Chapter 34.—The Mistakes Which Must Be Avoided by Those Who Say that Men’s Souls are Not Derived from Their Parents, But are Afresh Inbreathed by God in Every Instance.

All, therefore, who wish to maintain that new souls are rightly said to be breathed into persons at their birth, and not derived from their parents, must by all means be cautious on each of the four points which I have already mentioned. That is to say, do not let them affirm that souls become sinful by another’s original sin; do not let them affirm that infants who died unbaptized can possibly reach eternal life and the kingdom of heaven by the remission of original sin in any other way whatever; do not let them affirm that souls had sinned in some other place previous to their incarnation, and that on this account they were forcibly introduced into sinful flesh; nor let them affirm that the sins which were not actually found in them were, because they were foreknown, deservedly punished, although they were never permitted to reach that life where they could be committed. Provided that they affirm none of these points, because each of them is simply false and impious, they may, if they can, produce any conclusive testimonies of the Holy Scriptures on this question; and they may maintain their own opinion, not only without any prohibition from me, but even with my approbation and best thanks. If, however, they fail to discover any very decided authority on the point in the divine oracles, and are obliged to propound any one of the four opinions by reason of their failure, let them restrain their imagination, lest they should be driven in their difficulty to enunciate the now damnable and very recently condemned heresy of Pelagius, to the effect that the souls of infants have not original sin. It is, indeed, better for a man to confess his ignorance of what he knows nothing about, than either to run into heresy which has been already condemned, or to found some new heresy, while recklessly daring to defend over and over again opinions which only display his ignorance. This man has made some other absurd mistakes, indeed many, in which he has wandered out of the beaten track of truth, without going, however, to dangerous lengths; and I would like, if the Lord be willing, to write even to himself something on the subject of his books; and probably I shall point them all out to him, or a good many of them if I should be unable to notice all.

34. Quamobrem, quicumque volunt defendere quod dicuntur animae novae nascentibus insufflari, non de parentibus trahi, aliquid illorum quatuor quae supra commemoravi, caveant omni modo: hoc est, ne dicant, a Deo fieri animas peccatrices per alienum originale peccatum: ne dicant, parvulos qui sine Baptismo exierint, pervenire posse ad vitam aeternam regnumque coelorum, originali peccato per quodlibet aliud resoluto: ne dicant, animas peccasse alicubi ante carnem, et hoc merito in carnem peccatricem fuisse detrusas: ne dicant, peccata, quae in eis inventa non sunt, quia praescita sunt, merito fuisse punita, cum ad eam vitam, ubi ea committerent, permissae non fuerint pervenire. Nihil ergo istorum quatuor dicentes, quoniam quodlibet eorum falsum atque impium est; inveniant etiam Scripturarum de hac re certissima testimonia, et hanc sententiam suam, non solum me non vetante, verum etiam favente et gratias agente, defendant. Si autem non inveniunt certissimam de hac re auctoritatem divinorum eloquiorum, et aliquid illorum quatuor per inopiam dicere compelluntur; cohibeant se, ne per ipsam inopiam etiam parvulorum animas non habere originale peccatum, secundum Pelagianam haeresim olim damnabilem, nuperrimeque damnatam, dicere compellantur. Melius est enim homini fateri se nescire quod nescit, quam in haeresim vel damnatam incurrere, vel novam condere, dum temere audet defensare quod nescit. Alia hujus hominis falsa et absurda, in quibus non tam periculose, verumtamen a tramite veritatis exorbitat, quoniam multa sunt, et ad ipsum etiam, si Dominus voluerit, aliquid de libris ejus volo scribere, ibi forsitan omnia, vel si omnia non potuero, plurima ostendam.