Chapter 15.—From Such Scriptures Grace is Proved to Be Gratuitous and Effectual.

What remained to the carrion skin whence it might be puffed up, and could disdain when it glories to glory in the Lord?299    1 Cor. i. 31. What remained to it, when whatsoever it shall have said that it has done in such a way that after that preceding merit of man had originated from man, God should subsequently do that of which the man is deserving,—it shall be answered, it shall be exclaimed against, it shall be contradicted, “I do it; but for my own holy name’s sake; not for your sakes, do I do it, saith the Lord God”?300    Ezek. xxxvi. 22. Nothing so overturns the Pelagians when they say that the grace of God is given in respect of our merits. Which, indeed, Pelagius himself condemned,301    On the Proceedings of Peliagius, 30. and if not by correcting it, yet by being afraid of the Eastern judges. Nothing so overturns the presumption of men who say, “We do it, that we may deserve those things with which God may do it.” It is not Pelagius that answers you, but the Lord Himself, “I do it and not for your sakes, but for my own holy name’s sake.”302    Ezek. xxxvi. 22. For what good can ye do out of a heart which is not good? But that you may have a good heart, He says, “I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new Spirit within you.” Can you say, We will first walk in His righteousness, and will observe His judgment, and will do so that we may be worthy, such as He should give His grace to? But what good would ye evil men do, and how should you do those good things, unless you were yourselves good? But who causes that men should be good save Him who said, “And I will visit them to make them good”? and who said “I will put my Spirit within you, and will cause you to walk in my righteousness, and to observe my judgments, and do them”? Are ye thus not yet awake? Do ye not yet hear, “I will cause you to walk, I will make you to observe,” lastly, “I will make you to do”? What! are you still puffing yourselves up? We indeed walk, it is true; we observe; we do; but He makes us to walk, to observe, to do. This is the grace of God making us good; this is His mercy preventing us. What do waste and desolated and dug-up places deserve, which yet shall be built and tilled and fortified? Are these things for the merits of their wasteness, their desolation, their uprooting? Far from it. For such things as these are evil deservings, while those gifts are good. Therefore good things are given for evil ones—gratuitous, therefore; not of debt, and therefore grace. “I,” saith the Lord: “I, the Lord.” Does not such a word as that restrain you, O human pride, when you say, I do such things as to deserve from the Lord to be built and planted? Do you not hear, “I do it not on your account; I the Lord have built up the destroyed cities, and I have planted the desolated lands; I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, yet not for your sakes, but for my own holy name’s sake”? Who multiplies men as sheep, as holy sheep, as the sheep of Jerusalem? Who causes those desolated cities to be full of men as sheep, save He who goes on, and says, “And they shall know that I am the Lord”? But with what men as sheep does He fill the cities as He promised? those which He finds, or those which He makes? Let us interrogate the Psalm; lo, it answers; let us hear: “O come, let us worship and fall down before Him: and let us weep before the Lord who made us; because He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.”303    Ps. xcv. 6, 7. He therefore makes the sheep, with which He may fill the desolated cities. What wonder, when, indeed, to that single sheep, that is, the Church whose members are all the human sheep, it is said, “Because I am the Lord who make thee”? What do you pretend to me of free will, which will not be free to do righteousness, unless you should be a sheep? He then who makes men His sheep, He frees the wills of men for the obedience of piety.

15. Quid remansit pelli morticinae, unde possit inflari, et dedignetur, quando gloriatur, in Domino gloriari? Quid ei remansit, quando quidquid dixerit se fecisse, ut eo praecedente hominis merito ab homine exorto, Deus subsequenter faciat quo dignus est homo, respondebitur, reclamabitur, contradicetur, Ego facio, sed propter nomen meum sanctum, non propter vos ego facio, dicit Dominus Deus? Nihil sic evertit Pelagianos dicentes, gratiam Dei secundum merita nostra dari. Quod quidem ipse Pelagius, et si non corrigendo , tamen orientales judices timendo damnavit. Nihil sic evertit hominum praesumptionem dicentium, Nos facimus, ut mereamur cum quibus faciat Deus. Respondet vobis non Pelagius, sed ipse Dominus, Ego facio, et non propter vos, sed propter nomen meum sanctum. Quid enim potestis facere boni de corde non bono? Ut autem habeatis cor bonum, Dabo, inquit, vobis cor novum, et spiritum novum dabo vobis. Numquid potestis dicere, Prius 0620 ambulavimus in justificationibus ejus, et judicium ejus observavimus, et fecimus ut digni essemus, quibus gratiam suam daret? Quid enim boni faceretis homines mali; et quomodo ista bona faceretis, nisi boni essetis? Ut autem homines sint boni, quis facit, nisi ille qui dixit, Et visitabo eos, ut eos bonos faciam; et qui dixit, Spiritum meum dabo in vobis, et faciam ut in justificationibus meis ambuletis, et judicia mea observetis et faciatis? Itane nondum evigilatis? nondum auditis, Faciam ut ambuletis, faciam ut observetis, postremo, faciam ut faciatis? Quid adhuc vos inflatis? Nos quidem ambulamus, verum est; nos observamus, nos facimus: sed ille facit ut ambulemus, ut observemus, ut faciamus. Haec est gratia Dei bonos faciens nos, haec est misericordia ejus praeveniens nos. Quid merentur deserta, et exterminata, et effossa; quae tamen aedificabuntur, et operabuntur, et munientur? Numquid haec pro meritis desertionis, exterminationis, effossionis suae? Absit. Ista enim merita mala sunt, haec munera bona. Redduntur itaque malis bona: gratuita ergo, non debita; et ideo gratia. Ego, inquit Dominus, Ego Dominus. Nonne te ista vox comprimit, o humana superbia, quae dicis, Ego facio, ut merear a Domino aedificari atque plantari? Nonne audis, Non propter vos ego facio: Ego Dominus aedificavi destructas, plantavi exterminatas: Ego Dominus locutus sum, et feci: non tamen propter vos, sed propter nomen meum sanctum? Quis multiplicat sicut oves homines, sicut oves sanctas, sicut oves Jerusalem: quis facit ut civitates illae desolatae plenae sint ovium hominum, nisi ille qui sequitur et dicit, Et scient quia ego Dominus? Sed quibus ovibus hominibus implet, sicuti est pollicitus, civitates, utrum quas invenit, an quas facit? Psalmum interrogemus; ecce respondet, audiamus: Venite, adoremus et procidamus ei, et ploremus ante Dominum qui fecit nos; quia ipse est Deus noster, et nos populus pascuae ejus, et oves manus ejus (Psal. XCIV, 6 et 7). Ipse igitur facit oves, quibus desolatas impleat civitates. Quid mirum? Quandoquidem illi unicae ovi dicitur, hoc est, Ecclesiae, cujus membra sunt omnes oves homines: Quoniam ego sum Dominus qui facio te. Quid mihi obtendis liberum arbitrium, quod ad faciendam justitiam liberum non erit, nisi ovis fueris ? Qui facit igitur oves homines, ipse ad obedientiam pietatis humanas liberat voluntates.