Part 9
7 Since, however, they. Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."
are the servants of sin, why do they boast of their free will ?
" For by what a man is overcome, by the same is he brought
8 But if they have been liberated from that in bondage."
bondage, why do they vaunt themselves as if it were by their own doing ? Why boast, as if they had not received [the gift ?]
Or is their free condition of such sort that they do not choose to have Him for their Lord who says to them : " Without me ye
9 and "If the Son shall make you free, ye can do nothing;" shall be free indeed ?" 10
Chap. 53. [xxxi.] Is faith in our own power? possessing will; possessing power ; how one is said to act against his will. Some one will ask whether the faith itself lies in our ownpower, in which seems to be the beginning either of salvation, or of that series leading to salvation which I have just mentioned. Now we shall see this question more easily, if we first examine with some care what " our own power" means. There
1 Ex. xx. 17. 2 Ps. xli. 4. 3 John v. 14. 4 Ps. xxx. 2.
5 Ps. liv. 6. 6 Ps. cxix. 85 (Septuagint). 7 2 Cor. iii. 17.
8 2 Pet. ii. 19. 9 John xv. 5. 10 John viii. 36.
CHAP. LIIl] TO WILL AND TO BE ABLE WHAT ? 213 are then two faculties,—the exercise of will and the exercise of power,—and not every one that has the will has therefore the power also, nor has every one that possesses the power got the will in immediate control ; for as we sometimes will what we cannot do, so also we sometimes can do what we do not will. If we turn over * in our examination merely the words themselves with sufficient care, we shall detect, in the
2 from very ring of the terms, the derivation of the wish or will
3 and of the ability or
the existence of the wishing faculty,
5 to do this or that.
power* from the fact of our being able
Therefore, even as the man who wishes has volition or will, so also the man who can do so and so possesses ability or power ; but in order that a thing may be done with power, the will must be present. For no man is usually said to do a thing with power or mastery if he did it unwillingly. Although, at the same time, if we go into the thing accurately, even that which a man is forced to do against his will, he does, if he really accomplishes the thing, with his will ; only he is said to be an unwilling agent, or to act against his will in that particular thing, because he would prefer doing some othe* thing. He is compelled, indeed, by some unfortunate influence, to do what he does under the compulsion, wishing all the while to escape it or to remove it out of his way. Now if his will be such that he prefers not doing this to not suffering that, then undoubtedly he resists the compelling influence, and does it not. And accordingly, if he does it, it is not with a full free will, although at the same time it is not without a will that he does it ; and inasmuch as the will is closely followed by its effect, we cannot say that he lacked the power, as he did it. If, indeed, he had the wish to do it, yielding to compulsion, but lacked the power, although we allowed that a coerced will was present to the agent, we should yet say that the power was absent. But when his reason for not doing the thing was because he was unwilling, then of course the power was present although the will was absent, since he did it not, by his resistance to the compelling influlence. Hence it is that even they who compel, or they who persuade, to an action, are accustomed to say, Why don't you
1 Evolutis. 2 Voluntas. 3 Velle. * Potestas. 6 Posse.
214 ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER. [CHAP. LIV.
do what you have it in your power to do, in order to get rid of this evil [coercion ?] While they who are utterly powerless to do what they are compelled to do, on the ground that they are supposed to be able, usually answer that question by excusing themselves, and say, I would do it if it were in my power. What then do we want more, since we call that power when to the will is added at once the faculty of doing anything ? Accordingly, every one is said to have that in his power which he does if he likes, and does not if he dislikes it.
Chap. 54.— Whether faith be in a man's own power ; faith twofold ; faith in our own power, but only when a man believes voluntarily • all power, but not will, isfrom God.
Attend now to the point which we have laid down for discussion : whether faith be in our own power ? We now speak of that faith which we employ when we believe anything, not that which we impart when we make a promise ; for this [fidelity] also is called faith. We use the word in one sense when we say, " He put no faith in me," and in another sense when we say, " He did not keep faith with me." The one phrase means, " He did not believe what I said ;" the other, " He did not do what he promised." According to the faith by which we believe, we are faithful to God but according to that whereby a thing is realized which is promised, God Himself even is faithful to us ; for so much does the apostle declare, " God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able." * Well, now, this is the faith about which we inquire, Whether it be in our power ? even the faith by which we believe God, or believe in God. For of this it is written, " Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness."
2 And again,
" To him that believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly,
3 Consider now whether anybody believes, if he be unwilling ; or whether he believes his faith is counted for righteousness."
not, if he be desirous to do so. Such a position, indeed, is absurd ; for what is believing but agreeing to the truth of what is asserted ? This consent, however, proves the possession of will : faith, therefore, is in our own power. But, as
1 1 Cor. x. 13. 2 Rom. iv. 3 ; comp. Gen. xv. 6. 3 Rom. iv. 5.
CHAP. LV.] ALL POWER, BUT NOT WILL, FROM GOD. 215 the apostle says : " There is no power but comes from God," what reason then is there why it may not be said to us even of that : " What hast thou which thou hast not received f for it is God who gave us even to believe. Nowhere, however, in Holy Scripture do we find such an assertion as, There is no will or volition but comes from God. And rightly is it not so written, because it is not true. Otherwise God would be the Author of sins (which Heaven forbid !), if there were no will or volition except what comes from Him ; inasmuch as a depraved will alone is already a sin, even if the effect be wanting,—in other words, if it has not the power of acting. But when the depraved will receives power to accomplish its intention, this proceeds from the judgment of God, with whom
3 He indeed inflicts His punishment even after such a manner as this ; nor is His chastisement unjust, because it is secret. The ungodly man, however, there is no unrighteousness.
is not aware that he is being punished, except when he unwillingly discovers by a manifest penalty how much evil he has willingly committed. This is just what the apostle remarks of certain men : " God hath given them up to the evil desires of their own hearts, ... to do those things that
4 Accordingly, the Lord also said to
are not convenient."
Pilate : " Thou couldest have no power at all against me,
5 But still, when the power is given, it does not follow that a necessity is imposed.
except it were given thee from above."
Therefore, although David had acquired a power to kill Saul,
6 Whence we understand
he preferred sparing to striking him.
that bad men receive power in their own depraved will for condemnation, while good men receive the power of a good will to test their piety.
Chap. 55. [xxxn.] What faith is laudable.
Since faith, then, is in our power, inasmuch as every one believes when he likes ; and since, when he believes, he willingly believes ; our next inquiry, which we must conduct with care, is, What faith it is which the apostle commends with so much earnestness ? For indiscriminate faith, [or
1 Rom. xiii. 1. 2 1 Cor. iv. 7. 3 Pcom. ix. 14. 4 Fconi. i. 24, 28. 5 John xix. 11. 6 1 Sam. xxiv. 7, and xxvi. 0.
216 ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER. [CHAP. LVI.
credulity,] is not a good thing. Accordingly we find this caution : " Brethren, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God." * Nor must the clause in commendation of charity, that it " believeth all things,"
2 be so understood as derogating from the charity of any particular person, if he refuses at once to believe what he hears. For the same charity admonishes us that we ought not readily to believe anything evil about a brother ; and when anything of the kind is said of him, it judges it to be more suitable to its own character not to believe the aspersion. Lastly, the same charity, "which believeth all things," does not believe every spirit. Accordingly [this distinction arises :] charity believes all things, but it believes in God. Observe, it is not said,
Believes in all things. It cannot therefore be doubted that the faith which is commended by the apostle is the faith whereby we believe in God.
Chap. 56. The faith of those who are under the law different from the faith of others ; slavish fear ; faith works by love, not by fear.
But there is yet another distinction to be observed, since they who are under the law both attempt to work righteousness through fear of punishment, and fail to do God's righteousness, because this is accomplished solely by the charity to which only what is lawful is pleasing, and never by the fear which is forced to regard in its work the thing which is lawful, although at the same time it has something else in its will which would prefer the unlawful object of its desire being allowed it, if it were only possible. These persons also believe in God ; for if they had no faith in Him at all, neither would they of course have any dread of the penalty of His law. This, however, is not the faith which the apostle commends. He says : " Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." 4 The fear, then, of which we speak is the fear of slaves ; and therefore, even though there be in it a belief in the Lord, yet righteousness is not loved by it, but condemnation is feared.
God's children, however, exclaim, " Abba, Father,"—one of
1 1 John iv. 1. 2 1 Cor. xiii. 7.
3 Roui. iv. 3 (iviffrivcn rZ Qiu). 4 Rom. viii. 15.
CHAP, lyl] true faith. 217 which words they of the circumcision utter ; the other, they of the uncircurncision,—the Jew first, and then the Greek.
1 There is " one God, which justifieth the circumcision by faith, and the
2 When indeed they utter this
uncircumcision through faith."
call, they want something ; and what do they want, but that which they hunger and thirst after ? And what else is this but that which is said of them, " Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled V
Let, then, those who are under the law pass over to this position, and become sons instead of slaves ; and yet not so as to cease to be servants, but so as, while they are sons, still to serve their Lord and Father in a loving and generous spirit. For even this great gift have they received ; for the
Only-begotten " gave them power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name ;" 4 and He advised them to ask, to seek, and to knock, in order to receive, to find, and to have the gate opened to them,
5 adding by way of rebuke, the words : " If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him T
When, therefore, that strength of sin, the law/ inflamed the sting of death, even sin, to take occasion by the commandment, and work all manner of concupiscence in them,
8 of whom were they to ask for the gift of continence, but of Him who knows how to give good gifts to His children ? Perhaps, however, a man, in his folly, is unaware that no one can be continent except God give him the gift. To know this, indeed,
9 Why, then, does the man not
hB requires Wisdom herself.
listen to the Spirit of his Father, speaking through Christ's apostle, or even Christ Himself, who says in His gospel,
" Seek and ye shall find ;" 10 and who also says to us, speaking by His apostle : " If any one of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given to him. Let him, however, ask in faith, nothing wavering ?" n This is the faith by which the just man lives
12 ' this is the faith whereby he believes on Him
1 Rom. ii. 9. 2 Rom. iii. 30. 3 Matt. v. 6. 4 John i. 12.
6 See Matt. vii. 7. 6 Matt, ifi.ll. 7 1 Cor. xv. 56. 8 Rom. vii. 8.
9 Wiad. viii. 21. 10 Matt. vii. 7. " Jas. i. 5, 6. 12 Rom. i. 17.
218 ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER. [CHAP. LVI.
who justifies the ungodly
* this is the faith through which
2 either by the retirement of that with which we become self-inflated, or by the excitement of that boasting is excluded, with which we glory in the Lord. This, again, is the faith by which we procure that copious gift of the Spirit, of which it is said : " We indeed through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith."
3 But this admits of the further question, Whether he meant by " the hope of righteousness " that by which righteousness hopes, or that whereby righteousness is itself hoped for ? For the just man, who lives by faith, hopes undoubtedly for eternal life ; and the faith likewise, which hungers and thirsts for righteousness, makes progress
4 and therein by the renewal of the inward man day by day, hopes to be satiated therewith in that eternal life, where shall be realized that which is said by the Psalmist of God :
" Who satisfieth thy desire with good things."
5 This, moreover, is the faith whereby they are saved to whom it is said
" By grace are ye saved through faith ; and that not of yourselves : it is the gift of God : not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
6 This, in short, is the faith which works not by fear, but by love ;
7 not by dreading punishment, but by loving righteousness. Whence, therefore, arises this love,—that is to say, this charity,—by which faith works, if not from the source whence faith itself obtained it ? For it would not be within us, to what extent soever it is in us, if it were not diffused in our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given to us.8 Now " the love of God " is said to be shed abroad in our hearts, not because He loves us, but because He makes us
9 is used lovers of Himself; just as "the righteousness of God" in the sense of our being made righteous by His gift ; and " the salvation of the Lord"
10 in that we are saved by Him
11 because He makes us believers and " the faith of Jesus Christ" in Him. This is that righteousness of God, which He not
1 Rom. iv. 5. 2 Rom. iii. 27. 3 Gal. v. 5.
4 2 Cor. iv. 16. 6 Vs. ciii. 5 (Sept.). 6 Eph. ii. 8-10.
7 Gal. v. 6. 8 Rom. v. 5. 9 Rom. iii. 21.
10 Ps. iii. 8. » Gal. ii. 16.
CHAP. LVIII.] WHENCE COMES THE WILL TO BELIEVE? 219 only teaches us by the precept of His law, but also bestows upon us by the gift of His Spirit.
Chap. 57. [xxxiii.]— Whence comes the will to believe ? But it remains for us briefly to inquire, Whether the will iwith which we believe be itself the gift of God, or whether it be the production of that freedom of will which is naturally implanted in us ? If we say that it is not the gift of God, we must then incur the fear of supposing that we have discovered someanswer to the apostle's reproachful appeal : " What hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thouhadst not received it V'
1—even some such an answer as this : See, we have the will to believe, which we did not receive. See in what we glory,—even in the fact that we did not receive it ! If, however, we were to say that this kind of will is nothing but the gift of God, we should then have to fear lest unbelieving ungodly men might ilnot unreasonably seem to have some fair ground for their un-
I -belief, in the fact that God has refused to give them this will.
Now the apostle's statement : " It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of His own good pleasure,"
2 refers to that grace which faith secures, in order that good works may be within the reach of man,—even the good works which faith achieves through the love which is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost which is given to us. If we believe that jwe may obtain this grace (and of course believe with our will), then the question arises, whence we have this will ?—if from nature, why is it not at everybody's command, since the same God made all men ? if from God's gift, then again, why is not the gift open to all, since " He will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth ?" 3
Chap. 58. The free will of man is an intermediate power ; the will of God is invincible for ever ; good works the result of grace.
Let us then, first of all, lay down this proposition, and see whether it satisfies the question before us, that our freedom of will is naturally assigned by the Creator to our rational soul, and that it is an intermediate power, which is able either to incline towards faith, or to turn towards unbelief. Consequently a man cannot be said to have even that will with
1 1 Cor. iv. 7. 2 Phil. ii. 13. 3 1 Tim. ii. 4.
220 ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER. [CHAP. LVIII.
which he believes in God, without having received it, since at the call of God it rises out of that free will which he received naturally when he was created. God no doubt wishes all men to be saved ; but yet not so as to take away from them their liberty of will, for the good or the evil use of which they may be most righteously judged. This being the case, unbelievers indeed do contrary to the will of God when they do not believe His gospel ; nevertheless they do not overcome His will, but they rob their own selves of the great, nay, the very greatest, good, and implicate themselves in penalties of misery, destined to experience in their punishment the power of Him whose mercy they despised in His gifts. Thus God's will is for ever invincible ; but it would be vanquished, unless it could devise what to do with such as despised it, or if these despisers could in any way escape from the retribution which He has appointed for such as they.
Suppose a master, for example, who should say to his servants,
I wish you to labour in my vineyard, and, after your work is done, to feast and take your rest ; but who, at the same time, should require any who refused to work to grind in the mill ever after. Whoever neglected such a command would evidently act contrary to the master's will ; but he would do more than that,—he would vanquish that will, if he also despised and refused the mill. This, however, cannot possibly happen under the government of God. Whence it is written,
" God hath spoken once,"—that is, irrevocably,—although the passage may refer to His one only Son. He then adds what it is which He had irrevocably uttered, saying : " Twice have
I heard this, that power belongeth unto God. Also unto Thee,
Lord, doth mercy belong : because Thou wilt render to every man according to his work."
1 He therefore will be guilty enough to deserve condemnation under God's mighty hand, who shall think too contemptuously of His mercy to believe in Him. But whosoever shall put his trust in Him, and yield himself up to Him, for the forgiveness of all his sins, for the cure of all his corruption, and for the kindling and illumination of his soul by His warmth and light, shall find good
2 he shall be even works spring from His grace ; and by them
1 Ps. lxii. 11, 12. 2 Ex quibus.
CHAP. LIX.] THE MERCY OR GRACE OF GOD. 221 in his body redeemed from the corruption of death, and be crowned, and be satisfied with blessings,—not temporal, but eternal,—above what we can ask or understand.
Chap. 59. Mercy and pity in the judgment of God.
This is the order observed in the psalm, where it is said
" Bless the Lord, my soul, and forget not all His recompenses ; who forgiveth all thine iniquities ; who healeth all thy diseases ; who redeemeth thy life from destruction ; who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercy ; who satisfieth thy desire with good things." 1 And lest by any chance these great blessings should be despaired of under the corruption and deformity of our old mortal condition, the
Psalmist at once says, a Thy youth shall be renewed like the eagle's ;" 2 as much as to say, All that you have heard belongs to the renewed man and to the new covenant. Now let us consider together briefly these very [statements of the psalm,] and with delight examine its eulogy on the mercy, that is, the grace of God. " Bless the Lord, my soul," he says, " and forget not all His recompenses." Observe, he does not say
3 because He recompenses evil with blessings, but recompenses ; good. "Who forgiveth all thine iniquities :" this is done in the sacrament of baptism. " Who healeth all thy diseases :" this is effected by the believer in the present life, while the flesh so lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, that we cannot do the things we would ;
4 whilst also another law in our members wars against the law of our mind ;
5 whilst to will is present indeed to us, but not how to perform that which is good.
6 These are the diseases of a man's old nature, which, however, if we only advance with persevering purpose, are healed by the growth of the new nature day by day, owing
7 " Who redeemeth thy life from destruction ;" this will take place at the resurto the faith which operates through love.
rection of the dead in the last day. " Who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercy ;" this shall be accomplished in the day of judgment ; for when the righteous King
1 Ps. ciii. 2-5. 2 Ps. ciii. 5.
8 Non tributiones, sed retributiones. 4 Gal. v. 17.
* Rom. vii. 23. 6 Rom. vii. 18. 7 Gal. v. 6.
222 ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER. [CHAP. LIX.
shall sit upon His throne to render to every man according to his works, who shall be then able to boast of having a pure heart ? or who shall glory of being clean from sin ? It was therefore necessary to mention God's loving -kindness and tender mercy as present there, where one might expect debts to be demanded and deserts recompensed so strictly as to leave no room for mercy. Well then does he crown [the edifice of grace] with mercy and pity ; but even here regard is had to works. For the man shall be separately placed on the right hand for it to be said to him, * I was an hungered, and ye
1 There will, however, be also " judgment gave me meat."
without mercy ;" but it will be for him " that hath not showed mercy."
2 But " blessed are the merciful : for they
" 3 of God. Then, as soon as those on the shall obtain mercy left hand shall have gone into eternal fire, and the righteous
4 [these shall experience that of which] He says : " This is life eternal, that they may know Thee the into everlasting life, only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent."' And with this knowledge, this vision, this contemplation, shall the desire of their soul be satisfied ; for it shall be enough for it to have this and nothing else,—there being nothing more for it to desire, to aspire to, or to require. It was with a craving after this full joy that his heart glowed who said to the Lord Christ, " Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us ;" and to whom the answer was returned, " He that hath seen me hath seen the Father."
6 Because He is Himself the eternal life, in order that men may know, God, that Thou art one only with Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. If, however, he that has seen the Father has also seen the Son, then assuredly he who sees the Father and the Son sees also the Holy Spirit of the Father and the Son. So we do not impair the freedom of man's will, whilst our soul blesses the
7 nor does it, in
Lord and forgets not all His recompenses ; ignorance of God's righteousness, wish to set up one of its own ;
9 and
8 but it believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, until it arrives at the sight of its happiness, it lives by faith,. l Matt. xxv. 35. 2 Jas. ii. 13. 3 Matt. v. 7.
4 Matt. xxv. 46. 5 John xvii. 3. 6 John xiv. 8, 9.
7 Ps. ciii. 2. 8 Rom. x. 3. 9 Rom. iv. 5.
CHAP. LX.] GOD WORKS WILLINGNESS IN MAN. 223 —even that faith which works by love.
1 And this love is shed abroad in our hearts, by no sufficiency of our own will, nor by the letter of the law, but by the Holy Ghost who has been given to us.
Chap. 60. [xxxiv.] The will to believe isfrom God.
Let this discussion suffice, as it satisfactorily meets the question we had to solve. Since, however, it is objected in reply, that we must be on our guard lest any man should suppose the sin would have to be imputed to God which is committed through our free will, if in the passage where it is said, "What hast thou which thou didst not receive?"
the very will by which we believe in God is therefore reckoned as a gift of God, because it arises out of that freedom of our will which we received at our creation—then let the objector attentively observe that the will in question must not be ascribed to the divine gift, merely because it arises from our freedom of will, which was created naturally with us ; for there is another reason, even because God acts upon us by the incentives of visible objects to will and to believe ; He also influences us externally by evangelical exhortations ; where even the commands of the law also do something, since they so far admonish a man of his infirmity, that he betakes himself to the grace that justifies by believing ; He furtherrnore affects our minds by internal influence, in which no man has it in his own control as to what shall enter into his thoughts ; it appertains, however, to his own will either to consent or to dissent. Since God, therefore, in such ways acts upon the reasonable soul, and induces it to believe in Him (for nothing whatever can possibly trust in man's free will, seeing.that it has no persuasiveness and no call in which to believe), it surely follows that it is God who works in man the actual willingness to believe, and in all things prevents us with His mercy. To yield our consent^ indeed, or to withhold it, whenever God calls, is (as I have said) the function of our own will. Now this circumstance not only does not invalidate what is said, " For what hast thou that thou didst not receive?" 4 but it really confirms it. For the
1 Gal. v. 6. 2 Rom. v. 5. 3 1 Cor. iv. 7. 4 1 Cor. iv. 7.
224 ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER [CHAP. LXII.
soul cannot receive and possess these gifts, which are here referred to, except by yielding its own consent. So that whatever it possesses, and whatever it receives, is from God and belongs to God ; and yet the act of receiving and having belongs, of course, to the receiver and the possessor. Now, should any man be for constraining us to examine into that profound fact of our moral nature, why this person is so far advised as to be persuaded, and that person is not, there are only two thoughts occurring to me, which I should like to
1 and "Is there unrighteousness with God?"
advance as my answer: " the depth of the riches I"
2 If the man is displeased with such an answer, he must seek more learned disputants. Let him beware, however, lest he find in them presumptuous wranglers !
Chap. 61. [xxxv.] Conclusion of the work.
Let us at last bring our book to an end. I hardly know whether we have accomplished our purpose at all by our great prolixity. It is not in respect of you, [my Marcellinus,] that
I have this misgiving, for I know your faith ; but with reference to the minds of those for whose sake you wished me to write. It is not so much in opposition to my opinion, but
(to speak mildly, and not to mention the doctrine of Him who spoke in His apostles) certainly against not only the opinion of the great Apostle Paul, but also his strong, earnest, and vigilant conflict, that they prefer maintaining their own views with tenacity to listening to him, when he " beseeches them by the mercies of God," and tells them, " through the grace of
God which was given to him, not to think of themselves more highly than they ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God had dealt to every man the measure of faith."
Chap. 62. He returns to the question which Marcellinus had proposed to him.
But I beg of you to advert to the question which you proposed to me, and to what we have made out of it in the lengthy process of this discussion. You were perplexed how
I could have said that it was possible for a man to be without sin, if his will were not wanting, by the help of God's
1 Rom. xi. 33. 2 Rom. ix. 14. 3 Rom. xii. 1, 3.
CHAP. LXIL] ALL THINGS POSSIBLE WITH GOD. 225 strength, although no man in the present life had ever lived, was living, or would live, of such perfect righteousness. Now, in the books which I formerly addressed to you, I set forth fS If I were asked whether it be this very question. I said : possible for a man in this life to be without sin, I should allow the possibility, through the grace of God, and the man's own free will ; for I should have no doubt that the free will itself is ascribable to God's grace,—in other words, has its place among the gifts of God,—not only as to its existence, but also in respect of its goodness ; that is to say, [it is a gift of God] that it applies itself to doing the commandments of
God. Thus it is that God's grace not only shows a man what he ought to do, but also gives him such assistance as secures the possibility of that being done which His grace points out
1 You seemed to think it absurd, that a thing which might happen was actually unexampled. Hence arose to be done."
the subject treated of in this book ; and thus did it devolve on me to show that a thing was possible although no example of it could be found. We accordingly adduced certain cases out of the gospel and of the law, at the beginning of this work,—such as the passing of a camel through the eye of a
2 and the twelve [thousand] legions of angels, who needle ; could fight for Christ, if He pleased ;
3 and those nations which God said He could have exterminated at once from the
4—none of which possibilities were ever face of His people, reduced to fact. To these instances may be added those which are referred to in the Book of Wisdom,
5 su^^esting how many are the strange torments and troubles which God was able to employ against ungodly men, by using the creature which was obedient to His beck, which, however, He did not employ. One might also allude to the supposed
" mountain," which faith could remove into the sea,
6 although no realization of such a thing anywhere took place, so far as we have ever read
7 or heard. Now you see how thoughtless
1 See his work preceding this, Be Peccat. Meritis, ii. 7. 2 Matt. xix. 24. 3 Matt.
Deut. xxxi. 3 ; comp. Judg. ii. 3. 6 Wisdom xvi. 6 jj;att xx^ 2 1.
7 Augustine, it would then seem, had not met with the statement of Eusebius,
226 ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER. [CHAP. LXIII.
and foolish would be the man who should say that any one of these things is impossible with God, and how opposed to the sense of Scripture would be his assertion. Many other cases of this kind may occur to anybody who reads or thinks, the possibility of which with God we cannot deny, although there may not be any example of them forthcoming.
Chap. 63. An objection.
But inasmuch as it may be said that the instances which
I have been quoting are divine works, whereas to live righteously is a work that belongs to ourselves, I undertook to show that even this too is a divine work. This I have done in the present book, with perhaps a fuller statement than is necessary, although I seem to myself to have said too little against the opponents of the grace of God. And I am never so much delighted in my treatment of a subject as when
Scripture comes most copiously to my aid ; and when the question to be discussed requires that " he that glorieth should glory in the Lord ; 1 and that we should in all things lift up our hearts and give thanks to the Lord our God, from whom, v as the Father of lights, every good and every . perfect gift cometh down."
2 Now if a gift is not God's gift, on the ground of its being wrought by us, or because we act by His gift, then it is not a work of God that " a mountain should be removed into the sea," inasmuch as, according to the Lord's statement, it is through faith—men's faith—that this is possible. Moreover, He attributes the deed to their actual operation : " If ye have faith in yourselves as a grain of mustard-seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea ; it shall be done, and
7 ' Observe how He said
nothing shall be impossible to your
" to you," not to me or to the Father ; and yet it is certain that no man does such a thing without God's gift and operation. See how unexampled among men is an instance of as translated by Rufinus (Hist. vii. 24), to the effect that Gregory, bishop of
Neocsesarea, in Pontus, once performed the miracle of removing a mountain or rock from its place ; which Bede also mentions, Comment, on Mark xi., Book iii.
1 2 Cor. x. 17. 2 Jas. i. 17.
3 Compare Matt. xvii. 20, Mark xi. 23, Luke xvii. 6.
CHAP. LXIV.] LOVE THE FULFILLING OF THE LAW. 227 perfect righteousness ; but yet it is not impossible. For it might be achieved if there were only applied as much of a favourable will as suffices for so great a work Now there would accrue this just amount of will, if there were not hidden from us any of those qualities and conditions which pertain to righteousness ; and if these pleasantly affected our mind to such a degree, that whatever hindrance of pleasure or pain might else occur, this delight in holiness prevailed over every rival affection. Now the fact that this is not realized, is not owing to any intrinsic impossibility, but to God's judicial act.
For who can be ignorant of the truth, that it is not in a man's power as to what he should know ; nor does it follow that what he has discovered to be a desirable object is actually desired, unless he also feel a delight in that object, commensurate with its claims on his affection ? For this is characteristic of the soul's healthy condition.
Chap. 64. [xxxvi.] How the commandment to love is fulfilled ; sins of ignorance.
But somebody will perhaps think that we want nothing for helping us to the knowledge of righteousness, since the Lord, when on earth He summarily and briefly expounded His word, informed us that the whole law and the prophets de-
1 nor was He silent as to what pend on two commandments j these were, but declared them in the plainest words : " Thou shalt love," said Fie, " the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind ;" and " Thou
2 What is more surety
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.''
true than that, if these be fulfilled, all righteousness is fulfilled ? But the man who sets his mind on this truth must also carefully attend to another,—in how many things we all
3 while we suppose that what we do is pleasant of us offend,
(or, at all events, not unpleasing) to God whom we love ; and afterwards, having (through His inspired word, or else by being warned in some clear and certain way) learned what is not pleasing to Him, we pray to Him that He would forgive us on our repentance. The life of man is full of examples of this. But whence comes it that we fall short of knowing what is pleasing to Him, if it be not from the circumstance
1 Matt. xxii. 40. 2 Matt. xxii. 37, 39. 3 Jas. iii. 2.
228 ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER. [CHAP. LXIY.
that He is to that extent unknown to us ? " For now we see
1 Who, howthrough a glass, darkly ; but then face to face."
ever, can make so bold, on arriving far enough to say : " Then
2 as to think that shall I know even as also I am known," they who shall see God will have no greater love towards Him than they have who now believe in Him ? or that the one ought to be compared to the other, as if they were in very near ratio with each other ? Now, if love increases just in proportion as our knowledge of its object becomes more intimate, of course we ought to believe that there is as much wanting now to the fulfilment of righteousness as there is defective in our love of it. A thing may indeed be known or believed, and yet not loved ; but it is an utter impossibility that a thing can be loved which is neither known nor believed. But if the saints, in the exercise of their faith, could arrive at that great love, than which (as the Lord Himself testified) no greater can possibly be exhibited in the present life,—even to lay down their lives for the faith, or for
3—then after their pilgrimage here, in which their brethren, their walk is by " faith," when they shall have reached the
4 which we hope for, though
"sight" of that final happiness
5 [then, I say,] as yet we see it not, and wait for in patience, the very love itself shall undoubtedly be not only greater than that which we here experience, but far higher than all which we ask or think ;
6 and yet it cannot be possibly more than [we can embrace] with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind. For there remains in us nothing which can be added to the whole ; since, if anything did remain, there would not be the whole. Therefore the first commandment about righteousness, which bids us love the Lord with all our heart, and soul, and mind
7 (the next to which is, that we love our neighbour as ourselves), we shall completely fulfil in that life, when we shall see face to face.
But even now this commandment is enjoined upon us, that we may be reminded what we ought by faith to require, and to what we should in our hope look forward to, and, " forget-
1 1 Cor. xiii. 12. 2 1 Cor. xiii. 12. 3 John xv. 13.
4 2 Cor. v. 7. s Rom. viii. 23. 6 Eph. iii. 20.
7 Matt. xxii. 37. 8 1 Cor. xiii. 12.
CHAP. LXV.] A CERTAIN PERFECTION EVEN HERE. 229 ting the things which are behind, reach forth to the things which are before."
1 And thus, as it appears to me, that man has made a far advance, even in the present life, in the righteousness which is to be perfected hereafter, who has discovered by this very advance how very far removed he is from the completion of righteousness.
Chap. 65. In what sense a sinless righteousness in this life can be asserted.
Forasmuch, however, as an inferior righteousness may be said to be competent to this life, whereby the just man lives by faith,
2 although absent from the Lord ; still as walking by
3 it may be said, even in respect faith, and not yet by sight, of it, that it is free from sin ; for it ou^ht not to be attributed to it as a fault, that it is not as yet sufficient for so great a love to God, as is due to the final, complete, and perfect condition thereof. It is one thing to fail at present in attaining to the fulness of love, and another thing to be swayed by no lust. A man ought therefore to abstain from every unlawful desire, however much he loves God now less than it is possible to love Him when He becomes an object of sight. It is just the same in matters connected with the bodily senses: the eye can receive no pleasure from any kind of darkness, although it may be unable to look with a firm sight amidst refulgent light. Only let us see to it that we so constitute the soul of man in this corruptible body, that, although it has not yet absorbed and consumed the motions of earthly lust, it nevertheless, in that inferior righteousness to which we have referred, gives no consent to the aforesaid lust for the purpose of effecting any unlawful thing. In respect, therefore, of that perfect eternal life, the commandment is even now applicable :
" Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might;"
4 but in reference to the present life the following suits : " Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof." 5 To the one, again, belongs, " Thou shalt not covet; G to the other,
" Thou shalt not go after thy lusts."
7 To the one it appertains to seek for nothing more than to continue in its perfect . state ;
1 Phil. iii. 13. 2 Rom. i. 17. 3 2 Cor. v. 7. 4 Deut. vi. 5.
5 Rom. vi. 12. 6 Ex. xx. 17. 7 Ecclus. xviii. 30.
230 ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER. [CHAP. LXV.
to the other it belongs actively to do the duty committed to it, and to hope as its reward for the perfection of the future life, so that in the one the just man may live for evermore in the sight of that happiness which in this life was his object of desire ; in the other, he may live by that faith whereon rests his desire for the ultimate blessedness as its certain end.
(These things being so, it will be sinful in the man who walks by faith ever to consent to an unlawful delight,—in committing not only frightful deeds and crimes, but even trifling faults ; sinful, if he lend an ear to a word that ought not to be listened to, or a tongue to a phrase which should not be uttered ; sinful, if he entertains a thought in his heart in such a way as to wish that an evil pleasure were a lawful one, although known to be unlawful by the commandment, for this amounts to a consent to sin, which would certainly be
1 Such precipitated in act, unless fear of punishment deterred.)
just men, while living by faith, have no need to say : " Forgive
2 And they prove us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."
that to be wrong which is written, " In Thy sight shall no man living be justified ;" 3 and also the passages : " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in
5 and again, us ;" 4 and, " There is no man that sinneth not
" There is not on the earth a righteous man, who doeth good and sinneth not a general future sense,—" sinneth not," " will not sin,"—not
6 (both these statements are expressed in in the past time, " has not sinned") ; and all other places of this purport contained in Holy Scripture. Since, however, these passages cannot possibly be false, it plainly follows, to my mind, that whatever be the quality or extent of the righteousness which we may definitively ascribe to the present life, there is not a man living in it who is absolutely free from all sin ; and that it is necessary for every one to give,
7 and to forgive, that it may be that it may be given to him forgiven him; 8 and whatever righteousness he has, not to
1 [The Benedictine editor is not satisfied with the place of the lines in the parenthesis. He would put them in an earlier position, perhaps before the clause beginning with, " Only let us see to it," etc.]
2 Matt. vi. 12. 3 Ps. cxliii. 2. 4 1 John i. 8. 5 1 Kings viii. 46.
6 Ecclus. 7 Luke vi. 30, 38. 8 Luke xi. 4.
CHAP. LXVI.] POSSIBILITY OF PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS. 231 presume that he has it of himself, but from the grace of God, who justifies him, and still to go on hungering and thirsting
2 and
1 from Him who is the living bread,
for righteousness
3 who works in His saints, with whom is the fountain of life whilst labouring amidst temptation in this life, their justification in such manner that He may still have somewhat to impart to them liberally when they ask, and something mercifully to forgive them when they confess it.
Chap. 66.—Although perfect righteousness be notfound here on earth, it is still not impossible.
But let objectors find, if they can, any man, while living under the weight of this corrupt nature, in whom God has no longer anything to forgive ; they will still—unless they acknowledge that such an individual has been aided in the attainment of his good character not merely by the teaching of the law which God gave, but also by the infusion of grace by His Spirit—incur the charge of ungodliness itself, not of this or that particular sin. Of course they are not at all able to discover such a man, if they receive in a becoming manner the testimony of the divine writings. Still, for all that, it must not by any means be said that with God there is no possibility whereby the will of man can be assisted to such a degree, that there can be accomplished in every respect even now in a man, not that righteousness only which is of faith, but that also in accordance with which we shall by and by have to live for ever in the very vision of God. Now, suppose even that this corruptible in any particular man should
5 and should desire him so to live among mortal men (not destined himself to die) that his old wish to put on incorruption, nature should be wholly and entirely withdrawn, and there should be no law in his members warring against the law of
6—moreover, that he should discover God to be his mind, everywhere present, as the saints shall hereafter know and behold Him,—who will madly venture to affirm that this is impossible ? Men, however, ask why it does not do this but they who raise the question consider not duly the fact that they are human. I am quite certain that, as nothing is
1 Matt. v. 6. - John vi. 51. 3 Ts. xxxvi. 9.
* Rom. x. 6. 5 1 Cor. xv. 53. c Rom. vii. 23.
232 ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER. [CHAP. LXIV.
1 so also there is no iniquity with Him.
impossible with God,
Equally sure am I that He resists the proud, and gives grace
3 I know also that to him who had a thorn to the humble.
in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him, lest he should be exalted above measure, it was said, when he besought God for its removal once, twice, nay thrice : " My grace is sufficient for thee ; for my strength is made perfect
4 There is, therefore, in the hidden depths of in weakness."
God's judgments, a certain reason why every mouth even of the righteous should be shut in their own commendation, and only opened to celebrate the praise of God. But what this certain reason is, who can calculate, who investigate, who know ? So " unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out ! For who hath known the mind of the
Lord % or who hath been His counsellor ? or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again ? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things : to whom be glory for ever. Amen."
1 Luke i. 37. 3 Rom. ix. 14. 3 Jas. iv. 6.
4 2 Cor. xii. 7-9. 5 Rom. xi. 33-36.
A TKEATISE
ON NATURE AND GRACE,
AGAINST PELAGIUS.
AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,
BISHOP OF HIPPO
CONTAINED IN ONE BOOK, ADDKESSED TO TIMASIUS AND JACOBUS.
WRITTEN IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 415.
NOTE OX THE FOLLOWING WOEK.
In a letter (169 th) to Evodius, written in the course of the year a.d. 415/ Augustine assigned to this work, On Nature and Grace, the last place of several treatises written in that year. " I have also written," says he, " an extensive book in opposition to the heresy of Pelagius, at the request of some brethren, whom he had persuaded to accept a very dangerous opinion injurious to the grace of Christ." The work had been begun, but was not completed, when Orosius sailed from Africa to Palestine, in the spring of this very year of 415; for this man, shortly after his arrival, at a council in Jerusalem, where Pelagius was present, expressly affirmed, "that the blessed Augustine had prepared a very complete answer to Pelagius' book, two of whose followers had presented the work to him, and requested him to reply to it." Jerome, also, at this very time mentioned a certain production of Augustine's, which he had not yet seen, wherein it was said that he had expressly opposed Pelagius. His words, which occur in his third dialogue against the heresy of
Pelagius, are these : It is said that he is preparing other
234 ON NATURE AND GRACE.
treatises likewise, especially against your name and opinions."
Augustine, however, did not actually employ in this work of his the name of Pelagius, whose book he was refuting, in order that (as he says in his letter [186 th] to Paulinus) he might not by personal irritation drive him into a more incurable degree of opposition ; for he hoped to be of some service to his opponent, if by still maintaining friendly terms with him he might be able to spare his feelings, although he could not in duty show leniency to his writings. Thus, at least, he expresses his mind, in his book On the Doings of
Pelagius, ch. xxiii. In this latter passage he subjoins a letter which he had received from Timasius and Jacobus, containing the expression of great gratitude to Augustine on receiving his volume On Nature and Grace, in which they expressed
" their agreeable surprise " at the answers he had furnished to them " on every point " of the Pelagian controversy. In the following year Augustine despatched this work, along with
Pelagius' own book, to John, bishop of Jerusalem, in order that that prelate might become acquainted with the views of the new heresiarch, accompanying the books with a letter to the bishop [179 th]. In the course of this year 416, he had the same two treatises (his own and Pelagius') forwarded to Pope Innocent, with a letter [177th] forwarded in the name of five bishops, to which Innocent returned an answer [183d].
It maybe here stated, that in this last-mentioned letter [183, n. 5], and in the foregoing epistle [177, n. 6], there is honourable mention made of Timasius and Jacobus, as " conscientious and honourable young men, servants of God, who had relinquished the hope which they had in the world by the exhortation of Pelagius himself, and continued diligently to serve God. The same persons are described in another epistle [1 79, n. 2] as " young men of very honourable birth, and highly educated ;" and in the work Be Gestis Pelagii, ch. xxiii., they are called " servants of God, good, and honourable men."
Julianus [who espoused the side of Pelagius], in his work addressed to Floras (book iv. n. 112, of the imperfect work), quotes this treatise of Augustine's as addressed to Timasius, and calumniously pronounces it to be written " against the freedom of the human will."
EXTRACT FROM "THE RETRACTATIONS." 235
From " The Retractations" Book II. chap. 43.
" At that time there found its way into my hands a certain book of Pelagius', in which he defends, with all the argumentative skill he can muster, the nature of man, in disparagement of that grace of God whereby we are justified and become Christians. The treatise, which contains my reply to him (and in which I uphold grace, net indeed in disparagement of nature, but as that which liberates and controls nature), I have entitled De naturd et gratia [' On Nature and Grace ']. In this work there are sundry short passages, quoted by Pelagius, as the words of the Eoman bishop and
1 as if they martyr, Xystus or Sixtus, vindicated by myself really were the words of this Sixtus. I thought they were, at the time ; but I afterwards discovered, that Sixtus the heathen philosopher, and not Sixtus the Christian bishop, was their author. This treatise of mine begins with the words :
' Librum quern misistis
' [' The book which you sent me ']."
HE BEGINS WITH AX EXAMINATION CONCERNING NATURE AND CONCERNING
GRACE ; HE SHOWS THAT NATURE, AS PROPAGATED FROM THE FLESH OF THE SINFUL ADAM, BEING NO LONGER WHAT GOD MADE IT AT FIRST, FAULTLESS AND SOUND,—REQUIRES THE AID OF GRACE, IN ORDER THAT IT MAY BE REDEEMED FROM THE WRATH OF GOD, AND REGULATED FOR THE PERFECTION OF RIGHTEOUSNESS ; THAT THE PENAL FAULT OF NATURE LEADS TO A MOST RIGHTEOUS PUNISHMENT ; WHILST GRACE ITSELF IS NOT BESTOWED OWING TO ANY DESERTS OF OURS, BUT IS GIVEN GRATUITOUSLY : THEY, THEREFORE, WHO ARE NOT DELIVERED BY IT ARE JUSTLY CONDEMNED. HE AFTERWARDS REFUTES, WITH ANSWERS ON EVERY SEVERAL POINT, A
WORK BY PELAGIUS, WHO SUPPORTS THE SELF-SAME NATURE IN OPPOSITION
TO GRACE. ONE OF THE CHIEF POSITIONS OF PELAGIUS WAS, THAT A MAN COULD LIVE WITHOUT SIN ; IN HIS DESIRE TO ADVANCE THIS, HE CONTENDED THAT NATURE HAD NOT BEEN WEAKENED AND CHANGED BY SIN ; FOR, OTHERWISE, THE MATTER OF SIN WOULD BE ITS PUNISHMENT,—A PROPOSITION WHICH HE THINKS ABSURD,—IF THE SINNER WERE WEAKENED TO SUCH A DEGREE THAT HE ONLY COMMITTED MORE SIN. HE GOES ON TO ENUMERATE SUNDRY RIGHTEOUS MEN BOTH OF THE OLD AND OF THE NEW TESTAMENTS \ DEEMING THESE TO HAVE BEEN FREE FROM SIN, HE ALLEGED THE POSSIBILITY OF AVOIDING SIN TO BE INHERENT IN MAN ; AND THIS HE ATTRIBUTED TO GOD'S GRACE, ON THE GROUND THAT GOD IS THE AUTHOR OF
1 In chap. 77.
236 ON NATURE AND GRACE. [CHAP. I.
THAT NATURE IN WHICH IS INSEPARABLY INHERENT THIS ALLEGED POSSIBILITY OF AVOIDING SIN. TOWARDS THE END OF THIS TREATISE THERE
IS AN EXAMINATION OF SUNDRY EXTRACTS FROM OLD WRITERS, WHICH PELAGIUS ADDUCED IN SUPPORT OF HIS VIEWS, AND EXPRESSLY FROM HILARY, AMBROSE, AND EVEN AUGUSTINE HIMSELF.
Chap. 1. [i.] The occasion ofpublishing this work ; God's righteousness, what it is. THE book which, you sent to me, my beloved Timasius and Jacobus, I have read through hastily, but not without considerable attention, omitting only the few points which are plain enough to everybody ; and I saw in it a person of most ardent zeal warm against those, who, when they ought to censure the human will in their own sins, are more forward in accusing man's nature in general, and thereby endeavour to excuse their own faults. He shows too great a warmth against this evil, which even literary authors have severely censured, with the exclamation : " The human race wrongly complains of its own nature !" 1 This same sentiment your author has also treated in a very exaggerated tone, with all the powers of his mind. I fear, however, that he will chiefly help those " who have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge," who, " being ignorant
' of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness
2 Now, what the righteousness of God is, of which of God."
[the apostle] here speaks, he immediately afterwards explains by adding : " For Christ is the end of the law for righteous-
3 This righteousness of
ness to every one that believeth."
God, therefore, lies not in the commandment of the law, which excites fear, but in the aid afforded by the grace of Christ, to which alone the fear of the law, as of a schoolmaster,4 usefully conducts. Now, the man who understands this understands why he is a Christian. " If righteousness indeed came by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." 5 Since, however, He did not die in vain, in Him only is the ungodly man justified, to whom, as believing in Him who justifies the ungodly, his
6 For all men have sinned
faith is reckoned for righteousness.
1 See Sallust's Prologue to his Jvguriha. 2 Rom. x. 2, 3.
8 Rom. x. 4. 4 Gal. iii. 24. 5 Gal. ii. 21. 6 Rom. iv. 5.
CHAP. II.] NATUEAX RIGHTEOUSNESS. 237 and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by
1 Xow, all those persons who do not think them-
His blood.
selves to belong to the " all who have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;' have of course no need to become
Christians, because " they that be whole need not a physician,
2 whence it is, that He came not to but they that are sick ; " call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Chap. 2. [n.] Faith in Christ not necessary to salvation, if a man without it can lead a righteous life; righteousness comes neither by the law nor by nature.
Therefore human nature, such as is generated from the flesh of the one original transgressor, if it is self-sufficient to fulfil the law and to perfect righteousness, ought to be sure of its reward, that is, secure of everlasting life, even if in any nation or at any former time faith in the blood of Christ was quite unknown to it. For God is not so unjust as to deprive righteous persons of the reward of righteousness, because they had not announced to them the mystery of Christ's divine and human nature, which was manifested in the flesh.
4 For how could they believe what they had not heard of; or how a For " faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. But I say could they hear without a preacher ?
(adds he) : Have they not heard ? Yes, verily ; their sound went out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends
6 Before, however, all this could have been of the world."
accomplished, previous, in fact, to the actual preaching of the gospel reaching the utmost bounds of all the earth—because there are some remote nations still (although it is. said they arejvery few) to whom the preached gospel has not found its way,—what must human nature do, or what has it done ?
For it had either not heard that all this was to take place, or had not yet learnt that it was accomplished. What, I say, could it do, but believe in God who made heaven and earth, by whom also it felt that it had been itself created, and lead a right life, and by doing and believing this to accomplish His will, unimbued with any faith in the death and resurrection of Christ ? Well, if this could have been done, or can
1 Rom. iii. 23, 24. 2 Matt. ix. 12. 3 Matt. ix. 13.
4 1 Tim. iii. 16. 6 Rom. x. 14. 6 Rom. x. 17, 18.
238 ON NATURE AND GRACE. [CHAP. IV.
still be done, then on my side I have to say what the apostle said in regard to the law : " In such a case Christ is dead in
1 For if he said so much in respect of the law, which vain."
only the nation of the Jews received, how much more justly may it be said of the law of nature, which the whole human race has received ? If righteousness come by nature, then
Christ is dead in vain. Since, however, Christ did not die in vain, therefore human nature cannot by any means be justified and redeemed from God's most righteous wrath—in a word, from punishment—except by faith and the mystery of the blood of Christ.
3. [in.] Nature was created sound and whole; it was afterwards corrupted by sin; penal nature the punishment of sin.
Man's nature, indeed, was created at first faultless and without any sin ; but nature, as man now has it, in which every one is born from Adam, wants the Physician, being no longer in a healthy state. All good qualities, no doubt, which it still possesses in its make, its life, its senses, its intellect, it has of the Most High God, its Creator and Maker.
But the flaw, which darkens and weakens all those natural goods, it has not contracted from its blameless Creator with a view to its having need of illumination and healing but from that original sin, w
Thich it committed of its own free-will. Accordingly, nature having become guilty, most righteously deserves punishment. For, although w re are now newly created in Christ,
3 we were, for all that, children of wrath, even as others are.4 " But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by whose grace we were saved."
Chap. 4. [iv.] Free grace.
This grace, however, of Christ, without which neither infants nor adults can be saved, is not bestowed for any merits, but is given freely? on account of which it is also called grace? " Being justified," says the apostle, " freely j through His blood." 7 Whence they, who are not liberated
1 Gal. ii. 21. 2 Sacramentum. 3 2 Cor. v. 17. 4 Eph. ii. 3.
6 Eph. ii. 4, 5. 6 Gratis and gratia. 7 Rom. iii. 24.
CHAP. VI.] THE SAVED CALLED "VESSELS OF MERCY." 239 through grace, either through their inability as yet to hear
[from tenderness of age], or through their unwillingness to obey ; or again through their not having received, at the time when they were unable to hear, that bath of regeneration, which they might have received and through whicli they might have been saved, are indeed justly condemned; because they are not without sin, either that which they have derived from their birth, or that which they have added whether in Adam or in themselves—" and come short of the from their own misconduct. " For all have sinned " glory of God." r
Chap. 5. [v.]
The entire mass, therefore, incurs penalty ; and if the deserved punishment of condemnation were rendered to all, it would without doubt be righteously rendered. They, therefore, who are delivered therefrom by grace are called, not vessels of their own merits, but " vessels of mercy."
2 But of whose mercy, if not His, Who sent Christ Jesus into the world to save sinners, whom He foreknew, and foreordained, and called, and justified, and glorified ?
8 Now, who could be so exceedingly mad as to refuse to give ineffable thanks to the . Mercy which liberates whom it would ? The man who correctly appreciated the whole subject could not possibly blame the justice of God in wholly condemning all men whatsoever.
Chap. 6. [vi.] The Pelagians have very strong and active minds.
If we are simply wise according to the Scriptures, we are not obliged to dispute against the grace of Christ, and to make statements attempting to show that human nature requires no Physician,—either in infants, because it is whole and sound ; or in adults, whenever it strives by itself to achieve the righteousness which is necessary for itself. Men no doubt seem to urge shrewd opinions on these points, but it is only word-wisdom,
4 which nullifies the cross of
Christ, This, however, " is not the wisdom which descendeth from above." 6 The words which follow in the apostle's
1 Rom. iii. 23. 2 Rom. ix. 23. 3 Rom. viii. 29, 30.
4 1 Cor. i. 17. 5 Jas. iii. 15.
240 ON NATURE AND GRACE. [CHAP. VIII.
statement I am unwilling to quote ; for we would rather not be thought to do an injustice to our friends, whose very strong and active minds we should be sorry to see running in a perverse, instead of an upright, course.
Chap. 7. [vn.] He proceeds to confute the work of Pelagius ; he refrains as yetfrom, mentioning Pelagius' name. However ardent, then, is the zeal which the author of the book you have forwarded to me entertains against those who find a defence for their sins in the infirmity of human nature; not less, nay even much greater, should be our • eagerness in preventing all attempts to render the cross of Christ of none effect. Of none effect, however, it is rendered, if it be contended that by any other means than by Christ's own mystery it is possible to attain to righteousness and everlasting life. This is actually done in the book to which I refer—I will not say by its author wittingly, lest I should express the judgment that he ought not to be accounted even a Christian, but, as I rather believe, unconsciously. He has done it, no doubt, with much power ; I only wish that the ability he has displayed were less like that which insane persons are accustomed to exhibit.