{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/105/1050427.htm","path":"chr/ecf/105/1050427.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/105/1050427.htm","text":"Chapter 42 [XVIII.]\u2014The Twelfth Item in the Accusation. Other Heads of C\u0153lestius\u2019 Doctrine Abjured by Pelagius.\nFor it was objected that in the sixth chapter of C\u0153lestius\u2019 work there was laid down this position: \u201cMen cannot be called sons of God, unless they have become entirely free from all sin.\u201d It follows from this statement, that not even the Apostle Paul is a child of God, since he said: \u201cNot as though I had already attained, either were already perfect.\u201d 1741 In the seventh chapter he makes this statement: \u201cForgetfulness and ignorance have no connection with sin, as they do not happen through the will, but through necessity;\u201d although David says: \u201cRemember not the sins of my youth, nor my sins of ignorance;\u201d 1742 although too, in the law, sacrifices are offered for ignorance, as if for sin. 1743 In his tenth chapter he says: \u201cOur will is free, if it needs the help of God; inasmuch as every one in the possession of his proper will has either something to do or to abstain from doing.\u201d In the twelfth he says: \u201cOur victory comes not from God\u2019s help, but from our own free will.\u201d And this is a conclusion which he was said to draw in the following terms: \u201cThe victory is ours, seeing that we took up arms of our own will; just as, on the other hand, being conquered is our own, since it was of our own will that we neglected to arm ourselves.\u201d And, after quoting the phrase of the Apostle Peter, \u201cpartakers of the divine nature,\u201d 1744 he is said to have made out of it this argument: \u201cNow if our spirit or soul is unable to be without sin, then even God is subject to sin, since this part of Him, that is to say, the soul, is exposed to sin.\u201d In his thirteenth chapter he says: \u201cThat pardon is not given to penitents according to the grace and mercy of God, but according to their own merits and effort, since through repentance they have been worthy of mercy.\u201d\nSee Lev. iv.\n202:1744","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. V: A Work on the Pro...","type":"page"}