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St. Augustine on the Predestination of the Saints and the Reprobation of the Invincibly Ignorant Some object to the Church’s teaching that salvation is limited to those who die as Catholics, by complaining that if it be so, then those who have never had the opportunity to believe in the Gospel, who are termed “invincibly ignorant”, are inevitably damned. In this essay, we shall see how Saint Augustine responded to this objection 1500 years ago in opposition to the Semi-Pelagians, who denied the gratuity of the grace by which the elect are brought to salvation in the Catholic Church. We shall draw upon his treatise entitled, The Predestination of the Saints, which comprises two books, one called the same as the treatise and a second named, The Gift of Perseverance. The elect are predestined to be eternally assumed into Christ, as He was predestined to be assumed into God the Son Saint Augustine illustrated his vision of the predestination of the elect by comparing it with the predestination of Christ. As He was predestined according to His human nature to be God the Son, assumed into the Son and One Person with Him, even so, the elect are predestined to be assumed into the Mystical Body of the Son, which is the Church. Both predestinations are wholly gratuitous on the part of God, His giving of a Christ for salvation, and His application of that to the elect. The assumption of Christ into the Son of God Let us first see Saint Augustine speak of the gratuitous election of Christ according to His humanity, to be the Son of God, assumed into that Person, upon which understanding he will then develop his understanding of the gratuitous predestination of the saints. “Moreover, the most illustrious Light of predestination and grace is the Saviour Himself,--the Mediator Himself between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And, pray, by what preceding merits of its own, whether of works or of faith, did the human nature which is in Him procure for itself that it should be this? Let this have an answer, I beg. That man, whence did He deserve this--to be assumed by the Word co-eternal with the Father into unity of person, and be the only-begotten Son of God? Was it because any kind of goodness in Him preceded? What did He do before? What did He believe? What did He ask, that He should attain to this unspeakable excellence? Was it not by the act and the assumption of the Word that that man, from the time He began to be, began to be the only Son of God? Did not that woman, full of grace, conceive the only Son of God? Was He not born the only Son of God, of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary,--not of the lust of the flesh, but by God's peculiar gift? Was it to be feared that as age matured this man, He would sin of free will? Or was the will in Him not free on that account? and was it not so much the more free in proportion to the greater impossibility of His becoming the servant of sin? Certainly, in Him human nature--that is to say, our nature--specially received all those specially admirable gifts, and any others that may most truly be said to be peculiar to Him, by virtue of no preceding merits of its own. Let a man here answer to God if he dare, and say, Why was it not I also? And if he should hear “O thou, who art thou that repliest against God?” let him not at this point restrain himself, but increase his impudence and say, “How is it that I hear, Who art thou, O man? since I am what I hear,--that is, a man, and He of whom I speak is but the same? Why should not I also be what He is? For it is by grace that He is such and so great; why is grace different when nature is common? Assuredly, “there is no respect of persons with God.” I say, not what Christian man, but what madman will say this?” (The Predestination of the Saints 30) The assumption of the elect into Christ Having shown that the assumption of the humanity of Christ into God was wholly gratuitous, St. Augustine applied that same principle of gratuitous assumption to the assumption of the elect into Christ as the Mystical Body, the Church, not as one person with Him, but as His spiritual elect. For while others will enter the Church, too, all the elect will enter the Church through Faith and baptism, and will persevere in that justification whereby they are living members of Christ. “Therefore in Him who is our Head let there appear to be the very fountain of grace, whence, according to the measure of every man, He diffuses Himself through all His members. It is by that grace that every man from the beginning of his faith becomes a Christian, by which grace that one man from His beginning became Christ. Of the same Spirit also the former is born again of which the latter was born. By the same Spirit is effected in us the remission of sins, by which Spirit it was effected that He should have no sin. God certainly foreknew that He would do these things. This, therefore, is that same predestination of the saints which most especially shone forth in the Saint of saints; and who is there of those who rightly understand the declarations of the truth that can deny this predestination? For we have learned that the Lord of glory Himself was predestinated in so far as the man was made the Son of God. The teacher of the Gentiles exclaims, in the beginning of his epistles, ‘Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God (which He had promised afore by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures) concerning His Son, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was predestinated the Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of sanctification by the resurrection of the dead.’ “Therefore Jesus was predestinated, so that He who was to be the Son of David according to the flesh should yet be in power the Son of God, according to the Spirit of sanctification, because He was born of the Holy Spirit and of the Virgin Mary. This is that ineffably accomplished sole taking up of man by God the Word, so that He might truly and properly be called at the same time the Son of God and the Son of man,--Son of man on account of the man taken up, and the Son of God on account of the God only-begotten who took Him up, so that a Trinity and not a Quaternity might be believed in. Such a transporting of human nature was predestinated, so great, so lofty, and so sublime that there was no exalting it more highly,--just as on our behalf that divinity had no possibility of more humbly putting itself off, than by the assumption of man's nature with the weakness of the flesh, even to the death of the cross. “As, therefore, that one man was predestinated to be our Head, so we being many are predestinated to be His members. Here let human merits which have perished through Adam keep silence, and let that grace of God reign which reigns through Jesus Christ our Lord, the only Son of God, the one Lord. Let whoever can find in our Head the merits which preceded that peculiar generation, seek in us His members for those merits which preceded our manifold regeneration. For that generation was not recompensed to Christ, but given; that He should be born, namely, of the Spirit and the Virgin, separate from all entanglement of sin. Thus also our being born again of water and the Spirit is not recompensed to us for any merit, but freely given; and if faith has brought us to the laver of regeneration, we ought not therefore to suppose that we have first given anything, so that the regeneration of salvation should be recompensed to us again; because He made us to believe in Christ, who made for us a Christ on whom we believe. He makes in men the beginning and the completion of the faith in Jesus who made the man Jesus the beginner and finisher of faith; for thus, as you know, He is called in the epistle which is addressed to the Hebrews.” (The Predestination of the Saints 31) The saint stated the same in the following. “He, therefore, who made of the seed of David this righteous man, who never should be unrighteous, without any merit of His preceding will, is the same who also makes righteous men of unrighteous, without any merit of their will preceding; that He might be the head, and they His members. He, therefore, who made that man with no precedent merits of His, neither to deduce from His origin nor to commit by His will any sin which should be remitted to Him, the same makes believers on Him with no preceding merits of theirs, to whom He forgives all sin. He who made Him such that He never had or should have an evil will, the same makes in His members a good will out of an evil one. Therefore He predestinated both Him and us, because both in Him that He might be our head, and in us that we should be His body, He foreknew that our merits would not precede, but that His doings should.” (The Gift of Perseverance 67) He indicated the same in the following passage, drawing upon the writings of the elect apostle Paul. “Who can hear the apostle saying, ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us in all spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ; as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without spot in His sight; in love predestinating us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will, wherein He hath shown us favour in His beloved Son; in whom we have redemption through His blood, the remission of sins according to the riches of His grace, which hath abounded to us in all wisdom and prudence; that He might show to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He hath purposed in Himself, in the dispensation of the fullness of times, to restore all things in Christ, which are in heaven, and in the earth, in Him: in whom also we have obtained a share, being predestinated according to the purpose; who worketh all things according to the counsel of His will, that we should be to the praise of His glory;’ [Ephesians 1:3-12]--who, I say, can hear these words with attention and intelligence, and can venture to have any doubt concerning a truth so dear as this which we are defending? God chose Christ's members in Him before the foundation of the world; and how should He choose those who as yet did not exist, except by predestinating them? Therefore He chose us by predestinating us.” (The Predestination of the Saints 35) The infallible calling of the elect to their assumption into Christ As God has gratuitously predestined the elect to be assumed into the salvific Body of Christ, the Church, He has gratuitously predestined the infallible calling, by which they are infallibly drawn and assumed into Christ. “God indeed calls many predestinated children of His, to make them members of His only predestinated Son,--not with that calling with which they were called who would not come to the marriage, since with that calling were called also the Jews, to whom Christ crucified is an offence, and the Gentiles, to whom Christ crucified is foolishness; but with that calling He calls the predestinated which the apostle distinguished when he said that he preached Christ, the wisdom of God and the power of God, to them that were called, Jews as well as Greeks. For thus he says “But unto them which arc called,” in order to show that there were some who were not called; knowing that there is a certain sure calling of those who are called according to God's purpose, whom He has foreknown and predestinated before to be conformed to the image of His Son. And it was this calling he meant when he said, “Not of works, but of Him that calleth; it was said unto her, That the elder shall serve the younger.” Did he say, “Not of works, but of him that believeth”? Rather, he actually took this away from man, that he might give the whole to God. Therefore he said, “But of Him that calleth,”--not with any sort of calling whatever, but with that calling wherewith a man is made a believer.” (The Predestination of the Saints 32) Predestination is the preparation of God’s gratuitous gifts whereby the elect are eternally assumed in Christ Indeed, the predestination of the elect is precisely nothing but God’s preparation of the gratuitous gifts whereby He eternally assumes the elect into Christ; gratuitous grace is the infallible execution of that predestination. It is primarily His work, not that of men, through whom He executes His infallible designs. Saint Augustine explained this with reference to God’s promise to Abraham: “Moreover, that which I said [in his Epistle 102, to Deogratias], “That the salvation of this religion has never been lacking to him who was worthy of it, and that he to whom it was lacking was not worthy,”--if it be discussed and it be asked whence any man can be worthy there are not wanting those who say--by human will. But we say, by divine grace or predestination. Further, between grace and predestination there is only this difference, that predestination is the preparation for grace, while grace is the donation itself. When, therefore the apostle says, “Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus in good works,” it is grace; but what follows--”which God hath prepared that we should walk in them”--is predestination, which cannot exist without foreknowledge, although foreknowledge may exist without predestination; because God foreknew by predestination those things which He was about to do, whence it was said, “He made those things that shall be.” “Moreover, He is able to foreknow even those things which He does not Himself do,--as all sins whatever. Because, although there are some which are in such wise sins as that they are also the penalties of sins, whence it is said, “God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient,” it is not in such a case the sin that is God's, but the judgment. “Therefore God's predestination of good is, as I have said, the preparation of grace; which grace is the effect of that predestination. Therefore when God promised to Abraham in his seed the faith of the nations, saying, “I have established thee a father of many nations,” whence the apostle says, “Therefore it is of faith, that the promise, according to grace, might be established to all the seed,” He promised not from the power of our will but from His own predestination. For He promised what He Himself would do, not what men would do. Because, although men do those good things which pertain to God's worship, He Himself makes them to do what He has commanded; it is not they that cause Him to do what He has promised. Otherwise the fulfilment of God's promises would not be in the power of God, but in that of men; and thus what was promised by God to Abraham would be given to Abraham by men themselves. Abraham, however, did not believe thus, but “he believed, giving glory to God, that what He promised He is able also to do.” He does not say, “to foretell”--he does not say, “to foreknow;” for He can foretell and foreknow the doings of strangers also; but he says, “He is able also to do;” and thus he is speaking not of the doings of others, but of His own.” (The Predestination of the Saints 19) This being so, it would make no sense to raise objections about invincible ignorance. As we shall see St. Augustine explain, Omnipotent God predestines to His elect all the external and internal graces which bring them to incorporation into the Mystical Body and to the salvation of eternal assumption into Christ. God predestines the graces by which His elect become Catholic The elect are assumed into Christ only in the Catholic Church, which is His Mystical Body. Saint Augustine explains, as we shall see, that the graces, by which the predestined are eternally assumed into Christ comprise: - The preaching of the Gospel by which the elect are given the word to which they consent; - The thought that the word of the Faith is to be believed; - The will to accept the Faith by which they are brought to baptism into Christ; - Perseverance in the Faith and in righteousness; - Or in the case of the elect who die in infancy, at least the baptism by which they are eternally assumed into Christ. It is all God’s doing by which the elect are infallibly saved in the Catholic Church. We may note that this was indicated by the Apostle Peter upon the founding of the Church at Pentecost: “And the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved.” (Acts 2:47) And the Lord says: “And other sheep I have, that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.” (Saint John 10:14) God predestines the preaching of the Gospel to the elect In His gratuitous predestination of the saints, God predestines that the Gospel shall be preached wheresoever the elect shall be foreknown to be, so that they may be assumed into Christ. St. Augustine: “Do you not see that my desire was, without any prejudgment of the hidden counsel of God, and of other reasons, to say what might seem sufficient about Christ's foreknowledge, to convince the unbelief of the pagans who had brought forward this question? For what is more true than that Christ foreknew who should believe on Him, and at what times and places they should believe? But whether by the preaching of Christ to themselves by themselves they were to have faith, or whether they would receive it by God's gift,--that is, whether God only foreknew them, or also predestinated them, I did not at that time [Epistle 102] think it necessary to inquire or to discuss. Therefore what I said, “that Christ willed to appear to men at that time, and that His doctrine should be preached among them when He knew, and where He knew, that there were those who would believe on Him” may also thus be said, “That Christ willed to appear to men at that time, and that His gospel should be preached among those, whom He knew, and where He knew, that there were those who had been elected in Himself before the foundation of the word.” But since, if it were so said, it would make the reader desirous of asking about those things which now by the warning of Pelagian errors must of necessity be discussed with greater copiousness and care, it seemed to me that what at that time was sufficient should be briefly said, leaving to one side, as I said, the depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God, and without prejudging other reasons, concerning which I thought that we might more fittingly argue, not then, but at some other time.” (The Predestination of the Saints 18) We may observe this preaching of the Gospel that the elect might be eternally assumed into Christ, in the work of the Apostle Paul, the tireless preacher of the Gospel to the nations: “Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation, which is in Christ Jesus, with heavenly glory.” (II Timothy 2:10) Vivid instances of this predestined preaching of the Gospel to the elect may be observed in the book of Acts, where the Gospel is brought to the Ethiopian Eunuch, Cornelius, Saint Paul and Lydia, through the intervention of God The invincibly ignorant are of the righteously reprobated Hence those who are left in that ignorance of the Faith termed “invincible”, for that they have never, in the designs of God heard of it, and therefore could not believe, are simply left in that ignorance of divine matters which is due to the original sin, from which ignorance God was obliged to save no one, Who freely chose to gratuitously predestine an elect from the mass of that damnation such as that they would receive the hearing of the Gospel and all other required graces. Omnipotent God could bring the Gospel to all, but chooses not to. “From this misery, most righteously inflicted on sinners, God's grace delivers, because man of his own accord, that is, by free will, could fall, but could not also rise. To this misery of just condemnation belong the ignorance and the difficulty which every man suffers from the beginning of his birth, and no one is delivered from that evil except by the grace of God. And this misery the Pelagians will not have to descend from a just condemnation, because they deny original sin; although even if the ignorance and difficulty were the natural beginnings of man, God would not even thus deserve to be reproached, but to be praised.” (The Gift of Perseverance 27) Tyre and Sidon are instances of the divine reprobation of the invincibly ignorant Saint Augustine illustrated the gratuity of the preaching of the Gospel with reference to the people of Tyre and Sidon of whom the Lord made mention, who would have repented if they had the external witness of Christ, and yet were left by God in ignorance unto condemnation. “Woe to thee, Corozain, woe to thee, Bethsaida: for if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you, they had long ago done penance in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you. And thou Capharnaum, shalt thou be exalted up to heaven? thou shalt go down even unto hell. For if in Sodom had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in thee, perhaps it had remained unto this day. But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee. At that time Jesus answered and said: I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to the little ones. Yea, Father; for so hath it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered to me by my Father. And no one knoweth the Son, but the Father: neither doth any one know the Father, but the Son, and he to whom it shall please the Son to reveal him.” (Saint Matthew 11:21-26) Again: “This is the predestination of the saints,--nothing else; to wit, the foreknowledge and the preparation of God's kindnesses, whereby they are most certainly delivered, whoever they are that are delivered. But where are the rest left by the righteous divine judgment except in the mass of ruin, where the Tyrians and the Sidonians were left? who, moreover, might have believed if they had seen Christ's wonderful miracles. But since it was not given to them to believe, the means of believing also were denied them. […] But what the Lord said of the Tyrians and Sidonians may perchance be understood in another way: that no one nevertheless comes to Christ unless it were given him, and that it is given to those who are chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, he confesses beyond a doubt who hears the divine utterance. […] Because, “To you,” said He, “it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.” Of these, the one refers to the mercy, the other to the judgment of Him to whom our soul cries, “I will sing of mercy and judgment unto Thee, O Lord.”” (The Gift of Perseverance 35) Again: “Tyre and Sidon would not have been condemned, although more slightly than those cities in which, although they did not believe, wonderful works were done by Christ the Lord; because if they had been done in them, they would have repented in dust and ashes, as the utterances of the Truth declare, in which words of His the Lord Jesus shows to us the loftier mystery of predestination. […] But can we say that even the Tyrians and Sidonians would have refused to believe such mighty works done among them, or would not have believed them if they had been done, when the Lord Himself bears witness to them that they would have repented with great humility if those signs of divine power had been done among them? And yet in the day of judgment they will be punished; although with a less punishment than those cities which would not believe the mighty works done in them.” (The Gift of Perseverance 22, 23) God predestines the belief of the Gospel to the elect Although Saint Augustine used the instance of Tyre and Sidon to illustrate that the preaching of the Gospel is gratuitously given, nevertheless, he also taught that the internal assent to the truth is itself given by God: wherefore it is true to say that the people of Tyre and Sidon would have repented and embraced the Gospel, upon hearing it, if God had moved them to belief in the same. For Faith is a gift of God, that the elect might be eternally assumed into Christ, which He can give to whomso He will; indeed He often gives faith even to the reprobate to whom He does not give perseverance in good. God predestines to the elect the thought that the Gospel is to be believed Saint Augustine explained that the assent to the preaching of the Faith depends on the thought that it is to be believed, which thought is gratuitously predestined by God to the elect. He took from his teacher Saint Ambrose the principle that a man’s thoughts are not in his own power, but are directed by God. “But why do we not in opposition to this, rather hear the words, “Who hath first given to Him and it shall be recompensed to him again? since of Him, and through Him, and in Him, are all things.” And from whom, then, is that very beginning of our faith if not from Him? For this is not excepted when other things are spoken of as of Him; but “of Him, and through Him, and in Him, are all things.” […] “Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” He shows that both are the gifts of God, because he said that both were given. And he does not say, “to believe on Him more fully and perfectly,” but, “to believe on Him.” Neither does he say that he himself had obtained mercy to be more faithful, but “to be faithful” because he knew that he had not first given the beginning of his faith to God, and had its increase given back to him again by Him; but that he had been made faithful by God, who also had made him [Saint Paul] an apostle. […] “And, therefore, commending that grace which is not given according to any merits, but is the cause of all good merits, he says, “Not that we are sufficient to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.” Let them give attention to this, and well weigh these words, who think that the beginning of faith is of ourselves, and the supplement of faith is of God. For who cannot see that thinking is prior to believing? For no one believes anything unless he has first thought that it is to be believed. For however suddenly, however rapidly, some thoughts fly before the will to believe, and this [will] presently follows in such wise as to attend them, as it were, in closest conjunction, it is yet necessary that everything which is believed should be believed after thought [that it is to be believed] has preceded; although even belief itself is nothing else than to think with assent. For it is not every one who thinks that believes, since many think in order that they may not believe; but everybody who believes, thinks,--both thinks in believing and believes in thinking. Therefore in what pertains to religion and piety (of which the apostle was speaking), if we are not capable of thinking anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God, we are certainly not capable of believing anything as of ourselves, since we cannot do this without thinking; but our sufficiency, by which we begin to believe, is of God. Wherefore, as no one is sufficient for himself, for the beginning or the completion of any good work whatever,--and this those brethren of yours, as what you have written intimates, already agree to be true, whence, as well in the beginning as in the carrying out of every good work, our sufficiency is of God,--so no one is sufficient for himself, either to begin or to perfect faith; but our sufficiency is of God.” (The Predestination of the Saints 4, 5) We may consider that thoughts do not entirely have their origin in consciousness, but appear in consciousness once they have already begun to exist, and in so appearing have their existence. God gives the thought that the Gospel is to be believed, and thus it is that the elect think that the Gospel is to be believed. God predestines to the elect the will to believe the Gospel Once the elect has been granted the thought that the preached Gospel is to be believed, God then infallibly moves the free will of the elect, such as that they consent to the thought and become believers in the Gospel. For man is both intellect and will, and God moves both. “And thus, when it is said, “For who maketh thee to differ? and what hast thou that thou receivedst not?” if any one dare to say, “I have faith of myself, I did not, therefore, receive it,” he directly contradicts this most manifest truth,--not because it is not in the choice of man's will to believe or not to believe, but because in the elect the will is prepared by the Lord. Thus, moreover, the passage, “For who maketh thee to differ? and what hast thou that thou receivedst not?” refers to that very faith which is in the will of man.” (The Predestination of the Saints 10) Again: “We see that many come to the Son because we see that many believe on Christ, but when and how they have heard this from the Father, and have learned, we see not. It is true that that grace is exceedingly secret, but who doubts that it is grace? This grace, therefore, which is hiddenly bestowed in human hearts by the Divine gift, is rejected by no hard heart, because it is given for the sake of first taking away the hardness of the heart. When, therefore, the Father is heard within, and teaches, so that a man comes to the Son, He takes away the heart of stone and gives a heart of flesh, as in the declaration of the prophet He has promised. Because He thus makes them children and vessels of mercy which He has prepared for glory.” (The Predestination of the Saints 13) Again: “Now, therefore, the definite determination of God's will concerning predestination is of such a kind that some from unbelief receive the will to obey, and are converted to the faith or persevere in the faith, while others who abide in the delight of damnable sins, even if they have been predestinated, have not yet arisen, because the aid of pitying grace has not yet lifted them up.” (The Gift of Perseverance 58) The invincibly ignorant do not receive the belief of the Gospel Hence, those are in a sense invincibly ignorant, not only whom the Lord has not afforded the preaching of the Gospel, but also those to whom He does not give the thought that the Gospel is to be believed or the will to convert to the Faith, without which they are left in the mass of perdition. The belief of the Gospel is supernatural, not of earthly wisdom, and cannot be attained to without the assistance of God. Saint Augustine explained that God could have saved all, but chose not to. ““Many hear the word of truth; but some believe, while others contradict. Therefore, the former will to believe; the latter do not will.” Who does not know this? Who can deny this? But since in some the will is prepared by the Lord, in others it is not prepared, we must assuredly be able to distinguish what comes from God's mercy, and what from His judgment. […] Here is mercy and judgment,--mercy towards the election which has obtained the righteousness of God, but judgment to the rest which have been blinded. And yet the former, because they willed, believed; the latter, because they did not will believed not. Therefore mercy and judgment were manifested in the very wills themselves. Certainly such an election is of grace, not at all of merits. For he had before said, “So, therefore, even at this present time, the remnant has been saved by the election of grace. And if by grace, now it is no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace.” Therefore the election obtained what it obtained gratuitously; there preceded none of those things which they might first give, and it should be given to them again. He saved them for nothing.” (The Predestination of the Saints 11) Again: “Why, then, does He not teach all that they may come to Christ, except because all whom He teaches, He teaches in mercy, while those whom He teaches not, in judgment He teaches not? Since, “On whom He will He has mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth.” But He has mercy when He gives good things. He hardens when He recompenses what is deserved. […] And why He does not teach all men the apostle explained, as far as he judged that it was to be explained, because, “willing to show His wrath, and to exhibit His power, He endured with much patience the vessels of wrath which were perfected for destruction; and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He has prepared for glory.” Hence it is that the “word of the cross is foolishness to them that perish; but unto them that are saved it is the power of God.” God teaches all such to come to Christ, for He wills all such to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. And if He had willed to teach even those to whom the word of the cross is foolishness to come to Christ beyond all doubt these also would have come. For He neither deceives nor is deceived when He says, “Every one that hath heard of the Father, and hath learned, cometh to me.”” (The Predestination of the Saints 14) The elect shall exhibit God’s mercy for all eternity, and the reprobate shall exhibit His justice, and each shall exhibit the goodness of God. For the creation is to manifest the goodness of God. The worthiness of the elect is from election not from their will There is no difference per se between the predestined and the reprobate: they are all born as “the clay of the same lump”, worthy of condemnation from their original sin, and unable to rise without the gratuitous mercy of God. They are all without distinction of worthiness, over whom “the Potter hath power” (Romans 11) unto the worthiness of election or to reprobation unto condemnation. There is no unrighteousness with God that He should leave the invincibly ignorant to receive their just punishment, be it for original or further sins. They are already dishonourable, being conceived in original sin. Saint Augustine explains as follows: “Moreover, that which I said [Epistle 102], “That the salvation of this religion has never been lacking to him who was worthy of it, and that he to whom it was lacking was not worthy,”--if it be discussed and it be asked whence any man can be worthy there are not wanting those who say--by human will. But we say, by divine grace or predestination.” (The Predestination of the Saints 19) Again: “It is therefore settled that God's grace is not given according to the deserts of the recipients, but according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise and glory of His own grace; so that he who glorieth may by no means glory in himself, but in the Lord, who gives to those men to whom He will, because He is merciful, what if, however, He does not give, He is righteous: and He does not give to whom He will not, that He may make known the riches of His glory to the vessels of mercy. For by giving to some what they do not deserve, He has certainly willed that His grace should be gratuitous, and thus genuine grace; by not giving to all, He has shown what all deserve. Good in His goodness to some, righteous in the punishment of others; both good in respect of all, because it is good when that which is due is rendered, and righteous in respect of all, since that which is not due is given without wrong to any one.” (The Gift of Perseverance 28) Again: “Wherefore, the above-mentioned most excellent commentators on the divine declarations [Saints Cyprian and Ambrose] both preached the true grace of God as it ought to be preached,--that is, as a grace preceded by no human deservings,--and urgently exhorted to the doing of the divine commandments, that they who might have the gift of obedience should hear what commands they ought to obey. […] But God calls those whom He makes worthy, and makes religious whom He will.” (The Gift of Perseverance 49) God predestines the elect to persevere in Christ unto eternal assumption in Him Saint Augustine explained that even as God works the obedience of the Faith that the elect might come to Christ, being assumed into Him through baptism, likewise, it is the purely gratuitous gift of God that the elect do not finally depart from the Church, but persevere in Him that they might remain in Him eternally. Only the elect are given the great grace of final perseverance in the Faith and in that justification by which we are made living members of Christ, having been assumed into Him through baptism. The grace of perseverance is in part the grace of abiding in the Catholic Church, outside of which there is no salvation. God is able to give this grace to all, as He is able to predestine and save all; but most He reprobates. “Even so then at this present time also, there is a remnant saved according to the election of grace. And if by grace, it is not now by works: otherwise grace is no more grace.” (Romans 11:5-6) St. Augustine: “This grace He placed “in Him in whom we have obtained a lot, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things.” And thus as He worketh that we come to Him, so He worketh that we do not depart. Wherefore it was said to Him by the mouth of the prophet, “Let Thy hand be upon the man of Thy right hand, and upon the Son of man whom Thou madest strong for Thyself, and we will not depart from Thee.” This certainly is not the first Adam, in whom we departed from Him, but the second Adam, upon whom His hand is placed, so that we do not depart from Him. For Christ altogether with His members is--for the Church's sake, which is His body--the fulness of Him. When, therefore, God's hand is upon Him, that we depart not from God, assuredly God's work reaches to us (for this is God's hand); by which work of God we are caused to be abiding in Christ with God--not, as in Adam, departing from God. For “in Christ we have obtained a lot, being predestinated according to His purpose who worketh all things.” This, therefore, is God's hand, not ours, that we depart not from God. That, I say, is His hand who said, “I will put my fear in their hearts, that they depart not from me.”” (The Gift of Perseverance 14) Again: “I assert, therefore, that the perseverance by which we persevere in Christ even to the end is the gift of God; and I call that the end by which is finished that life wherein alone there is peril of falling. […] And the believer of one year, or of a period as much shorter as may be conceived of, if he has lived faithfully until he died, has rather had this perseverance than the believer of many years' standing, if a little time before his death he has fallen away from the steadfastness of his faith.” (The Gift of Perseverance 1) Again: “If, then, there were no other proofs, this Lord's Prayer alone would be sufficient for us on behalf of the grace which I am defending; because it leaves us nothing wherein we may, as it were, glory as in our own, since it shows that our not departing from God is not given except by God, when it shows that it must be asked for from God. For he who is not led into temptation does not depart from God. This is absolutely not in the strength of free will, such as it now is.” (The Gift of Perseverance 13) Hence, not only the invincibly ignorant, but all who are not of the elect are infallibly damned, whether they have previously abided in the Gospel or not. Some He preserves unto the end and others He allows to infallibly fall away to perdition. The destiny of those who die in infanthood is determined by whether they are predestined to receive baptism into Christ Infants only die young because God permits or causes this to happen. Some such are elect and are predestinated to receive baptism that they might be assumed into Christ; others are reprobate and are damned. There is no difference between them. St. Augustine: “Be it therefore far from us so to forsake the case of infants as to say to ourselves that it is uncertain whether, being regenerated in Christ, if they die in infancy they pass into eternal salvation; but that, not being regenerated, they pass into the second death. Because that which is written, “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men,” cannot be rightly understood in any other manner. Nor from that eternal death which is most righteously repaid to sin does any deliver anyone, small or great, save He who, for the sake of remitting our sins, both original and personal, died without any sin of His own, either original or personal. But why some rather than others? Again and again we say, and do not shrink from it: “O man, who art thou that repliest against God?” “His judgments are unsearchable, and His ways past finding out.” And let us add this: “Seek not out the things that are too high for thee, and search not the things that are above thy strength.” […] “We see this in more evident truth especially in infants. For God is not compelled by fate to come to the help of these infants, and not to come to the help of those,--since the case is alike to both. Or shall we think that human affairs in the case of infants are not managed by Divine Providence, but by fortuitous chances, when rational souls are either to be condemned or delivered, although, indeed, not a sparrow falls to the ground without the will of our Father which is in heaven? Or must we so attribute it to the negligence of parents that infants die without baptism, as that heavenly judgments have nothing to do with it; as if they themselves who in this way die badly had of their own will chosen the negligent parents for themselves of whom they were born? What shall I say when an infant expires some time before he can possibly be advantaged by the ministry of baptism? For often when the parents are eager and the ministers prepared for giving baptism to the infants, it still is not given, because God does not choose; since He has not kept it in this life for a little while in order that baptism might be given it. What, moreover, when sometimes aid could be afforded by baptism to the children of unbelievers, that they should not go into perdition, and could not be afforded to the children of believers? In which case it is certainly shown that there is no acceptance of persons with God; otherwise He would rather deliver the children of His worshippers than the children of His enemies.” (The Gift of Perseverance 30, 31) The reprobate infants are invincibly ignorant also, and perish in eternity simply because this is the decree of God. They die, not only without a belief in Christ but before they have reached the age at which they are capable of believing and seeking baptism. Conclusion We see that Saint Augustine considered the fate of the invincibly ignorant from the perspective of the gratuitous predestination of the saints as the Mystical Body of Christ - and the reprobation of the reprobate. Let not anyone say that the invincibility of ignorance is a new consideration, only recently introduced into the consideration of the Church. Saint Augustine pointed out that people justly die perchance without the gratuitously given capacity to believe (as infants), or without the gratuitously given preaching of the Gospel, or the gratuitously given thought that the Gospel is to be believed, or the gratuitously given will to believe the Faith, or the gratuitously given perseverance in the Faith and justice – they die without the gratuitous predestination of the graces by which the elect are infallibly saved, and without which the reprobate are infallibly damned.

St. Augustine, Doctor of Grace