as bom need regeneration and redemption. The practice of infant baptism was a constant profession of faith in the doctrines of origi- nal sin and of regeneration by the immediate agency of the Holy Spirit. (5.) It is no doubt true that many declarations may be cited from the early writers, especially of the Greek Church, in- consistent with one or more of the doctrines just stated ; but it is no less true that these same writers and others of equal autiioritv explicitly avow them. (6.) As the prevalent heresies of that time tended to fatalism, the natural counter tendency of the Church was to the undue exaltation of the liberty and abihty of the human will. (7.) That this tendency was specially characteristic of the Greek Church, and has continued to distingTiish the theolocrv of that Church to the present day.
Pdagian Doctrine.
The Pelagian doctrine has already repeatedly been presented. It is only in reference to the views of Pelagius and his followers on the subject of grace that anything need now be said. As the Pelagians insisted so strenuously upon the plenary ability of man to avoid all sin, and to fulfil all duty, it was obvious to object that they ignored the necessity of divine grace of which the Scriptures so frequently and so plainly speak. This objection, however, Pela- gius resented as an injury. He insisted that he ftilly recognized the necessity of divine grace for everything good, and magnified its office on every occasion. ^ In a letter to Innocent he assures the Roman bishop that while praising the nature of man, we always add the help of the grace of God ; '* ut Dei semper gratia addamus auxilium."^ By grace, however, he meant, (1.) Free will, the ability to do right under all circumstances. This inalienable en- dowment of our nature he regarded as a oreat distinction or eift of God. (2.) The law, and especially the revelation of God in the Gospel, and the example of Clirist. He says God rouses men from the pursuit of earthly things, by his promises of ftiture blessedness, etc.3 (3.) The forgiveness of sin. The Pelagian heresy " asserts that ' the grace of God includes our being so created that we have power to avoid sin, that God has given us the help of the law and of his commands, and further that he pardons those who having sinned return unto him."* In these things alone is the grace of
1 See his letter to Innocent, a. d. 417. quoted by Augustine. De Gratia Chritti [xxxi- xxxr.], 33-38; Works, edit Benedirtines, Paris. 1333. vol. x. pp. 549-552. s Augustine, De Gratia Christi [xxxvii.], 40: p. 553. a. « Jbid. [x.], 11: pp. 535, 536. * Augustine, de Gtttit Pdagu ; Works, voL x. p. 518, b.
712 PART ni. Ch. XIV.— VOCATION.
God recognized." (4.) Both Pelagius and Julian speak of tlie operation of the Spirit on the minds of men as a form of divine grace. In commenting on the words, " Ye are .... the ejjisrle of Christ" (2 Cor. iii. 3), Pehigius says, "To all it is manifest that through our doctrine ye have believed on Ciirist, 'confirmante virtutem Spiritu Sancto.' " Tiiis influence of the Spirit, however, lie regarded as didactic, or enlightening the mind ; wliile he denied the absolute necessity of such spiritual influence, and taught that it only rendered obedience more easy.^
We have already seen that Augustine, holding as he did that man since the fall is in a state of spiritual death, utterly disabled and opposite to all good, taught that his restoration to spiritual life was an act of God's almighty power; and being an act of omnipo- tence was instantaneous, immediate, and irresistible. This point is sufficiently well known and already established.
Semi-Pelagiayiism.
The doctrine of Pelagius had been condemned in the provincial Synod of Carthage, a. d. 412 ; in the Council of Jerusalem, 413 ; and in the Tiiird General Council at Ephesus, 431. The o|)posite doctrine of Augustine was declared to be Scriptural and the doc- trine of the Church. It was one of the inevitable consequences of Augustine's doctrine of efficacious grace, that God is sovereign in election and reprobation. If the sinner cannot convert himself, nor prepare himself for that work, nor cooperate in effecting it, then it can neither be out of regard to such preparation or coopera- tion, nor because of the foresight thereof that God makes one, and not another the subject of his saving grace. This Augustine freely admitted, and taught, in accordance with the plain teachings of the Scriptures, that God has mercy on whom He will have mercy. It was this inevitable consequence of the doctrine rather than the doctrine itself, whether of total depravity and helplessness, or of irresistible grace, that led to the strenuous opposition which con- tinued to be made to the Augustinian system notwithstanding the decision of councils in its favour. So prominent was the doctrine of predestination in these controversies, and so strong was the antipathy to that doctrine, that the Augustinians were called by their opponents Prcedestinati. To avoid the dreaded conclusion that fallen men lie at the mercy of God, and that He has mercy on whom He will have mercy, the Semi-Pelagians denied that the grace of God was irresistible. If not irresistible, then it depends
1 VViggers, p. 183. See Wiggers' Auguslinism and Pelagianism, ch. xiii., Andover, I84(\ pp. 177-218.