Chapter 37 [XIX.]—The Beginning of a Good Will is the Gift of Grace.

But you think that a man is so aided by the grace of God in a good work, that in stirring up his will to that very good work you believe that grace does nothing; for this your own words sufficiently declare. For why have you not said that a man is incited by God’s grace to a good work, as you have said that he is incited to evil by the suggestions of the devil, but have said that in a good work he is always aided by God’s grace?—as if by his own will, and without any grace of God, he undertook a good work, and were then divinely assisted in the work itself, for the sake, that is to say, of the merits of his good will; so that grace is rendered as due,—not given as not due,—and thus grace is made no more grace.78    Rom. xi. 6. But this is what, in the Palestinian judgment, Pelagius with a deceitful heart condemned,—that the grace of God, namely, is given according to our merits. Tell me, I beseech you, what good, Paul, while he was as yet Saul, willed, and not rather great evils, when breathing out slaughter he went, in horrible darkness of mind and madness, to lay waste the Christians?79    Acts ix. 1. For what merits of a good will did God convert him by a marvellous and sudden calling from those evils to good things? What shall I say, when he himself cries, “Not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us”?80    Tit. iii. 5. What is that which I have already mentioned81    See above, ch. 6. as having been said by the Lord, “No one can come to me,”—which is understood as “believe on me,”—unless it were given him of my Father”?82    John vi. 66. Whether is this given to him who is already willing to believe, for the sake of the merits of a good will? or rather is the will itself, as in the case of Saul, stirred up from above, that he may believe, even although he is so averse from the faith as even to persecute the believers? For how has the Lord commanded us to pray for those who persecute us? Do we pray thus that the grace of God may be recompensed them for the sake of their good will, and not rather that the evil will itself may be changed into a good one? Just as we believe that at that time the saints whom he was persecuting did not pray for Saul in vain, that his will might be converted to the faith which he was destroying. And indeed that his conversion was effected from above, appeared even by a manifest miracle. But how many enemies of Christ are at the present day suddenly drawn by God’s secret grace to Christ! And if I had not set down this word from the gospel, what things would that man have said in this behalf concerning me, since even now he is stirring, not against me, but against Him who cries, “No man can come to me, except the Father who hath sent me draw him”!83    John vi. 44. For He does not say, “except He lead him,” so that we can thus in any way understand that his will precedes. For who is “drawn,” if he was already willing? And yet no man comes unless he is willing. Therefore he is drawn in wondrous ways to will, by Him who knows how to work within the very hearts of men. Not that men who are unwilling should believe, which cannot be, but that they should be made willing from being unwilling.

CAPUT XIX.

37. Initium bonae voluntatis, donum gratiae. Venire ad Christum est credere. Vis gratiae. Vos autem in bono opere sic putatis adjuvari hominem gratia Dei, ut in excitanda ejus ad ipsum bonum opus voluntate, nihil eam credatis operari. Quod satis ipsa tua verba declarant. Cur enim non dixisti, hominem Dei gratia in bonum opus excitari, sicut dixisti, «in malum diaboli suggestionibus incitari;» sed aisti, «in bono opere a Dei gratia semper adjuvari?» tanquam sua voluntate, nulla Dei gratia bonum opus aggressus, in ipso jam opere divinitus adjuvetur, pro meritis videlicet voluntatis bonae; ut reddatur debita gratia, non donetur indebita: ac sic gratia jam non sit gratia (Rom. XI, 6); sed sit illud quod Pelagius in judicio Palaestino ficto corde damnavit, gratiam Dei secundum merita nostra dari . Dic mihi, obsecro, quid boni Paulus adhuc Saulus, volebat, ac non potius magna mala, quando spirans caedem pergebat ad vastandos horrenda mentis caecitate ac furore Christianos? Quibus meritis bonae voluntatis Deus illum ab his malis ad bona, mirabili et repentina vocatione convertit (Act. IX)? Quid ego dicam, quibus meritis, cum ipse clamet, Non ex operibus justitiae quae nos fecimus, sed secundum suam misericordiam salvos nos fecit (Tit. III, 5)? Quid illud 0568 quod jam commemoravi dixisse Dominum, Nemo potest venire ad me, quod intelligitur, Credere in me; nisi ei datum fuerit a Patre meo (Joan. VI, 66)? Utrum jam volenti credere pro meritis bonae voluntatis hoc datur: an potius ut credat, ipsa voluntas, sicut Sauli, desuper excitatur, etiam si tam sit aversus a fide, ut credentes etiam persequatur? Utquid enim nobis Dominus praecepit, ut oremus pro eis qui nos persequuntur (Matth. V, 44)? Numquid hoc oramus, ut eis pro bona eorum voluntate gratia Dei retribuatur, ac non potius ut mala in bonum voluntas ipsa mutetur? Sicut credimus, tunc a sanctis quos persequebatur, non inaniter oratum esse pro Saulo (Act. VII, 59), ut ad fidem quam vastabat, voluntas ejus converteretur. Et illius quidem conversio desuper facta, manifesto etiam miraculo apparuit. Quam multi inimici Christi quotidie subito Dei occulta gratia trahuntur ad Christum? Quod verbum si non ex Evangelio posuissem, quanta de me propter hoc iste dixisset; cum etiam nunc obluctetur non mihi, sed illi qui clamat, Nemo potest venire ad me, nisi Pater, qui misit me, traxerit eum (Joan. VI, 44)? Non enim ait, Duxerit, ut illic aliquo modo intelligamus praecedere voluntatem. Quis trahitur, si jam volebat? Et tamen nemo venit, nisi velit. Trahitur ergo miris modis ut velit, ab illo qui novit intus in ipsis hominum cordibus operari, non ut homines, quod fieri non potest, nolentes credant, sed ut volentes ex nolentibus fiant.