Chapter 29 [XI.]—The Testimonies of Ambrose Against the Pelagians and First of All Concerning Original Sin.

But now also to the most glorious martyr Cyprian, let me add, for the sake of more amply confuting these men, the most blessed Ambrose; because even Pelagius praised him so much as to say that in his writings could be found nothing to be blamed even by his enemies.358    See On the Grace of Christ, ch. 47. Since, then, the Pelagians say that there is no original sin with which infants are born, and object to the catholics the guilt of the Manichean heresy, who withstand them on behalf of the most ancient faith of the Church, let this catholic man of God, Ambrose, praised even by Pelagius himself in the truth of the faith, answer them concerning this matter. When he was expounding the prophet Isaiah, he says: “Christ was, therefore, without spot, because He was not stained even in the usual condition itself of birth.”359    This work is not extant. And in another place in the same work, speaking of the Apostle Peter, he says: “He offered himself, which he thought before to be sin, asking for himself that not only his feet but his head also should be washed, because he had directly understood that by the washing of the feet, for those who fell in the first man, the filth of the obnoxious succession was abolished.”360    This work is not extant. Also in the same work he says: “It was preserved, therefore, that of a man and woman, that is, by that mingling of bodies, no one could be seen to be free from sin; but He who is free from sin is free also from this kind of conception.” Also writing against the Novatians he says: “All of us men are born under sin. And our very origin is in corruption, as you have it read in the words of David,361    Ps. li. 5. ‘For lo, I was conceived in iniquities; and in sins hath my mother brought me forth.’”362    On Penitence, Book i. ch. 13. Also in the apology of the prophet David, he says: “Before we are born we are spotted with contagion, and before the use of light we receive the mischief of that origin. We are conceived in iniquity.”363    Apology of the Prophet David, ch. 56. Also speaking of the Lord, he says: “It was certainly fitting that He who was not to have the sin of a bodily fall, should feel no natural contagion of generation. Rightly, therefore, David with weeping deplored in himself these defilements of nature, and the fact that the stain had begun in man before his life.”364    Ibid. ch. 57. Again, in the Ark of Noah he says: “Therefore by one Lord Jesus the coming salvation is declared to the nations; for He only could be righteous, although every generation should go astray, nor for any other reason than that, being born of a virgin, He was not at all bound by the ordinance of a guilty generation. ‘Behold,’ he says, ‘I was conceived in iniquities; and in sins has my mother brought me forth;’365    Ps. li. 5. he who was esteemed righteous beyond others so speaks. Whom, then, should I now call righteous unless Him who is free from those chains, whom the bonds of our common nature do not hold fast?”366    On Noah and the Ark, ch. 7 (?). Behold, this holy man, most approved, even by the witness of Pelagius, in the catholic faith, condemned the Pelagians who deny original sin with such evidence as this; and yet he does not with the Manicheans deny either God to be the Creator of those who are born, or condemn marriage, which God ordained and blessed.

CAPUT XI.

29. Ambrosii contra Pelagianos testimonia, de originali peccato, de gratia Dei et de praesentis justitiae imperfectione. Sed et jam gloriosissimo martyri Cypriano, ad istos cumulatius redarguendos beatissimum addamus Ambrosium: quoniam et ipsum Pelagius ita laudavit, ut ne ab inimicis quidem in ejus libris quod reprehenderetur, diceret inveniri. Quoniam ergo Pelagiani dicunt non esse originale peccatum, cum quo nascantur infantes, et Catholicis qui eis pro antiquissima Ecclesiae fide resistunt, haeresis Manichaeae crimen objiciunt: respondeat eis de hac re homo Dei catholicus, et ab ipso Pelagio in veritate fidei laudatus Ambrosius; qui cum Isaiam prophetam exponeret , ait: «Idcirco Christus immaculatus, quia nec ipsa quidem nascendi solita conditione maculatus est.» Et alio loco in eodem opere, loquens de apostolo Petro: «Ipse se,» inquit, «obtulit, quod ante putabat esse peccatum, lavari sibi non solum pedes, sed et caput poscens (Joan. XIII, 9): quod illico intellexisset, lavacro pedum, qui in primo lapsi sunt homine, sordem obnoxiae successionis aboleri.» Item in eodem opere: «Servatum est igitur,» inquit, «ut ex viro et muliere, id est, per illam corporum commixtionem nemo videatur expers esse delicti; qui autem expers delicti est, expers est etiam hujusmodi conceptionis.» Item contra Novatianos scribens (Lib. 1 de Poenit., cap. 3): «Omnes homines,» inquit, «sub peccato nascimur. Quorum ipse ortus in vitio est, sicut habes lectum, dicente David: Ecce enim in iniquitatibus conceptus sum, et in delictis peperit me mater mea» (Psal. L, 7). Item in Apologia prophetae David: «Antequam nascamur,» inquit, «maculamur contagio, et ante usuram lucis originis ipsius accipimus injuriam, in iniquitate concipimur.» Item de Domino loquens: «Dignum etenim fuit,» inquit, «ut qui non erat habiturus corporeae peccatum prolapsionis, nullum sentiret generationis naturale contagium. Merito ergo David flebiliter in se deploravit ipsa inquinamenta naturae, et quod prius inciperet in homine macula quam vita» (Cap. 11). Item de Arca Noe: «Per unum igitur,» inquit, «Dominum Jesum salus ventura nationibus declaratur, qui solus potuit 0633 justus esse, cum generatio omnis erraret, non ob aliud , nisi quia natus ex virgine generationis obnoxiae privilegio minime teneretur. Ecce,» inquit, «in iniquitatibus conceptus sum, et in delictis peperit me mater mea, dicit is qui justus prae caeteris putabatur. Quem igitur jam justum dixerim, nisi horum liberum vinculorum, quem naturae communis vincula non teneant ?» Ecce vir sanctus, Pelagii quoque testimonio in fide catholica probatissimus, Pelagianos negantes originale peccatum tanta manifestatione redarguit; nec tamen cum Manichaeis vel Deum nascentium conditorem negat, vel nuptias, quas Deus instituit et benedixit, accusat.