Глава VI

In the example of infants, it is obvious that grace is given freely 18. [But I will ask one more thing] in order to consider the same twelve [positions] as if in a brief explanation. How does grace follow the merit of the human will, if it is also given to infants who are not yet capable of wanting or not wanting it? How, even in the case of adults, is it said that grace is preceded by the merits of the will, if grace, to be true grace, must not be given according to our merits? Pelagius himself was so afraid of this catholic situation that, not wanting to be condemned by catholic judges, he without any doubt condemned those who say that the grace of God is given according to our merits. How can they say that the grace of God lies in the nature of a free decision or in the law and teaching, if Pelagius himself condemned this position, confessing without any hesitation that the grace of God is given for every action; given to those, of course, who are already using the free solution? Those who are saved are saved by grace, not by desire. 19. How is it said that all people would accept it, if those to whom it is not given did not reject it of their own free will, since God wants all people to be saved, 58 if it is not given to many infants, and many die without it, although they have no opposing will? [Does it not happen] that sometimes, although the parents are willing and in a hurry [to baptize the baby], although the [church] ministers are also willing and ready [to do it], grace is not given, because there is no God's will for it, so that suddenly, before it is given, the one who was cared for to receive it dies? And from this it is obvious that those who so strongly oppose this so transparent truth do not at all understand in what sense (qua locutione) it is said that God wants all people to be saved, if so many are not saved, and not because they do not want, but because God does not want (Deus non vult), as is clearly shown in the case of infants. But just as in another place where it is said: In Christ all will live, 59 although very many will be punished with eternal death, this is said so because all who receive eternal life will receive it in Christ, so when it is said: God wants all people to be saved, although in the case of so many He does not want them to be saved, it is said so because all who are saved will be saved only by His will. And even if these apostolic words can be understood in some other way, they still cannot and should not contradict the most obvious truth: we see how very many are not saved when God does not want it (Deo nolente), despite the fact that people want it. Grace is given freely, by the mercy of God 20. How does the human will deserve to be given Divine grace, if in order to be true grace, it must be given to those to whom it is given freely, by [God's] mercy? How are the merits of the human will weighed, if to those to whom this grace is not given, it is not given according to the just judgment of God (for there is no unrighteousness with God 60), and they have the same circumstances with those to whom it is given, and for the most part do not differ from them in any merit or will? 61 And from this those to whom it is given must understand that it is given to them freely, since in justice it would not have been given, since it was not given in justice to others in exactly the same circumstances. Abiding in goodness until the end is a gift of grace 21. How is it not a work of God’s grace not only to will to believe at the beginning, but also to remain until the end, 62 if the very end of this life is not in human, but in God’s power, and God could undoubtedly provide to one who is not destined to remain, among others, that benefit, thanks to which he would be taken away from the body, so that malice would not change his mind? 63 After all, a person will receive good or evil only for what he did while living in the body, 64 and not for what he would have done if he had lived longer. Grace and judgment do not depend on those deeds that the deceased person did not have time to complete 22. How is it said that the grace of God is given to some babes who are to die in infancy, and to others not, because God foresees their future will, which they would have if they continued to live, if, as the apostle defines, each one receives according to what he did while living in the body, and not according to what he would have done if he had lived longer in the body, whether good or evil! How are men judged according to their future wills, which they assert that they would have had if they had been kept longer in the body, since the Scripture says: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord? 65 Undoubtedly, their blessedness would not be reliable and safe if God judged what they did not do, but what they would have to do if this life turned out to be longer for them. Then the one who was raptured received no benefit, lest malice change his mind, since he would have to suffer punishment for that malice from which, perhaps inevitably, he was delivered. Then we should not rejoice over those whom we know died in the right faith and good life, because they may be condemned because of certain crimes that they might have committed if they had continued to live. Then there is no need to mourn or despise those who left this life, being in unbelief and bad morals, because, perhaps, if they continued to live, they would have repented and began to live piously, so they should be judged in accordance with this. Then we must condemn and discard the book of the most glorious martyr Cyprian "On Mortality", in which throughout his intention is that we should learn that we should rejoice when good believers die, since they are delivered from the temptations of this life and continue to remain in blessed security 66. But since this is not at all false, and, undoubtedly, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, then it would rather be ridiculed and damned that error, guided by which some believe that people should be judged according to their future decrees, which are not destined to be among the dying. Anyone who believes in God does so of his own free will. 23. How is it said that he rejects the free decision of the will who admits that every person who believes in the Lord in his heart believes solely out of his own free will? Rather, those attack the free decision who attack God's grace, thanks to which it truly becomes free to choose and do good. How do they say that through the law of God and the teaching of Scripture, what the same Scripture says happens: The will is prepared in advance from the Lord! 67 Does not this rather happen through the hidden inspiration (occultam inspirationem) of the grace of God, since we with right faith ask God Himself for those who, opposing this teaching, do not want to believe in it, that they will? He who believes must thank God 24. How does God need human wills, so that they precede Him in those to whom He gives grace, if we deservedly give Him thanks for those to whom, who did not believe in Him and persecuted His teaching by their wicked will, He first showed mercy and turned them to Himself with infinitely omnipotent ease, making them willing from the unwilling? Why do we thank Him for this if He didn't do it? Why do we exalt Him all the more, the more those whose faith we now rejoice did not want to believe, if the human will does not change for the better by Divine grace? The Apostle Paul says: I was not personally known to the Churches of Christ in Judea, but they only heard that he who once persecuted them was now preaching the good news of the faith that he had previously destroyed, and they magnified God for me 68 . Why did they exalt God, if not God, by the goodness of His grace, turned the heart of this man to Himself, when, as he himself testifies, he received mercy from the Lord to be a believer, 69 that is, to have the very faith that he had previously destroyed? After all, even with the word that he chose, did he not testify that it was none other than God who created this great good (magnum bonum fecisse)? After all, what does it mean: they magnified (magnificabant) God for me, 70 if not this: “They preached that God has done great things for me (Deum magnificum)”? But how did they preach that He had done a great thing (magnificum), if He had not done this great thing (magnum factum) - the conversion of Paul? And in what sense did He accomplish it, if not in that He made him willing to believe from someone unwilling? Grace comes before the will 25. Isn’t it obvious from these twelve propositions (and you will hardly agree to consider them not related to the Catholic faith) that they not only collectively, but also each separately incline us to recognize that the wills of people are preceded by the grace of God, and therefore they are rather prepared by it than it is given for their merits? If you deny that any of these twelve [positions] is true (I repeat their number so that they fit into the memory more easily and are retained there more clearly), then do not be ashamed to write me about it in response, so that I know, and I will answer this to the best of the ability that God will give me. For although I do not believe that you are a Pelagian heretic, I also want [to be sure] that none of his error has passed on to you or remained in you. CPL 262 Translation based on the edition: Patrologiae Cursus Completus. Series Latina. Accurante J.-P. Migne. Paris, 1845. T. 33. Col. 978–989. Places with discrepancies were verified with the publication: Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum. Vindobonae, 1911.Vol. 57. R. 403–425 We are talking about babies who died without baptism. - editor's note See: St. Cyprian of Carthage. De mortalitate, 7, 20–21. Compare: 1 Cor 7:25. In Synod.trans.: one who has received from the Lord the grace to be faithful to Him. In Synod.trans.: they glorified God for me. You might be interested in: