{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/105/1050416.htm","path":"chr/ecf/105/1050416.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/105/1050416.htm","text":"Chapter 31.\u2014Remarks on the Tenth Item.\nI shall make my next remark with greater satisfaction. In a former section I expressed a fear 1689 that, when Pelagius said that \u201ca man was able by the help of God\u2019s grace to live without sin,\u201d he perhaps meant by the term \u201cgrace\u201d the capability possessed by nature as created by God with a free will, as it is understood in that book which I received as his and to which I replied; 1690 and that by these means he was deceiving the p. 197 judges, who were ignorant of the circumstances. Now, however, since he anathematizes those persons who hold that \u201cGod\u2019s grace and assistance is not given for single actions, but is imparted in the freedom of the will, or in the law and in doctrine,\u201d it is quite evident that he really means the grace which is preached in the Church of Christ, and is conferred by the ministration of the Holy Ghost for the purpose of helping us in our single actions, whence it is that we pray for needful and suitable grace that we enter not into any temptation. Nor, again, have I any longer a fear that, when he said, \u201cNo man can be without sin unless he has acquired a knowledge of the law,\u201d and added this explanation of his words, that \u201che posited in the knowledge of the law, help towards the avoidance of sin,\u201d 1691 he at all meant the said knowledge to be considered as tantamount to the grace of God; for, observe, he anathematizes such as hold this opinion. See, too, how he refuses to hold our natural free will, or the law and doctrine, as equivalent to that grace of God which helps us through our single actions. What else then is left to him but to understand that grace which the apostle tells us is given by \u201cthe supply of the Spirit?\u201d 1692 and concerning which the Lord said: \u201cTake no thought how or what ye shall speak; for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.\u201d 1693 Nor, again, need I be under any apprehension that, when he asserted, \u201cAll men are ruled by their own will,\u201d and afterwards explained that he had made that statement \u201cin the interest of the freedom of our will, of which God is the helper whenever it makes choice of good,\u201d 1694 that he perhaps here also held God\u2019s helping grace as synonymous with our natural free will and the teaching of the law. For inasmuch as he rightly anathematized the persons who hold that God\u2019s grace or assistance is not given for single actions, but lies in the gift of free will, or in the law and doctrine, it follows, of course, that God\u2019s grace or assistance is given us for single actions,\u2014free will, or the law and the doctrine, being left out of consideration; and thus through all the single actions of our life, when we act rightly, we are ruled and directed by God; nor is our prayer a useless one, wherein we say: \u201cOrder my steps according to Thy word, and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.\u201d 1695\nHe refers to Pelagius\u2019 work which Augustin received from Jacobus and Timasius, aud against which he wrote his treatise De Natur\u00e2 et Grati\u00e2.\n197:1691 197:1692 197:1693 197:1694 197:1695","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. V: A Work on the Pro...","type":"page"}