being born of a virgin.
He was not at all bound by the ordinance of a guilty generation. ' Behold,' he says, ' I was conceived in inicjuities; and in sins has my mother brought me forth; ' 7 he who was esteemed righteous beyond others so speaks. Whom, then, should 1 now call righteous unless Him who is free from those chains, whom the bonds of our common nature do not hold fast? " ** Behold, this holy man, most approved, even by the witness of Pelagius, in the catholic faith, condemned the Pelagians who deny original sin with such evidence as this; and yet he does not with the Manicheans deny either God to be the Creator of those who are born, or condemn marriage, which God ordained and blessed.
' See On the Grace of Christ, ch. 47.
^ This work is not extant.
* On Penitence, Book i. ch. 13.
S Apology oj the Prophet David, ch. 56.
CHAP. 30. THE TESTIMONIES OF AMBROSE CON- CERNING god's GRACE.
The Pelagians say that merit begins from man by free will, to which God repays the subsequent aid of grace. Let the venerable Ambrose here also refute them, when he says, in his exposition of the prophet Isaiah, " that human care without divine help is powerless for healing, and needs a divine helper." Also, in the treatise which is inscribed, "On the Avoidance of the World," '5 he says: " Our discourse is frequent on the avoidance of this world; and I wish that our disposition were as cautious and careful as our discourse is easy. But what is worse, the enticement of earthly lusts frequently creeps in, and the flowing forth of vanities takes hold of the mind, so that the very thing that you desire to avoid you think upon, and turn over in your mind; and this it is difficult for a rhan to beware of, but to get rid of it is impossible. Finally, that that is rather a matter to be wished than to be accomplished the prophet testifies when he says, ' Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to avarice.' '° For our heart and our thoughts are not in our power, seeing that they are suddenly forced forth and confuse the mind and the soul, and draw them in other directions froiti those which you have proposed for them; — they recall to things of time, they suggest workWy things, they obtrude voluptuous thoughts, they inweave seducing thoughts, and, in the very season in which we are proposing to lift up our mind, vain thoughts are intruded upon us, and, we are cast down for the most part to things of earth; and who is so happy as always to rise upwards in his heart? And how can this be done without the divine help? Absolutely in no manner. Finally, of old Scripture says the same thing, ' Blessed is the man whose help is of Thee, ^O Lord; in his heart is going up.'"" What can be said more openly and more sufficiently?
But lest the Pelagians perchance should answer , that,, in that very point in which divine help is 3 Ps. li. 5. I ^ Ps. li. 5. 8 On Noah and the Ark, ch. 7 (?1.
1 9 Work cited, ch. i. ■-> Ps. cxix. 36. 6 Ibid. ch. 57. I " Ps. Ixxxiv. 5 [LXX.].
[Book IV.
asked for, man's merit precedes, saying that that very thing is merit, that by his prayer he is desiring that divine grace should come to his assistance, let them give heed to what the same holy man says in his exposition of Isaiah. He says: *' And to pray God is a spiritual grace; for no man says that Jesus is the Lord, except in the Holy Spirit." ' Whence also, expounding the Gospel according to Luke,- he says: " You see certainly that everywhere the power of the Lord co-operates with human desires, so that no man can build without the Lord, no man can undertake anything without the Lord." Because such a man as Ambrose says this, and commends God's grace, as it is fitting for a son of promise to do, with grateful piety, does he therefore destroy free will? Or does he mean grace to be understood as the Pelagians in their different discourses will have to appear nothing but law — so that, for instance, God may be believed to help us not to do what we may know, but to know what we may do? If they think that such a man of God as this is of this mind, let them hear what he has said about the law itself. In the book " On the Avoidance of the \\'orld," he says: " The law could stop the mouth of all men; it could not convert their mind." ^ Jn another place also, in the same treatise, he says: " The law condemns the deed; it does not take away its wickedness." ■♦ Let them see that this faithful and catholic man agrees with the apostle who says, " Now we know that what things soever the law says, it says to those who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Because by the law no flesh shall be justified in His sight." 5 For from that apostolic opinion Ambrose took and wrote these things.
CHAP. 31. THE TESTIMOXIES OF AMBROSE ON THE IMPERFECTION OF PRESENT RIGHTEOUSNESS.
But now, since the Pelagians say that there either are or have been righteous men in this life who have lived without any sin, to such an; extent that the future life which is to be hoped for as a reward cannot be more advanced or more perfect, let Ambrose here also answer them and refute them. For, expounding Isaiah the Projihet in reference to what is written, " I have begotten and brought up children, and they have despiserl me,"" he undertook to dispute concerning tlie generations which are of God, and in that argument he quoted the testimony of John when he says, " He that is born of God sinneth not." 7 And, treating the same very difficult question, he says: " Since in this world there is none who is free from sin; since John himself says, 'If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar.' ^ But if ' they that are born of God sin not,' and if these words refer to those of them who are in the world, it is necessary that we should regard them as those numberless people who have obtained God's grace by the regeneration of the laver. But yet, when the prophet says, ' All things are waiting upon Thee, that Thou mayest give them meat in sea.;on. Tiat Thou givest them they gather for themselves; when Thou openest Thine hand, all things shall be filled with goodness. But when Thou turnest away Thy face, they shall be troubled: Thou shalt take away their breath, and they shall fail, and shall be turned into their dust. Thou shalt send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created: and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth,' '' such things as these caimot seem to have been said of any time whatever but of that future time, in which there shall be a new earth and a new heaven. Therefore they shall be disturbed that they may take their beginning. ' And when I'hou openest Thy hand all things shall be filled with goodness,' which is not easily characteristic of this age. P'or concerning this age what does Scripture say? ' There is none that doeth good, no, not one.' '° If, therefore, there are different generations, — and here the very entrance into this life is the receiver of sins to such an extent that even he who begot should be despised; while another generation does not receive sins; — let us consider whether by any means there may not be a regeneration for us after the course of this life, — of which regeneration it is said, ' In the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of His glory.' " For as that is called the regeneration of washing whereby we are renewed from the filth of sins washed away, so that seems to be called a regeneration by which we are purified from every stain of bodily materiality, and are regenerated in the pure sense of the soul to life eternal; so that every quality of regeneration may be purer than of that washing, so that no suspicion of sins can' fall either on a man's doings, or even on his very thoughts themselves." Moreover, in another place in the same work he says: " ^\'e see it to be impossible that any person created in a body can be absolutely spotless, since even Paul says that he is imperfect. For thus he has it: ' Not that I have already received, or am already perfect; ' '^ and yet after a little he says, ' As many of us, therefore, as are perfect.' '^ Unless, perchance, there is one perfection in this world, another after this is completed, of which he says to the Corinthians, ' When that which is perfect is come; ' *■* and elsewhere, ' Till we all 9 Ps. civ. 27, etc. »= Phil. iii. 12.
>o Ps. xiv. I. » Phil. iii. 15.
come into the unity of the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, into the perfect man, to the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ.' ' As, then, the apostle says that many are placed in this world who are perfect along with him, but who, if you have regard to true perfection, could not be perfect, since he says, ' We see now through a mirror, enigmatically; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then I shall know even as also I am known: ' ^ so also there both are those who are ' spotless ' in this world, and will be those who are ' spotless ' in the kindom of God, although certainly, if you consider it accurately, no person can be spotless, because no person is without sin." Also in the same he says: " We see that, while we live in this life, we ought to purify ourselves and to seek God; and to begin from the purification of our Soul, and as it were to establish the foundations of virtue, so that we may deserve to attain the perfection of our purgation after this life." And again, in the same he says: " But laden and groaning, who does not say, * O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? '^ So with the same teacher we give all varieties of interpretation. For if he is unhappy who recognises himself as involved in the evils of the body, certainly everybody is unhappy; for I should not call that man happy who, being confused with any darkness of his mind, does not know his own condition. That, moreover, has not absurdly come to be understood; for if a man who knows himself is unhappy, assuredly all are wretched, because every one either recognises his weakness by wisdom, or by folly is ignorant of it." Moreover, in the treatise "On the Benefit of Death," he says: "^ " Let death work in us, in order that that may work life also, a good life after death, — that is, a good life after victory, a good life after the contest is finished; so that now no longer the law of the flesh may know how to resist the law of the mind, that no longer we may have any contention with the body of death." Again, in the same treatise he says: " Therefore, because the righteous have this reward, that they see the face of God, and that light which lightens every man, let us henceforth put on the desire of this kind of reward, that our soul may draw near to God, our prayer may draw near to Him, our desire may cleave to Him, that we be not separated from Him.
•And placed here as we are, let us by meditating, by reading, by seeking, be united with God. Let us know Him as we can. For we know Him in part here; because here all things are imperfect, there all are perfect; here we are infants, there we shall be strong men. ' We * Work ciled, chs. 9, 49.
see,' says he, * now through a mirror in an enigma, but then face to face.' Then, His face being revealed, we shall be allowed to look upon the glory of God, which now our souls, involved in the compacted dregs of this body, and shadowed by some stains and filth of this flesh, cannot clearly see. ' For who,' He says, ' shall see my face and live? ' and rightly. For if our eyes cannot bear the rays of the sun, — and if any one should gaze too long on the region of the sun he is said to be blinded, — if a creature cannot look upon a creature without deceit and offence, how can he without his own peril look upon the glittering face of the eternal Creator, covered as he is with the clothing of this body? For who is justified in God's sight, when even the infant of one day cannot be pure from sin, and no one can boast of his integrity and pureness of heart? " CHAP. 32 [XII.] — THE PEL.\GTAN'S HERESY AROSE LONG AFTER AMBROSE.
It would be too long if I were to seek to mention everything which the holy Ambrose said and wrote against this heresy of the Pelagians, which was to arise so long afterwards; not indeed with a view to answer them, but with a view to declare the catholic faith, and to build up men in it. Moreover, I neither could nor ought to mention all those things which Cyprian, most glorious in the Lord, wrote in his letters, whereby it is shown how this which we hold is the true and truly Christian and catholic faith, as it was delivered of old by the Holy Scriptures, and so retained and kept by our fathers and even to this time, in which these heretics have attempted to destroy it, and as it will hereafter by God's good will be retained and kept. For that these things and things of this kind were thus delivered to Cyprian, and by Cyprian, is testified by the testimonies produced from his letters; and that thus they were maintained up to our times is shown by these things which Ambrose wrote about these matters before these heretics had begun to rage, and catholic ears had shuddered at their profane novelties which are everywhere; and that thus, moreover, they shall be maintained hereafter, was declared with sufficient vigour i)artly by the condemnation of such opinions as these, partly by their correction. For whatever they may dare to mutter against the sound faith of Cyprian and Ambrose, I do not think that they will break out into such a madness as to dare to call those noted and memorable men of God, Manicheans.
CHAP.;^^. — OPPOSITION OF THE MANICHEAN AND CATHOLIC DOGMAS.
What is it, then, which in their raging blindness of mind they are now spreading about,s S See above, ch. 20.
[Book IV.
" that almost throughout the entire West a dogma not less foolish than impious is taken up; " when by the mercy of God and by His merciful governance of His Church, the catholic faith has been so watchful that the dogma, " not less foolish than wicked," as of the Manicheans, so also of these heretics, should not be taken up? So holy and learned catholic men, such as are attested to be so by the report of the whole Church, praise both God's creation, and marriage as ordained by Him, and the law given by Him by means of the holy Moses, and the free will implanted into man's nature, and the holy patriarchs and prophets, with due and fitting proclamation; all which five things the Manicheans condemn, partly by denying, and partly also by abominating. Whence it appears that these catholic doctors were far removed from the notions of the jNIanicheans, and yet they assert original sin; they assert God's grace above free will, as antecedent to all merit, so as truly to afford a gratuitous divine assistance; they assert that the saints lived righteously in this flesh, in such wise that the help of prayer was necessary to them, by which their daily sins might be forgiven; and that a perfected righteousness which could not; have sin would be in another life the reward of those who should live righteously here.
CHAP. 34. — THE CALLING TOGETHER OF A SYNOD NOT ALWAYS NECESSARY TO THE CONDEMNATION OF HERESIES.
What is it, then, that they say, that " subscription was extorted from simple bishops sitting in their^jlaces without any Synodal congregation "? ^Vas subscription extorted against such heretics as these from the most blessed and excellent men in the faith, Cyprian and Ambrose, before such heretics as these were in existence? — seeing that they overthrow their impious dogmas with such clearness that we can scarcely find anything more manifest to say against them. Or, indeed, was there any need of the congregation of a Synod to condemn this open pest, as if no heresy could at any time be condemned except by a Synodal congregation? — when, on the contrary, very few heresies can be found for the sake of condemning which any such necessity has arisen; and those have been many and incomparably more which have deserved to be accused and condemned in the place where they arose, and thence could be known and avoided over the rest of the lands. But the pride of such as these, which lifts itself up so much against God as not to be willing to glory in Him but rather in free will, is understood as grasping also at this glory, that a Synod of the East and West should be gathered together on their account. In fact, they endeavour, forsooth, to disturb the cathohc world, because, the Lord being against them, they are unable to pervert it; when rather they ought to have been trodden out wherever those wolves might have appeared, by watchfulness and pastoral diligence, after a competent and sufficient judgment made concerning them; whether with a view of their being healed and changed, or with a view of their being shunned by the safety and soundness of others, by the help of the Shepherd of the sheep, who seeks the lost sheep also among the little ones, who makes the sheep holy and righteous freely; who both providently instructs them, although sanctified and justified, yet in their frailty and infirmity to pray for a daily remission for their daily sins, without which no one lives in this world, even although he may live well; and mercifully listens to their prayers.
A TREATISE ON GRACE AND FREE WILL.
Book II. Chap. 66, "DE GRATIA ET LIBERO ARBITRIO."
There are some persons who suppose that the freedom of the will is denied whenever God's grace is maintained, and who on their side defend their liberty of will so peremptorily as to deny the grace of God. This grace, as they assert, is bestowed according to our own merits. It is in consequence of their opinions that I wrote the book entitled On Grace and Free Will. This work I addressed to the monks of Adrumetum,' in whose monastry first arose the * Adrumetum, a maritime city of Africa, was the metropolis of the Province of Byzacium, as Procopius informs us, De Aedificiis controversy on that subject, and that in such a manner that some of them were obliged to consult me thereon. The work begins with these words: " With reference to those persons who so preach the liberty of the human will."
Justinianiw. It was in a monastery here that the monks resided for whose instruction Augustin composed the two following treatises, — the former entitled De Gratid et Libera Arbitrio, and the latter De Correptwne et Gratid, in the year of Christ 426 or 427. In our opinion, no later date can be well assigned to these writings, inasmuch as they are mentioned in The Retractations., which was published about the year 427; nor can they be placed earlier in date, because they are in that work mentioned the very last.
TWO LETTERS WRITTEN BY AUGUSTIN TO VALENTINUS AND THE MONKS OF ADRUMETUM, AND FORWARDED' WITH THE FOLLOWING TREATISE.
LETTER L TO MY VERY DEAR LORD AND MOST HONOURED BROTHER AMONG THE MEMBERS OF CHRIST, VALENTINUS, AND TO THE BRETHREN THAT ARE WITH YOU, AUGUSTIN SENDS GREETING IN THE LORD.
1. Two young men, Cresconius and Felix, have found their way to us, and, introducing themselves as belonging to your brotherhood, have told us that your monastery was disturbed with no small commotion, because certain amongst you preach grace in such a manner as to deny that the will of man is free; and maintain — a more serious matter — that in the day of judgment God will not render to every man according to his works.^ At the same time, they have pointed out to us, that many of you do not entertain this opinion, but allow that free will is assisted by the grace of God, so as that we may think and do aright; so that, when the Lord shall come to render unto every man according to his works,^ He shall find those works of ours good which God has prepared in order that we may walk in them.^ They who think this think rightly.
2. "I beseech you therefore, brethren," even as the apostle besought the Corinthians, "by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you." For, in the first place, the Lord Jesus, as it is written in the Gospel of the Apostle John, "came not to condemn the world, but that the world by Himself might be saved."* Then, afterwards, as the Apostle Paul writes, "God shall judge the world 5 when He shall come," as the whole Church confesses in the Creed, "to judge the quick and the dead." Now, I would ask, if there is no grace of God, how does He save the world.' and if there is no free will, how does He judge the world? That book of mine, therefore, or epistle, which the above-mentioned brethren have brought with them to you, I wish you to understand in accordance with this faith, so that you may neither deny God's grace, nor uphold free will in such wise as to separate the latter from the grace of God, as if without this we could by any means either think or do anything according to God, — which is quite beyond our power. On this account, indeed, it is, that the Lord when speaking of the fruits of righteousness said, " Without me ye can do nothing."* 3. From this you may understand why I wrote the letter which has been referred to,' to Sixtus, presbyter of the Church at Rome, against the new Pelagian heretics, who say that the grace of God is bestowed according to our own merits, so that he who glories has to glory not in the Lord, but in himself, — that is to say, in man, not in the Lord. This, however, the apostle forbids in these words: " Let no man glory in man; " * while in another passage he says, " He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord."' But these heretics, under the idea that they are justified by their own selves, just as if God did not bestow on them this gift, but they themselves obtained it by themselves, glory of course in themselves, and not in the Lord. Now, the apostle says to such, " Who maketh thee to differ from another? " '° and this he does on the ground that out of the mass of perdition which arose from Adam, none but God distinguishes a man to make him a vessel to honour, and not to dishonour." Lest, however, the carnal man in his foolish pride should, on hearing the question, " AVho maketh thee to differ ' See the Second Leuer, ch. 2. * See Matt. xvi. 17, and Rom. ii. 6. ^ Eph. ii. to. * John iii. 17. s Rom. iii. 6.
from another?" either in thought or in word answer and say: My faith, or my prayer, or my righteousness makes me to differ from other men, the apostle at once adds these words to the question, and so meets all such notions, saying, " What hast thou that thou didst not receive? now, if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou didst not receive it? " ' Now, they boast as if they did not receive their gifts by grace, who think that they are justified of their own selves, and who, on this account, glory in themselves, and not in the Lord.