Book excerpt: Excerpt from Historical Presentation of Augustinism and Pelagianism From the Original Sources "Names are things." And hence the peculiarly imperative duty, when speaking of men, large classes of men, and especially of christian men, that the right appellations be employed. - But what kinds of things, and of what power, are names? Instruments, it may in the first place be replied; and some of them for moral and religious as well as for scientific investigation; - lenses, for instance, and of the most diverse and most magic power; enlarging, or diminishing; beautifying, or deforming; multiplying, illuminating, or obscuring; and investing objects with all imaginable hues. And again, they are weapons; - shields of adamant; - Damascus blades. Wise men know well their power. And good men wish to use them, and to see them used, only aright; and high-minded men, in the best sense of the term, scorn to use them, and blush to see them used, in any other way. - Names, too, have been the causes as well as the implements of war, arraying brother against brother, and that in the household of faith. Who will doubt this that has heard the thunder of such wars, or read their history? Whoever, then, shall kindly and dispassionately afford some real aid in fixing the just import of names employed in waging holy or unholy warfare, and thus shall aid those, whose business it may be, more justly to assign the names - and others to appreciate them - may well hope to be regarded as a son of peace, however humble his labor. And here it may just be remarked, that often it is as important to ascertain the genuine import of a good as of a bad name - the nature of a shield, as of a spear. For the last score of years, the terms Pelagian and Pelagianism have been very freely used. Opposite terms have also been assumed or applied with perhaps equal frequency. But with how much justness, in either case, it would here be premature to inquire. We must first ascertain the true import of such names. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.