11. [X.]—Pelagius’ Definition of How God Helps Us: “He Promises Us Future Glory.”

For in another passage, after asserting at length that it is not by the help of God, but out of our own selves, that a good will is formed within us, he confronted himself with a question out of the apostle’s epistle; and he asked this question: “How will this stand consistently with the apostle’s words,19    Phil. ii. 13. ‘It is God that worketh in you both to will and to perfect’?” Then, in order to obviate this opposing authority, which he plainly saw to be most thoroughly contrasted with his own dogma, he went on at once to add: “He works in us to will what is good, to will what is holy, when He rouses us from our devotion to earthly desires, and from our love of the present only, after the manner of brute animals, by the magnitude of the future glory and the promise of its rewards; when by revealing wisdom to us He stirs up our sluggish will to a longing after God; when (what you are not afraid to deny in another passage) he persuades us to everything which is good.” Now what can be plainer, than that by the grace whereby God works within us to will what is good, he means nothing else than the law and the teaching? For in the law and the teaching of the holy Scriptures are promised future glory and its great rewards. To the teaching also appertains the revelation of wisdom, whilst it is its further function to direct our thoughts to everything that is good. And if between teaching and persuading (or rather exhorting) there seems to be a difference, yet even this is provided for in the general term “teaching,” which is contained in the several discourses or letters; for the holy Scriptures both teach and exhort, and in the processes of teaching and exhorting there is room likewise for man’s operation. We, however, on our side would fain have him sometime confess that grace, by which not only future glory in all its magnitude is promised, but also is believed in and hoped for; by which wisdom is not only revealed, but also loved; by which everything that is good is not only recommended, but pressed upon us until we accept it. For all men do not possess faith,20    2 Thess. iii. 2. who hear the Lord in the Scriptures promising the kingdom of heaven; nor are all men persuaded, who are counselled to come to Him, who says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour.”21    Matt. xi. 28. They, however, who have faith are the same who are also persuaded to come to Him. This He Himself set forth most plainly, when He said, “No man can come to me, except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him.”22    John vi. 44. And some verses afterwards, when speaking of such as believe not, He says, “Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me except it were given unto him of my Father.”23    John vi. 65. This is the grace which Pelagius ought to acknowledge, if he wishes not only to be called a Christian, but to be one.

CAPUT X.

11. Et alio quippe loco, cum diu asseruisset, non adjutorio Dei, sed ex nobis ipsis in nobis effici voluntatem bonam, opposuit sibi ex Apostoli epistola quaestionem, atque ait: «Et quomodo,» inquit, «stabit illud Apostoli: Deus est enim qui operatur in vobis et velle et perficere?» Deinde ut hanc oppositionem veluti solveret quam videbat dogmati suo vehementer esse contrariam, secutus adjunxit: «Operatur in nobis velle quod bonum est, velle quod sanctum est, dum nos terrenis cupiditatibus deditos, et mutorum more animalium tantummodo praesentia diligentes, futurae gloriae magnitudine et praemiorum 0366 pollicitatione succendit; dum revelatione sapientiae in desiderium Dei stupentem suscitat voluntatem; dum nobis (quod tu alibi negare non metuis ) suadet omne quod bonum est.» Quid manifestius, nihil aliud eum dicere gratiam, qua Deus in nobis operatur velle quod bonum est, quam legem atque doctrinam? In lege namque et doctrina sanctarum Scripturarum futurae gloriae atque praemiorum promittitur magnitudo. Ad doctrinam pertinet etiam quod sapientia revelatur, ad doctrinam pertinet cum suadetur omne quod bonum est. Et si inter docere et suadere, vel potius exhortari, distare aliquid videtur; etiam hoc tamen doctrinae generalitate concluditur, quae quibusque sermonibus vel litteris continetur: nam et sanctae Scripturae et docent et exhortantur, et potest esse in docendo et exhortando etiam hominis operatio. Sed nos eam gratiam volumus iste aliquando fateatur , qua futurae gloriae magnitudo non solum promittitur, verum etiam creditur et speratur; nec solum revelatur sapientia, verum et amatur; nec solum suadetur omne quod bonum est, verum et persuadetur. Non enim omnium est fides (II Thess. III, 2), qui audiunt per Scripturas Dominum regnum coelorum pollicentem; aut omnibus persuadetur quibuscumque suadetur, ut veniant ad eum qui dicit, Venite ad me, omnes qui laboratis (Matth. XI, 28). Quorum autem sit fides, et quibus persuadetur ut ad eum veniant, satis ipse demonstravit, ubi ait, Nemo venit ad me, nisi Pater qui misit me, traxerit eum: et paulo post, cum de non credentibus loqueretur, Dixi, inquit, vobis, quia nemo potest venire ad me, nisi fuerit ei datum a Patre meo (Joan. VI, 44, 66). Hanc debet Pelagius gratiam confiteri, si vult non solum vocari, verum etiam esse christianus.