of the difference between the believer and the unbeliever, to the purpose of God ; as it is He Avho foresees and intends the issue and adapts the means for the attainment of the end. But really the cause of the difference is in tlie man himself. One man is sus- ceptible and yielding ; another is hard and obstinate. Besides, this view as well as the precedino;, regards the influence by which re- generation is effected, as a mere suasion, which is contrary to the representations of Scripture. It ignores the Scriptural doctrine of the natural state of man since the fall as one of spiritual death ; and it professedly repudiates that of the divine sovereignty. It cannot, therefore, be reconciled with the Scriptures, if those doc- trines are taught, as all Augustinians believe, in the Word of God. The Jesuits adopted much the same view as that presented by Bellarmin. Molina, in his celebrated work, " Liberi arbitrii cum gratise donis, divina prasscientia, providentia, prredestinatione et reprobatione concordia," says, " Una et eadem est natura gratiae sufficientis er efficacis ; a nostro arbitrio et libero consensu pendet, ut efficax fiat nobis consentientibus, aut inefficax, nobis dissentien- tibus. Deus infallibiliter operatur ope scientioe medice : vidit per scientiam rerum sub conditione futurarum, quern haec aut ilia gratia effectum habitura sit in honiine, si detur ; ponit decretum talem largiendi, cum qua prsevidet consensuram voluntatem ; talis gratia est efficax, — itaque praescientia non fallitur." ^
Neither the Symbols of the Romish Church, nor the majority of its theologians adopt this doctrine of Bellarmin. Thej make the difference between sufficient and efficacious grace to be determined simply by the event. One man cooperates with the grace he re- ceives, and it becomes efficacious ; another does not cooperate, and it remains without saving effect. On this point the Council of Trent ^ decided, " Si quis dixerit, liberum hominis arbitrium a Deo motum, et excitatum nihil cooperari assentiendo Deo excitanti atque vocanti, quo ad obtinendam justificationis gratiam se dis- ponat, ac praeparet, neque posse dissentire, si velit, sed velut in- anime quoddam nihil omnino agere, mereque passive se habere, anathema sit." "According to Catholic principles," says Mohler,^ " two agencies are combined in the holy work of regeneration, a human and divine, whicii interpenetrate each other, when the work is effected; so that it is a divine-imman work. God's holy power goes before, exciting, awakening, and quickening, without the man's
1 See Kollner's Symbolik, Hamburg?, 1844, vol. ii. p. 334.
2 Sess. VI. can. iv.; Streitwclf, Libri Symbolici, Go .tingea, 1846, p. 34. 8 Siimbolik, 6th edit. Mainz, 1843, p. 105.
C80 PART m. Ch. XIV.- VOCATION.
meriting, procuring, or determining this influence, but he must yield to, and freely follow it." This he confirms by citing the lan- guage of the Council of Trent. ^ " Ut, qui per peccata a Deo aversi erant, per ejus excitantem atque adjuvantem gratiam ad convertendum se ad suam ipsorum justificationem eidem gratias libera assentiendo, et cooperando, disponantur : ita ut tangente Deo cor hominis per Spiritus Sancti illuminationem, neque homo ipse nihil omnino agat, inspirationem illam recipiens, quippe qui iilam et abjicere potest, neque tamen sine gratia Dei movere se ad justitiam coram illo libera sua voluntate possit."
Augustinian Doctrine of Efficacious G-race.
According to the Augustinian doctrine the efficacy of divine grace in regeneration depends neither upon its congruity nor upon the active cooperation, nor upon the passive non-resistance of its subject, but upon its nature and the purpose of God. It is the exercise of " the miglity power of God," who speaks and it is done. This is admitted to be the doctrine of Augustine himself. He saj'S, " Non lege atque 'doctrina insonante forinsecus, sed interna et occulta, mirabili ac ineflPabili potestate operari Deum in cordibus hominum non solum veras revelationes, sed bonas etiam volun- tates." 2 " Nolentem prsevenit, ut velit ; volentem subsequitur, ne frustra velit." ^
The Jansenists, the faithful disciples of Augustine, endeavoured to revive his doctrine in the Roman Church. Among the propo- sitions selected from their writings and condemned by Pope Clement XL in the famous Bull, Unigenifus, are the following: " Num. ix.. Gratia Christi est gratia suprema, sine qua Cliristum confiiteri nunquam possumus, et cum qua nunquam ilkim abnega- mus. 1 Cor. xii. 3. Num. x., Gratia est manus omnipotentis Dei, jubentis et facientis quod jubet. Mar. ii. 11. Num. xix., Dei gratia nihil aliud est quam ejus omnlpotens voluntas : hsec est idea, quam Dens ipse nobis tradit in omnibus suis Scripturis. Rom. xiv. 4. Num. xxi.. Gratia Jesu Christi est gratia fortis, potens, suprema, invincibilis, utpote quae est operatic voluntatis omnipo- tentis, sequela et imitatio operationis Dei incarnantis et resusci- tantis filium suum. 2 Cor. v. 21. Num. xxiv., Justa idea,
1 Sess. VI. cap. iv. ; Streitwolf, Libri Symbolici, p. 23.
2 De Gratia Christi (xxiv.), 25; Works, edit. Benedictines, Paris, 1838, vol. x. pp. 545 d, 546, a.
8 Enchiridion de Fide, Spe et Charitate (xxxii.), 9; Works, vol. vi. p. 363, a. For a full exposition of Augustine's Theory' see Wiggers, Augu8tini$m and Pelagianism, ch. xiii. An« dover, 3840, pp. 194-218.