64.—How the Bishops Cleared Pelagius of Those Charges.

These four dogmas, thus connected with the name of Cœlestius, were therefore not approved by the bishops in their judgment, in the sense in which Cœlestius was said to have set them forth but in the sense which Pelagius gave to them in his reply. For they saw clearly enough, that it is one thing to be without sin, and another thing to live holily and righteously, as Scripture testifies that some lived even before the coming of Christ. And that although the Church here on earth is not without spot or wrinkle, she is yet both cleansed from every spot and wrinkle by the laver of regeneration, and in this state the Lord would have her continue. And continue she certainly will, for without doubt she shall reign without spot or wrinkle in an everlasting felicity. And that the perpetual virginity, which is not commanded, is unquestionably more than the purity of wedded life, which is commanded—although virginity is persevered in by many persons, who, notwithstanding, are not without sin. And that all those graces which he enumerates in a certain passage were possessed by the Apostle Paul; and yet, for all that, either they could quite understand, in regard to his having been worthy to receive them, that the merit was not according to his works, but rather, in some way, according to predestination (for the apostle says himself: “I am not meet to be called an apostle;”)170    1 Cor. xv. 9. or else their attention was not arrested by the sense which Pelagius gave to the word, as he himself viewed it. Such are the points on which the bishops pronounced the agreement of Pelagius with the doctrines of godly truth.

64. Has ex nomine Coelestii quatuor sententias non sic approbaverunt episcopi judices, sicut eas Coelestius sensisse dicebatur: sed sicut de his respondit Pelagius. Viderunt enim , quod aliud sit sine peccato esse, aliud sancte et juste vivere, sicut etiam ante adventum Christi quosdam vixisse Scriptura testatur. Et quamvis non sit hic Ecclesia sine macula et ruga; tamen eam et lavacro regenerationis ab omni macula rugaque purgari, et eam ita velle Dominum permanere: nam et ita permanebit, quia sine macula et ruga utique in aeterna felicitate regnabit. Et quod perpetua virginitas, quae praecepta non est, sine dubio plus sit, quam conjugalis pudicitia, quae praecepta est; quamvis in multis virginitas perseveret, qui tamen non sunt sine peccato. Et quod eas omnes gratias, quas loco uno commemorat, habuit apostolus Paulus: quas tamen eum dignum fuisse accipere, aut non secundum merita, sed potius secundum praedestinationem aliquo modo intelligere potuerunt; ipse enim dicit, Non sum dignus, vel, non sum idoneus vocari apostolus (I Cor. XV, 9): aut eorum intentionem subterfugit verbum, quod Pelagius quemadmodum posuerit, ipse viderit. Haec sunt in quibus episcopi Pelagium pronuntiaverunt piis consentire doctrinis.