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Dear Brother, You’re hanging your yourself again by “guessing” on what the Early Church Fathers thought Blessed Augustine would want you to become a Catholic and live a Sacramental Christian life

I don't have to guess. I'm well aware of what the early fathers wrote. The quotes you provided from Augustine are much early than his revelation in A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints.

"Therefore," says the Pelagian, "He foreknew who would be holy and immaculate by the choice of free will, and on that account elected them before the foundation of the world in that same foreknowledge of His in which He foreknew that they would be such. Therefore He elected them," says he, "before they existed, predestinating them to be children whom He foreknew to be holy and immaculate. Certainly He did not make them so; nor did He foresee that He would make them so, but that they would be so." Let us, then, look into the words of the apostle and see whether He chose us before the foundation of the world because we were going to be holy and immaculate, or in order that we might be so. "Blessed," says he, "be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us in all spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ; even as He hath chosen us in Himself before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted." [Eph. 1.3.] Not, then, because we were to be so, but that we might be so.

I'd seriously doubt Augustine would have been Catholic today. I believe he would have felt more comfortable as an Orthodox Presbyterian.

I don't "hang" myself on the church fathers. To me they are uninspired writings from which we gather facts and data about how the church viewed things and how theology was constructed. To understand their writings completely, you have to have an understanding of what was happening in history at the time of their writings. These writings are tainted with events surrounding the fathers. I quoted Ireaneus simply to show that he at least held some view of God's sovereign will over man's life; there are others. The true theological position was always held within the Church but it wasn't until Augustine understood the issue and put it in his Treatise that it caused problems.

To the Catholic Church, the fathers writings are next to inspired writings. The Church feels the are capable of picking and choosing which of those writings are more inspirational than the others. You quoted Ireaneus as showing he believe in man's freedom of choice.

In some ways we have the same perspective on the fathers but simply coming from different angles. The only problem I see with the Catholic perspective is that they fail to recognize the historical context of the writings. Thus it has lead to corruption of the Catholic doctrine.

We could throw around quotes and theological comments from the fathers all day long but it won't mean anything. You yourself don't buy into Augustine's Predestination beliefs. So why is this one document wrong and the others right? (Especially when Agusutine states that his earlier works are in error?) When all is said and done, the only thing we have to support our views are the scriptures (GASP-Sola Scriptura)

I speak of the most blessed Cyprian—when he said "that we must boast in nothing, since nothing is our own." And in order to show this, he appealed to the apostle as a witness, where he said, "For what hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received it, why boastest thou as if thou hadst not received it?" [1 Cor. 4.7.] And it was chiefly by this testimony that I myself also was convinced when I was in a similar error, thinking that faith whereby we believe on God is not God's gift, but that it is in us from ourselves, and that by it we obtain the gifts of God, whereby we may live temperately and righteously and piously in this world.

“”I’d seriously doubt Augustine would have been Catholic today. I believe he would have felt more comfortable as an Orthodox Presbyterian.””

Dear Harley,That’s absurd! You never cease to amaze me with the things you write.

Augustine would NEVER elevate his views on predestination in order to give up or attack the Sacraments and teaching authority of the Church.

Let me show you just how Catholic Blessed Augustine was....

Augustine on Confession

“All mortal sins are to be submitted to the keys of the Church and all can be forgiven; but recourse to these keys is the only, the necessary, and the certain way to forgiveness. Unless those who are guilty of grievous sin have recourse to the power of the keys, they cannot hope for eternal salvation. Open your lips, them, and CONFESS YOUR SINS TO THE PRIEST. Confession alone is the true gate to Heaven.” Augustine, Christian Combat (A.D. 397).

Saint Augustine’s prayer to the Blessed Mother

Prayer to Our Lady of Mercy - St. Augustine of Hippo
Blessed Virgin Mary,
who can worthily repay you with praise
and thanks for having rescued a fallen world
by your generous consent!
Receive our gratitude,
and by your prayers obtain the pardon of our sins.
Take our prayers into the sanctuary of heaven
and enable them to make our peace with God.

Holy Mary, help the miserable,
strengthen the discouraged,
comfort the sorrowful,
pray for your people,
plead for the clergy,
intercede for all women consecrated to God.
May all who venerate you
feel now your help and protection.
Be ready to help us when we pray,
and bring back to us the answers to our prayers.
Make it your continual concern
to pray for the people of God,
for you were blessed by God
and were made worthy to bear the Redeemer of the world,
who lives and reigns forever.

Saint Augustine on Transubstantiation of Eucharist

“You ought to know what you have received, what you are going to receive, and what you ought to receive daily. That Bread which you see on the altar, having been sanctified by the word of God, IS the Body of Christ. The chalice, or rather, what is in that chalice, having been sanctified by the word of God, IS the Blood of Christ.”

-”Sermons”, [227, 21]

Saint Augustine on infant Baptism

“And if any one seek for divine authority in this matter, though what is held by the whole Church, and that not as instituted by Councils, but as a matter of invariable custom, is rightly held to have been handed down by apostolical authority, still we can form a true conjecture of the value of the sacrament of baptism in the case of infants, from the parallel of circumcision, which was received by God’s earlier people, and before receiving which Abraham was justified, as Cornelius also was enriched with the gift of the Holy Spirit before he was baptized.” Augustine, On Baptism against the Donatist, 4:24:31 (A.D. 400).

Saint Augustine on Peter’s Successors Claim Authority over the Church

“I am held in the communion of the Catholic Church by...and by the succession of bishops from the very seat of Peter, to whom the Lord, after His resurrection commended His sheep to be fed up to the present episcopate.” Augustine, Against the Letter of Mani, 5 (A.D. 395).