Royal Archives
Blessed Augustine of Hippo
/
A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants
My notes
Search
Toggle theme
Blessed Augustine of Hippo
A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants
5th c.
Classic translation
Public domain
Polemics & Heresiology · English translation, 1890
Read in English
Contents
Title Page
Extract From Augustin’s Retractations
Book I
Introduction
Introductory, in the Shape of an Inscription to His Friend Marcellinus
If Adam Had Not Sinned, He Would Never Have Died
It is One Thing to Be Mortal, Another Thing to Be Subject to Death
Even Bodily Death is From Sin
The Words, Mortale (Capable of Dying), Mortuum (Dead), and Moriturus (Destined…
How It is That the Body Dead Because of Sin
The Life of the Body the Object of Hope, the Life of the Spirit Being a Prelude…
Bodily Death From Adam’s Sin
Sin Passes on to All Men by Natural Descent, and Not Merely by Imitation
The Analogy of Grace
Distinction Between Actual and Original Sin
The Law Could Not Take Away Sin
Meaning of the Apostle’s Phrase 'The Reign of Death.'
Superabundance of Grace
The One Sin Common to All Men
How Death is by One and Life by One
Whom Sinners Imitate
Only Christ Justifies
Sin is From Natural Descent, as Righteousness is From Regeneration; How ‘All’…
Original Sin Alone is Contracted by Natural Birth
Unbaptized Infants Damned, But Most Lightly; The Penalty of Adam’s Sin, the…
To Infants Personal Sin is Not to Be Attributed
He Refutes Those Who Allege That Infants Are Baptized Not for the Remission of…
Infants Saved as Sinners
Infants Are Described as Believers and as Penitents. Sins Alone Separate…
No One, Except He Be Baptized, Rightly Comes to the Table of the Lord
Infants Must Feed on Christ
Baptized Infants, of the Faithful; Unbaptized, of the Lost
It is an Inscrutable Mystery Why Some Are Saved, and Others Not
Why One is Baptized and Another Not, Not Otherwise Inscrutable
He Refutes Those Who Suppose That Souls, on Account of Sins Committed in…
The Case of Certain Idiots and Simpletons
Christ is the Saviour and Redeemer Even of Infants
Baptism is Called Salvation, and the Eucharist, Life, by the Christians of…
Unless Infants Are Baptized, They Remain in Darkness
Infants Not Enlightened as Soon as They Are Born
How God Enlightens Every Person
What ‘Lighteth’ Means
The Conclusion Drawn, That All Are Involved in Original Sin
A Collection of Scripture Testimonies. From the Gospels
From the First Epistle of Peter
From the First Epistle of John
From the Epistle to the Romans
From the Epistles to the Corinthians
From the Epistle to the Galatians
From the Epistle to the Ephesians
From the Epistle to the Colossians
From the Epistles to Timothy
From the Epistle to Titus
From the Epistle to the Hebrews
From the Apocalypse
From the Acts of the Apostles
The Utility of the Books of the Old Testament
By the Sacrifices of the Old Testament, Men Were Convinced of Sins and Led to…
He Concludes That All Men Need the Death of Christ, That They May Be Saved…
No One is Reconciled to God Except Through Christ
The Good of Marriage; Four Different Cases of the Good and the Evil Use of…
In What Respect the Pelagians Regarded Baptism as Necessary for Infants
The Context of Their Chief Text
Christ, the Head and the Body; Owing to the Union of the Natures in the Person…
The Serpent Lifted Up in the Wilderness Prefigured Christ Suspended on the…
No One Can Be Reconciled to God, Except by Christ
The Form, or Rite, of Baptism. Exorcism
A Twofold Mistake Respecting Infants
In Infants There is No Sin of Their Own Commission
Infants’ Faults Spring From Their Sheer Ignorance
On the Ignorance of Infants, and Whence It Arises
If Adam Was Not Created of Such a Character as That in Which We Are Born, How…
The Ignorance and the Infirmity of an Infant
How Far Sin is Done Away in Infants by Baptism, Also in Adults, and What…
Book II
Introduction (i)
What Has Thus Far Been Dwelt On; And What is to Be Treated in This Book
Some Persons Attribute Too Much to the Freedom of Man’s Will; Ignorance and…
In What Way God Commands Nothing Impossible. Works of Mercy, Means of Wiping…
Concupiscence, How Far in Us; The Baptized Are Not Injured by Concupiscence…
The Will of Man Requires the Help of God
Wherein the Pharisee Sinned When He Thanked God; To God’s Grace Must Be Added…
Four Questions on the Perfection of Righteousness: (1.) Whether a Man Can Be…
(2) Whether There is in This World a Man Without Sin
The Beginning of Renewal; Resurrection Called Regeneration; They Are the Sons…
Perfection, When to Be Realized
An Objection of the Pelagians: Why Does Not a Righteous Man Beget a Righteous…
He Reconciles Some Passages of Scripture
A Subterfuge of the Pelagians
Job Was Not Without Sin
Carnal Generation Condemned on Account of Original Sin
Job Foresaw That Christ Would Come to Suffer; The Way of Humility in Those That…
No One Righteous in All Things
Perfect Human Righteousness is Imperfect
Zacharias and Elisabeth, Sinners
Paul Worthy to Be the Prince of the Apostles, and Yet a Sinner
All Righteous Men Sinners
An Objection of the Pelagians; Perfection is Relative; He is Rightly Said to Be…
Why God Prescribes What He Knows Cannot Be Observed
An Objection of the Pelagians. The Apostle Paul Was Not Free From Sin So Long…
God Punishes Both in Wrath and in Mercy
(3)Why No One in This Life is Without Sin
The Divine Remedy for Pride
A Good Will Comes From God
A Subterfuge of the Pelagians (xxx)
All Will is Either Good, and Then It Loves Righteousness, or Evil, When It Does…
Grace is Given to Some Men in Mercy; Is Withheld From Others in Justice and…
God’s Sovereignity in His Grace
Through Grace We Have Both the Knowledge of Good, and the Delight Which It…
(4) That No Man, With the Exception of Christ, Has Ever Lived, or Can Live…
Adam and Eve; Obedience Most Strongly Enjoined by God on Man
Man’s State Before the Fall
The Corruption of Nature is by Sin, Its Renovation is by Christ
What Benefit Has Been Conferred on Us by the Incarnation of the Word; Christ’s…
An Objection of Pelagians
An Argument Anticipated
Children of Believers Are Called ‘Clean’ By the Apostle
Sanctification Manifold; Sacrament of Catechumens
Why the Children of the Baptized Should Be Baptized
An Objection of the Pelagians
The Law of Sin is Called Sin; How Concupiscence Still Remains After Its Evil…
Guilt May Be Taken Away But Concupiscence Remain
All the Predestinated Are Saved Through the One Mediator Christ, and by One and…
Christ the Saviour Even of Infants; Christ, When an Infant, Was Free From…
An Objection of the Pelagians (l)
Why It is That Death Itself is Not Abolished, Along With Sin, by Baptism
Why the Devil is Said to Hold the Power and Dominion of Death
Why Christ, After His Resurrection, Withdrew His Presence From the World
An Objection of the Pelagians (liv)
Why Punishment is Still Inflicted, After Sin Has Been Forgiven
To Recover the Righteousness Which Had Been Lost by Sin, Man Has to Struggle…
The Case of David, in Illustration
Turn to Neither Hand
'Likeness of Sinful Flesh' Implies the Reality
Whether the Soul is Propagated; On Obscure Points, Concerning Which the…
Book III
Introduction (i, 2)
Pelagius Esteemed a Holy Man; His Expositions on Saint Paul
Pelagius’ Objection; Infants Reckoned Among the Number of Believers and the…
Pelagius Makes God Unjust
Chapter 4
Pelagius Praised by Some; Arguments Against Original Sin Proposed by Pelagius…
Why Pelagius Does Not Speak in His Own Person
Proof of Original Sin in Infants
Jesus is the Saviour Even of Infants
The Ambiguity of 'Adam is the Figure of Him to Come.'
He Shows That Cyprian Had Not Doubted the Original Sin of Infants
The Ancients Assumed Original Sin
The Universal Consensus Respecting Original Sin
The Error of Jovinianus Did Not Extend So Far
The Opinions of All Controversialists Whatever Are Not, However, Canonical…
We All Sinned Adam’s Sin
Origin of Errors; A Simile Sought From the Foreskin of the Circumcised, and…
Christians Do Not Always Beget Christian, Nor the Pure, Pure Children
Is the Soul Derived by Natural Propagation?
Sin and Death in Adam, Righteousness and Life in Christ
The Sting of Death, What?
The Precept About Touching the Menstruous Woman Not to Be Figuratively…
We Ought to Be Anxious to Secure the Baptism of Infants
Epilogue