Mozley: A Treatise on the Augustinian Doctrine of

vii. Doctrine of Final Perseverance. T 79
CHAPTER VII.
AUGUSTINIAN DOCTRINE OF FINAL PERSEVERANCE.
IN the preceding chapter it has been shown that the grace
of the Grospel dispensation is, according to the doctrine
of S. Augustine, an efficacious and irresistible one. But
the question still remains in what measure this grace is
given, how much of it is required for accomplishing the
object for which it is designed,
viz. the individual s salva
tion. Must it be given to him in perfect fulness, i.e.
every moment and act of his life without exception ? Or
is a less measure of it sufficient ? and if so, what is that
measure ?
The answer to this question is, that the measure of
this grace which is required for salvation is the same as
the measure, whatever it may be, of goodness and holiness
which is required. As this grace is the efficacious cause
of goodne-s, exactly as much is wanted of the cause as is
wanted of the effect. And to ask this is question exactly
the same as to ask, how much is goodness required for
salvation.
If the question, then, be asked, how much goodness is
required for salvation ? while it is plain
that no definite
amount can be fixed upon in answer, a certain indefinite
one can be. Disobedience and sin for an indefinite portion
of life are not incompatible with it ; but a man must on
the whole have manifested a good character. And if it be
asked, further, what constitutes such a manifestation, and
what is the test of goodness on the whole ? the answer is,
the end of life that which the man is at the close of the
state of probation in which he has been placed.
The amount of efficacious grace, then, which is required
in order to salvation, is that which produces this final state
of goodness, i.e. the grace of final perseverance. And
therefore I shall endeavour, in this chapter, to explain the
doctrine of final perseverance ;
as a grace.
H 2
first as a test, and secondly