How, De faith alone, which is dead without works. again, will that be true, which he will say to those whom he is about to place on the left hand, part from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels (1):' Whom he does not blame, because they did not believe in him, but because they did not perform good works."-Vol. 6. p. 179. Alluding to a difficult passage in St. Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians, c. 3. v. 11. he says, "I confess I would rather hear those who are more intelligent and more learned, who so expound it, that all those things which I have mentioned above, remain true and unshaken; and whatever other things I have not mentioned, in which the Scripture most clearly testifies, that faith does not profit, except that faith which the Apostle has defined, that is, which worketh by love; but that it cannot save without works."Vol. 6. p. 180. "All are dead in sins, without the exception of any one person, either in original sins, or in those which are added voluntarily, either ignorantly or knowingly, by not doing what is just; and one living person died for all who were dead, that is, He who had no sin whatever."Vol. 7. p. 579. They (the Pelagians) destroy the prayers which the church makes, either for unbelievers, and those who resist the doctrine of God, that they may be converted to God; or for believers, that their faith may be increased,, and that they may persevere in it."-Vol. 8. p. 26. "Which free-will if God hath not given, there could be no just sentence of punishment, nor reward for right conduct, nor a Divine precept to repent of sins, nor pardon of sins, which God has given us through our Lord Jesus Christ; because he who does not sin with his will, does not sin at all.....Which sins, as I have said, unless we had free-will, would not be sins.....Wherefore, if it be evident that there is no sin where there is not free-will, I desire to know what harm the soul has done, that it should be punished by God, or repent of sin, or deserve pardon, since it has been guilty of no sin."Vol. 8. p. 101. "Truth declares, that all those things, both visible and invisible, which subsist by nature, were made by God; among which, that the rational creature, being himself made, has received free-will whether in the case of angels or of men; by which free-will, if he should be willing to serve God, according to the will and law of God, he would have eternal felicity with him: but if he should should be unwilling to submit to his law, and, using his own power, should act contrary to his command, he would be subject to due punishment according to his justice. This is the omnipotence of God in creating all things; this is his justice in rewarding sinners. But that there is free-will, and that from thence every one sins if he wills, and that he does not sin if he does not will, I prove not only in the Divine Scriptures, which you do not understand, but in the words of your own Manes himself...... Hear then concerning free-will, first, the Lord himself, where he speaks of two trees, which you yourself have mentioned: hear him saying, Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt.' When, therefore, he says, either do this, or do that, he shews power, not nature. For no one except God can make a tree but every one has it in his will, either to choose those things which are good, and to be a good tree or to choose those things which are bad, and to be a bad tree."—Vol. 8. p. 488. "In infants who are baptized, the sacrament of regeneration precedes; and if they shall hold the Christian piety, conversion will follow in the heart, the mystery of which has preceded in the body."-Vol. 9. p. 140. "God has given to man free-will, without. which there can be neither a good nor a bad life.” Vol. 10. p. 88. "Let us therefore first say this, and see whether it satisfies this question, that free-will, naturally given by the Creator to a rational creature, is that middle power which may either be directed to faith, or inclined to unbelief; and therefore a man cannot be said to possess that will whereby he has believed in God, which he has not received, since, when God calls, he rises from free-will, which he naturally received when he was created. But God wills that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth; not so, however, as to take away free-will from them, which using well or ill, they may most justly be judged." Vol. 10. p. 118. "The nature of mankind, born of the flesh of that one transgressor, if it can be sufficient to itself to fulfil the law, and perform righteousness, ought to be secure of reward, that is, of eternal life, although in some other nation, or at some former period, it has been unacquainted with faith in the blood of Christ. For God is not unjust, to defraud the righteous of the reward of righteousness, if the sacrament of the Divinity and of the Humanity of Christ which was manifested in the flesh, has not been announced to them. For how should they believe what they have have not heard, or how should they hear without a preacher? For faith cometh by hearing, as it is written, but hearing by the word of God. But I say, have they not heard? Their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the end of the world (m). But before this began to take place, before the preaching itself arrives at the ends of the world, (because there are still nations, although, as it is said, very few, to whom this has not yet been preached)-what will human nature do, or what has it done, (which had either not before heard what was about to hap pen, or has not yet been informed of what has taken place)-except by believing in God who made the heaven and the earth, by whom it perceives itself also to have been naturally made; and by living rightly, it fulfils his will, without any faith in the passion and resurrection of Christ? Which if it were possible, or be still possible, I also say this, which the Apostle said of the law which the single nation of the Jews received-(how much more justly is it said of the law of nature, which all mankind received)-If righteousness is: by nature, then Christ is dead in vain! But if Christ be not dead in vain, then all human nature can be justified and redeemed from the most just anger of God, that is from vengeance, by no (m) Rom. c. 10. v. 14. 17, & 18. means, |