Cap. VI Arg. 3: Prosper, Hilary, Faustus — election-on-faith always meant prior merit

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Augustine is not alone: whoever of old hung election to life on a faith-condition thereby admitted prior dignity and merit in the elect. Prosper (Letter to Augustine), on the so-called Pelagian remnants: as far as God goes, eternal life is prepared for all; as far as free choice goes, it is grasped by those who spontaneously believed, and received grace help by the merit of believing. Hilary to Augustine: those who rejected election according to God's purpose and brought in election by foresight of faith and penitence recognized in that faith and conversion the merit and cause of election — by the merit of willing and believing they can be healed, and later, whatever grief arises, they call that the very cause why one is taken and another rejected. Faustus of Riez, careful Semi-Pelagian: as he grounds election in foresighted faith, so he does not hide that it is also from merit — Foreknowledge knows what will be done; predestination then describes the retribution; the one foresees merits, the other preordains rewards. Remonstrants are too clever, and desert their elders, when they have God elect by foresight of faith and still deny that foresighted faith is the cause.

Latin

Nec Augustinus solummodo arguit beneficium illud ex merito dari, quod datur ex fidei conditione praeeunte, sed (quod notatu dignum est) quicunque olim electionem ad vitam ex conditione fidei suspenderunt, inde dignitatem et meritum antecedaneum in electis agnoverunt. Sic Prosper in Epist. ad Augustinum, ubi exponit sententiam illorum qui reliquiae Pelagianorum appellabantur: Quantum ad Deum pertinet, omnibus paratam vitam aeternam esse dicunt; quantum autem ad arbitrii libertatem, ab his eam apprehendi qui Deo sponte crediderint, et auxilium gratiae merito credulitatis acceperint. Sic etiam Hilarius ad Augustinum scribens de eadem materia, ostendit eos qui rejiciebant electionem secundum Dei propositum, et introducebant electionem secundum fidei et paenitentiae praevisionem, in hac fide et conversione meritum et causam electionis agnovisse: Eo merito quo voluerint et crediderint a suo morbo se posse sanari, etc. Et Paulo post, Si qualiscunque dolor oriatur, hanc ipsam dicunt causam propter quam alius assumatur, alius rejiciatur. Denique Faustus Regiensis, qui accuratissime Semipelagianorum sententiam tutatur, sicut electionem ex fide praevisa statuit, ita etiam ex merito eandem fieri non dissimulat: Praescientia, inquit, gerenda praenoscit, postmodum praedestinatio retribuenda describit; illa praevidet merita, haec praeordinat praemia. Nimis igitur arguti sunt, et a majoribus suis desciscunt Remonstrantes, quando ponunt Deum eligere homines secundum praescientiam fidei, et tamen negant fidem praevisam esse causam dictae electionis.

About this text

John Davenant — Dissertationes duae from the 1650 Cambridge Latin. Honest partial through De praedestinatione Cap. 1 subject tip; Cap. 1 mid-Thesis and remainder remain; De praedestinatione Cap. 1 Prolegomena IV distinguishing conditions tip; De praedestinatione Cap. II Variae (Pelagian opening) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. II Scholastici / Vasquez Arg. 1 tip; De praedestinatione Cap. II Arg. 2 praescientia tip; De praedestinatione Cap. II Arg. 3 (1 Cor. 2:9) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. II Arg. 4 (2 Tim. 2:21) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. II Arg. 5 (1 Tim. 2:4) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. II Arg. 6 (James 2:5) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. II Arg. 7 (Apoc. 3:11) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 1 (common inefficacious will) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 2 (Vasquez physical vs moral media) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 3 (king/prize / victory foresight) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 4 (optimum modus / crown of justice) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 5 (acceptor personarum) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 6 (misericordia/congruitas) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 7 (equal disposition) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 8 (few saved / major part) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 9 (Stephen / glory from others' sins) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 10 (mere beneplacitum / Predestinati) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III reprobation ratio (foresight of sin) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 12 (efficacious election / free choice) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 13 (hortation/prayer) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. III Rat. 14 (decree/execution conformity) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. IV Arminianorum open tip; De praedestinatione Cap. IV Arg. 1 Sol tip; De praedestinatione Cap. IV Arg. 7 (τρόπος; Rom. 9:22) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. IV Arg. 8 (ordo exsecutionis) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. IV Arg. 9 (Christus fundamentum) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. V Obj. 1 (amor ad salutem) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. V Obj. 2 (actualis vitae datio) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. V Obj. 3 (qualis existens) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. V Obj. 4 (justitiae satisfactio) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. V Obj. 5 (natura vitae aeternae) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. V Obj. 6 (Christus a decreto) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. V Obj. 7 (Evangelium invertitur) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. V Obj. 8 (arcana/revelata) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI (Orthodoxa sententia) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 2 (gratia specialis) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 3 (Scripturae) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 4 (vocatio) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 5 (adjutorium) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 7 (inconveniens) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 8 (perseverantia) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 9 (unica ratio) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 10 (abyssus) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 11 (efficacia) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 12 (segregativum) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VI Arg. 13 (pura gratia) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VII open (reprobatio) tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VII Junius trifariam tip; De praedestinatione Cap. VIII open (adversariorum) tip; Cap. VIII peccata-causa tip; Cap. VIII fewer-reprobates tip; Cap. VIII Argentina tip; Cap. VIII dives-misericordia tip; Cap. VIII Corvinus tip into Cap. IX; Cap. IX Ab Adae tip; Cap. IX Ab Adae Christus omnibus+Minor tip; Cap. IX Arg. 3 Sol tip; Cap. IX vocatione Evangelica tip; Cap. IX vocatione Sol cont. tip; Cap. IX Arg. 6 Sol cont. tip.

English follows locked 1650 Cambridge Latin of De morte Christi Cap. 1-6 opening (origin + Thesis 1 + Cap. 2 Rat. 1-ultima + Cap. 3 Satisfit through Obj. 17 + Cap. 4 Thesis 2 tip through Mem. 1 close + Cap. 4 Mem. 2 through Mem. 3 tip + Cap. 4 Mem. 3 possible-faith through Thesis 2 close + Cap. 5 Thesis 3 tip through Mem. 2 Scripture close + Cap. 5 Mem. 2 Rat. 1-4 + Cap. 5 Mem. 2 Fathers tip + Cap. 5 Mem. 2 Huberiana objections tip through Obj. 3 Solut close + Cap. 5 Mem. 2 elect-from-eternity objections tip through Obj. 3 Solut close + Cap. 5 Mem. 2 Scripture elect objections tip through Cap. 5 thesis close + Cap. 6 opening tip through Arg. 1 close before Arg. 2), reconstructed from the Internet Archive PDF (pdftotext + tesseract) of the Roger Daniel folio with DjVu OCR check. The 1683 reprint was not used as copy-text. No modern English was copied.

Witnesses

Copy-text Locked Latin, De morte Christi Cap. 1-5 densify through Cap. 5 Mem. 2 Fathers tip (Daniel 1650) (Latin)
Print Facsimile Internet Archive PDF of the 1650 Cambridge folio (Latin)
Checked print Internet Archive DjVu OCR of the 1650 Cambridge folio (Latin)

This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.