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

There can be no doubt that what Pelagius has acknowledged as his own is as yet very obscure. I suppose, however, that it will become apparent in the subsequent details of these proceedings. Now he says: “We have affirmed that a man is able to be without sin, and to keep the commandments of God if he wishes, inasmuch as God has given him this ability. But we have not said that any man can be found, who from infancy to old age has never committed sin; but that if any person were converted from his sins, he could by his own exertion and God’s grace be without sin; and yet not even thus would he be incapable of change afterwards.” Now it is quite uncertain what he means in these words by the grace of God; and the judges, catholic as they were, could not possibly understand by the phrase anything else than the grace which is so very strongly recommended to us in the apostle’s teaching. Now this is the grace whereby we hope that we can be delivered from the body of this death through our Lord Jesus Christ,47    Rom. vii. 24, 25.

20. Illud sane quod Pelagius suum esse confessus est, adhuc latebrosum est: sed puto quod in istorum gestorum consequentibus partibus elucebit. Ait enim: «Posse quidem hominem esse sine peccato, et Dei mandata custodire, si velit, diximus: hanc enim possibilitatem Deus illi dedit. Non autem diximus quod inveniatur aliquis, ab infantia usque ad senectam, qui nunquam peccaverit: sed quoniam a peccatis conversus, proprio labore et Dei gratia possit esse sine peccato; nec per hoc tamen in posterum inconversibilis.» In his verbis, quam dicat Dei gratiam, prorsus latet: et judices quidem catholici nullam aliam intelligere potuerunt, nisi quam nobis plurimum apostolica doctrina commendat. Haec est enim, qua nos 0332 liberari posse speramus de corpore mortis hujus per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum: