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In the form indeed in which the latter arose in the teaching of Cassianus, it was condemned ; but at the same time the Predestinationists, probably pure Augustinians, were declared heretics. The Augustinianism of the Church is already moderated in the work De vocatione gentium, probably by Leo the Great. Later it became an ecclesiastical rule : Augustinus eget Thoma interprete. 7 Belief, the means by which man becomes a participant in grace, is, according to Augustine, not a self-active appro- priation but a pure gift of mercy, a supernatural illumina- tion (De pecc merit, 9; De prcedest sanctt, 12), in which man is certain of his state of redemption. For this very reason the proper content of belief is formed by the doctrine of the incarnate Son of God. prev next |