(De Gratia Dei Et Libero Voluntatis Arbitrio/) Liber in Quo Proferuntur Auctoritates Episcoporum, etc. / S. PROSPERI AQUITANI LIBER CUI TITULUS PRÆTERITORUM SEDIS APOSTOLICÆ EPISCOPORUM AUCTORITATES, DE GRATIA DEI ET LIBERO VOLUNTATIS ARBITRIO

The Book of Prosper of Aquitaine, Entitled: The Authoritative Statements of the Bishops of the Apostolic See of Former Times, on the Grace of God and the Free Will of the Will. Preface. Otherwise Chapter III. Because some who glory in the Catholic name, but who linger in the condemned opinions of heretics, whether through depravity or ignorance, presume to oppose the most pious disputants; and although they do not hesitate to anathematize Pelagius and Caelestius, they nevertheless speak against our teachers, as if they had exceeded the necessary measure, and they profess to follow and approve only those things which the most sacred See of the blessed Apostle Peter, against the enemies of the grace of God, through the ministry of its bishops, decreed and taught: it was necessary to inquire diligently what the rulers of the Roman Church judged concerning the heresy which had arisen in their times, and what they determined ought to be thought concerning the grace of God against the most harmful defenders of free will: so that we might also join certain sentences of the African councils, which the apostolic bishops certainly made their own when they approved them. Therefore, so that those who doubt in some matter may be more fully instructed, we set forth in a compendious index the constitutions of the holy Fathers, and if anyone is not overly contentious, he will recognize that the connection of all disputations depends on this brevity of the appended authorities, and that no reason for contradiction remains for him, if he believes and says with the Catholics:

Here begins the book. Chapter I. Otherwise Chapter IV. That Adam harmed all men, and that no one can be saved except by the grace of Christ. In the transgression of Adam all men lost natural ability and innocence, and no one can rise from the depth of that ruin through free will, unless the grace of a merciful God has raised him up: as declared by Pope Innocent of blessed memory, saying in his letter to the Council of Carthage: "For free will was suffered by him, who, using his goods too rashly, fell and was submerged in the depths of transgression; and he found nothing by which he could rise from that state; and, deceived by his own liberty, he would have lain crushed by this ruin forever, had not the coming of Christ afterwards raised him up by his grace, who, through the purification of new regeneration, cleansed all past vice by the washing of his baptism.

Chapter II. Otherwise Chapter V. That no one is good by his own strength, except by participation of him who alone is good. That no one is good through himself, unless he who alone is good grants him participation in himself: which is attested in the same writings of the same pontiff by a sentence declaring (See above), "Let us not henceforth think rightly of those who suppose that they owe it to themselves that they are good, and do not consider him whose grace they daily receive, and who trust that they can achieve so much without him?" Chapter III. Otherwise Chapter VI. That unless we are continually aided by the grace of God, we cannot overcome the snares of the devil. That no one, even renewed by the grace of baptism, is fit to overcome the snares of the devil and to conquer the lusts of the flesh, unless he receives through the daily help of God the perseverance of good conduct: which the teaching of the same bishop in the same pages confirms, saying (See above): "For although he has redeemed man from his past sins, yet knowing that he can sin again, he has kept many things for his own restoration, as he could also correct him after these things. He provides daily remedies, relying and trusting upon which, if we do not lean, we will by no means be able to overcome human errors. For it is necessary that, by whose help we conquer, without whose help we are conquered.

Chapter IV. Otherwise Chapter VII. That we make good use of free will through Christ. That no one makes good use of free will except through Christ, the same teacher proclaims in the epistle given to the Council of Milevis, saying (See above): Observe at last, O perverse teaching of the most depraved minds, that liberty itself deceived the first man in such a way that, while he used its reins too indulgently, he fell into transgression through presumption, nor could he be rescued from this except that the providence of regeneration restored the state of his former liberty by the coming of Christ the Lord. Chapter V. Otherwise Chapter VIII. That all the merits of the saints are gifts of God. That all the pursuits and all the works and merits of the saints are to be referred to the glory and praise of God, because no one pleases him from any other source than from what he himself has given. The regular authority of Pope Zosimus of blessed memory directs us into this opinion when, writing to the bishops of the whole world, he says (This epistle does not survive): But we, by the instinct of God (for all good things are to be referred to their author, from whom they arise), have referred everything to the conscience of our brothers and fellow bishops.

But this discourse, shining with the light of the most sincere truth, the African bishops honored with such great reverence that they wrote to the same man as follows (though this letter is no longer extant): "That statement, however, which you placed in the letters you caused to be sent throughout the provinces, saying: 'We, nevertheless, by the instinct of God,' etc., we have accepted as spoken in such a way that you, as if passing swiftly by, would cut down with the two-edged sword of truth those who exalt the freedom of human will against the help of God. For what did you do with such free will as that you referred everything to the awareness of our humility; and yet you saw faithfully and wisely, and said truthfully and confidently, that it was done by the instinct of God? This is so, assuredly, because the will is prepared by the Lord, so that they may do something good; and the Lord Himself touches the hearts of His sons with paternal inspirations, that they may do something good. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God (Rom. 8:14): so that we may neither feel that our own will is absent, nor doubt that in every good motion of human will, the help of that One is more present.

CHAPTER VI. Otherwise Chapter IX. That every holy thought and movement of pious will is from God. That God so works in the hearts of men, and in free will itself, that a holy thought, a pious counsel, and every movement of good will is from God, because through him we are able to do some good, without whom we can do nothing. For this same teacher instructs us to this profession, who, when speaking to the bishops of the whole world about the assistance of divine grace, says: "What time, therefore, intervenes, in which we do not need his help? In all acts, therefore, and causes, and thoughts, and movements, the helper and protector is to be prayed to. For it is proud for human nature to presume anything for itself, with the Apostle proclaiming: 'Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the princes and powers of this air, against spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places' (Ephes. 6:12). And as he himself says again: 'Unhappy man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord' (Rom. 7:24); and again: 'The grace of God is what I am, and his grace in me has not been empty, but I have labored more than all of them; not I, however, but the grace of God with me' (1 Cor. 15:10).

CHAPTER VII. Otherwise Chapter X. That the grace of God not only forgives sins, but also assists so that they are not committed, and provides that the law may be fulfilled; not as Pelagius says, "Do it," as if without the grace of God it could be fulfilled with more difficulty. We also embrace as proper to the apostolic see that which is established within the decrees of the Council of Carthage, namely what is defined in the third chapter (See appendix p. 272): That if anyone says that the grace of God, by which we are justified through Jesus Christ our Lord, avails only for the remission of sins that have already been committed, and not also for assistance so that they are not committed, let him be anathema. And again in the fourth chapter: That if anyone says that the grace of God through Jesus Christ helps us not to sin only for this reason, that through it the understanding of the commandments is revealed and opened to us, so that we may know what we ought to seek and what we ought to avoid; but not that through it it is granted to us that we also love and are able to do what we have learned ought to be done, let him be anathema. For since the Apostle says, "Knowledge puffs up, but charity builds up" (1 Cor. 8:1), it is very impious to believe that we have the grace of Christ for that which puffs up, and do not have it for that which builds up; since both are a gift of God: both to know what we ought to do, and to love so that we do it, so that with charity building up, knowledge cannot puff up. Just as it is written of God, "Who teaches man knowledge" (Ps.

CHAPTER VIII. Otherwise Chapter XI. That besides the statutes of the apostolic see, all the prayers of the Church of Christ resound with the grace by which the human race is restored from eternal damnation. Besides the inviolable sanctions of the most blessed and apostolic see, by which our most pious fathers, having cast down the pride of pestilential novelty, taught us to refer both the beginnings of good will, and the increases of praiseworthy endeavors, and perseverance in them unto the end, to the grace of Christ, let us also consider the sacraments of priestly supplications, which, handed down from the apostles, are celebrated uniformly throughout the whole world and in every catholic church, so that the law of praying establishes the law of believing. For when the presidents of the holy peoples, undertaking a legation entrusted to them, plead before divine clemency, they conduct the cause of the human race, and with the whole Church groaning together with them, [they plead]...

ask and pray that faith be given to the unbelievers, that idolaters be freed from the errors of their impiety, that for the Jews, the veil being removed from their heart, the light of truth may appear, that heretics may come to their senses through the reception of the catholic faith, that schismatics may receive the spirit of revived charity, that remedies of penance be conferred upon the lapsed, and finally, that for the catechumens who are led to the sacraments of regeneration, the court of heavenly mercy be opened. But that these things are not asked of the Lord perfunctorily nor in vain, the effect of the things themselves shows: since from every kind of error God deigns to draw many, whom he transfers, torn from the power of darkness, into the kingdom of his Son of love (Coloss. 1:13), and from vessels of wrath makes vessels of mercy (Rom. 9:22). This is felt to be so entirely a work of the divine operation that for the enlightenment or correction of such persons, thanksgiving and confession of praise are always rendered to the God who accomplishes these things.

CHAPTER IX. Otherwise Chapter XII. That the grace of God is also attested by the instituted purification of those to be baptized, when unclean spirits are driven from them by exorcisms and exsufflations. Let us also contemplate, not with idle attention, that which the holy Church uniformly performs throughout the whole world concerning those to be baptized. For whether they are infants or young people coming to the sacrament of regeneration, they do not approach the font of life before the unclean spirit is driven from them by the exorcisms and exsufflations of the clergy; so that it may then truly appear how the prince of this world is cast out, and how the strong one is first bound, and then his vessels are plundered, transferred into the possession of the victor, who leads captivity captive and gives gifts to men. Therefore, by these ecclesiastical rules and documents derived from divine authority, with the Lord's help, we are so conformed that we profess God to be the author of all good affections and works, and of all endeavors and all virtues by which from the beginning of faith one tends toward God, and we do not doubt that all human merits are anticipated by His grace, through whom it happens that we both begin to will and to do something good. By this help and gift of God, free will is not taken away, but is liberated, so that from dark it becomes bright, from perverse it becomes right, from languid it becomes healthy, from imprudent it becomes prudent.

For so great is the goodness of God toward all men, that He wishes our merits to be those things which are His own gifts, and for those which He has bestowed, He is about to give eternal rewards. For He acts in us, so that we both will and do what He wills; nor does He permit those things which He has given to be exercised, not neglected, to be idle in us; so that we may also be co-workers with the grace of God; and if we see something in us languishing from our own remission, we may diligently have recourse to Him who heals all our weaknesses, and redeems our life from destruction (Psalm 102:5), and to whom we daily say: Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil (Matthew 6:13). CHAPTER X. Otherwise Chapter XIII. That deeper questions are neither to be despised nor to be fully asserted. But the deeper and more difficult parts of the questions that arise, which those who resisted heretics have treated more extensively, just as we do not dare to despise, so we do not have the necessity to assert. Because for confessing the grace of God, from whose work and condescension nothing at all is to be subtracted, we believe that whatever the writings of the apostolic see have taught us according to the aforementioned rules is sufficiently sufficient, so that we may not at all consider as catholic that which appears to be contrary to the fixed sentences.