Proof. A man performing moral acts may be either in a state of unbelief, or of mortal sin, or of sanctifying grace. The question here at issue is chiefly whether all the works of pagans, that is all acts done without grace of any kind, are morally bad, or whether any purely natural works may be good despite the absence of grace. Baius and Jansenius affirmed this; nay more, they asserted that no man can perform good works unless he is in the state of grace and inspired by a perfect love of God (_caritas_). If this were true, all the works of pagans and of such Christians as have lost the faith, would be so many sins. But it is _not_ true. The genuine teaching of the Church may be gathered from her official condemnation of the twenty-fifth, the twenty-sixth, and the thirty-seventh propositions of Baius. These propositions run as follows: “Without the aid of God’s grace free-will hath power only to sin;”(135) “To admit that there is such a thing as a natural good, _i.e._ one which originates solely in the powers of nature, is to share the error of Pelagius;”(136) “All the actions of unbelievers are sins and the virtues of philosophers vices.”(137) To these we may add the proposition condemned by Pope Alexander VIII, that “The unbeliever necessarily sins in whatever he does.”(138) 1. Sacred Scripture and the Fathers, St. Augustine included, admit the possibility of performing naturally good, though unmeritorious, works (_opera steriliter bona_) in the state of unbelief; and their teaching is in perfect conformity with right reason. a) Our Divine Lord Himself says:(139) “If you love them that love you, what reward(140) shall you have? Do not even the publicans this? And if you salute(141) your brethren only, what do you more? Do not also the heathens(142) this?” The meaning plainly is: To salute one’s neighbor is an act of charity, a naturally good deed, common even among the heathens, and one which, not being done from a supernatural motive, deserves no supernatural reward. But this does not by any means imply that to salute one’s neighbor is sinful.