Grace and Free Will (continued)
CHAPTER 26.
PELAGIANS CONTEND THAT THE GRACE WHICH IS NEITHER THE LAW NOR OUR NATURE, AVAILS ONLY TO REMIT PAST SINS,
NOT TO AVOID FUTURE ONES.
They also maintain that God’s grace, which is given through the faith of Jesus Christ, and which is neither the law nor nature, avails only for the remission of sins that have been committed, and not for the shunning of future sins, or the subjugation of those which are now assailing us. Now if all this were true, surely after offering the petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,” we could hardly go on and say, “And lead us not into temptation.”Mat 6.12-13 We present the former petition so that our sins may be forgiven; we present the latter so that they may be avoided or subdued—this is a favour which we would by no means beg of our Father who is in heaven, if we were able to accomplish it by the virtue of our human will. Now I strongly advise and earnestly require your Love to attentively read the book which the blessed Cyprian wrote, On the Lord’s Prayer. As far as the Lord shall assist you, understand it and commit it to memory. In this work you will see how he so appeals to the free will of those whom he edifies in his treatise, as to show them that whatever they need to fulfil in the law, they must ask for in the prayer. But this of course would be utterly empty if the human will were sufficient to perform it without the help of God.