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PL 44 · cols. 959–992
Augustine, On the Predestination of the Saints
Editors' preface
S. AURELII AUGUSTINI HIPPONENSIS EPISCOPI
Of Saint Aurelius Augustine, Bishop of Hippo
DE PRAEDESTINATIONE SANCTORUM
On the Predestination of the Saints
LIBER AD PROSPERUM ET HILARIUM PRIMUS.
The First Book, to Prosper and Hilary.
CAPUT PRIMUM. — 1. Dixisse quidem Apostolum scimus in Epistola ad Philippenses, Eadem scribere vobis, mihi quidem non pigrum, vobis autem tutum est (Philipp. III, 1). Idem tamen scribens ad Galatas, cum se satis apud eos egisse perspiceret, quod illis per ministerium sermonis sui necessarium esse cernebat: De caetero, inquit, laborem mihi nemo praestet;
CHAPTER ONE. — 1. We know indeed that the Apostle said in the Epistle to the Philippians, To write the same things to you is not irksome to me, but for you it is safe (Phil. 3:1). Yet the same [Apostle], writing to the Galatians, when he perceived that he had done enough among them of what he saw to be necessary for them through the ministry of his word, says: For the rest, let no one cause me labour;
Editors' notes and page, col. 959
Footnotes
(a) ‹anchor: "HILARIUM PRIMUS"› · printed under col 959 (full-width note at the foot of the page, below the admonition; call on the work's title)
Scriptus post Retractationum libros, anno Christi 428 aut 429.
Written after the books of the Retractations, in the year of Christ 428 or 429.
Editors' prose
In quo praedestinationis et gratiae veritas propugnatur contra Semipelagianos, homines videlicet a Pelagiana haeresi omnino nequaquam recedentes, dum salutis initium ac fidei ex nobis ipsis esse volunt, ut hoc tanquam merito praecedente caetera bona dono Dei consequantur. Ostendit Augustinus, donum Dei esse, non solum incrementum, sed ipsum quoque initium fidei. Hac de re se aliter sensisse aliquando, et in opusculis ante suum episcopatum scriptis errasse non diffitetur, velut in illa quam objectant, Expositione propositionum ex Epistola ad Romanos. At postea convictum se indicat hoc praecipue testimonio, Quid autem habes quod non accepisti? quod testimonium de ipsa etiam fide accipiendum probat. Fidem inter alia numerandam esse opera, quibus Dei gratiam praeveniri negat Apostolus, cum dicit, Non ex operibus Gratia duritiam cordis aufferri; et ad Christum venire omnes qui a Patre docentur ut veniant: quos autem docet, misericordia docere; et quos non docet, judicio non docere. Locum ex ipsius Epistola 102, quaest. 2, de tempore christianae religionis, qui a Semipelagianis allegatur, posse recte salva gratiae ac praedestinationis doctrina explicari. Docet quid inter gratiam intersit et praedestinationem. Porro praedestinatione Deum ea praescivisse quae fuerat ipse facturus. Praedestinationis adversarios, qui ad incertum voluntatis Dei deduci se nolle dicuntur, miratur malle seipsos infirmitati suae, quam firmitati promissionis Dei committere. Eosdem hac auctoritate, Si credideris, salvus eris, abuti commonstrat. Gratiae ac praedestinationis veritatem relucere in parvulis qui salvantur, nullis suis meritis discreti a caeteris qui pereunt. Non enim inter eos discerni ex praescientia meritorum, quae si diutius viverent fuerant habituri. Ab adversariis illud injuria tanquam non canonicum testimonium respui, quod in eam rem attulit, Raptus est ne malitia, etc. Praeclarissimum exemplum praedestinationis et gratiae esse ipsum Salvatorem, in quo homo, ut a Verbo Patri coaeterno in unitatem personae assumptus Salvator et Filius Dei unigenitus esset, nullis praecedentibus vel operum vel fidei meritis comparavit. Praedestinatos vocari certa quadam electorum propria vocatione; atque ante mundi constitutionem electos esse, non quia credituri praesciebantur et futuri sancti, sed ut tales essent per ipsam electionem gratiae, etc.
In which the truth of predestination and grace is defended against the Semipelagians, men, that is, who by no means depart wholly from the Pelagian heresy, since they will have the beginning of salvation and of faith to be from ourselves, so that by this, as by a preceding merit, they may obtain the other goods by the gift of God. Augustine shows that not only the increase but also the very beginning of faith is the gift of God. He does not deny that on this matter he once thought otherwise and erred in little works written before his episcopate, as in the one they cite against him, the Exposition of Propositions from the Epistle to the Romans. But he indicates that he was afterwards convinced chiefly by this testimony, What have you that you did not receive? and he proves that this testimony is to be taken of faith itself as well. Faith is to be numbered among the other works by which the Apostle denies that the grace of God is preceded, when he says, Not of works. By grace hardness of heart is taken away; and all come to Christ who are taught by the Father so that they come: but those whom He teaches, He teaches in mercy; and those whom He does not teach, He does not teach in judgement. The passage from his own Epistle 102, question 2, on the time of the Christian religion, which is alleged by the Semipelagians, can rightly be explained with the doctrine of grace and predestination kept intact. He teaches what difference there is between grace and predestination. Further, that by predestination God foreknew the things that He Himself was going to do. He wonders that the adversaries of predestination, who are said to be unwilling to be led to the uncertainty of the will of God, prefer to entrust themselves to their own weakness rather than to the firmness of God's promise. He shows that the same men misuse this authority, If you believe, you will be saved. The truth of grace and predestination shines out in the little ones who are saved, distinguished by no merits of their own from the others who perish. For they are not distinguished from one another by foreknowledge of the merits which they would have had if they had lived longer. The testimony which he adduced on this matter, He was taken away lest wickedness, etc., is wrongly rejected by the adversaries as not canonical. The most illustrious example of predestination and grace is the Saviour Himself, in Whom the man, that He might be taken up by the Word coeternal with the Father into unity of person and be the Saviour and only-begotten Son of God, obtained [this] by no preceding merits either of works or of faith. The predestined are called by a certain calling proper to the elect; and they were elected before the foundation of the world, not because they were foreknown as going to believe and to be holy, but that they might be such through the very election of grace, etc.
ADMONITIO PP. BENEDICTINORUM.
ADMONITION OF THE BENEDICTINE FATHERS.
De Praedestinatione Sanctorum liber ad Prosperum et Hilarium primus, recognitus est ad Vaticanos codices quatuor, et ad Gallicanos sexdecim, ad Regium, ad Noalliensem, eum scilicet qui nostrae Germanensi bibliothecae ex nobilissimi domini ducis Noalliensis dono accessit, ad Colbertinum, ad Sorbonicum, ad Genovefaeanum, ad Remensem majoris Ecclesiae, ad codicem Emerici Bigot, ad codicem Nicolai Manessier, ad Metensem abbatiae S. Arnulphi, ad Andegavensem S. Albini, ad codicem abbatiae S. Ebrulphi, tandem ad Gemmeticensem, Beccensem, Michaelinum, Pratellensem, et Corbeiensem: necnon ad Lovaniensium varias lectiones ex quatuor Belgicis Mss. excerptas; et ad editiones veteres Am. Er. et Lov. Comparavimus praeterea eas omnes editiones initio Retr. et Confess., t. 1, memoratas. M.
The first book On the Predestination of the Saints, to Prosper and Hilary, has been collated against four Vatican manuscripts and sixteen French ones: the Royal, the Noailles (namely the one that came to our library of Saint-Germain by gift of the most noble lord the Duke of Noailles), the Colbert, the Sorbonne, the Sainte-Geneviève, that of the cathedral church of Reims, the manuscript of Emeric Bigot, the manuscript of Nicolas Manessier, that of the abbey of Saint-Arnulf at Metz, that of Saint-Aubin at Angers, the manuscript of the abbey of Saint-Évroul, and finally those of Jumièges, Bec, Mont-Saint-Michel, Préaux and Corbie; also against the variant readings of the Louvain [editors] excerpted from four Belgian manuscripts; and against the old editions, Am., Er. and Lov. We have besides compared all those editions mentioned at the beginning of the Retractations and Confessions, vol. 1. M.
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vel, sicut in plerisque codicibus legitur, nemo mihi molestus sit (Galat. vi, 17). Ego autem quamvis me moleste ferre confitear, quod divinis eloquiis quibus Dei gratia praedicatur (quae omnino nulla est, si secundum merita nostra datur), tam multis manifestisque non ceditur: vestrum tamen studium fraternamque dilectionem, filii charissimi Prosper et Hilari,
or, as it is read in most manuscripts, let no one be troublesome to me (Gal. 6:17). But I, although I confess that it vexes me that the divine utterances by which the grace of God is proclaimed (which is no grace at all if it is given according to our merits) are not yielded to, many and plain as they are, yet your zeal and brotherly love, my dearest sons Prosper and Hilary,
Editors' notes and page, col. 960
Editors' prose
The editors' synopsis and the ADMONITIO PP. BENEDICTINORUM are printed full width across cols 959–960; set in n959.
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qua eos qui tales sunt, ita non vultis errare, ut post tot libros de hac re vel epistolas meas, adhuc me desideretis hinc scribere, tantum amo, quantum non possum dicere; et tantum me amare, quantum debeo, non audeo dicere. Quapropter ecce rescribo vobis, et licet jam non vobiscum, tamen etiam per vos adhuc ago, quod me satis egisse credebam.
by which you are so unwilling that those who are such should err that, after so many books and letters of mine on this matter, you still desire me to write about it, I love so much that I cannot say how much; and I do not dare to say that I love them as much as I ought. Therefore, see, I write back to you, and although no longer with you, yet through you as well I still do what I believed I had done enough.
2. Consideratis enim litteris vestris videre mihi videor eos fratres, pro quibus geritis piam curam, ne teneant poeticam sententiam, qua dictum est, « Spes sibi quisque » (Virgil., Aeneid. lib. 11, vers. 309); et in illud incurrant quod non poetice, sed prophetice dictum est, Maledictus omnis qui spem habet in homine (Jerem. xvii, 5), eo modo esse tractandos, quo tractavit Apostolus, quibus ait, Et si quid aliter sapitis, hoc quoque vobis Deus revelabit. Adhuc quippe in quaestione caligant de praedestinatione sanctorum: sed habent unde, si quid aliter in ea sapiunt, hoc quoque illis revelet Deus, si in eo ambulent in quod pervenerunt. Propter quod Apostolus cum dixisset, Si quid aliter sapitis, hoc quoque vobis Deus revelabit: Verumtamen, inquit, in quod pervenimus, in eo ambulemus (Philipp. III, 15, 16). Pervenerunt autem isti fratres nostri, pro quibus sollicita est pia charitas vestra, ut credant cum Ecclesia Christi, peccato primi hominis obnoxium nasci genus humanum, nec ab isto malo nisi per justitiam secundi hominis aliquem liberari. Pervenerunt etiam, ut praeveniri voluntates hominum Dei gratia fateantur, atque ad nullum opus bonum vel incipiendum vel perficiendum sibi quemquam sufficere posse consentiant. Retenta ergo ista in quae pervenerunt, plurimum eos a Pelagianorum errore discernunt. Proinde, si in eis ambulent et orent eum qui dat intellectum, si quid de praedestinatione aliter sapiunt, ipse illis hoc quoque revelabit: tamen etiam nos impendamus eis dilectionis affectum ministeriumque sermonis, sicut donat ille quem rogavimus, ut in his litteris ea quae illis essent apta et utilia diceremus. Unde enim scimus ne forte Deus noster id per hanc nostram velit efficere servitutem, qua eis in Christi libera charitate servimus?
2. For, having considered your letter, I seem to myself to see that those brethren for whom you have a loving care, lest they hold the poet's saying, in which it is said, « Each man his own hope » (Virgil, Aeneid 11.309), and fall into that which was said not poetically but prophetically, Cursed is everyone who has his hope in man (Jer. 17:5), are to be treated in the way in which the Apostle treated those to whom he says, And if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal this also to you. For they are still in the dark on the question of the predestination of the saints; but they have the means by which, if in anything they think otherwise about it, God may reveal this also to them, if they walk in that to which they have attained. Therefore the Apostle, when he had said, If in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal this also to you, says: Nevertheless, in that to which we have attained, in that let us walk (Phil. 3:15–16). Now these brethren of ours, for whom your loving charity is anxious, have attained to believing with the Church of Christ that the human race is born liable to the sin of the first man, and that no one is set free from this evil except through the righteousness of the second Man. They have attained also to confessing that the wills of men are preceded by the grace of God, and to agreeing that no one is sufficient of himself either to begin or to complete any good work. Holding fast, then, these things to which they have attained, they distinguish themselves very greatly from the error of the Pelagians. Accordingly, if they walk in them and pray to Him Who gives understanding, if they think otherwise in anything about predestination, He Himself will reveal this also to them: yet let us too spend on them the affection of love and the ministry of the word, as He grants Whom we have asked that in this letter we might say what would be fitting and useful for them. For how do we know whether perhaps our God wills to bring this about through this service of ours, by which we serve them in the free charity of Christ?
CAPUT II. — 3. Prius itaque fidem qua christiani sumus, donum Dei esse debemus ostendere: si tamen diligentius id facere possumus, quam in voluminibus tot tantisque jam fecimus. Sed nunc eis respondendum esse video, qui divina testimonia, quae de hac re adhibuimus, ad hoc dicunt valere, ut noverimus ex nobis quidem nos habere ipsam fidem, sed incrementum ejus ex Deo: tanquam fides non ab ipso donetur nobis, sed ab ipso tantum augeatur in nobis, eo merito, quo coepit a nobis. Non ergo receditur ab ea sententia, quam Pelagius ipse in episcopali judicio Palaestino, sicut eadem Gesta testantur, damnare
CHAPTER II. — 3. First, then, we must show that the faith by which we are Christians is the gift of God: if indeed we can do this more carefully than we have already done in so many and such great volumes. But now I see that we must answer those who say that the divine testimonies which we have brought forward on this matter avail to this, that we should know that we have faith itself from ourselves, but its increase from God: as though faith were not given to us by Him, but only increased in us by Him, by the merit of its having begun from us. So there is no departure from that opinion which Pelagius himself, in the episcopal court in Palestine, as the same Acts testify, […] to condemn […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 961
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "ille quem rogavimus"› · printed under col 961 Editi, ille quem rogamus. Noalliensis Ms., rogavimus.
The editions: ille quem rogamus. The Noailles manuscript: rogavimus.
2 ‹anchor: "essent apta"› · printed under col 961 Mss. Gallicani et Vaticani, aperta.
The French and Vatican manuscripts: aperta.
3 ‹anchor: "ab ipso tantum"› · printed under col 961 Am. Er. et Mss., tamen. Lovanienses ex conjectura correxerant, tantum.
Am., Er. and the manuscripts: tamen. The Louvain editors had corrected by conjecture to tantum.
4 ‹anchor: "quo coepit a nobis"› · printed under col 961 Sex Mss., quoniam coepit a nobis.
Six manuscripts: quoniam coepit a nobis.
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compulsus est, « Gratiam Dei secundum merita nostra dari; » si non pertinet ad Dei gratiam quod credere coepimus, sed illud potius quod propter hoc nobis additur, ut plenius perfectiusque credamus: ac per hoc, initium fidei nostrae priores damus Deo, ut retribuatur nobis et supplementum ejus; et si quid aliud fideliter poscimus.
[…] was compelled […], « That the grace of God is given according to our merits; » if it does not belong to the grace of God that we have begun to believe, but rather that which is added to us on this account, so that we may believe more fully and more perfectly: and thus we first give God the beginning of our faith, so that its completion also may be paid back to us; and whatever else we faithfully ask.
4. Sed contra haec cur non potius audimus: Quis prior dedit ei, et retribuetur illi? quoniam ex ipso, et per ipsum, et in ipso sunt omnia (Rom. XI, 35, 36)? Et ipsum igitur initium fidei nostrae, ex quo, nisi ex ipso est? Neque enim hoc excepto ex ipso sunt caetera: sed ex ipso, et per ipsum, et in ipso sunt omnia. Quis autem dicat eum qui jam coepit credere, ab illo in quem credidit nihil mereri? Unde fit ut jam merenti caetera dicantur addi retributione divina; ac per hoc gratiam Dei secundum merita nostra dari: quod objectum sibi Pelagius, ne damnaretur, ipse damnavit. Quisquis igitur hanc damnabilem vult ex omni parte vitare sententiam, veraciter intelligat dictum, quod Apostolus ait: Vobis donatum est pro Christo, non solum ut credatis in eum, verum etiam ut patiamini pro eo (Philipp. I, 29). Utrumque ostendit Dei donum, quia utrumque dixit esse donatum. Nec ait, Ut plenius et perfectius credatis in eum; sed, ut credatis in eum. Nec se ipsum misericordiam consecutum dixit, ut fidelior, sed ut fidelis esset (I Cor. VII, 25). quia sciebat non se initium fidei suae priorem dedisse Deo, et retributum sibi ab illo ejus augmentum; sed ab eo se factum fidelem, a quo et apostolus factus est. Nam scripta sunt etiam fidei ejus initia (Act. IX), suntque ecclesiastica celebri lectione notissima. Aversus quippe a fide quam vastabat, eique vehementer adversus, repente est ad illam gratia potentiore conversus; convertente illo cui hoc ipsum facturo per prophetam dictum est, Tu convertens vivificabis nos (Psal. LXXXIV, 7): ut non solum ex nolente fieret volens credere; verum etiam ex persecutore persecutionem in ejus fidei, quam persequebatur, defensione pateretur. Donatum quippe illi erat a Christo, non solum ut crederet in eum, verum etiam ut pateretur pro eo.
4. But against these things why do we not rather hear: Who has first given to Him, and it shall be repaid to him? For from Him, and through Him, and in Him are all things (Rom. 11:35–36)? And so the very beginning of our faith, from whom is it, if not from Him? For it is not that, this being excepted, the rest are from Him: but from Him, and through Him, and in Him are all things. But who would say that one who has already begun to believe merits nothing from Him in Whom he has believed? Whence it comes about that the rest are said to be added to one who already merits, by divine repayment; and thus that the grace of God is given according to our merits: which Pelagius, when it was laid against him, himself condemned, so as not to be condemned. Whoever, then, wishes to avoid this condemnable opinion on every side, let him understand truly what the Apostle says: To you it has been given for Christ, not only that you should believe in Him, but also that you should suffer for Him (Phil. 1:29). He shows that both are the gift of God, because he said that both were given. Nor does he say, That you should believe in Him more fully and more perfectly; but, that you should believe in Him. Nor did he say that he himself obtained mercy that he might be more faithful, but that he might be faithful (1 Cor. 7:25). because he knew that he had not first given God the beginning of his faith and had its increase paid back to him by Him; but that he had been made faithful by Him by Whom he was also made an apostle. For the beginnings of his faith too are written (Acts 9), and are very well known through the Church's solemn reading. For, turned away from the faith which he was laying waste, and vehemently opposed to it, he was suddenly converted to it by a more powerful grace; by the converting of Him to Whom, as One Who would do this very thing, it was said through the prophet, Thou, turning, wilt give us life (Ps. 84:7): so that not only from one unwilling he became willing to believe; but also from a persecutor he suffered persecution in defence of that faith which he was persecuting. For it had been given to him by Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him.
5. Et ideo commendans istam gratiam, quae non datur secundum aliqua merita, sed efficit omnia bona merita: Non quia idonei sumus, inquit, cogitare aliquid quasi ex nobismetipsis, sed sufficientia nostra ex Deo est (II Cor. III, 5). Attendant hic, et verba ista perpendant, qui putant ex nobis esse fidei coeptum, et ex Deo esse fidei supplementum. Quis enim non videat, prius esse cogitare quam credere? Nullus quippe credit aliquid, nisi prius cogitaverit esse credendum.
5. And therefore, commending this grace, which is not given according to any merits but brings about all good merits, he says: Not that we are sufficient to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God (2 Cor. 3:5). Let those give heed here and weigh these words who think that the beginning of faith is from us, and the completion of faith from God. For who does not see that thinking comes before believing? For no one believes anything unless he has first thought that it is to be believed.
Editors' notes and page, col. 962
Footnotes
(a) ‹anchor: "merita nostra dari"› · printed under col 962
Vide librum de Gestis Pelagii, n. 30.
See the book On the Proceedings of Pelagius, n. 30.
1 ‹anchor: "Utrumque"› · printed under col 962 Lov., Utrumque enim. Abest, enim, ab aliis libris.
Lov.: Utrumque enim. The word enim is absent from the other books.
2 ‹anchor: "ecclesiastica celebri"› · printed under col 962 Noalliensis Ms., celebrata. Alii Mss. cum editis, celebri.
The Noailles manuscript: celebrata. The other manuscripts with the editions: celebri.
(b) ‹anchor: "lectione notissima"› · printed under col 962
Lectionem Actuum Apostolorum in Ecclesia celebrem dicit, quod jam tum usu receptum esset, ut solemniter quotannis repeteretur tempore Paschali. « Actus Apostolorum, » ait in Sermone 315, n. 1, « liber est de canone Scripturarum: ipse liber incipit legi a Dominico Paschae, sicut se consuetudo habet Ecclesiae. »
He calls the reading of the Acts of the Apostles celebrated in the Church because it had by then been received in use that it was solemnly repeated every year at Eastertide. « The Acts of the Apostles, » he says in Sermon 315, n. 1, « is a book of the canon of the Scriptures: this book begins to be read from the Lord's day of Easter, as the custom of the Church has it. »
3 ‹anchor: "per prophetam"› · printed under col 962 Plures Mss., per prophetiam.
Several manuscripts: per prophetiam.
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Quamvis enim raptim, quamvis celerrime credendi voluntatem quaedam cogitationes antevolent, moxque illa ita sequatur, ut quasi conjunctissima comitetur; necesse est tamen ut omnia quae creduntur, praeveniente cogitatione credantur. Quanquam et ipsum credere, nihil aliud est, quam cum assensione cogitare. Non enim omnis qui cogitat, credit; cum ideo cogitent plerique, ne credant: sed cogitat omnis qui credit, et credendo cogitat, et cogitando credit. Quod ergo pertinet ad religionem atque pietatem (de qua loquebatur Apostolus), si non sumus idonei cogitare aliquid quasi ex nobismetipsis, sed sufficientia nostra ex Deo est; profecto non sumus idonei credere aliquid quasi ex nobismetipsis, quod sine cogitatione non possumus, sed sufficientia nostra qua credere incipiamus, ex Deo est. Quocirca, sicut nemo sibi sufficit ad incipiendum vel perficiendum quodcumque opus bonum; quod jam isti fratres, sicut vestra scripta indicant (In Epistola Hilarii, n. 2, supra, col. 953-954), verum esse consentiunt; unde in omni opere bono et incipiendo et perficiendo sufficientia nostra ex Deo est: ita nemo sibi sufficit vel ad incipiendam vel ad perficiendam fidem, sed sufficientia nostra ex Deo est: quoniam fides si non cogitetur, nulla est; et non sumus idonei cogitare aliquid quasi ex nobismetipsis, sed sufficientia nostra ex Deo est.
For however swiftly, however very quickly certain thoughts fly ahead of the will to believe, and that will follows so soon that it accompanies them as though most closely joined to them, it is nevertheless necessary that all things that are believed be believed with thought going before. And yet believing itself is nothing other than thinking with assent. For not everyone who thinks believes, since many think precisely in order not to believe: but everyone who believes thinks, and in believing thinks, and in thinking believes. As regards, then, religion and piety (of which the Apostle was speaking), if we are not sufficient to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, surely we are not sufficient to believe anything as of ourselves, which we cannot do without thought, but our sufficiency, by which we begin to believe, is from God. Therefore, just as no one is sufficient of himself to begin or to complete any good work whatever (which these brethren, as your letters indicate (In the letter of Hilary, n. 2, above, cols. 953–954), already agree to be true), and hence in every good work, both in beginning and in completing it, our sufficiency is from God: so no one is sufficient of himself either to begin or to complete faith, but our sufficiency is from God: since faith, if it is not thought, is nothing; and we are not sufficient to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.
6. Cavendum est, fratres dilecti a Deo, ne homo se extollat adversus Deum, cum se dicit facere quod promisit Deus. Nonne fides gentium promissa est Abrahae, et ille dans gloriam Deo, plenissime credidit quoniam quod promisit, potens est et facere (Rom. IV, 20, 21)? Ipse igitur fidem gentium facit, qui potens est facere quod promisit. Porro, si operatur Deus fidem nostram, miro modo agens in cordibus nostris ut credamus; numquid metuendum est ne totum facere non possit, et ideo homo sibi primas ejus vindicat partes, ut novissimas ab illo accipere mereatur? Videte si aliud agitur isto modo, nisi ut gratia Dei secundum merita nostra detur quolibet modo, ac sic gratia jam non sit gratia. Redditur namque hoc pacto debita, non donatur gratis: debetur enim credenti, ut a Domino ipsa fides ejus augeatur, et sit merces fidei coeptae fides aucta; nec attenditur, cum hoc dicitur, non secundum gratiam, sed secundum debitum istam mercedem credentibus imputari. Cur autem non totum tribuatur homini, ut qui sibi potuit instituere quod non habebat, ipse quod instituit augeat, omnino non video: nisi quia resisti non potest divinis manifestissimis testimoniis, quibus et fides, unde pietatis exordium sumitur, donum Dei esse monstratur; quale est illud, quod unicuique Deus partitus est mensuram fidei (Id. xii, 3); et illud, Pax fratribus et charitas cum fide a Deo Patre et Domino Jesu Christo (Ephes. VI, 23); et caetera talia. Nolens ergo his tam claris testimoniis repugnare, et tamen volens a se
6. We must beware, brethren beloved of God, lest man exalt himself against God when he says that he does what God has promised. Was not the faith of the Gentiles promised to Abraham, and did he not, giving glory to God, most fully believe that what He has promised He is able also to do (Rom. 4:20–21)? He Himself therefore makes the faith of the Gentiles, Who is able to do what He has promised. Further, if God works our faith, acting in a wonderful way in our hearts so that we believe, is it to be feared that He cannot do the whole of it, and that man therefore claims for himself its first parts, so that he may merit to receive the last from Him? See whether anything else is brought about in this way but that the grace of God is given according to our merits in some way or other, and so grace is no longer grace. For on these terms it is paid as a debt, not given freely: for it is owed to the believer that his faith itself be increased by the Lord, and that increased faith be the reward of faith begun; and it is not noticed, when this is said, that this reward is credited to believers not according to grace but according to debt. But why the whole should not be ascribed to man, so that he who was able to set up for himself what he did not have should himself increase what he set up, I do not see at all: except that the divine and most manifest testimonies cannot be resisted, by which faith too, from which the beginning of piety is taken, is shown to be the gift of God; such as that saying, that God has apportioned to each one the measure of faith (ibid. 12:3); and that one, Peace to the brethren and charity with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 6:23); and other such things. Unwilling, then, to fight against such clear testimonies, and yet wishing […] from himself […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 963
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "quaedam cogitationes"› · printed under col 963 Plerique ac potiores Mss., quaedam sanctae cogitationes.
Most and the better manuscripts: quaedam sanctae cogitationes.
2 ‹anchor: "quoniam quod"› · printed under col 963 Am. et Er., qui. Mss., quae.
Am. and Er.: qui. The manuscripts: quae.
3 ‹anchor: "exordium sumitur"› · printed under col 963 Am. et Er., unde pietas exordium sumit.
Am. and Er.: unde pietas exordium sumit.
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ipso sibi esse quod credit, quasi componit homo cum Deo, ut partem fidei sibi vindicet, atque illi partem relinquat: et quod est elatius, primam tollit ipse, sequentem dat illi; et in eo quod dicit esse amborum, priorem se facit, posteriorem Deum.
[…] himself that what he believes should be his, man as it were makes a compact with God, so as to claim a part of faith for himself and leave Him a part: and, what is more arrogant, he takes the first part himself and gives Him the following one; and in that which he says belongs to both, he makes himself the former and God the latter.
CAPUT III. — 7. Non sic pius atque humilis doctor ille sapiebat: Cyprianum beatissimum loquor, qui dixit, « In nullo gloriandum, quando nostrum nihil sit » (Ad Quirinum, lib. 3, cap. 4). Quod ut ostenderet, adhibuit Apostolum testem dicentem, Quid autem habes quod non accepisti? Si autem et accepisti, quid gloriaris quasi non acceperis (I Cor. IV, 7)? Quo praecipue testimonio etiam ipse convictus sum, cum similiter errarem, putans fidem qua in Deum credimus, non esse donum Dei, sed a nobis esse in nobis, et per illam nos impetrari Dei dona quibus temperanter et juste et pie vivamus in hoc saeculo. Neque enim fidem putabam Dei gratia praeveniri, ut per illam nobis daretur quod posceremus utiliter; nisi quia credere non possemus, si non praecederet praeconium veritatis: ut autem praedicato nobis Evangelio consentiremus, nostrum esse proprium, et nobis ex nobis esse arbitrabar. Quem meum errorem nonnulla opuscula mea satis indicant, ante episcopatum meum scripta.
CHAPTER III. — 7. Not so did that pious and humble teacher think: I mean the most blessed Cyprian, who said, « We must glory in nothing, since nothing is ours » (To Quirinus, book 3, ch. 4). And to show this he brought forward the Apostle as witness, saying, What have you that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you glory as if you had not received it (1 Cor. 4:7)? It was chiefly by this testimony that I myself too was convinced, when I was in a like error, thinking that the faith by which we believe in God is not the gift of God, but is in us from ourselves, and that through it we obtain the gifts of God by which we may live temperately and justly and piously in this world. For I did not think that faith was preceded by the grace of God, so that through it there might be given to us what we might profitably ask; except in that we could not believe if the proclamation of the truth did not go before: but that we should consent when the Gospel was preached to us, this I thought to be our own, and to be ours from ourselves. This error of mine is sufficiently shown by some little works of mine written before my episcopate.
In quibus est illud quod commemorastis in litteris vestris (In Epist. Hilarii, n. 3, supra, col. 955-956), ubi est expositio quarumdam propositionum ex Epistola quae est ad Romanos. Denique, cum mea cuncta opuscula retractarem, eamque retractationem stilo prosequerer, cujus operis jam duos absolveram libros, antequam scripta vestra prolixiora sumpsissem, cum ad hunc librum retractandum in primo volumine pervenissem, sic inde locutus sum: « Item disputans, » inquam, « quid elegerit Deus in nondum nato, cui dixit serviturum esse majorem; et quid in eodem majore similiter nondum nato reprobaverit: de quibus propter hoc commemoratur, quamvis longe postea prolatum, propheticum testimonium, Jacob dilexi, Esau autem odio habui (Rom. IX, 13; Malach. I, 3); ad hoc perduxi ratiocinationem, ut dicerem: Non ergo elegit Deus opera cujusquam in praescientia, quae ipse daturus est; sed fidem elegit in praescientia, ut quem sibi crediturum esse praescivit, ipsum elegerit, cui Spiritum sanctum daret, ut bona operando, etiam aeternam vitam consequeretur. Nondum diligentius quaesiveram, nec adhuc inveneram, qualis sit electio gratiae; de qua idem dicit apostolus, Reliquiae per electionem gratiae salvae factae sunt (Rom. XI, 5): quae utique non est gratia, si eam merita ulla praecedant: ne jam quod datur, non secundum gratiam, sed secundum debitum, reddatur potius meritis, quam donetur. Proinde quod continuo dixi, Dicit enim idem apostolus, Idem Deus qui operatur omnia in omnibus (I Cor. XII, 6); nusquam autem dictum est, Deus credit omnia in omnibus: ac deinde subjunxi, Quod ergo credimus, nostrum est; quod autem bonum operamur, illius est qui credentibus dat Spiritum sanctum;
Among them is that which you mentioned in your letter (In the letter of Hilary, n. 3, above, cols. 955–956), where there is the exposition of certain propositions from the Epistle to the Romans. Indeed, when I was reviewing all my little works and was pursuing that review in writing, of which work I had already finished two books before I took up your longer letters, when in the first volume I had come to reviewing this book, I spoke of it thus: « Likewise, discussing, » I say, « what God chose in one not yet born, to whom He said that the elder would serve; and what He rejected in that same elder, likewise not yet born: concerning whom, on this account, is recalled the prophetic testimony, though uttered long afterwards, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated (Rom. 9:13; Mal. 1:3); I carried the reasoning to the point of saying: God therefore did not choose in His foreknowledge the works of anyone, which He Himself is going to give; but He chose faith in His foreknowledge, so that him whom He foreknew would believe in Him, him He chose, to give him the Holy Spirit, so that by doing good works he might also attain eternal life. I had not yet sought more carefully, nor yet found, what kind of thing the election of grace is; of which the same apostle says, A remnant has been saved through the election of grace (Rom. 11:5): which certainly is not grace if any merits precede it: lest what is given, not according to grace but according to debt, should now be paid to merits rather than given. Accordingly, what I said next, For the same apostle says, The same God Who works all things in all (1 Cor. 12:6); but nowhere has it been said, God believes all things in all: and then I added, What we believe, therefore, is ours; but the good that we do is His Who gives the Holy Spirit to those who believe;
Editors' notes and page, col. 964
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "primam tollit ipse"› · printed under col 964 Ebrulphensis Ms., sibi.
The Saint-Évroul manuscript: sibi.
2 ‹anchor: "ipsum elegerit"› · printed under col 964 In Mss., eligeret.
In the manuscripts: eligeret.
3 ‹anchor: "Quod ergo"› · printed under col 964 Am. Er. et Mss., enim.
Am., Er. and the manuscripts: enim.
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profecto non dicer⟨e⟩m, si jam scirem etiam ipsam fidem inter Dei munera reperiri, quae dantur in eodem Spiritu. Utrumque ergo nostrum est propt⟨e⟩r arbitrium voluntatis, et utrumque tamen datum est per Spiritum fidei et charitatis. Neque enim sola charitas, sed, sicut scriptum est, Charitas cum fide a Deo Patre et Domino Jesu Christo (Ephes. VI, 23). Et quod paulo post dixi, Nostrum est enim credere et velle; illius autem, dare credentibus et volentibus facultatem bene operandi per Spiritum sanctum, per quem charitas diffunditur in cordibus nostris, verum est quidem, sed eadem regula; et utrumque ipsius est, quia ipse praeparat voluntatem; et utrumque nostrum, quia non fit nisi volentibus nobis. Ac per hoc quod etiam postea dixi, Quia neque velle possumus, nisi vocemur: et cum post vocationem voluerimus, non sufficit voluntas nostra, et cursus noster, nisi Deus et vires currentibus praebeat, et perducat quo vocat; ac deinde subjunxi, Manifestum est ergo, non volentis neque currentis, sed miserentis Dei esse (Rom. IX, 16) quod bene operamur: omnino verissimum est.
I certainly would not say, if I had already known that faith itself also is found among the gifts of God which are given in the same Spirit. Both, therefore, are ours on account of the choice of the will, and yet both are given through the Spirit of faith and of charity. For it is not charity alone, but, as it is written, Charity with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 6:23). And what I said a little after, For it is ours to believe and to will; but His to give to those who believe and will the ability to do good through the Holy Spirit, through Whom charity is poured forth in our hearts, is true indeed, but by the same rule; both are His, because He Himself prepares the will; and both are ours, because it is not done except with our willing. And accordingly what I said later too, Because we cannot even will unless we are called: and when after the calling we have willed, our will and our running are not enough unless God both gives strength to those who run and leads them where He calls; and then I added, It is plain, therefore, that it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God Who has mercy (Rom. 9:16), that we do good: this is altogether most true.
Sed parum de ipsa vocatione disserui, quae fit secundum propositum Dei: non enim omnium qui vocantur talis est, sed tantum electorum. Itaque quod paulo post dixi, Sicut enim in his quos elegit Deus. non opera, sed fides inchoat meritum, ut per munus Dei bene operentur; sic in his quos damnat, infidelitas et impietas inchoat poenae meritum, ut per ipsam poenam etiam male operentur; verissime dixi, sed fidei meritum etiam ipsum esse donum Dei, nec putavi quaerendum esse, nec dixi. Et alio loco: Cujus enim miseretur, inquam, facit eum bene operari; et quem obdurat (Ibid., 18), relinquit eum ut male operetur: sed et illa misericordia praecedenti merito fidei tribuitur, et ista obduratio praecedenti iniquitati. Quod quidem verum est; sed adhuc quaerendum erat, utrum et meritum fidei de misericordia Dei veniat; id est, utrum ista misericordia ideo tantummodo fiat in homine, quia fidelis est, an etiam facta fuerit, ut fidelis esset. Legimus enim dicente Apostolo, Misericordiam consecutus sum, ut fidelis essem (I Cor. VII, 25): non ait, quia fidelis eram. Fideli ergo datur quidem, sed data est etiam ut esset fidelis. Rectissime itaque alio loco in eodem libro dixi, Quoniam si non ex operibus, sed misericordia Dei et vocamur ut credamus, et credentibus praestatur ut bene operemur, non est gentibus ista invidenda misericordia, quamvis minus ibi diligenter de illa, quae per Dei propositum fit, vocatione tractaverim » (Retract. lib. 1, cap. 23, n. 3, 4).
But I discussed too little the calling itself which takes place according to the purpose of God: for such is not the calling of all who are called, but only of the elect. And so what I said a little after, For just as in those whom God has chosen it is not works but faith that begins merit, so that through the gift of God they do good; so in those whom He condemns unbelief and impiety begin the merit of punishment, so that through that very punishment they also do evil; I said most truly, but that the merit of faith is itself also the gift of God, I neither thought to be inquired into nor said. And in another place: For him on whom He has mercy, I say, He makes to do good; and him whom He hardens (ibid. 18) He leaves to do evil: but that mercy too is granted to the preceding merit of faith, and this hardening to preceding iniquity. This is indeed true; but it still remained to be asked whether the merit of faith also comes from the mercy of God; that is, whether this mercy is wrought in a man only because he is a believer, or was also wrought that he might be a believer. For we read the Apostle saying, I obtained mercy that I might be faithful (1 Cor. 7:25): he does not say, because I was faithful. To the believer, then, it is indeed given, but it was also given that he might be a believer. Most rightly, therefore, did I say in another place in the same book, Since, if it is not from works but by the mercy of God that we are both called in order to believe, and granted, once we believe, to do good, this mercy is not to be begrudged to the Gentiles, although I there treated less carefully of that calling which takes place by the purpose of God » (Retractations, book 1, ch. 23, n. 3, 4).
CAPUT IV. — 8. Videtis certe quid tunc de fide atque operibus sentiebam, quamvis de commendanda gratia Dei laborarem: in qua sententia istos fratres nostros esse nunc video; quia non sicut legere libros meos, ita etiam in eis curaverunt proficere mecum.
CHAPTER IV. — 8. You see, surely, what I then thought about faith and works, although I was labouring to commend the grace of God: and in that opinion I now see these brethren of ours to be; because they have not taken care to make progress with me in my books as they have taken care to read them.
Editors' notes and page, col. 965
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "Dei bene"› · printed under col 965 Hic Am. Er. et plerique Mss. omittunt, bene.
Here Am., Er. and most manuscripts omit bene.
2 ‹anchor: "ut male"› · printed under col 965 Am. Er. et plerique Mss., ut mala.
Am., Er. and most manuscripts: ut mala.
3 ‹anchor: "misericordia Dei veniat"› · printed under col 965 Sic Vaticani et Gallicani Mss. hoc loco, et lib. 1 Retract., cap. 23. At editiones Am. et Er., meritum fidei misericordiam Dei praeveniat. Lov., meritum fidei misericordia Dei praeveniat.
So the Vatican and French manuscripts at this place, and book 1 of the Retractations, ch. 23. But the editions Am. and Er.: meritum fidei misericordiam Dei praeveniat. Lov.: meritum fidei misericordia Dei praeveniat.
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Nam si curassent, invenissent istam quaestionem secundum veritatem divinarum Scripturarum solutam in primo libro duorum, quos ad beatae memoriae Simplicianum scripsi episcopum Mediolanensis Ecclesiae, sancti Ambrosii successorem, in ipso exordio episcopatus mei. Nisi forte non eos noverunt: quod si ita est, facite ut noverint. De hoc primo duorum illorum libro in secundo Retractationum primum locutus sum; qui sermo meus ita se habet: « Librorum, » inquam, « quos elaboravi episcopus, primi duo sunt ad Simplicianum Ecclesiae Mediolanensis antistitem, qui beatissimo successit Ambrosio, de diversis quaestionibus, quarum duas ex Epistola Pauli apostoli ad Romanos in primum librum contuli. Harum prior est de eo quod scriptum est, Quid ergo dicemus? Lex peccatum est? Absit; usque ad illud ubi ait, Quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus? Gratia Dei per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum (Rom. VII, 7-25). In qua illa Apostoli verba, Lex spiritualis est, ego autem carnalis sum (Ibid., 14): et caetera, quibus caro contra spiritum confligere ostenditur, eo modo exposui, tanquam homo describatur adhuc sub lege, nondum sub gratia constitutus. Longe enim postea, etiam spiritualis hominis (et hoc probabilius) esse posse illa verba cognovi. Posterior in hoc libero quaestio est ab eo loco ubi ait, Non solum autem, sed et Rebecca ex uno concubitu habens Isaac patris nostri: usque ad illud ubi ait, Nisi Dominus Sabaoth reliquisset nobis semen, sicut Sodoma facti essemus, et sicut Gomorrha similes fuissemus (Id. ix, 10-29). In cujus quaestionis solutione laboratum est quidem pro libero arbitrio voluntatis humanae; sed vicit Dei gratia: nec nisi ad illud potuit perveniri, ut liquidissima veritate dixisse intelligatur Apostolus, Quis enim te discernit? Quid autem habes quod non accepisti? Si autem accepisti, quid gloriaris quasi non acceperis (I Cor. IV, 7)? Quod volens etiam martyr Cyprianus ostendere, hoc totum ipso titulo definivit, dicens: In nullo gloriandum, quando nostrum nihil sit » (Retract. lib. 2, cap. 1, n. 1).
For if they had taken care, they would have found this question resolved according to the truth of the divine Scriptures in the first of the two books which I wrote to Simplician of blessed memory, bishop of the Church of Milan, successor of Saint Ambrose, at the very beginning of my episcopate. Unless perhaps they do not know them: and if that is so, see that they come to know them. Of this first of those two books I spoke first in the second book of the Retractations; and what I said runs thus: « Of the books, » I say, « which I produced as a bishop, the first two are to Simplician, bishop of the Church of Milan, who succeeded the most blessed Ambrose, on various questions, two of which, from the Epistle of Paul the apostle to the Romans, I put together in the first book. The former of them is on what is written, What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Far from it; as far as that place where he says, Who will deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 7:7–25). In it I expounded those words of the Apostle, The law is spiritual, but I am carnal (ibid. 14), and the rest by which the flesh is shown to fight against the spirit, in such a way as though a man were being described still under the law, not yet set under grace. For long afterwards I recognized that those words could also be those of a spiritual man (and this more probably). The latter question in this book is from the place where he says, And not only so, but Rebecca also, having conceived by one act of intercourse with Isaac our father: as far as that place where he says, Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we should have become as Sodom, and should have been made like Gomorrah (ibid. 9:10–29). In the solution of this question the labour was indeed on behalf of the free choice of the human will; but the grace of God won: and it was not possible to arrive at anything but this, that the Apostle is understood to have said with the clearest truth, For who distinguishes you? What have you that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you glory as if you had not received it (1 Cor. 4:7)? Wishing also to show this, the martyr Cyprian defined the whole of it in the very title, saying: That we must glory in nothing, since nothing is ours » (Retractations, book 2, ch. 1, n. 1).
Ecce quare dixi superius, hoc apostolico praecipue testimonio etiam me ipsum fuisse convictum: cum de hac re aliter saperem; quam mihi Deus in hac quaestione solvenda, cum ad episcopum Simplicianum, sicut dixi, scriberem, revelavit. Hoc igitur Apostoli testimonium, ubi ad reprimendam hominis inflationem dixit, Quid enim habes quod non accepisti? non sinit quemquam fidelium dicere, Habeo fidem quam non accepi. Reprimitur omnino h⟨i⟩s apostolicis verbis tota hujus responsionis elatio. Sed ne hoc quidem potest dici: Quamvis non habeam perfectam fidem, habeo tamen ejus initium, quo in Christum primitus credidi. Quia et hic respondetur: Quid autem habes quod non accepisti? Si autem et accepisti, quid gloriaris quasi non acceperis (I Cor. IV, 7)?
See why I said above that I myself too was convinced chiefly by this apostolic testimony, when I thought otherwise on this matter; which God revealed to me in solving this question when, as I have said, I was writing to Bishop Simplician. This testimony of the Apostle, then, where to check the puffing up of man he said, For what have you that you did not receive? does not allow any of the faithful to say, I have faith which I did not receive. By these apostolic words the whole arrogance of such an answer is utterly checked. But not even this can be said: Although I do not have perfect faith, yet I have its beginning, by which I first believed in Christ. For here too the answer is: But what have you that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you glory as if you had not received it (1 Cor. 4:7)?
Editors' notes and page, col. 966
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "laboratum est"› · printed under col 966 Sic Mss. Editi, elaboratum est.
So the manuscripts. The editions: elaboratum est.
(a) ‹anchor: "scriberem, revelavit"› · printed under col 966
Revelatum id sibi a Deo dicit; quia non ingenio et sagacitati suae, sed divinae gratiae adjutorio tribuendum sentit, quod hoc ipsum de quo aliter sapiebat, considerato attentius Apostoli testimonio tandem intellexerit.
He says that this was revealed to him by God, because he holds that it must be ascribed not to his own talent and shrewdness but to the help of divine grace that he at last understood, having considered the Apostle's testimony more attentively, this very thing about which he had thought otherwise.
2 ‹anchor: "Reprimitur"› · printed under col 966 Editi, reprimiturque. Abest, que, a Mss.
The editions: reprimiturque. The que is absent from the manuscripts.
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CAPUT V. — 9. Illud vero quod putant, « de hac fide ideo non posse dici, Quid enim habes quod non accepisti? quia in eadem natura remansit, licet vitiata, quae prius sana ac perfecta donata sit (In Epistola Hilarii, n. 4, supra, col. 955-956): nihil ad id quod volunt valere intelligitur, si cur hoc Apostolus dixerit cogitetur. Agebat enim, ne quisquam gloriaretur in homine; quoniam dissensiones exortae fuerant inter Corinthios christianos, ita ut unusquisque diceret, Ego quidem sum Pauli; alius autem, Ego Apollo; alius vero, Ego Cephae: et inde ventum est, ut diceret, Stulta mundi elegit Deus, ut confundat sapientes; et infirma mundi elegit Deus, ut confundat fortia; et ignobilia mundi et contemptibilia elegit Deus, et ea quae non sunt tanquam sint, ut quae sunt evacuet; ut non glorietur coram Deo omnis caro. Hic certe contra humanam superbiam satis clara est Apostoli intentio, ne in homine quisquam glorietur, ac per hoc nec in se ipso. Denique cum dixisset, ut non glorietur coram Deo omnis caro; ut ostenderet in quo debeat homo gloriari, mox addidit, Ex ipso autem vos estis in Christo Jesu, qui factus est nobis sapientia a Deo et justitia, et sanctificatio, et redemptio: ut, quemadmodum scriptum est, Qui gloriatur, in Domino glorietur (I Cor. I, 12, 27-31): inde pervenit ista ejus intentio, ut postea increpans dicat, Adhuc enim carnales estis: cum enim sint inter vos aemulatio et contentio, nonne carnales estis, et secundum hominem ambulatis? Cum enim quis dicat, Ego quidem sum Pauli, alius autem, Ego Apollo; nonne homines estis? Quid ergo est Apollo? quid autem Paulus? Ministri per quos credidistis: et unicuique sicut Dominus dedit. Ego plantavi, Apollo rigavit; sed Deus incrementum dedit. Itaque neque qui plantat est aliquid, neque qui rigat; sed qui incrementum dat Deus.
CHAPTER V. — 9. But as for what they think, « that it cannot be said of this faith, For what have you that you did not receive? because it has remained in the same nature, though vitiated, which was at first given sound and perfect (In the letter of Hilary, n. 4, above, cols. 955–956): this is seen to have no force for what they want, if one considers why the Apostle said it. For he was acting so that no one should glory in man; since dissensions had arisen among the Christians of Corinth, so that each one said, I indeed am of Paul; but another, I of Apollos; and another, I of Cephas: and from there he came to say, God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the strong; and God has chosen the base and contemptible things of the world, and the things which are not as though they were, to bring to nothing the things that are; that no flesh should glory before God. Here certainly the Apostle's purpose against human pride is clear enough, that no one should glory in man, and so not in himself either. Then, when he had said, that no flesh should glory before God, in order to show in what man ought to glory he at once added, But of Him are you in Christ Jesus, Who has been made for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, as it is written, He who glories, let him glory in the Lord (1 Cor. 1:12, 27–31): from there this purpose of his goes on until, rebuking them afterwards, he says, For you are still carnal: for since there is among you envy and strife, are you not carnal, and do you not walk according to man? For when one says, I indeed am of Paul, but another, I of Apollos; are you not men? What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Ministers through whom you believed: and to each as the Lord has given. I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So neither is he who plants anything, nor he who waters; but God Who gives the increase.
Videtisne nihil agere Apostolum, nisi ut humilietur homo, et exaltetur Deus solus? Quandoquidem in eis qui plantantur et rigantur, nec ipsum plantatorem et rigatorem dicit esse aliquid, sed qui incrementum dat, Deum: quamvis et hoc ipsum quod ille plantat, hic rigat, non ipsis, sed Domino tribuat, dicens: Unicuique sicut Dominus dedit. Ego plantavi, Apollo rigavit. Hinc ergo in eadem intentione persistens, ad hoc venit ut diceret, Itaque nemo glorietur in homine (Id. iii, 2-7, 21). Jam enim dixerat, Qui gloriatur, in Domino glorietur. Post haec et alia nonnulla quae his connectuntur, ad hoc perducitur eadem ipsa ejus intentio, ut dicat: Haec autem, fratres, transfiguravi in me et Apollo propter vos; ut in nobis discatis, ne supra quam scriptum est unus pro altero infletur. adversus alterum. Quis enim te discernit? Quid autem habes quod non accepisti? Si autem et accepisti, quid gloriaris quasi non acceperis (Id. iv, 6, 7)?
Do you see that the Apostle is doing nothing but that man may be humbled and God alone exalted? Since in those who are planted and watered he says that not even the planter and the waterer is anything, but God Who gives the increase: although even this very thing, that the one plants and the other waters, he ascribes not to themselves but to the Lord, saying: To each as the Lord has given. I planted, Apollos watered. Hence, then, persisting in the same purpose, he came to say, So let no one glory in man (ibid. 3:2–7, 21). For he had already said, He who glories, let him glory in the Lord. After these and some other things connected with them, this same purpose of his is carried to the point of his saying: These things, brethren, I have transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that you may learn in us that no one be puffed up for one against another beyond what is written. For who distinguishes you? And what have you that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you glory as if you had not received it (ibid. 4:6–7)?
10. In hac Apostoli evidentissima intentione, qua contra humanam superbiam loquitur, ne quisquam in homine, sed in Domino glorietur, dona Dei naturalia suspicari, sive ipsam totam perfectamque naturam, qualis in prima conditione donata est, sive vitiatae
10. In this most evident purpose of the Apostle, in which he speaks against human pride, that no one should glory in man but in the Lord, to suspect [that he means] natural gifts of God, whether the whole and perfect nature itself, such as it was given in the first creation, or […] of the vitiated […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 967
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "incrementum dat, Deum"› · printed under col 967 Sic Mss. Editi, Deus.
So the manuscripts. The editions: Deus.
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naturae qualescumque reliquias, nimis, quantum existimo, absurdum est. Numquid enim per haec dona quae omnibus communia sunt hominibus, discernuntur homines ab hominibus? Hic autem prius dixit, Quis enim te discernit? et deinde addidit, Quid autem habes quod non accepisti? Posset quippe dicere homo inflatus adversus alterum, Discernit me fides mea, justitia mea, vel si quid aliud. Talibus occurrens cogitationibus bonus doctor, Quid autem habes, inquit, quod non accepisti? A quo, nisi ab illo qui te discernit ab alio, cui non donavit quod donavit tibi? Si autem et accepisti, ait, quid gloriaris quasi non acceperis? Num, quaeso, agit aliud, nisi ut qui gloriatur, in Domino glorietur? Nihil autem huic sensui tam contrarium est, quam de suis meritis sic quemquam gloriari, tanquam ipse sibi ea fecerit, non gratia Dei: sed gratia quae bonos discernit a malis, non quae communis est bonis et malis. Sit ergo gratia naturae attributa, qua sumus animantia rationalia, discernimurque a pecoribus; sit etiam gratia naturae attributa, qua in ipsis hominibus a deformibus pulchri, vel ingeniosi discernuntur a tardis, ac si quid ejusmodi est: sed non se ille, quem coercebat Apostolus, adversus pecus inflabat, nec adversus hominem alterum de aliquo naturali munere quod inesse posset et pessimo; sed aliquod bonum quod pertineret ad vitam bonam, sibi non Deo tribuens inflabatur, quando audire meruit, Quis enim te discernit? Quid autem habes quod non accepisti? Ut enim sit naturae, fidem posse habere; numquid et habere? Non enim omnium est fides (II Thess. III, 2); cum fidem posse habere sit omnium. Non autem ait Apostolus, Quid autem potes habere, quod non acccepisti ut posses habere; sed ait, Quid autem habes quod non accepisti? Proinde posse habere fidem, sicut posse habere charitatem, naturae est hominum: habere autem fidem quemadmodum habere charitatem, gratiae est fidelium.
[…] nature, whatever remnants of it there are, is, as I judge, exceedingly absurd. For are men distinguished from men by these gifts which are common to all men? But here he first said, For who distinguishes you? and then added, And what have you that you did not receive? For a man puffed up against another could say, My faith distinguishes me, my righteousness, or whatever else. Meeting such thoughts, the good teacher says, And what have you that you did not receive? From whom, if not from Him Who distinguishes you from another to whom He did not give what He gave to you? And if you did receive it, he says, why do you glory as if you had not received it? Is he doing anything else, I ask, than that he who glories should glory in the Lord? But nothing is so contrary to this sense as that anyone should so glory in his own merits as though he himself had made them for himself, and not the grace of God: but the grace which distinguishes the good from the wicked, not that which is common to good and wicked. Let it be granted, then, that the grace by which we are rational living beings and are distinguished from the beasts is ascribed to nature; let it be granted too that the grace is ascribed to nature by which among men themselves the handsome are distinguished from the ugly, or the clever from the slow, and anything of that kind: but the man whom the Apostle was restraining was not puffing himself up against a beast, nor against another man over some natural gift which could be present even in the worst of men; but, ascribing to himself and not to God some good that belonged to the good life, he was puffed up, when he deserved to hear, For who distinguishes you? And what have you that you did not receive? For granted that it belongs to nature to be able to have faith, does it also belong to nature to have it? For not all have faith (2 Thess. 3:2); whereas to be able to have faith belongs to all. But the Apostle does not say, And what can you have that you did not receive, so as to be able to have it; but he says, And what have you that you did not receive? Accordingly, to be able to have faith, as to be able to have charity, belongs to the nature of men: but to have faith, just as to have charity, belongs to the grace of believers.
Illa itaque natura, in qua nobis data est possibilitas habendi fidem, non discernit ab homine hominem: ipsa vero fides discernit ab infideli fidelem. Ac per hoc, ubi dicitur, Quis enim te discernit? Quid autem habes quod non accepisti? quisquis audet dicere, Habeo ex me ipso fidem, non ergo accepi; profecto contradicit huic apertissimae veritati: non quia credere vel non credere non est in arbitrio voluntatis humanae, sed in electis praeparatur voluntas a Domino (Prov. VIII, sec. LXX). Ideo ad ipsam quoque fidem, quae in voluntate est, pertinet, Quis enim te discernit? Quid autem habes quod non accepisti?
That nature, therefore, in which the possibility of having faith has been given us, does not distinguish man from man: but faith itself distinguishes the believer from the unbeliever. And so, where it is said, For who distinguishes you? And what have you that you did not receive? whoever dares to say, I have faith from myself, so I did not receive it, certainly contradicts this most open truth: not because believing or not believing is not in the choice of the human will, but because in the elect the will is prepared by the Lord (Prov. 8, according to the Septuagint). Therefore to faith itself also, which is in the will, applies the saying, For who distinguishes you? And what have you that you did not receive?
CAPUT VI. — 11. « Multi audiunt verbum veritatis: sed alii credunt, alii contradicunt. Volunt ergo isti credere, nolunt autem illi. » Quis hoc ignoret? quis hoc neget? Sed cum aliis praeparetur, aliis non praeparetur voluntas a Domino; discernendum est
CHAPTER VI. — 11. « Many hear the word of truth: but some believe, others speak against it. These, then, will to believe, but those do not will it. » Who would not know this? Who would deny it? But since for some the will is prepared by the Lord and for others it is not prepared, we must distinguish
Editors' notes and page, col. 968
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "Talibus"› · printed under col 968 Omnes Mss., Qualibus.
All the manuscripts: Qualibus.
(a) ‹anchor: "gratiae est fidelium"› · printed under col 968
Inde Bernardus in libro de Gratia et Libero Arbitrio, cap. 1: « Deus auctor est salutis, liberum arbitrium tantum capax. » Confer. lib. 2 de Vocatione Gentium, cap. 2, et Fulgentium, lib. de Incarnatione et Gratia Domini nostri Jesu Christi, cap. 22-24.
Hence Bernard in the book On Grace and Free Choice, ch. 1: « God is the author of salvation; free choice is only capable [of receiving it]. » Compare book 2 On the Calling of the Nations, ch. 2, and Fulgentius, the book On the Incarnation and Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, ch. 22–24.
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utique quid veniat de misericordia ejus, quid de judicio. Quod quaerebat Israel, ait Apostolus, hoc non est consecutus: electio autem consecuta est: caeteri vero excaecati sunt, sicut scriptum est, Dedit illis Deus spiritum compunctionis, oculos ut non videant, et aures ut non audiant, usque in hodiernum diem. Et David dicit, Fiat mensa eorum in laqueum et in retributionem et in scandalum illis: obscurentur oculi eorum ne videant, et dorsum eorum semper incurva. Ecce misericordia et judicium: misericordia in electionem quae consecuta est justitiam Dei; judicium vero in caeteros qui excaecati sunt: et tamen illi quia voluerunt, crediderunt; illi quia noluerunt, non crediderunt. Misericordia igitur et judicium in ipsis voluntatibus facta sunt. Electio quippe ista gratiae est, non utique meritorum. Superius enim dixerat, Sic ergo et in hoc tempore, reliquiae per electionem gratiae salvae factae sunt. Si autem gratia, jam non ex operibus; alioquin gratia jam non est gratia (Rom. XI, 5-10). Gratis ergo consecuta est, quod consecuta est electio: non praecessit eorum aliquid, quod priores darent, et retribueretur illis: pro nihilo salvos fecit eos. Caeteris autem qui excaecati sunt, sicut ibi non tacitum est, in retributione factum est. Universae viae Domini misericordia et veritas (Psal. XXIV, 10). Investigabiles sunt autem viae ejus (Rom. XI, 33). Investigabiles igitur sunt, et misericordia qua gratis liberat, et veritas qua juste judicat.
[…] surely what comes from His mercy, and what from His judgement. What Israel was seeking, says the Apostle, it has not obtained: but the election has obtained it: and the rest have been blinded, as it is written, God gave them a spirit of compunction, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, until this very day. And David says, Let their table become a snare to them, and a recompense, and a stumbling-block: let their eyes be darkened that they may not see, and bow down their back always. See mercy and judgement: mercy upon the election, which has obtained the righteousness of God; but judgement upon the rest, who have been blinded: and yet these, because they willed, believed; those, because they did not will, did not believe. Mercy, therefore, and judgement were wrought in the very wills. For this election is of grace, certainly not of merits. For he had said above, So then at this present time also a remnant has been saved through the election of grace. But if by grace, it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace (Rom. 11:5–10). Freely, then, the election obtained what it obtained: nothing of theirs went before, which they might give first and it be repaid to them: He saved them for nothing. But to the rest, who were blinded, as is not left unsaid there, it was done in recompense. All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth (Ps. 24:10). But His ways are unsearchable (Rom. 11:33). Unsearchable, therefore, are both the mercy by which He sets free freely and the truth by which He judges justly.
CAPUT VII. — 12. Sed forsitan dicant, « Ab operibus fidem distinguit Apostolus: gratiam vero non ex operibus esse dicit; non autem dicit quod non sit ex fide. » Ita vero est: sed ipsam quoque fidem opus Dei dicit esse Jesus, et hanc ut operemur jubet. Dixerunt enim ad eum Judaei: Quid faciemus, ut operemur opus Dei? Respondit Jesus et dixit illis: Hoc est opus Dei, ut credatis in eum quem misit ille (Joan. VI, 28, 29). Sic ergo distinguit Apostolus ab operibus fidem, quemadmodum in duobus regnis Hebraeorum distinguitur Judas ab Israel, cum et ipse Judas sit Israel. Ex fide autem ideo dicit justificari hominem, non ex operibus (Galat. ii, 16), quia ipsa prima datur, ex qua impetrentur caetera, quae proprie opera nuncupantur, in quibus juste vivitur. Nam dicit etiam ipse, Gratia salvi estis facti per fidem, et hoc non ex vobis, sed Dei donum est: id est, et quod dixi per fidem, non ex vobis, sed Dei donum est etiam fides. Non ex operibus, inquit, ne forte quis extollatur (Ephes. II, 8, 9). Solet enim dici, Ideo credere meruit, quia vir bonus erat et antequam crederet. Quod de Cornelio
CHAPTER VII. — 12. But perhaps they may say, « The Apostle distinguishes faith from works: he says that grace is not from works; but he does not say that it is not from faith. » So indeed it is: but Jesus says that faith itself also is the work of God, and bids us work it. For the Jews said to Him: What shall we do, that we may work the work of God? Jesus answered and said to them: This is the work of God, that you believe in Him Whom He has sent (John 6:28–29). So, then, the Apostle distinguishes faith from works in the way that in the two kingdoms of the Hebrews Judah is distinguished from Israel, although Judah itself is Israel. And he says that a man is justified by faith, not by works (Gal. 2:16), for this reason, that faith itself is given first, from which the other things may be obtained which are properly called works, in which one lives righteously. For he himself also says, By grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, but it is the gift of God: that is, and as for my saying through faith, faith also is not of yourselves, but is the gift of God. Not of works, he says, lest perhaps anyone be lifted up (Eph. 2:8–9). For it is commonly said, He merited to believe because he was a good man even before he believed. Which of Cornelius
Editors' notes and page, col. 969
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "quid veniat"› · printed under col 969 Mss. Gallici et Vaticani, eveniat.
The French and Vatican manuscripts: eveniat.
2 ‹anchor: "misericordia in electionem"› · printed under col 969 Editi, in electione. Melius Mss., in electionem; id est, in electos. Sic postea in accusandi casu legitur, in caeteros.
The editions: in electione. Better the manuscripts: in electionem; that is, upon the elect. So afterwards it is read in the accusative case, in caeteros.
3 ‹anchor: "illi quia voluerunt"› · printed under col 969 Vaticani Mss., qui voluerunt; et infra, qui noluerunt. Am. et Er. hoc posteriore loco habent, quia; sed priore tamen, qui.
The Vatican manuscripts: qui voluerunt; and below, qui noluerunt. Am. and Er. have quia in this latter place, but in the former, qui.
4 ‹anchor: "salvos fecit eos"› · printed under col 969 Editi, pro nihilo enim salvos fecit eos. At manuscripti praetereunt, enim: et ex his unus loco, fecit; habet, facit.
The editions: pro nihilo enim salvos fecit eos. But the manuscripts pass over enim: and one of them has facit in place of fecit.
5 ‹anchor: "in retributione"› · printed under col 969 Noalliensis Ms., in retributionem.
The Noailles manuscript: in retributionem.
6 ‹anchor: "forsitan dicant"› · printed under col 969 Plures Mss., dicunt.
Several manuscripts: dicunt.
7 ‹anchor: "operemur opus Dei"› · printed under col 969 Sic omnes prorsus manuscripti. At editi, opera Dei.
So absolutely all the manuscripts. But the editions: opera Dei.
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dici potest, cujus acceptae sunt eleemosynae et exauditae orationes antequam credidisset in Christum (Act. X, 4): nec tamen sine aliqua fide donabat et orabat. Nam quomodo invocabat, in quem non crediderat (Rom. X, 14)? Sed si posset sine fide Christi esse salvus, non ad eum aedificandum mitteretur architectus apostolus Petrus: quamvis nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum, in vanum laboraverunt aedificantes eam (Psal. CXXVI, 1). Et dicitur nobis, « Fides est a nobis, caetera a Domino ad opera justitiae pertinentia: » quasi ad aedificium non pertineat fides; quasi ad aedificium, inquam, non pertineat fundamentum. Quod si in primis et maxime pertinet, in vanum laborat praedicando aedificans fidem, nisi eam Dominus miserando intus aedificet. Quidquid igitur et antequam in Christum crederet, et cum crederet, et cum credidisset, bene operatus est Cornelius, totum Deo dandum est, ne forte quis extollatur.
[…] can be said, whose alms were accepted and whose prayers were heard before he had believed in Christ (Acts 10:4): yet he did not give and pray without some faith. For how was he calling upon Him in Whom he had not believed (Rom. 10:14)? But if he could have been saved without faith in Christ, the apostle Peter would not have been sent as an architect to build him up: although unless the Lord build the house, they have laboured in vain who build it (Ps. 126:1). And it is said to us, « Faith is from us, the other things belonging to the works of righteousness are from the Lord: » as though faith did not belong to the building; as though, I say, the foundation did not belong to the building. But if it belongs to it first and foremost, he who builds up faith by preaching labours in vain unless the Lord in His mercy builds it up within. Whatever good works, then, Cornelius did, both before he believed in Christ, and when he was believing, and when he had believed, the whole is to be given to God, lest perhaps anyone be lifted up.
CAPUT VIII. — 13. Proinde ipse unus Magister et Dominus, cum dixisset quae supra memoravi, Hoc est opus Dei, ut credatis in eum quem misit ille: in eodem ipso sermone suo paulo post ait, Dixi vobis, quia et vidistis me, et non credidistis. Omne quod dat mihi Pater, ad me veniet. Quid est, ad me veniet, nisi, Credet in me? Sed ut fiat, Pater dat. Item paulo post: Nolite, inquit, murmurare invicem: nemo potest venire ad me, nisi Pater qui misit me, traxerit eum: et ego eum resuscitabo in novissimo die. Est scriptum in Prophetis, Et erunt omnes docibiles Dei. Omnis qui audivit a Patre et didicit, venit ad me (Joan. VI, 29, 36, 37, 43-45). Quid est, Omnis qui audivit a Patre et didicit, venit ad me; nisi, Nullus est qui audiat a Patre et discat, et non veniat ad me? Si enim omnis qui audivit a Patre et didicit, venit; profecto omnis qui non venit, non audivit a Patre, nec didicit: nam si audisset et didicisset, veniret. Neque enim ullus audivit et didicit, et non venit: sed omnis, ut ait Veritas, qui audivit a Patre et didicit, venit. Valde remota est a sensibus carnis haec schola, in qua Pater auditur et docet, ut veniatur ad Filium. Ibi est et ipse Filius, quia ipse est Verbum ejus, per quod sic docet; nec agit hoc cum carnis aure, sed cordis. Simul ibi est et Spiritus Patris et Filii; neque enim ipse non docet, aut separatim docet: inseparabilia quippe didicimus esse opera Trinitatis. Et ipse est utique Spiritus sanctus, de quo Apostolus dicit, Habentes autem eumdem Spiritum fidei (II Cor. IV, 13). Sed ideo Patri hoc potissimum est attributum, quia de ipso est genitus Unigenitus, et de ipso procedit Spiritus sanctus: unde longum est enucleatius disputare; et de Trinitate, quae Deus est, laborem nostrum in quindecim libris ad vos jam existimo pervenisse. Valde, inquam, remota est a sensibus carnis haec schola, in qua Deus auditur et docet. Multos venire videmus ad Filium, quia multos credere videmus in Christum: sed ubi et quomodo a Patre audierint hoc
CHAPTER VIII. — 13. Accordingly the one Master and Lord Himself, when He had said what I recalled above, This is the work of God, that you believe in Him Whom He has sent, says a little later in that same discourse of His, I have told you that you have both seen Me and have not believed. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me. What is will come to Me, but, will believe in Me? But that this may come about, the Father gives. Likewise a little later: Do not murmur, He says, among yourselves: no one can come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws him: and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, And they shall all be teachable by God. Everyone who has heard from the Father and has learned comes to Me (John 6:29, 36, 37, 43–45). What is, Everyone who has heard from the Father and has learned comes to Me, but, There is no one who hears from the Father and learns and does not come to Me? For if everyone who has heard from the Father and has learned comes, surely everyone who does not come has not heard from the Father nor learned: for if he had heard and learned, he would come. For no one has heard and learned and not come: but everyone, as the Truth says, who has heard from the Father and has learned, comes. Very far removed from the senses of the flesh is this school, in which the Father is heard and teaches, so that men come to the Son. There is the Son Himself as well, because He is His Word, through Whom He thus teaches; nor does He do this with the ear of the flesh, but of the heart. There at the same time is also the Spirit of the Father and of the Son; for neither does He not teach, nor teach separately: for we have learned that the works of the Trinity are inseparable. And He is certainly the Holy Spirit, of Whom the Apostle says, But having the same Spirit of faith (2 Cor. 4:13). But this is attributed especially to the Father for this reason, that from Him the Only-begotten is begotten, and from Him the Holy Spirit proceeds: on which it would be long to argue in more detail; and I think our labour on the Trinity, which is God, in fifteen books has already reached you. Very far removed, I say, from the senses of the flesh is this school, in which God is heard and teaches. We see many come to the Son, because we see many believe in Christ: but where and how they have heard this from the Father
Editors' notes and page, col. 970
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "et cum crederet"› · printed under col 970 Lovanienses expunxerunt, et cum crederet, ut superfluum. Habetur non tantum in antiquioribus editis Am. et Er., sed etiam in Vaticanis manuscriptis et pluribus ex Gallicanis.
The Louvain editors struck out et cum crederet as superfluous. It is found not only in the older editions Am. and Er., but also in the Vatican manuscripts and in several of the French ones.
2 ‹anchor: "inseparabilia quippe didicimus"› · printed under col 970 Am. Er. et aliqui Mss., dicimus.
Am., Er. and some manuscripts: dicimus.
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- other: the column's first word completes "Cornelio", hyphenated at the foot of col 969 and set whole there. The column ends without a hyphen ("hoc").
et didicerint, non videmus. Nimium gratia ista secreta est: gratiam vero esse quis ambigat? Haec itaque gratia, quae occulte humanis cordibus divina largitate tribuitur, a nullo duro corde respuitur. Ideo quippe tribuitur, ut cordis duritia primitus auferatur. Quando ergo Pater intus auditur et docet, ut veniatur ad Filium, aufert cor lapideum, et dat cor carneum, sicut propheta praedicante promisit (Ezech. XI, 19). Sic quippe facit filios promissionis, et vasa misericordiae quae praeparavit in gloriam.
[…] and have learned, we do not see. This grace is exceedingly secret; but who would doubt that it is grace? This grace, therefore, which is secretly bestowed on human hearts by the divine bounty, is rejected by no hard heart. For it is bestowed for this very purpose, that the hardness of the heart may first be taken away. When, therefore, the Father is heard within and teaches, so that one comes to the Son, He takes away the heart of stone and gives a heart of flesh, as He promised through the preaching of the prophet (Ezek. 11:19). For thus He makes children of the promise, and vessels of mercy which He has prepared for glory.
14. Cur ergo non omnes docet, ut veniant ad Christum; nisi quia omnes quos docet, misericordia docet; quos autem non docet, judicio non docet? Quoniam cujus vult miseretur, et quem vult obdurat: sed miseretur, bona tribuens; obdurat, digna retribuens. Aut si et ista, ut quidam distinguere maluerunt, verba sunt ejus cui Apostolus ait, Dicis itaque mihi: ut ipse dixisse accipiatur, Ergo cujus vult miseretur, et quem vult obdurat; et quae sequuntur, id est, Quid adhuc conqueritur? nam voluntati ejus quis resistit? numquid responsum est ab Apostolo, O homo, falsum est quod dixisti? Non: sed responsum est, O homo, tu quis es qui respondeas Deo? Numquid dicit figmentum ei qui se finxit, Quare sic me fecisti? Annon habet potestatem figulus luti ex eadem massa, et sequentia, quae optime nostis.
14. Why, then, does He not teach all, so that they may come to Christ, except because all whom He teaches He teaches in mercy, while those whom He does not teach He does not teach in judgement? For He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens; but He has mercy in bestowing good things, He hardens in repaying what is deserved. Or if these words too, as some have preferred to distinguish them, belong to him to whom the Apostle says, You say then to me, so that he is taken to have said, Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens, and what follows, that is, Why does He still complain? for who resists His will? — did the Apostle answer, O man, what you have said is false? No; rather he answered, O man, who are you to answer back to God? Does the thing formed say to Him Who formed it, Why hast Thou made me thus? Has not the potter power over the clay, from the same lump, and what follows, which you know very well.
Et tamen secundum quemdam modum, omnes Pater docet venire ad suum Filium. Non enim frustra scriptum est in Prophetis, Et erunt omnes docibiles Dei. Quod testimonium cum praemisisset, tunc subdidit, Omnis qui audivit a Patre et didicit, venit ad me. Sicut ergo integre loquimur, cum de aliquo litterarum magistro, qui in civitate solus est, dicimus, Omnes iste hic litteras docet; non quia omnes discunt, sed quia nemo nisi ab illo discit, quicumque ibi litteras discit: ita recte dicimus, Omnes Deus docet venire ad Christum, non quia omnes veniunt, sed quia nemo aliter venit. Cur autem non omnes doceat, aperuit Apostolus, quantum aperiendum judicavit: quia volens ostendere iram, et demonstrare potentiam suam, attulit in multa patientia vasa irae quae perfecta sunt in perditionem, et ut notas faciat divitias gloriae suae in vasa misericordiae, quae praeparavit in gloriam (Rom. IX, 18-23). Hinc est quod verbum crucis pereuntibus stultitia est; his autem qui salvi fiunt, virtus Dei est (I Cor. I, 18). Hos omnes docet venire ad Christum Deus; hos enim omnes vult salvos fieri, et in agnitionem veritatis venire (I Tim. II, 4). Nam si et illos quibus stultitia est verbum crucis, ut ad Christum venirent, docere voluisset, procul dubio venirent et ipsi. Non enim fallit aut fallitur qui ait, Omnis qui audivit a Patre et didicit, venit ad me. Absit ergo ut quisquam non veniat, qui a Patre audivit et didicit.
And yet, in a certain manner, the Father teaches all to come to His Son. For not in vain is it written in the Prophets, And they shall all be teachable of God. And when He had first set down this testimony, He then added, Everyone who has heard from the Father and has learned comes to Me. Just as, therefore, we speak correctly when, of some teacher of letters who is the only one in a city, we say, This man teaches everyone letters here, not because all learn, but because no one who learns letters there learns them except from him: so we rightly say, God teaches all to come to Christ, not because all come, but because no one comes otherwise. But why He does not teach all, the Apostle has disclosed, as far as he judged it should be disclosed: that, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, He brought with much patience the vessels of wrath which were fitted for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory upon the vessels of mercy, which He has prepared for glory (Rom. 9:18–23). Hence it is that the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Cor. 1:18). All these God teaches to come to Christ; for all these He wills to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4). For if He had willed to teach those also to whom the word of the cross is foolishness, so that they might come to Christ, without any doubt they too would come. For He Who says, Everyone who has heard from the Father and has learned comes to Me, neither deceives nor is deceived. Far be it, then, that anyone who has heard from the Father and has learned should not come.
15. « Quare, » inquiunt, « non omnes docet? » Si dixerimus quia nolunt discere quos non docet; respondebitur nobis, Et ubi est quod ei dicitur, Deus, tu convertens vivificabis nos (Psal. LXXXIV, 7)? Aut si
15. "Why," they say, "does He not teach all?" If we say that those whom He does not teach are unwilling to learn, the reply will be made to us: And where is that which is said to Him, O God, Thou, turning us, wilt quicken us (Ps. 84:7)? Or if […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 971
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "quod dixisti? Non"› · printed under col 971 Omnes Mss. omittunt, non.
All the manuscripts omit non.
2 ‹anchor: "hos enim"› · printed under col 971 Hic addimus, enim; quia manuscripti omnes id habent.
Here we add enim, because all the manuscripts have it.
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non facit volentes ex nolentibus Deus, utquid orat Ecclesia secundum praeceptum Domini pro persecutoribus suis (Matth. V, 44)? Nam sic etiam voluit intelligi sanctus Cyprianus (De Oratione Dominica) quod dicimus, Fiat voluntas tua sicut in coelo et in terra (Matth. VI, 10): hoc est, sicut in eis qui jam crediderunt, et tanquam coelum sunt; ita et in eis qui non credunt, et ob hoc adhuc terra sunt. Quid ergo oramus pro nolentibus credere, nisi ut Deus in illis operetur et velle (Philipp. II, 13)? De Judaeis certe Apostolus ait: Fratres, bona voluntas quidem cordis mei, et deprecatio ad Deum pro illis fit in salutem (Rom. X, 1). Orat pro non credentibus, quid, nisi ut credant? Non enim aliter consequuntur salutem. Si ergo fides orantium Dei praevenit gratiam; numquid eorum fides, pro quibus oratur ut credant, Dei praevenit gratiam? Quandoquidem hoc pro eis oratur, ut non credentibus, id est fidem non habentibus, fides ipsa donetur.
[…] God does not make the unwilling willing, why does the Church, according to the Lord's precept, pray for her persecutors (Matt. 5:44)? For in this sense too Saint Cyprian (On the Lord's Prayer) wished that to be understood which we say, Thy will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth (Matt. 6:10): that is, as in those who have already believed and are, as it were, heaven, so also in those who do not believe and for this reason are still earth. What, then, do we pray for on behalf of those who are unwilling to believe, except that God may work in them to will as well (Phil. 2:13)? Of the Jews, certainly, the Apostle says: Brethren, the good will of my heart indeed, and my prayer to God for them, is for their salvation (Rom. 10:1). He prays for those who do not believe: for what, except that they may believe? For in no other way do they attain salvation. If, then, the faith of those who pray goes before the grace of God, does the faith of those for whom prayer is made that they may believe go before the grace of God? For this is the very thing prayed for on their behalf: that to those who do not believe, that is, who do not have faith, faith itself may be given.
Cum igitur Evangelium praedicatur, quidam credunt, quidam non credunt: sed qui credunt praedicatore forinsecus insonante, intus a Patre audiunt atque discunt; qui autem non credunt, foris audiunt, intus non audiunt neque discunt: hoc est, illis datur ut credant, illis non datur. Quia nemo, inquit, venit ad me, nisi Pater qui misit me, traxerit eum. Quod apertius postea dicitur. Nam post aliquantum cum de carne sua manducanda et bibendo sanguine suo loqueretur, et dicerent quidam etiam discipulorum ejus, Durus est hic sermo, quis potest eum audire? Sciens Jesus apud semetipsum, quia murmurarent de hoc discipuli ejus, dixit eis: Hoc vos scandalizat? Et paulo post: Verba, inquit, quae ego locutus sum vobis, spiritus et vita sunt: sed sunt quidam ex vobis qui non credunt. Et mox Evangelista, Sciebat enim, inquit, ab initio Jesus qui essent credentes, et quis traditurus esset eum, et dicebat: Propterea dixi vobis, Quia nemo potest venire ad me, nisi fuerit ei datum a Patre meo (Joan. VI, 44-66). Ergo trahi a Patre ad Christum, et audire ac discere a Patre ut veniat ad Christum, nihil aliud est, quam donum accipere a Patre, quo credat in Christum. Neque enim audientes Evangelium a non audientibus, sed credentes a non credentibus discernebat qui dicebat, Nemo venit ad me, nisi fuerit ei datum a Patre meo.
When, therefore, the Gospel is preached, some believe and some do not believe; but those who believe, while the preacher sounds outwardly, hear and learn from the Father within, whereas those who do not believe hear outwardly but do not hear or learn within: that is, to the former it is given to believe, to the latter it is not given. For no one, He says, comes to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws him. This is said more openly afterwards. For some while later, when He was speaking of eating His flesh and drinking His blood, and some even of His disciples said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it? Jesus, knowing in Himself that His disciples murmured at this, said to them: Does this offend you? And a little after: The words, He says, that I have spoken to you are spirit and life; but there are some of you who do not believe. And immediately the Evangelist: For Jesus knew, he says, from the beginning who they were that believed, and who would betray Him; and He said: Therefore I said to you, No one can come to Me unless it has been given him by My Father (John 6:44–66). To be drawn by the Father to Christ, therefore, and to hear and learn from the Father so as to come to Christ, is nothing other than to receive from the Father the gift by which one believes in Christ. For He Who said, No one comes to Me unless it has been given him by My Father, was distinguishing not those who hear the Gospel from those who do not hear it, but those who believe from those who do not believe.
16. Fides igitur, et inchoata, et perfecta, donum Dei est: et hoc donum quibusdam dari, quibusdam non dari, omnino non dubitet, qui non vult manifestissimis sacris Litteris repugnare. Cur autem non omnibus detur, fidelem movere non debet, qui credit ex uno omnes isse in condemnationem, sine dubitatione justissimam: ita ut nulla Dei esset justa reprehensio, etiamsi nullus inde liberaretur. Unde constat magnam esse gratiam, quod plurimi liberantur, et quid sibi deberetur, in eis qui non liberantur agnoscunt: ut qui gloriatur, non in suis meritis, quae paria videt esse damnatis, sed in Domino glorietur. Cur autem istum potius quam illum liberet,
16. Faith, then, both in its beginning and in its completion, is the gift of God; and let no one who does not wish to fight against the most manifest sacred Scriptures doubt at all that this gift is given to some and not given to others. But why it is not given to all ought not to disturb the believer, who believes that from one man all went into condemnation, a condemnation beyond doubt most just, so that there would be no just reproach against God even if no one were delivered from it. Hence it is plain that it is a great grace that very many are delivered, and that they recognize, in those who are not delivered, what was owed to themselves: so that he who glories may glory not in his own merits, which he sees to be equal to those of the damned, but in the Lord. But why He delivers this one rather than that one, […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 972
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "pro illis fit"› · printed under col 972 Omnes prope Mss. omittunt, fit.
Almost all the manuscripts omit fit.
2 ‹anchor: "sed in Domino glorietur"› · printed under col 972, continued under col 973 Editi, ut qui glorientur, non in suis meritis quae paria vident esse damnatis, sed in Domino glorientur. At manuscripti, gloriatur, videt, glorietur, singulari numero.
The editions: that they who glory, not in their own merits, which they see to be equal to those of the damned, but in the Lord, may glory. But the manuscripts have gloriatur, videt, glorietur, in the singular number.
(a) ‹anchor: "16. Fides igitur"› · printed under col 972
Hic apud Am. et Er. incipit caput 9.
Here, in Am. and Er., chapter 9 begins.
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inscrutabilia sunt judicia ejus et investigabiles viae ejus (Rom. XI, 33). Melius enim et hic audimus aut dicimus, O homo, tu quis es qui respondeas Deo (Rom. IX, 20)? quam dicere audemus, quasi noverimus, quod occultum esse voluit, qui tamen aliquid injustum velle non potuit.
[…] His judgements are unsearchable and His ways past finding out (Rom. 11:33). For here too it is better that we hear or say, O man, who are you to answer back to God (Rom. 9:20)? than that we dare to speak, as though we knew it, of what He willed to be hidden, He Who nevertheless could not will anything unjust.
CAPUT IX. — 17. Illud autem quod in opusculo meo quodam contra Porphyrium sub titulo, de Tempore Christianae religionis, me dixisse recolitis; ita dixi, ut hanc diligentiorem et operosiorem disputationem de Gratia praeterirem, non sane omissa significatione, quod eam loco illo explicare noluissem, quae posset alias vel ab aliis explicari.
CHAPTER IX. — 17. As for what you recall my having said in a certain little work of mine against Porphyry, under the title On the Time of the Christian Religion: I said it in such a way as to pass over this more careful and laborious discussion of grace, though certainly not without indicating that I did not wish to unfold in that place what could be unfolded elsewhere or by others.
Nam ita locutus sum inter caetera, respondens propositae quaestioni, Cur Christus post tam longa tempora venerit: « Proinde, » inquam, « cum Christo non objiciant, quod ejus doctrinam non omnes sequuntur (sentiunt enim et ipsi nequaquam hoc recte objici posse, vel sapientiae philosophorum, vel etiam numini deorum suorum); quid respondebunt si excepta illa altitudine sapientiae et scientiae Dei, ubi fortassis aliud divinum consilium longe secretius latet, sine praejudicio etiam aliarum forte causarum, quae a prudentibus vestigari queunt, hoc solum eis brevitatis gratia in hujus quaestionis disputatione dicamus; tunc voluisse hominibus apparere Christum, et apud eos praedicari doctrinam suam, quando sciebat, et ubi sciebat esse qui in eum fuerant credituri? His enim temporibus et his locis, quibus Evangelium ejus non est praedicatum, tales omnes in ejus praedicatione futuros esse praesciebat, quales, non quidem omnes, sed tamen multi in ejus corporali praesentia fuerunt, qui in eum nec suscitatis ab eo mortuis, credere voluerunt; quales etiam nunc multos videmus, cum tanta manifestatione de illo compleantur praeconia Prophetarum, nolle adhuc credere, et malle humana astutia resistere, quam tam clarae atque perspicuae, tamque sublimi et sublimiter diffamatae divinae cedere auctoritati, quamdiu parvus et infirmus est intellectus hominis, divinae accedere veritati. Quid ergo mirum, si tam infidelibus plenum orbem terrarum Christus prioribus saeculis noverat, ut eis apparere vel praedicari merito nollet, quos nec verbis, nec miraculis suis credituros esse praesciebat? Neque enim incredibile est, tales fuisse tunc omnes, quales ab ejus adventu usque ad hoc tempus tam multos fuisse atque esse miramur. Et tamen ab initio generis humani, alias occultius, alias evidentius, sicut congruere temporibus divinitus visum est, nec prophetari destitit, nec qui in eum crederent defuerunt, et ab Adam usque ad Moysen,
For among other things, in answer to the question put forward, Why did Christ come after so long a time? I spoke thus: "Accordingly," I said, "since they do not reproach Christ with the fact that not all follow His teaching (for they themselves perceive that this could by no means rightly be made a reproach either to the wisdom of the philosophers or even to the divinity of their own gods), what will they answer if, setting aside that depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God, where perhaps some other divine counsel lies hidden far more secretly, and without prejudice also to other causes perhaps, which can be traced out by the wise, we say to them only this, for brevity's sake, in the discussion of this question: that Christ willed to appear to men, and His teaching to be preached among them, when He knew, and where He knew, that there were those who would believe in Him? For in those times and in those places in which His Gospel has not been preached, He foreknew that all would be, in respect of His preaching, such as, not indeed all, but yet many were in His bodily presence, who were unwilling to believe in Him even when the dead were raised by Him; such as we see many to be even now, who, though the proclamations of the Prophets concerning Him are being fulfilled with such manifest evidence, are still unwilling to believe, and prefer to resist with human cunning rather than to yield to the divine authority, so clear and plain, so sublime and so sublimely spread abroad, for as long as the understanding of man is small and weak to approach the divine truth. What wonder is it, then, if Christ knew the world in former ages to be so full of unbelievers that He rightly willed not to appear or be preached to those whom He foreknew would believe neither His words nor His miracles? For it is not incredible that all were then such as we marvel that so many have been and are from His coming up to this time. And yet from the beginning of the human race, sometimes more hiddenly, sometimes more evidently, as it seemed by divine judgement to suit the times, prophecy has not ceased, nor have there been lacking those who believed in Him, both from Adam to Moses, […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 973
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "vel ab aliis explicari"› · printed under col 973 Sex Mss., vel aliis explicari.
Six manuscripts: vel aliis explicari.
2 ‹anchor: "a prudentibus vestigari"› · printed under col 973 Editi, investigari. Omnes Mss., vestigari.
The editions: investigari. All the manuscripts: vestigari.
3 ‹anchor: "divinae accedere veritati"› · printed under col 973 Am. et Er., divinae accedere veritati non poterit. Lov., divinae debet accedere veritati. At manuscripti Vaticani et Gallici nec, debet, habent; nec, non poterit. Praeferendi videntur ipsi etiam editioni Lovaniensium, quam in tomo 2 secuti sumus.
Am. and Er.: divinae accedere veritati non poterit. Lov.: divinae debet accedere veritati. But the Vatican and French manuscripts have neither debet nor non poterit. They seem preferable even to the edition of the Louvain editors, which we followed in volume 2.
4 ‹anchor: "prioribus saeculis noverat"› · printed under col 973 Tres Mss., pleno orbe terrarum Christus prioribus saeculis non venerat.
Three manuscripts: pleno orbe terrarum Christus prioribus saeculis non venerat.
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et in ipso populo Israel, quae speciali quodam mysterio gens prophetica fuit; et in aliis gentibus antequam venisset in carne. Cum enim nonnulli commemorantur in sanctis Hebraicis libris, jam ex tempore Abrahae, nec de stirpe carnis ejus, nec ex populo Israel, nec ex adventitia societate in populo Israel, qui tamen hujus sacramenti participes fuerunt; cur non credamus etiam in caeteris hac atque illac gentibus alias alios fuisse, quamvis eos commemoratos in eisdem auctoritatibus non legamus? Ita salus religionis hujus, per quam solam veram salus vera veraciterque promittitur, nulli unquam defuit qui dignus fuit; et cui defuit, dignus non fuit. Et ab exordio propagationis humanae usque in finem, quibusdam ad praemium, quibusdam ad judicium praedicatur. Ac per hoc et quibus omnino annuntiata non est, non credituri praesciebantur; et quibus non credituris tamen annuntiata est, in illorum exemplum demonstrantur: quibus autem credituris annuntiatur, hi regno coelorum et sanctorum angelorum societati praeparantur » (Epist. 102, nn. 14, 15).
[…] and in the people of Israel itself, which by a certain special mystery was a prophetic nation, and among other nations, before He had come in the flesh. For since some are mentioned in the holy Hebrew books, already from the time of Abraham, neither of the stock of his flesh, nor of the people of Israel, nor of those joined by an adventitious fellowship to the people of Israel, who nevertheless were partakers of this sacrament, why should we not believe that among the other nations too, here and there, there were others at other times, although we do not read of them as mentioned in the same authorities? Thus the salvation of this religion, through which alone true salvation is truly promised, was never lacking to anyone who was worthy; and he to whom it was lacking was not worthy. And from the beginning of the propagation of mankind to the end, it is preached to some for reward, to others for judgement. And therefore those to whom it has not been announced at all were foreknown as not going to believe; and those to whom it has been announced although they were not going to believe are shown forth as an example to the former; but those to whom it is announced as going to believe are prepared for the kingdom of heaven and the fellowship of the holy angels" (Letter 102, nn. 14, 15).
18. Cernitisne, me sine praejudicio latentis consilii Dei aliarumque causarum, hoc de praescientia Christi dicere voluisse, quod convincendae Paganorum infidelitati, qui hanc objecerant quaestionem, sufficere videretur? Quid enim est verius, quam praescisse Christum, qui et quando et quibus locis in eum fuerant credituri? Sed utrum praedicato sibi Christo a se ipsis habituri essent fidem, an Deo donante sumpturi, id est, utrum tantummodo eos praescierit, an etiam praedestinaverit Deus, quaerere atque disserere tunc necessarium non putavi. Proinde quod dixi, « Tunc voluisse hominibus apparere Christum, et apud eos praedicari doctrinam suam, quando sciebat et ubi sciebat esse qui in eum fuerant credituri: » potest etiam sic dici, Tunc voluisse hominibus apparere Christum, et apud eos praedicari doctrinam suam, quando sciebat et ubi sciebat esse qui electi fuerant in ipso ante mundi constitutionem (Ephes. I, 4). Sed quoniam si ita diceretur, lectorem faceret intentum ad ea requirenda, quae nunc ex admonitione Pelagiani erroris necesse est copiosius et laboriosius disputari; visum mihi est, quod tunc satis erat, breviter esse dicendum, excepta, ut dixi, altitudine sapientiae et scientiae Dei, et sine praejudicio aliarum causarum de quibus non tunc, sed alias opportunius disputandum putavi.
18. Do you see that, without prejudice to the hidden counsel of God and to other causes, I wished to say about Christ's foreknowledge what seemed sufficient to refute the unbelief of the pagans who had raised this question? For what is truer than that Christ foreknew who would believe in Him, and when, and in what places? But whether, when Christ was preached to them, they would have faith from themselves, or would receive it by God's gift, that is, whether God only foreknew them or also predestined them, I did not then think it necessary to inquire and discuss. Accordingly, what I said, "that Christ willed to appear to men, and His teaching to be preached among them, when He knew and where He knew that there were those who would believe in Him," can also be said thus: that Christ willed to appear to men, and His teaching to be preached among them, when He knew and where He knew that there were those who had been chosen in Him before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4). But since, if it were said in this way, it would make the reader intent on inquiring into those things which now, at the prompting of the Pelagian error, must be discussed more fully and laboriously, it seemed to me that what was then sufficient should be said briefly, setting aside, as I said, the depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God, and without prejudice to other causes, about which I thought it more fitting to dispute not then but at another time.
CAPUT X. — 19. Item quod dixi, « Salutem religionis hujus nulli unquam defuisse qui dignus fuit, et dignum non fuisse cui defuit; » si discutiatur et quaeratur unde quisque sit dignus, non desunt qui dicant, voluntate humana: nos autem dicimus, gratia vel praedestinatione divina. Inter gratiam porro et praedestinationem hoc tantum interest, quod praedestinatio est gratiae praeparatio, gratia vero jam ipsa donatio. Quod itaque ait Apostolus, Non ex operibus, ne forte quis extollatur: ipsius enim sumus
CHAPTER X. — 19. Likewise, as to what I said, "that the salvation of this religion was never lacking to anyone who was worthy, and that he to whom it was lacking was not worthy": if it is examined and asked whence anyone is worthy, there are those who say, by the human will; but we say, by grace or divine predestination. Between grace and predestination, moreover, there is only this difference, that predestination is the preparation of grace, while grace is now the gift itself. What the Apostle says, therefore, Not of works, lest perhaps anyone be lifted up; for we are His […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 974
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "alias alios fuisse"› · printed under col 974 Sic Mss. At editi, alios atque alios fuisse.
So the manuscripts. But the editions: alios atque alios fuisse.
2 ‹anchor: "sed alias"› · printed under col 974 Hic nostri omnes manuscripti omittunt, alias.
Here all our manuscripts omit alias.
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figmentum, creati in Christo Jesu in operibus bonis; gratia est: quod autem sequitur, quae praeparavit Deus, ut in illis ambulemus (Ephes. II, 9, 10); praedestinatio est, quae sine praescientia non potest esse: potest autem esse sine praedestinatione praescientia. Praedestinatione quippe Deus ea praescivit, quae fuerat ipse facturus: unde dictum est, Fecit quae futura sunt (Isai. XLV, sec. LXX). Praescire autem potens est etiam quae ipse non facit; sicut quaecumque peccata: quia etsi sunt quaedam, quae ita peccata sunt, ut poenae sint etiam peccatorum, unde dictum est, Tradidit illos Deus in reprobam mentem, ut faciant quae non conveniunt (Rom. I, 28); non ibi peccatum Dei est, sed judicium. Quocirca praedestinatio Dei quae in bono est, gratiae est, ut dixi, praeparatio: gratia vero est ipsius praedestinationis effectus.
[…] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus in good works, is grace; but what follows, which God has prepared that we should walk in them (Eph. 2:9, 10), is predestination, which cannot be without foreknowledge, whereas foreknowledge can be without predestination. For by predestination God foreknew those things which He Himself was going to do; whence it is said, He has made the things that are to be (Isa. 45, according to the Septuagint). But He is able to foreknow even the things which He does not Himself do, such as any sins whatever: because, although there are some which are sins in such a way that they are also punishments of sins, whence it is said, God delivered them up to a reprobate mind, to do the things that are not fitting (Rom. 1:28), there the sin is not God's, but the judgement is. Wherefore the predestination of God which is unto good is, as I have said, the preparation of grace, while grace is the effect of predestination itself.
Quando ergo promisit Deus Abrahae in semine ejus fidem gentium, dicens, Patrem multarum gentium posui te (Gen. XVII, 4, 5); unde dicit Apostolus, Ideo ex fide, ut secundum gratiam firma sit promissio omni semini: non de nostrae voluntatis potestate, sed de sua praedestinatione promisit. Promisit enim quod ipse facturus fuerat, non quod homines. Quia etsi faciunt homines bona quae pertinent ad colendum Deum; ipse facit ut illi faciant quae praecepit, non illi faciunt ut ipse faciat quod promisit: alioquin ut Dei promissa compleantur, non in Dei, sed in hominum est potestate, et quod a Domino promissum est, ab ipsis redditur Abrahae. Non autem sic credidit Abraham, sed credidit dans gloriam Deo, quoniam quae promisit, potens est et facere (Rom. IV, 16-21): non ait, Praedicere; non ait, Praescire; nam et aliena facta potest praedicere atque praescire: sed ait, potens est et facere; ac per hoc facta, non aliena, sed sua.
When, therefore, God promised Abraham the faith of the nations in his seed, saying, I have made you the father of many nations (Gen. 17:4, 5), whence the Apostle says, Therefore it is of faith, that according to grace the promise may be firm to all the seed, He promised it not from the power of our will but from His own predestination. For He promised what He Himself was going to do, not what men would do. For although men do the good things that pertain to the worship of God, He Himself brings it about that they do what He has commanded; they do not bring it about that He does what He has promised. Otherwise it would be not in God's power but in men's that God's promises are fulfilled, and what was promised by the Lord would be rendered to Abraham by men themselves. But Abraham did not believe thus; rather he believed, giving glory to God, that what He has promised He is able also to do (Rom. 4:16–21). He does not say, to foretell; he does not say, to foreknow; for He can foretell and foreknow the deeds of others too; but he says, He is able also to do; and therefore deeds not of others, but His own.
20. An forte opera bona gentium Deus promisit Abrahae in semine ipsius, ut hoc promitteret quod ipse facit; non autem promisit fidem gentium, quam sibi homines faciunt; sed ut promitteret quod ipse facit, illam praescivit homines esse facturos? Non quidem loquitur sic Apostolus; filios quippe promisit Deus Abrahae, qui fidei ejus vestigia sectarentur: quod apertissime dicit. Sed si opera gentium promisit, non fidem; profecto quoniam non sunt bona opera nisi ex fide (Justus enim ex fide vivit [Habac. II, 4]; et, Omne quod non est ex fide, peccatum est [Rom. XIV, 23]; et, Sine fide impossibile est placere [Hebr. XI, 6]), nihilominus ut impleat quod promisit Deus, in hominum est potestate. Nisi enim homo faciat quod Deo non donante ad hominem pertinet, non faciet ipse quod donet: hoc est, nisi habeat homo fidem ex semetipso, non implet Deus quod promisit, ut opera justitiae dentur ex Deo. Ac per hoc, ut promissa sua Deus possit implere, non est in Dei, sed
20. Or did God perhaps promise Abraham the good works of the nations in his seed, so as to promise what He Himself does, but not promise the faith of the nations, which men make for themselves, and, in order to promise what He Himself does, foreknow that men would make that faith? That is certainly not how the Apostle speaks; for God promised Abraham children who would follow in the footsteps of his faith: this he says most plainly. But if He promised the works of the nations, not their faith, then surely, since there are no good works except from faith (for The just man lives by faith [Hab. 2:4]; and, Whatever is not of faith is sin [Rom. 14:23]; and, Without faith it is impossible to please [Heb. 11:6]), it is nonetheless in men's power that God should fulfil what He promised. For unless man does what belongs to man without God's giving it, God will not Himself do what He gives: that is, unless man has faith from himself, God does not fulfil what He promised, that works of righteousness should be given by God. And therefore, that God may be able to fulfil His promises, it is not in God's power, but […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 975
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "impossibile est placere"› · printed under col 975 Editi, placere Deo. Abest, Deo, a manuscriptis et a graeco textu Apostoli, et passim omittitur ab Augustino.
The editions: placere Deo. Deo is absent from the manuscripts and from the Greek text of the Apostle, and is omitted by Augustine here and there.
2 ‹anchor: "nihilominus ut impleat"› · printed under col 975 Am. et Er., ut impleatur. Melius manuscripti, ut Lovanienses observant, impleat. Nam paulo post, non implet Deus quod promisit; et mox, ut promissa sua Deus possit implere.
Am. and Er.: ut impleatur. The manuscripts, as the Louvain editors observe, better: impleat. For a little after: non implet Deus quod promisit; and soon: ut promissa sua Deus possit implere.
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in hominis potestate. Quod si veritas et pietas non credere vetat; credamus cum Abraham, quoniam quae promisit, potens est et facere. Promisit autem filios Abrahae; quod esse non possunt, si non habeant fidem: ergo ipse donat et fidem.
[…] in man's. But if truth and piety forbid us to believe this, let us believe with Abraham that what He has promised He is able also to do. Now He promised children to Abraham, and they cannot be such if they do not have faith: therefore He Himself gives faith also.
CAPUT XI. — 21. Sane cum Apostolus dicat, Ideo ex fide, ut secundum gratiam firma sit promissio; miror homines infirmitati suae se malle committere, quam firmitati promissionis Dei. « Sed incerta est mihi, » inquit, « de me ipso voluntas Dei. » Quid ergo? tuane tibi voluntas de te ipso certa est, nec times, Qui videtur stare, videat ne cadat (I Cor. X, 12)? Cum igitur utraque incerta sit, cur non homo firmiori quam infirmiori fidem suam, spem, charitatemque committit?
CHAPTER XI. — 21. Indeed, since the Apostle says, Therefore it is of faith, that according to grace the promise may be firm, I wonder that men prefer to entrust themselves to their own weakness rather than to the firmness of God's promise. "But God's will concerning me," one says, "is uncertain to me." What then? Is your own will concerning yourself certain to you, and do you not fear, Let him who seems to stand take heed lest he fall (1 Cor. 10:12)? Since, then, both are uncertain, why does a man not entrust his faith, hope and charity to the firmer rather than to the weaker?
22. « Sed cum dicitur, » inquiunt, « Si credideris, salvus eris (Rom. X, 9); unum horum exigitur, alterum offertur. Quod exigitur, in hominis; quod offertur, in Dei est potestate » (Supra, in Epistola Hilarii, n. 2, col. 947-448). Cur non utrumque in Dei, et quod jubet, et quod offert? Rogatur enim ut det quod jubet: rogant credentes, ut sibi augeatur fides; rogant pro non credentibus, ut eis donetur fides: et in suis igitur incrementis, et in suis initiis Dei donum est fides. Sic autem dicitur, Si credideris, salvus eris; quemadmodum dicitur, Si Spiritu facta carnis mortificaveritis, vivetis. Nam et hic ex his duobus unum exigitur, alterum offertur. Si Spiritu, inquit, facta carnis mortificaveritis, vivetis: ut ergo spiritu facta carnis mortificemus, exigitur; ut autem vivamus, offertur. Num igitur placet ut facta carnis mortificare non donum Dei esse dicamus; neque id donum Dei esse fateamur, quoniam exigi audimus a nobis praemio vitae, si hoc fecerimus, oblato? Absit ut hoc placeat participibus et defensoribus gratiae. Pelagianorum est error iste damnabilis: quorum mox Apostolus ora obstruxit, adjungens, Quotquot enim Spiritu Dei aguntur, hi filii sunt Dei (Rom. VIII, 13, 14); ne facta mortificare nos carnis, non per Dei, sed per nostrum spiritum crederemus. De quo Dei Spiritu etiam ibi loquebatur, ubi ait: Omnia autem haec operatur unus atque idem Spiritus, dividens propria unicuique prout vult (I Cor. XII, 11). Inter quae omnia, sicut scitis, nominavit et fidem. Sicut ergo quamvis donum Dei sit, facta carnis mortificare; exigitur tamen a nobis proposito praemio vitae: ita donum Dei est et fides, quamvis et ipsa cum dicitur, Si credideris, salvus eris; proposito praemio salutis exigatur a nobis. Ideo enim haec et nobis praecipiuntur, et dona Dei esse monstrantur; ut intelligatur quod et nos ea facimus, et Deus facit ut illa faciamus, sicut per prophetam Ezechielem apertissime dicit. Quid enim apertius, quam ubi dicit, Ego faciam ut faciatis (Ezech. XXXVI, 27)? Locum ipsum Scripturae
22. "But when it is said," they say, "If you believe, you will be saved (Rom. 10:9), one of these is required, the other is offered. What is required is in man's power; what is offered is in God's" (above, in the Letter of Hilary, n. 2, col. 947–948). Why are not both in God's power, both what He commands and what He offers? For He is asked to give what He commands: believers ask that faith may be increased in them; they ask on behalf of unbelievers that faith may be given them: therefore both in its increase and in its beginning faith is the gift of God. And it is said, If you believe, you will be saved, in the same way as it is said, If by the Spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you will live. For here too, of these two things one is required and the other offered. If by the Spirit, he says, you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you will live: that we mortify the deeds of the flesh by the spirit is therefore required; but that we live is offered. Are we then pleased to say that to mortify the deeds of the flesh is not a gift of God, and not to confess it to be a gift of God because we hear that it is required of us, with the reward of life offered if we do it? Far be it that this should please the partakers and defenders of grace. This damnable error is that of the Pelagians, whose mouths the Apostle at once stopped by adding, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God (Rom. 8:13, 14), lest we should believe that we mortify the deeds of the flesh not through God's Spirit but through our own. Of this Spirit of God he was speaking there also, where he says: But all these things one and the same Spirit works, dividing to each one severally as He wills (1 Cor. 12:11); and among all these things, as you know, he named faith also. Just as, therefore, to mortify the deeds of the flesh, although it is a gift of God, is nevertheless required of us, with the reward of life set before us, so faith too is a gift of God, although it too, when it is said, If you believe, you will be saved, is required of us with the reward of salvation set before us. For these things are both commanded to us and shown to be gifts of God for this reason: that it may be understood both that we do them and that God brings it about that we do them, as He says most plainly through the prophet Ezekiel. For what is plainer than where He says, I will bring it about that you do (Ezek. 36:27)? The very passage of Scripture […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 976
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "et quod offert"› · printed under col 976 Ita Mss. At Lov., in Dei est, et quod jubetur, et quod offertur?
So the manuscripts. But Lov.: in Dei est, et quod jubetur, et quod offertur?
2 ‹anchor: "Dei donum est fides"› · printed under col 976 Editi, ut et in suis incrementis, et in suis initiis donum sit fides. At Mss., et in suis igitur incrementis, et in suis initiis Dei donum est fides.
The editions: ut et in suis incrementis, et in suis initiis donum sit fides. But the manuscripts: et in suis igitur incrementis, et in suis initiis Dei donum est fides.
3 ‹anchor: "Locum ipsum Scripturae"› · printed under col 976 Hic in editis additur, fratres charissimi. Abest a manuscriptis
Here the editions add fratres charissimi. It is absent from the manuscripts.
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attendite, et videbitis illa Deum promittere facturum se ut faciant, quae jubet ut fiant. Non sane ibi tacet merita eorum, sed mala; quibus se ostendit reddere pro malis bona, hoc ipso quo eos facit habere deinceps opera bona, cum ipse facit ut faciant divina mandata.
[…] consider, and you will see that God promises that He will Himself bring it about that they do those things which He commands to be done. He does not indeed there pass over their merits in silence, but they are evil ones; and He shows that He renders to them good for evil by the very fact that He makes them thenceforth have good works, when He Himself brings it about that they do the divine commandments.
CAPUT XII. — 23. Sed omnis haec ratio, qua defendimus gratiam Dei per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum, vere esse gratiam, id est, non secundum merita nostra dari, quamvis evidentissime divinorum eloquiorum testimoniis asseratur; tamen apud eos, qui nisi aliquid sibi assignent, quod priores dent ut retribuatur eis, ab omni studio pietatis reprimi se putant, laborat aliquantum in aetate majorum jam utentium voluntatis arbitrio: sed ubi venitur ad parvulos, et ad ipsum Mediatorem Dei et hominum, hominem Christum Jesum (I Tim. II, 5), omnis deficit praecedentium gratiam Dei humanorum assertio meritorum: quia nec illi ullis bonis praecedentibus meritis discernuntur a caeteris, ut pertineant ad liberatorem hominum; nec ille ullis humanis praecedentibus meritis, cum et ipse sit homo, liberator factus est hominum.
CHAPTER XII. — 23. But this whole reasoning, by which we maintain that the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord is truly grace, that is, that it is not given according to our merits, although it is asserted most evidently by the testimonies of the divine oracles, nevertheless labours somewhat, with those who think themselves held back from all zeal for piety unless they can ascribe to themselves something which they first give so that it may be repaid to them, in the case of those of riper age who already use the choice of the will. But when one comes to little children, and to the Mediator of God and men Himself, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5), every assertion of human merits going before the grace of God fails: because neither are the former distinguished from the rest by any good merits going before, so as to belong to the Deliverer of men, nor was He made the Deliverer of men by any human merits going before, though He Himself too is a man.
24. Quis enim audiat, quod dicuntur parvuli pro suis futuris meritis in ipsa infantili aetate baptizati exire de hac vita; et ideo alii non baptizati in eadem aetate mori, quia et ipsorum praescita sunt merita futura, sed mala; non eorum vitam bonam vel malam Deo remunerante vel damnante, sed nullam (Supra in Epistola Prosperi, n. 5, col. 951-952)? Apostolus quidem limitem fixit, quem transgredi non debeat hominis, ut mitius loquar, incauta suspicio. Ait enim, Omnes astabimus ante tribunal Christi, ut referat unusquisque secundum ea quae per corpus gessit, sive bonum, sive malum (II Cor. V, 10): gessit, inquit; non adjunxit, Vel gesturus fuit. Sed unde hoc talibus viris in mentem venerit nescio, ut futura quae non sunt futura, puniantur, aut honorentur merita parvulorum. Cur autem dictum est, secundum ea quae per corpus gessit hominem judicandum, cum gerantur multa solo animo, non per corpus, nec per ullum corporis membrum; et plerumque tam magna, ut talibus cogitationibus poena justissima debeatur: sicuti est, ut alia taceam, quod dixit insipiens in corde suo, Non est Deus (Psal. XIII, 1)? Quid est ergo, secundum ea quae per corpus gessit; nisi, Secundum ea quae gessit eo tempore quo in corpore fuit, ut per corpus intelligamus, Per corporis tempus? Post corpus autem nemo erit in corpore, nisi resurrectione novissima; non ad ulla merita comparanda, sed ad recipienda pro bonis meritis praemia, pro malis luenda supplicia. Hoc autem medio tempore inter depositionem
24. For who would listen to the claim that little children who are baptized in their very infancy depart this life on account of their future merits, and that others die unbaptized at the same age because their future merits too were foreknown, but as evil ones, God rewarding or condemning not their good or evil life, but a life that is none (above, in the Letter of Prosper, n. 5, col. 951–952)? The Apostle, indeed, has fixed a limit which the incautious suspicion of man, to speak mildly, ought not to overstep. For he says, We shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive according to the things he has done through the body, whether good or evil (2 Cor. 5:10): has done, he says; he did not add, or would have done. But whence it came into the minds of such men I do not know, that the future merits of little children, which will not be in the future, should be punished or honoured. And why is it said that a man is to be judged according to the things he has done through the body, when many things are done by the mind alone, not through the body nor through any member of the body, and often things so great that a most just punishment is owed to such thoughts: as, to say nothing of other things, that The fool has said in his heart, There is no God (Ps. 13:1)? What, then, is according to the things he has done through the body, except according to the things he did in the time when he was in the body, so that by through the body we understand through the time of the body? After the body, however, no one will be in the body except at the last resurrection, not for acquiring any merits, but for receiving rewards for good merits and paying penalties for evil ones. But in this intervening time between the laying down […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 977
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "laborat aliquantum"› · printed under col 977 Editi, laboratur aliquando. At Mss., laborat aliquantum, sive, aliquanto. Refertur, laborat, ad superiora verba: Sed omnis haec ratio.
The editions: laboratur aliquando. But the manuscripts: laborat aliquantum, or aliquanto. Laborat refers to the words above: Sed omnis haec ratio.
2 ‹anchor: "vel damnante"› · printed under col 977 Editi, vel damnante? Tum inde sententiam sequentem inchoant hoc modo: Sed nullum Apostolus quidem limitem fixit. Emendantur ex manuscriptorum fide, quorum lectionem probant manifeste Lovanienses in adnotationibus, ubi monent, nullam, illic appellari vitam infantum, quae futura somniatur, si supervixissent.
The editions: vel damnante? Then they begin the following sentence thus: Sed nullum Apostolus quidem limitem fixit. They are corrected on the authority of the manuscripts, whose reading the Louvain editors plainly approve in their annotations, where they point out that the life of infants which is imagined as future, had they survived, is there called nullam.
3 ‹anchor: "pro malis luenda"› · printed under col 977 Editi, vel pro malis. Abest, vel, a Mss.
The editions: vel pro malis. Vel is absent from the manuscripts.
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et receptionem corporis, secundum ea quae gesserunt per corporis tempus, sive cruciantur animae, sive requiescunt. Ad quod tempus corporis pertinet etiam quod Pelagiani negant, sed Christi Ecclesia confitetur, originale peccatum: quo sive soluto per Dei gratiam, sive per Dei judicium non soluto, cum moriuntur infantes, aut merito regenerationis transeunt ex malis ad bona, aut merito originis transeunt ex malis ad mala. Hoc catholica fides novit: in hoc etiam nonnulli haeretici sine ulla contradictione consentiunt. Judicari autem quemquam non secundum merita quae habuit quamdiu fuit in corpore, sed secundum merita quae fuerat habiturus si diutius vixisset in corpore, unde opinari potuerint homines, quorum ingenia non esse contemptibilia vestrae indicant litterae, mirans et stupens reperire non possum: nec credere auderem, nisi vobis non credere non auderem.
[…] and the taking up again of the body, souls are either tormented or at rest according to the things they did through the time of the body. To this time of the body belongs also original sin, which the Pelagians deny but the Church of Christ confesses: and according as it has been loosed through the grace of God, or not loosed through the judgement of God, infants when they die pass either, by the merit of regeneration, from evils to good things, or, by the merit of their origin, from evils to evils. This the catholic faith knows; in this even some heretics agree without any contradiction. But that anyone should be judged not according to the merits which he had as long as he was in the body, but according to the merits which he would have had if he had lived longer in the body: whence men could have come to think this, men whose minds your letters show not to be contemptible, I cannot discover, for all my wonder and astonishment; nor would I dare to believe it, did I not dare not to believe you.
Sed spero adfuturum Deum, ut commoniti cito videant, ea quae dicuntur futura fuisse peccata, si per Dei judicium in non baptizatis possunt jure puniri, etiam per Dei gratiam baptizatis posse dimitti. Quicumque enim dicit, puniri tantum posse Deo judicante futura peccata, dimitti autem Deo miserante non posse, cogitare debet quantam Deo faciat gratiaeque ejus injuriam; quasi futurum peccatum praenosci possit, nec possit ignosci. Quod si absurdum est; magis ergo futuris, si diu viverent, peccatoribus, cum in parva aetate moriuntur, lavacro quo peccata diluuntur, debuit subvenire.
But I hope that God will be at hand, so that, once admonished, they may soon see that, if the sins which are said to have been going to be committed can justly be punished in the unbaptized by the judgement of God, they can also be forgiven the baptized by the grace of God. For whoever says that future sins can only be punished by God's judging, but cannot be forgiven by God's showing mercy, ought to consider how great an injury he does to God and to His grace, as if a future sin could be foreknown and yet could not be pardoned. But if this is absurd, all the more, then, ought He to have come to the aid of those who would have been sinners had they lived long, when they die at a tender age, by the washing in which sins are washed away.
CAPUT XIII. — 25. Quod si forsitan dicunt, poenitentibus peccata dimitti; et ideo istos non baptizari in parvula aetate morientes, quia praesciti sunt poenitentiam, si viverent, non acturi; eos autem qui baptizantur, et parvuli de corporibus exeunt, Deum praescisse acturos poenitentiam fuisse, si viverent: attendant et videant, si ita est, non jam in parvulis sine Baptismate morientibus peccata originalia vindicari, sed sua cujusque futura si viveret: itemque baptizatis non originalia dilui, sed sua futura si viverent; quoniam non possent nisi in majore aetate peccare: sed alios acturos poenitentiam, alios non acturos fuisse praevisos; ideo alios baptizatos, alios sine baptismo exisse de hac vita. Hoc si auderent Pelagiani, non jam laborarent negando originale peccatum, quaerere parvulis extra regnum Dei nescio cujus suae felicitatis locum: maxime quando convincuntur non eos habere posse vitam aeternam, quia non manducaverunt carnem nec biberunt sanguinem Christi (Joan. VI, 54); et quia in eis, qui nullum habent omnino peccatum, falsus est Baptismus qui in remissionem traditur peccatorum. Dicerent enim prorsus nullum esse originale peccatum, sed pro suis futuris, si viverent, meritis vel baptizari vel non baptizari eos qui de corpore solvuntur infantes; et pro suis futuris meritis
CHAPTER XIII. — 25. But if perhaps they say that sins are forgiven to the penitent, and that those who die at a tender age are therefore not baptized because they were foreknown as not going to do penance if they had lived, while God foreknew that those who are baptized and depart from their bodies as little children would have done penance if they had lived: let them attend and see that, if this is so, it is no longer original sins that are punished in little children dying without Baptism, but each one's own future sins if he had lived; and likewise that in the baptized it is not original sins that are washed away, but their own future sins if they had lived, since they could not sin except at a greater age; but that some were foreseen as going to do penance and others as not going to, and that for this reason some departed this life baptized and others without baptism. If the Pelagians dared to say this, they would no longer labour, by denying original sin, to seek for little children outside the kingdom of God a place of I know not what happiness of their own, especially when they are refuted by the fact that they cannot have eternal life, because they have not eaten the flesh nor drunk the blood of Christ (John 6:54), and because in those who have no sin at all the Baptism which is given for the remission of sins is false. For they would say that there is no original sin at all, but that those who are released from the body as infants are either baptized or not baptized according to their own future merits, if they had lived; and according to their own future merits […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 978
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "non baptizari in"› · printed under col 978 Manuscripti, baptizari parvula aetate; omisso, in.
The manuscripts: baptizari parvula aetate, with in omitted.
2 ‹anchor: "nisi in majore aetate peccare"› · printed under col 978 Mss., quoniam non posset nisi in majore aetate peccari. Et infra loco, fuisse praevisos; habent, fortasse praevisos. Non omnia hic satis cohaerent: quia forte verba nonnulla e margine irrepserunt in textum.
The manuscripts: quoniam non posset nisi in majore aetate peccari. And below, in place of fuisse praevisos, they have fortasse praevisos. Not everything here hangs together well, because perhaps some words have crept into the text from the margin.
3 ‹anchor: "Hoc si auderent"› · printed under col 978 Am. et Er., audierint. Mss., audirent †.
Am. and Er.: audierint. The manuscripts: audirent.
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eos vel accipere vel non accipere corpus et sanguinem Christi, sine quo vitam prorsus habere non possunt: et in veram remissionem peccatorum baptizari, quamvis nullum ex Adam traherent; quoniam remittuntur eis peccata, de quibus illos Deus poenitentiam praescivit acturos. Ita facillime agerent atque obtinerent causam suam, qua negant esse originale peccatum, et gratiam Dei non dari nisi secundum merita nostra contendunt. Sed quia hominum futura, quae non sunt futura, procul dubio nulla sunt merita, et hoc videre facillimum est: ideo nec Pelagiani hoc dicere potuerunt; et multo magis nec isti dicere debuerunt. Dici enim non potest quam moleste feram, quod viderunt Pelagiani esse falsissimum et absurdissimum, hoc non vidisse istos, qui nobiscum errorem illorum haereticorum catholica auctoritate condemnant.
[…] they either receive or do not receive the body and blood of Christ, without which they cannot have life at all; and that they are baptized for a true remission of sins, although they drew none from Adam, because those sins are remitted to them of which God foreknew that they would do penance. In this way they would most easily plead and win their case, in which they deny that there is original sin and contend that the grace of God is not given except according to our merits. But because the future merits of men, which will not be in the future, are without doubt no merits at all, and this is most easy to see, for that reason not even the Pelagians could say this; and much more ought these men not to have said it. For I cannot say how much it grieves me that what the Pelagians saw to be most false and most absurd, these men have not seen, who with us condemn the error of those heretics by catholic authority.
CAPUT XIV. — 26. Scripsit librum de Mortalitate Cyprianus, multis ac pene omnibus qui ecclesiasticas litteras amant, laudabiliter notum: in quo propterea dicit non solum non esse fidelibus inutilem mortem, verum etiam utilem reperiri, quoniam peccandi periculis hominem subtrahit, et in non peccandi securitate constituit. Sed quid prodest, si etiam futura, quae commissa non sunt, peccata puniuntur? Agit tamen ille copiosissime atque optime, peccandi pericula nec deesse in ista vita, nec superesse post illam. Ubi et illud testimonium ponit de libro Sapientiae, Raptus est, ne malitia mutaret intellectum ejus. Quod a me quoque positum, fratres istos ita respuisse dixistis, tanquam non de libro canonico adhibitum: quasi et excepta hujus libri attestatione res ipsa non clara sit, quam voluimus hinc doceri. Quis enim audeat negare christianus, justum, si morte praeoccupatus fuerit, in refrigerio futurum (Sap. IV, 11, 7)? Quilibet hoc dixerit, quis homo sanae fidei resistendum putabit? Item si dixerit, justum, si a sua justitia recesserit, in qua diu vixit, et in ea fuerit impietate defunctus, in qua, non dico unum annum, sed unum diem vixerit, in poenas iniquis debitas hinc iturum, nihil sibi sua praeterita justitia profutura (Ezech. XVIII, 24): huic perspicuae veritati quis fidelium contradicet? Porro, si quaeratur a nobis utrum si tunc esset mortuus, quando erat justus, poenas esset inventurus, an requiem; numquid requiem respondere dubitabimus? Haec est tota causa cur dictum est, a quocumque sit dictum, Raptus est, ne malitia mutaret intellectum ejus. Dictum est enim secundum pericula vitae hujus, non secundum praescientiam Dei, qui hoc praescivit quod futurum erat, non quod futurum non erat: id est, quod ei mortem immaturam fuerat largiturus, ut tentationum subtraheretur incerto; non quod peccaturus esset, qui mansurus in tentatione non esset. De hac quippe vita legitur in libro Job, Numquid non tentatio est vita humana super terram (Job VII, 1, sec. LXX)? Sed quare aliis concedatur, ut ex hujus vitae periculis dum justi sunt
CHAPTER XIV. — 26. Cyprian wrote a book On Mortality, known with praise to many, indeed to almost all who love the writings of the Church, in which he says that death is not only not useless to the faithful but is even found to be useful, because it withdraws a man from the dangers of sinning and establishes him in the security of not sinning. But what does that profit, if even future sins, which have not been committed, are punished? Yet he argues most fully and excellently that the dangers of sinning are not lacking in this life and do not remain after it. There too he sets down that testimony from the book of Wisdom, He was taken away lest wickedness should alter his understanding. You have said that these brethren so rejected this, when it was set down by me also, as though it were not adduced from a canonical book: as if, even apart from the attestation of this book, the thing itself which we wished to be taught from it were not clear. For what Christian would dare to deny that the just man, if he is overtaken by death, will be in refreshment (Wis. 4:11, 7)? Let anyone at all say this: what man of sound faith will think it should be resisted? Likewise, if someone says that the just man, if he departs from his righteousness in which he has long lived, and dies in an impiety in which he has lived, I do not say one year, but one day, will go hence into the punishments due to the wicked, his past righteousness profiting him nothing (Ezek. 18:24): which of the faithful will contradict this plain truth? Further, if we are asked whether, had he died at the time when he was just, he would have met with punishment or with rest, shall we hesitate to answer, rest? This is the whole reason why it was said, by whomever it was said, He was taken away lest wickedness should alter his understanding. For it was said with regard to the dangers of this life, not with regard to the foreknowledge of God, Who foreknew what was to be, not what was not to be: that is, that He would bestow on him an untimely death, so that he might be withdrawn from the uncertainty of temptations; not that he would sin, who was not going to remain in temptation. For of this life we read in the book of Job, Is not the life of man upon earth a temptation (Job 7:1, according to the Septuagint)? But why it is granted to some that, while they are just, from the dangers of this life […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 979
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "puniuntur? Agit"› · printed under col 979 Sic Mss. At editi, ait.
So the manuscripts. But the editions: ait.
2 ‹anchor: "quam voluimus"› · printed under col 979 Editi, volumus Aliquot Mss., voluimus.
The editions: volumus. Some manuscripts: voluimus.
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auferantur; alii vero justi donec a justitia cadant, in eisdem periculis vita productiore teneantur; quis cognovit sensum Domini (Rom. XI, 34)? Et tamen hinc intelligi datur, etiam illis justis qui bonos piosque mores usque ad senectutis maturitatem et diem vitae hujus ultimum servant, non in suis meritis, sed in Domino esse gloriandum: quoniam qui vitae brevitate rapuit justum, ne malitia mutaret intellectum ejus, ipse in quantacumque vitae longitudine custodit justum, ne malitia mutet intellectum ejus. Cur autem hic tenuerit casurum justum, quem priusquam caderet hinc posset auferre, justissima omnino, sed inscrutabilia sunt judicia ejus.
[…] they should be taken away, while other just men are kept in the same dangers by a longer life until they fall from righteousness: who has known the mind of the Lord (Rom. 11:34)? And yet from this it is given us to understand that even those just men who keep good and pious ways up to the ripeness of old age and the last day of this life must glory not in their own merits but in the Lord: since He Who by shortness of life snatched away the just man lest wickedness should alter his understanding, Himself, in however great a length of life, guards the just man lest wickedness alter his understanding. But why He should have kept here a just man who was going to fall, whom He could have taken away hence before he fell: His judgements are altogether most just, but unsearchable.
27. Quae cum ita sint, non debuit repudiari sententia libri Sapientiae, qui meruit in Ecclesia Christi de gradu lectorum Ecclesiae Christi tam longa annositate recitari, et ab omnibus Christianis, ab episcopis usque ad extremos laicos fideles, poenitentes, catechumenos, cum veneratione divinae auctoritatis audiri. Certe enim si de divinarum Scripturarum tractatoribus qui fuerunt ante nos, proferrem defensionem hujusce sententiae, quam nunc solito diligentius atque copiosius contra novum Pelagianorum defendere urgemur errorem; hoc est, gratiam Dei non secundum merita nostra dari, et gratis dari cui datur; quia neque volentis, neque currentis, sed miserentis est Dei; justo autem judicio non dari cui non datur, quia non est iniquitas apud Deum (Id. IX, 16, 14): si hujus ergo sententiae defensionem ex divinorum eloquiorum nos praecedentibus catholicis tractatoribus promerem; profecto hi fratres, pro quibus nunc agimus, acquiescerent: hoc enim significastis litteris vestris. Quid igitur opus est ut eorum scrutemur opuscula, qui priusquam ista haeresis oriretur, non habuerunt necessitatem in hac difficili ad solvendum quaestione versari? quod procul dubio facerent, si respondere talibus cogerentur. Unde factum est ut de gratia Dei quid sentirent, breviter quibusdam scriptorum suorum locis et transeunter attingerent: immorarentur vero in eis quae adversus inimicos Ecclesiae disputabant, et in exhortationibus ad quasque virtutes, quibus Deo vivo et vero pro adipiscenda vita aeterna et vera felicitate servitur. Frequentationibus autem orationum simpliciter apparebat Dei gratia quid valeret: non enim poscerentur de Deo quae praecipit fieri, nisi ab illo donaretur ut fierent.
27. Since these things are so, the judgement of the book of Wisdom ought not to have been rejected, which has deserved to be read in the Church of Christ from the step of the readers of the Church of Christ for so long a course of years, and to be heard by all Christians, from bishops down to the lowest lay faithful, penitents and catechumens, with the veneration due to divine authority. For certainly, if I were to bring forward from those expounders of the divine Scriptures who were before us a defence of this doctrine, which we are now urged to defend with more than usual care and fullness against the new error of the Pelagians, namely, that the grace of God is not given according to our merits, and is given freely to him to whom it is given, since it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God Who shows mercy, while by a just judgement it is not given to him to whom it is not given, since there is no iniquity with God (Ibid. 9:16, 14): if, then, I were to produce a defence of this doctrine from catholic expounders of the divine oracles who preceded us, these brethren for whom we are now acting would surely acquiesce; for this is what you indicated in your letters. What need is there, then, for us to search the works of those who, before this heresy arose, were under no necessity of engaging with this question so difficult to resolve? This they would without doubt have done, if they had been compelled to answer such men. Hence it came about that they touched on what they thought about the grace of God briefly, in some passages of their writings, and in passing; but they dwelt on the things which they argued against the enemies of the Church, and in exhortations to each of the virtues by which the living and true God is served for the attaining of eternal life and true happiness. By the frequency of their prayers, however, it appeared simply what the grace of God could do: for they would not ask of God the things He commands to be done, unless it were given by Him that they should be done.
28. Sed qui sententiis tractatorum instrui volunt, oportet ut istum librum Sapientiae, ubi legitur, Raptus est, ne malitia mutaret intellectum ejus, omnibus tractatoribus anteponant: quoniam sibi eum anteposuerunt etiam temporibus proximi Apostolorum egregii tractatores, qui eum testem adhibentes, nihil se adhibere nisi divinum testimonium crediderunt. Et certe beatissimum Cyprianum disputasse constat, ut celerioris mortis beneficium commendaret, a peccatorum periculis eripi eos qui hanc vitam finiunt in qua peccari potest. In eodem libro ait inter caetera:
28. But those who wish to be instructed by the judgements of expounders ought to set this book of Wisdom, where we read, He was taken away lest wickedness should alter his understanding, before all expounders: since even the eminent expounders nearest to the times of the Apostles set it before themselves, who, in adducing it as a witness, believed that they were adducing nothing but a divine testimony. And it is certainly established that the most blessed Cyprian, to commend the benefit of a speedier death, argued that those who end this life, in which it is possible to sin, are snatched from the dangers of sins. In the same book he says, among other things:
Editors' notes and page, col. 980
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "adversus inimicos"› · printed under col 980 Editi, adversus alios inimicos. Manuscripti non habent, alios.
The editions: adversus alios inimicos. The manuscripts do not have alios.
2 ‹anchor: "poscerentur de Deo"› · printed under col 980 Sic Mss. Editi, a Deo.
So the manuscripts. The editions: a Deo.
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Cur non cum Christo futurus, et de Domini pollicitatione securus, quod ad Christum voceris, amplecteris; et quod diabolo careas, gratularis? Et alio loco: Pueri, inquit, periculum lubricae aetatis evadunt. Itemque alio: Quid non, inquit, properamus et currimus, ut patriam nostram videre, ut parentes salutare possimus? Magnus illic nos charorum numerus exspectat parentum, fratrum, filiorum; frequens nos et copiosa turba desiderat, jam de sua incolumitate secura, adhuc de nostra salute sollicita. His atque hujusmodi doctor ille sententiis in catholicae fidei luce clarissima, satis aperteque testatur, usque ad hujus corporis depositionem peccandi pericula tentationesque metuendas; deinceps nulla talia quemquam esse passurum. Quod etsi non testaretur; quando de hac re christianus qualiscumque dubitaret? Quomodo igitur homini lapso, et in eodem lapsu istam vitam misere finienti, atque in poenas eunti talibus debitas; quomodo, inquam, huic non plurimum summeque prodesset, si ex hoc tentationum loco priusquam laberetur, morte raperetur.
"Why, when you are to be with Christ and are secure in the Lord's promise, do you not embrace being called to Christ, and rejoice that you are to be free of the devil?" And in another place: "Children," he says, "escape the peril of slippery youth." And likewise in another: "Why do we not," he says, "hasten and run, that we may see our homeland, that we may greet our parents? A great number of dear ones awaits us there, parents, brothers, children; a thronging and plentiful crowd longs for us, already secure of its own safety, still anxious for our salvation." By these and suchlike sentences that teacher, in the most clear light of the catholic faith, testifies plainly and openly enough that the dangers of sinning and temptations are to be feared up to the laying down of this body, but that thereafter no one will suffer any such things. And even if he did not testify to it, when would any Christian whatever doubt about this matter? How then, for a man who has fallen and who ends this life wretchedly in that same fall, and goes into the punishments due to such men, how, I say, would it not profit him very greatly and supremely if he had been snatched by death from this place of temptations before he fell?
29. Ac per hoc, si absit nimis inconsiderata contentio, tota quaestio ista finita est de illo qui raptus est, ne malitia mutaret intellectum ejus. Nec ideo liber Sapientiae, qui tanta numerositate annorum legi meruit in Ecclesia Christi, in quo et hoc legitur, pati debet injuriam, quoniam resistit eis qui pro meritis hominum falluntur, ut veniant contra Dei manifestissimam gratiam: quae maxime apparet in parvulis; quorum cum alii baptizati, alii non baptizati vitae hujus terminum sumunt, satis indicant misericordiam et judicium; misericordiam quidem gratuitam, judicium debitum. Si enim judicarentur homines pro meritis suae vitae, quae non habuerunt morte praeventi, sed habituri essent, si viverent; nihil prodesset ei qui raptus est, ne malitia mutaret intellectum ejus; nihil prodesset eis qui lapsi moriuntur, si ante morerentur: quod nullus dicere christianus audebit. Quocirca non debent fratres nostri, qui nobiscum pro catholica fide perniciem Pelagiani erroris impugnant, huic Pelagianae in tantum favere opinioni, qua opinantur gratiam Dei secundum merita nostra dari; ut quod illi audere non possunt, sententiam veram plane et antiquitus christianam, Raptus est, ne malitia mutaret intellectum ejus, destruere moliantur; et id astruere, quod, non dico crediturum, sed somniaturum neminem putaremus, secundum ea scilicet judicari quemque mortuorum, quae gesturus fuerat, si tempore prolixiore vixisset. Ita quippe claret invictum esse quod dicimus, gratiam Dei non secundum merita nostra dari, ut huic veritati contradicentes ingeniosi homines haec, ab omnium auribus et cogitationibus abigenda, dicere cogerentur.
29. And therefore, if overly inconsiderate contention is absent, this whole question is settled concerning him who was taken away lest wickedness should alter his understanding. Nor ought the book of Wisdom, which has deserved to be read in the Church of Christ for so great a number of years, and in which this too is read, to suffer injury because it resists those who are deceived in favour of the merits of men, so that they come out against the most manifest grace of God: which appears most of all in little children; for since some of them reach the end of this life baptized and others unbaptized, they show clearly enough both mercy and judgement: mercy indeed freely given, judgement due. For if men were judged according to the merits of their life which, being forestalled by death, they did not have, but would have had if they had lived, it would have profited nothing to him who was taken away lest wickedness should alter his understanding; it would profit nothing to those who die fallen if they had died before: which no Christian will dare to say. Wherefore our brethren, who with us attack the bane of the Pelagian error on behalf of the catholic faith, ought not so far to favour this Pelagian opinion, by which they think that the grace of God is given according to our merits, that they should attempt to destroy a judgement plainly true and anciently Christian, He was taken away lest wickedness should alter his understanding, which those men cannot dare to do, and to maintain what we should have thought no one would, I do not say believe, but even dream: namely, that each of the dead is judged according to the things he would have done had he lived for a longer time. So clearly indeed does it appear that what we say is unassailable, that the grace of God is not given according to our merits, that ingenious men who contradict this truth were compelled to say these things, which ought to be driven from everyone's ears and thoughts.
CAPUT XV. — 30. Est etiam praeclarissimum lumen praedestinationis et gratiae, ipse Salvator, ipse Mediator Dei et hominum homo Christus Jesus: qui ut hoc esset, quibus tandem suis vel operum vel fidei praecedentibus meritis natura humana quae in illo est comparavit? Respondeatur, quaeso: ille homo,
CHAPTER XV. — 30. There is also a most illustrious light of predestination and grace, the Saviour Himself, the Mediator Himself of God and men, the man Christ Jesus: by what preceding merits of its own, whether of works or of faith, did the human nature which is in Him procure that it should be this? Let it be answered, I pray: that man,
Editors' notes and page, col. 981
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- other: col 980 ends without a hyphen; the imported CAPUT XV paragraph (R0330) was checked against the page and is complete; the text above it (end of n. 28 and n. 29) was set by PS02
ut a Verbo Patri coaeterno in unitatem personae assumptus, Filius Dei unigenitus esset, unde hoc meruit? Quod ejus bonum qualecumque praecessit? Quid egit ante, quid credidit, quid petivit, ut ad hanc ineffabilem excellentiam perveniret? Nonne faciente ac suscipiente Verbo, ipse homo, ex quo esse coepit, Filius Dei unicus esse coepit? Nonne Filium Dei unicum femina illa gratia plena concepit? Nonne de Spiritu sancto et virgine Maria Dei Filius unicus natus est, non carnis cupidine, sed singulari Dei munere? Numquid metuendum fuit, ne accedente aetate homo ille libero peccaret arbitrio? Aut ideo in illo non libera voluntas erat, ac non tanto magis erat, quanto magis peccato servire non poterat? Nempe ista omnia singulariter admiranda, et alia si qua ejus propria verissime dici possunt, singulariter in illo accepit humana, hoc est, nostra natura, nullis suis praecedentibus meritis. Respondeat hic homo Deo, si audet, et dicat, Cur non et ego? Et si audierit, O homo, tu qui es qui respondeas Deo (Rom. IX, 20)? nec sic cohibeat, sed augeat impudentiam, et dicat, Quomodo audio, Tu qui es, o homo? Cum sim quod audio, id est homo, quod est et ille de quo ago, cur non sim quod et ille? At enim gratia ille talis ac tantus est. Cur diversa est gratia, ubi natura communis est? Certe non est acceptio personarum apud Deum (Coloss. III, 25). Quis, non dico christianus, sed insanus haec dicat?
that He should be assumed by the Word co-eternal with the Father into unity of person, and be the only-begotten Son of God, whence did He merit this? What good of His, of whatever kind, went before? What did He do beforehand, what did He believe, what did He ask, that He should attain to this ineffable excellence? Was it not by the Word's making and taking Him up that the man Himself, from the moment He began to be, began to be the only Son of God? Did not that woman full of grace conceive the only Son of God? Was not the only Son of God born of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary, not by the desire of the flesh but by the singular gift of God? Was it to be feared that, as age came on, that man would sin by free choice? Or was the will in Him therefore not free, and was it not so much the more [free], the more it could not be a slave to sin? Truly all these things, singularly to be wondered at, and others, if any can most truly be said to be proper to Him, human nature, that is, our nature, received singularly in Him, by no preceding merits of its own. Let a man here answer God, if he dares, and say, Why not I also? And if he hears, O man, who are you that reply to God (Rom. 9:20)? let him not be checked even so, but increase his impudence and say, How do I hear, Who are you, O man? Since I am what I hear, that is, a man, which He also is of whom I speak, why am I not what He also is? But it is by grace that He is such and so great. Why is grace different, where nature is common? Surely there is no respect of persons with God (Col. 3:25). Who, I do not say [what] Christian, but [what] madman would say these things?
31. Appareat itaque nobis in nostro capite ipse fons gratiae, unde secundum uniuscujusque mensuram se per cuncta ejus membra diffundit. Ea gratia fit ab initio fidei suae homo quicumque christianus, qua gratia homo ille ab initio suo factus est Christus: de ipso Spiritu et hic renatus, de quo est ille natus; eodem Spiritu fit in nobis remissio peccatorum, quo Spiritu factum est ut nullum haberet ille peccatum. Haec se Deus esse facturum profecto praescivit. Ipsa est igitur praedestinatio sanctorum, quae in Sancto sanctorum maxime claruit: quam negare quis potest recte intelligentium eloquia veritatis? Nam et ipsum Dominum gloriae, in quantum homo factus est Dei Filius, praedestinatum esse didicimus. Clamat Doctor Gentium in capite Epistolarum suarum, Paulus servus Jesu Christi, vocatus apostolus, segregatus in Evangelium Dei, quod ante promiserat per Prophetas suos in Scripturis sanctis de Filio suo, qui factus est ei ex semine David secundum carnem, qui praedestinatus est Filius Dei in virtute, secundum Spiritum sanctificationis ex resurrectione mortuorum (Rom. I, 1-4). Praedestinatus est ergo Jesus, ut qui futurus erat secundum carnem filius David, esset tamen in virtute Filius Dei secundum Spiritum sanctificationis; quia natus est de Spiritu sancto et virgine Maria. Ipsa est illa ineffabiliter facta hominis a Deo Verbo susceptio singularis, ut Filius Dei et filius hominis simul, filius hominis propter susceptum hominem, et Filius Dei
31. Let there appear to us, then, in our head the very fount of grace, whence, according to the measure of each, it diffuses itself through all His members. By that grace every man becomes a Christian from the beginning of his faith, by which grace that man from His beginning became Christ: this one too is reborn of the very Spirit of Whom that one was born; by the same Spirit the remission of sins is wrought in us, by which Spirit it was wrought that He should have no sin. God assuredly foreknew that He would do these things. This, therefore, is the predestination of the saints, which shone forth most of all in the Saint of saints: which who can deny, of those who rightly understand the utterances of the truth? For we have learned that the Lord of glory Himself also, in so far as man was made Son of God, was predestined. The Teacher of the Gentiles cries out at the head of his Epistles, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God, which He had promised before by His Prophets in the holy Scriptures concerning His Son, Who was made to Him of the seed of David according to the flesh, Who was predestined the Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of sanctification, by the resurrection of the dead (Rom. 1:1–4). Jesus therefore was predestined, so that He Who was to be the son of David according to the flesh should yet be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of sanctification; because He was born of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary. This is that singular taking-up of man by God the Word, ineffably wrought, so that [He should be] at once Son of God and son of man, son of man because of the man taken up, and Son of God
Editors' notes and page, col. 982
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "sed singulari"› · printed under col 982 Plerique manuscripti, solo.
Most manuscripts: solo.
2 ‹anchor: "Dominum gloriae"› · printed under col 982 Tres Mss., Dominum gratiae.
Three manuscripts: Dominum gratiae.
3 ‹anchor: "praedestinatum esse didicimus"› · printed under col 982 Am. Er. et aliquot Mss., dicimus.
Am., Er. and some manuscripts: dicimus.
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propter suscipientem unigenitum Deum veraciter et proprie diceretur; ne non trinitas, sed quaternitas crederetur. Praedestinata est ista naturae humanae tanta et tam celsa et summa subvectio, ut quo attolleretur altius, non haberet: sicut pro nobis ipsa divinitas quo usque se deponeret humilius, non habuit, quam suscepta natura hominis cum infirmitate carnis usque ad mortem crucis. Sicut ergo praedestinatus est ille unus, ut caput nostrum esset: ita multi praedestinati sumus, ut membra ejus essemus. Humana hic merita conticescant, quae perierunt per Adam: et regnet quae regnat Dei gratia per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum, unicum Dei Filium, unum Dominum. Quisquis in capite nostro praecedentia merita singularis illius generationis invenerit, ipse in nobis membris ejus praecedentia merita multiplicatae regenerationis inquirat. Neque enim retributa est Christo illa generatio, sed tributa, ut alienus ab omni obligatione peccati, de Spiritu et Virgine nasceretur. Sic et nobis ut ex aqua et Spiritu renasceremur, non retributum est pro aliquo merito, sed gratis tributum: et si nos ad lavacrum regenerationis fides duxit, non ideo putare debemus, priores nos dedisse aliquid, ut retribueretur nobis regeneratio salutaris; ille quippe nos fecit credere in Christum, qui nobis fecit in quem credimus Christum; ille facit in hominibus principium fidei et perfectionem in Jesum, qui fecit hominem principem fidei et perfectorem Jesum: sic enim est appellatus, ut scitis, in Epistola quae est ad Hebraeos (Hebr. XII, 2).
because of the only-begotten God Who took Him up, might truly and properly be spoken of; lest not a trinity but a quaternity be believed. This so great, so lofty and supreme uplifting of human nature was predestined, such that it had nowhere higher to be raised: just as for us the Godhead itself had nowhere lower to lay itself down than [in] the nature of man taken up with the weakness of the flesh even unto the death of the cross. As therefore that one was predestined to be our head, so we many have been predestined to be His members. Let human merits here fall silent, which perished through Adam; and let that grace of God reign which does reign, through Jesus Christ our Lord, the only Son of God, the one Lord. Whoever shall find in our head preceding merits of that singular generation, let him look in us, His members, for preceding merits of our multiplied regeneration. For that generation was not rendered to Christ [as a due], but bestowed, that, a stranger to every bond of sin, He should be born of the Spirit and the Virgin. So too it was not rendered to us for any merit that we should be reborn of water and the Spirit, but bestowed freely: and if faith has led us to the laver of regeneration, we ought not therefore to think that we first gave something, so that saving regeneration might be rendered to us in return; for He made us believe in Christ Who made for us the Christ in Whom we believe; He makes in men the beginning of faith and the perfecting [of it] in Jesus, Who made the man Jesus the prince of faith and its perfecter: for so He is named, as you know, in the Epistle which is to the Hebrews (Heb. 12:2).
CAPUT XVI. — 32. Vocat enim Deus praedestinatos multos filios suos, ut eos faciat membra praedestinati unici Filii sui, non ea vocatione qua vocati sunt et qui noluerunt venire ad nuptias (Luc. XIV, 16-20); illa quippe vocatione et Judaei vocati sunt, quibus Christus crucifixus scandalum est; et Gentes, quibus crucifixus stultitia est: sed ea vocatione praedestinatos vocat, quam distinxit Apostolus, dicens, ipsis vocatis Judaeis et Graecis praedicare se Christum Dei virtutem et Dei sapientiam. Sic enim ait, Ipsis autem vocatis (I Cor. I, 23, 24); ut illos ostenderet non vocatos: sciens esse quamdam certam vocationem eorum qui secundum propositum vocati sunt, quos ante praescivit et praedestinavit conformes imaginis Filii sui (Rom. VIII, 28 et 29). Quam vocationem significans, ait: Non ex operibus, sed ex vocante dictum est ei, Quia major serviet minori (Id. IX, 12, 13). Numquid dixit, Non ex operibus, sed ex credente? Prorsus etiam hoc abstulit homini, ut totum daret Deo. Dixit ergo, sed ex vocante: non quacumque vocatione, sed qua vocatione fit credens.
CHAPTER XVI. — 32. For God calls His many predestined sons, to make them members of His predestined only Son, not with that calling with which those also were called who would not come to the wedding (Luke 14:16–20); for with that calling the Jews too were called, to whom Christ crucified is a stumbling-block, and the Gentiles, to whom the Crucified is foolishness: but He calls the predestined with that calling which the Apostle distinguished, saying that to the called themselves, Jews and Greeks, he preached Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For thus he says, But to them that are called (1 Cor. 1:23, 24), to show that the others were not called: knowing that there is a certain definite calling of those who are called according to purpose, whom He foreknew and predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:28 and 29). Signifying this calling, he says: Not of works, but of Him that calls, it was said to her, The elder shall serve the younger (ibid. 9:12, 13). Did he say, Not of works, but of him that believes? He took even this away from man altogether, that he might give the whole to God. He said therefore, but of Him that calls: not by any calling whatever, but by the calling by which one becomes a believer.
33. Hanc intuebatur etiam, cum diceret: Sine poenitentia sunt dona et vocatio Dei. Nam et ibi quid agebatur paulisper advertite. Cum enim dixisset, Nolo enim vos ignorare, fratres, sacramentum hoc, ut non sitis vobis sapientes: quia caecitas ex parte Israel facta
33. This too he had in view when he said: The gifts and the calling of God are without repentance. For consider for a little what was being treated there as well. For when he had said, For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, of this mystery, lest you be wise in yourselves: that blindness in part has come upon Israel […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 983
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "unum Dominum"› · printed under col 983 (call in the imported text of c983_a) Sic omnes Mss. At editi, unicum Dei Filium, Dominum nostrum.
So all the manuscripts. But the editions: unicum Dei Filium, Dominum nostrum.
2 ‹anchor: "ex parte Israel"› · printed under col 983 Editi, in Israel. Abest, in, a manuscriptis et a graeco sextu Apostoli.
The editions: in Israel. The word in is absent from the manuscripts and from the Greek text of the Apostle.
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- other: the top of the column (to "ad Hebraeos (Hebr. XII, 2).") is imported from R0330 (c983_a), checked complete against the page; CAPUT XVI onward set in c983_b. Column ends "facta" with no hyphen.
est, donec plenitudo gentium intraret, et sic omnis Israel salvus fieret; sicut scriptum est, Veniet ex Sion qui eripiat, et avertat impietatem ab Jacob, et hoc illis a me testamentum, cum abstulero peccata eorum: mox addidit quod diligenter intelligendum est, Secundum Evangelium quidem inimici propter vos, secundum electionem autem dilecti propter patres (Rom. XI, 25-29). Quid est, Secundum Evangelium quidem inimici propter vos; nisi quod eorum inimicitia qua occiderunt Christum, Evangelio, sicut videmus, sine dubitatione profecit? Et hoc ostendit ex Dei dispositione venisse, qui bene uti novit etiam malis: non ut ei prosint vasa irae, sed ut ipso illis bene utente, prosint vasis misericordiae. Quid enim apertius dici potuit, quam id quod dictum est, Secundum Evangelium quidem inimici propter vos? Est ergo in malorum potestate peccare: ut autem peccando hoc vel hoc illa malitia faciant, non est in eorum potestate, sed Dei dividentis tenebras et ordinantis eas; ut hinc etiam quod faciunt contra voluntatem Dei, non impleatur nisi voluntas Dei. Legimus in Actibus Apostolorum, quod cum dimissi a Judaeis Apostoli venissent ad suos, et indicassent quanta eis sacerdotes et seniores dixerunt; levaverunt illi vocem unanimes omnes ad Dominum, et dixerunt: Domine, tu es qui fecisti coelum et terram, et mare, et omnia quae in eis sunt, qui per os patris nostri David, sancti pueri tui, dixisti, Quare fremuerunt gentes, et populi meditati sunt inania; astiterunt reges terrae, et principes convenerunt in unum, adversus Dominum et adversus Christum ejus? Convenerunt enim in veritate, in civitate ista, adversus sanctum puerum tuum Jesum quem unxisti, Herodes et Pilatus et populus Israel, facere quanta manus tua et consilium praedestinavit fieri (Act. IV, 24-28).
[…] until the fulness of the Gentiles should come in, and so all Israel should be saved; as it is written, There shall come out of Sion He Who shall deliver, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob, and this is My covenant with them, when I shall take away their sins: he at once added what must be carefully understood, As concerning the Gospel they are indeed enemies for your sakes, but as touching the election they are beloved for the fathers' sakes (Rom. 11:25–29). What is, As concerning the Gospel they are indeed enemies for your sakes, but that their enmity, by which they killed Christ, beyond doubt profited the Gospel, as we see? And he shows that this came about by the disposition of God, Who knows how to use well even evil men: not that the vessels of wrath may profit Him, but that, through His using them well, they may profit the vessels of mercy. For what could have been said more plainly than what was said, As concerning the Gospel they are indeed enemies for your sakes? It is therefore in the power of the wicked to sin; but that in sinning they should do this or that by that wickedness is not in their power, but in the power of God, Who divides the darkness and orders it; so that hence even what they do against the will of God is not fulfilled except as the will of God. We read in the Acts of the Apostles that, when the Apostles, released by the Jews, had come to their own and had reported how much the priests and elders had said to them, they all lifted up their voice with one accord to the Lord, and said: Lord, Thou art He Who didst make heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them, Who by the mouth of our father David, Thy holy servant, didst say, Why have the nations raged, and the peoples devised vain things; the kings of the earth stood up, and the princes gathered together in one, against the Lord and against His Christ? For in truth there gathered together in this city against Thy holy Servant Jesus, Whom Thou didst anoint, Herod and Pilate and the people of Israel, to do whatever Thy hand and Thy counsel predestined to be done (Acts 4:24–28).
Ecce quod dictum est, Secundum Evangelium quidem inimici propter vos. Tanta quippe ab inimicis Judaeis manus Dei et consilium praedestinavit fieri, quanta necessaria fuerunt Evangelio propter nos. Sed quid est quod sequitur, Secundum electionem autem dilecti propter patres? Numquid illi inimici, qui in suis inimicitiis perierunt, et adversantes Christo de gente ipsa adhuc pereunt, ipsi sunt electi atque dilecti? Absit: quis hoc vel stultissimus dixerit? Sed utrumque licet inter se contrarium, id est, inimici et dilecti, quamvis non in eosdem homines, tamen in eamdem gentem convenit Judaeorum, et ad idem carnale semen Israel, aliis eorum ad claudicationem, aliis ad benedictionem Israel ipsius pertinentibus. Hunc enim sensum apertius superius explicavit, ubi ait, Quod quaerebat Israel, hoc non est consecutus: electio autem consecuta est, caeteri vero excaecati sunt (Rom. XI, 7). In utrisque tamen idem ipse Israel. Ubi ergo audimus, Israel non est consecutus, vel, caeteri excaecati sunt; ibi intelligendi sunt inimici propter nos: ubi vero audimus, Electio autem consecuta est; ibi intelligendi sunt dilecti propter patres: quibus patribus utique ista promissa
Behold what was said, As concerning the Gospel they are indeed enemies for your sakes. For the hand and counsel of God predestined such things to be done by the hostile Jews as were necessary to the Gospel for our sakes. But what is that which follows, But as touching the election they are beloved for the fathers' sakes? Are those enemies who perished in their enmities, and those of that same nation who, opposing Christ, are perishing still, themselves the elect and beloved? Far from it: who, even the most foolish, would say this? But both, though contrary to one another, that is, enemies and beloved, agree, though not in the same men, yet in the same nation of the Jews and in the same carnal seed of Israel, some of them pertaining to the lameness, others to the blessing of Israel himself. For he explained this sense more plainly above, where he says, What Israel sought, that he has not obtained: but the election has obtained it, and the rest were blinded (Rom. 11:7). Yet in both it is one and the same Israel. Where therefore we hear, Israel has not obtained, or, the rest were blinded, there are to be understood the enemies for our sakes; but where we hear, But the election has obtained it, there are to be understood the beloved for the fathers' sakes: to which fathers, certainly, these things were promised […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 984
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "Evangelio propter nos"› · printed under col 984 Lov., propter vos. Et paulo post eadem editio cum Am. et Er., ibi intelligendi sunt inimici propter vos. At Mss., hoc utroque loco, propter nos.
Lov.: propter vos. And a little after, the same edition with Am. and Er.: ibi intelligendi sunt inimici propter vos. But the manuscripts, in both places: propter nos.
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- marginal letters: none visible
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sunt. Abrahae quippe dictae sunt promissiones et semini ejus (Galat. III, 16). Unde et in ista olea oleaster inseritur Gentium. Jam porro electionem quam dicat, quia secundum gratiam, non secundum debitum, debet utique occurrere; quoniam reliquiae per electionem gratiae factae sunt (Rom. XI, 17, 5). Haec electio consecuta est, caeteris excaecatis. Secundum hanc electionem Israelitae dilecti propter patres. Non enim vocatione illa vocati sunt, de qua dictum est, Multi vocati (Matth. XX, 16); sed illa qua vocantur electi. Unde et hic posteaquam dixit, Secundum electionem autem dilecti propter patres; continuo subjecit unde agimus, Sine poenitentia enim sunt dona et vocatio Dei: id est, sine mutatione stabiliter fixa sunt. Ad hanc vocationem qui pertinent, omnes sunt docibiles Dei: nec potest eorum quisquam dicere, Credidi ut sic vocarer; praevenit eum quippe misericordia Dei, quia sic est vocatus ut crederet. Omnes enim docibiles Dei veniunt ad Filium: quoniam audierunt et didicerunt a Patre per Filium, qui evidentissime dicit, Omnis qui audivit a Patre et didicit, venit ad me. Istorum autem nemo perit, quia omne quod dedit ei Pater, non perdet ex eo quidquam (Joan. VI, 45, 39). Quisquis ergo inde est, omnino non perit: nec erat inde qui perit. Propter quod dictum est, Ex nobis exierunt, sed non erant ex nobis; nam si fuissent ex nobis, mansissent utique nobiscum (I Joan. II, 19).
[…] For to Abraham were the promises made, and to his seed (Gal. 3:16). Hence too into this olive tree the wild olive of the Gentiles is grafted. Now further, what election he means, namely one according to grace, not according to debt, ought surely to occur to us; since the remnant was made by the election of grace (Rom. 11:17, 5). This election obtained it, the rest being blinded. According to this election the Israelites are beloved for the fathers' sakes. For they were not called with that calling of which it was said, Many are called (Matt. 20:16); but with that by which the elect are called. Hence here too, after he had said, But as touching the election they are beloved for the fathers' sakes, he at once added what we are treating of, For the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance: that is, they are firmly fixed without change. Those who belong to this calling are all taught of God: nor can any of them say, I believed in order to be called thus; for the mercy of God went before him, because he was called in such a way that he believed. For all who are taught of God come to the Son: since they have heard and learned from the Father through the Son, Who says most plainly, Everyone who has heard from the Father and has learned comes to Me. But of these none perishes, for of all that the Father has given Him He will lose nothing (John 6:45, 39). Whoever therefore is of that number does not perish at all: nor was he who perishes of that number. For which reason it was said, They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would certainly have remained with us (1 John 2:19).
CAPUT XVII. — 34. Intelligamus ergo vocationem qua fiunt electi: non qui eliguntur quia crediderunt, sed qui eliguntur ut credant. Hanc enim et Dominus ipse satis aperit, ubi dicit: Non vos me elegistis, sed ego elegi vos (Joan. XV, 16). Nam si propterea electi erant, quia crediderant; ipsi eum prius utique elegerant credendo in eum, ut eligi mererentur. Aufert autem hoc omnino, qui dicit, Non vos me elegistis, sed ego vos elegi. Et ipsi quidem procul dubio elegerunt eum, quando crediderunt in eum. Unde non ob aliud dicit, Non vos me elegistis, sed ego vos elegi; nisi quia non elegerunt eum ut eligeret eos, sed ut eligerent eum elegit eos: quia misericordia ejus praevenit eos (Psal. LVIII, 11) secundum gratiam, non secundum debitum. Elegit ergo eos de mundo cum hic ageret carnem, sed jam electos in se ipso ante mundi constitutionem. Haec est immobilis veritas praedestinationis et gratiae. Nam quid est quod ait Apostolus, Sicut elegit nos in ipso ante mundi constitutionem (Ephes. I, 4)? Quod profecto si propterea dictum est, quia praescivit Deus credituros, non quia facturus fuerat ipse credentes; contra istam praescientiam loquitur Filius, dicens, Non vos me elegistis, sed ego vos elegi:
CHAPTER XVII. — 34. Let us understand, then, the calling by which the elect are made: not those who are chosen because they have believed, but those who are chosen in order that they may believe. For the Lord Himself also makes this plain enough where He says: You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you (John 15:16). For if they had been chosen because they had believed, they themselves would surely have first chosen Him by believing in Him, so as to deserve to be chosen. But He Who says, You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, takes this away altogether. And they themselves, beyond doubt, did choose Him when they believed in Him. Hence He says, You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, for no other reason than that they did not choose Him in order that He should choose them, but He chose them in order that they should choose Him: because His mercy went before them (Ps. 58:11), according to grace, not according to debt. He chose them, therefore, out of the world while He was living here in the flesh, but as already chosen in Himself before the foundation of the world. This is the immovable truth of predestination and grace. For what is it that the Apostle says, As He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4)? If this was indeed said because God foreknew that they would believe, not because He Himself was going to make them believers, then the Son speaks against such a foreknowledge, saying, You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you: […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 985
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "electionem quam dicat"› · printed under col 985 Sic Mss. At editi, electio quam dicit.
So the manuscripts. But the editions: electio quam dicit.
2 ‹anchor: "gratiae factae sunt"› · printed under col 985 Aliquot Mss., salvae factae sunt.
Some manuscripts: salvae factae sunt.
3 ‹anchor: "nec erat inde qui perit"› · printed under col 985 Sic aliquot Mss. Alii vero, non erant inde qui perierunt. Editi, non erit inde qui perit; vel, qui pereat.
So some manuscripts. But others: non erant inde qui perierunt. The editions: non erit inde qui perit; or, qui pereat.
4 ‹anchor: "cum hic ageret carnem"› · printed under col 985 Sic nostri omnes manuscripti Gallicani et Vaticani. At editi, ageret in carne.
So all our French and Vatican manuscripts. But the editions: ageret in carne.
5 ‹anchor: "Non vos me elegistis"› · printed under col 985 Ita ex editis Er. Lugd. Ven. Lov. In B. hic tantum, ne vos me elegistis; cum supra et infra legatur, Non vos me elegistis. M.
Thus, of the editions, Er., Lugd., Ven., Lov. In B. here only: ne vos me elegistis; whereas above and below it reads, Non vos me elegistis. M.
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cum hoc potius praescierit Deus, quod ipsi eum fuerant electuri, ut ab illo mererentur eligi. Electi sunt itaque ante mundi constitutionem ea praedestinatione, in qua Deus sua futura facta praescivit: electi sunt autem de mundo ea vocatione, qua Deus id quod praedestinavit, implevit. Quos enim praedestinavit, ipsos et vocavit; illa scilicet vocatione secundum propositum: non ergo alios, sed quos praedestinavit, ipsos et vocavit: nec alios, sed quos ita vocavit, ipsos et justificavit: nec alios, sed quos praedestinavit, vocavit, justificavit, ipsos et glorificavit (Rom. VIII, 30); illo utique fine qui non habet finem. Elegit ergo Deus fideles, sed ut sint, non quia jam erant. Apostolus Jacobus dicit: Nonne Deus elegit pauperes in hoc mundo, divites in fide, et haeredes regni, quod repromisit Deus diligentibus se (Jacobi II, 5)? Eligendo ergo facit divites in fide, sicut haeredes regni. Recte quippe in eis hoc eligere dicitur, quod ut in eis faciat, eos elegit.
[…] when God would rather have foreknown this, that they themselves were going to choose Him, so as to deserve to be chosen by Him. They were chosen, therefore, before the foundation of the world by that predestination in which God foreknew His own future deeds; but they were chosen out of the world by that calling by which God fulfilled what He had predestined. For whom He predestined, them He also called; that is, with that calling according to purpose: not others, then, but those whom He predestined, them He also called; nor others, but those whom He so called, them He also justified; nor others, but those whom He predestined, called and justified, them He also glorified (Rom. 8:30); with that end, surely, which has no end. God therefore chose the faithful, but in order that they might be so, not because they already were. The Apostle James says: Has not God chosen the poor in this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which God has promised to those who love Him (Jas. 2:5)? By choosing, therefore, He makes them rich in faith, as also heirs of the kingdom. For He is rightly said to choose in them that which He chose them in order to make in them.
Rogo, quis audiat Dominum dicentem, Non vos me elegistis, sed ego vos elegi; et audeat dicere, credere homines ut eligantur, cum potius eligantur ut credant, ne contra sententiam veritatis priores inveniantur elegisse Christum, quibus dicit Christus, Non vos me elegistis, sed ego vos elegi?
I ask, who would hear the Lord saying, You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and dare to say that men believe in order to be chosen, when rather they are chosen in order to believe, lest, against the verdict of the Truth, they be found to have chosen Christ first, to whom Christ says, You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you?
CAPUT XVIII. — 35. Quis audiat Apostolum dicentem, Benedictus Deus et Pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui benedixit nos in omni benedictione spirituali, in coelestibus in Christo: sicut elegit nos in ipso ante mundi constitutionem, ut essemus sancti et immaculati in conspectu ejus in charitate, praedestinans nos in adoptionem filiorum per Jesum Christum in ipsum, secundum placitum voluntatis suae, in qua gratificavit nos in dilecto Filio suo; in quo habemus redemptionem per sanguinem ipsius, remissionem peccatorum secundum divitias gratiae ejus, quae abundavit in nos in omni sapientia et prudentia, ut ostenderet nobis mysterium voluntatis suae, secundum bonam voluntatem suam, quam proposuit in illo, in dispensatione plenitudinis temporum instaurare omnia in Christo, quae in coelis sunt et quae in terris in ipso: in quo etiam et sortem consecuti sumus, praedestinati secundum propositum, qui universa operatur secundum consilium voluntatis suae, ut simus in laudem gloriae ejus (Ephes. I, 3-12): quis, inquam, haec audiat diligenter et intelligenter, et audeat de hac, quam defendimus, tam clara veritate dubitare? Elegit Deus in Christo ante constitutionem mundi membra ejus: et quomodo eligeret eos qui nondum erant, nisi praedestinando? Elegit ergo praedestinans nos. Numquid eligeret impios et immundos? Nam si quaestio proponatur, utrum hos eligat,
CHAPTER XVIII. — 35. Who would hear the Apostle saying, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ: as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unblemished in His sight in charity, predestining us to the adoption of sons through Jesus Christ unto Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, wherein He has favoured us in His beloved Son; in Whom we have redemption through His blood, the remission of sins, according to the riches of His grace, which has abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence, that He might show us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Him, in the dispensation of the fulness of times to restore all things in Christ, which are in heaven and which are on earth, in Him: in Whom we also have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him Who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we may be to the praise of His glory (Eph. 1:3–12): who, I say, would hear these things with care and understanding, and dare to doubt this truth which we are defending, so clear as it is? God chose in Christ, before the foundation of the world, His members: and how would He choose those who did not yet exist, except by predestining them? He chose us, therefore, by predestining us. Would He choose the ungodly and the unclean? For if the question were put whether He chooses these, […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 986
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "eos elegit"› · printed under col 986 Editi, elegit. Plures Mss., eligit.
The editions: elegit. Most manuscripts: eligit.
2 ‹anchor: "quae abundavit in nos"› · printed under col 986 Plerique Mss., in nobis.
Most manuscripts: in nobis.
3 ‹anchor: "in dispensatione"› · printed under col 986 Am. et Er., in dispositione. Mss., in dispositionem; uno excepto Corbeiensi qui habet, in dispensationem.
Am. and Er.: in dispositione. The manuscripts: in dispositionem; except one, the Corbie manuscript, which has in dispensationem.
4 ‹anchor: "praedestinati secundum propositum"› · printed under col 986 Editi hoc et proximo loco, propositum ejus. At manuscripti hic et infra constanter, necnon ipsi editi infra, n. 38, praetereunt, ejus: quod explicandi loci causa, n. 37, sic adjicit Augustinus: Secundum propositum, non nostrum, sed ejus.
The editions, here and in the next place: propositum ejus. But the manuscripts, here and below consistently, and the editions themselves below at n. 38, omit ejus; which Augustine, for the sake of explaining the passage, adds thus at n. 37: According to the purpose, not ours, but His.
5 ‹anchor: "veritate dubitare"› · printed under col 986 Mss. Gallicani omnes et Vaticani, de hac re, quam defendimus tam clara veritate, dubitare.
All the French and the Vatican manuscripts: de hac re, quam defendimus tam clara veritate, dubitare.
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an potius sanctos et immaculatos; quid horum respondeat quis requirat, ac non statim ferat pro sanctis immaculatisque sententiam?
[…] or rather the holy and unblemished, who would ask which of these to answer, and not at once give his verdict for the holy and unblemished?
36. « Praesciebat ergo », ait Pelagianus, « qui futuri essent sancti et immaculati per liberae voluntatis arbitrium: et ideo eos ante mundi constitutionem in ipsa sua praescientia, qua tales futuros esse praescivit, elegit. Elegit ergo, » inquit, « antequam essent, praedestinans filios, quos futuros sanctos immaculatosque praescivit: utique ipse non fecit, nec se facturum, sed illos futuros esse praevidit. » Intueamur ergo verba Apostoli, atque videamus utrum propterea nos elegerit ante mundi constitutionem, quia sancti et immaculati futuri eramus, an ut essemus. Benedictus, inquit, Deus et Pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui nos benedixit in omni benedictione spirituali in coelestibus in Christo: sicut elegit nos in ipso ante mundi constitutionem, ut essemus sancti et immaculati. Non ergo quia futuri eramus, sed ut essemus.
36. « He foreknew, then », says the Pelagian, « who would be holy and unblemished through the choice of free will; and therefore He chose them before the foundation of the world in that very foreknowledge of His, by which He foreknew that they would be such. He chose, therefore, » he says, « before they existed, predestining as sons those whom He foreknew would be holy and unblemished: He Himself certainly did not make them so, nor foresee that He would make them so, but foresaw that they would be so. » Let us look, then, at the words of the Apostle, and see whether He chose us before the foundation of the world because we were going to be holy and unblemished, or in order that we should be. Blessed, he says, be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ: as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unblemished. Not, then, because we were going to be so, but that we should be.
Nempe certum est, nempe manifestum est: ideo quippe tales eramus futuri, quia elegit ipse, praedestinans ut tales per gratiam ejus essemus. Ita ergo nos benedixit benedictione spirituali in coelestibus in Christo Jesu, sicut elegit nos in ipso ante mundi constitutionem, ut essemus sancti et immaculati in conspectu ejus, in charitate praedestinans nos in adoptionem filiorum per Jesum Christum in ipsum. Deinde quid adjungat, attendite: secundum placitum, inquit, voluntatis suae; ne in tanto beneficio gratiae de placito gloriaremur voluntatis nostrae. In qua gratificavit nos, inquit, in dilecto Filio suo: in qua utique voluntate sua gratificavit nos. Sic dictum est gratificavit a gratia, sicut justificavit dicitur a justitia. In quo habemus, inquit, redemptionem per sanguinem ipsius, remissionem peccatorum secundum divitias gratiae ejus, quae abundavit in nos in omni sapientia et prudentia, ut ostenderet nobis mysterium voluntatis suae, secundum bonam voluntatem suam. In hoc mysterio voluntatis suae posuit divitias gratiae suae, secundum bonam voluntatem suam, non secundum nostram: quae bona esse non posset, nisi ipse secundum bonam voluntatem suam, ut bona fieret, subveniret. Cum autem dixisset, Secundum bonam voluntatem suam; subjecit, quam proposuit in illo, id est, in dilecto Filio suo, in dispensatione plenitudinis temporum instaurare omnia in Christo, quae in coelis sunt, et quae in terris in ipso: in quo etiam et sortem consecuti sumus, praedestinati secundum propositum, qui universa operatur secundum consilium voluntatis suae, ut simus in laudem gloriae ejus.
Surely it is certain, surely it is manifest: for we were going to be such for this reason, that He Himself chose us, predestining us to be such by His grace. So, then, He has blessed us with spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unblemished in His sight, in charity predestining us to the adoption of sons through Jesus Christ unto Himself. Then notice what he adds: according to the good pleasure, he says, of His will; lest in so great a benefit of grace we should glory in the good pleasure of our own will. Wherein He has favoured us, he says, in His beloved Son: in which will of His, that is, He has favoured us. Gratificavit is said thus from gratia, as justificavit is said from justitia. In Whom we have, he says, redemption through His blood, the remission of sins, according to the riches of His grace, which has abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence, that He might show us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure. In this mystery of His will He has placed the riches of His grace, according to His good will, not according to ours: which could not be good unless He Himself, according to His good will, came to its aid that it might become good. And when he had said, According to His good pleasure, he added, which He purposed in Him, that is, in His beloved Son, in the dispensation of the fulness of times to restore all things in Christ, which are in heaven, and which are on earth, in Him: in Whom we also have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him Who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we may be to the praise of His glory.
37. Nimis longum est de singulis disputare. Cernitis autem procul dubio, cernitis quanta manifestatione apostolici eloquii defendatur haec gratia, contra quam merita extolluntur humana, tanquam homo aliquid prior det, ut retribuatur ei. Elegit ergo nos Deus in Christo ante mundi constitutionem, praedestinans nos in adoptionem filiorum: non quia per nos sancti et
37. It would take too long to argue about each point. But you see beyond doubt, you see with what clarity of the apostolic language this grace is defended, against which human merits are exalted, as though man first gives something so that it may be repaid to him. God therefore chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, predestining us to the adoption of sons: not because we were going to be holy and […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 987
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "quis requirat"› · printed under col 987 Editi, qui requiratur. Nostri omnes Mss., quis requirat? puta, quasi dubius et incertus.
The editions: qui requiratur. All our manuscripts: quis requirat? that is, as if doubtful and uncertain.
2 ‹anchor: "de placito gloriaremur"› · printed under col 987 Editi, gratiae Dei, placito gloriaremur. Emendantur ex manuscriptis.
The editions: gratiae Dei, placito gloriaremur. They are corrected from the manuscripts.
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immaculati futuri eramus, sed elegit praedestinavitque ut essemus. Fecit autem hoc secundum placitum voluntatis suae, ut nemo de sua, sed de illius erga se voluntate glorietur: fecit hoc secundum divitias gratiae suae, secundum bonam voluntatem suam, quam proposuit in dilecto Filio suo, in quo sortem consecuti sumus, praedestinati secundum propositum, non nostrum, sed ejus, qui universa operatur, usque adeo ut ipse in nobis operetur et velle (Philipp. II, 13). Operatur autem secundum consilium voluntatis suae, ut simus in laudem gloriae ejus. Hinc est quod clamamus, ut nemo glorietur in homine (I Cor. III, 21), ac per hoc nec in se ipso; sed qui gloriatur, in Domino glorietur (Id. I, 31), ut simus in laudem gloriae ejus. Ipse quippe operatur secundum propositum suum, ut simus in laudem gloriae ejus, utique sancti et immaculati, propter quod nos vocavit, praedestinans ante mundi constitutionem.
[…] unblemished through ourselves, but He chose and predestined us that we should be so. And He did this according to the good pleasure of His will, so that no one should glory in his own will, but in His will towards him: He did this according to the riches of His grace, according to His good will, which He purposed in His beloved Son, in Whom we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose, not ours, but His, Who works all things, even to the point that He Himself works in us to will as well (Phil. 2:13). And He works according to the counsel of His will, that we may be to the praise of His glory. Hence it is that we cry out that no one should glory in man (1 Cor. 3:21), and therefore not in himself either; but he who glories, let him glory in the Lord (ibid. 1:31), that we may be to the praise of His glory. For He Himself works according to His purpose that we may be to the praise of His glory, holy, that is, and unblemished, for which He called us, predestining us before the foundation of the world.
Ex hoc proposito ejus est illa electorum propria vocatio, quibus omnia cooperatur in bonum: quia secundum propositum vocati sunt (Rom. VIII, 28), et sine poenitentia sunt dona et vocatio Dei.
From this purpose of His comes that calling proper to the elect, for whom He works all things together for good: because they are called according to purpose (Rom. 8:28), and the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance.
CAPUT XIX. — 38. Sed hi nostri, de quibus et pro quibus nunc agimus, forsitan dicunt, Pelagianos hoc apostolico testimonio refutari, ubi dicit ideo nos electos in Christo et praedestinatos ante mundi constitutionem, ut essemus sancti et immaculati in conspectu ejus in charitate. Ipsi enim putant, « acceptis praeceptis jam per nos ipsos fieri liberae voluntatis arbitrio sanctos et immaculatos, in conspectu ejus in charitate: quod futurum Deus quoniam praescivit, » inquiunt, « ideo nos ante mundi constitutionem elegit et praedestinavit in Christo. » Cum dicat Apostolus, Non quia futuros tales nos esse praescivit, sed ut essemus tales per ipsam electionem gratiae suae, qua gratificavit nos in dilecto Filio suo. Cum ergo nos praedestinavit, opus suum praescivit, quo nos sanctos et immaculatos facit. Unde recte hoc testimonio Pelagianus error arguitur. « Nos autem dicimus, » inquiunt, « nostram Deum non praescisse nisi fidem, qua credere incipimus, et ideo nos elegisse ante mundi constitutionem, ac praedestinasse, ut etiam sancti et immaculati gratia atque opere ejus essemus. » Sed audiant et ipsi in hoc testimonio, ubi dicit, Sortem consecuti sumus, praedestinati secundum propositum, qui universa operatur. Ipse ergo ut credere incipiamus operatur, qui universa operatur. Vocationem quippe illam de qua dictum est, Sine poenitentia enim sunt dona et vocatio Dei (Rom. XI, 29); et de qua dictum est, Non ex operibus, sed ex vocante (Id. IX, 12); cum posset dicere, Sed ex credente: et electionem quam significavit Dominus, dicens, Non vos me elegistis, sed ego vos elegi (Joan. XV, 16); nec fides ipsa praecedit. Non enim quia credidimus, sed ut credamus elegit nos: ne priores eum elegisse dicamur, falsumque sit, quod absit, Non vos me elegistis, sed ego vos elegi. Nec quia credidimus, sed ut credamus vocamur: atque illa vocatione, quae sine poenitentia est, id prorsus agitur et peragitur, ut credamus. Nec omnia replicanda sunt
CHAPTER XIX. — 38. But these brethren of ours, about whom and for whom we are now dealing, perhaps say that the Pelagians are refuted by this apostolic testimony, where he says that we were chosen in Christ and predestined before the foundation of the world for this, that we should be holy and unblemished in His sight in charity. For they think that « having received the commandments, we are now made holy and unblemished in His sight in charity by ourselves, through the choice of free will: and because God foreknew that this would be, » they say, « therefore He chose and predestined us in Christ before the foundation of the world. » Whereas the Apostle says, Not because He foreknew that we would be such, but in order that we might be such through that very election of His grace, by which He has favoured us in His beloved Son. When, therefore, He predestined us, He foreknew His own work, by which He makes us holy and unblemished. Hence by this testimony the Pelagian error is rightly refuted. « But we say, » they say, « that God foreknew nothing of ours except the faith by which we begin to believe, and that He therefore chose and predestined us before the foundation of the world, so that we should also be holy and unblemished by His grace and work. » But let them too hear in this testimony, where he says, We have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him Who works all things. He, therefore, Who works all things, works that we begin to believe. For that calling of which it was said, For the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance (Rom. 11:29), and of which it was said, Not of works, but of Him that calls (ibid. 9:12), when he could have said, But of him that believes; and the election which the Lord signified, saying, You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you (John 15:16): not even faith itself goes before them. For He chose us not because we believed, but that we might believe: lest we be said to have chosen Him first, and, God forbid, it be false that You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you. Nor are we called because we believed, but that we may believe: and by that calling which is without repentance this is altogether done and carried through, that we believe. Nor need all things be gone over again […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 988
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- other: "Digitized by Google" stamp at the foot (scanner's mark). The reference to Philippians is printed with a small figure read as 13 by sequence (Phil. 2:13; 3/5 ambiguous).
de hac re tam multa quae diximus.
[…] of the many things we have said on this matter.
39. Denique et in hujus testimonii consequentibus, Deo gratias agit Apostolus pro his qui crediderunt, non utique quoniam eis annuntiatum est Evangelium, sed quoniam crediderunt. Ait enim: In quo et vos audientes verbum veritatis Evangelium salutis vestrae, in quo credentes signati estis Spiritu promissionis sancto, qui est pignus haereditatis nostrae, in redemptionem acquisitionis, in laudem gloriae ipsius: propter hoc et ego audita fide vestra in Christo Jesu et in omnes sanctos, non cesso gratias agere pro vobis (Ephes. I, 13-16). Nova erat et recens eorum fides praedicato sibi Evangelio, qua fide audita, gratias Deo pro eis agit Apostolus. Si homini gratias ageret pro eo quod illum vel putaret non praestitisse vel nosset, adulatio vel irrisio verius quam gratiarum actio diceretur. Nolite errare; Deus non irridetur (Galat. VI, 7): donum enim ejus est etiam incipiens fides, ne Apostoli falsa vel fallax gratiarum actio merito judicetur. Quid illud?
39. Finally, in what follows this testimony too, the Apostle gives thanks to God for those who believed, not, surely, because the Gospel was announced to them, but because they believed. For he says: In Whom you also, hearing the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, in Whom believing you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, Who is the pledge of our inheritance, unto the redemption of the acquisition, unto the praise of His glory: for this cause I also, having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and towards all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you (Eph. 1:13–16). Their faith was new and recent, when the Gospel had been preached to them; and having heard of this faith, the Apostle gives thanks to God for them. If he were giving thanks to a man for what he either thought or knew the man had not bestowed, it would more truly be called flattery or mockery than thanksgiving. Do not err; God is not mocked (Gal. 6:7): for even beginning faith is His gift, lest the Apostle's thanksgiving be rightly judged false or deceitful. What of this?
nonne initium fidei apparet Thessalonicensium, de quo tamen idem apostolus Deo gratias agit, dicens, Propterea et nos gratias agimus Deo sine intermissione, quoniam cum percepissetis a nobis verbum auditus Dei, excepistis non ut verbum hominum, sed sicut est vere verbum Dei, quod operatur in vobis, cui credidistis (I Thess. II, 13)? Quid est quod hinc Deo gratias agit? Nempe vanum est atque inane, si cui gratias agit, hoc ipse non fecit. Sed quia hoc vanum et inane non est, profecto Deus cui de hoc opere gratias agit, ipse fecit, ut cum percepissent ab Apostolo verbum auditus Dei, exciperent illud non ut verbum hominum, sed sicut est vere, verbum Dei. Deus igitur operatur in cordibus hominum, vocatione illa secundum propositum suum, de qua multum locuti sumus, ut non inaniter audiant Evangelium, sed eo audito convertantur et credant, excipientes non ut verbum hominum, sed sicut est vere verbum Dei.
Does not the beginning of faith of the Thessalonians appear, for which the same apostle nevertheless gives thanks to God, saying, For this cause we also give thanks to God without ceasing, because, when you had received from us the word of the hearing of God, you received it not as the word of men, but, as it truly is, the word of God, which works in you, in which you have believed (1 Thess. 2:13)? Why is it that he gives thanks to God for this? Surely it is vain and empty if He to Whom he gives thanks did not Himself do this. But since this is not vain and empty, God, to Whom he gives thanks for this work, certainly did it Himself, so that, when they had received from the Apostle the word of the hearing of God, they received it not as the word of men, but, as it truly is, the word of God. God therefore works in the hearts of men, by that calling according to His purpose of which we have spoken much, that they may not hear the Gospel in vain, but, having heard it, may be converted and believe, receiving it not as the word of men, but, as it truly is, the word of God.
CAPUT XX. — 40. Illud etiam initium fidei hominum donum Dei esse nos admonet, cum hoc significet Apostolus dicens in Epistola ad Colossenses: Orationi instate, vigilantes in illa in gratiarum actione, orantes simul et pro nobis, ut Deus aperiat nobis ostium verbi sui ad loquendum mysterium Christi, propter quod etiam vinctus sum, ut manifestem illud ita ut oportet me loqui (Coloss. IV, 2-4). Quomodo aperitur ostium verbi, nisi cum sensus aperitur audientis ut credat, et initio fidei facto, ea quae ad aedificandam salubrem doctrinam praedicantur et disputantur admittat; ne per infidelitatem corde clauso, ea quae dicuntur improbet ac repellat? Unde et ad Corinthios ait: Permanebo autem Ephesi usque ad Pentecosten; ostium enim mihi apertum est magnum et evidens, et adversarii multi (I Cor. XVI, 8, 9). Quid hic aliud potest intelligi, nisi praedicato ibi per eum primitus Evangelio credidisse multos, et multos ejusdem fidei adversarios
CHAPTER XX. — 40. That the beginning of men's faith is the gift of God, this too reminds us, since the Apostle signifies it when he says in the Epistle to the Colossians: Persevere in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving, praying at the same time for us also, that God may open to us a door for His word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak (Col. 4:2–4). How is a door opened for the word, except when the understanding of the hearer is opened so that he believes, and, the beginning of faith having been made, admits the things that are preached and argued for building up sound doctrine; lest, with his heart shut through unbelief, he reject and repel the things that are said? Hence he says to the Corinthians too: But I will remain at Ephesus until Pentecost; for a great and evident door is opened to me, and there are many adversaries (1 Cor. 16:8, 9). What else can be understood here, but that, when the Gospel had first been preached there by him, many believed, and many were adversaries of that same faith […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 989
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "Deus non irridetur"› · printed under col 989 Am. et Er., Non erremus: Deus non irridetur. Plerique Mss., Nolite errare, inquit Apostolus, Deus non irridetur. Cum editione Lov. omittimus, inquit Apostolus.
Am. and Er.: Non erremus: Deus non irridetur. Most manuscripts: Nolite errare, inquit Apostolus, Deus non irridetur. With the Louvain edition we omit inquit Apostolus.
2 ‹anchor: "hoc ipse non fecit"› · printed under col 989 Editi: si cui gratias agit de hoc quod ipse non fecit. Manuscripti omittunt particulas, de, et, quod.
The editions: si cui gratias agit de hoc quod ipse non fecit. The manuscripts omit the particles de and quod.
Page
- running head: 989 LIBER DE PRAEDESTINATIONE SANCTORUM. 990 (page head over cols 989–990)
- marginal letters: none visible
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: the first line reads "de hac re", the e of "re" worn to look like o (read as worn type, not a misprint); a doubled comma-like mark after "Evangelio" is set as a single comma. The column ends with a word hyphenated across the break ("ad-"), set whole here as "adversarios".
exstitisse, secundum illud Domini, Nemo ad me venit, nisi cui datum fuerit a Patre meo (Joan. VI, 66): et, Vobis datum est nosse mysterium regni coelorum; illis autem non est datum (Matth. XIII, 11)? Ostium ergo apertum est in eis quibus datum est: adversarii autem multi ex eis quibus non est datum
[…] according to that saying of the Lord, No one comes to Me unless it has been given him by My Father (John 6:66); and, To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven; but to them it is not given (Matt. 13:11)? The door, then, was opened in those to whom it was given; but the many adversaries were from those to whom it was not given.
41. Itemque ad eosdem in secunda Epistola idem apostolus: Cum venissem, inquit, in Troadem in Evangelium Christi, et ostium mihi apertum esset in Domino, non habui requiem spiritui meo, eo quod non inveni Titum fratrem meum: sed vale illis faciens exii in Macedoniam. Quibus vale fecit, nisi eis qui crediderant, in quorum scilicet cordibus evangelizanti apertum est ostium? Quid autem adjungat attendite: Deo autem, inquit, gratias, qui semper triumphare nos facit in Christo, et odorem notitiae suae per nos manifestat in omni loco: quia Christi bonus odor sumus Deo, in his qui salvi fiunt, et in his qui pereunt; quibusdam quidem odor mortis in mortem, quibusdam autem odor vitae in vitam. Ecce unde gratias agit miles acerrimus et defensor invictissimus gratiae: ecce unde gratias agit, quia Christi bonus odor sunt Apostoli Deo, et in his qui salvi fiunt gratia ejus et in his qui pereunt judicio ejus. Sed ut minus succenseatur haec parum intelligentibus, ipse admonet, cum adjungit et dicit, Et ad haec quis idoneus (II Cor. II, 12-16)? Verum redeamus ad ostii apertionem, qua initium fidei audientium significavit Apostolus. Quid est enim, Orantes simul et pro nobis, ut Deus aperiat nobis ostium verbi; nisi apertissima demonstratio, etiam ipsum initium fidei esse donum Dei? Non enim orando peteretur ab eo, nisi ab ipso tribui crederetur. Hoc donum coelestis gratiae in illam purpurariam descenderat, cui, sicut Scriptura dicit in Actibus Apostolorum, Deus aperuerat sensum ejus, et intendebat in ea quae a Paulo dicebantur (Act. XVI, 14). Sic enim vocabatur, ut crederet Agit quippe Deus quod vult in cordibus hominum, vel adjuvando, vel judicando, ut etiam per eos impleatur quod manus ejus et consilium praedestinavit fieri (Id. IV, 28).
41. And likewise the same apostle, to the same people in the second Epistle: When I had come, he says, to Troas for the Gospel of Christ, and a door was opened to me in the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit, because I did not find Titus my brother: but, bidding them farewell, I went away into Macedonia. To whom did he bid farewell, if not to those who had believed, in whose hearts, that is, a door had been opened to him as he preached the Gospel? But notice what he adds: But thanks be to God, he says, Who always makes us triumph in Christ, and manifests the fragrance of His knowledge through us in every place: for we are the good fragrance of Christ to God, in those who are saved and in those who perish; to some indeed the fragrance of death unto death, but to others the fragrance of life unto life. See why the most ardent soldier and most unconquered defender of grace gives thanks: see why he gives thanks, because the Apostles are the good fragrance of Christ to God, both in those who are saved by His grace and in those who perish by His judgement. But so that those who understand little may be less angry at this, he himself admonishes them when he adds and says, And who is sufficient for these things (2 Cor. 2:12–16)? But let us return to the opening of the door, by which the Apostle signified the beginning of faith in those who hear. For what is, Praying at the same time for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, but the plainest demonstration that even the very beginning of faith is the gift of God? For it would not be sought from Him by prayer unless it were believed to be granted by Him. This gift of heavenly grace had come down upon that seller of purple, whose understanding, as Scripture says in the Acts of the Apostles, God had opened, and she attended to the things that were said by Paul (Acts 16:14). For she was so called that she believed. For God does what He wills in the hearts of men, either by helping or by judging, so that even through them is fulfilled what His hand and counsel predestined to be done (ibid. 4:28).
42. Frustra itaque etiam illud, quod Regnorum et Paralipomenon Scriptura teste probavimus, cum Deus vult fieri quod non nisi volentibus hominibus oportet fieri, inclinari eorum corda ut hoc velint (I Reg. X, 26, et I Paral. XII, 18), eo scilicet inclinante qui in nobis mirabili modo et ineffabili operatur et velle, ad causam de qua disserimus, non pertinere dixerunt (Supra, in Epist. Hilarii, n. 7). Quid est aliud, nihil dicere, et tamen contradicere? nisi forte cur eis hoc visum sit, rationem vobis aliquam reddiderunt, quam vos in litteris vestris tacere maluistis. Sed quae illa esse possit ignoro. An forte quia ostendimus hoc Deum egisse in cordibus hominum, et ad hoc perduxisse quorum ei placuit voluntates, ut rex constitueretur Saül sive David; ideo haec exempla causae huic convenire non putant, quoniam non hoc est temporaliter regnare in hoc saeculo, quod est in aeternum regnare
42. In vain, therefore, have they said that this too does not pertain to the cause which we are discussing (above, in the Letter of Hilary, n. 7): what we proved by the testimony of the Scripture of Kings and Chronicles, that when God wills something to be done which ought not to be done except by men who will it, their hearts are inclined to will it (1 Sam. 10:26, and 1 Chr. 12:18), He, that is, inclining them Who in a wonderful and ineffable way works in us to will as well. What else is this but to say nothing, and yet to contradict? Unless perhaps they have given you some reason why this seemed so to them, which you have preferred to pass over in silence in your letters. But what that could be I do not know. Is it perhaps because we showed that God did this in the hearts of men, and led the wills of those whom it pleased Him to this, that Saul or David should be made king, that they think these examples do not fit this cause, because to reign in time in this world is not the same as to reign for ever […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 990
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "parum intelligentibus"› · printed under col 990 Editi, succenseatur ad haec parum intelligentibus. Particula, ad, non exstat in manuscriptis.
The editions: succenseatur ad haec parum intelligentibus. The particle ad is not found in the manuscripts.
Page
- running head: 989 LIBER DE PRAEDESTINATIONE SANCTORUM. 990 (page head over cols 989–990)
- marginal letters: none visible
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: "Digitized by Google" stamp at the foot (scanner's mark). The reference "(Supra, in Epist. Hilarii, n. 7)" is part of Migne's text and is kept in layer 1. Two points are missing in the type (after "non est datum" at the end of n. 40, and in "ut crederet Agit"); set as printed and logged in misprints.tsv.
cum Deo; ac per hoc existimant ad regna terrena facienda Deum inclinare, ad regnum vero coeleste obtinendum Deum non inclinare quorum voluerit voluntates? Sed puto propter regnum coelorum, non propter regnum terrenum esse dictum, Inclina cor meum in testimonia tua (Psal. CXVIII, 36); vel, A Domino gressus hominis diriguntur, et viam ejus volet (Psal. XXXVI, 23); vel, Paratur voluntas a Domino (Prov. VIII, sec. LXX); vel, Fiat Dominus noster nobiscum, sicut erat cum patribus nostris: non derelinquat nos, nec avertat nos a se; inclinet corda nostra ad se, ut eamus in omnibus viis ejus (III Reg. VIII, 57, 58); vel, Dabo eis cor cognoscendi me, et aures audientes (Baruch II, 31); vel, Dabo eis cor aliud, et spiritum novum dabo eis (Ezech. XI, 19). Audiant etiam illud, Spiritum meum dabo in vobis, et faciam ut in justificationibus meis ambuletis, et judicia mea observetis et faciatis (Id. XXXVI, 27): audiant, A Domino diriguntur gressus viri; mortalis autem quomodo intelligit vias suas (Prov. XX, 24)?
[…] with God; and that therefore they think that God inclines the wills of whom He will for the making of earthly kingdoms, but does not incline them for obtaining the heavenly kingdom? But I think it was for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, not for the sake of an earthly kingdom, that it was said, Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies (Ps. 118:36); or, By the Lord are the steps of a man directed, and he will desire His way (Ps. 36:23); or, The will is prepared by the Lord (Prov. 8, according to the LXX); or, May our Lord be with us, as He was with our fathers: may He not forsake us, nor turn us away from Himself; may He incline our hearts to Himself, that we may walk in all His ways (1 Kgs. 8:57, 58); or, I will give them a heart to know Me, and ears that hear (Bar. 2:31); or, I will give them another heart, and a new spirit will I give them (Ezek. 11:19). Let them hear this too, I will put My Spirit within you, and I will make you walk in My justifications, and keep My judgements and do them (ibid. 36:27): let them hear, By the Lord are the steps of a man directed; but how does a mortal understand his own ways (Prov. 20:24)?
audiant, Omnis vir videtur sibimetipsi justus; dirigit autem corda Dominus (Id. XXI, 2): audiant, Crediderunt quotquot erant ordinati in vitam aeternam (Act. XIII, 48). Audiant haec, et alia quaecumque non dixi, quibus ostenditur Deus ad regnum etiam coelorum et ad vitam aeternam parare et convertere hominum voluntates. Cogitate autem quale sit, ut credamus ad constituenda regna terrena hominum voluntates operari Deum, et ad capessendum regnum coelorum homines operari voluntates suas.
let them hear, Every man seems just to himself; but the Lord directs the hearts (ibid. 21:2): let them hear, As many as were ordained to eternal life believed (Acts 13:48). Let them hear these things, and whatever others I have not mentioned, by which it is shown that God prepares and converts the wills of men even for the kingdom of heaven and for eternal life. But consider what sort of thing it would be for us to believe that God works the wills of men for establishing earthly kingdoms, and that men work their own wills for taking hold of the kingdom of heaven.
CAPUT XXI. — 43. Multa diximus, et fortasse jam dudum potuimus persuadere quae volumus, et adhuc tam bonis ingeniis sic loquimur quasi obtusis, quibus et quod nimium est non est satis. Sed dent veniam; nova enim quaestio ad hoc nos compulit. Quia cum in prioribus opusculis nostris satis idoneis
CHAPTER XXI. — 43. We have said much, and perhaps we could long ago have persuaded them of what we wish, and still we speak to such good minds as though to dull ones, for whom even what is too much is not enough. But let them pardon us; for a new question has driven us to this. For whereas in our earlier small works, with quite adequate […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 991
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "A Domino diriguntur"› · printed under col 991 In hoc versiculo manuscripti omnes habent, corriguntur.
In this verse all the manuscripts have corriguntur.
2 ‹anchor: "quasi obtusis"› · printed under col 991 Mss., obtunsis.
The manuscripts: obtunsis.
Page
- running head: 991 S. AUGUSTINI EPISCOPI 992 (page head over cols 991–992)
- marginal letters: none visible
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: the column's text ends about two-thirds down the page ("satis idoneis", continued at the head of col 992), with its two footnotes below; the rest of the page holds the full-width "EXPLICIT TOMI DECIMI PARS PRIOR." and the printer's line, recorded in n992.
testimoniis egissemus, donum Dei esse etiam fidem: inventum est quod contradiceretur, ad hoc valere illa testimonia, ut ostendant Dei donum esse incrementum fidei; initium vero fidei quo in Christum primitus creditur, ab homine ipso esse, nec esse donum Dei, sed hoc exigere Deum, ut cum id praecesserit, caetera tanquam hoc merito consequantur quae Dei dona sunt; nec ullum eorum dari gratis, cum in eis Dei gratia, quae non nisi gratuita est, praedicetur.
[…] testimonies we had argued that faith too is the gift of God, something was found with which to contradict it: that those testimonies avail only to show that the increase of faith is the gift of God; but that the beginning of faith, by which one first believes in Christ, is from man himself and is not the gift of God, but that God requires it, so that, when it has gone before, the other things which are the gifts of God may follow as if by this merit; and that none of them is given freely, although in them the grace of God is preached, which is nothing unless it is gratuitous.
Quod videtis quam sit absurdum; propter quod institimus, quantum potuimus, ut etiam ipsum initium fidei donum Dei esse ostenderemus. Quod etsi diutius fecimus, quam forsitan vellent hi propter quos fecimus; hinc ab eis reprehendi parati sumus: dum tamen etsi multo diutius quam vellent, etsi cum fastidio ac taedio intelligentium, fateantur nos fecisse quod fecimus, id est, etiam initium fidei, sicut continentiam, patientiam, justitiam, pietatem, et caetera, de quibus cum his nulla contentio est, donum Dei esse docuisse. Hic ergo sit hujus voluminis terminus, ne offendat unius nimia longitudo.
You see how absurd this is; for which reason we have insisted, as far as we could, on showing that even the very beginning of faith is the gift of God. And if we have done this at greater length than perhaps those for whose sake we did it would wish, we are ready to be blamed by them for it: provided only that, even if at much greater length than they would wish, even if to the weariness and tedium of those who understand, they acknowledge that we have done what we have done, that is, that we have taught that the beginning of faith too, like continence, patience, justice, piety and the rest, about which there is no dispute with them, is the gift of God. Here, then, let this volume end, lest the excessive length of a single one give offence.
Editors' notes and page, col. 992
Footnotes
1 ‹anchor: "dari gratis"› · printed under col 992 Viro cuidam erudito legendum videtur, nec nullum eorum dari gratis; quasi postea sequeretur, quippe cum in eis, etc. At veteres codices, quotquot videre nobis licuit, cum editis consentientes ferunt, nec ullum eorum dari gratis; ut subsequentis sententiae sensus sit, cum tamen in eis, etc. Movetur vir eruditus, quod semipelagiani, excepto initio bonae voluntatis aut fidei, bona quaecumque opera gratiae Dei gratuitae assignent, ut videre est apud Cassianum in Collatione 13, capp. 13, 17; teste quoque Hilario supra, in epistola 226, ad Augustinum, n. 2, ubi ait, « Ad nullum opus vel incipiendum, » etc. Verum id Augustinus contendit opinione ipsorum, velint nolint, contineri, ut caetera Dei dona initio fidei tanquam merito praecedente consequantur, nec ullum eorum gratis detur. Quem secutus Bonifacius II papa in epistola ad Caesarium, concilii Arausicani secundi decreta confirmans, scribit: « Illos autem, qui praecedente fide, caetera, sicut indicas, volunt gratiae deputare, sua professione constringimus, ut multo magis dono gratiae etiam fidem cogantur adscribere, etc. si enim nihil boni est sine fide, fides autem ipsa venire negetur ex gratia; nullum, quod absit, bonum erit gratiae deputandum. » Epistolam Bonifacii exhibemus integram in secunda parte Appendicis.
It seems to a certain learned man that we should read nec nullum eorum dari gratis, as though there followed afterwards quippe cum in eis, etc. But the old manuscripts, as many as we have been able to see, agreeing with the editions, have nec ullum eorum dari gratis; so that the sense of the following clause is cum tamen in eis, etc. The learned man is moved by the fact that the semipelagians, except for the beginning of good will or of faith, assign all good works whatever to the gratuitous grace of God, as can be seen in Cassian, Conference 13, chapters 13 and 17; as Hilary also testifies above, in Letter 226, to Augustine, n. 2, where he says, « To no work, not even to begin it, » etc. But Augustine contends that this is contained in their opinion, whether they will or not: that the other gifts of God follow upon the beginning of faith as upon a preceding merit, and that none of them is given freely. Following him, Pope Boniface II, in his letter to Caesarius confirming the decrees of the second Council of Orange, writes: « But those who, with faith going before, wish to ascribe the rest to grace, as you indicate, we bind by their own profession, so that they are compelled much more to ascribe faith also to the gift of grace, etc. For if there is nothing good without faith, and faith itself is denied to come from grace, then nothing good, God forbid, will be to be ascribed to grace. » We give the letter of Boniface in full in the second part of the Appendix.
2 ‹anchor: "propter quod institimus"› · printed under col 992 Hic sequimur Er. Lugd. Ven. Lov. In B., institumus. M.
Here we follow Er., Lugd., Ven., Lov. In B.: institumus [so printed; perhaps instituimus]. M.
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- other: the work ends in this column with "nimia longitudo." (about a quarter of the way down the column); the two footnotes follow. Below both columns, full width: "EXPLICIT TOMI DECIMI PARS PRIOR." (the Maurist edition's close of the first part of its tome X), and at the foot a rule and the printer's line "Parisiis. — Ex Typis J.-P. MIGNE." Both are page apparatus, recorded here, not set in layer 1. In footnote 1 the quotations are printed with a « at the head of every line; they are set with one opening and one closing mark. The right edge of the scan shows the bound edge of the next leaf (no text). "Digitized by Google" stamp at the foot (scanner's mark).