Chapter 21.—Man Does No Good Thing Which God Does Not Cause Him to Do.

Wherefore God does many good things in man which man does not do; but man does none which God does not cause man to do. Accordingly, there would be no desire of good in man from the Lord if it were not a good; but if it is a good, we have it not save from Him who is supremely and incommunicably good. For what is the desire for good but love, of which John the apostle speaks without any ambiguity, and says, “Love is of God”? 140    1 John iv. 7. Nor is its beginning of ourselves, and its perfection of God; but if love is of God, we have the whole of it from God. May God by all means turn away this folly of making ourselves first in His gifts, Himself last,—because “His mercy shall prevent me.”141    Ps. lix. 10. And it is He to whom is faithfully and truthfully sung, “For Thou hast prevented him with the blessings of sweetness.”142    Ps. xxi. 3. And what is here more fitly understood than that very desire of good of which we are speaking? For good begins then to be longed for when it has begun to grow sweet. But when good is done by the fear of penalty, not by the love of righteousness, good is not yet well done. Nor is that done in the heart which seems to be done in the act when a man would rather not do it if he could evade it with impunity. Therefore the “blessing of sweetness” is God’s grace, by which is caused in us that what He prescribes to us delights us, and we desire it,—that is, we love it; in which if God does not precede us, not only is it not perfected, but it is not even begun, from us. For, if without Him we are able to do nothing actually, we are able neither to begin nor to perfect,—because to begin, it is said “His mercy shall prevent me;”143    Ps. lix. 10. to finish, it is said, “His mercy shall follow me.”144    Ps. xxiii. 6.

21. Quapropter multa Deus facit in homine bona, quae non facit homo: nulla vero facit homo, quae non facit Deus ut faciat homo. Proinde cupiditas boni non homini a Domino esset, si bonum non esset: si autem bonum est, non nisi ab illo nobis est, qui summe atque incommutabiliter bonus est. Quid est enim boni cupiditas, nisi charitas, de qua Joannes apostolus sine ambiguitate loquitur dicens, Charitas ex Deo est (I Joan. IV, 7)? Nec initium ejus ex nobis, et perfectio ejus ex Deo; sed si charitas ex Deo, tota nobis ex Deo est. Avertat enim Deus hanc amentiam, ut in donis ejus nos priores faciamus, posteriorem ipsum: quoniam misericordia ejus praeveniet me (Psal. LVIII, 11); et ipse est cui fideliter veraciterque cantatur, Quoniam praevenisti eum in benedictione dulcedinis (Psal. XX, 4). Et quid hic aptius intelligitur, quam ipsa de qua loquimur cupiditas boni? Tunc enim bonum concupisci incipit, quando dulcescere coeperit. Quando autem timore poenae, non amore justitiae fit bonum, nondum bene fit bonum; nec fit in corde quod fieri videtur in opere, quando mallet homo non facere, si posset impune. Ergo benedictio dulcedinis, est gratia Dei, qua fit in nobis ut nos delectet et cupiamus, hoc est, amemus quod praecipit nobis; in qua si nos non praevenit Deus, non solum non perficitur, sed nec inchoatur ex nobis. Si enim sine illo nihil possumus facere, profecto nec incipere, nec perficere: quia ut incipiamus, dictum est, Misericordia ejus praeveniet me; ut perficiamus, dictum est, Misericordia ejus subsequetur me (Psal. XXII, 6).