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| Chapter XVIII. The decision of the fathers that free will is not equal to save a man.
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Chapter XVIII.
The decision of the fathers that free will is not equal
to save a man.
And from this it is
clearly gathered by those who, led not by chattering words but by
experience, measure the magnitude of grace, and the paltry limits of
man’s will, that “the race is not to the swift nor the
battle to the strong, nor food to the wise, nor riches to the prudent,
nor grace to the learned,” but that “all these worketh that
one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He
will.”1862
And therefore
it is proved by no doubtful faith but by experience which can (so to
speak) be laid hold of, that God the Father of all things worketh
indifferently all things in all, as the Apostle says, like some most
kind father and most benign physician; and that now He puts into us the
very beginnings of salvation, and gives to each the zeal of his free
will; and now grants the carrying out of the work, and the perfecting
of goodness; and now saves men, even against their will and without
their knowledge, from ruin that is close at hand, and a headlong fall;
and now affords them occasions and opportunities of salvation, and
wards off headlong and violent attacks from purposes that would bring
death; and assists some who are already willing and running, while He
draws others who are unwilling and resisting, and forces them to a good
will. But that, when we do not always resist or remain persistently
unwilling, everything is granted to us by God, and that the main share
in our salvation is to be ascribed not to the merit of our own works
but to heavenly grace, we are thus taught by the words of the Lord
Himself: “And you shall remember your ways and all your wicked
doings with which you have been defiled; and you shall be displeased
with yourselves in your own sight for all your wicked deeds which you
have committed. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall
have done well by you for My own name’s sake, not according to
your evil ways, nor according to your wicked deeds, O house of
Israel.”1863
And therefore
it is laid down by all the Catholic fathers who have taught perfection
of heart not by empty disputes of words, but in deed and act, that the
first stage in the Divine gift is for each man to be inflamed with the
desire of everything that is good, but in such a way that the choice of
free will is open to either side: and that the second stage in Divine
grace is for the aforesaid practices of virtue to be able to be
performed, but in such a way that the possibilities of the will are not
destroyed: the third stage also belongs to the gifts of God, so that it
may be held by the persistence of the goodness already acquired, and in
such a way that the liberty may not be surrendered and experience
bondage. For the God of all must be held to work in all, so as to
incite, protect, and strengthen, but not to take away the freedom of
the will which He Himself has once given. If however any more
subtle
inference of
man’s argumentation and reasoning seems opposed to this
interpretation, it should be avoided rather than brought forward to the
destruction of the faith (for we gain not faith from understanding, but
understanding from faith, as it is written: “Except ye believe,
ye will not understand”1864
) for how God
works all things in us and yet everything can be ascribed to free will,
cannot be fully grasped by the mind and reason of man.
Strengthened by this food the blessed Chæremon
prevented us from feeling the toil of so difficult a
journey.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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