Letter to Rufinus on Grace and Free Will 18

19. As for what is bandied about, with most foolish falsehood, to the injury of so great a man about fate and two masses and two natures, it neither burdens him, in whose books errors of this kind are most copiously destroyed, nor disturbs us, who detest such opinions together with their authors. But let them see how they will strip themselves of the disgrace of this falsehood, who can invent such foolish things, if those whose ears they abuse apply a little diligence to learn what that most excellent minister of grace has argued; although those who say these things ought themselves to forestall all delay in this inquiry by producing and explaining the books, or by pointing out any little part of them which the holy man published as open, through an understanding at least doubtful, to such an interpretation. But they have heard absolutely nothing of the kind from us, they have read nothing of the kind; for we know that nothing is done by fate, but all things are ordered by the judgment of God; and that not from two masses or two natures, but from one mass, which is the flesh of the first man, one nature of all human beings was created and is created, and that the same was laid low through the free choice of that first man, in whom all sinned; and that it is in no way free from the debt of eternal death unless the grace of Christ re-forms it to the image of God of the second creation, and preserves its free choice by acting, inspiring, helping, and going before it to the end. [Epilogue] 20. Since, therefore, your Holiness sees (if the obscurity of my speech does not stand in the way) that certain people complain of us in vain, and that all those foolish charges have been woven together to exasperate and turn away the minds of those whom they wish to persuade otherwise, be confident, then, in the power of God's mercy, that this opposition, as in other parts of the world, so also in these regions, will be quieted, so that the preaching of the greatest man in the church at this time may be helped even by those by whom it is at present rejected. But you, my most beloved and most venerable brother, if you truly desire to be instructed on these questions, as it is fitting that you should desire, give your care to learning the discussions of the blessed Augustine himself, so that in confessing the grace of God you may attain the purest and most healthful understanding of the gospel and apostolic teaching. May the grace of God and the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ keep you at all times, and direct you by the way of truth into eternal life.