S. AURELII AUGUSTINI HIPPONENSIS EPISCOPI DE GRATIA CHRISTI ET DE PECCATO ORIGINALI CONTRA PELAGIUM ET COELESTIUM Libri duo .

 CAPUT PRIMUM.

 CAPUT II.

 CAPUT III.

 4. Nam cum tria constituat atque distinguat, quibus divina mandata dicit impleri, possibilitatem, 0362 voluntatem, actionem possibilitatem scilicet,

 CAPUT IV.

 CAPUT V.

 CAPUT VI.

 8. Hanc autem naturalem possibilitatem quod adjuvari Dei gratia confitetur, non est hic apertum vel quam dicat gratiam, vel quatenus ea naturam sentia

 CAPUT VII.

 CAPUT VIII.

 CAPUT IX.

 CAPUT X.

 CAPUT XI.

 CAPUT XII.

 CAPUT XIII.

 CAPUT XIV.

 CAPUT XV.

 CAPUT XVI.

 CAPUT XVII.

 CAPUT XVIII.

 CAPUT XIX.

 CAPUT XX.

 CAPUT XXI.

 CAPUT XXII.

 24. Sed ne forte respondeat, ita se hic dixisse, «Dei faciendo voluntatem, divinam mereamur gratiam,» sicut fidelibus et pie viventibus additur gratia

 CAPUT XXIII.

 CAPUT XXIV.

 CAPUT XXV.

 CAPUT XXVI.

 CAPUT XXVII.

 CAPUT XXVIII.

 CAPUT XXIX.

 CAPUT XXX.

 32. Nam ut de Coelestii opusculis interim taceam, vel libellis ejus, quos judiciis ecclesiasticis allegavit , quae vobis omnia, cum aliis quas necessa

 CAPUT XXXI.

 34. Deinde quamlibet sentiat gratiam, ipsis Christianis secundum merita dari dicit: cum eos qui hoc dicunt, jam in Palaestina, sicut supra commemoravi

 CAPUT XXXII.

 CAPUT XXXIII.

 CAPUT XXXIV.

 CAPUT XXXV.

 CAPUT XXXVI.

 CAPUT XXXVII.

 41. Item in eodem opere alio loco: «Quod si etiam sine Deo,» inquit, «homines ostendunt, quales a Deo facti sunt vide quid Christiani facere possint,

 CAPUT XXXVIII.

 CAPUT XXXIX.

 CAPUT XL.

 CAPUT XLI.

 CAPUT XLII.

 CAPUT XLIII.

 CAPUT XLIV.

 CAPUT XLV.

 50. Item in eodem libro idem sanctus Ambrosius: «Nam si Petrus,» inquit (Lib. 10, n. 91, ad Luc. XXII), «lapsus est, qui dixit, Etsi alii scandalizati

 CAPUT XLVI.

 CAPUT XLVII.

 CAPUT XLVIII.

 CAPUT XLIX.

 CAPUT L.

 LIBER SECUNDUS. DE PECCATO ORIGINALI.

 CAPUT PRIMUM.

 CAPUT II.

 CAPUT III.

 CAPUT IV.

 4. Nempe cernitis sic Coelestium concessisse parvulis Baptismum, ut in eos transire primi hominis peccatum, quod lavacro regenerationis abluitur, nolu

 CAPUT V.

 CAPUT VI.

 7. Sed multum misericors memoratae Sedis antistes, ubi eum vidit ferri tanta praesumptione praecipitem, tanquam furentem, donec si posset fieri resipi

 CAPUT VII.

 CAPUT VIII.

 CAPUT IX.

 CAPUT X.

 CAPUT XI.

 CAPUT XII.

 CAPUT XIII.

 CAPUT XIV.

 CAPUT XV.

 CAPUT XVI.

 CAPUT XVII.

 19. Quomodo autem Pelagius obrepere tentaverit ad fallendum etiam Apostolicae Sedis episcopale judicium in hac ipsa quaestione de Baptismate parvuloru

 CAPUT XVIII.

 20. Denique quomodo respondeat advertite, et videte latebras ambiguitatis falsitati praeparare refugia. offundendo caliginem veritati ita ut etiam no

 CAPUT XIX.

 CAPUT XX.

 CAPUT XXI.

 24. Jam vero in libro Fidei suae , quem Romam cum ipsis litteris misit ad eumdem papam Innocentium, ad quem etiam epistolam scripserat, multo evidenti

 CAPUT XXII.

 CAPUT XXIII.

 27. Sed multum eum ista fallit opinio. Longe aliter se habent quaestiones istae, quas esse praeter fidem 0398 arbitratur, quam sunt illae in quibus sa

 CAPUT XXIV.

 29. Quamvis ergo mors regnaverit ab Adam usque ad Moysen (Rom. V, 14), quia non eam potuit vincere nec lex data per Moysen non enim data est quae pos

 CAPUT XXV.

 CAPUT XXVI.

 31. Haec disputantes, a gratia mediatoris justos excludere conantur antiquos, tanquam Dei et illorum hominum non fuerit mediator homo Christus Jesus

 CAPUT XXVII.

 CAPUT XXVIII.

 CAPUT XXIX.

 CAPUT XXX.

 CAPUT XXXI.

 CAPUT XXXII.

 CAPUT XXXIII.

 CAPUT XXXIV.

 CAPUT XXXV.

 CAPUT XXXVI.

 CAPUT XXXVII.

 CAPUT XXXVIII.

 CAPUT XXXIX.

 CAPUT XL.

 45. Reatus itaque vitii ejus de quo loquimur, in regeneratorum prole carnali tamdiu manebit, donec et illic lavacro regenerationis abluatur. Regenerat

 46. Nec quisquam miretur, et dicat, «Cur hoc creat bonitas Dei, quod possideat malignitas diaboli?» Hoc enim suae creaturae seminibus ex illa bonitate

 CAPUT XLI.

 48. His tamen verbis hominis Dei, quem tanto praeconio ipse laudavit Pelagius, contradicit, et dicit, «sicut sine virtute, ita nos sine vitio procrear

47. [XLI.]—Sentences from Ambrose in Favour of Original Sin.

And now that we are about to bring this book to a conclusion, we think it proper to do on this subject of Original Sin what we did before in our treatise On Grace,256    See above, De Gratiâ Christi, 49–51 (xlv., xlvi.).—adduce in evidence against the injurious talk of these persons that servant of God, the Archbishop Ambrose, whose faith is proclaimed by Pelagius to be the most perfect among the writers of the Latin Church; for grace is more especially honoured in doing away with original sin. In the work which the saintly Ambrose wrote, Concerning the Resurrection, he says: “I fell in Adam, in Adam was I expelled from Paradise, in Adam I died; and He does not recall me unless He has found me in Adam,—so as that, as I am obnoxious to the guilt of sin in him, and subject to death, I may be also justified in Christ.”257    Ambrose’s De Exc. Sal. ii. 6. Then, again, writing against the Novatians, he says: “We men are all of us born in sin; our very origin is in sin; as you may read when David says, ‘Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.’258    Ps. li. 5. Hence it is that Paul’s flesh is ‘a body of death;’259    Rom. vii. 24. even as he says himself, ‘Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?’ Christ’s flesh, however, has condemned sin, which He experienced not by being born, and which by dying He crucified, that in our flesh there might be justification through grace, where previously there was impurity through sin.”260    Ambrose’s De Pœnitentia, i. 2, 3. The same holy man also, in his Exposition of Isaiah, speaking of Christ, says: “Therefore as man He was tried in all things, and in the likeness of men He endured all things; but as born of the Spirit, He was free from sin. For every man is a liar, and no one but God alone is without sin. It is therefore an observed and settled fact, that no man born of a man and a woman, that is, by means of their bodily union, is seen to be free from sin. Whosoever, indeed, is free from sin, is free also from a conception and birth of this kind.”261    Quoted from a work by St. Ambrose, On Isaiah, not now extant. Moreover, when expounding the Gospel according to Luke, he says: “It was no cohabitation with a husband which opened the secrets of the Virgin’s womb; rather was it the Holy Ghost which infused immaculate seed into her unviolated womb. For the Lord Jesus alone of those who are born of woman is holy, inasmuch as He experienced not the contact of earthly corruption, by reason of the novelty of His immaculate birth; nay, He repelled it by His heavenly majesty.” 262    See Book ii. 56. of this Commentary on St. Luke, ch. ii.

CAPUT XLI.

47. Sed jam etiam istum conclusuri librum, oportere arbitramur, ut Ambrosium antistitem Dei, cujus inter latinae linguae scriptores ecclesiasticos praecipue Pelagius integerrimam fidem praedicat, sicut de gratia fecimus , ita et de peccato originali, in quo delendo ipsa gratia evidentius commendatur, calumniosae istorum loquacitati respondere faciamus. In eo opere quod scripsit de Resurrectione sanctus Ambrosius: «Lapsus sum,» inquit, «in Adam, de paradiso ejectus in Adam, mortuus in Adam: quem non revocat nisi me in Adam invenerit, ut in illo culpae obnoxium, morti debitum, ita in Christo justificatum» (Lib. de Fide Resurrectionis). Item scribens contra Novatianos ait: «Omnes homines sub peccato nascimur, quorum ipse ortus in vitio est, sicut habes lectum, dicente David, Ecce in iniquitatibus conceptus sum, et in delictis peperit me mater mea (Psal. L, 7). Ideo Pauli caro corpus mortis erat, sicut ipse ait: Quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus (Rom. VII, 24)? Christi autem caro damnavit peccatum, quod nascendo non sensit, quod moriendo crucifixit; ut in carne nostra esset justificatio per gratiam, ubi erat ante colluvio per culpam» (Lib. 1 de Poenitentia, cap. 2, vel 3). Item idem 0410 ipse cum exponeret Isaiam prophetam loquens de Christo: «Ideo,» inquit, «et quasi homo per universa tentatus est, et in similitudine hominum cuncta sustinuit: sed quasi de Spiritu natus abstinuit a peccato (Hebr. IV, 15). Omnis enim homo mendax (Psal. CXV, 2); et nemo sine peccato, nisi unus Deus. Servatum est igitur, ut ex viro et muliere, id est, per illam corporum commixtionem, nemo videatur expers esse delicti. Qui autem expers est delicti, expers est etiam hujusmodi conceptionis» . Item cum exponeret Evangelium secundum Lucam: «Non enim virilis coitus,» inquit, «vulvae virginalis secreta reseravit, sed immaculatum semen inviolabili utero Spiritus sanctus infudit. Solus enim per omnia ex natis de femina sanctus Dominus Jesus, qui terrenae contagia corruptelae immaculati partus novitate non senserit, et coelesti majestate depulerit» (Lib. 2, n. 56, ad cap. 2).