Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On Grace and Free Choice · Book II: On Predestination and Sufficient Grace
Chapter 2: That the help of grace does not wait for our wills, but prevents them; nor is it equally present to all
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. V, De Gratia et Libero Arbitrio, Book II. The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
Let the first proposition, then, be this: “The help of God's grace is not so offered to all men that God waits for men to desire or request it, but it prevents all desires and all invocation.” This proposition is against the Pelagians and the remnants of the Pelagians, and is had in the Council of Orange, canons 3 and 4, where we read thus: “If anyone says that grace can be conferred through human invocation, and not that grace itself brings it about that it be invoked by us, he contradicts Isaias the Prophet, or the Apostle saying the same: I was found by them that did not seek me: I appeared openly to them that asked not after me.” Likewise: “If anyone contends that God waits for our will, that we may be purged from sin, and does not confess that even our willing to be purged comes to pass through the infusion and operation of the Holy Spirit, he resists the Holy Spirit himself, saying through Solomon, The will is prepared by the Lord, and the Apostle wholesomely preaching: It is God who worketh in us, both to will and to accomplish, according to his good will.” See what we wrote in book 6 [On the Justification of the Impious], chapters 2, 4, and 5; for all those things confirm this proposition.
The second proposition: “The help of the grace of God is not equally present to all.” This proposition is had so lucidly in the divine writings that it can seem a wonder it was ever denied by anyone. St. Augustine urges that of Wisdom 4: He was taken away lest wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul. For certainly God does not bestow this on all, that he should take them away before they slip into sins. He urges also that of Matthew 11: if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you, they had long ago done penance in sackcloth and ashes. Where we see that God, by a wonderful but just judgment, known to himself alone, not only does not equally minister the helps of grace to all, but even did not show the miracles of Christ to those whom he foresaw would have believed if they had seen them; and showed the same to those whom he foresaw would by no means believe, whatever miracles they saw. Hither pertains also Mark 4: To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but to them that are without… it is not given. And that of Romans 9: he hath mercy on whom he will; and whom he will, he hardeneth. And Romans 12: to every one… as God hath divided… the measure of faith. And 2 Thessalonians 3: all men have not faith. And Philippians 1: unto you it is given… to believe in him.
Finally — to pass over other things innumerable — if grace is equally present to all, how did God in times past suffer all nations to walk in their own ways, but now declareth unto men, that all should everywhere do penance, as we read in Acts 14 and 17? Why is Paul, at that very time when he was breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, converted by a divine miracle, Christ himself calling him — while God permits so many, perhaps less evil, to lie in their sins? Why does it sometimes happen among dying little ones that the son of an excellent man departs without Baptism and perishes, while the son of an adulterer or of one incestuous is washed in Baptism and obtains the eternal kingdom? Why, in fine, does the Apostle say that the judgments of God are inscrutable, and his ways unsearchable, in the election and reprobation of mortals, if grace is equally present to all, and it depends on the choice of men to take it or cast it away? See St. Augustine in the book On the Predestination of the Saints; Prosper in the book against the Conferrer; Peter the Deacon in the book On the Incarnation and Grace of Christ; Fulgentius in the book of the same argument; John Maxentius in the profession of faith; and the whole Council of Orange — where this entire error of the Pelagians is most diligently overturned.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT II. Auxilium gratix non expectare, sed praevenire voluntates nostras, neque aequaliter omnibus adesse . • r ■ \ Sit igitur prima propositio. Auxilium gratiai Dei non ita offertur omnibus homini¬ bus, utDeusexpectet homines, qui illud desi¬ derent vel postulent, sed praevenit omnia de¬ sideria et omnem invocationem. » Haec pro¬ positio est contra Pelagianos et Pelagiano- rum reliquias, et habetur in Concilio Arau- sicano can. 3. et 4. ubi sic legimus : « Si quis per invocationem humanam, gratiam dicit posse conferri, non autem ipsam gratiam fa¬ cere, ut invocetur a nobis, contradicit Isaiae Prophetae, vel Apostolo idem dicenti : « Inven¬ tus sum a non quaerentibus me, palam appa¬ rui his, qui me non interrogabant. » Item : « Si quis, ut a peccato purgemur, volunta¬ tem nostram Deum expectare contendit, non autem, ut etiam purgari velimus, per sancti Spiritus infusionem et operationem fieri con¬ fitetur, resistit ipsi Spiritui sancto per Salomo¬ nem dicenti. Praeparatur voluntas a Domino, - et Apostolo salubriter praedicanti : Deus est, qui operatur in nobis velle et perficere pro bona voluntate. » Vide quae scripsimus in vi. lib. cap. 2. 4. et o. nam illa omnia hanc pro¬ positionem corfirmant. Secunda propositio : « Auxilium gratiae Dei non aequaliter omnibus adest. » llaec pro¬ positio in divinis litteris ita luculenter habe¬ tur, ut mirum videri possit ab ullo unquam fuisse negatam. Urget S. Augustinus illud Sapient, iv : Raptus est ne malitia mutaret intellectum illius, aut ne fictio deciperet ani¬ mum ejus (I). Certe enim non omnibus hoc praestat Deus, ut eos rapiat, antequam in peccata labantur. Urgetetiam illud Matth. xi: Si in Tyro et Sidone hxc facta fuissent, in cinere et cilicio poenitentiam egissent (2). Ubi videmus Deum mirabili, sed justo, et sibi soli noto judicio non solum non aequaliter omnibus gratiae auxilia subministrare, sed etiam iis quos credituros praevidebat, si mi¬ racula Christi vidissent, ea niiracula non ostendisse, et eadem illis ostendisse, quos praevidebat quibuscumque visis miraculis, minime credituros. Huc pertinet etiam Mare, iv : Vobis datum est nosse mysterium regni Dei, exteris autem non est datum. Et illud Rom. ix : Cujus vult miseretur, et quem vult indurat. Et Rom. xii : Unicuique Deus divisit mensuram fidei. Et II Thessal. m : Non omnium est fides. 'Et Phil. ii : Vobis donatum est, ut in illum credatis (3). Denique, ut alia innumerabilia praetermit¬ tam, si gratia aequaliter omnibus adest, quo¬ modo Deus in praeteritis generationibus permi¬ sit omnes ingredi vias suas, nunc autem an¬ nuntiat ut pcenitentiam agant, ut legimus Ac¬ tor. xiv. et xvii. Cur Paulus illo ipso tempore, qui spirabat minas et caedes in discipulos Do¬ mini, divino miraculo, Christo ipso eum vo¬ cante, convertitur, cum tam multos minus fortasse malos in delictis suis Deus jacere permittat? Cur ex parvulis molientibus inter¬ dum filius optimi viri sine baptismo decedit et perit, filius adulteri, vel incestuosi ba¬ ptismo abluitur et regno potitur aeterno? Cur demum inscrutabilia esse dicit Apostolus ju¬ dicia Dei, et investigabiles vias ejus in ele¬ ctione et reprobatione mortalium, si gratia aequalitater omnibus adest, et ex arbitrio hominum pendet ut eam capiant, vel abji¬ ciant : vide S. Augustinum in lib. de praede¬ stinatione Sanctorum; Prosperum in libro contra Collatorem; Pq.trum Diaconumin libro de incarnatione et gratia Christi; Fulgentium inlibro ejusdem argumenti ; Joannem Maxen¬ tium in professione fidei ; et totum Arausi- canum Concilium ; ubi diligentissime totus hic Pelagianorum error evertitur.