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Augustine of Hippo, A Treatise On Grace And Free Will
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Two letters written by Augustin to Valentinus and the monks of Adrumetum,
On Grace and Free Will, to Valentinus and the Monks with Him
Chapter 1 [I.]—The Occasion and Argument of This Work.
Chapter 4.—The Divine Commands Which are Most Suited to the Will Itself Illustrate Its Freedom.
Chapter 7.—Grace is Necessary Along with Free Will to Lead a Good Life.
Chapter 8.—Conjugal Chastity is Itself the Gift of God.
Chapter 9.—Entering into Temptation. Prayer is a Proof of Grace.
Chapter 10 [V.]—Free Will and God’s Grace are Simultaneously Commended.
Chapter 11.—Other Passages of Scripture Which the Pelagians Abuse.
Chapter 12.—He Proves Out of St. Paul that Grace is Not Given According to Men’s Merits.
Chapter 13 [VI.]—The Grace of God is Not Given According to Merit, But Itself Makes All Good Desert.
Chapter 14.—Paul First Received Grace that He Might Win the Crown.
Chapter 16 [VII.]—Paul Fought, But God Gave the Victory: He Ran, But God Showed Mercy.
Chapter 17.—The Faith that He Kept Was the Free Gift of God.
Chapter 18.—Faith Without Good Works is Not Sufficient for Salvation.
Chapter 19 [VIII.]—How is Eternal Life Both a Reward for Service and a Free Gift of Grace?
Chapter 21 [IX.]—Eternal Life is “Grace for Grace.”
Chapter 23 [XI.]—The Pelagians Maintain that the Law is the Grace of God Which Helps Us Not to Sin.
Chapter 28.—Faith is the Gift of God.
Chapter 29.—God is Able to Convert Opposing Wills, and to Take Away from the Heart Its Hardness.
Chapter 31 [XV.]—Free Will Has Its Function in the Heart’s Conversion But Grace Too Has Its.
Chapter 32 [XVI.]—In What Sense It is Rightly Said That, If We Like, We May Keep God’s Commandments.
Chapter 34.—The Apostle’s Eulogy of Love. Correction to Be Administered with Love.
Chapter 35.—Commendations of Love.
Chapter 36.—Love Commended by Our Lord Himself.
Chapter 37 [XVIII.]—The Love Which Fulfils the Commandments is Not of Ourselves, But of God.
Chapter 39.—The Spirit of Fear a Great Gift of God.
Chapter 42 [XXI]—God Does Whatsoever He Wills in the Hearts of Even Wicked Men.
Chapter 43.—God Operates on Men’s Hearts to Incline Their Wills Whithersoever He Pleases.
Chapter 44 [XXII.]—Gratuitous Grace Exemplified in Infants.
Chapter 46 [XXIV.]—Understanding and Wisdom Must Be Sought from God.
Chapter 11.—Other Passages of Scripture Which the Pelagians Abuse.
Then, again, there is the Scripture contained in the second book of the Chronicles: “The Lord is with you when ye are with Him: and if ye shall seek Him ye shall find Him; but if ye forsake Him, He also will forsake you.”103 2 Chron. xv. 2. This passage, no doubt, clearly manifests the choice of the will. But they who maintain that God’s grace is given according to our merits, receive these testimonies of Scripture in such a manner as to believe that our merit lies in the circumstance of our “being with God,” while His grace is given according to this merit, so that He too may be with us. In like manner, that our merit lies in the fact of “our seeking God,” and then His grace is given according to this merit, in order that we may find Him.” Again, there is a passage in the first book of the same Chronicles which declares the choice of the will: “And thou, Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve Him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts; if thou seek Him, He will be found of thee; but if thou forsake Him, He will cast thee off for ever.”104 1 Chron. xxviii. 9. But these people find some room for human merit in the clause, “If thou seek Him,” and then the grace is thought to be given according to this merit in what is said in the ensuing words, “He will be found of thee.” And so they labour with all their might to show that God’s grace is given according to our merits,—in other words, that grace is not grace. For, as the apostle most expressly says, to them who receive reward according to merit “the recompense is not reckoned of grace but of debt.”105 Rom. iv. 4.
11. Item quod scriptum est in libro secundo Paralipomenon, Dominus vobiscum, cum vos estis cum eo, et si quaesieritis eum, invenietis; si autem reliqueritis eum, derelinquet vos (II Par. XV, 2); manifestat quidem voluntatis arbitrium. Sed illi qui dicunt gratiam Dei secundum merita nostra dari, ista testimonia sic accipiunt, ut dicant meritum nostrum in eo esse, quod sumus cum Deo; ejus autem gratiam secundum hoc meritum dari, ut sit et ipse nobiscum. Item meritum nostrum in eo esse, quod quaerimus eum; et secundum hoc meritum dari ejus gratiam, ut inveniamus eum. Et in libro primo quod dictum est, Et tu, Salomon fili mi, cognosce Deum, et servi ei in corde perfecto et anima volente; quia omnia corda scrutatur Dominus, et omnem cogitationem mentium novit: si quaesieris eum, invenietur tibi; et si dimiseris eum, repellet te in perpetuum (I Par. XXVIII, 9); declarat voluntatis arbitrium. Sed illi in eo ponunt meritum hominis, quod dictum est, si quaesieris eum; et secundum hoc meritum dari gratiam, in eo quod dictum est , invenietur tibi: et omnino laborant, quantum possunt, ostendere gratiam Dei secundum merita nostra dari; hoc est, gratiam non esse gratiam. Quibus enim secundum meritum redditur, non imputatur merces secundum gratiam, sed secundum debitum, sicut apertissime dicit Apostolus (Rom. IV, 4).