Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. Series 1. In 14 vols. Volume 05. St. Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

1575 Pages·2016·10.07 MB·English

by  Schaff Philip (Ed.)

NPNF1-05. St. Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
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Author(s): Schaff, Philip (1819-1893) (Editor)
Publisher: Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Description: With over twenty volumes, the Nicene and Post-Nicene
Fathers is a momentous achievement. Originally gathered
by Philip Schaff, the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers is a
collection of writings by classical and medieval Christian
theologians.The purpose of such a collection is to make their
writings readily available.The entire work is divided into two
series.The first series focuses on two classical Christian
theologians--St. Augustine and St. John Chrysostom. St.
Augustine is one of the most influential and important Chris-
tian thinkers of all time. In addition to reprinting his most
popular two works--the Confessions and the City of
God--these volumes also contain other noteworthy and im-
portant works of St. Augustine, such as On the Holy Trinity,
Christian Doctrine, and others. St. John Chrysostom was an
eloquent speaker and well-loved Christian clergyman. St.
John took a more literal interpretation of Scripture, and much
of his work focused on practical aspects of Christianity, par-
ticularly what is now called social justice. He advocated for
the poor, and challenged abuses of authority.This volume
contains the majority of Augustine's writings against the
Pelagians.The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers is compre-
hensive in scope, and provide keen translations of instructive
and illuminating texts from some of the greatest theologians
of the Christian church.These spiritually enlightening texts
have aided Christians for over a thousand years, and remain
instructive and fruitful even today!
Tim Perrine
CCEL Staff Writer
Subjects: Christianity
Early Christian Literature. Fathers of the Church, etc.
Contents
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Title Page. 1
Credits. 2
Contents 3
Preface to the American Edition. 6
Introductory Essay on Augustin and the Pelagian Controversy. 8
A Select Bibliography of the Pelagian Controversy. 9
Introductory Essay on Augustin and the Pelagian Controversy. 11
The Origin and Nature of Pelagianism. 12
The External History of the Pelagian Controversy. 19
Augustin’s Part in the Controversy. 25
The Theology of Grace. 89
Dedication of Volume I. Of the Edinburgh Edition. 98
Dedication of Volume II. Of the Edinburgh Edition. 99
Preface to Volume I. Of the Edinburgh Edition. 100
Preface to Volume II. Of the Edinburgh Edition. 110
A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. 114
Title Page. 114
Extract from Augustin’s Retractations. 115
Book I 116
Introductory, in the Shape of an Inscription to His Friend Marcellinus. 117
If Adam Had Not Sinned, He Would Never Have Died. 118
It is One Thing to Be Mortal, Another Thing to Be Subject to Death. 119
Even Bodily Death is from Sin. 120
The Words, Mortale (Capable of Dying), Mortuum (Dead), and Moriturus 121
(Destined to Die).
How It is that the Body Dead Because of Sin. 122
The Life of the Body the Object of Hope, the Life of the Spirit Being a Prelude 124
to It.
Bodily Death from Adam’s Sin. 125
Sin Passes on to All Men by Natural Descent, and Not Merely by Imitation. 126
The Analogy of Grace. 127
Distinction Between Actual and Original Sin. 128
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The Law Could Not Take Away Sin. 129
Meaning of the Apostle’s Phrase 'The Reign of Death.' 130
Superabundance of Grace. 131
The One Sin Common to All Men. 132
How Death is by One and Life by One. 133
Whom Sinners Imitate. 134
Only Christ Justifies. 135
Sin is from Natural Descent, as Righteousness is from Regeneration; How ‘All’ 136
Are Sinners Through Adam, and ‘All’ Are Just Through Christ.
Original Sin Alone is Contracted by Natural Birth. 138
Unbaptized Infants Damned, But Most Lightly; The Penalty of Adam’s Sin, the 139
Grace of His Body Lost.
To Infants Personal Sin is Not to Be Attributed. 140
He Refutes Those Who Allege that Infants are Baptized Not for the Remission 141
of Sins, But for the Obtaining of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Infants Saved as Sinners. 142
Infants are Described as Believers and as Penitents. Sins Alone Separate Between 143
God and Men.
No One, Except He Be Baptized, Rightly Comes to the Table of the Lord. 144
Infants Must Feed on Christ. 145
Baptized Infants, of the Faithful; Unbaptized, of the Lost. 146
It is an Inscrutable Mystery Why Some are Saved, and Others Not. 147
Why One is Baptized and Another Not, Not Otherwise Inscrutable. 148
He Refutes Those Who Suppose that Souls, on Account of Sins Committed in 149
Another State, are Thrust into Bodies Suited to Their Merits, in Which They
are More or Less Tormented.
The Case of Certain Idiots and Simpletons. 151
Christ is the Saviour and Redeemer Even of Infants. 153
Baptism is Called Salvation, and the Eucharist, Life, by the Christians of Carthage. 154
Unless Infants are Baptized, They Remain in Darkness. 156
Infants Not Enlightened as Soon as They are Born. 157
How God Enlightens Every Person. 158
What ‘Lighteth’ Means. 159
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The Conclusion Drawn, that All are Involved in Original Sin. 161
A Collection of Scripture Testimonies. From the Gospels. 162
From the First Epistle of Peter. 163
From the First Epistle of John. 164
From the Epistle to the Romans. 165
From the Epistles to the Corinthians. 167
From the Epistle to the Galatians. 168
From the Epistle to the Ephesians. 169
From the Epistle to the Colossians. 170
From the Epistles to Timothy. 171
From the Epistle to Titus. 172
From the Epistle to the Hebrews. 173
From the Apocalypse. 175
From the Acts of the Apostles. 176
The Utility of the Books of the Old Testament. 177
By the Sacrifices of the Old Testament, Men Were Convinced of Sins and Led 178
to the Saviour.
He Concludes that All Men Need the Death of Christ, that They May Be Saved. 180
Unbaptized Infants Will Be Involved in the Condemnation of the Devil. How
All Men Through Adam are Unto Condemnation; And Through Christ Unto
Justification. No One is Reconciled with God, Except Through Christ.
No One is Reconciled to God Except Through Christ. 182
The Good of Marriage; Four Different Cases of the Good and the Evil Use of 183
Matrimony.
In What Respect the Pelagians Regarded Baptism as Necessary for Infants. 184
The Context of Their Chief Text. 185
Christ, the Head and the Body; Owing to the Union of the Natures in the Person 186
of Christ, He Both Remained in Heaven, and Walked About on Earth; How the
One Christ Could Ascend to Heaven; The Head, and the Body, the One Christ.
The Serpent Lifted Up in the Wilderness Prefigured Christ Suspended on the 188
Cross; Even Infants Themselves Poisoned by the Serpent’s Bite.
No One Can Be Reconciled to God, Except by Christ. 189
The Form, or Rite, of Baptism. Exorcism. 190
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A Twofold Mistake Respecting Infants. 191
In Infants There is No Sin of Their Own Commission. 192
Infants’ Faults Spring from Their Sheer Ignorance. 193
On the Ignorance of Infants, and Whence It Arises. 194
If Adam Was Not Created of Such a Character as that in Which We are Born, 195
How is It that Christ, Although Free from Sin, Was Born an Infant and in
Weakness?
The Ignorance and the Infirmity of an Infant. 196
How Far Sin is Done Away in Infants by Baptism, Also in Adults, and What 197
Advantage Results Therefrom.
Book II 198
What Has Thus Far Been Dwelt On; And What is to Be Treated in This Book. 199
Some Persons Attribute Too Much to the Freedom of Man’s Will; Ignorance 200
and Infirmity.
In What Way God Commands Nothing Impossible. Works of Mercy, Means 201
of Wiping Out Sins.
Concupiscence, How Far in Us; The Baptized are Not Injured by Concupiscence, 202
But Only by Consent Therewith.
The Will of Man Requires the Help of God. 204
Wherein the Pharisee Sinned When He Thanked God; To God’s Grace Must 205
Be Added the Exertion of Our Own Will.
Four Questions on the Perfection of Righteousness: (1.) Whether a Man Can 206
Be Without Sin in This Life.
(2) Whether There is in This World a Man Without Sin. 208
The Beginning of Renewal; Resurrection Called Regeneration; They are the Sons 209
of God Who Lead Lives Suitable to Newness of Life.
Perfection, When to Be Realized. 211
An Objection of the Pelagians: Why Does Not a Righteous Man Beget a Righteous 212
Man?
He Reconciles Some Passages of Scripture. 213
A Subterfuge of the Pelagians. 214
Job Was Not Without Sin. 215
Carnal Generation Condemned on Account of Original Sin. 217
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Job Foresaw that Christ Would Come to Suffer; The Way of Humility in Those 218
that are Perfect.
No One Righteous in All Things. 219
Perfect Human Righteousness is Imperfect. 220
Zacharias and Elisabeth, Sinners. 221
Paul Worthy to Be the Prince of the Apostles, and Yet a Sinner. 222
All Righteous Men Sinners. 224
An Objection of the Pelagians; Perfection is Relative; He is Rightly Said to Be 225
Perfect in Righteousness Who Has Made Much Progress Therein.
Why God Prescribes What He Knows Cannot Be Observed. 227
An Objection of the Pelagians. The Apostle Paul Was Not Free From Sin So 228
Long as He Lived.
God Punishes Both in Wrath and in Mercy. 230
(3)Why No One in This Life is Without Sin. 231
The Divine Remedy for Pride. 232
A Good Will Comes from God. 233
A Subterfuge of the Pelagians. 234
All Will is Either Good, and Then It Loves Righteousness, or Evil, When It Does 235
Not Love Righteousness.
Grace is Given to Some Men in Mercy; Is Withheld from Others in Justice and 236
Truth.
God’s Sovereignity in His Grace. 237
Through Grace We Have Both the Knowledge of Good, and the Delight Which 238
It Affords.
(4) That No Man, with the Exception of Christ, Has Ever Lived, or Can Live 240
Without Sin.
Adam and Eve; Obedience Most Strongly Enjoined by God on Man. 241
Man’s State Before the Fall. 243
The Corruption of Nature is by Sin, Its Renovation is by Christ. 245
What Benefit Has Been Conferred on Us by the Incarnation of the Word; Christ’s 246
Birth in the Flesh, Wherein It is Like and Wherein Unlike Our Own Birth.
An Objection of Pelagians. 248
An Argument Anticipated. 249
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Children of Believers are Called ‘Clean’ By the Apostle. 250
Sanctification Manifold; Sacrament of Catechumens. 251
Why the Children of the Baptized Should Be Baptized. 253
An Objection of the Pelagians. 254
The Law of Sin is Called Sin; How Concupiscence Still Remains After Its Evil 255
Has Been Removed in the Baptized.
Guilt May Be Taken Away But Concupiscence Remain. 256
All the Predestinated are Saved Through the One Mediator Christ, and by One 257
and the Same Faith.
Christ the Saviour Even of Infants; Christ, When an Infant, Was Free from 258
Ignorance and Mental Weakness.
An Objection of the Pelagians. 259
Why It is that Death Itself is Not Abolished, Along with Sin, by Baptism. 260
Why the Devil is Said to Hold the Power and Dominion of Death. 262
Why Christ, After His Resurrection, Withdrew His Presence from the World. 263
An Objection of the Pelagians. 264
Why Punishment is Still Inflicted, After Sin Has Been Forgiven. 265
To Recover the Righteousness Which Had Been Lost by Sin, Man Has to Struggle, 266
with Abundant Labour and Sorrow.
The Case of David, in Illustration. 267
Turn to Neither Hand. 268
'Likeness of Sinful Flesh' Implies the Reality. 269
Whether the Soul is Propagated; On Obscure Points, Concerning Which the 270
Scriptures Give Us No Assistance, We Must Be on Our Guard Against Forming
Hasty Judgments and Opinions; The Scriptures are Clear Enough on Those
Subjects Which are Necessary to Salvation.
Book III 271
Pelagius Esteemed a Holy Man; His Expositions on Saint Paul. 272
Pelagius’ Objection; Infants Reckoned Among the Number of Believers and the 273
Faithful.
Pelagius Makes God Unjust. 274
Chapter 4 275
Pelagius Praised by Some; Arguments Against Original Sin Proposed by Pelagius 276
in His Commentary.
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Why Pelagius Does Not Speak in His Own Person. 277
Proof of Original Sin in Infants. 278
Jesus is the Saviour Even of Infants. 279
The Ambiguity of 'Adam is the Figure of Him to Come.' 280
He Shows that Cyprian Had Not Doubted the Original Sin of Infants. 281
The Ancients Assumed Original Sin. 283
The Universal Consensus Respecting Original Sin. 284
The Error of Jovinianus Did Not Extend So Far. 286
The Opinions of All Controversialists Whatever are Not, However, Canonical 288
Authority; Original Sin, How Another’s; We Were All One Man in Adam.
We All Sinned Adam’s Sin. 289
Origin of Errors; A Simile Sought from the Foreskin of the Circumcised, and 290
from the Chaff of Wheat.
Christians Do Not Always Beget Christian, Nor the Pure, Pure Children. 291
Is the Soul Derived by Natural Propagation? 293
Sin and Death in Adam, Righteousness and Life in Christ. 294
The Sting of Death, What? 295
The Precept About Touching the Menstruous Woman Not to Be Figuratively 297
Understood; The Necessity of the Sacraments.
We Ought to Be Anxious to Secure the Baptism of Infants. 299
Epilogue. 300
A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter. 301
Title Page. 301
Extract from Augustin’s Retractations. 302
Argument. 303
The Occasion of Writing This Work; A Thing May Be Capable of Being Done, 304
and Yet May Never Be Done.
The Examples Apposite. 305
Theirs is Comparatively a Harmless Error, Who Say that a Man Lives Here Without 306
Sin.
Theirs is a Much More Serious Error, Requiring a Very Vigorous Refutation, Who 307
Deny God’s Grace to Be Necessary.
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