But God's grace, that is, true grace without merits, is maintained, even if infants, when baptized, according to the view of the Pelagians, are not plucked out of the power of darkness, because they are held guilty of no sin, as the Pelagians think, but are only transferred into the Lord's kingdom: for even thus, without any good merits, the kingdom is given to those to whom it is given; and without any evil merits it is not given to them to whom it is not given. And this we are in the habit of saying in opposition to the same Pelagians, when they object to us that we attribute God's grace to fate, when we say that it is given not in respect to our merits. For they themselves rather attribute God's grace to fate in the case of infants, if they say that when there is no merit it is fate.-* Certainly, even according to the Pelagians themselves, no merits can be found in infants to cause that some of them should be admitted into the kingdom, and others should be alienated from the kingdom. But now, just as in order to show that God's grace is not given according to our merits, I preferred to maintain this truth in accordance with both opinions, — both in accordance with our own, to wit, who say that infants are bound by original sin, and according to that of the Pelagians, who deny that there is original sin, and yet I cannot on that account doubt that infants have what He can pardon them who saves His people from their sins: so in the third book on Free Will, according to both views, I have withstood the Manicheans, whether ignorance and difficulty be punishments or elements of nature without which no man is born; and yet I hold one of these views. There, moreover, it is sufficiently evidently declared by me, that that is not the nature of man as he was ordained, but his punishment as condemned.
CHAP. 30. — AUGUSTIN CLAIMS THE RIGHT TO GROW IN KNOWLEDGE.
Therefore it is in vain that it is prescribed to me from that old book of mine, that I may not argue the case as I ought to argue it in respect of infants; and that thence I may not persuade my opponents by the light of a manifest truth, that God's grace is not given according to men's merits. For if, when I began my books con- * See above, Agauist Ttuo Letters of the Pelagians, Book ii.
Chs. II, 13.
Chap. 32.]
53!
cerning Free Will as a layman, and finished them as a presbyter, I still doubted of the condemnation of infants not born again, and of the deliverance of infants that were born again, no one, as I think, would be so unfair and envious as to hinder my progress, and judge that I must continue in that uncertainty. But it can more correctly be understood that it ought to be believed that I did not doubt in that matter, for the reason that they against whom my purpose was directed seemed to me in such wise to be rebutted, as that whether there was a punishment of original sin in infants, according to the truth, or whether there was not, as some mistaken people think, yet in no degree should such a confusion of the two natures be believed in, to wit, of good and evil, as the error of the Manicheans introduces. Be it therefore far from us so to forsake the case of infants as to say to ourselves that it is uncertain whether, being regenerated in Christ, if they die in infancy they pass into eternal salvation; but that, not being regenerated, they pass into the second death. Because that which is written, " By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men," ' cannot be rightly understood in any other manner; nor from that eternal death which is most righteously repaid to sin does any deliver any one, small or great, save He who, for the sake of remitting our sins, both original and personal, died without any sin of His own, either original or personal. But why some rather than others? Again and again we say, and do not shrink from it, " O man, who art thou that repliest against God?"- "His judgments are unsearchable, and His ways past finding out." ^ And let us add this, " Seek not out the things that are too high for thee, and search not the thhigs that are above thy strength." * CHAP. 31. — INFANTS ARE NOT JUDGED ACCORDING TO THAT WHICH THEV ARE FOREKNOWN AS LIKELY TO DO IF THEY SHOULD LIVE.
For you see, beloved, how absurd it is, and how foreign from soundness of faith and sincerity of truth, for us to say that infants, when they die, should be judged according to those things which they are foreknown to be going to do if they should live. For to this opinion, from which certainly every human feeling, on however little reason it may be founded, and especially every Christian feeling, revolts, they are compelled to advance who have chosen in such wise to be withdrawn from the error of the Pelagians as still to think that they must believe, and, moreover, must profess in argument, that the grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, 2 Rom. ix. 20.
i Rom. xi. 33.
by which alone after the fall of the first man, in whom we all fell, help is afibrded to us, is given according to our merits. And this belief Pelagius liimself, before the Eastern bishops as judges, condemned in fear of his own condemnation. And if this be not said of the good or bad works of those who have died, which they would have done if they had lived, — and thus of no works, and works that would never exist, even in the foreknowledge of God, — if this, therefore, be not said, and you see under how great a mistake it is said, what will remam but that we confess, when the darkness of contention is removed, that the grace of Clod is not given according to our merits, which position the catholic Church defends against the Pelagian heresy; and that we see this in more evident truth especially in infants? For God is not compelled by fate to come to the help of these infants, and not to come to the help of those, — since the case is alike to both. Or shall we think that human affairs in the case of infants are not managed by Divine Providence, but by fortuitous chances, when rational souls are either to be condemned or delivered, although, indeed, not a sparrow falls to the ground without the will of our Father which is in heaven? 5 Or must we so attribute it to the negligence of parents that infants die without baptism, as that heavenly judgments have nothing to do with it; as if they themselves who in this way die badly had of their own will chosen the negligent parents for themselves of whom they were born? What shall I say when an infant expires some time before he can possibly be advantaged by the ministry of baptism? For often when the parents are eager and the ministers prepared for giving baptism to the infants, it still is not given, because God does not choose; since He has not kept it in this life for a little while in order that baptism might be given it. What, moreover, when sometimes aid could be afforded by baptism to the children of unbelievers, that they should not go into perdition, and could not be afforded to the children of believers? In which case it is certainly shown that there is no acceptance of persons with God; otherwise He would rather deliver the children of His worshippers than the children of His enemies.
CHAP. 32 [Xlll.] — THE INSCRinABILITY OF GOD'S FREE PURPOSES.
But now, since we are now treating of the gift of perseverance, why is it that aid is afforded to the person about to die who is not baptized, while to the baptized person about to fall, aid is not afforded, so as to die before? Unless, perchance, we shall still listen to that absurdity by i Matt. X. 39.
[Chap. 33.
which it is said that it is of no advantage to any one to die before his fall, because he will be judged according to those actions which God foreknew that he would have done if he had lived. WHio can hear with patience this perversity, so violently opposed to the soundness of the faith? Who can bear it? And yet they are driven to say this who do not confess that God's grace is not bestowed in respect of our deservings. They, however, who will not say that any one who has died is judged according to those things which God foreknew that he would have done if he had lived, considering with how 'manifest a falsehood and how great an absurdity this would be said, have no further reason to say, what the Church condemned in the Pelagians, and caused to be condemned by Pelagius^ himself, — that the grace of God, namely, is given according to our merits, — when they see some infants not regenerated taken from this life to eternal death, and others regenerated, to eternal life; and those themselves that are regenerated, some going hence, persevering even to the end» and others kept in this life even until they fall, who certainly would not have fallen if they had departed hence before their lapse; and again some falling, but not departing from this life until they return, who certainly would have perished if they had departed before their return.
CHAP. 33. GOD GIVES BOTH INITIATORY AND PER- SEVERING GRACE ACCORDING TO HIS OWN WILL.
From all which clearness that the it is shown with sufificient grace of God, which both begins a man's faith and which enables it to persevere unto the end, is not given according to our merits, but is given according to His own most secret and at the same time most righteous, wise, and beneficent will; since those whom He predestinated, them He also called,' with that calling of which it is said, " The gifts and calling of God are without repentance." ^ To which calling there is no man that can be said by men with any certainty of affirmation to belong, until he has departed from this world; but in this life of man, which is a state of trial upon the earth,^ he who seems to stand must take heed lest he fall.* Since (as I have already said before) 5 those who will not persevere are, hy the most foreseeing will of God, mingled with those who will persevere, for the reason that we may learn not to mind high things, but to consent to the lowly, and may " work out our own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure." ^ We therefore will, but God worketh in us to will also. We there- 2 Rom. xi. 29. S Above, ch. xiv.
3 Job vii. I. '' Phil. ii. 12,13.
fore work, but God worketh in us to work also for His good pleasure. This is profitable for us both to believe and to say, — this is pious, this is true, that our confession be lowly and submissive, and that all should be given to God. Thinking, we believe; thinking, we speak; thinking, we do whatever we do; ^ but, in respect of what concerns the way of piety and the true worship of God, we are not sufficient to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.'^ For " our heart and our thoughts are not in our own power; " whence the same Ambrose who says this says also: " But who is so blessed as in his heart always to rise upwards? And how can this be done without divine help? Assuredly, by no means. Finally," he says, " the same Scripture affirms above, ' Blessed is the man whose help is of Thee; O Lord,^ ascent is in his heart.' " '° Assuredly, Ambrose was not only enabled to say this by reading in the holy writings, but as of such a man is to be without doubt believed, he felt it also iji his own heart. Therefore, as is said in the sacraments of believers, that we should lift up our hearts to the Lord, is God's gift; for which gift they to whom this is said are admonished by the priest after this word to give thanks to our Lord God Himself; and they answer that it is " meet and right so to do." " For, since our heart is not in our own power, but is hfted up by the divine help, so that it ascends and takes cognizance of those things which are above, '^ where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, and not those things that are upon the earth, to whom are thanks to be given for so great a gift as this unless to our Lord God who doeth this, — who in so great kindness has chosen us by delivering us from the abyss of this world, and has predestinated us before the foundation If the world?
CHAP. 34 [XIV.] THE DOCTRINE OF PREDES- TINATION NOT OPPOSED TO THE ADVANTAGE OF PREACHING.
But they say that the " definition of predestination is opposed to the advantage of preaching," '^ — as if, indeed, it were opposed to the preaching of the apostle! Did not that teacher of the heathen so often, in faith and truth, both commend predestination, and not cease to preach the word of God? Because he said, " It is God that worketh in you both to will and to 7 2 Cor. iii. 5.
8 Ambrose, On Flight from the World, ch. x.
•° LXX.: " In his heart he has purposed to go up." " [An allusion to the Sursutii Corda in the " Preface " of the Communion service. For its history see Smith and Cheetham]s Diclionary of Christian Antiquities, p. 1693. Cyprian in his treatise on the Lord's Prayer already mentions it. It still has a place in the liturgies of the Church of England and the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. — W.]
*- Col. iii. I. '•' In the Letters of Hilary and Prosper.
Chap. 36.]
do for His good pleasure," ' did he not also exhort that we should both will and do what is pleasing to God? or because he said, " He who hath begun a good work in you shall carry it on even unto the day of Christ Jesus," ^ did he on that account cease to persuade men to begin and to persevere unto the end? Doubtless, our Lord Himself commanded men to believe, and said, "Believe in God, believe also in me: " ^ and yet His opinion is not therefore false, nor is His definition idle when He says, " No man cometh unto me " — that is, no man believeth in me — " except it has been given him of my Father." ■* Nor, again, because this definition is true, is the former precept vain. Why, therefore, do we think the definition of predestination useless to preaching, to precept, to exhortation, to rebuke, — all which things the divine Scripture repeats frequently, — seeing that the same Scripture commends this doctrine?
CHA*>. 35. — WHAT PREDESTINATION IS.
Will anv man dare to sav that God did not foreknow those to whom He would give to believe, or whom He would give to His Son, that of them He should lose none? s And certainly, if He foreknew these things. He as certainly foreknew His own kindnesses, wherewith He condescends to deliver us. This is the predestination of the saints, — nothing else; to wit, the foreknowledge and the preparation of God's kindnesses, whereby they are most certainly delivered, whoever they are that are delivered. But where are the rest left by the righteous divine judgment except in the mass of ruin, where the Tyrians and the Sidonians were left? who, moreover, might have believed if they had seen Christ's wonderful miracles. But since it was not given to them to believe, the means of believing also were denied them. From which fact it appears that some have in their understanding itself a naturally divine gift of intelligence, by which they may be moved to the faith, if they either hear the words or behold the signs congruous to their minds; and yet if, in the higher judgment of God, they are not by the predestination of grace separated from the mass of perdition, neither those very divine words nor deeds are applied to them by which they might believe if they only heard or saw such things. Moreover, in the same mass of ruin the Jews were left, because they could not believe such great and eminent mighty works as were done in their sight. For the gospel has not been silent about the reason why they could not believe, since it says: " But though He had done such great miracles before them, yet they believed not on I Phil. ii. 13. ■* John vi. 66.
3 John xiv. I.
Him; that the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled which he spake, ^ Lord, who hath believed our report, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? And, therefore, they could not believe, because that Isaiah said again, ^ He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their Ifeart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should hoal them." ** Therefore the eyes of the Tyrians and Sidonians were not so blinded nor was their heart so hardened, since they would have believed if they had seen such mighty works as the Jews saw. But it did not profit them that they were aljle to believe, because they were not predestinated by Him whose judgments are inscrutable and His ways past finding out. Neither would inability to believe have been a hindrance to them^ if they had been so predestinated as that God should illuminate those blind eyes, and should will to take away the stony heart from those hardened ones. But what the Lord said of the Tyrians and Sidonians may perchance be understood in another way: that no one nevertheless comes to Christ unless it were given him, and that it is given to those who are chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, he confesses beyond a doubt who hears the divine utterance, not with the deaf ears of the flesh, but with the ears of the heart; and yet this predestination, which is plainly enough unfolded even by the words of the gospels, did not prevent the Lord's saying as well in respect of the commencement, what I have a little before mentioned, " Believe in God; believe also in me," as in respect of perseverance, " A man ought always to pray, and not to faint." ^ For they hear these things and do them to whom it is given; but they do them not, whether they hear or do not hear, to whom it is not given. Because, " To you," said He, " it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given." '° Of these, the one refers to the mercy, the other to the judgment of Him to whom our soul cries, " I will sing of mercy and judgment unto Thee, O Lord." " CHAP. 36. THE PRE.^CHING OF THE GOSPEL AND THE PREACHING OF PREDESTINATION THE TWO PARTS OF ONE MESSAGE.
Therefore, by the preaching of predestination, the preaching of a persevering and progressive faith is not to be hindered; and thus they may hear what is necessary to wlioin it is given that they should obey. For how shall they hear without a preacher? Neither, again, is the preaching of a progressive faith which continues even to the end to hinder the preaching of predestination, so that he who is living faithfully and <> Isa. liii. I. 9 Luke xviii. i.
' Isa. vi. 10. *° Matt. xiii. 11.
[Chap. 37.
obediently may not be lifted up by that very obedience, as if by a benefit of his own, not received; but that he that glorieth may glory in the Lord. For " we must boast in nothing, sincenothing is our own." And this, Cyprian most faithfully saw and most fearlessly explained, and thus he pronounced predestination to be most assured.' For if we must boast in nothing, seeing that nothing is our own, certainly we must not boast of the most persevering obedience. Nor is it so to be called our own, as if it were not given to us from above. And, therefore, it is God's gift, which, by the confession of all Christians, God foreknew that He would give to His people, who were called by that calling whereof it was said, " The gifts and calling of God are without repentance." ^ This, then, is the predestination which we faithfully and humbly preach. Nor yet did the same teacher and doer, who both believed on Christ and most perseveringly lived in holy obedience, even to suffering for Christ, cease on that account to preach the gospel, to exhort to faith and to pious manners, and to that very perseverance to the end, because he said, " We must boast in nothing, since nothing is our own; " and here he declared without ambiguity the true grace of God, that is, that which is not given in respect of our merits; and since God foreknew that He would give it, predestination was announced beyond, a doubt by these words of Cyprian; and if this did not prevent Cyprian from preaching obedience, it certainly ought not to prevent us.
CH.\P. 37. — EARS TO HEAR ARE A WILLINGNESS TO OBEY.
Although, therefore, we say that obedience is the gift of God, we still exhort men to it. But to those who obediendy hear the exhortation of truth is given the gift of God itself — that is, to hear obediently; while to those who do not thus hear it is not given. For it was not some one only, but Christ who said, " No man cometh unto me, except it were given him of my Father; " ^ and, " To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given." * And concerning continence He says, " Not all receive this saying, but they to whom it is given." s And when the apostle would exhort married people to conjugal chastity, he says, " I would that all men were even as I myself; but every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, another after that; "^ where he plainly shows not only that continence is a gift of God, but even the chastity of those who are married. And although these things are true, we still exhort to them as much as is * Cyprian, Testimonies, iii. 4; see TAe Anle-Nicene Fathers, V. p. 528.
2 Rom. xi. 29. 3 John vi. 66. * Matt. xiii. \\, * Matt. xix. II. 6 1 Cor. vii. 7.
given to any one of us to be able to exhort, because this also is His gift in whose hand are both ourselves and our discourses. Whence also says the apostle, " According to this grgice of God which is given unto me, as a wise architect, I have laid the foundation." ^ And in another place he says, " Even as the Lord hath given to every man: I have planted, Apollos has watered, but God has given the increase. Therefore neither is he that planteth anything, nor he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase."^ And thus as only he preaches and exhorts rightly who has received this gift, so assuredly he who obediently hears him who rightly exhorts and preaches is he who has received this gift. Hence is what the Lord said, when, speaking to those who had their fleshly ears open. He nevertheless told them, " He that hath ears to hear let him hear; " 9 which beyond a doubt he knew that not all had. And from whom they have, whosoever they be that have them, the Lord Himself shows when He says, " I will give them a heart to know me, and ears to hear." '° Therefore, having ears is itself the gift of obeying, so that they who had that came to Him, to whom " no one comes unless it were given to him of His Father." Therefore we exhort and preach, but they who have ears to hear obediently hear us, while in them who have them not, it comes to pass what is written, that hearing they do not hear, — hearing, to wit, with the bodily sense, they do not hear with the assent of the heart. "~ But why these should have ears to hear, and those have them not, — that is, why to these it should be given by the Father to come to the Son, while to those it should not be given, — who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counsellor? Or who art thou, O man, that repliest against God? Must that which is manifest be denied, because that which is hidden cannot be comprehended? Shall we, I say, declare that what we see to be so is not so, because we cannot find out why it is so?
CHAP. 38 [XV.] — AGAINST THE PREACHING OF - PREDESTINATION THE SAME OBJECTIONS MAY BE ALLEGED AS AGAINST PREDESTINATION.
But they say, as you write: " That no one can be aroused by the incentives of rebuke if it be said in the assembly of the Church to the. multitude of hearers: The definite meaning of God's will concerning predestination stands in such wise, that some of you will receive the will to obey and will come out of unbelief unto faith, or will receive perseverance and abide in the faith; but others who are lingering in the delight of sins have not yet arisen, for the rea- \ son that the aid of pitying grace has not yet / 7 I Cor. iii. lo. '° Baruch ii. 31.
* I Cor. iii. 5.
9 Luke viii. 8.
Chap. 40.]