Library › Blessed Augustine › On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins

On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins

Blessed Augustine, NPNF I.5

Extract from Augustin’s Retractations
Book 1, Argument
Book 1, Introductory, in the Shape of an Inscription to His Friend Marcellinus
Book 1, 2. If Adam Had Not Sinned, He Would Never Have Died
Book 1, It is One Thing to Be Mortal, Another Thing to Be Subject to Death
Book 1, 4. Even Bodily Death is from Sin
Book 1, The Words, Mortale (Capable of Dying), Mortuum (Dead), and Moriturus (Destined to…
Book 1, 6. How It is that the Body Dead Because of Sin
Book 1, The Life of the Body the Object of Hope, the Life of the Spirit Being a Prelude…
Book 1, 8. Bodily Death from Adam’s Sin
Book 1, Sin Passes on to All Men by Natural Descent, and Not Merely by Imitation
Book 1, 10. The Analogy of Grace
Book 1, 11. Distinction Between Actual and Original Sin
Book 1, 12. The Law Could Not Take Away Sin
Book 1, 13. Meaning of the Apostle’s Phrase “The Reign of Death.”
Book 1, 14. Superabundance of Grace
Book 1, 15. The One Sin Common to All Men
Book 1, 16. How Death is by One and Life by One
Book 1, 17. Whom Sinners Imitate
Book 1, 18. Only Christ Justifies
Book 1, Sin is from Natural Descent, as Righteousness is from Regeneration; How “All” Are…
Book 1, 20. Original Sin Alone is Contracted by Natural Birth
Book 1, Unbaptized Infants Damned, But Most Lightly; The Penalty of Adam’s Sin, the Grace…
Book 1, 22. To Infants Personal Sin is Not to Be Attributed
Book 1, He Refutes Those Who Allege that Infants are Baptized Not for the Remission of…
Book 1, 24. Infants Saved as Sinners
Book 1, Infants are Described as Believers and as Penitents. Sins Alone Separate Between…
Book 1, No One, Except He Be Baptized, Rightly Comes to the Table of the Lord
Book 1, 27. Infants Must Feed on Christ
Book 1, 28. Baptized Infants, of the Faithful; Unbaptized, of the Lost
Book 1, It is an Inscrutable Mystery Why Some are Saved, and Others Not
Book 1, Why One is Baptized and Another Not, Not Otherwise Inscrutable
Book 1, He Refutes Those Who Suppose that Souls, on Account of Sins Committed in Another…
Book 1, 32. The Case of Certain Idiots and Simpletons
Book 1, 33. Christ is the Saviour and Redeemer Even of Infants
Book 1, Baptism is Called Salvation, and the Eucharist, Life, by the Christians of…
Book 1, 35. Unless Infants are Baptized, They Remain in Darkness
Book 1, 36. Infants Not Enlightened as Soon as They are Born
Book 1, 37. How God Enlightens Every Person
Book 1, 38. What “Lighteth” Means
Book 1, 39. The Conclusion Drawn, that All are Involved in Original Sin
Book 1, 40. A Collection of Scripture Testimonies. From the Gospels
Book 1, 41. From the First Epistle of Peter
Book 1, 42. From the First Epistle of John
Book 1, 43. From the Epistle to the Romans
Book 1, 44. From the Epistles to the Corinthians
Book 1, 45. From the Epistle to the Galatians
Book 1, 46. From the Epistle to the Ephesians
Book 1, 47. From the Epistle to the Colossians
Book 1, 48. From the Epistles to Timothy
Book 1, 49. From the Epistle to Titus
Book 1, 50. From the Epistle to the Hebrews
Book 1, 51. From the Apocalypse
Book 1, 52. From the Acts of the Apostles
Book 1, 53. The Utility of the Books of the Old Testament
Book 1, By the Sacrifices of the Old Testament, Men Were Convinced of Sins and Led to the…
Book 1, He Concludes that All Men Need the Death of Christ, that They May Be Saved.…
Book 1, 56. No One is Reconciled to God Except Through Christ
Book 1, The Good of Marriage; Four Different Cases of the Good and the Evil Use of…
Book 1, In What Respect the Pelagians Regarded Baptism as Necessary for Infants
Book 1, 59. The Context of Their Chief Text
Book 1, Christ, the Head and the Body; Owing to the Union of the Natures in the Person of…
Book 1, The Serpent Lifted Up in the Wilderness Prefigured Christ Suspended on the Cross;…
Book 1, 62. No One Can Be Reconciled to God, Except by Christ
Book 1, 63. The Form, or Rite, of Baptism. Exorcism
Book 1, 64. A Twofold Mistake Respecting Infants
Book 1, 65. In Infants There is No Sin of Their Own Commission
Book 1, 66. Infants’ Faults Spring from Their Sheer Ignorance
Book 1, 67. On the Ignorance of Infants, and Whence It Arises
Book 1, If Adam Was Not Created of Such a Character as that in Which We are Born, How is…
Book 1, 69. The Ignorance and the Infirmity of an Infant
Book 1, How Far Sin is Done Away in Infants by Baptism, Also in Adults, and What…
Book 2, Argument
Book 2, What Has Thus Far Been Dwelt On; And What is to Be Treated in This Book
Book 2, Some Persons Attribute Too Much to the Freedom of Man’s Will; Ignorance and…
Book 2, In What Way God Commands Nothing Impossible. Works of Mercy, Means of Wiping Out…
Book 2, Concupiscence, How Far in Us; The Baptized are Not Injured by Concupiscence, But…
Book 2, 5. The Will of Man Requires the Help of God
Book 2, Wherein the Pharisee Sinned When He Thanked God; To God’s Grace Must Be Added the…
Book 2, Four Questions on the Perfection of Righteousness: (1.) Whether a Man Can Be…
Book 2, 8. (2) Whether There is in This World a Man Without Sin
Book 2, The Beginning of Renewal; Resurrection Called Regeneration; They are the Sons of…
Book 2, 10. Perfection, When to Be Realized
Book 2, An Objection of the Pelagians: Why Does Not a Righteous Man Beget a Righteous Man?
Book 2, 12. He Reconciles Some Passages of Scripture
Book 2, 13. A Subterfuge of the Pelagians
Book 2, 14. Job Was Not Without Sin
Book 2, 15. Carnal Generation Condemned on Account of Original Sin
Book 2, Job Foresaw that Christ Would Come to Suffer; The Way of Humility in Those that…
Book 2, 17. No One Righteous in All Things
Book 2, 18. Perfect Human Righteousness is Imperfect
Book 2, 19. Zacharias and Elisabeth, Sinners
Book 2, Paul Worthy to Be the Prince of the Apostles, and Yet a Sinner
Book 2, 21. All Righteous Men Sinners
Book 2, An Objection of the Pelagians; Perfection is Relative; He is Rightly Said to Be…
Book 2, 23. Why God Prescribes What He Knows Cannot Be Observed
Book 2, Anobjection of the Pelagians. The Apostle Paul Was Not Free Prom Sin So Long as…
Book 2, 25. God Punishes Both in Wrath and in Mercy
Book 2, 26. (3) Why No One in This Life is Without Sin
Book 2, 27. The Divine Remedy for Pride
Book 2, 28. A Good Will Comes from God
Book 2, 29. A Subterfuge of the Pelagians
Book 2, All Will is Either Good, and Then It Loves Righteousness, or Evil, When It Does…
Book 2, Grace is Given to Some Men in Mercy; Is Withheld from Others in Justice and Truth
Book 2, 32. God’s Sovereignity in His Grace
Book 2, Through Grace We Have Both the Knowledge of Good, and the Delight Which It Affords
Book 2, (4) That No Man, with the Exception of Christ, Has Ever Lived, or Can Live…
Book 2, Adam and Eve; Obedience Most Strongly Enjoined by God on Man
Book 2, 36. Man’s State Before the Fall
Book 2, The Corruption of Nature is by Sin, Its Renovation is by Christ
Book 2, What Benefit Has Been Conferred on Us by the Incarnation of the Word; Christ’s…
Book 2, 39. An Objection of Pelagians
Book 2, 40. An Argument Anticipated
Book 2, 41. Children of Believers are Called “Clean” By the Apostle
Book 2, 42. Sanctification Manifold; Sacrament of Catechumens
Book 2, 43. Why the Children of the Baptized Should Be Baptized
Book 2, 44. An Objection of the Pelagians
Book 2, The Law of Six is Called Sin; How Concupiscence Still Remains After Its Evil Has…
Book 2, 46. Guilt May Be Taken Away But Concupiscence Remain
Book 2, All the Predestinated are Saved Through the One Mediator Christ, and by One and…
Book 2, Christ the Saviour Even of Infants; Christ, When an Infant, Was Free from…
Book 2, 49. An Objection of the Pelagians
Book 2, Why It is that Death Itself is Not Abolished, Along with Sin, by Baptism
Book 2, Why the Devil is Said to Hold the Power and Dominion of Death
Book 2, Why Christ, After His Resurrection, Withdrew His Presence from the World
Book 2, 53. An Objection of the Pelagians
Book 2, Why Punishment is Still Inflicted, After Sin Has Been Forgiven
Book 2, To Recover the Righteousness Which Had Been Lost by Sin, Man Has to Struggle,…
Book 2, 56. The Case of David, in Illustration
Book 2, 57. Turn to Neither Hand
Book 2, 58. “Likeness of Sinful Flesh” Implies the Reality
Book 2, Whether the Soul is Propagated; On Obscure Points, Concerning Which the…
Book 3, Argument
Book 3, 1. Pelagius Esteemed a Holy Man; His Expositions on Saint Paul
Book 3, Pelagius’ Objection; Infants Reckoned Among the Number of Believers and the…
Book 3, 3. Pelagius Makes God Unjust
Book 3, To the other points which Pelagius makes them urge who argue against original…
Book 3, Pelagius Praised by Some; Arguments Against Original Sin Proposed by Pelagius in…
Book 3, 6. Why Pelagius Does Not Speak in His Own Person
Book 3, 7. Proof of Original Sin in Infants
Book 3, 8. Jesus is the Saviour Even of Infants
Book 3, 9. The Ambiguity of “Adam is the Figure of Him to Come.”
Book 3, He Shows that Cyprian Had Not Doubted the Original Sin of Infants
Book 3, 11. The Ancients Assumed Original Sin
Book 3, 12. The Universal Consensus Respecting Original Sin
Book 3, 13. The Error of Jovinianus Did Not Extend So Far
Book 3, The Opinions of All Controversialists Whatever are Not, However, Canonical…
Book 3, 15. We All Sinned Adam’s Sin
Book 3, Origin of Errors; A Simile Sought from the Foreskin of the Circumcised, and from…
Book 3, Christians Do Not Always Beget Christian, Nor the Pure, Pure Children
Book 3, 18. Is the Soul Derived by Natural Propagation?
Book 3, 19. Sin and Death in Adam, Righteousness and Life in Christ
Book 3, 20. The Sting of Death, What?
Book 3, The Precept About Touch Ing the Menstruous Woman Not to Be Figuratively…
Book 3, 22. We Ought to Be Anxious to Secure the Baptism of Infants
Book 3, 23. Epilogue