little time before his death he has fallen away from the stedfastness of his faith.
CHAP. 2 [ll.] FAITH IS THE BEGINNING OF A CHRISTIAN MAN. MARTYRDOM FOR CHRIST'S SAKE IS HIS BEST ENDING.
This matter being settled, let us see whether this perseverance, of which it was said, " He that persevereth unto the end, the same shall be saved," ' is a gift of God. And if it be not, how is that saying of the apostle true: '' Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake "?^ Of these things, certainly, one has respect to the beginning, the other to the end. Yet each is the gift of God, because both are said to be given; as, also, I have already said above. For what is more truly the beginning for a Christian than to believe in Christ? What end is better than to suffer for Christ? But so far as pertains to believing in Christ, whatever kind of contradiction has been discovered, that not the beginning but the increase of faith should be called God's gift, — to this opinion, by God's gift, I have answered enough, and more than enough. But what reason can be given why perseverance to the end should not be given in Christ to him to whom it is given to suffer for Christ, or, to speak more distinctly, to whom it is given to die for Christ? For the Apostle Peter, showing that this is the gift of God, says, " It is better, if the will of God be so, to suffer for welldoing than for evil-doing." ^ When he says, " If the will of God be so," he shows that this is divinely given, and yet not to all saints, to suffer for Christ's sake. For certainly those whom the will of God does not will to attain to the experience and the glory of suffering, do not tail to attain to the kingdom of God if they jjcrsevere in Christ to the end. Cut who can say that this perseverance is not given to those who die in Christ from any weakness of body, or by any kind of accident, although a far more difficult perseverance is given to those by whom even ' Matt, X. 22.
Phil ii. 29.
- I Pet. iii. 17.
Chap. 4.]
death itself is undergone for Christ's sake? Because perseverance is much more difficult when the persecutor is engaged in preventing a man's perseverance; and therefore he is sustained in his perseverance unto death. Hence it is more dififj^ilt to have the former perseverance. — easier to have the latter; but to Him to whom nothing is diiificult it is easy to give both. For God has promised this, saying, " I will put my fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from me." ' And what else is this than, " Such and so great shall be my fear that I will put into their hearts that they will perseveringly cleave to me"?
CH.AP. 3. — GOD IS BESOUGHT FOR IT, BECAUSE IT IS HIS GIFT.
But why is that perseverance asked for from God if it is not given by God? Is that, too, a mocking petition, when that is asked from Him which it is known that He does not give, but, though He gives it not, is in man's power; just as that giving of thanks is a mockery, if thanks are given to God for that which He did not give nor do? But what I have said there,^ I say also here again: " Be not deceived," says the apostle, " God is not mocked." 3 O man, God is a witness not only of your words, but also of your thoughts. If you ask anything in truth and faith, of one who is so rich, believe that you receive from Him from whom you ask, what you ask. Abstain from honouring Him with your lips and extolling yourself over Him in your heart, by believing that you have from yourself what you are pretending to beseech from Him. Is not this perseverance, perchance, asked for from Him? He w-ho says this is not to be rebuked by any arguments, but must be overwhelmed -^ with the prayers of the saints. Is there any of these who does not ask for himself from God that he may persevere in Him, when in that very prayer which is called the Lord's — because the Lord taught it — when it is prayed by the saints, scarcely anything else is understood to be prayed for but perseverance?
JHAP. 4. — THREE LEADING POINTS OF THE PELA- GIAN DOCTRINE.
Read with a little more attention its exposition in the treatise of the blessed martyr Cyprian, which he wrote concerning this matter, the title of which is. On the Lord'' s Prayer; and see how many years ago, and what sort of an antidote was prepared against those poisons which the Pelagians were one day to use. For there are three points, as you know, which the catholic Church chiefly maintains against them. One of ' Jer. xxxii. 40.
2 0« the Predestination of the Saints, above, ch. 39.
3 GaL vi. 6. * Some editions read " recalled."
these is, that the grace of God is not given according to our merits; because even every one of the merits of the righteous is God's gift, and is conferred by God's grace. The second is, that no one lives in this corruptible body, however righteous he may be, without sins of some kind. The third is, that man is born obnoxious to the first man's sin, and bound by the chain of condemnation, unless the guilt which is contracted by generation be loosed by regeneration.
Of these three points, that which I have j)laced last is the only one that is not treated of in the above-named book of the glorious martyr; ])ut of the two others the discourse there is of such perspicuity, that the above-named heretics, modern enemies of the grace of Christ, are found to have been convicted long before they were born. Among these merits of the saints, then, which are no merits unless they are the gifts of God, he says that perseverance also is God's gift, in these words: " We say, ' Hallowed be Thy name; ' not that we ask for God that He may be hallowed by our prayers, but that we beseech of Him that His name may be hallowed in us. But by whom is God sanctified, since He Himself sanctifies? Well, because He says. Be ye holy because I also am holy, we ask and entreat that we, who were sanctified in l»aptism, may persevere in that which we have begun to be." 5 And a little after, still arguing about that self-same matter, and teaching that we entreat perseverance from the Lord, which we could in no wise rightly and tnily do unless it were His gift, he says: " We pray that this sanctification may abide in us; and because our Lord and Judge warns the man that was healed and quickened by Him to sin no more, lest a worse thing happen unto him, we make this supplication in our constant prayers; we ask this, day and night, that the sanctification and quickening which is received from the grace of God may be preserved by His protection." *^ That teacher, therefore, understands that we are asking from Him for perseverance in sanctification, that is, that we should persevere in sanctification, when we who are sanctified say, " Hallowed be Thy name." For what else is it to ask for what we have already recei\-etl, than that it be given to us also not to cease from its possession? As, therefore, the saint, when he asks God that he may be holy, is certainlv asking that he may continue to be holy, so certainly the chaste person also, when he asks that he may be chaste, the continent that he may be continent, the righteous that he may be righteous, the pious that he may be pious, and the like, — which things, against the Pelagians, we maintain to be God's gifts, — are asking, without doubt, 5 Cyprian, On the Lord's Prayer; see The A nte-Niccne Fathers, vol. v. p. 450.
<> Cyprian, On the Lord's Prayer, as above.
[Chap. 5.
that they may persevere in those good things which they have acknowledged that they have received. And if they receive this, assuredly they also receive perseverance itself, the great gift of God, whereby His other gifts are preserved.
CHAP. 5. — THE SECOND PETITION IN THE LORD's PRAYER.
What, when we say, "Thy kingdom come," do we ask else, but that that should also come to us which we do not doubt will come to all saints? And therefore here also, what do they who are already holy pray for, save that they may persevere in that holiness which has been given them? For no otherwise will the kingdom of God come to them; which it is certain will come not to others, but to those who persevere to the end.
CHAP. 6 [hi.] — THE THIRD PETITION. HOW HEAVEN AND EARTH ARE UNDERSTOOD IN THE lord's PRAYER.
The third petition is, "Thy will be done in heaven and in earth; " or, as it is read in many codices, and is more frequently made use of by petitioners, " As in heaven, so also in earth," which many people understand, "As the holy angels, so also may we do thy will." That teacher and martyr will have heaven and earth, however, to be understood as spirit and flesh, and says that we pray that we may do the will of God with the full concord of both. He saw in these words also another meaning, congruous to the soundest faith, of which meaning I have already spoken above, — to wit, that for unbelievers, who are as yet earth, bearing in their first birth onjy the earthly man, believers are understood to pray, who, being clothed with the heavenly man, are not unreasonably called by the name of heaven; where he plainly shows tliat the beginning of faith also is God's gift, since the holy Church prays not only for believers, that faith may be increased or may continue in them, but, moreover, for unbelievers, that they may begin to have what they have not had at all, and against which, besides, they were indulging hostile feelings. Now, however, I am arguing not concerning the beginning of faith, of which I have already spoken much in the former book, but of that perseverance which must be had even to the end, — which assuredly even the saints, who do the will of God, seek when they say in prayer, " Thy will be done." For, since it is already done in them, why do they still ask that it may be done, except that they may persevere in that which they have begun to be?
Nevertheless, it may here be said that.the saints do not ask that the will of God may be done in heaven, but that it may be done in earth as in heaven, — that is to say, that earth may imitate heaven, that is, that man may imitate the angel, or that an unbeUever may imitate a believer; and thus that the saints are asking that that may be which is not yet, not that that which is may continue. For, by whatever holiness men may be distinguished, they are not yet equal to the angels of God; not yet, therefore, is the will of God done in them as it is in heaven. And if this be so, in that pordon indeed in which we ask that men from unbelievers may become believers, it is not perseverance, but beginning, that seems to be asked for; but in that in which we ask that men may be made equal to the angels of God in doing God's will, — where the saints pray for this, they are found to be praying for perseverance; since no one attains to that highest blessedness which is in the kingdom, unless he shall persevere unto the end in that holiness which he has received on earth.
CHAP. 7 [iV.] — THE FOURTH PETITION.
The fourth petition is, " Give us this day our daily bread," ' where the blessed Cyprian shows how here also perseverance is understood to be asked for. Because he says, among other things, " And we ask that this bread should be given to us daily, that we who are in Christ, and daily receive the Eucharist for the food of salvation, may not by the interposition of some heinous sin be separated from Christ's body by being withheld from communicating and prevented from partaking of the heavenly bread." ^ These words of the holy man of God indicate that the saints ask for perseverance directly from God, when with this intention they say, " Give us this day our daily bread," that they may not be separated from Christ's body, but may continue in that holiness in which they allow no crime by which they may deserve to be separated from it, CHAP. 8 [v.] THE FIFTH PETITION. IT IS Mi ERROR OF THE PELAGIANS THAT THE RIGHTEOUS ARE FREE FROM SIN.
In the fifth sentence of the prayer we say, " Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors," ^ in which petition alone perseverance is not found to be asked for. For the sins which we ask to be forgiven us are past, but perseverance, which saves us for eternity, is indeed necessary for the time of this life; but not for the time which is past, but for that which remains even to its end. Yet it is worth the labour to consider for a little, how even already in this petition the heretics who were to arise long after were transfixed by the tongue of Cyprian, as if by the most invincible dart of truth. For the Pelagians dare to say even this: that the tight- ' Matt. vi. II. 3 Matt. vi. 12.
^ Cyprian„(?« the Lord's Prayer, as above.
Chap. 12.]
eous man in this life has no sin at all, and that in such men there is even at the present time a Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing/ which is the one and only bride of Christ; as if she were not His bride who throughout the whole earth says what she has learnt from Him, " Forgive us our debts." But observe how the most glorious Cyprian destroys these. For when he was expounding that very clause of the Lord's Prayer, he says among other things: " And how necessarily, how providently, and salutarily are we admonished that we are sinners, since we are compelled to entreat for our sins; and while pardon is asked for from God, the soul recalls its own consciousness. Lest any one should flatter himself that he is innocent, and by exalting himself should more deeply perish, he is instructed and taught that he sins daily, in that he is bidden daily to entreat for his sins. Thus, moreover, John also in his Epistle warns ^ us, and says,3 * If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.' " * And the rest, which it would be long to insert in this place.
CHAP. 9. — WHEN PERSEVERANCE IS GRANTED TO A PERSON, HE CANNOT BUT PERSEVERE.
Now, moreover, when the saints say, " Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil," s what do they pray for but that they may persevere in holiness? For, assuredly, when that gift of God is granted to them, — which is sufficiently plainly shown to be God's gift, since it is asked of Him, — that gift of God, then, being granted to them that they may not be led into temptation, none of the saints fails to keep his perseverance in holiness even to the end. For there is not any one who ceases to persevere in the Christian purpose unless he is first of all led into temptation. If, therefore, it be granted to him according to his prayer that he may not be led, certainly by the gift of God he persists in that sanctification which by the gift of God he has received.
CHAP. 10 [VI.] — THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE CAN BE OBTAINED BY PRAYER.
But you write that " these brethren will not have this perseverance so preached as that it cannot be obtained by prayer or lost by obstinacy." ^ In this they are little careful in considering what they say. For we are speaking of that perseverance whereby one perseveres unto the end, and if this is given, one does persevere unto the end; but if one does not persevere unto the end, it is not given, which I have already sufficiently discussed above. Let not men say, then, that perseverance is given to any one to ' Eph. V. 27.
' Eph. V. 27.
* " Polens" or " ponens" are different readings.
the end, except when the end itself has come, and he to whom it has been given has been found to have persevered unto the end. Certainly, we say that one whom we have known to be chaste is chaste, whether he should continue or not in the same chastity; and if he should have any other divine endowment which may be kept and lost, we say that he has it as long as he has it; and if he should lose it, we say tliat he had it. But since no one has perseverance to the end except he who does persevere to the end, many people may have it, Ijut none can lose it. For it is not to be feared that perchance when a man has persevered unto the end, some evil will may arise in him, so that he does not persevere unto the end. This gift of God, therefore, may be obtained by prayer, but when it has been given, it cannot be lost by contumacy. For when any one has persevered unto the end, he neither can lose this gift, nor others which he could lose before the end. How, then, can that be lost, whereby it is brought about that even that which could be lost is not lost?
CHAP. II. EFFECT OF PRAYER FOR PERSEVER- ANCE.
But, lest perchance it be said that perseverance even to the end is not indeed lost when it has once been given, — that is, when a man has persevered unto the end, — but that it is lost, in some sense, when a man by contumacy so acts that he is not able to attain to it; just as we say that a man who has not persevered unto the end has lost eternal life or the kingdom of God, not because he had already received and actually had it, but because he would have received and had it if he had persevered; — let us lay aside controversies of words, and say that some things even which are not possessed, but are hoped to be possessed, may be lost. Let any one who dares, tell me whether God cannot give what He has commanded to be asked from Him. Certainly he who affirms this, I say not is a fool, but he is mad. But God commanded that His saints, should say to Him in prayer, " Lead us not into temptation." Whoever, therefore, is heard when he asks this, is not led into the temptation of contumacy, whereby he could or would be worthy to lose perseverance in holiness.
CH.\P. 12. — OF HIS OWN WILL A MAN FORSAKES GOD, SO THAT HE IS DESERVEDLY FORSAKEN OF HIM.
But, on the other hand, " of liis own will' a man forsakes (iod, so as to be deser\'edly forsaken by God." Who would deny this? But it is for that reason we ask not to be led into temptation, so that this may not happen. And if we are heard, certainly it does not happen, because God does not allow it to happen. For [Chap. 13.
nothing comes to pass except what either He Himself does, or Himseh' allows to be done.
Therefore He is powerful both to turn wills from evil to good, and to convert those that are in-, clined to fall, or to direct them into a way pleasing to Himself. For to Him it is not said in vain," O God, Thou shalt turn again and quicken us; " ' it is not vainly said, " Give not my foot to be moved; " ^ it is not vainly said, " Give me not over, O Lord, from my desire to the sinner; " 3 finally, not to mention many passages, since probably more may occur to you, it is not vainly said, " Lead us not into temptation." * For whoever is not led into temptation, certainly is not led into the temptation of his own evil will; and he who is not led into the temptation of his own evil will, is absolutely led into no temptation. For " every one is tempted," as it is written, "when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed; " 5 " but God tempteth no man," ^ — that is to say, with a hurtful temptation. For temptation is moreover beneficial by which we are not deceived or overwhelmed, but proved, according to that which is said, " Prove me, O Lord, and try me." ^ Therefore, with that hurtflil temptation which the apostle signifies when he says, " Lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain,"^ "God tempteth no man," as I have said, — that is, He brings or leads no one into temptation. For to be tempted and not to be led into temptation is not evil, — nay, it is even good; for this it is to be proved. ^Vhen, therefore, we say to God, " Lead us not into temptation," what do we say but, "Permit us not to be led "? Whence some pray in this manner, and it is read in many 'Codices, and the most blessed Cyprian thus uses:it: "Do not suffer us to be led into temptation."
Jn the Greek gospel, however, I have never found it otherwise than, " Lead us not into temptation." We live, therefore, more securely if we give up the whole to God, and do not entrust ourselves partly to Him and partly to ourselves, as that venerable martyr saw. For when he would expound the same clause of the prayer, he says among other things, " But when we ask that we may not come into temptation, we are reminded of our infirmity and weakness while we thus ask, lest any should insolently vaunt himself,— lest any should proudly and arrogantly assume anything to himself, — lest any should take to himself the glory either of confession or suffering as his own; since the Lord Himself, teaching humility, said, 'Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation; the Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.' So that when a humble and submissive confession comes first ' Ps. Ixxxiv. 6. 4 Matt. vi. 13. ' Ps. xxvi. 2.
and all is attributed to God, whatever is sought for suppliantly, with the fear of God, may be granted by His own loving-kindness." 9 CHAP. 13 [VII.] TEMPTATION THE CONDITION OF MAN.
If, then, there were no other proofs, this Lord's Prayer alone would be sufficient for us on behalf of the grace which I am defending; because it leaves us nothing wherein we may, as it were, glory as in our own, since it shows that our not departing from God is not given except by God, when it shows that it must be asked for from God. For he who is not led into tem])tation does not depart from God. This is absolutely not in the strength of free will, such as it now is; but it had been in man before he fell. And yet how much this freedom of will availed in the excellence of that primal state appeared in the angels; who, when the devil and his angels fell, stood in the truth, and deserved to attain to that perpetual security of not falling, in which we are most certain that they are now established. But, after the fall of man, God willed it to pertain only to His grace that man should approach to Him; nor did He will it to pertain to aught but His grace that man should not*depart from Him.
CHAP. 14. — IT IS god's grace BOTH TH.^T MAN COMES TO HIM, AND THAT MAN DOES NOT DEPART FROM HIM.
This grace He placed " in Him in whom we have obtained a lot, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things." '° And thus as He worketh that we come to Him, so He worketh that we do not • depart. Wherefore it was said to Him by the mouth of the prophet, " Let Thy hand be upon the man of Thy right hand, and upon the Son of man whom Thou madest strong for Thyself, and we will not depart from Thee." " This certainly is not the first Adam, in whom we departed from Him, but the second Adam, upon whom His hand is placed, so that we do not depart from Him. For Christ altogether with His members is — for the Church's sake, which is His body — the fulness of Him. When, therefore, God's hand is upon Him, that we depart not from God, assuredly God's work reaches to us (for this is God's hand); by which work of God we are caused to be abiding in Christ with God — not, as in Adam, departing from God. For " in Christ we have obtained a lot, being predestinated according to His purpose who worketh all things." This, therefore, is God's hand, not /' ours, that we depart not from God. That, I say, is His hand who said, " I will put my fear in their hearts, that they depart not from me." '* 9 Cyprian, On the Lord's Prayer, as above. '0 Eph. i. II. *' Ps. Ixxx. 17, 18. " jer. xxxii. 40.
Chap. 19.]
CHAP. 15. WHY GOD WILLED THAT HE SHOULD BE ASKED FOR THAT WHICH HE MIGHT GIVE WITHOUT PRAYER.
Wherefore, also He willed that He should be asked that we may not be led into temptation, because if we are not led, we by no means depart from Him. And this might have been given to us even without our praying for it, but ^by our prayer He willed us to be admonished from whom we receive these benefits. For from whom do we receive but from Him from whom it is right for us to ask? Truly in this matter let not the Church look for laborious disputations, but consider its own daily prayers. It prays that the unbelieving may believe; therefore God converts to the faith. It prays that believers may persevere; therefore God gives perseverance to the end. God foreknew that He would do this. This is the very predestination of the saints, " whom He has chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, that they should be holy and unspotted before Him in love; predestinating them unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, in which He hath shown them favour in His beloved Son, in whom they have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace, which has abounded towards them in all wisdom and prudence; that He might show them the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Him, in the dispensation of the fulness of times to restore all things in Christ which are in heaven and which are in earth; in Him, in whom also we have obtained a lot, being predestinated ac- 'cording to His purpose who worketh all things." ' Against a trumpet of truth so clear as this, what man of sober and watchful faith can receive any human arguments?
CHAP. 1 6 [VIII.] — WHY IS NOT GRACE GIVEN ACCORDING TO MERIT?
But "why," says one, "is not the grace of God given according to men's merits?" I answer, Because God is merciful. " Why, then," it is asked, "is it not given to all?" And here I reply, Because God is a Judge.- And thus grace is given by Him freely; and by His righteous judgment it is shown in some what grace confers on those to whom it is given. Let us not then be ungrateful, that according to the good pleasure of His will a merciful God delivers so many to the praise of the glory of His grace from such deserv-ed perdition; as, if He should deliver no one therefrom, He would not be unrighteous. Let him, therefore, who is delivered love His ' Eph. i. 4-1 1.
2 Rom. ix. 2o.
grace. Let him who is not delivered acknowledge his due. If, in remitting a debt, goodness is perceived, in requiring it, justice — unrighteousness is never found to be with God.
CHAP. 17. — THE DIFFICULTY OF THE DISTINCTION MADE IN THE CHOICE OF ONE AND THE REJEC- TION OF ANOTHER.