Johannes Maxentius, Cæsarius, Johannes Antiochenus : as also by Gelasius and his Roman synod of seventy bishops, the writings of them both were rejected amongst the books apocryphal. And lastly by the joint authority both of the see of Rome', and of the French bishops assembled in the second council of Orange, in the year of our Lord DXXIX. sentence was given against the Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians in general, that their opinions touching grace and free will, were not agreeable to the rule of the Catholic faith; and these conclusions following, among sundry others, determined in particular.

"If any doth say, that by man's prayer the grace of GOD may be conferred, and that it is not grace itself which maketh, that god is prayed unto by us: he contradicteth the prophet Isaiah, or the apostle saying the same thing; I was found of them that sought me not, and have been made manifest to them that asked not after met."

"If any man defend, that God doth expect our will, that we may be purged from sin, and doth not confess that this will of ours to be purged, is wrought in us by the infusion and operation of the Holy Ghost: he resisteth

Unde id nobis, secundum admonitionem et auctoritatem sedis apostolica, justum ac rationabile visum est, ut pauca capitula ab apostolica nobis sede transmissa, quæ ab antiquis Patribus de sanctarum Scripturarum voluminibus in hac præcipue causa collecta sunt, ad docendos eos qui aliter quam oportet sentiunt, ab omnibus observanda proferre, et manibus nostris subscribere deberemus. Præfat. Concil. Arausican. II. Quot Arausicani canones, tot sunt Catholicæ ecclesiæ stabilitæ sententiæ, a quibus absque prævaricationis piaculo haud liceat fideli recedere. Baron. addit. ad tom. 7. ann. 529. in 10. tomi appendice.

* Si quis invocatione humana gratiam Dei dicit posse conferri; non autem ipsam gratiam facere, ut invocetur a nobis: contradicit Isaia prophetæ, ¡vel apostolo idem dicenti: Inventus sum a non quærentibus me, palam apparui iis qui me non interrogabant. Concil. Arausican. II. Can. 3.

t Isai. chap. 65. ver. 1. Rom. chap. 10. ver. 20.

"Si quis ut a peccato purgemur, voluntatem nostram Deum expectare contendit; non autem ut etiam purgari velimus per sancti Spiritus infusionem et operationem in nobis fieri confitetur : resistit ipsi Spiritui sancto, per Solomonem dicenti: Præparatur voluntas a Domino; et apostolo salubriter prædicanti ; Deus est qui operatur in nobis et velle et perficere pro bona voluntate. Ibid.

can. 4.

the Holy Ghost, saying by Solomon: The will is prepared by the Lord; and the apostle preaching wholesomely: It is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do, of his good pleasure."

"If any man say, that to us, without grace, believing, willing, desiring, endeavouring, labouring, watching, studying, asking, seeking, knocking, mercy is conferred by God, and doth not confess, that it is wrought in us by the infusion and inspiration of the Holy Ghost, that we may believe, will, or do all these things as we ought; and doth make the help of grace to follow after man's either humility or obedience, neither doth yield that it is the gift of grace itself, that we are obedient and humble: he resisteth the apostle, saying: What hast thou, that thou hast not received? and: By the grace of God I am that I am."

"It is God's gift, both when we do think aright, and when we hold our feet from falsehood and unrighteousness. For as oft as we do good things, God worketh in us, and with us, that we may work.'

"There are many good things done in man, which man doth not. But man doth no good things, which God doth not make man to do."

"This also do we wholesomely profess and believe,

Prov. chap. 8. ver. 35. according to the Septuagint.
Philipp. chap. 2. ver. 13.

y Si quis sine gratia Dei, credentibus, volentibus, desiderantibus, conantibus, laborantibus, vigilantibus, studentibus, petentibus, quærentibus, pulsantibus nobis misericordiam dicit conferri divinitus; non autem ut credamus, velimus, vel hæc omnia sicut oportet agere valeamus, per infusionem et inspirationem sancti Spiritus in nobis fieri confitetur; et aut humilitati aut obedientiæ humanæ subjungit gratiæ adjutorium, nec ut obedientes et humiles simus ipsius gratiæ donum esse consentit: resistit apostolo dicenti: Quid habes, quod non accepisti? et: Gratia Dei sum id quod sum. Concil. Arausican. II. can. 6. 21 Cor. chap. 4. ver. 7. a Ibid. chap. 15. ver. 10.

b Divini est muneris, cum et recte cogitamus, et pedes nostros a falsitate et injustitia tenemus. Quoties enim bona agimus, Deus in nobis atque nobiscum, ut operemur, operatur. Ibid. can. 9.

Multa in homine bona fiunt, quæ non facit homo. Nulla vero facit homo bona, quæ non Deus præstet, ut faciat homo. Ibid. can. 20.

d Hoc etiam salubriter profitemur et credimus, quod in omni opere bono non nos incipimus, et postea per Dei misericordiam adjuvamur; sed ipse nobis,

that in every good work we do not begin, and are holpen afterwards by the mercy of God, but he first of all, no good merits of our's going before, inspireth into us both faith and the love of him, that we may both faithfully seek the sacrament of baptism, and after baptism with his help we may fulfil the things that are pleasing unto him."

Touching which last canon we may note, first, for the reading, that in the tomes of the councils set out by Binius, it is most notoriously corrupted. For where the council hath, "Nullis præcedentibus bonis meritis, No good merits going before:" there we read: "Multise præcedentibus bonis meritis, Many good merits going before." Secondly, for the meaning, that "the fathers understand grace to be given according to merits, when any thing is done by our own strength, in respect whereof grace is given, although it be no merit of condignity:" as both Bellarmine himself doth acknowledge in the explication of the determination of the Palestine synod against Pelagius; and in the case of the Semi-Pelagians, as it is delivered by Cassianus, is most evident: "For the grace of GoD," saith he, "doth always so cooperate to the good part with our free will, and in all things help, protect, and defend it, that sometime it either requireth, or expecteth from it some endeavours of a good will, that it may not seem to confer its gifts upon one that is altogether sleeping, and

nullis præcedentibus bonis meritis, et fidem et amorem sui prius inspirat, ut et baptismi sacramenta fideliter requiramus, et post baptismum cum ipsius adjutorio ea quæ sibi sunt placita implere possimus. Concil. Arausican. II. can. ult. e Concil. tom. 2. part. 1. pag. 639. edit. Colon. ann. 1618.

f Gratiam secundum merita nostra dari intelligunt Patres, cum aliquid fit propriis viribus, ratione cujus datur gratia, etiamsi non sit illud meritum de condigno. Bellarm. de grat. et lib. arbitr. lib. 6. cap. 5.

g Ita semper gratia Dei nostro in bonam partem cooperatur arbitrio, atque in omnibus illud adjuvat, protegit ac defendit, ut nonnunquam etiam ab eo quosdam conatus bonæ voluntatis vel exigat, vel expectet; ne penitus dormienti aut inerti otio dissoluto, sua dona conferre videatur: occasiones quodammodo quærens, quibus humanæ segnitiei torpore discusso, non irrationabilis munificentiæ suæ largitas videatur, dum eam sub colore cujusdam desiderii ac laboris impartit; et nihilominus gratia Dei semper gratuita perseveret, dum exiguis quibusdam parvisque conatibus tantam immortalitatis gloriam, tanta perennis beatitudinis dona, inestimabili tribuit largitate. Jo. Cassian. collat. 13. cap. 13.

given to sluggish idleness: seeking occasions after a sort, whereby the dulness of human slothfulness being shaken off, the largeness of its bounty may not seem to be unreasonable, while it imparteth the same under the colour of a kind of desire and labour. Yet so notwithstanding that grace may always continue to be gracious and free, while to such kind of small and little endeavours, with an inestimable largess it giveth so great glory of immortality, so great gifts of everlasting bliss. Leth human frailty therefore endeavour as much as it will, it cannot be equal to the retribution that is to come; neither by the labours thereof doth it so diminish God's grace, that it doth not always continue to be given freely."

Where you may observe, from what fountain the schoolmen did derive their doctrine of works preparatory, meriting grace by way of congruity, though not of condignity. For Cassianus (whom Prosperi chargeth, notwithstanding all this qualifying of the matter, to be a maintainer in very deed of that damned point of Pelagianism, "that the grace of God was given according to our merits") Cassianus, I say, was a man that bare great sway in our monasteries, where his writings were accounted as the monks' general rules: and until the other day, Faustus himself (who of all others most cunningly opposed the doctrine of St. Augustine touching grace and free will) was accepted in the popish schools for a reverend doctor and a Catholic bishop. Yea the works of Pelagius himself were had in such account, that some of them (as his epistle ad Demetriadem for example, and the exposition upon St. Paul's epistles, fraught with his heretical opinions) have passed from hand to hand, as if they had been written by St. Hierome; and as such, have been alleged against us by some of our adversaries in this very question of free will. The less is it to be wondered, that three hundred years ago in the midnight of popery, the pro

h Quantumlibet ergo enisa fuerit humana fragilitas, futuræ retributioni par esse non poterit; nec ita laboribus suis divinam imminuit gratiam, ut non semper gratuita perseveret. Joh. Cassian. collat. 13. cap. 13.

i Prosp. contr. Collator. cap. 3. et 17. tomo 10. oper. Augustini.

found doctor Thomas Bradwardin (then chancellor of London, and afterwards archbishop of Canterbury) should begin his disputations, Of the Cause of God against Pelagius, with this lamentable complaint: "Behold (I speak it with grief of heart touched inwardly) as in old time against one prophet of God, there were found eight hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, unto whom an innumerable company of people did adhere: so at this day, in this cause, how many, O Lord, do now fight with Pelagius for free will against thy free grace, and against Paul, the spiritual champion of grace? For the whole world almost is gone after Pelagius into error. Arise therefore, O Lord, judge thine own cause: and him that defendeth thee, defend, protect, strengthen, comfort." To whose judgment I also now leave these "vain" defenders," or (as St. Augustine rightly censureth them) "deceivers, and puffers up, and presumptuous extollers of free will."

Ecce enim (quod non nisi tactus dolore cordis intrinsecus refero) sicut olim contra unicum Dei prophetam octingenti et quinquaginta prophetæ Baal, et similes sunt reperti, quibus et innumerabilis populus adhærebat: ita et hodie in hac causa; quot, Domine, hodie cum Pelagio pro libero arbitrio contra gratuitam gratiam tuam pugnant, et contra Paulum pugilem gratiæ spiritualem? Thom. Bradwardin. præfat. in libros de causa Dei contra Pelag.

1 Totus etenim pene mundus post Pelagium abiit in errorem. Exurge igitur Domine, judica causam tuam; et sustinentem te sustine, protege, robora, consolare. Ibid.

m Liberi arbitrii defensores, imo deceptores quia inflatores, et inflatores quia præsumptores. Augustin. epist. 194. ad Sixtum, op. tom. 2. pag. 719. Vani, non defensores, sed inflatores liberi arbitrii. Id. in opere imperf. contra Julian. Pelagian. lib. 2. cap. 154. op. tom. 10. pag. 1014. Non defensores, sed inflatores et præcipitatores liberi arbitrii. Id. de Grat. et lib. arbitr. cap. 14. ibid. pag. 731.