Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series • VOLUME 5
Augustine — Anti-Pelagian Writings
SECTION 201
Chapter 17 [XVI.]--Does Pelagius Designedly Refrain from Openly Saying that All Good Action is from God?
Chapter 17 [XVI.]--Does Pelagius Designedly Refrain from Openly Saying that All Good Action is from God? "That we are able to speak," says he, "is of God; but that we make a good or a bad use of speech is of ourselves." He, however, who has made the most excellent use of speech does not teach us so. "For," says He, "it is not y…
826 wordsSECTION 202Chapter 20 [XIX.]--How a Man Makes a Good or a Bad Tree.
Chapter 20 [XIX.]--How a Man Makes a Good or a Bad Tree. Now a man makes a good tree when he receives the grace of God. For it is not by himself that he makes himself good instead of evil; but it is of Him, and through Him, and in Him who is always good. And in order that he may not only be a good tree, but also bear good fruit…
734 wordsSECTION 203Chapter 23 [XXII.]--Pelagius' Double Dealing Concerning the Ground of the Conferrence of Grace.
Chapter 23 [XXII.]--Pelagius' Double Dealing Concerning the Ground of the Conferrence of Grace. Perhaps, however, our own antecedent merits caused this gift to be bestowed upon us; as this writer has already suggested in reference to God's grace, in that work which he addressed to a holy virgin, [1838] whom he mentions in the l…
1,030 wordsSECTION 204Chapter 25 [XXIV.]--God by His Wonderful Power Works in Our Hearts Good Dispositions of Our Will.
Chapter 25 [XXIV.]--God by His Wonderful Power Works in Our Hearts Good Dispositions of Our Will. Now I want him to tell us whether that king of Assyria, [1846] whose holy wife Esther "abhorred his bed," [1847] whilst sitting upon the throne of his kingdom, and clothed in all his glorious apparel, adorned all over with gold and…
1,017 wordsSECTION 205Chapter 27 [XXVI.]--What True Grace Is, and Wherefore Given. Merits Do Not Precede Grace.
Chapter 27 [XXVI.]--What True Grace Is, and Wherefore Given. Merits Do Not Precede Grace. Now even Pelagius should frankly confess that this grace is plainly set forth in the inspired Scriptures; nor should he with shameless effrontery hide the fact that he has too long opposed it, but admit it with salutary regret; so that the…
829 wordsSECTION 206Chapter 30 [XXIX.]--What Pelagius Thinks is Needful for Ease of Performance is Really Necessary for the Performance.
Chapter 30 [XXIX.]--What Pelagius Thinks is Needful for Ease of Performance is Really Necessary for the Performance. In like manner, in another passage of the same book, he says: "In order that men may more easily accomplish by grace that which they are commanded to do by free will." Now, expunge the phrase "more easily," and y…
788 wordsSECTION 207Chapter 33 [XXXI.]--Pelagius Professes Nothing on the Subject of Grace Which May Not Be Understood of the Law and Teaching.
Chapter 33 [XXXI.]--Pelagius Professes Nothing on the Subject of Grace Which May Not Be Understood of the Law and Teaching. "See," he says, "how this epistle will clear me before your Blessedness; for in it we clearly and simply declare, that we possess a free will which is unimpaired for sinning and for not sinning; [1868] and…
848 wordsSECTION 208Chapter 35 [XXXII.]--Pelagius Believes that Infants Have No Sin to Be Remitted in Baptism.
Chapter 35 [XXXII.]--Pelagius Believes that Infants Have No Sin to Be Remitted in Baptism. But Pelagius would have the reader pass from this letter to the book which states his belief. This he has made mention of to yourselves, and in it he has discoursed a good deal on points about which no question was raised as to his views.…
849 wordsSECTION 209Chapter 39 [XXXVI]--A Letter of Pelagius Unknown to Augustin.
Chapter 39 [XXXVI]--A Letter of Pelagius Unknown to Augustin. "Let them also read," says he, "my epistle to the holy Bishop Constantius, wherein I have--briefly no doubt, but yet plainly--conjoined the grace and help of God with man's free will." This epistle, as I have already stated, [1880] I have not read; but if it is not u…
857 wordsSECTION 210Chapter 43 [XXXIX.]--The Forgiveness of Sins and Example of Christ Held by Pelagius Enough to Save the Most Hardened Sinner.
Chapter 43 [XXXIX.]--The Forgiveness of Sins and Example of Christ Held by Pelagius Enough to Save the Most Hardened Sinner. That this, indeed, is his meaning, other words also of his show us,--not contained in this work, but in the third book of his Defence of Free Will, wherein he holds a discussion with an opponent, who had …
700 wordsSECTION 211Chapter 45 [XLI.]--To What Purpose Pelagius Thought Prayers Ought to Be Offered.
Chapter 45 [XLI.]--To What Purpose Pelagius Thought Prayers Ought to Be Offered. "Let them also read," says he, "my recent little treatise which we were obliged to publish a short while ago in defence of free will, and let them acknowledge how unfair is their determination to disparage us for a denial of grace, when we througho…
736 wordsSECTION 212Chapter 47 [XLIII.]--Ambrose Most Highly Praised by Pelagius.
Chapter 47 [XLIII.]--Ambrose Most Highly Praised by Pelagius. "The blessed Bishop Ambrose," says he, "in whose writings the Roman faith shines forth with especial brightness, and whom the Latins have always regarded as the very flower and glory of their authors, and who has never found a foe bold enough to censure his faith or …
804 wordsSECTION 213Chapter 50.--Ambrose Teaches that All Men Need God's Help.
Chapter 50.--Ambrose Teaches that All Men Need God's Help. In the same book the same St. Ambrose says again: [1905] "Now if Peter fell, who said, Though all men shall be offended, yet will I never be offended,' who else shall rightly presume concerning himself? David, indeed, because he had said, In my prosperity I said, I shal…
936 wordsSECTION 214Chapter 53 [XLVIII.]--In What Sense Some Men May Be Said to Live Without Sin in the Present Life.
Chapter 53 [XLVIII.]--In What Sense Some Men May Be Said to Live Without Sin in the Present Life. But in reference to the particular point in which he quoted the holy Ambrose with so much approbation,--because he found in that author's writings, from the praises he accorded to Zacharias and Elisabeth, the opinion that a man mig…
710 wordsSECTION 215Chapter 55 [L.]--Ambrose Witnesses that Perfect Purity is Impossible to Human Nature.
Chapter 55 [L.]--Ambrose Witnesses that Perfect Purity is Impossible to Human Nature. He ought, moreover, carefully to note that, in the very same context from which he quoted that passage of Ambrose's, which seemed so satisfactory for his purpose, he also said this: "To be spotless from the beginning is an impossibility to hum…
864 wordsSECTION 216Chapter 3 [III.]--Part of the Proceedings of the Council of Carthage Against Coelestius.
Chapter 3 [III.]--Part of the Proceedings of the Council of Carthage Against Coelestius. "The bishop Aurelius said: Let what follows be recited.' It was accordingly recited, That the sin of Adam was injurious to him alone, and not to the human race.' Then, after the recital, Coelestius said: I said that I was in doubt about the…
791 wordsSECTION 217Chapter 4.--Coelestius Concedes Baptism for Infants, Without Affirming Original Sin.
Chapter 4.--Coelestius Concedes Baptism for Infants, Without Affirming Original Sin. You, of course, see that Coelestius here conceded baptism for infants only in such a manner as to be unwilling to confess that the sin of the first man, which is washed away in the laver of regeneration, passes over to them, although at the sam…
712 wordsSECTION 218Chapter 8 [VII.]--Coelestius Condemned by Zosimus.
Chapter 8 [VII.]--Coelestius Condemned by Zosimus. The venerable Pope Zosimus, keeping in view this deprecatory preamble, dealt with the man, puffed up as he was with the blasts of false doctrine, so as that he should condemn all the objectionable points which had been alleged against him by the deacon Paulinus, and that he sho…
1,028 wordsSECTION 219Chapter 11 [X.]--How that Pelagius Deceived the Synod of Palestine.
Chapter 11 [X.]--How that Pelagius Deceived the Synod of Palestine. Now I pray you carefully to observe by what evidence Pelagius is shown to have deceived his judges in Palestine, not to mention other points, on this very question of the baptism of infants, lest we should seem to any one to have used calumny and suspicion, rat…
960 wordsSECTION 220Chapter 14 [XIII.]--He Shows That, Even After the Synod of Palestine, Pelagius Held the Same Opinions as Coelestius on the Subject of Original Sin.
Chapter 14 [XIII.]--He Shows That, Even After the Synod of Palestine, Pelagius Held the Same Opinions as Coelestius on the Subject of Original Sin. I see, however, that it may be most justly demanded of me, that I do not defer my promised demonstration, that he actually entertains the same views as Coelestius. In the first book…
984 wordsSECTION 221Chapter 16 [XV.]--Pelagius' Fraudulent and Crafty Excuses.
Chapter 16 [XV.]--Pelagius' Fraudulent and Crafty Excuses. For what is the significance to the matter with which we now have to do of his answers to his followers, when he tells them that "the reason why he condemned the points which were objected against him, is because he himself maintains that primal sin was injurious not on…
742 wordsSECTION 222Chapter 18 [XVII.]--The Condemnation of Pelagius.
Chapter 18 [XVII.]--The Condemnation of Pelagius. This being the case, you of course feel that episcopal councils, and the Apostolic See, and the whole Roman Church, and the Roman Empire itself, [1943] which by God's gracious favour has become Christian, has been most righteously moved against the authors of this wicked error, …
743 wordsSECTION 223Chapter 21 [XIX.]--Pelagius Avoids the Question as to Why Baptism is Necessary for Infants.
Chapter 21 [XIX.]--Pelagius Avoids the Question as to Why Baptism is Necessary for Infants. Now it is to no purpose that he says all this. He does not clear himself thereby. Not even they have ever denied the impossibility of infants entering the kingdom of heaven without baptism. But this is not the question; what we are discu…
757 wordsSECTION 224Chapter 24.--Pelagius' Long Residence at Rome.
Chapter 24.--Pelagius' Long Residence at Rome. The truth indeed is, that in the book of his faith which he sent to Rome with this very letter [1949] to the before-mentioned Pope Innocent, to whom also he had written the letter, he only the more evidently exposed himself by his efforts at concealment. He says: [1950] "We hold on…
709 wordsSECTION 225Chapter 26 [XXIII.]--The Pelagians Maintain that Raising Questions About Original Sin Does Not Endanger the Faith.
Chapter 26 [XXIII.]--The Pelagians Maintain that Raising Questions About Original Sin Does Not Endanger the Faith. Therefore, after the full discussion with which we have been able to rebut in writing this error of theirs, which is so inimical to the grace of God bestowed on small and great through our Lord Jesus Christ, it is …
1,073 wordsSECTION 226Chapter 28 [XXIV.]--The Heresy of Pelagius and Coelestius Aims at the Very Foundations of Our Faith.
Chapter 28 [XXIV.]--The Heresy of Pelagius and Coelestius Aims at the Very Foundations of Our Faith. This is, however, in the matter of the two men by one of whom we are sold under sin, [1958] by the other redeemed from sins--by the one have been precipitated into death, by the other are liberated unto life; the former of whom …
1,323 wordsSECTION 227Chapter 30 [XXVI]--Pelagius and Coelestius Deny that the Ancient Saints Were Saved by Christ.
Chapter 30 [XXVI]--Pelagius and Coelestius Deny that the Ancient Saints Were Saved by Christ. We must not therefore divide the times, as Pelagius and his disciples do, who say that men first lived righteously by nature, then under the law, thirdly under grace,--by nature meaning all the long time from Adam before the giving of …
1,266 wordsSECTION 228Chapter 33 [XVIII.]--How Christ is Our Mediator.
Chapter 33 [XVIII.]--How Christ is Our Mediator. Of this flesh and blood Melchizedek also, when he blessed Abram himself, [1994] gave the testimony which is very well known to Christian believers, so that long afterwards it was said to Christ in the Psalms: "Thou art a Priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek." [1995] Th…
823 wordsSECTION 229Chapter 36 [XXXI]--The Platonists' Opinion About the Existence of the Soul Previous to the Body Rejected.
Chapter 36 [XXXI]--The Platonists' Opinion About the Existence of the Soul Previous to the Body Rejected. What, then, is the purport of so severe a condemnation, when no wilful sin has been committed? For it is not as certain Platonists have thought, because every such infant is thus requited in his soul for what it did of its …
975 wordsSECTION 230Chapter 39 [XXXIV.]--Three Things Good and Laudable in Matrimony.
Chapter 39 [XXXIV.]--Three Things Good and Laudable in Matrimony. Marriage, therefore, is a good in all the things which are proper to the married state. And these are three: it is the ordained means of procreation, it is the guarantee [2017] of chastity, it is the bond of union. [2018] In respect of its ordination for generati…
901 wordsSECTION 231Chapter 41 [XXXVI.]--Lust and Travail Come from Sin. Whence Our Members Became a Cause of Shame.
Chapter 41 [XXXVI.]--Lust and Travail Come from Sin. Whence Our Members Became a Cause of Shame. Granted, therefore, that we have no means of showing both that the nuptial acts of that primeval marriage were quietly discharged, undisturbed by lustful passion, and that the motion of the organs of generation, like that of any oth…
1,019 wordsSECTION 232Chapter 44 [XXXIX.]--Even the Children of the Regenerate Born in Sin. The Effect of Baptism.
Chapter 44 [XXXIX.]--Even the Children of the Regenerate Born in Sin. The Effect of Baptism. This concupiscence of the flesh would be prejudicial, [2031] just in so far as it is present in us, [2032] if the remission of sins were not so beneficial [2033] that while it is present in men, both as born and as born again, it may in…
994 wordsSECTION 233Chapter 46.--Difficulty of Believing Original Sin. Man's Vice is a Beast's Nature.
Chapter 46.--Difficulty of Believing Original Sin. Man's Vice is a Beast's Nature. No one should feel surprise, and ask: "Why does God's goodness create anything for the devil's malignity to take possession of?" The truth is, God's gift is bestowed on the seminal elements of His creature with the same bounty wherewith "He maket…
1,045 wordsSECTION 234Chapter 48.--Pelagius Rightly Condemned and Really Opposed by Ambrose.
Chapter 48.--Pelagius Rightly Condemned and Really Opposed by Ambrose. These words, however, of the man of God are contradicted by Pelagius, notwithstanding all his commendation of his author, when he himself declares that "we are procreated, as without virtue, so without vice." [2047] What remains, then, but that Pelagius shou…
1,885 wordsSECTION 235Book I. [2059]
Book I. [2059] Wherein He expounds the peculiar and natural blessings of marriage. He shows that among these blessings must not be reckoned fleshly concupiscence; insomuch as this is wholly evil, such as does not proceed from the very nature of marriage, but is an accident thereof arising from original sin. This evil, notwithst…
1,007 wordsSECTION 236Chapter 3 [III.]--Conjugal Chastity the Gift of God.
Chapter 3 [III.]--Conjugal Chastity the Gift of God. That chastity in the married state is God's gift, is shown by the most blessed Paul, when, speaking on this very subject, he says: "But I would that all men were even as I myself: but every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that." [2066…
1,693 wordsSECTION 237Chapter 7 [VI.]--Man's Disobedience Justly Requited in the Rebellion of His Own Flesh; The Blush of Shame for the Disobedient Members of the Body.
Chapter 7 [VI.]--Man's Disobedience Justly Requited in the Rebellion of His Own Flesh; The Blush of Shame for the Disobedient Members of the Body. When the first man transgressed the law of God, he began to have another law in his members which was repugnant to the law of his mind, and he felt the evil of his own disobedience w…
1,670 wordsSECTION 238Chapter 11 [X.]--The Sacrament of Marriage; Marriage Indissoluble; The World's Law About Divorce Different from the Gospel's.
Chapter 11 [X.]--The Sacrament of Marriage; Marriage Indissoluble; The World's Law About Divorce Different from the Gospel's. It is certainly not fecundity only, the fruit of which consists of offspring, nor chastity only, whose bond is fidelity, but also a certain sacramental bond [2089] in marriage which is recommended to bel…
1,282 wordsSECTION 239Chapter 13.--In the Marriage of Mary and Joseph There Were All the Blessings of the Wedded State; All that is Born of Concubinage is Sinful Flesh.
Chapter 13.--In the Marriage of Mary and Joseph There Were All the Blessings of the Wedded State; All that is Born of Concubinage is Sinful Flesh. The entire good, therefore, of the nuptial institution was effected in the case of these parents of Christ: there was offspring, there was faithfulness, there was the bond. [2107] As…
1,598 wordsSECTION 240Chapter 17 [XV.]--What is Sinless in the Use of Matrimony? What is Attended With Venial Sin, and What with Mortal?
Chapter 17 [XV.]--What is Sinless in the Use of Matrimony? What is Attended With Venial Sin, and What with Mortal? It is, however, one thing for married persons to have intercourse only for the wish to beget children, which is not sinful: it is another thing for them to desire carnal pleasure in cohabitation, but with the spous…
713 wordsSource & rights
Historical text source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The downloaded text itself records Public Domain.