Anti-Arian Works 10 part 6/9

Therefore, that we might not be slothful in keeping and multiplying the money of our Lord, but provident, we have been fortified beforehand with a spiritual pledge. This pledge, without doubt, that servant did not have, who neglected to multiply the money of his Lord which he had received (Luke 19:20). God therefore by gratuitous gift bestows His money and pledge on whom He wills. But we neither gave Him anything for which we should receive a pledge — 'For who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed him?' (Rom. 11:35) — nor did we give Him a pledge for the money: but we have both the pledge and the money by His own bestowing; and while this pledge keeps us, we do not lose what we have;

by whom also we are continually helped, that we may be able to multiply by advantageous trade the money we have received. CHAPTER XIX. — 32. But that passage of the blessed Apostle, where he says of God: 'Therefore He hath mercy on whom He will, and whom He will He hardeneth' (Rom. 9:18), we understand better if we refer it not to the sense of a question, but to the conclusion of a judgment. For the blessed Apostle Paul was treating of the gratuitous mercy by which God saves whom He wills without merits, and of the just judgment by which He condemns the rest with irreprehensible equity. There, speaking first of the infants Esau and Jacob, he proposed to himself a question, from which, apart from any merit at least of their own works,

because, while they were not yet born, they had done nothing good or evil, whereas the guilt of original sin held both bound, to the one, through undeserved mercy, love was freely bestowed; to the other, through deserved judgment, damnation was justly repaid. In this question, therefore, objecting to himself what the adversaries might bring forward, he says: 'What shall we say then? Is there injustice with God?' (Rom. 9:14). And at once he answers: 'God forbid.' And confirming his answer by the proof of the legal testimony, he says (v. 15): 'For He saith to Moses: I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.' To explain the meaning of his proposition, he thus concluded (v. 16):

'Therefore it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.' And having resolved the question which he had proposed concerning infants, he shows, by the added example of Pharaoh, that the wills also of men now using reason are converted by God's mercy alone. For he says (v. 17): 'For the Scripture saith to Pharaoh: To this very purpose have I raised thee up, that I may show My power in thee, and that My name may be declared throughout all the earth.' And the twofold judgment which he had set forth concerning the gratuitous salvation of infants and of adults, he confirmed by one conclusion, saying: 'Therefore He hath mercy on whom He will, and whom He will He hardeneth.' But that he might say this, he was not unaware that it was supported by legal utterances, by which he knew it to be contained that God had said both to Moses: 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy' (Exod.

33:19), and had said of Pharaoh that He would harden his heart. CHAPTER XX. — 33. Finally, that it may be recognized that this judgment was not brought in from an objection proposed, but as the conclusion of the foregoing proposition, after that same conclusion the blessed Apostle himself set against himself this saying of one contradicting: 'Thou wilt say therefore to me: Why doth He yet find fault? For who resisteth His will?' (Rom. 9:19).

For men wandering in the darkness of their own blindness are wont, when they hear that the wills of men are forestalled and changed by the grace of God, and when they see themselves blamed for the perversity of their darkened heart, to snatch an unjust support for their excuse from the just will of God, that thence they may receive a greater increase of punishment. For they accuse God, from whom they receive no grace; and they excuse themselves, who offend the just God by the vices of their iniquity. They themselves with their own hands inflict wounds upon themselves, and do not hesitate to lay a false charge against the physician, as though the cause of one's own slaying were not in him who kills himself, but in the physician who came to his aid with a less healthful cure. For medicine is the cause not of death, but of healing:

to which death is by no means rightly ascribed, if it is not applied at all to the grievous wound which a man inflicted on himself. For it belongs to justice, if that wounded man be left, so that he may find the death which he brought upon himself by his own voluntary deeds; but to mercy, if the physician exclude from him the ruin of death by the benefit of a gratuitous cure. 34. The more unjustly, therefore, is the kindness of the physician defamed, the less the voluntary ruin of the man wounding himself is considered: which, if the querulous sinner beholding it in himself would learn, he would not set the divine will in opposition to the excuse of his iniquity, but would humbly beg for mercy. The Apostle answering says: 'O man, who art thou that repliest against God?' (ibid. 20).

Here the blessed Paul did not, as some think, fail in his reply; but by a sufficiently useful rebuke he checked the pride of the hardened heart. For by saying: 'O man, who art thou?' he admonished the proud sinner to attend to himself, and, finding nothing in his own works that might please God, from whom he saw the precept of living well to flow forth to him, to beg from Him aid in the humility of a contrite heart: and to know that he was to be angry only with himself for whatever he sinned in thought or deed; and that the will and the ability to live justly and holily in faith and charity is never born to man from man, but is bestowed by God with gratuitous bounty;

which, by forestalling, changes the evil wills of men into good, that it may forgive sins to the impious and unjust; and, by helping, follows after those same good wills, that it may render the crown of justice to those who live well — which the Lord will bestow on His faithful not in this age, but in the age to come, when He bestows glory on the vessels of mercy, and consigns the vessels of dishonour to the fire forever to be burned. 35. Concerning which vessels of mercy and of dishonour, the understanding of those brethren departs greatly from the truth, in that they hold that those men are vessels of mercy who have in this age the dignity of ecclesiastical or secular office; but that clerics and monks, or any laymen whatsoever, are vessels of dishonour.

For they attend too little to the goodness of God, which, by gratuitous love, distinguishes the vessels of mercy, which He prepared unto glory, from the vessels of wrath and dishonour — that this goodness consists in the illumination of the heart, that is, in faith, hope, and charity: in which whoever shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved (Matt. 10:22). CHAPTER XXI. — 36. On this account the blessed Paul testifies that glory and honour and peace can be given, not to anyone endowed with secular or ecclesiastical dignity, but to everyone that worketh good (Rom. 2:10); and speaking of the vessels that are in a great house, he does not say that a more powerful dignity makes anyone a vessel of honour, but he asserts that true honour is to be bestowed on those who are cleansed. For thus he says:

'But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earthenware; and some indeed unto honour, but some unto dishonour. If any man therefore shall cleanse himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified and profitable to the Lord, prepared unto every good work' (2 Tim. 2:20-21). Again he says of God: 'Who will render to every man according to his works; to them indeed who according to patience in good work seek glory and honour and incorruption, eternal life; but to them that are of contention, and who obey not the truth, but give credit to iniquity, wrath and indignation. Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that worketh evil, of the Jew first, and of the Greek;

but glory, honour, and peace to everyone that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek' (Rom. 2:6 ff.). The blessed Peter also shows that, through the mercy of God — according to which whoever are saved are called vessels of mercy — not the dignity of the times in this life, but the gift of regeneration in faith, hope, and charity is conferred. For he says:

'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy hath regenerated us unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that cannot fade, reserved in heaven for you, who by the power of God are kept through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time; wherein you shall greatly rejoice, if now you must be for a little time made sorrowful in divers temptations: that the trial of your faith, much more precious than gold which is tried by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honour, at the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ: whom, having not seen, you love;

in whom now also, though you see Him not, you believe; and believing, you shall rejoice with joy unspeakable and glorified, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls' (1 Pet. 1:3-4 ff.). 37. You see the holy shepherd providing to the sheep, which he received to be fed from the Prince and Lord of shepherds Himself, the wholesome pastures of spiritual doctrine. For he shows what God here works, through His great mercy, in His faithful, namely a regeneration not unto the hope of any secular or ecclesiastical transitory dignity, but unto the hope of eternal life; nor unto an inheritance of imperial or pontifical office.

but unto an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that cannot fade, not to be coveted on earth, but reserved in heaven; nor unto those who temporally attain the summit of secular or ecclesiastical dignity, but unto those who by the power of God are kept through faith unto salvation; not indeed as already perfectly granted in this age, but prepared to be revealed in the last time, 'wherein,' he says, 'you shall rejoice'; and at once, intimating the quality of the present life, he added: 'For a little while now, if it must be so, you must be made sorrowful in divers temptations.' And intimating for the sake of what advantage these things befall the faithful, he goes on:

'That the trial,' he says, 'of your faith, much more precious than gold which is tried by fire, may be found unto praise, and glory, and honour.' But when the bestowal of this honour and glory is to be hoped for, he presently makes clear: 'At the revelation,' he says, 'of Jesus Christ.' Which the Vessel of election also, intimating, says: 'For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ shall appear, who is your life, then you also shall appear with Him in glory' (Col. 3:3-4). CHAPTER XXII. — 38. As far, therefore, as pertains to the life of this present time, it is agreed that in the Church no one is found more powerful than the pontiff, and in the world no one loftier than the Christian emperor.

But not on that account is any bishop to be thought a vessel of mercy prepared unto glory, because he discharges the pontifical office; but only if he ever keeps watch, solicitous, for the flock committed to him, preaches the word, is instant in season, out of season, reproves, entreats, rebukes, in all patience and doctrine (2 Tim. 4:2); nor proudly strives to usurp dominion for himself, but, instructed by apostolic utterances, exhibits himself as an example to all; nor rejoices if any temporal eminence of high station has been conferred on him, but if with a humble heart he offers to the faithful an example of good conversation (Titus 2:7).

The most clement emperor also is not on that account a vessel of mercy prepared unto glory, because he has received the summit of earthly rule, but only if in the imperial height he lives in right faith, and, endued with true humility of heart, subjects the summit of royal dignity to holy religion; if he serves God more in fear than delights to lord it over the people in pride; if in him gentleness tempers wrath, and kindness adorns power; if he shows himself to all as one rather to be loved than feared; if he wholesomely takes counsel for his subjects; if he so holds fast to justice that he does not abandon mercy;

if above all he remembers himself to be a son of the holy mother Catholic Church, that he may make his rule serve for the peace and tranquillity of her throughout the whole world. For the Christian empire is more truly ruled and enlarged when provision is made throughout the whole earth for the ecclesiastical estate, than when in any part of the lands there is fighting for temporal security. 39. Not, therefore, by any secular or ecclesiastical dignity, but by faith which worketh through love, is each one made a vessel unto honour by the gift of the merciful God. For our Saviour did not will those to be called blessed who have secular or ecclesiastical dignity, but the poor in spirit, the meek, the mourners,

those hungering and thirsting after justice, the merciful, the clean of heart, the peacemakers, and those who suffer persecution for justice' sake (Matt. 5:3 ff.). Nor did temporal honours or riches bring Abraham our father to the friendship of God; but because he believed God, it was reputed to him unto justice, and he was called the friend of God (James 2:23). Nor did the affliction of poverty and hunger, want and temporal ignobility, shut out the poor man Lazarus from eternal rest; but the virtue which the rich Abraham received from God, that in his riches he might live poor

in holy spirit, that same virtue the poor Lazarus received, that, bearing fruit with patience, being carried by the angels, he might arrive into the bosom of the rich Abraham (Luke 16:22). But this was done for this reason, that according to the world the abundance of the rich Abraham was one thing, the want of the poor Lazarus another; but according to God, the rich Abraham had holy poverty in common with Lazarus, and the poor Lazarus possessed holy riches in common with Abraham in undivided partnership. For God 'hath chosen the poor in this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him' (James 2:5). By this very poverty all become rich who, knowing that the fashion of this world passeth away (1 Cor.

7:31), dead to sin, but living to God (Rom. 6:11), glory with the Apostle not in temporal dignity, but in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. 6:14) — by this very poverty they all become rich. For both the vessels of mercy and the vessels of dishonour can temporally attain secular or ecclesiastical dignity, because these things are common to the good and the wicked; but to glory truly in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is proper to the vessels of mercy, which God prepared unto glory, which He also called not only from among the Jews, but also from among the Gentiles (Rom. 9:23-24). That these are truly the vessels of Christ the blessed Paul intimates, saying: 'They that are Christ's have crucified their flesh with its vices and concupiscences' (Gal. 5:24).

40. Whoever, illumined by divine mercy, considers this, will by no means dare to set any laymen, however great the secular dignity with which they are endowed, above the despisers of the world — clerics and monks living holily — so as to call the latter vessels of dishonour, by whom he sees the very world despised and trampled underfoot by the gift of divine grace, and to reckon those to be vessels of mercy on account of their temporal power, who, it is manifest, being set on the summit of the world, that is, the religious princes of this world, have truly and laudably subjected themselves, out of regard for the Christian religion, to the despisers of the world — not only bishops, but also monks. 41.

Can any Christian, then, so call the emperor Constantine a vessel of mercy, as to call Antony and Paul vessels of dishonour? Would not the blessed Augustus Constantine himself, of blessed memory, if he were still to this extent concerned with human affairs, reckon so harmful a praise of his name among the greatest insults? Or can anyone so call the blessed emperor Theodosius a vessel of mercy prepared unto glory, as to separate John the Theban monk from the vessels of mercy, and, perverse, affirm him to have been made a vessel unto dishonour:

seeing that the most glorious emperor Theodosius himself — to whom God, by the merit of the faith which He Himself had bestowed, even subjected untamed nations — is said to have shown such honour to that aforesaid man of God, that he would by no means presume to enter upon their conflicts before he had been strengthened by that man's prophetic reply? Did that most religious emperor, then, believe so great a man to have been a vessel of dishonour, in whom he thus humbly consulted God, and through whom he had forthwith recognized God answering him truly, as the very outcome of events testified? 42.

But who would deny that the blessed bishops — Innocent of Rome, Athanasius of Alexandria, Eustathius of Antioch, Gregory of Nazianzus, Basil of Caesarea, Ambrose of Milan, Hilary of Poitiers, John of Constantinople, Aurelius of Carthage, Augustine of Hippo, and the other pontiffs who, governing the Churches of God most vigilantly, withstood heretics whether being born or already born, by the Holy Spirit dwelling in them, allowing neither the old wolves to break into the ecclesiastical flock, nor the new ones perniciously to lurk within the Lord's fold — who, I say, would deny that these were vessels of mercy, which God prepared unto glory?

But who could be so far an enemy of the divine mercy and charity as not to fear to call Paul, Antony, John, Hilarion, Macarius, and other monks of like life and holiness — in whom both the truth of right faith and the integrity of holy conduct shone forth — 'vessels of dishonour'? Far be it from all Christians to believe such things of the good servants of God. As many as are led by the Spirit of God suspect these unworthy notions not only of the monks who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven, but not even of married laymen who believe rightly and live rightly. Diverse indeed is the fruit of the seed which, when the son of man sows it, the good earth receives into its fertile bosom to be nourished;

yet not the hundredfold alone, but also the sixtyfold and the thirtyfold, is nourished — that it may be gathered into the barn — while God now grants the increase inwardly. For God says through the prophet that He will give to the eunuchs, that is, to the virgins, in His city and within His walls an honour and a place better than to sons and daughters (Isa. 56:5). And He Himself, speaking in His Apostle, by the bounty of His goodness granted a fitting honour to widowed continence and to conjugal chastity, Paul saying: Honour widows that are widows indeed (1 Tim. 5:3); and again: Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled (Heb. 13:4).

Would then the Apostle — who says that in a great house there are some vessels unto honour, others unto dishonour — bid that widows and married persons be honoured, if he reckoned them among the vessels of dishonour? That all are vessels unto honour who, despising their possessions, serve in faith and charity, no one of the faithful dares to deny. But who will dare to call those men vessels of dishonour, to whom, when they are set at His right hand, the Lord will for this reason give the kingdom: because they fed Him hungering and thirsting in His least ones, clothed Him naked, took Him in as a stranger, and visited Him sick and set in prison (Matt. 25:35)?

Who would dare to call all these vessels made unto dishonour, whom the Potter Himself testifies will go into life eternal? Or do these men perhaps say that monks and laymen who devoutly serve the Lord in their several ranks and professions are vessels of dishonour only in this present age, because they see them afflicted with reproaches and tribulations? But those who think such things are at once followed by this absurdity: that they are forced to call the blessed apostles themselves — the most glorious rams of the Lord's flock and its most watchful shepherds — vessels of dishonour.

For whom will these brethren more surely name, according to their own opinion, vessels of dishonour in the house of Christ, than those whom, as Scripture testifies, they have learned to have endured reproaches for the name of Christ? Let them therefore hear the blessed Paul speaking thus to the Thessalonians: For yourselves know, brethren, our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain, but having suffered before and been shamefully treated, as you know, at Philippi, we had confidence in our God to speak unto you the Gospel of God in much carefulness (1 Thess. 2:1-2). Writing also to the Corinthians (chap. 12:10), he says: Gladly will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

Wherefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ. And that they may know it to be common to all the saints to suffer reproaches in this age, let them hear what the very book which the evangelist Luke wrote concerning their Acts testifies also of the rest of the apostles. For there it is recorded that the Jews, having cast the apostles into the public prison and, when an angel opened the doors of the prison, dismissed them, again brought them back and beat them with blows, and having beaten them charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Where holy Luke intimates that they suffered reproach with joy in these words:

They indeed went rejoicing from the presence of the council, because they were counted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus (Acts 5:41). But perhaps they will say that the blessed apostles were not for this reason vessels of dishonour, because those reproaches which they endured for the name of Christ were the seeds of future honour and glory, and because through those reproaches they were deprived neither of the truth of faith nor of the virtue of holy conduct. Let them then acknowledge those to be vessels of dishonour (2 Tim.

2:20) — not those who suffer reproaches in the world, but those who, being bodily placed within the Church (which the Apostle calls a great house), either obstinately hold to the very end opinions contrary to right faith, or cast off the ordinances of holy conduct.

And let them likewise recognize, according to the sentence of blessed Paul, that if a man cleanse himself from these, in whatever rank, in whatever honour, in whatever profession he be placed, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified and useful to the Lord, prepared unto every good work (ibid., 21), to receive the everlasting blessedness of the future reward from that Judge who in this age grants free justification to whom He wills, and to those justified through faith supplies the help of grace, whom He may lead into the blessedness of the heavenly kingdom by the bestowed glorification of angelic equality. BOOK THREE. CHAPTER I.

Now the order of the work undertaken requires that we dispute concerning those whom God predestined unto the adoption of sons — whom, according to the true rule of faith confirmed by the authority of the Holy Scriptures, no Christian ought to doubt were predestined by the free goodness of God in Christ before the foundation of the world: not only to the reward of glorification, but also to the grace of justification; not only to that eternal blessedness which is not changed, but also to the faith which works through charity; not only to eternal rewards, but also to good merits — and, by the benefit of this predestination, according to His purpose called and justified.

For whoever strives to deny the truth of divine predestination without doubt proclaims God changeable, perversely assigning to Him a temporal knowledge of temporal human acts. For if God is unchangeable — which must not be doubted — He unchangeably knows from eternity all things future, and has arranged all His works by an unchangeable ordination. Nor could there ever be any change of His disposition, where the eternal knowledge of the things disposed remains without beginning. Therefore, just as with God the foreknowledge of things future was never lacking, so the everlasting and unchangeable predestination of works or gifts to come was never lacking.

For with Him, in whom eternal unchangeableness and unchangeable eternity abide, just as the knowledge of things to be begun could never itself be begun, so the eternal disposition of changeable works could never be changed. God therefore, just as He was never ignorant of things future, so was He never unaware of His mercy or His judgment: but as He always foreknew all things future, both good and evil, so He arranged all the works of His grace and His justice by an unchangeable predestination. CHAPTER II. For great is the depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God, full of which riches He both knowingly knew all things future as wise, and wisely foreordained them as knowing. To whom indeed it is not unfittingly said:

Behold Thou, O Lord, hast known all things, the last and the ancient (Ps. 138:5); and blessed Isaiah proclaims that He has already made His future works, saying: Who has made the things that are to come (Isa. 45:11, according to the Seventy). For He has already made His future works in this: that He has unchangeably disposed them to be made. Whence rightly whatever He is about to make is said to have been already made by Him, in whose works to be done an eternal and unchangeable disposition is found. For the power and wisdom of God from eternity unchangeably knows all things future, has irreproachably disposed all His future works, and thus unconquerably makes all things that He has disposed.

God does not change what is predestined, because His wisdom is not deceived or found wanting in disposing; and God perfects what is predestined, because His power is not hindered or overcome in the work. Hence it is that our God — all whose ways are mercy and truth, and to whom the Church truly sings mercy and judgment (Ps. 24:10; Ps. 100:1) — because He foreknew not only all His works, which are surely good, sought out according to all His wills (Ps.