-' Rom. XI.. 3. " Eph. ii. 8. 5 Eph. vi. 23.
9 Ps. xcv. 7, 8.
10 Elzek. xi. 19.
8 Rom. X. 14.
12 (That is. "cartially" the Lalm phrase m 2 Cor. 111. 3 being capable alike of the literal and metaphorical sense of " fleshly. — W. J 1-5 Ezek. xi. 19, 20.
[Chap. 30.
where a good will precedes, there is, of course.
no longer a heart of stone.
CHAP. 30. — THE GRACE BY WHICH THE STONY HEART IS REMOVED IS NOT PRECEDED BY GOOD DESERTS, BUT BY EVIL ONES.
In another passage, also, by the same prophet, God, in the clearest language, shows us that it is not owing to any good merits on the part of men, but for His own name's sake, that He does these things. This is His language: " This I do, O house of Israel,' but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle you with clean water, and ye shall be clean: from all your own filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and the stony heart shall be taken away out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and will cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." - Now who is so blind as not to see, and who so stone-like as not to feel, that this grace is not given according to the merits of a good will, when the Lord declares and testifies, " It is I, O house of Israel, who do this, but for my holy name's sake "? Now why did He say " It is I that do it, but for my holy name's sake," were it not that they should not think that it was owing to their own good merits that these things were happening, as the Pelagians hesitate not unblushingly to say? But there were not only no good merits of theirs, but the Lord shows that evil ones actually preceded; for He says, " 7?ut for my holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen^ Who can fail to observe how dreadful is the evil of profaning the Lord's own holy namei^ And yet, for the sake of this very name of mine, says He, which ye have profaned, I, even I, will make you good, but not for your own sakes; and, as He adds, " I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them." He says that He sanctifies His name, which He had already declared to be holy. Therefore, this is just what we pray for in the Lord's Prayer — "Hallowed be Thy ' In several editions and MSS. there is inserted here the phrase ' not /or your sakcs." 2 Ezek. xxxvi. 22-27 name." ^ We ask for the hallowing among men of that which is in itself undoubtedly always holy. Then it follows, " And the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you." Although, then. He is Himself always holy. He is, nevertheless, sanctified in those on whom He bestows His grace,> by taking from them that stony heart by which they profaned the name of the Lord.
CHAP. 31 [XV.] — FREE WILL HAS ITS FUNCTION IN THE heart's CONVERSION; BUT GRACE TOO HAS ITS.
Lest, however, it should be thought that men themselves in this matter do nothing by free will, it is said in the Psalm, " Harden not your hearts; " ^ and in Ezekiel himself, " Cast away from you all your transgressions, which ye have impiously committed against me; and make you a new heart and a new spirit; and keep all my commandments. For why will ye die, O house of Israel, saith the Lord? for I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: and turn ye, and live." s We should remember that it is He who says, " Turn ye and live," to whom it is said in prayer, " Turn us again, O God." ^ We should remember that He says, " Cast away from you all your transgressions," when it is even He who justifies the ungodly. We should remember that He says, " Make you a new heart and a new spirit," who also promises, " I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit will I put within you." 7 How is it, then, that He who says, " Make you," also says, "I will give you"? Why does He command, if He is to give? Why does He give if man is to make, except it be that He gives what He commands when He helps him to obey whom He commands? There is, however, always within us a free will, — but it is not always good; for it is either free from righteousness when it serves sin, — and then it is evil, — or else it is free from sin when it serves righteousness, — and then it is good. But the grace of God is always good; and by it it comes to pass that a man is of a good will, though he was before of an evil one. By it also it comes to pass that the very good will, which has now begun to be, is enlarged, and made so great that it is able to fulfil the divine commandments which it shall wish, when it shall once firmly and perfectly wish. This is the purport of what the Scripture says: " If thou wilt, thou shalt keep the commandments;"^ so that the man who wills but is not able knows that he does not yet fully will, and prays that he may 3 Matt. vi. 9. [The word-play is significant in the Latin: "He says that he sanctifies {saitcii/icare) His name which He had already declared to be Holy (satictnin). This is, therefore, what we pray for in the Lord's Prayer when we say, " Hallowed (.sancti/hatur) be thy name," etc. — W.]
7 Ezek. xxxvi 26. ^ Ecclus. xv. 15.
Chap. 33.]
have so great a will that it may suffice for keeping the commandments. And thus, indeed, he receives assistance to perform what he is commanded. Then is the will of use when we have ability; just as ability is also then of use when we have the will. For what does it profit us if we will what we are unable to do, or else do not will what we are able to do?
CHAP. 32 [XVI.] IN WHAT SENSE IT IS RIGHTLY!
SAID THAT, IF WE LIKE, WE MAY KEEP GOD'S COMMANDMENTS. j The Pelagians think that they know something! great when they assert that " God would not command what He knew could not be done by man." Who can be ignorant of this? But God commands some things which we cannot do, in order that we may know what we ought to ask of Him. For this is faith itself, which obtains by prayer what the law commands. He, indeed, who said, " If thou wilt, thou shalt keep the commandments," did in the same book of Ecclesiasticus afterwards say, " Who shall give a watch before my mouth, and a seal of wisdom upon my lips, that I fall not suddenly thereby, and that my tongue destroy me not."' Now he had certainly heard and received these commandments: " Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile." ^ Forasmuch, then, as what he said is true: " If thou wilt, thou shalt keep the commandments," why does he want a watch to be given before his mouth, like him who says in the Psalm, " Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth "?3 Why is he not satisfied with God's commandment and his own will; since, if he has the will, he shall keep the commandments? How many of God's commandments are directed against pride! He is quite aware of them; if he will, he may keep them. Why, therefore, does he shortly afterwards say, " O God, Father and God of my life, give me not a proud look"?'* The law had long ago said to him, " Thou shalt not covet; " s let him then only will, and do what he is bidden, because, if he has the will, he shall keep the commandments. Why, therefore, does he afterwards say, " Turn away from me concupiscence"?^ Against luxury, too, how many commandments has God enjoined! Let a man observe them; because, if he will, he may keep the commandments. But what means that cry to God, " Let not the greediness of the belly nor lust of the flesh take hold on me! "?7 Now, if we were to put this question to him personally, he would very rightly answer us and say. From that prayer of mine, in which I offer this particular petition to God, you may understand in what sense I said, " If thou wilt, thou mayest 2 Ps. xxxiv. 13. S Ex. XX. 17.
3 Ps. cxli. 3.
* Ecclus. xxiii. 5.
keep the commandments." For it is certain that we keep the commandments if we will; but because the will is prepared by the Lord, we must ask of Him for such a force of \vill as suffices to make us act by the willing. It is certain that it is we that zaiV/ when we will, but it is He who makes us will what is good, of whom it is said (as he has just now expressed it), "The will is prepared by the Lord." ^ Of the same Lord it is said, "The steps of a man are ordered by the Lord, and his way doth He will." 9 Of the same Lord again it is said, " It is God who worketh in you, even to will! " '° It is certain that it is we that act when we act; but it is He who makes us act, by applying efficacious powers to our will, who has said, " I will make you to walk in my statutes, and to observe my judgments, and to do them." " When he says, " I will make you...to do them," what else does He say in fact than, " I will take away from you your heart of stone," '^ from which used to arise your inability to act, " and I will give you a heart of flesh," '3 in order that you may act? And what does this promise amount to but this: I will remove your hard heart, out of which you did not act, and I will give you an obedient heart, out of which you shall act? It is He who causes us to act, to whom the human suppliant says, "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth." ^ That is to say: Make or enable me, O Lord, to set a watch before my mouth, — a benefit which he had already obtained from God who thus described its influence: " I set a watch upon my mouth." ■•♦ CHAP,;^2 [XVII.] A GOOD WILL IMAY BE SMALL AND WEAK; AN AMPLE WILL, GRE.^T LOVE. OP- ERATING AND CO-OPERATING GR.'^CE.
He, therefore, who wishes to do God's commandment, but is unable, already possesses a good will, but as yet a small and weak one; he will, however, become able when he shall have acquired a great and robust will. When the martyrs did the great commandments which they obeyed, they acted by a great will, — that is, with great love. Of this love the Lord Himself thus speaks: " Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." '5 In accordance with this, the apostle also says, " He that loveth his neighbour hath fulfilled the law. For this: Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.'-' Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the 8 Prov. viii. 35. 9 Ps. xxxvii. 23. '° Phil. ii. 13.
" Ezek. xxxvi. 26. ■•« Ps. xxxix. i. '5 John xv. 13.
"> Lev. xix. 18.
[Chap. 34.
law." ' This love the Apostle Peter did not yet possess, when he for fear tiirice denied the Lord.-" There is no fear in love," says the Evangelist John in his first Epistle, " but perfect love casteth out fear." ^ ' But yet, however small and imperfect his love was, it was not wholly wanting when he said to the Lord, " I will lay down my life for Thy sake; " ■♦ for he supposed himself able to effect what he felt himself willing to do. And who was it that had begun to give him his love, however small, but He who prepares the will, and perfects by His co-operation what He initiates by His operation? Forasmuch as in beginning He works in us that we may have the will, and in perfecting works with us when we have the will. 5 On which account the apostle says, " I am confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus^, Christ." *" He operates, therefore, without us, in order that we may will; but when we will, and so will that we may act, He co-operates with us. We can, however, ourselves do nothing to effect good works of piety without Him either working that we may will, or co-working when we will. Now, concerning His working that we may will, it is said: " It is God which vvorketh in you, even to will." 7 While of His co-working with us, when we will and act by willing, the apostle says, " We know that in all things there is co-working for good to them that love God." ^ What does this phrase, " all things," mean, but the terrible and cruel sufferings which affect our condition? That burden, indeed, of Christ, which is heavy for our! infirmity, becomes light to love. For to such | did the Lord say that His burden was light,^ as | Peter was when he suffered for Christ, not as he j was when he denied Him. i CHAP. 34. — THE apostle's EULOGY OF LOVE. ' CORRECTION TO BE ADAHNISTERED WITH LOVE.
This charity, that- is, this will glowing with intensest love, the apostle eulogizes with these words: " Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? (As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalides, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, ■ Rom. xiii. 8-10.
* John xiii. 37. 5 Compare Art. X. of the Church of England.
^ Rom. viii. 28. The Latin indefinite passive co-operatur invited this mm in the usage of the passage. 9 Malt. xi. 30.
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." '° And in another passage he says, " And yet I show unto you a more excellent way. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophec)f, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing. Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never faileth." " And a little afterwards he says, "And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Follow after love." '^ He also says to the Galatians, " For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." '^ This is the same in effect as what he writes to the Romans: " He that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." '+ In like manner he says to the Colossians, " And above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfectness." 'S And to Timothy he writes, " Now the end of the commandment is love; " and he goes on to describe the quality of this grace, saying, " Out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned." ''' Moreover, when he says to the Corinthians, " Let all your things be done with love," ''' he shows plainly enough that even those chastisements which are deemed sharp and bitter by those who are corrected thereby, are to be administered with love. Accordingly, in another passage, after saying, " Warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men," he immediately added, "See that none render evil for evil unto any man." '^ Therefore, even when the unruly are corrected, it is not rendering evil for evil, but contrariwise, good. However, what but love worketh all these things?
CHAP. 35. — COMMENDATIONS OF LOVE.
The Apostle Peter, likewise, says, " And, above all things, have fervent love among yourselves: for love shall cover the multitude of sins." *9 The Apostle James also says, " If ye Chap. 38.]
fulfil the royal law, according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well." ' So also the Apostle John says, " He that loveth his brother abideth in the right; " ^ again, in another passage, " Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother; for this is the message which we have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." ^ Then he says again, " This is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another." ■♦ Once more: " And this commandment have we from Him, that he who loveth God love his brother also." 5 Then shortly afterwards he adds, " By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments; for this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous."'' While, in his second Epistle, it is written, " Not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another."?
CHAP. 36. — LOVE COMMENDED BY OUR LORD HIMSELF.
Moreover, the Lord Jesus Himself teaches us that the whole law and the prophets hang upon the two precepts of love to God and love to our neighbour. Concerning these two commandments the following is written in the Gospel according to St. Mark: " And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him: Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him: The first of ail the commandments is, Hear, O Israel! the Lord our God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.'"^ This is the first commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.^ There is none other commandment greater than these." '° Also, in the Gosi)el according to St. John, He says, "A new conmiandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love to one another." " CHAP. 37 [XVIII.] — THE LOVE WHICH FULFILS THE COMMANDMENTS IS NOT OF OURSELVES, BUT OF GOD.
All these commandments, however, respecting love or charity '^ (which are so great, and such ' Jas. ii. 8. 2, John ii. lo.
'° Mark xii. 28-31. " John xiii. 34, 35. '2 [" Love or charity," the disjunctive being intended to identify, not distinguish, the two. The word amor is distinguishable from the pair {dilectio and charitas) here used, though even this must not be pressed too far. See Augustin's City 0/ Cod, xiv. 7. — W.]
that whatever action a man may think he does well is by no means well done if done without love) would be given to men in vain if, they had not free choice of will. But forasmuch as tWese precepts are given in the law, both old and new (although in the new came the grace which was promised in the old, but the law without grace is the letter which killcth, but in grace the Spirit which giveth life), from what source is there in men the love of God and of one's neighbour but from God Himself? For indeed, if it be not of God but of men, the Pelagians have gained the victory; but if it come from God, then we have vanquished the Pelagians. Let, then, the Apostle John sit in judgment between us; and let him say to us, " Beloved, let us love one another." '^ Now, when they begin to extol themselves on these words of John, and to ask why this precept is addressed to us at all if we have not of our own selves to love one another, the same apostle proceeds at once, to their confusion, to add, " For love is of God." '^ It is not of ourselves, therefore, but it is of God.
Wherefore, then, is it said, " Let us love one another, for love is of God," unless it be as a precei)t to our free will, admonishing it to seek the gift of God? Now, this would be indeed a thoroughly fruitless admonition if the will did not previously receive some donation of love, which might seek to be enlarged so as to fulfil whatever command was laid upon it. ^\'hen it is said, "Let us. love one another," it is law; when it is said, " For love is of God," it is grace. For God's " wisdom carries law and mercy upon her tongue." '■♦ Accordingly, it is written in the Psalm, " For He who gave the law will give blessings." 's CHAP. 38. WE WOULD NOT LOVE GOD UNLESS HE FIRST LOVED US. THE APOSTLES CHOSE CHRIST BECAUSE THEY WERE CHOSEN; THEY WERE NOT CHOSEN BECAUSE THEY CHOSE CHRIST.
Let no one, then, deceive you, my brethren, for we should not love God unless He first loved us. John again gives us the plainest proof of this when he says, " We love Him because He first loved us." '^ Grace makes us lovers of the law; but the law itself, without grace, makes us nothing but breakers of the law. And nothing else than this is shown us by the words of our Lord when He says to His disciples, " Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you." '^ For if we first loved Him, in order that by this merit He might love us, then we first chose Him that we might deserve to be chosen by Him. He, however, who is the Truth says otherwise, and flatly contradicts this vain conceit of men. " You have not chosen me," '■« Prov. iii. 16. " John XV. 16.
'5 P.S. Ixxxiv. 6.
[Chap. 39.
He says. If, therefore, you have not chosen me, undoubtedly you have not loved me (for how could they choose one whom they did not love?). "But I," says He, " have chosen you." And then could they possibly help choosing Him afterwards, and preferring Him to all the blessings of this world? But it was because they had been chosen, that they chose Him; not because they chose Him that they were chosen. There could be no merit in men's choice of Christ, if it were not that God's grace was prevenient in His choosing them. Whence the Apostle Paul pronounces in the Thessalonians this benediction: " The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men." ' This benediction to love one another He gave us, who had also given us a law that we should love each other. Then, in another passage addressed to the same church, seeing that there now existed in some of its members the disposition which he had wished them to cultivate, he says, " We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth." ^ This he said lest they should make a boast of the great good which they were enjoying from God, as if they had it of their own mere selves. Because, then, your faith has so great a growth (this is the purport of his words), and the love of every one of you all toward each other so greatly abounds, we ought to thank God concerning you, but not to praise you, as if you possessed these gifts of yourselves.
CHAP. 39. — THE SPIRIT OF FEAR A GREAT GIFT The apostle also says to Timothy, " For God hath not given to us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 3 Now in respect of this passage of the apostle, we must be on our guard against supposing that we have not received the spirit of the fear of God, which is undoubtedly a great gift of God, and concerning which the prophet Isaiah says, " The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon thee, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and piety, the spirit of the fear of the Lord."'* It is not the fear with which Peter denied Christ that we have received the spirit of, but that fear concerning which Christ Himself says, " Fear Him who hath power to destroy both soul and body in hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear Him." 5 This, indeed. He said, lest we should deny Him from the same fear which shook Peter; for such cowardice he 3 2 Tim. i. 7.
plainly wished to be removed from us when He, in the preceding passage, said, " Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do."^ It is not of this fear that we have received the spirit, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. And of this spirit the same Apostle Paul discourses to the Romans: " We glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us."? Not by ourselves, therefore, but by the Holy Ghost which is given to us, does it come to pass that, through that very love, which he shows us to be the gift of God, tribulation does not do away with patience, but rather produces it. Again, he says to the Ephesians, " Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith." ^ Great blessings these! Let him tell us, however, whence they come. " From God the Father," says he immediately afterwards, " and the Lord Jesus Christ." 9 These great blessings, therefore, are nothing else than God's gifts to us.
CHAP. 40 [XIX.] THE IGNORANCE OF THE PE- LAGIANS IN MAINTAINING THAT THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LAW COMES FROM GOD, BUT THAT LOVE COMES FROM OURSELVES.
It is no wonder that light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not.9 In John's Epistle the Light declares, " Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." '° And in the Pelagian writings the darkness says, " Love comes to us of our own selves." Now, if they only possessed the true, that is, Christian love, they would also know whence they obtained possession of it; even as the apostle knew when he said, " But we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." " John says, " God is love." '^ And thus the Pelagians affirm that they actually have God Himself, not from God, but from their own selves! and although they allow that we have the knowledge of the law from God, they will yet have it that love is from our very selves. Nor do they listen to the apostle when he says, " Knowledge puffeth up, but love edifieth." '^ Now what can be more absurd, nay, what more insane and more alien from the very sacredness of love itself, than to maintain that from God proceeds the knowledge which, apart from love, puffs us up, while the love which prevents the possibility of this infla-