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all the time of the preachers, saying: but to spread out the hands, signifies to call and to draw and to exhort.

CHAPTER 11. "I say then, has God cast away His people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people which He foreknew." 95.529 He introduces the argument by way of a question; and he says that even if those who are saved are few, the promises stand; for this reason he did not simply say, His people, but he added, whom He foreknew. Then, bringing forward a proof that He has not cast away the people, he says: For I also am an Israelite. "Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the story of Elijah? How he makes intercession to God against Israel: Lord, they have killed your prophets, and dug down your altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life." He brings on a solution from the history of the objection which he thus states: and what is the objection? Thus, he says, you deceive us, and mislead the entire people, putting forward yourself and the few who are with you, and you puff us up with empty hopes, saying that the promise has been fulfilled, when all are perishing, and salvation has been confined to a few. This being the objection, see how he brings on the solution, constructing it from history. And the whole economy of the argument is this: God has not cast away the people. For if He had cast them away, He would have accepted no one; but if He accepted some, He has not cast them away. Then the objection: And yet, he says, if He did not cast away all, He accepted all. Then the solution: By no means, he says; for in the time of Elijah salvation was limited to seven thousand; and now also many have believed. But if you do not know, it is no wonder; since even that prophet, so great and of such stature, did not know. "But what does the divine response say to him? I have left to Myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal. So then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace." Lest they should say, What then have those things to do with the present? he says; he says, yes indeed. For from this it is shown that God is accustomed to always save the worthy, even if the promise is made to the whole nation. Wherefore he also adds: So also at the present time a remnant according to the election of grace has been made. And he signifies something else from this, that grace is not a foreign and new thing, but that even seven thousand were saved through it. "And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace." Again, from this he deprives the Jews of an excuse. For you cannot say, he says, that the prophets called, and the events cried out, and the provocation was sufficient to persuade us, but the commandments were burdensome. For you cannot say these things either, he says; for how, he says, would God have demanded these things from you, when He was about to overshadow you with His grace. "What then? Israel has not obtained that which it seeks for." 95.532 Because of unbelief, clearly; for these things he also established again before. "But the election has obtained it, and the rest were hardened, as it is written." Righteousness. having obeyed faith. "God has given them the spirit of slumber." Slumber, he says, is the disposition and the lawless wickedness; but when you hear "He gave," and "He delivered up," do not take the word as if God were pushing them into this, but instead of "He permitted." "Eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, unto this day." Since they themselves closed their eyes and stopped their ears, according to the voice of Isaiah, and were not willing either to see or to hear, for this reason He permitted them to walk according to the ways of their hearts. For to draw the unwilling to what is good, this would be to destroy free will. "And David says, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a recompense to them, and a stumbling block: let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see." He shows that this very thing

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πάντα τὸν χρόνον τῶν κηρύκων λέγων· τὸ δὲ ἐκπετάσαι τὰς χεῖρας, τὸ καλέσαι καὶ ἐπισπάσασθαι καὶ παρακαλέσαι δηλοῖ.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΙΑʹ. «Λέγω οὖν· μὴ ἀπώσατο ὁ Θεὸς τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ; Μὴ γένοιτο· καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ

Ἰσραηλίτης εἰμὶ ἐκ σπέρματος Ἀβραὰμ, φυλῆς Βενιαμίν. Οὐκ ἀπώσατο ὁ Θεὸς τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ ὃν προέγνω.» 95.529 Κατὰ διαπόρησιν εἰσάγει τὸν λόγον· λέγει δὲ ὅτι κἂν ὀλίγοι ὦσιν οἱ διασεσωσμένοι, τὰ τῆς ἐπαγγελίας ἕστηκεν· διὰ τοῦτο οὐδὲ ἁπλῶς εἶπεν, τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ, ἀλλὰ προσέθηκεν, ὃν προέγνω. Εἶτα ἐπαγαγὼν ἀπόδειξιν τοῦ μὴ ἀπώσασθαι τὸν λαὸν, φησίν· Καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ Ἰσραηλίτης εἰμί. «Ἢ οὐκ οἶδατε ἐν Ἠλίᾳ τί λέγει ἡ Γραφή; ὡς ἐντυγχάνει τῷ Θεῷ κατὰ τοῦ Ἰσραήλ· Κύριε, τοὺς προφήτας σου ἀπέκτειναν, καὶ τὰ θυσιαστήριά σου κατέσκαψαν· κἀγὼ ὑπελείφθην μόνος, καὶ ζητοῦσι τὴν ψυχήν μου.» Λύσιν ἐπάγει ἐξ ἱστορίας τῆς ἀντιθέσεως ἧς οὕτω τίθησι· τίς δὲ ἡ ἀντίθεσις; Οὕτως ἡμᾶς, φησὶν, ἀπατᾷς, καὶ παραλογίζῃ τὸν λαὸν ἅπαντα, σεαυτὸν τιθεῖς καὶ τοὺς ὀλίγους τοὺς μετὰ σοῦ, καὶ κεναῖς ἡμᾶς φυσᾶς ἐλπίσι, τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν πεπληρῶσθαι λέγων, πάντων ἀπολομένων, καὶ εἰς ὀλίγους τῆς σωτηρίας περιστάσης. Ταύτης οὔσης τῆς ἀντιθέσεως, ὅρα πῶς ἐπάγει τὴν λύσιν ἀπὸ ἱστορίας κατασκευάζων· ἡ δὲ πᾶσα οἰκονομία τοῦ λόγου αὕτη· οὐκ ἀπώσατο ὁ Θεὸς τὸν λαόν. Εἰ γὰρ ἀπώσατο, οὐδένα ἀνεδέξατο· εἰ δὲ ἐδέξατό τινας, οὐκ ἀπώσατο. Εἶτα ἀντίθεσις· Καὶ μὴν, φησὶν, εἰ μὴ πάντας ἀπώσατο, πάντας ἐδέξατο. Εἶτα ἡ λύσις· Οὐδαμῶς, φησίν· καὶ γὰρ ἐν Ἠλίᾳ ἐν ἑπτακισχιλίοις περιέστη τὰ τῆς σωτηρίας· καὶ νῦν δὲ πολλοὶ οἱ πεπιστευκότες. Εἰ δὲ ἀγνοεῖτε ὑμεῖς, θαυμαστὸν οὐδέν· ἐπεὶ καὶ ὁ προφήτης ἐκεῖνος ὁ τοσοῦτος καὶ τηλικοῦτος ἠγνόει. «Ἀλλὰ τί λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ χρηματισμός; Κατέλειψα ἐμαυτῷ ἑπτακισχιλίους ἄνδρας, οἵτινες οὐκ ἐκάμψαντο γόνυ τῇ Βάαλ. Οὕτως οὖν καὶ ἐν τῷ νῦν καιρῷ λείμματα κατ' ἐκλογὴν χάριτος γέγονεν.» Ἵνα μὴ λέγοιεν, Τί οὖν ἐκεῖνα πρὸς τὰ παρόντα; φησίν· λέγει, ναὶ μὲν οὖν. ∆είκνυται γὰρ ἐντεῦθεν ὅτι τοὺς ἀξίους ὁ Θεὸς ἀεὶ σώζειν εἴωθεν, κἂν πρὸς ἅπαν ἔθνος ἡ ἐπαγγελία κειμένη. ∆ιὸ καὶ ἐπάγει· Οὕτω καὶ ἐν τῷ νῦν καιρῷ λεῖμμα κατ' ἐκλογὴν χάριτος γέγονε. Σημαίνει δὲ καὶ ἕτερόν τι ἐκ τούτου, τὸ μὴ ξένην εἶναι τὴν χάριν καὶ πρᾶγμα καινὸν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἑπτακισχιλίους δι' αὐτῆς σεσῶσθαι. «Εἰ δὲ χάριτι, οὐκέτι ἐξ ἔργων· ἐπεὶ ἡ χάρις οὐκέτι γίνεται χάρις.» Πάλιν κἀντεῦθεν ἀποστερεῖ συγγνώμης τοὺς Ἰουδαίους. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἔχετε, φησὶν, εἰπεῖν, ὅτι προφῆται μὲν ἐκάλουν, καὶ τὰ πράγματα ἐβόα, καὶ ἡ παραζήλωσις ἡμᾶς πεῖσαι ἦν ἱκανή· φορτικὰ δὲ τὰ ἐπιταττόμενα ἦν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ταῦτα, φησὶν, εἰπεῖν ἔχετε· πῶς γὰρ ἂν ταῦτα ἀπῄτησε, φησὶν, ὁ Θεὸς παρ' ὑμῶν, ὁπότε καὶ τὴν χάριν αὐτοῦ ἐπισκιάζειν ἔμελλεν. «Τί οὖν; ὃ ἐπιζητεῖ Ἰσραὴλ, τούτου οὐκ ἐπέτυχεν.» 95.532 ∆ιὰ τὴν ἀπιστίαν δηλονότι· ταῦτα γὰρ καὶ ὀπίσω πάλιν κατεσκεύασεν. «Ἡ δὲ ἐκλογὴ ἐπέτυχεν· οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ ἐπωρώθησαν, καθὼς γέγραπται.» Τὴν δικαιοσύνην. ὑπακούσασα τῇ πίστει. «Ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Θεὸς πνεῦμα κατανύξεως.» Κατάνυξιν, τὴν διάθεσιν καὶ τὴν παράνομον κακίαν φησίν· ὅταν δὲ τὸ, ἔδωκεν, ἀκούεις, καὶ τὸ, παρέδωκεν, μὴ ὡς εἰς τοῦτο αὐτοὺς ὠθοῦντος τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλ' ἀντὶ τοῦ, εἴασεν, δέχου τὴν λέξιν. «Ὀφθαλμοὺς τοῦ μὴ βλέπειν, καὶ ὦτα τοῦ μὴ ἀκούειν, ἕως τῆς σήμερον ἡμέρας.» Ἐπειδὴ αὐτοὶ αὐτῶν ἐκάμμυσαν τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς, καὶ ἔφραξαν τὰ ὦτα, κατὰ τὴν Ἡσαΐου φωνὴν, καὶ οὐκ ἠβουλήθησαν οὔτε ὁρᾷν, οὔτε ἀκούειν, τούτου χάριν εἴασεν αὐτοὺς κατὰ τὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα πορεύεσθαι τῶν καρδιῶν αὐτῶν. Τὸ γὰρ ἄκοντας ἕλκειν εἰς τὸ καλὸν, τοῦτο ἦν ἀναιροῦντος τὸ αὐτεξούσιον. «Καὶ ∆αβὶδ λέγει· γενηθήτω ἡ τράπεζα αὐτῶν εἰς παγίδα, καὶ εἰς θήραν, καὶ εἰς ἀνταπόδομα αὐτοῖς, καὶ εἰς σκάνδαλον· σκοτισθήτωσαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτῶν τοῦ μὴ βλέπειν.» ∆είκνυσιν ὡς αὐτὸ τοῦτο