on the sinner whether it be yielded to or rejected. But this yield- ing to the grace of God, is something right and good, and some- thing leading to salvation. Fallen men therefore are not utterly disabled to all good. And if not thus powerless for spiritual good, they are not spiritually dead. Original sin consequently, is not so dreadful an evil as Augustine represented it. Men are weak and sick ; but not helpless and dead. The Semi-Pelagians, as the designation implies, therefore, endeavoured to hold a middle ground between Augustine and Pelagius. They held, (1.) That in con- sequence of the fall of Adam, and our connection with him, all men are born in a state of sin and condemnation. (2.) That in consequence of this inherent, hereditary corruption, all the powers of man are weakened, so that he is of himself unable to resist sin and turn himself unto God. (3.) But while divine grace or aid is thus necessary to conversion, men may begin the work. They may seek after God, strive to walk in his ways, and comply with all the demands of the gospel. (4.) Those who thus begin the work of conversion, God assists in their endeavours by his grace ; and if the sinner makes due improvement of this divine assistance, the work of conversion is effected. (5.) As it rests with those who hear the gospel to receive or to reject it, it cannot be admitted that any definite portion of the human race was given to Christ as his inheritance whose salvation is rendered certain by that gift, and by the efficacious grace of God securing their conversion and their perseverance in faith. As the conversion of the sinner depends upon himself, so does his perseverance. The truly regenerated, therefore, may fall away and be lost.
On some of these points the original leaders of the Semi-Pela- gian party differed among themselves, but this is a correct exhibi- tion of the system as known in history as a form of doctrine. The characteristic principle of the Semi-Pelagian theory, by which it is distinguished from the doctrine afterwards adopted in the Romish Church, and by the Remonstrants and others, is that the sinner be- gins the work of conversion. The Semi-Pelagians denied " pre venting grace." God helps those only who begin to help them- selves. He is found only of those who seek Him.
Tlie historical details of the rise of Semi-Pelagianism are given above in the section on Original Sin. The most obscure point in the system is the meaning to be attached to the word " grace." It was used, as before remarked, in a sense so wide as to include all divine help, whetiier afforded externally in the revelation of the truth, the institutions of the Church, or the circumstances of life,
714 PART m. Ch. XIV.— vocation.
or by the providential efficiency of God as exerted in cooperation with all second causes, or by the special influence of the Holy Spirit. This last came to be the accepted meaning of the word grace. According to Augustinians, this influence of the Spirit was mediate, or through the truth, in all those exercises which, in the case of adults, usually precede the work of regeneration, such as conviction, remorse, anxiety, desire for deliverance from the curse of the law, etc. ; and also in the constant activity of the soul after regeneration in the exercise of all the gifts of the Spirit. It is, however, immediate, creative, and almiglity in the work of re- generation. A blind man might be deeply sensible of the misery of his sightless state, and earnestly desire that his eyes should be opened. He might be informed that Jesus of Nazareth restored sight to the blind. Arguments might be used to awaken confi- dence in the power and willingness of Jesus to grant that blessing to him. Under these mediate influences he might frequent the place where Jesus was to be found, and seek his aid. If the Lord spake the word, his eyes were instantly opened. Then all the glories of the heavens and the wonders of the earth broke on his view. The state of that man's mind was very complex. It was the result of many cooperating causes. But the restoration of sight itself, was the simple, mediate, instantaneous effort of almighty power. This was precisely what the Semi-Pelagians denied as in relation to regeneration. They saw that if that was admitted, they must admit the sovereignty of God in election and all the other features of the Augustinian system. They, therefore, insisted not only that the preliminary work was from the man himself, and not due to the Spirit's drawing one man and not another, but that in every state of the process, the Spirit's influence was mediate, {. e., a moral suasion through the truth, which could be, and in multitudes of cases actually is, effectually resisted. These are the doctrines condemned in the Councils of Orange and Valence, a. d. 529. The decrees of those Coimcils being ratified by the Bishop of Rome, Augustinianism was reestablished as the authoritative form of doctrine for the Latin Church.
Scholastic Period.
All conceivable forms of doctrine concerning sin and grace w^re ventilated successively by the subtle intellects of the schoolmen of the Middle Ages. Some of the theologians of that period were 'eally pantheistic in their philosophy ; others, while recognizing:- ;i personal God, merge all the efficiency of second cau-^fS in his om-
§ 7.] mSTORY OF THE DOCTRINE. 715
niprespiit agency; others went to the opposite extreme of making
the huiium will independent of God, and maintained that men can
act contrary to all kinds and degrees of influence not destructive
of their nature, which may be brouglit to bear upon them. These
sided naturally with Pelagius. Plenary ability, the power to do
whatever is obligatory, they said, is essential to free agency. Men
may, therefore, abstain from all sin. When sinners they may turn
themselves unto God. If God condescends to aid them in this
work, either by external revelations or by inward influence, they
must have the power to yield or to refuse. The alternative rests
with themselves. Others again come nearer to the Semi-Pelagian
tiieory, admitting that man cannot save himself; cannot turn unto
God ; cannot repent or believe without divine aid. But this aid
they held was given to all in sufficient measure to enable every man
to become and to continue a true penitent and believer. Many
i-f the most distino-uisheil theoloo;ians of tlie Latin Chui'cli, how-
e\ei% during this period adhered more or less closely to the doc-
triies of Augustine. This was the case with Leo and Gregory the
Grett, in the fifth and sixth centuries, and Bede and Alcuin in the
eiuhiJi and ninth. When, however, Gottschalk avowed the Augus-
tinian doctrine, not only of original sin and grace, but also of pre-
destinttion, it gave rise to violent opposition and issued in his con-
demnafon in the Council of Chiersy, 8-i9, under the influence of
Hincma« ; but in the opposing Council of Valence, 855 A. D., the
doetrinetof election and crrace in the Au^ustinian sense u'ere
maintainel.
Anselmin the eleventh century was essentially Augustinian in his views (f sin and grace. He held that man is born in a state of sin, witl a will enslaved to evil, free only in sinning. From this state o" helplessness, he can be freed only by the grace of the Holy Sjirit, not by his own power, and not by an influence which owes is success to the cooperation of an enslaved will.^
The two geat contending powers in the Latin Church for two centuries befce the Council of Trent, were the Dominicans and Franciscans, te Thomists and Scotists, the former the followers of Thomas Aq\inas, and the latter of Duns Scotus, As Aquinas adopted very nq,rly the doctrine of Augustine concerning original sin, so he approched more nearly to Augustinianism in his views concerning grae and predestination than the majority of the
1 See J. A. Hasse's melm von Canterbury ; Parts I. and II., the second part containing an exposition of his dttrines. See also Dr. Sfaedd's History of Christian Doctrine, vol. ii. cb. 5.
716 PART in. ch. XIV. — vocation.
schoolmen. He held that man since the fall had lost all ability to anything spiritually good ; that, without grace, he could do nothing acceptable to God or which secured salvation. But he held, —
1. That a gratia preveniens, a divine influence which precedes any good effort on the part of the sinner is granted to men, by which they are excited, encouraged, and aided. If this influence be improved, it secures the merit of congruity, " Quia congruum est, ut dum homo bene utitur sua virtute, Deus secundum super- excellentem virtutem excellentius operetur." ^ This divine influ- ence is called "gratia prima," and "gratia gratis data."
2. To this preventing grace when improved, is added the " gi'a- tia gratum faciens," renewing grace, called also " gratia operans ; *' and, in reference to its effects, " gratia habitualis," by which is meant, " infusio gratise."