Chapter 7.--He Concludes that He Does Not Deprive the Wicked of Free Will.
It is not, therefore, true, as some affirm that we say, and as that correspondent of yours ventures moreover to write, that "all are forced into sin," as if they were unwilling, "by the necessity of their flesh;" but if they are already of the age to use the choice of their own mind, they are both retained in sin by their own will, and by their own will are hurried along from sin to sin. For even he who persuades and deceives does not act in them, except that they may commit sin by their will, either by ignorance of the truth or by delight in iniquity, or by both evils,--as well of blindness as of weakness. But this will, which is free in evil things because it takes pleasure in evil, is not free in good things, for the reason that it has not been made free. Nor can a man will any good thing unless he is aided by Him who cannot will evil,--that is, by the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. For "everything which is not of faith is sin." [2539] And thus the good will which withdraws itself from sin is faithful, because the just lives by faith. [2540] And it pertains to faith to believe on Christ. And no man can believe on Christ--that is, come to Him--unless it be given to him. [2541] No man, therefore, can have a righteous will, unless, with no foregoing merits, he has received the true, that is, the gratuitous grace from above.
[2539] Rom. xiv. 23.
[2540] Hab. ii. 4.
[2541] Rom. i. 17.
Chapter 8 [IV.]--The Pelagians Demolish Free Will.
These proud and haughty people will not have this; and yet they do not maintain free will by purifying it, but demolish it by exaggerating it. For they are angry with us who say these things, for no other reason than that they disdain to glory in the Lord. Yet Pelagius feared the episcopal judgment of Palestine; and when it was objected to him that he said that the grace of God is given according to our merits, he denied that he said so, and condemned those who said this with an anathema. [2542] And yet nothing else is found to be defended in the books which he afterwards wrote, thinking that he had made a fraud upon the men who were his judges, by lying or by hiding his meaning, I know not how, in ambiguous words. [2543]
[2542] On the Proceedings of Pelagius, 30.
[2543] On the Grace of Christ, 3, 34.
Chapter 9 [V.]--Another Calumny of Julian,--That "It is Said that Marriage is Not Appointed by God."
But now let us see what follows. "They say also," he says, "that those marriages which are now celebrated were not appointed by God, and this is to be read in Augustin's book, [2544] against which I replied in four books. And the words of this Augustin our enemies have taken up by way of hostility to the truth." To these most calumnious words I see that a brief answer must be made, because he repeats them afterwards when he wishes to insinuate what such men as they would say, as if against my words. On that point, with God's assistance, I must contend with him as far as the matter shall seem to demand. Now, therefore, I reply that marriage was ordained by God both then, when it was said, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh," [2545] and now, wherefore it is written, "A woman is joined to a man by the Lord." [2546] For nothing else is even now done than that a man cleave to his wife, and they become two in one flesh. Because concerning that very marriage which is now contracted, the Lord was consulted by the Jews whether it was lawful for any cause to put away a wife. And to the testimony of the law on the occasion mentioned, He added, "What, therefore, God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." [2547] The Apostle Paul also applied this witness of the law when he admonished husbands that their wives should be loved by them. [2548] Away, then, with the notion that in my book that man should read anything opposed to these divine testimonies! But either by not understanding, or rather by calumniating, he seeks to twist what he reads into another meaning. But I wrote my book, against which he mentions that he replied in four books, after the condemnation of Pelagius and Coelestius. And this, I have thought, must be said, because that man avers that my words had been taken up by his enemies in hostility to the truth, lest any one should think that these new heretics were condemned as enemies of the grace of Christ on account of this book of mine. But in that book is found the defence rather than the censure of marriage.
[2544] On Marriage and Concupiscence, Book i.
[2545] Gen. ii. 24.
[2546] Prov. xix. 24.
[2547] Matt. xix. 3, 6.
[2548] Eph. v. 25.