§ 159. SEMI-rELAGIAIs RM. 8G1
rieiiced ascetics in Egypt, during a seven years' sc;ourn there.
In this work, especially in the thirteenth Colloquy/ lie rejects decidedly the errors of Pelagius,' and affirms the universal sinfulness of men, the introduction of it by the fall of Adam, and the necessity of divine grace to every individual act. But, with evident reference to Augustine, though without naming him, iie combats the doctrines of election and of the irresistible and particular operation of grace, which were in conflict with the church tradition, especially with the Oriental theology, and with his own earnest ascetic legalism.
In opposition to both systems he taught that the divine image and human freedom were not annihilated, but only weakened, by the fall ; in other words, that man is sick, but not dead, that he cannot indeed help himself, but that he can desire the help of a physician, and either accept or refuse it when offered, and that he must co-operate with the grace of God in his salvation. The question, which of the two factors has the initiative, he answers, altogether empirically, to this effect : that sometimes, and indeed usually, the human will, as in the cases of the Prodigal Son, Zacchagus, the Penitent Thief, and Cornelius, determines itself to conversion ; sometimes grace anticipates it, and, as with Matthew and Paul, draws the resisting will — yet, even in this case, without constraint— to God.^ Here, therefore, the gratia prmveniens is manifestly overlooked.
These are essentially Semi-Pelagian principles, though capable of various modifications and applications. The
' De protectione Dei. In Migne'3 edition of Cas3. Opera, vol. i. pp. 397-904.
^ He calls the Pelagian doctrine of the native ability of man '■'■ profanam opinionenj" (Coll. xiii. 16, in Migne's ed. torn. i. p. 942), and even says: "Pelagium paene omnes impietaie [probably here equivalent to " contempt of grace," as Wiggers, iL 20, explains it] et amentia vicisse" (De incam. Dom. v. 2, tom. ii. 101).
' "Nonnumquam," says he, De institut. coenob. xii. 18 (Opera, vol. ii. p. 456, ed Migne), " etiam inviti trahiraur ad salutem." This is, however, according to Cas.sian. a rare exception. The general distinction between Semi-Pelagianism and the Melanchthonian synergism may be thus defined, that the former ascribes the initiative in the work of conversion to the human will, the latter to divine grace, wiiich involve? also a different estimate of the importance of the gratia prseveniens cr prseparans.
8G2 TniKD PEKioD. A.D, 311-590.
cliurcb, even the Roman church, has rightly etnphasized the necessity of j)revenient grace, l)ut has not impeached Cassian, who is properly the father of the Semi-Pelagian theory. Leo the Great even commissioned him to write a work against Nestorianisni,' in whicli he found an excellent opportunity to establish his orthodoxy, and to clear himself of all connection with the kindred heresies of Pelagianism and Nestorianism, which were condemned together at Ephesus in 431. He died after 432, at an advanced age, and though not formally canonized, is honored as a saint by some dioceses. His works are very extensively read for practical edification.
Against the thirteenth Colloquy of Cassian, Prosper Aqdi- TANUS, an Augustinian divine and poet, who, probably on account of the desolations of the Vandals, had left his native Aquitania for the South of Gaul, and found comfort and repose in the doctrines of election amid the wars of his age, wrote a book upon grace and freedom,' about 432, in which he criticises twelve propositions of Cassian, and declares them all heretical, except the first. He also composed a long poem in defence of Augustine and his system,^ and refuted the " Gallic slanders and Vincentian imputations," which placed the doctrine of predestination in the most odious light.*
But the Semi-Pelagian doctrine was the more popular, and made great progress in France. Its principal advocates after
■ De incarnatione Christi, libri vii. in Migne's ed. torn. ii. 9-272.
^ Found in the works of Prosper, Paris, 1711 (torn. li. in Migne's Patrol), ano also in the Appendix to the Opera Augustini (torn. x. 171-198, ed. Bencd,), undet the title Pro Augustino, liber contra CoUatorem. Comp. Wiggers, ii. p. 138 ff.
^ Carmen de ingratis. He charges the Semi-Pelagians with ingratitude to Augustine and his great merits to the cause of religion.
* These Rcsponsiones Prosperi Aquitani ad capitula caluniniantium Gallorum and Ad capitula objcctionum Vincentianorum (of Viucentius Lirinensis) are also found in the Appendix to the lOtli vol. of the IJenedictine edition of the Opera Augustini, f. 198 sqq. and f. 207 sqq. Among tlie objections of Vinccntius are e. g., the following:
3. Quia Deus majorem partem generis humani ad hoc erect, ul illani perdat in ttemum.
4. Quia major pars generis humani ad hoc creetur a Deo, ut iion Dei, scd diaboli facial voluntatem.
10. Quia adulteria et cormptela; virginuro sacrarum idco contingant, quia i'.les Pens ad hoc piiedestinavi', ut caderent.