§ 151. THE PELAGIAN SYSTEM CONTINUED. 811
and the positive benefit of a strengthening of the will bj the power of instruction and example. As we have been followers of Adam in sin, so should we become imitators of Christ in virtue. " In those not Christians," says Pelagius, " good exists in a condition of nakedness and helplessness ; but in Christians it acquires vigor through the assistance of Christ." ' He distinguishes different stages of development in grace corresponding to the increasing corrugation of mankind. At first, he says, men lived righteous by nature (justitia per naturam), then righteous under the law (justitia sub lege), and finally righteous under grace (justitia gratise), or the gospel. "^ When the inner law, or the conscience, no longer sufliced, the outward or Mosaic law came in ; and when this failed, through the overmastering habit of sinning, it had to be assisted by the view and imitation of the virtue of Christ, as set forth in his example.*^ Julian of Eclanum also makes kinds and degrees of the grace of God. The first gift of grace is our creation out of nothing ; the second, our rational soul ; the third, the written law ; the fourth, the gospel, with all its benefits. In the gift of the Son of God grace is completed.*
Grace is therefore a useful external help (adjutorium) to the development of the powers of nature, but is not absolutely necessary. Coelestins laid down the proposition, that grace is not given for single acts.* Pelagius, it is true, condemned those who deny that the grace of God in Christ is necessary .for every moment and every act ; but this point was a conces-
26 (§ 45, torn. X. 109): "Certe ita dictum est: justijicabuntur, ac si diceretur: justi habebuntur, justi depufabuniur, sicut dictum est de quodam : Jlle autem volens se justificare (Luc. x. 29), i. e., ut Justus haberetur et dcputaretury
' In Aug. De gratia Chr. c. 31 (torn. x. fol. 244): " In illis nudum et inerme est conditionis bonum ; in his vero qui ad Cliristum pertinent, Christi munitur auxilio."
* Aug. De pecc. orig. c. 26 (§ 30, torn. x. f. 266) : " Non, sicut Pelagius et ejus discipuli, tempora dividamus dicentes : pri7num vixisse jnstos homines ex nafura^ deinde sub lege, iertio sub gratia.''''
* Cited from Pelagius, 1. c. : " Postq lam nimia, sicut disputant, peccandi con- Buetudo prsevaluit, cui sanandae lex parum valeret, Christus advenit et tanquail iDorbo desperatissimo non per discipulos, sed per se ipsum medicus ipse subvenit."
* In Augustine's Opus imperf. i. 94 (tom. x. f. 928)
* " Gratiam Dei et adjutorium non ad singulos actus dari."
814 THIRD PERIOD. A.D. 311-590.
sion wrung from liim in tlie controversy, and does not follow logically from his premises.'
Grace moreover, according to Pelagius, is intended for all men (not, as Angustine taught, for the elect few only), but it must first be deserved. This, however, really destroys its freedom.' *' The heathen," he says, " are liable to judgment and damnation, because they, notwithstanding their free will, by which they are able to attain unto faith and to deserve God's grace, make an evil use of the freedom bestowed upon them ; Christians, on the other hand, are worthy of reward, because they through good use of freedom deserve the grace of God, and keep his commandments." '
Pelagianism, therefore, extends the idea of grace too far, making it include human nature itself and the Mosaic law; while, on the other hand, it unduly restric^ts the specitic-ally Christian grace to the force of instruction and example. Christ is indeed the Supreme Teacher, and the Perfect Example, but He is also High-priest and King, and the Author of a new spiritual creation. Had He been merely a teacher. He would not have been specifically distinct from Moses and Socrates, and could not have redeemed mankind from the guilt and bondage of sin. Moreover, He does not merely influence believers from without, but lives and works in them through the Holy Ghost, as the principle of their spiritual life. Hence Augustine's wish
* Comp., respecting this, Augustine, De gratia Christi, cap. 2 (torn. x. foL 229 Bq.).
' Comp. Rom. iv. 4, 5 ; Eph. ii. 8, 9. Shakespeare has far l)etter understood the nature of grace tlian Pchigius, in the famous speech of Portia in the Merchant of Venice (Act lY. Sc. 1):
" The quahty of mercy is not strained : It droppcth as tlie gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath ; it is twice blcssel. It blcsseth him that gives and him that takes.'*
• Pelagius in Aug. De gratia Chr. c. 31 (x. f. 245). The illi, according to the connection, must refer to those not Christians, the hi to Christians. Yet according to his principles we might in turn fairly subdivide each class, since according to him there are good heathens and bad Christians Against this Augustine urges : " Ubi /8t illud apostoli: Justificati gratis per gratiam ipsius (Rom. iii. 24)? Ubi est iUud* Gratia .salvi facti estis (Eph. ii. 8) ? " He concludes with the just proposition ; " No* aet gratia, uisi gratuita."