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Augustine of Hippo, On Rebuke and Grace
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On Rebuke and Grace, to the same Valentinus and the Monks with Him
Chapter 2.—The Catholic Faith Concerning Law, Grace, and Free Will.
Chapter 3 [II.]—What the Grace of God Through Jesus Christ is.
Chapter 4—The Children of God are Led by the Spirit of God.
Chapter 5 [III.]—Rebuke Must Not Be Neglected.
Chapter 6 [IV.]—Objections to the Use of Rebuke.
Chapter 7 [V.]—The Necessity and Advantage of Rebuke.
Chapter 8.—Further Replies to Those Who Object to Rebuke.
Chapter 10—All Perseverance is God’s Gift.
Chapter 13.—Election is of Grace, Not of Merit.
Chapter 14.—None of the Elect and Predestinated Can Perish.
Chapter 15.—Perseverance is Given to the End.
Chapter 17 [VIII.]—Why Perseverance Should Be Given to One and Not Another is Inscrutable.
Chapter 18.—Some Instances of God’s Amazing Judgments.
Chapter 19.—God’s Ways Past Finding Out.
Chapter 21.—Who May Be Understood as Given to Christ.
Chapter 22.—True Children of God are True Disciples of Christ.
Chapter 23.—Those Who are Called According to the Purpose Alone are Predestinated.
Chapter 24.—Even the Sins of the Elect are Turned by God to Their Advantage.
Chapter 25.—Therefore Rebuke is to Be Used.
Chapter 26 [X.]—Whether Adam Received the Gift of Perseverance.
Chapter 28.—The First Man Himself Also Might Have Stood by His Free Will.
Chapter 29 [XI.]—Distinction Between the Grace Given Before and After the Fall.
Chapter 30.—The Incarnation of the Word.
Chapter 32.—The Gifts of Grace Conferred on Adam in Creation.
Chapter 35.—There is a Greater Freedom Now in the Saints Than There Was Before in Adam.
Chapter 36.—God Not Only Foreknows that Men Will Be Good, But Himself Makes Them So.
Chapter 37.—To a Sound Will is Committed the Power of Persevering or of Not Persevering.
Chapter 38.—What is the Nature of the Gift of Perseverance that is Now Given to the Saints.
Chapter 39 [XIII.]—The Number of the Predestinated is Certain and Defined.
Chapter 40.—No One is Certain and Secure of His Own Predestination and Salvation.
Chapter 41.—Even in Judgment God’s Mercy Will Be Necessary to Us.
Chapter 42.—The Reprobate are to Be Punished for Merits of a Different Kind.
Chapter 43 [XIV.]—Rebuke and Grace Do Not Set Aside One Another.
Chapter 44.—In What Way God Wills All Men to Be Saved.
Chapter 47.—Another Interpretation of the Apostolic Passage, “Who Will Have All Men to Be Saved.”
On Rebuke and Grace, to the same Valentinus and the Monks with Him
Chapter 1 [I.]—Introductory.
I Have read your letter—Valentine, my dearly beloved brother, and you who are associated with him in the service of God—which your Love sent by brother Florus and those who came to us with him; and I gave God thanks that I have known your peace in the Lord and agreement in the truth and ardour in love, by your discourse delivered to us. But that an enemy has striven among you to the subversion of some, has, by the mercy of God and His marvellous goodness in turning his arts to the advantage1 Or according to some mss., “progress.” of His servants, rather availed to this result, that while none of you were cast down for the worse, some were built up for the better. There is therefore no need to reconsider again and again all that I have already transmitted to you, sufficiently argued out in a lengthy treatise;2 Treatise on Grace and Free Will, see above. for your replies indicate how you have received this. Nevertheless, do not in any wise suppose that, when once read, it can have become sufficiently well known to you. Therefore if you desire to have it exceedingly productive, do not count it a grievance by re-perusal to make it thoroughly familiar; so that you may most accurately3 Or, “most clearly.” know what and what kind of questions they are, for the solution and satisfaction of which there arises an authority not human but divine, from which we ought not to depart if we desire to attain to the point whither we are tending.
S. AURELII AUGUSTINI HIPPONENSIS EPISCOPI DE CORREPTIONE ET GRATIA AD EUMDEM VALENTINUM ET CUM ILLO MONACHOS ADRUMETINOS Liber unus .
CAPUT PRIMUM.
1. Lectis litteris vestris, Valentine frater dilectissime, et qui simul servitis Deo, quas per fratrem Florum, et eos qui cum illo ad nos venerunt, misit Charitas vestra, egi Deo gratias, 0916 quod vestram in Domino pacem, et in veritate consensionem, et in charitate flagrantiam vestro nobis reddito sermone cognovi. Quod autem ad subversionem quorumdam apud vos molitus est inimicus, 0917 Deo miserante et ejus insidias in suorum servorum provectum mirabili bonitate vertente, ad hoc potius valuit, ut nulli vestrum destruerentur in pejus, sed nonnulli instruerentur in melius. Non itaque opus est omnia identidem retractare, quae sufficienter vobis pleno libro disputata transmisimus (Libro de Gratia et Libero Arbitrio): quem quomodo susceperitis, rescripta indicant vestra. Verumtamen semel lectum nullo modo arbitremini satis vobis innotescere potuisse. Si ergo eum fructuosissimum habere vultis, non vos pigeat relegendo habere notissimum, ut diligentissime sciatis quibus et qualibus quaestionibus solvendis atque sanandis, non ibi humana, sed divina occurrat auctoritas, a qua recedere non debemus, si volumus pervenire quo tendimus.