Chapter 3 [III.]—In What Way God Commands Nothing Impossible. Works of Mercy, Means of Wiping Out Sins.

Now these people imagine that they are acute (as if none among us knew it) when they say, that “if we have not the will, we commit no sin; nor would God command man to do what was impossible for human volition.” But they do not see, that in order to overcome certain things, which are the objects either of an evil desire or an ill-conceived fear, men need the strenuous efforts, and sometimes even all the energies, of the will; and that we should only imperfectly employ these in every instance, He foresaw who willed so true an utterance to be spoken by the prophet: “In Thy sight shall no man living be justified.”239    Ps. cxliii. 2. The Lord, therefore, foreseeing that such would be our character, was pleased to provide and endow with efficacious virtue certain healthful remedies against the guilt and bonds even of sins committed after baptism,—for instance, the works of mercy,—as when he says: “Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven; give, and it shall be given unto you.”240    Luke vi. 37, 38. For who could quit this life with any hope of obtaining eternal salvation, with that sentence impending: “Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all,”241    Jas. ii. 10. if there did not soon after follow: “So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty: for he shall have judgment without mercy that hath showed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment?”242    Jas. ii. 12.

CAPUT III.

3. Quomodo Deus nihil praecipit impossibile. Opera misericordiae remedia sunt ad abolenda peccata. Acute autem sibi videntur dicere, quasi nostrum hoc ullus ignoret, quod «si nolumus, non peccamus; nec praeciperet Deus homini, quod esset humanae impossibile voluntati.» Sed hoc non vident, quod ad nonnulla superanda, vel quae male cupiuntur, vel quae male metuuntur, magnis aliquando et totis viribus opus est voluntatis, quas nos non perfecte in omnibus adhibituros praevidit, qui per prophetam veridice dici voluit, Non justificabitur in conspectu tuo omnis vivens (Psal. CXLII, 2). Tales itaque nos futuros Dominus praevidens, quaedam salubria remedia contra reatum et vincula peccatorum etiam post Baptismum dare ac valere dignatus est, opera scilicet misericordiae, cum ait, Dimittite, et dimittetur vobis; date, et dabitur vobis (Luc. VI, 37, 38). Quis enim cum aliqua spe adipiscendae salutis aeternae de hac vita emigraret, manente illa sententia, quod quicumque totam legem servaverit, offendat autem in uno, factus est omnium reus; nisi post paululum sequeretur, Sic loquimini, et sic facite, tanquam per legem libertatis incipientes judicari. Judicium enim sine misericordia illi qui non facit misericordiam. Superexaltat autem misericordia judicio (Jacobi II, 10, 12, 13)?