Against Two Letters of the Pelagians (chapters 10.-Why the Pelagians Falsely Accuse Catholics of Maintaining Fate Under the Name of Grace.–20.-Why the Righteousness Which is of the Law is Valued Slightly by Paul.)

Against Two Letters of the Pelagians

continued

Chapter 10.-Why the Pelagians Falsely Accuse Catholics of Maintaining Fate Under the Name of Grace.

1 But, as I was somewhat more attentively considering for what reason they should think it well to object this to us, that we assert fate under the name of grace, I first of all looked into those words of theirs which follow. For thus they have thought that this was to be objected to us: "Under the name," say they,"of grace, they so assert fate as to say that unless God inspired unwilling and resisting man with the desire of good, and that good imperfect, he would neither be able to decline from evil nor to lay hold of good. Then a little after, where they mentionwhat they maintain, I gave heed to what was said by them about this matter. "We confess," say they, that baptism is necessary for all ages,and that grace, moreover, assists the good purpose of everybody; but yet that it does not infuse the love of virtue into a reluctant one, because there is no acceptance of persons with God. From these words of theirs, I perceived that for this reason they either think, or wish it to be thought, that we assert fate under the name of grace, because we say that God's grace is not given in respect of our merits, but according to His own most merciful will, in that He said, "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

2 Where, by way of consequence, it is added, "Therefore it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Here any one might be equally foolish in thinking or saying that the apostle is an assertor of fate. But here these people sufficiently lay themselves open; for when they malign us by saying that we maintain fate under the name of grace, because we say that God's grace is not given on account of our merits, beyond a doubt they confess that they themselves say that it is given on account of ourmerits; thus their blindness could not concealand dissimulate that they believe and think thus, although, when this view was objected to him, Pelagius, in the episcopal judgment of Palestine, with crafty fear condemned it. For it was objected to him from the words of his own disciple Coelestius, indeed, that he himself also was in the habit of saying that God's grace is given on account of our merits. And he in abhorrence, or in pretended abhorrence, of this, did not delay, with his lips at least, to anathematize it; but, as his later writings indicate, and the assertion of those followers of his makes evident, he kept it in his deceitful heart, until afterwards his boldness might put forth in letters what the cunning of a denier had then hidden for fear.

3 And still the Pelagian bishops do not dread, and at least are not ashamed, to send their letters to the catholic Eastern bishops, in which they charge us with being assertors of fate because we do not say that even grace is given according to our merits; although Pelagius, fearing the Eastern bishops, did not dare to say this, and so was compelled to condemn it.

Chapter 11 [VI.]-The Accusation of Fate is Thrown Back Upon the Adversaries.

1 But is it true, O children of pride, enemies of God's grace, new Pelagian heretics, that whoever says that all man's good deservings are preceded by God's grace, and that God's grace is not given to merits, lest it should not be grace if it is not given freely but be repaid as due to those who deserve it, seems to you to assert fate? Do not you yourselves also say, whatever be your purpose, that baptism is necessary for all ages? Have you not written in this very letter of yours that opinion concerning baptism, and that concerning grace, side by side? Why did not baptism, which is given to infants, by that very juxtaposition admonish you what you ought to think concerning grace? For these are your words: "We confess that baptism is necessary for all ages, and that grace, moreover, assists the good purpose of everybody; but yet that it does not infuse the love of virtue into a reluctant one, because there is no acceptance of persons with God. In all these words of yours, I for the meanwhile say nothing of what you have said concerning grace. But give a reason concerning baptism, why you should say that it is necessary for all ages; say why it is necessary for infants. Assuredly because it confers some good upon them; and that same something is neither small nor moderate, but of great account.

2 For although you deny that they contract the original sin which is remitted in baptism, yet you do not deny that in that laver of regeneration they are adopted from the sons of men unto the sons of God; nay, you even preach this. Tell us, then, how the infants, whoever they are, that are baptized in Christ and have departed from the body, received so lofty a gift as this, and with what preceding merits. If you should say that they have deserved this by the piety of their parents, it will be replied to you, Why is this benefit sometimes denied to the children of pious people and given to the children of the wicked? For sometimes the offspring born from religious people, in tender age, and thus fresh from the womb, is forestalled by death before it can be washed in the laver of regeneration, and the infant born of Christ's foes is baptized inChrist by the mercy of Christians,-the baptized mother bewails her own little one not baptized, and the chaste virgin gathers in to be baptized a foreign offspring, exposed by an unchaste mother. Here, certainly, the merits of parents are wanting, and even by your own confession the merits of the infants themselves are wanting also. For we know that you do not believe this of the human soul, that it has lived somewhere before it inhabited this earthly body, and has done something either of good or of evil for which it might deserve such difference in the flesh.

3 What cause, then, has procured baptism for this infant, and has denied it to that? Do they have fate because they do not have merit? or is there in these things acceptance of persons with God? For you have said both,-first fate, afterwards acceptance of persons,-that, since both must be refuted, there may remain the merit which you wish to introduce against grace. Answer, then, concerning the merits of infants, why some should depart from their bodies baptized, others not baptized, and by the merits of their parents neither possess nor fail of so excellent a gift that they should become sons of God from sons of men, by no deserving of their parents, by no deservings of their own. You are silent, forsooth, and you find yourselves rather in the same position which you object to us. For if when there is no merit you say that consequently there is fate, and on this account wish the merit of man to be understood in the grace of God, lest you should be compelled to confess fate; see, you rather assert a fate in the baptism of infants, since you avow that in them there is no merit.

4 But if, in the case of infants to be baptized, you deny that any merit at all precedes, and yet do not concede that there is a fate, why do you cry out,-when we say that the grace of God is therefore given freely, lest it should not be grace, and is not repaid as if it were due to preceding merits,-that we are assertors of fate?-not perceiving that in the justification of the wicked, as there are no merits because it is God's grace, so that it is not fate because it is God's grace, and so that it is not acceptance of persons because it is God's grace.

Chapter 12. - What is Meant Under the Name of Fate.

Because they who affirm fate contend that not only actions and events, but, moreover, our very wills themselves depend on the position of the stars at the time in which one is conceived or born; which positions they call "constellations." But the grace of God stands above not only all stars and all heavens, but, moreover, all angels. In a word, the assertors of fate attribute both men's good and evil doings and fortunes to fate; but God in the ill fortunes of men follows up their merits with due retribution, while good fortunes He bestows by undeserved grace with a merciful will; doing both the one and the other not according to a temporal conjunction of stars, but according to the eternal and high counsel of His severity and goodness. We see, then, that neither belongs to fate. Here, if you answer that this very benevolence of God, by which He follows not merits, but bestows undeserved benefits with gratuitous bounty, should rather be called "fate," when the apostle calls this "grace," saying, "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, but it is the gift of God; not of works, lest perchance any one should be lifted up," -do you not consider, do you not perceive that it is not by us that fate is asserted under the name of grace, but it is rather by you that divine grace is called by the name of fate?

Chapter 13 [VII.]-He Repels the Calumny Concerning the Acceptance of Persons.

1 And, moreover, we rightly call it "acceptance of persons" where he who judges, neglecting the merit of the cause concerning which he is judging, favours the one against the other, because he finds something in his person which is worthy of honour or of pity. But if any one have two debtors, and he choose to remit the debt to the one, to require it of the other, he gives to whom he will and defrauds nobody; nor is this to be called "acceptance of persons," since there is no injustice. The acceptance of persons may seem otherwise to those who are of small understanding, where the lord of the vineyard gave to those labourers who had done work therein for one hour as much as to those who had borne the burden and heat of the day, making them equal in wages in the labour of whom there had been such a difference. But what did he reply to those who murmured against the goodman of the house concerning this, as it were, acceptance of persons? "Friend," said he, "I do thee no wrong. Hast not thou agreed with me for a denarius? Take what thine is, and go; but I choose to give to this last as to thee. Is it not lawful to me to do what I will? Is thine eye evil because I am good? Here, forsooth, is the entire justice: "I choose this. To thee," he says, "I have repaid; on him I have bestowed;

2 nor have I taken anything away from thee to bestow it on him; nor have I either diminished or denied what I owed to you. "May I not do what I will? Is thine eye evil because I am good? As, therefore, here there is no acceptance of persons, because one is honoured freely in such wise as that another is not defrauded of what is due to him: so also when, according to the purpose of God, one is called, another is not called, a gratuitous benefit is bestowed on the one that is called, of which benefit the calling itself is the beginning,-an evil is repaid to him that is not called, because all are guilty, from the fact that by one man sin entered into the world. And in that parable of the labourers, indeed, where they received one denarius who laboured for one hour, as well as those who laboured twelve times as long,-though assuredly these latter, according to human reasonings, however vain, ought in proportion to the amount of their labour to have received twelve denarii,-both were put on an equality in respect of benefit, not some delivered and others condemned; because even those who laboured more had it from the goodman of the house himself, both that they were so called as to come, and that they were so fed as to have no want.

3 But where it is said, "Therefore, on whom He will He has mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth," who "maketh one vessel to honour and another to dishonour" it is given indeed without deserving, and freely, because he is of the same mass to whom it is not given;but evil is deservedly and of debt repaid, sincein the mass of perdition evil is not repaid to theevil unjustly. And to him to whom it is repaidit is evil, because it is his punishment; while to Him by whom it is repaid it is good, because itis His right to do it. Nor is there any acceptance of persons in the case of two debtors equally guilty, if to the one is remitted andfrom the other is claimed that which is equallyowed by both.

Chapter 14.-He Illustrates His Argument by an Example.

1 But that what I am saying may be made clear by the exhibition of an example, let us suppose certain twins, born of a certain harlot, and exposed that they might be taken up by others.One of them has expired without baptism; the other is baptized. What can we say was in this case the "fate" or the "fortune,' which are here absolutely, nothing? What "acceptance of persons," when with God there is none, even if there could be any such thing in these cases,seeing that they certainly had nothing for which I the one could be preferred to the other, and no merits of their own,-whether good, for which the one might deserve to be baptized; or evil, for which the other might deserve to die without baptism? Were there any merits in their parents, when the father was a fornicator, the mother a harlot? But of whatever kind those merits were, there were certainly not any that were different in those who died in such different conditions, but all were common to both. If, then,neither fate, since no stars made them to differ; nor fortune, since no fortuitous accidents produce these things; nor the diversity of persons nor of merits have done this; what remains, so far as it refers to the baptized child, save the grace of God, which is given freely to vesselsmade unto honour; but, as it refers to the unbaptized child, the wrath of God, which is repaid to the vessels made for dishonour in respect of the deservings of the lump itself?

2 But in that one which is baptized we constrain you to confess the grace of God, and convince you that no merit of its own preceded; but as to that one which died without baptism, why that sacrament should have been wanting to it, which even you confess to be needful for all ages, and what in that manner may have been punished in him, it is for you to see who will not have it that there is any original sin.

Chapter 15.-The Apostle Meets the Question by Leaving It Unsolved.

1 Since in the case of those two twins we have without a doubt one and the same case, the difficulty of the question why the one died in one way, and the other in another, is solved by the apostle as it were by not solving it; for, when he had proposed something of the same kind about two twins, seeing that it was said (not of works, since they had not as yet done anything either of good or of evil, but of Him that calleth), "The older shall serve the younger," and, "Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated; and he had prolonged the horror of this deep thing even to the point of saying, "Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will, and whom He will He hardeneth: he perceived at once what the trouble was, and opposed to himself the words of a gainsayer which he was to check by apostolical authority. For he says, "You say, then, unto me, "Why doth He yet find fault? For who has resisted His will? And to him who says this he answered, "O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Doth the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?

2 Hath not the potter power of the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour " Then, following on, he opened up this great and hidden secret as far as he judged it fit that it should be disclosed to men, saying, "But if God, willing to show His wrath and to demonstrate His power, endured in much patience the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, even that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He has prepared for glory. This is notonly the assistance, but, moreover, the proof of God's grace-the assistance, namely, in thevessels of mercy, but the proof in the vessels of wrath; for in these He shows His anger andmakes known His power, because His goodnessis so mighty that He even uses the evil well; andin those He makes known the riches of Hisglory on the vessels of mercy, because what thejustice of a punisher requires from the vessels ofwrath, the grace of the Deliverer remits to the i vessels of mercy. Nor would the kindnesswhich is bestowed on some freely appear, unless I to other equally guilty and from the same massGod showed what was really due to both, andcondemned them with a righteous judgment."For who maketh thee to differ? says the same apostle to a man as it were boasting concerning himself and his own benefits. "For who maketh thee to differ" from the vessels of wrath;

3 of course, from the mass of perdition which has sent all by one into damnation? "Who maketh thee to differ? And as if he had answered, "My faith maketh me to differ,-my purpose, my merit,"-he says, "For what hast thou which thou hast not received? But if thou hast received it, why dost thou boast as if thou receivedst it not?"-that is, as if that by which thou art made to differ were of thine own. Therefore He maketh thee to differ who bestows that whence thou art made to differ, by removing the penalty that is due, by conferring the grace which is not due. He maketh to differ, who, when the darkness was upon the face of the abyss, said," Let there be light; and there was light, and divided"-that is, made to differ-"between the light and the darkness. For when there was only darkness, He did not find what He should make to differ; but by making the light, He made to differ; so that it may be said to the justified wicked, "For ye were sometime darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. And thus he who glories must glory not in himself, but in the Lord.

4 He makes to differ who-of those who are not yet born, and who have not yet done any good or evil, that His purpose, according to the election, might stand not of works, but of Himself that calleth-said, The older shall serve the younger, and commending that very purpose afterwards by the mouth of the prophet, said, "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Because he said "the election," and in this God does not find made by another what He may choose, but Himself makes what He may find; just as it is written of the remnant of Israel: "There is made a remnant by the election of grace; but if by grace, then it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. On which account you are certainly foolish who, when the Truth declares, "Not of works, but of Him that calleth, it was said," say that Jacob was loved on account of future works which God foreknew that he would do, and thus contradict the apostle when he says, "Not of works; as if he could not have said, "Not of present, but of future works. But he says, "Not of works," that He night commend grace; "but if of grace, now is it no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. For grace, not due, but free, precedes, that by it good works may be done; but if good works should precede, grace should be repaid, as it were, to works, and thus grace should be no more grace.

Chapter 16.-The Pelagians are Refuted by the Case of the Twin Infants Dying, the One After, and the Other Without, the Grace of Baptism.

But that every lurking-place of your darkness may be taken away from you, I have proposed to you the case of such twins as were not assisted by the merits of their parents, and both died in the very beginning of infancy, the one baptized, the other without baptism; lest you should say that God foreknew their future works, as you say of Jacob and Esau, in opposition to the apostle. For how did He foreknow that those things should be, which, in those infants who were to die in infancy, He rather foreknew as not to be, since His foreknowledge cannot be deceived? Or what does it profit those who are taken away frown this life that wickedness may not change their understanding, nor deceit beguile their soul, if even the sin which has not been done, said, or thought, is thus punished as if it had been committed? Because, if it is most absurd, silly, and senseless, that certain men should have to be condemned for those sins, the guilt of which they could neither derive from their parents, as you say, nor could incur themselves, either by committing them, or even by conceiving of them, there comes back to you that unbaptized twin brother of the baptized one, and silently asks you for what reason he was made to differ from his brother in respect of happiness,-why he was punished with that infelicity, so that, while his brother was adopted into a child of God, he himself should not receive that sacrament which, as you confess, is necessary for every age, if, even as there is not a fortune or a fate, or an acceptance of persons with God, so there is no gift of grace without merits, and no original sin. To this dumb child you absolutely submit your tongue and voice; to this witness who says nothing,-you have nothing at all to say!

Chapter 17 [VIII.]-Even the Desire of an Imperfect Good is a Gift of Grace, Otherwise Grace Would Be Given According to Merits.

Let us now see, as we can, the nature of this thing which they will have to precede in man, in order that he may be regarded as worthy of the assistance of grace, and to the merit of which in him grace is not given as if unearned, but is rendered as due; and thus grace is no more grace. Let us see, however, what this is. "Under the name," say they, "of grace, they so assert fate as to say that unless God should have inspired the desire for good, and that, imperfect good, into unwilling and resisting man, he would neither be able to decline from evil nor to grasp after good." I have already shown what empty things they speak about fate and grace. Now the question which I ought to consider is this, whether God inspires the desire of good into unwilling and resisting man, that he may be no longer unwilling, no longer resisting, but consenting to the good and willing the good. For those men will have it that the desire of good in man begins from man himself; that the merit of this beginning is, moreover, attended with the grace of completion-if, at least, they will allow so much as even this. For Pelagius says that what is good is "more easily" fulfilled if grace assists. By which addition-that is, by adding "more easily"-he certainly signifies that he is of the opinion that, even if the aid of grace should be wanting, yet good might be accomplished, although with greater difficulty, by free will. But let me prescribe to my present opponents what they should think in this matter, without speaking of the author of this heresy himself. Let us allow them, with their free will, to be free even from Pelagius himself, and rather give heed to their words which they have written in this letter to which I am replying.

Chapter 18.-The Desire of Good is God's Gift.

1 For they have thought that it was to be objected to us that we say "that God inspires into unwilling and resisting man the desire," not of any very great good, but "even of imperfect good. Possibly, then, they themselves are keeping open, in some sense at least, a place for grace, as thinking that man may have the desire of good without grace, but only of imperfect good; while of perfect, he could not easily have the desire with grace, but except with it they could not have it at all. Truly, even in this way, too, they are saying that God's grace is given according to our merits, which Pelagius, in the ecclesiastical meeting in the East, condemned, in the fear of being condemned. For if without God's grace the desire of good begins with ourselves, merit itself will have begun-to which, as if of debt, comes the assistance of grace; and thus God's grace will not be bestowed freely, but will be given according to our merit. But that he might furnish a reply to the future Pelagius, the Lord does not say, "Without me it is with difficulty that you can do anything," but He says, "Without me ye can do nothing. And, that He might also furnish an answer to these future heretics, in that very same evangelical saying He does not say, "Without me you can perfect nothing," but "do" nothing.

2 For if He had said "perfect," they might say that God's aid is necessary not for beginning good, which is of ourselves, but for perfecting it. But let them hear also the apostle. For when the Lord says, "Without me ye can do nothing," in this one word He comprehends both the beginning and the ending. The apostle, indeed, as if he were an expounder of the Lord's saying, distinguished both very clearly when he says, "Because He who hath begun a good work in you will perfect it even to the day of Christ Jesus. But in the Holy Scriptures, in the writings of the same apostle, we find more about that of which we are speaking. For we are now speaking of the desire of good, and if they will have this to begin of ourselves and to be perfected by God, let them see what they can answer to the apostle when he says, "Not that we are sufficient to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. "To think anything," he says,-he certainly means, "to think anything good; but is it less to think than to desire. Because we think all that we desire, but we do not desire all that we think; because sometimes also we think what we do not desire.

3 Since, then, it is a smaller thing to think than to desire,-for a man may think good which he does not yet desire, and by advancing may afterwards desire what before without desire he thought of,-how are we not sufficient as of ourselves to that which is less, that is, to the thinking of something good, but our sufficiency is of God; while to that which is greater,-that is, to the desire of some good thing-without the divine help, we are sufficient of free will? For what the apostle says here is not, "Not that we are sufficient as of ourselves to think that which is perfect; but he says, "to think anything," to which "nothing" is the contrary. And this is the meaning of what the Lord says, "Without me ye can do nothing."

Chapter 19 [IX.]-He Interprets the Scriptures Which the Pelagians Make ILL Use of.

But assuredly, as to what is written, "The preparation of the heart is man's part, and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord," they are misled by an imperfect understanding, so as to think that to prepare the heart-that is, to begin good-pertains to man without the aid of God's grace. Be it far from the children of promise thus to understand it! As if, when they heard the Lord saving, "Without me ye can do nothing," they would convict Him by saying, "Behold without Thee we can prepare the heart;" or when they heard from Paul the apostle, "Not that we are sufficient to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God," as if they would also convict him, saying, "Behold, we are sufficient of ourselves to prepare our heart, and thus also to think some good thing; for who can without good thought prepare his heart for good?" Be it far from any thus to understand the passage, except the proud maintainers of free will and forsakers of the catholic faith! Therefore, since it is written, "It is man'spart to prepare the heart, and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord," it is that man prepares his heart, not, however, without the aid of God, who so touches the heart that man prepares the heart. But in the answer of the tongue--that is, in that which the divine tongue answers to the prepared heart--man has no part; but the whole is from the Lord God.

Chapter 20.-God's Agency is Needful Even in Man's Doings.

1 For as it is said, "It is man's part to prepare his heart, and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord; so also is it said, "Open thy mouth, and I will fill it. For although, save by His assistance without whom we can do nothing, we cannot open our mouth, yet we open it by His aid and by our own agency, while the Lord fills it without our agency. For what is to prepare the heart and to open the mouth, but to prepare the will? And yet in the same scriptures is read, "The will is prepared by the Lord," and, "Thou shalt open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Thy praise. So God admonishes us to prepare our will in what we read," It is man's part to prepare his heart; and yet, that man may do this, God helps him, because the will is prepared by the Lord. And," Open thy mouth. This He so says by way of command, as that nobody can do this unless it is done by His aid, to whom it is said, "Thou shalt open my lips. Are any of these men so foolish as to contend that the mouth is one thing, the lips another; and to say with marvellous triviality that man opens his own mouth, and God opens man's lips? And yet God restrains them from even that absurdity where He says to Moses His servant," I will open thy mouth, and I will instruct thee what thou oughtest to speak.

2 In that clause, therefore, where He says, "Open thy mouth and I will fill it," it seems, as it were, that one of them pertains to man, the other to God. But in this, where it is said, "I will open thy mouth and will instruct thee," both belong to God. Why is this, except that in one of these cases He co-operates with man as the agent, in the other He does it alone?

Chapter 21.-Man Does No Good Thing Which God Does Not Cause Him to Do.

1 Wherefore God does many good things in man which man does not do; but man does none which God does not cause man to do. Accordingly, there would be no desire of good in man from the Lord if it were not a good; but if it is a good, we have it not save from Him who is supremely and incommunicably good. For what is the desire for good but love, of which John the apostle speaks without any ambiguity, and says," Love is of God"? Nor is its beginning of ourselves, and its perfection of God; but if love is of God, we have the whole of it from God. May God by all means turn away this folly of making ourselves first in His gifts, Himself last,-because "His mercy shall prevent me. And it is He to whom is faithfully and truthfully sung, "For Thou hast prevented him with the blessings of sweetness. And what is here more fitly understood than that very desire of good of which we are speaking? For good begins then to be longed for when it has begun to grow sweet. But when good is done by the fear of penalty, not by the love of righteousness good is not yet well done. Nor is that done in the heart which seems to be done in the act when a man would rather not do it if he could evade it with impunity.

2 Therefore the "blessing of sweetness" is God's grace, by which is caused in us that what He prescribes to us delights us, and we desire it,-that is, we love it; in which if God does not precede us, not only is it not perfected, but it is not even begun, from us. For, if without Him we are able to do nothing actually, we are able neither to begin nor to perfect,-because to begin, it is said "His mercy shall prevent me; to finish, it is said, "His mercy shall follow me."

Chapter 22 [X.]-According to Whose Purpose the Elect are Called.

1 Why, then, is it that, in what follows, where they mention what they themselves think, they say they confess "That grace also assists the good purpose of every one, but that yet it does not infuse the desire of virtue into a reluctant heart"? Because they so say this as if man of himself, without God's assistance, has a good purpose and a desire of virtue; and this precedent merit is worthy of being assisted by the subsequent graceof God. For they think, perchance, that theapostle thus said, "For we know that He worketh all things for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to the purpose," so as to wish the purpose of man to be understood, which purpose, as a good merit, the mercy of the God that calleth might follow; being ignorant that it is said, "Who are called according to the purpose," so that there may be understood the purpose of God, not man, whereby those whom He foreknew and predestinated as conformed to the image of His Son, He elected before the foundation of the world. For not all the called are called according to purpose, since "many are called, few are chosen. They, therefore, are called according to the purpose, who were elected before the foundation of the world. Of this purpose of God, that also was said which I have already mentioned concerning the twins Esau and Jacob, "That according to the election the purpose of God might remain, not of works, but of Him that calleth;

2 it was said, that the elder shall serve the younger. This purpose of God is also mentioned in that place where, writing to Timothy, he says, "Labour with the gospel according to the power of God, who saves us and calls us with this holy calling; not according to our works, but according to His purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the eternal ages, but is now made manifest by the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ. This, then, is the purpose of God, whereofit is said, "He worketh together all things for good for those who are called according to the purpose. But subsequent grace indeed assists man's good purpose, but the purpose would not itself exist if grace did not precede. The desire of man, also, which is called good, although in beginning to exist it is aided by grace, yet does not begin without grace, but is inspired by Him of whom the apostle says, "But thanks be to God, who has given the same desire for you in the heart of Titus. If God gives desire that every one may have it for others, who else will give it that a man may have it for himself?

Chapter 23.-Nothing is Commanded to Man Which is Not Given by God.

Since these things are so, I see that nothing is commanded to man by the Lord in the Holy Scriptures, for the sake of trying his free will, which is not found either to begin by His goodness, or to be asked in order to demonstrate the aid of grace; nor does man at all begin to be changed by the beginning of faith from evil to good, unless the unbought and gratuitous mercy of God effects this in him. Of which one recalling his thought, as we read in the Psalms, says, "Shall God forget to be gracious? or will He restrain His mercies in His anger? And I said, Now have I begun; this change is of the right hand of the Most High." When, therefore, he had said," Now have I begun," he does not say, "This change is of my will," but "of the right hand of the Most High." So, therefore, let God's grace be thought of, that from the beginning of his good changing, even to the end of his completion, he who glorieth may glory in the Lord; because, as no one can perfect good without the Lord, so no one can begin it without the Lord. But let this be the end of this book, that the attention of the reader may be refreshed and strengthened for what follows.

Introduction

Augustin goes on to refute other matters which are calumniously objected by the Pelagians in the same letter sent to Thessalonica; and expounds, in opposition to their heresy, what those who are truly Catholic say concerning the utility of the law; what they teach of the effect and virtue of baptism; what of the discrepancy between the two testaments, the old and the new; what concerning the righteousness and perfection of the prophets and apostles; what of the appellation of sin in Christ, when he is said in the likeness of sinful flesh concerning sin to have condemned sin, or to have become sin; and finally, what they profess concerning the fulfilment of the commandments in the future life.

Chapter I [I.]-Statement.

There still follow things which they calumniously object to us; they do not yet begin to work out those things which they themselves think. But lest the prolixity of these writings should be an offence, I have divided those matters which they object into two Books,-the former of which being completed, which is the Second Book of this entire work, I am here commencing the other, and joining it as the Third to the First and Second.

Chapter 2 [II.]-The Misrepresentation of the Pelagians Concerning the Use of the Old Law.

1 They declare "that we say that the law of the Old Testament was given not for the end that it might justify the obedient, but rather that it might become the cause of greater sin. Certainly, they do not understand what we say concerning the law; because we say what the apostle says, whom they do not understand. For who can say that they are not justified who are obedient to the law, when, unless they were justified, they could not be obedient? But we say, that by the law is effected that what God wills to be done is heard, but that by grace is effected that the law is obeyed. "For not the hearers of the law," says the apostle, "are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. Therefore the law makes hearers of righteousness, grace makes doers. "For what was impossible to the law," says the same apostle, "in that it was weak through the flesh, God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. This is what we say;-let them pray that they may one day understand it, and not dispute so as never to understand it.

2 For it is impossible that the law should be fulfilled by the flesh,that is, by carnal presumption, in which the proud, who are ignorant of the righteousness of God,-that is, which is of God to man, that he may be righteous,-and desirous of establishing their own righteousness,-as if by their own will, unassisted from above, the law could be fulfilled,-are not subjected to the righteousness of God. Therefore the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in them who walk not according to the flesh-that is, according to man, ignorant of the righteousness of God and desirous of establishing his own-but walk according to the Spirit. But who walks according to the Spirit, except whosoever is led by the Spirit of God? "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. Therefore "the letter killeth, but the Spirit maketh alive. And the letter is not evil because it killeth; but it convicts the wicked of transgression. "For the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Was, then," says he, "that which is good made death unto me? By no means; but sin, that it might appear sin, worked death in me by that which is good, that it might become above measure a sinner or a sin by the commandment. This is what is the meaning of "the letter killeth. "For the sting of death is sin, but the strength of sin is the law;

3 because by the prohibition it increases the desires of sin, and thence slays a man unless grace by coming to his assistance makes him alive.

Chapter 3.-Scriptural Confirmation of the Catholic Doctrine.

This is what we say; this is that about which they object to us that we say "that the law was so given as to be a cause of greater sin." They do not hear the apostle saying, "For the law worketh wrath; for where no law is, there is no transgression;" and, "The law was added for the sake of transgression until the seed should come to whom the promise was made;" and, "If there had been a law given which could have given life, righteousness should altogether have been by the law; but the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe." Hence it is that the Old Testament, from the Mount Sinai, where the law was given, gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. "Now we," says he, "are not children of the bondmaid but of the freewoman." Therefore they are not children of the freewoman who have accepted the law of the letter, whereby they can be shown to be not only sinners, but moreover transgressors; but they who have received the Spirit of grace, whereby the law itself, holy and just and good, may be fulfilled. This is what we say: let them attend and not contend; let them seek enlightenment and not bring false accusations.

Chapter 4 [III.]-Misrepresentation Concerning, the Effect of Baptism.

1 "They assert," say they, "that baptism, moreover, does not make men new-that is, does not give complete remission of sins; but they contend that they are partly made children of God and partly remain children of the world, that is, of the devil. They deceive; they lay traps; they shuffle; we do not say this. For we say that all men who are children of the devil are also children of the world; but not that all children of the world are also children of the devil. Far be it from us to say that the holy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and others of this kind, were children of the devil when they were begetting in marriage, and those believers who until now and still hereafter continue to beget. And yet we cannot contradict the Lord when He says, "The children of this world marry and give in marriage. Some, therefore, are children of this world, and yet are not children of the devil. For although the devil is the author and source of all sins, yet it is not every sin that makes children of the devil; for the children of God also sin, since if they say they have no sins they deceive themselves, and the truth is not in them. But they sin in virtue of that condition by which they are still children of this world; but by that grace wherewith they are the children of God they certainly sin not, because every one that is born of God sinneth not.

2 But unbelief makes children of the devil; and unbelief is specially called sin, as if it were the only one, if it is not expressed what is the nature of the sin. As when the "apostle" is spoken of, if it be not expressed what apostle, none is understood but Paul; because he is better known by his many epistles, and he laboured more than they all. For which reason, in what the Lord said of the Holy Spirit," He shall convict the world of sin," He meant unbelief to be understood; for He said this when He was explaining, "Of sin because they believed not on me," and when He says, "If I had not come and spoken to them, they should not have sin. For He meant not that before they had no sin, but He wished to indicate that very want of faith by which they did not believe Him even when He was present to them and speaking to them; since they belonged to him of whom the apostle says, "According to the prince of the power of the air, who now worketh in the children of unbelief. Therefore they in whom there is not faith are the children of the devil, because they have not in the inner man any reason why there should be forgiven them whatever is committed either by human infirmity, or by ignorance, or by any evil will whatever.

3 But those are the children of God who certainly, if they should "say that they have no sin, deceive themselves,and the truth is not in them, but immediately" (as it continues) "when they confess their sins" (which the children of the devil do not do, or do not do according to the faith which is peculiar to the children of God), "He is faithful and just to forgive them their sins, and to cleanse them from all unrighteousness. And in order that what we say may be more fully understood, let Jesus Himself be heard, who certainly was speaking to the children of God when He said: "And if ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him. For if these were not the children of God, He would not say to them, "Your Father which is in heaven. And yet He says that they are evil, and that they know how to give good gifts to their children. Are they, then, evil in that they are the children of God? Away with the thought! But they are thence evil because they are still the children of this world, although now made children of God by the pledge of the Holy Spirit.

Chapter 5.-Baptism Puts Away All Sins, But It Does Not at Once Heal All Infirmities.

1 Baptism, therefore, washes away indeed all sins-absolutely all sins, whether of deeds or words or thoughts, whether original or added whether such as are committed in ignorance or allowed in knowledge; but it does not take away the weakness which the regenerate man resists when he fights the good fight, but to which he consents when as man he is overtaken in any fault; on account of the former, rejoicing with thanksgiving, but on account of the latter, groaning in the utterance of prayers. On account of the former, saying, "What shall I render to the Lord for all that He has given me? On account of the latter, saying, "Forgive us our debts. On account of the former, saying, "I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength. On account of the latter, saying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord; for I am weak. On account of the former, saying, "Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord; for He shall pluck my feet out of the net. On account of the latter, saying, "Mine eye is troubled with wrath. And there are innumerable passages with which the divine writings are filled, which alternately, either in exultation over God's benefits or in lamentation over our own evils, are uttered by children of God by faith as long as they are still children of this world in respect of the weakness of tiffs life;

2 whom, nevertheless, God distinguishes from the children of the devil, not only by the laver of regeneration, but moreover by the righteousness of that faith which worketh by love, because the just lives by faith. But this weakness with which we contend, with alternating failure and progress, even to the death of the body, and which is of great importance as to what it can overcome in us, shall be consumed by another regeneration, of which the Lord says, "In the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones," etc. Certainly in this passage He without doubt calls the last resurrection the regeneration, which Paul the Apostle also calls both the adoption and the redemption, where he says, "But even we ourselves, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, ourselves also groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption, of our body. Have we not been regenerated, adopted, and redeemed by the holy washing? And yet there remains a regeneration, an adoption, a redemption, which we ought now patiently to be waiting for as to come in the end, that we may then be in no degree any longer children of this world. Whosoever, then, takes away from baptism that which we only receive by its means, corrupts the faith; but whosoever attributes to it now that which we shall receive by its means indeed, but yet hereafter, cuts off hope.

3 For if any one should ask of me whether we have been saved by baptism, I shall not be able to deny it, since the apostle says, "He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. But if he should ask whether by the same washing He has already absolutely In every way saved us, I shall answer: It is not so. Because the same apostle also says, "For we are saved by hope; but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, we with patience wait for it. Therefore the salvation of man is effected in baptism, because whatever sin he has derived from his parents is remitted, or whatever, moreover, he himself has sinned on his own account before baptism; but his salvation will hereafter be such that he cannot sin at all.

Chapter 6 [IV.]-The Calumny Concerning the Old Testament and the Righteous Men of Old.

Now if these things are so, out of these things are rebutted those which they subsequently object to us. For what catholic would say that which they charge us with saying, "that the Holy Spirit was not the assister of virtue in the old testament," unless when we so understand "the old testament" in the manner in which the apostle spoke of it as "gendering from Mount Sinai into bondage"? But because in it was prefigured the new testament, the men of God who at that time understood this according to the ordering of the times, were indeed the stewards and bearers of the old testament, but are shown to be the heirs of the new. Shall we deny that he belongs to the new testament who says, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me"? or he who says, "He hath set my feet upon a rock, and directed my goings; and he bath put a new song in my mouth, even a hymn to our God"? or that father of the faithful before the old testament which is from Mount Sinai, of whom the apostle says, "Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; yet even a man's testament, when it is confirmed, no man disannulleth or addeth thereto. To Abraham and to his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many, but as of one; and to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say," said he, "that the testament confirmed by God, the law which was made four hundred and thirty years after, does not weaken, so as to make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise."

Chapter 7.-The New Testament is More Ancient Than the Old; But It Was Subsequently Revealed.

1 Here, certainly, if we ask whether this testament, which, he says, being confirmed by God was not weakened by the law, which was made four hundred and thirty years after, is to be understood as the new or the old one, who can hesitate to answer "the new, but hidden in the prophetic shadows until the time should come wherein it should be revealed in Christ"? For if we should say the old, what will that be which genders from Mount Sinai to bondage? For there was made the law four hundred and thirty years after, by which law he asserts that this testament of the promise of Abraham could not beweakened; and he will have this which was made by Abraham to pertain rather to us, whom he will have to be children of the freewoman, not of the bondwoman, heirs by the promise, not by the law, when he says, "For if the inheritance be by the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. So that, because the law was made four hundred and thirty years after, it might enter that the offence might abound; since by sin the pride of man presuming on his own righteousness is convinced of transgression, and where sin abounded grace much more abounded by the faith of the now humble man failing in the law and taking refuge in God's mercy. Therefore, when he had said, "For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no longer of promise:

2 but God gave it to Abraham by promise," as if it might be said to him, "Why then was the law made afterwards? "he added and said, "What then is the law? To which interrogation he immediately replied, "It was added because of transgression, until the seed should come to which the promise was made. This he says again, thus: "For if they who are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of none effect: because the law worketh wrath for where there is no law, there is no transgression. What he says in the former testimony: "For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise," this he says in the latter: "For if they who are of the law be heirs, faith is made void; and the promise is made of none effect; sufficiently showing that to our faith (which certainly is of the new testament) belongs what God gave to Abraham by promise. And what he says in the former testimony, "What then is the law? and answered, "It was added for the sake of transgression," this he instantly added in the latter testimony, "For the law worketh wrath: for where there is no law, there is no transgression."

Chapter 8.-All Righteous Men Before and After Abraham are Children of the Promise and of Grace.

Whether, then, Abraham, or righteous men before him or after him, even to Moses himself, by whom was given the testament gendering to bondage from Mount Sinai, or the rest of the prophets after him, and the holy men of God till John the Baptist, they are all children of the promise and of grace according to Isaac the son of the freewoman,-not of the law, but of the promise, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. Far be it from us to deny that righteous Noah and the righteous men of the earlier times, and whoever from that time till the time of Abraham could be righteous, either manifestly or hiddenly, belong to the Jerusalem which is above, who is our mother, although they are found to be earlier in time than Sarah, who bore the prophecy and figure of the free mother herself. How much more evidently, then, after Abraham, to whom that promise was declared, that he should be called the father of many nations, must all, whoever have pleased God, be esteemed the children of the promise! For from Abraham, and the righteous men who followed him, the generation is not found more true, but the prophecy more plain.

Chapter 9.-Who are the Children of the Old Covenant.

1 But those belong to the old testament, "which gendereth from Mount Sinai to bondage," which is Agar, who, when they have received a law which is holy and just and good, think that the letter can suffice them for life; and do not seek the divine mercy, so as they may become doers of the law, but, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and wishing to establish their own righteousness, are not subject to the righteousness of God. Of this kind was that multitude which murmured against God in the wilderness, and made an idol; and that multitude which even in the very land of promise committed fornication after strange gods. But this multitude, even in the old testament itself, was strongly rebuked. They, moreover, whoever they were at that time who followed after those earthly promises alone which God promises there, and who were ignorant of that which those promises signify under the new testament, and who kept God's commandments with the desire of gaining and with the fear of losing those promises,-certainly did not observe them, but only seemed to themselves to observe. For there was no faith in them that worked by love, but earthly cupidity and carnal fear. But he who thus fulfils the commandments beyond a doubt fulfils them unwillingly, and then does not do them in his heart; for he would rather not do them at all, if in respect of those things which he desires and fears he might be allowed to neglect them with impunity.

2 And thus, in the will itself within him, he is guilty; and it is here that God, who gives the command, looks. Such were the children of the earthly Jerusalem, concerning which the apostle says, "For she is in bondage with her children," and belongs to the old testament "which gendereth to bondage from Mount Sinai, which is Agar. Of that same kind were they who crucified the Lord. and continued in the same unbelief. Thence there are still their children in the great multitude of the Jews, although now the new testament as it was prophesied is made plain and confirmed by the blood of Christ; and the gospel is made known from the river where He was baptized and began His teachings, even to the ends of the earth. And these Jews, according to the prophecies which they read, are dispersed everywhere over all the earth, that even from their writings may not be wanting a testimony to Christian truth.

Chapter 10.-The Old Law Also Given by God.

1 And it is for this reason that God made the old testament, because it pleased God to veil the heavenly promises in earthly promises, as if established in reward, until the fulness of time; and to give to a people which longed for earthly blessings, and therefore had a hard heart, a law,which, although spiritual, was yet written on tables of stone. Because, with the exception of the sacraments of the old books, which were only enjoined for the sake of their significance (although in them also, since they are to be spiritually understood, the law is rightly called spiritual), the other matters certainly which pertain to piety and to good living must not be referred by any interpretation to some significancy, but are to be done absolutely as they are spoken. Assuredly no one will doubt that that law of God was necessary not alone for that people at that time, but also is now necessary for us for the right ordering of our life. For if Christ took away from us that very heavy yoke of many observances, so that we are not circumcised according to the flesh, we do not immolate victims of the cattle, we do not rest even from necessary works on the Sabbath, retaining the seventh in the revolution of the days, and other things of this kind; but keep them as spiritually understood, and, the symbolizing shadows being removed, are watchful in the light of those things which are signified by them;

2 shall we therefore say, that when it is written that whoever finds another man's property of any kind that has been lost, should return it to him who has lost it, it does not pertain to us? and many other like things whereby people learn to live piously and uprightly? and especially theDecalogue itself, which is contained in those two tables of stone, apart from the carnal observance of the Sabbath, which signifies spiritual sanctification and rest?For who can say that Christians ought not to be observant to serve the one God with religious obedience, not to worship an idol, not to take the name of the Lord in vain, to honour one's parents, not to commit adulteries, murders, thefts, false witness, not to covet another man's wife, or anything at all that belongs to another man? Who is so impious as to say that he does not keep those precepts of the law because he is a Christian, and is established not under the law, but under grace?

Chapter 11.-Distinction Between the Children of the Old and of the New Testaments.

1 But there is plainly this great difference, that they who are established under the law, whom the letter killeth, do these things either with the desire of gaining, or with the fear of losing earthly happiness; and that thus they do not truly do them, since fleshly desire, by which sin is rather bartered or increased, is not healed by desire of another kind. These pertain to the old testament, which genders to bondage; because carnal fear and desire make them servants, gospel faith and hope and love do not make them children. But they who are placed under grace, whom the Spirit quickens, do these things of faith which worketh by love in the hope of good things, not carnal but spiritual, not earthly but heavenly, not temporal but eternal; especially believing on the Mediator, by whom they do not doubt but that a Spirit of grace is ministered to them, so that they may do these things well, and that they may be pardoned when they sin. These pertain to the new testament, are the children of promise, and are regenerated by God the Father and a free mother.

2 Of this kind were all the righteous men of old, and Moses himself, the minister of the old testament, the heir of the new, -because of the faith whereby we live, of one and the same they lived, believing the incarnation, passion, and resurrection of Christ as future, which we believe as already accomplished,-even until John the Baptist himself as it were a certain limit of the old dispensation, who, signifying that the Mediator Himself would come, not with any shadow of the future or allegorical intimation, or with any prophetical announcement, but pointing Him out with his finger, said: "Behold the Lamb of God; behold Him who taketh away the sin of the world. As if saying, Whom many righteous men have desired to see, on whom, as about to come, they have believed from the beginning of the human race itself, concerning whom the promises were spoken to Abraham, of whom Moses wrote, of whom the law and the prophets are witnesses: "Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world. From this John and afterwards, all those things concerning Christ began to become past or present, which by all the righteous men of the previous time were believed, hoped for, desired, as future. Therefore the faith is the same as well in those who, although not yet in name, were in fact previously Christians, as in those who not only are so but are also called so; and in both there is the same grace by the Holy Spirit. Whence says the apostle:

3 "We having the same Spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak."

Chapter 12.-The Old Testament is Properly One Thing-The Old Instrument Another.

1 Therefore, by a custom of speech already prevailing, in one way the law and all the prophets who prophesied until John are called the "Old Testament; although this is more definitely called the "Old Instrument" rather than the "Old Testament; but this name is used in another way by the apostolical authority, whether expressly or impliedly. For the apostle is express when he says, "Until this day, as long as Moses is read, remaineth the same veil in the reading of the old testament; because it is not revealed, because it is made of no effect in Christ. For thus certainly the old testament referred to the ministry of Moses. Moreover, he says, "That we should serve in the newness of the Spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter," signifying that same testament under the name of the letter. In another place also, "Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter killeth, but the Spirit maketh alive. And here, by the mention of the new, he certainly meant the former to be understood as the old. But much more evidently, although he did not say either old or new, he distinguished the two testaments and the two sons of Abraham, the one of the bondwoman, the other of the free, as I have above mentioned. For what can be more express than his saying, "Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, have ye not heard the law?

2 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are in allegory; for these are the two testaments; the one in the Mount Sinai, gendering to bondage, which is Agar. For Sinai is a mountain in Arabia, which is associated with Jerusalem which now is, for it is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem that is above is free, which is our mother? What is more clear, what more certain, what more remote from all obscurity and ambiguity to the children of the promise? And a little after, "Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. Also a little after, "But we, brethren, are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free," with the liberty with which Christ has made us free. Let us, therefore, choose whether to call the righteous men of old the children of the bondwoman or of the free. Be it far from us to say, of the bondwoman; therefore if of the free, they pertain to the new testament in the Holy Spirit, whom, as making alive, the apostle opposes to the killing letter. For on what ground do they not belong to the grace of the new testament, from whose words and looks we convict and rebut such most frantic and ungrateful enemies of the same grace as these?

Chapter 13.-Why One of the Covenants is Called Old, the Other New.

1 But some one will say, "In what way is that called the old which was given by Moses four hundred and thirty years after; and that called the new which was given so many years before to Abraham? Let him who on this subject is disturbed, not litigiously but earnestly, first understand that when from its earlier time one is called "old," and from its posterior time the other "new," it is the revelation of them that is considered in their names, not their institution. Because the old testament was revealed through Moses, by whom the holy and just and good law was given, whereby should be brought about not the doing away but the knowledge of sin,-by which the proud might be convicted who were desirous of establishing their own righteousness, as if they had no need of divine help, and being made guilty of the letter, might flee to the Spirit of grace, not to be justified by their own righteousness, but by that of God-that is, by the righteousness which was given to them of God. For as the same apostle says, "By the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and by the prophets. Because the law, by the very fact that in it no man is justified, affords a witness to the righteousness of God. For that in the law no man is justified before God is manifest, because "the just by faith lives.

2 Thus, therefore, although the law does not justify the wicked when he is convicted of transgression, it sends to the God who justifieth, and thus affords a testimony to the righteousness of God. Moreover, the prophets offer testimony to God's righteousness by fore-announcing Christ, "who is made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. But that law was kept hidden from the beginning, when nature itself convicted wicked men, who did to others what they would not have done to themselves. But the revelation of the new testament in Christ was made when He was manifested in the flesh, wherein appeared the righteousness of God -that is, the righteousness which is to men from God. For hence he says, "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. This is the reason why the former is called the old testament, because it was revealed in the earlier time; and the latter the new, because it was revealed in the later time. In a word, it is because the old testament pertains to the old man, from which it is necessary that a man should make a beginning; but the new to the new man, by which a than ought to pass from his old state. Thus, in the former are earthly promises, in the latter heavenly promises;

3 because this pertained to God's mercy, that no one should think that even earthly felicity of any kind whatever could be conferred on anybody, save from the Lord, who is the Creator of all things. But if God is worshipped for the sake of that earthly happiness, the worship is that of a slave, belonging to the children of the bondmaid; but if for the sake of God Himself, so that in the life eternal God may be all things in all, it is a free service belonging to the children of the freewoman, who is our mother eternal in the heavens-who first seemed, as it were, barren, when she had not any children manifest; but now we see what was prophesied concerning her: "Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for there are many children of the desolate more than of her who has an husband," -that is, more than of that Jerusalem, who in a certain manner is married in the bond of the law, and is in bondage with her children. In the time, then, of the old testament, we say that the Holy Spirit, in those who even then were the children of promise according to Isaac, was not only an assistant, which these men think is sufficient for their opinion, but also a bestower of virtue;

4 and this they deny, attributing it rather to their free will, in contradiction to those fathers who knew how to cry unto God with truthful piety, "I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength."

Chapter 14 [V.]-Calumny Concerning the Righteousness of the Prophets and Apostles.

1 They say, moreover, "that all the apostles or prophets are not defined as entirely holy by us, but that we say that they were less wicked in comparison with those that were worse; and that this is the righteousness to which God affords His testimony, so that, as the prophet says that Sodom was justified in comparison with the Jews, so also we say that the saints exercised some goodness in comparison with criminal men. Be it far from us to say such things; but either they are not able to understand, or they are unwilling to observe, or, for the sake of misrepresentation, they pretend that they do not know what we say. Let them hear, therefore, either themselves, or rather those whom, as inexperienced and unlearned persons, they are striving to deceive. Our faith-that is, the catholic faith-distinguishes the righteous from the unrighteous not by the law of works, but by that of faith, because the just by faith lives. By which distinction it results that the man who leads his life without murder, without theft, without false-witness, without coveting other men's goods, giving due honour to his parents, chaste even to continence from all carnal intercourse whatever, even conjugal, most liberal in alms-giving, most patient of injuries; who not only does not deprive another of his goods, but does not even ask again for what has been taken away from himself;

2 or who has even sold all his own property and appropriated it to the poor, and possesses nothing which belongs to him as his own;-with such a character as this, laudable as it seems to be, if he has not a true and catholic faith in God, must yet depart from this life to condemnation. But another, who has good works from a right faith which worketh by love, maintains his continency in the honesty of wedlock, although he does not, like the other, well refrain altogether, but pays and repays the debt of carnal connection, and has intercourse not only for the sake of offspring, but also for the sake of pleasure, although only with his wife, which the apostle allows to those that are married as pardonable;-does not receive injuries with so much patience, but is raised into anger with the desire of vengeance, although, in order that he may say, "As we also forgive our debtors," forgives when he is asked;-possesses personal property, giving thence indeed some alms, but not as the former so liberally;-does not take away what belongs to another, but, although by ecclesiastical, not by civil judgment, yet contends for his own:

3 certainly this man, who seems so inferior in morals to the former, on account of the right faith which he has in God, by which he lives, and according to which in all his wrong-doings he accuses himself, and in all his good works praises God, giving to himself the shame, to God the glory, and receiving from Him both forgiveness of sins and love of right deeds,-shall be delivered for this life, and depart to be received into the company of those who shall reign with Christ. Wherefore, if not on account of faith? Which, although without works it saves no man (for it is not a reprobate faith, since it worketh by love), yet by it even sins are loosed, because the just by faith liveth; but without it, even those things which seem good works are turned into sins: "For everything which is not of faith is sin. And it is brought about, on account of this great difference, that although with no possibility of doubt a persevering integrity of virginity is preferable to conjugal chastity, yet a woman even twice married,if she be a catholic, is preferred to a professed virgin that is a heretic; nor is she in such wise preferred because this one is better in God's kingdom, but because the other is not there at all. Now the former, indeed, whom we have described as being of better morals, if a true faith be his, surpasses the second one, although both will be in heaven;

4 yet if the faith be wanting to him, he is so surpassed by him that he himself is not there at all.

Chapter 15.-The Perfection of Apostles and Prophets.

1 Since, then, all righteous men, both the more ancient and the apostles, lived from a right faith which is in Christ Jesus our Lord; and had with their faith morals so holy, that although they might not be of such perfect virtue in this life as that which should be after this life, yet whatever of sin might creep in from human infirmity might be constantly done away by the piety of their faith itself: it results from this that, in comparison with the wicked whom God will condemn, it must be said that these were" righteous," since by their pious faith they were so far removed into the opposite of those wicked men that the apostle cries out, "What part hath he that believeth with an infidel? But it is plain that the Pelagians, these modern heretics, seem to themselves to be religious lovers and praisers of the saints, since they do not dare to say that they were of an imperfect virtue; although that elected vessel confesses this, who, considering in what state he still was, and that the body which is corrupted drags down the soul, says, "Not that I have already attained or am yet perfect; brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended.

2 And yet a little after, he who had denied himself to be perfect says, "Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded," in order that he might show that, according to the measure of this life, there is a certain perfection, and that to that perfection this also is to be attributed, even although any one may know that he is not yet perfect. For what is more perfect, or what was more excellent, than the holy priests among the ancient people?And yet God prescribed to them to offer sacrifice first of all for their own sins. And what is more holy among the new people than the apostles?And yet the Lord prescribed to them to say in their prayer, "Forgive us our debts. For all the pious, therefore, who lie under this burden of a corruptible flesh, and groan in the infirmity of this life of theirs, there is one hope: "We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiation for our sins."

Chapter 16 [VI.]-Misrepresentation Concerning Sin in Christ.

1 They have not a righteous advocate, who are (even if that were the only difference) distinguished absolutely and widely from the righteous. Be it far from us to say, as they themselves slanderously affirm, that this just Advocate "spoke falsely by the necessity of the flesh; but we say that He, in the likeness of sinful flesh, in respect of sin, condemned sin. And they, perchance not understanding this, and being blinded by the desire of misrepresentation, and ignorant of the number of ways in which the name of sin is accustomed to be used in the Holy Scriptures, declare that we affirm sin of Christ. Therefore we assert that Christ both had no sin,-neither in soul nor in the body; and that, by taking upon Him flesh in the likeness of sinful flesh, in respect of sin He condemned sin. And this assertion, somewhat obscurely made by the apostle, is explained in two ways,-either that the likenesses of things are accustomed to be called by the names of those things to which they are like, so that the apostle may be understood to have intended to call this likeness of sinful flesh by the name of "sin;

2 or else that the sacrifices for sins were under the law called "sins," all which things were figures of the flesh of Christ, which is the true and only sacrifice for sins,-not only for those which are all washed away in baptism, but also for those which afterwards creep in from the weakness of this life, on account of which the universal Church daily cries in prayer to God, "Forgive us our debts," and they are forgiven us by means of that singular sacrifice for sins which the apostle, speaking according to the law, did not hesitate to call "sin. Whence, moreover, is that much plainer passage of his, which is not uncertain by any twofold ambiguity, "We beseech you in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God. He made Him to be sin for us, who had not known sin; that we might be the righteousness of God in Him. For the passage which I have above mentioned, "In respect of sin, He condemned sin," because it was not said, "In respect of his sin," may be understood by any one, as if He said that He condemned sin in respect of the sin of the Jews; because in respect of their sin who crucified Him, it happened that He shed His blood for the remission of sins.

3 But this passage, where God is said to have made Christ Himself "sin," who had not known sin, does not seem to me to be more fittingly understood than that Christ was made a sacrifice for sins, and on this account was called "sin."

Chapter 17 [VII.]-Their Calumny About the Fulfilment of Precepts in the Life to Come.

1 But who can bear their objecting to us, "that we say that after the resurrection such is to be our progress, that there men can begin to fulfil the commands of God, which they would not here; since we say that there there will be no sin at all, no struggle with any desire of sin; as if they themselves would dare to deny this? That wisdom also and the knowledge of God, is then perfected in us, and that in the Lord there is such rejoicing that it is a full and a true security, who will deny, unless he is so averse from the truth that on this very account he cannot attain unto it?But these things will not be in precepts, but in reward of those precepts which should here be observed; the neglect of which precepts, indeed, does not lead thither to the reward. But here the grace of God gives the desire of keeping His commandments; and if anything in these commandments is less perfectly observed, He forgives it on account of what we say in prayer, as well "Thy will be done," as "Forgive us our debts. Here, then, it is prescribed that we sin not; there, the reward is that we cannot sin. Here, the precept is that we obey not the desires of sin; there, the reward that we have no desires of sin. Here, the precept is," Understand, ye senseless among the people; and ye fools, be at some time wise; there, the reward is full wisdom and perfect knowledge.

2 "For we see now through a glass in an enigma," says the apostle, "but then face to face: now I know in part; but then I shall know even as also I am known. Here, the precept is, "Exult unto the Lord, our helper," and, "Rejoice, ye righteous, in the Lord; there, the reward is to rejoice with a perfect and unspeakable joy. Lastly, in the precept it is written, "Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness; but in the reward, "Because they shall be filled. Whence, I ask, shall they be filled, except with what they hunger and thirst after?Who, then, is so abhorrent, not only from the divine perception, but also from the human perception, as to say that in man there can be such righteousness while he is hungering and thirsting for it, as there will be when he shall be filled with it?But when we are hungering and thirsting after righteousness, if the faith of Christ is watchful in us, what is it to be believed that we are hungering and thirsting for, save Christ?"For He is made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption; that, as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. And because we only believe on Him not seeing Him, therefore we thirst and hunger after righteousness. For as long as we are in the body, we wander from the Lord; for we walk by faith, not by appearance.

3 But when we shall see Him, and attain certainly to the appearance, we shall rejoice with joy unspeakable; and then we shall be filled with righteousness, since now we say to Him with pious longing, "I shall be satisfied when Thy glory shall be manifested."

Chapter 18.-Perfection of Righteousness and Full Security Was Not Even in Paul in This Life.

1 But how impudent I do not say, but how insane, is the pride which, not yet being equal to the angels of God, thinks itself already able to have a righteousness equal to the angels of God; and does not consider so great and holy a man, who assuredly hungered and thirsted after that very perfection of righteousness, when he was unwilling to be lifted up by the greatness of his revelations; and yet that he might not be lifted up, he was not left to his own choice and will, but received "the thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to buffet him; on which account he besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from him, and the Lord said unto him, My grace is sufficient for thee, for strength is made perfect in weakness. What strength, save that to which it belongs not to be lifted up? And who doubts that this belongs to righteousness? The angels of God, then, are endowed with this perfection of righteousness, since they always behold the face of the Father, and thus of the entire Trinity, because they see through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. But nothing is more sublime than that revelation, nor yet does any of the angels in that contemplation of rejoicing ones find a messenger of Satan needful that he may be buffeted by him, lest so great a magnitude of revelation should lift him up.

2 The apostle Paul certainly had not yet that perfection of virtue, nor yet was he equal to the angels of God; but there was in Him the weakness of lifting himself up, which also had to be checked by the angel of Satan, lest he should be lifted up by (he magnitude of his revelations. Although, then, the first lifting up cast down Satan, yet that greatest Physician, who well knew how to make use of even evil things, applied from the angel of Satan, against the mischief of elation, a wholesome, although a painful, medicament, just as an antidote used to be made even of serpents against the poisons of serpents. What, then, is the meaning of "My grace is sufficient for thee," except that you may not by giving way succumb to the buffet of the messenger of Satan? And what is "Strength is made perfect in weakness," except that in that place of weakness hitherto, there may be the perfection of virtue, so that in the very presence of infirmity, lifting-up may be repressed? Which infirmity assuredly shall be healed by future immortality. For how is thatsoundness to be called perfect where medicine is still needful, even from the buffet of an angel of Satan?

Chapter 19.-In What Sense the Righteousness of Man in This Life is Said to Be Perfect.

1 From this it results that the virtue which is now in the righteous man is named perfect up to this point, that to its perfection belong both the true knowledge and humble confession of even imperfection itself. For, in respect to this infirmity, that little righteousness of man's is perfect according to its measure, when it understands even what it lacks. And therefore the apostle calls himself both perfect and imperfect, -imperfect, to wit, in the thought of how much is wanting to him for the righteousness for the fulness of which he is still hungering and thirsting; but perfect in that he does not blush to confess his own imperfection, and goes forward in good that he may attain. As we can say that the wayfarer is perfect whose approach is well forwarded, although his intention is not carried out unless his arrival be actually effected. Therefore, when he had said," According to the righteousness which is in the law, I am one who has been without blame," he immediately added, "What things were gain to me, those I counted but loss for Christ's sake. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things to be loss for the sake of the eminent knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord:

2 for whose sake I have believed all things not only to be losses, but I have thought them to be even as dung, that I might gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is by the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God in faith. See! the apostle does not, of course, say falsely, that "according to the righteousness which is of the law he was without blame; and yet those things which were gain to him, he casts away for Christ's sake, and thinks them losses, injuries, dung. And not only these things, but all other things which he mentioned previously; not on account of any kind of knowledge, but, as he himself says, "the eminent knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord," which, beyond a doubt, he had as yet in faith, but not yet in sight. For then the knowledge of Christ will be eminent, when He shall be so revealed that what is believed is seen. Whence, in another place, he thus says, "For ye have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, your life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. Hence, also, the Lord Himself says, "He who loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Hence John the Evangelist says, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be:

3 but we know, that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. Then shall the knowledge of Christ be eminent. For now it is, as it were, hidden away in faith; but it does not yet appear eminent in sight.

Chapter 20.-Why the Righteousness Which is of the Law is Valued Slightly by Paul.

1 Therefore the blessed Paul casts away those past attainments of his righteousness, as "losses" and "dung," that "he may win Christ and be found in Him, not having his own righteousness, which is of the law. Wherefore his own, if it is of the law? For that law is the law of God. Who has denied this, save Marcion and Manicheus, and such like pests? Since, then, that is the law of God, he says it is" his own" righteousness "which is of the law; and this righteousness of his own he would not have, but cast it forth as "dung. Why so, except because it is this which I have above demonstrated, that those are under the law who, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and going about to establish their own, are not subject to the righteousness of God? For they think that, by the strength of their own will, they will fulfil the commands of the law; and wrapped up in their pride, they are not converted to assisting grace. Thus the letter killeth them either openly, as being guilty to themselves, by not doing what the law commands; or by thinking that they do it, although they do it not with spiritual love, which is of God. Thus they remain either plainly wicked or deceitfully righteous,-manifestly cut off in open unrighteousness, or foolishly elated in fallacious righteousness.

2 And by this means-marvellous indeed, but yet true-the righteousness of the law is not fulfilled by the righteousness which is in the law, or by the law, but by that which is in the Spirit of grace. Because the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in those, as it is written, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. But, according to the righteousness which is in the law, the apostle says that he was blameless in the flesh, not in the Spirit; and he says that the righteousness which is of the law was his, not God's. It must be understood, therefore, that the righteousness of the law is not fulfilled according to the righteousness which is in the law or of the law, that is, according to the righteousness of man, but according to the righteousness which is in the Spirit of grace, therefore according to the righteousness of God, that is, which man has from God. Which may be thus more clearly and briefly stated: That the righteousness of the law is not fulfilled when the law commands, and man as it were of his own strength obeys; but when the Spirit aids, and man's free will, but freed by the grace of God, performs. Therefore the righteousness of the law is to command what is pleasing to God, to forbid what is displeasing; but the righteousness in the law is to obey the letter, and beyond it to seek for no assistance of God for holy living.

3 For when he had said, "Not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is by the faith of Christ," he added, "Which is from God. That, therefore, is itself the righteousness of God, being ignorant of which the proud go about to establish their own; for it is not called the righteousness of God because by it God is righteous, but because man has it from God.