TO BE NECESSARY. THE LETTER WHICH PELA- GIUS DESPATCHED TO POPE INNOCENT WITH AN EXPOSITION OF HIS BELIEF.
Now I will say nothing at present about the works of Coelestius, or those tracts of his which S John XV. 5.
'' Rom. ix. 8.
Chap. 34.]
ON THE GRACE OF CHRIST.
229 he produced in those ecclesiastical proceedings,' copies of the whole of which we have taken care to send to you, along with another letter which we deemed it necessary to add. If you care- fully examine all these documents, you will ob- serve that he does not posit the grace of God, which helps us whether to avoid evil or to do good, beyond the natural choice of the will, but only in the law and teaching. Thus he even asserts that their very prayers are necessary for the purpose of showing men what to desire and love. All these documents, however, I may omit further notice of at present; for Pelagius himself has lately forwarded to Rome both a letter and an exposition of his belief, addressing it to Pope Innocent, of blessed memory, of whose death he was ignorant. Now in this letter he says that " there are certain subjects about which some men are trying to vilify him. One of these is, that he refuses to infants the sacrament of baptism, and promises the king- dom of heaven to some, independently of Christ's redemption. Another of them is, that he so speaks of man's ability to avoid sin as to exclude God's help, and so strongly confides in free will that he repudiates the help of divine j grace." Now, as touching the perverted opinion he holds about the baptism of infants (although j he allows that it ought to be administered to them), in opposition to the Christian faith and catholic truth, this is not the place for us to enter on an accurate discussion, for we must now com- plete our treatise on the assistance of grace, which is the subject we undertook Let us see what answer he makes out of this very letter to the objection which he has proposed concerning this matter. Omitting his invidious complaints about his opponents, we approach the subject before us; and find him expressing himself as follows.
CHAP. 33 [XXXI.] — PELAGIUS PROFESSES NOTHING ON THE SUBJECT OF GRACE WHICH MAY NOT BE UNDERSTOOD OF THE LAW AND TEACHING, " See," he says, " how this epistle will clear me before your Blessedness; for in it we clearly and simply declare, that we possess a free will which is unimpaired for sinning and for not sin- ning; ^ and this free will is in all good works always assisted by divine help." Now you per- ceive, by the understanding which the Lord has given you, that these words of his are inadequate to solve the question. For it is still open to us ' Augustin again mentions a short treatise by Coelestiiis pro- duced by him at Rome in some proceedmgs of the church there, below, in ch. 36 (xxxiii.), and also in his work De Peccato Origi- nali, chs. 2 and 5 (ii., v.), etc. Those acts of the Roman church were drawn up (as Augustin testifies in his Contra tiuas Epistolas Peiagianorum, ii;j, " when Coeleslius was present to answer charges laid against hini ") in the time of Pope Zosniius, a.u 417.
* [Ad peccandum et a J non peccandum integrum hbcrum arbitnum. — W.J to inquire what the help is by which he would say that the free will is assisted; lest perchance he should, as is usual with him, maintain that law and teaching are meant. If, indeed, you were to ask him why he used the word " ahvays,'^ he might answer: Because it is written, " And in His law will he meditate day and night." ^ Then, after interposing a statement about the condition of man, and his natural capacity for sinning and not sinning, he added the following words: " Now this power of free will we declare to reside generally in all alike — in Christians, in Jews, and in Gentiles. In all men free will exists equally by nature, but in Christians alone is it assisted by grace." We again ask: " By what grace?" And again he might answer: "By the law and the Christian teaching."
CHAP. 34. — PELAGIUS SAYS THAT GRACE IS GU'EN ACCORDING TO MEN'S MERITS. THE BEGINNING, HOWEVER, OF MERIT IS FAITH;.'VND THIS IS A GRATUITOUS GIFT, NOT A RECOMPENSE FOR OUR MERITS.
Then, again, whatever it is which he means by " grace," he says is given even to Christians according to their merits, although (as I have already mentioned above * ), when he was in Palestine, in his very remarkable vindication of himself, he condemned those who hold this opinion. Now these are his words: "In the one," says he, " the good of their created 5 con- dition IS naked and defenceless; " meaning in those who are not Christians. Then adding the rest: " In these, however, who belong to Christ, there is defence afforded by Christ's help." You see it is still uncertain what the help is, according to the remark we have already made on the same subject. He goes on, however, to say of those who are not Christians: " Those deserve judgment and condemnation, because, although they possess free will whereby they could come to have faith and deserve God's grace, they make a bad use of the freedom which has been granted to them. But these deserve to be rewarded, who by the right use of free will merit the Lord's grace, and keep His com- mandments." Now it is clear that he says grace IS bestowed according to merit, whatever and of what kind soever the grace is which he means, but which he does not plainly declare. For when he speaks of those persons as deserving reward who make a good use of their free will, and as therefore meriting the Lord's grace, he asserts in fact that a debt is paid to them. What, then, becomes of the apostle's saying, "Being justified freely by His grace "?^ And what of his other statement too, " By grace are ye saved "?^ — where, that he might prevent i Conditionis bonum.
230 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Book I.
of our itself.
this is of the men's supposing that it is by works, he expressly added, " hy faitli:' ' And yet further, lest it should be imagined that faith itself is to be attributed to men independently of the grace of God, the apostle says: " And that not of your- selves; for it is the gift of God." ' It follows, therefore, that we receive, without any merit of our own, that from which everything which, according to them, we obtain because merit, has its beginning — that is, faith If, however, they insist on denying that freely given to us, what is the meaning apostle's words: '" According as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith "? ^ But if it is contended that faith is so bestowed as to be a reconii)ense for merit, not a free gift, what then becomes of another saying of the aposde: " Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake "? ■' Each is by the apostle's testimony made a gift, — both that he believes in Christ, and that each suffers for His sake. These men however, attribute faith to free will in such a! way as to make it appear that grace is rendered to faith not as a gratuitous gift, but as a debt — I thus ceasing to be grace any longer, because ] that is not grace which is not gratuitous. j CHAP. 35 [XXXII.] PELAGIUS BELIEVES THAT | INFANTS HAVE NO SIN TO BE REMITTED IN i BAPTISM.
But Pelagius would have the reader pass from this letter to the book which states his belief. This he has made mention of to yourselves, and in it he has discoursed a good deal on points about which no question was raised as to his views. Let us, however, look simply at the sub- jects about which our own controversy with them is concerned. Having, then, terminated a dis- cussion which he had conducted to his heart's content, — from the Unity of the Trinity to the resurrection of the flesh, on which nobody was questioning him, — he goes on to say: " We hold likewise one baptism, which we aver ought to be administered to infants in the same sacra- mental formula as it is to adults." Well, now, you have yourselves affirmed that you heard him admit at least as much as this in your pres- ence. What, however, is the use of his saying that the sacrament of baptism is administered to children " in the same words as it is to adults," when our inquiry concerns the thing, not merely the words? It is a more important matter, that (as you write) with his own mouth he replied to your own question, that " infants receive baptism for the remission of sins." For he did not say here, too, " in words of remission of sins," but he acknowledged that they are « Eph. i. 8.
2 Rom. xii. 3.
3 Phil. L 29.
baptized for the remission itself; and yet for all this, if you were to ask him what the sin is which he supposes to be remitted to them, he would contend that they had none whatever.
CHAP. 36 [XXXIII.] CCELESTIUS OPENLY DE- CLARES INFANTS TO HAVE NO ORIGINAL SIN.
Who would believe that, under so clear a con- fession, there is concealed a contrary meaning, if Coelestius had not exposed it? He who in that book of his, which he quoted at Rome in the ecclesiastical proceedings there,'* distinctly acknowledged that '• infants too are baptized for the remission of sins," also denied " that they have any original sin." But let us now observe what Pelagius thought, not about the baptism of infants, but rather about the assist- ance of divine grace, in this exposition of his belief which he forwarded to Rome. " We con- fess," says he, " free will in such a sense that we declare ourselves to be always in need of the help of God." Well, now, we ask again, what the help is which he says we require; and again we find ambiguity, since he may possibly answer that he meant the law and the teaching of Christ, whereby that natural " capacity " is as- sisted. We, however, on our side require them to acknowledge a grace like that which the apostle describes, when he says: " For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind; " 5 although it does not follow by any means that the man who has the gift of knowledge, whereby he has discovered what he ought to do, has also the grace of love so as to do it.
CHAP. 37 [XXXIV.] PELAGIUS NOWHERE AD- MITS THE NEED OF DIVINE HELP FOR WILL AND ACTION.
I also have read those books or writings of his which he mentions in the letter which he sent to Pope Innocent, of blessed memory, with the exception of a brief epistle which he says he 'sent to the holy Bishop Constantius; but I have nowhere been able to find in them that he acknowledges such a grace as helps not only that " natural capacity of willing and acting " (which according to him we possess, even when we neither will a good thing nor do it), but also the will and the action itself, by the ministration of the Holy Ghost.
CHAP. 38 [XXXV.] — A DEFINITION OF THE GRACE OF CHRIST BY PELAGIUS.
" Let them read," says he, " the epistle which we wrote about twelve years ago to that holy man Bishop Paulinus: its subject throughout in some three hundred lines is the confession of compare Dc fecc. Orig. chs. 5,6.
Chap. 42.]
ON THE GRACE OF CHRIST.
2.^,1 God's grace and assistance alone, and our own in- ability to do any good thing at all without God." Well, I have read this epistle also, and found him dwelling throughout it on scarcely any other topic than the faculty and capacity of nature, whilst he makes God's grace consist almost entirely in this. Christ's grace, indeed, he treats with great brevity, smiply mentioning its name, so that his only aim seems to have been to avoid the scandal of ignoring it altogether. It is, however, absolutely uncertain whether he \ means Christ's grace to consist in the remission 1 of sins, or even in the teaching of Christ, includ- 1 ing also the example of His life (a meaning which he asserts in several passages of his treat- 1 ises); or whether he believes it to be a help towards good living, in addition to nature and teaching, through the inspiring influence of a burning and shining love.
CHAP. 39 [XXXVI.] — A LETTER OF PELAGILTS UNKNOWN TO AUGUSTIN.
" Let them also read," says he, " my epistle to the holy Bishop Constantius, wherem I have — briefly no doubt, but yet plainly — conjoined the grace and help of God with man's free will." This epistle, as I have already stated,' I have not read; but if it is not unlike the other writ- ings which he mentions, and with which I am acquainted, even this work does nothing for the subject of our present inquiry.
CHAP. 40 [XXXVII.] THE HELP OF GRACE PLACED BY PELAGIUS IN THE MERE REVELA- TION OF TEACHING.
" Let them read, moreover," says he, " what I wrote,^ when I was in the East, to Christ's holy virgin Demetrias, and they \vill find that we so commend the nature of man as always to add the help of God's grace." Well, I read this letter too; and it had almost persuaded me that he did acknowledge therein the grace about which our discussion is concerned, although he did certainly seem in many passages of this work to contradict himself. But when there also came to my hands those other treatises which he afterwards wrote for more extensive circulation, I discovered in what sense he must have intended to speak of grace, — concealing what he believed under an ambiguous general- 1 ity, but employing the term " grace " in order to break the force of obloquy, and to avoid giv-! ing offence. For at the very commencement of i this work (where he says: " Let us apply our- 1 selves with all earnestness to the task which we i have set before us, nor let us have any misgiv- j hig because of our own humble al)ility; for we ] believe that we are assisted by the mother's ' See above, ch. 37 [xxxiv.].
2 See above, ch. 23.
faith and her daughter's merit "^) he appeared to me at first to acknowledge the grace which nelps us to individual action; nor did I notice at once the fact that he might possibly have made this grace consist simply in the revelation of teaching.
CHAP. 41. — RESTORATION OF NATURE UNDERSTOOD BY PELAGIUS AS FORGIVENESS OF SI.VS.
In this same work he says in another passage: " Now, if even without God men show of what character they have been mafic by God, see what Christians have it in tlieir power to do, whose nature has been through Christ restored to a better condition, and who are, moreover, assisted by the help of divine grace." ■» V>y this restoration of nature to a better state he woukl have us understand the remission of sins. Tliis he has shown with sufficient clearness in another passage of this epistle, where he says: " Even those who have become in a certain sense ob- durate through their long practice of sinning, can be restored through repentance." 5 But he may even here too make the assistance of divine grace consist in the revelation of teaching.
CHAP. 42 [XXXVIII.] GRACE PL.ACED RY PEL.\- GIUS IN THE REMISSION OF SINS AND THE EX- AMPLE OF CHRIST.
Likewise in another place in this epistle of his he says: " Now, if even before the law, as we have already remarked, and long previous to the coming of our Lord and Saviour, some men are related to have lived righteous and holy lives; how much more worthy of belief is it that we are capable of doing this since the illumination of His coming, who have been restored by the grace of Christ, and born again into a better man? How much better than they, who lived before the law, ought we to be, who have been reconciled and cleansed by His blood, and by His example encouraged to the perfection of righteousness! " '^ Observe how even here, although in different language, he has made the assistance of grace to consist in the remission of sins and the example of Christ. He then completes the passage by adding these words: " Better than they were even who lived under the law; according to the apostle, who says, ' Sm shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.' ' Now, inasmuch as we have," says he, " said enough, as I suppose, on this point, let us de- scribe a perfect virgin, who shall testify the good at once of nature and of grace by the holiness of her conduct, evermore warmed with the virtues of both." '^ Now you ought to notice that 3 Epistle to Demetri.ns, rh. i. S Episile 10 Dcnielnas, ch. 17. 7 Rom. VI. 14.
* Episilc to Pemetrins, ch. 3. t" Episile lo IVinelria.s, ch. 8. 8 Epibtle 10 Demetrius, ch. 9.
232 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTLN.
[Book I.
in these words also he wished to conclude what he was saying in such a way that we might under- stand the good of nature to be that which we received when we were created; but the good of grace to be that which we receive when we regard and follow the example of Christ, — as if sin were not permitted to those who were or are under the law, on this account, because they either had not Christ's example, or else do not believe in Him.
CHAP. 43 [XXXIX.] — THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS AND EXAMPLE OF CHRIST HELD BY PELAGIUS ENOUGH TO SAVE THE MOST HARDENED SINNER.
That this, indeed, is his meanmg, other words also of his show us, — not contained in this work, but in the third book of his Defence of Free Will, wherein he holds a discussion with an opponent, who had insisted on the apostle's words when he says, '* For what I would, that do I not; " ' and again, " I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind." ^ Ta this he replied in these words: " Now that which you wish us to understand of the apostle himself, all Church writers^ assert that he spoke in the person of the sinner, and of one who was still under the law, — such a man as was, by reason of a very long custom of vice, held bound, as it were, by a certain neces- sity of sinning, and who, although he desired good with his will, in practice indeed was hurried headlong into evil. In the person, however, of one man," he continues, " the apostle designates the people who still sinned under the ancient law. This nation he declares was to be delivered from this evil of custom through Christ, who first of all remits all sins in baptism to those who believe in Him, and then urges them by an imitation of Himself to perfect holiness, and by the example of His own virtues overcomes the evil custom of their sins." Observe in what way he supposes them to be assisted who sin under the law: they are to be delivered by being justified through Christ's grace, as if the law alone were insufficient for them, without some rein- forcement from Christ, owing to their long habit of sinning; not the inspiration of love by His Holy Spirit, but the contemplation and copy of His example in the inculcation of virtue by the gospel. Now here, at any rate, there was the very greatest call on him to say plainly what grace he meant, seeing that the apostle closed the very passage which formed the ground of discussion with these telling words: " O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the 3 By his ecclesi'nsiicj viri he refer<!, of course, to ecclesiastical writers who had commented on St. Paul's doctrine. See also Augus- tin's Cotiirn duns Epislt. J'tlag. i. 14 fviii.|; Contra Juiiiuiinit, ii. 5 liii.], 8 [iv.l, 13 [v. J, 30 [viii.J; and De FreJestinatione Sanctorum, 4 [iv.J.
body of this death? The grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." •♦ Now, when he places this grace, not in the aid of His power, but in His example for imitation, what further hope must we entertain of him, since everywhere the word " grace " is mentioned by him under an ambiguous generality?
CHAP. 44 [xL.] — PELAGIUS ONCE MORE GUARDS HIMSELF AGAINST THE NECESSITY OF GRACE.
Then, again, in the work addressed to the holy virgin, 5 of whicn we have spoken already, there is this passage: " I^et us submit ourselves to God, and by doing His will let us merit the divine grace; and let us the more easily, by the help of the Holy Ghost, resist the evil spirit." Now, in these words of his, it is plain enough that he regards us as assisted by the grace of the Holy Ghost, not because we are unable to resist the tempter without Him by the sheer capacity of our nature, but in order that we may resist more easily. With respect, however, to the quantity and quality, whatever these might be, of this assistance, we may well believe that he made them consist of the additional knowledge which the Spirit reveals to us through teaching, and which we either cannot, or scarcely can, possess by nature. Such are the particulars which I have been able to discover in the book which he addressed to the virgin of Christ, and wherein he seems to confess grace. Of what purport and kind these are, you of course perceive.
CHAP 45 [XLI.] — TO WHAT PURPOSE PELAGIUS THOUGHT PR.-VVERS OUGHT TO BE OFFERED.
" Let them also read," says he, " my recent little treatise which we were obliged to publish a short while ago in defence of free will, antl let them acknowledge how unfair is their determina- tion to disparage us for a denial of grace, when we throughout almost the whole work acknowl- edge fully and sincerely both free will and grace." There are four books in this treatise, all of which I read, marking such pas.sages as required consideration, and which I proposed to discuss: these I examined as well as I was able, before we came to that epistle of his which was sent to Rome. But even in these four books, that which he seems to regard as the grace which helps us to turn aside from evil and to do good, he describes in such a manner as to keep to his old ambiguity of language, and thus have it in his power so to explain to his fol- lowers, that they may suppose the assistance which is rendered by grace, for the purpose of helping our natural capacity, consists of nothing else than the law and the teaching. Thus our * Rom. vii. 25.
5 The nun Demetrias. See above, chs. 23, 28.
Chap. 4S.]
ON THE GRACE OF CHRIST.
233 very prayers (as, indeed, he most plainly affirms in his writings) are of no other use, in his opinion, than to procure for us the explanation of the teaching by a divine revelation, not to procure help for the mind of man to perfect by love and action what it has learned should be done. The fact is' he does not in the least relinquish that very manifest dogma of his system in which he sets forth those three things, capacity, volition, action; maintaining that only the first of these, the capacity, is favoured with the constant assist- ance of divine help, but supposing that the volition and the action stand in no need of God's assistance. Moreover, the very help which he says assists our natural capacity, he places in the law and teaching. This teaching, he allows, is revealed or explained to us by the Holy Ghost, on which account it is that he concedes the necessity of prayer. But still this assistance of law and teaching he supposes to have existed even in the days of the prophets; whereas the help of grace, which is proj)erly so called, he will have to lie simply in the example of Christ. But this example, you can plainly see, pertains after all to " teaching," — even that which is preached to us as the gospel. The general result, then, is the pointing out, as it were, of a road to us by which we are bound to walk, by the powers of our free will, ajid needing no assist- ance from any one else, may suffice to ourselves not to faint or fail on the way. And even as to the discovery of the road itself, he contends that nature alone is competent for it; only the dis- covery will be more easily effected if grace ren- ders assistance.