CHAP. 12 [VI.] OF THE PRAISE OF FREE WILL.
Moreover, that, in opposition to the Manicheans, they praise free will, making use of the prophetic testimony, " If ye shall be walling and will hear me, ye shall eat what is good in the land; but if ye shall be unwilling and will not hear me, the sword shall consume you: " '^ what advantage is this to them, when, indeed, it is not so much against the Manicheans that they are maintaining, as against the catholics that they are extolling, free will? For they wish what is said, "If ye be willing and will hear me," to be so understood, as if in the preceding will 9 See Oft the Grace of Christ, ch. 8, and following.
'3 Rom. iii. 31. '■' Prov. iii. 16. '5 2 Kings iv. 29 sq.
[Book IV.
itself were the merit of the grace that follows; and thus grace were no more grace, seehig that it is not free when it is rendered as a debt. But if they should so understand what is written,; "If ye be willing," as to confess that He prepares even that good will itself of whom it is written, " The will is prepared by the Lord," ' they would use this testimony as catholics, and not only would overcome the ancient heresy oi, the Manicheans, but would not found the new j one of the Pelagians.
CHAP. 13. — god's purposes are effects of GRACE.
What does it profit them, that in the praise of that same free will " they say that grace assists the good purpose of every one "?^ This would be received without scruple as being said in a catholic spirit, if they did not attribute merit to the good purpose, to which merit now a wage is paid of debt, not according to grace, but would understand and confess that even that very good purpose, which the grace which follows assists, could not have been in the man if grace had not preceded it. For how is there a good purpose in a man without the mercy of God first, since it is that very good will which is prepared by the Lord? ' But when they had said this, " that grace also assists every one's good purpose," and presently added, " yet does not infuse the love of virtue into a resisting heart," it might be fitly understood, if it were not said by those whose meaning is known. For, for the resisting heart a hearing for the divine call is first procured by the grace of God itself, and then in that heart, now no more resisting, the desire of virtue is kindled. Nevertheless, in all things which any one does according to God, His mercy precedes iiim. And this they will not have, because they choose to be not catholics, but Pelagians. For it much delights a proud impiety, that even that which a man is forced to confess to be given by the Lord should seem to be not bestowed on himself, but repaid; so that, to wit, the children of perdition, not of the promise, may be thought themselves to have made themselves good, and God to have repaid to those who are now good, having been made so by themselves, the reward due for that their work.
CHAP. 14. — THE TESTIMONIES OF SCRIPTURE IN FAVOUR OF GRACE.
For that very pride has so stopped the ears of their heart that they do not hear, " For what hast thou that thou hast not received? " ^ They do not hear, "Without me ye can do nothing; "'' they do not hear, " Love is of God; " s they do not hear, "■ God hath dealt the measure of ' Prov. viii. 35. 2 See above. Book ii. ch. 11.
faith; " ^ they do not hear, " The Spirit breatheth where it will, "? and, '' They who are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God; " ^ they do not hear, " No one can come unto me, unless it were given him of my Father; " ^ they do not hear what Esdras writes, " Blessed is the Lord of our fathers, who hath put into the heart of the king to glorify His house which is in Jerusalem;"'° they do not hear what the Lord says by Jeremiah. " And I will put my fear into their heart, that they depart not from me; and I will visit them to make them good;"" and especially that word by Ezekiel the prophet, where God fully shows that He is induced by no good deservings of men to make them good, that is, obedient to His commands, but rather that He rejiays to them good for evil, by doing this for His own sake, and not for theirs. Fdr He says, " These things saith the Lord God: I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine own holy name's sake, which has been profaned among the nations, whither ye have gone in there; and I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, saith Adonai the Lord, when I shall be sanctified among you before their eyes. And I will take you from among the nations, and gather you together out of all lands, and will bring you into your own land. And I will sprinkle upon you clean water, and ye shall be cleansed from all your filthiness, and I will cleanse you. And I will gi\e unto you a new heart, and a new spirit will I put within you: and the stony heart shall be taken away out of your flesli, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and will cause you to walk in my righteousness, and to observe my judgments, and do them." '^ And after a few words, by the same prophet He says, " Not for your sakes do I do this, saith the Lord God; it shall be known unto you: be ye confounded and blush for your ways, O house of Israel. These things saith the Lord God: In the day in which I shall cleanse you from all your iniquities, and shall ordain cities, and the wilderness shall be built, and the desolated land shall be tilled, whereas it was desolated before the eyes of every passer by. And they shall say. This land that was desolated has become as a garden of i)leasure; and the wasted and desolated and ruined cities have settled down fortified. And whatever nations have been left round about you shall know that I the Lord have built the ruined places, I have planted the desolated places: I the Lord have spoken, and have done it. Thus saith the Lord: I will yet ^ Rom. xii. 3. '' John iii. 8.
'■^ Ezek. xxxvi. 22 ff.
Chap. t6.] AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE TELAGIANS.
for this inquire of the house of Israel, that I may do it for them; I will multiply them men like slieep, as holy sheep, as the sheep of Jerusalem in the days of her feast; so shall be those desolated cities full of men as sheep: and they shall know that I am the Lord." ' CHAP. 15. — FROM SUCH SCRIPTURES GRACE IS PROVED TO BE GR.VrUITOUS AND EFFECTUAL.
What remained to the carrion skin whence it might be puffed up, and could disdain wlien it glories to glory in the Lord?- What remained to, it, when whatsoever it shall have said that it has done in such a way that after that preceding merit of man had originated from man, God should subsequently do that of which the man is deserving, — it shall be answered, it shall be exclaimed against, tl shall be contradicted, '• I do it; but for my own holy name's sake; not for \ your sakes, do I do it, saith the Lord God"?^ { Nothing so overturns the Pelagians when they say that the grace of God is given in respect of our merits. Wliich, indeed, Pelagius himself condemned,-* and if not by correcting it, yet by 1 being afraid of tiie Eastern judges. Nothing so [ overturns the presumption of men who say, "We 1 do it, that we may deserve those things with I which God may do it." It is not Pelagius that | answers you, but the Lord Himself, '" I do it, and not for your sakes, but for my own holy name's sake." ^ For what good can ye do out of a heart which is not good? But that you may have a good heart. He says, " I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new Spirit within you." Can you say, We will first walk in His righteousness, and will observe His judgment, and will do so that we may be worthy, such as He should give His grace to? But what good would ye evil men do, and how should you do those good things, unless you were yourselves good? But who causes that men should be good save Him who said, " And I will visit them to make them good "? and who said '' I will put my Spirit within you, and will cause you to walk in my righteousness, and to observe my judgments, and do them "? Are ye thus not yet awake? Do ye not yet hear, " I will cause you to walk, I will make you to observe," lastly, " I will make you to do"? What! are you still puffing yourselves up? We indeed walk, it is true; we observe; we do; but He makes us to walk, to observ^e, to do. Tliis is the grace of God making us good; this is His mercy preventing us. What do waste and desolated and dug-up places deserve, which yet shall be built and tilled and fortified? Are these things for the merits of their wasteness, their desolation, thtir uprooting?
Far from it.
For such things ■• On the Proceedings 0/ Pelagius, 30.
as these are evil deservings, while those gifts are good. Therefore good things are given for evil ones — gratuitous, therefore; not of debt, and therefore grace. " I," saith the Lord: " I, the Lord." Does not such a word as that restrain you, O human pride, when you say, I do sucli things as to deserve from the Lorcl to be built and plantetl? Do you not hear, "I do it not on your account; I the Lord have built up the destroyed cities, and I have planted the desolated lands; I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, yet not for your sakes. but for my own holy name's sake "? Who multiplies men as sheep, as holy sheep, as the sheep of Jerusalem? Who causes those desolated cities to be full of men as sheep, save He who goes on, and says, ''And they shall know that I am the Lord"? But with what men as sheep does He fill the cities as He promised? those which He finds, or those which He makes? Let us interrogate the Psalm; lo, it answers; let us hear: " O come, let us worship and fall down before Him: and let us weep before tiie Lord who made us; because He IS our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand." 5 He therefore makes the sheep, with which He may fill the desolated cities. What wonder, when, indeed, to that single sheep, that is, the Church whose members are all the human sheep, it is said, " Because I am the Lord who make thee "? What do you pretend to me of free will, which will not be free to do righteousness, unless you should be a sheep? He then who makes men His sheep. He frees the wills of men for the obedience of piety.
CHAP. l6. WHY GOD MAKES OF SOME SHEEP, OTHERS NOT.
But wherefore does God make these men sheep, and those not, since with Him there is no acceptance of persons? This is the very question which the blessed apostle thus answers to those who propose it with more curiosity than propriety, " O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Does the thing formed say to him that formed it, \\'herefore hast thou made me thus? " ^ This is the very question which belongs to that depth desiring to look into which the same apostle was in a certain measure terrified, and exclaimed, " Oh the depth of the riches of the wisdom and tlie knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? or who has been His counsellor? Or who \\2& first given to Him, that it should be recompensed to Him again? Because of Him, and through Him, and in Him, are all things: to Him be glory for ages of ages." '' Let them 5 Ps. xcv. 6, 7.
6 Rom. ix. 20.
^ Rom. xi. 33 ff.
[Book IV.
not, then, dare to pry into that unsearchable question who defend merit before grace, and therefore even against grace, and wish first to give unto God, that it may be given to them again, — first, of course, to give something of free will, tliat grace may be given them again as a reward; and let them wisely understand or faithfully believe that even what they think that they have first given, they have received from Him, from whom are all things, by whom are all things, in whom are all things. But why this man should receive, and that should not receive, when neither of them deserves to receive, and whichever of them receives, receives undeservingly, — let them measure their own strength, and not search into things too strong for them. Let it suffice them to know that there is no unrighteousness with God. For when the apostle could find no merits for which Jacob should take precedence of his twin-brother with God, he said, " What, then, shall we say? Is there unrighteousness with God? Away with the thought! For He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will show compassion on whom I will show compassion. Therefore it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." ■ Let, therefore, His free compassion be grateful to us, even although this profound question be still unsolved; which, nevertheless, is so far solved as the same apostle solves it, saying, " But if God, willing to show His wrath, and to demonstrate His power, endured in much patience the vessels of wrath which are fitted to destruction; and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He has prepared for glory." ^ Certainly wrath is not repaid unless it is due, lest there be unrighteousness with God; but mercy, even when it is bestowed, and not due, is not unrighteousness with God. And hence, let the vessels of mercy understand how freely mercy is afforded to them, because to the vessels of wrath with whom they have common cause and measure of perdition, is repaid wrath, righteous and due. This is now enough in opposition to those who, by freedom of will, desire to destroy the liberality of grace.
CHAP. 17 [VII.] OF THE PRAISE OF THE SAINTS.
In that, indeed, in the praise of the saints, they will not drive us with the zeal of that publican ^ to hunger and thirst after righteousness, but with the vanity of the Pharisees, as it were, to overflow with sufficiency and fiilness; what does it profit them that — in opposition to the Manicheans, who do away with baptism — they say " that men are perfectly renewed by baptism," and apply the apostle's testimony for this, — ' Rom. Lx. 14 ff. 2 Rom. ix. 22, 23. 3 Luke xviii. 10-14.
" who testifies that, by the washing of water, the Church is made holy and spotless from the Gentiles," ■♦ — when, with a proud and perverse meaning, they put forth their arguments in opposition to the prayers of the Church itself. Fur they say this in order that the Church may be believed after holy baptism — in which is accomplished the forgiveness of all sins — to have no further sin; when, in opposition to them, from the rising of the sun even to its setting, in all its members it cries to God, " Forgive us our debts." 5 But if they are interrogated regarding themselves in this matter, they find not wliat to answer. For if they should say that they have no sin, John answers them, that they deceive themselves, and the truth is not in them.^ But if they confess their sins, since they wish themselves to be members of Christ's body, how will that body, that is, the Church, be even in this time perfectly, as they think, without spot or wrinkle, if its members without falsehood confess themselves to have sins? W'herefore in baptism all sins are forgiven, and, by that very washing of water in the word, the Church is set forth in Christ without $pot or wrinkle; 7 and unless it were baptized, it would fruitlessly say, " Forgive us our debts," until it be brought to glory, when there is in it absolutely no spot or wrinkle.** CHAP. 1 8. — THE OPINION OF THE SAINTS THEM- SELVES ABOUT THEMSELVES.
It is to be confessed that '' the Holy Spirit, even in the old times," not only " aided good dispositions," which even they allow, but. that it even made them good, which they will not have. " That all, also, of the prophets and apostles or saints, both evangelical and ancient, to whom God gives His witness, were righteous, not in comparison with the wicked, but by the rule of virtue," is not doubtful. And this is opposed to the Manicheans, who blaspheme the patriarchs and prophets; but what is opposed to the Pelagians is, that all of these, when interrogated concerning themselves while they lived in the body, with one most accordant voice would answer, "If we should say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."*" " But in the future time," it is not to be denied " that there will be a reward as well of good works as of evil, and that no one will be commanded to do the commandments there which here he has contemned," but that a sufficiency of perfect righteousness where sin cannot be, a righteousness which is here hungered and thirsted after by the saints, is here hoped for in precept, is there received as a reward, on the entreaty of alms and 5 Matt. vi. 12.
6 I John i. 8.
■* Eph. V. 26.
7 Eph. V. 27.
8 See On ike Perfection of Matt' s Righieoiisncss, 35, and On the Proceedings of Pelagius, 27.
I.] AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS.
prayers; so that what here may have been wanting in fvilfihnent of the commandments may become unpunished for the forgiveness of sin.'
CHAP. 19. THE CRiVFT OF THE PELAGIANS.
And if these things be so, let the Pelagians cease by their most insidious praises of these five things — that is, the praise of the creature, the praise of marriage, the praise of the law, the praise of free will, the praise of the saints — from feigning that they desire to pluck men, as it were, from the little snares of the Manicheans, in order that they may entangle them in their own nets — that is, that they may deny original sin; may begrudge to infants the aid of Christ the physician; may say that the grace of God is given according to our merits, and thus that grace is no more grace; and may: say that the saints in this life had not sin, and thus make the prayer of none effect which He gave to the saints who had no sin, and by which all sin is pardoned to the saints that pray unto Him. To these three evil doctrines, they by their deceitful praise of these five good things seduce careless and unlearned men. Concerning all which things, I think I have sufficiently censured their most cruel and wicked and proud vanity.
CHAP. 20 [VIII.] THE TESTIMONIES OF THE AN- CIENTS AGAINST THE PELAGIANS.
But since they say " that their enemies have taken up our words for hatred of the truth," and complained that " throughout nearly the whole of the West a dogma not less foolish than impious is taken up, and from simple bishops sitting in their places without a Synodal congregation a subscription is extorted to confirm this dogma," — although the Church of Christ, both Western and Eastern, shuddered at the profane novelties of their words, — I think it belongs to my care not only to avail myself of the sacred canonical Scriptures as witnesses against them, which I have already sufficiently done, but, moreover, to bring forward some proofs from the writings of the holy men who before us have treated upon those Scriptures with the most widespread reputation and great glory. Not that I would put the authority of any controversialist on a level wjth the canonical books, as if there were nothing which is better or more truly thought by one catholic than by another who likewise is a catholic; but that those may be admonished who think that these men say anything as it used to be said, before their empty talk on these subjects, by catholic teachers following the divine oracles, and may know that the true and anciently established catholic faith is by us defended against the receding presumption and mischief of the Pelagian heretics.
CHAP. 21. — PELAGIUS, IN IMITATION OF CYPRIAN, WROTE A BOOK OF TESTIMONIES.
Even that heresiarch of these men, Pelagius himself, mentions with the honour that is certainly due to him, the most blessed Cyprian, most glorious with even the crown of martyrdom, not only in the African and the Western, but also in the Eastern Churches, well known by the report of fame, and by the diffusion far and wide of his writings, — when, writing a book of testimonies,- he asserts that he is imitating him, saying that " he was doing to Romanus what Cyprian had done to Quirinus." Let us, then, see what Cyprian thought concerning original sin, which entered by one man into the world. In the epistle on " Works and Alms " ^ he thus speaks: '■ When the Lord at His advent had cured these wounds which Adam had introduced, and had healed the old poisons of the serpent. He gave a law to the sound man, and bade him sin no more, lest a worse thing should happen to him if he sinned. We had been limited and shut up into a narrow space by the commandment of innocence; nor would the infirmity and weakness of human frailty have any resource unless the divine mercy coming once more in aid should open some way of securing salvation by pointing out works of justice and mercy, so that by almsgiving we may wash away whatever foulness we subsequently contract." By this testimony this witness refutes two falsehoods of theirs, — the one, wherein they say that the human race draws no sin from Adam which needs cure and healing through Christ; the other, in which they say that the saints have no sin after baptism. Again, in the same episde'' he says, " Let each one place before his eyes the devil with his servants, — that is, with the people of perdition and death, — as springing forth into the midst and pro\^oking the people of Christ, — Himself being present and judging, — with the trial of comparison in these words: ' I, on behalf of those whom thou seest with me, neither received buffets, nor bore scourgings, nor endured the cross, nor shed my bfood, nor redeemed my family at the ])rice of my suffering and blood; but neither do I promise them a celestial kingdom, nor do I recall them to Paradise, having again restored to them immortality.' " Let the Pelagians answer anck say wlien we could have been in the immortality of Paradise, and how we could have been expelled thence so as to be recalled thither by the grace of Christ. And, although they may ' See above, Book iii. 17.
2 That is, his Cafiitula. See On the Proceedings of Pelagius, 6.
3 Work cited, ch. i: see The Atite-Niceite Fathers, vol. v. 476.
in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. v.
[Book IV.
be unable to find wliat they can answer in this case on behalf of their own perversity, let them obser\'e in what manner Cyprian understood what the apostle says, " In whom all have sinned." And let not the Pelagian heretics, freed from the old Manichean heretics, dare to suggest any calumny against a catholic, lest they should be convicted of doing so wicked a wrong even to the ancient martyr Cyprian.
CHAP. 22. FURTHER REFERENCES TO CVPRIAN.
For he says also this in the epistle whose title is inscribed, " On the Mortality: " ' " The kingdom of God, beloved brethren, is beginning to be at hand; the reward of life, and the rejoicing of eternal salvation and perpetual gladness, and the possession formerly lost of Paradise, are now coming with the passing away of the world." This agam, in the same epistle, he says: " Let us greet the day which assigns each of us to his own home, which snatches us hence and sets us free from the snares of the world, and restores us to Paradise and the kingdom." Moreover, he says m the epistle concerning Patience: " Let the judgment of God be pondered, which, even in the beginning of the world and of the human race, Adam, forgetful of the commandment and a transgressor of the law that ha'd been given, received. Then we shall know how patient in this life we ought to be, who are born in such a state that we labour here with afflictions and contests. Because, says He, ' thou hast hearkened to the voice of thv wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which alone I had charged thee that thou shouldest not eat, cursed shall be the ground in all thy works: in sorrow and in groaning shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it give forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the food of the field. In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat thy bread, till thou return unto the ground from which thou wast taken: for earth thou art, and unto earth shalt thou go.'
We are all tied and bound with the chain of this sentence until, death being destroyed, we depart from this world. "^ And, moreover, in the same epistle he says: " For, since in that first ti-ansgression of the commandment strength of body departed witli immortality, and weakness came on with death, and strength cannot be received unless when immortality also has been received, it behoves us in this bodily frailty and weakness always to struggle and fight; and this struggle and encounter cannot be sustained but by the strength of patience." ^ CHAP. 23. FURTHER REFERENCES TO CYPRIAN.
And in the epistle which he wrote with sixtysix of his joint-bishops to Bishop Fidus, when he was consulted by him in respect of the law^ of circumcision, whether an infant might be baptized before the eighth day, this matter is treated in such a way as if by a divine forethought the catholic Church would already confute the Pelagian heretics who would appear so long afterwards. For he who had consulted had no doubt on the subject whether children on birth inherited original sin, which they might wash away by being born again. For be it far from the Christian faith to have at any time doubted on this matter. But he was in doubt whether the washing of regeneration, by which he made no question but that original sin was put away, ought to be given before the eighth day. To which consultation the most blessed Cyprian in reply said: " But as regards the case of infants, which you say ought not to be baptized within the second or third day after their birth, and that the law of the ancient circumcision should be regarded, so that you think that one who is born should not be baptized and sanctified within the eighth day, we all thought very differently in our council. For to the course which you thought was to be taken no one agreed, but we all rather judged