41.—Augustin Indulgently Shows that the Judges Acted Incautiously in Their Official Conduct of the Case of Pelagius.

Why, then (some one will say), did the judges approve of this? I confess that I hardly even now understand why they did. It is, however, not to be wondered at, if some brief word or phrase too easily escaped their attention and ear; or if, because they thought it capable of being somehow interpreted in a correct sense, from seeming to have from the accused himself such clear confessions of truth on the subject, they decided it to be hardly worth while to excite a discussion about a word. The same feeling might have occurred to ourselves also, if we had sat with them at the trial. For if, instead of the term worthy, the word predestinated had been used, or some such word, my mind would certainly not have entertained any doubt, much less have been disquieted by it; and yet if it were asserted, that he who is justified by the election of grace is called worthy, through no antecedent merits of good indeed, but by destination, just as he is called “elect,” it would be really difficult to determine whether he might be so designated at all, or at least without some offence to an intelligent view of the subject.

As for myself, indeed, I might readily pass on from the discussion on this word, were it not that the treatise which called forth my reply, and in which he says that there is no God’s grace at all except our own nature gratuitously created132    We have preferred the reading gratis creatam to the obscure gratiam creaturam. with free will, made me suspicious and anxious about the actual meaning of Pelagius—whether he had procured the introduction of the term into the argument without any accurate intention as to its sense, or else as a carefully drawn dogmatic expression. The last remaining statements had such an effect on the judges, that they deemed them worthy of condemnation, without waiting for Pelagius’ answer.

41. Cur ergo, ait aliquis, hoc judices approbaverunt? Fateor, ideo jam ipse ambigo: sed nimirum, aut breve dictum eorum audientiam et intentionem facile subterfugit, aut aliquo modo id recte posse accipi existimantes, cujus de hac re confessiones liquidas sibi habere videbantur, pene de uno verbo, nihil 0345 ei controversiae movendum putarunt. Quod et nobis forsitan contigisset, si cum eis in illo judicio sedissemus. Si enim pro eo quod positum est Dignus, positum esset Praedestinatus, vel aliquid hujusmodi, nihil certe scrupuli tangeret atque augeret animum: et tamen si dicatur, eum qui per electionem gratiae justificatur, nullis quidem praecedentibus meritis bonis, sed destinatione dignum vocari, sicut electus vocatur, utrum vel certe, vel minima offensione intelligentiae dici possit, difficile judicatur. Nam quantum ad me attinet, ab hoc verbo facile transirem, nisi me liber ille, cui respondi, ubi omnino nullam dicit Dei gratiam, nisi naturam nostram cum libero arbitrio, gratiam creaturam , de ipsius Pelagii sensu sollicitum redderet, ne forte hoc verbum non de negligentia locutionis, sed de diligentia dogmatis curarit inserere. Jam ea quae restant novissima, ita judices commoverunt, ut ante responsionem Pelagii damnanda censerent.