Now, that I may especially refer to my own relation to him, I first became acquainted with Pelagius' name, along with great praise of him, at a distance, and when he was living at Rome. Afterwards reports began to reach us, that he disputed against the grace of God. This caused me much pain, for I could not refuse to believe the statements of my informants; but yet I was desirous of ascertaining information on the mat- ter either from himself or from some treatise of his, that, in case I should have to discuss the question with him, it should be on grounds which he could not disown. On his arrival, however, in Africa, he was in my absence kindly received on our coast of Hippo, where, as I found from our brethren, nothing whatever of this kind was heard from him; because he left earlier than was expected. On a subsequent occasion, in- 1 deed, I caught a glimpse of him, once or twice, ' to the best of my recollection, when I was very much occupied in preparing for the conference which we were to hold with the heretical Dona-: tists; but he hastened away across the sea. Meanwhile the doctrines connected with his ' name were warmly maintained, and passed from mouth to mouth, among his reputed followers — to such an extent that Ccelestius found his way ' before an ecclesiastical tribunal, and reported opinions well suited to his perverse character. [ yVe thought it would be a better way of proceed- ing against them, if, without mentioning any names of individuals, the errors themselves were met and refuted; and the men might thus be brought to a right mind by the fear of a con- de^nnation from the Church rather than be punished by the actual condemnation. And so both by books and by popular discussions we ceased not to oppose the evil doctrines in question.
CHAP. 47 [XXIII.] — pelagius' BOOK, WHICH WAS SENT BY TIMASIUS AND JACOBUS TO AUGUSTIN, WAS ANSWERED BY THE LATTER IN HIS WORK "ON NATURE AND GI^CE."
But when there was actually placed in my hands, by those faithful servants of God and honourable men, Timasius and ' Jacobus, the treatise in which Pelagius dealt with the question of God's grace, it became very evident to me — too evident, indeed, to admit of any further doubt — how hostile to salvation by Christ was his poisonous perversion of the truth. He treated the subject in the shape of an objection started, as if by an opponent, in his own terms against himself; for he was already suffering a good deal of oblocjuy from his opinions on the question, which he now appeared to solve for himself in no other way than by simply describ- ing the grace of God as nature created with a free will, occasionally combining therewith either the help of the law, or even the remission of sins; although these additional admissions were not ])lainly made, but only sparingly suggested by him. And yet, even under these circum- stances, I refrained from inserting Pelagius' name in my work, wherein I refuted this book of his; for I still thought that I should render a prompter assistance to the truth if I continued to preserve a friendly relation to him, and so to spare his personal feelings, while at the same time I showed no mercy, as I was bound not to show it, to the productions of his pen. Hence, I must say, I now feel some annoyance, that in this trial he somewhere said: " I anathe- matize those who hold these opinions, or have at any time held them." He might have been contented with saying, " Those who hold these opinions,^' which we should have regarded in the light of a self-censure; but when he went on to say, " Or have at any ti??ie Jiehi them,''' in the first place, how could he dare to condemn so unjustly those harmless persons who no longer hold the errors, which they had learnt either from others, or actually from himself? And, in the second place, who among all those persons that were aware of the fact of his not only having held the opinions in question, but of his having taught them, could help suspecting, and not unreasonably, that he must have acted insincerely in condemning those who now hold those opinions, seeing that he did not hesitate to condemn in the same strain and at the same moment those also who had at any time previously held them, when they would be sure to remember that they had no less a person than himself as their instructor in these errors? There are, for instance, such persons as Timasius and Jacobus, to say nothing of any others. How can he with unblushing face look at them, his 204 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Chap. 48.
dear friends (who have never relinquished their love of him) and his former disciples? These are the persons to whom I addressed the work in which I replied to the statements of his book. I think I ought not to pass over in silence the style and tone which they observed towards me in their correspondence, and I have here added a letter of theirs as a sample.
CHAP, 48 [XXIV.] — A LETTER WRITTEN BY TIMA- SIUS AND JACOBUS TO AUGUSTIN ON RECEIVING HIS TREATISE " ON NATURE AND GRACE."
" To his lordship, the truly blessed and de- servedly venerable father. Bishop Augustin, Timasius and Jacobus send greeting in the Lord. We have been so greatly refreshed and strengthened by the grace of God, which your word has ministered to us, my lord, our truly blessed and justly venerated father, that we may with the utmost sincerity and propriety say, * He sent His word and healed them.' ' We have found, indeed, that your hohness has so thoroughly sifted the contents of his little book as to astonish us with the answers with which even the slightest points of his error have been confronted, whether it be on matters which every Christian ought to rebut, loathe, and avoid, or on those in which he is not with suffi- cient certainty found to have erred, — although even in these he has, with incredible subtlety, suggested his belief that God's grace should be kept out of sight.^ There is, however, one con- sideration which affects us under so great a benefit, — that this most illustrious gift of the grace of God has, however slowly, so fully shone out upon us. If, indeed, it has happened that some are removed from the influence of this clearest light of truth, whose blindness required its illumination, yet even to them, we doubt not, the same grace will find its steady way, however late, by the merciful favour of that God ' who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.' ^ As for ourselves, indeed, thanks to that loving spirit which is in you, we have, in consequence of your instruc- tion, some time since thrown off our subjection to his errors; but we still have even now cause for continued gratitude in the fact that, as we have been informed, the false opinions which we formerly believed are now becoming apparent to others — a way of escape opening out to them in the extremely precious discourse of your holiness." Then, in another hand: " May the mercy of our God keep your blessedness in safety, and mindful of us, for His eternal glory."'* CHAP. 49 [XXV.] PELAGIUS' BEHAVIOUR CON- TRASTED WITH THAT OF THE WRITERS OF THE LETTER.
If now that man,5 too, were to confess that he had once been implicated in this error as a per- son possessed, but that he now anathematized all that hold these opinions, whoever should withhold his congratulation from him, now that he was in possession of tlie way of truth, would surely surrender all the bowels of love. As the case, however, now stands, lie has not only not acknowledged his liberation from his pestilen- tial error; but, as if that were a small thing, he has gone on to anathematize men who have reached that freedom, who love him so well that they would fain desire his own emancipation. Amongst these are those very men who have ex- pressed their good-will towards him in the letter, which they forwarded to me. For he it was whom they had chiefly in view when they said how mucli they were affected at the fact of my having at last written that work. " If, indeed, it has happened," they say, " that some are re- moved from the influence of this clearest light of truth, whose blindness required its illumina- tion, yet even to them," they go on to remark, " we doubt not, the self-same grace will find its way, by the merciful favour of God." Any name, or names, even they, too, thought it desirable as yet to suppress, in order that, if friend- ship still lived on, the error of the friends might the more surely die.
CHAP. 50. — PELAGIUS HAS NO GOOD REASON TO BE ANNOYED IF HIS NAME BE AT LAST USED IN THE CONTROVERSY, AND HE BE EXPRESSLY REFUTED.
But now if Pelagius thinks of God, if he is not ungrateful for His mercy in having brought him before this tribunal of the bishops, that thus he might be saved from the hardihood of after- wards defending these anathematized opinions, and be at once led to acknowledge them as de- serving of abhorrence and rejection, he will be more thankful to us for our book, in which, by mentioning his name, we shall open the wound in order to cure it, than for one in which we were afraid to cause him pain, and, in fact, only produced irritation, — a result which causes us regret. Should he, however, feel angry with us, let him reflect how unfair such anger is; and, in order to subdue it, let him ask God to give him that grace which, in this trial, he has con- fessed to be necessary for each one of our ac- tions, that so by His assistance he may gain a real victory. For of what use to him are all those great laudations contained in the letters of the bishops, which he thought fit to be men- 5 Pelagius.
Chap. 53.]
ON THE PROCEEDINGS OF PELAGIUS.
20= tioned, and even to be read and quoted in his favour, — as if all those persons who heard his strong and, to some extent, earnest exhortations to goodness of life could not have easily dis- covered how perverse were the opinions which he was entertaining?
CHAP. 51 [XXVI.] — THE NATURE OF AUGUSTIN'S LETTER TO PELAGIUS.
For my own part, indeed, in my letter which he produced, I not only abstained from all praises of him, but I even exhorted him, with as much earnestness as I could, short of act- ually mooting the question, to cultivate right views about the grace of God. In my saluta- tion I called him " /ord " ^ — a title which, in our epistolary style, we usually apply even to some persons who are not Christians, — and this without untruth, inasmuch as we do, in a certain sense, owe to all such persons a service, which is yet freedom, to help them in obtaining the sal- vation which is in Christ. I added the epithet " most beloved;'^ and as I now call him by this term, so shall I continue to do so, even if he be angry with me; because, if I ceased to retain my love towards him, because of his feeling the anger, 1 should only injure myself rather than him. I, moreover, styled him '■'most longed for" because I greatly longed to have a conver- sation with him in person; for I had already heard that he was endeavouring publicly to op- pose grace, whereby we are justified, whenever any mention was made of it. The brief con- tents of the letter itself indeed show all this; for, after thanking him for the pleasure he gave me by the information of his own health and that of his friends (whose bodily health we are bound of course to wish for, however much we may desire their amendment in other respects), I at once expressed the hope that the Lord would recompense him with such blessings as do not appertain to physical welfare, but which he used to think, and probably still thinks, con- sist solely in the freedom of the will and his own power, — at the same time, and for this reason, wishing him " eternal life " Then again, remem- bering the many good and kind wishes he had expressed for me in his letter, which I was an- swering, I went on to beg of him, too, that he would pray for me, that the Lord would indeed make me such a man as he believed me to be already; that so I might gently remind him, against the opinion he was himself entertaining, that the very righteousness which he had thought worthy to be praised in me was " not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." ^ This is the sub- ■ This term corresponris snmewhat to our Sir; but Augustin here refers to its more expressive meaning of Master, or Lord. - Rom. ix. 16.
Stance of that short letter of mine, and such was my purpose when I dictated it. This is a copy of it: CHAP. 52 [xXVn. AND XXVril.] THE TEXT OF THE LETIER.
" To my most beloved lord, and most longed- for brother Pelagius, Augustin sends greeting in the Lord. I thank you very much for the pleas- ure you have kindly afforded me by your letter, and for informing me of your good health. May the Lord requite you with blessings, and may you ever enjoy them, and live with Him for evermore in all eternity, my most beloved lord, and most longed-for brother. For my own part, indeed, although I do not admit your high en- comiums of me, which the letter of your iienig- nity 3 conveys, I yet cannot be insensible of the benevolent view you entertain towards my poor deserts; at the same time requesting you to pray for me, that the Lord would make me such a man as you suppose me to be already." Then, in another hand, it follows: " Be mind- ful of us; may you be safe, and find favour with the Lord, my most beloved lord, and most longed-for brother."
CHAP. 53 [XXIX.] — PELAGIUS' USE OF RECOMMEN- DATIONS.
As to that which I placed in the postscript, — that he might " find favour with the Lord," — I intimated that this lay rather in His grace than in man's sole will; for I did not make it the subject either of exhortation, or of precept, or of instruction, but simply of my wish. But just in the same way as I should, if I had exhorted or enjoined, or even instructed him, simply have shown that all this appertained to free will, with- out, however, derogating from the grace of God; so in like manner, when I expressed the matter in the way of a wish, I asserted no doubt the grace of God, but at the same time I did not quench the liberty of the will. Wherefore, then, did he produce this letter at the trial? If he had only from the beginning entertained views in accord- ance with it, very likely he would not have been at all summoned before the bishops by the breth- ren, who, with all their kindness of disposition, could yet not help being offended with his per- verse contentiousness. Now, however, as I have given on my part an account of this letter of mine, so would they, whose epistles he quoted, explain theirs also, if it were necessary; — they would tell us cither what they thought, or what they were ignorant of, or with what purpose they wrote to him. Pelagius, therefore, may boast to his heart's content of the friendship of holy men, 3 Turp Benigiiitaiis Epistola is more than " your kind letter." " fieiiigititus" is a complimentary abstract title addressed to the correspondent.
206 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Chap. 54.
he may read their letters recounting his praises, he may produce whatever synodal acts he pleases to attest his own acquittal, — there still stands against him the fact, proved by the testimony of competent witnesses, that he has inserted in his books statements which are opposed to that grace of God whereby we are called and justified; and unless he shall, after true confession, anathema- tize these statements, and then go on to con- tradict them both m his writings and discussions, he will certainly seem to all those who have a fuller knowledge of him to have laboured in vain in his attempt to set himself right.
CHAP. 54 [XXX.] ON THE LETTER OF PELAGIUS, IN WHICH HE BOASTS THAT HIS ERRORS HAD j BEEN APPROVED BY FOURTEEN BISHOPS. I For I will not be silent as to the transactions which took place after this trial, and which rather j augment the suspicion against him. A certain j epistle found its way into our hands, which was ' ascribed to Pelagius himself, writing to a friend ■ of his, a presbyter, w4io had kindly admonished j him (as appears from the same epistle) not to allow any one to separate himself from the body of the Church on his account. Among the other contents of this document, which it would be both tedious and unnecessary to quote here, Pekigius says: " By the sentence of fourteen bishops our statement was received with appro- bation, in which we affirmed that ' a man is able to be without sin, and easily to keep the com- mandments of God, if he wishes.' This sentence," says he, " has filled the mouths of the gainsayers with confusion, and has separated asunder the entire set which was conspiring together for evil." Whether, indeed, this epistle was really written by Pelagius, or was composed by somebody in his name, who can fail to see, after what manner this error claims to have achieved a victory, even in the judicial proceedings where it was refuted and condemned? Now, he has adduced the words we have just quoted according to the form m which they occur in his book of " Chapters," as it is called, not in the shape in which they were objected to him at his trial, and even re- peated by him in his answer. For even his accusers, through some unaccountable inaccu- racy, left out a word in their indictment, con- cerning which there is no small controversy. They made him say, that " a man is able to be without sin, if he wishes; and, if he wishes, to keep the commandments of God." There is nothing said here about this being " easily " done. Afterwards, when he gave his answer, he spake thus: " We said, that a man is able to be with- out sin, and to keep the commandments of God, if he wishes; " he did not then say, " easily keep." but only " keep." So in another place, Timongst the statements about which Hilary consulted me, and I gave him my views, it was objected to Pelagius that he had said, " A man is able, if he wishes, to live without sin." To this he himself responded, " That a man is able to be without sin has been said above." Now, on this occasion, we tlo not find on the part either of those who brought the objection or of him who rebutted it, that the word " easily " was used at all. Then, again, in the narrative of the holy Bishop John, which we have partly quoted above,' he says, " W' hen they were importunate and ex- claimed, ' He ii a heretic, because he says, It is true that a man is able, if he only will, to live without sm; ' and tlien, when we questioned him on this point, he answered, ' I did not sav that man's nature has received the power of being impeccable, — but I said, whosoever is willing, in the pursuit of his own salvation, to labour and struggle to abstain from sinning and to walk in the commandments of God, receives the ability to do so from God.' Then, whilst some were whispering, and remarking on the statement of Pelaguis, that ' without God's grace man was able to attain perfection,' I censured the state- ment, and reminded them, besides, that even the Apostle Paul, after so many labours, — not, indeed, in his own strength, but by tlie grace of God, — said, 'T laboured more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.'"^ And so on, as I have already mentioned.
CHAP. 55. — pelagius' LETTER DISCUSSED.
What, then, is the meaning of those vaunting words of theirs in this epistle, wherein they boast of having induced the fourteen bishops who sat in that trial to believe not merely that a man has ability but that he has "facility" to abstain from sinning, according to the ])Osition laid down in the " Chapters " of this same Pelagius, — when, in the draft of the proceedings, notwithstanding the frequent repetition of the general charge and full consideration bestowed on it, this is nowliere found? How, indeed, can this word fail to con- tradict the very defence and answer which Pela- gius made; since the Bishop John asserted that Pelagius put in this answer in his presence, that " he wished it to be understood that the man who was willing to labour and agonize for his salvation was able to avoid sin," while Pelagius himself, at this time engaged in a formal inquiry and conducting his defence,^ said, that " it was by his own labour and the grace of God that a man is able to be without sin?" Now, is a thing ^^^•j' when labour is required to effect it? For I suppose that ever}- man would agree with us in the opinion, that wherever there is labour there J Ch. i6. At the Synod of Diospolls. The proceedings before Jiilin, bi.-ihop of Jerusalem, wtrc; iioi duly registered. See above, 59.
Chap. 57.]
ON THE PROCEEDINGS OF PELAGIUS.
207 cannot be facility. And yet a carnal epistle of windiness and inflation flies forth, and, outrunning in speed the tardy record of the proceedings, | gets first into men's hands; so as to assert that \ fourteen bishops in the East have determined, not only " that a man is able to be without sin, and to keep God's commandments," but " ^asi/v to keep." Nor is God's assistance once named: it is merely said, " If he wishes; " so that, of course, as nothing is affirmed of the divine grace, for which the earnest fight was made, it remains that the only thing one reads of in this episUe is the unhappy and self-deceiving — because repre- sented as victorious — human pride. As if the Bishop John, indeed, had not expressly declared that he censured this statement, and that, by the help of three inspired texts of Scripture, • he had, as if by thunderbolts, struck to the ground the gigantic mountains of such presumption which they had piled up against the still over-towering heights of heavenly grace; or as if again those other bishops who were John's assessors could have borne with Pelagius, either in mind or even in ear, when he pronounced these words: " We said that a man is able to be without sin and to keep the commandments of God, if he wishes," unless he had gone on at once to say: " For the ability to do this God has given to him " (for they were unaware that he was speaking of nature, and not of that grace which they had learnt from the teaching of the aposde); and had afterwards added this qualification: " We never said, how- ever, that any man could be found, who at no time whatever from his infancy to his old age had committed sin, but that if any person were converted from his sins, he could by his own exertion and the grace of God be without sin." Now, by the very fact that in their sentence they used these words, " he has answered correctly, 'that a man can, when he has the assistance and grace of God, be without sin; ' " what else did they fear than that, if he denied this, he would be doing a manifest wrong not to man's ability, j but to God's grace? It has indeed not been defined when a man may become without sin; it has only been judicially settled, that this result can only be reached by the assisting grace of God; it has not, I say, been defined whether a man, whilst he is in this flesh which lusts against the Spirit, ever has been, or now is, or ever can be, by his present use of reason and free will, either in the full society of man or in monastic solitude, in such a state as to be beyond the necessity of offering up the prayer, not in behalf of others, but for himself personally: " Forgive us our debts; " ^ or whether this gift shall be consummated at the time when " we shall be like Him, when we shall see Him as He is," ^ —