Chapter 26.—The Pelagians Contend that the Grace, Which is Neither the Law Nor Nature, Avails Only to the Remission of Past Sins, But Not to the Avoidance of Future Ones.

They also maintain that God’s grace, which is given through the faith of Jesus Christ, and which is neither the law nor nature, avails only for the remission of sins that have been committed, and not for the shunning of future ones, or the subjugation of those which are now assailing us. Now if all this were true, surely after offering the petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,” we could hardly go on and say, “And lead us not into temptation.”179    Matt. vi. 12, 13. The former petition we present that our sins may be forgiven; the latter, that they may be avoided or subdued,—a favour which we should by no means beg of our Father who is in heaven if we were able to accomplish it by the virtue of our human will. Now I strongly advise and earnestly require your Love180    Caritatem vestram, a phrase of the same sort as our common address, “your Honour.” to read attentively the book of the blessed Cyprian which he wrote On the Lord’s Prayer. As far as the Lord shall assist you, understand it, and commit it to memory. In this work you will see how he so appeals to the free will of those whom he edifies in his treatise, as to show them, that whatever they have to fulfil in the law, they must ask for in the prayer. But this, of course, would be utterly empty if the human will were sufficient for the performance without the help of God.

26. Dicunt etiam gratiam Dei, quae data est per fidem Jesu Christi, quae neque lex est neque natura, 0897 ad hoc tantum valere, ut peccata praeterita dimittantur, non ut futura vitentur, vel repugnantia superentur. Sed si hoc verum esset, utique in oratione dominica, cum dixissemus, Dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris; non adderemus, et ne nos in ferasin tentationem (Matth. VI, 12, 13). Illud enim dicimus ut peccata dimittantur; hoc autem ut caveantur, sive vincantur: quod a Patre qui in coelis est, nulla ratione peteremus, si virtute voluntatis humanae hoc possemus efficere. Commoneo autem Charitatem vestram, et multum exhortor, ut beati Cypriani librum quem scripsit de Oratione Dominica, diligenter legatis; et quantum vos Dominus adjuverit, intelligatis, memoriaeque mandetis. Ibi videbitis quemadmodum sic alloquatur liberum arbitrium eorum, quos conscriptione sui sermonis aedificat, ut ostendat tamen ea quae implenda jubentur in lege, in oratione esse poscenda. Quod utique vanissime fieret, si ad illa agenda sine divino adjutorio voluntas humana sufficeret.