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
Caput II: Omni animae humanae naturaliter inesse qualemcumque voluntatem, quae aut sensualis, aut animalis, aut spiritalis est
Caput III: De voluntate sensuali
Caput IV: De voluntate animali, qua nihil supra mercedem temporalis gloriae acquiritur, etiam si dono Dei in ea sublimius sapiatur
Ab hoc ergo sensuali appetitu, in quo remanent hi quos etiam in annis maioribus excordes videmus et fatuos, ad animalem surgitur voluntatem; quae priusquam Spiritu Dei agatur, etiam si supra sensualem motum sese attollere potest, tamen sine summi amoris participatione in terrenis occiduisque versatur. In hac humana ingenia etiam si corporeae voluptati non turpiter serviant, et cupiditates suas iustitiae atque honestatis legibus temperent, nihil supra mercedem gloriae temporalis acquirunt; et cum praesentem vitam decenter exornent, aeternae tamen beatitudinis praemium non habent; quia rectas actiones et bona studia sua, non ad eius laudem atque honorem referunt, a quo acceperunt ut sublimius saperent, et excellentius caeteris enitescerent. Cum enim quidam non solum ad instituta utilissimarum artium, et doctrinas liberalium disciplinarum, sed etiam ad inquisitionem summi boni aciem mentis intenderint, et invisibilia Dei per ea quae facta sunt (Rom. I, 20) intellecta conspexerint; non agentes tamen gratias Deo, nec confitentes illum sibi esse huius facultatis auctorem, sed dicentes se esse sapientes (Ibid. 22), hoc est, non in Deo, sed in semetipsis gloriantes, quasi ad veritatis inspectionem suis studiis atque rationibus propinquassent; evanuerunt in cogitationibus suis, et quod, illuminante Dei gratia, invenerant, obcaecante superbia perdiderunt, relapsi a superna luce in tenebras suas, hoc est, ab incommutabili atque aeterno bono, ad mutabilem corruptibilemque naturam. Cum ergo tales in amorem sui recidunt, et ita sibimet placent ut totum quod in se laudabile iudicant, non ad dona Dei referant, sed sibi vindicent, et studio propriae voluntatis ascribant, procul ab illa spiritali exsulant voluntate, et nihil in se habent quo ad vitam provehantur aeternam, incipientes in semetipsis etiam illa temporalia Dei dona corrumpere, et a bono eorum usu in consuetudinem innumerabilium transire vitiorum.