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| Chapter XI. Whether the grace of God precedes or follows our good will.
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Chapter XI.
Whether the grace of God precedes or follows our good
will.
And so these are somehow mixed
up and indiscriminately confused, so that among many persons, which
depends on the other is involved in great questionings, i.e., does God
have compassion upon us because we have shown the beginning of a good
will, or does the beginning of a good will follow because God has had
compassion upon us? For many believing each of these and asserting them
more widely than is right are entangled in all kinds of opposite
errors. For if we say that the beginning of free will is in our own
power, what
about Paul the
persecutor, what about Matthew the publican, of whom the one was drawn
to salvation while eager for bloodshed and the punishment of the
innocent, the other for violence and rapine? But if we say that the
beginning of our free will is always due to the inspiration of the
grace of God, what about the faith of Zaccheus, or what are we to say
of the goodness of the thief on the cross, who by their own desires
brought violence to bear on the kingdom of heaven and so prevented the
special leadings of their vocation? But if we attribute the performance
of virtuous acts, and the execution of God’s commands to our own
will, how do we pray: “Strengthen, O God, what Thou hast wrought
in us;” and “The work of our hands stablish Thou upon
us?”1800
We know that
Balaam was brought to curse Israel, but we see that when he wished to
curse he was not permitted to. Abimelech is preserved from touching
Rebecca and so sinning against God. Joseph is sold by the envy of his
brethren, in order to bring about the descent of the children of Israel
into Egypt, and that while they were contemplating the death of their
brother provision might be made for them against the famine to come: as
Joseph shows when he makes himself known to his brethren and says:
“Fear not, neither let it be grievous unto you that ye sold me
into these parts: for for your salvation God sent me before you;”
and below: “For God sent me before that ye might be preserved
upon the earth and might have food whereby to live. Not by your design
was I sent but by the will of God, who has made me a father to Pharaoh
and lord of all his house, and chief over all the land of Egypt.”
And when his brethren were alarmed after the death of his father, he
removed their suspicions and terror by saying: “Fear not:
Can ye resist the will of God? You imagined evil against me but
God turned it into good, that He might exalt me, as ye see at the
present time, that He might save much people.”1801
And that this was brought about
providentially the blessed David likewise declared saying in the
hundred and fourth Psalm: “And He called for a dearth upon the
land: and brake all the staff of bread. He sent a man before them:
Joseph was sold for a slave.”1802
These two
then; viz., the grace of God and free will seem opposed to each other,
but really are in harmony, and we gather from the system of goodness
that we ought to have both alike, lest if we withdraw one of them from
man, we may seem to have broken the rule of the Church’s faith:
for when God sees us inclined to will what is good, He meets, guides,
and strengthens us: for “At the voice of thy cry, as soon as He
shall hear, He will answer thee;” and: “Call upon
Me,” He says, “in the day of tribulation and I will deliver
thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.”1803
| 1803 Is.
xxx. 19; Ps. xlix. (l.) 15. | And again, if He finds that we are
unwilling or have grown cold, He stirs our hearts with salutary
exhortations, by which a good will is either renewed or formed in
us.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
