On the Proceedings of Pelagius

 1.—Introduction.

 2. [I.]—The First Item in the Accusation, and Pelagius’ Answer.

 3.—Discussion of Pelagius’ First Answer.

 4. [II.]—The Same Continued.

 5. [III.]—The Second Item in the Accusation And Pelagius’ Answer.

 6.—Pelagius’ Answer Examined.

 7.—The Same Continued.

 8.—The Same Continued.

 9.—The Third Item in the Accusation And Pelagius’ Answer.

 10.—Pelagius’ Answer Examined. On Origen’s Error Concerning the Non-Eternity of the Punishment of the Devil and the Damned.

 11.—The Same Continued.

 12. [IV.]—The Fourth Item in the Accusation And Pelagius’ Answer.

 13. [V.]—The Fifth Item of the Accusation And Pelagius’ Answer.

 14.—Examination of This Point. The Phrase “Old Testament” Used in Two Senses. The Heir of the Old Testament. In the Old Testament There Were Heirs of

 15.—The Same Continued.

 16. [VI.]—The Sixth Item of the Accusation, and Pelagius’ Reply.

 17.—Examination of the Sixth Charge and Answers.

 18.—The Same Continued.

 19.—The Same Continued.

 20.—The Same Continued. Pelagius Acknowledges the Doctrine of Grace in Deceptive Terms.

 [VII.] and for the obtaining of which we pray that we may not be led into temptation. This grace is not nature, but that which renders assistance to f

 21. [VIII.]—The Same Continued.

 21. [IX.]—The Same Continued.

 22. [X.]—The Same Continued. The Synod Supposed that the Grace Acknowledged by Pelagius Was that Which Was So Thoroughly Known to the Church.

 23. [XI.]—The Seventh Item of the Accusation: the Breviates of Cœlestius Objected to Pelagius.

 24.—Pelagius’ Answer to the Charges Brought Together Under the Seventh Item.

 25.—The Pelagians Falsely Pretended that the Eastern Churches Were on Their Side.

 26.—The Accusations in the Seventh Item, Which Pelagius Confessed.

 27. [XII.]—The Eighth Item in the Accusation.

 28.—Pelagius’ Reply to the Eighth Item of Accusation.

 29. [XIII.]—The Ninth Item of the Accusation And Pelagius’ Reply.

 30. [XIV.]—The Tenth Item in the Accusation. The More Prominent Points of Cœlestius’ Work Continued.

 31.—Remarks on the Tenth Item.

 32.—The Eleventh Item of the Accusation.

 33.—Discussion of the Eleventh Item Continued.

 34.—The Same Continued. On the Works of Unbelievers Faith is the Initial Principle from Which Good Works Have Their Beginning Faith is the Gift of G

 35.—The Same Continued.

 36.—The Same Continued. The Monk Pelagius. Grace is Conferred on the Unworthy.

 37—The Same Continued. John, Bishop of Jerusalem, and His Examination.

 38. [XV.]—The Same Continued.

 39. [XVI.]—The Same Continued. Heros and Lazarus Orosius.

 40. [XVII.]—The Same Continued.

 41.—Augustin Indulgently Shows that the Judges Acted Incautiously in Their Official Conduct of the Case of Pelagius.

 42. [XVIII.]—The Twelfth Item in the Accusation. Other Heads of Cœlestius’ Doctrine Abjured by Pelagius.

 43. [XIX.]—The Answer of the Monk Pelagius and His Profession of Faith.

 44. [XX.]—The Acquittal of Pelagius.

 45. [XXI.]—Pelagius’ Acquittal Becomes Suspected.

 46. [XXII.]—How Pelagius Became Known to Augustin Cœlestius Condemned at Carthage.

 47. [XXIII.]—Pelagius’ Book, Which Was Sent by Timasius and Jacobus to Augustin, Was Answered by the Latter in His Work “On Nature and Grace.”

 48. [XXIV.]—A Letter Written by Timasius and Jacobus to Augustin on Receiving His Treatise “On Nature and Grace.”

 49. [XXV.]—Pelagius’ Behaviour Contrasted with that of the Writers of the Letter.

 50.—Pelagius Has No Good Reason to Be Annoyed If His Name Be at Last Used in the Controversy, and He Be Expressly Refuted.

 51. [XXVI.]—The Nature of Augustin’s Letter to Pelagius.

 52. [XXVII. And XXVIII.]—The Text of the Letter.

 53. [XXIX.]—Pelagius’ Use of Recommendations.

 54. [XXX.]—On the Letter of Pelagius, in Which He Boasts that His Errors Had Been Approved by Fourteen Bishops.

 55.—Pelagius’ Letter Discussed.

 56. [XXXI.]—Is Pelagius Sincere?

 57. [XXXII.]—Fraudulent Practices Pursued by Pelagius in His Report of the Proceedings in Palestine, in the Paper Wherein He Defended Himself to Augus

 [XXXIII.] But I could not help feeling annoyance that he can appear to have defended sundry sentences of Cœlestius, which, from the Proceedings, it is

 58.—The Same Continued.

 59. [XXXIV.]—Although Pelagius Was Acquitted, His Heresy Was Condemned.

 60. [XXXV.]—The Synod’s Condemnation of His Doctrines.

 61.—History of the Pelagian Heresy. The Pelagian Heresy Was Raised by Sundry Persons Who Affected the Monastic State.

 62.—The History Continued. Cœlestius Condemned at Carthage by Episcopal Judgment. Pelagius Acquitted by Bishops in Palestine, in Consequence of His De

 63.—The Same Continued. The Dogmas of Cœlestius Laid to the Charge of Pelagius, as His Master, and Condemned.

 64.—How the Bishops Cleared Pelagius of Those Charges.

 65.—Recapitulation of What Pelagius Condemned.

 66.—The Harsh Measures of the Pelagians Against the Holy Monks and Nuns Who Belonged to Jerome’s Charge.

12. [IV.]—The Fourth Item in the Accusation; And Pelagius’ Answer.

It was further objected against Pelagius, as if he had written in his book, that “evil does not enter our thoughts.” In reply, however, to this charge, he said: “We made no such statement. What we did say was, that the Christian ought to be careful not to have evil thoughts.” Of this, as it became them, the bishops approved. For who can doubt that evil ought not to be thought of? And, indeed, if what he said in his book about “evil not being thought” runs in this form, “neither is evil to be thought of,” the ordinary meaning of such words is “that evil ought not even to be thought of.” Now if any person denies this, what else does he in fact say, than that evil ought to be thought of? And if this were true, it could not be said in praise of love that “it thinketh no evil!”33    1 Cor. xiii. 5. But after all, the phrase about “not entering into the thoughts” of righteous and holy men is not quite a commendable one, for this reason, that what enters the mind is commonly called a thought, even when assent to it does not follow. The thought, however, which contracts blame, and is justly forbidden, is never unaccompanied with assent. Possibly those men had an incorrect copy of Pelagius’ writings, who thought it proper to object to him that he had used the words: “Evil does not enter into our thoughts;” that is, that whatever is evil never enters into the thoughts of righteous and holy men. Which is, of course, a very absurd statement. For whenever we censure evil things, we cannot enunciate them in words, unless they have been thought. But, as we said before, that is termed a culpable thought of evil which carries with it assent.

CAPUT IV.

12. Objectum est et illud Pelagio, tanquam in suo libro scripserit, «Malum nec in cogitationem venire.» Respondit autem, «Hoc non ita posuimus; sed diximus, debere studere Christianum, ne male cogitet:» quod, sicut decuit, episcopi approbarunt. Quis enim dubitat, malum cogitari non oportere? Et revera in libro suo quod ait, «malum nec cogitari,» si ita legitur, «nec cogitandum quidem,» 0327 hoc intelligi solet , malum nec cogitari debere quidem. Hoc autem qui negat, quid aliud dicit, quam debere cogitari malum? Quod si verum esset, non diceretur in laude charitatis, Non cogitat malum (I Cor. XIII, 5) «Non venire» tamen «in cogitationem» justorum atque sanctorum, ideo non tam probe asseritur, quia cogitatio vocari solet etiam cum aliquid in mentem venit, etsi consensio non sequatur. Cogitatio vero quae culpam contrahit, et merito prohibetur, consensione non caret. Potuit ergo fieri ut mendosum codicem legerent, qui hoc ita objiciendum arbitrati sunt, tanquam Pelagius dixerit, «Malum nec in cogitationem venire,» id est, justis et sanctis in mentem non venire quod malum est. Quae sententia profecto absurdissima est; cum enim mala reprehendimus, nisi cogitata verbis enuntiare non possumus: sed illa, ut diximus, culpabilis appellatur cogitatio mali, quae consensionem trahit.