Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series • VOLUME 5
Augustine — Anti-Pelagian Writings
SECTION 281
Chapter 11.--Martyrdom for Christ Supplies the Place of Baptism. The Faith of the Thief Who Was Crucified Along with Christ Taken as Martyrdom and Hence for Baptism.
Chapter 11.--Martyrdom for Christ Supplies the Place of Baptism. The Faith of the Thief Who Was Crucified Along with Christ Taken as Martyrdom and Hence for Baptism. Accordingly, the thief, who was no follower of the Lord previous to the cross, but His confessor upon the cross, from whose case a presumption is sometimes taken, …
797 wordsSECTION 282Chapter 13 [XI.]--The Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ Will Not Avail for Unbaptized Persons, and Can Not Be Offered for the Majority of Those Who Die Unbaptized.
Chapter 13 [XI.]--The Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ Will Not Avail for Unbaptized Persons, and Can Not Be Offered for the Majority of Those Who Die Unbaptized. But even if it be conceded to this man (what cannot by any means be allowed with safety to the catholic faith and the rule of the Church), that the sacrifice…
792 wordsSECTION 283Chapter 15 [XII.]--God Does Not Judge Any One for What He Might Have Done If His Life Had Been Prolonged, But Simply for the Deeds He Actually Commits.
Chapter 15 [XII.]--God Does Not Judge Any One for What He Might Have Done If His Life Had Been Prolonged, But Simply for the Deeds He Actually Commits. For my own part, indeed, I affirm that neither of the alternative cases ought to be admitted, nor that third opinion which would have it that souls sinned in some other state pr…
1,503 wordsSECTION 284Chapter 18.--By "Breath" Is Signified Sometimes the Holy Spirit.
Chapter 18.--By "Breath" Is Signified Sometimes the Holy Spirit. How, again, does he know whether the repetition of the idea in the sentence, "who giveth breath to the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk over it," may not be understood of only one thing under two expressions, and may not mean, not the life or spirit wh…
1,334 wordsSECTION 285Chapter 20.--Other Ways of Taking the Passage.
Chapter 20.--Other Ways of Taking the Passage. There are also some persons who understand the prophet's words, "He gave breath to the people upon it," that is to say, upon the earth, as if the word "breath," flatus, were simply equivalent to "soul," anima; while they construe the next clause, "and spirit to them that walk over …
937 wordsSECTION 286Chapter 24 [XV.]--Whether or No the Soul is Derived by Natural Descent (Ex Traduce), His Cited Passages Fail to Show.
Chapter 24 [XV.]--Whether or No the Soul is Derived by Natural Descent (Ex Traduce), His Cited Passages Fail to Show. Forasmuch, then, as the passages of Scripture which he mentions by no means show what he endeavours to enforce (since, indeed, they express nothing at all on the immediate question before us), what can be the me…
959 wordsSECTION 287Chapter 26 [XVI.]--The Fifth Passage of Scripture Quoted by Victor.
Chapter 26 [XVI.]--The Fifth Passage of Scripture Quoted by Victor. "Learn," says he, "for, behold the apostle teaches you." Yes, indeed, I will learn, if the apostle teaches; since it is God alone who teaches by the apostle. But, pray, what is it which the apostle teaches? "Behold," he adds, "how, when speaking to the men of A…
1,545 wordsSECTION 288Chapter 28.--A Natural Figure of Speech Must Not Be Literally Pressed.
Chapter 28.--A Natural Figure of Speech Must Not Be Literally Pressed. He goes on to remark: "But the apostle, by saying, And He Himself giveth life and spirit to all,' and then by adding the words, And hath made the whole race of men of one blood,' [2382] has referred this soul and spirit to the Creator in respect of their ori…
756 wordsSECTION 289Chapter 29 [XVIII.]--The Sixth Passage of Scripture Quoted by Victor.
Chapter 29 [XVIII.]--The Sixth Passage of Scripture Quoted by Victor. Let us now look at the quotation from Genesis, where the woman was created out of the side of the man, and was brought to him, and he said: "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh." Our opponent thinks that "Adam ought to have said, Soul of my so…
944 wordsSECTION 290Chapter 31.--The Argument of the Apollinarians to Prove that Christ Was Without the Human Soul of This Same Sort.
Chapter 31.--The Argument of the Apollinarians to Prove that Christ Was Without the Human Soul of This Same Sort. Although, then, this question remains unsolved by these passages of Scripture, which are certainly indecisive so far as pertains to the point before us, yet I am quite sure of this, that those persons who think that…
972 wordsSECTION 291Chapter 34.--The Mistakes Which Must Be Avoided by Those Who Say that Men's Souls are Not Derived from Their Parents, But are Afresh Inbreathed by God in Every Instance.
Chapter 34.--The Mistakes Which Must Be Avoided by Those Who Say that Men's Souls are Not Derived from Their Parents, But are Afresh Inbreathed by God in Every Instance. All, therefore, who wish to maintain that new souls are rightly said to be breathed into persons at their birth, and not derived from their parents, must by al…
796 wordsSECTION 292Book II.
Book II. In the Shape of a Letter Addressed to the Presbyter Peter. He advises Peter not to incur the imputation of having approved of the books which had been addressed to him by Victor on the origin of the soul, by any use he might make of them, nor to take as Catholic doctrines that person's rash utterances contrary to the …
882 wordsSECTION 293Chapter 3.--The Difference Between the Senses of the Body and Soul.
Chapter 3.--The Difference Between the Senses of the Body and Soul. Again, I wonder whether this man taught you the difference between the bodily senses and the sensibilities of the soul; and whether you, who were a person of considerable age and position before you took lessons of this man, used to consider to be one and the s…
1,081 wordsSECTION 294Chapter 6.--Shall God's Nature Be Mutable, Sinful, Impious, Even Eternally Damned.
Chapter 6.--Shall God's Nature Be Mutable, Sinful, Impious, Even Eternally Damned. All this, however, I am saying to a catholic: advising with him rather than teaching him. For I do not suppose that these things are new to you; or that they have been long heard of by you, but not believed. This epistle of mine, you will, I am s…
932 wordsSECTION 295Chapter 8.--The Thirst of the Rich Man in Hell Does Not Prove the Soul to Be Corporeal.
Chapter 8.--The Thirst of the Rich Man in Hell Does Not Prove the Soul to Be Corporeal. Now with regard to the point, which with perfect propriety and great soundness of view he believes, that souls after quitting the body are judged, before they come to that final judgment to which they must submit when their bodies are restor…
1,231 wordsSECTION 296Chapter 10 [VI.]--Children May Be Found of Like or of Unlike Dispositions with Their Parents.
Chapter 10 [VI.]--Children May Be Found of Like or of Unlike Dispositions with Their Parents. Then, again, how ineptly he labours to free the soul, which he supposes to be corporeal, from the passions of the body, raising questions about the soul's infancy; about the soul's emotions, when paralysed and oppressed; about the ampu…
1,116 wordsSECTION 297Chapter 12 [VIII.]--How Did the Soul Deserve to Be Incarnated?
Chapter 12 [VIII.]--How Did the Soul Deserve to Be Incarnated? He also says some time afterwards: "The soul therefore, if it deserved to be sinful, although it could not have been sinful, yet did not remain in sin; because, as it was prefigured in Christ, it was bound not to be in a sinful state, even as it was unable to be." […
991 wordsSECTION 298Chapter 14 [X.]--Victor Sends Those Infants Who Die Unbaptized to Paradise and the Heavenly Mansions, But Not to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Chapter 14 [X.]--Victor Sends Those Infants Who Die Unbaptized to Paradise and the Heavenly Mansions, But Not to the Kingdom of Heaven. But I beg you mark how bold he is, who is displeased with hesitancy, which prefers to be cautious rather than overknowing in a question so profound as this: "I would be bold to say"--such are h…
1,608 wordsSECTION 299Chapter 17.--Disobedient Compassion and Compassionate Disobedience Reprobated. Martyrdom in Lieu of Baptism.
Chapter 17.--Disobedient Compassion and Compassionate Disobedience Reprobated. Martyrdom in Lieu of Baptism. The new-fangled Pelagian heretics have been most justly condemned by the authority of catholic councils and of the Apostolic See, on the ground of their having dared to give to unbaptized infants a place of rest and salv…
1,125 wordsSECTION 300Chapter 19 [XIV.]--Victor Relies on Ambiguous Scriptures.
Chapter 19 [XIV.]--Victor Relies on Ambiguous Scriptures. The passages of Scripture, indeed, which he has adduced in the attempt to prove from them that God did not derive human souls by propagation from the primitive soul, but as in that first instance that He formed them by breathing them into each individual, are so uncertai…
985 wordsSECTION 301Chapter 21 [XV.]--Victor's Perplexity and Failure.
Chapter 21 [XV.]--Victor's Perplexity and Failure. For these reasons I fail thus far to discover what this instructor has taught you, and what grounds you have for the gratitude you have lavished upon him. For the question remains just as it was, which inquires about the origin of souls, whether God gives, forms, and makes them…
864 wordsSECTION 302Chapter 23 [XVII.]--Who They are that are Not Injured by Reading Injurious Books.
Chapter 23 [XVII.]--Who They are that are Not Injured by Reading Injurious Books. Forasmuch, then, as he has both commenced and terminated his books with such safeguards, and has placed on your shoulders the religious burden of their correction and emendation, I only trust that he may find in you all that he has asked you for, …
962 wordsSECTION 303Chapter 2 [II.]--Why Victor Assumed the Name of Vincentius. The Names of Evil Men Ought Never to Be Assumed by Other Persons.
Chapter 2 [II.]--Why Victor Assumed the Name of Vincentius. The Names of Evil Men Ought Never to Be Assumed by Other Persons. The first thing which caused me some anxiety about you was the title which appeared in your books with your name; for on inquiring of those who knew you, and were probably your associates in opinion, who…
993 wordsSECTION 304Chapter 3 [III.]--He Enumerates the Errors Which He Desires to Have Amended in the Books of Vincentius Victor. The First Error.
Chapter 3 [III.]--He Enumerates the Errors Which He Desires to Have Amended in the Books of Vincentius Victor. The First Error. If you ask me what the particular errors are, you may read what I have written to our brethren, that servant of God Renatus, and the presbyter Peter, to the latter of whom you yourself thought it neces…
972 wordsSECTION 305Chapter 5.--Examination of Victor's Simile: Does Man Give Out Nothing by Breathing?
Chapter 5.--Examination of Victor's Simile: Does Man Give Out Nothing by Breathing? Prove now yourself what I say, for your own satisfaction in your own case; emit breath by exhalation, and see whether you can continue long without catching back your breath; then again catch it back by inhalation, and see what discomfort you ex…
750 wordsSECTION 306Chapter 7 [V.]--Victor Apparently Gives the Creative Breath to Man Also.
Chapter 7 [V.]--Victor Apparently Gives the Creative Breath to Man Also. But what is the meaning of that, which you have thought proper to add to this simile, with regard to the example of the blessed Elisha because he raised the dead by breathing into his face? [2441] Now, do you really suppose that Elisha's breath was made th…
900 wordsSECTION 307Chapter 9 [VII.]--His Third Error. (See Above in Book II. 11 [VII.].)
Chapter 9 [VII.]--His Third Error. (See Above in Book II. 11 [VII.].) Again, do not, I pray you, believe, say, or teach that "the soul deservedly lost something by the flesh, although it was of good merit previous to the flesh," if you wish to be a catholic. For the apostle declares that "children who are not yet born, have don…
741 wordsSECTION 308Chapter 12 [IX.]--His Sixth Error. (See Above in Book I. 10-12 [IX., X.], and in Book II. 13, 14 [IX., X.].)
Chapter 12 [IX.]--His Sixth Error. (See Above in Book I. 10-12 [IX., X.], and in Book II. 13, 14 [IX., X.].) If you wish to be a catholic, refrain from believing, or saying, or teaching that "infants which are forestalled by death before they are baptized may yet attain to forgiveness of their original sins." For the examples b…
898 wordsSECTION 309Chapter 14.--His Eighth Error. (See Above in Book II. 13 [IX.].)
Chapter 14.--His Eighth Error. (See Above in Book II. 13 [IX.].) Refuse, if you wish to be a catholic, to believe, or to say, or to teach that "it is of infants, who are forestalled by death before they are born again in Christ, that the Scripture says, Speedily was he taken away, lest that wickedness should alter his understan…
797 wordsSECTION 310Chapter 17.--Where the Kingdom of God May Be Understood to Be.
Chapter 17.--Where the Kingdom of God May Be Understood to Be. Now, they who say this, do no doubt seem to themselves to say a good deal, because theirs is only a slight and careless view of Scripture; nor do they understand in what sense we use the phrase, "kingdom of God," when we say of it in our prayers, "Thy kingdom come;"…
903 wordsSECTION 311Chapter 19 [XIII.]--His Eleventh Error. (See Above in Book I. 15 [XII.] and Book II. 16.)
Chapter 19 [XIII.]--His Eleventh Error. (See Above in Book I. 15 [XII.] and Book II. 16.) Once more, if you desire to be a catholic, do not believe, or say, or teach that "some of those persons who have departed this life without Christ's baptism, do not in the meantime go into the kingdom of heaven, but into paradise; yet afte…
1,107 wordsSECTION 312Chapter 21.--Augustin Compliments Victor's Talents and Diligence.
Chapter 21.--Augustin Compliments Victor's Talents and Diligence. It would take me too long a time to handle and discuss fully all the points which I wish to be amended in your books, or rather in your own self, and to give you even a brief reason for the correction of each particular. And yet you must not because of them despi…
1,086 wordsSECTION 313Book IV.
Book IV. Addressed to Vincentius Victor. He first shows, that his hesitation on the subject of the origin of souls was undeservedly blamed, and that he was wrongly compared with cattle, because he had refrained from any rash conclusions on the subject. Then, again, with regard to his own unhesitating statement, that the soul w…
1,171 wordsSECTION 314Chapter 3.--How Much Do We Know of the Nature of the Body?
Chapter 3.--How Much Do We Know of the Nature of the Body? Well, now, this extremely lucid and eloquent castigation which you have inflicted on our ignorance lays you so strictly under the necessity of knowing every possible thing which appertains to the nature of man, that, should you unhappily be ignorant of any particular, y…
897 wordsSECTION 315Chapter 4 [III.]--Is the Question of Breath One that Concerns the Soul, or Body, or What?
Chapter 4 [III.]--Is the Question of Breath One that Concerns the Soul, or Body, or What? But to what, in your judgment, does that which we discussed in our former book concerning the breath of man belong?--to the nature of the soul, seeing that it is the soul which effects it in man; or to that of the body, since the body is m…
871 wordsSECTION 316Chapter 6 [V.]--Questions About the Nature of the Body are Sufficiently Mysterious, and Yet Not Higher Than Those of the Soul.
Chapter 6 [V.]--Questions About the Nature of the Body are Sufficiently Mysterious, and Yet Not Higher Than Those of the Soul. What do you say to the statement, that amongst the works of God there are some which it is more difficult to know than even God Himself,--so far, indeed, as He can be an object of knowledge to us at all…
1,036 wordsSECTION 317Chapter 7 [VI.]--We Often Need More Teaching as to What is Most Intimately Ours Than as to What is Further from Us.
Chapter 7 [VI.]--We Often Need More Teaching as to What is Most Intimately Ours Than as to What is Further from Us. But I have to put to you a far wider question arising out of our subject. Why should only a very few know why all men do what they do? Perhaps you will tell me, Because they have learnt the art of anatomy or exper…
813 wordsSECTION 318Chapter 9 [VII.]--Our Ignorance of Ourselves Illustrated by the Remarkable Memory of One Simplicius.
Chapter 9 [VII.]--Our Ignorance of Ourselves Illustrated by the Remarkable Memory of One Simplicius. Observe now, while we are, while we live, while we know that we live, while we are certain that we possess memory, understanding, and will; who boast of ourselves as having a great knowledge of our own nature;--observe, I say, h…
937 wordsSECTION 319Chapter 12 [VIII.]--The Apostle Paul Could Know the Third Heaven and Paradise, But Not Whether He Was in the Body or Not.
Chapter 12 [VIII.]--The Apostle Paul Could Know the Third Heaven and Paradise, But Not Whether He Was in the Body or Not. See therefore how many facts of our nature, not of the past but of the present time, and not pertaining to the body only, but also to our inner man, we know nothing about, without deserving to be compared wi…
1,522 wordsSECTION 320Chapter 15 [XI.]--We Must Not Be Wise Above What is Written.
Chapter 15 [XI.]--We Must Not Be Wise Above What is Written. But then, again, you are mistaken in this matter; for the passages of Scripture which you chose to produce for the solution of this question of yours, do not prove the point. For it is another thing which they prove, without which we cannot really lead a pious life, n…
1,006 wordsSource & rights
Historical text source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The downloaded text itself records Public Domain.