Chapter 12 [VI.]--Of the Praise of Free Will.
Moreover, that, in opposition to the Manicheans, they praise free will, making use of the prophetic testimony, "If ye shall be willing and will hear me, ye shall eat what is good in the land; but if ye shall be unwilling and will not hear me, the sword shall consume you:" [2809] what advantage is this to them, when, indeed, it is not so much against the Manicheans that they are maintaining, as against the catholics that they are extolling, free will? For they wish what is said, "If ye be willing and will hear me," to be so understood, as if in the preceding will itself were the merit of the grace that follows; and thus grace were no more grace, seeing that it is not free when it is rendered as a debt. But if they should so understand what is written, "If ye be willing," as to confess that He prepares even that good will itself of whom it is written, "The will is prepared by the Lord," [2810] they would use this testimony as catholics, and not only would overcome the ancient heresy of the Manicheans, but would not found the new one of the Pelagians.
[2809] Isa. i. 19, 20.
[2810] Prov. viii. 35.
Chapter 13.--God's Purposes are Effects of Grace.
What does it profit them, that in the praise of that same free will "they say that grace assists the good purpose of every one"? [2811] This would be received without scruple as being said in a catholic spirit, if they did not attribute merit to the good purpose, to which merit now a wage is paid of debt, not according to grace, but would understand and confess that even that very good purpose, which the grace which follows assists could not have been in the man if grace had not preceded it. For how is there a good purpose in a man without the mercy of God first, since it is that very good will which is prepared by the Lord? [2812] But when they had said this, "that grace also assists every one's good purpose," and presently added, "yet does not infuse the love of virtue into a resisting heart," it might be fitly understood, if it were not said by those whose meaning is known. For, for the resisting heart a hearing for the divine call is first procured by the grace of God itself, and then in that heart, now no more resisting, the desire of virtue is kindled. Nevertheless, in all things which any one does according to God, His mercy precedes him. And this they will not have, because they choose to be not catholics, but Pelagians. For it much delights a proud impiety, that even that which a man is forced to confess to be given by the Lord should seem to be not bestowed on himself, but repaid; so that, to wit, the children of perdition, not of the promise, may be thought themselves to have made themselves good, and God to have repaid to those who are now good, having been made so by themselves, the reward due for that their work.
[2811] See above, Book ii. ch. 11.
[2812] Prov. viii. 35.
Chapter 14.--The Testimonies of Scripture in Favour of Grace.
For that very pride has so stopped the ears of their heart that they do not hear, "For what hast thou that thou hast not received?" [2813] They do not hear, "Without me ye can do nothing;" [2814] they do not hear, "Love is of God;" [2815] they do not hear, "God hath dealt the measure of faith;" [2816] they do not hear, "The Spirit breatheth where it will," [2817] and, "They who are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God;" [2818] they do not hear, "No one can come unto me, unless it were given him of my Father;" [2819] they do not hear what Esdras writes, "Blessed is the Lord of our fathers, who hath put into the heart of the king to glorify His house which is in Jerusalem;" [2820] they do not hear what the Lord says by Jeremiah, "And I will put my fear into their heart, that they depart not from me; and I will visit them to make them good;" [2821] and specially that word by Ezekiel the prophet, where God fully shows that He is induced by no good deservings of men to make them good, that is, obedient to His commands, but rather that He repays to them good for evil, by doing this for His own sake, and not for theirs. For He says, "These things saith the Lord God: I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine own holy name's sake, which has been profaned among the nations, whither ye have gone in there; and I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, saith Adonai the Lord, when I shall be sanctified among you before their eyes. And I will take you from among the nations, and gather you together out of all lands, and will bring you into your own land. And I will sprinkle upon you clean water, and ye shall be cleansed from all your filthiness, and I will cleanse you. And I will give unto you a new heart, 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 righteousness, and to observe my judgments, and do them." [2822] And after a few words, by the same prophet He says, "Not for your sakes do I do this, saith the Lord God; it shall be known unto you: be ye confounded and blush for your ways, O house of Israel. These things saith the Lord God: In the day in which I shall cleanse you from all your iniquities, and shall ordain cities, and the wilderness shall be built, and the desolated land shall be tilled, whereas it was desolated before the eyes of every passer by. And they shall say, This land that was desolated has become as a garden of pleasure; and the wasted and desolated and ruined cities have settled down fortified. And whatever nations have been left round about you shall know that I the Lord have built the ruined places, I have planted the desolated places: I the Lord have spoken, and have done it. Thus saith the Lord: I will yet for this inquire of the house of Israel, that I may do it for them; I will multiply them men like sheep, as holy sheep, as the sheep of Jerusalem in the days of her feast; so shall be those desolated cities full of men as sheep: and they shall know that I am the Lord." [2823]
[2813] 1 Cor. iv. 7.
[2814] John xv. 5.
[2815] 1 John iv. 7.
[2816] Rom. xii. 3.
[2817] John iii. 8.
[2818] Rom. viii. 14.
[2819] John vi. 65.
[2820] 1 Esdras viii. 25.
[2821] Jer. xxxii. 40, 41.
[2822] Ezek. xxxvi. 22 ff.
[2823] Ezek. xxxvi. 32 ff.