Mozley: A Treatise on the Augustinian Doctrine of

CHAP. nr. The Pelagian Controversy. 87
exclude a man from trial, for, however firmly rooted, they
have still to be sustained by the effort of the will. Still, in
the case of confirmed virtuous habits, this effort is an easy
and unconscious one, not anxious or laborious the ; person,
though not out of the reach of evil, is separated at a con
siderable interval from it, and, under the safeguard of his
habit, a serene precaution has to defend him from distant
danger, rather than positive fear from a near and immediate
one. Jn the same way, only more perfectly than in any case
of habit of which we have experience, the first man was pro
tected from sin by an implanted holy disposition of mind,
and habitual inclination to good imparted to him at his
creation. His trial lay in having to sustain a divinely be
stowed defence against sin, rather than engage in direct
conflict with it and a ; tranquil precaution, not inconsistent
with the happiness of paradise, against a remote issue on
the side of evil, had it been adequately maintained, would
have effectually preserved him. 1 He had by his created
disposition a pleasure in goodness ; and that pleasure natu
rally preserved him in obedience without the need of
express effort. But though thus held to obedience by the
persuasive tie of an adequate pleasure and delight, man was
not without an indefinite principle of desire in his nature,
which tended to pass beyond the bounds of present happi
ness in quest of more. Thus, in common life, persons happy
after a human measure in their present situation and re
sources, still carry about with them a general sense of a
capacity for greater happiness, which is without much
difficulty kept under and controlled, by the mind simply
sustaining a proper estimate of the resources in its posses
sion and applying a just attention to the enjoyment of
them ; but which may be allowed to expand unduly,
till it
impels the man to a trial of new and dangerous sources of
pleasure. Happy within the limits of obedience, Adam
was still not out of the reach of a remote class of invita
tions to advance beyond the precincts of a sacred sufficiency
and make trial of the unknown. But the happiness with
Pcense illius devitandse qua quilla erat cautio non turbulenta
fuerat
[secutura peccatum, tran- formido. 1. Op. Imp. 6. c. 14.