Page:Letters of John Huss Written During His Exile and Imprisonment.djvu/233

 Among the doctrines signalized as heretical in the works of Huss are those on Predestination and Election. A heresy was seen in the definition which Huss gives of the Catholic and the universal Church, “This Church,” says he, “is the assembly of all the elect, present, past, and future, including also the angels.” And lower down he adds:—“No particular tie, no human election, renders a person member of the universal Church, but divine predestination alone; this predestination is, according to St Augustin, election by the grace of the Divine will, or preparation to grace in the present life, and to glory in the future one.”

To these different passages has been opposed the necessity of the sacraments for obtaining salvation; and it has thence been concluded, that, whoever admitted predestination, gratuitous safety of election and grace, or communion with the universal Church—could attribute no efficacy to the sacraments—to the communion of the external and visible Church. Nevertheless, Huss nowhere disputes the virtue of the sacraments, but, on the contrary, recommends their frequent use. This doctrine of predestination and election has often divided the Catholic Church. It has been supported in every age by some of its most illustrious members, and has had for