuting did not pray for Saul in vain, that his wUl might be converted to the faith which he was destroying. And indeed his conversion, effected from above, appeared even by a manifest miracle. But how many enemies of Christ are at the present day suddenly drawn by God's secret grace to Christ ! And if I had not set down this word from the gospel, what things would that man have said in this behalf concerning me, since even now he is stirring, not against me, but against Him who cries, " No ' Rom. xi. 6. ! Acts ix. 1. 3 Tit, iii. 5. 4 John vi. 66. CHAP. 38.] GOD WORKETH IN THE HEART. 265 man can come to me, except the Father who hath sent me draw him " ! x For He does not say, " except He lead him," so that we can thus in any way understand that his wiU pre cedes. For who is drawn, if he was already wUHng ? And yet no man comes unless he is wUHng. Therefore he is drawn in wondrous ways to wUl, by Him who knows how to work within the very hearts of men. Not that men who are unwiUing should believe, which cannot be, but that they should be made willing from being unwiUing. Chap. 38. [xx.] — The power of God's grace is proved. That this is true we do not surmise by human conjecture, but we discern by the most evident authority of the divine Scriptures. It is read in the books of the Chronicles : " Also in Judah, the hand of God was made to give them one heart, to do the commandment of the king and of the princes in the word of the Lord." 2 Also by Ezekiel the prophet the Lord says, " I wiU give them another heart, and a new spirit wUl I give them ; and I wUl take away their stony heart out of their flesh, and I wiU give them an heart of flesh, that they may walk in my commandments and observe my judgments and do them." 3 And what is that which Esther the queen prays when she says, " Give me eloquent speech in my mouth, and enhghten my words in the sight of the Hon, and turn his heart to hatred of him that fighteth against us " ? 4 How does she say such things as these in her prayer to God, if God does not work His wiU in men's hearts ? But perchance the woman was foolish in praying thus. Let us see, then, whether the desire of the petitioner was vainly sent on in advance, and whether the result did not foUow as of one who heard. Lo, she goes in to the king. We need not say much. "And because she did not approach him in her own order, under the compulsion of her great necessity, he looked upon her, as it is written, Hke a buU in the impulse of his indig nation. And the queen feared, and her colour was changed through faintness, and she bowed herself upon the head of her maid, who went before her. And God changed him, and con- 1 John vi. 44. 2 2 Chron. xxx. 12. 3 Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. 4 Esther xiv. 13. 266 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 39. verted bis indignation into mildness." 1 Now what need is there to relate what follows, where the divine Scripture testi fies that God fulfilled what she had asked for by workmg in the heart of the king ? what else than the wUl by which he commanded, and it was done as the queen had asked of him ? And now God had heard her that it should be done, who changed the heart of the king by a most secret and effi cacious power before he had heard the address of the woman beseeching him, and moulded it from indignation to mUdness, — that is, from the wiU to hurt, to the wiU to favour, — accord ing to that word of the apostle, " God worketh in you to wiU also." Did the men of God who wrote these things — nay, did the Spirit of God Himself, under whose guidance such things were written by them — assaU the free-wiU of man ? Away with the notion ! But He commended both the most righteous judgment and the most merciful aid of the Omnipotent in all cases. For it is enough for man to know that there is no un righteousness with God. But how He dispenses those benefits, making some deservedly vessels of wrath, others graciously vessels of mercy, — who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counseUor ? If, then, we attain to the honour of grace, let us not be ungrateful by attributing to ourselves what we have received. " For what have we which we have not received ? " 2 Chap. 39. [xxi.] — Julian's fifth objection concerning the saints of ihe Old Testament. We say, says he, "that the saints of the Old Testament, their righteousness being perfected here, passed to eternal Hfe, — that is, that by the love of virtue they departed from aU sins ; because those whom we read of as having committed any sin, we nevertheless know to have amended themselves." Of whatever virtue you may declare that the ancient righteous men were possessed, nothing but the belief in the Mediator saved them, who shed His blood for the remission of their sins. For their own word is, " I believed, and therefore I spoke." 3 Whence the Apostle Paul also says, " And we having tho same Spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken ; we also beHeve, and 1 Esther xv. 5 ff. 2 1 Cor. iv. 7. 3 Ps. cxvi. 10. CHAP. 40.] GRACE NEEDFUL FOR ALL ALIKE. 267 therefore speak." l What is " the same Spirit," but that Spirit whom these righteous men also had who said such things ? The Apostle Peter also says, " Why do ye wish to put a yoke upon the heathen, which neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear ? But, by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we beHeve that we shaU be saved, even as they." 2 You who are enemies to this grace do not wish this, that the ancients should be believed to have been saved by the same grace of Jesus Christ ; but you distribute the times according to Pela gius, in whose books this is read, and you say that before the law men were saved by nature, then by the law, lastly by Christ, as if to men of the two former times, that is to say, before the law and under the law, the blood of Christ had not been necessary ; making void what is said : " For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." 3 Chap. 40. [xxii.] — The sixth objection, concerning the necessity of grace for all, and concerning the baptism of infants. They say, " We confess that the grace of Christ is necessary to aU, both to grown-up people and to infants ; and we ana thematize those who say that a child born of two baptized people ought not to be baptized." I know in what way you say such things as these — not according to the Apostle Paul, but according to the heretic Pelagius ; — to wit, that baptism is necessary for infants, not for the sake of the remission of sins, but only for the sake of the kingdom of heaven ; for you give them outside the kingdom of heaven a place of salvation and life eternal, even if they have not been bap tized. Nor do you regard what is written, "Whosoever believeth and is baptized shaU be saved ; but he who beHeveth not shaU be condemned." 4 For which reason, in the church of the Saviour, infants beHeve by means of other people, even as they have derived those sins which are remitted them in baptism from other people. Nor do you think thus, that they cannot have Hfe who have been without the body and blood of Christ, although He said Himself, " Unless ye eat my flesh and drink my blood, ye shall have no life in you." 6 1 2 Cor. iv. 13. s Acts xv. 10, 11. 3 1 Tim. ii. 5. 4 Mark xvi. 16. 6 John vi. 34. 268 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 42. Or if you are forced by the words of the gospel to confess that infants departing from the body cannot have either Hfe or salvation unless they have been baptized, ask why those who are not baptized are compeUed to undergo the judgment of the second death, by the judgment of Him who condemns nobody undeserving, and you wUl find what you do not want, — original sin ! ¦ Chap. 41. [xxiii.]— The seventh objection, of the effect of baptism. " We condemn," says he, " those who affirm that baptism does not do away aU sins, because we know that fuU cleansing is conferred by these very mysteries." We also say this ; but you do not say that infants are also by those same mysteries freed from the bonds of their first birth and of their hateful descent. On which account it behoves you, Hke other heretics also, to be separated from the Church of Christ, which holds this of old time. Chap. 42. [xxiv.] — He rebuts the conclusion of Julian's letter. But now the manner in which he concludes the letter by saying, " Let no one therefore seduce you, nor let the wicked deny that they think these things. But if they speak the truth, either let a hearing be given, or let those very bishops who now disagree with me condemn what I have above said that they hold with the Manichseans, as we condemn those things which they declare concerning us, and a fuH agreement shall be made ; but if they wiU not, know ye that they are Manichseans, and abstain from their company;" — this is rather to be despised than rebuked. For which of us hesitates to pronounce an anathema against the Manichseans, who say that from the good God neither proceed men, nor was ordained marriage, nor was given the law, which was ministered to the Hebrew people by Moses ! But against the Pelagians also, not without reason, we pronounce an anathema, for that they are so hostile to God's grace, which comes through Jesus Christ our Lord, as to say that it is given not freely, but according to our merits, and thus grace is no more grace ; x and determine so much in respect of the free-wiU by which man , ' Rom. xi. 6. CHAP. 42.] PELAGIAN VIEW OF INFANT SALVATION. 269 is plunged into the abyss, as to say that by making good use of it man deserves grace; although no man can make good use of it except by grace, which is not repaid according to debt, but is given freely by God's mercy. And they so contend that infants are already saved, that they dare deny that they can be saved by the Saviour ; and holding and dis seminating their execrable dogmas, they still over and above constantly demand a hearing, when, as condemned, they ought to repent. THE SECOND BOOK. HE UNDERTAKES TO EXAMINE THE SECOND LETTER OF THE PELAGIAN'S, FILLED, LIKE THE FIRST, WITH CALUMNIES AGAINST THE CATHOLICS — A LETTER THAT WAS SENT BY THEM TO THESSALONICA IN THE NAME OF EIGHTEEN BISHOPS ; AND, FIRST OF ALL, HE SHOWS, BY THE COMPARISON OF THE SAME HERETICAL WRITINGS WITH ONE ANOTHER, THAT THE CATHOLICS ARE BY NO MEANS FALLING INTO THE ERRORS OF THE MANICHSANS IN DETESTING THE DOGMAS OF THE PELAGIANS. HE REPELS THE CALUMNY OF COLLUSION INCURRED BY THE ROMAN CLERGY IN THE LATTER CONDEMNATION OF PELAGIUS AND COJLESTIUS BY ZOSIMUS, SHOWING THAT THE PELAGIAN DOGMAS WERE NEVER APPROVED AT ROME, ALTHOUGH FOR SOME TIME, BY THE CLEMENCY OF ZOSIMUS, CCELESTIUS WAS MERCIFULLY DEALT WITH, WITH A VIEW TO LEADING HIM TO THE CORRECTION OF HIS ERRORS. HE SHOWS THAT, UNDER THE NAME OF GRACE, CATHOLICS NEITHER ASSERT A DOCTRINE OF FATE, NOR ATTRIBUTE ACCEPTANCE OF PERSONS TO GOD ; ALTHOUGH THEY TRULY SAY THAT GOD'S GRACE IS NOT GIVEN IN RESPECT OF HUMAN MERITS, AND THAT THE FIRST DESIRE OF GOOD IS INSPIRED BY GOD ; SO THAT A MAN MAKES ABSOLUTELY NO BEGINNING OF A CHANGE FROM BAD TO GOOD, UNLESS THE UNBOUGHT AND GRATUITOUS MERCY OF GOD EFFECTS THAT BEGINNING IN HIM. Chap. 1. — Introduction; the Pelagians impeach Catholics under the name qf Manichceans. LET me now consider a second letter, not of JuHan's alone, ' but common to him with several bishops, which they sent to Thessalonica ; and let me answer it, with God's help, as I best can. And lest this work of mine become longer than the necessity of the subject itself requires, what need is there to refute those things which do not contain the insidious poison of their doctrine, but seem only to plead for the acquiescence of the Eastern bishops for their assistance ? or, on behalf of the CathoHc faith, against the profanity, as they say, of the Manichseans, with no other view than that a horrible heresy being presented to them, whose adversaries they profess themselves to be, they may lie hid as the enemies of grace in their praise of nature ? For who at any time has stirred any question of these matters against them ? or what CathoHc is 270 CHAP. 2.] MANICHEAN ERROR CONDEMNED. 271 displeased because they condemn those whom the apostle fore told as departing from the faith, having their conscience seared, forbidding to marry, abstaining from meats that they think unclean, not considering that aU things were created by God ? J Who at any time constrained them to deny that every creature of God is good, and there is no substance which the supreme God has not made, except God Himself, who was not made by any ? It is not such things as these, which it is plain are CathoHc truths, that are rebuked and condemned in them ; because not alone the CathoHc faith holds in detestation the Manichsean impiety as exceedingly foohsh and mischievous, but also all heretics who are not Manichseans. Whence even these Pelagians do weU to utter an anathema against the Manichseans, and to speak against their errors. But they do two evil things, for which they themselves must also be anathematized — one, that they impeach CathoHcs under the name of Manichseans, the other, that they themselves also are introducing the heresy of a new error. For it is not because they are not labouring under the disease of the Manichseans that they are therefore sound in the faith. The kind of pestUence is not always one and the same — as in the bodies, so also in the minds. As, therefore, the physician of the body would not have pronounced a man free from peril of death whom he might have declared free from dropsy, if he had seen him to be sick of some other mortal disease ; so truth is not acknowledged in their case because they are not Manichseans, if they ate raving in some other kind of per versity. Wherefore what we anathematize with them is one thing, what we anathematize in them is another. For we hold in abhorrence with them what is rightly offensive to them also ; just as, nevertheless, we hold in abhorrence in them that for which they themselves are rightly offensive. Chap. 2. [ii.] — The heresies of the Manichceans and Pelagians are mutually opposed, and are alike reprobated by fhe Catholic Church. The Manichseans say that the good God is not the Creator of all nature ; the Pelagians say that God is not the Purifier, the Saviour, the Deliverer of aU ages of men. The CathoHc Church condemns both ; as weU maintaining God's creation 1 1 Tim. iv. ff. 272 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 3. against the Manichseans, that no nature may be denied to be" appointed by Him, as maintaining against the Pelagians that in aU ages human nature must be sought after as ruined. The Manichseans rebuke the lust of the 'flesh, not as an accidental vice, but as a nature bad from eternity ; the Pelagians approve it moreover as no vice or fault, but as being a natural good. The Catholic faith condemns both, saying to the Manichseans, " It is not nature, but it is vice ; " saying to the Pelagians, " It is not of the Father, but it is of the world," in order that both may aUow it as an evU state of health to be cured — the former by ceasing to believe it, as it were, incurable, the latter by ceasing to proclaim it as laud able. The Manichseans deny that to a good man the beginning of evU was of free choice ; the Pelagians say that even a bad man has free-wiU sufficiently to do a good com mandment. The CathoHc Church condemns both, saying to the former, " God made man upright," J and saying to the latter, "If the Son shaU make you free, ye shaU be free indeed." 2 The Manichseans say that the soul, as a particle of God, has sin by the commixture of an evU nature ; the Pelagians say that the soul is upright, not being indeed a particle, but a creature of God, and has not even in this corruptible Hfe any sin. The CathoHc Church condemns both, saying to the Manichseans, " Either make the tree good and, its fruit good, or make the tree evU and its fruit evU,"3 which would not be said to man who cannot make his own nature, unless because sin is not nature, but vice ; saying to the Pelagians, " If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." 4 In these diseases, opposed as they are to one another, the Manichseans and the Pelagians are at issue, with dissimUar wiU but with simUar untruth, separated by different opinions, but close together by a perverse mind. Chap. 3. — How far the Manichxans and Pelagians are joined in error; how far they are separated. StiU, indeed, they alike resent the grace of Christ, they alike make His baptism of no account, they aHke dishonour His flesh; but, moreover, they do these things in different 1 Eccles. vii. 30. 8 John viii. 36 3 Matt. xii. 33 4 1 John i. 8. CHAP. 4.] MANICHXANS AND PELAGIANS BOTH IN ERROR. 273 ways and for different reasons. For the Manichseans assert that divine assistance is given to the merits, of a good nature, but the Pelagians, to the merits of a good wUl The former say, God owes this to the labours of His members ; the latter say, God owes this to the virtues of His servants. In both cases, therefore, the reward is not imputed according to grace, but according to debt. The Manichasans eontend, with a profane heart, that the washing of regeneration — that is, the water itself — is superfluous, and is of no advantage., But the Pelagians assert that what is said in holy baptism for the putting away of sins is of no avail to infants, as they have no sin ; and thus in the baptism of infants, as far as pertains to the remission of sins, the Manichseans destroy the visible element, and the Pelagians destroy also the visible sacrament. The Manichseans, by blaspheming the birth of the Virgin, dishonour Christ's flesh ; the Pelagians do as much by making the flesh of those to be redeemed equal to the flesh of the Eedeemer, because Christ was born, not certainly in sinful flesh, but in the likeness of sinful flesh, because the flesh of the rest of mankind is born sinful The Manichseans, therefore, who absolutely abominate all flesh, take away the manifest truth from the flesh of Christ ; but the Pelagians, who maintain that no flesh is born sinful, take away from Christ's flesh its special and proper dignity. Chap, 4, — The two contrary errors. Let the Pelagians, then, cease to object to the CathoHcs that which they are not, but let them rather hasten to amend what they themselves are ; and let them not wish to be con sidered deserving of approval because they are opposed to the hateful error of the Manichseans, but let them acknowledge themselves to be deservedly hateful because they do not put away their own error. For two errors may be opposed to one another, although both are to be reprobated because both are alike opposed to the truth. For if the Pelagians are to be loved because they hate the Manichseans, the Manichseans should also be loved because they hate the Pelagians. But be it far from our CathoHc mother to choose some to love on the ground that they hate others, when by the warning and xv. s 274 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 5. help of the Lord she ought to avoid both, and should desire to heal both. Chap. 5. [m.]— The -calumny of the Pelagians against the clergy of tlie Roman Church. Moreover, they accuse the Eoman clergy, •writing, " That, driven by the fear of a command, they have not blushed to be guilty of the crime of prevarication ; x that, contrary to their previous- judgment, wherem by their proceedings they had assented to the Catholic dogma, they subsequently pronounced that the nature of men is evU." Nay, but the Pelagians had conceived, with a false hope, that the new and execrable dogma of Pelagius or Gcelestius could be made acceptable to the cathoHc intelHgences of certain Eomans, when those crafty spirits — however perverted by a wicked error, yet not con temptible, since they appeared Tather to be deserving of con siderate correction than of easy condemnation — were treated with somewhat more of lenity than the stricter discipline of the Church required. For whUe so many and sueh important ecclesiastical documents were passing and repassing between the ApostoHcal See and the African bishops, — ^and, moreover, when the proceedings in this matter in that see were com pleted, with Coelestius present and making answer, — what sort of a letter, what decree, is found of Pope Zosimus, of vener able memory, wherein he prescribed -that it must be believed that man is born without any taint of original sin ? Abso lutely he never said this — never wrote it at all But since Coelestius -had written this in his pamphlet, among those matters merely on which he confessed that he was stiU in doubt and desired to be instructed, the desire of amendment in a man of the shrewdest inteUect, who, if he could be put right, would assuredly be of advantage to many, and not the falsehood of the doctrine, was approved. And therefore his pamphlet was called catholic, because this also is the part of a catholic disposition, — if by chance in any matters a man thinks differently from what the truth demands, not with the greatest accuracy to define those matters, but, if detected and demon strated, to reject them. For it was not to heretics, but to catholics, that the apostle was speaking when he said, " Let 1 " Prsevaricationis. " CHAP. 5.] DOUBLE DEALING OF CCELESTIUS. 275 us, therefore, as many as are perfect, be thus minded ; and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you." x This was thought to have been the case in him [Coelestius] when he replied that he consented to the letters of Pope Innocent of blessed memory, in which aU doubt about this matter was removed. And in order that this might be made fuller and more manifest in him, matters were delayed until letters should come from Africa, in which province his craftiness had in some sort become more evidently known ; and after these letters came to Eome containing this, that it was not sufficient for men of more sluggish and anxious minds that he confessed his general consent to the letters of Bishop Innocent, but that he ought openly to anathematize the mischievous statements which he had made in his pamphlet ; lest if he did not do so, many people of better inteUigence should rather beHeve that in his pamphlet those poisons of the faith had been approved by the CathoHc See, because it had been affirmed by that see that that pamphlet was cathoHc, than that they had been amended because of his answer that he consented to the letters of Pope Innocent. Then, therefore, when his presence was demanded, in order that by certain and clear answers either the craft of the man or his correction might plainly appear and remain doubtful to no one, he withdrew himself and refused the examination. Neither would it have been delayed abeady, as it had been for the advantage of others, if it could not be of advantage to the pertinacity and madness of those who were excessively perverse. But if, which be far from the case, it had so been judged in the Eoman Church concerning Coelestius or Pelagius, that those dogmas of theirs, which in themselves and with themselves Pope Innocent had condemned, should be pro nounced worthy of approval and maintenance, the mark of apostasy would rather have to be branded on the Eoman clergy for this. But now, when for the first time the letters of the most blessed Pope Innocent, in reply to the letters of the African bishops, would have equaUy condemned this error which these men are endeavouring to commend to us ; and his successor, the. holy Pope Zosimus, would never have said, 1 Phil. iii. 15. 276 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 6. never have written, that this dogma which these men think concerning infants is to be held ; nay, would even have bound Coelestius by a repeated dogma, when he endeavoured to clear himself, to a consent to the above-mentioned letters of the ApostoHc See ; — assuredly, whatever in the meanwhUe was done more leniently concerning Coelestius, provided the stability of the most ancient and robust faith were main tained, has the most merciful persuasion of correction, not the most pernicious approval of wickedness ; and that afterwards, by the same priesthood,1 Coelestius and Pelagius were con demned by repeated authority, was the proof of a severity, for a little while intermitted, at length of necessity to be carried out, not a denial of a previously - known truth or a new acknowledgment of truth. Chap. 6. [iv.] — What was done in the case of Coelestius before Zosimus. But what need is there for us to delay longer in speaking of this matter, when there are extant here and there memorials and writings drawn up, where aU those things just as they were transacted may be either learnt or recaUed ? For who does not see in what degree Coelestius was bound by the interrogations of your holy predecessor [Zosimus], and by the answers of Coelestius, whereby he professed that he consented to the letters of Pope Innocent ? And now, fastened by a most wholesome chain, he could not dare any further to maintain that the original sin of infants is not put away in baptism ; because these are the words of the venerable Bishop Innocent concerning this matter to the Carthaginian CouncU : " For once," he said, " he endured free-wiU ; but, using his advantage inconsiderately, and faUing into the depths of apostasy, he was overwhelmed, and found no way whereby he could rise from thence ; and, deceived for ever by his Hberty, he would have lain under the oppression of this ruin, if the advent of Christ had not subsequently for his grace deHvered him, who, by the purification of a new regeneration, purged all past sin by the washing of His baptism." What could be more clear or more manifest than that judgment of the Apostolical See ? To this Coelestius professed that he assented, when, it being 1 "Sacerdote." CHAP. 7.] PROFESSION OF CCELESTIUS. 277 said to him by your holy predecessor [Zosimus], " Do you condemn aU those things that are bandied about under your name ? " he himself rephed, " I condemn them in accordance vwith the judgment of your predecessor Innocent, of blessed memory." But among other things which had been uttered concerning his name, the deacon Paulinus had objected to Coelestius that he said " that the sin of Adam was prejudicial to himself alone, and not to the human race, and that infants newly born were in the same condition in which Adam was before his sin." Accordingly, if he would condemn the views objected to by Paulinus with a truthful heart and tongue, according to the judgment of the blessed Pope Innocent, what could remain to him afterwards whence he could contend that there was no sin in infants resulting from the past transgres sion of the first man, which would be purged in holy baptism by the purification of the new regeneration ? But he showed that he had answered deceitfuUy by the final event, when he withdrew himself from the examination, lest he should be compeUed, according to the African rescripts, absolutely to mention and anathematize the very words themselves con cerning this question which he wrote in. his tractate. Chap. 7. — He suggests a dilemma to Coelestius. What was that which the same pope rephed to the bishop of Numidia concerning this very cause, because he had received letters from both Councils, as weU from the Council of .Car thage as from the Council of MUevi — does he not speak most plainly concerning infants ? For these are his words : " For what your fraternity assert that they preach, that infants can be endowed with the rewards of eternal Ufe even without the grace of baptism, is excessively siUy; for unless they shall eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, they shall not have Hfe in themselves. And they who maintain this as being theirs without regeneration, appear to me to wish to destroy baptism itself, when they affirm that those have that which we believe is not to be conferred on them with out baptism." What does the ungrateful man say to this, when the ApostoHc See had already spared him on his profes sion, as if he were corrected by its most benignant lenity ? 278 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 8 What does he say to this ? WUl infants after the end of their life, even if while they live they are not baptized in Christ, be in eternal life, or wiU they not ? If he should say they wiU, how then did he answer that he had condemned what had been uttered under his name according to the judg ment of Innocent, of blessed memory ? Lo, Pope Innocent, of blessed memory, says that infants have not Hfe without Christ's baptism, and without partaking of Christ's body and blood. If he should say they wiU not, how then, if they do not receive eternal life, are they certainly by consequence condemned in eternal death if they derive no original sin ? Chap. 8. — Tlie Catholic faith concerning infants. What do they say to these things who dare, moreover, to write his mischievous impieties, and dare to send them to the Eastern bishops ? Coelestius is held to have given consent to the letters of the venerable Innocent ; the letters themselves of the prelate mentioned are read, who writes that infants who are not baptized cannot have Hfe. And who wUl deny that, as a consequence, they have death, if they have not life ? Whence, then, in infants, is so wretched a penalty as that, if there is no original fault ? How, then, are the Eoman clergy charged with apostasy by those forsakers of the faith and opponents of grace under Bishop Zosimus, as if they had had any other view in the subsequent condemnation of Coelestius and Pelagius than that which they had in the former one under Innocent ? Because, certainly, since by the letters of the venerable Innocent concerning the abode of infants in eternal death unless they were baptized in Christ, the antiquity ofthe Catholic faith shone forth, assuredly he would rather be an apostate from the Eoman Church who should deviate from that judgment ; and since with God's blessing this did not happen, but that judgment itself was constantly maintained in the repeated condemnation of Coelestius and Pelagius, let them understand that they themselves are in the position wherein they accuse others of being, and let them hereafter be healed of their apostasy from the faith. Because the CathoHc faith does not say that the nature of man is bad in respect of man's first appointment by the Creator; nor yet is this CHAP. 10.] GOD'S GRACE IS NOT FATE. 279 his evil part which God creates in that nature when He makes men from men, but what he takes from that sin of the first man. Chap. 9. [v.] — He replies to the calumnies of fhe Pelagians. And now we must look to those things which they objected to us in their letters,, gaining a brief advantage. And to these this is my answer^ We do not say that by the sin of Adam free-wiU perished out of the nature of men, but that it is of force for sinning in men subjected to the devU ; whUe it is not of avaU for pious Hving, unless the wiU itself of man should be made free by God's grace,and assisted to every good movement of action, of speech, of thought. We say that no one but the Lord God is the maker of those who are born, and that marriage was ordained not by the devU, but by God Himself ; yet that all are born under sin on account of the fault of the race, and that, therefore, all are under the devU untU they are born again in Christ, Nor are we maintaining fate under the name of grace, because we say that the grace of God is preceded by no merits of man. If, however, it is agreeable to any to eaU the wUl of the Almighty God by the name of fate, while we indeed shun profane novelties of words, we have no desire to contend about words. Chap. 10. — Why the Pelagians falsely accuse Catholics of maintaining fate under the name of grace. But, as I was somewhat more attentively considering for what reason they should think it weU to object this to us, that we assert fate under the name of grace, I first of aU looked into those words of theirs which foUow. For thus they have thought that this was to be objected to us : " Under the name," say they, " of grace, they so assert fate as to say that unless God inspired man with the desire of good, unwilling and resisting, and that good imperfect, he would neither be able to decline from evU nor to lay hold of good." Then a letter after, where they themselves mention what they main tain, I gave heed to what was said by them about this matter. "We confess," say they, "that baptism is necessary for all ages, and that grace, moreover, assists the good purpose of everybody ; but yet that it does not infuse the love of virtue 280 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 11. into a reluctant mind, because there is no acceptance of per sons with God." J From these words of theirs, I perceive that for this reason they either think, or wish it to be thought, that we assert fate under the name of grace, because we say that God's grace is not given in respect of our merits, but according to His own most merciful will, in that He said, "I wiU be gracious to whom I wiU be gracious, and wiU show mercy on whom I wUl show mercy." 2 Where, by way of consequence, it is added, " Therefore it is not of him that wiUeth, nor of him that meaneth, but of God that showeth mercy." 3 Here any one might- be equaUy fooHsh in thinking or saying that the apostle is an assertor of fate. But here these people sufficiently lay them selves open ; for when they malign us by saying that we main tain fate under the name of grace, because we say that God's grace is not given in respect of our merits, beyond a doubt they confess that they themselves say that it is given in respect of our merits ; thus their blindness could not conceal and dissimulate that they believe and think thus, although, when this view was objected to him, Pelagius, in the episcopal judgment of Palestine, with erafty fear condemned it. For it was objected to him from the words of his own disciple Coelestius, indeed, that he himself also was in the habit of saying that God's grace is given in respect of our merits. And he in abhorrence, or in pretended abhorrence of this, did not delay with his lips, at least, to anathematize it ; but, as his later writings indicate, and the assertion of those followers of his makes evident, he kept in his deceitful heart until afterwards what the cunning of a denier had then hidden for fear, and moreover his boldness might put forth in letters. And still the Pelagian bishops do not dread, and at least are not ashamed, to send their letters to the CathoHc Eastern bishops, in which they charge us with being assertors of fate because we do not say that even grace is given according to our merits ; although Pelagius, fearing the Eastern bishops, did not dare to say this, and so was compelled to condemn it. Chap. 11. [vi.] — The accusation of fate is thrown back upon the adversaries. But is it thus, 0 children of pride, enemies of God's grace, 1 Col. iii. 25. 2 Ex. xxxiii. 19 ; Rom. ix. 15. 3 Rom.'ix. 16. CHAP. 11.] WHAT DOES BAPTISM DO FOR INFANTS ? 281 new Pelagian heretics, that whoever says that aU man's good deservings are preceded by God's grace, and that God's grace is not given to merits, lest it should not be grace if it is not given freely, but is repaid as due to those who deserve it, seems to you to assert fate ? Do not you your selves also say, whatever be your purpose, that baptism is necessary for aU ages ? Have you not written in this very letter of yours that opinion concerning baptism, and that con cerning grace, side by side ? Why did not baptism, which is given to infants, by that very juxtaposition admonish you what you ought to think concerning grace ? For these are your words : " We confess that baptism is necessary for aU ages, and that grace, moreover, assists the good purpose of everybody ; but yet that it does not infuse the love of virtue into a reluctant mind, because there is no acceptance of persons with God." In all these words of yours, I for the meanwhUe say nothing of what you have said concerning grace. But give a reason concerning baptism, why you should say that it is necessary for aU ages ; say why it is necessary for infants. Assuredly because it confers some good upon them ; and that same something is neither smaU nor moderate, but of great account. For although you deny that they con tract the original sin which is remitted in baptism, yet you do not deny that in that laver of regeneration they are adopted from the sons of men unto the sons of God ; nay, you even preach this. TeU us, then, how the infants, whoever they are, that are baptized in Christ and have departed from the body, received so lofty a gift as this, and with what preceding merits. If you should say that they have deserved this by the piety of their parents, it wiU be replied to you, Why is this benefit sometimes denied to the chUdren of pious people and given to the chUdren of the wicked ? For sometimes the offspring sprung from religious people, in tender age, and thus fresh from the womb, is forestaUed by death before it can be washed in the laver of regeneration, and the infant born of Christ's foes is baptized in Christ by the mercy of Christians, — the baptized mother bewaUs her own httle one not baptized, and the chaste virgin gathers in to be baptized a foreign offspring, exposed by an immodest mother. Here, certainly, 282 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 12. the merits of parents are wanting, and even by your own con fession the merits of the infants themselves are wanting also. For we know that you do not believe this of the human soul, that it has lived somewhere before it inhabited this earthly body, and has done something either of good or of evil for which it might deserve such difference in the flesh. What cause, then, has procured baptism for this infant, and has denied it to that? Do they themselves hold fate because they do not hold merit ? or is there in these things accept ance of persons with God ?\ For you have said both, — first fate, afterwards acceptance of persons, — that, since both must be refuted, there may remain the merit which you wish to introduce against grace. Answer, then, concerning the merits of infants, why some should depart from their bodies baptized, others not baptized, and neither possess nor want so exceUent a gift by the merits of their parents, that they should become sons of God from sons of men, by no deserving of their parents, by no deservings of their own ? You are sUent, forsooth, and you find yourselves rather in the same position which you object to us. For if when there is no merit you say that conse quently there is fate, and on this account wish the merit of man to be understood in the grace of God, lest you should be compelled to confess fate, see, you rather assert a fate in the baptism of infants, since you avow that in them there is no merit. But if, in the case of infants to be baptized, you deny that any merit at all precedes, and yet do not -concede that there is a fate, why do you cry out, when we say that the grace of God is therefore given freely, lest it should not be grace, and is not repaid as if it were due to preceding merits, that we are assertors of fate ? — not perceiving that in the justi fication of the wicked, as there are no merits because it is God's grace, so that it is not fate because it is God's grace, and so that it is not acceptance of persons because it is God's grace. Chap. 12. — What is meant under the name of fate. Because they who affirm fate contend that not only actions and events, but, moreover, our very wiUs themselves depend on the position of the stars at the time in which one is con ceived or born ; which positions they call consteUations. But CHAP. 13.] NO ACCEPTANCE OF PERSONS. 283 the grace of God surpasses not only aU stars and all heavens, but, moreover, all angels. Hence the assertors of fate attri bute both men's good and evU doings and fortunes to fate, but in the UI fortunes of men God is following up their merits with due retribution ; but He bestows benefits by unde served grace with a merciful wiU, doing both the one and the other not according to a seasonable conjunction of stars, but aceording to the eternal and deep counsel of His severity and goodness. We see, then, that neither belongs to fate. Here, if you answer that this very benevolence of God, by which He foUows not merits, but bestows undeserved benefits with gratui tous bounty, should rather be caUed fate, when the apostle calls this grace, saying, " By grace are ye saved through faith ; and that not of yourselves, but it is the gift of God ; not of works, lest perchance any one should be Hfted up," x do you not consider — do you not perceive that it is- not by us that fate is asserted under the name of grace, but it is rather by you that divine grace is caUed by the name of fate ? Chap. 13. [vii.] — He repels the calumny concerning the acceptance of persons. And, moreover, the acceptance of persons is rightly so caUed in the case where he who judges, neglecting the merit of the cause concerning which he is judging, favours the one against the other, because he finds something in his favour which is worthy of honour or of pity. But if any one have two debtors, and he choose to remit the debt to the one, to require it of the other, he gives to whom he wiU and defrauds nobody ; nor is this to be caUed acceptance of persons, since there is no injustice. The acceptance of persons may seem otherwise to those who are of smaU understanding, where the lord of the vineyard gave to those labourers who had done work therein for one hour as much as to those who had borne the burden and heat of the day, making them equal in wages of whom there had been such a difference in their labour. But what did he reply to those who murmured against the goodman of the house concerning this, as it were, acceptance of persons ? " Friend," said he, " I do thee no wrong. Hast not thou agreed with me for a denarius ? Take what thine 1 Eph. ii. 8. 284 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 13. is, and go ; but I choose to give to this last as to thee. Is it not lawful to me to do what I will ? Is thine eye evil because I am good ? " x Here, forsooth, is the whole justice : '' I choose." " To thee," he says, " I have repaid ; on him I have bestowed ; nor have I taken anything away from thee to bestow it on him ; nor have I either diminished or denied what I owed to you. May I not do what I wiU ? Is thine eye evU because I am good ? " As, therefore, here there is no acceptance of persons, because one is honoured freely in such wise as that another is not defrauded of what is due to him, so also when, according to the purpose of God, one is caUed, another is not called, a gratuitous benefit is bestowed on the one that is caUed, of which benefit the caUing itself is the beginning, an evil is repaid to him that is not called, because aU are guilty, from the fact that by one man sin entered into the world. And in that parable of the labourers, indeed, where they received one denarius who laboured for one hour, as weU as those who laboured twelve times as long, — though assuredly these latter, according to human reasonings, however vain, ought in proportion to the amount of their labour to have received twelve denarii, — both of them were put on an equaHty in respect of the benefit, it was not that some were delivered and others were condemned ; because even those who laboured more had it from the goodman of the house himself, both that they were so caUed as to come, and that they were so fed as to have no want. But where it is said, " Therefore, on whom He wUl He has mercy, and whom He wiU He hardeneth," 2 who " maketh one vessel to honour and another to dishonour," 3 it is given indeed without deserving, and freely, because he is of the same mass to whom it is not given ; but evU is deservedly and of debt repaid, since in the mass of perdition evU is not repaid to the evil unjustly. And to him to whom it is repaid it is evU, because it is his punish ment ; while to Him by whom it is repaid it is good, because it is His right to do it. Nor is there any acceptance of persons in the case of two debtors equally guUty, if to the one is remitted and from the other is claimed that which is equaUy owed by both. 1 Matt. xx. 9 ff. -' Rom. ix. 18. 3 Rom. ix. 21. CHAP. 15.] SUPPOSED CASE OF TWINS. 285 Chap. 14. — He illustrates his argument by an example. But that what I am saying may be made clear by the manifestation of an example, let us suppose certain twins, born of a certain harlot, and exposed that they might be taken up by others. One of them has expired without baptism ; the other is baptized. What can we say was in this case the fate or the fortune, which are here absolutely nothing ? What acceptance of persons, although with God there is none, even if there could be any such thing in these cases, seeing that they certainly had nothing for which the one could be preferred to the other, and no merits of their own, — whether good, for which the one might deserve to be baptized ; or evU, for which the other might deserve to die without baptism ? Were there any merits in their parents, when the father was a fornicator, the mother a harlot ? But of whatever kind those merits were, there were certainly not any that were different to those who died in so different a condition, but they were common to both. If, then, neither fate, since no stars made them to differ ; nor fortune, since no fortuitous accidents produce these things ; neither the diversity of persons nor of merits have done this, what remains, so far as it refers to the baptized child, save the grace of God, which is given freely to vessels made unto honour ; but, as refers to the unbap tized child, the wrath of God, which is repaid to the vessels made for dishonour in respect of the deservings of the lump itself? But in that which is baptized we constrain you to confess the grace of God, and convince you that no merit of its own preceded ; but of that one which died without bap tism, why that sacrament should have been wanting to it, which even you confess to be needful for aU ages, and what in that manner may have been punished in him, it is for you to see who wiU not have it that there is any original sin. Chap. 15. — The apostle meets tlie question by leaving il unsolved. As in the case of those two twins we have without a doubt one and the same cause, the difficulty of the question why the one died in one way, and the other in another, is solved by the apostle as it were by not solving it ; since, when he had pro- 286 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 15. posed something of the same kind about two twins, — on account of which, not of works, because they had not as yet done anything either of good or of evil, but of Him that calleth, — it was said, " The elder shaU serve the younger," J and, " Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated," 2 and had prolonged the dread of this profundity even to the point of saying, " Therefore hath He mercy on whom He wiU, and whom He wUl He hardeneth," 3 constantly perceived what impulse was at work, and opposed to himself the words of a gainsayer which he desired to check by apostoHcal authority. For he says, " You say, then, unto me, Why doth He yet find fault ? For who has resisted His will ? " And to him who says this he answered, " 0 man, who art thou that rephest against God? Does the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus ? Hath not the potter power of the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour ? " 4 Then, following on, he opened up so great and hidden a secret as far as he judged it fit that it should be disclosed to men, saying, " But if God, wUHng to show His wrath and to demonstrate His power, endured in much patience the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He has prepared for glory." 5 This is not only the assistance, but, moreover, the proof of God's grace — the assistance, namely, in the vessels of mercy, but the proof in the vessels of wrath ; for in them He shows His anger and makes known His power, because His goodness is so mighty that He even uses the evU weU ; and in them He makes known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, because what the justice of a punisher requires from the vessels of wrath, the grace of the Deliverer remits to the vessels of mercy. Nor would the kindness which is bestowed on some freely appear, unless to others equally guUty and from the same mass God showed what was reaUy due to both, and condemned them with a righteous judgment. " For who maketh thee to differ ? " 6 says the same apostle to a man as "it were boasting concerning himself and his own benefits. " For who 1 Rom. ix. 11. 2 Rom. ix. 11. 3 Rom. ix. 18. * Rom. ix. 1 9. 6 Rom. ix. 22, 23. » 1 Cor. iv. 7. CHAP. 15.] WHO MAKETH TO DIFFER ? 287 maketh thee to differ ? " Certainly from the vessels of wrath, from the masses of the perdition which has sent all by one into damnation. Who maketh thee to differ ? And as if he had answered, My faith maketh me to differ, — my purpose, my merit, — he says, " For what hast thou which thou hast not received ? But if thou hast received it, why dost thou boast as if thou receivedst it not ? " — that is, as if that whence thou art made to differ were of thine own. Therefore He maketh thee to differ who bestows that whence thou art made to differ by removing the penalty that is due, by conferring the grace which is not due He maketh to differ, who, when the darkness was upon the face of the abyss, said, " Let there be Hght; and there was Hght, and divided " — that is, made to differ — "between the Hght and the darkness."1 For when there was only darkness, He did not find what He should make to differ ; but by making the Hght, He made to differ, as it may be said to the justified wicked, " For ye were sometime dark ness, but now are ye light in the Lord." 2 And thus he who glories must glory not in himself, but in the Lord. He makes to differ who — of those who are not yet born, and who have not yet done any good or evU, that according to the election His purpose might stand not of works, but of Himself that caUeth — said, The elder shaU serve the younger, and commend ing that very purpose afterwards by the mouth of the prophet, said, " Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." 3 Be cause he said the election, in which God does not find made by another what He may choose, but Himself makes what He may find ; as of the remnant of Israel it is written : " There is made a remnant by the election of grace ; but if by grace, then it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace." 4 On which account you are certainly fooHsh who, when the Truth declares, " Not of works, but of Him that caUeth, it was said," say that Jacob was loved on account of future works which God foreknew that he would do, and thus contradict the apostle when he says, " Not of works ; " as if he could not have said, " Not of present, but of future works." But he says, " Not of works, that He might commend grace ; but if of grace, now is it no more of works, otherwise grace 1 Gen. i. 2. 2 Eph. v. 8. 3 Mai. i. 2. * Eom. xi. 5. 288 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 17. is no more grace." For grace, not due, but free, precedes, that by it good works may be done; but if good works should precede, grace should be repaid, as it were, to works, and thus grace should be no more grace. Chap. 16. — The Pelagians are refuted by the case of the twin infants dying, tin one after, and the other without, the grace qf baptism. But that every lurking-place of your darkness may be taken away from you, I have proposed to you the case of such twins as were not assisted by the merits of their parents ; and both died, the one baptized in the very beginning of infancy, the other without baptism ; lest you should say that God foreknew their future works, as you say of Jacob and Esau, in opposition to the apostle. For how did He foreknow that those things should be, which, in those infants about to die in infancy, He rather foreknew as not future; since His foreknowledge cannot be deceived ? Or what does it profit those who are taken away from this life that wickedness may not change their understand ing, nor deceit beguile their soul, if even the sin which has not been done, said, or thought, is thus punished as if it had been committed ? Because, if it is most absurd, siUy, and senseless, that certain men should have to be condemned for those sins, the guilt of which they could neither derive from their parents, as you say, nor could incur themselves, either by committing them, or even by conceiving of them, there comes back to you that unbaptized twin brother of the baptized one, and sUently asks you for what reason he was made to differ from his brother in respect of happiness, — why he was punished with that infeHcity, that, while his brother was adopted into a chUd of God, he himself should not receive that sacrament which, as you confess, is necessary for every age, if, even as there is not a fortune or a fate, or an acceptance of persons with God, so there is no gift of grace without merits, and no original sin. To this dumb child you abso lutely submit your tongue and voice; to this witness who says nothing, — you have nothing at aU to say ! Chap. 17. [viu.]— Even the desireof an imperfect good is a gift of grace, otherwise grace would be given according to merits. Let us now see as we can the nature of this very thing which they will have to precede in man, in order that he may CHAP. IS.] EVEN THE DESIRE AFTER GOOD IS OF GRACE. 289 be regarded as worthy of the assistance of grace, and to the ' merit of which in him grace is not given as if it were not earned, but is given as if it were due ; and thus grace is no more grace. Let us see, however, what this is. " Under the name," say they, " of grace, they so assert fate as to say that unless God should have infused the desire for good, and that, imperfect good, into unwilling and resisting man, he would neither be able to decline from evU nor to grasp after good." I have already shown what empty things they speak about fate and grace. Now the question which I ought to consider is this, whether God infuses the desire of good into man un wiUing and resisting, that he may be no longer unwilling, no longer resisting, but consenting to the good and wilhng the good. For those men wiU have it that the desire of good in man begins from man himself; that the merit of this beginning is, moreover, attended with the grace of completion — if, at least, they wiU aUow this to be a grace. For Pelagius says that what is good is more easUy fulfiUed if grace assists. By which addition — that is, by adding "more easUy" — he cer tainly signifies that he is of the opinion that, even if the aid of grace should be wanting, yet good might be accompHshed, although with greater difficulty, by free-wiU alone. But let me prescribe to those opponents of mine what they should think in this matter, without speaking of that author of this heresy. Let us aUow them, with their free-wiU, to be free even from Pelagius himself, and rather give heed to those words of theirs which they have written in this letter to which I am replying. Chap. 18. — The desire of good is God's gift. For they have thought that it was to be objected to us that we say " that God infuses into man, unwiUing and resisting, the desire," not of good, how great soever it be, but " even of imperfect good." Possibly, then, they themselves are keeping open a place at least for grace, as thinking that man may have the desire of good without grace, but only of imperfect good; whUeof perfect, he could not easUy have the desire with it, but that except with it they could not have it at all. Truly, even in this way, too, they are saying that God's grace XV. T 290 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 18. is given according to our merits, which Pelagius, in the eccle siastical meeting in the East, condemned, because he was afraid of being condemned. For if without God's grace the desire of good begins with ourselves, merit itself wiU have begun — to which, as if of debt, comes the assistance of graee ; and thus God's grace wiU not be bestowed freely, but wiU be given according to our merit. But that he might furnish a reply to the future Pelagius, the Lord does not say, " Without me you can with difficulty do anything," but He says, " Without me ye can do nothing." 1 And, that He might also furnish an answer to these future heretics, in that very same evangehcal saying He does not say, " Without me you can perfect nothing,'' but " do " nothing. For if He had said " perfect," they might say that God's aid is necessary not for beginning good, which is of ourselves, but for perfecting it. But let them hear also the apostle. For when the Lord says, " With out me ye can do nothing," in this one word He comprehends both the beginning and the ending. The apostle, indeed, as if he were an expounder of the Lord's saying, distinguished both very clearly when he says, "Because He who hath begun a good work in you wiU perfect it even to the day of Christ Jesus." 2 But in the Holy Scriptures, in the writings of the same apostle, we find more about that of which we are speaking. For we are now speaking of the desire of good, which, if they wiU have to begin of ourselves and to be perfected by God, let them see what they can answer to the apostle when he says, "Not that we are sufficient to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God." 3 " To think anything," he says, — he certainly means, " to think anything good ; " but it is less to think than to desire. Because we think aU that we desire, but we do not desire aU that we think; because sometimes also we think what we do not desire. Since, then, it is a smaUer thing to think than to desire, — for a man may think good which he does not yet desire, and by advancing may after wards desire what before without desire he thought of, — how are we not sufficient as of ourselves to that which is less, that is, to the desire of something good, but our sufficiency is of God; while to that which is greater,— that is, to the 1 John xy. 5. 2 Phil. i. 6. 3 2 Cor. iii. 5. CHAP. 20. J THE PREPARATION OF THE HEART FROM GOD. 291 desire of some good thing .without the divine help, — we are sufficient of free-wiU? For what the apostle says here is not, " Not that we are sufficient as of ourselves to think that which is perfect ; " but he says, " to think anything," to which nothing is the contrary. And this is the meaning of what the Lord says, " Without me ye can do nothing." Chap. 19. [rx,J— He interprets fhe Scriptures which the Pelagians make ill use of. But assuredly, as to what' is written, " The preparation of the heart is man's part, and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord,"' x they are mistaken by an imperfect understanding, so as to think that the preparation of the heart — that is, the beginning of good — pertains to man without the aid of God's grace. Be it far from the children of promise thus to under stand it ! As if, when they heard the Lord saying, " Without me ye can do nothing," 2 they would convict Him by saying, "Behold, without Thee we can prepare the heart;" or when they heard from Paul the apostle, " Not that we are sufficient to think anything as of ourselves, but our suffi ciency is of God," 3 as if they would also convict him, saying, " Behold, we are sufficient of ourselves to prepare our heart, and thus also to think some good thing ; for who can with out good thought prepare his heart for good ? " Be it far from any thus to understand the passage, except the proud maintainers of free-wiU and forsakers of the CathoHc faith ! Therefore, since it is written, " It is man's part to prepare the heart, and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord," [it means] that man prepares his heart, not, however, without the aid of God, who so touches the heart that man prepares the heart* But -in the answer of the tongue — that is, in that which the divine tongue answers to the prepared heart — man has no part ; but the whole is from the Lord God. Chap. 20. — God's agency is needful.even in man's doings. For as it is said, " It is man's duty to prepare his heart, and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord ; " so also is it said, " Open thy mouth, and I wUl fiU it." 5 For although, 1 Prov. xvi. 1 [Vulg.]. 3 John xv. 5. 32 Cor. iii. 5i 1 But see English Bible in loa 6 Ps. lxxxi., 10.. 292 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 21. save by His assistance without whom we can do nothing, we cannot open our mouth, yet we open it by His aid and by our own agency, while the Lord fills it without our agency. For what is to prepare the heart and to open the mouth, but to prepare the wiU ? And yet in the same writings is read, " The will is prepared by the Lord," 1 and, " Thou shalt open my lips, and my mouth shaU show forth Thy praise." 2 So God admonishes us to prepare our wiU in what We read, " It is man's part to prepare his heart ; " and yet, that man may do this, God helps him, because the wiU is prepared by the Lord. And, " Open thy mouth." This He says by way of command ; and as nobody can do this, unless by His aid, it is done to whom it is said, " Thou shalt open my Hps." Are any of these men so fooHsh as to contend that the mouth is one thing, the lips another; and to say with marveUous trivi- ahty that man opens his own mouth, and God opens man's lips ? Although God restrains them from even that absur dity where He says to Moses His servant, " I wiU open thy mouth, and I wiU instruct thee what thou oughtest to speak." 3 In that clause, therefore, where He says, " Open thy mouth and I wiU fiU it," it seems, as it were, that one of them per tains to man, the other to God. But in this, where it is said, " I wiU open thy mouth and wiU instruct thee," both belong to God. Why is this, except that in one of these cases He co operates with man as the agent, in the other He does it alone ? Chap. 21.— Man does no good thing which God does not cause him to do. - Wherefore God does many good things in man which man does not do ; but man does none which God does not cause that man may do. Accordingly, there would be no desire of good in man from the Lord if it were not a good ; but if it is a benefit, we have it not save from Him who is supremely and incommunicably good. For what is the desire for good but love, of which John the apostle speaks without any ambi guity, and says, " Love is of God".?4 Nor is its beginning of ourselves, and its perfection of God ; but if love is of God, we have the whole of it from God. Let God by aU means turn away- this foUy of making ourselves first in His gifts, 1 Prov. viu. [LXX.] 2 Ps. li. 15. 3 Ex. iv. 12. 4 1 John iv. 7. CHAP. 22.] GOD BEGINS AND PERFECTS GOOD IN MAN. 293 Himself last, — because " His mercy shaU prevent me." 1 And it is He to whom is faithfuUy and truthfuUy sung, " For Thou hast prevented him with the blessings of sweetness." 2 And what is here more fitly understood than that very desire of good of which we are speaking ? For good then begins to be longed for when it has begun to grow sweet. But when good is done by the fear of penalty, not by the love of righteous ness, good is not yet weU done. Nor is that done in the heart which seems to be done in the act, when a man would rather not do it if he could evade it with impunity. There fore the blessing of sweetness is God's grace, by which is caused in us that what He prescribes to us delights us, and we desire it, — that is, we love it ; in which if God does pre cede us, not only is it not perfected, but it is not even begun, from us. For, if without Him we are able to do nothing actu- aUy, we are able neither to begin nor to perfect, — because to begin, it is said, " His mercy shall prevent me ; " to finish, it is ¦ said, " His mercy shaU foUow me." 3 Chap. 22. [x. J— According to whose purpose the elect are called. What, then, is that which, in what foUows, they say that they confess when they mention what they themselves think, " That grace also assists the good purpose of every one, but that yet it does not infuse the desire of virtue into a reluctant heart " ? Because they say this in such a way as if man of himself, without God's assistance, has a good purpose and a desire of virtue ; and this precedent merit is worthy to be assisted by the subsequent grace of God. For they think, perchance, that the apostle thus said, " For we know that He worketh aU things for good to them that love God, to them who are caUed according to the purpose," * so as to wish the purpose of man to be understood, which purpose, as a good merit, the mercy of the God that caUeth might follow ; being ignorant that it is said, " Who are caUed according to the purpose," so that the purpose of God, not man, may be under stood ; by which those whom He foreknew and predestinated, conformed to the image of His Son, He elected before the foundation of the world. For not all are called ; since " many 1 Ps. lix. 10. 2 Ps. xxi. 3. " Ps. xxiii. 6. 4 Rom. viii. 28. 294 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 23.' are caUed, few are chosen."1 They, therefore, are caUed according to the purpose, who were elected before the founda tion of the world. Of this purpose of God, that also was said which I have already mentioned concerning the twins Esau and Jacob, " That according to the election the purpose of God might stand, not of works, but of Him that caUeth ; it was said, that the elder shaU serve the younger." 2 This pur pose of God is also mentioned in that place where, writing to Timothy, he says, " Labour with the gospel according to the power of God, who saves us and caUs us with this holy caU ing ; not according to our works, but according to His pur pose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the eternal ages, but is now made manifest by the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ." 3 This, then, is the purpose of God, whereof it is said, " He worketh together aU things for good for those who are caUed according to the purpose." But subsequent grace indeed assists man's good purpose, but the purpose would not itself exist if grace did not precede. The desire of man, also, which is caUed good, although in beginning to exist it is aided by grace, yet does not begin without grace, but is inspired by Him of whom the apostle says, " But thanks be to God, who has given the same love for you in the heart of Titus." 4 If God gives the love that every one has for others, who else wUl give love that a man may have it for himself ? Chap. 23. — Nothing is commanded to man which is not given by God. Since these things are so, I see that nothing is commanded to man by the Lord in the Holy Scriptures, for the sake of testing his free-wiU, which is not found either to begin by His goodness, or to be asked on account of the aid of grace to be shown ; nor does man at all begin to be changed by the beginning of faith from evU to good, unless the unbought and gratuitous mercy of God effects this in him. -Of which one recaUing his thought, as we read in the Psalms, says, " ShaU God forget to be gracious ? or wUl He restrain His mercies in His anger ? And I said, Now have I begun ; this is the change of the right hand of the Most High." 6 When, there- 1 Matt. xx. 16. 2 Rom. ix. 11. 3 2 Tim. i. 8. 4 2 Cor. viii. 16. fi Ps, lxxvii. 9, 10 [LXX]. CHAP. 23.] GOD'S GRACE ALWAYS NEEDED. 295 fore, he had said, " Now have I begun," he does not say, This is the changing of my wiU, but, " of the right hand of the Most High." Thus, therefore, let God's grace be thought upon, so that from the beginning of his good changing, even to the end of his completion, he who glorieth may glory in the Lord ; because, as no one can perfect good without the Lord, so no one can begin it without the Lord. But let this be the end of this book, that the purpose of the reader may be refreshed and strengthened for what follows. THE THIED BOOK AUGUSTINE GOES ON TO REFUTE OTHER MATTERS WHICH ARE MALICIOUSLY OBJECTED BY THE PELAGIANS IN THE SAME LETTER SENT TO THESSALONICA ; AND EXPOUNDS, IN OPPOSITION TO THEIR HERESY, WHAT THOSE WHO ARE TRULY CATHOLIC SAY CONCERNING THE ADVANTAGE OF THE LAW ; WHAT THEY TEACH OF THE EFFECT AND VIRTUE OF BAPTISM ; WHAT OF THE DIS CREPANCY BETWEEN THE TWO TESTAMENTS, THE OLD ANT> THE NEW; WHAT CONCERNING THE RIGHTEOUSNESS AND PERFECTION OF THE PROPHETS AND APOSTLES ; WHAT OF THE NAMING OF SIN IN CHRIST, WHEN HE IS SAID IN THE LIKENESS OF SINFUL FLESH CONCERNING SIN TO HAVE CONDEMNED SIN, OR, HE BECAME SIN ; AND FINALLY, WHAT THEY PROFESS CONCERNING THE FULFILMENT OF THE COMMANDMENTS IN THE FUTURE LIFE. Chap. 1. — Statement. THEEE stiU foUow those things which they calumniously object to us ; they do not yet begin to work out those things which they themselves think. But lest the prohxity of these writings should be an offence, I have divided those matters which they object into two Books, — the former of which being completed, which is the Second Book of this entire work, I am here commencing the other, and joining it as the Third to the First and Second. Chap. 2. [ii.]— The misrepresentation of the Pelagians concerning tlie use of the old law ; the Catholic judgment concerning law and grace. They declare " that we say that the law of the Old Testa ment was given not for the sake of justifying the obedient, but that it might become the cause of greater sin." Certainly, they do not understand what we say concerning the law; because we say what the apostle says, whom they do not understand. For who can say that they are not justified who are obedient to the law, when, unless they were justified, they could not be obedient ? But we say, that by the law is effected that what God wills to be done is heard, but that by grace is effected that the law is obeyed. " For not the hearers 296 CHAP. 2.] LAW NOT TO BE FULFILLED BY THE FLESH. 297 of the law," says the apostle, " are just before God, but the doers of the law shaU be justified." x Therefore the law makes hearers of righteousness, grace makes doers. " For what was impossible to the law," says the same apostle, " in that it was weak through the flesh, God sent His son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh : that the righteousness of the law might be fulfiUed in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." 2 This is what we say ; — let them pray that they may one day under stand it, and not dispute so as never to understand it. For it is impossible that the law should be fulfiUed by the flesh, — that is, by carnal presumption, — in which the proud, who are ignorant of the righteousness of God, — that is, which is of God to man, that he may be righteous, — and desirous of estabhshing their own righteousness, — as if by their own wiU, unassisted from above, the law could be fulfiUed, — are not subjected to the righteousness of God.3 Therefore the .righteousness of the law is fulfiUed in them who walk not according to the flesh — that is, according to man ignorant of the righteousness of God and desirous of estabhshing his own — but walk accord ing to the Spirit. But who walks according to the Spirit, except whosoever is led by the Spirit of God ? " For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God." 4 Therefore " the letter kiUeth, but the Spirit maketh aHve." 5 And the letter is not an evU because it kiUeth ; but it convicts the wicked of transgression. " For the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Was, then," says he, " that which is good made death unto me ? By no means ; but sin, that it might appear sin, worked death in me by that which is good, that it might become above measure a sinner or a sin by the commandment." 6 This is what is the mean ing of " the letter killeth." " For the sting of death is sin, but the strength of sin is the law ; " 7 because by the prohibition it increases the desires of sin, and thence slays a man unless grace by coming to his assistance makes him aHve. 1 Eom. ii. 13. * Rom. viii. 3, 4. 3 Rom. x. 3. 4 Rom. viii. 14. 5 2 Cor. iii. 6. 6 Rom. vii. 12, 13. 7 1 Cor. xv. 56. 298 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 4. Chap. 3. — Scriptural confirmation ofthe Catholic doctrine. This is what we say ; this is that about which they object to us that we say " that the law was so given as to be a cause of deeper sin." They do not hear the apostle saying, " For the law worketh wrath; for where no law is, there is no transgression ; " 1 and, " The law was added for the sake of transgression until the seed should come to whom the promise was made;"2 and, "If there had been a law given which could have given Hfe, righteousness should altogether have been by the law ; but the Scripture hath concluded aU under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that beHeve." 3 Hence it is that the Old Testament, from the Mount Sinai, where the law was given, gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. "Now we," says he, "are not chUdren of the bondmaid but of the freewoman." 4 Therefore they are not chUdren of the freewoman who have accepted the law of the letter, whereby they can be shown to be not only sinners, but moreover transgressors ; but they who have received the Spirit of grace, whereby the law itself, holy and just and good, may be fulfiUed. This is what we say : Let them attend and not contend ; let them seek enhghtenment and not bring false accusations. Chap. 4. [in.]— Misrepresentation concerning the effect of baptism. " They assert," say they, " that baptism, moreover, does not make men new — that is, does not give full remission of sins ; but they contend that they are partly made children of God and partly remain chUdren of the world — that is, chUdren of the devU." They He ; they lay traps ; they shuffle ; we do not say this. For we say that all men who are chUdren of the devil are also children of the world ; but not that aU chUdren of the world are also chUdren of the devil. Far be it from us to say that the holy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and others of this kind, were children of the devU when they were begetting in marriage, and those behevers who until now and still hereafter continue to beget. And yet we cannot contra dict the Lord when He says, "The chUdren of this world 1 Rom. iv. 15. 8 Gal. iii. 19. 3 Gal. iii. 21, 23. * Gal. iv. 24, 31. CHAP. 4.] CHILDREN OF THE WORLD. 299 marry and give in marriage." x Some, therefore, are children of this world, and yet are not chUdren of the devil. For although the devil is the author and source of all sins, yet it is not every sin that makes chUdren of the devil; for the chUdren of God also sin, since if they say they have no sins they deceive themselves, and the truth is not in them.2 But they sin in virtue of that condition by which they are still chUdren of this world ; but by that grace wherewith they are the chUdren of God they certainly sin not, because every one that is born of God sinneth not.3 But unbeUef makes chUdren of the devU ; and unbelief is speciaUy caUed sin, as if it were the only one, if it is not expressed what is the nature of the sin. As when the apostle is spoken of, if it be not expressed what apostle, none is understood but Paul; because he is better known by his many epistles, and he laboured more than they all For which reason, in what the Lord said of the Holy Spirit, " He shaU conviet the world of sin," 4 He meant to be understood unbeUef; for He said this when He was explain ing, " Of sin because they beUeved not on me," 6 and when He says, " If I had not come and spoken to them, they should not have sin." 6 For He meant not that before they had no sin, but He wished to indicate that very want of faith by which they neither beheved Him when He was present to them and speaking to them ; since they belonged to Him of whom the apostle says, " According to the prince of the power of the air, who now worketh in the children of unbelief."7 Therefore they in whom there is not faith are the chUdren of the devU, because they have not in the inner man any reason why there should be forgiven them whatever is committed either by human infirmity, or by ignorance, or by any evil will whatever. But those are the chUdren of God who certainly, if they should "say that they have no sin, deceive them selves, and the truth is not in them, but immediately " (as it continues) " when they confess their sins " (which the children of the devU do not do, or do not do according to the faith which is peculiar to the chUdren of God), " He is faithful and just to forgive them their sins, and to cleanse them from all 1 Luke xx. 34. * 1 John i. 8. 3 1 John iii. 9, 4 John xvi. 8. 6 John xvi. 9. 8 John xv. 22. 7 Eph. il 2. 300 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 5. unrighteousness."1 And in order that what we say may be more fully understood, let Jesus Himself be heard, who certainly was speaking to the chUdren of God when He said : " And if ye, being evU, know how to give good gifts to your chUdren, how much more shaU your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him." 2 For if these were not the chUdren of God, He would not say to them, " Your Father which is in heaven." And yet He says that they are evU, and that they know how to give good gifts to their chUdren. Are they, then, evU in that they are the chUdren of God ? Away with the thought ! But they are thence evU because they are stUl the chUdren of this world, although now made chUdren of God by the pledge of the Holy Spirit. Chap. 5. — Baptism puts away aU sins, but it does not at once heal all infirmities. Baptism, therefore, washes away indeed all sins — absolutely aU sins, whether of what are done or said or thought, whether original or added, whether such as are committed in ignorance or aUowed in knowledge ; but it does not take away the infirmity which the regenerate man resists when he fights the good fight, but to which he consents when as man he is overtaken in any fault ; on account of the former, rejoicing with thanksgiving, but on account of the latter, groaning in the utterance of prayers. In respect of the former, saying, " What shaU I render to the Lord for aU which He has given me?"3 On account of the latter, saying, " Forgive us our debts." 4 On account of the former, saying, " I wiU love Thee, 0 Lord, my strength." s On account of the latter, saying, " Have mercy on me, 0 Lord ; for I am weak." e On account of the former, saying, " Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord ; for He shaU pluck my feet out of the net." 7 On account of the latter, say ing, " Mine eye is troubled with wrath." 8 And innumerable passages with which the divine writings are fiUed, which alter nately, either in exultation over God's benefits or in lamenta tion over our own evUs, are uttered by chUdren of God by faith as long as they are stiU chUdren of this world in respect of the weakness of this life ; whom, nevertheless, God distinguishes 1 1 John i. 8. 2 Matt. vii. 11. s Ps. cxvi. 12. 4 Matt. vi. 12. 5 Ps. cxviii. 1. ° Ps. vi. 2. 7 Ps. xxv. 15. 8 Ps. xxxi. 9. CHAP. 5.] SALVATION ONLY BEGUN IN BAPTISM. 301 from the chUdren of the devU, not only by the laver of regene ration, but moreover by the righteousness of that faith which worketh by love, because the just Hves of faith. And this weakness with which we contend, with alternating faUure and progress, even to the death of the body, and which is of great importance as to what it can overcome in us, shaU be consumed by a second regeneration, of which the Lord says, " In the regeneration when the Son of man shaU sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones,"1 etc. Certainly in this passage He caUs without doubt the last resurrection the re generation, whieh Paul the Apostle also calls both the adoption and the redemption, where he says, " But even we ourselves, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit ourselves, also groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption — scil. the redemp tion — of our body." 2 Have we not been regenerated, adopted, and redeemed by the holy washing ? And yet there remains a regeneration, an adoption, a redemption, which we ought now patiently to be waiting for as to come in the end, that we may then be in no degree any longer chUdren of this world. Who soever, then, takes away from baptism that which we only receive by its means, corrupts the faith ; but whosoever attri butes to it now that which we shaU receive by its means indeed, but yet hereafter, cuts off hope. For if any one should ask of me whether we have been saved by baptism, I shaU not be able to deny it, since the apostle says, " He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost." 3 But if he should ask whether by the same washing He has already absolutely in every way saved -us, I shaU answer : It is not so. Because the same apostle also says, " For we are saved by hope ; but hope that is seen is not hope : for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for ? But if we hope for that we see not, we with patience wait for it." 4 Therefore the salvation of man is effected in baptism, because whatever sin he has derived from his parents is remitted, or whatever, moreover, he himself has sinned on his own account before baptism ; but his salvation wiU hereafter be such that he can not sin at aU. 1 Matt. xix. 28. 2 Rom. viii. 23. 3 Tit. iii. 5. 4 Rom. viii. 24, 25. 302 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 7. Chap. 6. [iv.] — The calumny concerning the Old Testament and the righteous men of old. Now if these things are so, out of these things are rebutted those which they subsequently object to us. For what CathoHc would say that which they charge us with saying, " that the Holy Spirit was not the assister of virtue in the Old Testament, unless when we so understand the Old Testament in the manner in which the apostle spoke of it as gendering from the Mount Sinai to bondage " ? But because in it was prefigured the New Testament, the men of God who at that time understood this according to the ordering of the times, were indeed the stewards and bearers of the Old Testament, but are shown to be the heirs of the New. ShaU we deny that he pertains to the New Testament who says, " Create in me a clean heart, 0 God; and renew a right spirit within me"?1 or he who says, " He hath set my feet upon a rock, and directed my goings ; and he hath put a new song in my mouth, even a hymn to our God " ? 2 or that father of the faithful before the Old Testament which is from the Mount Sinai, of whom the apostle says, " Brethren, I speak after the manner of men ; yet even a man's covenant confirmed, no man disannuUeth or addeth thereto. To Abraham and to his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many, but as of one ; and to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say," said he, " that the Testament confirmed by God, the law, which was made four hundred and thirty years after, does not weaken, so as to make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise : but God gave it to Abraham by promise." 3 Chap. 7. — The New Testament is more ancient than the Old ; but it was subsequently revealed. Here, certainly, if we ask whether this Testament, which, he says, being confirmed by God was not weakened by the law, which was made four hundred and thirty years after, is to be understood as the New or the Old one, who can hesitate to answer the New, but it was hidden in the prophetic ciphers until the time should come wherein it should be revealed in Christ ? For if we should say the Old, what will that be which genders ' Ps. li. 10. a Ps. xl. 2, 3. 3 Gal. iii. 15 ff. CHAP. 7.] RELATION OF THE LAW TO THE PROMISES. 303 from Mount Sinai to bondage ? For there was made the law four hundred and thirty years after, by which law he asserts that this Testament of the promise of Abraham could not be weakened ; and he wiU have this which was made by Abraham to pertain rather to us, whom he wUl have to be chUdren of the freewoman, not of the bondwoman, heirs by the promise, not by the law, when he says, "For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise : but God gave it to Abraham by promise." * That, because the law was ' made four hundred and thirty years after, it might enter that the offence might abound ; 2 since by sin the pride of man pre suming on his own righteousness is convinced of transgression, and where sin abounded grace much more abounded,2 by the faith of the man now humble failing in the law and taking refuge in God's mercy. Therefore, when he had said, " For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no longer of promise : but God gave it to Abraham by promise," 3 as if it might be said to him, Why then was the law made afterwards? he added and said, " What then is the law ? " 4 To which interrogation he immediately rephed, " It was added because of transgression, untU the seed shoidd come to which the promise was made." 4 This he says again, thus : " For if they who are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of none effect : because the ' law worketh wrath : for where there is no law, there is no transgression." s What he says in the former testimony : " For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise : but God gave it to Abraham by promise," this he says in the latter : " For if they who are of the law be heirs, faith is made void ; and the promise is made of none effect ;" sufficiently showing that to our faith (which certainly is of the New Testament) pertains what God gave to Abraham by promise. And what he says in the former testimony, "What then is the law?" and answered, " It was added for the sake of transgression," this he instantly added in the latter testimony, "For the law worketh wrath: for where there is no law, there is no trans gression." 1 Gal. iii. 18. 2 Rom. v. 20. 3 Gal. iii. 18. 4 Gal. iii. 19. 6 Rom. iv. 14. 304 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. P. Chap. 8. — All righteous men before and after Abraham are children of the promise and of grace. Whether, then, Abraham, or righteous men before him or after him, even to Moses himself, by whom was given the Testament gendering to bondage from Mount Sinai, or the rest of the prophets after him, and the holy men of God tUl John the Baptist, they are aU chUdren of the promise and of grace according to Isaac the son of the freewoman, — not of the law, but of the promise, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. Far be it from us to deny that righteous Noah and the righteous men of the earHer times, and whoever from that time tiU the time of Abraham could be righteous, either manifest or secret, belong to the Jerusalem which is above, who is our mother, although they are found to be earner in time than Sarah, who bears the prophecy and figure of the free mother herself. How much more evidently, then, after Abraham, to whom that promise was declared, that he should be caUed the father of many nations, must aU, whoever have pleased God, be esteemed the chUdren of the promise ! For not from Abraham, and the righteous men who foUowed him, is the generation more true ; but the prophecy is found to be more plain. Chap. 9. — Who are the children of fhe old covenant. But those belong to the Old Testament, which is gendering from Mount Sinai to bondage, which is Agar, who, when they have received a law which is holy and just and good, think that the letter can suffice them for Hfe ; and that they may become doers of the law, do not seek the divine mercy, but, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and wishing to estabhsh their own righteousness, are not subject to the righteousness of God. Of this kind was that multitude which murmured against God in the wilderness, and made an idol; and that multitude which even in the very land of promise committed fornication after strange gods. But this multitude, even in the Old Testament itself, was strongly rebuked. They, moreover, whoever they were at that time who foUowed after those earthly promises alone which God promises there, and who are ignorant of that which those CHAP. 10 ] CHILDREN OF THE OLD AND NEW COVENANTS. 305 very promises signify under the New Testament, and kept God's commandments with the desire of gaining and with the fear of losing those promises, certainly did not observe them, but they seemed to observe themselves. For it was not faith in them that worked by love, but earthly cupidity and carnal fear. But he who thus fulfils the command ments beyond a doubt fulfils them unwiUingly, and then does not do them in his heart; for he would rather not do them at aU, if in respect of those things which he desires and fears he might be aUowed to neglect them with impunity. And thus, in the will itself within him, he is guilty ; and it is here where God, who gives the command, looks. Such were the chUdren of the earthly Jerusalem, concerning which the apostle says, " For she is in bondage with her children," x in reference to the Old Testament gendering to bondage from Mount Sinai, which is Agar. Of that same kind were they who crucified the Lord, and continued in the same unbelief. Thence there are stUl their chUdren in the great multitude of the Jews, although now the New Testament as it was prophesied is made plain and confirmed by the blood of Christ ; and the gospel is made known from the river where He was baptized and began His teachings, even to the ends of the earth. And these Jews, according to the prophecies which they read, are dispersed everywhere over all the earth, that even from their writings may not be wanting a testimony to Christian truth. Chap. 10. — The old law also given by God. The present purpose of the sacrament qf the old law and the Decalogue. And therefore God established the old covenant, because it pleased God to veU the heavenly promises in earthly promises, as if established in reward, untU the fulness of time ; and to give to a people which longed for earthly blessings, and there fore had a hard heart, a law, which, although spiritual, was yet written on tables of stone. Because, with the exception of the sacraments of the old books, which were only enjoined for the sake of their significance (although in them also, since they are to be spiritually understood, the law is rightly caUed spiritual), the other matters certainly which pertain to piety and to good Hving must not be referred by any interpretation 1 Gal. iv. 25. XV. u 306 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 11. to any significancy, but are absolutely to be done as they are spoken ; assuredly no one wiU doubt that that law of God was necessary not alone for that people at that time, but also is now necessary for us for the right ordering of our Hfe. For if Christ took away from us that heaviest yoke of many observances, so that we are not circumcised according to the flesh, that we do not immolate victims of the cattle, that we do not rest even from necessary works on the Sabbath, retain ing the seventh in the revolution of the days, and other things of this kind ; but keep them as spirituaUy understood, and, the symboHzing shadows being removed, we are awake in the light of those very things which are signified by them ; shall we therefore say, that when it is written that whoever finds another man's property of any kind that has been lost, should return it to him who has lost it,1 it does not pertain to us ; and many other like things whereby people learn to Hve piously and uprightly ; and especiaUy the Decalogue itself, which is contained in those two tables of stone, except the carnal observance of the Sabbath, which signifies spiritual sanctifica tion and rest ? For who can say that Christians ought not to observe to obey the one God with rehgious obedience, not to worship an idol, not to take the name of the Lord in vain, to honour one's parents, not to commit adulteries, murders, thefts, false witness, not to covet another man's wife, or anything at aU that belongs to another man ? Who is so impious as to say that he does not keep those precepts of the law because he is a Christian, and is estabhshed not under the law, but under grace ? Chap. 11. — Distinction between the children of the old and of the new covenant. But there is plainly this great difference, that they who are estabhshed under the law, whom the letter kiUeth, do those things either with the desire of gaining, or with the fear of losing earthly happiness ; and that thus they do not truly do them, since fleshly desire, by which sin is rather changed or increased, is not healed by desire of another kind. These pertain to the Old Testament, which genders to bondage; because carnal fear and desire make them servants, gospel 1 Lev. vi. 3. CHAP. 11.] OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS SONS OF THE NEW. 30 V faith and hope and love do not make them chUdren. But they who are placed under grace, whom the Spirit quickens, do these tilings of faith which worketh by love in the hope of good things, not carnal but spiritual, not earthly but heavenly, not temporal but eternal ; especiaUy beHeving on the Mediator, by whom they do not doubt but that a Spirit of grace is ministered to them, so that they may do these things weU, and that they may be pardoned when they sin. These per tain to the new covenant, are the chUdren of promise, and are regenerated by God the Father and a free mother. Of this kind were aU the righteous men of old, and Moses him self, the minister of the old covenant, the heir of the new ; because of the faith whereby we Hve, of one and the same they Hved, believing the incarnation, passion, and resurrection of Christ as future, which we beHeve as already accom- phshed; even until John the Baptist himself, as it were a certain Hmit of the old dispensation, who, signifying that the Mediator Himself would come, not with any shadow of the future or aUegorical intimation, or with any prophetical announcement, but pointing Him out with his finger, said : "Behold the Lamb of God; behold Him who taketh.away the sin of the world." 1 As if saying, Whom many righteous men have desired to see, on whom, as about to come, they have believed from the beginning of the human race itself; con cerning whom the promises were spoken to Abraham, of whom Moses wrote, of whom the law and the prophets are witnesses : " Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world" From this John and afterwards, all things con cerning Christ began to become past or present, which by all the righteous men of the previous time were believed, hoped for, desired, as future. Therefore the faith is the same as well in those who, although not yet in name, were in fact pre viously Christians, as in those who not only are so but are also caUed so; and in both there is the same grace by the Holy Spirit. Whence says the apostle : " We having the same Spirit of faith, according as it is written, I beUeved, therefore have I spoken ; we also believe, and therefore speak." 2 1 John i. 29. 2 2 Cor. iv. 13. 308 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 12. Chap. 12. — The Old Testament is properly one thing — an instrument another. Therefore, by a custom of speech already prevaUing, the Old Testament is in one way caUed the law and aU the prophets who prophesied until John ; which is more definitely caUed the Old Instrument than the Old Testament ; but otherwise as the apostolical authority caUs it, whether expressing or implying this name. For when the apostle says, " UntU this day, as long as Moses is read, remaineth the same veU in the reading of the Old Testament," x he expresses what is not revealed, because it is made of no effect in Christ. For thus certainly the Old Testament referred to the ministry of Moses. Moreover, he says, " That we should serve in the newness of the Spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter," 2 signifying that same Testa ment under the name of the letter. In another place also, " Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testa ment ; not of the letter, but of the Spirit : for the letter kiUeth, but the Spirit maketh alive."3 And here, by the mention of the New, he certainly meant the former to be understood as the Old. But much more evidently, although he did not say either old or new, he distinguished the two Testaments and the two sons of Abraham, the one of the bondwoman, the other of the free, as I have above mentioned. For what can be more express than his saying, " TeU me, ye that desire to be under the law, have ye not heard the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh ; but he of the free- woman was by promise. Which things are in aUegory ; for these are the two covenants; the one in the Mount Sinai, gendering to bondage, which is Agar. For Sinai is a mountain in Arabia, which is associated with Jerusalem which now is, for it is in bondage with her chUdren. But Jerusalem that is above is free, which is our mother " ? 4 What is more clear, what more certain, what more remote from all obscurity and ambiguity to the chUdren of the promise ? And a little after, "Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of pro mise."6 Also a Httle after, "But we, brethren, are not 1 2 Cor. iii. 14. 2 Rom. vii. 6. 3 2 Cor. iii. 6. 4 Gal. iv. 21 ff. » GaL iv. 28. CHAP. 13.] WHY THE COVENANTS ARE CALLED OLD AND NEW. 309 chUdren of the bondwoman, but of the free," 1 with the liberty with which Christ has made us free. Let us, therefore, choose whether to call the righteous men of old the chUdren of the bondwoman or of the free. Be it far from us to say, of the bondwoman ; therefore if of the free, they pertain to the new covenant in the Holy Spirit, whom, as making ahve, the apostle opposes to the kiUing letter. For on what ground do they not belong to the grace of the new covenant, from whose words and looks we convict and rebut such most frantic and ungrateful enemies of the same grace as these ? Chap. 13. — Why one ofthe covenants is called old, the other new. But some one wiU say, In what way is that caUed the old which was given by Moses four hundred and thirty years after ; and that caUed the new which was given so many years before to Abraham ? Let him who on this subject is disturbed, not Htigiously but earnestly, first understand that when from its earher time one is caUed old and the other new, it is their revelation that is considered in their names, not their institu tion. Because the Old Testament was revealed through Moses, by whom the law was given, holy and just and good, whereby should be effected not the doing away but the knowledge of the sin, by which the proud might be convicted who were desirous of estabHshing their own righteousness, as if they had no need of divine help ; and being made guUty of the letter, might flee to the Spirit of grace, not to be justified by their own righteousness, but by that of God — that is, by the righteous ness which was given to them of God. For as the same apostle says, " By the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and by the prophets." 2 Because the law, by the very fact that in it no man is justified, affords a witness to the righteousness of God. For that in the law no man is justified before God is manifest, because " the just by faith Hves."3 Thus, therefore, although the law does not justify the wicked convicted of transgression, it sends to the God who justifieth, and thus affords a testimony to the righteous ness of God. Moreover, the prophets offer the testimony to 1 Gal. iv. 31. 2 Rom. iii. 20, 21. 3 Gal. iii. 11. 310 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 13. God's righteousness by fore-announcing Christ, " who is made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctifica tion, and redemption : that, as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." x For that law was kept hidden from the beginning, when nature itself could convict wicked men, who did to others what they would not have done to themselves. But the revelation of the New Testament in Christ was made when He was manifested in the flesh, wherein appeared the righteousness of God — that is, which is to men from God. For hence he says, "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested." 2 This is the reason for which the former is called the Old Testament, because it was revealed in the earlier time ; and the latter the New, because it was revealed in the later time. Again, because the Old Testament pertains to the old man, from which it is necessary that a man should make a beginning; but the New to the new man, when a man ought to pass from his old state. Thus, in the former are earthly promises, in the latter heavenly promises; because this pertained to God's mercy, that no one should think that even earthly fehcity of any kind whatever could be conferred on anybody, save from the Lord, who is the Creator of aU things. But if God is worshipped for the sake of that earthly happiness, the worship is that of a slave, pertaining to the chUdren of the bondmaid ; but if for the sake of God Himself, that in the Hfe eternal God may be aU things in all, it is a liberal service pertaining to the chUdren of the freewoman, who is our mother eternal in the heavens — who first appeared, as it were, barren, when she had not any children manifest ; but now we see what was pro phesied concerning her : " Eejoice, thou barren, that bearest not ; break forth and cry, thou that travaUest not : for there are many chUdren of the desolate more than of her who has an husband," 3 — that is, more than of that Jerusalem, who in a certain manner is married in the bond of the law, and is in bondage with her children. In the time, then, of the Old Testament, we say that the Holy Spirit, in those who even then were the chUdren of promise according to Isaac, was not only an assistant, which these men think is sufficient for their 1 1 Cor. i. 30, 31. * Rom. iii. 21. » Isa, liv. 1. CHAP. 14.] LIFE OF FAITH TRANSCENDS LIFE OF OBEDIENCE. 311 opinion, but also a bestower of virtue ; and this they deny, attributing it rather to their free-wiU, in contradiction to those fathers who knew how to cry unto God with truthful piety, " I wiU love Thee, 0 Lord, my strength." 1 Chap. 14. [v.] — Calumny concerning the righteousness of tlie prophets and apostles. They say, moreover, " that all the apostles or prophets are not absolutely defined as holy by us, but that we say that they were less wicked in comparison of those that were worse, and that this is the righteousness to which God affords His testi mony ; that, as the prophet says that Sodom was justified in comparison of the Jews, so also we say that the saints exer cised some goodness in comparison of blameworthy men." Be it far from us to say such things ; but either they are not able to understand, or they are unwilling to observe, or, for the sake of misrepresentation, they pretend that they do not know what we say. Let them hear, therefore, either themselves, or rather those whom, as inexperienced and unlearned persons, they are striving to deceive. Our faith — that is, the Catholic faith — distinguishes the righteous from the unrighteous not by the law of works, but by the law itseK of faith, because the just by faith Hves. By which distinction it results that the man who leads his Hfe without murder, without theft, with out false-witness, without coveting other men's goods, giving due honour to his parents, chaste even to continence from aU carnal intercourse whatever, even conjugal, most Hberal in almsgiving, most patient of injuries ; who not only does not deprive another of his goods, but does not even ask again for what has been taken away from himself ; or even who has sold aU his own property and appropriated it to the poor, and pos sesses nothing which belongs to him as his own ; — yet with such a character as this, laudable as it seems to be, if he has not a true and cathoHc faith in God, must depart from this life to condemnation. But another, who has good works of a true faith which worketh by love, who — yet not as the former wisely restraining — maintains his continency in the respecta bility of wedlock ; pays and repays the debt of carnal connec tion not only for the sake of offspring, but solely for the sake 1 Ps. xviii. 1. 312 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 15. of pleasure has intercourse, although only with his wife, which the apostle allows to those that are married as pardonable ; does not receive injuries with so much patience, but is raised into anger with the desire of vengeance, although, in order that he may say, "As we also forgive our debtors," he forgives when he is asked ; who possesses property, giving thence indeed some alms, but not as the former so Hberal ; who does not take away what belongs to another, but, although by ecclesiastical, not by civU judgment,, yet contends for his own: certainly such a man, who seems so inferior to the former in character, on account of the true faith which he has in God, by which he Hves, and according to which in aU his wrong-doings he himself praises God in aU his good works, giving to himself the shame, to God the glory, and receiving from Him both for giveness of sins and love for whatever is rightly done, he shaU be delivered for this Hfe, and depart to be received into the company of those who shall reign with Christ. Wherefore, if not on account of his faith ? Which, although without works it saves no man (for it is itself not a spurious faith which worketh by love), yet by it even sins are loosed, because the just by faith Hveth ; but without it, even those things which seem good works are turned into sins : " For every thing which is not of faith is sin." 1 And it is so on account of this great difference, that although with no possi bility of doubt a persevering integrity of virginity is prefer able to conjugal chastity, yet a woman even twice married, if she be a Catholic, is preferred to a professed virgin that is a heretic ; nor is she in such wise preferred as being better in God's kingdom, but as being there, whUe the other is not there at all. For both the former, whom we have de'scribed as being of better character if a true faith be his, surpasses that "second one, although both wUl be in heaven ; yet if the faith be wanting to him, he is so surpassed by him that he himself is not there at aU. Chap. 15.— Tlie perfection of apostles and prophets. Since, then, all righteous men, both the more ancient and the apostles, lived of a right faith which is in Christ Jesus 1 Rom. xiv. 23. CHAP. 16.] QUALIFIED PERFECTION TO BE SOUGHT. 313 our Lord, and had with their faith Hves so holy, that although they might not be of such perfect virtue in this Hfe as that which should be after this life, yet whatever of sin might creep in from human infirmity might be constantly done away by the piety of their faith itself; whence it results that, in, com parison of the wicked whom God wiU condemn, it must be said that these were righteous, since by their pious faith they were so far removed apart from those wicked men that the apostle cries out, " What part hath he that believeth with an infidel V'1 But it is plain that the Pelagians, these modern heretics, seem to themselves to be religious lovers and praisers of the saints, if they do not dare to say that they were of an imperfect virtue ; although that elected vessel confesses this, who, considering in what state he stUl was, and that the body which is corrupted drags down the soul, says, "Not that I have already attained or am yet perfect ; brethren, I count not myseff to have apprehended." 2 And yet a Httle after, he who had denied himself to be perfect says, " Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded," 3 in order that he might show that, according to the measure of this Hfe, there is a certain perfection, and that to that perfection this also is to be attributed, even although any one may know that he is not yet perfect. For what is more perfect, or what was more ex- ceUent, than the holy priests among the ancient people ? And yet God prescribed to them to offer sacrifice first of aU for their own sins. And what is more holy among the new people than the apostles ? And yet the Lord prescribed to them to say in their prayer, "Forgive us our debts." For aU the pious, therefore, who He under this burden of a corruptible flesh, and groan in the infirmity of this Hfe of theirs, there is one hope : " We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous : and He is the propitiation for our sins." 4 Chap. 16. [vi.] — Misrepresentation concerning sin in Christ. They have not a righteous advocate, who are (even if that were the only difference) distinguished absolutely and widely from the righteous. Be it far from us to say, as they themselves slanderously affirm, that this just Advocate " spoke falsely by 1 2 Cor. vi. 14. * Phil. iii. 12, 13. 3 Phil. iii. 15. 4 1 John ii. 1. 314 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 16. the necessity of the flesh ; " but we say that He, in the like ness of sinful flesh and in respect of sin, condemned sin. And they, perchance not understanding this, and being bHnded by the desire of misrepresentation, and ignorant of the number of ways in which the name of sin is accustomed to be used in the Holy Scriptures, declare that we affirm sin of Christ. Therefore we assert that Christ both had no sin, neither in soul nor in the body ; and that, by taking upon Him flesh in the likeness of sinful flesh, concerning sin He condemned sin. And this assertion, somewhat obscurely made by the apostle, is explained in two ways, — either that the likenesses of things are accustomed to be caUed by the names of those things to which they are Hke, so that the apostle may be understood to have intended to caU the likeness itself of sinful flesh by the name of sin ; or that the sacrifices for sins were under the law caUed sins, all which things were a figure of the flesh of Christ, which is the true and only sacrifice for sins, — not only for those which are aU washed away in baptism, but also for those which afterwards creep in from the weakness of this Hfe, on account of which the universal Church daUy cries in prayer to God, " Forgive us our debts ; " and they are forgiven us by means of that singular sacrifice for sins which the apostle, speak ing according to the law, did not hesitate to caU sin. Whence, moreover, is that much plainer passage of his, and not uncer tain by any twofold way of ambiguity, " We beseech you in Christ's stead to be reconcUed to God. He made Him to be sin for us, who had not known sin ; that we might be the righteousness of God in Him." J For the passage which I have above mentioned, " He condemned sin in respect of sin,'' because it was not said, "In respect of his sin," may be understood by any one of them as if He said that He con demned sin in respect of the sin of the Jews ; because in respect of their sin who crucified Him, it happened that He shed His blood for the remission of sins. But this passage, where God is said to have made Christ Himself sin, who had not known sin, does not seem to me to be more fittingly under stood than that Christ was made a sacrifice for sins, and on this account was called sin. 1 2 Cor. v. 20, 21. CHAP. 17.] RIGHTEOUSNESS IN LIFE TO COME. 315 Chap. 17. [vii.] — Their calumny about the fulfilment of precepts in the life to come. And who can bear their objecting to us, " that we say that after the resurrection such shall be our progress, that there men can begin to fulfil God's commands, which they would not do here ; " since we say that there there wiU be no sin at all, no struggle with any desire of sin ; as if they themselves would dare to deny this ? That wisdom also, and the know ledge of God, is then perfected in us, and that in the Lord there is such rejoicing that it is a fuU and a true security, who wUl deny, unless he is so averse from the truth that on this very account he cannot attain unto it ? But these things will not be in precepts, but in the shape of a reward of those pre cepts which should here be observed ; the neglect of which precepts, indeed, does not lead thither to the reward. But here the grace of God gives the desire of keeping His command ments ; and if anything in these commandments is less per fectly observed, He forgives it on account of what we say in prayer, as weU "Thy wUl be done," as "Forgive us our debts." Here, then, it is prescribed that we sin not ; there, the reward is that we cannot sin. Here, the precept is that we obey not the desires of sin ; there, the reward that we have no desires of sin. Here is the precept, " Understand, ye senseless among the people ; and ye fools, be at some time wise ; " x there, the reward is fuU wisdom and perfect know ledge. " For we see now through a glass in an enigma," says the apostle, " but then face to face : now I know in part ; but then I shaU know even as also I am known." 2 Here, the precept is, " Exult unto the Lord, our helper," 3 and, " Eejoice, ye righteous, in the Lord ; " 4 there, the reward is to rejoice with a perfect and unspeakable joy. Lastly, in the precept it is written, " Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness ; " but in the reward, " Because they shaU be fiUed." 6 Whence, I ask, shaU they be fiUed, except with what they hunger and thirst after ? Who, then, is so abhor rent, not only from the divine perception, but also from the human perception, as to say that in man there can be such 1 Ps. oxiv. 8. 2 1 Cor. xiii. 12. 3 Ps. lxxxi. 1. * Ps. xxxiii. 1. s Matt. v. 6. 316 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 18. righteousness whUe he is hungering and thirsting for it, as there WiU be when he shaU be filled with it ? But when we are hungering and thirsting after righteousness, if the faith of Christ is watchful in us, what is it to be believed that we are hungering and thirsting for, save Christ ? " For He is made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctifica* tion, and redemption ; that, as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." x And because we only beHeve on Him not seeing Him, therefore we thirst and hunger after righteousness. For as long as we are in the body, we wander from the Lord ; for we walk by faith, not by appearance. But when we shaU see Him, and attain certainly to the appear ance, we shaU rejoice with joy unspeakable ; and then we shall be fiUed with righteousness, since now we say to Him with pious longing, " I shaU be satisfied when Thy glory shall be manifested." 2 Chap. 18. — Perfection of righteousness and full security was not even in Paul in this life. But how impudent I do not say, but how insane, is the pride which, not yet being equal to the angels of God, thinks itself already able to, have a righteousness equal to the angels of God, and does not consider so great and holy a man, who assuredly hungered and thirsted after that very perfection of righteousness itself, when he was unwiUing to be Hfted up by the greatness of his revelations, and was not left that he might not be Hfted up to his own choice and wUl, but received " the thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to buffet him ; on which account he besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from him, and the Lord said unto him, My grace is sufficient for thee, for strength is made perfect in weakness." s What strength, save that to which it pertains not to be lifted up ? And who doubts that this belongs to righteousness ? The angels of God, then, are endowed with this perfection of righteousness, since they always behold the face of the Father, and thus of the entire Trinity, because they see through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. But nothing is more lofty than that revelation, nor yet does any of the angels in that contempla tion of rejoicing ones find a messenger of Satan needful that 1 1 Cor. i. 30, 31. s Ps. xvii. 15. 3 2 Cor. xii. 7. CHAP. 19.] EVEN PAUL'S RIGHTEOUSNESS NOT PERFECT. 317 he may be buffetted by him, lest so great a magnitude of revelation should Hft him up. The Apostle Paul certainly had not yet that perfection of virtue, nor yet was he equal to the angels of God ; but there was in Him the weakness of lifting himself up, which also had to be checked by the angel of Satan, lest he should be lifted up by the magnitude of his revelations. However, then, the first Hfting up may have cast down Satan, yet that great Physician, who weU knew how to make use of even evU things against the mischief of elation, appHed from the angel of Satan a wholesome, although a pain ful, medicament as an antidote, used to be made even of ser pents against the poisons of serpents. What, then, is the meaning of " My grace is sufficient for thee," except that you may not by giving way succumb to the buffet of the messen ger of Satan ? And what is " Strength is made perfect in weakness," except that in that place of weakness hitherto may be the perfection of virtue, so that in the very presence of in firmity lifting up may be repressed ? Which infirmity assuredly shaU be healed by future immortahty. For how is that sound ness to be caUed perfect where medicine is stiU needful, even from the buffet of an angel of Satan ? Chap. 19. — In what sense the righteousness of man in this life is said to be perfect. From this it results that the virtue which is now in the righteous man is named perfect up to this point, that to its perfection pertains even both the acknowledgment in truth of imperfection, and its confession in humihty. For, in respect of this infirmity, "that Httle righteousness of man's is perfect according to its measure, when it, moreover, understands what is wanting to it. And therefore the apostle caUs himself both perfect and imperfect,1 — imperfect, to wit, in the thought of how much is wanting to him for the righteousness for whose fulness he is stiU hungering and thirsting, but perfect in that he does not blush to confess his own imperfection, and goes forward in good that he may attain. As we can say that the wayfarer is come to his end whose approach is weU forwarded, although his intention is not carried out unless his arrival be actuaUy effected. Therefore, when he had said, " According 1 Phil, iii 12, 15. 318 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 20. to the righteousness which is in the law, I am one who has been blameless," he immediately added, " What things were gain to me, those I counted but loss for Christ's sake. Yea, doubtless, and I count aU things to be loss for the sake of the exceUent knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord : for whose sake I have beUeved aU things not only to be losses, but I have thought them to be even as dung, that I might gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is by the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God in faith." 1 See ! the apostle does not certainly say falsely, that according to the righteousness which is of the law he was without reproach; and yet those things which were gain to him, he casts away for Christ's sake, and thinks them losses, injuries, dung. And not only these things, but aU other things which he men tioned previously ; on account of the knowledge, not of any kind, but, as he himself says, the exceUent knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord, which, beyond a doubt, he had as yet in faith, but not yet in sight. For then the knowledge of Christ wiU be exceUent, when He shall be so revealed that what is believed is seen. Whence, in another place, he thus says, " For ye have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, your life, shaU appear, then shaU ye also appear with Him in glory." 2 Hence, also, the Lord Himself says,' " He who loveth me shaU be loved of my Father, and I wiU love him, and wUl manifest myself to him." 3 Hence John the EvangeHst says, " Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be : but we know, that when He shall appear, we shaU be Hke Him ; for we shaU see Him as He is." 4 Then shaU the knowledge of Christ be exceUent. For now it is, as it were, hidden away in faith ; but it does not yet appear exceUent in sight. Chap. 20.— Why the righteousness which is ofthe law is undervalued by Paul. Therefore the blessed Paul casts away those past attain ments of his righteousness, as disadvantages and dung, that he may win Christ and be found in Him, not having his own righteousness, which is of the law. Wherefore his own, if it 1 Phil. iii. 6, etc. 2 Col. iii. 3, etc. 3 John xiv. 21. 4 1 John iii. 2. CHAP. 20.] CARNAL OBEDIENCE NOT FULFILMENT. 319 is of the law ? For that law is the law of God. Who has denied this, save Marcion and Manichseus, and such Hke pests ? Since, then, that is the law of God, he says it is his own righteousness which is of the law ; and this righteousness of his own he would not have, but cast it forth as dung. Why so, except that it is this which I have above demon strated, that those are under the law who, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and going about to establish their own, are not subject to the righteousness of God ? For they think that, by the strength of their own wiU, they will fulfil the commands of the law ; and wrapped up in that pride of theirs, they are not converted to the assistance of grace. Thus the letter kiUeth them either openly, as being guUty to them selves, by not doing what the law commands, or by thinking that they do it, although they do it not with love of the Spirit, which is of God. Thus they remain either plainly wicked or deceitfuUy righteous, — manifestly cut off in open unrighteous ness, or foohshly elated in deceitful righteousness. And by this means — marveUous indeed, but yet true — the righteous ness which is in the law, even of the law, does not fulfil the righteousness of the law, but that which is in the Spirit of grace. Because the righteousness of the law is fulfiUed in those, as it is written, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. But, according to the righteous ness which is in the law, the apostle says that he was blame less in the flesh, not in the Spirit; and he says that the righteousness which is of the law was his, not God's. It must be understood, therefore, that the righteousness of the law is not fulfilled according to the righteousness which is in the law or of the law, that is, according to the righteousness of man, but according to the righteousness which is in the Spirit of grace, therefore according to the righteousness of God, that is, which man has from God. Which may be thus more clearly and briefly stated : That the righteousness of the law is not fulfiUed when the law commands, and man as it were of his own strength obeys; but when the Spirit aids, and man's free-wiU, but freed by the grace of God, performs. Therefore the righteousness of the law is to command what is pleasing to God, to forbid what is displeasing ; but the 320 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 21. righteousness in the law is to obey the letter, and beyond it to seek for no assistance of God for holy living. For when he had said, " Not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is by the faith of Christ," he added, "Which is from God." That, therefore, is itself the righteousness of God, which the proud being ignorant of, they go about to estab lish their own ; for it is not caUed the righteousness of God because by it God is righteous, but because man has it from God. Chap. 21. — That righteousness is never perfected in this life. Now, according to this righteousness of God, that is, which we have from God, faith now worketh by love. But it worketh that, in what way man can attain to Him on whom now, not seeing, he believes; and when he shaU see Him, then that which was in faith through a glass enigmaticaUy, shaU at length be in sight face to face, then shaU be per fected even love itself. Because it is said with excessive folly, that God is loved as much before He is seen, as He will be loved when He is seen. Further, if in this Hfe, as no religious person doubts, the more we love God, so much the more righteous we certainly are, who can doubt that pious and true righteousness wiU then be perfected when the love of God shall be perfect ? Then the law, therefore, shaU be fulfiUed ; so that nothing at aU is wanting to it, of which law, according to the apostle, the fulfilling is Love. And thus, when he had said, " Not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is by the faith of Jesus Christ, which is the righteousness from God in faith," he then added, " That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the feUowship of His sufferings." x AU these things were not yet Ml and perfect in the apostle ; but, as if he were placed on the way, he was running towards their fulness and perfection. For how had he abeady perfectly known Christ, who says in another place, " Now I know in part ; but then I shaU know even as I am known " ? 2 And how had he already perfectly known the power of His resurrection, to whom it remained to know it yet more fuUy by experience » Phil. iii. 9, 10. 2 1 Cor. xiii. 12. CHAP. 22.] HUMAN RIGHTEOUSNESS AND PERFECTION. 321 at the time of the resurrection of the flesh ? And how had he perfectly known already the feUowship of His suffering, if he had not yet experienced for him the suffering of death ? FinaUy, he adds and says, " If in any manner I may attain unto the resurrection of the dead." x And then he says, " Not that I have already received or am already perfected." What, then, does he confess that he has not yet received, and in what is he not yet perfected, except in that righteousness which is of God, which he desired, not wUHng to have his own righteousness, which is of the law ? For hence he was speaking, and such was the reason for his saying these things in resistance to the enemies of the grace of God, for the bestowal of which Christ was crucified, and of which race of enemies are also these. Chap. 22. — Nature of human righteousness and perfection. For from the place in which he undertook to say these things, he thus began, " Beware of dogs, beware of evU workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision, who serve God in the Spirit," — or, as some codices have it, " who serve God the Spirit," or " the Spirit of God," — " and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." 2 Here it is manifest that he is speaking against the Jews, who, observing the law carnaUy, and going about to estabhsh their own righteousness, were slain by the letter, and not made alive by the Spirit, and gloried in themselves whUe the apostles and aU the chUdren of the promise were glorying in Christ. Then he added, " Although I may have confidence in the flesh. If any one else thinks that he has confidence in the flesh, I more."3 And enumerating aU things which have glory according to the flesh, he ended at that point where he says, " According to the righteousness which is in the law, blame less." And when he had said that he regarded all these things as altogether loss and disadvantage and dung that he might gain Christ, he added the passage which I am treating about, " And be found in Him, not having my own righteous ness, but that which is by the faith of Christ, which is from God." He confessed that he had not yet received the per- 1 Phil. iii. 11, 12. » Phil. iii. 2, 3. a Phil. iii. 4. XV. X 322 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 22. fection of this righteousness, which wiU not be except in that exceUent knowledge of Christ, on account of which he said that aU things were loss to him ; and he confessed, therefore, that he was not yet perfect. " But I foUow on," said he, " if I may apprehend that in which I also am apprehended of Christ Jesus." x "I may apprehend that in which I also am apprehended," is much the same as, " I may know, even as I also am known." " Brethren," says he, " I count not myself to have apprehended : but one thing, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those which are before, I follow on according to the purpose to the reward of the supreme caUing of God in Christ Jesus." 2 The order of the words is, " But I foUow one thing." Of which one thing the Lord also is weU understood to have admonished Martha, where he says, " Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things : but one thing is needful." 3 The apostle, wishing to apprehend this as if established on the way, said that he foUowed on to the reward of the lofty caUing of God in Christ Jesus. For who can delay when he would appre hend that which he declares that he is foUowing, that he shaU then have a righteousness equal to the righteousness of the holy angels, none of whom certainly does any messenger of Satan buffet lest he should be Hfted up with the greatness of his revelations ? Then, admonishing those who might think themselves already perfect with the fulness of that righteous ness, he says, " Let as many of us, therefore, as are perfect, be thus minded."4 As if he should say, If, according to the capacity of mortal man for the Httle measure of this Hfe, we are perfect, let us understand that this also pertains to that very perfection, that we perceive that we are not yet perfected in that angeHcal righteousness which we shaU have in the manifestation of Christ. " And if in anything," he said, " ye be otherwise minded, God shaU also reveal even this unto you." 6 How, save to those that are walking and advancing in the way of the faith, until that wandering be finished and they come to the actual vision ? Whence foUowino- on, he added, "Nevertheless, whereunto we have already attained, 1 Phil. iii. 12. 2 Phil. iii. 13, 14. 3 Luke x. 41. 4 PhiL iii. 15. 6 Phil. iii. 15. CHAP. 23.] ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF IMPERFECTION. 323 let us walk therein." * Then he concludes that they should be bewared of, of whom this passage resumed the beginning of his address. " Brethren, be imitators of me, and mark them which so walk as ye have our example. For many walk, of whom I have spoken often, and now tell you even weeping, whose end is destruction,"2 and the rest. These are the very ones of whom, in the beginning, he had said, " Beware of dogs, beware of evU workers," and what foUows. Therefore aU are enemies of the cross of Christ who, going about to estabhsh their own right eousness, which is of the law, — that is, where only the letter commands, and the Spirit does not fulfil, — are not subject to the law of God. For if they who are of the law be heirs, faith is emptied of its meaning. " If righteousness is by the law, then Christ has died in vain : then is the offence of the cross done away." And thus those are enemies of the cross of Christ who say that righteousness is by the law, to which it pertains to command, not to assist. But the grace of God through Jesus Christ the Lord in the Holy Spirit helpeth our infirmity.Chap. 23. — There is no true righteousness without the faith ofthe grace of Christ. Wherefore he who Hves according to the righteousness which is in the law, without the faith of the grace of Christ, as the apostle declares that he- Hved blameless, must be accounted to have no true righteousness ; not because the law is not true and holy, but because to wish to obey the letter which commands, without the Spirit of God which quickens, as if of the strength of free-will, is not true righteousness. But the righteousness according to which the' righteous man Hves of faith, since man has it from God by the Spirit of grace, is true righteousness. And although this- is not un deservedly said to be perfect in some righteous men, accord ing to the capacity of this Hfe, yet it is but Httle to that great righteousness which the equahty of the angels receives. And he who had not yet possessed this, on the one hand, in respect of that which was already in him* said that he was perfect ; and in respect, of that which was stiU wanting to him, said that he was imperfect.. But manifestly that lower degree 1 Phil., iii, 1-5. s Phil, iii. 16. 324 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 24. of righteousness makes deserving, that higher kind becomes a reward. Whence he who does not strive after the former does not attain unto the latter. Wherefore, after the resurrection of man, to deny that there wiU be a fulness of righteousness, and to think that the righteousness in the. body of that Hfe wiU be such as it can be in the body of this death, is charac teristic of special foUy. But it is most true that men do not there begin to fulfil those commands of -God which here they have been unwiUing to obey. For there wiU be the fulness of the most perfect righteousness, yet not of men striving after what is commanded, and making gradual en deavours after that fulness ; but in the twinkling of an eye, even as shaU be that resurrection of the dead itself, because that greatness of perfect righteousness wiU be given as a reward to those who here have obeyed the commandments, and wiU not itself be commanded to them as a thing to be accom plished. But I should in such wise say they have done the commandments, that we might remember that to these very commandments belongs the prayer in which the holy chUdren of promise daUy say with truth, " Thy wiU be done," x and " Forgive us our debts." 2 Chap. 24. [viii.] — There are three principal heads in the Pelagian heresy. When, then, the Pelagians with these testimonies and words of truth of this kind are pressed, not to deny original sin ; not to say that the grace of God whereby we are justified is not given freely, but according to our merits ; nor to say that in mortal man, however holy and weU doing, there is so great righteousness that even after the washing of regeneration, untU he finishes this Hfe of his, forgiveness of sins is not necessary to him, — therefore when they are pressed not to make these three assertions, and by their means aHenate men who beHeve therein from the grace of the Saviour, and persuade the lif ted-up unto pride to go headlong unto the judg ment of the devU, they introduce the clouds of other questions in which their impiety — in the sight of men more simple minded, whether that they are more slow or less instructed in the sacred writings — may be concealed. These are the misty 1 Matt. vi. 10. 2 Matt. vi. 12. CHAP. 25.] CONDEMNATION OF THE HEADS OF THE HERESY. 325 questions of the praise of the creature, of the praise of marriage, of the praise of the law, of the praise of free-wiU, of the praise of the saints ; as if any one of our people were in the habit of disparaging those things, and not rather of announcing all things with due praises to the honour of the Creator and Saviour. But even the creature does not desire in such wise to be praised as to be unwiUing to be healed. And the more marriage is to be praised, the less is to be attributed to it the shameful lust of the flesh, which is not of the Father, but of the world ; and which assuredly marriage found and did not make in men ; because, moreover, it is actuaUy in very many without marriage, and if nobody had sinned marriage itself might be without it. And the law, holy and just and good, is neither grace itself, nor is anything rightly done by it with out grace ; because- the law is not given that it may give Hfe, but it was added because of transgression, that it might con clude aU persons convicted under sin, and that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that beHeve.1 And the free-wiU taken captive does not avail, except for sin; but for righteousness, unless divinely set free and aided, it does not avaU. And thus, also, aU the saints, whether from that ancient Abel to John the Baptist, or from the apostles themselves up to this time, and henceforth even to the end of the world, are to be praised in the Lord, not in themselves. Because the word, even of those earlier ones, is, " In the Lord shaU my soul be praised." 2 And the word of the later ones is, " By the grace of God I am what I am." 8 And to aU pertains, " That he that glorieth may glory in the Lord." And it is the common confession of aU, " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." 4 Chap. 25. [ix.J — He shows that the opinion of fhe Catholics is the mean between that of fhe Mcmichceans and Pelagians, and refutes both. But since, in these five- particulars which I have set forth, in which they seek lurking-places, and from which they weave misrepresentations, they are forsaken and convicted by the divine writings, they have contrived to deter those whom they could by the hateful name of Manichseans, lest in opposi tion to their most perverse teachings their ears should be 1 Gal. iii. 22. 2 Ps. xxxiv. 2. 3 1 Cor. xv. 10. 4 1 John i. 8. 326 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 25* conformed to the truth; because doubtless the Manichseans blasphemously condemn the three former of those five dogmas, saying that neither the human creature, nor marriage, nor the law was ordained by the supreme and true God. But they do not receive what the truth says, that sin took its origin from free-wiU, and that from it is aU evU, whether of angel or man ; because they prefer to beHeve, in their turning aside from God, that the nature of evU was always evU, and co- eternal with God. They, moreover, attack the holy patriarchs and prophets with as many execrations as they can. This is the way in which the modern heretics think, that by objecting the name of Manichseans, they evade the force of truth. But they do not .evade it ; because' it foUows them up, and over turns at once the Manichseans and Pelagians. For in that a man is born, because there is something good, so far as he is a man, he condemns the Manichsean, and praises the Creator ; but in so far as he derives original sin, he condemns the Pelagian and has need of a Saviour. For even because that nature of his is said to be healable, it repels both teachings ; because it would not, on the one hand, have need of medicine if it were sound, which is opposed to the Pelagian, nor could it be healed at all if the evU in it were eternal and immutable, which is opposed to the Manichsean. Moreover, in that to marriage, which we praise as ordained of God, we do not say that the lust of the flesh is to be attributed, this is both contrary to the Pelagians, who make this lust itself a matter of praise, and contrary to the Manichseans, who attribute it to a foreign and evil matter, when it reaUy is an evU accidental to our nature, not to be separated by the disjoining of God, but to be healed by the mercy of God. Moreover, in that we say that the law, holy and just and good, was given not for the justifi cation of the wicked, but for the conviction of the proud, for the sake of transgressions, — this is, on the one hand, opposed to the Manichseans, that according to the apostle the law is praised ; and on the other opposed to the Pelagians, in that, in accordance with the apostle, no one is justified by the law ; and therefore, for the sake of making alive those whom the letter has kUled, that is, whom the law, enjoining good, makes guUty by transgressions, the Spirit of grace freely brings aid. CHAP. 26.] QUESTION OF THE SOUL'S ORIGIN. 327 Also in that we say that the wiU is free in evil, but for doing good it must be made free by God's grace, this is opposed to the Pelagians ; but that we say it originated from that which previously was not evU, this is opposed to the Manichseans. Again, that we honour the holy patriarchs and prophets with praises due to them in God, is in opposition to the Mani chseans; but that we say that even to them, however righteous and pleasing to God they might have been, the propitiation of the Lord was necessary, this is in opposition to the Pelagians. The CathoUc faith, therefore, finds them both, as it does also other heretics, in opposition to it, and convicts both by the authority of the divine testimonies and by the light of truth. Chap. 26. [x.] — The Pelagians still strive after a hiding-place, by introducing the needless question of fhe origin of the soul. The Pelagians, indeed, add to the clouds which envelop their lurking-places the unnecessary questions concerning the origin of the soul, for the purpose of erecting a hiding- place by disturbing manifest things by the obscurity of other matters. For they say "that we observe the continuous propagation of souls with the continuous propagation of sin." And where and when they have read this, either in the addresses or in the writings of those who maintain the CathoHc faith against this, I do not know; because, although I find something written by Cathohcs on the subject, yet the defence of the truth had not yet been undertaken against those men, neither was there any anxiety to answer them. But this I say, that according to the Holy Scriptures original sin is so manifest, and that this is put away in infants by the laver of regeneration is confirmed by such antiquity and authority of the CathoHc faith, notorious by such a clear concurrent testi mony of the Church, that what is argued by the inquiry or affirmation of anybody concerning the origin of the soul, if it is contrary to this, cannot be true. Wherefore, whoever buUds up, either concerning the soul or any other obscure matter, any edifice whence he may destroy this, which is true, best founded, and best known, whether he is a son or an enemy of the Church, must either be corrected or avoided. But let this be the end of this Book, that the things which foUow may have another beginning, THE FOUETH BOOK AFTER HAVING SET ASIDE THE CALUMNIES HURLED AGAINST THE CATHOLICS, IN HIS FORMER BOOKS, AUGUSTINE HERE PROCEEDS TO OPEN UP THE SNARES WHICH LIE HIDDEN IN THE REMAINING PART OF THE SECOND EPISTLE OF THE PELAGIANS, IN THE FIVE HEADS OF THEIR DOCTRINE — IN THE PRAISE, TO WIT, OF THE CREATURE, THE PRAISE OF MARRIAGE, THE PRAISE OF THE LAW, THE PRAISE OF FREE-WILL, AND THE PRAISE OF THE SAINTS ; IN CONNECTION WITH WHICH HEADS THE PELAGIANS MALIGNANTLY BOAST THAT THET ARE AT ISSUE NOT MORE WITH THE MANICHDANS THAN WITH THE CATHOLICS. HENCE THET ARE KNOWN TO REFER THOSE FTVE POINTS TO THIS, THAT THEY PUT FORWARD THEIR THREEFOLD ERROR — NAMELY, THE TWO FIRST, THE DENIAL OF ORIGINAL SIN ; THE TWO FOLLOWING, THE ASSERTION THAT GRACE IS GIVEN ACCORDING TO MERITS; THE FIFTH, THEIR STATEMENT THAT THE SAINTS IN THIS LIFE HAD NOT SIN. AUGUSTINE SHOWS BOTH HERESIES, THAT OF THE MANICOSJANS AND OF THE PELAGIANS, FROM BOTH SIDES, TO BE OPPOSED AND EQUALLY ODIOUS TO THE CATHOLIC FAITH, WHEREBY WE PROFESS, FIRST OF ALL, THAT THE NATURE CREATED BY A GOOD GOD WAS GOOD, BUT THAT, NEVERTHELESS, IT IS IN NEED OF A SAVIOUR BECAUSE OF ORIGINAL SIN, WHICH PASSED INTO ALL MEN FROM THE TRANSGRESSIONS OF THE FIRST MAN. THEN AGAIN, THAT MARRIAGE IS GOOD, TRULY INSTITUTED BY GOD, BUT THAT THAT VERY LUST IS EVIL WHICH WAS ASSOCIATED WITH MARRIAGE BY SIN ; ALSO THAT THE LAW OF GOD IS GOOD, BUT IN SUCH WISE AS ONLY TO MANIFEST SIN, NOT TO TAKE IT AWAY; THAT FREE-WILL IS ASSUREDLY IMPLANTED INTO THE NATURE OF MAN, BUT THAT NOW, HOWEVER, IT IS SO ENSLAVED THAT IT DOES NOT AVAIL TO THE DOING OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, UNLESS WHEN IT SHALL HAVE BEEN MADE FREE BY GRACE ; BUT THAT THE SAINTS, WHETHER OF THE OLD OR NEW TESTAMENT, WERE INDEED ENDUED WITH TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS, BUT NOT PERFECT, NOR SO FULL THAT THEY SHOULD BE FREE FROM AM SIN. IN CONCLUSION, HE BRINGS FORWARD THE TESTIMONIES OF CYPRIAN AND AMBROSE ON BEHALF OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH, SOME CONCERNING ORIGINAL SIN, OTHERS ABOUT THE ASSISTANCE OF GRACE, AND THE LAST OF THE IMPERFECTION OF PRESENT RIGHTEOUSNESS. Chap. 1. — Tlie subterfuges of the Pelagians are five. AFTEE the matters which I have considered, and to which I have answered, they repeat the same things as those contained in the letter which I have refuted, but in a different manner. For before, they put them forward as objecting to us things which we think as it were falsely ; but afterwards, as 328 CHAP. 2.] POINTS OF PELAGIAN DOCTRINE. 329 explaining what they themselves think, they have retorted the same things from the opposite side, adding two certain points which they had not mentioned — that is, " that they say that baptism is necessary for aU ages," and " that by Adam death passed upon us, not guUt;" which things must also themselves be considered in their own place. Hence, because in the former Book which I have just finished I said that they aUeged hindrances of five matters in which lurk their dogmas hostUe to God's grace and to the CathoHc faith, — the praise, to wit, of the creature, the praise of marriage, the praise of the law, the praise of free-wiU, the praise of the saints, — I think it is more convenient to make special discrimination of aU that they maintain, the contrary of which they object to us, and to show which of those things pertain to any of those five, that so my answer may be by that very distinction clearer and briefer. Chap. 2. — The praise ofthe creature. They describe the praise of the creature, inasmuch as it pertains to the human race of which the question now is, in three sentences : ' That God is the Creator of all those that are born, and that the sons of men are God's work, and that aU sin descends not from nature, but from the wiU." To this praise of the creature they add, " that they say that baptism is necessary for every age, that," namely, " that creature may be adopted among the chUdren of God, not because it derives any thing from its parents which must be purified in the laver of regeneration." To this praise they associate also, " that they say that Christ the Lord was sprinkled with no stain of sin as far as pertains to His infancy;" because they assert- that His flesh was most pure from aU contagion of sin, not by His own exceUence and singular grace, but by the feUowship of the nature which is shared by aU infants. It also belongs to that subject that they introduce the question " of the origin of the soul," thus endeavouring to make aU the souls of infants equal to the soul of Christ, maintaining that they likewise are sprinkled with no stain of sin. On this account, also, they say, " that nothing of evU passed from Adam upon the rest of humanity except death, which," they say, " is not always an 330 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 2. evU, since even to the martyrs it is a cause of reward ; and it is not the dissolution of the bodies, which in every kind of men shall be raised up, that can make death to be caUed either good or evU, but the diversity of merits which arises from human Hberty." These things they write in this letter concerning the praise of the creature. They praise marriage truly according to the Scriptures, "because the Lord saith in the gospel, He who made men from the beginning made them male and female, and said, Increase and multiply, and replenish the earth." Although this is not written in that passage of the gospel, yet it is written in the law. They add, moreover, "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." a And these we acknowledge to be gospel words. In the praise of the law they say, " that the old law was, according to the apostle, holy and just and good; that on those who keep its commandments, and hve righteously by faith, such as the prophets and patriarchs, and aU the saints, Hfe eternal could be conferred." In the praise of free-wiU they say, " that free-wUl has not perished, sinee the Lord says by the prophets, ' If ye be wUl ing and wiU hear me, ye shaU eat the good things of the land : if ye are unwilling, and wiU not hear, the sword shall devour you.' " 2 And thus, also, " that graee assists the good purpose of any person, but does not infuse a desire of virtue into the reluctant heart, because there is no acceptance of persons with God." In the praise of the saints they conceal themselves, saying " that baptism perfectly renews men, inasmuch as the apostle is a witness who testifies that, by the washing of water, the Church is made out of the heathen holy and spotless ; 3 that the Holy Spirit also assisted pious souls in ancient times, even as the prophet says to God, ' Thy good Spirit shaU lead me into the right way ; ' 4 that aU the prophets, moreover, and apostles or saints, as well of the New as of the Old Testament, to whom God gives witness, were righteous, not in comparison of the wicked, but by the standard of virtue; and that in future time there is a reward as weU of good works as of 1 Matt. xix. 4. 2 Isa. i. 19. 3 Eph. v. 26. 4 Ps. cxliii. 10. CHAP. 3.] CATHOLIC VIEW OF THESE TEACHINGS. 331 evU, but that no one could then perform the commandment which here he may have contemned, because the apostle said, ' We must be manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things belonging to the body, according to what he has done, whether good or evil.' " x In aU these points, whatever thay say of the praise of the creature and of marriage they endeavour to refer to this, that there is no original sin ; whatever of the praise of law and of free-wiU, to this, that grace does not assist without merit, and that thus grace is no more grace ; whatever of the praise of the saints, to this, that mortal Hfe in the saints appears not to have any sin, and that it is not necessary for them to pray God for the remitting of their debts or sins. Chap. 3. — The Catholics praise nature, marriage, law, free-will, and tlie saints, in such wise as to condemn as well Pelagians as Manichceans. Let every one who, with a Catholic mind, shudders at these impious doctrines and damnable, as in this tripartite division, shun the lurking-places and snares of this fivefold error, and so be careful between one and another as in such wise to decline from Manichseans as not to incHne to Pelagians ; and again, so to separate himself from the Pelagians as not to associate himself with the Manichseans ; or, if he should already be taken hold of in one or the other bondage, that he should not so pluck himself out of the hands of either as to rush into those of the other. Because they seem to be contrary to one another, since the Manichseans manifest themselves by vitu perating these five points, the Pelagians conceal themselves by praising them. Wherefore he condemns and shuns both, who ever he may be, that according to the rule of the CathoHc faith so glorifies the Creator in men, who are born of the good creation in flesh and soul (for this the Manichsean wiU not have), as that he yet confesses that on account of the sin which has passed over into them by the sin of the first man, even infants need a Saviour (for this the Pelagian wUl not have) : he so distinguishes the evU of a shameful lust from the exceUence of marriage, as neither, Hke the Manichseans, to reproach the source of our birth, nor, Hke the Pelagians, to praise our con fusion. He in such wise maintains the law to have been given 1 2 Cor. v. 10. 332 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS, [CHAP. 4. holy and just and good through Moses by a holy and just and good God (which Manichseus, in opposition to the apostle, denies), as to say that it both shows forth sin and yet does not take it away ; and commands righteousness which yet it does not give (which, again, in opposition to the apostle, Pelagius denies). He so asserts free-wiU as to say that the evU of both angel and man began, not from I know not what nature always evU, which is no nature, but from the wUl itself, which overturns Manichsean heresy; and that even thus the captive wUl nevertheless cannot breathe into a wholesome Hberty save by God's grace, which overturns the Pelagian heresy. He so praises the holy men of God in God, not only of Christ manifested in the flesh and subsequently, but even those of the former times, whom the Manichseans dare to blaspheme ; as yet to beHeve their own confessions concerning themselves, more than the lies of the Pelagians. For the word of the saints is, " If we should say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." x Chap. 4. — Pelagians and Manichceans on the praise ofthe creature. These things being so, what advantage is it to incipient heretics, enemies of the cross of Christ and opposers of divine grace, that they seem sound from the error of the Manichseans, if they are dying- by another pestUence of their own ? What advantage is it to them, that in the praise of the creature they say " that the good God is the creator of every one that is born, that by Him aU things were made, and that the chUdren of men are His work," whom the Manichseans say are the work of the prince of darkness ; when between them both, or among them both, God's creation, which is in infants, is perishing ? For both o'f them refuse to have it delivered by Christ's flesh and blood, — the former, because they destroy that very flesh and blood, as if He did not take upon Him these at aU in man or of man ; and the latter, because they assert that there is no evU in infants from which they should be delivered by the sacrament of this flesh and blood. Between them, in the case of infants, Hes the human creature with a good creation, with a vitiated propagation, confessing for its 1 1 John i. 8. CHAP. 5.] PELAGIAN AND MANICHEAN ALIKE CONDEMNED. 333 benefits a most exceUent Creator, seeking for its evUs a most merciful Eedeemer, having the Manichseans as disparagers of its benefits, having the Pelagians as deniers of its evUs, and both persecutors. And although in infancy there is no power to speak, yet with its silent look and its hidden weakness it addresses the impious vanity of both, saying to the former, " BeHeve that I am created by Him who creates good ; " and saying to the latter, " Suffer me to be healed by Him who created me" The Manichseans say, There is nothing of this infant save the good soul to be deHvered ; the rest, which belongs not to the good God, but to the prince of darkness, is to be rejected. The Pelagians say, Certainly there is nothing of this infant to be deHvered, because we have shown the whole to be safe Both He ; but now the accuser of the flesh alone is more bearable than the praiser, who is convicted of raging against everything. But neither does the Manichsean help the human soul by blaspheming God, the Author of the entire man ; nor does the Pelagian permit the divine grace to eome to the help of human infancy by denying original sin. Therefore by the CathoHc faith God has mercy, seeing that by condemning both mischievous doctrines it comes to the help of the infant for salvation. It says to the Manichseans, Hear the apostle crying, " Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost in you I"1 and beHeve that the good God is the Creator of bodies, because the temple of the Holy Ghost cannot be the work of the prince of darkness. It says to the Pelagians, The infant that you look upon "was conceived in iniquity, and in sin its mother nourished it in the womb." 2 Why, as if in defending it as free from aU mischief, do you not permit it to be deHvered by mercy ? No one is pure from uncleanness, not even the infant whose Hfe is of one day upon the earth.3 AUow the wretched creatures to receive remission of sins, through Him who alone neither as smaU nor great could have any sin. Chap. 5. — What is the special advantage m tlie Pelagian opinions ? What advantage, then, is it to them that they say " that all sin descends not from nature, but from the wUl," and resist 1 1 Cor. vi. 19. s Ps. li. 5. a Joh xiv. 4, 5. See LXX. 334 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 6. by the truth of this judgment the Manichseans, who say that evil nature is the cause of sin ; when they are unwiUing to admit original sin, although itself also descends from the wiU of the first man, and make infants to depart in guUt from the body ? What advantage is it to them " that they confess that baptism is necessary for all ages," whUe the Manichseans say that in every age it is superfluous, when these say that in infants it is false so far as it pertains to the forgiveness of sins ? What advantage is it to them that they maintain " the flesh of Christ " (which the Manichseans contend was either no flesh at aU, or a feigned flesh) to have been not only the true flesh, but " that even the soul itself was stained by no spot of sin," when other infants are by them so put on the same level with His infancy, with not unequal purity, as that both that flesh does not appear to keep its own holi- ness in comparison of those, and these obtain no salvation from this ? Chap. 6. — Not death alone, but sin also, has passed into us by means of Adam. In that particular, indeed, wherem they say " that death passed to us by Adam's means, not guUt," they have not the Manichasans as their adversaries : since even they do not feign that original sin from the first man, at first of pure and upright body and spirit, and afterwards depraved by free-wiU, sub sequently passed and passes as sin into aU with death ; but they say that the flesh was evil from the beginning, and created by an evil spirit and with an evU spirit ; but that a good soul — a portion, to wit, of God — for the deserts of its defilement by food and drink, in which it was before bound up, came into man, and thus by means of copulation was bound in the chain of the flesh. And thus the Manichseans agree with the Pelagians that it was not the guilt of the first man that passed into the human race — neither by the flesh, which they say was never good ; nor by the soul, which they assert comes into the flesh of man with the merits of its own defilements, with which it was poUuted before the flesh. But how do the Pelagians say "that only death passed upoD us by Adam's means " ? For if we die because he died, and he died because he sinned, they say that the punishment CHAP. 7.1 CHRIST SUFFERED DEATH WITHOUT DESERVING. 335 passed without the guilt, and that innocent infants are unjustly punished with a penalty by bearing death without the deserts of death. Which the CathoHc faith has known of the one and only mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who condescended to undergo death — that is, the penalty of sin — without sin, for us. As He alone became the Son of man, in order that we might become through Him sons of God, so He alone, on our behalf, undertook punishment without UI deservings, that we through Him might obtain grace without good deservings. Because as to us nothing good was due, so to Him nothing bad was due. Therefore, commending His love to them to whom He was about to give undeserved Hfe, He was willing to suffer for them an undeserved death. This special prerogative of the Mediator the Pelagians endeavour to make void, so that this should no longer be special in the Lord, if Adam in such wise suffered a death due to him on account of his guUt, as that infants, drawing from him no guUt, should suffer undeserved death. For although very much good is conferred on the good by means of death, whence some have fitly argued even of the benefit of death, yet even from this what can be declared but the mercy of God, that the punishment of sin is converted into beneficent uses ? Chap. 7. — What is fhe meaning of " In whom all have sinned " ? But these speak thus who wish to wrest men from the apostle's words into their own thought. For where the apostle says, " By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so passed upon aU men," J they wUl have it there understood not that sin passed over, but death. What, then, is the meaning of what foUows, " Wherein aU have sinned " ? For either the apostle says that in that one man all have sinned of whom he had said, By one man sin entered into the world, or " in that sin," or certainly " in death." For it need not disturb us that he said not " in which " {fern.], but " in whom " [masc] aU have sinned ; because death [0dvaTo 1 Cor. iv. 7. s John xv. 5. a 1 John iv. 7. 4 Rom. xii. 3. 5 John iii. 8. 6 Rom. viii. 14. / ' John vi. 65. 8 1 Esdras viii. 25. 9 Jer. xxxii. 40, 41. CHAP. 15.] TESTIMONY OF EZEKIEL. 343 whither ye have gone in there ; and I wUl sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which ye have profaned in the midst of them ; and the nations shaU know that I am the Lord, saith Adonai the Lord, when I shaU be sanctified among you before their eyes. And I wUl take you from among the nations, and gather you together out of aU lands, and wUl bring you into your own land. And I wiU sprinkle upon you clean water, and ye shaU be cleansed from aU your filthiness, and I wiU cleanse you. And I will give unto you a new heart, and a new spirit wUl I put within you : and the stony heart shaU be taken away out of your flesh, and I wiU give you a heart of flesh. And I wiU put my Spirit within you, and wUl cause you to walk in my righteousness, and to observe my judgments, and do them." 1 And after a few words by the same prophet, He says, " Not for your sakes do I do this, saith the Lord God ; it shaU be known unto you : be ye confounded aud blush for your ways, O house of Israel. These things saith the Lord God : In the day in which I shaU cleanse you from aU your iniquities, and shaU ordain cities, and the wUderness shall be buUt. And the desolated land shaU be tiUed, whereas it was desolated before the eyes of every passer by. And they shaU say, This land that was desolated has become as a garden of pleasure ; and the wasted and desolated and ruined cities have settled down fortified. And whatever nations have been left round about you shall know that I the Lord have buUt the ruined places, I have planted the desolated places : I the Lord have spoken, and have done it. Thus saith the Lord : I wiU yet for this inquire of the house of Israel, that I may do it for them ; I wiU multiply them men Hke sheep, as holy sheep, as the sheep of Jerusalem in the days of her feast ; so shaU be those desolated cities fuU of men as sheep : and they shaU know that I am the Lord." 2 Chap. 15. — From those words of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, grace is proved to be gratuitous and effectual. What remained to the carrion skin whence it might be puffed up, and could disdain when it glories to glory in the Lord ? What remained to it when it could say that it had 1 Ezek. xxxvi. 22 ff. 2 Ezek. xxxvi. 32 ff. 344 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 15. done anything ; that when that preceding merit of man ori ginated from man, God would subsequently do that of which the man is deserving ; it shaU be answered, it shaU be ex claimed against, it shaU be contradicted, " I do it ; but for my own holy name's sake, not for your sakes, do I do it, saith the Lord God " ? Nothing so overturns the Pelagians when they say that the grace of God is given in respect of our merits. Which, indeed, Pelagius himself condemned, and if not by correcting it, yet by being afraid of the Eastern judges. Nothing so overturns the presumption of men who say, We do it, that we may deserve those things with which God may do it. It is not Pelagius that answers you, but the Lord Himself, " I do it, and not for your sakes, but for my own holy name's sake." For what good can ye do out of a heart which is not good ? But that you may have a good heart, He says, " I wUl give you a new hearts and I wiU put a new Spirit within you." Can you say, We wiU first walk in His righteousness, and wiU observe His judgment, and wiU do so that we may be worthy as to those to whom He should give His grace ? But what good would ye evU men do, and how should you do those good things, unless you were your selves good ? But who causes that men should be good save Him who said, " And I wiU visit them to make them good " ? and who said, I wiU put my Spirit within you, and wiU cause you to walk in my righteousness, and to observe my judg ments, and do them ? Are ye thus not yet awake ? Do ye not yet hear, I wiU cause you to walk, I wUl make you to observe, lastly, I wUl make you to do ? What ! are you stiU puffing yourselves up ? We indeed walk, it is true, we ob serve, we do ; but He makes us to walk, to observe, to do. This is the grace of God making us good, this is His mercy preventing us. What do waste and desolated and dug-up places deserve, which yet shall be buUt and tilled and fortified? Are these things for the merits of their wasteness, their desolation, their uprooting ? Far from it. For such things as these are evil deservings, whUe those gifts are good. There fore good things are given for evU ones — gratuitous, therefore ; not of debt, and therefore grace. I, saith the Lord ; I, the Lord. Does not such a word as that restrain you, 0 human CHAP. 16.] DIFFICULTY OF GOD'S ELECTION. 345 pride, when you say, I do such things as to deserve from the Lord to be buUt and planted ? Do you not hear, " I do it not on your account ; I the Lord have built up the destroyed cities, and I have planted the desolated lands ; I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, yet not for your sakes, but for my own holy name's sake " ? Who multiplies men as sheep, as holy sheep, as the sheep of Jerusalem ? Who causes those desolated cities to be fuU of men as sheep, save He who goes on, and says, "And they shaU know that I am the Lord " ? But with what men as sheep does He fiU the cities as He promised ? those which He finds, or those which He makes ? Let us interrogate the Psalm ; lo, it answers ; let us hear : " O come, let us worship and faU down before Him : and let us weep before the Lord who made us ; because He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand." x He therefore makes the sheep, with which He may fill the desolated cities. What wonder, when, indeed, to that single sheep, that is, the Church whose members are aU the human sheep, it is said, Because I am the Lord who make thee ? What do you pretend to me of free-wiU, which wUl not be free to do righteousness, unless you should be a sheep ? He then who makes men His sheep, He frees the wiUs of men for the obedience of piety. Chap. 16. — Why God makes of some sheep, others nof. But wherefore does God make these men sheep, and not those, since with Him there is no acceptance of persons ? This is the very question which the blessed apostle thus answers to those who propose it with more curiosity than propriety, " 0 man, who art thou that repHest against God ? Does the thing formed say to him that formed it, Wherefore hast thou made me thus ? " 2 This is the very question which pertains to that depth which the same apostle desiring to look into, was in a certain measure terrified, and exclaimed, "Oh the depth of the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out ! For who has known the mind of the Lord ? or who has been His counsellor ? Or who has first given to 1 Ps. xcv. 6, 7. a Rom. ix. 20. 346 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 16. Him, that it should be recompensed to Him again ? Because of Him, and through Him, and in Him, are aU things : to Him be glory for ages of ages." x Let them not, then, dare to pry into that unsearchable question who defend merit before grace, and therefore even against grace, and wish first to give unto God, that it may be given to them again, — first, in any case, to give something of free-wiU, that grace may be given them again as a reward ; and let them wisely under stand or faithfully beHeve that even what they think that they have first given, they have received from Him, from whom are aU things, by whom are aU things, in whom are all things. But why this man should receive, and that should not receive, when neither of them deserve to receive, and whichever of them receives, receives undeservingly, let them measure their own strength, and not search into things too strong for them. Let it suffice them to know that there is no unrighteousness with God. For when the apostle could find no merits for which Jacob should take precedence of his twin-brother with God, he said, " What, then, shaU we say ? Is there unrighteousness with God ? Away with the thought ! For He says to Moses, I wiU have mercy on whom I wiH have mercy, and I wiU show compassion on whom I wUl show compassion. Therefore it is not of him that wiUeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." 2 Let, there fore, His free compassion be grateful to us, even although this profound question be stiU unsolved ; which, neverthe less, is so far solved as the same apostle solves it, saying, " But if God, wUling to show His wrath, and to demonstrate His power, endured in much patience the vessels of wrath which are fitted to destruction ; and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He has prepared for glory." 3 Certainly wrath is not repaid unless it is due, lest there be unrighteousness with God ; but mercy, even when it is bestowed, and not due, is not un righteousness with God. And hence, let the vessels of mercy understand how freely mercy is afforded to them, because to the vessels of wrath with whom they have common cause and measure of perdition, is repaid wrath, righteous and due. 1 Rom. xi. 33 ff. 2 Rom. ix. 14 ff. 3 Rom. ix. 22, 23. CHAP. 18.] THE CHURCH HERE NOT WITHOUT SPOT. 347 This is now enough in opposition to those who, by freedom of wUl, desire to destroy the HberaHty of grace. Chap. 17. [vn.]— Of the praise of the saints. That, indeed, in the praise of the saints, they wiU not drive us with the zeal of that pubhcan to hunger and thirst after righteousness, but with the vanity of the Pharisees, as it were, to overflow with sufficiency and fulness ; what does it profit them that — in opposition to the Manichseans, who do away with baptism — they say "that men are perfectly re newed by baptism," and apply the apostle's testimony for this, — " who testifies that, by the washing of water, the Church is made holy and spotless from the Gentiles," — when, with a proud and perverse meaning, they avail themselves of their arguments in opposition to the prayers of the Church itself. For they say this in order that the Church may be beUeved after holy baptism — in which is accomphshed the forgiveness of all sins — to have no further sin; when, in opposition to them, from the rising of the sun even to its setting, in aU its members it cries to God, " Forgive us our debts." But if they are interrogated regarding themselves in this matter, they find not what to answer. For if they should say that they have no sin, John answers them, that they deceive themselves, and the truth is not in them. But if they confess their sins, since they wish themselves to be members of Christ's body, how wiU that body, that is, the Church, be even in this time perfectly, as they think, without spot or wrinkle, if its members without falsehood confess themselves to have sins ? Wherefore in baptism aU sins are forgiven, and, by that very washing of water in the word, the Church is set forth in Christ without spot or wrinkle ; and unless it were baptized, it would fruitlessly say, Forgive us our debts, untU it be brought to glory, when there is in it absolutely no spot or wrinkle. Chap. 18. — The opinion ofthe saints themselves about themselves. It is to be confessed that " the Holy Spirit, even in the old times," not only " aided good dispositions," which even they allow, but that it even made them good, which they wiU not 348 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 19. have ; " that aU, also, of the prophets and apostles or saints, both evangehcal and ancient, to whom God gives His witness, were righteous, not in comparison of the wicked, but by the standard of virtue," is not doubtful. And this is opposed to the Manichseans, who blaspheme the patriarchs and prophets ; but what is opposed to the Pelagians is, that aU of these, when interrogated concerning themselves while they lived in the body, with one most accordant voice would answer, " If we should say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." x " But in the future time," it is not to be denied " that there will be a reward as weU of good works as of evU, and that no one wiU be commanded to do the com mandments there which here he has contemned," but that a sufficiency of perfect righteousness where sin cannot be, a righteousness which is here hungered and thirsted after by the saints, is here hoped for in precept, is there received as a reward by the entreaty of alms and prayers ; so that what here may have been wanting in fulfilment of the command ments may become unpunished by the forgiveness of sin. Chap. 19. — The craft of the Pelagians. And if these things be so, let the Pelagians cease by their most insidious praises of these five things — that is, the praise of the creature, the praise of marriage, the praise of the law, the praise of free-wiU, the praise of the saints — from feigning that they desire to pluck men, as it were, from the Httle snares of the Manichseans, in order that they may entangle them in their own nets — that is, to deny original sin ; to begrudge to infants the aid of Christ the physician ; to say that the grace of God is given in respect of our merits, and thus that grace is no more grace ; and to say that the saints in this Hfe had not sin, and that thus the prayer should be made of no effect which He gave to the saints who had no sin, and by whom aU sin is pardoned to the saints that pray unto Him. To these three evU doctrines, they by their deceitful praise of these five good things seduce careless and unlearned men. Concerning aU which things, I think I have sufficiently censured their most cruel and wicked and proud vanity. x 1 John i. 8. CHAP. 21.] ANCIENT TESTIMONIES AGAINST PELAGIUS. 349 Chap. 20. [vm.] — The testimonies of fhe ancients against the Pelagians. But since they say " that their enemies have taken up our words for hatred of the truth, and complained that throughout nearly the whole of the West a dogma not less fooHsh than impious is taken up, and from simple bishops sitting in their places without the Synodal congregation a subscription is extorted to confirm this dogma," although the Church of Christ, both Western and Eastern, shuddered at the profane novelties of their words ; I think it pertains to my case not only to avaU myself of the sacred canonical Scriptures as witnesses against them, which I have aHeady sufficiently done, but, moreover, to bring forward some proofs from the writings of the holy men who before us have treated upon those Scriptures with the most widespread reputation and great glory. Not that I would put the authority of any controver- siahst on a level with the canonical books, as if there were nothing which is better or more truly thought by one CathoHc than by another who likewise is a CathoHc ; but that those may be admonished who think that these men say anything as it used to be said, long before their empty talk on these subjects, by Catholic teachers foUowing the divine oracles, and may know that the true and anciently estabhshed CathoHc faith is by us defended against the receding presumption and mischief of the Pelagian heretics. Chap. 21. — Pelagius, in imitation of Cyprian, wrote a book of testimonies. Even that heresiarch of these men, Pelagius himself, men tions with honour that is certainly due the most blessed Cyprian, most glorious also with the crown of martyrdom not only in the African and the Western, but also in the Eastern Churches, well known by the report of fame, and by the diffusion far and wide of his writings, — he, I say, men tions him when writing a book of testimonies ; he asserts that he is imitating him, saying that " he was doing to Eomanus what Cyprian had done to Quirinus." Let us, then, see what Cyprian thought concerning original sin, which entered by one man into the world. In the epistle about works and alms he thus speaks : " When the Lord at His advent had cured 350 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 21. these, wounds which Adam had introduced, and had healed the old poisons of the serpent, He gave a law to the sound man, and bade him sin no more, lest a worse thing should happen to him if he did. We had been Hmited and shut up into a narrow space by the commandment of innocence, nor would the infirmity and weakness of human fraUty have any resource unless the divine mercy coming once more in aid should open some way of securing salvation by pointing out works of justice and mercy, so that by almsgiving we may wash away whatever foulness we subsequently contract." l By this testi mony this witness refutes two falsehoods of theirs, — the one, wherein they say that the human race draws no sin from Adam which needs cure and healing through Christ; the other, in which they say that the saints have no sin after baptism. Again, in the same epistle he says, " Let each one place before his eyes the devU with his servants, that is, with the people of perdition, and death springing forth into the midst and provoking the people of Christ with the trial of comparison, Christ Himself being present and judging in these words : 'I, on behalf of those whom thou seest with me, neither received buffets, nor bore scourgings, nor endured the cross, nor shed my blood, nor redeemed my famUy at the price of my suffering and blood ; but neither do I promise them a celestial kingdom, nor do I recaU them to Paradise, having again restored to them immortaHty.' " 2 Let the Pelagians answer and say when we could have been in the immortaHty of Paradise, and how we could have been expeUed thence so as to be recalled thither by the grace of Christ. And, although they may be unable to find what they can answer in this case on behalf of their own perversity, let them observe in what manner Cyprian understood what the apostle says, " In whom aU have sinned." And let not the Pelagian heretics, freed from the old Manichsean heretics, dare to suggest any calumny against a CathoHc, lest they should be convicted of doing so wicked a wrong even to the ancient martyr Cyprian. 1 Cyprian's "Works, vol. ii. p. 1, Eng. trans. 3 Ibid. vol. ii. p. 16. CHAP. 22.] TESTIMONY OF CYPRIAN. 351 Chap. 22. — Further references to Cyprian. For he says also this in the epistle whose title is inscribed, " On the Mortality" : " The kingdom of God, beloved brethren, is beginning to be at hand ; the reward of life, and the rejoicing of eternal salvation and perpetual gladness, and the possession formerly lost of Paradise, are now coming with the passing away of the world."1 This again, in the same epistle, he says : '' Let us greet the day which assigns each of us to his own home, which snatches us hence and sets us free from the snares of the world, and restores us to Paradise and the kingdom."2 Moreover, he says in the epistle concerning Patience : " Let the judgment of God be pondered, which, even in the beginning of the world and of the human race, Adam, forgetful of the commandment and a transgressor of the law that had been given, received. Then we shaU know how patient in this life we ought to be, who are born in such a state that we labour here with afflictions and contests. Be cause, says He, ' thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which alone I had charged thee that thou shouldest not eat, cursed shall be the ground in aU thy works : in sorrow and in groaning shalt thou eat oS it aU the days of thy Hfe. Thorns and thistles shaU it give forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the food of the field. In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat thy bread, till thou return unto the ground from which thou wast taken : for earth thou art, and unto earth shalt thou go.' We are all tied and bound with the chain of this sentence untU, death being expunged, we depart from this hfe." 3 And, moreover, in the same epistle he says : " For, since in that first trans gression of the commandment strength of body departed with immortaHty, and weakness came on with death, and strength cannot be received unless when immortality also has been received, it behoves us in this bodily fraUty and weakness always to struggle and fight; and this struggle and encounter cannot be sustained but by the strength of patience." 4 1 Cyprian's Works, vol. i. p. 454, Eng. trans. * Ibid. vol. i. p. 468. 3 Ibid. vol. i. p. 29. 4 Ibid. vol. i. p. 33. 352 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 23. Chap. 1%.^-Further references to Cyprian. And in the epistle which he wrote with sixty-six of his joint-bishops to Bishop Fidus, having been consulted by him in respect of the law of circumcision, whether an infant might be baptized before the eighth day, this matter is treated in such a way as if by a divine foresight x the CathoHc Church would already confute the Pelagian heretics who would appear so long afterwards. For he who had consulted had no doubt on the subject whether chUdren being born inherited original sin, which they might wash away by being born again. For be it far from the Christian faith to have at any time doubted on this matter. But he was in doubt whether the washing of regeneration, by which he made no question but that original sin was put away, ought to be given before the eighth day. To which consultation the most blessed Cyprian in reply said : " But in respect of the case of infants, which you say ought not to be baptized within the second or third day after their birth, and that the law of the ancient circumcision should be regarded, so that you think that one who is just born should not be baptized and sanctified within the eighth day, we all thought very differently in our councU. For in this course which you thought was to be taken no one agreed, but we aU rather judged that the grace of a merciful God was not to be denied to any one born of men; for, as the Lord says in His gospel, ' the Son of man is not come to destroy men's Hves, but to save them.' 2 As far as we can, we must strive that, if possible, no soul be lost." 3 And a Httle after wards he says : " Nor ought any of us to shudder at what God hath condescended to make. For although the infant is stiU fresh from its birth, yet it is not such that any one should shudder at kissing it in giving grace and in making peace, since in the kiss of an infant every one of us ought for his very religion's sake to consider the stiU recent hands of God themselves, which in some sort we are kissing in the man just formed and newly born, when we are embracing that which God has made." 4 A little after, also, he says : " But if any- 1 "Provisione." 2Lukeix. 56. 3 Cyprian's Works, vol. i. p. 196, Eng. trans. 4 Ibid. vol. i. pp. 197, 198. CHAP. 24.] DILEMMA PROPOSED TO PELAGIANS. 353 thing could hinder men from obtaining grace, their more heinous sins might rather hinder those who are mature and grown up and older. But again, if even to the greatest sinners, and to those who had before sinned much against God, when they subsequently believed, remission of sins is granted, and nobody is hindered from baptism and from grace ; how much rather ought we to shrink from hindering an infant, who, being lately born, has not sinned, except that, being born after the flesh according to Adam, he has contracted the contagion of the ancient death at his earliest birth ; who approaches more easily on this very account to the reception of the forgiveness of sins, in that to him are remitted not his own sins, but the sins of another ! " x Chap. 24. — The dilemma proposed to the Pelagians. What wUl they say to such things as these, who are not only the forsakers, but also the persecutors of God's grace ? What wiU they say to such things ¦ as these ? On what ground is the possession of Paradise restored to us ? How are we restored to Paradise if we have never been there ? Or how have we been there, except because we were there in Adam ? And how have we to do with that judgment which was spoken against the transgressor, if we do not inherit the mischief from the transgressor ? FinaUy, he thinks that infants are to be baptized, even before the eighth day ; lest by the contagion of the ancient death, contracted in the first birth, the souls of the infants should perish. How do they perish if they who are born even of beHeving men are not held by the devU untU they are born again in Christ, and plucked out from the power of darkness, and transferred into His kingdom ? And who says that the souls of those who are born wUl perish unless they are born again ? Absolutely he who so praises the Creator and the creature, the workman and the work, as to restrain and correct the horror of human feehng with which men refuse to kiss infants fresh from the womb, interposing the veneration of the Creator HimseK, saying that in the kiss of infants of that age the recent hands of God were to be considered. Did he, then, who confesses original 1 Cyprian's Works, vol. i. pp. 197, 198, Eng. trans. XV. z 354 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 25. sin, either condemn nature or marriage ? Because he appHed to the infant born of Adam, as guUty, the cleansing of regenera tion, did he therefore deny God as the Creator of those that were born ? Because, in his dread that souls of any age whatever should perish, he, with his councU of coUeagues, decided that even before the eighth day they were to be deHvered by the sacrament of baptism, did he therefore accuse marriage, when, indeed, in the case of an infant, — whether born of marriage or of adultery, yet because it was born a man, — he declared that the recent hands of God were worthy even of the kiss of peace ? If, then, the holy bishop and most glorious martyr Cyprian could think that original sin in infants must be healed by the medicine of Christ, without denying the praise of the creature, without denying the praise of marriage, why does a novel pestUence, although it does not dare to caU such an one as him a Manichsean, think that another person's fault is to be objected against Cathohcs who maintain these things, in order to con ceal its own ? So the most weU-known commentator on the divine declarations, before even the sHghtest taint of the Manichsean plague had touched our hands, without any reproach of the divine work and of marriage, confesses original sin, — not saying that Christ was stained with any spot of sin, nor yet comparing with Him the flesh of sin in others that were born, to whom by means of the likeness of sinful flesh He might afford the aid of cleansing; neither is he deterred by the obscure question of the origin of souls, from confessing that those who are not free by the grace of Christ return into Paradise. Does he say that the condition of death passed upon men from Adam without the contagion of sin ? For it is not on account of avoiding the death of the body, but on account of the sin which entered by one man into the world, that he says that help is to be afforded by baptism to infants, however fresh they may be from the womb. Chap. 25. [ix.] — Cyprian's testimonies concerning God's grace. But now it plainly appears in what way Cyprian declares the grace of God against such as these, when he is arguing about the Lord's Prayer. For he says : " We say, ' HaUowed be Thy name,' not that we wish for God that He may be CnAP. 25.] CYPRIAN'S TESTIMONY ON GRACE. 355 haUowed by our prayers, but that we beseech of Him that His name may be haUowed in us. But by whom is God sanctified, since He Himself sanctifies ? WeU, because He says, ' Be ye holy, because I also am holy,' we ask and entreat this, that we who were sanctified in baptism may contmue in that which we have begun to be." 1 And in another place in the same epistle he says : " We add also, and say, ' Thy wiU be done as in heaven, so in earth,' not that God may do what He wUls, but that we may be able to do what God wiUs. For who resists God that He may not do what He wUls ? But, since we are hindered by the devil from obeying God with our thought and deed in aU things, we pray and ask that God's wiU may be done in us. And that it may be done in us, we have need of God's good wiU, that is, of His help and protec tion ; since no one is strong in his own strength, but he is safe by the indulgence and mercy of God." 2 In another place also : " Moreover, we ask that the wUl of God may be done both in heaven and in earth, each of which things pertains to the fulfilment of our safety and salvation. For since we possess the body from the earth, and the spirit from heaven, we are ourselves earth and heaven ; and in both, that is, both in body and in spirit, we pray that God's wiU may be done. For between the flesh and the spirit there is a struggle, and there is a daUy strife as they disagree one with the other ; so that we cannot do those very things that we would, in that the spirit seeks heavenly and divine things, while the flesh lusts after earthly and temporal things. And, therefore, we ask that, by the help and assistance of God, agreement may be made between these two natures ; so that while the will of God is done both in the spirit and in the flesh, the soul which is new-born by Him may be preserved. And this the Apostle Paul openly and manifestly declares by his words. ' The flesh,' says he, 'lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh ; for these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye wiU.' " 3 And a Httle after he says : " And it may be thus understood, most beloved brethren, that since the Lord commands and teaches us even to love our 1 Cyprian's Works, voL i. p. 496, Eng. trans. 2 Ibid. vol. i. pp. 407, 408. 3 Ibid. vol. i. p. 409. 356 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 25. enemies, and to pray even for those who persecute us, we should ask even for those who are stiU earth, and have not yet begun to be heavenly, that even in respect of these God's wUl may be done, which Christ accomplished in preserving and renewing humanity." x And again, in another place he says : " Hence also we ask that this bread should be given to us daily, that we who are in Christ, and daUy receive the Eucharist for the food of salvation, may not, by the interposi tion of some heinous sin, — by being prevented, as withheld and not communicating, from partaking of the heavenly bread, — be separated from Christ's body." 2 And a little afterwards, in the same treatise he says : " But when we ask that we may not come into temptation, we are reminded of our infirmity and weakness, in that we thus ask lest any should insolently vaunt himself; lest any should proudly and arrogantly assume anything to himself ; lest any should take to himself the glory either of confession or of suffering as his own, when the Lord Himself teaching humihty said, ' Watch and pray, that ye come not into temptation : the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak ; ' 3 so that whUe a humble and submissive confession comes first, and aU is attributed to God, whatever is sought for suppHantly, with fear and honour of God, may be granted by His own loving-kindness."4 Moreover, in his treatise addressed to Quirinus, in which work Pelagius wishes himself to appear as his imitator, he . says in the Third Book "that we must boast in nothing, since nothing is our own." s To which proposition subjoining the divine testimonies, he added among others that apostoHcal word with which especiaUy the mouths of such as these must be closed : " For what hast thou, which thou hast not re ceived ? But if thou hast received it, why boastest thou as if thou hadst not received it ? " Also in the epistle concerning Patience he says : " For we have this virtue in common with God. From Him patience begins ; from Him its glory and its dignity take their rise. The origin and greatness of patience proceed from God as its Author." 6 1 Cyprian's Works, vol. i. p. 409, Eng. trans. 2 Ibid. vol. i. p. 410. 3 Matt. xxvi. 41. 4 Cyprian's Works, vol. i. p. 416, Eng. trans. 5 Ibid. vol. ii. p. 143. « Ibid. vol. ii. p. 23. CHAP. 26.] TEACHING OF CYPRIAN ON GRACE. 357 Chap. 26. — Further appeals to Cyprian's teaching. Does that holy and so memorable instructor of the Churches in the word of truth deny that there is free-wiU in men, because he attributes to God the whole of your righteous Hving ? Does he reproach God's law, because he intimates that from that, man is not justified, when indeed he declares that what that law commands must be obtained from the Lord God by prayers ? Does he assert fate under the name of grace, although he says that we must boast in nothing, since nothing is our own ? Does he, as these do, believe that the Holy Spirit is in such wise the aider of virtue, as if that very virtue which it assists sprang from ourselves, when, asserting that nothing is our own, he mentions on this behalf that the apostle said, " For what hast thou that thou hast not received ? " and says that the most exceUent virtue, that is, patience, does not begin from us, and is afterwards aided by the Spirit of God, but takes its source from God Himself, from Him takes its origin ? FinaUy, he confesses that neither good purpose, nor desire of virtue, nor good dispositions, begin to be in men without God's grace, when he says that we must boast in nothing, since nothing is our own. What is so estabhshed in free-wUl as what the law says, that we must not worship an idol, must not commit adultery, must do no murder? Nay, these crimes, and such Hke, are of such a kind that, if any one should commit them, he is removed from the communion of the body of Christ. And yet, if the blessed Cyprian thought that our own wUl was sufficient for not committing these crimes, he would not in such wise under stand what we say in the Lord's Prayer, " Give us this day our daUy bread," as that he should assert that we ask that we may not by the interposition of some heinous sin — by being prevented as withheld, and not communicating, from partaking of the heavenly bread — be separated from Christ's body. Let these new heretics answer of a surety what good merit precedes, in men who are enemies of the name of Christ ? For not only have they no good merit, but have, moreover, the very worst merit. And yet, moreover, Cyprian thus understands what we say in the prayer, " Thy will be done in 358 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 27. heaven, and in earth," as being a prayer also for those very persons who in this respect are caUed earth. We pray, therefore, not only for the unwUling, but also for the objecting and resisting. What, then, do we ask, but that from un willing they may be made wiUing ; from objecting, consenting ; from resisting, loving ? And by whom, but by Him of whom it is written, " The wiU is prepared by God "I1 Let them, then, who disdain, if they do not do any evU and if they do any good, to glory, not in themselves, but in the Lord, learn to be Catholics. Chap. 27. [x. ] — Cyprian's testimonies concerning the imperfection of our own righteousness. Let us, then, see that third point, which in these men is not less shocking to every member of Christ and to His whole body, that they contend that there are in this life, or that there have been, righteous men having absolutely no sin. In which presumption they most manifestly con tradict the Lord's Prayer, wherein, with truthful heart and with daUy words, aU the members of Christ cry aloud, "Forgive us our debts." Let us see, then, what Cyprian, most glorious in the Lord, thought of this, — what he not only said for the instruction of the Churches, not certainly of the Manichseans, but of the CathoHcs, but also committed to letters and to memory. In the epistle on Works and Alms, he says: "Let us then acknowledge, beloved brethren, the wholesome gift of the divine mercy, and let us who cannot be without some wound of conscience heal our wounds by the spiritual remedies for the cleansing and purging of our sins. Nor let any one so flatter himself with the notion of a pure and immaculate heart, as, in dependence on his own innocence, to think that the medicine needs not to be applied to his wounds ; since it is written, ' Who shall boast that he hath a clean heart, or who shaU boast that he is pure from sins ? ' 2 And again, in his epistle, John lays it down and says, ' If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.' 3 But if no one can be without sin, and whoever should say that he is without fault is either proud or foolish, how needful, how kind is the divine mercy, ' Prov. viii. 36 [LXX.]. 2 Prov. xx. 9. 3 1 John i. 8. CHAP. 27.] FURTHER EXTRACTS FROM CYPRIAN. 359 which, knowing that there are stiU found some wounds in those that have been healed, has given even after their heahng wholesome remedies for the curing and heahng of their wounds anew I"1 Again, in the same treatise he says : "And since there cannot faU daUy to be sins committed in the sight of God, there wanted not daUy sacrifices wherewith the sins might be cleansed away." 2 Also, in the treatise on the Mortality, he says : " Our warfare is with avarice, with immodesty, with anger, with ambition ; our dUigent and ton- some wrestle with carnal vices, with the enticements of the world. The mind of man besieged, and on every hand invested with the onsets of the devU, scarcely in each point meets the attack, scarcely resists it. If avarice is prostrated, lust springs up. If lust is overcome, ambition takes its place. If ambition is despised, anger exasperates, pride puffs up, wine- bibbing entices ; envy breaks concord ; jealousy cuts friend ship ; you are constrained to curse, which the divine law forbids ; you are compelled to swear, which is not lawful. So many persecutions the soul suffers daUy, with so many risks is the heart wearied ; and yet it delights to abide here long among the devU's weapons, although it should rather be our craving and wish to hasten to Christ by the aid of a quicker death." 3 Again, in the same treatise he says: "The blessed Apostle Paul in his epistle lays it down, saying, ' To me to Hve is Christ and to die is gain ;' 4 ' counting it the greatest gain no longer to be held by the snares of this world, no longer to be Hable to the sins and vices of the flesh.' " s Moreover, on the Lord's Prayer, explaining what it is we ask when we say, " HaUowed be thy name," he says, among other matters : " For we have need of daUy sanctification, that we, who daily faU away, may wash out our sins by continual sanctification." 6 Again, in the same treatise, when he would explain our saying, " Forgive us our debts," he says : " And how necessarUy, how providently and salutarily, are we admonished that we are sinners, since we are compeUed to entreat for our sins ; and while pardon is asked for from God, the soul recaUs its own 1 Cyprian's Works, vol. ii. pp. 2, 3, Eng. trans. 2 Ibid. p. 14. 3 Ibid. vol. i. p. 455. 4 Phil. i. 21. 5 Cyprian's Works, vol. i. p. 456, Eng. trans. 6 Ibid. vol. i. p. 406. 3G0 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 28. consciousness of guilt. Lest any one should flatter himself as being innocent, and by exalting himself should more deeply perish, he is instructed and taught that he sins daUy, in that he is bidden to entreat daily for his sins." 2 Thus, moreover, John also in his epistle warns us, and says : " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." Eightly, also, he proposed in his letter to Quirinus his own most absolute judgment on this subject, to which he subjoined the divine testimonies, "That no one, is without filth and without sin." 2 Where also he set down those testimonies by which original sin is confirmed, which these men eudeavour to twist into I know not what new and evU meanings, whether what the holy Job says, " For who is pure from filth ? not one even if his Hfe be of one day upon the earth," 3 or what is read in the Psalm, " Behold, I was conceived in iniquity ; and in sins hath my mother nourished me in the womb." 4 To which testimonies, on account of those also who are already holy in mature age, since even they are not without filth and sin, he added also that word of the most blessed John, which he often mentions in many other places besides, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves ;" 6 and other passages of the same tendency, which are not withheld by any Catholics, by way of opposing those who deceive themselves, and the truth is not in them. Chap. 26. — Cyprian's orthodoxy undoubted. Let the Pelagians say, if they dare, that this man of God was perverted by the error of the Manichseans, in so prais ing the saints as yet to confess that no one in this Hfe had attained to such a perfection of righteousness as to have no sin at all, confirming his judgment by the clear truth and divine authority of the canonical testimonies. For does he deny that in baptism aU sins are forgiven, because he con fesses that there remains frailty and infirmity, whence he says that we sin after baptism, and even to the end of this Hfe have unceasing conflict with the vices of the flesh ? Or had 1 Cyprian's Works, vol. i. p. 413, Eng. trans. 2 Ibid. vol. ii. p. 176. 3 Job xiv. 4, 5. * Ps. li. 5. 6 1 John i. 8. CHAP. 28.] CYPRIAN'S VIEW OF APOSTOLIC RIGHTEOUSNESS. 361 he not remembered what the apostle had said about the Church without spot, that he prescribed that no one ought so to flatter himself in respect of a pure and spotless heart as to trust in his own innocence, and think that no medicine needed to be appHed to his wounds ? I think that these new heretics may concede to this Catholic man that he knew " that the Holy Spirit even in the old times aided good dis positions ; " nay, even what they themselves will not aUow, that they could not have even possessed good dispositions except through the Holy Spirit. I think that Cyprian had known that aU the prophets and apostles or saints of any kind soever who pleased the Lord at any time were righteous — " not in comparison of the wicked," as they falsely assert that we say, " but by the standard of virtue," as they boast that they say ; although Cyprian says, nevertheless, no one can be without sin, and whoever should assert that he is blameless is either proud or a fooL Nor is it with reference to anything else that he understands the Scripture, " Who shall boast that he has a pure heart ? or who shaU boast that he is pure from sins ?" x I think that Cyprian would not have needed to be taught by such as these, what he very weU knew, "that, in the time to come, there would be a reward of good works and a punish ment of evU works, but that no one could then perform the commands which here he might have despised ;" and yet he does not understand and assert that even the Apostle Paul, not assuredly a contemner of the divine commands, said on any other account, " To me to Hve is Christ, and to die is gain ;" 2 nor that he reckoned it the greatest gain after this life no longer to be held in worldly entanglements, no longer to be obnoxious to the sins and vices of the flesh. Therefore the most blessed Cyprian felt, and in the truth of the divine Scriptures saw, that even the life of the apostles themselves, however good, holy, and righteous, suffered some involvements of worldly entanglements, was obnoxious to some sins and vices of the flesh; and that they desired death that they might be free from those evUs, and that they might attain to that perfect righteousness which would not suffer such things, and which would no more have to be achieved in the way of [obedience 1 Prov. xx. 9. 2 Phil. ii. 21. 362 AGATNST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 29. to] a command, but to be received in the way of reward. For not even when that shaU have come for which we pray when we say, " Thy kingdom come," wiU there be in that kingdom no righteousness ; although the apostle says, " The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."1 Certainly those three things are commanded among other divine precepts. Here righteous ness is prescribed to us when it is said, " Do righteousness ; " 2 peace is prescribed when it is said, "Have peace among yourselves ; " 3 joy is prescribed when it is said, " Eejoice in the Lord always." 4 Let, then, the Pelagians deny that these things shaU be in the kingdom of God, where we shall Hve without end ; or let them be so mad, if it appears so, as to con tend that righteousness, peace, and joy, such as they are here to the righteous, wiU be such there also. But if they both shaU be, and shaU not be such [as they were here], assuredly here, in respect of the commandment of them, the doing is to be cared for ; there the perfection is to be hoped for in the way of reward, when, not being withheld by any entanglements, and being obnoxious to no sins and vices of the flesh (on account of which the apostle, as Cyprian received this testi mony, said that to die would be to him gain), we may perfectly love God, the contemplation of whom wiU be face to face ; we may also perfectly love our neighbour, since, when the thoughts of the heart are made manifest, no suspicion of any evU can disturb any one concerning any one. Chap. 29. [xi.] — The testimonies of Ambrose against tlie Pelagians, and first of all concerning original sin. But now also to the most glorious martyr Cyprian, let me add, for the sake of more amply confuting these men, the most blessed Ambrose ; because even Pelagius in such wise praised him as to say that in his writings could be found nothing to be blamed even by his enemies. Since, then, the Pelagians say that there is no original sin with which infants are born, and object to the Cathohcs who withstand them on behalf of the most ancient faith of the Church, the guUt of the Manichsean heresy, let this CathoHc man of God, Ambrose, praised even by Pelagius himself in the truth of the faith, 1 Rom. xiv. 17. 2 Isa. lvi. 1. 3 Mark ix. 49. 4 Phil. iv. 4. CHAP. 29.] TESTIMONIES OF AMBROSE. 363 answer them concerning this matter, seeing that he, when he was expounding the prophet Isaiah, says : " Christ was, therefore, without spot, because not even in the usual condition itself of being born was He stained."1 And in another place in the same work, speaking of the Apostle Peter, he says : " He offered himself, which he thought before to be sin, asking for himself that not only his feet but his head also should be washed, because he had directly understood that by the washing of the feet, which lapsed in the first man, the filth of the obnoxious succession was abolished." 2 Also in the same work he says : " It was observed, therefore, that of a man and woman, that is, by that mingling of bodies, no one could seem to be free from sin ; but He who is free from sin is free also from this kind of conception." 3 Also writing against the Novatians he says : " AU of us men are born under sin. Whose very origin is in sin, as you have it read in the words of David, ' For lo, I was conceived in sins ; and in sin hath my mother brought me forth.' " 4 Also in the apology of the prophet David, he says : " Before we are born we are spotted with contagion, and before the use of Hght we receive the mischief of that very origin. We are conceived in iniquity." 5 Also speaking of the Lord, he says : " It was certainly fitting that He who was not to have the sin of a bodUy faU, should feel no natural contagion of generation. Eightly, therefore, David with weeping deplored in himseU the very defilements of nature, and the fact that the stain had begun in man before his life."6 Again, of the ark of Noah he says : " Therefore by one Lord Jesus the coming salvation is declared to the nations ; for He only could be righteous, al though every generation should go astray, nor for any other reason than that, being born of a virgin, He was not at aU bound by the specialty of a guilty generation. 'Behold,' he says, ' I was conceived in iniquities ; and in sins has my mother brought me forth,' 7 who was esteemed righteous beyond others. Whom, then, should I now caU righteous 1 This work is not extant. * Ibid. 3 De Pcenitentia, lib. i. chap. 3. 4 Ps. li. 5. 6 De Pcmitentia, lib. i. chap. 11. • Ibid. lib. i. chap. 11. i Ps. li. 5. 364 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 30. unless Him who is free from those chains, whom the bonds of our common nature do not hold fast V'1 Behold, this holy man, most approved, even by the witness of Pelagius, in the Catholic faith, condemned the Pelagians who deny original sin with such evidence as this ; and yet does not with the Manichseans deny either God to be the Creator of those who are born, or condemn marriage, which God ordained and blessed. Chap. 30. — The testimonies of Ambrose concerning God's grace. The Pelagians say that merit began from man with free- wUl, to which God repays the subsequent aid of grace. Let the venerable Ambrose here also refute them, when he says, in his exposition of the prophet Isaiah, " that human care without divine help is powerless for healing, and needs a divine helper." Also, in the treatise which is inscribed, " On the Avoidance of the World,"2 he says : " Our discourse is frequent on the avoidance of this world ; and I wish that our disposi tion were as cautious and careful as our discourse is easy. But what is worse, the enticement of earthly lusts frequently creeps in, and the flowing forth of vanities takes hold of the mind, so that the very thing that you desire to avoid you think upon, and turn over in your mind ; and this it is difficult for a man to beware of, but to get rid of, it is impossible. Finally, that that is rather a matter to be wished than to be accomphshed the prophet testifies when he says, ' IncHne my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to avarice' 3 For our heart and our thoughts are not in our power, seeing that they are suddenly forced forth and confuse the mind and the soul, and draw them in other directions from those which you have proposed for them ; — they recaU to things of time, they suggest worldly things, they obtrude voluptuous thoughts, they inweave seducing thoughts, and, in the very season in which we are proposing to Hft up our mind, vain thoughts are intruded upon us, and we are cast down for the most part to things of earth ; and who is so happy as always to rise upwards in his heart ? And how can this be done without 1 De Pcenitentia, lib. i. chap. 11. 2 De Fuga Saculi, chap. i. 3 Ps. cxix. 36. CHAP. 30.] TESTIMONIES OF AMBROSE. 365 the divine help ? Absolutely in no manner. FinaUy, of old Scripture says the same thing, ' Blessed is the man whose help is of Thee, 0 Lord ; in his heart is going up.' " x What can be said more openly and more sufficiently ? But lest the Pelagians perchance should answer that, in that very point in which divine help is asked for, man's merit precedes, saying that that very thing is merit, that by his prayer he is desiring that divine grace should come to his assistance, let them give heed to what the same holy man says in his exposition of Isaiah. He says : " And to pray God is a spiritual grace ; for no man says that Jesus is the Lord, except in the Holy Spirit." 2 Whence also, expounding the Gospel according to Luke,3 he says : " You see certainly that everywhere the power of the Lord co-operates with human desires, so that no man can buUd without the Lord, no man can undertake anything without the Lord." Because such a man as Ambrose says this, and commends God's grace, as it is fitting for a son of promise to do, with grateful piety, does he therefore destroy free-wiU ? Or does he mean such a grace to be understood as the Pelagians in their different discourses wUl have to appear nothing but law — so that, for instance, God may be believed to help us not to do what we shaU know, but to acknowledge what we may do ? If they think that such a man of God as this is of this mind, let them hear what he has said about the law itself. In the book " On the Avoidance of the World," he says : " The law could stop the mouth of aU men ; it could not convert their mind." In another place also, in the same treatise, he says : " The law condemns the deed ; it does not take away its wickedness." Let them see that this faithful and CathoHc man agrees with the apostle who says, "Now we know that what things soever the law says, it says to those who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and aU the world may become guilty before God. Because by the law no flesh shaU be justified in His sight." 4 For from that apostohc view Ambrose took and wrote these things. 1 Ps. lxxxiv. 5 [LXX.]. s 1 Cor. xii. 13. 3 Expos. Lucas, lib. ii. chap. iii. p. 84. 4 Rom. iii. 19, 20, 366 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 31. Chap. 31. — The testimonies of Ambrose on the imperfection of present righteousness. But now, since the Pelagians say that there either are or have been righteous men in this life who have Hved without any sin, to such an extent that the future Hfe which is to be hoped for as a reward cannot be more advanced or more perfect, let Ambrose here also answer them and refute them. For, expounding Isaiah the Prophet in reference to what is written, " I have begotten and brought up chUdren, and they have despised me,"1 he undertook to dispute concerning the generations which are of God, and in that very argument he mentioned the testimony of John when he says, " He that is born of God sinneth not." 2 And, treating the same very difficult question, he says : " As in this world there is none who is free from sin ; since John himself says, ' If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a Har.' 3 But if they that are born of God sin not, and if these words refer to those of them who are in the world, it is necessary that we should regard those numberless people who have obtained God's grace by the regeneration of the laver. But yet, when the prophet says, 'AU things are waiting upon Thee, that Thou mayest give them meat in season. That Thou givest them they gather for themselves ; when Thou openest Thine hand, aU things shaU be fiUed with goodness. But when Thou turnest away Thy face, they shaU be troubled : Thou shalt take away their breath, and they shall faU, and shall be turned into their dust. Thou shalt send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created : and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth,' 4 — such things as these cannot seem to have been said of any time whatever but of the future time, in which there shaU be a new earth and a new heaven. Therefore they shall be disturbed that they may take their beginning. ' And when Thou openest Thy hand aU things shaU be fiUed with goodness,' which is not easUy characteristic of this age. For concerning this age what does Scripture say ? ' There is none that doeth good, no not one.' fi If, therefore, there are different generations, — and here the very entrance into this 1 Isa. i. 2. * 1 John iii. 9. > 1 John i. 10. 4 Ps. civ. 27, etc. 6 Ps. xiv. 1. CHAP. 31.] TESTIMONIES OF AMBROSE. 367 life is the receiver of sins to such an extent that even he who begot should be despised, whUe another generation does not receive sins, — let us consider whether by any means there may not be any regeneration for us after the course of this Hfe ; of which regeneration it is said, ' In the regeneration when the Son of man shaU sit in the throne of His glory." x For as that is caUed the regeneration of washing whereby we are renewed from the filth of sins washed away, so that seems to be called a regeneration by which we are purified from every stain of bodUy concretion, and are regenerated in the pure feeling of the soul to life eternal by such means that every quahty of regeneration is purer than of that washing ; so that not any suspicion of sins can faU either on a man's doings, or even on his very thoughts themselves." More over, in another place in the same work, he says : " We see it to be impossible that any person created in a body can be absolutely spotless, since even Paul says that he is imperfect. For thus he has it : ' Not that I have already received, or am already perfect ; ' 2 and yet after a Httle he says, ' As many of us, therefore, as are perfect.' 3 Unless, perchance, there is one perfection in this world, another after this is completed, of which he says to the Corinthians, 'When that which is perfect is come;'4 and elsewhere, 'TiU we aU come into the unity of the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, into the perfect man, to the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ.' 6 As, then, the apostle says that many are placed in this world perfect with him, who, if you have regard to true perfection, could not be perfect, since he says, 'We see now through a mirror, enigmatically ; but then face to face : now I know in part ; but then I shaU know even as also I am known,' 6 so also there are those who are spotless in this world ; and there wUl be those who are spotless in the kingdom of God, although certainly, if you consider it accurately, no person can be spotless, because no person is without sin." Also in the same he says : " We see that, whUe we Hve in this life, we ought to purify ourselves and to seek God ; and to begin from the purification of our soul, and as it were to 1 Matt. xix. 28. 2 Phil. iii. 12. 3 Phil. iii. 15. 4 1 Cor; xiii 10. 5 Eph iv. 13. 6 1 Cor. xiii. 12. 363 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 31. establish the foundations of virtue, so that we may deserve to attain the perfection of our purgation after this life." And again, in the same he says : " But laden and groaning, who does not say, ' 0 wretched man that I am ! who shaU deHver me from the body of this death V1 So with the same teacher we give aU varieties of interpretation. For if he is unhappy who recognises himself as involved in the mischiefs of the body, certainly everybody is unhappy; for I should not caU that man happy who, being confused with any darkness of his mind, does not know his own condition. That, moreover, has not absurdly come to be understood ; for if a man who knows himself is unhappy, assuredly aU are wretched, because every one either recognises his weakness by wisdom, or by foUy is ignorant of it." Moreover, in the treatise "On the Benefit of Death," he says : " Let death work in us, that Hfe also, a good life after death, — that is, a good Hfe after victory, a good Hfe after the contest is finished, — may work, that now no longer the law of the flesh may know how to resist the law of the mind, that no longer we may have any contention with the body of death." Again, in the same treatise he says : " Therefore, because the righteous have this reward, that they see the face of God, and that Hght which lightens every man, let us henceforth put on the desire of this kind of reward, that our soul may draw near to God, our prayer may draw near to Him, our desire may cleave to Him, that we be not separated from Him. And placed here as we are, let us by meditating, by reading, by seeking, be united with God. Let us know Him as we can. For we know Him partly here ; because here aU things are imperfect, there aU are perfect ; here we are infants, there we shaU be strong men. ' We see,' says he, ' now through a mirror in an enigma, but then face to face.' Then, His face being revealed, we shaU be aUowed to look upon the glory of God, which now our souls, involved in the compacted dregs of this body, and shadowed by some stains and filth of this flesh, cannot clearly see. ' For who,' He says, ' shall see my face and live ? ' and rightly. For if our eyes cannot bear the rays of the sun, — and if any one should gaze too long on the region of the sun he is said to be bHnded, — if 1 Rom. vii. 24. CHAP. 32.] PELAGIANISM SUBSEQUENT TO AMBROSE. 369 a creature cannot look upon a creature without deceit and offence, how can he without his own peril look upon the ghttering face of the eternal Creator, covered as he is with the clothing of this body ? For who is justified in God's sight, when even the infant of one day cannot be pure from sin, and no one can boast of his integrity and pureness of heart ? " Chap. 32. [xn.] — The Pelagian's heresy arose long after Ambrose. It would be too long a business if I were to seek to men tion everything which the holy Ambrose said and wrote against this heresy of the Pelagians, which was to arise so long afterwards ; not indeed with a view to answer them, but with a view to declare the Catholic faith, and to buUd up men in it. Moreover, I neither could, nor ought to mention aU those things which Cyprian, most glorious in the Lord, wrote in his letters, whereby it is shown how this which we hold is the true and truly Christian and Catholic faith, as it was delivered of old by the Holy Scriptures, and so retained and . kept by our fathers and even to this time, in which these heretics have attempted to destroy it, and as it wiU hereafter by God's good wiU be retained and kept. For that these things and things of this kind were thus delivered to Cyprian, and by Cyprian, is testified by the testimonies produced from his letters ; and that thus they were maintained up to, our times is shown by these things which Ambrose wrote about these matters before these heretics had begun to rage, and that Catholic ears had shuddered at their profane novelties which are everywhere; and that thus, moreover, they shaU be main tained hereafter, was declared with sufficient vigour partly by the condemnation of such opinions as these, partly by their correction. For whatever they may dare to mutter against the sound faith of Cyprian and Ambrose, I do not think that they wiU break out into such a madness as to dare to call those noted and memorable men of God, Manichseans. Chap. 33. — Opposition ofthe Manichcean and Catliolic dogmas. What is it, then, which in their raging blindness of mind they are now spreading about, "that almost throughout the entire West a dogma not less fooHsh than impious is taken xv. 2 a 370 AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS. [CHAP. 34. up " ? When, indeed, by the mercy of God and by His merciful governance of His Church, the CathoHc faith has been so watchful that the dogma, not less fooHsh than wicked, as of the Manichseans, so also of these heretics, should not be taken up. So holy and learned CathoHc men, such as are attested to be so by the report of the whole Church, praise both God's creation, and marriage as ordained by Him, and the law given by Him by means of the holy Moses, and the free will implanted into man's nature, and the holy patriarchs and prophets, with due and fitting announcement ; aU which five things the Manichseans condemn, partly by denying, and partly also by abominating. Whence it appears that these CathoHc doctors were far removed from the notions of the Manichseans, and yet they assert original sin ; they assert God's grace above free-will, as antecedent to aU merit, so as truly to afford a gratuitous divine assistance ; they assert that the saints lived righteously in this flesh, in such wise that the help of prayer was necessary to them, by which their daUy sins might be forgiven; and that a perfected righteousness which could not have sin would be in another Hfe the reward of those who should live righteously here. Chap. 34. — The calling together ofthe Synod not always necessary to the condemnation of heresies. What is it, then, that they say, that " subscription was extorted from simple bishops sitting in their places without any Synodal congregation"? Was subscription extorted against such heretics as these from the most. blessed and exceUent m?n in the faith, Cyprian and Ambrose, before such heretics as these were in existence ; seeing that they overthrow their impious dogmas with such clearness that we can scarcely find anything more manifest to say against them ? Or, indeed, was there any need of the congregation of a Synod to condemn this open pest, as if no heresy could at any time be condemned except by the Synodal congregation ; when, on the contrary, very few heresies can be found for the sake of condemning which any such necessity could have arisen ? And they were much and incomparably more which deserved to be accused and condemned in the place where they arose, and thence could be known and avoided over the rest of the lands. But CHAP. 34.] CONCLUSION. 371 the pride of such as these, which lifts itself up so much against God as not to be wUHng to glory in Him but rather in free- wiU, is understood as grasping also at this glory, that a Synod of the East and West should be gathered together on their account. In fact, they endeavour, forsooth, to disturb the CathoHc world, because, the Lord being against them, they are unable to pervert it, when rather they ought to have been trodden out wherever those wolves might have appeared, by watchfulness and pastoral diligence, after a competent and sufficient judgment made concerning them ; whether with a view of their being healed and changed, or with a view of their being shunned by the safety and soundness of others, by the help of the Shepherd of the sheep, who seeks the lost sheep also among the little ones, who makes the sheep holy and righteous freely; who both providently instructs them, although sanctified and justified, yet in their frailty and infirmity to seek a daUy remission for their daUy sins, without which no one Hves in this world, even although he may Hve weU ; and mercifuUy Hstens to their prayers. INDEX OE TEXTS. PAGE ^ PAGE PAGE Genesis — Genesis — continued. Numbers — i. 2, . Vol. iii. 287 xviii. 18, Vol. i. 13 xiv. 29, Vol. i. 128 i. 20, . . ii. 336 xix. 24, ii. 174 xiv. 31, i. 128 i. 24, . . ii. 336 xx. 18, ii. 167 xxi. 9, . i. 59 i. 27, . . i. 204, xx. 25, ii. 167 xxiv. 3, i. 338 ii. 151, 193 xxi. 1, 2, ii. 174 xxiv. 15, i. 338 i. 28, . ii. 82, 103, xxi. 17, ii. 104 151, 152, 181 xxi. 19, i. 109, ii. Deuteronomy— i. 29, . ii. 122 104, iii. 260 vi. 4, . . iii. 52 i. 31, . i. 107 xxii. 18, i. 13 vi. 5, . i. 229, 321, ii. 7, ii. 83, 225, xxiV. 2, 3, ii. 76 328, iii. 52 -234, 244, 298 xxv. 17, ii. 78 x. 14, . i. 307 ii. 17, . i. 4, 22, 106 xlvi. 26, ii.76m xviii. 13, i. 328 ii. 19, . i. 68, ii. 104 xlvii. 29, ii.76n xxiii. 17, i. 329 ii. 22, . ii. 83, 150 xxix. 5, i. 5 ii. 23, . i. 68, ii. 104, Exodus — xxx. 2, i. 307 150 236, 237, 265 i. 5, . ii.76« xxx. 9, i. 332 ii. 24,. i. 60, ii. 122, iii. 14,. i. 342 xxx. 14, i. 332 151, 152, 193, iv. 12,. . iii. 292 xxxi. 3, i. 158, 225 194, iii. 243 iv. 21, . iii. 65 ii. 25, . i. 108, ii. 104 iv. 25,. ii. 79 Joshua — ¦ iii. 5, . i. 262, ii. 105 vii. 3, . iii. 57, 65 vii. 4, . . iii. 57 iii. 6, . i. 56, ii. 103 viii. 32, iii. 65 vii. 12, . iii. 57 iii. 7, . i. 109, ii. 82, x. 1, . iii. 57 xi. 20, . . iii. 58 84, 104, 105, xii. 3, . i. 185 xii., . i. 198 153, 157, 176 xiv. 4, iii. 65 xxiii. 6, i. 128 iii. 10, i. 22 xix. 12, 16, i. 186 xxiii. 8, i. 128 iii. 16, i. 125 xx. 5, . ii. 190 iii. 18, i. 125 xx. 7, . iii. 246 Judges — iii. 19, i. 4, 6, 125 xx. 13, 14, V r, i. 192, ii. 3, . i. 158, 225 iii. 20, . ii. 151 199, 210 vi. 36, . ii. 73 iv. 1, . . ii. 157 xx. 17, i 179, 191, vi. 40, ii. 73 v. 4, . i. 271 212 , 229, 296, viii. 30, ii. 76 » v. 24, . i. 5 316 , 336, ii. vii. 8, 9, ii. 302 123 129, 130, 1 Samuel — ¦ vii. 22, ii. 336 iii. 36, 47 x. 25, . . iii. 113 ix. 1, . . ii. 160 xx. 27, i. 320 xv. 9, . ii. 262 ix. 21,. i. 84 xxxi. i8, i. 186 xxiv. 7, i. 215 xii. 3, . i. 13 xxxiii. 19, . ii. 43, xxvi. 9, i. 215 xiv. 18-20, . ii. 77 iii. 280 xxviii. 14, ii. 328 xv. 6, . i. 203, 204 Leviticus — xvii. 5, . ii. 322, iv., . i. 406 2 Samuel— iii. 143 vi. 3, . iii. 306 xvi. 9, 10, . iii. 58 xvii. 10, . ii. 78 xix. 2, i. 329 xvi. 11, 12 . iii. 58 xvii. 14, ii. 78, 163 xix. 18, iii. 49, 52 xvii. 14, . iii. 59 374 INDEX OF TEXTS. PAGE PAGE 1 Kings — Job — continued. viii. 46, Vol. i 230, 241 xxx. 3, 4, Vol. ii. 225 viii. 57, iii. 169 xxxii. 7, 8, . ii. 225 xii. 8-14, . iii. 59 xxxix. 34, . i. 88 xii. 15, iii. 59 xl. 4, . . i. 296 xix. 8, . i. 6 xiii. 5, 6, . i. 88 xiii. 6, . i. 297 2 Kings — ii. 11, . i. 5 Psalms — ii 34, . ii. 278 i. 2, . ii. .31, iii. 16 xiv. 10, iii. 60 i. 6, . . iii 10 1 Chronicles — xi. 9, . . iii. 113 xii. 18, . iii. 113 xii. 38, . iii. 113 xxviii. 9, . iii. 25 2 Chronicles — xv. 2, . iii. 25 xxi. 16, 17, iii. 60 xxv. 7, 8, iii. 60 xxv. 20, iii. 61 xxx. 12, iii. 265 STHER — iv., ii. 24 v., iii. 61 V. 1, . ii. 25 xiv. 13, iii. 265 xv. 5, . iii. 266 Job — i. 1, . . i. 338 i. 8, . . i. 89, 346 i. 22, . . i 88 vii. 1, . iii. 88, 151, 201, 230 vii. 14, . ii. 244 vii. 15, . ii. 333 ix. 2, 3, . i. 85 ix. 17, . . i. 334 ix. 19, 20, . i. 85 ix. 30, . i. 86 xii. 4, . . i. 333 xiii. 18, . i. 333 xiii. 26, . i. 86 xiv. 1-5, . i. 36, 86, 143, 333, 337, ii. 80, 190, iii. 333, 360 xiv. 2, . i. 241 xiv. 16, 17, i- 86, 337 xvi. 18, . i. 334 xix. 25, . i. 296 xxiii. 11, 12, i. 335 xxv. 4, . i. 141 xxvii. 6, . i. 336 xxviii. 28, i. 173, 176 xxix. 14, . i. 335 ii. 4, . . ii. 224 ii. 8, . ii 224 ii. 11, . i. 265, iii. 93 ii. 12, . i. 265, iii. 230 iii. 3, . . iii. 106 iii. 8, . i. 174, 218 iv. 6, . . i 206 vi. 2, . . iii. 300 viii. 2, . iii 193 xii. 1, . . i 282 xii. 6, . . i 173 xiii 3, . ii. 245 xiv. 1, . i. 241, iii. 147, 366 xiv. 2, . ' ii. 341 xiv. 3, . ii. 340 xv. 1, 2, ii. 330 xvi. 3, . i 51 xvi. 4, . i. 51, 353 xvi. 11, . i 292 xvii. 4, . i 307 xvii. 15, . iii. 316 xviii. 1, iii. 311 xviii. 23, . i. 330 xix. 5, 6, . ii. 73 xix. 7, . i 206 xix. 12, . i. 343 xxi. 3, . iii. 293 xxii. 23, . i 196 xxii. 25, . i. 169 xxiii. 6, . i. 264, iii. 293 xxiv. 3, 4, i. 343, 345 xxiv. 7, . i 67 xxv. 7, . i. 406 xxv. 10, iii. 134, 193 xxv. 15, . iii. 300 xxv. 17, . i. 302, 315, 319 xxv. 21, . i. 103 xxv. 22, . i. 128 xxvi. 2, . iii. 181 xxvii. 4, . i 208 xxvii 9, i 353, iii. 21, 27, 71 xxviii. 9, . i. 366 xxx. 2, . i. 212 xxx. 5, . i. 351 xxx. 6, i 260, iii. 27, 92 Psalms — continued. xxx. 7, Vol. i. 257, ii 43, iii. 28, 93 xxx. 8, . i. 257 xxxi. 7, . i. 319 xxxi. 9, . iii. 300 xxxi. 19, . i. 211 xxxii. 2, . i. 188, 323, 355 xxxii. 5, . i. 79 xxxii. 6, . i 79 xxxii 9, . ii. 335, iii. 16, 19 xxxii. 10, . iii. 110 xxxiii. 1, 2, ii. 134 xxxiii. 1, . iii. 315 xxxiv. 2, . i 169, iii 325 xxxiv. 13, . iii. 47 xxxvi. 3, . iii. 17, 19 xxxvi. 6, . i. 29 xxxvi. 7, . i 165 xxxvi. 8, i 165, 166 xxxvi. 9, i. 165, 166, 176, 193, 231 xxxvi. 10, i 82, 165 xxxvi. 11, i. 166, 176 xxxvi. 12, . i 166 xxxvii. 3, . i. 340 xxxvii. 5, 6, i 263 xxxvii. 23, . i 102, iii. 48, 71, 169, 228 xxxvii. 27, . iii. 71 xxxviii. 3, ii. 72, 322 xxxix. 1, . iii. 48 xxxix. 5, . ii. 190 xl. 17, . i 77 xii. 4, i. 204, 212, 250, 282 xiii. 2, 3, . iii. 302 xliii. 2, . i. 73 xliv. 18, . i 264 xliv. 22, . iii. 30 xiv. 6, 7, . ii. 73 xlviii. 2, . ii. 109 xlviii 12, . ii. 230 xlix. 6, . iii. 346 xlix. 12, ii. 89, 335 xlix. 12,13, ii. 297, 313 li. 5, . i. 36, 143, ii. 72, 90, 190, iii 333, 360, 363 li 10, . ii. 72, iii 302 li. 11, . . ii. 72 li. 12, . iii. 34 li. 15, . iii. 292 liv. 6, . . i. 212 lv. 8, . ii. 336 INDEX OF TEXTS. 375 PAGE Psalms — continued. lix. 10, Vol. i 264, 366, 368, 398, iii. 5, 293 lxii. 11, 12, lxii 12, Ixv. 2, lxvi. 9, lxviii. 9, lxviii. 18, i. 220 iii. 34 ii 236 iii. 181 ii. 73 i 208, iii. 30 . iii. 19 i 77 i. 256 i. 193, 198 iii. 71 i. 354 iii. 294 iii. 45 i 76 Ixix. 6, Ixx. 5, lxxi 5, Ixxiii. 28, Ixxvi. 10, lxxvii. 2, lxxvii 9, 10, lxxx. 3, lxxx. 3, 4, . lxxx. 7, iii. 25, 138 lxxx. 17, 18, iii. 183 Ixxxi. 1, . iii. 315 lxxxi. 10, . iii. 291 Ixxxiv. 5, iii. 201, 364 Ixxxiv. 6, iii. 53, 181 Ixxxiv. 11, . i 102 lxxxv. 4, i 76, 104, ii. 25 lxxxv. 6, ii. 25, iii. 123 lxxxv. 7, . i 265 lxxxv. 10, . i. 102 lxxxv. 12, i. 100, iii. 73 lxxxvi 11, . i 265 xciv. 8, i. 76, iii 7 xcv. 6, 7, xcv. 7, 8, xcv. 8, xcix. 6, xcix. 8, c. 3, . ci 1, . cii. 4, . ciii 2-4, ciii. 2-5, ciii. 3, . ciii. 4, . ciii. 5,. ciii. 10, civ. 27, cv. 25, cvii 20, cix. 18, ex. 4, . cxi. 8, . cxiv. 8, cxvi. 2, cxvi. 10, iii. 345 , . iii. 43 iii 45 i 97 i. 98 i. 399 i 103, ii. 147, iii. 64, 205 i. 252 i. 129 i. 221, 222 ii. 126 . ii. 126, iii. 35, 109 i 218 i 104 . iii. 366 . iii. 61 i 411 i. 367 . ii. 77 . iii 181 . iii. 315 i 337, 338 . iii. 266 Psalms — continued. cxvi 12, Vol. iii. 300 cxviii. 1, cxviii. 8, cxix. 1, cxix. 4, cxix. 5, 6, cxix. 21, cxix. 36, cxix. 37, cxix. 68, cxix. 73, cxix. 80, cxix. 85, cxix. 108, cxix. 133,' cxix. 175, cxix. 176, exxv. 4, ¦ exxvii. 1, exxxvii. 8, exxxix. 6, exxxix. 9, exxxix.cxl. 8, cxli 3, cxli 5, cxliii. 2 cxliii. 10, cxliv. 4, cxlv. 8, cxlvii 20, cl. 6, . iii. 300 iii. 230 i. 330 i 78 i 78 i. 297 iii. 169, 187, 364 ii. 17 ii. 16 76, 249, iii. 7 i. 331 i 212 i 76 i 79, 245, 395 i 99 i 52 i. 343 i 402 i. 89 ii. 309 ii. 322 i. 265 i. 368 . iii. 47, 48 ii. 269 i 71, 79, 87, 89, 93, 104, 143, 153, 159, 230, 294, 347 10, iii. 330 ii. 190 iii. 105 i 168 ii. 25 Proverbs— i 8, . i. 30, . ii. 6, iii. ii. 20, . ii. 21, . iii. 1, . iii 11, . iii. 12, iii. 16, iii. 18, iii. 27, iii 29, iv. 26, iv. 26, 27. v. 2, . viii. 35, 56, iii. 16 iii. 17 212, 235 i. 307 i 341 . iii. 16 iii 16, 22 i 98 . i 171, iii. 53, 340 i. 107 . iii. 16 . iii. 16 . iii. 10 i 127 . iii. 17 i. 102, iii. 47, 86, 263, 292, 340, 358 PAGE Proverbs — continued. xi. 20, Vol. i 330 xvi. 1, ii. 74, 291 xviii. 21, ii. 322 xix. 3, iii. 16, 62 xix. 24, iii. 243 xx. 8, iii. 110 xx. 8, 9, i. 343 xx. 9, i 342, 372, iii. 257, 358, 361 xx. 24, iii. 169 xxi. 1, ii. 23, iii. 61 xxi. 2, iii. 169 xxvii. 2, ii. 96 xxix. 19, iii. 19 Ecclesiastes- i 2, 3, ii. 190 i 18, i. 184 iii. 5, ii. 113 iii 21, ii. 336 vii. 20, i 346 vii. 21, i. 241 vii. 30, iii. 272 Canticles — iv. 8, i. 352, 398 viii. 5, iii 28 Isaiah — i.2, . iii. 366 i. 18, . . iii. 28 i. 19, . iii. 109 i. 19, 20, i . 350, 352, vi. 10, vii. 14, viii. 20, xi. 2, . xxvi. 10, xl. 5, . xiii 5, xiv. 11, xiv. 25, lii- 7, . Iiii. 1, . Iiii. 3-12, Iiii 6, Iiii. 7, Iiii. 9, liv. 1, liv. 13, lvi 1, lvii 16, lix. 2, . lxi 1, . iii. 330, 340 . iii. 203 ii. 72 i 362, 426 . iii. 55, 56 i. 193 ii. 239 ii. 223, 265 iii. 92, 112, 143 i. 102 . iii. 115 . iii. 203 i. 53 i. 52 i. 143, 186 i. 143 . iii. 310 ii. 15 i. 76 . i. 227, iii. 188 . iii. 336 i. 53 376 INDEX OF TEXTS. PAGE PAGE PAGE Jeremiah — Tobit — 2 Maccabees— i. 5, . Vol. i. 30 iv. 5, 6, Vol. ii. 245 vii. 29, Vol. iu. 110 ii. 29, . . i. 86 iv. 21, i 340 xii. 39-45, . ii. 260 ix. 24, . iii 97 xH. 43, H. 219, 288 x. 23, . . i 78, 99 Wisdom— . ii. 273 x. 24, . . i. 99 i 5, . xvii. 5, iii. 20, 121, i 11, . i 247 216, 230, 246 ii. 24, . i 11, NEW TESTAMENT. xix. 23, 24, . i. 102 ii. 184 xxxi. 32, . i. 191 iv. 11, i. 30, Matthew — xxxi. 32, 33, i. 198, iii. 65, 87, i 16, . Vol. ii. 112 375 88, 150 i. 20, . . ii. 110 xxxi 34, i. 190, 191, iv. 11, 13, 14, i. 21, . i. 137, 251, 192, 194, 195, 285 252, ii 202 196, 197, 199, vi 21, . ii 162 i 23, . . ii. 73 207, ii. 15 vii. 1, . i. 367 ui. 8, 9, . Hi. 108 xxxii 32, . i. 203 vii. 6, 7, i. 367 v. 6, . i. 76, 217, xxxii. 40, . iii. 174, viii. 19, 20, i 38 231, 325, 183, 342 viii. 21, i 76, 179, ii. 46, Hi. 315 217, 321, v. 7, . . i- 222 Ezekiel — iii. 212 v. 8, . i. 301, 345 iii. 18, . iii. 116 ix. 15, i 322, v. 14, 15, . i. 342 xi 19, 20, . iii 43, Hi. 256 v. 17, . i 172, 190, 48, 169 ix. 25, . Hi. 251 iii 40 xiv. 9, . iii. 61, 65 xii. 10, 11, ii. 159, v. 32, . . u. 109 xiv. 14, . i. 84 172 v. 45, . i. 341, ii. 88, xvi. 49, . ii. 174 xiii. 9, H. 302 161, 172 xviii. 6, . i ]52 xvi., . i. 225 v. 48, . . i 93 xviii. 31, 32, iii. 45 vi. 1, . . i. 326 xxviii. 3, . i 85 Ecclesiasticus — vi. 8, . . i. 296 xxxvi. 22-27, iii. 44, iii 21, 22, i. 301 vi. 9, . i 202, Hi. 45, 45, 48, 146, x. 9, . i. 282 79, 224 169, 343 x. 12, . i 262 vi. 10, . i. 331, 350, xxxvi. 26, 27, Hi. 265 x. 13, . i. 262 H. 287, Hi 324 xxxvi. 32, . iii. 343 xiii. 24, i 343, 346 vi. 11, . . Hi. 178 xiii. 30, ii. 124 vi. 12, . i. 93, 153, Daniel— xv. 8, . i. 338 231, 268, 294, vii. 18, . i 373, xv. 11-17, iii. 16 303, 323, 324, 375, 427 xv. 14-17, i. 350 327, 330, 334, ix. 20, . i 84 xv. 15, i 351, 355, 389, 419, iii. 46 ii. 135, Hi Joel — xv. 16, 17, . i 368 104, 178, 257, ii. 32, . i. 211 xviii. 30, i. 76, 229, 300, 324 296, 336, vi. 12, 13, i. 75, 344, Habakkuk — u. 130 350, 353, ii. 4, i. 124, 325^ xix. 16, i. 365, 380 iii. 41 336, iii. 31, xxi 1, ii. 130 vi. 13, . . i. 73, 75, 144, 242 xxii. 27, iii. 47 286, 293, 303, xxiii. 5, 6, . i 368, 322, 331, 340, Zechariah — iii. 47 355, 382, iii. i. 3, . . i. 76, xxxviii. 10, i. 343, 346 98, 179, 191, iii. 24 xxxix. 25, . i. 341 216, 230 iii. 4, . . ii. 191 xl. 1, . ii. 190 vi. 14, . . i. 268 xii. 1, . . ii. 227 vi. 12, 14, . i 98 Baruch — vi. 19, . . Hi 17 Malachi— ii 31, . iii. 169, vi. 30, . . ii. 232 i 2, 3, iu. 126, 287 206, 221 vii. 2, . . i. 323 vii. 7, . . i 217 I Esdras — 1 Maccabees- vii. 11, i. 217, 342, viii. 25, . iii. 342 ii. 69, . ii. 78 Hi. 300 INDEX OF TEXTS. 377 PAGE Matthew — continued. vii. 16, Vol. H. 180 vii. 18, ii. 19, 182 vu. 23, Hi. 10, 255 vHi. 22, . i 4 ix. 12, i 137, 237, 251, 252, 317, 319, 332, 354, ii. 149, 197 ix. 13, i. 237, 251, 317, 357 x. 19, 20, . i 394 x. 20, . . i 247, u. 18, 26 x. 22, . Hi. 79, 173 x. 26, . . Hi. 65 x. 28, . H. 326, Hi. 17 x. 29, . . iii. 199 x. 39, . H. 215, 262 xi. 22, . . iii. 190 xi. 28, . i 332, ii 13 xi. 30, . i 306, Hi 50 xii. 29, . H. 88 xii 30, . i 54 xii. 33, . Hi. 272 xH. 35, . i 341 xiii. 11, Hi 204, 205 xui. 43, . i. 344 xvi. 17, . iii. 3 xvi. 24, . Hi. 17 xvi. 27, Hi 18, 27, 32, 66 xvH. 20, . i. 226 xvHi. 4, . i. 57 xvHi 11, . iii. 40 xviii 15, . Hi. 117 xviu. 17, . Hi. 117 xix. 3-6, . iii. 244 xix. 4, iii. 330, 338 xix. 4-6, . ii. 148 xix. 5, 6, . i. 23 xix. 6, . ii. 81 xix. 8, . H. 109 xix. 9, . ii. 117 xix. 10, 11, i. 392, Hi 27 xix. 11, . Hi. 206 xix. 12, i 98, H. 117 xix. 16, . i 342 xix. 24, i. 158, 225 xix. 28, . i 80, Hi. 301, 366 xx. 1-16, . i. 103 xx. 8, . . i. 198 xx. 9, . . Hi. 284 xx. 14, Hi. 184, 185 xx. 16, Hi. 82, 83, 90, 294 xxi. 9, . i. 270 xxi. 21, . i. 225 Matthew — continued. Luke — continued xxii. 11, 13, Vol. i 371 vi. 37, 38, Vol. i. 74, xxii. 14, . i. 372 iii. 258 xxii. 37, i. 320, 328 viii. 8, Hi. 206 xxii. 37-39, i 227, 228 viii. 10, iii 167 xxii. 39, . i. 320 viii. 18, i. 208 xxii. 40, i. 227, 320 ix. 53, iii. 221 xxiH. 15, . i 207 ix. 56, i 139, xxv. 1-10, . i. 371 iii. 352 xxv. 33, . i 371, ix. 58, ii. 43 ii. 172 ix. 60, i. 4 xxv. 34, . i. 136 x. 12, . i. 207 xxv. 35, i. 224, 334 x. 13, . Hi. 190 xxv. 46, i. 136, 193, x. 27, 28, . i 342 222, 369, 426 x. 29, . i. 202 xxvi. 28, i 36, 121, x. 30, . i 276 ii. 197 x. 34, . i. 276, 285 xxvi. 41, . iii. 356 x. 41, . iii. 322 xxvi. 53, . i. 225 xi. 4, . i. 93, 98, 230 xxvi. 69-71, ii. 42 xi 9, . i 351 xxvi. 69-75, Hi. 49 xi. 20, . i 185 xxvii. 51, . i 185, xi. 41, . i. 334 H. 73 xi. 42, . iii. 112 Mark — xu. 37, i 265 H. 17, . . i. 151 xii. 45, iu. 55 vii. 9, . i. 209 xii. 47, 48, . Hi 19 vii. 19, i 114 xiH. 25, 27, . i. 371 x. 8, . i. 60 xiii. 32, i. 345 x. 27, . i 163 xv. 4, . i. 40 x. 46-52, i. 291 xv. 8, . i 41 xi. 23, . i. 226 xvi. 22, 23, . ii. 250 xii. 28-31, . Hi. 52 xvi. 23, i. 290, xiv: 38, i. 293 ii. 329 xiv. 66, H. 42 xvi. 24, ii. 250, xvi. 15, 16, i 41, 321, 328 134, 135 xvii. 6, i 226 xvi. 16, . ii 263, xviii. 1, Hi 204 iii. 267 xviii. 11, 12, i 77, 180 xvi. 18, . ii. 270 xviii. 19, i. 341 xix. 9, . i. 40 Luke — xix. 10, ii. 148, 180, i 3, . . iii. 219 190, 197, Hi. 40 i. 6, . i. 298, 347 xix. 20, 24, . i 371 u. 45 xix. 26, i 208 i. 6-9, . i. 90, 91 xix. 27, i 371 i 27, . . ii. 112 xx. 34, i. 28, 83, i 34-38, . i. 57 ii 118, Hi. 299 i 35, . . iii 99 xxii 32, i. 40C , Hi. 24, i. 37, . . i. 232 78, 85, 107 i. 38, . . i 56 xxii. 55, ii. 42 ii. 2, . . i 119 xxH. 61, ii. 42, ii 11, . . i. 35 H . 75, 94 u. 14, . . Hi. 17 xxiH. 43, i. 32 , ii. 258 H. 33, . i 41, 48, 49, xxiv. 44-47, i 51 50, 51, ii 111 xxiv. 45, . Hi. 7 Hi 6, . . H. 239 xxiv. 46, 47, i 51 Hi. 23, ii. 112 iv. 16-21, . i 53 John — v. 31, 32, . i 24, 40 i 1, . i 31, 110, vi. 30, 38, . i. 230 301, iii. 209 378 INDEX OF TEXTS. John — continued. i 3, Vol. H. 198, 202 i 5, . . iii. 55 i. 8, . i. 339, 342 i 9, . i. 37, 166, 342 i. 12, . i. 79, 217, 'H. 120, Hi. 240 i 12, 13, . i 110 i. 14, i 61, 103, 110, 172, H. 238, 266, iii. 99 i. 16, . . i. 166, iii. 34, 110 i. 29, i. 41, iii. 307 i. 47, . . i. 204 ii 5, . . iii. 161 H. 6, . . i 143 ii. 19, . . Hi. 160 ii. 29, . . Hi. 186 iii 1-21, . i. 59 iii. 3, . . i 115 iii. 3-5, i. 26, 57, 58 iii. 3-6, . ii 287 iii. 5, i. 135, 137, ii. 51, 64, 215, 258, 261, 262, 289 Hi. 6, . . i. 83 Hi. 8, i. 33, H. 71, Hi 342 Hi. 13, . . i. 60 Hi 14, 15, . i. 61, 62 iii 16, . . i. 62 Hi. 17, . . Hi. 4, 64 Hi. 18, . . i. 63, 134 iii 19, . . i. 63 Hi 21, . . i. 63 iii. 21, 22, . i 346 Hi. 27,. . Hi. 29 iii. 34, 35, . i. 28 iii. 36, . . i 134 iv. 24, . . ii. 336 iv. 34, . . ii. 71 v. 5, . . i. 249 v. 14, . . i 212 v. 21, . . i 240 v. 26, . H. 76 v. 35, . i. 166, 342 vi. 6, . .Hi. 202 vi. 27,. . i 115 vi. 28, . . Hi. 138 vi. 34, . . iii 267 vi. 36, . iii. 133, 272 vi. 37, . . iii 92 vi. 39, . . Hi. 92 vi. 43, . . iii. 133 vi. 44, . i. 352, ii. 13, Hi. 139, 241, 265 vi. 45, . iii. 15, 16, 137, 160 vi. 51, . . i. 231 John — continued. vi. 51-53, Vol. i 35 vi. 52, . . - i 28 vi. 53, . . i 27, 137 vi. 59, . . iii. 90 vi. 60, . . Hi 139 vi. 62, 65, . i. 352 vi. 63, . . Hi. 139 vi. 64, . . Hi. 241 vi. 65, H. 13, Hi. 25, 81 vi. 66, . Hi. 167, 205, 264, 342 vi. 70, . . iii. 83 vii. 39, . i. 345 vHi. 7, 8, . i 248 viH. 29, . Hi 79 viii. 31, iii. 90, 92 viu. 36, i. 79, 212, ii. 147, Hi 71, 104, 240, 272 viii. 38, . i 319 viH. 56, . H. 75 ix. 39, . Hi. 64 x. 27, 28, . i 41 x. 30, . . iii 235 xi. 51, 52, . Hi 88 xii. 31, . H. 163 xu. 37, . Hi. 203 xii. 46, . i. 36, 39 xui. 10, i. 249, H. 283 xiii. 16, . H. 42 xHi 34, . i. 307 xiU. 34, 35, . Hi. 52 xiv. 1, i 19, iii. 202 xiv. 2, H. 258, 286 xiv. 6, i. 41, 264, H. 76, 280 xiv. 8, 9, . i. 222 xiv. 21, i. 193, Hi. 318 xiv. 28, . Hi. 235 xiv. 30, i 71, 257, ii 153 xiv. 30, 31, i 120, 123, 143 xiv. 31, . i 257 xv. 5, i. 199, 210, 212, 264, 298, ii 29, Hi. 4, 28, 33, 71, 103, 290, 291, 342 xv. 7, . . iii. 109 xv. 13, i. 126, 228, Hi. 48 xv. 16, Hi 54, 103, 160, 161, 165 xv. 26, . u. 227 xvi 7, . i. 124 xvi. 8, . iii. 299 xvi. 9, . Hi. 299 xvi. 8, 10, . i 124 PAGE John — continued. xvi. 12, Vol. Hi. 209 xvH. 3, . i 193, 197, 222 xvii. 12, . Hi. 89 xviii. 9, . Hi. 203 xix. 11, . i 215 xix. 30, H. 244, 335 xix. 34, . H. 283 xx. 2, . . H. 131 xx. 22, . u. 223 Acts — H. 1-47, i. 186 ii 2, i ] 186, ii. 223 Hi 14, 15, i. 50 iv. 11, 12, i. 50, 273 iv. 12, . u. 71 iv. 24, . Hi 158 iv. 31, . ii. 224 v. 30, 31, i 50 v. 31, . H. 261 vHi. 30, 37, i. 52 ix. 2, . Hi. 264 ix. 18, H. 283 X., Hi. 133 x. 43, . i 50, 51 xHi. 9, i. 166 xiH. 38, 39, i. 50 xHi. 48, iii. 79, 169 xiv. 8, 9, i 396 xv. 10, 11, ii. 73, Hi. 267 xvi. 14, Hi. 168 xvH. 25, i i. 234, 235 xvii. 26, H. 265 xvH. 28, ii. 232 xvH. 31, H. 71 xxvHi 5, i 396 Romans — i. 7, . i. 167 i. 8, . u. 54 i- 14, 17, . i 74 i 16, . i. 201 i. 16, 17, i. 200, 201 i. 17, . i. 2 7, 228, ii. 46, 1 34, iii. 242 i 18-20, Hi. 15 i. 18-23, . i. 175 i 21, . i 176, 177, 17J 1, 200, 253 i. 22, . i 176 i. 23, . i. 254 i 24, . i 254, 368, Hi. 61 i. 24-28, . i 215 i. 25, 26, . i 254 i 26, . Hi. 61 i. 26, 27, . i 254 INDEX OF TEXTS. 379 PAGE Romans — continued. i 27, Vol. Ui. 173, 175 i. 28, . Hi. 62, 143 i. 28-31, . i 255 U. 6, . . Hi. 3 H. 8, 9, . Hi. 8 H. 8-13, . i 200, 201, 207 H. 9, . . i. 217 H. 11, . i. 201, Hi. 88 H. 12, . i 14, 204, Hi. 18 H. 13, . . Hi 247 H. 14, 15, i 199, 200, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207 H. 15, 16, . i 206 ii 17-29, . i 168 ii. 26, . . i 204 Hi. 3, . . i. 177 Hi 6, . . Hi. 4, 5 Hi. 8, i 178, Hi 6, 12 Hi. 19, . Hi. 97 Hi. 19, 20, . Hi. 365 Hi. 19-21, . H. 11 Hi. 20, i. 169, 170, 177, H. 73, 184, Hi. 36, 247 Hi. 20, 21, Hi. 309, 310 Hi. 20-26, i. 178, 182 iu. 21, i 170, u. 73 Hi. 22, 23, . i 170, 171, 172 Hi 22-24, i 201, 204 Hi 22-26, . i 43 Hi. 23, i 274, Hi. 77 Hi 23, 24, . i 237, 238, 239 iii 24, " i. 171, 172, H. 31 Hi. 24-28, . i 201 Hi. 26, . Hi. 232 Hi 27, i- 173, 178, 218, Hi. 247 Hi. 28, . Hi. 32 Hi. 29, . i 207 Hi. 30, i. 208, 217 Hi. 31, i 211, Hi. 340 iv. 2, . . i. 203 iv. 3, . i 214, 216 iv. 3, 20, 21, Hi 105 iv. 4, . . i 397, Hi. 26, 32 iv. 4-8, . i. 43 iv. 5, i 19, 166, 214, 218, 222, 236 iv. 10, 11, . H. 163 iv. 11, . ii. 78 iv. 13, . Hi. 247 iv. 14, Hi 303, 339 PAGE Romans — continued. iv. 15, Vol. i. 162, 168, 182, ii. 10, Hi. 36, 298 iv. 16, Hi. 143, 145 iv. 16, 17, iv. 19, iv. 20, iv. 21, iv. 23-25, iv. 25, v. 1, . v. 3, 4, 5, v. 5, v. 6, v. 8, v. 12, i 196 iii. 105 iii. 125 iii. 143 i. 43 163, 197 iii. 114 iii. 55 i iOO, 160, 183, 186, 199, 204, 207, 218, 223, 276, 292, 300, 302, 308, 321, 331, 354, ii. 11, 28, 29, 71, 98, iii. 360 . i. 24, 43 . Hi 240 . i. 10, 12, 13, 132, 137, 144, 148, 242, 273, 274, 349, 354, ii. 47, 78, 143, 147, 154, 159, 163, 177, 182, 184, 188, 235, 266, Hi. 198, 335 v. 12-19, . H. 187 i 14, 182, ii. 184 i. 14, 15, 138, ii. 72, 184, 185 i. 15, ii. 185 . i 16, 22, ii. 219 . i 17 v. 17, 18, H. 186, 262 v. 18, . i. 18, 19, 114, 274, H. 314, 337 , i 21, H. 186 . i. 14, 21, 177, 182, 352, ii. 72, Hi. 64, 247, 303 v. 20, 21, i 151, 164 v. 21, . . i 21 vi. 1, 2, i 164, iii 12 vi. 3-11, . i. 165 vi. 4, . . i. 211 vi. 6, . i 58, ii. 79 vi. 12, i. 75, 117, 229, 272, 291, 322, 336, 355 vi. 12, 13, ii. 123, 126, 128, 129, 132 v. 13, v. 14, v. 15, v. 16, v. 17, v. 19, v. 20, PAGE Romans — continued. vi. 13, Vol. i. 272, 236 vi. 14, . . ii 37, Hi. 39, 247 vi. 17, . . H. 320 vi. 18, . . Hi. 104 vi. 20, . . Hi. 240 vi. 23, . Hi. 33, 34 vii. 1, 2, . iii. 247 vii 4, . . Hi. 247 vii. 6, . i. 183, Hi. 308 vii. 6, 7, . Hi. 336 vii. 7, . i. 161, 162, 169, 383, H. 10, Hi. 129, 248, 249, 250 vii. 7, 8, i 177, 182, 382, Hi. 250 vii. 7-12, . i. 181 vii. 7-13, . Hi. 37 vii. 7-25, . i 184 vii. 8, . . i 217 vii 11, . i. 161 vii. 12, . i. 382 vH. 12, 13, . i. 178, Hi. 297 vii. 13, . i. 382 vii. 14, iii. 129, 251 vii. 14-16, . i 382 vH. 14-25, . i. 44, 128 vH. 15, i. 88, 282, 283, 383, H. 37, 128, Hi 115, 252 vii. 16, i. 336, ii. 128 vii. 17-23, . i. 109 vii 17, H. 128, 129, Hi. 252 vH. 18, i 75, 221, 282, 283, 383, H. 129, 131, 176, 246, Hi, 253 vii. 19, . i. 304 vii. 19, 20, . i. 90 vii. 19-21, . H. 130 vii. 20, i 297, Hi. 253 vii 21, . Hi. 253 vii. 22, i 184, iii. 253 vii. 22, 23, . i 90, ii. 130 vii. 23, i. 221, 231, 328, 383, 419, ii. 37, 82, 95, 123 vii. 23, 24, . i. 290 vii. 24, . i. 8, 290, U. 90, 99, 132, 145, Hi. 36, 254 380 INDEX OF TEXTS. PAGE Romans — continued. vii. 24, 25, Vol. i. 90, 109, 286, 289, 382, 383, ii 72 vii. 24-26, . i. 426 vii. 25, i 291, ii. 133 vii 28,. vii. 29, 165, 334, Hi. 254 ii. 38 iii. 129 viii. 1, H. 133, iii. 254 viii. 2, . ii. 133 viii. 3, i. 44, 128, H. 80, 112 viii. 3, 4, . i. 191, iH. 297 viii. 6, i 161, ii. 320 viii. 7, viii. 8, 9, viii. 9, vHi 10, 11, i 186 i. 117 i. 284 6, 7, 9, Hi. 255 i 10 •iii. 37 iii 145 viii. 12, viii. 12, 13, viii. 13, viii 14, i. 366, ii. 26, iii. 38, 72, 145, 297, 342 vHi. 15, i. 216, ii 310, Hi. 232 viii. 20, . ii. 190 viii. 23, i. 228, 286, ii. 119, Hi. 98, 301 viii 23-25, . i 81 viii 24, 25, i. 24, 281, 318, ii. 119, Hi. 301 viii. 26, . i 354 viii. 26, 27, . ii. 309, 310 viii. 28, i. 196, 353, ii. 47, iii. 49, 82, 91 viii. 29, iii. 83, 89, 91 viii. 29, 30, i. 162, 239, 354, 368 viii 30, i 196, 345, iH. 201 viii. 32, , viii 35-39, viii. 37, ix. 6, . ix. 7-12, ix. 8, ix. 10, ix. 11, ii. 197 iii. 50 iii. 31 i. 196 i 195 i. 375, ii. 29 iii. 129, 155 i 195, ii. 79, 220, 281, 282, 286, 294 ix. 11, 12, . i 31 PAGE Romans — continued. ix. 12, Vol. iii. 165 ix. 14, i. 29, 30, 205, 224, 232. iH. 193, 346 ix. 15, . . Hi. 280 ix. 16, i. 350, 399, 402, 403, 414, ii. 43, iii. 31, 192, 280 ix. 18, . Hi. 65, 135, 284, 286 ix. 19, . . iii. 286 ix. 20, Hi. 85, 140, 184, 185, 198, 345 ix. 20, 21, . H. 171 ix. 21, . . ii. 147, iii. 5, 284 ix. 22, . i 312, 368, iii. 57, 135 ix. 22, 23, . iii. 94, 286, 346 ix. 23, i. 368, ii. 171 ix. 26, . ii. 175 ix. 28, . i 320 ix. 29, . Hi. 129 ix. 30, . i. 209 ix. 31, 32, . i 209 ix. 32, . i 209 ix. 33, . H. 172 x. 1, . . iii. 138 x. 2, . . i. 264 x. 2, 3, . i. 236 x. 3, i. 43, 170, 180, 222, 264, 274, 332, H. 40, iii. 38, 297 x. 3, 4, i 209, 210 x. 4, i 236, 264, 274 x. 6, . . i 231 x. 6-9, . i 210 x. 8, . . i 307 x. 10, . . i. 39, 332 x. 13, . . i. 211 x. 14, i. 31, 195, 237, iH. 42 x. 17, . . iH. 81 x. 17, 18, . i 237 x. 21, . Hi. 20, 216 xi. 2, . .Hi. 216 xi 4, . . Hi 217 xi. 5, . iii. 129, 134, 159, 217, 287 xi. 5, 6, . iii. 32 xi. 6, i 172, 397, H. 211, 214, iii. 63, 82, 264, 268 xi. 7, iii. 133, 159, 217 xi. 20, iii. 93, 108 xi. 24, i. 203, iii. 211 xi. 25, . Ui. 158 PAGE Romans — continued. xi. 28, Vol. Hi. 186 xi. 29, Hi. 103, 164, 165, 201 xi. 30-32, . Ui. 63 xi. 32, 33, 36, i 29 xi. 33, i 224, Hi. 64, 85, 87, 140, 192, 346 xi. 33-36, . i 232 xi. 35, . Hi. 122 xi. 36, ii. 229, 232 xu. 1, . . iu. 16 xH. 1, 2, . U. 320 xii. 1-3, . i. 224 xii. 2, . . i 321 xii. 3, . i. 352, 399, H. 32, iH. 10, 34, 42, 125, 342 xii. 12, . i 326 xii. 16, . Hi. 93 xui. 1, . i. 215 xui 8, . i 307 xiii. 8-10, Hi. 49, 50 xHi 9. i. 192, 204 xiii. 9, 10, . i 186 xiii 10, i. 192, 307, 318, 330, ii. 11 xiv. 4, . iii. 105, 186, 205 xiv. 23, i 398, H. 28, 101, 103, Hi. 145, 242, 312 1 Corinthians — i 1, . . i 242 i 3, . . i 167 i. 12, . . Ui 130 i 13, . . Hi. 245 i. 17, . i 239, 250, 274, 283 i 18, . . iii. 135 i. 19, . . i. 274 i 29, . . iii. 106 i 30, . iii. 106, 131 i 30, 31, iii. 310, 316 i 31, i. 31, 102, 339, 400, ii. 11, iii. 4, 106, 233, 240 U. 2, . . i 277 H. 12, . i. 179, Hi. 56 ii. 14, . . ii. 14 ii. 16, . . i 367 Hi 1, . . Hi. 209 iii. 2, . . i 94 Hi. 3, . . Hi. 131 iii. 5, . . iii. 206 iii. 7, i 11, 37, 198, Hi. 72 Hi. 10, . . Ui. 206 INDEX OF TEXTS. 381 PAGE 1 Cos. — continued. iii. 12, Vol. i. 369, 370 Hi 15, i. 369, 370, 426 Hi. 21, . iH. 4, 131 Hi. 25, . . i 111 Ui. 32, 33, . H. 114 iv. 6, . .Hi. 131 iv. 7, i 78, 100, 171, 208, 215, 219, 223, 257, 399, ii. 4, 5, Ui. 73, 78, 81, 126, 129, 130, 213, 266, 286, 342 iv. 16, . . i 19 vi. 7, . . Hi. 73 vi. 15, . . i. 146 vi. 17, i 13, it 23-44 vi. 19, i. 261, Ui. 333 vi. 20, . . H. 119 vH. 1, . . ii 117 vH. 2, . . U. 117 vii 3-6, . U. 115 vH. 4, . . ii. 81 vH. 5, . H. 81, 115 vii. 6, . . H. 115 vH. 7, i. 392, H. 100, Ui. 34, 206, vu. 9, . . U. 117 vH. 14, i. 112, 115, 151 vH. 25, i 391, 428, Hi. 31, 42, 123, 128 vii. 28, . H. 117 vH. 29-31, . ii. 113 vii. 36, i. 350, 357 vH. 36, 37, Ui. 17, 21, 38, i 57 vHi. 1, vHi 11, ix. 17, . ix. 23, . ix. 24, ix. 27, . x. 4, . x! 12, Hi. 145, 186, 201 ii. 27 Ui. 56, 340 . Ui. 116 . Hi. 17 i 328 328, Hi. 227 . i 71, 326 . H. 79 x. 13, x. 31, x. 33, xi. 1, . xi 3, . xi. 12, . xi. 19, . xii 6, . xu. 11, xii. 12, xu. 13, xii. 17, xH. 31, xHi 4, i 214 U. 41 Hi. 112 i 11 U. 75, 108 . H. 238 i. 425, ii 68 . Hi. 127 Hi. 145 i 61 . Hi. 365 i. 396 . Hi 50 ii. 13, Hi. 56 1 Cor. xHi xiii. xiii.xHi. xiii.xHi xmxiv.xiv.xiv.xiv, xv.xv. xv.xv. xv. xv. xv. xv.xv. xv. XV.XV.XV.XV.XV.XV. XV.XV. XV.XV.XV. xvi xvi PAGE — continued. 5, Vol. i. 373, ii. 21 7, . i. 216 8, i 197, Hi. 50 10, i. 197, 327, Hi. 367 11, i 194, 197 12, i. 194, 197, 208, 228, Hi 315, 320, 367 13, ii. 46, Hi. 50 1, . . Hi. 50 14, . U. 334 18, . i. 396 20, . i 37 3 . i 44 9, i. 167, 400,401, 428, iH. 26 9, 10, . i 196 10, i 401, 402, 404, 417, Hi. 26, 325 21, 22, i. 10, ii. 74 22, i 54, ii. 185, 190, Hi. 337 26, . i. 335 34, i. 329, Hi. 17 35, 36, . i. 323 36, U. 165, 168 37, . ii. 168 38, u. 179, 223 40, . U. 315 41, . i. 206 44, . Ui. 251 46, . U. 226 53, i 231, U. 125 53-56, . i 149 54, . Hi. 255 56, i. 217, iii. 247 57, i. 151, 399, Hi. 30 8, . .Hi. 167 14, Hi. 51, 73 2 Corinthians — ii. 12, . . iii 167 ii. 14, . . Hi. 168 ii. 16, . . Ui. 168 Hi 2, 3, . Hi. 43 Hi. 3-9, i. 182, 187, 192, 198 iii 4, . . i. 187 iH. 5, ii. 27, Hi. 30, 125, 186, 201, 290, 291 iii. 5, 6, . i. 187 Hi. 6, i. 156, 161, 163, 176, 375, 382, U. 10, Hi. 37, 71, 297, 308, 340 PAGE 2 Cor. — continued. Ui. 7, . Vol. i. 187 Hi. 8, . . i. 188 Hi. 9, . i. 187, 188 Hi. 13, . . i 187 iii. 14, . . Ui. 308 Hi. 16,. . i 185 iu. 17, i 185,188,212 iv. 1, 2, . i. 188 iv. 1-6, . i. 188 iv. 7, i. 188, Hi 29, 76 iv. 13, ii 72, Hi. 42, 134, 267, 307, 339 iv. 16, i. 81, 93, 218, 300, 316, 317, 320, 348, ii. 13, 118, 130 v. 1-4, . i. 189 v. 2-4, i 5 v. 4, . . i. 75 v. 5, . . i. 189 v. 6, . . i 325 v. 7, i. 160, 228, 229 v. 10,,. Hi. 147, 331 v. 14-21, . i. 45, 143 v. 17, . . i 238 v. 17, 18, . Hi. 34 v. 20, . . Ui. 114 v. 20, 21, . ii. 80, Hi. 314 v. 21, i. 199, 245, Hi. 10, 255 vi. 1, i. 401, Hi 26 vi. 1, 2, . i 45 vi. 14, . . Hi. 313 viH. 9, . . ii. 89 vHi 11, . Hi. 17 vui 16, . Ui. 294 ix. 7, . i 326, 331 x. 17, i. 179, 226, ii. 172, Hi. 5 xi. 14, . . ii. 272 xii. 2, . . ii. 70 xH. 4, . . ii. 309 xii. 7, i. 97, Hi. 316 xii. 7, 8, . ii. 310 xii. 7-9, i. 232, 260, ii. 13, 14 xii. 8, 9, . i 97 xU. 9, . . iii. 106 xiii. 7, H. 26, Hi. 72, 78 xiii 11, . i 329 Galatians — i 3, . . i. 45, 167 i 11, . . Hi. 75 ii. 15, 16, i. 208, 218 U. 16, . . Ui, 37 ii 20, . H. 23 382 INDEX OF TEXTS. PAGE Galatians — continued. ii. 21, Vol. i. 208, 236, 238, 242, 274, 382, iii. 40, 339 Hi. 5, iii. 8, iii. 11, Hi 12, Hi. 13, iii. 15, Hi. 16, Hi. 18,. iU. 19, Hi. 19-22, Hi. 23, iU. 24, iv. 6, iv. 16, . iv. 21. . iv. 30, . iv. 31,. v. 4, . v. 6, i. i. 285 13, 203, 208 Ui. 309, 339 . iii. 339 . U. 80 . Hi. 302 203, Hi. 159 Hi. 303, 339 . i. 352, iii. 298, 303 i 45, 151, 187 iii 21, H.,10, 72, 164 Hi 21, 22, i 14, 190 Hi. 21, 23, . iii. 298 iii 22, H. 10, Hi 325 i. 191, 245 i 171, 236, 245, 321, ii. 10 H. 310, iii. 115 . iii. 232 . iii. 308 iv. 21-26, i 374, 376 iv. 24, H. 164, Ui. 246 iv. 25, . . Hi 305 iv. 28, . . Hi. 308 i 374 . Hi. 309 i. 274, Hi. 39 184, 203, 218, 221, 223, 398, ii 28 i 274 ii. 51 i. 221, 282, 284, 285, 286, 288, 291, 315, 321, 325, ii. 102, 132, 162, 334 v. 22, 23, . H. 321 11, . 13, 14, 17, 3, vi. 6, . vi. 7, . vi. 17, . Ephesians- i. 3, . i. 3, 4, 4, H,13,18, i 22, 23, ii. 1, . H. 1-5, i 176 Hi. 174 Hi. 166 iH. 120 Hi. 162, 263 i. 329, 347 . iii. 160 . H. 32 iii. 165, 183 . Hi. 166 . ii. 245 i. 355 iii. 249 i. 46 Ephesians — continued. ii. 2, . Vol. iii. 299 ii. 3, . i 29, 87, 238, 305, 315, H. 47 . ii. 3-5, . ii. 160 ii. 4-5, . i. 238 H. 8, Hi 30, 132, 283 ii. 8, 9, . ii. 24, Ui 33, 42 ii. 8-10, i. 46, 218 ii. 9, . .Hi. 31 ii. 9, 10, . Ui 143 ii. 10, . Hi. 3, 11, 33 ii. 12-18, . i 46 iii. 19,. . iii. 56 Hi. 20, . . i. 228 iv. 8, . i. 208, 302, iii. 31 iv. 13, . . Ui. 367 iv. 22-24, . i 46 iv. 23, . . ii. 334 iv. 24, . . i 81 iv. 30, . . i 46 v. 8, i. 339, Hi. 287 v. 14, . . i 255 v. 23, . . i. 355 v. 25, . U. 109, 135, Hi. 244 v. 26, . . iH. 330 v. 26, 27, i. 329, 344, 345 v. 32, . ii. 122, 151 vi. 7, . . iU. 17 vi. 14, . . i 335 vi. 23, iii. 42, 55, 125, 127, 215, 241 Philippians — i 3, . . iii. 79 i 6, iU. 49, 202, 290 i 8, . . ii. 96 i. 13, . . Hi. 228 i 19, . . i 394 i. 21, . . Ui. 359 i. 28, 29, . Hi. 241 i. 29, ii. 32, iH. 42, 123 ii 6, . U. Ill, 320 ii. 7, . . H. 77, 111 ii. 8, . i 39 ii. 12, ii. 7, Hi. 35 ii. 12, 13, i. 260, 264, 351, Hi 93, 164, 201, 202 ii. 13, i. 63, 102, 159, 199, 2Q9, 219, ii. 7, 12, 26, Ui. 35, 48, 49, 72, 73, 263 ii. 14, 15, . i. 329 ii. 21, . . Ui. 361 PAGE Fbiizppiatss— continued. ii. 29, . Vol. iii. 173 Hi. 1, . . iH. 120 Hi 2, 3, . iii. 321 iii. 4, . . iii. 321 Hi 6, . . ii. 46, Hi. 249, 318 iii. 6-8, . i 89, 91 Hi. 7-11, . i. 92 iii. 8, . . ii. 46 Hi. 8, 9, . Hi. 34 iii. 9, . . U. 15, 40 iU. 9, 10, . Hi. 320 Hi. 11, 12, . iii. 321 Ui. 12, . Hi. 14, 322 Hi. 12, 13, . Hi. 313, 317, 367 Hi. 12-14, . i 92 Hi. 12-15, i. 327, 406 Hi. 13, i 229, 321, 345 Hi. 13, 14, . ii. 309, iH. 322 iii. 15, Hi. 14, 275, 313, 323, 367 Hi. 15, 16, . Hi. 121 Hi. 16, Ui. 14, 65, 323 Hi. 20, . H. 46 Hi. 25, . Hi. 280 Colossians — i 12-14, . i 47 i. 13, . i. 256, U. 88 121, 144, 147, 173, 189, 190, Hi. 110 i. 21, 22, . i 329 i 28, . . i. 329 H. 10-15, . i 47 H. 11-13, H. 79, 334 U. 14, . . i 121 Hi. 1, . .Hi. 203 Hi. 3, . - . Hi. 318 Hi. 4, . i 344, Hi. 92 iii. 5, . . i 7 Hi. 10, i. 80, 194, U. 3.19 iU. 14, . iU. 51 iii. 18, . ii. 108 iii. 19, . ii. 119 iv. 2, . . Hi.' 167 iv. 3, . .iii 168 iv. 6, . H. 100, Hi. 32 iv. 12,. . Hi. 79 1 Thessalonians — ii. 13, . . iii. 166 iii. 5, . . Hi. 181 iii. 12, . Hi 54, 73 iv. 3-5, ii. 106, 159 iv. 5, . . H. 80 INDEX OF TEXTS. 383 1 Thess. — continued. iv. 9, . iv. 10, iv. 17, v. 14, 15, v. 21, . v. 23, . Vol. ii 15 . ii. 15 i. 122 Ui. 51, 117 i. 273 U. 317, 333 Titus— i 6, Vol. i. 347, Hi 258 2 Thessalonians- i. 3, . i. 7, 8, ii. 10-12, iH. 2, . Hi. 54 . Hi. 19 . Hi. 62 i. 55, H. 13, Hi. 40, 132 1 Timothy- i. 5, i i. 8, i. i.9, . i 15, . i 15, 16, i. 20, . H, 5, i ii U. 5, 6, H.7, . ii. 9, 10, Ui. 10, Ui. 16, iv. 1, . iv. 3, . iv. 5, . iv. 14, v. 14, . v. 20, . v. 22, . vi. 7, . vi. 10, . 192, 209, 307, Hi. 51 171, 306, 330 i 171 Hi. 3, 197 i. 47, 252 i 261 i. 219, 411 301, 353, 354, 71, 77, Hi 267 i. 47, 204, 206, 277 i 195, 395 . ii. 237 . Hi. 258 i. 237 i 395 . Hi. 271 i. 114 . Ui. 17 H. 81-117 . Hi. 117 . Hi. 21 H. 96 . H. 20 2 Timothy — i- 7, i.8, i. 8, 9, i.12, . U. 4, . U. 13, 14, H. 19, . H. 21, . ii 25, . Hi 7, . Hi. 12, . Ui. 13, . iv. 6, . iv. 7, . iv. 8, . U. 34, 232, Hi. 54, 56, 339 Hi. 233, 294 Hi. 27, 82 i 399 . Ui. 112 i 48 Ui. 85 U. 242 Hi. 75, 78 H. 280 Hi 17 i 3)4 i. 96 i. 96, 399, Hi. 29, 30 Ui. 29 ii. 12, H. 13, 14, Hi. 3, . Hi. 3-7, Hi. 4-7, iii. 5, . m. 67 i. 48 Hi 27, 250 i. 48 3, 27, 250 i 24, 35, 81, Hi. 264, 301 Philemon — 13, 14, 14, . Hebrews — i. 1-3, . ii 2, 3, U. 14, 15, ii. 17, . iv. 14, 15, iv. 15, v. 1, . vii. 24-27, vu. 26, 27, ix. 24-28, xi. 1, . xi. 4-6, xi. 6, u. xi. 13, xi. 23, xi 39, 40, xHi 4, i. 350 Hi. 17 i. 49 i 49 i 49, 123, 256 i 49 . i 49, 246 . U. 136 i. 347 i. 49 i 91 i. 50 i. 122 H. 107 103, iii. 144 i 122 i. 347 i. 122, 198 U. 81, 125 James — i.5, i. 5, 6. i 13, ' iU. 7, 66, 212 i. 217, 248, 249 i 75, 348, 371, iH. 181 i. 13-15, . iii. 16 i. 14, . . iu. 257 i. 15, . Hi. 181, 214 i. 16, . . Hi. 17 i. 17, i. 166, 179, 226, Hi. 5, 66, 78, 229 i 292 i. 25, ii 1, H. 8, ii. 10, ii. 12, H. 13, Ui. 2, Hi. 8, iii. 10, iii. 13-17, iii. 14, Hi. 15, Hi. 17, i. iii. 17 51 74 i. 74 i. 79, 222, 394, Hi. 109 i. 143, 227, 248, 355, 380 i. 246, 247, 248 i. 247 i. 248 iU. 66, 214 i. 239 iU. 66t 214 PAGE James — continued. iv. 6, . Vol. i. 176, 232 iv. 7, . . ii. 22 iv. 11,. . iii. 17 iv. 17, . . i. 293 1 Peter — i 3-5,'. i.5, . i. 7-9, . i 13-16, ii 9, . iii 6, . iii. 9, . iii. 15, iii. 17, iii. 18, iii. 21, iv. 8, . 2 Peter — i.4, . ii. 12, . ii. 19, . iii. 14-16, i 41 i 54 i. 42 i. 329 i. 42 ii. 108 Hi. 65 ii. 100 Hi. 173 i. 42 i. 35, 42 iH. 51 i 407, 440 . H. 159 i 212, 319, ii. 147 1 John — i 7, . . i. 42 i. 8, . i. 79, 80, 82, 84, 90, 153, 230, 246, 266, 269, 297, 306, 348, 354, 389, Hi. 179, 272, 299, 300, 325, 332, 358, 360 i. 10, . . Hi. 366 u. 7, . . Hi. 293 ii. 10, . . Hi. 51 ii. 15, . . Hi. 17 U. 15, 17, . U. 119 ii. 16, . ii. 21, 153, 156, 157 ii. 19, . Hi. 89, 188 iii. 1, . ii. 21, Hi 56 Hi. 2, . i. 82, 194, 197, 318, Hi. 318 Hi 2, 3, i. 348, 419 Hi. 5, 6, . i. 348 Hi. 6, . . i. 349 Hi. 8, . i. 42, ii. 197 iU. 9, . i. 80, 82, 84, 246, 348, ii. 21, iH. 299, 366 Hi 10, 11, . Ui. 51 Hi. 16, . i. 126 iii. 21, 22, . i. 343 iii. 23, . Hi. 51 iv. 1, . . i 216 384 INDEX OF TEXTS. PAGE 1 John — continued. iv. 7, Vol. Hi. 53, 56, 293, 342 iv. 7, 8, iv. 10, iv. 16, iv. 18, iv. 19, iv. 21, . n. 21 . U. 27 iii. 56 i 292, 330, iii. 49 H.27,47,Ui. 53 . Ui. 52 1 John — continued. v. 2, 3, , Vol. Ui. 52 v. 3, i. 306, 332, 333 v. 9, 12, . i. 42 v. 16, . . iii. 104 v. 18, . . i 348 v. 20, . . H. 76 2 John — 5, . Hi. 52 PAGE Revelation— iU. 11, Vol. iii. 108 v. 6, . U. 332 v. 9, . i. 50 vi. & vii., H. 332 vi. 9, . ii 332 vi. 13, 14, H. 332 xiv. 3^-5, . i. 79, 338, 339 xxii. 12, Ui. 34 MUKRAV AND GIBB, KDINBUEGH, PRINTERS TO HKK MAJP.STT's STATIONERY OPHflH T. and T. Clark's Publications. 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