the reception of the forgiveness of sins, in that to him are remitted not his own sins, but the sins of another!"

CHAP. 24.THE DILEMMA PROPOSED ΤΟ THE
PELAGIANS.

CERNING GOD'S GRACE.

CON

these things, in order to conceal its own? So the most lauded commentator on the divine declarations, before even the slightest taint of the Manichean plague had touched our lands, without any reproach of the divine work and of marriage, confesses original sin, not saying What will be said to such things as these, by that Christ was stained with any spot of sin, nor those who are not only the forsakers, but also yet comparing with Him the flesh of sin in the persecutors of God's grace? What will they others that were born, to whom by means of the say to such things as these? On what ground likeness of sinful flesh He might afford the aid is the "possession of Paradise" restored to us? of cleansing; neither is he deterred by the How are we restored to Paradise if we have obscure question of the origin of souls, from never been there? Or how have we been confessing that those who are made free by the there, except because we were there in Adam? grace of Christ return into Paradise. Does he And how do we belong to that "judgment" say that the condition of death passed upon which was spoken against the transgressor, if men from Adam without the contagion of sin? we do not inherit injury from the transgressor? For it is not on account of avoiding the death Finally, he thinks that infants are to be bap- of the body, but on account of the sin which tized, even before the eighth day; lest "by the entered by one man into the world, that he says contagion of the ancient death, contracted in that help is to be afforded by baptism to infants, the first birth," the souls of the infants should however fresh they may be from the womb. perish. How do they perish if they who are born even of believing men are not held by the CHAP. 25 [IX.] - CYPRIAN'S TESTIMONIES devil until they are born again in Christ, and plucked out from the power of darkness, and transferred into His kingdom? And who says that the souls of those who are born will perish unless they are born again? No other than he who so praises the Creator and the creature, the workman and the work, as to restrain and correct the horror of human feeling with which men refuse to kiss infants fresh from the womb, by interposing the veneration of the Creator Himself, saying that in the kiss of infants of that age the recent hands of God were to be considered! Did he, then, in confessing original sin, condemn either nature or marriage? Did he, because he applied to the infant born guilty from Adam, the cleansing of regeneration, therefore deny God as the Creator of those that were born? Because, in his dread that souls of any age whatever should perish, he, with his council of colleagues, decided that even before the eighth day they were to be delivered by the sacrament of baptism, did he therefore accuse marriage, when, indeed, in the case of an infant, - whether born of marriage or of adultery, yet because it was born a man, - he declared that the recent hands of God were worthy even of the kiss of peace? If, then, the holy bishop and most glorious martyr Cyprian could think that original sin in infants must be healed by the medicine of Christ, without denying the praise of the creature, without denying the praise of marriage, why does a novel pestilence, although it does not dare to call such an one as him a Manichean, think that another person's fault is to be objected against catholics who maintain

1 Cyprian, as cited.

But now it plainly appears in what way Cyprian proclaims the grace of God against such as these, when he is arguing about the Lord's Prayer. For he says: "We say, 'May Thy name be made holy,' 3 not that we wish for God that He may be made holy by our prayers, but that we beseech of Him that His name may be made holy in us. But by whom is God made holy, since He Himself makes holy? But, because He says, 'Be ye holy, because I also am holy,' we ask and entreat this, that we who were made holy in baptism may continue in that which we have begun to be."4 And in another place in the same epistle he says: "We add also, and say, 'Thy will be done in heaven, and in earth,' not in order that God may do what He wills, but that we may be able to do what God wills. For who resists God that He may not do what He wills? But, since we are hindered by the devil from obeying God with our thought and deed in all things, we pray and ask that God's will may be done in us. And that it may be done in us, we have need of God's will, that is, of His help and protection; since no one is strong in his own strength, but he is safe by the indulgence and mercy of God."5 In another place also: "Moreover, we ask that the will of God may be done both in heaven and in earth, each of which things pertains to the fulfilment of our safety and salvation. For since we possess the body from the earth, and the spirit from heaven, we are ourselves earth and heaven; and

2 Rom. v. 12.

3 i.e." Hallowed be Thy name."

4 Cyprian, On the Lord's Prayer, ch. 9 (xii.), see The AnteNicene Fathers, v. p. 450.

5 Ibid. ch. 13 (XVI.); see The Ante-Nicene Fathers, v. 451.

2

CHAP. 26.

FURTHER APPEALS

TEACHING.

TO CYPRIAN'S

in both, that is, both in body and in spirit, we nothing is our own."6 And subjoining the pray that God's will be done. For between the divine testimonies to this proposition, he added flesh and the spirit there is a struggle, and there among others that apostolic word with which is a daily strife as they disagree one with the especially the mouths of such as these must be other; so that we cannot do the very things that closed: "For what hast thou, which thou hast we would, in that the spirit seeks heavenly and not received? But if thou hast received it, why divine things, while the flesh lusts after earthly boastest thou as if thou hadst not received it?" and temporal things. And, therefore, we ask Also in the epistle concerning Patience he says: that, by the help and assistance of God, agree-"For we have this virtue in common with God. ment may be made between these two natures; From Him patience begins; from Him its glory so that while the will of God is done both in the and its dignity take their rise. The origin and spirit and in the flesh, the soul which is new-greatness of patience proceed from God as its born by Him may be preserved. And this the Author."7 Apostle Paul openly and manifestly declares by his words. The flesh,' says he, 'lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other, so that Does that holy and so memorable instructor ye cannot do the things that ye would.'"' And of the Churches in the word of truth, deny that a little after he says: "And it may be thus there is free will in men, because he attributes understood, most beloved brethren, that since to God the whole of your righteous living? Does the Lord commands and teaches us even to love he reproach God's law, because he intimates that our enemies, and to pray even for those who man is not justified by it, seeing that he declares persecute us, we should ask even for those who that what that law commands must be obtained are still earth, and have not yet begun to be from the Lord God by prayers? Does he assert heavenly, that even in respect of these God's fate under the name of grace, by saying that we will may be done, which Christ accomplished must boast in nothing, since nothing is our own? in preserving and renewing humanity." And Does he, like these, believe that the Holy Spirit again, in another place he says: "But we ask is in such wise the aider of virtue, as if that very that this bread should be given to us daily, that virtue which it assists springs from ourselves, we who are in Christ, and daily receive the when, asserting that nothing is our own, he menEucharist for the food of salvation, may not, by tions in this respect that the apostle said, "For the interposition of some more heinous sin, what hast thou that thou hast not received?” by being prevented, as those abstaining and not communicating, from partaking of the heavenly bread, be separated from Christ's body."3 And a little afterwards, in the same treatise he says: "But when we ask that we may not come into temptation, we are reminded of our infirmity and weakness, while we so ask as that no one should insolently vaunt himself; that none should proudly and arrogantly assume anything to himself; that none should take to himself the glory either of confession or of suffering as his own, when the Lord Himself teaching humility said, 'Watch and pray, that ye come not into temptation the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak; '4 so that while a humble and submissive confession comes first, and all is attributed to God, whatever is sought for suppliantly, with fear and honour of God, may be granted by His own loving-kindness." 5 Moreover, in his treatise addressed to Quirinus, in respect to which work Pelagius wishes himself to appear as his imitator, he says in the Third Book "that we must boast in nothing, since

and says that the most excellent virtue, that is, patience, does not begin from us, and afterwards receive aid by the Spirit of God, but from Him Himself takes its source, from Him takes its origin? Finally, he confesses that neither good purpose, nor desire of virtue, nor good dispositions, begin to be in men without God's grace, when he says that "we must boast in nothing, since nothing is our own." What is so established in free will as what the law says, that we must not worship an idol, must not commit adultery, must do no murder? Nay, these crimes, and such like, are of such a kind that, if any one should commit them, he is removed from the communion of the body of Christ. And yet, if the blessed Cyprian thought that our own will was sufficient for not committing these crimes, he would not in such wise understand what we say in the Lord's Prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread," as that he should assert that we ask "that we may not by the interposition of some heinous sin- by being prevented as abstaining, and not communicating, from partaking of the heavenly bread — be separated from Christ's body." Let these new heretics answer

6 Cyprian's Testimonies, iii. 4; vol. v. p. 528.

7 Cyprian, On Patience; The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. v.

P. 484.

CHAP. 27 [x.]— CYPRIAN'S TESTIMONIES CONCERN

ING THE IMPERFECTION OF OUR OWN RIGHT-
EOUSNESS.

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of a surety what good merit precedes, in men remedies for the curing and healing of their who are enemies of the name of Christ? For wounds anew!"5 Again, in the same treatise not only have they no good merit, but they have, he says: "And since there cannot fail daily to moreover, the very worst merit. And yet, Cyprian be sins committed in the sight of God, there even thus understands what we say in the prayer, failed not daily sacrifices wherewith the sins "Thy will be done in heaven, and in earth: " might be cleansed away.' Also, in the treatise that we pray also for those very persons who in on the Mortality, he says: "Our warfare is with this respect are called earth. We pray, there- avarice, with immodesty, with anger, with ambifore, not only for the unwilling, but also for the tion; our trying and toilsome wrestling with objecting and resisting. What, then, do we ask, carnal vices, with the enticements of the world. but that from unwilling they may be made will- The mind of man besieged, and on every hand ing; from objecting, consenting; from resisting, invested with the onsets of the devil, scarcely loving? And by whom, but by Him of whom meets the repeated attacks, scarcely resists them. it is written, "The will is prepared by God"? If avarice is prostrated, lust springs up. If lust Let them, then, who disdain, if they do not do is overcome, ambition takes its place. If ambiany evil and if they do any good, to glory, not tion is despised, anger exasperates, pride puffs in themselves, but in the Lord, learn to be up, wine-bibbing entices; envy breaks concord: catholics. jealousy cuts friendship; you are constrained to curse, which the divine law forbids; you are compelled to swear, which is not lawful. So many persecutions the soul suffers daily, with so many risks is the heart wearied; and yet it delights to abide here long among the devil's weapons, although it should rather be our craving and wish to hasten to Christ by the aid of a quicker death."7 Again, in the same treatise he says: "The blessed Apostle Paul in his epistle lays it down, saying, 'To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain;18 counting it the greatest gain no longer to be held by the snares of this world, no longer to be liable to the sins and vices of the flesh."9 Moreover, on the Lord's Prayer, explaining what it is we ask when we say, "Hallowed be thy name," he says, among other matters: "For we have need of daily sanctification, that we, who daily fall away, may wash out our sins by continual sanctification." 10 Again, in the same treatise, when he would explain our saying, "Forgive us our debts," he says: "And how necessarily, how providently and salutarily, are we admonished that we are sinners, since we are compelled to entreat for our sins; and while pardon is asked for from God, the soul recalls its own consciousness of guilt. Lest any one should flatter himself as being innocent, and by exalting himself should more deeply perish, he is instructed and taught that he sins daily, in that he is bidden to entreat daily for his sins. Thus, moreover, John also in his epistle warns us, and says: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.'"'11 Rightly, also, he proposed in his letter to Quirinus his own most absolute judgment on this subject, to which he subjoined the

Let us, then, see that third point, which in these men is not less shocking to every member of Christ and to His whole body,- that they contend that there are in this life, or that there have been, righteous men having absolutely no sin. In which presumption they most manifestly contradict the Lord's Prayer, wherein, with truthful heart and with daily words, all the members of Christ cry aloud, "Forgive us our debts." Let us see, then, what Cyprian, most glorious in the Lord, thought of this, what he not only said for the instruction of the Churches, not, of course, of the Manicheans, but of the catholics, but also committed to letters and to memory. In the epistle on "Works and Alms," he says: "Let us then acknowledge, beloved brethren, the wholesome gift of the divine mercy, and let us who cannot be without some wound of conscience heal our wounds by the spiritual remedies for the cleansing and purging of our sins. Nor let any one so flatter himself with the notion of a pure and immaculate heart, as, in dependence on his own innocence, to think that the medicine needs not to be applied to his wounds; since it is written, 'Who shall boast that he hath a clean heart, or who shall boast that he is pure from sins?' And again, in his epistle, John lays it down and says, 'If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.' 4 But if no one can be without sin, and whoever should say that he is without fault is either proud or foolish, how needful, how kind is the divine mercy, which, knowing that there are still found some wounds in those that have been healed, has given even after their healing wholesome I Prov. viii. 36.

2 This assertion of the Pelagians was condemned in an African Council in 418.

3 Prov. xx. 9.

4 1 John i. 8

P. 476.

5 Cyprian, work cited, ch. 2; The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. v.
6 Ibid., p. 480.
7 Ibid. work cited, chs. 3, 4, p. 470.
9 Cyprian, ibid.

8 Phil. i 21.

10 Cyprian, work cited, ch. 9, p. 450.
11 Cyprian, ibid. ch. 16 (xx11.), p. 453.

2

divine testimonies, "That no one is without filth and without sin." There also he set down those testimonies by which original sin is confirmed, which these men endeavour to twist into I know not what new and evil meanings, whether what the holy Job says, "No one is pure from filth, not one even if his life be of one day upon the earth," or what is read in the Psalm, "Behold, I was conceived in iniquity; and in sins hath my mother nourished me in the womb."3 To which testimonies, on account of those also who are already holy in mature age, since even they are not without filth and sin, he added also that word of the most blessed John, which he often mentions in many other places besides, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves; "4 and other passages of the same sentiment, which are asserted by all catholics, by way of opposing those "who deceive themselves, and the truth is not in them."

pure from sins?" 5 I think that Cyprian would not have needed to be taught by such as these, what he very well knew, "that, in the time to come, there would be a reward of good works and a punishment of evil works, but that no one could then perform the commands which here he might have despised;" and yet he does not understand and assert the Apostle Paul, who was assuredly not a contemner of the divine commands, to have said, "To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain," on any other account, except that he reckoned it the greatest gain after this life no longer to be held in worldly entanglements, no longer to be obnoxious to the sins and vices of the flesh. Therefore the most blessed Cyprian felt, and in the truth of the divine Scriptures saw, that even the life of the apostles themselves, however good, holy, and righteous, suffered some involvements of worldly entanglements, was obnoxious to some sins and vices of the flesh; and that they desired death that CHAP. 28. — CYPRIAN'S ORTHODOXY UNDOUBTED. they might be free from those evils, and that they Let the Pelagians say, if they dare, that this might attain to that perfect righteousness which man of God was perverted by the error of the would not suffer such things, and which would Manicheans, in so praising the saints as yet to no more have to be achieved in the way of confess that no one in this life had attained to command merely, but to be received in the way such a perfection of righteousness as to have no of reward. For not even when that shall have sin at all, confirming his judgment by the clear come for which we pray when we say, "Thy truth and divine authority of the canonical testi-kingdom come," will there be in that kingdom monies. For does he deny that in baptism all of God no righteousness; since the apostle says, sins are forgiven, because he confesses that there "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, remain frailty and infirmity, whence he says that but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the we sin after baptism and even to the end of this Holy Ghost."7 Certainly these three things are life, having unceasing conflict with the vices of commanded among other divine precepts. Here the flesh? Or did he not remember what the righteousness is prescribed to us when it is said, apostle said about the Church without spot, that "Do righteousness; peace is prescribed when he prescribed that no one ought so to flatter it is said, "Have peace among yourselves ;"9 joy himself in respect of a pure and spotless heart is prescribed when it is said, "Rejoice in the as to trust in his own innocence, and think that Lord always." Let, then, the Pelagians deny no medicine needed to be applied to his wounds? that these things shall be in the kingdom of I think that these new heretics may concede to God, where we shall live without end; or let this catholic man that he knew "that the Holy them be so mad, if it appears good, as to conSpirit even in the old times aided good disposi- tend that righteousness, peace, and joy, will be tions; nay, even, what they themselves will not such there as they are here to the righteous. allow, that they could not have possessed good But if they both shall be, and yet shall not be dispositions except through the Holy Spirit. I the same, assuredly here, in respect of the comthink that Cyprian knew that all the prophets mandment of them, the doing is to be cared for, and apostles or saints of any kind soever who pleased the Lord at any time were righteous "not in comparison with the wicked," as they falsely assert that we say, "but by the rule of virtue," as they boast that they say; although Cyprian says, nevertheless, no one can be without sin, and whoever should assert that he is blameless is either proud or a fool. Nor is it with reference to anything else that he understands the Scripture, "Who shall boast that he has a pure heart? or who shall boast that he is

1 Cyprian, Testimonies, iii. 54: The Ante-Nicene Fathers, v. P 529 2 Job xiv. 4, 5. 3 Ps 5 4 1 John i. 8.

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there the perfection is to be hoped for in the way of reward; when, not being withheld by any earthly entanglements, and being liable to no sins and vices of the flesh (on account of which the apostle, as Cyprian received this testimony, said that to die would be to him gain), we may perfectly love God, the contemplation of whom will be face to face; we may also perfectly love our neighbour, since, when the thoughts of the heart are made manifest, no suspicion of any evil can disturb any one concerning any one.

CHAP. 29 [XI.]—THE TESTIMONIES OF AMBROSE guilty generation.
AGAINST THE PELAGIANS, AND FIRST OF ALL conceived in iniquities; and in sins has my