Part 10
Chap. 8. [viii.]—A distinction drawn by Pelagius ; an error of Pelagius about a man's being freefrom blame, because he coidd not have been otherwise.
For he first of all indulges in a distinction : It is one thing, says he, to inquire whether a thing may be, in respect of its possibility only ; and another thing, whether or not it exists. This distinction, nobody doubts, is true enough ; for it follows that whatever is, was able to exist ; but it does not therefore follow that what is able to exist has existence. Our Lord, for instance, raised Lazarus ; He unquestionably was able to do so. But inasmuch as He did not raise up
Judas, must we therefore contend that He was unable ? He certainly was able, but He was not willing. For if He had been willing, He could have effected even this, as He had the same power as before.
1 For the Son quickeneth whomsoever He will.
2 Observe, however, what he means by
1 Peter Lombard refers to this passage of Augustine, to show that God can do many things which He will not do. See his 1 Sent. Dist. 43, last chapter.
2 John v. 21.
CHAP. IX.] FALSE REASONING OF PELAGIUS. 241 this distinction, true and manifest enough in itself, and what he endeavours to make out of it. We are treating, says he, of what is possible only : to pass from winch to something else, except in the case of some certain fact, we deem to he a very serious and extraordinary process. This idea he turns over again and again, in many ways and at great length, so that no one would suppose that he was inquiring about any other point than the possibility of not committing sin. Among the many passages in which he treats of this subject, occurs the following : I once more repeat my position : I say that it is possible for a man to he without sin. What do you say ? That it is impossible for a man to be without sin ? But I do not say, he adds, that there is a man without sin ; nor do you say, that there is not a man without sin. Our contention is about what is possible, and not possible ; not about what is, and is not. He then enumerates certain
1 which are usually alleged in opposition passages of Scripture, to them, and insists that they have nothing to do with the question, which is really in dispute, as to the possibility or otherwise of a man's being without sin. This is what he says : No man indeed is clean from pollution ; and, There is no man that sinneth not ; and, There is not a just man upon the earth ; and, There is none that doeth good. There are these and similar passages in Scripture, says he, but they testify to the point of not being, not of not being able ; for by testimonies of this sort it is shown what kind of persons certain men were at such and such a time, not that they were unable to be something else. Whence they are justly found to be blameworthy. If, however, they had been of such a character, simply because they were unable to be anything else, they are free from blame.
Chap. 9. [viii.]—Even they who ivcre not able to be justified are condemned.
See now what he has in effect said : I affirm that an infant born in a place where it was not possible for him to be admitted to the baptism of Christ, and being overtaken by death, was placed in such circumstances, that is to say, died without the bath of regeneration, because it was not possible for him
1 Job xiv. 2 (Septuagint) ; 1 Kings viii. 46 ; Eccles. vii. 21 ; Ps. xiv. 1.
242 ON NATURE AND GRACE. [CHAP. XL to be otherwise. He would therefore absolve him, and, in spite of the Lord's sentence, open to him the kingdom of heaven. The apostle, however, does not absolve him, when he says : " By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have
1 Eightly, therefore, by virtue of that condemnation which runs throughout the mass of human nature, is he not sinned."
admitted into the kingdom of heaven, although he was not only not a Christian, but was unable to become one.
Chap. 10. [ix.] He could not be justified, who had not heard of the name of
Christ j rendering the cross of Christ of none effect. But they say : There is no condemnation in the case ; because the statement that all sinned in Adam, was not made because of the sin which is derived from one's birth, but because of men's imitation of him. If, therefore, Adam is said to be the author of all the sins which followed his own, because he was the first sinner of the human race, then how is it that Abel, rather than Christ, is not set down as the head of all the righteous, because he was the first righteous man % But I am not speaking of the case of an infant. I take the; instance of a young man, or an old man, who has died in a: neighbourhood where he could not hear of the name of Christ.
i, I,, ---ji * • -. Well, could such a man have become righteous by nature and free-will ; or could he not ? If they contend that he could, then see what it is to render the cross of Christ of none effect ; it is arguing that any man can be justified by the law of nature and his own free-will. We may here also say, Christ
8 forasmuch as all might accomplish so much is dead in vain, as this, even if He had never died; now if they were unrighteous, they were so because they wished to be, not because they were unable to be righteous. But even though a man could not be justified at all without the grace of Christ, he would absolve him, if he dared, in accordance with his words, to the effect that, " if a man were of such a character, because he could not possibly have been of any other, he would be free from all blame."
Chap. 11. [x.] He then starts an objection to his own position, as if, in-
1 Rom. v. 12. 2 1 Cor. i. 1. 3 Gal. ii. 21.
CHAP. XT.] CAN A MAN BE WITHOUT SIN? 243 deed, another person had raised it, and says : " A man, yon will say, may be [without sin] ; bnt it is by the grace of God." He then at once subjoins the following, as if in answer to his own suggestion : " I thank you for your kindness, because you are not merely content to withdraw your opposition to my statement, which you long resisted, and barely to acknowledge it ; but you actually go so far as to bestow your approbation on it. For to say a thing is possible, although by this or by that method, is in fact nothing else than to not only assent to its possibility, but also to show the mode and quality of its happening. Xobody, therefore, gives a better assent to the possibility of an}i;hing than the man who allows the mode or quality thereof; because, without the thing itself, it is not possible for a thing to be." After this he raises another objection against himself : " But, you will say, you here seem to reject the grace of God, inasmuch as you do not even men-; " and he then answers the objection: " Xow, is it / that reject grace, or you—I, who by acknowledging the thing must tion it needs also confess the means by which it may be effected, or you, who by denying the thing do undoubtedly also deny whatever may be the means through which the thing is accomplished ? " He forgot that he was answering one who does not deny the thing, and whose objection he had just before set forth in these words : " A man may be [without sin] ; but it is by the grace of God." How then does that man deny the possibility, in defence of which his opponent earnestly contends, when he makes the admission to that opponent that
" the thing is possible, but only by the grace of God ? " Dismissing, however, the circumstance that he already acknowledges the essential thing, what are we to say to the fact that he still has a question against those who maintain the impossibility of a man's being without sin ? Let him ply his questions against any opponents he pleases, provided he only confesses this truth, which cannot be denied without the most criminal impiety, that a man cannot be without sin except by the grace of God. He says, indeed : " Whether it be by grace, or by divine aid, or by mercy, whatever that be by which a man can be without sin, every one acknowledges the same who admits the thing itself."
244 ON NATURE AND GRACE. [CHAP. XIII.
Chap. 12. [xi.] In our discussions about grace, we do not speak of that which relates to the constitution of our nature, but to its restitution.
I confess to [a fellow-feeling in] your love. When I read those words I was filled with a sudden joy, because he did not deny that grace of God by which alone a man can be justified ; for it is this [denial] which I mainly detest and dread in discussions of this kind. But when I went on to read the rest, I began to have my suspicions, first of all, from the similes he employs. He says : " If I were to say, man is able to dispute ; a bird is able to fly ; a hare is able to run ; without mentioning at the same time the instruments by which these acts can be accomplished—that is, the tongue, the wings, and the legs ; should I then have denied the methods of the various offices, when I acknowledged the very offices themselves ?" It is at once apparent that he has here instanced such things as are by nature efficient and unimpaired ; for the members of the bodily structure which are here mentioned are created with natures of such a kind—the tongue, the wings, the legs. He has not here assumed any such position as we wish to have understood by grace—the grace without which no man is justified ; for this is a topic which is concerned about the cure, not the constitution, of natural functions. Entertaining, then, some apprehensions, I proceeded to read all the rest, and
I soon found that my suspicions had not been unfounded.
Chap. 13. [xn.] The scope and purpose of the law's threatenings ; perfect wayfarers.
But before I proceed further, see what he has said. When treating the question about the difference of sins, and starting as an objection to himself, what certain persons allege, " that some sins are light by their very frequency, their constant irruption making it impossible that they should be all of them avoided ;" he thereupon contended that it was " improper that such offences should be censured as even light or trifling, if they are altogether unavoidable." He of course does not notice the Scriptures of the New Testament, wherein we learn that the intention of the law in its censure is this, that, by reason of the transgressions which men commit, they may flee for refuge to the grace of the Lord, who has pity upon them
1 We have read discimus, not dicimus.
CHAP. XV.] A WORD OF ADVICE. 245
" shutting thern up unto the same faith which should afterwards be revealed
" the schoolmaster; 2 that by it their transgressions may be forgiven, and then not again be committed, by God's assisting grace. The road indeed belongs to all who are progressing in it ; although it is they who make a good advance that are called perfect travellers. That, however, is complete perfection which admits of no addition, when the goal to which men tend has begun to be possessed.
Chap. 14. [xiii.]
But the truth is, the question which is proposed to him
" Are you even yourself without sin ? "—does not really belong to the subject in dispute. That, however, which he says, that
" it is rather imputable to his own negligence that he is not without sin," is no doubt well spoken; but then he should deem it to be his duty even to pray to God that this faulty negligence get not the dominion over him. A certain man once put up such an entreaty, when he said : " Order my steps according to Thy word, and let not any iniquity have dominion over me."
3 [Such, I say, should be his prayer,] lest, whilst relying on his own diligence as on strength of his own, he should fail to attain to the true righteousness either by this way [of self-reliance], or by that other method where, no doubt, such righteousness is to be desired and hoped for in perfection.
Chap. 15. [xrv.] Not everything [of doctrinal truth] is written in Scripture in so many words.
That, too, which is said to him, " that it is nowhere written in so many words, A man can be without sin," he easily refutes thus : " That the question here is not in what precise words each doctrinal statement is made." It is perhaps not without reason that, while in several passages of Scripture we may find it said that men are without complaint,4 it is nowhere found that any man is described as being without sin, except Him only, of whom it is plainly said, that " He knew no sin."
Similarly, we read in the passage where the subject is con-
1 Gal. iii. 24. 2 Gal. iii. 23. 3 Ps. cxix. 133.
Sine querela ; without complaining of their sinful malady.
5 2 Cor. v. 21.
246 ON NATURE AND GRACE. [CHAP. XVI.
cerning priests : " He was in all points tempted like as we
1— meaning, of course, in that flesh which bore the likeness of sinful flesh, although it was not are, only without sin/' sinful flesh ; a likeness, indeed, which it would not have borne if it had not been in every other respect the same as sinful flesh. There is, however, a passage [which seems opposed to our statement] : " Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin ; neither can he sin, for his seed remaineth in him; 2 while the Apostle John himself expressly uses language as if he had not been born of God, or else were addressing men who had not been born of God, when he lays down this position : " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."
3 The sense, however, in which such passages ought to be received, I have already explained, with such care as I was able, in those books which I wrote
4 It seems, moreover, to me to be an interpretation worthy of acceptance to regard to Marcellinus on this very subject.
the clause of the above quoted passage : " Neither can he sin," as if it meant : He ought not to commit sin. For who could be so foolish as to say that sin ought to be committed, when, in fact, sin is sin, for no other reason than that it ought not to be committed ?
Chap. 16. [xv.] Pelagius corrupts a passage of the Apostle James by adding a note of interrogation. Now that passage, in which the Apostle James says : " But
5 does not appear to me to be the tongue can no man tame," capable of the interpretation which he would put upon it, when he expounds it, " as if it were written by way of reproach ; as much as to say : Can no man, then, tame the tongue ? As if in a reproachful tone, which would say : You are able to tame wild beasts ; cannot you tame the tongue ? As if it were an easier tiring to tame the tongue than to subjugate wild beasts." I do not think that this is the meaning of the passage. .For, if he had meant such an opinion as this to be entertained of the facility of taming the tongue, there would have followed in the sequel of the passage a comparison of that member with the beasts. As it is, however, it simply
1 Heb. iv. 15. 2 1 John iii. 9. 3 1 John i. 8.
4 See the De Peccat. Meritis et fiemissione, ii. 10. 6 Jas. iii. 8.
CHAP. XVII.] WHAT IT IS TO TAME THE TONGUE. 247 goes on to say : " The tongue is an unruly evil, full of deadly
1—such, of course, as is more noxious than that of poison/' beasts and creeping things. For while the one destroys the flesh, the other kills the soul. "The mouth that belieth
2 It is not, therefore, in the sense that this slayeth the soul."
is an easier achievement than the taming of beasts that St. James pronounced the statement before us, or would have others utter it ; but he rather aims at showing what a great evil in man his tongue is—so great, indeed, that it cannot be tamed by any man, although even beasts are tameable by human beings. And he said so much as this, not with a view to our permitting the subjugation of so great an evil to ourselves to pass by through our neglect, but in order that we might be induced to request the help of divine grace for the taming of the tongue. For he does not say : " Kone [nullus] can tame the tongue;" but "No man [nullus hominum];" that, when it is tamed, we may acknowledge it to be effected by the mercy, the help, the grace of God. The soul, therefore, should endeavour to tame the tongue, and while endeavouring should pray for assistance ; the tongue, too, should beg for the taming f the tongue,—He beino; the tamer who said to His disciples : " It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your
3 So that we are warned and
Father which speaketh in you."
taught by such a precept to do this,—namely, first make the attempt, and, failing in our own strength, then to pray for the help of God.
Chap. 17. [xvi.]
Accordingly, after emphatically describing the evil of the tongue—saying, among other things: "My brethren, these things
" 4—he at once, after finishing some suitable remarks which arose out of his subject, goes on to add this ought not so to be advice, showing by what help those things would not happen, which (as he said) ought not to be : " Who is a wise man and endowed with knowledge among you ? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where there
1 Jas. iii. 8. 2 Wisd. i. 11. 3 Matt. x. 20. 4 Jas. iii. 10.
248 ON NATURE AND GRACE. [CHAP. XVIII.
is envying and strife, there is confusion and every "evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." * This is the wisdom which tames the tongue ; it descends from heaven, but springs from no human heart. Will any one, then, dare to divorce it from the grace of God, and with most arrogant vanity place it in the power of man ? Why should I pray to God that it be accorded me, if it is of man that it must be obtained ? Is it not a contradiction to such prayer to apprehend any injury being done to that free-will which is selfsufficient in natural ability for discharging all the duties of righteousness ? It must, therefore, be a contradiction even to the Apostle James himself, who admonishes us in these words
" If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him ; but let him ask in faith, nothing doubting."
2 This is the faith to which the commandments drive us, in order that the law may prescribe our duty and faith accomplish it.
3 For through the tongue, which no man can tame, but only the wisdom which comes down from above, " in many things we all of us offend." 4 For this truth also the same apostle pronounced in no other sense than that which he afterwards declares [in the words already quoted] : " The tongue no man can tame."
Chap. 18. [xvn.]— Who may be said to be in tlieflesli. There is a passage which nobody could place against these texts with the similar purpose of showing the impossibility of not sinning: "The carnal mind [or wisdom of the flesh] is enmity against God ; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be ; so then they that are in the flesh;" 6 for he here mentions the wisdom of the cannot please God flesh, not the wisdom which cometh from above : moreover, it is manifest, that in this passage, by the phrase, " being in the flesh," are signified, not those who have not yet quitted the body, but those who live after the flesh. The question, however, we are discussing does not lie in this point. But what
1 Jas. iii. 13-17. 2 Jas. i. 5, 6. 3 Ut lex imperet et fides impetret. 4 Jas. iii. 2. ° Jas. iii. 8. 6 Rom. viii. 7, 8.
CHAP. XX.] SINS OF IGNORANCE. 249
I want to hear from him, if I can, is [his opinion] about those who live after the Spirit, and who on this account are not in a certain sense in the flesh, even while they still live here, whether [he thinks that] they, by God's grace, live after the flesh, or have resources enough of their own, natural capability having been bestowed on them when they were created, and their own proper will besides. Whereas the fulfilling of the law is nothing else than love ;* and God's love is shed abroad in our hearts, not by our own selves, but by the Holy Ghost which is given to us.
Chap. 19. Sins of ignorance; to whom wisdom is given by God on their requesting it. He further treats on sins of ignorance, and says that " a man ought to be very careful to avoid ignorance ; and that ignorance is blameworthy for this reason, because it is through his own neglect that a man is ignorant of that which he certainly must have known if he had only applied diligence ;" whereas he prefers disputing all things rather than pray, and say : " Give me understanding, that I may learn Thy commandments."
3 It is, indeed, one thing to have taken no pains to know what sins of negligence were apparently expiated through divers sacrifices of the law ; it is another thing to wish, but to be unable to understand, and then to act contrary to the law, through not understanding what it would have done. We are accordingly enjoined to ask of God wisdom, " who giveth to all men liberally ; "
4 that is, of course, to all men who ask in such a manner, and to such an extent, as so great a matter requires in earnestness of petition.
Chap. 20. [xvur.] What prayer Pelagius would admit to be necessary. It is foolish to pray that you may do what you have in your own control. He confesses that " sins which have been committed do notwithstanding require divine interposition for their atonement, and that the Lord must be entreated because of them," that is, for the purpose, of course, of obtaining pardon ; " because that which has been done cannot," it is Iris own admission, " be undone," by that " power of nature and will of man " which he talks about so much. From this necessity therefore it follows that a man must pray to be forgiven. That a man,
1 Rom. xiii. 10. 2 Rom. v. 5. 3 Ps. cxix. 73. 4 Jas. i. 5.
250 ON NATUEE AND GRACE. [CHAP. XXI.
however, requires to be helped not to sin, he has nowhere admitted ; I read no such admission in this passage ; he keeps a strange silence on this subject altogether; although the
Lord's Prayer enjoins upon us the necessity of praying both that our debts may be remitted to us, and that we may not be led into temptation,—the one petition entreating that past offences may be atoned for; the other, that future ones may be avoided. Now, although this is never done unless our will be assistant, yet our will alone is not enough to secure its being done ; the prayer, therefore, which is offered up to God for this result is neither superfluous nor offensive to the Lord. For what is more foolish than to pray that you may do that which you have it in your own power to do ?
Chap. 21. [xix.] Pelagius denies that human nature has been depraved or corrupted by sin. You may now see (what bears very closely on our subject) how he endeavours to exhibit human nature, as if it were wholly without fault, and how he struggles against the plainest of God's Scriptures with that " word-wisdom " 1 which renders the cross of Christ of none effect. That cross, however, shall certainly never be so impaired ; rather shall such wisdom be subverted. Now, after we shall have demonstrated this, it may be that God's mercy may visit him, so that he may be sorry that he ever expressed the following sentiments : " We have," he says, " first of all to discuss the position which is maintained, that our nature has been weakened and changed by sin. I think," continues he, " that before all other things we have to inquire what sin is,—whether it be a substance, or an entirely unsubstantial name, whereby is expressed not a reality, not an existence, not a body, but the doing of a wrongful deed." He then adds : * I suppose that this is the case ; and if so," he asks, " how could that which lacks all substance have possibly weakened or changed human nature ?
Observe, I beg of you, how in his ignorance he struggles to overthrow the most salutary words of the remedial Scriptures
" I said, Lord, be merciful unto me ; heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee."
2 Now, how can a thing be healed, if it is not wounded nor hurt, nor weakened and vitiated ?
1 1 Cor. i. 17. 2 Ps. xli. 4.
CHAP. XXII.] HUMAN NATURE CORRUPTED BY SIX. 251
But, as there is here something to be healed, whence did it receive its injury ? You hear [the Psalmist] confessing the fact ; what need is there of discussion ? He says : " Heal my soul." Ask him how that which he wants to be healed became injured, and then listen to his following words : "Because I have sinned against Thee." If, however, he were to put a question [to the Psalmist], and ask him what he deemed a suitable inquiry, and say : you who exclaim, Heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee ! pray tell me what sin is ? Is it a substance or an entirely unsubstantial name, whereby is expressed, not a reality, not an existence, not a body, but merely the doing of a wrongful deed ? Then the other returns for answer : It is even as you say ; sin is not a substance; under its name there is merely expressed the doing of a wrongful deed. But he rejoins : Then why cry out, Heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee ? How could that have possibly vitiated your soul which lacks all substance ? Then would the other, worn out with the anpriish of his wound, in order to avoid being diverted from prayer by the discussion, briefly answer and say : Go from me, I beseech you ; rather discuss the point, if you can, with Him who said : " They that are whole need no physician, but they that are sick ; I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners,"
1 —in which words, of course, He designated the righteous as the whole, and sinners as the sick.
Chap. 22. [xx.] How our nature could be vitiated by sin, even though it be not a substance. Xow, do you not perceive the tendency and direction of this controversy ? Even to render of none effect the Scripture where it is said : " Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He
2 For how is He to save where there is no malady ? For the sins, from which shall save His people from their sins."
this gospel says Christ's people have to be saved, are not substances, and according to him are incapable of vitiating [our nature]. My brother, how good a thing it is to remember that you are a Christian ! To believe, as you would have us, might perhaps be enough ; but still, since you persist in discussion, there is no harm, nay there is even benefit, if a firm
1 Matt. ix. 12, 13. a Matt. i. 21.
252 ON NATURE AND GRACE. [CHAP. XXIII.
faith precede it ; if, too, we refrain from thinking that human nature cannot be vitiated by sin ; but rather, believing, after the inspired Scriptures, that it is thereby vitiated, let our inquiry be how this could possibly have come about. Since, then, we have already learnt that sin is not a substance, do we not consider, not to mention any other example, that not to eat is also not a substance ? Because such abstinence is withdrawal from a substance, inasmuch as food is a substance. To abstain, then, from food is not a substance ; and yet the substance of our body, if it does altogether abstain from food, so languishes, is so impaired by broken health, is so exhausted of strength, so weakened and broken with very weariness, that even if it be in any way able to continue alive, it is hardly capable of being restored to the use of that food, by abstaining from which it became so vitiated and injured. In the same way sin is not a substance ; but God is a substance, yea the highest substance and only true sustenance of the reasonable creature. The consequence of departing from Him by disobedience, and of being unable, through infirmity, to receive what one ought really to rejoice in, you hear from the Psalmist, when he says : " My heart is smitten and withered like grass, since I have forgotten to eat my bread."
Chap. 23. [xxi.] Adam delivered by the mercy of Christ.
But observe how, by specious arguments, he continues to oppose the truth of Holy Scripture. The Lord Jesus, who is
2 in called Jesus because He saves His people from their sins, accordance with this His merciful character, says : " They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick; I am come not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Accordingly, His apostle also says : " This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." 4 This man, however, contrary to the faithful and all-acceptable saying, declares that u this sickness of man's nature could not have been contracted by sins, else the punishment of sin would amount to this, that more sins would be committed." Even infants require the help of the
Great Physician. This writer asks : " Why want Him for
1 Ps. cii. 4. 2 Matt. i. 21. 3 Matt. ix. 12. * 1 Tim. i. 15.
CHAP. XXIV.] NATURAL BIAS TO SIN. 253 them ? They are already whole for whom you propose to fetch the Physician. Not even was the first man condemned to die for any such reason, for he committed no sin afterwards." As if he had ever heard anything of his subsequent perfection in righteousness, except so far as the Church commends to our faith that even Adam was delivered by the mercy of the
Lord [Jesus] Christ. * As to his posterity also," says he,
" not only are they not more infirm than he, but they actually fulfilled more commandments than he ever did, since he neglected to fulfil even one." The posterity which [our author] sees born with such faculties, though certainly not made as Adam was, are not only unequal to the commandment, which they are altogether inexperienced in, but they are hardly capable of sucking the breast, when their appetite craves ; yet even these would He have to be saved in the bosom of Mother Church by His grace Who saves His people from their sins ; but these men gainsay such grace, and, as if they had a deeper insight into the creature than ever He possesses who made the creature, they pronounce [these infants] sound with an assurance which is anything but sound itself.
Chap. 24. [xxn.] Sin and the penalty of sin the same. Blindness of the heart.
" The very matter," says he, * of sin must also be its punishment, since the sinner is so much weakened that he commits more sins." He does not consider how justly the light of truth forsakes the man who transgresses the law. When thus deserted, he of course becomes blinded, and necessarily goes on committing offences ; by so falling he is embarrassed, and being embarrassed he fails to rise, even so far as to hear the voice of the law, which admonishes him to beg for the Saviour's grace. Is no punishment due to them of whom the apostle says : " Because that, when they knew
God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened V'
1 This darkening was, of course, already their punishment; and yet through this very penalty— that is, through their blindness of heart, which supervenes on the withdrawal of the light of wisdom—they fell into more grievous
1 Horn. i. 21.
254 ON NATURE AND GRACE. [CHAP. XXIV.
sins still. For giving themselves out as wise, they became fools. This is a grievous penalty, if one only understand it and from such a penalty only see to what lengths they ran
" They changed," as the apostle goes on to say, " the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things."
All this they did owing to that penalty of their sin, whereby their foolish heart was darkened. And yet, owing to these deeds of theirs, which, although coming in the way of punishment, were none the less sins, he goes on to say : " Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts
2 See how severely God condemned them,
cf their own hearts."
giving them over to uncleanness in the very desires of their heart. Observe also the sins they commit owing to such condemnation : " To dishonour," says he, " their own bodies among
3 Here is the punishment of iniquity, which is themselves."
itself iniquity ; a fact which sets forth in a clearer light the words which follow : " Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the
Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause," says he, " God gave them up unto vile affections."
4 See how often God inflicts punishment ; and out of the self-same punishment sins, more numerous and more severe, arise. " For even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature ; and likewise the men also, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly."
5 Then, to show that these things were not only sins themselves, but were also the penalties of sins, he further says : " And receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet."
Observe how often it happens that the very punishment which God inflicts begets other sins as its natural offspring. Attend still further : " And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge," says he, " God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient ; being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness ; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit,
1 Rom. i. 23. 2 Rom. i. 24. 3 Rom. i. 24.
4 Rom. i. 25, 26. 5 Rom. i. 2G, 27. 6 Rom. i. 27.
CHAP. XXV.] THE GOD-FORSAKEX. 255 malignity ; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant -breakers, without natural
1 Here, now, let our oppoaffection, implacable, unmerciful."
nent say : " Sin ought not to have been punished in this way, that the sinner, through his punishment, should commit even more sins."
Chap. 25. [xxtii.]—God only forsakes those who deserve to be forsaken. We are ourselves sufficient to commit sin ; but we are not able to return to the u-ay of righteousness. Death is the punishment, not the cause of sin. There is nothing good without grace.
Perhaps he may say in answer : God does not compel men to do these things ; He only leaves those alone who deserve to be forsaken. If he does say this, he says what is most true. For, as I have already remarked, those who are forsaken by the light of righteousness, and_j,re therefore groping in darkness, produce nothing else than those works of darkness which I have enumerated ; until such time as it is said to them, and they obey the command : " Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."
Truth designates them as dead ; whence the passage : " Let the dead bury their dead." The truth [I repeat] designates as dead those whom he declares to have been incapable of receiving hurt or damage from sin, on the ground, forsooth, that he has discovered sin to be no substance. Nobody tells him that "man was so formed as to be able to pass from righteousness to sin, and yet not be able to return from sin to righteousness." But that freedom of his will, whereby man vitiated his own self, was sufficient for his falling into sin in order, however, for him to return to righteousness, he has need of a Physician, since he is out of health ; and requires one to revive him, because he is dead. Now about, such grace as this he says not a word, as if he were able to cure himself by his own will and choice, since this alone was able to ruin him. Nor do we tell him that " the death of the body is enough to produce sin," because it is only its punishment for no one sins by undergoing the death of his body. The death of the soul, however, is conducive to sin, forsaken as it
1 Bom. i. 28-31. 2 Epli. v. 14.
256 ON NATURE AND GRACE. [CHAP. XXVI.
is by its life, that is, God ; and it must needs produce dead works, until it revives by the grace of Christ. God forbid that we should assert that " hunger and thirst and other bodily sufferings necessarily produce sin." The life of the righteous, when exercised by such ailments, only shines out with greater lustre, and procures a greater glory by overcoming them through patience ; but then it is assisted by the grace, by the Spirit, by the mercy of God ; not exalting itself in an arrogant will, but eliciting courage by a humble confession. For it had learnt to say unto God : " Thou art my hope ; Thou art my
1 Now, how it happens that concerning this grace, and trust."
help and mercy, without which we cannot live, he has nothing to say, I am at a loss to know. But he goes further, and in the most open manner gainsays the grace of Christ, whereby we are justified, by insisting on the self-sufficiency of nature to work righteousness, provided only the will be present. The reason, however, why, after sin has been released from its guilt by grace, or the exercise of faith, there should still remain the death of the body, which proceeds from sin, I have already explained, according to my ability, in those books which I wrote to Marcellinus of blessed memory.
Chap. 26. [xxiv.]— Christ died of His own power and choice. As to his statement, indeed, that " the Lord was able to die without sin," [we may observe, in reply,] that being born also was in His case the choice and capacity of His mercy, not the condition of His nature : so, likewise, did He undergo death of His own choice and power ; and this is, in fact, our ransom, the price He paid to redeem us from death. Now, this truth their contention labours hard to nullify ; for human nature is maintained by them to be so [complete], that with its freedom of will it wants no such ransom in order to be translated from the power of darkness, and of him who has the power of death,
4 And yet, when the
into the kingdom of Christ the Lord.
1 Ps. lxxi. 5.
2 [The tribune Marcellinus had been put to death, in the September of 413, "having, though innocent, fallen a victim to the cruel hatred of the tyrant
Heraclius," as Jerome writes in his book iii. against the Pelagians. Honorius mentions him as a "man of conspicuous renown," in a law enacted August 30, in the year 414, contained in the Cod. Theod. xvi. 5 (de hoereticis), line 55.]
3 Heb. ii. 14. 4 Col. i. 13.
CHAP. XXVIII.] EVEN EVILS ARE OF USE. 257
Lord approached His passion, He said, " Behold, the prince
1—and of this world cometh and shall find nothing in me," therefore no sin, of course, owing to which he might exercise dominion over Him, so as to destroy Him. " But," added He, " that the world may know that I do the will of my Father,
2 as much as to say, I am going to arise, let us go hence ;" die, not through the necessity of sin, but in the voluntariness of my own obedient wilL
Chap. 27. Even evils, through God's mercy, are of use. He asserts that " no evil is the cause of anything good ;" as if punishment, forsooth, were a good ; although thereby many have been reformed. There are, then, evils which are of use by the wondrous mercy of God. Did that man experience some good thing, when he said, " Thou didst hide Thy face from me, and I was troubled ?" 3 Certainly not; and yet this very trouble was to him in a certain manner a remedy against his pride. For he had said in his prosperity, " I shall never be moved;"
4 and so was ascribing to himself what he was receiving from the Lord. " For what had he that he did not receive?"' It had, therefore, become necessary to show him whence he had received everything, that he might receive in humility what he had lost in pride. Accordingly, he says,
" In Thy good pleasure, Lord, Thou didst add strength to my beauty."
6 In this abundance of mine I once used to say, " I shall not be moved ;" whereas it all came from Thee, not from myself. Then at last Thou didst turn away Thy face from me, and I became troubled.
Chap. 2S. [xxv.]—The disposition of nearly all who go astray. With some heretics our business ought not to be disputation but prayer. The gravity of Adam's sin.
Man's proud disposition has no relish at all for this ; God, however, is great, in persuading even it how to find it all out. "We are, indeed, more inclined to seek how best to reply to such arguments as oppose our going astray, than eager to experience how salutary would be our condition if we were free from error.
We ought, therefore, to encounter all such [restive tempers],
1 John xiv. 30. 2 John xiv. 31. 3 Ps. xxx. 7.
4 Ps. xxx. 8. 5 1 Cor. iv. 7. 6 Ps. xxx. 7 (Septuagint). 4 £
258 ON NATURE AND GRACE. [CHAP. XXIX.
not by discussions, but rather by prayers both for them and for ourselves. For we never say to them, what this opponent has paradoxically advanced to himself, that " sin was necessary in order that there might be a cause for God's mercy." Would there had never been misery to need that mercy ! But the iniquity of sin,—which is so much the greater in proportion.to the ease wherewith man might have avoided sin, whilst no infirmity did as yet beset him,—has been followed closely up by a most righteous punishment ; even that [offending man] should receive in himself the mutual reward of his sin, losing that obedience of his body which had been in some degree put under his own control, and which he had despised when it was so remarkably displayed in his Lord. And, inasmuch as we are now born with the self-same law of sin, which in our members resists the law of our mind, we ought never to murmur against God, nor to dispute in opposition to the clearest fact, but to seek and pray for His mercy instead of our punishment.
Chap. 29. [xxvi.] A simile to show that God's grace is necessaryfor doing any good work whatever. God never forsakes the justified man if He be not Himself forsaken. l
Observe, indeed, how cautiously he expresses himself : " God, no doubt, applies His mercy even to this object, whenever it is necessary ; because man after sin requires help in this way, —not because God wished there should be a cause for such necessity." Do you not see how he does not say that God's grace is necessary to prevent us from sinning, but because we have sinned ? Then he adds : * But just in the same way it is the duty of a physician to be ready to cure a man who is already wounded ; although he ought not to wish for a man who is sound and whole to be wounded." Now, if this simile suits the subject of which we are treating, human nature is certainly incapable of receiving a wound from sin, inasmuch as sin is not a substance. As therefore, for example's sake, a man who is lamed by a wound is cured for the simple purpose of his step for the future being direct and strong, now that its past infirmity is healed, so does the Heavenly Physician cure our maladies, not only that they may cease any longer to
1 [See the treatise De Peccatorum Meritis, ii. 22. J
CHAP, xxx.] god's never-failing help. 259 exist, but in order that we may ever afterwards be able to walk aright,—an accomplishment to which we should be unequal, even after our healing, except by His continued help. For after a medical man has administered a cure, in order that the patient may be afterwards duly nourished with bodily elements and aliments, for the completion and continuance of the said cure by suitable means and help, he commends him to God's good care, who bestows these aids on all who live in the flesh, and from whom proceeded even those means which
[the physician] applied during the process of the cure. It is not out of any resources which he has himself created that the medical man effects any cure, but out of the resources of Him who creates all things which are required by the whole and by the sick. God, however, unless He be first forsaken, never withdraws His help from men, that they may lead constant lives of piety and holiness, whenever He—through " the one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus " spiritually heals the sick or raises the dead, that is, justifies the ungodly ; and after He has brought him to perfect health, in other words, to the fulness of life and righteousness. For, just as the eye of the body, even when completely sound, is unable to see unless aided by the brightness of light, so also man, even when most fully justified, is unable to lead a holy life, if he be not divinely assisted by the eternal light of righteousness. God, therefore, heals us not only that He may blot out the sin which we have committed, but, furthermore, that He may enable us even to avoid sinning.
Chap. 30. [xxvu.] Sin is removed by sin. He no doubt shows some acuteness in handling, and turning over and exposing, as he likes, and refuting a certain statement, which is made to this effect, that " it was really necessary to man, in order to take from him all occasion for pride and boasting, that he should be unable to exist without sin." [In answer to this,] he supposes it to be " the height of absurdity and folly, that there should have been sin in order that sin might not be ; inasmuch as pride is itself, of course, a sin." As if a sore were not attended with pain, and an operation did not produce pain, that pain might be remedied by pain.
260 ON NATURE AND GEACE. [CHAP. XXXI.
If we had not experienced any such treatment, but were only to hear about it in some parts of the world where these things had never happened, we might perhaps use this man's words, and say, It is the height of absurdity that pain should have been necessary in order that a sore should have no pain.
Chap. 31. The order and process of healing our heavenly Physician does not adopt from the siclz patient, but derives from Himself. What cause the righteous have for fearing.
" But God," they say, "is able to heal all things." It is quite true that He so acts as to heal all things ; but He acts on His own judgment, and does not take His procedure in healing from the sick man. For undoubtedly it was His will to endow His apostle with very great power and strength, and yet He said to him : " My strength is made perfect in weakness ; " 1 nor did He remove from him, though he so often entreated Him to do so, that mysterious " thorn in the flesh," which He told him had been given to him " lest he should be unduly exalted
2 For all other through the abundance of the revelation."
sins only prevail in evil deeds ; pride only has to be guarded against in things that are rightly done. Whence it haj)pens that those persons are admonished not to attribute to their own power the gifts of God, nor to plume themselves thereon, lest by so doing they should perish with a heavier perdition than if they had done no good at all, to whom it is said « "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good
3 Why, then, must it be with fear and trembling, and not rather with security, since God is working ; except it pleasure."
be because there so quickly steals over our human soul, by reason of our will (without which we can do nothing well), the inclination to esteem simply as our own accomplishment whatever good we do ; and so each one of us says in his prosperity : " I shall never be moved ? " 4 Therefore, He who in His good pleasure had added strength to our beauty, turns away His face, and the man who had made his boast becomes troubled, because it is by actual sorrows that the swelling pride must be remedied.
1 2 Cor. xii. 9. 2 2 Cor. xii. 7, 8.
3 Phil. ii. 12, 13. 4 Ps. xxx. G.
CHAP. XXXIII.] SALUTARY CHASTENING. 261
Chap. 32. [xxviii.]—God forsakes us sometimes that ice may not groiv proud.
Therefore it is never said to a man : " It is necessary for you to sin that you may not sin
" but it is said to a man
God sometimes forsakes you, in consequence of which you grow proud, that you may know that you are * not your own,"
1—and so learn not to be proud. Now even that but are His incident in the apostle's [life, to which we have just referred,] is of such a kind, not to say so wonderful, that were it not for the fact that he himself is the voucher for it whom it is impious to contradict, truthful as he is, it would be incredible.
For what believer is there who is ignorant of the fact that the first incentive -to sin came from Satan, and that he is the primary author of all sins ? And yet, for all that, some are
" delivered over unto Satan, that they may learn not to blas-
2 How comes it to pass, then, that Satan's work is pheme."
excluded and prevented by the work of Satan ? These and such like questions let a man regard in such a light that they seem not to him to be too acute ; they have somewhat of the sound of acuteness, and yet when discussed are found to be obtuse. What must we say also to our author's use of similes ? But he only thereby rather suggests to us the answer which we should give to himself. " What" (asks he)
" shall I say more than this, that we may as well believe that fires are quenched by fires, if we may believe that sins are cured by sins 1 " What if one cannot put out fires by fires : pains can, for all that, as I have shown, be cured by pains. Poisons can also, if one only inquire and learn the fact, be expelled by poisons. Now, if he observes that the heats of fevers are sometimes subdued by certain medicinal warmths, he will perhaps also allow that fires may be extinguished by fires.
Chap. 33. [xxrx.] Not every sin is pride. How pride is the commencement of every sin.
" But how," asks he, " shall we separate pride itself from sin ? " Now, why does he raise such a question, when it is manifest that even pride itself is a sin ? " To sin," says he,
" is quite as much to be proud, as to be proud is to sin ; for only ask what every sin is, and see whether you can find any sin unaccompanied by the designation of pride." Then he
1 1 Cor. vi. 19. * 1 Tim. i. 20.
262 ON NATUEE AND GRACE. [CHAP. XXXIV.
thus pursues this opinion, and endeavours to prove it thus
" Every sin/' says he, " if I mistake not, is a contempt of God, and every contempt of God is pride. For what is so proud as to despise God ? All sin, then, is also pride, even as Scripl Let him ture says, Pride is the beginning of all sin."
seek diligently, and he will find in the law that the sin of pride is quite distinguished from all other sins. For many sins are committed through pride; but yet not all things which are wrongly done are done proudly,—at any rate, not by the ignorant, not by the infirm, and not, generally speaking, by the weeping and sorrowful. And indeed pride, although it be in itself a great sin, is so in itself alone without any others ; so that, as I have already remarked, it for the most part advances with swifter, though still stealthy foot, in things which are actually well done, and not so much in sins. However, that which he has understood in another sense, is after all most truly said : " Pride is the commencement of all; " because it was this which overthrew the devil, from whom arose the origin of sin ; and afterwards, when his malice and envy pursued man, who was yet standing in his uprightsin ness, it subverted him in the same way in which he himself fell. For the serpent, in fact, only sought for the door of pride whereby to enter when he said [to the man and the woman : ] " Ye shall be as gods." 2 Truly then is it said, " Pride is the commencement of all sin; 3 and, " The beginning of pride is when a man departeth from God." 4
Chap. 34. [xxx.]
Well, but what does he mean when he says : " Then again, how shall one be subjected to God for the guilt of that sin, which he knows is not his own ? For," says he, " his own it cannot be, since it is committed under necessity. Otherwise, if it is his own, it proceeds from his will ; and if it is voluntary, it may be avoided." We reply : It is unquestionably his own. But the fault by which sin is committed is not yet in every respect healed, and the fact of its becoming permanently fixed in us arises from our not rightly using the healing virtue ; and so out of this faulty condition the man
1 Ecclus. x. 13. 2 Gen. iiL 5. 3 Ecclus. x. 13. 4 Ecclus. x. 12.
CHAP. XXXV.] PREVENTING AND SUBSEQUENT GEACE. 263 who is now growing strong in depravity commits many sins, either through infirmity or blindness. Prayer must therefore be made for him, that he may be healed, and that he may thenceforward attain to a life of uninterrupted soundness of health nor must pride be indulged in, as if any man were healed by the self-same power whereby he became morally diseased.
Chap. 35. [xxxi.] Why God does not immediateJy cure pride itself. The secret and insidious growth of pride. Preventing and subsequent grace.
But I would indeed so treat these topics, as to confess myself ignorant of God's deeper counsel, why He does not at once heal the very principle of pride, which insidiously overspreads man's heart; and for the cure of which pious souls, with tears and strong crying, beseech Him that He would stretch forth His right hand and help their endeavours to overcome it, and in a certain sense tread and crush it under foot. Row when a man has felt glad that he has even by some good work overcome pride, from the very joy he lifts up his head and says : Behold, I live ; why do you triumph ? Nay, I live because you triumph. Premature, however, this forwardness of his to triumph over pride may perhaps be, as if it were now vanquished, whereas its last shadow is to be absorbed, as
I suppose, in that noontide which is promised in the scripture which says, " He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the; " light, and thy judgment as the noonday
1 provided that be done winch was written in the preceding verse : " Commit thy way unto the Lord ; trust also in Him, and He shall
2—not, as some suppose, that they themselves bring it to pass," bring it to pass. Xow, when he said, " And He shall bring it to pass," he evidently intended none but those who say, We ourselves bring it to pass ; that is to say, we are ourselves the justifiers of our own selves. No doubt, even where we ourselves work, we are fellow-workers with Him who co-operates with us, because His mercy prevents us. He prevents us, however, that we may be healed ; but then He will also follow us, that being healed we may grow healthy and strong. He prevents us that we may be called ; He will follow us that we may be glorified. He prevents us that we may lead godly lives ; He will follow us that we may always live with
1 Ps. xxxvii. 6. 2 pg, xxxvii. 5.
264 ON NATURE AND GRACE. [CHAP. XXXVI.
1 Now the
Him, because without Him we can do nothing.
Scriptures refer to both these operations of grace. There is
2 and both this : " The God of my mercy shall prevent me/' again this : " Thy mercy shall follow me all the days of my
3 Let us therefore unveil to Him our life by confession, life."
not praise it with a vindication. For if it is not His way but our own, beyond doubt it is not the right one. Let us therefore reveal this by making our confession to Him ; for however much we may endeavour to conceal it, it. is not hid from Him. It is a good thing to confess unto the Lord.
Chap. 36. [xxxii.]— There is nothing right without grace. Pride even in such things as are done aright must be avoided. Free will is not taken away when grace is preached.
Thus will He bestow on us whatever pleases Him. If there be anything displeasing to Him in us, it ought also to be displeasing to us. " He will," as the Scripture has said, " turn aside our paths from His own way," 4 and will make our way that which is His own ; because it is by Himself that the favour is bestowed on such as believe in Him and hope in His name, of having their way made by His very self.
]STow there is a way of righteousness of which they are ignorant " who have a zeal for God, but not according to
5 and who, wishing to make up a righteousness of knowledge," their own, " have not submitted themselves to the righteous-
6 " For Christ is the end of the law for
ness of God."
7 and He has said, righteousness to every one that believeth;"
" I am the way."
8 God's voice, however, has alarmed even those who have already begun to walk in this way, lest they should be lifted up, as if it were by their own energies that they were walking therein. For the same persons to whom the apostle, on account of this danger, says, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure," are likewise for the self-same reason admonished in the psalm :
" Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice in Him with trembling. Accept correction, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and ye
1 John xv. 5. 2 Ps. lix. 10. 3 Ps. xxiii. 6.
4 See Ps. xliv. 18 (Sept.). 5 Eom. x. 2. 6 Rom. x. 3.
1 Rom. x. 4. 8 John xiv. 6. 9 Phil. ii. 12.
CHAP. XXXVII.] PEIDE TO BE AVOIDED. 265 perish from the righteous way, when His wrath shall be suddenly kindled upon you." * He does not say, "Lest at any time the Lord be angry and refuse to show you the righteous way,"; " but or, " refuse to lead you into the way of righteousness even after you are walking therein, he goes so far in his tone of alarm as to say, " Lest ye perish from the righteous way." Xow, whence could this arise if not from pride, which (as I have so often said, and must repeat again and again) has to be guarded against even in things which are rightly done, that is, in the very way of righteousness, lest a man, by regarding as his own that which is really God's, lose what is God's and be reduced merely to what is his own ? Let us then carry out the concluding injunction of this same psalm, " Blessed
2 so that He may Himself are all they that trust in Him," indeed effect and Himself show His own way in us, to whom; 3 and Himself bestow on us the pathway of safety that we may walk therein, it is said, " Show us Thy mercy, Lord to whom the prayer is offered, "And grant us Thy salvation ; " 4 and Himself lead us in the self-same way, to whom again it is said, " Guide me, Lord, in Thy way, and in Thy
5 Himself, too, conduct us to those protruth will I walk mises whither His way leads, to whom it is said, " Even there;" 6 shall Thy hand lead me and Thy right hand shall hold me
Himself pasture therein those who sit down with Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, of whom it is said, " He shall make them sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them."
7 Now we do not, when we make mention of .these [acts of the
Lord,] take away the freedom of man's will, but we preach the grace of God. For to whom are those gracious gifts of use, but to the man who uses, and humbly uses, his own will, and who does not make any boast of the power and energy thereof, as if it alone were sufficient for perfecting him in righteousness ?
Chap. 37. [xxxiii.]—Being wholly without sin does not put man on an equality icith God. The blessed are not changed into the substance of God. God forbid that we should meet him with such an assertion as he says certain persons advance against him : " That man
1 Ps. ii. 11, 12. 2 Ps. ii. 12. 3 Ps. lxxxv. 7. 4 Ps. lxxxv. 7.
6 Ps. lxxxvi. 11. 6 Ps. cxxxix. 10. ? Luke xii. 37.
2 G 6 ON NATURE AND GEACE. [CHAP. XXXVIII.
is placed on a par with God, if lie is described as being without sin
" as if indeed an angel, because he is without sin, is put in such an equality. Tor my own part, I am of opinion that the creature will never become equal with God, even when so perfect a holiness shall be accomplished in us, that it shall be quite incapable of receiving any addition. No all who maintain that our progress is to be so complete that we shall be changed into the substance of God, and that we shall thus become what He is, should look well to it how they build up their opinion ; upon myself I must confess that it produces no conviction.
Chap. 38. [xxxiv.] We must not lie, even for the sake of moderation. The praise of humility must not be placed to the account of falsehood.
I am favourably disposed, indeed, to the view of our author, when he resists those who say to him, " What you assert is undoubtedly reasonable enough in appearance, but it is an arrogant thing to allege that any man can be without sin," with this answer, that if it is at all true, it must not on any account be called an arrogant statement, for with very great truth and acuteness he asks, " On what side must humility be placed ? No doubt on the side of falsehood, if you prove arrogance to exist on the side of truth." And so he decides, and rightly decides, that humility should rather be ranged on the side of truth, not of falsehood. Whence it follows that he who said, " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive x must without hesitaourselves, and the truth is not in us," tion be held to have spoken the truth, and not seem to have advanced what is false under the guise of humility. Therefore he added the words, "And the truth is not in us;" whereas it might perhaps have been enough if he merely said,
" We deceive ourselves," if he had not observed that some were capable of supposing that the clause " we deceive ourselves " is here employed on the ground that the man who praises himself is even extolled for a really good action. So that, by the addition of " the truth is not in us," he clearly shows (even as our author most correctly observes) that it is not at all true if we say that we have no sin, lest humility, if placed on the side of falsehood, should lose the praise and guerdon of truth.
1 1 John i. 8.
CHAP. XL.] GOD IS SAVIOUR AS WELL AS CREATOR. 267
Chap. 39.
Beyond this, however, although he flatters himself that he vindicates the cause of God by defending nature, he forgets that by predicating soundness of the said nature, he rejects the
Physician's mercy. He, however, who created him is also his Saviour. We ought not, therefore, so to magnify the Creator as to be under the necessity, nay, rather incur the guilt, of declaring the Saviour to be superfluous. Man's nature indeed we may honour with distinguished praise, and attribute the praise to the Creator's glory ; but at the same time, while we show our gratitude to Him for having created us, let us not be ungrateful to Him for healing us. Our sins which He heals we must undoubtedly attribute not to God's operation, but to the wilfulness of man, and submit them to His righteous correction ; as, however, we acknowledge that it was in our power that they should not be committed, so let us confess that it lies in His mercy rather than in our own power that they should be healed. But this mercy and remedial help. of the Saviour, according to this writer, consists only in this, that He forgives the transgressions that are past, not that He helps us to avoid such as are to come. Here he is most fatally mistaken ; here, however unwittingly, he hinders us from being watchful, and from praying that " we enter not into temptation," since he maintains that . it simply lies without our own control that this should not happen to us.