▾
Augustine of Hippo, A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians. — Book I
⎗←→⎘
▾
by aurelius augustin, bishop of hippo
Chapter 1.—Introduction: Address to Boniface.
Chapter 2.—Why Heretical Writings Must Be Answered.
Chapter 3.—Why He Addresses His Book to Boniface.
Chapter 5.—Free Choice Did Not Perish With Adam ’s Sin. What Freedom Did Perish.
Chapter 6 [III.]—Grace is Not Given According to Merits.
Chapter 7.—He Concludes that He Does Not Deprive the Wicked of Free Will.
Chapter 8 [IV.]—The Pelagians Demolish Free Will.
Chapter 9 [V.]—Another Calumny of Julian,—That “It is Said that Marriage is Not Appointed by God.”
Chapter 10—The Third Calumny,—The Assertion that Conjugal Intercourse is Condemned.
Chapter 11 [VI.]—The Purpose of the Pelagians in Praising the Innocence of Conjugal Intercourse.
Chapter 15 [IX.]—He Sins in Will Who is Only Deterred from Sinning by Fear.
Chapter 16.—How Sin Died, and How It Revived.
Chapter 17 [X.]—“The Law is Spiritual, But I Am Carnal,” To Be Understood of Paul.
Chapter 18.—How the Apostle Said that He Did the Evil that He Would Not.
Chapter 19.—What It is to Accomplish What is Good.
Chapter 20.—In Me, that Is, in My Flesh.
Chapter 21.—No Condemnation in Christ Jesus.
Chapter 22.—Why the Passage Referred to Must Be Understood of a Man Established Under Grace.
Chapter 23 [XI.]—What It is to Be Delivered from the Body of This Death.
Chapter 25 [XII.]—The Sixth Calumny,—That Augustin Asserts that Even Christ Was Not Free from Sins.
Chapter 27.—In What Sense Lust is Called Sin in the Regenerate.
Chapter 28 [XIV.]—Many Without Crime, None Without Sin.
Chapter 30.—Secondly, of Marriage.
Chapter 31.—Thirdly, of Conjugal Intercourse.
Chapter 32 [XVI.]—The Aprons Which Adam and Eve Wore.
Chapter 33.—The Shame of Nakedness.
Chapter 34 [XVII.]—Whether There Could Be Sensual Appetite in Paradise Before the Fall.
Chapter 37 [XIX.]—The Beginning of a Good Will is the Gift of Grace.
Chapter 38 [XX.]—The Power of God’s Grace is Proved.
Chapter 39 [XXI.]—Julian’s Fifth Objection Concerning the Saints of the Old Testament.
Chapter 41 [XXIII.]—The Seventh Objection, of the Effect of Baptism.
Chapter 42 [XXIV.]—He Rebuts the Conclusion of Julian’s Letter.
Chapter 1.—Introduction The Pelagians Impeach Catholics as Manicheans.
Chapter 3.—How Far the Manicheans and Pelagians are Joined in Error How Far They are Separated.
Chapter 4.—The Two Contrary Errors.
Chapter 5 [III.]—The Calumny of the Pelagians Against the Clergy of the Roman Church.
Chapter 6 [IV.]—What Was Done in the Case of Cœlestius and Zosimus.
Chapter 7.—He Suggests a Dilemma to Cœlestius.
Chapter 8.—The Catholic Faith Concerning Infants.
Chapter 9 [V.]—He Replies to the Calumnies of the Pelagians.
Chapter 10.—Why the Pelagians Falsely Accuse Catholics of Maintaining Fate Under the Name of Grace.
Chapter 11 [VI.]—The Accusation of Fate is Thrown Back Upon the Adversaries.
Chapter 12.—What is Meant Under the Name of Fate.
Chapter 13 [VII.]—He Repels the Calumny Concerning the Acceptance of Persons.
Chapter 14.—He Illustrates His Argument by an Example.
Chapter 15.—The Apostle Meets the Question by Leaving It Unsolved.
Chapter 18.—The Desire of Good is God’s Gift.
Chapter 19 [IX.]—He Interprets the Scriptures Which the Pelagians Make Ill Use of.
Chapter 20.—God’s Agency is Needful Even in Man’s Doings.
Chapter 21.—Man Does No Good Thing Which God Does Not Cause Him to Do.
Chapter 22 [X.]—According to Whose Purpose the Elect are Called.
Chapter 23.—Nothing is Commanded to Man Which is Not Given by God.
Chapter 2 [II.]—The Misrepresentation of the Pelagians Concerning the Use of the Old Law.
Chapter 3.—Scriptural Confirmation of the Catholic Doctrine.
Chapter 4 [III.]—Misrepresentation Concerning the Effect of Baptism.
Chapter 5.—Baptism Puts Away All Sins, But It Does Not at Once Heal All Infirmities.
Chapter 6 [IV.]—The Calumny Concerning the Old Testament and the Righteous Men of Old.
Chapter 7.—The New Testament is More Ancient Than the Old But It Was Subsequently Revealed.
Chapter 8.—All Righteous Men Before and After Abraham are Children of the Promise and of Grace.
Chapter 9.—Who are the Children of the Old Covenant.
Chapter 10.—The Old Law Also Given by God.
Chapter 11.—Distinction Between the Children of the Old and of the New Testaments.
Chapter 12.—The Old Testament is Properly One Thing—The Old Instrument Another.
Chapter 13.—Why One of the Covenants is Called Old, the Other New.
Chapter 14 [V.]—Calumny Concerning the Righteousness of the Prophets and Apostles.
Chapter 15.—The Perfection of Apostles and Prophets.
Chapter 16 [VI.]—Misrepresentation Concerning Sin in Christ.
Chapter 17 [VII.]—Their Calumny About the Fulfilment of Precepts in the Life to Come.
Chapter 18.—Perfection of Righteousness and Full Security Was Not Even in Paul in This Life.
Chapter 19.—In What Sense the Righteousness of Man in This Life is Said to Be Perfect.
Chapter 20.—Why the Righteousness Which is of the Law is Valued Slightly by Paul.
Chapter 21.—That Righteousness is Never Perfected in This Life.
Chapter 22.—Nature of Human Righteousness and Perfection.
Chapter 23.—There is No True Righteousness Without the Faith of the Grace of Christ.
Chapter 24 [VIII.]—There are Three Principal Heads in the Pelagian Heresy.
Chapter 1 [I.]—The Subterfuges of the Pelagians are Five.
Chapter 2 [II.]—The Praise of the Creature.
Chapter 4 [IV.]—Pelagians and Manicheans on the Praise of the Creature.
Chapter 5.—What is the Special Advantage in the Pelagian Opinions?
Chapter 6.—Not Death Alone, But Sin Also Has Passed into Us by Means of Adam.
Chapter 7.—What is the Meaning of “In Whom All Have Sinned”?
Chapter 8.—Death Passed Upon All by Sin.
Chapter 9 [V.]—Of the Praise of Marriage.
Chapter 10.—Of the Praise of the Law.
Chapter 11.—The Pelagians Understand that the Law Itself is God’s Grace.
Chapter 12 [VI.]—Of the Praise of Free Will.
Chapter 13.—God’s Purposes are Effects of Grace.
Chapter 14.—The Testimonies of Scripture in Favour of Grace.
Chapter 15.—From Such Scriptures Grace is Proved to Be Gratuitous and Effectual.
Chapter 16.—Why God Makes of Some Sheep, Others Not.
Chapter 17 [VII.]—Of the Praise of the Saints.
Chapter 18.—The Opinion of the Saints Themselves About Themselves.
Chapter 19.—The Craft of the Pelagians.
Chapter 20 [VIII.]—The Testimonies of the Ancients Against the Pelagians.
Chapter 21.—Pelagius, in Imitation of Cyprian, Wrote a Book of Testimonies.
Chapter 22.—Further References to Cyprian.
Chapter 23.—Further References to Cyprian.
Chapter 24.—The Dilemma Proposed to the Pelagians.
Chapter 25 [IX.]—Cyprian’s Testimonies Concerning God’s Grace.
Chapter 26.—Further Appeals to Cyprian’s Teaching.
Chapter 27 [X.]—Cyprian’s Testimonies Concerning the Imperfection of Our Own Righteousness.
Chapter 28.—Cyprian’s Orthodoxy Undoubted.
Chapter 30.—The Testimonies of Ambrose Concerning God’s Grace.
Chapter 31.—The Testimonies of Ambrose on the Imperfection of Present Righteousness.
Chapter 32 [XII.]—The Pelagian’s Heresy Arose Long After Ambrose.
Chapter 33.—Opposition of the Manichean and Catholic Dogmas.
Chapter 34.—The Calling Together of a Synod Not Always Necessary to the Condemnation of Heresies.
Chapter 15.—The Perfection of Apostles and Prophets.
Since, then, all righteous men, both the more ancient and the apostles, lived from a right faith which is in Christ Jesus our Lord; and had with their faith morals so holy, that although they might not be of such perfect virtue in this life as that which should be after this life, yet whatever of sin might creep in from human infirmity might be constantly done away by the piety of their faith itself: it results from this that, in comparison with the wicked whom God will condemn, it must be said that these were “righteous,” since by their pious faith they were so far removed into the opposite of those wicked men that the apostle cries out, “What part hath he that believeth with an infidel?”210 2 Cor. vi. 14. But it is plain that the Pelagians, these modern heretics, seem to themselves to be religious lovers and praisers of the saints, since they do not dare to say that they were of an imperfect virtue; although that elected vessel confesses this, who, considering in what state he still was, and that the body which is corrupted drags down the soul, says, “Not that I have already attained or am yet perfect; brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended.” 211 Phil. iii. 12, 13. And yet a little after, he who had denied himself to be perfect says, “Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded,”212 Phil. iii. 15. in order that he might show that, according to the measure of this life, there is a certain perfection, and that to that perfection this also is to be attributed, even although any one may know that he is not yet perfect. For what is more perfect, or what was more excellent, than the holy priests among the ancient people? And yet God prescribed to them to offer sacrifice first of all for their own sins. And what is more holy among the new people than the apostles? And yet the Lord prescribed to them to say in their prayer, “Forgive us our debts.” For all the pious, therefore, who lie under this burden of a corruptible flesh, and groan in the infirmity of this life of theirs, there is one hope: “We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiation for our sins.”213 1 John ii. 1.
15. Cum itaque justi omnes et antiquiores et Apostoli ex fide vixerint recta, quae est in Christo Jesu Domino nostro; moresque tam sanctos cum fide habuerint, ut licet non tam perfectae virtutis in hac vita esse potuerint, quam quae post hanc vitam futura est, tamen quidquid peccati ex humana infirmitate subreperet , pietate ipsius fidei continuo deleretur: unde fieri potest ut in comparatione iniquorum, quos damnaturus est Deus, justos eos fuisse dicendum sit; cum per piam fidem tam in contrarium ab illis impiis sint remoti, ut clamet Apostolus, Quae pars fideli cum in fideli (II Cor. VI, 15)? Sed videlicet Pelagiani novi haeretici, religiosi amatores et laudatores videntur sibi esse sanctorum, si non audeant dicere imperfectae illos fuisse virtutis, cum hoc confiteatur Vas electionis, qui considerans ubi adhuc esset, et quia corpus quod corrumpitur, aggravat animam (Sap. IX, 15), Non quia jam acceperim, ait, aut jam perfectus sim: fratres, ego me ipsum non arbitror apprehendisse. Et paulo post tamen, qui se negaverat esse perfectum, Quotquot ergo perfecti, inquit, hoc sapiamus (Philipp. III, 12, 13, 15): ut ostenderet secundum istius vitae modum esse quamdam perfectionem, eique perfectioni hoc quoque deputari, si se quisque noverit nondum esse perfectum. Quid enim perfectius, quidve excellentius in veteri populo sacerdotibus sanctis? Et tamen eis praecepit Deus sacrificium primitus pro suis offerre peccatis (Levit. IX, 7, et XVI, 6). Et quid sanctius in novo populo Apostolis? Et tamen praecepit eis Dominus in oratione dicere, Dimitte nobis debita nostra. Omnium igitur piorum sub hoc onere corruptibilis carnis et in istius vitae infirmitate gementium spes una est, quod advocatum habemus ad Patrem Jesum Christum justum, et ipse est exoratio peccatorum nostrorum (I Joan. II, 1, 2).