Against Two Letters of the Pelagians — Book IV

St. Augustine of Hippo

  1. 0. Greeting
  2. 1. [I.]— The Subterfuges of the Pelagians are Five.
  3. 2. [II.]— The Praise of the Creature.
  4. 3. [III.]— The Catholics Praise Nature, Marriage, Law, Free Will, and the Saints, in Such Wise as to Condemn as Well Pelagians as Manicheans.
  5. 4. [IV.]— Pelagians and Manicheans on the Praise of the Creature.
  6. 5. — What is the Special Advantage in the Pelagian Opinions?
  7. 6. — Not Death Alone, But Sin Also Has Passed into Us by Means of Adam.
  8. 7. — What is the Meaning of In Whom All Have Sinned ?
  9. 8. — Death Passed Upon All by Sin.
  10. 9. [V.]— Of the Praise of Marriage.
  11. 10. — Of the Praise of the Law.
  12. 11. — The Pelagians Understand that the Law Itself is God's Grace.
  13. 12. [VI.]— Of the Praise of Free Will.
  14. 13. — God's Purposes are Effects of Grace.
  15. 14. — The Testimonies of Scripture in Favour of Grace.
  16. 15. — From Such Scriptures Grace is Proved to Be Gratuitous and Effectual.
  17. 16. — Why God Makes of Some Sheep, Others Not.
  18. 17. [VII.]— Of the Praise of the Saints.
  19. 18. — The Opinion of the Saints Themselves About Themselves.
  20. 19. — The Craft of the Pelagians.
  21. 20. [VIII.]— The Testimonies of the Ancients Against the Pelagians.
  22. 21. — Pelagius, in Imitation of Cyprian, Wrote a Book of Testimonies.
  23. 22. — Further References to Cyprian.
  24. 23. — Further References to Cyprian.
  25. 24. — The Dilemma Proposed to the Pelagians.
  26. 25. [IX.]— Cyprian's Testimonies Concerning God's Grace.
  27. 26. — Further Appeals to Cyprian's Teaching.
  28. 27. [X.]— Cyprian's Testimonies Concerning the Imperfection of Our Own Righteousness.
  29. 28. — Cyprian's Orthodoxy Undoubted.
  30. 29. [XI.]— The Testimonies of Ambrose Against the Pelagians and First of All Concerning Original Sin.
  31. 30. — The Testimonies of Ambrose Concerning God's Grace.
  32. 31. — The Testimonies of Ambrose on the Imperfection of Present Righteousness.
  33. 32. [XII.]— The Pelagian's Heresy Arose Long After Ambrose.
  34. 33. — Opposition of the Manichean and Catholic Dogmas.
  35. 34. — The Calling Together of a Synod Not Always Necessary to the Condemnation of Heresies.

After having set aside in the former books the calumnies hurled against the Catholics, Augustine here proceeds to open up the snares which lie hidden in the remaining part of the second epistle of the Pelagians, in the five heads of their doctrine — in the praise, to wit, of the creature, the praise of marriage, the praise of the law, the praise of free will, and the praise of the saints; in connection with which heads the Pelagians malignantly boast that they are at issue not more with the Manicheans than with the Catholics. Hence these five points may bring us back to this, that they put forward their threefold error — namely, the two first, the denial of original sin; the two following, the assertion that grace is given according to merits; the fifth, their statement that the saints had not sinned in this life. Augustine shows that both heresies, that of the Manicheans and that of the Pelagians, are opposed and equally odious to the Catholic faith, whereby we profess, first, that the nature created by a good God was good, but that, nevertheless, it is in need of a Saviour because of original sin, which passed into all men from the transgression of the first man: then secondly, that marriage is good, truly instituted by God, but that that concupiscence is evil which was associated with marriage by sin: also thirdly that the law of God is good, but in such wise as only to manifest sin, not to take it away: that fourthly free will is assuredly inherent in the nature of man, but that now, however, it is so enslaved that it does not avail to the doing of righteousness, unless when it shall have been made free by grace: but that fifthly the saints, whether of the Old or New Testament, were indeed endued with a righteousness, which was true but not perfect, nor so full that they should be free from all sin. In conclusion, he brings forward the testimonies of Cyprian and Ambrose on behalf of the Catholic faith, some concerning original sin, others about the assistance of grace, and the last concerning the imperfection of present righteousness.