Chapter 32.—The Gifts of Grace Conferred on Adam in Creation.

At that time, therefore, God had given to man a good will,120    Some mss. read, “a free will.” because in that will He had made him, since He had made him upright. He had given help without which he could not continue therein if he would; but that he should will, He left in his free will. He could therefore continue if he would, because the help was not wanting whereby he could, and without which he could not, perseveringly hold fast the good which he would. But that he willed not to continue is absolutely the fault of him whose merit it would have been if he had willed to continue; as the holy angels did, who, while others fell by free will, themselves by the same free will stood, and deserved to receive the due reward of this continuance—to wit, such a fulness of blessing that by it they might have the fullest certainty of always abiding in it. If, however, this help had been wanting, either to angel or to man when they were first made, since their nature was not made such that without the divine help it could abide if it would, they certainly would not have fallen by their own fault, because the help would have been wanting without which they could not continue. At the present time, however, to those to whom such assistance is wanting, it is the penalty of sin; but to those to whom it is given, it is given of grace, not of debt; and by so much the more is given through Jesus Christ our Lord to those to whom it has pleased God to give it, that not only we have that help without which we cannot continue even if we will, but, moreover, we have so great and such a help as to will. Because by this grace of God there is caused in us, in the reception of good and in the persevering hold of it, not only to be able to do what we will, but even to will to do what we are able. But this was not the case in the first man; for the one of these things was in him, but the other was not. For he did not need grace to receive good, because he had not yet lost it; but he needed the aid of grace to continue in it, and without this aid he could not do this at all; and he had received the ability if he would, but he had not the will for what he could; for if he had possessed it, he would have persevered. For he could persevere if he would; but that he would not was the result of free will, which at that time was in such wise free that he was capable of willing well and ill. For what shall be more free than free will, when it shall not be able to serve sin? and this should be to man also as it was made to the holy angels, the reward of deserving. But now that good deserving has been lost by sin, in those who are delivered that has become the gift of grace which would have been the reward of deserving.

32. Tunc ergo dederat homini Deus bonam voluntatem; in illa quippe eum fecerat qui fecerat rectum: dederat adjutorium , sine quo in ea non posset permanere si vellet; ut autem vellet, in ejus libero reliquit arbitrio. Posset ergo permanere si vellet: quia non deerat adjutorium per quod posset, et sine quo non posset perseveranter bonum tenere quod vellet. Sed quia noluit permanere, profecto ejus culpa est, cujus meritum fuisset, si permanere voluisset: sicut fecerunt Angeli sancti, qui cadentibus aliis per liberum arbitrium, per idem liberum arbitrium steterunt ipsi, et hujus permansionis debitam mercedem recipere meruerunt, tantam scilicet beatitudinis plenitudinem, qua eis certissimum sit semper se in illa esse mansuros. Si autem hoc adjutorium vel angelo vel homini, cum primum facti sunt, defuisset; 0936 quoniam non talis natura facta erat, ut sine divino adjutorio posset manere si vellet, non utique sua culpa cecidissent: adjutorium quippe defuisset, sine quo manere non possent. Nunc autem quibus deest tale adjutorium, jam poena peccati est: quibus autem datur, secundum gratiam datur, non secundum debitum; et tanto amplius datur per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum, quibus id dare Deo placuit, ut non solum adsit sine quo permanere non possumus, etiam si velimus, verum etiam tantum ac tale sit, ut velimus. Fit quippe in nobis per hanc Dei gratiam in bono recipiendo et perseveranter tenendo, non solum posse quod volumus, verum etiam velle quod possumus. Quod non fuit in homine primo: unum enim horum in illo fuit, alterum non fuit. Namque ut reciperet bonum, gratia non egebat, quia nondum perdiderat: ut autem in eo permaneret, egebat adjutorio gratiae, sine quo id omnino non posset: et acceperat posse si vellet, sed non habuit velle quod posset; nam si habuisset, perseverasset. Posset enim perseverare si vellet : quod ut nollet, de libero descendit arbitrio; quod tunc ita liberum erat, ut et bene velle posset et male. Quid erit autem liberius libero arbitrio, quando non poterit servire peccato, quae futura erat et homini, sicut facta est Angelis sanctis, merces meriti? Nunc autem per peccatum perdito bono merito, in his qui liberantur factum est donum gratiae, quae merces meriti futura erat.