Writings of Augustine. A Treatise on Rebuke and Grace.
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Augustin and the Pelagian Controversy.
A Treatise on Rebuke and Grace.
Published in 1886 by Philip Schaff,
New York: Christian Literature Publishing Co.
Extract from Augustin's "Retractations," Book II. Chap. 67,
On the Following Treatise, "de correptione et gratia."
I Wrote again to the same persons [3235] another treatise, which I
entitled On Rebuke and Grace, because I had been told that some one
there had said that no man ought to be rebuked for not doing God's
commandments, but that prayer only should be made on his behalf, that
he may do them. This book begins on this wise, "I have read your
letters, dearly beloved brother Valentine."
Footnotes
[3235] Valentine, to wit, and the monks with him who inhabited the
convent at Adrumetum. See above, at the beginning of the preceding
treatise, On Grace and Free Will.
.
A Treatise on Rebuke and Grace,
by Aurelius Augustin, Bishop of Hippo;
In One Book,
addressed to valentine, and with him to the monks of adrumetum.
a.d. 426 or 427
In the beginning the writer sets forth what is the Catholic faith
concerning law, concerning free will, and concerning grace. He teaches
that the grace of God by Jesus Christ is that by which alone men are
delivered from evil, and without which they do absolutely no good; and
this not only by the fact that it points out what is to be done, but
that it also supplies the means of doing it with love, since God
bestows on men the inspiration of a good will and deed. He teaches
that the rebuke of evil men who have not received this grace is
neither unjust--since they are evil by their own will--nor useless,
although it must be confessed that it is only by God's agency that it
can avail. That perseverance in good is truly a great gift of God, but
that still the rebuke of one who has not persevered must not on that
account be neglected; and that if a man who has not received this gift
should relapse of his own will into sin, he is not only deserving of
rebuke, but if he should continue in evil until his death, he is
moreover worthy of eternal damnation. That it is inscrutable why one
should receive this gift and another should not receive it. That of
those who are predestinated none can perish. And that the
perseverance, which all do not receive who are here called children of
God, is constantly given to all those who are truly children by God's
foreknowledge and predestination. He answers the question which
suggests itself concerning Adam--in what way he sinned by not
persevering, since he did not receive perseverance. He shows that such
assistance was at the first given to him, as that without it he could
not continue if he would, not as that with it it must result that he
would. But that now through Christ is given us not only such help as
that without it we cannot continue even if we will, but moreover such
and so great as that by it we will. He proves that the number of the
predestinated, to whom a gift of this kind is appropriated, is
certain, and can neither be increased nor diminished. And since it is
unknown who belongs to that number, and who does not, that medicinal
rebuke must be applied to all who sin, lest they should either
themselves perish, or be the ruin of others. Finally, he concludes
that neither is rebuke prohibited by grace, nor is grace denied by
rebuke.
Chapter 1 [I.]--Introductory.
I Have read your letter--Valentine, my dearly beloved brother, and you
who are associated with him in the service of God--which your Love
sent by brother Florus and those who came to us with him; and I gave
God thanks that I have known your peace in the Lord and agreement in
the truth and ardour in love, by your discourse delivered to us. But
that an enemy has striven among you to the subversion of some, has, by
the mercy of God and His marvellous goodness in turning his arts to
the advantage [3236] of His servants, rather availed to this result,
that while none of you were cast down for the worse, some were built
up for the better. There is therefore no need to reconsider again and
again all that I have already transmitted to you, sufficiently argued
out in a lengthy treatise; [3237] for your replies indicate how you
have received this. Nevertheless, do not in any wise suppose that,
when once read, it can have become sufficiently well known to you.
Therefore if you desire to have it exceedingly productive, do not
count it a grievance by re-perusal to make it thoroughly familiar; so
that you may most accurately [3238] know what and what kind of
questions they are, for the solution and satisfaction of which there
arises an authority not human but divine, from which we ought not to
depart if we desire to attain to the point whither we are tending.
Footnotes
[3236] Or according to some mss., "progress."
[3237] Treatise on Grace and Free Will, see above.
[3238] Or, "most clearly."
Chapter 2.--The Catholic Faith Concerning Law, Grace, and Free Will.
Now the Lord Himself not only shows us what evil we should shun, and
what good we should do, which is all that the letter of the law is
able to effect; but He moreover helps us that we may shun evil and do
good, [3239] which none can do without the Spirit of grace; and if
this be wanting, the law comes in merely to make us guilty and to slay
us. It is on this account that the apostle says, "The letter killeth,
but the Spirit giveth life." [3240] He, then, who lawfully uses the
law learns therein evil and good, and, not trusting in his own
strength, flees to grace, by the help of which he may shun evil and do
good. But who is there who flees to grace except when "the steps of a
man are ordered by the Lord, and He shall determine his way"? [3241]
And thus also to desire the help of grace is the beginning of grace;
of which, says he, "And I said, Now I have begun; this is the change
of the right hand of the Most High." [3242] It is to be confessed,
therefore, that we have free choice to do both evil and good; but in
doing evil every one is free from righteousness and a servant of sin,
while in doing good no one can be free, unless he have been made free
by Him who said, "If the Son shall make you free, then you shall be
free indeed." [3243] Neither is it thus, that when any one has been
made free from the dominion of sin, he no longer needs the help of his
Deliverer; but rather thus, that hearing from Him, "Without me ye can
do nothing," [3244] he himself also says to Him, "Be thou my helper!
Forsake me not." [3245] I rejoice that I have found in our brother
Florus also this faith, which without doubt is the true and
prophetical and apostolical and catholic faith; whence those are the
rather to be corrected--whom indeed I now think to have been corrected
by the favour of God--who did not understand him.
Footnotes
[3239] Ps. xxxvii. 27.
[3240] 2 Cor. iii. 6.
[3241] Ps. xxxvii. 23.
[3242] Ps. lxxvi. 10.
[3243] John viii. 36.
[3244] John xv. 5.
[3245] Ps. xxvii. 9.
Chapter 3 [II.]--What the Grace of God Through Jesus Christ is.
For the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord must be
apprehended,--as that by which alone men are delivered from evil, and
without which they do absolutely no good thing, whether in thought, or
will and affection, or in action; not only in order that they may
know, by the manifestation of that grace, what should be done, but
moreover in order that, by its enabling, they may do with love what
they know. Certainly the apostle asked for this inspiration of good
will and work on behalf of those to whom he said, "Now we pray to God
that ye do no evil, not that we should appear approved, but that ye
should do that which is good." [3246] Who can hear this and not awake
and confess that we have it from the Lord God that we turn aside from
evil and do good?--since the apostle indeed says not, We admonish, we
teach, we exhort, we rebuke; but he says, "We pray to God that ye do
no evil, but that ye should do that which is good." [3247] And yet he
was also in the habit of speaking to them, and doing all those things
which I have mentioned,--he admonished, he taught, he exhorted, he
rebuked. But he knew that all these things which he was doing in the
way of planting and watering openly [3248] were of no avail unless He
who giveth the increase in secret should give heed to his prayer on
their behalf. Because, as the same teacher of the Gentiles says,
"Neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but
God that giveth the increase." [3249]
Footnotes
[3246] 2 Cor. xiii. 7.
[3247] 2 Cor. xiii. 7.
[3248] In aperto.
[3249] 1 Cor. iii. 7.
Chapter 4--The Children of God are Led by the Spirit of God.
Let those, therefore, not deceive themselves who ask, "Wherefore is it
preached and prescribed to us that we should turn away from evil and
do good, if it is not we that do this, but `God who worketh in us to
will and to do it'?" [3250] But let them rather understand that if
they are the children of God, they are led by the Spirit of God [3251]
to do that which should be done; and when they have done it, let them
give thanks to Him by whom they act. For they are acted upon that they
may act, not that they may themselves do nothing; and in addition to
this, it is shown them what they ought to do, so that when they have
done it as it ought to be done--that is, with the love and the delight
of righteousness--they may rejoice in having received "the sweetness
which the Lord has given, that their [3252] land should yield her
increase." [3253] But when they do not act, whether by not doing at
all or by not doing from love, let them pray that what as yet they
have not, they may receive. For what shall they have which they shall
not receive? or what have they which they have not received? [3254]
Footnotes
[3250] Phil. ii. 13.
[3251] Rom. viii. 14.
[3252] Some mss. have "his land."
[3253] Ps. lxxxv. 12.
[3254] 1 Cor. iv. 7.
Chapter 5 [III.]--Rebuke Must Not Be Neglected.
"Then," say they, "let those who are over us only prescribe to us what
we ought to do, and pray for us that we may do it; but let them not
rebuke and censure us if we should not do it." Certainly let all be
done, since the teachers of the churches, the apostles, were in the
habit of doing all,--as well prescribing what things should be done,
as rebuking if they were not done, and praying that they might be
done. The apostle prescribes, saying, "Let all your things be done
with love." [3255] He rebukes, saying, "Now therefore there is utterly
a fault among you, because ye have judgments among yourselves. For why
do ye not rather suffer wrong? Why are ye not rather defrauded? Nay,
ye do wrong and defraud; and that, your brethren. Know ye not that the
unrighteous shall not possess the kingdom of God?" [3256] Let us hear
him also praying: "And the Lord," says he, "multiply you, and make you
to abound in love one towards another and towards all men." [3257] He
prescribes, that love should be maintained; he rebukes, because love
is not maintained; he prays, that love may abound. O man! learn by his
precept what you ought to have; learn by his rebuke that it is by your
own fault that you have it not; learn by his prayer whence you may
receive what you desire to have.
Footnotes
[3255] 1 Cor. xvi. 14.
[3256] 1 Cor. vi. 7 et seq.
[3257] 1 Thess. iii. 12.
Chapter 6 [IV.]--Objections to the Use of Rebuke.
"How," says he, [3258] "is it my fault that I have not what I have not
received from Him, when unless it is given by Him, there is no other
at all whence such and so great a gift can be had?" Suffer me a
little, my brethren, not as against you whose heart is right with God,
but as against those who mind earthly things, or as against those
human modes of thinking themselves, to contend for the truth, of the
heavenly and divine grace. For they who say this are such as in their
wicked works are unwilling to be rebuked by those who proclaim this
grace. "Prescribe to me what I shall do, and if I should do it, give
thanks to God for me who has given me to do it; but if I do it not, I
must not be rebuked, but He must be besought to give what He has not
given; that is, that very believing love of God and of my neighbour by
which His precepts are [3259] observed. Pray, then, for me that I may
receive this, and may by its means do freely and with good will that
which He commands. But I should be justly rebuked if by my own fault I
had it not; that is, if I myself could give it to myself, or could
receive it, and did not do so, or if He should give it and I should be
unwilling to receive it. But since even the will itself is prepared
[3260] by the Lord, why dust thou rebuke me because thou seeest me
unwilling to do His precepts, and dust not rather ask Him Himself to
work in me the will also?"
Footnotes
[3258] i.e. the objecting Pelagian.
[3259] So the mss.; the older editors read fiant, that is, "may be
observed."
[3260] Prov. xvi. 1.
Chapter 7 [V.]--The Necessity and Advantage of Rebuke.
To this we answer: Whoever you are that do not the commandments of God
that are already known to you, and do not wish to be rebuked, you must
be rebuked even for that very reason that you do not wish to be
rebuked. For you do not wish that your faults should be pointed out to
you; you do not wish that they should be touched, and that such a
useful pain should be caused you that you may seek the Physician; you
do not desire to be shown to yourself, that, when you see yourself to
be deformed, you may wish for the Reformer, and may supplicate Him
that you may not continue in that repulsiveness. For it is your fault
that you are evil; and it is a greater fault to be unwilling to be
rebuked because you are evil, as if faults should either be praised,
or regarded with indifference so as neither to be praised nor blamed,
or as if, indeed, the dread, or the shame, or the mortification of the
rebuked man were of no avail, or were of any other avail in
healthfully stimulating, except to cause that He who is good may be
besought, and so out of evil men who are rebuked may make good men who
may be praised. For what he who will not be rebuked desires to be done
for him, when he says, "Pray for me rather,"--he must be rebuked for
that very reason that he may himself also do for himself; because that
mortification with which he is dissatisfied with himself when he feels
the sting of rebuke, stirs him up to a desire for more earnest prayer,
[3261] that, by God's mercy, he may be aided by the increase of love,
and cease to do things which are shameful and mortifying, and do
things praiseworthy and gladdening. This is the benefit of rebuke that
is wholesomely applied, sometimes with greater, sometimes with less
severity, in accordance with the diversity of sins; and it is then
wholesome when the supreme Physician looks. For it is of no profit
unless when it makes a man repent of his sin. And who gives this but
He who looked upon the Apostle Peter when he denied, [3262] and made
him weep? Whence also the Apostle Paul, after he said that they were
to be rebuked with moderation who thought otherwise, immediately
added, "Lest perchance God give them repentance, to the acknowledging
of the truth, and they recover themselves out of the snares of the
devil." [3263]
Footnotes
[3261] Or, "more earnest desire for prayer."
[3262] Luke xxii. 61.
[3263] 2 Tim. ii. 25.
Chapter 8.--Further Replies to Those Who Object to Rebuke.
But wherefore do they, who are unwilling be rebuked, say, "Only
prescribe to me, and pray for me that I may do what you prescribe?"
Why do they not rather, in accordance with their own evil inclination,
reject these things also, and say, "I wish you neither to prescribe to
me, nor to pray for me"? For what man is shown to have prayed for
Peter, that God should give him the repentance wherewith he bewailed
the denial of his Lord? What man instructed Paul in the divine
precepts which pertain to the Christian faith? When, therefore, he was
heard preaching the gospel, and saying, "For I certify you, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I
neither received it from man, nor did I learn it, but by the
revelation of Jesus Christ," [3264] --would it be replied to him: "Why
are you troubling us to receive and to learn from you that which you
have not received nor learnt from man? He who gave to you is able also
to give to us in like manner as to you." Moreover, if they dare not
say this, but suffer the gospel to be preached to them by man,
although it cannot be given to man by man, let them concede also that
they ought to be rebuked by those who are set over them, by whom
Christian grace is preached; although it is not denied that God is
able, even when no man rebukes, to correct whom He will, and to lead
him on to the wholesome mortification of repentance by the most hidden
and mighty power of His medicine. And as we are not to cease from
prayer on behalf of those whom we desire to be corrected,--even
although without any man's prayer on behalf of Peter, the Lord looked
upon him and caused him to bewail his sin,--so we must not neglect
rebuke, although God can make those whom He will to be corrected, even
when not rebuked. But a man then profits by rebuke when He pities and
aids who makes those whom He will to profit even without rebuke. But
wherefore these are called to be reformed in one way, those in another
way, and others in still another way, after different and innumerable
manners, be it far from us to assert that it is the business of the
clay to judge, but of the potter.
Footnotes
[3264] Gal. i. 11.
Chapter 9 [VI]--Why They May Justly Be Rebuked Who Do Not Obey God,
Although They Have Not Yet Received the Grace of Obedience.
"The apostle says," say they, "`For who maketh thee to differ? And
what hast thou that thou hast not received? Now also if thou hast
received it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?'
[3265] Why, then, are we rebuked, censured, reproved, accused? What do
we do, we who have not received?" They who say this wish to appear
without blame in respect of their not obeying God, because assuredly
obedience itself is His gift; and that gift must of necessity be in
him in whom dwells love, which without doubt is of God, [3266] and the
Father gives it to His children. "This," say they, "we have not
received. Why, then, are we rebuked, as if we were able to give it to
ourselves, and of our own choice would not give it?" And they do not
observe that, if they are not yet regenerated, the first reason why,
when they are reproached because they are disobedient to God, they
ought to be dissatisfied with themselves is, that God made man upright
from the beginning of the human creation, [3267] and there is no
unrighteousness with God. [3268] And thus the first depravity, whereby
God is not obeyed, is of man, because, falling by his own evil will
from the rectitude in which God at first made him, he became depraved.
Is, then, that depravity not to be rebuked in a man because it is not
peculiar to him who is rebuked, but is common to all? Nay, let that
also be rebuked in individuals, which is common to all. For the
circumstance that none is altogether free from it is no reason why it
should not attach to each man. Those original sins, indeed, are said
to be the sins of others, because individuals derived them from their
parents; but they are not unreasonably said to be our own also,
because in that one, as the apostle says, all have sinned. [3269] Let,
then, the damnable source be rebuked, that from the mortification of
rebuke may spring the will of regeneration,--if, indeed, he who is
rebuked is a child of promise,--in order that, by the noise of the
rebuke sounding and lashing from without, God may by His hidden
inspiration work in him from within to will also. If, however, being
already regenerate and justified, he relapses of his own will into an
evil life, assuredly he cannot say, "I have not received," because of
his own free choice to evil he has lost the grace of God, that he had
received. And if, stung with compunction by rebuke, he wholesomely
bewails, and returns to similar good works, or even better, certainly
here most manifestly appears the advantage of rebuke. But yet for
rebuke by the agency of man to avail, whether it be of love or not,
depends only upon God.
Footnotes
[3265] 2 Cor. iv. 7.
[3266] 1 John iv. 7.
[3267] Eccles. vii. 30.
[3268] Rom. ix. 14.
[3269] Rom. iii. 23.
Chapter 10--All Perseverance is God's Gift.
Is such an one as is unwilling to be rebuked still able to say, "What
have I done,--I who have not received?" when it appears plainly that
he has received, and by his own fault has lost that which he has
received? "I am able," says he, "I am altogether able,--when you
reprove me for having of my own will relapsed from a good life into a
bad one,--still to say, What have I done,--I who have not received?
For I have received faith, which worketh by love, but I have not
received perseverance therein to the end. Will any one dare to say
that this perseverance is not the gift of God, and that so great a
possession as this is ours in such wise that if any one have it the
apostle could not say to him, `For what hast thou which thou hast not
received?' [3270] since he has this in such a manner as that he has
not received it?" To this, indeed, we are not able to deny, that
perseverance in good, progressing even to the end, is also a great
gift of God; and that it exists not save it come from Him of whom it
is written, "Every best gift and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights." [3271] But the rebuke of him
who has not persevered must not on that account be neglected, "lest
God perchance give unto him repentance, and he recover from the snares
of the devil;" [3272] since to the usefulness of rebuke the apostle
has subjoined this decision, saying, as I have above mentioned,
"Rebuking with moderation those that think differently, lest at any
time God give them repentance." [3273] For if we should say that such
a perseverance, so laudable and so blessed, is man's in such wise as
that he has it not from God, we first of all make void that which the
Lord says to Peter: "I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not."
[3274] For what did He ask for him, but perseverance to the end? And
assuredly, if a man could have this from man, it should not have been
asked from God. Then when the apostle says, "Now we pray to God that
ye do no evil," [3275] beyond a doubt he prays to God on their behalf
for perseverance. For certainly he does not "do no evil" who forsakes
good, and, not persevering in good, turns to the evil, from which he
ought to turn aside. [3276] In that place, moreover, where he says, "I
thank my God in every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of
mine for you all making quest with joy for your fellowship [3277] in
the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very
thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will perform it until
the day of Jesus Christ," [3278] --what else does he promise to them
from the mercy of God than perseverance in good to the end? And again
where he says, "Epaphras saluteth you, who is one of you, a servant of
Christ Jesus, always striving for you in prayer, that you may stand
perfect and fulfilled in all the will of God," [3279] --what is "that
you may stand" but "that you may persevere"? Whence it was said of the
devil, "He stood not in the truth;" [3280] because he was there, but
he did not continue. For assuredly those were already standing in the
faith. And when we pray that he who stands may stand, we do not pray
for anything else than that he may persevere. Jude the apostle, again,
when he says, "Now unto Him that is able to keep you without offence,
and to establish you before the presence of His glory, immaculate in
joy," [3281] does he not most manifestly show that perseverance in
good unto the end is God's gift? For what but a good perseverance does
He give who preserves without offence that He may place before the
presence of His glory immaculate in joy? What is it, moreover, that we
read in the Acts of the Apostles: "And when the Gentiles heard, they
rejoiced and received the word of the Lord; and as many as were
ordained to eternal life believed"? [3282] Who could be ordained to
eternal life save by the gift of perseverance? And when we read, "He
that shall persevere unto the end shall be saved;" [3283] with what
salvation but eternal? And when, in the Lord's Prayer, we say to God
the Father, "Hallowed be Thy name," [3284] what do we ask but that His
name may be hallowed in us? And as this is already accomplished by
means of the laver of regeneration, why is it daily asked by
believers, except that we may persevere in that which is already done
in us? For the blessed Cyprian also understands this in this manner,
inasmuch as, in his exposition of the same prayer, he says: "We say,
`Hallowed be Thy name,' not that we wish for God that He may be
hallowed by our prayers, but that we ask of God that His name may be
hallowed in us. But by whom is God hallowed; since He Himself hallows?
Well, because He said, `Be ye holy, since I also am holy;' [3285] we
ask and entreat that we who have been hallowed in baptism may
persevere in that which we have begun to be." [3286] Behold the most
glorious martyr is of this opinion, that what in these words Christ's
faithful people are daily asking is, that they may persevere in that
which they have begun to be. And no one need doubt, but that whosoever
prays from the Lord that he may persevere in good, confesses thereby
that such perseverance is His gift.
Footnotes
[3270] 1 Cor. iv. 7.
[3271] Jas. i. 17.
[3272] 2 Tim. ii. 25.
[3273] 2 Tim. ii. 25.
[3274] Luke xxii. 32.
[3275] 2 Cor. xiii. 7.
[3276] [The editors have without reason inserted a "not" before
"ought" in this sentence, yielding the sense: "who forsakes good, even
that from which he ought not to turn away;" Erasmus changes the place
of "and," reading: "who forsakes good from which he ought not to turn
aside, and is inclined to evil." The ms. text is entirely
satisfactory.--W.]
[3277] Many mss. read "communication."
[3278] Phil. i. 3, et seq.
[3279] Col. iv. 12.
[3280] John viii. 24.
[3281] Jude 24.
[3282] Acts xiii. 48.
[3283] Matt. x. 22.
[3284] Matt. vi. 9.
[3285] Nearly all mss.: "even as I am holy."
[3286] Cyprian, Treatise on the Lord's Prayer, ch. 12; see The
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. v. p. 450.
Chapter 11 [VII.]--They Who Have Not Received the Gift of
Perseverance, and Have Relapsed into Mortal Sin and Have Died Therein,
Must Righteously Be Condemned.
If, then, these things be so, we still rebuke those, and reasonably
rebuke them, who, although they were living well, have not persevered
therein; because they have of their own will been changed from a good
to an evil life, and on that account are worthy of rebuke; and if
rebuke should be of no avail to them, and they should persevere in
their ruined life until death, they are also worthy of divine
condemnation for ever. Neither shall they excuse themselves,
saying,--as now they say, "Wherefore are we rebuked?"--so then,
"Wherefore are we condemned, since indeed, that we might return from
good to evil, we did not receive that perseverance by which we should
abide in good?" They shall by no means deliver themselves by this
excuse from righteous condemnation. For if, according to the word of
truth, no one is delivered from the condemnation which was incurred
through Adam except through the faith of Jesus Christ, and yet from
this condemnation they shall not deliver themselves who shall be able
to say that they have not heard the gospel of Christ, on the ground
that "faith cometh by hearing," [3287] how much less shall they
deliver themselves who shall say, "We have not received perseverance!"
For the excuse of those who say, "We have not received hearing," seems
more equitable than that of those who say, "We have not received
perseverance;" since it may be said, O man, in that which thou hadst
heard and kept, in that thou mightest persevere if thou wouldest; but
in no wise can it be said, That which thou hadst not heard thou
mightest believe if thou wouldest.
Footnotes
[3287] Rom. x. 17.
Chapter 12.--They Who Have Not Received Perseverance are Not
Distinguished from the Mass of Those that are Lost.
And, consequently, both those who have not heard the gospel, and those
who, having heard it and been changed by it for the better, have not
received perseverance, and those who, having heard the gospel, have
refused to come to Christ, that is, to believe on Him, since He
Himself says, "No man cometh unto me, except it were given him of my
Father," [3288] and those who by their tender age were unable to
believe, but might be absolved from original sin by the sole laver of
regeneration, and yet have not received this laver, and have perished
in death: are not made to differ from that lump which it is plain is
condemned, as all go from one into condemnation. Some are made to
differ, however, not by their own merits, but by the grace of the
Mediator; that is to say, they are justified freely in the blood of
the second Adam. Therefore, when we hear, "For who maketh thee to
differ? and what hast thou that thou hast not received? Now, if thou
hast received it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received
it?" [3289] we ought to understand that from that mass of perdition
which originated through the first Adam, no one can be made to differ
except he who has this gift, which whosoever has, has received by the
grace of the Saviour. And this apostolical testimony is so great, that
the blessed Cyprian writing to Quirinus put it in the place of a
title, when he says, "That we must boast in nothing, since nothing is
our own." [3290]
Footnotes
[3288] John vi. 65.
[3289] 1 Cor iv. 7.
[3290] Cyprian, Testimonies, Book iii. ch. 4; see The Ante-Nicene
Fathers, vol. v. pp. 528 and 533.
Chapter 13.--Election is of Grace, Not of Merit.
Whosoever, then, are made to differ from that original condemnation by
such bounty of divine grace, there is no doubt but that for such it is
provided that they should hear the gospel, and when they hear they
believe, and in the faith which worketh by love they persevere unto
the end; and if, perchance, they deviate from the way, when they are
rebuked they are amended and some of them, although they may not be
rebuked by men, return into the path which they had left; and some who
have received grace in any age whatever are withdrawn from the perils
of this life by swiftness of death. For He worketh all these things in
them who made them vessels of mercy, who also elected them in His Son
before the foundation of the world by the election of grace: "And if
by grace, then is it no more of works, otherwise grace is no more
grace." [3291] For they were not so called as not to be elected, in
respect of which it is said, "For many are called but few are
elected;" [3292] but because they were called according to the
purpose, they are of a certainty also elected by the election, as it
is said, of grace, not of any precedent merits of theirs, because to
them grace is all merit.
Footnotes
[3291] Rom. xi. 6.
[3292] Matt. xx. 16.
Chapter 14.--None of the Elect and Predestinated Can Perish.
Of such says the apostle, "We know that to those that love God He
worketh together all things for good, to them who are called according
to His purpose; because those whom He before foreknew, He also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be
the first-born among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did
predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also
justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified." [3293] Of
these no one perishes, because all are elected. And they are elected
because they were called according to the purpose--the purpose,
however, not their own, but God's; of which He elsewhere says, "That
the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works,
but of Him that calleth, it was said unto her that the elder shall
serve the younger." [3294] And in another place he says, "Not
according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace."
[3295] When, therefore, we hear, "Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He also called," [3296] we ought to acknowledge that they were
called according to His purpose; since He thence began, saying, "He
worketh together all things for good to those who are called according
to His purpose," and then added, "Because those whom He before
foreknew, He also did predestinate, to be conformed to the image of
His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren." And to
these promises He added, "Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He
also called." He wishes these, therefore, to be understood whom He
called according to His purpose, lest any among them should be thought
to be called and not elected, on account of that sentence of the
Lord's: "Many the called but few are elected." [3297] For whoever are
elected are without doubt also called; but not whosoever are called
are as a consequence elected. Those, then, are elected, as has often
been said, who are called according to the purpose, who also are
predestinated and foreknown. If any one of these perishes, God is
mistaken; but none of them perishes, because God is not mistaken. If
any one of these perish, God is overcome by human sin; but none of
them perishes, because God is overcome by nothing. Moreover, they are
elected to reign with Christ, not as Judas was elected, to a work for
which he was fitted. Because he was chosen by Him who well knew how to
make use even of wicked men, so that even by his damnable deed that
venerable work, for the sake of which He Himself had come, might be
accomplished. When, therefore, we hear, "Have not I chosen you twelve,
and one of you is a devil?" [3298] we ought to understand that the
rest were elected by mercy, but he by judgment; those to obtain His
kingdom, he to shed His blood!
Footnotes
[3293] Rom. viii. 28 ff.
[3294] Rom. ix. 11.
[3295] 2 Tim. i. 9.
[3296] Rom. viii. 29.
[3297] Matt. xx. 16.
[3298] John vi. 70.
Chapter 15.--Perseverance is Given to the End.
Rightly follows the word to the kingdom of the elect: "If God be for
us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all, how has He not also with Him given us all
things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? God who
justifieth? Who condemneth? Christ who died? yea, rather who rose
again also, who is at the right hand of God, who also soliciteth on
our behalf?" [3299] And of how stedfast a perseverance even to the end
they have received the gift, let them follow on to say: "Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is
written, Because for thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are
accounted as sheep for the slaughter. But in all these things we are
more than conquerors, through Him that hath loved us. For I am
certain, that neither death, nor life, nor angel, nor principality,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor power, nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." [3300]
Footnotes
[3299] Rom. viii. 31 ff.
[3300] Rom. viii. 35 ff.
Chapter 16.--Whosoever Do Not Persevere are Not Distinguished from the
Mass of Perdition by Predestination.
Such as these were they who were signified to Timothy, where, when it
had been said that Hymenæus and Philetus had subverted the faith of
some, it is presently added, "Nevertheless the foundation of God
standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord has known them that are
His." [3301] The faith of these, which worketh by love, either
actually does not fail at all, or, if there are any whose faith fails,
it is restored before their life is ended, and the iniquity which had
intervened is done away, and perseverance even to the end is allotted
to them. But they who are not to persevere, and who shall so fall away
from Christian faith and conduct that the end of this life shall find
them in that case, beyond all doubt are not to be reckoned in the
number of these, even in that season wherein they are living well and
piously. For they are not made to differ from that mass of perdition
by the foreknowledge and predestination of God, and therefore are not
called according to God's purpose, and thus are not elected; but are
called among those of whom it was said, "Many are called," not among
those of whom it was said, "But few are elected." And yet who can deny
that they are elect, since they believe and are baptized, and live
according to God? Manifestly, they are called elect by those who are
ignorant of what they shall be, but not by Him who knew that they
would not have the perseverance which leads the elect forward into the
blessed life, and knows that they so stand, as that He has foreknown
that they will fall.
Footnotes
[3301] 2 Tim. ii. 19.
Chapter 17 [VIII.]--Why Perseverance Should Be Given to One and Not
Another is Inscrutable.
Here, if I am asked why God should not have given them perseverance to
whom He gave that love by which they might live Christianly, I answer
that I do not know. For I do not speak arrogantly, but with
acknowledgment of my small measure, when I hear the apostle saying, "O
man, who art thou that repliest against God?" [3302] and, "O the depth
of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are
His judgments, and His ways untraceable!" [3303] So far, therefore, as
He condescends to manifest His judgments to us, let us give thanks;
but so far as He thinks fit to conceal them, let us not murmur against
His counsel, but believe that this also is the most wholesome for us.
But whoever you are that are hostile to His grace, and thus ask, what
do you yourself say? it is well that you do not deny yourself to be a
Christian and boast of being a catholic. If, therefore, you confess
that to persevere to the end in good is God's gift, I think that
equally with me you are ignorant why one man should receive this gift
and another should not receive it; and in this case we are both unable
to penetrate the unsearchable judgments of God. Or if you say that it
pertains to man's free will--which you defend, not in accordance with
God's grace, but in opposition to it--that any one should persevere in
good, or should not persevere, and it is not by the gift of God if he
persevere, but by the performance of human will, why will you strive
against the words of Him who says, "I have prayed for thee, Peter,
that thy faith fail not"? [3304] Will you dare to say that even when
Christ prayed that Peter's faith might not fail, it would still have
failed if Peter had willed it to fail; that is, if he had been
unwilling that it should continue even to the end? As if Peter could
in any measure will otherwise than Christ had asked for him that he
might will. For who does not know that Peter's faith would then have
perished if that will by which he was faithful should fail, and that
it would have continued if that same will should abide? But because
"the will is prepared by the Lord," [3305] therefore Christ's petition
on his behalf could not be a vain petition. When, then, He prayed that
his faith should not fail, what was it that he asked for, but that in
his faith he should have a most free, strong, invincible, persevering
will! Behold to what an extent the freedom of the will is defended in
accordance with the grace of God, not in opposition to it; because the
human will does not attain grace by freedom, but rather attains
freedom by grace, and a delightful constancy, and an insuperable
fortitude that it may persevere.
Footnotes
[3302] Rom. ix. 20.
[3303] Rom. xi. 33.
[3304] Luke xxii. 32.
[3305] Prov. viii. 35.
Chapter 18.--Some Instances of God's Amazing Judgments.
It is, indeed, to be wondered at, and greatly to be wondered at, that
to some of His own children--whom He has regenerated in Christ--to
whom He has given faith, hope, and love, God does not give
perseverance also, when to children of another He forgives such
wickedness, and, by the bestowal of His grace, makes them His own
children. Who would not wonder at this? Who would not be exceedingly
astonished at this? But, moreover, it is not less marvellous, and
still true, and so manifest that not even the enemies of God's grace
can find any means of denying it, that some children of His friends,
that is, of regenerated and good believers, departing this life as
infants without baptism,--although He certainly might provide the
grace of this laver if He willed, since in His power are all
things,--He alienates from His kingdom into which He introduces their
parents; and some children of His enemies He causes to come into the
hands of Christians, and by means of this laver introduces into the
kingdom, from which their parents are aliens; although, as well to the
former infants there is no evil deserving, as to the latter there is
no good, of their own proper will. Certainly, in this case the
judgments of God, because they are righteous and deep, may neither be
blamed nor penetrated. Among these also is that concerning
perseverance, of which we are now discoursing. Of both, therefore, we
may exclaim, "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of
God! how unsearchable are His judgments!" [3306]
Footnotes
[3306] Rom. xi. 33.
Chapter 19.--God's Ways Past Finding Out.
Nor let us wonder that we cannot trace His unsearchable ways. For, to
say nothing of innumerable other things which are given by the Lord
God to some men, and to others are not given, since with Him is no
respect of persons; such things as are not conferred on the merits of
will, as bodily swiftness, strength, good health, and beauty of body,
marvellous intellects and mental natures capable of many arts, or such
as fall to man's lot from without, such as are wealth, nobility,
honours, and other things of this kind, which it is in the power of
God alone that a man should have; not to dwell even on the baptism of
infants (which none of those objectors can say does not pertain, as
might be said of those other matters, to the kingdom of God), why it
is given to this infant and not given to that, since both of them are
equally in God's power, and without that sacrament none can enter into
the kingdom of God;--to be silent, then, on these matters, or to leave
them on one side, let men consider those very special cases of which
we are treating. For we are discoursing of such as have not
perseverance in goodness, but die in the decline of their good will
from good to evil. Let the objectors answer, if they can, why, when
these were living faithfully and piously, God did not then snatch them
from the perils of this life, "lest wickedness should change their
understanding, and lest deceit should beguile their souls"? [3307] Had
He not this in His power, or was He ignorant of their future
sinfulness? Assuredly, nothing of this kind is said, except most
perversely and insanely. Why, then, did He not do this? Let them reply
who mock at us when in such matters we exclaim, "How inscrutable are
His judgments, and His ways past finding out!" [3308] For either God
giveth this to whom He will, or certainly that Scripture is wrong
which says concerning the immature death of the righteous man, "He was
taken away lest wickedness should change his understanding, or lest
deceit should beguile his soul." [3309] Why, then, does God give this
so great benefit to some, and not give it to others, seeing that in
Him is no unrighteousness [3310] nor acceptance of persons, [3311] and
that it is in His power how long every one may remain in this life,
which is called a trial upon earth? [3312] As, then, they are
constrained to confess that it is God's gift for a man to end this
life of his before it can be changed from good to evil, but they do
not know why it is given to some and not given to others, so let them
confess with us that perseverance in good is God's gift, according to
the Scriptures, from which I have already set down many testimonies;
and let them condescend with us to be ignorant, without a murmur
against God, why it is given to some and not given to others.
Footnotes
[3307] Wisd. iv. 11.
[3308] Rom. xi. 33.
[3309] Wisd. iv. 11.
[3310] Rom. ix. 14.
[3311] Rom. ii. 11.
[3312] Job vii. 1.
Chapter 20 [IX.]--Some are Children of God According to Grace
Temporally Received, Some According to God's Eternal Foreknowledge.
Nor let it disturb us that to some of His children God does not give
this perseverance. Be this far from being so, however, if these were
of those who are predestinated and called according to His
purpose,--who are truly the children of the promise. For the former,
while they live piously, are called children of God; but because they
will live wickedly, and die in that impiety, the foreknowledge of God
does not call them God's children. For they are children of God whom
as yet we have not, and God has already, of whom the Evangelist John
says, "that Jesus should die for that nation, and not for that nation
only, but that also He should gather together in one the children of
God which were scattered abroad;" [3313] and this certainly they were
to become by believing, through the preaching of the gospel. And yet
before this had happened they had already been enrolled as sons of God
with unchangeable stedfastness in the memorial of their Father. And,
again, there are some who are called by us children of God on account
of grace received even in temporal things, yet are not so called by
God; of whom the same John says, "They went out from us, but they were
not of us, because if they had been of us they would, no doubt, have
continued with us." [3314] He does not say, "They went out from us,
but because they did not abide with us they are no longer now of us;"
but he says, "They went out from us, but they were not of us,"--that
is to say, even when they appeared among us, they were not of us. And
as if it were said to him, Whence do you prove this? he says, "Because
if they had been of us, they would assuredly have continued with us."
[3315] It is the word of God's children; John is the speaker, who was
ordained to a chief place among the children of God. When, therefore,
God's children say of those who had not perseverance, "They went out
from us, but they were not of us," and add, "Because if they had been
of us, they would assuredly have continued with us," what else do they
say than that they were not children, even when they were in the
profession and name of children? Not because they simulated
righteousness, but because they did not continue in it. For he does
not say, "For if they had been of us, they would assuredly have
maintained a real and not a feigned righteousness with us;" but he
says, "If they had been of us, they would assuredly have continued
with us." Beyond a doubt, he wished them to continue in goodness.
Therefore they were in goodness; but because they did not abide in
it,--that is, they did not persevere unto the end,--he says, They were
not of us, even when they were with us,--that is, they were not of the
number of children, even when they were in the faith of children;
because they who are truly children are foreknown and predestinated as
conformed to the image of His Son, and are called according to His
purpose, so as to be elected. For the son of promise does not perish,
but the son of perdition. [3316]
Footnotes
[3313] John xi. 51, 52.
[3314] 1 John ii. 19.
[3315] Rom. viii. 29.
[3316] John xvii. 12.
Chapter 21.--Who May Be Understood as Given to Christ.
Those, then, were of the multitude of the called, but they were not of
the fewness of the elected. It is not, therefore, to His predestinated
children that God has not given perseverance for they would have it if
they were in that number of children; and what would they have which
they had not received, according to the apostolical and true judgment?
[3317] And thus such children would be given to Christ the Son just as
He Himself says to the Father, "That all that Thou hast given me may
not perish, but have eternal life." [3318] Those, therefore, are
understood to be given to Christ who are ordained to eternal life.
These are they who are predestinated and called according to the
purpose, of whom not one perishes. And therefore none of them ends
this life when he has changed from good to evil, because he is so
ordained, and for that purpose given to Christ, that he may not
perish, but may have eternal life. And again, those whom we call His
enemies, or the infant children of His enemies, whomever of them He
will so regenerate that they may end this life in that faith which
worketh by love, are already, and before this is done, in that
predestination His children, and are given to Christ His Son, that
they may not perish, but have everlasting life.
Footnotes
[3317] 1 Cor. iv. 7.
[3318] Matt. xx. 16.
Chapter 22.--True Children of God are True Disciples of Christ.
Finally, the Saviour Himself says, "If ye continue in my word, ye are
indeed my disciples." [3319] Is Judas, then, to be reckoned among
them, since he did not continue in His word? Are they to be reckoned
among them of whom the gospel speaks in such wise, where, when the
Lord had commanded His flesh to be eaten and His blood to be drunk,
the Evangelist says, "These things said He in the synagogue as He
taught in Capernaum. Many, therefore, of His disciples, when they had
heard this, said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it? But Jesus,
knowing in Himself that His disciples were murmuring at it, said to
them, Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man
ascending where He was before? It is the Spirit that quickeneth, but
the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I have spoken unto you are
spirit and life. But there are some of you who believe not. For Jesus
knew from the beginning who were the believing ones, and who should
betray Him; and He said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man cometh
unto me except it were given of my Father. From this time many of His
disciples went away back from Him, and no longer walked with Him."
[3320] Are not these even in the words of the gospel called disciples?
And yet they were not truly disciples, because they did not continue
in His word, according to what He says: "If ye continue in my word,
then are ye indeed my disciples." [3321] Because, therefore, they
possessed not perseverance, as not being truly disciples of Christ, so
they were not truly children of God even when they appeared to be so,
and were so called. We, then, call men elected, and Christ's
disciples, and God's children, because they are to be so called whom,
being regenerated, we see to live piously; but they are then truly
what they are called if they shall abide in that on account of which
they are so called. But if they have not perseverance,--that is, if
they continue not in that which they have begun to be,--they are not
truly called what they are called and are not; for they are not this
in the sight of Him to whom it is known what they are going to
be,--that is to say, from good men, bad men.
Footnotes
[3319] John viii. 31.
[3320] John vi. 59 ff.
[3321] John viii. 31.
Chapter 23.--Those Who are Called According to the Purpose Alone are
Predestinated.
For this reason the apostle, when he had said, "We know that to those
who love God He worketh all things together for good,"--knowing that
some love God, and do not continue in that good way unto the
end,--immediately added, "to them who are the called according to His
purpose." [3322] For these in their love for God continue even to the
end; and they who for a season wander from the way return, that they
may continue unto the end what they had begun to be in good. Showing,
however, what it is to be called according to His purpose, he
presently added what I have already quoted above, "Because whom He did
before foreknow, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of
His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren.
Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called," to wit,
according to His purpose; "and whom He called, them He also justified;
and whom He justified, them He also glorified." [3323] All those
things are already done: He foreknew, He predestinated, He called, He
justified; because both all are already foreknown and predestinated,
and many are already called and justified; but that which he placed at
the end, "them He also glorified" (if, indeed, that glory is here to
be understood of which the same apostle says, "When Christ your life
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory" [3324] ),
this is not yet accomplished. Although, also, those two things--that
is, He called, and He justified--have not been effected in all of whom
they are said,--for still, even until the end of the world, there
remain many to be called and justified,--nevertheless, He used verbs
of the past tense, even concerning things future, as if God had
already arranged from eternity that they should come to pass. For this
reason, also, the prophet Isaiah says concerning Him, "Who has made
the things that shall be." [3325] Whosoever, therefore, in God's most
providential ordering, are foreknown, predestinated, called,
justified, glorified,--I say not, even although not yet born again,
but even although not yet born at all, are already children of God,
and absolutely cannot perish. These truly come to Christ, because they
come in such wise as He Himself says, "All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will not cast out;"
[3326] and a little after He says, "This is the will of the Father who
hath sent me, that of all that He hath given me I shall lose nothing."
[3327] From Him, therefore, is given also perseverance in good even to
the end; for it is not given save to those who shall not perish, since
they who do not persevere shall perish.
Footnotes
[3322] Rom. viii. 28.
[3323] Rom. viii. 29.
[3324] Col. iii. 4.
[3325] Isa. xlv. 11.
[3326] John vi. 37.
[3327] John vi. 39.
Chapter 24.--Even the Sins of the Elect are Turned by God to Their
Advantage.
To such as love Him, God co-worketh with all things for good; so
absolutely all things, that even if any of them go astray, and break
out of the way, even this itself He makes to avail them for good, so
that they return more lowly and more instructed. For they learn that
in the right way [3328] itself they ought to rejoice with trembling;
not with arrogation to themselves of confidence of abiding as if by
their own strength; not with saying, in their abundance, "We shall not
be moved for ever." [3329] For which reason it is said to them, "Serve
the Lord in fear, and rejoice unto Him with trembling, lest at any
time the Lord should be angry, and ye perish from the right way."
[3330] For He does not say, "And ye come not into the right way;" but
He says, "Lest ye perish from the right way." And what does this show,
but that those who are already walking in the right way are reminded
to serve God in fear; that is, "not to be high-minded, but to fear"?
[3331] which signifies, that they should not be haughty, but humble.
Whence also He says in another place, "not minding high things, but
consenting with the lowly;" [3332] let them rejoice in God, but with
trembling; glorying in none, since nothing is ours, so that he who
glorieth may glory in the Lord, lest they perish from the right way in
which they have already begun to walk, while they are ascribing to
themselves their very presence in it. These words also the apostle
made use of when he says, "Work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling." [3333] And setting forth why with fear and trembling, he
says, "For it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do for
His good pleasure." [3334] For he had not this fear and trembling who
said in his abundance, "I shall not be moved for ever." [3335] But
because he was a child of the promise, not of perdition, he
experienced in God's desertion for a little while what he himself was:
"Lord," said he, "in Thy favour Thou gavest strength to my honour;
Thou turnedst away Thy face from me, and I became troubled." [3336]
Behold how much better instructed, and for this reason also more
humble, he held on his way, at length seeing and confessing that by
His will God had endowed his honour with strength; and this he had
attributed to himself and presumed to be from himself, in such
abundance as God had afforded it, and not from Him who had given it,
and so had said, "I shall not be moved for ever!" Therefore he became
troubled so that he found himself, and being lowly minded learnt not
only of eternal life, but, moreover, of a pious conversation and
perseverance in this life, as that in which hope should be maintained.
This might moreover be the word of the Apostle Peter, because he also
had said in his abundance, "I will lay down my life for Thy sake;"
[3337] attributing to himself, in his eagerness, what was afterwards
to be bestowed on him by his Lord. But the Lord turned away His face
from him, and he became troubled, so that in his fear of dying for Him
he thrice denied Him. But the Lord again turned His face to him, and
washed away his sin with his tears. For what else is, "He turned and
looked upon him," [3338] but, He restored to him the face which, for a
little while, He had turned away from him? Therefore he had become
troubled; but because he learned not to be confident concerning
himself, even this was of excellent profit to him, by His agency who
co-works for good with all things to those who love Him; because he
had been called according to the purpose, so that no one could pluck
him out of the hand of Christ, to whom he had been given.
Footnotes
[3328] Or, "life."
[3329] Ps. xxx. 6.
[3330] Ps. ii. 11.
[3331] Rom. xi. 20.
[3332] Rom. xii. 16.
[3333] Phil. ii. 12, 13.
[3334] Phil. ii. 13.
[3335] Ps. xxx. 6.
[3336] Ps. xxx. 7.
[3337] John xiii. 37.
[3338] Luke xxii. 61.
Chapter 25.--Therefore Rebuke is to Be Used.
Let no one therefore say that a man must not be rebuked when he
deviates from the right way, but that his return and perseverance must
only be asked for from the Lord for him. Let no considerate and
believing man say this. For if such an one is called according to the
purpose, beyond all doubt God is co-working for good to him even in
the fact of his being rebuked. But since he who rebukes is ignorant
whether he is so called, let him do with love what he knows ought to
be done; for he knows that such an one ought to be rebuked. God will
show either mercy or judgment; mercy, indeed, if he who is rebuked is
"made to differ" by the bestowal of grace from the mass of perdition,
and is not found among the vessels of wrath which are completed for
destruction, but among the vessels of mercy which God has prepared for
glory; [3339] but judgment, if among the former he is condemned, and
is not predestinated among the latter.
Footnotes
[3339] Rom. ix. 22, 23.
Chapter 26 [X.]--Whether Adam Received the Gift of Perseverance.
Here arises another question, not reasonably to be slighted, but to be
approached and solved in the help of the Lord in whose hand are both
we and our discourses. [3340] For I am asked, in respect of this gift
of God which is to persevere in good to the end, what I think of the
first man himself, who assuredly was made upright without any fault.
And I do not say: If he had not perseverance, how was he without
fault, seeing that he was in want of so needful a gift of God? For to
this interrogatory the answer is easy, that he had not perseverance,
because he did not persevere in that goodness in which he was without
sin; for he began to have sin from the point at which he fell; and if
he began, certainly he was without sin before he had begun. For it is
one thing not to have sin, and it is another not to abide in that
goodness in which there is no sin. Because in that very fact, that he
is not said never to have been without sin, but he is said not to have
continued without sin, beyond all doubt it is demonstrated that he was
without sin, seeing that he is blamed for not having continued in that
goodness. But it should rather be asked and discussed with greater
pains in what way we can answer those who say, "If in that uprightness
in which he was made without sin he had perseverance, beyond all doubt
he persevered in it; and if he persevered, he certainly did not sin,
and did not forsake that his uprightness. But that he did sin, and was
a forsaker of goodness, the Truth declares. Therefore he had not
perseverance in that goodness; and if he had it not, he certainly
received it not. For how should he have both received perseverance,
and not have persevered? Further, if he had it not because he did not
receive it, what sin did he commit by not persevering, if he did not
receive perseverance? For it cannot be said that he did not receive
it, for the reason that he was not separated by the bestowal of grace
from the mass of perdition. Because that mass of perdition did not as
yet exist in the human race before he had sinned from whom the
corrupted source was derived."
Footnotes
[3340] Wisd. vii. 16.
Chapter 27.--The Answer.
Wherefore we most wholesomely confess what we most correctly believe,
that the God and Lord of all things, who in His strength created all
things good, and foreknew that evil things would arise out of good,
and knew that it pertained to His most omnipotent goodness even to do
good out of evil things rather than not to allow evil things to be at
all, so ordained the life of angels and men that in it He might first
of all show what their free will was capable of, and then what the
kindness of His grace and the judgment of His righteousness was
capable of. Finally, certain angels, of whom the chief is he who is
called the devil, became by free will outcasts from the Lord God. Yet
although they fled from His goodness, wherein they had been blessed,
they could not flee from His judgment, by which they were made most
wretched. Others, however, by the same free will stood fast in the
truth, and merited the knowledge of that most certain truth that they
should never fall. [3341] For if from the Holy Scriptures we have been
able to attain the knowledge that none of the holy angels shall fall
evermore, how much more have they themselves attained this knowledge
by the truth more sublimely revealed to them! Because to us is
promised a blessed life without end, and equality with the angels,
[3342] from which promise we are certified that when after judgment we
shall have come to that life, we shall not fall from it; but if the
angels are ignorant of this truth concerning themselves, we shall not
be their equals, but more blessed than they. But the Truth has
promised us equality with them. It is certain, then, that they have
known this by sight, which we have known by faith, to wit, that there
shall be now no more any fall of any holy angel. But the devil and his
angels, although they were blessed before they fell, and did not know
that they should fall unto misery,--there was still something which
might be added to their blessedness, if by free will they had stood in
the truth, until they should receive that fulness of the highest
blessing as the reward of that continuance; that is, that by the great
abundance of the love of God, given by the Holy Spirit, they should
absolutely not be able to fall any more, and that they should know
this with complete certainty concerning themselves. They had not this
plenitude of blessedness; but since they were ignorant of their future
misery, they enjoyed a blessedness which was less, indeed, but still
without any defect. For if they had known their future fall and
eternal punishment, they certainly could not have been blessed; since
the fear of so great an evil as this would compel them even then to be
miserable.
Footnotes
[3341] "Eamque [scil. veritatem] de suo casu nunquam futuro
certissimam scire."
[3342] Matt. xxii. 30.
Chapter 28.--The First Man Himself Also Might Have Stood by His Free
Will.
Thus also He made man with free will; and although ignorant of his
future fall, yet therefore happy, because he thought it was in his own
power both not to die and not to become miserable. And if he had
willed by his own free will to continue in this state of uprightness
and freedom from sin, assuredly without any experience of death and of
unhappiness he would have received by the merit of that continuance
the fulness of blessing with which the holy angels also are blessed;
that is, the impossibility of falling any more, and the knowledge of
this with absolute certainty. For even he himself could not be blessed
although in Paradise, nay, he would not be there, where it would not
become him to be miserable, if the foreknowledge of his fall had made
him wretched with the dread of such a disaster. But because he forsook
God of his free will, he experienced the just judgment of God, that
with his whole race, which being as yet all placed in him had sinned
with him, he should be condemned. For as mary of this race as are
delivered by God's grace are certainly delivered from the condemnation
in which they are already held bound. Whence, even if none should be
delivered, no one could justly blame the judgment of God. That,
therefore, in comparison of those that perish few, but in their
absolute number many, are delivered, is effected by grace, [3343] is
effected freely: [3344] thanks must be given, because it is effected,
so that no one may be lifted up as of his own deservings, but that
every mouth may be stopped, [3345] and he that glorieth may glory in
the Lord. [3346]
Footnotes
[3343] Gratiâ--gratis.
[3344] Gratiâ--gratis.
[3345] Rom. iii. 19.
[3346] Jer. ix. 24.
Chapter 29 [XI.]--Distinction Between the Grace Given Before and After
the Fall.
What then? Did not Adam have the grace of God? Yes, truly, he had it
largely, but of a different kind. He was placed in the midst of
benefits which he had received from the goodness of his Creator; for
he had not procured those benefits by his own deservings; in which
benefits he suffered absolutely no evil. But saints in this life, to
whom pertains this grace of deliverance, are in the midst of evils out
of which they cry to God, "Deliver us from evil." [3347] He in those
benefits needed not the death of Christ: these, the blood of that Lamb
absolves from guilt, as well inherited as their own. He had no need of
that assistance which they implore when they say, "I see another law
in my members warring against the law of my mind, and making me
captive in the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that
I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of
God through Jesus Christ our Lord." [3348] Because in them the flesh
lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and as
they labour and are imperilled in such a contest, they ask that by the
grace of Christ the strength to fight and to conquer may be given
them. He, however, tempted and disturbed in no such conflict
concerning himself against himself, in that position of blessedness
enjoyed his peace with himself.
Footnotes
[3347] Matt. vi. 13.
[3348] Rom. vii. 23.
Chapter 30.--The Incarnation of the Word.
Hence, although these do not now require a grace more joyous for the
present, they nevertheless need a more powerful grace; and what grace
is more powerful than the only-begotten Son of God, equal to the
Father and co-eternal, made man for them, and, without any sin of His
own, either original or actual, crucified by men who were sinners? And
although He rose again on the third day, never to die any more, He yet
bore death for men and gave life to the dead, so that redeemed by His
blood, having received so great and such a pledge, they could say, "If
God be for us, who is against us? He who spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all, how has He not with Him also given to us
all things?" [3349] God therefore took upon Him our nature--that is,
the rational soul and flesh of the man Christ--by an undertaking
singularly marvellous, or marvellously singular; so that with no
preceding merits of His own righteousness He might in such wise be the
Son of God from the beginning, in which He had begun to be man, that
He, and the Word which is without beginning, might be one person. For
there is no one blinded by such ignorance of this matter and the Faith
as to dare to say that, although born of the Holy Spirit and the
Virgin Mary the Son of man, yet of His own free will by righteous
living and by doing good works, without sin, He deserved to be the Son
of God; in opposition to the gospel, which says, "The Word was made
flesh." [3350] For where was this made flesh except in the Virginal
womb, whence was the beginning of the man Christ? And, moreover, when
the Virgin asked how that should come to pass which was told her by
the angel, the angel answered, "The Holy Ghost shall come over on to
thee and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, therefore
that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of
God." [3351] "Therefore," he said; not because of works of which
certainly of a yet unborn infant there are none; but "therefore,"
because "the Holy Ghost shall come over on to thee, and the power of
the Highest shall overshadow thee, that holy thing which shall be born
of thee shall be called the Son of God." That nativity, absolutely
gratuitous, conjoined, in the unity of the person, man to God, flesh
to the Word! Good works followed that nativity; good works did not
merit it. For it was in no wise to be feared that the human nature
taken up by God the Word in that ineffable manner into a unity of
person, would sin by free choice of will, since that taking up itself
was such that the nature of man so taken up by God would admit into
itself no movement of an evil will. Through this Mediator God makes
known that He makes those whom He redeemed by His blood from evil,
everlastingly good; and Him He in such wise assumed that He never
would be evil, and, not being made out of evil, would always be good.
[3352]
Footnotes
[3349] Rom viii. 31, 32.
[3350] John i. 14.
[3351] Luke i. 35.
[3352] Some editions have, instead of "and not being made," etc.,
"lest being made of evil he should not always be good."
Chapter 31.--The First Man Had Received the Grace Necessary for His
Perseverance, But Its Exercise Was Left in His Free Choice.
The first man had not that grace by which he should never will to be
evil; but assuredly he had that in which if he willed to abide he
would never be evil, and without which, moreover, he could not by free
will be good, but which, nevertheless, by free will he could forsake.
God, therefore, did not will even him to be without His grace, which
He left in his free will; because free will is sufficient for evil,
but is too little [3353] for good, unless it is aided by Omnipotent
Good. And if that man had not forsaken that assistance of his free
will, he would always have been good; but he forsook it, and he was
forsaken. Because such was the nature of the aid, that he could
forsake it when he would, and that he could continue in it if he
would; but not such that it could be brought about that he would. This
first is the grace which was given to the first Adam; but more
powerful than this is that in the second Adam. For the first is that
whereby it is affected that a man may have righteousness if he will;
the second, therefore, can do more than this, since by it it is even
effected that he will, and will so much, and love with such ardour,
that by the will of the Spirit he overcomes the will of the flesh,
that lusteth in opposition to it. [3354] Nor was that, indeed, a small
grace by which was demonstrated even the power of free will, because
man was so assisted that without this assistance he could not continue
in good, but could forsake this assistance if he would. But this
latter grace is by so much the greater, that it is too little for a
man by its means to regain his lost freedom; it is too little,
finally, not to be able without it either to apprehend the good or to
continue in good if he will, unless he is also made to will.
Footnotes
[3353] Some mss. read, "of no avail."
[3354] There are other readings of this passage, but coming to the
same substantial result.
Chapter 32.--The Gifts of Grace Conferred on Adam in Creation.
At that time, therefore, God had given to man a good will, [3355]
because in that will He had made him, since He had made him upright.
He had given help without which he could not continue therein if he
would; but that he should will, He left in his free will. He could
therefore continue if he would, because the help was not wanting
whereby he could, and without which he could not, perseveringly hold
fast the good which he would. But that he willed not to continue is
absolutely the fault of him whose merit it would have been if he had
willed to continue; as the holy angels did, who, while others fell by
free will, themselves by the same free will stood, and deserved to
receive the due reward of this continuance--to wit, such a fulness of
blessing that by it they might have the fullest certainty of always
abiding in it. If, however, this help had been wanting, either to
angel or to man when they were first made, since their nature was not
made such that without the divine help it could abide if it would,
they certainly would not have fallen by their own fault, because the
help would have been wanting without which they could not continue. At
the present time, however, to those to whom such assistance is
wanting, it is the penalty of sin; but to those to whom it is given,
it is given of grace, not of debt; and by so much the more is given
through Jesus Christ our Lord to those to whom it has pleased God to
give it, that not only we have that help without which we cannot
continue even if we will, but, moreover, we have so great and such a
help as to will. Because by this grace of God there is caused in us,
in the reception of good and in the persevering hold of it, not only
to be able to do what we will, but even to will to do what we are
able. But this was not the case in the first man; for the one of these
things was in him, but the other was not. For he did not need grace to
receive good, because he had not yet lost it; but he needed the aid of
grace to continue in it, and without this aid he could not do this at
all; and he had received the ability if he would, but he had not the
will for what he could; for if he had possessed it, he would have
persevered. For he could persevere if he would; but that he would not
was the result of free will, which at that time was in such wise free
that he was capable of willing well and ill. For what shall be more
free than free will, when it shall not be able to serve sin? and this
should be to man also as it was made to the holy angels, the reward of
deserving. But now that good deserving has been lost by sin, in those
who are delivered that has become the gift of grace which would have
been the reward of deserving.
Footnotes
[3355] Some mss. read, "a free will."
Chapter 33 [XII.]--What is the Difference Between the Ability Not to
Sin, to Die, and Forsake Good, and the Inability to Sin, to Die, and
to Forsake Good?
On which account we must consider with diligence and attention in what
respect those pairs differ from one another,--to be able not to sin,
and not to be able to sin; to be able not to die, and not to be able
to die; to be able not to forsake good, and not to be able to forsake
good. For the first man was able not to sin, was able not to die, was
able not to forsake good. Are we to say that he who had such a free
will could not sin? Or that he to whom it was said, "If thou shalt sin
thou shalt die by death," could not die? Or that he could not forsake
good, when he would forsake this by sinning, and so die? Therefore the
first liberty of the will was to be able not to sin, the last will be
much greater, not to be able to sin; the first immortality was to be
able not to die, the last will be much greater, not to be able to die;
the first was the power of perseverance, to be able not to forsake
good--the last will be the felicity of perseverance, not to be able to
forsake good. But because the last blessings will be preferable and
better, were those first ones, therefore, either no blessings at all,
or trifling ones?
Chapter 34.--The Aid Without Which a Thing Does Not Come to Pass, and
the Aid with Which a Thing Comes to Pass.
Moreover, the aids themselves are to be distinguished. The aid without
which a thing does not come to pass is one thing, and the aid by which
a thing comes to pass is another. For without food we cannot live; and
yet although food should be at hand, it would not cause a man to live
who should will to die. Therefore the aid of food is that without
which it does not come to pass that we live, not that by which it
comes to pass that we live. But, indeed, when the blessedness which a
man has not is given him, he becomes at once blessed. For the aid is
not only that without which that does not happen, but also with which
that does happen for the sake of which it is given. Wherefore this is
an assistance both by which it comes to pass, and without which it
does not come to pass; because, on the one hand, if blessedness should
be given to a man, he becomes at once blessed; and, on the other, if
it should never be given he will never be so. But food does not of
necessity cause a man to live, and yet without it he cannot live.
Therefore to the first man, who, in that good in which he had been
made upright, had received the ability not to sin, the ability not to
die, the ability not to forsake that good itself, was given the aid of
perseverance,--not that by which it should be brought about that he
should persevere, but that without which he could not of free will
persevere. But now to the saints predestinated to the kingdom of God
by God's grace, the aid of perseverance that is given is not such as
the former, but such that to them perseverance itself is bestowed; not
only so that without that gift they cannot persevere, but, moreover,
so that by means of this gift they cannot help persevering. For not
only did He say, "Without me ye can do nothing," [3356] but He also
said, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you
that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should
remain." [3357] By which words He showed that He had given them not
only righteousness, but perseverance therein. For when Christ thus
ordained them that they should go and bring forth fruit, and that
their fruit should remain, who would dare to say, It shall not remain?
Who would dare to say, Perchance it will not remain? "For the gifts
and calling of God are without repentance;" [3358] but the calling is
of those who are called according to the purpose. When Christ
intercedes, therefore, on behalf of these, that their faith should not
fail, doubtless it will not fail unto the end. And thus it shall
persevere even unto the end; nor shall the end of this life find it
anything but continuing.
Footnotes
[3356] John xv. 5.
[3357] John xv. 16.
[3358] Rom. xi. 29.
Chapter 35.--There is a Greater Freedom Now in the Saints Than There
Was Before in Adam.
Certainly a greater liberty is necessary in the face of so many and so
great temptations, which had no existence in Paradise,--a liberty
fortified and confirmed by the gift of perseverance, so that this
world, with all its loves, its fears, its errors, may be overcome: the
martyrdoms of the saints have taught this. In fine, he [Adam], not
only with nobody to make him afraid, but, moreover, in spite of the
authority of God's fear, using free will, did not stand in such a
state of happiness, in such a facility [3359] of [not] sinning. But
these [the saints], I say, not under the fear of the world, but in
spite of the rage of the world lest they should stand, stood firm in
the faith; while he could see the good things present which he was
going to forsake, they could not see the good things future which they
were going to receive. Whence is this, save by the gift of Him from
whom they obtained mercy to be faithful; from whom they received the
spirit, not of fear, whereby they would yield to the persecutors, but
of power, and of love, and of continence, in which they could overcome
all threatenings, all seductions, all torments? To him, therefore,
without any sin, was given the free will with which he was created;
and he made it to serve sin. But although the will of these had been
the servant of sin, it was delivered by Him who said, "If the Son
shall make you free, then shall ye be free indeed." [3360] And by that
grace they receive so great a freedom, that although as long as they
live here they are fighting against sinful lusts, and some sins creep
upon them unawares, on account of which they daily say, "Forgive us
our debts," [3361] yet they do not any more obey the sin which is unto
death, of which the Apostle John says, "There is a sin unto death: I
do not say that he shall pray for it." [3362] Concerning which sin
(since it is not expressed) many and different notions may be
entertained. I, however, say, that sin is to forsake even unto death
the faith which worketh by love. This sin they no longer serve who are
not in the first condition, as Adam, free; but are freed by the grace
of God through the second Adam, and by that deliverance have that free
will which enables them to serve God, not that by which they may be
made captive by the devil. From being made free from sin they have
become the servants of righteousness, [3363] in which they will stand
till the end, by the gift to them of perseverance from Him who
foreknew them, and predestinated them, and called them according to
His purpose, and justified them, and glorified them, since He has even
already formed those things that are to come which He promised
concerning them. And when He promised, "Abraham believed Him, and it
was counted unto him for righteousness." [3364] For "he gave glory to
God, most fully believing," as it is written, "that what He has
promised He is able also to perform." [3365]
Footnotes
[3359] The original is in tanti peccandi facilitate. Of course, non
must be inserted, but the translator ventures to conjecture facultate
instead of facilitate.
[3360] John viii. 36.
[3361] Matt. vi. 12.
[3362] 1 John v. 16.
[3363] Rom. vi. 18.
[3364] Rom. iv. 3, and 20, 21.
[3365] Rom. iv. 3, and 20, 21.
Chapter 36.--God Not Only Foreknows that Men Will Be Good, But Himself
Makes Them So.
It is He Himself, therefore, that makes those men good, to do good
works. For He did not promise them to Abraham because He foreknew that
of themselves they would be good. For if this were the case, what He
promised was not His, but theirs. But it was not thus that Abraham
believed, but "he was not weak in faith, giving glory to God;" and
"most fully believing that what He has promised He is able also to
perform." [3366] He does not say, "What He foreknew, He is able to
promise;" nor "What He foretold, He is able to manifest;" nor "What He
promised, He is able to foreknow:" but "What He promised, He is able
also to do." It is He, therefore, who makes them to persevere in good,
who makes them good. But they who fall and perish have never been in
the number of the predestinated. Although, then, the apostle might be
speaking of all persons regenerated and living piously when he said,
"Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own master he
standeth or falleth;" yet he at once had regard to the predestinated,
and said, "But he shall stand;" and that they might not arrogate this
to themselves, he says, "For God is able to make him stand." [3367] It
is He Himself, therefore, that gives perseverance, who is able to
establish those who stand, so that they may stand fast with the
greatest perseverance; or to restore those who have fallen, for "the
Lord setteth up those who are broken down." [3368]
Footnotes
[3366] Rom. iv. 19.
[3367] Rom. xiv. 4, etc.
[3368] Ps. cxlv. 8.
Chapter 37.--To a Sound Will is Committed the Power of Persevering or
of Not Persevering.
As, therefore, the first man did not receive this gift of God,--that
is, perseverance in good, but it was left in his choice to persevere
or not to persevere, his will had such strength,--inasmuch as it had
been created without any sin, and there was nothing in the way of
concupiscence of himself that withstood it,--that the choice of
persevering could worthily be entrusted to such goodness and to such
facility in living well. But God at the same time foreknew what he
would do in unrighteousness; foreknew, however, but did not compel him
to this; but at the same time He knew what He Himself would do in
righteousness concerning him. But now, since that great freedom has
been lost by the desert of sin, our weakness has remained to be aided
by still greater gifts. For it pleased God, in order most effectually
to quench the pride of human presumption, "that no flesh should glory
in His presence"--that is, "no man." [3369] But whence should flesh
not glory in His presence, save concerning its merits? Which, indeed,
it might have had, but lost; and lost by that very means whereby it
might have had them, that is, by its free will; on account of which
there remains nothing to those who are to be delivered, save the grace
of the Deliverer. Thus, therefore, no flesh glories in His presence.
For the unrighteous do not glory, since they have no ground of glory;
nor the righteous, because they have a ground from Him, and have no
glory of theirs, but Himself, to whom they say, "My glory, and the
lifter up of my head." [3370] And thus it is that what is written
pertains to every man, "that no flesh should glory in His presence."
To the righteous, however, pertains that Scripture: "He that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord." [3371] For this the apostle most
manifestly showed, when, after saying "that no flesh should glory in
His presence," lest the saints should suppose that they had been left
without any glory, he presently added, "But of Him are ye in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and
sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, He
that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." [3372] Hence it is that in
this abode of miseries, where trial is the life of man upon the earth,
"strength is made perfect in weakness." [3373] What strength, save
"that he that glorieth should glory in the Lord"?
Footnotes
[3369] 1 Cor. i. 29.
[3370] Ps. iii. 3.
[3371] 1 Cor. i. 31.
[3372] 1 Cor. i. 30.
[3373] 2 Cor. xii. 9.
Chapter 38.--What is the Nature of the Gift of Perseverance that is
Now Given to the Saints.
And thus God willed that His saints should not--even concerning
perseverance in goodness itself--glory in their own strength, but in
Himself, who not only gives them aid such as He gave to the first man,
without which they cannot persevere if they will, but causes in them
also the will; that since they will not persevere unless they both can
and will, both the capability and the will to persevere should be
bestowed on them by the liberality of divine grace. Because by the
Holy Spirit their will is so much enkindled that they therefore can,
because they so will; and they therefore so will because God works in
them to will. For if in so much weakness of this life (in which
weakness, however, for the sake of checking pride, strength behoved to
be perfected) their own will should be left to themselves, that they
might, if they willed, continue in the help of God, without which they
could not persevere, and God should not work in them to will, in the
midst of so many and so great weaknesses their will itself would give
way, and they would not be able to persevere, for the reason that
failing from infirmity they would not will, or in the weakness of will
they would not so will that they would be able. Therefore aid is
brought to the infirmity of human will, so that it might be
unchangeably and invincibly [3374] influenced by divine grace; and
thus, although weak, it still might not fail, nor be overcome by any
adversity. Thus it happens that man's will, weak and incapable, in
good as yet small, may persevere by God's strength; while the will of
the first man, strong and healthful, having the power of free choice,
did not persevere in a greater good; because although God's help was
not wanting, without which it could not persevere if it would, yet it
was not such a help as that by which God would work in man to will.
Certainly to the strongest He yielded and permitted to do what He
willed; to those that were weak He has reserved that by His own gift
they should most invincibly will what is good, and most invincibly
refuse to forsake this. Therefore when Christ says, "I have prayed for
thee that thy faith fail not," [3375] we may understand that it was
said to him who is built upon the rock. And thus the man of God, not
only because he has obtained mercy to be faithful, but also because
faith itself does not fail, if he glories, must glory in the Lord.
Footnotes
[3374] "Insuperabiliter," the reading of the best mss. Some editions
read "inseparabiliter," in a dogmatic interest.
[3375] Luke xxii. 32.
Chapter 39 [XIII.]--The Number of the Predestinated is Certain and
Defined.
I speak thus of those who are predestinated to the kingdom of God,
whose number is so certain that one can neither be added to them nor
taken from them; not of those who, when He had announced and spoken,
were multiplied beyond number. For they may be said to be called but
not chosen, because they are not called according to the purpose. But
that the number of the elect is certain, and neither to be increased
nor diminished,--although it is signified by John the Baptist when he
says, "Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance: and think
not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for God
is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham," [3376] to
show that they were in such wise to be cut off if they did not produce
fruit, that the number which was promised to Abraham would not be
wanting,--is yet more plainly declared in the Apocalypse: "Hold fast
that which thou hast, lest another take thy crown." [3377] For if
another would not receive unless one should have lost, the number is
fixed.
Footnotes
[3376] Matt. iii. 8, 9.
[3377] Rev. iii. 11.
Chapter 40.--No One is Certain and Secure of His Own Predestination
and Salvation.
But, moreover, that such things as these are so spoken to saints who
will persevere, as if it were reckoned uncertain whether they will
persevere, is a reason that they ought not otherwise to hear these
things, since it is well for them "not to be high-minded, but to
fear." [3378] For who of the multitude of believers can presume, so
long as he is living in this mortal state, that he is in the number of
the predestinated? Because it is necessary that in this condition that
should be kept hidden; since here we have to beware so much of pride,
that even so great an apostle was buffetted by a messenger of Satan,
lest he should be lifted up. [3379] Hence it was said to the apostles,
"If ye abide in me;" [3380] and this He said who knew for a certainty
that they would abide; and through the prophet, "If ye shall be
willing, and will hear me," [3381] although He knew in whom He would
work to will also. And many similar things are said. For on account of
the usefulness of this secrecy, lest, perchance, any one should be
lifted up, but that all, even although they are running well, should
fear, in that it is not known who may attain,--on account of the
usefulness of this secrecy, it must be believed that some of the
children of perdition, who have not received the gift of perseverance
to the end, begin to live in the faith which worketh by love, and live
for some time faithfully and righteously, and afterwards fall away,
and are not taken away from this life before this happens to them. If
this had happened to none of these, men would have that very wholesome
fear, by which the sin of presumption is kept down, only so long as
until they should attain to the grace of Christ by which to live
piously, and afterwards would for time to come be secure that they
would never fall away from Him. And such presumption in this condition
of trials is not fitting, where there is so great weakness, that
security may engender pride. Finally, this also shall be the case; but
it shall be at that time, in men also as it already is in the angels,
when there cannot be any pride. Therefore the number of the saints, by
God's grace predestinated to God's kingdom, with the gift of
perseverance to the end bestowed on them, shall be guided thither in
its completeness, and there shall be at length without end preserved
in its fullest completeness, most blessed, the mercy of their Saviour
still cleaving to them, whether in their conversion, in their
conflict, or in their crown!
Footnotes
[3378] Rom. xi. 20.
[3379] 2 Cor. xii. 7.
[3380] John xv. 7.
[3381] Isa. i. 19.
Chapter 41.--Even in Judgment God's Mercy Will Be Necessary to Us.
For the Holy Scripture testifies that God's mercy is then also
necessary for them, when the Saint says to his soul concerning the
Lord its God, "Who crowneth thee in mercy and compassion." [3382] The
Apostle James also says: "He shall have judgment without mercy who
hath showed no mercy;" [3383] where he sets forth that even in that
judgment in which the righteous are crowned and the unrighteous are
condemned, some will be judged with mercy, others without mercy. On
which account also the mother of the Maccabees says to her son, "That
in that mercy I may receive thee with thy brethren." [3384] "For when
a righteous king," as it is written, "shall sit on the throne, no evil
thing shall oppose itself to him. Who will boast that he has a pure
heart? or who will boast that he is pure from sin?" [3385] And thus
God's mercy is even then necessary, by which he is made "blessed to
whom the Lord has not imputed sin." [3386] But at that time even mercy
itself shall be allotted in righteous judgment in accordance with the
merits of good works. For when it is said, "Judgment without mercy to
him that hath showed no mercy," it is plainly shown that in those in
whom are found the good works of mercy, judgment shall be executed
with mercy; and thus even that mercy itself shall be returned to the
merits of good works. It is not so now; when not only no good works,
but many bad works precede, His mercy anticipates a man so that he is
delivered from evils,--as well from evils which he has done, as from
those which he would have done if he were not controlled by the grace
of God; and from those, too, which he would have suffered for ever if
he were not plucked from the power of darkness, and transferred into
the kingdom of the Son of God's love. [3387] Nevertheless, since even
that life eternal itself, which, it is certain, is given as due to
good works, is called by so great an apostle the grace of God,
although grace is not rendered to works, but is given freely, it must
be confessed without any doubt, that eternal life is called grace for
the reason that it is rendered to those merits which grace has
conferred upon man. Because that saying is rightly understood which in
the gospel is read, "grace for grace," [3388] --that is, for those
merits which grace has conferred.
Footnotes
[3382] Ps. ciii. 4.
[3383] Jas. ii. 13.
[3384] 2 Macc. vii. 29.
[3385] Prov. xx. 8.
[3386] Ps. xxxii. 2.
[3387] Col. i. 13.
[3388] John i. 16.
Chapter 42.--The Reprobate are to Be Punished for Merits of a
Different Kind.
But those who do not belong to this number of the predestinated,
whom--whether that they have not yet any free choice of their will, or
with a choice of will truly free, because freed by grace itself--the
grace of God brings to His kingdom,--those, then, who do not belong to
that most certain and blessed number, are most righteously judged
according to their deservings. For either they lie under the sin which
they have inherited by original generation, and depart hence with that
inherited debt which is not put away by regeneration, or by their free
will have added other sins besides; their will, I say, free, but not
freed,--free from righteousness, but enslaved to sin, by which they
are tossed about by divers mischievous lusts, some more evil, some
less, but all evil; and they must be adjudged to diverse punishments,
according to that very diversity. Or they receive the grace of God,
but they are only for a season, and do not persevere; they forsake and
are forsaken. For by their free will, as they have not received the
gift of perseverance, they are sent away by the righteous and hidden
judgment of God.
Chapter 43 [XIV.]--Rebuke and Grace Do Not Set Aside One Another.
Let men then suffer themselves to be rebuked when they sin, and not
conclude against grace from the rebuke itself, nor from grace against
rebuke; because both the righteous penalty of sin is due, and
righteous rebuke belongs to it, if it is medicinally applied, even
although the salvation of the ailing man is uncertain; so that if he
who is rebuked belongs to the number of the predestinated, rebuke may
be to him a wholesome medicine; and if he does not belong to that
number, rebuke may be to him a penal infliction. Under that very
uncertainty, therefore, it must of love be applied, although its
result is unknown; and prayer must be made on his behalf to whom it is
applied, that he may be healed. But when men either come or return
into the way of righteousness by means of rebuke, who is it that
worketh salvation in their hearts but that God who giveth the
increase, whoever plants and waters, and whoever labours on the fields
or shrubs,--that God whom no man's will resists when He wills to give
salvation? For so to will or not to will is in the power of Him who
willeth or willeth not, as not to hinder the divine will nor overcome
the divine power. For even concerning those who do what He wills not,
He Himself does what He will.
Chapter 44.--In What Way God Wills All Men to Be Saved.
And what is written, that "He wills all men to be saved," [3389] while
yet all men are not saved, may be understood in many ways, some of
which I have mentioned in other writings [3390] of mine; but here I
will say one thing: "He wills all men to be saved," is so said that
all the predestinated may be understood by it, because every kind of
men is among them. Just as it was said to the Pharisees, "Ye tithe
every herb;" [3391] where the expression is only to be understood of
every herb that they had, for they did not tithe every herb which was
found throughout the whole earth. According to the same manner of
speaking, it was said, "Even as I also please all men in all things."
[3392] For did he who said this please also the multitude of his
persecutors? But he pleased every kind of men that assembled in the
Church of Christ, whether they were already established therein, or
were to be introduced into it.
Footnotes
[3389] 1 Tim. ii. 4.
[3390] Enchirid, c. 103; City of God, xxii. 1, 2. Against Julian, iv.
8.
[3391] Luke xi. 42.
[3392] 1 Cor. x. 33.
Chapter 45.--Scriptural Instances Wherein It is Proved that God Has
Men's Wills More in His Power Than They Themselves Have.
It is not, then, to be doubted that men's wills cannot, so as to
prevent His doing what he wills, withstand the will of God, "who hath
done all things whatsoever He pleased in heaven and in earth," [3393]
and who also "has done those things that are to come;" [3394] since He
does even concerning the wills themselves of men what He will, when He
will. Unless, perchance (to mention some things among many), when God
willed to give the kingdom to Saul, it was so in the power of the
Israelites, as it certainly was placed in their will, either to
subject themselves or not to the man in question, that they could even
prevail to withstand God. God, however, did not do this, save by the
will of the men themselves, because he beyond doubt had the most
omnipotent power of inclining men's hearts whither it pleased Him. For
thus it is written: "And Samuel sent the people away, and every one
went away unto his own place. And Saul went away to his house in
Gibeah: and there went away with Saul mighty men, whose hearts the
Lord touched. And pestilent children said, Who shall save us? This
man? And they despised him, and brought him no presents." [3395] Will
any one say that any of those whose hearts the Lord touched to go with
Saul would not have gone with him, or that any of those pestilent
fellows, whose hearts He did not touch to do this, would have gone? Of
David also, whom the Lord ordained to the kingdom in a more prosperous
succession, we read thus: "And David continued to increase, and was
magnified, and the Lord was with him." [3396] This having been
premised, it is said a little afterwards, "And the Spirit clothed
Amasai, chief of the thirty, and he said, We are thine, O David, and
we will be with thee, O son of Jesse: Peace, peace be unto thee, and
peace be to thy helpers; because the Lord has helped thee." [3397]
Could he withstand the will of God, and not rather do the will of Him
who wrought in his heart by His Spirit, with which he was clothed, to
will, speak, and do thus? Moreover, a little afterwards the same
Scripture says, "All these warlike men, setting the battle in array,
came with a peaceful heart to Hebron to establish David over all
Israel." [3398] By their own will, certainly, they appointed David
king. Who cannot see this? Who can deny it? For they did not do it
under constraint or without good-will, since they did it with a
peaceful heart. And yet He wrought this in them who worketh what He
will in the hearts of men. For which reason the Scripture premised,
"And David continued to increase, and was magnified, and the Lord
Omnipotent was with him." And thus the Lord Omnipotent, who was with
him, induced these men to appoint him king. And how did He induce
them? Did He constrain thereto by any bodily fetters? He wrought
within; He held their hearts; He stirred their hearts, and drew them
by their own wills, which He Himself wrought in them. If, then, when
God wills to set up kings in the earth, He has the wills of men more
in His power than they themselves have, who else causes rebuke to be
wholesome and correction to result in the heart of him that is
rebuked, that he may be established in the kingdom of heaven?
Footnotes
[3393] Ps. cxxxv. 6.
[3394] Isa. xlv. 11.
[3395] 1 Sam. x. 25 ff.
[3396] 1 Chron. xi. 9.
[3397] 1 Chron. xii. 18.
[3398] 1 Chron. xii. 38.
Chapter 46 [XV.]--Rebuke Must Be Varied According to the Variety of
Faults. There is No Punishment in the Church Greater Than
Excommunication.
Therefore, let brethren who are subject be rebuked by those who are
set over them, with rebukes that spring from love, varied according to
the diversity of faults, whether smaller or greater. Because that very
penalty that is called condemnation, [3399] which episcopal judgment
inflicts, than which there is no greater punishment in the Church,
may, if God will, result and be of advantage for most wholesome
rebuke. For we know not what may happen on the coming day; nor must
any one be despaired of before the end of this life; nor can God be
contradicted, that He may not look down and give repentance, and
receive the sacrifice of a troubled spirit and a contrite heart, and
absolve from the guilt of condemnation, however just, and so Himself
not condemn the condemned person. Yet the necessity of the pastoral
office requires, in order that the terrible contagion may not creep
through the many, that the diseased sheep should be separated from the
sound ones; perchance, by that very separation, to be healed by Him to
whom nothing is impossible. For as we know not who belongs to the
number of the predestinated, we ought in such wise to be influenced by
the affection of love as to will all men to be saved. For this is the
case when we endeavour to lead every individual to that point where
they may meet with those agencies by which we may prevail, to the
accomplishment of the result, that being justified by faith they may
have peace with God, [3400] --which peace, moreover, the apostle
announced when he said, "Therefore, we discharge an embassage for
Christ, as though God were exhorting by us, we pray you in Christ's
stead to be reconciled to God." [3401] For what is "to be reconciled"
to Him but to have peace with Him? For the sake of which peace,
moreover, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself said to His disciples, "Into
whatsoever house ye enter first, say, Peace be to this house; and if
the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it; but if not,
it shall return to you again." [3402] When they preach the gospel of
this peace of whom it is predicted, "How beautiful are the feet of
those that publish peace, that announce good things!" [3403] to us,
indeed, every one then begins to be a son of peace who obeys and
believes this gospel, and who, being justified by faith, has begun to
have peace towards God; but, according to God's predestination, he was
already a son of peace. For it was not said, Upon whomsoever your
peace shall rest, he shall become a son of peace; but Christ says, "If
the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon that house."
Already, therefore, and before the announcement of that peace to him,
the son of peace was there, as he had been known and foreknown,
by--not the evangelist, but--God. For we need not fear lest we should
lose it, if in our ignorance he to whom we preach is not a son of
peace, for it will return to us again--that is, that preaching will
profit us, and not him; but if the peace proclaimed shall rest upon
him, it will profit both us and him.
Footnotes
[3399] Query, Excommunication?
[3400] Rom. v. 1.
[3401] 2 Cor. v. 20.
[3402] Luke x. 5, 6.
[3403] Isa. lii. 7.
Chapter 47.--Another Interpretation of the Apostolic Passage, "Who
Will Have All Men to Be Saved."
That, therefore, in our ignorance of who shall be saved, God commands
us to will that all to whom we preach this peace may be saved, and
Himself works this in us by diffusing that love in our hearts by the
Holy Spirit who is given to us,--may also thus be understood, that God
wills all men to be saved, because He makes us to will this; just as
"He sent the Spirit of His Son, crying, Abba, Father;" [3404] that is,
making us to cry, Abba, Father. Because, concerning that same Spirit,
He says in another place, "We have received the Spirit of adoption, in
whom we cry, Abba, Father!" [3405] We therefore cry, but He is said to
cry who makes us to cry. If, then, Scripture rightly said that the
Spirit was crying by whom we are made to cry, it rightly also says
that God wills, when by Him we are made to will. And thus, because by
rebuke we ought to do nothing save to avoid departure from that peace
which is towards God, or to induce return to it of him who had
departed, let us do in hope what we do. If he whom we rebuke is a son
of peace, our peace shall rest upon him; but if not, it shall return
to us again.
Footnotes
[3404] Gal. iv. 6.
[3405] Rom. viii. 15.
Chapter 48.--The Purpose of Rebuke.
Although, therefore, even while the faith of some is subverted, the
foundation of God standeth sure, since the Lord knoweth them that are
His, still, we ought not on that account to be indolent and negligent
in rebuking those who should be rebuked. For not for nothing was it
said, "Evil communications corrupt good manners;" [3406] and, "The
weak brother shall perish in thy knowledge, on account of whom Christ
died." [3407] Let us not, in opposition to these precepts, and to a
wholesome fear, pretend to argue, saying, "Well, let evil
communications corrupt good manners, and let the weak brother perish.
What is that to us? The foundation of God standeth sure, and no one
perishes but the son of perdition." [XVI.] Be it far from us to babble
in this wise, and think that we ought to be secure in this negligence.
For it is true that no one perishes except the son of perdition, but
God says by the mouth of the prophet Ezekiel: [3408] "He shall surely
die in his sin, but his blood will I require at the hand of the
watchman."
Footnotes
[3406] 1 Cor. xv. 33.
[3407] 1 Cor. viii. 11.
[3408] Ezek. iii. 18.
Chapter 49.--Conclusion.
Hence, as far as concerns us, who are not able to distinguish those
who are predestinated from those who are not, we ought on this very
account to will all men to be saved. Severe rebuke should be
medicinally applied to all by us that they perish not themselves, or
that they may not be the means of destroying others. It belongs to
God, however, to make that rebuke useful to them whom He Himself has
foreknown and predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son.
For, if at any time we abstain from rebuking, for fear lest by rebuke
a man should perish, why do we not also rebuke, for fear lest a man
should rather perish by our withholding it? For we have no greater
bowels of love than the blessed apostle who says, "Rebuke those that
are unruly; comfort the feeble-minded; support the weak; be patient
towards all men. See that none render to any man evil for evil."
[3409] Where it is to be understood that evil is then rather rendered
for evil when one who ought to be rebuked is not rebuked, but by a
wicked dissimulation is neglected. He says, moreover, "Them that sin
rebuke before all, that others also may fear;" [3410] which must be
received concerning those sins which are not concealed, lest he be
thought to have spoken in opposition to the word of the Lord. For He
says, "If thy brother shall sin against thee, rebuke him between thee
and him." [3411] Notwithstanding, He Himself carries out the severity
of rebuke to the extent of saying, "If he will not hear the Church,
let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican." [3412] And who
has more loved the weak than He who became weak for us all, and of
that very weakness was crucified for us all? And since these things
are so, grace neither restrains rebuke, nor does rebuke restrain
grace; and on this account righteousness is so to be prescribed that
we may ask in faithful prayer, that, by God's grace, what is
prescribed may be done; and both of these things are in such wise to
be done that righteous rebuke may not be neglected. But let all these
things be done with love, since love both does not sin, and does cover
the multitude of sins.
Footnotes
[3409] 1 Thess. v. 14.
[3410] 1 Tim. v. 20.
[3411] Matt. xviii. 15.
[3412] Matt. xviii. 17.
.
A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints.
by Aurelius Augustin, Bishop of Hippo;
The First Book, [3413]
addressed to Prosper and Hilary. [2][3415]
a.d. 428 or 429
Wherein the truth of predestination and grace is defended against the
semi-Pelagians,--those people to wit, who by no means withdraw
altogether from the Pelagian heresy, in that they contend that the
beginning of salvation and of faith is of ourselves; so that in
virtue, as it were, of this precedent merit, the other good gifts of
God are attained. Augustin shows that not only the increase, but the
very beginning also of faith is in God's gift. On this matter he does
not disavow that he once thought differently, and that in some small
works, written before his episcopate, he was in error, as in that
exposition, which they object to him, of propositions from the epistle
to the Romans. But he points out that he was subsequently convinced
chiefly by this testimony, "but what hast thou that thou hast not
received?" which he proves is to be taken as a testimony concerning
faith itself also. He says that faith is to be counted among other
works, which the apostle denies to anticipate God's grace when He
says, "not of works." He declares that the hardness of the heart is
taken away by grace, and that all come to Christ who are taught to
come by the Father; but that those whom He teaches, He teaches in
mercy, while those whom He teaches not, in judgment He teaches not.
That the passage from his hundred and second epistle, Question 2,
"concerning the time of the Christian religion" which is alleged by
the semi-Pelagians, may rightly be explained without detriment to the
doctrine of grace and predestination. He teaches what is the
difference between grace and predestination. Further, he says that God
in his predestination foreknew what he had purposed to do. He marvels
greatly that the adversaries of predestination, who are said to be
unwilling to be dependent on the uncertainty of God's will, prefer
rather to trust themselves to their own weakness than to the strength
of God's promise. He clearly points out that they abuse this
authority, "If thou believest, thou shalt be saved." That the truth of
grace and perseverance shines forth in the case of infants that are
saved, who are distinguished by no merits of their own from others who
perish. For that there is no difference between them arising from the
foreknowledge of merits which they would have had if they had lived
longer. That testimony is wrongfully rejected by the adversaries as
being uncanonical, which he adduced for the purpose of this
discussion, "he was taken away lest wickedness," etc. That the most
illustrious instance of predestination and grace is the Saviour
Himself, in whom a man obtained the privilege of being the Saviour and
the Only-begotten Son of God, through being assumed into oneness of
person by the Word co-eternal with the Father, on account of no
precedent merits, either of works or of faith. That the predestinated
are called by some certain calling peculiar to the elect, and that
they have been elected before the foundation of the world; not because
they were foreknown as men who would believe and would be holy, but in
order that by means of that very election of grace they might be such,
etc.
Chapter 1 [I.]--Introduction.
We know that in the Epistle to the Philippians the apostle said, "To
write the same things to you to me indeed is not grievous but for you
it is safe;" [3414] yet the same apostle writing to the Galatians when
he saw that he had done enough among them of what he regarded as being
needful for them, by the ministry of his preaching, said, "For the
rest let no man cause me labour," [3415] or as it is read in many
codices, "Let no one be troublesome to me." But although I confess
that it causes me trouble that the divine word in which the grace of
God is preached (which is absolutely no grace if it is given according
to our merits), great and manifest as it is, is not yielded to,
nevertheless my dearest sons, Prosper and Hilary, your zeal and
brotherly affection--which makes you so reluctant to see any of the
brethren in error, as to wish that, after so many books and letters of
mine on this subject, I should write again from here--I love more than
I can tell, although I do not dare to say that I love it as much as I
ought. Wherefore, behold, I write to you again. And although not with
you, yet through you I am still doing what I thought I had done
sufficiently.
Footnotes
[3414] Phil. iii. 1.
[3415] Gal. vi. 17.
Chapter 2.--To What Extent the Massilians [3416] Withdraw from the
Pelagians.
For on consideration of your letters, I seem to see that those
brethren on whose behalf you exhibit a pious care that they may not
hold the poetical opinion in which it is affirmed, "Every one is a
hope for himself," [3417] and so fall under that condemnation which
is, not poetically, but prophetically, declared, "Cursed is every man
that hath hope in man," [3418] must be treated in that way wherein the
apostle dealt with those to whom he said, "And if in anything ye be
otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you." [3419] For as
yet they are in darkness on the question concerning the predestination
of the saints, but they have that whence, "if in anything they are
otherwise minded, God will reveal even this unto them," if they are
walking in that to which they have attained. For which reason the
apostle, when he had said, "If ye are in anything otherwise minded,
God shall reveal even this unto you," says, "Nevertheless whereunto we
have attained, let us walk in the same." [3420] And those brethren of
ours, on whose behalf your pious love is solicitous, have attained
with Christ's Church to the belief that the human race is born
obnoxious to the sin of the first man, and that none can be delivered
from that evil save by the righteousness of the Second Man. Moreover,
they have attained to the confession that men's wills are anticipated
by God's grace; and to the agreement that no one can suffice to
himself either for beginning or for completing any good work. These
things, therefore, unto which they have attained, being held fast,
abundantly distinguish them from the error of the Pelagians. Further,
if they walk in them, and beseech Him who giveth understanding, if in
anything concerning predestination they are otherwise minded, He will
reveal even this unto them. Yet let us also spend upon them the
influence of our love, and the ministry of our discourse, according to
His gift, whom we have asked that in these letters we might say what
should be suitable [3421] and profitable to them. For whence do we
know whether by this our service, wherein we are serving them in the
free love of Christ, our God may not perchance will to effect that
purpose?
Footnotes
[3416] [The party which Augustin is here opposing had its chief centre
in Marseilles, and hence is called "Massilians." Prosper in his letter
called them reliquiæ Pelagianorum, i.e., "the remnants of the
Pelagians." They are now most commonly called "Semi-Pelagians."--W.]
[3417] Virg. Æneid, xi. 309.
[3418] Jer. xvii. 5.
[3419] Phil. iii. 15.
[3420] Phil. iii. 16.
[3421] Some mss. read aperta, scil. "plain."
Chapter 3 [II.]--Even the Beginning of Faith is of God's Gift.
Therefore I ought first to show that the faith by which we are
Christians is the gift of God, if I can do that more thoroughly than I
have already done in so many and so large volumes. But I see that I
must now reply to those who say that the divine testimonies which I
have adduced concerning this matter are of avail for this purpose, to
assure us that we have faith itself of ourselves, but that its
increase is of God; as if faith were not given to us by Him, but were
only increased in us by Him, on the ground of the merit of its having
begun from us. Thus there is here no departure from that opinion which
Pelagius himself was constrained to condemn in the judgment of the
bishops of Palestine, as is testified in the same Proceedings, "That
the grace of God is given according to our merits," [3422] if it is
not of God's grace that we begin to believe, but rather that on
account of this beginning an addition is made to us of a more full and
perfect belief; and so we first give the beginning of our faith to
God, that His supplement may also be given to us again, and whatever
else we faithfully ask.
Footnotes
[3422] On the Proceedings of Peliagus, ch. 30.
Chapter 4.--Continuation of the Preceding.
But why do we not in opposition to this, rather hear the words, "Who
hath first given to Him and it shall be recompensed to him again?
since of Him, and through Him, and in Him, are all things." [3423] And
from whom, then, is that very beginning of our faith if not from Him?
For this is not excepted when other things are spoken of as of Him;
but "of Him, and through Him, and in Him, are all things." But who can
say that he who has already begun to believe deserves nothing from Him
in whom he has believed? Whence it results that, to him who already
deserves, other things are said to be added by a divine retribution,
and thus that God's grace is given according to our merits. And this
assertion when put before him, Pelagius himself condemned, that he
might not be condemned. Whoever, then, wishes on every side to avoid
this condemnable opinion, let him understand that what the apostle
says is said with entire truthfulness, "Unto you it is given in the
behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for
His sake." [3424] He shows that both are the gifts of God, because he
said that both were given. And he does not say, "to believe on Him
more fully and perfectly," but, "to believe on Him." Neither does he
say that he himself had obtained mercy to be more faithful, but "to be
faithful," [3425] because he knew that he had not first given the
beginning of his faith to God, and had its increase given back to him
again by Him; but that he had been made faithful by God, who also had
made him an apostle. For the beginnings of his faith are recorded, and
they are very well known by being read in the church on an occasion
calculated to distinguish them: [3426] how, being turned away from the
faith which he was destroying, and being vehemently opposed to it, he
was suddenly by a more powerful grace converted to it, by the
conversion of Him, to whom as One who would do this very thing it was
said by the prophet, "Thou wilt turn and quicken us;" [3427] so that
not only from one who refused to believe he was made a willing
believer, but, moreover, from being a persecutor, he suffered
persecution in defence of that faith which he persecuted. Because it
was given him by Christ "not only to believe on Him, but also to
suffer for His sake."
Footnotes
[3423] Rom. xi. 35.
[3424] Phil. i. 29.
[3425] 1 Cor. vii. 25.
[3426] The Acts of the Apostles were read during Easter.
[3427] Ps. lxxxv. 6.
Chapter 5.--To Believe is to Think with Assent.
And, therefore, commending that grace which is not given according to
any merits, but is the cause of all good merits, he says, "Not that we
are sufficient to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency
is of God." [3428] Let them give attention to this, and well weigh
these words, who think that the beginning of faith is of ourselves,
and the supplement of faith is of God. For who cannot see that
thinking is prior to believing? For no one believes anything unless he
has first thought that it is to be believed. For however suddenly,
however rapidly, some thoughts fly before the will to believe, and
this presently follows in such wise as to attend them, as it were, in
closest conjunction, it is yet necessary that everything which is
believed should be believed after thought has preceded; although even
belief itself is nothing else than to think with assent. For it is not
every one who thinks that believes, since many think in order that
they may not believe; but everybody who believes, thinks,--both thinks
in believing and believes in thinking. Therefore in what pertains to
religion and piety (of which the apostle was speaking), if we are not
capable of thinking anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is
of God, we are certainly not capable of believing anything as of
ourselves, since we cannot do this without thinking; but our
sufficiency, by which we begin to believe, is of God. Wherefore, as no
one is sufficient for himself, for the beginning or the completion of
any good work whatever,--and this those brethren of yours, as what you
have written intimates, already agree to be true, whence, as well in
the beginning as in the carrying out of every good work, our
sufficiency is of God,--so no one is sufficient for himself, either to
begin or to perfect faith; but our sufficiency is of God. Because if
faith is not a matter of thought, it is of no account; and we are not
sufficient to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is
of God.
Footnotes
[3428] 2 Cor. iii. 5.
Chapter 6.--Presumption and Arrogance to Be Avoided.
Care must be taken, brethren, beloved of God, that a man do not lift
himself up in opposition to God, when he says that he does what God
has promised. Was not the faith of the nations promised to Abraham,
"and he, giving glory to God, most fully believed that what He
promised He is able also to perform"? [3429] He therefore makes the
faith of the nations, who is able to do what He has promised. Further,
if God works our faith, acting in a wonderful manner in our hearts so
that we believe, is there any reason to fear that He cannot do the
whole; and does man on that account arrogate to himself its first
elements, that he may merit to receive its last from God? Consider if
in such a way any other result be gained than that the grace of God is
given in some way or other, according to our merit, and so grace is no
more grace. For on this principle it is rendered as debt, it is not
given gratuitously; for it is due to the believer that his faith
itself should be increased by the Lord, and that the increased faith
should be the wages of the faith begun; nor is it observed when this
is said, that this wage is assigned to believers, not of grace, but of
debt. And I do not at all see why the whole should not be attributed
to man,--as he who could originate for himself what he had not
previously, can himself increase what he had originated,--except that
it is impossible to withstand the most manifest divine testimony by
which faith, whence piety takes its beginning, is shown also to be the
gift of God: such as is that testimony that "God hath dealt to every
man the measure of faith;" [3430] and that one, "Peace be to the
brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus
Christ," [3431] and other similar passages. Man, therefore, unwilling
to resist such clear testimonies as these, and yet desiring himself to
have the merit of believing, compounds as it were with God to claim a
portion of faith for himself, and to leave a portion for Him; and,
what is still more arrogant, he takes the first portion for himself
and gives the subsequent to Him; and so in that which he says belongs
to both, he makes himself the first, and God the second!
Footnotes
[3429] Rom. iv. 20.
[3430] Rom. xii. 3.
[3431] Eph. vi. 23.
Chapter 7 [III.]--Augustin Confesses that He Had Formerly Been in
Error Concerning the Grace of God.
It was not thus that that pious and humble teacher thought--I speak of
the most blessed Cyprian--when he said "that we must boast in nothing,
since nothing is our own." [3432] And in order to show this, he
appealed to the apostle as a witness, where he said, "For what hast
thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received it, why
boastest thou as if thou hadst not received it?" [3433] And it was
chiefly by this testimony that I myself also was convinced when I was
in a similar error, thinking that faith whereby we believe on God is
not God's gift, but that it is in us from ourselves, and that by it we
obtain the gifts of God, whereby we may live temperately and
righteously and piously in this world. For I did not think that faith
was preceded by God's grace, so that by its means would be given to us
what we might profitably