Table of Contents
Preface to the American Edition.
Introductory Essay on Augustin and the Pelagian Controversy.
A Select Bibliography of the Pelagian Controversy.
Introductory Essay on Augustin and the Pelagian Controversy.
Dedication of Volume I. Of the Edinburgh Edition.
Dedication of Volume II. Of the Edinburgh Edition.
Preface to Volume I. Of the Edinburgh Edition.
Preface to Volume II. Of the Edinburgh Edition.
A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants.
Extract from Augustin’s Retractations.
Introductory, in the Shape of an Inscription to His Friend Marcellinus.
If Adam Had Not Sinned, He Would Never Have Died.
It is One Thing to Be Mortal, Another Thing to Be Subject to Death.
Even Bodily Death is from Sin.
The Words, Mortale (Capable of Dying), Mortuum (Dead), and Moriturus (Destined to Die).
How It is that the Body Dead Because of Sin.
The Life of the Body the Object of Hope, the Life of the Spirit Being a Prelude to It.
Sin Passes on to All Men by Natural Descent, and Not Merely by Imitation.
Distinction Between Actual and Original Sin.
The Law Could Not Take Away Sin.
Meaning of the Apostle’s Phrase 'The Reign of Death.'
The One Sin Common to All Men.
How Death is by One and Life by One.
Original Sin Alone is Contracted by Natural Birth.
Unbaptized Infants Damned, But Most Lightly; The Penalty of Adam’s Sin, the Grace of His Body Lost.
To Infants Personal Sin is Not to Be Attributed.
Infants are Described as Believers and as Penitents. Sins Alone Separate Between God and Men.
No One, Except He Be Baptized, Rightly Comes to the Table of the Lord.
Baptized Infants, of the Faithful; Unbaptized, of the Lost.
It is an Inscrutable Mystery Why Some are Saved, and Others Not.
Why One is Baptized and Another Not, Not Otherwise Inscrutable.
The Case of Certain Idiots and Simpletons.
Christ is the Saviour and Redeemer Even of Infants.
Baptism is Called Salvation, and the Eucharist, Life, by the Christians of Carthage.
Unless Infants are Baptized, They Remain in Darkness.
Infants Not Enlightened as Soon as They are Born.
How God Enlightens Every Person.
The Conclusion Drawn, that All are Involved in Original Sin.
A Collection of Scripture Testimonies. From the Gospels.
From the First Epistle of Peter.
From the First Epistle of John.
From the Epistle to the Romans.
From the Epistles to the Corinthians.
From the Epistle to the Galatians.
From the Epistle to the Ephesians.
From the Epistle to the Colossians.
From the Epistle to the Hebrews.
From the Acts of the Apostles.
The Utility of the Books of the Old Testament.
By the Sacrifices of the Old Testament, Men Were Convinced of Sins and Led to the Saviour.
No One is Reconciled to God Except Through Christ.
The Good of Marriage; Four Different Cases of the Good and the Evil Use of Matrimony.
In What Respect the Pelagians Regarded Baptism as Necessary for Infants.
The Context of Their Chief Text.
No One Can Be Reconciled to God, Except by Christ.
The Form, or Rite, of Baptism. Exorcism.
A Twofold Mistake Respecting Infants.
In Infants There is No Sin of Their Own Commission.
Infants’ Faults Spring from Their Sheer Ignorance.
On the Ignorance of Infants, and Whence It Arises.
What Has Thus Far Been Dwelt On; And What is to Be Treated in This Book.
Some Persons Attribute Too Much to the Freedom of Man’s Will; Ignorance and Infirmity.
In What Way God Commands Nothing Impossible. Works of Mercy, Means of Wiping Out Sins.
The Will of Man Requires the Help of God.
(2) Whether There is in This World a Man Without Sin.
Perfection, When to Be Realized.
An Objection of the Pelagians: Why Does Not a Righteous Man Beget a Righteous Man?
He Reconciles Some Passages of Scripture.
A Subterfuge of the Pelagians.
Carnal Generation Condemned on Account of Original Sin.
Job Foresaw that Christ Would Come to Suffer; The Way of Humility in Those that are Perfect.
No One Righteous in All Things.
Perfect Human Righteousness is Imperfect.
Zacharias and Elisabeth, Sinners.
Paul Worthy to Be the Prince of the Apostles, and Yet a Sinner.
Why God Prescribes What He Knows Cannot Be Observed.
An Objection of the Pelagians. The Apostle Paul Was Not Free From Sin So Long as He Lived.
God Punishes Both in Wrath and in Mercy.
(3)Why No One in This Life is Without Sin.
A Subterfuge of the Pelagians.
Grace is Given to Some Men in Mercy; Is Withheld from Others in Justice and Truth.
God’s Sovereignity in His Grace.
Through Grace We Have Both the Knowledge of Good, and the Delight Which It Affords.
(4) That No Man, with the Exception of Christ, Has Ever Lived, or Can Live Without Sin.
Adam and Eve; Obedience Most Strongly Enjoined by God on Man.
The Corruption of Nature is by Sin, Its Renovation is by Christ.
Children of Believers are Called ‘Clean’ By the Apostle.
Sanctification Manifold; Sacrament of Catechumens.
Why the Children of the Baptized Should Be Baptized.
An Objection of the Pelagians.
Guilt May Be Taken Away But Concupiscence Remain.
All the Predestinated are Saved Through the One Mediator Christ, and by One and the Same Faith.
An Objection of the Pelagians.
Why It is that Death Itself is Not Abolished, Along with Sin, by Baptism.
Why the Devil is Said to Hold the Power and Dominion of Death.
Why Christ, After His Resurrection, Withdrew His Presence from the World.
An Objection of the Pelagians.
Why Punishment is Still Inflicted, After Sin Has Been Forgiven.
The Case of David, in Illustration.
Pelagius Esteemed a Holy Man; His Expositions on Saint Paul.
Pelagius’ Objection; Infants Reckoned Among the Number of Believers and the Faithful.
Pelagius Praised by Some; Arguments Against Original Sin Proposed by Pelagius in His Commentary.
Why Pelagius Does Not Speak in His Own Person.
Proof of Original Sin in Infants.
Jesus is the Saviour Even of Infants.
The Ambiguity of 'Adam is the Figure of Him to Come.'
He Shows that Cyprian Had Not Doubted the Original Sin of Infants.
The Ancients Assumed Original Sin.
The Universal Consensus Respecting Original Sin.
The Error of Jovinianus Did Not Extend So Far.
Origin of Errors; A Simile Sought from the Foreskin of the Circumcised, and from the Chaff of Wheat.
Christians Do Not Always Beget Christian, Nor the Pure, Pure Children.
Is the Soul Derived by Natural Propagation?
Sin and Death in Adam, Righteousness and Life in Christ.
A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter.
Extract from Augustin’s Retractations.
The Occasion of Writing This Work; A Thing May Be Capable of Being Done, and Yet May Never Be Done.
Theirs is Comparatively a Harmless Error, Who Say that a Man Lives Here Without Sin.
True Grace is the Gift of the Holy Ghost, Which Kindles in the Soul the Joy and Love of Goodness.
The Teaching of Law Without the Life-Giving Spirit is 'The Letter that Killeth.'
What is Proposed to Be Here Treated.
Romans Interprets Corinthians.
Through the Law Sin Has Abounded.
From What Fountain Good Works Flow.
Paul, Whence So Called; Bravely Contends for Grace.
Keeping the Law; The Jews’ Glorying; The Fear of Punishment; The Circumcision of the Heart.
In What Respect the Pelagians Acknowledge God as the Author of Our Justification.
The Righteousness of God Manifested by the Law and the Prophets.
How the Law Was Not Made for a Righteous Man.
Piety is Wisdom; That is Called the Righteousness of God, Which He Produces.
The Knowledge of God Through the Creation.
The Law of Works and the Law of Faith.
How the Decalogue Kills, If Grace Be Not Present.
No Fruit Good Except It Grow from the Root of Love.
Grace, Concealed in the Old Testament, is Revealed in the New.
Why the Holy Ghost is Called the Finger of God.
A Comparison of the Law of Moses and of the New Law.
The Old Law Ministers Death; The New, Righteousness.
The Christian Faith Touching the Assistance of Grace.
The Prophecy of Jeremiah Concerning the New Testament.
The Law Written in Our Hearts.
The Re-Formation Which is Now Being Effected, Compared with the Perfection of the Life to Come.
The Eternal Reward Which is Specially Declared in the New Testament, Foretold by the Prophet.
How that is to Be the Reward of All; The Apostle Earnestly Defends Grace.
Difference Between the Old and the New Testaments.
The Answer Is, that the Passage Must Be Understood of the Faithful of the New Covenant.
How the Passage of the Law Agrees with that of the Prophet.
The Law ‘Being Done by Nature’ Means, Done by Nature as Restored by Grace.
The Image of God is Not Wholly Blotted Out in These Unbelievers; Venial Sins.
The Grace Promised by the Prophet for the New Covenant.
Righteousness is the Gift of God.
Faith the Ground of All Righteousness.
Whether Faith Be in a Man’s Own Power.
The Faith of Those Who are Under the Law Different from the Faith of Others.
Whence Comes the Will to Believe?
The Free Will of Man is an Intermediate Power.
Mercy and Pity in the Judgment of God.
The Will to Believe is from God.
He Returns to the Question Which Marcellinus Had Proposed to Him.
When the Commandment to Love is Fulfilled.
In What Sense a Sinless Righteousness in This Life Can Be Asserted.
Although Perfect Righteousness Be Not Found Here on Earth, It is Still Not Impossible.
A Treatise on Nature and Grace.
Extract from Augustin’s Retractations.
The Occasion of Publishing This Work; What God’s Righteousness is.
Faith in Christ Not Necessary to Salvation, If a Man Without It Can Lead a Righteous Life.
Nature Was Created Sound and Whole; It Was Afterwards Corrupted by Sin.
It Was a Matter of Justice that All Should Be Condemned.
The Pelagians Have Very Strong and Active Minds.
He Proceeds to Confute the Work of Pelagius; He Refrains as Yet from Mentioning Pelagius’ Name.
A Distinction Drawn by Pelagius Between the Possible and Actual.
Even They Who Were Not Able to Be Justified are Condemned.
Grace Subtly Acknowledged by Pelagius.
The Scope and Purpose of the Law’s Threatenings; 'Perfect Wayfarers.'
Not Everything [of Doctrinal Truth] is Written in Scripture in So Many Words.
Pelagius Corrupts a Passage of the Apostle James by Adding a Note of Interrogation.
Explanation of This Text Continued.
Who May Be Said to Be in the Flesh.
Sins of Ignorance; To Whom Wisdom is Given by God on Their Requesting It.
What Prayer Pelagius Would Admit to Be Necessary.
Pelagius Denies that Human Nature Has Been Depraved or Corrupted by Sin.
How Our Nature Could Be Vitiated by Sin, Even Though It Be Not a Substance.
Adam Delivered by the Mercy of Christ.
Sin and the Penalty of Sin the Same.
Christ Died of His Own Power and Choice.
Even Evils, Through God’s Mercy, are of Use.
God Forsakes Us to Some Extent that We May Not Grow Proud.
Not Every Sin is Pride. How Pride is the Commencement of Every Sin.
A Man’s Sin is His Own, But He Needs Grace for His Cure.
Being Wholly Without Sin Does Not Put Man on an Equality with God.
Pelagius Glorifies God as Creator at the Expense of God as Saviour.
Whether Holy Men Have Died Without Sin.
The Blessed Virgin Mary May Have Lived Without Sin. None of the Saints Besides Her Without Sin.
Why Scripture Has Not Mentioned the Sins of All.
Pelagius Argues that Abel Was Sinless.
Shall We Follow Scripture, or Add to Its Declarations?
For What Pelagius Thought that Christ is Necessary to Us.
How the Term ‘All’ Is to Be Understood.
God Commands No Impossibilities.
The Whole Discussion is About Grace.
Pelagius Distinguishes Between a Power and Its Use.
There is No Incompatibility Between Necessity and Free Will.
The Assistance of Grace in a Perfect Nature.
Even Pious and God-Fearing Men Resist Grace.
In What Sense Pelagius Attributed to God’s Grace the Capacity of Not Sinning.
Pelagius Admits ‘Contrary Flesh’ In the Unbaptized.
Paul Asserts that the Flesh is Contrary Even in the Baptized.
Pelagius’ Admission as Regards the Unbaptized, Fatal.
'This Body of Death,' So Called from Its Defect, Not from Its Substance.
The Works, Not the Substance, of the 'Flesh' Opposed to the 'Spirit.'
Who May Be Said to Be Under the Law.
Despite the Devil, Man May, by God’s Help, Be Perfected.
Pelagius Puts Nature in the Place of Grace.
Whether Any Man is Without Sin in This Life.
Hilary. The Pure in Heart Blessed. The Doing and Perfecting of Righteousness.
He Meets Pelagius with Another Passage from Hilary.
Augustin Adduces in Reply Some Other Passages of Ambrose.
A Certain Necessity of Sinning.
Augustin Himself. Two Methods Whereby Sins, Like Diseases, are Guarded Against.
Augustin Quotes Himself on Free Will.
How to Exhort Men to Faith, Repentance, and Advancement.
God Enjoins No Impossibility, Because All Things are Possible and Easy to Love.
A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness.
Preface to the Treatise on Man’s Perfection in Righteousness.
The First Breviate of Cœlestius.
It is One Thing to Depart from the Body, Another Thing to Be Liberated from the Body of This Death.
The Righteousness of This Life Comprehended in Three Parts,—Fasting, Almsgiving, and Prayer.
The Commandment of Love Shall Be Perfectly Fulfilled in the Life to Come.
Who May Be Said to Walk Without Spot; Damnable and Venial Sins.
Passages to Show that God’s Commandments are Not Grievous.
To Be Without Sin, and to Be Without Blame—How Differing.
Why Job Was So Great a Sufferer.
When Our Heart May Be Said Not to Reproach Us; When Good is to Be Perfected.
The Second Passage. Who May Be Said to Abstain from Every Evil Thing.
The Church Will Be Without Spot and Wrinkle After the Resurrection.
The Difference Between the Upright in Heart and the Clean in Heart.
Specimens of Pelagian Exegesis.
God’s Promises Conditional. Saints of the Old Testament Were Saved by the Grace of Christ.
No Man is Assisted Unless He Does Himself Also Work. Our Course is a Constant Progress.
Conclusion of the Work. In the Regenerate It is Not Concupiscence, But Consent, Which is Sin.
A Work on the Proceedings of Pelagius.
Extract from Augustin’s Retractations.
Preface to the Book on the Proceedings of Pelagius.
The First Item in the Accusation, and Pelagius’ Answer.
Discussion of Pelagius’ First Answer.
The Second Item in the Accusation; And Pelagius’ Answer.
The Third Item in the Accusation; And Pelagius’ Answer.
The Fourth Item in the Accusation; And Pelagius’ Answer.
The Fifth Item of the Accusation; And Pelagius’ Answer.
The Sixth Item of the Accusation, and Pelagius’ Reply.
Examination of the Sixth Charge and Answers.
The Same Continued. Pelagius Acknowledges the Doctrine of Grace in Deceptive Terms.
The Seventh Item of the Accusation: the Breviates of Cœlestius Objected to Pelagius.
Pelagius’ Answer to the Charges Brought Together Under the Seventh Item.
The Pelagians Falsely Pretended that the Eastern Churches Were on Their Side.
The Accusations in the Seventh Item, Which Pelagius Confessed.
The Eighth Item in the Accusation.
Pelagius’ Reply to the Eighth Item of Accusation.
The Ninth Item of the Accusation; And Pelagius’ Reply.
The Tenth Item in the Accusation. The More Prominent Points of Cœlestius’ Work Continued.
The Eleventh Item of the Accusation.
Discussion of the Eleventh Item Continued.
The Same Continued. The Monk Pelagius. Grace is Conferred on the Unworthy.
The Same Continued. John, Bishop of Jerusalem, and His Examination.
The Same Continued. Heros and Lazarus; Orosius.
The Twelfth Item in the Accusation. Other Heads of Cœlestius’ Doctrine Abjured by Pelagius.
The Answer of the Monk Pelagius and His Profession of Faith.
Pelagius’ Acquittal Becomes Suspected.
How Pelagius Became Known to Augustin; Cœlestius Condemned at Carthage.
Pelagius’ Behaviour Contrasted with that of the Writers of the Letter.
The Nature of Augustin’s Letter to Pelagius.
Pelagius’ Use of Recommendations.
On the Letter of Pelagius, in Which He Boasts that His Errors Had Been Approved by Fourteen Bishops.
Although Pelagius Was Acquitted, His Heresy Was Condemned.
The Synod’s Condemnation of His Doctrines.
How the Bishops Cleared Pelagius of Those Charges.
Recapitulation of What Pelagius Condemned.
The Harsh Measures of the Pelagians Against the Holy Monks and Nuns Who Belonged to Jerome’s Charge.
A Treatise on the Grace of Christ, and on Original Sin.
Extract from Augustin’s Retractations.
Grace According to the Pelagians.
Pelagius’ System of Faculties.
Pelagius’ Own Account of the Faculties, Quoted.
Pelagius and Paul of Different Opinions.
Pelagius Posits God’s Aid Only for Our 'Capacity.'
Grace, According to the Pelagians, Consists in the Internal and Manifold Illumination of the Mind.
The Law One Thing, Grace Another. The Utility of the Law.
What Purpose the Law Subserves.
Pelagius’ Definition of How God Helps Us: 'He Promises Us Future Glory.'
The Same Continued: 'He Reveals Wisdom.'
The Righteousness Which is of God, and the Righteousness Which is of the Law.
He Who Has Been Taught by Grace Actually Comes to Christ.
We Need Divine Aid in the Use of Our Powers. Illustration from Sight.
Does Pelagius Designedly Refrain from Openly Saying that All Good Action is from God?
He Discovers the Reason of Pelagius’ Hesitation So to Say.
The Two Roots of Action, Love and Cupidity; And Each Brings Forth Its Own Fruit.
How a Man Makes a Good or a Bad Tree.
Love the Root of All Good Things; Cupidity, of All Evil Ones.
Pelagius’ Double Dealing Concerning the Ground of the Conferrence of Grace.
Pelagius Places Free Will at the Basis of All Turning to God for Grace.
God by His Wonderful Power Works in Our Hearts Good Dispositions of Our Will.
What True Grace Is, and Wherefore Given. Merits Do Not Precede Grace.
Pelagius Teaches that Satan May Be Resisted Without the Help of the Grace of God.
When He Speaks of God’s Help, He Means It Only to Help Us Do What Without It We Still Could Do.
What Pelagius Thinks is Needful for Ease of Performance is Really Necessary for the Performance.
Pelagius and Cœlestius Nowhere Really Acknowledge Grace.
Pelagius Believes that Infants Have No Sin to Be Remitted in Baptism.
Cœlestius Openly Declares Infants to Have No Original Sin.
Pelagius Nowhere Admits the Need of Divine Help for Will and Action.
A Definition of the Grace of Christ by Pelagius.
A Letter of Pelagius Unknown to Augustin.
The Help of Grace Placed by Pelagius in the Mere Revelation of Teaching.
Restoration of Nature Understood by Pelagius as Forgiveness of Sins.
Grace Placed by Pelagius in the Remission of Sins and the Example of Christ.
Pelagius Once More Guards Himself Against the Necessity of Grace.
To What Purpose Pelagius Thought Prayers Ought to Be Offered.
Pelagius Professes to Respect the Catholic Authors.
Ambrose Most Highly Praised by Pelagius.
Ambrose is Not in Agreement with Pelagius.
Ambrose Teaches with What Eye Christ Turned and Looked Upon Peter.
Ambrose Teaches that All Men Need God’s Help.
Ambrose Teaches that It is God that Does for Man What Pelagius Attributes to Free Will.
If Pelagius Agrees with Ambrose, Augustin Has No Controversy with Him.
In What Sense Some Men May Be Said to Live Without Sin in the Present Life.
Ambrose Teaches that No One is Sinless in This World.
Ambrose Witnesses that Perfect Purity is Impossible to Human Nature.
Caution Needed in Attending to Pelagius’ Deliverances on Infant Baptism.
Part of the Proceedings of the Council of Carthage Against Cœlestius.
Cœlestius Concedes Baptism for Infants, Without Affirming Original Sin.
Cœlestius’ Book Which Was Produced in the Proceedings at Rome.
Cœlestius the Disciple is In This Work Bolder Than His Master.
Pope Zosimus Kindly Excuses Him.
Cœlestius Condemned by Zosimus.
Pelagius Deceived the Council in Palestine, But Was Unable to Deceive the Church at Rome.
The Judgment of Innocent Respecting the Proceedings in Palestine.
How that Pelagius Deceived the Synod of Palestine.
A Portion of the Proceedings of the Synod of Palestine in the Cause of Pelagius.
Cœlestius the Bolder Heretic; Pelagius the More Subtle.
Pelagius by His Mendacity and Deception Stole His Acquittal from the Synod in Palestine.
Pelagius’ Fraudulent and Crafty Excuses.
How Pelagius Deceived His Judges.
Pelagius’ Attempt to Deceive the Apostolic See; He Inverts the Bearings of the Controversy.
Pelagius Provides a Refuge for His Falsehood in Ambiguous Subterfuges.
Pelagius Avoids the Question as to Why Baptism is Necessary for Infants.
Another Instance of Pelagius’ Ambiguity.
What He Means by Our Birth to an ‘Uncertain’ Life.
Pelagius’ Long Residence at Rome.
The Condemnation of Pelagius and Cœlestius.
The Pelagians Maintain that Raising Questions About Original Sin Does Not Endanger the Faith.
On Questions Outside the Faith—What They Are, and Instances of the Same.
The Heresy of Pelagius and Cœlestius Aims at the Very Foundations of Our Faith.
Pelagius and Cœlestius Deny that the Ancient Saints Were Saved by Christ.
Christ’s Incarnation Was of Avail to the Fathers, Even Though It Had Not Yet Happened.
He Shows by the Example of Abraham that the Ancient Saints Believed in the Incarnation of Christ.
No Man Ever Saved Save by Christ.
Why the Circumcision of Infants Was Enjoined Under Pain of So Great a Punishment.
The Platonists’ Opinion About the Existence of the Soul Previous to the Body Rejected.
In What Sense Christ is Called 'Sin.'
Original Sin Does Not Render Marriage Evil.
Three Things Good and Laudable in Matrimony.
Marriage Existed Before Sin Was Committed. How God’s Blessing Operated in Our First Parents.
Lust and Travail Come from Sin. Whence Our Members Became a Cause of Shame.
Even the Children of the Regenerate Born in Sin. The Effect of Baptism.
Man’s Deliverance Suited to the Character of His Captivity.
Difficulty of Believing Original Sin. Man’s Vice is a Beast’s Nature.
On Marriage and Concupiscence.
Advertisement to the Reader on the Following Treatise.
A Letter Addressed to the Count Valerius.
Concerning the Argument of This Treatise.
Why This Treatise Was Addressed to Valerius.
Conjugal Chastity the Gift of God.
A Difficulty as Regards the Chastity of Unbelievers. None But a Believer is Truly a Chaste Man.
The Evil of Lust Does Not Take Away the Good of Marriage.
Before Christ It Was a Time for Marrying; Since Christ It Has Been a Time for Continence.
The Teaching of the Apostle on This Subject.
What is Sinless in the Use of Matrimony? What is Attended With Venial Sin, and What with Mortal?
Continence Better Than Marriage; But Marriage Better Than Fornication.
Why Children of Wrath are Born of Holy Matrimony.
Thus Sinners are Born of Righteous Parents, Even as Wild Olives Spring from the Olive.
Lust and Shame Come from Sin; The Law of Sin; The Shamelessness of the Cynics.