Page images
PDF
EPUB

LETTER OF PROSPER TO ST. AUGUSTINE.

SIR, I send you, according to promise, a translation of an interesting letter, one of the many sent to the great Bishop of Hippo. The writer of it was Prosper, a worthy presbyter of Marseilles: the subject a complaint of the diffusion of Pelagian principles among many of the church there, who had previously been unsuspected of holding such sentiments, and whom the writer with pleasing, because unaffected humility, speaks of as in most respects superior to himself.

Your readers will, no doubt, be struck by the fair dealing, good sense, and genuine charity displayed in this communication, and equally so with observing how precisely the same difficulties which have embarrassed the minds of contending parties on the

same

topics in our own times, had their existence then: and how religious men who would thankfully embrace the doctrine of gratuitous salvation, and electing grace, for themselves, were jealous of its influence on others, and could not trust God with the consequence flowing from the declaration of its own truth.

It

The fact seems to be, that the intimate connexion between preventing grace, which till lately, all Christians acknowledged, and electing grace, the explicit statement of which now startled the minds of so many, had hitherto been very indistinctly perceived. was one of the effects of Pelagius' forcing the matter to an issue, (so wonderful does our Lord God bring good out of evil,) that it became necessary to search deeply into the originating cause of human salvation; and thus great truths heretofore obscured by the glosses of human philosophy were brought to light. And when we consider the strong tendency of human nature to the Pelagian tenets, it leaves a favourable impression of the pre

[ocr errors]

valence of true religion in the church, notwithstanding the abounding superstition,-that the sentiments of Augustine were so generally responded to, and Pelagianism, with so much in it to flatter the pride, and conciliate the prejudice of men, so decidedly rejected. Thus may it ever be,

Your's, Mr. Editor, very truly,

Z. A.

Prosper, to his most blessed Lord and Father, unspeakably admirable, incomparably reverend, his most excellent patron, Augustine.

1. Unknown to you in person, yet, if you remember, in some degree known as to my mind and language: for, through my holy brother, the deacon Leontius, I have both sent and received letters: I now venture to write to your blessedness, not as then, merely from a desire to make your acquaintance, but by the impulse of that faith through which the church lives. For as your most vigilant care watches for all the members of Christ's body, and contends with the valour of truth against the deceitful arts of heretical doctrines, methought I need be under no apprehension of either becoming troublesome to you, or of seeming officious, in a matter which relates as much to your own personal piety, as to the salvation of many. Rather, indeed, should I deem myself guilty, if I did not refer what I perceive to be exceedingly pernicious to the special advocate of the faith

2. Many, then, of the servants of Christ in the city of Marseilles, whose sentiments accord with those works of your Holiness, which

*The rise of that excessive and criminal veneration of the more prominent men in the church, is already visible in this letter. The terms applied by Prosper,

6

you have composed in opposition to the Pelagian heretics, think that you yourself stand opposed to the judgment of the Fathers, and the general sentiment of the church in whatever you have written concerning The Calling of the Elect according to the purpose of God.' And whereas they preferred laying the blame on their own dulness, to censuring what they did not understand, and some of them were anxious to ask your blessedness for a more distinct and perspicuous explanation of the subject, it happened by the dispensation of divine mercy, that (some in Africa having agitated similar sentiments) you had published a book On Reproof and Grace,' full of divine authority. This being brought to our knowledge by an unlookedfor opportunity, we thought that all the complaints of our opponents would be lulled to sleep, because you had there answered all the questions upon which your holiness was consulting, as fully and as distinctly as if you had specially laboured to set at rest the questions which were discussed among ourselves. When however this book of your blessedness had been perused, as those who were previously following the apostolic authority of your doctrine, became much more enlightened and informed, so those who were hindered by the obscurity of their own opinion, retired from the perusal of it more averse than ever. This decided difference of theirs was in the first place to be dreaded on their own account, lest the spirit of Pelagian impiety should impose upon men so distinguished for their zealous practice of every virtue : and again, lest the more simple, among whom they are held in great respect for their manifest integrity, should reckon that the

with reference to Augustine's saintly character, soon came to be given to all occupants of high office, and in the next step, appeared the Papacy.

safety for themselves which they bear to be maintained by those whose authority they indiscriminately follow.

3. For this, in fact, is their statement and profession. It is true, they say, that every man sinned in the sin of Adam, and that no one is saved through his own works, but through the grace of God by regeneration: yet that the propitiation which is in the mysterious virtue of Christ's blood is offered to all, without exception, so that whosoever are willing to come to faith and baptism, may be saved. That those, however, who were about to believe and to remain in that faith, which was afterwards to be assisted through grace, were known to God before the foundation of the world; and that he predestinated those to his kingdom, who, being called gratuitously, he knew would become worthy of election, and depart out of this life with a good end. That, therefore, every man was admonished by the divine ordinances to believe and work, that no one should despair of laying hold of eternal life, since a reward was prepared for voluntary devotion. But that this calling of God according to his purpose, by which it is said that, either before the beginning of the world, or in the actual condition of the human race, a distinction was made of those who were to be chosen, and those to be rejected, so that, according to the good pleasure of the Creator, some were created vessels of honour, others vessels of dishonour, that this doctrine takes away from the fallen all care of rising again, and is the occasion of producing lukewarmness in the saints; inasmuch as, either way, labour, would be needless, if neither the rejected could by any means enter in, nor the elect by any carelessness fall out. For let them conduct themselves as they might, nothing could possibly happen to them otherwise

than God had determined; and what consistency could there be in their course of life, when their hope was so uncertain ? Since, if the election of him who predestinated took one direction, vain was every effort of him who struggled towards another. All industry, therefore, was suspended, and all virtue done away with, if God's determination took precedence of human actions, and, under this term, predestination, a sort of fatal necessity was brought in; or the Lord was said to be the maker of different natures, if no one could do otherwise than he was made to do. To explain their sentiments more briefly and completely, whatever your holiness has, in this book, opposed to himself from the views of adversaries; whatever, also, you have most powerfully overthrown in the books against Julian, as objected by him upon this subject, every part of it is asserted with the utmost vehemence by these good men. And when we allege against them the writings of your blessedness, fraught with numberless and most powerful citations from the Holy Scriptures, and, according to, the arrangements of your disputations, add something of our own to convince them, they defend their obstinacy by appeals to antiquity. And as for the texts adduced from the epistle of the apostle Paul to the Romans, to shew that divine grace precedes the good deeds of the elect, they declare that they were never understood by any church writer in the sense they are now. When we require them to expound these texts in the sense which they approve, they profess not to have found any that pleaseth them, and insist upon silence being kept upon points, the depth of which none can fathom. They proceed ultimately to such lengths in their perverseness, as to lay it down that our belief is opposed to the edification of our hearers; so

that, even if true, it were not to be divulged, because it is hurtful to publish what cannot be admitted, and there is no danger in observing silence upon what cannot be understood.

4. But some of these persons are so far from forsaking the track of the Pelagians, that, when compelled to confess that grace of Christ which precedes all human merits, lest, if merit be allowed, it were vain to speak of grace, they will have it to belong to that condition of each individual, in which, previous to merit, (because previous to existence,) the grace of the Creator formed him a rational being, and of a free will, in order that through the discernment of good and evil, he might direct his own will to the knowledge of God, and obedience to his commandments; and that he attains to that grace by which we are born again in Christ, by a natural faculty, by asking, seeking, knocking; that he therefore receives, therefore finds, and therefore enters in, because having made good use of the advantages of his nature, he had merited, by the aid of original grace, to attain to that saving grace. They lay it down, moreover, that the purpose of calling grace is simply this, that God has determined to admit no one into his kingdom, but by the sacrament of regeneration, and that all men universally, whether by natural or written law, or by the preaching of the gospel, are called to this gift of salvation. That they who are willing are made children of God, and that they are inexcusable who are unwilling to be faithful, because the justice of God lies in this, that those who believe not perish: his goodness shews itself in this, that he discards none from life, but wills all men, without distinction, to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Here also they produce as testimonies, the exhortation by which Holy

Scripture stirs up the wills of men to obedience, while they, through free will, either do what is conmanded or neglect it: and they think it follows that, because the transgressor is therefore said not to obey, because he would not, it is not to be doubted but that the faithful was for this reason obedient because he would; and that so much power as any one has for evil, so much has he also for good, and the soul applies itself with equal force to virtue as to vice: when, therefore, it seeks for good things, the grace of God cherishes it when it follows evil, a just damnation overtakes it.

5. Meanwhile, when there is objected to them the innumerable multitude of little ones, who (excepting of course original sin, in which all men are equally born in the condemnation of the first man) have as yet no will and no actions of their own, and are distinguished not without the judgment of God; so that, of those who are taken away from the enjoyments of this life before they can discern good from evil, some are by regeneration admitted among the heirs of heaven, others, without baptism, pass into the number of the debtors to eternal death they say that such are saved, and such are lost, as the divine foreknowledge foresaw that they would be in their maturer years, if they had been preserved to the active period of life.

Nor

do they consider that they are subjecting the grace of God to those very wills, which, according to their fantastic notion, they do not deny to be prevented by it. But to such a degree do they subject the election of God to certain fancied merits, that since there are none past, they imagine some future, which yet are never to be; and by a new kind of absurdity peculiar to themselves, things not to be done are foreknown, and what are foreknown are never done. This foreknowledge of God re

specting human merits, according to which the grace of Him who calleth works, they seem to themselves to adduce with a much greater shew of reason, when we come to the consideration of those nations which in times past were suffered to go on in their own ways, or even now are still perishing in the impiety of their ancient ignorance, without any illumination either of the law or of the gospel, having shone upon them; while yet so far as the door is open to preachers, and a way made, the people of the "Gentiles who sat in darkness, have seen a great light, and they who once were not a people are now the people of God, and they upon whom he had not shown mercy, have now obtained mercy; they say that such were foreseen by the Lord as about to believe, and that to each particular nation were the times and the services of teachers so distributed as the belief of well inclined wills was about to arise. Thus there is no vacillation in the text-" God will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth," since indeed, they are inexcuseable who might by natural understanding both be taught the worship of the one true God, and had therefore not heard the gospel, because they would not have received it.

دو

6. They say, moreover, that our Lord Jesus Christ died for the whole human race, and that not one is excepted from the redemption of his blood, although he should pass through the whole of his life on earth with a mind utterly at variance with him, because the sacrament of divine mercy extends to all men, whence very many are not renewed, because they are foreknown as having no will to be renewed. As far therefore as God is concerned, eternal life is prepared for all, but as regards the freedom of the will, it is laid hold of by those who have spontaneously be

lieved in God, and received the assistance of his grace by virtue of their belief. Now the persons by whose opposition we are offended, have betaken themselves to the preaching of such a kind of grace, when previously they held better sentiments, principally on this account ;-because if they professed their belief that grace preceded all good works, and that they could only be holy through its gift, they must necessarily grant that God, according to the purpose and counsel of his will, by a hidden decree and manifested work, "made one vessel to honour, and another to dishonour; " because no one is justi. fied except by grace, and no one is born except in sin. But they shrink from this confession, and dread ascribing the good works of the saints to God's workmanship, nor can they allow of the number of the predestinated being incapable of increase or diminution, lest there should be no place for exhortation to the unbelievers or the careless, and injunctions to industry and painstaking be thrown away; inducements to which, in the absence of election, would be set aside. For it is to little purpose that any individual is called to correct his faults, or make advances in virtue, unless he knows that he can become good by his own endeavours, and that his freewill shall, on this account, be assisted by God, if he chooses what God commands. So then, whereas, in those who have received a time or free-will, there are two things which work out the salvation of man, to wit, God's grace, and man's obedience; they will have obedience take the precedence of grace, so that the beginning of salvation must be believed to depend on him who is saved, and not on him who saves; and it is the will of man which procures for itself the aid of divine grace, not grace that subdues to itself the will of man.

7. Through God's merciful revelation, and by the instructions of your blessedness, we know this to be a gross perversion of truth, and can be firm in our disbelief of it; but we are not a match for the authority of those who hold such sentiments, for they both greatly surpass us in the holiness of their lives, and some of them, having lately obtained the highest honour of the priesthood, stand far above us; nor does any one, except a few intrepid lovers of perfect grace, readily venture to oppose himself in disputation with men so much our superiors. Hence with their dignity, has the danger increased, not only of those who hear them, but of themselves who are heard; while many are kept in unprofitable silence by their respect for them, or led on with an easy assent: and that appears to them wholesome doctrine which scarcely meets with reproof from any one. Wherefore, since in these dregs of Pelagian corruption, no small root of bitterness is cherished, if the originating principle of salvation is wrongfully placed in man; if the will of man takes precedence of the will of God, so that one is helped because he wills, and does not will because he is helped; if he who is originally evil is wrongfully supposed to commence the reception of good, not from the highest good, but from himself; if he is pleasing to God for any other cause, than God's own gift grant us, as far as, by the Lord's assistance, you can, most excellent father, the benefit of your piety in this case, and be pleased to open to us by the clearest possible expositions whatever in these subjects may be at all obscure and difficult of apprehension.

8. And in the first place, because many do not suppose the Christian faith to be violated by this disagreement, show distinctly how great is the danger of holding such opinions. Next, how freewill is not hindered by this pre

« PreviousContinue »