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Augustine of Hippo, A Treatise On the Predestination of the Saints
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A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints,
Chapter 3 [II.]—Even the Beginning of Faith is of God’s Gift.
Chapter 4.—Continuation of the Preceding.
Chapter 5.—To Believe is to Think with Assent.
Chapter 6.—Presumption and Arrogance to Be Avoided.
Chapter 7 [III.]—Augustin Confesses that He Had Formerly Been in Error Concerning the Grace of God.
Chapter 8 [IV.]—What Augustin Wrote to Simplicianus, the Successor of Ambrose, Bishop of Milan.
Chapter 9 [V.]—The Purpose of the Apostle in These Words.
Chapter 10.—It is God’s Grace Which Specially Distinguishes One Man from Another.
Chapter 11 [VI.]—That Some Men are Elected is of God’s Mercy.
Chapter 12 [VII.]—Why the Apostle Said that We are Justified by Faith and Not by Works.
Chapter 13 [VIII.]—The Effect of Divine Grace.
Chapter 14.—Why the Father Does Not Teach All that They May Come to Christ.
Chapter 15.—It is Believers that are Taught of God.
Chapter 16.—Why the Gift of Faith is Not Given to All.
Chapter 18.—The Preceding Argument Applied to the Present Time.
Chapter 19 [X]—In What Respects Predestination and Grace Differ.
Chapter 20.—Did God Promise the Good Works of the Nations and Not Their Faith, to Abraham?
Chapter 22.—God’s Promise is Sure.
Chapter 23 [XII.]—Remarkable Illustrations of Grace and Predestination in Infants, and in Christ.
Chapter 24.—That No One is Judged According to What He Would Have Done If He Had Lived Longer.
Chapter 26 [XIV]—Reference to Cyprian’s Treatise “On the Mortality.”
Chapter 27.—The Book of Wisdom Obtains in the Church the Authority of Canonical Scripture.
Chapter 28.—Cyprian’s Treatise “On the Mortality.”
Chapter 29.—God’s Dealing Does Not Depend Upon Any Contingent Merits of Men.
Chapter 30 [XV.]—The Most Illustrious Instance of Predestination is Christ Jesus.
Chapter 31.—Christ Predestinated to Be the Son of God.
Chapter 32 [XVI.]—The Twofold Calling.
Chapter 35 [XVIII.]—Election is for the Purpose of Holiness.
Chapter 39—The Beginning of Faith is God’s Gift.
Chapter 40 [XX.]—Apostolic Testimony to the Beginning of Faith Being God’s Gift.
Chapter 41.—Further Apostolic Testimonies.
Chapter 35 [XVIII.]—Election is for the Purpose of Holiness.
Who can hear the apostle saying, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us in all spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ; as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without spot in His sight; in love predestinating us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will, wherein He hath shown us favour in His beloved Son; in whom we have redemption through His blood, the remission of sins according to the riches of His grace, which hath abounded to us in all wisdom and prudence; that He might show to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He hath purposed in Himself, in the dispensation of the fulness of times, to restore all things in Christ, which are in heaven, and in the earth, in Him: in whom also we have obtained a share, being predestinated according to the purpose; who worketh all things according to the counsel of His will, that we should be to the praise of his glory;”117 Eph. i. 3 ff.—who, I say, can hear these words with attention and intelligence, and can venture to have any doubt concerning a truth so clear as this which we are defending? God chose Christ’s members in Him before the foundation of the world; and how should He choose those who as yet did not exist, except by predestinating them? Therefore He chose us by predestinating us. Would he choose the unholy and the unclean? Now if the question be proposed, whether He would choose such, or rather the holy and unstained, who can ask which of these he may answer, and not give his opinion at once in favour of the holy and pure?
CAPUT XVIII.
35. Quis audiat Apostolum dicentem, Benedictus Deus et Pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui benedixit nos in omni benedictione spirituali, in coelestibus in Christo: sicut elegit nos in ipso ante mundi constitutionem, ut essemus sancti et immaculati in conspectu ejus in charitate, praedestinans nos in adoptionem filiorum per Jesum Christum in ipsum, secundum placitum voluntatis suae, in qua gratificavit nos in dilecto Filio suo; in quo habemus redemptionem per sanguinem ipsius, remissionem peccatorum secundum divitias gratiae ejus, quae abundavit in nosin omni sapientia et prudentia, ut ostenderet nobis mysterium voluntatis suae, secundum bonam voluntatem suam, quam proposuit in illo, in dispensationeplenitudinis temporum instaurare omnia in Christo, quae in coelis sunt et quae in terris in ipso: in quo etiam et sortem consecuti sumus, praedestinati secundum propositum , qui universa operatur secundum consilium voluntatis suae, ut simus in laudem gloriae ejus (Ephes. I, 3-12): quis, inquam, haec audiat diligenter et intelligenter, et audeat de hac, quam defendimus, tam clara veritate dubitare ? Elegit Deus in Christo ante constitutionem mundi membra ejus: et quomodo eligeret eos qui nondum erant, nisi praedestinando? Elegit ergo praedestinans nos. Numquid eligeret impios et immundos? Nam si quaestio proponatur, utrum hos eligat, 0987 an potius sanctos et immaculatos; quid horum respondeat quis requirat , ac non statim ferat pro sanctis immaculatisque sententiam?