If, therefore, we feel rightly on this matter, it is our duty at once to be thankful for what is already healed within us, and to pray for such further healing as shall enable us to enjoy full liberty, in that most absolute state of health which is incapable of addition, the perfect pleas- ure of God.-* For we do not deny that human nature can be without sin; nor ought we by any means to refuse to it the ability to become per- fect, since we admit its capacity for progress, — by God's grace, however, through our Lord Jesus Christ. By His assistance we aver that it be- comes holy and happy, by whom it was created in order to be so. There is accordingly an easy refutation of the objection w^hich our author says is alleged by some against him: " The devil op- poses us." This objection we also meet in entirely identical language with that which he uses in reply: " We must resist him, and he will fiee. ' Resist the devil,' says the blessed apostle, * and he will flee from you.' 5 From which it may be observed, what his harming amounts to against those whom he flees; or what power he is to be understood as possessing, w^hen he prevails only against those who do not resist him." Such language is my own also; for it is impossible to employ truer words. There is, however, this difference between us and them, that we, when- ever the devil has to be resisted, not only do ' Rom. V. 5. * Ps. xvi. II, 3 I John iv. 18.
not deny, but actually teach, that God's help must be sought; whereas they attribute so much power to will, as to take away prayer from reli- gious duty. Now it is certainly with a view to resisting the devil and his fleeing from us that we say when we pray, " Lead us not into tempta- tion; " ^ to the same end also are we warned by our Captain, exhorting us as soldiers in the words: " Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation." ^ CHAP. 69 [lIX.] — PELAGIUS PUTS NATURE IN THE PLACE OF GRACE.
In opposition, however, to those who ask, "And who would be unwilling to be without sin, if it were put in the power of a man? " he rightly contends, saying " that by this very question they acknowledge that the thing is not impossi- ble; because so much as this, many, if not all men, certainly desire." Well, then, let him only confess the means by which this is possible, and then our controversy is ended. Now the means is " the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ; " by which he nowhere has been willing to allow that we are assisted wlien we pray, for the avoidance of sin. If indeed he secretly allows this, he must forgive us if we suspect otherwise. For he himself works this result, who, though encountering so much obloquy on this subject, wishes to entertain the secret opinion, and yet is unwilling to confess or ])rofess it. It would surely be no great matter were he to speak out, especially since he has undertaken to handle and open this point, as if it had been objected against him on the side of opponents. Why on such occasions did he choose only to defend nature, and assert that man was so created as to have it in his power not to sin if he wished not to sin; and, from the fact that he was so created, definitely say that the power was owing to God's grace which enabled him to avoid sin, if he was unwilling to commit it; and yet refuse to say anything concerning the fact that even nature itself is either, because dis- ordered, healed by God's grace through our Lord Jesus Christ, or else assisted by it, because in itself it is so insufiicient?
CHAP. 70 [lX.] — WHETHER ANY MAN IS WITH- OUT SIN IN THIS LIFE.
Now, whether there ever has been, or is, or ever can be, a man living so righteous a life in this world as to have no sin at all, may be an open question among true and pious Chris- tians;^ but whoever doubts the possibility of this sinless state a/ter this present life, is foolish. For my own part, indeed, I am unwilling to dis- pute the point even as respects this life. For * See next treatise — its preface, or Adinonitio.
146 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Chap. 71.
although that passage seems to me to be incapa- ble of bearing any doubtful sense, wherein it is written, " In thy sight shall no man living be justified"' (and so of similar passages), yet I could wish it were possible to show either that such quotations were capable of bearing a better signification, or that a perfect and plenary right- eousness, to which it were impossible for any accession to be made, had been realized at some former time in some one whilst passing through this life in the flesh, or was now being realized, or would be hereafter. They, however, are in a great majority, who, while not doubting that to the last day of their life it will be needful to them to resort to the prayer which they can so truth- fully utter, " Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us," ^ still trust that in Christ and His promises they possess a true, certain, and unfailing hope. There is, how- ever, no method whereby any persons arrive at absolute perfection, or whereby any man makes the slightest progress to true and godly righteous- ness, but the assisting grace of our crucified Saviour Christ, and the gift of His Spirit; and whosoever shall deny this cannot rightly, I almost think, be reckoned in the number of any kind of Christians at all.
CHAP. 7 1 [lXI.] — AUGUSTIN REPLIES AGAIXST THE QUOTATIONS WHICH PELAGIUS HAD ADVANCED OUT OF THE CATHOLIC WRITERS. LACTANTIUS.
Accordingly, with respect also to the passages which he has adduced, — not indeed from the canonical Scriptures, but out of certain treatises of catholic writers, — I wish to meet the asser- tions of such as say that the said quotations make for him. The fact is, these passages are so entirely neutral, that they oppose neither our own opinion nor his. Amongst them he wanted to class something out of my own books, thus accounting me to be a person who seemed worthy of being ranked with them. For this I must not be ungrateful, and I should be sorry — so I say with unaffected friendliness — for him to be in error, since he has conferred this honour upon me. As for his first quotation, indeed, why need I examine it largely, since I do not see here the author's name, either because he has not given it, or because from some casual mistake the copy which you ^ forwarded to me did not con- tain it? Especially as in writings of such authors I feel myself free to use my own judgment (owing unhesitating assent to nothing ])ut the canonical Scriptures), whilst in fact there is not a passage \vrhich he has quoted from the works of this anonymous author ■* that disturbs me. " It be- ' Ps. cxiiii. 2. 2 Matt. vi. 12.
3 Timabius and Jacobus, 1 1 whom the treatise is addressed. See ch. I.
■* Lactantius is the writer from whom Pelagius takes his first quotations here. See his htstit. Diz'in. iv. 24.
hooved," says he, "for the Master and Teacher of virtue to become most like to man, that by conquering sin He might show that man is able ' to conquer sin." Now, however this passage may be exjiressed, its author must see to it as to what explanation it is capable of bearing. We, in- deed, on our part, could not possibly doubt that in Christ there was no sin to conquer, — born as He was in the likeness of sinful flesh, not in sinful flesh itself. Another passage is adduced from the same author to this effect: " And again, that by subduing the desires of the flesh He might teach us that it is not of necessity that one sins, but of set purpose and will." s For my own part, I understand these desires of the flesh (if it is not of its unlawful lusts that the writer here speaks) to be such as hunger, thirst, refreshment after fatigue, and the like. For it is through these, however faultless they be in themselv'es, that some men fall into sin, — a result which was far from our blessed Saviour, even though, as we see from the evidence of the gospel, these affections were natural to Him owing to His likeness to sinful flesh.
CHAP. 72 [lXI.] HILARY. THE PURE IN HEART BLESSED. THE DOING AND PERFECTING OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.
He quotes the following words from the blessed Hilary: " It is only when we shall be perfect in spirit, and changed in our immortal state, w-hich blessedness has been appointed only for the pure in heart,*^ that we shall see that which is immortal in God."? Now I am really not aware what is here said contran,' to our own statement, or in what respect this passage is of any use to our opponent, unless it be that it testifies to the possibility of a man's being " pure in heart." But who denies such possibility? Only it must be by the grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, and not merely by our freedom of will. He goes on to quote also this passage: " This Job had so effectually read these Scriptures, that he kept himself from every wicked work, be- cause he worshipped God purely with a mind unmixed with offences: now such worship of God is the proper work of righteousness." '^ It is what Job had done which the writer here spoke of, not what he had brought to perfection in this world, — much less what he had done or per- fected without the grace of that Saviour whom he had actually foretold.9 For that man, in- deed, abstains from every wicked work, who does not allow the sin which he has within him to have dominion over him; and who, whenever an unworthy thought stole over him, suffered it not to come to a head in actual deed. It is, how- 5 Lactantius, THstit. Di-'i'n. iv. 25 Chap. 75.]
ON NATURE AND GRACE.
147 ever, one thing not to have sin, and another to ' refuse obedience to its desires. It is one thing; to fulfil the command, " Thou shalt not covet; " ' j and another thing, by an endea\'our at any rate after abstinence, to do that which is also written, " Thou shalt not go after thy lusts." - And yet one is quite aware that he can do nothing of all j this without the Saviour's grace. It is to work righteousness, therefore, to fight in an internal struggle with the internal evil of concupiscence | in the true worship of God; whilst to perfect it means to have no adversary at all. Now he who j has to fight is still in danger, and is sometimes shaken, even if he is not overthrown; whereas he who has no enemy at all rejoices in perfect peace. He, moreover, is in the highest truth said to be without sin in whom no sin has an indwelling, — not he who, abstaining from evil deeds, uses such language as " Now it is no longer I that do it, but the sin that dwelleth in me." 3 CHAP. 73. — HE MEETS PELAGIUS WITH ANOTHER PASSAGE FROM HILARY.
Now even Job himself is not silent respect- ing his own sins; and your friend,** of course, is justly of opinion that humility must not by any means " be put on the side of falsehood." Whatever confession, therefore. Job makes, inas- much as he is a true worshipper of God, he undoubtedly makes it in truth. 5 Hilary, like- wise, while expounding that passage of the psalm in w^hich it is written, " Thou hast de- spised all those who turn aside from Thy com- mandments," ^ says: " If God were to despise sinners. He would despise indeed all men, be- cause no man is without sin; but it is those who turn away from Him, whom they call apostates, that He despises." You observe his statement: it is not to the effect that no man was without sin, as if he spoke of the past; but no man is without sin; and on this point, as I have already remarked, I have no contention with him. But if one refuses to submit to the Apostle John, — who does not himself declare, " If we were to say we have had no sin," but " If we say we have no sin," 7 — how is he likely to show defer- ence to Bishop Hilary? It is in defence of the grace of Christ that I lift up my voice, without which grace no man is justified, — just as if natural free will were sufficient. Nay, He Him- self lifts up His own voice in defence of the same. Let us submit to Him when He says: " Without me ye can do nothing." ^ CHAP. 74 [lXIII.] — AMBROSE.
St. Ambrose, however, really opposes those ' Ex. XX. 17. 2 Ecclus. xviii. 30. 3 Rom. vii. 20.
4 Pelagius, the friend of Timasius and Jacobus.
who say that man cannot exist without sin in the present life. For, in order to support his statement, he avails himself of the instance of Zacharias and Elisabeth, because they are men- tioned as " having walked in all the command- ments and ordinances " of the law " blameless." '•> Well, but does he for all that deny that it was by God's grace that they did this through our Lord Jesus Christ? It was undoubtedly by such faith in Him that holy men lived of old, even before His death. It is He who sends the Holy Ghost that is given to us, through whom that love is shed abroad in our hearts whereby alone whosoever are righteous are righteous. This same Holy Ghost the bishop expressly men- tioned w'hen he reminds us that He is to be ob- tained by prayer (so that the will is not suffi- cient unless it be aided by Him); thus in his hymn he says: " Votisque praestat sedulis. Sanctum mereri Spiritum," '° — "To those who sedulously seek He gives to gain the Holy Spirit."
CHAP. 75. — AUGUSTIN ADDUCES IN REPLY SOME OTHER PASSAGES OF AMBROSE.
I, too, will quote a passage out of this v^ery work of St. Ambrose, from which our opponent has taken the statement which he deemed fa\-our- able for citation: '"It seemed good to me,' " he says; " but what he declares seemed good to him cannot have seemed good to him alone. For it is not simply to his human will that it seemed good, but also as it pleased Him, even Christ, who, says he, speaketh in me, who it is that causes that which is good in itself to seem good to ourselves also. For him on whom He has mercy He also calls. He, therefore, who follows Christ, when asked why he wished to be a Christian, can answer: ' It seemed good to me.' In saying this he does not deny that it also pleased God; for from God proceeds the preparation of man's will, inasmuch as it is by God's grace that God is honoured by His saint." " See now what your author must learn, if he takes pleasure in the words of Ambrose, how that man's will is prepared by God, and that it is of no importance, or, at any rate, does not much matter, by what means or at what time the preparation is accomplished, provided no doubt is raised as to whether the thing itself be capable of accomplishment without the grace of Christ. Then, again, how important it was that he should observe one line from the words of Ambrose which he quoted! For after that holy man had said, " Inasmuch as the Church has been gathered out of the wprld, that is, out 148 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Chap. 76.
of sinful men, how can it be unpolluted when composed of such polluted material, except that, in the first place, it be washed of sins by the grace of Christ, and then, in the next place, abstain from sins through its nature of avoid- ing sin?" — he added the following sentence, which your author has refused to quote for a self-evident reason; for [Ambrose] says: " It was not from the first unpolluted, for that was impossible for human nature: but it is through God's grace and nature that because it no longer sins, it comes to pass that it seems unpolluted." ' Now who does not understand the reason why your author declined adding these words? It is, of course, so contrived in the discipline of the! present life, that the holy Church shall arrive at last at that condition of most immaculate purity which all holy men desire; and that it may in the world to come, and in a state unmixed with anything of evil men, and undisturbed by any law of sin resisting the law of the mind, lead the purest life in a divine eternity. Still he should well observe what Bishop Ambrose says, — and his statement exactly tallies with the Scriptures: " It was not from the first unpol- luted, for that condition was impossible for human nature." By his phrase, " from the first," he means indeed frqm the time of our being born of Adam. Adam no doubt was himself created immaculate; in the case, however, of those who are by nature children of wrath, de- riving from him what in him was corrupted, he distinctly averred that it was an impossibility in human nature that they should be immaculate from the first.
CHAP. 76 [lXIV.] — JOHN OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
He quotes also John, bishop of Constanti- nople, as saying " that sin is not a substance, but a wicked act." Who denies this? "And because it is not natural, therefore the law was given against it, and because it proceeds from the Hberty of our will." ^ Who, too, denies this? However, the present question concerns our human nature in its corrupted state; it is a! further question also concerning that grace of; God whereby our nature is healed by the great Physician, Christ, whose remedy it would not need if it were only whole. And yet your author defends it as capable of not sinning, as if it were sound, or as if its freedom of will were self-sufficient.
CHAP. 77. — XYSTUS.
What Christian, again, is unaware of what he quotes the most blessed Xystus, bishop of Rome and martyr of Christ, as having said, " God has conferred upon men liberty of their own will, in ' Ambrose on LuVe i. 6.
- Compare Chrysostom's Homily on Eph. li. 3.
order that by purity and sinlessness of life they may become like unto God?"^ But the man who appeals to free will ought to listen and believe, and ask Him in whom he believes to give him His assistance not to sin. For when he speaks of " becoming like unto God," it is indeed through God's love that men are to be like unto God, — even the love which is * shed abroad in our hearts," not by any ability of na- ture or the free will within us, but " by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." 't Then, in re- spect of what the same martyr further says, " A pure mind is a holy temple for Ciod, and a heart clean and without sin is His best altar," who knows not that the clean heart must be brought to this perfection, whilst " the inward man is renewed day by day," s but yet not without the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord? Again, when he says, " A man of chastity and without sin has received power from God to be a son of God," he of course meant it as an ad- monition that on a man's becoming so chaste and sinless (without raising any question as to where and when this perfection was to be ob- tained by him, — although in fact it is quite an interesting question among godly men, who are notwithstanding agreed as to the possibility of such perfection on the one hand, and on the other hand its impossibility except through " the one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus " ); '' — nevertheless, as I began to say, Xystus designed his words to be an admo- nition that, on any man's attaining such a high character, and thereby being rightly reckoned to be among the sons of God, the attainment must not be thought to have been the work of his own power. This indeed he, through grace, received from God, since he did not have it in a nature which had become corrupted and de- praved, — even as we read in the Gospel, " But as many as received Him, to them gave Ha power to become the sons of God; " ^ which they were not by nature, nor could at all be- come, unless by receiving Him they also received power through His grace. This is the power which is claimed for itself by the fortitude of that love which is only communicated to us by the Holy Ghost bestowed upon us.
CHAP. 78 [lXV.] JEROME.
We have next a quotation of some words of the venerable presbyter Jerome, from his ex- position of the passage where it is written: " ' Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.' ^ These are they whom no conscious- 3 This passage, which Pelacius had quoted as from Xystus the Roman bishop and martyr, Augustin subsequently ascertained to have had for its author Sextus, a Pythagorean philosopher. See the passage of the Retractations, ii. 42, at the head of this treatise.
6 I Tim.
a. 5.
Chap. Sr.]
ON NATURE AND GRACE.
149 ness of sin reproves," he says, and adds: "The ])ure man is seen by his purity of heart; the temple of God cannot be defiled." ' This per- fection is, to be sure, wrought in us by endeavour, by labour, by prayer, by effectual importunity therein that we may be brought to the perfection in which we may be able to look upon God witli 1 a pure heart, by His grace through our Lord { Jesus Christ. As to his quotation, that the fore- mentioned presbyter said, " God created us with free will; we are drawn by necessity neither to virtue nor to vice; otherwise, where there is necessity there is no crown;"^ — who would not allow this? Who would not cordially accept it? Who would deny that human nature was so created? The reason, however, why in doing a right action there is no bondage of necessity, is that liberty comes of love.
CHAP. 79 [lXVI.] — A CERTAIN NECESSITY OF SINNING.