Folio 111

Council of Orange II, 529

printed p. 79 · pdf p. 111

without the grace of God will it be able to recover what it has lost?" [St. Prosper].1

193. Can. 20. "That without God man can do no good. God does many good things in man, which man does not do; indeed man can do no good that God does not expect that man do" [St. Prosper].2

194. Can. 21. "Nature and grace. Just as the Apostle most truly says to those, who, wishing to be justified in the law, have fallen even from grace: If justice is from the law, then Christ died in vain [Gal. 2:21]; so it is most truly said to those who think that grace, which the faith of Christ commends and obtains, is nature: If justice is through nature, then Christ died in vain. For the law was already here, and it did not justify; nature, too, was already present, and it did not justify. Therefore, Christ did not die in vain, that the law also might be fulfilled through Him, who said: I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill (it) [Matt. 5:17], and in order that nature ruined by Adam, might be repaired by Him, who said: He came to seek and to save that which had been lost [Luke 19:10]" [St. Prosper].3

195. Can. 22. "Those things which are peculiar to men. No one has anything of his own except lying and sin. But if man has any truth and justice, it is from that fountain for which we ought to thirst in this desert, that bedewed by some drops of water from it, we may not falter on the way" [St. Prosper].4

196. Can. 23. "The good will of God and of man. Men do their own will, not God's, when they do what displeases God; but when they do what they wish, in order to serve the divine will, even though willingly they do what they do, nevertheless, it is the will of Him by whom what they will is both prepared and ordered" [St. Prosper].5

197. Can. 24. "The branches of the vine. Thus there are branches in the vine, not that they may bestow anything upon the vine, but that they may receive from it the means by which they may live; so truly the vine is in the branches, that it may furnish vital nourishment to these, not take it from them. And by this it is an advantage to the disciples, not to Christ, that each have Christ abiding in him, and that each abide in Christ. For if the branch is cut off, another can sprout forth from the

  1. Ibid., Sent. 308; from St. Aug., Ep. 186, 11, 37 [ML 45, 1186;—33, 830]. ↩

  2. Thoughts taken from St. Augustine, Sent., 312; from St. Aug., Contra duas epist. Pelag. 2, 8, 21 [ML 45, 1886;—44, 586]. ↩

  3. Ibid., Sent. 315; from St. Augustine's De gratia el libero arbitr. 13, 25 [ML 45, 1887; —44, 896]. ↩

  4. Ibid., Sent. 323; from St. Augustine's In Joann. tract. 5, 1 [ML 45, 1887;—35, 1414]. ↩

  5. Ibid., Sent. 338; from St. Augustine's In Joann. tract. 19, 19 [ML 45, 1189;—35, 1555]. ↩