With this earnestness, above three hundred years ago, did this profoundly learned man press the popes to a determination of these controversies against the Pelagians and their successors in his schools. The same suit hath ever since been continued by very many learned men (in ever\'^ age) of the communion of the church of Rome, crying out for the papal defini- tive sentence against the Pelagian errors crept into their church ; especially hath this outcry with supplication been renewed by the Dominican friars, ever since the Jesuits have so cunningly gilded over that Pelagian poison, and set it out as the best and most wholesome food for " holy mother " and her children. Yea, with such earnestness hath this been in the last age pursued by agents in the court of Rome, that (a congregation de auxiliis being purposely appointed) it was generally supposed one while that they would have prevailed in their suit, and have obtained a definitive sentence on their side against their adversaries. But through the just vengeance of God upon a pack of bloody, persecuting idolaters, giving tliem up more and more to the belief of lies, contrary almost to the expectation of all men, this very year, 1G53, Pope Innocent X., who now wears the tri])le crown, conjured by the subtlety and dreadful interest of the Jesuits in all nations that as yet wonder after him, by a solemn bull, or papal consistorian determination, in the case of Jansenius, bishop of Ypres, hath turned the scales upon his first supj>liants, and cast the cause on the Pelagian side. But of that whole business elsewhere.
I shall not perplex the reader with the horrid names of Trombet, Hilcot, Bricot, Sychet, Tartaret, Brulifer, nor with their more horrid terms and expressions. Let the one Angelical Doctor [i.e., Aquinas] answer for the rest of his companions.
That this man, then (one of the great masters of the crew), abode by the ])rinciples of him before insisted on, may quickly be made evident by some few instances clearing his judgment herein.
This, in the first place, he everywhere insists on, that no habitual grace
A PREFACE TO THE READER. '71
received, no improvement that can be made of it, by the utmost ability, diligence, and the most raised considerations of the best of men, will cause any one certainly to persevere, without the peculiar preservation of God. Of this he gives his reason, lib. iii. Contra Gent. Ca. 155, " Illud quod natura sua est variabile, ad hoc, quod figatur in uno, indiget auxilio ali- cujus moventis immobilis ; sed liberum arbitrium etiam existentis in gratia habituali adhuc manet variabile, et flexibile a bono in malum; ergo ad hoc, quod figatur in bono et perseveret in illo, usque ad finem, indiget speciali Dei auxilio." An argument this of the same importance with that mentioned out of Bradwardin; which, howsoever at first appearance it may seem to lie at the outskirts of the controversy in hand, yet indeed is such as, being granted, hath an influence into the whole, as hath been manifested.
And this the same author farther confirms. Saith he, pp. q. 109, a. 9, " Cum nullum agens secundum agat nisi in virtute primi, sitque caro spi- ritui perpetuo rebellis ; non potest homo licet jam gratiam consecutus, per seipsum operari bonum, et vitare peccatum, absque novo auxilio Dei, ipsum moventis, dii-igentis, et protegentis ; quamvis alia habitualis gratia ad hoc ei necessaria non sit." And the reasons he gives of this conclusion in the body of the article are considerable. This, saith he, must be so, " Primo quidem, ratione generali propter hoc, quod nulla res creata potest in quem- cunque actum prodire, nisi virtute motionis divinte." The Pelagian self- sufficiency and exemption from dependence " in solidum" upon God, both providentially and physically as to operation, was not so freely received in the schools as afterward. " Secundo," saith he, "ratione speciali, propter conditionem status humanje naturse, qute quidem licet per gratiam sanetur, quantum ad mentem, remanet tamen in eo corruptio, et infectio quantum ad carnem, per quam servit legi peecati, ut dicitur. Pom. vii. Remanet etiam qusedam ignorantite obscuritas in intellectu, secundum quam (ut etiam dicitur, Rom. viii.) 'quid oremus sicut oportet nescimus:' ideo necesse est nobis, ut a Deo dirigamur et protegamur, qui omnia novit, et omnia potest." And will not this man, think you, in his gropings after light, when dark- ness covered the face of the earth, and thick darkness was upon the in- habitants thereof, with this his discovery, — of the impotency of the best of the saints for perseverance upon the account of any grace received, because of the perpetual powerful rebellion of indwelling lust and corrup- tion, and that all that do persevere are preserved by the power of God unto salvation, — rise in judgment against those who in our days, wherein the Sun of Righteousness is risen with healing under his wings, do ascribe a sufiiiciency unto men in themselves, upon the bottom of their rational considerations, to abide with God, or persevere to the end?
And this assertion of the Angelical Doctor is notably confirmed by Di- dacus Alvarez in his vindication of it from the exception of Medina, that we make use of habits when we will, and if men will make use of their habitual grace, they may persevere without relation to any after grace of God. Saith he, " Respondetur, habitibus quidem nos uti cum volumus, sed ut velimus illis uti, prairequiritur motio Dei efiBcax, prfemovens liberum arbitrium, ut utatur habitu ad operandum, et operetur bonum, prsesertim quando habitus sunt supernaturales ; quia cum pertineant ad superiorem ordinem, habent specialem rationem, propter quam potentia mere natura- lis non utitur eisdem habitibus, nisi speciali Dei auxilio moveatur," Alvar. De Aux. lib. x. disput. 100. Though received graces are reckoned by him as supernatural habits, yet such as we act not by, nor with, but from new supplies from God.