On the Predestination of the Saints — Book I

St. Augustine of Hippo

0. Greeting
1. [I.]— Introduction.
2. — To What Extent the Massilians Withdraw from the Pelagians.
3. [II.]— Even the Beginning of Faith is of God's Gift.
4. — Continuation of the Preceding.
5. — To Believe is to Think with Assent.
6. — Presumption and Arrogance to Be Avoided.
7. [III.]— Augustine Confesses that He Had Formerly Been in Error Concerning the Grace of God.
8. [IV.]— What Augustine Wrote to Simplicianus, the Successor of Ambrose, Bishop of Milan.
9. [V.]— The Purpose of the Apostle in These Words.
10. — It is God's Grace Which Specially Distinguishes One Man from Another.
11. [VI.]— That Some Men are Elected is of God's Mercy.
12. [VII.]— Why the Apostle Said that We are Justified by Faith and Not by Works.
13. [VIII.]— The Effect of Divine Grace.
14. — Why the Father Does Not Teach All that They May Come to Christ.
15. — It is Believers that are Taught of God.
16. — Why the Gift of Faith is Not Given to All.
17. [IX.]— His Argument in His Letter Against Porphyry, as to Why the Gospel Came So Late into the World.
18. — The Preceding Argument Applied to the Present Time.
19. [X]— In What Respects Predestination and Grace Differ.
20. — Did God Promise the Good Works of the Nations and Not Their Faith, to Abraham?
21. — It is to Be Wondered at that Men Should Rather Trust to Their Own Weakness Than to God's Strength.
22. — God's Promise is Sure.
23. [XII.]— Remarkable Illustrations of Grace and Predestination in Infants, and in Christ.
24. — That No One is Judged According to What He Would Have Done If He Had Lived Longer.
25. [XIII.]— Possibly the Baptized Infants Would Have Repented If They Had Lived, and the Unbaptized Not.
26. [XIV]— Reference to Cyprian's Treatise On the Mortality.
27. — The Book of Wisdom Obtains in the Church the Authority of Canonical Scripture.
28. — Cyprian's Treatise On the Mortality.
29. — God's Dealing Does Not Depend Upon Any Contingent Merits of Men.
30. [XV.]— The Most Illustrious Instance of Predestination is Christ Jesus.
31. — Christ Predestinated to Be the Son of God.
32. [XVI.]— The Twofold Calling.
33. — It is in the Power of Evil Men to Sin; But to Do This or That by Means of that Wickedness is in God's Power Alone.
34. [XVII.]— The Special Calling of the Elect is Not Because They Have Believed, But in Order that They May Believe.
35. [XVIII.]— Election is for the Purpose of Holiness.
36. — God Chose the Righteous; Not Those Whom He Foresaw as Being of Themselves, But Those Whom He Predestinated for the Purpose of Making So.
37. — We Were Elected and Predestinated, Not Because We Were Going to Be Holy, But in Order that We Might Be So.
38. [XIX.]— What is the View of the Pelagians, and What of the Semi- Pelagians , Concerning Predestination.
39. — The Beginning of Faith is God's Gift.
40. [XX.]— Apostolic Testimony to the Beginning of Faith Being God's Gift.
41. — Further Apostolic Testimonies.
42. — Old Testament Testimonies.
43. [XXI.]— Conclusion.

Addressed to Prosper and Hilary.

Wherein the truth of predestination and grace is defended against the semi- Pelagians — those people to wit, who by no means withdraw altogether from the Pelagian heresy, in that they contend that the beginning of salvation and of faith is of ourselves; so that in virtue, as it were, of this precedent merit, the other good gifts of God are attained. Augustine shows that not only the increase, but the very beginning also of faith is in God's gift. On this matter he does not disavow that he once thought differently, and that in some small works, written before his episcopate, he was in error, as in that exposition, which they object to him, of propositions from the epistle to the Romans. But he points out that he was subsequently convinced chiefly by this testimony, but what have you that you have not received? which he proves is to be taken as a testimony concerning faith itself also. He says that faith is to be counted among other works, which the apostle denies to anticipate God's grace when He says, not of works. He declares that the hardness of the heart is taken away by grace, and that all come to Christ who are taught to come by the Father; but that those whom He teaches, He teaches in mercy, while those whom He teaches not, in judgment He teaches not. That the passage from his hundred and second epistle, Question 2, concerning the time of the Christian religion which is alleged by the semi- Pelagians, may rightly be explained without detriment to the doctrine of grace and predestination. He teaches what is the difference between grace and predestination. Further, he says that God in his predestination foreknew what he had purposed to do. He marvels greatly that the adversaries of predestination, who are said to be unwilling to be dependent on the uncertainty of God's will, prefer rather to trust themselves to their own weakness than to the strength of God's promise. He clearly points out that they abuse this authority, If you believe, you shall be saved. That the truth of grace and perseverance shines forth in the case of infants that are saved, who are distinguished by no merits of their own from others who perish. For that there is no difference between them arising from the foreknowledge of merits which they would have had if they had lived longer. That testimony is wrongfully rejected by the adversaries as being uncanonical, which he adduced for the purpose of this discussion, he was taken away lest wickedness, etc. That the most illustrious instance of predestination and grace is the Saviour Himself, in whom a man obtained the privilege of being the Saviour and the Only-begotten Son of God, through being assumed into oneness of person by the Word co-eternal with the Father, on account of no precedent merits, either of works or of faith. That the predestinated are called by some certain calling peculiar to the elect, and that they have been elected before the foundation of the world; not because they we