Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series • VOLUME 5
Augustine — Anti-Pelagian Writings
SECTION 321
Chapter 17 [XII.]--A Twofold Question to Be Treated Concerning the Soul; Is It "Body"? and is It "Spirit"? What Body is.
Chapter 17 [XII.]--A Twofold Question to Be Treated Concerning the Soul; Is It "Body"? and is It "Spirit"? What Body is. And now, as far as the Lord vouchsafes to enable me, I must reply also to that allegation of yours, in which, speaking of the soul, you again mention my name, and say, "We do not, as the very able and learned…
962 wordsSECTION 322Chapter 19 [XIII.]--Whether the Soul is a Spirit.
Chapter 19 [XIII.]--Whether the Soul is a Spirit. But again, why you would have the soul to be a body, and refuse to deem it a spirit, I cannot see. For if it is not a spirit, on the ground that the apostle named it with distinction from the spirit, when he said, "I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved," …
1,263 wordsSECTION 323Chapter 21 [XV.]--Recognition and Form Belong to Souls as Well as Bodies.
Chapter 21 [XV.]--Recognition and Form Belong to Souls as Well as Bodies. But you say: "If the soul is incorporeal, what was it that the rich man saw in hell? He certainly recognised Lazarus; he did [not [2485] ] know Abraham. Whence arose to him the knowledge of Abraham, who had died so long before?" By using these words, I su…
892 wordsSECTION 324Chapter 24.--Abraham's Bosom--What It Means.
Chapter 24.--Abraham's Bosom--What It Means. As to your supposing that "the Abraham's bosom referred to is corporeal," and your further assertion, that "by it is meant his whole body," I fear that you must be regarded (even in such a subject) as trying to joke and raise a laugh, instead of acting gravely and seriously. For you …
806 wordsSECTION 325Chapter 26 [XVIII.]--St. Perpetua Seemed to Herself, in Some Dreams, to Have Been Turned into a Man, and Then Have Wrestled with a Certain Egyptian.
Chapter 26 [XVIII.]--St. Perpetua Seemed to Herself, in Some Dreams, to Have Been Turned into a Man, and Then Have Wrestled with a Certain Egyptian. Some notice must be taken of sundry accounts of martyrs' visions, because you have thought proper to derive some of your evidence therefrom. St. Perpetua, for instance, seemed to h…
1,070 wordsSECTION 326Chapter 28.--Is the Soul Deformed by the Body's Imperfections?
Chapter 28.--Is the Soul Deformed by the Body's Imperfections? Now, again, what means it that you say, "The soul acquires form from the body, and grows and extends with the increase of the body," without keeping in view what a monstrosity the soul of either a young man or an old man would become if his arm had been amputated wh…
759 wordsSECTION 327Chapter 30.--Is Corporeity Necessary for Recognition?
Chapter 30.--Is Corporeity Necessary for Recognition? But who is able to trace out what capacity of recognition even souls which are not good possess after death when relieved of the corruptible bodies, so as to be able by an inner sense to observe and recognise either souls that are evil like themselves, or even good ones, eit…
708 wordsSECTION 328Chapter 33.--The Phenix After Death Coming to Life Again.
Chapter 33.--The Phenix After Death Coming to Life Again. Now, what you say about the phenix has nothing whatever to do with the subject before us. For the phenix symbolizes the resurrection of the body; it does not do away with the sex of souls; if indeed, as is thought, he is born afresh after his death. I suppose, however, t…
864 wordsSECTION 329Chapter 35.--Do Angels Appear to Men in Real Bodies?
Chapter 35.--Do Angels Appear to Men in Real Bodies? It would, however, require too lengthy a discourse to enter very carefully on a discussion concerning this kind of corporeal semblances; whether angels even, either good ones or evil ones, appear in this manner, [2506] whenever they appear in the likeness of human beings or o…
974 wordsSECTION 330Chapter 37 [XXIII.]--Wide and Narrow Sense of the Word "Spirit."
Chapter 37 [XXIII.]--Wide and Narrow Sense of the Word "Spirit." But now, with a view to our easier elucidation, I beg you to observe that what is the soul is also designated spirit in the scripture which narrates an incident in our Lord's death, thus, "He bowed His head and gave up the spirit." [2515] Now, when you hear or rea…
936 wordsSECTION 331Chapter 38 [XXIV.]--Victor's Chief Errors Again Pointed Out.
Chapter 38 [XXIV.]--Victor's Chief Errors Again Pointed Out. Wherefore if you take these books, which I have with a sincere and affectionate interest written in answer to your opinions, and read them with a reciprocal love for me; if you attend to what you have yourself declared in the beginning of your first book, and "are anx…
1,008 wordsSECTION 332Book II. Chap. 61,
Book II. Chap. 61, On the Following Treatise, "contra duas epistolas pelagianorum." ------------------------ Then follow four books which I wrote to Boniface, bishop of the Roman 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 a calumnious m…
936 wordsSECTION 333Chapter 4 [II.]--The Calumny of Julian,--That the Catholics Teach that Free Will is Taken Away by Adam's Sin.
Chapter 4 [II.]--The Calumny of Julian,--That the Catholics Teach that Free Will is Taken Away by Adam's Sin. Let us now, therefore, reply to Julian's letter. "Those Manicheans 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 Ada…
1,200 wordsSECTION 334Chapter 7.--He Concludes that He Does Not Deprive the Wicked of Free Will.
Chapter 7.--He Concludes that He Does Not Deprive the 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 they were unwilling, "by the necessity of their flesh;" but if they are already of the age to use…
881 wordsSECTION 335Chapter 10--The Third Calumny,--The Assertion that Conjugal Intercourse is Condemned.
Chapter 10--The Third Calumny,--The Assertion that Conjugal Intercourse is Condemned. "They say also," says he, "that sexual impulse and the intercourse of married people were devised by the devil, and that therefore those who are born innocent are guilty, and that it is the work of the devil, not of God, that they are born of …
801 wordsSECTION 336Chapter 13 [VIII.]--The Fifth Calumny,--That It is Said that Paul and the Rest of the Apostles Were Polluted by Lust.
Chapter 13 [VIII.]--The Fifth Calumny,--That It is Said that Paul and the Rest of the Apostles Were Polluted by Lust. He says, "They say that even the Apostle Paul, even all the apostles, were always polluted by immoderate lust." What man, however profane he may be, would dare to say this? But doubtless this man thus misreprese…
790 wordsSECTION 337Chapter 14.--That the Apostle is Speaking in His Own Person and that of Others Who Are Under Grace, Not Still Under Law.
Chapter 14.--That the Apostle is Speaking in His Own Person and that of Others Who Are Under Grace, Not Still Under Law. And from this point he now begins--and, it was on account of this that I undertook the consideration of these things--to introduce his own person, and to speak as if about himself; where the Pelagians will no…
886 wordsSECTION 338Chapter 16.--How Sin Died, and How It Revived.
Chapter 16.--How Sin Died, and How It Revived. And what he says in that passage of the Epistle to the Romans, "Sin, that it might appear sin, wrought death to me by that which is good," [2566] 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…
741 wordsSECTION 339Chapter 18.--How the Apostle Said that He Did the Evil that He Would Not.
Chapter 18.--How the Apostle Said that He Did the Evil that He Would Not. Or by chance do we fear what follows, "For that which I do I know not, for what I will I do not, but what I hate that I do," [2573] lest perhaps from these words some one should suspect that the apostle is consenting to the evil works of the concupiscence…
824 wordsSECTION 340Chapter 21.--No Condemnation in Christ Jesus.
Chapter 21.--No Condemnation in Christ Jesus. Then he adds the reason why he said all these things: "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace 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 th…
710 wordsSECTION 341Chapter 24.--He Concludes that the Apostle Spoke in His Own Person, and that of Those Who are Under Grace.
Chapter 24.--He Concludes that the 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 to have signified not, indeed, himself alone in his own person, but …
1,003 wordsSECTION 342Chapter 28 [XIV.]--Many Without Crime, None Without Sin.
Chapter 28 [XIV.]--Many Without Crime, None Without Sin. All these products of concupiscence, and the old guilt of concupiscence itself, are put away by the washing of baptism. And whatever that concupiscence now brings forth, if they are not those products which are called not only sins, but even crimes, are purified by that m…
1,128 wordsSECTION 343Chapter 33.--The Shame of Nakedness.
Chapter 33.--The Shame of Nakedness. This kind of shame--this necessity of blushing--is certainly born with every man, and in some measure is commanded by the very laws of nature; so that, in this matter, even virtuous married people are ashamed. Nor can any one go to such an extreme of evil and disgrace, as, because he knows G…
948 wordsSECTION 344Chapter 36 [XVIII.]--Julian's Fourth Objection, that Man is God's Work, and is Not Constrained to Evil or Good by His Power.
Chapter 36 [XVIII.]--Julian's Fourth Objection, that Man is God's Work, and is Not Constrained to Evil or Good by His Power. "We maintain," says he, "that men are the work of God, and that no one is forced unwillingly by His power either into evil or good, but that man does either good or ill of his own will; but that in a good…
898 wordsSECTION 345Chapter 38 [XX.]--The Power of God's Grace is Proved.
Chapter 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 o…
928 wordsSECTION 346Chapter 40 [XXII.]--The Sixth Objection, Concerning the Necessity of Grace for All, and Concerning the Baptism of Infants.
Chapter 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 all, both to grown-up people and to infants; and we anathematize those who say that a child born of two baptized people ought not to be baptize…
779 wordsSECTION 347Book II.
Book II. He undertakes to examine the second letter of the Pelagians, 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 heretical writings with one another, that the Catholics are by …
1,130 wordsSECTION 348Chapter 3.--How Far the Manicheans and Pelagians are Joined in Error; How Far They are Separated.
Chapter 3.--How Far the Manicheans and Pelagians are Joined in Error; How Far They are Separated. Still, indeed, they alike oppose the grace of Christ, they alike make His baptism of no account, they alike dishonour His flesh; but, moreover, they do these things in different ways and for different reasons. For the Manicheans as…
1,342 wordsSECTION 349Chapter 6 [IV.]--What Was Done in the Case of Coelestius and Zosimus.
Chapter 6 [IV.]--What Was Done in the Case of Coelestius and Zosimus. But what need is there for us to delay longer in speaking of this matter, when there are extant here and there proceedings and writings drawn up, where all those things just as they were transacted may be either learnt or recalled? For who does not see in wha…
775 wordsSECTION 350Chapter 8.--The Catholic Faith Concerning Infants.
Chapter 8.--The Catholic Faith Concerning Infants. What do they say to these things who dare also to write their 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, and he…
1,124 wordsSECTION 351Chapter 11 [VI.]--The Accusation of Fate is Thrown Back Upon the Adversaries.
Chapter 11 [VI.]--The Accusation of Fate is Thrown Back Upon the Adversaries. But is it true, O children of pride, enemies of God's grace, new Pelagian heretics, that whoever says that all 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 giv…
814 wordsSECTION 352Chapter 12.--What is Meant Under the Name of Fate.
Chapter 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 wills themselves depend on the position of the stars at the time in which one is conceived or born; which positions they call "constellations." But the grace of God stands above not o…
907 wordsSECTION 353Chapter 14.--He Illustrates His Argument by an Example.
Chapter 14.--He Illustrates His Argument by an Example. But that what I am saying may be made clear by the exhibition 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 th…
1,345 wordsSECTION 354Chapter 16.--The Pelagians are Refuted by the Case of the Twin Infants Dying, the One After, and the Other Without, the Grace of Baptism.
Chapter 16.--The Pelagians are Refuted by the Case of the Twin Infants Dying, the One After, and the Other Without, the Grace of 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 in t…
1,311 wordsSECTION 355Chapter 19 [IX.]--He Interprets the Scriptures Which the Pelagians Make Ill Use of.
Chapter 19 [IX.]--He Interprets the 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," [2658] they are misled by an imperfect understanding, so as to think that to prepare the heart--that is, to begin …
1,019 wordsSECTION 356Chapter 22 [X.]--According to Whose Purpose the Elect are Called.
Chapter 22 [X.]--According to Whose Purpose the Elect are Called. Why, then, is it that, in what follows, where they mention what they themselves think, they say they confess "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 so say …
751 wordsSECTION 357Book III.
Book III. Augustin goes on to refute other matters which are calumniously 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 utility of the law; what they teach of the effect and virtue of baptism; what of the discr…
764 wordsSECTION 358Chapter 3.--Scriptural Confirmation of the Catholic Doctrine.
Chapter 3.--Scriptural Confirmation of the 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 greater sin." They do not hear the apostle saying, "For the law worketh wrath; for where no law is, there is no transgression;" [2684] and, "The…
1,026 wordsSECTION 359Chapter 5.--Baptism Puts Away All Sins, But It Does Not at Once Heal All Infirmities.
Chapter 5.--Baptism Puts Away All Sins, But It Does Not at Once Heal All Infirmities. Baptism, therefore, washes away indeed all sins--absolutely all sins, whether of deeds or words or thoughts, whether original or added, whether such as are committed in ignorance or allowed in knowledge; but it does not take away the weakness …
702 wordsSECTION 360Chapter 6 [IV.]--The Calumny Concerning the Old Testament and the Righteous Men of Old.
Chapter 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 catholic would say that which they charge us with saying, "that the Holy Spirit was not the assister of virtue in the old testa…
863 wordsSource & rights
Historical text source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The downloaded text itself records Public Domain.