De Vocatione Omnium Gentium
Prosper of Aquitaine (390–463)
First published 1846
*De Vocatione Omnium Gentium* is a theological treatise devoted to the difficult relationship between divine grace, human freedom, election, and God’s will that all men should be saved. Beginning from the controversy over whether the primacy of grace abolishes free will, the work argues that grace does not destroy human volition but heals, directs, and perfects it, while every genuinely salvific good ultimately originates in God. Through sustained engagement with Scripture, it examines the meaning of universal biblical expressions concerning salvation, the distinction between general and special gifts of grace, the mysterious diversity of God’s dealings with peoples and individuals, and the gradual calling of the nations into the Church. Particular attention is given to the history of salvation, from the earliest ages and Israel’s election to the worldwide preaching of the Gospel, while repeatedly insisting that the hidden reasons for divine election and the differing times of vocation remain beyond human scrutiny. The result is a careful attempt to uphold simultaneously the universality of God’s saving goodness, the necessity and gratuity of grace, human responsibility, and reverence before the inscrutable judgments of divine providence.
Liber I: Liber Primus
Caput I: Materiam hoc libro tractandam proponit, ostenditque non recte sentire eos qui praedicatione gratiae liberum negari arbitrium contendunt
Inter defensores liberi arbitrii, et praedicatores gratiae Dei, magna et difficilis dudum vertitur quaestio. Quaeritur enim utrum velit Deus omnes homines salvos fieri; et quia negari hoc non potest, cur voluntas Omnipotentis non impleatur inquiritur? Cumque hoc secundum voluntatem hominum fieri dicitur, gratia videtur excludi; quae si meritis redditur, constat eam non donum esse, sed debitum. Unde iterum quaeritur cur hoc donum, sine quo nemo salvus est, ab eo qui omnes salvari vult, non omnibus conferatur. Atque ita, contrariarum disputationum nullus terminus reperitur, dum non discernitur quid manifestum, quid sit occultum. De hac igitur compugnantia opinionum, qua mensura et temperantia sentiendum sit, quantum Dominus adiuverit, annitar inquirere; exercens atque discutiens modulum facultatis meae in his quae cordi meo sobrie (quantum arbitror) inhaeserunt; ut si in eas regulas processerit stylus quae nihil offensionis, nihil habeant pravitatis, non solum nobis, sed et aliis utile sit, ad aliquem nos limitem pervenisse, quem non debeamus excedere. Primitus itaque de voluntatis humanae motibus et gradibus disputandum est. Inter quam et gratiam Dei quorumdam non sana discretio est, existimantium quod praedicatione gratiae liberum negetur arbitrium; nec advertentium eadem regula sibi posse obiici, quod gratiam negent, cum eam humanae voluntatis non ducem volunt esse, sed comitem. Si enim tollitur voluntas, nisi ipsa est verarum origo virtutum; tollitur gratia, nisi ipsa est bonorum causa meritorum. Sed iam, auxiliante Christo, quod tractandum concepimus inchoemus.