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Augustine of Hippo, On Rebuke and Grace
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On Rebuke and Grace, to the same Valentinus and the Monks with Him
Chapter 2.—The Catholic Faith Concerning Law, Grace, and Free Will.
Chapter 3 [II.]—What the Grace of God Through Jesus Christ is.
Chapter 4—The Children of God are Led by the Spirit of God.
Chapter 5 [III.]—Rebuke Must Not Be Neglected.
Chapter 6 [IV.]—Objections to the Use of Rebuke.
Chapter 7 [V.]—The Necessity and Advantage of Rebuke.
Chapter 8.—Further Replies to Those Who Object to Rebuke.
Chapter 10—All Perseverance is God’s Gift.
Chapter 13.—Election is of Grace, Not of Merit.
Chapter 14.—None of the Elect and Predestinated Can Perish.
Chapter 15.—Perseverance is Given to the End.
Chapter 17 [VIII.]—Why Perseverance Should Be Given to One and Not Another is Inscrutable.
Chapter 18.—Some Instances of God’s Amazing Judgments.
Chapter 19.—God’s Ways Past Finding Out.
Chapter 21.—Who May Be Understood as Given to Christ.
Chapter 22.—True Children of God are True Disciples of Christ.
Chapter 23.—Those Who are Called According to the Purpose Alone are Predestinated.
Chapter 24.—Even the Sins of the Elect are Turned by God to Their Advantage.
Chapter 25.—Therefore Rebuke is to Be Used.
Chapter 26 [X.]—Whether Adam Received the Gift of Perseverance.
Chapter 28.—The First Man Himself Also Might Have Stood by His Free Will.
Chapter 29 [XI.]—Distinction Between the Grace Given Before and After the Fall.
Chapter 30.—The Incarnation of the Word.
Chapter 32.—The Gifts of Grace Conferred on Adam in Creation.
Chapter 35.—There is a Greater Freedom Now in the Saints Than There Was Before in Adam.
Chapter 36.—God Not Only Foreknows that Men Will Be Good, But Himself Makes Them So.
Chapter 37.—To a Sound Will is Committed the Power of Persevering or of Not Persevering.
Chapter 38.—What is the Nature of the Gift of Perseverance that is Now Given to the Saints.
Chapter 39 [XIII.]—The Number of the Predestinated is Certain and Defined.
Chapter 40.—No One is Certain and Secure of His Own Predestination and Salvation.
Chapter 41.—Even in Judgment God’s Mercy Will Be Necessary to Us.
Chapter 42.—The Reprobate are to Be Punished for Merits of a Different Kind.
Chapter 43 [XIV.]—Rebuke and Grace Do Not Set Aside One Another.
Chapter 44.—In What Way God Wills All Men to Be Saved.
Chapter 47.—Another Interpretation of the Apostolic Passage, “Who Will Have All Men to Be Saved.”
Chapter 6 [IV.]—Objections to the Use of Rebuke.
“How,” says he,23 i.e. the objecting Pelagian. “is it my fault that I have not what I have not received from Him, when unless it is given by Him, there is no other at all 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, 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 unwilling to be rebuked by those who proclaim this grace. “Prescribe to me what I shall 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 believing love of God and of my neighbour by which His precepts are24 So the mss.; the older editors read fiant, that is, “may be observed.” observed. Pray, then, for me that I may receive this, and may by its means do freely and with good will 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 unwilling to receive it. But since even the will itself is prepared25 Prov. xvi. 1. by the Lord, why dust thou rebuke me because thou seeest me unwilling to do His precepts, and dust not rather ask Him Himself to work in me the will also?”
CAPUT IV.
6. «Quomodo,» inquit, «meo vitio non habetur, quod non accepi ab illo, a quo nisi detur, non est omnino alius unde tale ac tantum munus habeatur?» Patimini me paululum, fratres mei, non adversum vos, quorum rectum est cor cum Deo, sed adversus eos qui terrena sapiunt, vel adversus ipsas humanas cogitationes, pro coelestis et divinae gratiae veritate certare . Hoc enim dicunt, qui in suis malignis operibus ab hujus gratiae praedicatoribus corripi nolunt: «Praecipe mihi quid faciam: et si fecero, age pro me gratias Deo, qui mihi ut facerem dedit; si autem non fecero, non ego corripiendus sum, sed ille orandus est, ut det quod non dedit, id est ipsam, qua praecepta ejus fiunt , fidelem Dei et proximi charitatem. Ora ergo pro me ut hanc accipiam, et per hanc ex animo cum bona voluntate quae praecipit faciam. Recte autem corriperer, si eam mea culpa non haberem; hoc est, si eam possem mihi dare vel sumere ipse, nec facerem, vel si dante illo ego accipere noluissem. Cum vero et ipsa voluntas a Domino praeparetur (Prov. VIII, sec. LXX), cur me corripis, quia vides me ejus praecepta facere nolle; et non potius ipsum rogas, ut in me operetur et velle?»