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| Concerning the reason of our endowment with Free-will.
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Chapter
XXVII.—Concerning the reason of our endowment
with Free-will.
We hold, therefore, that free-will1882
| 1882 This is
supplied by Combefis from Nemesius. | comes on the scene at the same moment
as reason, and that change and alteration are congenital to all that is
produced. For all that is produced is also subject to
change1883
. For
those things must be subject to change whose production has its origin
in change. And change consists in being brought into being out of
nothing, and in transforming a substratum of matter into something
different. Inanimate things, then, and things without reason
undergo the aforementioned bodily changes, while the changes of things
endowed with reason depend on choice. For reason consists of a
speculative and a practical part. The speculative part is the
contemplation of the nature of things, and the practical consists in
deliberation and defines the true reason for what is to be done.
The speculative side is called mind or wisdom, and the practical side
is called reason or prudence. Every one, then, who deliberates
does so in the belief that the choice of what is to be done lies in his
hands, that he may choose what seems best as the result of his
deliberation, and having chosen may act upon it. And if this is
so, free-will must necessarily be very closely related to reason.
For either man is an irrational being, or, if he is rational, he is
master of his acts and endowed with free-will. Hence also
creatures without reason do not enjoy free-will: for nature leads
them rather than they nature, and so they do not oppose the natural
appetite, but as soon as their appetite longs after anything they rush
headlong after it. But man, being rational, leads nature rather
than nature him, and so when he desires aught he has the power to curb
his appetite or to indulge it as he pleases. Hence also creatures
devoid of reason are the subjects neither of praise nor blame, while
man is the subject of both praise and blame1884
| 1884 This
sentence is omitted in Basil and some mss. | .
Note also that the angels, being rational, are endowed
with free-will, and, inasmuch as they are created, are liable to
change. This in fact is
made plain by the devil who, although made good by the Creator, became
of his own free-will the inventor of evil, and by the powers who
revolted with him1885
| 1885 Nemesius speaks
of this at greater length. | , that is the
demons, and by the other troops of angels who abode in
goodness.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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