Mozley: A Treatise on the Augustinian Doctrine of

Note XXL 403
the pouvoir prochain to obey the Divine commandments,
and so attain eternal life ; while the Jansenists, admitting
the power of any Christian to do this, would not admit
that this power was prochain ; the distinction being, that
the term power of itself, in the Augustinian sense (even
supposing every one had such power), committed them to
no assertion contrary to the exclusive and predestinarian
doctrine, which made salvation only really attainable by
the elect. For power in the Augustinian sense onlv means
potestas si vult; in which sense the admission that all
Christians have the power is not at all opposed to the
doctrine that only the elect have the will given to them
to lead that good life on which salvation depends. J>ut
the addition of the term prochain to power seemed to
fix on the word power a freewill sense, as distinguished
from the Augustinian one ; and to imply the admission
that every one had the full and complete power, in the
natural sense of the term, to attain eternal life, which
was opposed to the predestinarian doctrine. The Jan
senists, therefore, would not admit the term prochain.
Now it is evident that in this refusal they laid themselves
open to a charge of inconsistency ; for if they were ready
to admit power in an artificial sense, they might have
admitted prochain in an artificial sense too. But
Pascal adroitly diverts attention from the inconsistency of
the Jansenists in their meaning of the word poiver,
to the
inconsistency of the Thomists in the meaning they gave
to as the latter did from
power prochain ; separating,
the Jansenists, on the express ground
of this phrase being
refused, when they themselves held the phrase
in a Jan-
senist sense i.e. so as to be consistent with the exclusive
and predestinarian
doctrine : Mais ! quoi mon s il
pere,
manque quelque chose a ce pouvoir, 1 appelez-vous prochain
? et direz-vous, par exemple, qu un homme ait, la
nuit, et sous aucune lumiere, U pouvoir
de voir? Oui-
da, il 1 auroit selon nous, s il n est pas aveugle.
1st Letter.
It is obvious that in this sense the whole Chnstian body
and still not a real and
might have the pouvoir prochain,
bond fide power of attaining salvation, which might t
D D 2