Chap. 41.]
tion of knowledge springs from ourselves? And < again, when the apostle -speaks of "the love of Christ as surpassing knowledge," ' what can be more insane than to suppose that the knowledge which must be subordinated to love comes from God, while the love which surpasses knowledge comes from man? The true faith, however, and sound doctrine declare that both graces are I from God; the Scripture says, " From His face Cometh knowledge and understanding; " ^ and another Scripture says, " Love is of God." ^ We read of " the Spirit of wisdom and understanding." ■♦ Also of " the Spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 5 But love is a greater gift than knowledge; for whenever a man has the gift of knowledge, love is necessary by the side of it, that he be not puffed up. For " love envieth not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up." ^ CHAP. 41 [XX.] THE WILLS OF MEN ARE SO MUCH IN THE POWER OF GOD, THAT HE CAN TURN THEM WHITHERSOEVER IT PLEASES HIM.
I thmk I have now discussed the point fully enough m opposition to those who vehemently oppose the grace of God, by which, however, the human will is not taken away, but changed from bad to good, and assisted when it is good. I think, too, that I have so discussed the subject that it IS not so much I myself as the inspired Scripture which has spoken to you, in the clearest testimonies of truth; and if this divine record be looked into carefully, it shows us that not only men's good wills, which God Himself converts from bad ones, and, when converted by Him, directs to good actions and to eternal life, but also those which follow tlie world are so entirely at the disposal of God, that He turns /them whithersoever He wills, and whensoever He wills, — to bestow kindness on some, and to heap punishment on others, as He Himself judges right by a counsel most secret to Himself, indeed, but beyond all doubt most righteous.
For we find that some sins are even the punishment of other sins, as are those "vessels ofj wrath " which the apostle describes as " fitted to | destruction;" 7 as is also that hardening of Pharaoh, the purpose of which is said to be to set forth in him the power of God; '^ as, again, 1 is the flight of the Israelites from the face of the i enemy before the city of Ai, for fear arose in | their heart so that they fled, and this was done j that their sin might be punished in the way it was right that it should be; by reason of which the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, " The children of Israel shall not be able to stand before the face of their enemies." '' What is the ^' ' Eph. iii. 19.
* Isa. xi 2.
' Rom. IX. 22 ■* Sec Josh vii. 4, 12.
" See Ex. vn, 3, and x. 1.
meaning of, " They shall not be able to stand"?
Now, why. did they not stand by free will, but, with a will perplexed by fear, took to flight, were it not that God has the lordship even over men's wills, and when He is angry turns to fear whomsoever He pleases? Was it not of their own will that the enemies of the children of Israel fought against the people of God, as led by Joshua, the son of Nun? And yet the Scripture says, " It was of the Lord to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that they might be exterminated." '° And was it not likewise of his own will that the wicked son of Gera cursed King David? And yet what says David, full of true, and deep, and pious wisdom? What did he say to him who wanted to smite the reviler? " What," said he, " have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? Let him alone and let him curse, because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David. Who, then, shall say. Wherefore hast thou done so? " " And then the inspired Scripture, as if it would confirm the king's profound utterance by repeating it once more, tells us: " And David said to Abishai, and to all his servants. Behold, my son, which came forth from my bowels, seeketh my life: how much more may this Benjamite do it! Let him alone, and let him curse; for the Lord hath bidden him. It may be that the Lord will look on my humiliation, and will requite me good for his cursing this day." '- Now what prudent reader will fail to understand in what way the Lord bade this profane man to curse David? It was not by a command that He bade him, in which case his obedience would be praiseworthy; but He inclined the man's will, which had become debased by his own perverseness, to commit this sin, by His own just and secret judgment. Therefore it is said, " The Lord said unto him." Now if this person had obeyed a command of God, he would have deserved to be praised rather than punished, as we know he was afterwards punished for this sin. Nor is the reason an obscure one why the Lord told him after this manner to curse David. "■ It may be," said the humbled king, " that the Lord will look on my humiliation, and will requite me good for his cursing this day." See, then, what proof we have here that God uses the hearts of even wicked men for the praise and assistance of the good. Thus did He make use of Judas when betraying Christ; thus did He make use of the Jews when they crucified Christ. And how vast the blessings which from these instances He has bestowed upon the nations that should believe in Him! He also uses our worst enemy, the devil himself, but in the best way, to exercise and try the faith and piety of good men, — not : Sam.
XVI. II, 12.
[Chap. 42.
for Himself indeed, who knows all things before they come to pass, but for our sakes, for whom it was necessary that such a discipline should be gone through with us. Did not Absalom choose by his own will the counsel which was detrimental to him? And yet the reason of his doing so was that the Lord had heard his father's prayer that it might be so. Wherefore the Scrij)ture says that '' the Lord appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring all evils upon Absalom." ' It called Ahithophel's counsel "good/," because it was for the moment of advantage to his purpose. It was m favour of the son against his father, |gainst whom he had rebelled; and it might have crushed him, had not the Lord defeated the counsel which Ahithophel had given, by acting on the heart of Absalom so that he rejected this counsel, and chose another which was not expedient for him.
CHAP. 42 [XXI.] — GOD DOES WHATSOEVER HE WILLS IN THE HEARTS OF EVEN WICKED MEN.
Who can help trembling at those judgments of God by which He does in the hearts of even wicked men whatsoever He wills, at the same time rendering to them according to their deeds? Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, rejected the salutary counsel of the old men, not to deal harshly with the people, and prefeiTed listening to the words of the young men of his own age, by returning a rough answer to those to whom he should have spoken gently. Now whence arose such conduct, except from his own will? Upon this, however, the ten tribes of Israel revolted from him, and chose for themselves another king, even Jeroboam, that the will of God in His anger might be accomplished which He had predicted would come to pass.^ For what says the Scripture? " The king hearkened not unto the people; for the turning was from the Lord, that He might perform His saying, which the Lord spake to Ahijah the Shilonite concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat." 3 All this, indeed, was done by the will of man, although the turning was from the Lord. Read the books of the Chronicles, and you will find the following passage in the second book: " Moreover, the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians, that were neighbours to the Ethiopians; and they came up to the land of Judah, and ravaged it, and carried away all the substance which was found in the king's house." •* Here it is shown that God stirs up enemies to devastate the countries which He adjudges deserving of such chastisement. Still, did these Philistines and Arabians invade the land of Judah to waste it with no will of their own? Or were their movements so directed by their own will that the Scripture lies which tells us that " the Lord stirred up their spirit " to do all this? Both statements to be sure are true, because they both came by their own will, and yet the Lord stirred up their spirit; and this may also with equal truth be stated the other way: The Lord both stirred up their spirit, and yet they came of their own will. For the Almighty sets in motion even in the innermost hearts of men the movement of their will, so that He does through their agency whatsoever He wishes to perform through them, — even He who knows not how to will anything in unrighteousness. What, again, is the purport of that which the man of God said to Kinir Amaziah: " Let not the army of Israel go with thee; for the Lord is not with Israel, even with all the children of Ephraim: for if thou shalt think to obtain with these, the Lord shall put thee to flight before thine enemies: for God hath power either to strengthen or to put to flight "? 5 Now, how does the power of God help some in war by giving them confidence, and put others to flight by injecting fear into them, except it be that He who has made all things according to His own will, in heaven and on earth,^ also works in the hearts of men? We read also what Joash, king of Israel, said when he sent a message to Amaziah, king of Judah, who wanted to fight with him. After certain other words, he added, " Now tarry at home; why dost thou challenge me to thine hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee? " 7 Then the Scripture has added this sequel: " But Amaziah would not hear; for it came of God, that he might be delivered into their hands, because they sought after the gods of Edom." ^ Behold, now, how God, wishing to punish the sin of idolatry, wrought this in this man's heart, with whom He was indeed justly angry, not to Hsten to sound advice, but to despise it, and go to the battle, in which he with his army was routed. God says by the prophet Ezekiel, " If the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet: I will stretch out -my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel." 9 Then there is the book of Esther, who was a woman of the people of Israel, and in the land of their captivity became the wife of the foreign King Ahasuerus. In this book it is written, that, being driven by necessity to interpose in behalf of her people, whom the king had ordered to be slain in every part of his dominions, she prayed to the Lord. So strongly was she urged by the necessity of the case, that she even ventured into the royal presence with- *• Ps. cxxxv. 6. 9 Ezek. xiv. 9.
7 2 Kings xiv. 10.
Chap. 44.]
out the king's command, and contrary to her own custom. Now observe what the Scripture says: " He looked at her Hke a bull in the vehemence of his indignation; and the queen was afraid, and her colour changed as she fainted; and she bowed herself uj^on the head of her delicate maiden which went before her. But God turned the king, and transformed his indignation into gentleness." ' The Scripture says in the Proverbs of Solomon, " Even as the rush of water, so is the heart of a king in God's hand; He will turn it in whatever way He shall choose."^ Again, in the 104th Psalm, in reference to the Egyptians, one reads what God did to them: " And He turned their heart to hate His people, to deal subtilly with His servants." ^ Observe, likewise, what is written in the letters of the apostles. In the Epistle of Paul, the Apostle, to the Romans occur these words: " Wherefore God gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts; " * and a little afterwards: " For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections; " s again, in the next passage: " And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient." ^ So also in his second Epistle to the Thessalonians, the apostle says of sundry persons, " Inasmuch as they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved; therefore also God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." ^ CH.'XP. 43. GOD OPERATES ON MEN'S HEARTS TO INCLINE THEIR WILLS WHITHERSOEVER HE PLEASES.
From these statements of the inspired word, and from similar passages which it would take too long to quote in full, it is, I think, sufficiently clear that God works in the hearts of men to incline their wills whithersoever He wills, whether to good deeds according to His mercy, or to evil after their own deserts; His own judgment being sometimes manifest, sometimes secret, but always righteous. This ought to be the fixed and immoveable conviction of your heart, that there is no unrighteousness with God. Therefore, whenever you read in the Scriptures of Truth, that men are led aside, or that their hearts are blunted and hardened by God, never doubt that some ill deserts of their own have first occurred, so that they justly suffer these things. Thus you will not run counter to that proverb of Solomon: "The foolishness of a ' Esther v. (according to the Sept ). * Prov. xxi. i.
man perverteth his ways, yet he blameth God in his heart." ** Grace, however, is not bestowed according to men's deserts; otherwise grace would be no longer grace.^ For grace is so designated because it is given gratuitously.'" Now if God is able, either through the agency of angels (whether good ones or evil), or in any other wMy whatever, to operate in the hearts even of the wicked, in return for their deserts, — whose wickedness was not made bv Him, but was either derived originally from Adam, or increased by their own will, — what is there to wonder at if, through the Holy Spirit, He works good in the hearts of the elect, who has wrought it that their hearts become good instead of evil?
CHAP. 44 [XXII.] — GRATUITOUS GRACE EXEMPLI- FIED IN INFANTS.
Men, however, may suppose that there are certain good deserts which they think are precedent to justification through God's grace; all the while failing to see, when they express such an opinion, that they do nothing else than deny grace. But, as I have already remarked, let them suppose what they like respecting the case of adults, in the case of infants, at any rate, the Pelagians find no means of answering the difficulty. For these in receiving grace have no will, from the influence of which they can pretend to any precedent merit. We see, moreover, how they cry and struggle when they are baptized, and feel the divine sacraments. Such conduct would, of course, be charged against them as a great impiety, if they already had free will in use; and notwithstanding this, grace cleaves to them even in their resisting struggles. But most certainly there is no prevenient merit, otherwise the grace would be no longer grace. Sometimes, too, this grace is bestowed upon the children of unbelievers, when they happen by some means or other to fall, by reason of God's secret providence, into the hands of pious persons; but, on the other hand, the children of believers fail to obtain grace, some hindrance occurring to prevent the approach of help to rescue them in their danger. These things, no doubt, happen through the secret providence of God, whose judgments are unsearchable, and His ways past finding out. These are the words of the apostle; and you should observe what he had previously said, to lead him to add such a remark. He was discoursing about the Jews and Gentiles, when he wrote to the Romans — themselves Gentiles — to this effect: "For as ye, in times past, have not believed God, yet ha\e now obtained mercy through their unbelief; even so have these also now not believed, Prov. xix. 3. » Rom. xi. 6.
'•^ Latin, gratis.
[Chap. 45.
that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy; for God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all." ' Now, after he had thought upon what he said, full of wonder at the certain truth of his own assertion, indeed, but astonished at its great depth, how God concluded all in unbelief that He might have mercy upon all, — as if doing evil that good miglit come, — he at once exclaimed, and said, " O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! " ^ Perverse men, who do not reflect upon these unsearchable judgments and untraceable ways, indeed, but are ever prone to censure, being unable to understand, have supposed the apostle to say, and censoriously gloried over him for saying, " Let us do evil, that good may come! " God forbid that the apostle should say so! But men, without understanding, have thought that this was in fact said, when they heard these words of the apostle: " Moreover, the law entered, that the offence might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." ^ But grace, indeed, effects this purpose — that good works should now be wrought by those who previously did evil; not that they should persevere in evil courses and suppose that they are recompensed with good. Their language, therefore, ought not to be: " Let us do evil, that good may come; " but: *' We have done evil, and good has come; let us henceforth do good, that in the future world we may receive good for good, who in the present life are receiving good for evil." Wherefore it is written in the Psalm, " I will sing of mercy and judgment unto Thee, O Lord."-* W'hen the Son of man, therefore, first came into the world, it was not to judge the world, but that the world through Him might be saved 5 And this dispensation was for mercy; by and by, however. He will come for judgment — to judge the quick and the dead. And yet even in this present time salvation itself does not eventuate without judgment — although it be a hidden one; therefore He says, " For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not may see, and that they which see may be made blind." ^ CHAP. 45 [XXIII.] — THE REASON WHY ONE PER- SON IS ASSISTED BY GRACE, AND ANOTHER IS NOT HELPED, MUST BE REFERRED TO THE SECRET JUDGMENTS OF GOD.
You must refer the matter, then, to the hidden determinations of God, when you see, in one and the same condition, such as all infants unquestionably have, — who derive their hereditary ' Rom. xi. 30-32. * Ps. ci. I.
2 Rom. xi. 33. i John iii. 17.
evil from Adam, — that one is assisted so as to be baptized, and another is not assisted, so that he dies in his very bondage; and again, that one baptized person is left and forsaken in his present life, who God foreknew would be ungodly, while another baptized person is taken away from this life, " lest that wickedness should alter his understanding; " 7 and be sure that you do not in such cases ascribe unrighteousness or unwisdom to God, in whom is the very fountain of righteousness and wisdom, but, as I have exhorted you from the commencement of this treatise, " whereto you have already attained, walk therein," ^ and " even this shall God reveal unto you," 9 — if not in this life, yet certainly in the next, " for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed." '° When, therefore, you hear the Lord say, " I the Lord have deceived that prophet," " and likewise what the apostle says: '' He hath mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth," '^ believe that, in the case of him whom He permits to be deceived and hardened, his evil deeds have deserved the judgment; whilst in the case of him to whom He shows mercy, you should loyally and unhesitatingly recognise the grace of the God who " rendereth not evil for evil; but contrariwise blessing." '^ Nor should you take away from Pharaoh free will, because in several passages God says, " I have hardened Pharaoh; " or, " I have hardened or I will harden Pharaoh's heart; " '■* for it does not by any means follow that Pharaoh did not, on this account, harden his own heart. For this, too, is said of him, after the removal of the fly-plague from the Egyptians, in these words of the Scripture: " And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also; neither would he let the people go." '5 Thus it was that both God hardened him by His just judgment, and Pharaoh by his own free will. Be ye then well assured that your labour will never be in vain, if, setting before you a good purpose, you persevere in it to the last. For God, who fails to render, according to their deeds, only to those whom He liberates, will then " recompense every man according to his works." "^ God will, therefore, certainly recompense both evil for evil, because He is just; and good for evil, because He is good; and good for good, because He is good and just; only, evil for good He will never recompense, because He is not unjust. He will, therefore, recompense evil for evil — punishment for unrighteousness; and He will recompense good for evil — grace for unrighteousness; and He will recompense good for good — grace for grace.
8 Phil iii. 16. 9 Phil. iii. 15.
" Ezek. xiv. 9. '- Rom. ix. 18.
'■i See Ex. iv. 21, vii. 3, xiv. 4.
"> Matt, xvi 27.
Chap. 46.]
CHAP. 46 [XXIV.] — UNDERSTANDING AND WISDOM MUST BE SOUGHT FROM GOD.
Peruse attentively this treatise, and if you understand it, give (]od the praise; but where you fail to understand it, pray for understanding, for God will give you understanding. Remember what the Scriptures say: " If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given to him." • Wisdom itself cometh down from above, as the Apostle James himself tells us." There is, however, another wisdom, which you must repel from you, and pray against its remaining in you; this the same apostle expressed his detestation of when he said, " But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts,...this is not the wisdom which descendeth from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For wherever there is envying and strife, ' Jas. i. 5.
there is also confusion, and every evil work. But the wisdom which is from above is first pure/ then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good works, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." 3 What blessing, then, will that man not have who has prayed for this wisdom and obtained it of the Lord? And from this you may understand what grace is; because if this wisdom were of ourselves, it would not be from above; nor would it be' an object to be asked for of the God who created us. Brethren, pray ye for us also, that we may live "soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,"-* to whom belong the honour, and the glory, and the kingdom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen.
3 Jas. iiL 14-17.
* Titus ii. 12, A TREATISE ON REBUKE AND GRACE.
Book II. Chap, ^^jy "DE CORREPTIONE ET GRATIA."
I WROTE again to the same persons ' another treatise, which I entitled On Rehike and Grace, because I had been told that some one ' Valentine, to wit, and the monks with him who inhabited the conven' at Adrumetum. See above, at the beginning of the preceding treatise. Ott Grace and Free Will.