Letter I.
[The 214th of Augustin’s Epistles.]
To my very dear lord and most honoured brother among the members of Christ, Valentinus, and to the brethren that are with you, Augustin sends greeting in the Lord.
1. Two young men, Cresconius and Felix, have found their way to us, and, introducing themselves as belonging to your brotherhood, have told us that your monastery was disturbed with no small commotion, because certain amongst you preach grace in such a manner as to deny that the will of man is free; and maintain—a more serious matter—that in the day of judgment God will not render to every man according to his works.
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At the same time, they have pointed out to us, that many of you do not
entertain this opinion, but allow that free will is assisted by the
grace of
God, so as that we may think and do aright; so that, when the
Lord shall come to render unto every man according to his works,
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He shall find those works of ours good which
God has prepared in order that we may
walk in them.
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They who think this think rightly.
2. “I beseech you therefore, brethren,” even as the apostle besought the Corinthians, “by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you.” For, in the first place, the Lord Jesus, as it is written in the Gospel of the Apostle John, “came not to condemn the world, but that the world by Himself might be saved.”2919
Then, afterwards, as the
Apostle Paul writes, “
God shall
judge the
world2920
when He shall come,” as the whole
Church confesses in the Creed, “to
judge the
quick and the dead.” Now, I would ask, if there is no
grace of
God, how does He
save the
world? and if there is no free will, how does He
judge the
world? That book of mine, therefore, or
epistle, which the above-mentioned
brethren have brought with them to you, I wish you to understand in accordance with this
faith, so that you may neither deny
God’s
grace, nor uphold free will in such
wise as to
separate the latter from the
grace of
God, as if without this we could by any means either think or do anything according to
God,—which is quite beyond our
power. On this account, indeed, it is, that the
Lord when speaking of the fruits of
righteousness said, “Without me ye can do nothing.”
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3. From this you may understand why I wrote the letter which has been referred to,2922
to Sixtus, presbyter of the
Church at
Rome, against the new Pelagian
heretics, who say that the
grace of
God is bestowed according to our own merits, so that he who glories has to
glory not in the
Lord, but in himself,—that is to say, in man, not in the
Lord. This, however, the
apostle forbids in these words: “Let no man
glory in man;”
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while in another passage he says, “He that glorieth let him
glory in the
Lord.”
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But these
heretics, under the idea that they are justified by their own selves, just as if
God did not bestow on them this
gift, but they themselves obtained it by themselves,
glory of course in themselves, and not in the
Lord. Now, the
apostle says to such, “Who maketh thee to differ from another?”
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and this he does on the ground that out of the mass of
perdition which arose from
Adam, none but
God distinguishes a man to make him a
vessel to honour, and not to dishonour.
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Lest, however, the
carnal man in his foolish
pride should, on hearing the
question, “Who maketh thee to differ from another?” either in thought or in word answer and say: My
faith, or my prayer, or my
righteousness makes me to differ from other men, the
apostle at once adds these words to the
question, and so meets all such notions, saying, “What hast thou that thou didst not receive? now, if thou didst receive it, why dost thou
glory, as if thou
didst not receive it?”
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Now, they
boast as if they did not receive their
gifts by
grace, who think that they are justified of their own selves, and who, on this account,
glory in themselves, and not in the
Lord.
4. Therefore I have in this letter, which has reached you, shown by passages of Holy Scripture, which you can examine for yourselves, that our good works and pious prayers and right faith could not possibly have been in us unless we had received them all from Him, concerning whom the Apostle James says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.”2928
And so no man can say that it is by the merit of his own works, or by the merit of his own prayers, or by the merit of his own
faith, that
God’s
grace has been conferred upon him; nor suppose that the
doctrine is true which those
heretics hold, that the
grace of
God is given us in proportion to our own merit. This is altogether a most erroneous opinion; not, indeed, because there is no
desert, good in pious persons, or
evil in impious ones (for how else shall
God judge the
world?),
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but because a man is
converted by that
mercy and
grace of
God, of which the Psalmist says, “As for my
God, His
mercy shall prevent me;”
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so that the
unrighteous man is justified, that is, becomes just instead of impious, and begins to possess that good
desert which
God will
crown when the
world shall be judged.
5. There were many things which I wanted to send you, by the perusal whereof you would have been able to gain a more exact and full knowledge of all that has been done by the bishops in their councils against these Pelagian heretics. But the brethren were in haste who came to us from your company. By them we have sent you this letter; which is, however, not an answer to any communication, because, in truth, they brought us no epistle from your beloved selves. Yet we had
no hesitation in receiving them; for their simple manners proved to us clearly enough that there could have been nothing unreal or deceptive in their visit to us. They were, however, in much haste, as wishing to spend Easter at home with you; and my earnest prayer is, that so sacred a day may, by the Lord’s help, bring peace to you, and not dissension.
6. You will, indeed, take the better course (as I earnestly request you), if you will not refuse to send to me the very person by whom they say they have been disturbed. For either he does not understand my book, or else, perhaps, he is himself misunderstood, when he endeavours to solve and explain a question which is a very difficult one, and intelligible to few. For it is none other than the question of God’s grace which has caused persons of no understanding to
think that the Apostle Paul prescribes it to us as a rule, “Let us do evil that good may come.”2931
It is in reference to these that the
Apostle Peter writes in his second
Epistle; “Wherefore,
beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be
diligent, that ye may be found of Him in
peace, without spot and blameless and account that the long-suffering of our
Lord is
salvation; even as our
beloved brother Paul also, according to the
wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you; as also in all his
epistles, speaking in them of these things: in which are some things hard to be
understood, which they that are
unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own
destruction.”
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7. Take good heed, then, to these fearful words of the great apostle; and when you feel that you do not understand, put your faith in the meanwhile in the inspired word of God, and believe both that man’s will is free, and that there is also God’s grace, without whose help man’s free will can neither be turned towards God, nor make any progress in God. And what you piously believe, that pray that you may have a wise understanding of. And, indeed, it is for this
very purpose,—that is, that we may have a wise understanding, that there is a free will. For unless we understood and were wise with a free will, it would not be enjoined to us in the words of Scripture, “Understand now, ye simple among the people; and ye fools, at length be wise.”2933
The very
precept and injunction which calls on us to be intelligent and
wise, requires also our obedience; and we could
exercise no obedience without free will. But if it were in our
power to obey this
precept to be understanding and
wise by free will, without the help of
God’s
grace, it would be unnecessary to say to
God, “Give me understanding, that I may
learn Thy
commandments;”
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nor would it have been written in the
gospel, “Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures;”
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nor should the
Apostle James address us in such words as, “If any of you lack
wisdom, let him ask of
God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”
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But the
Lord is able to grant, both to you and to us, that we may
rejoice over very speedy tidings of your
peace and pious unanimity. I send you greeting, not in my own name only, but of the brethren also who are with me; and I ask you to pray for us with one accord and with all earnestness. The Lord be with you.
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