Chapter 2 [II.]—The Heresies of the Manicheans and Pelagians are Mutually Opposed, and are Alike Reprobated by the Catholic Church.

The Manicheans say that the good God is not the Creator of all natures; the Pelagians that God is not the Purifier, the Saviour, the Deliverer of all ages among men. The catholic Church condemns both; as well maintaining God’s creation against the Manicheans, that no nature may be denied to be framed by Him, as maintaining against the Pelagians that in all ages human nature must be sought after as ruined. The Manicheans rebuke the concupiscence of the flesh, not as if it were an accidental vice, but as if it were a nature bad from eternity; the Pelagians approve it as if it were no vice, but even a natural good. The catholic faith condemns both, saying to the Manicheans, “It is not nature, but it is vice;” saying to the Pelagians, “It is not of the Father, but it is of the world;” in order that both may allow it as an evil sickness to be cured—the former by ceasing to believe it, as it were, incurable, the latter by ceasing to proclaim it as laudable. The Manicheans deny that to a good man the beginning of evil came from free will; the Pelagians say that even a bad man has free will sufficiently to perform the good commandment. The catholic Church condemns both, saying to the former, “God made man upright,”98    Eccles. vii. 30. and saying to the latter, “If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”99    John viii. 36. The Manicheans say that the soul, as a particle of God, has sin by the commixture of an evil nature; the Pelagians say that the soul is upright, not indeed a particle, but a creature of God, and has not even in this corruptible life any sin. The catholic Church condemns both, saying to the Manicheans, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree evil and its fruit evil,”100    Matt. xii. 33. which would not be said to man who cannot make his own nature, unless because sin is not nature, but vice; and saying to the Pelagians, “If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”101    1 John i. 8. In these diseases, opposed as they are to one another, the Manicheans and the Pelagians are at issue, with dissimilar will but with similar vanity, separated by different opinions, but close together by a perverse mind.

CAPUT II.

2. Manichaeorum et Pelagianorum haereses sibi mutuo adversae et aeque a catholica Ecclesia reprobatae. Manichaei et Pelagiani quatenus errore conjuncti, quatenus separati. Manichaei dicunt, Deum bonum non omnium naturarum esse creatorem: Pelagiani dicunt, Deum non esse omnium aetatum in hominibus mundatorem, salvatorem, liberatorem. Catholica utrosque redarguit, et contra Manichaeos defendens Dei creaturam, ne ab illo instituta negetur ulla natura; et contra Pelagianos, ut in omnibus aetatibus perdita requiratur humana natura. Manichaei carnis concupiscentiam non tanquam accidens vitium, sed tanquam naturam ab aeternitate malam vituperant: Pelagiani eam tanquam nullum vitium, sed naturale sit bonum insuper laudant. Catholica utrosque redarguit, Manichaeis dicens, Non natura, sed vitium est; Pelagianis dicens, Non a Patre, sed ex mundo est: ut eam velut malam valetudinem sanari utrique permittant, desinendo illi tanquam insanabilem credere, isti tanquam laudabilem praedicare. Manichaei negant homini bono ex libero arbitrio fuisse initium mali: Pelagiani dicunt etiam hominem malum sufficienter habere liberum arbitrium ad faciendum praeceptum bonum. Catholica utrosque redarguit, et illis dicens, Fecit Deus hominem rectum (Eccle. VII, 30): et istis dicens, Si vos Filius liberaverit, vere liberi eritis (Joan. VIII, 36). Manichaei dicunt, animam particulam Dei, naturae malae commixtione habere peccatum: Pelagiani dicunt, animam justam, non quidem particulam, sed creaturam Dei, etiam in ista corruptibili vita non habere peccatum. Catholica utrosque redarguit, Manichaeis dicens, Aut facite arborem bonam, et fructum ejus bonum; aut facite arborem malam, et fructum ejus malum (Matth. XII, 33); quod non diceretur homini, qui naturam facere non potest, nisi quia peccatum non natura, sed vitium est: Pelagianis dicens, Si dixerimus quia peccatum non habemus, nos ipsos seducimus, et veritas in nobis non est (I Joan. I, 8). His morbis inter se contrariis Manichaei Pelagianique confligunt, dissimili 0573 voluntate, simili vanitate; separati opinione diversa, sed propinqui mente perversa.