Two Dissertations · §108 · John Davenant

Cap. 6 Arg. 8: Broad-sense grace—natural light, creatures, outward benefits, inward motions

Natural light by which God lights every person who comes into the world; the witness of the creatures that steers the nations toward some knowledge of the Creator; outward benefits by which God shows his love of humankind to the whole world; inward stirrings that sometimes check a Gentile from evil or move him toward good—all these can, in that wide sense, wear the name grace. Under that blanket the Pelagians hid the poison of their teaching. Scripture does not mean the grace given through Christ that way, and neither do the holy Fathers once Pelagius forced them to speak more carefully.

Latin

Sic illud lumen naturale quo Deus illuminat omnem hominem venientem in mundum, illa creaturarum testificatio qua Ethnici ad aliquam Creatoris cognitionem diriguntur, illa beneficia externa quibus Deus suam φιλανθρωπίαν erga totum mundum testatur, illi interni motus quibus nonnunquam afficit animos gentilium, ut eos vel coerceat ab aliquo opere malo, vel excitet ad aliquod opus bonum, possunt hoc largo sensu gratiae nomen sibi vendicare. Pelagiani sub hac generali notione gratiae pestiferi sui dogmatis venenum occultarunt. Sed neque Scripturae gratiam per Christum datam ita intelligunt, neque sancti Patres, qui post exortum Pelagium cautius loqui didicerunt.

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