Chapter 21.—Pelagius, in Imitation of Cyprian, Wrote a Book of Testimonies.

Even that heresiarch of these men, Pelagius himself, mentions with the honour that is certainly due to him, the most blessed Cyprian, most glorious with even the crown of martyrdom, not only in the African and the Western, but also in the Eastern Churches, well known by the report of fame, and by the diffusion far and wide of his writings,—when, writing a book of testimonies,316    That is, his Capitula. See On the Proceedings of Pelagius, 6. he asserts that he is imitating him, saying that “he was doing to Romanus what Cypria had done to Quirinus.” Let us, then, see what Cyprian thought concerning original sin, which entered by one man into the world. In the epistle on “Works and Alms”317    Work cited, ch. 1; see The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. v. p. 476. he thus speaks: “When the Lord at His advent had cured these wounds which Adam had introduced, and had healed the old poisons of the serpent, He gave a law to the sound man, and bade him sin no more, lest a worse thing should happen to him if he sinned. We had been limited and shut up into a narrow space by the commandment of innocence; nor would the infirmity and weakness of human frailty have any resource unless the divine mercy coming once more in aid should open some way of securing salvation by pointing out works of justice and mercy, so that by alms-giving we may wash away whatever foulness we subsequently contract.” By this testimony this witness refutes two falsehoods of theirs,—the one, wherein they say that the human race draws no sin from Adam which needs cure and healing through Christ; the other, in which they say that the saints have no sin after baptism. Again, in the same epistle318    Work cited, ch. 22; in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. v. p. 482. he says, “Let each one place before his eyes the devil with his servants,—that is, with the people of perdition and death,—as springing forth into the midst and provoking the people of Christ,—Himself being present and judging,—with the trial of comparison in these words: ‘I, on behalf of those whom thou seest with me, neither received buffets, nor bore scourgings, nor endured the cross, nor shed my blood, nor redeemed my family at the price of my suffering and blood; but neither do I promise them a celestial kingdom, nor do I recall them to Paradise, having again restored to them immortality.’” Let the Pelagians answer and say when we could have been in the immortality of Paradise, and how we could have been expelled thence so as to be recalled thither by the grace of Christ. And, although they may be unable to find what they can answer in this case on behalf of their own perversity, let them observe in what manner Cyprian understood what the apostle says, “In whom all have sinned.” And let not the Pelagian heretics, freed from the old Manichean heretics, dare to suggest any calumny against a catholic, lest they should be convicted of doing so wicked a wrong even to the ancient martyr Cyprian.

21. Beatissimum, corona etiam martyrii gloriosissimum Cyprianum, nec Africanis atque occidentalibus tantum, verum et orientalibus Ecclesiis, fama praedicante et scripta ejus longe lateque diffundente notissimum, etiam ipse haeresiarches istorum Pelagius cum debito certe honore commemorat, ubi testimoniorum librum scribens, eum se asserit imitari, «hoc se» dicens «facere ad Romanum, quod ille fecerat ad Quirinum.» Videamus ergo quid de originali peccato, quod per unum hominem intravit in mundum (Rom. V, 12), senserit Cyprianus. In epistola de Opere et Eleemosynis ita loquitur: «Cum Dominus adveniens sanasset illa quae Adam portaverat vulnera, et venena serpentis antiqua curasset, legem dedit sano, et praecepit ne ultra jam peccaret, ne quid peccanti gravius eveniret» (Joan. V, 14). «Coarctati eramus, et in angustum innocentiae praescriptione conclusi: nec haberet quid fragilitatis humanae infirmitas atque imbecillitas faceret, nisi iterum pietas divina subveniens, justitiae et misericordiae operibus ostensis, viam quamdam tuendae salutis aperiret; ut sordes postmodum quascumque contrahimus, eleemosynis abluamus (Luc. XI, 41). Hoc testimonio duas istorum falsitates 0624 testis iste redarguit : unam, qua dicunt nihil vitiorum ex Adam trahere genus humanum, quod sit curandum sanandumque per Christum; alteram, qua dicunt nullum post Baptismum sanctos habere peccatum. Rursum in eadem epistola: «Ponat,» inquit, «unusquisque ante oculos suos diabolum cum suis servis, id est cum populo perditionis ac mortis, in medium prosilire, plebem Christi praesente ac judicante ipso comparationis examine provocare dicentem, Ego pro istis quos mecum vides, nec alapas accepi, nec flagella, sustinui, nec crucem pertuli, nec sanguinem fudi, nec familiam meam pretio passionis et cruoris redemi; sed nec regnum illi coeleste promitto, nec ad paradisum restituta immortalitate denuo revoco.» Respondeant Pelagiani, quando fuerimus in immortalitate paradisi, et quomodo inde fuerimus expulsi, ut eo Christi gratia revocemur. Et cum invenire nequiverint quid hic pro sua perversitate respondeant, attendant quemadmodum intellexerit Cyprianus quod ait Apostolus, In quo omnes peccaverunt (Rom. V, 12): et Pelagiani haeretici novi de Manichaeis veteribus haereticis nulli catholico audeant irrogare calumniam, ne tam sceleratam etiam martyri antiquo Cypriano facere convincantur injuriam.