On Merit and the Forgiveness of Sins, and the Baptism of Infants — Book 3

St. Augustine of Hippo

  1. 0. Greeting
  2. 1. [I.]— Pelagius Esteemed a Holy Man; His Expositions on Saint Paul.
  3. 2. [II.]— Pelagius' Objection; Infants Reckoned Among the Number of Believers and the Faithful.
  4. 3. — Pelagius Makes God Unjust.
  5. Chapter 4
  6. 5. [III.]— Pelagius Praised by Some; Arguments Against Original Sin Proposed by Pelagius in His Commentary.
  7. 6. — Why Pelagius Does Not Speak in His Own Person.
  8. 7. [IV.]— Proof of Original Sin in Infants.
  9. 8. — Jesus is the Saviour Even of Infants.
  10. 9. — The Ambiguity of Adam is the Figure of Him to Come.
  11. 10. [V.]— He Shows that Cyprian Had Not Doubted the Original Sin of Infants.
  12. 11. — The Ancients Assumed Original Sin.
  13. 12. [VI.]— The Universal Consensus Respecting Original Sin.
  14. 13. [VII.]— The Error of Jovinianus Did Not Extend So Far.
  15. 14. — The Opinions of All Controversialists Whatever are Not, However, Canonical Authority; Original Sin, How Another's; We Were All One Man in Adam.
  16. 15. [VIII.]— We All Sinned Adam's Sin.
  17. 16. — Origin of Errors; A Simile Sought from the Foreskin of the Circumcised, and from the Chaff of Wheat.
  18. 17. [IX.]— Christians Do Not Always Beget Christian, Nor the Pure, Pure Children.
  19. 18. [X.]— Is the Soul Derived by Natural Propagation?
  20. 19. [XI.]— Sin and Death in Adam, Righteousness and Life in Christ.
  21. 20. — The Sting of Death, What?
  22. 21. [XII.]— The Precept About Touching the Menstruous Woman Not to Be Figuratively Understood; The Necessity of the Sacraments.
  23. 22. [XIII.]— We Ought to Be Anxious to Secure the Baptism of Infants.
  24. 23. — Epilogue.

In the Shape of a Letter Addressed to the Same Marcellinus.

In which Augustine refutes some errors of Pelagius on the question of the merits of sins and the baptism of infants — being sundry arguments of his which he had interspersed among his expositions of Saint Paul, in opposition to original sin.

To his beloved son Marcellinus, Augustine, bishop and servant of Christ and of the servants of Christ, sends greeting in the Lord.