Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On Grace and Free Choice · Book VI: Grace and Free Choice in Works of Piety
Chapter 1: The question is proposed, whether the mysteries of faith can be believed without special help
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. VI, De Gratia et Libero Arbitrio, Book VI. 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).
This sixth book will finish the three last questions: namely, what the human intelligence can do in supernatural things to be perceived by faith; what the will can do in desiring and choosing the same; and whether in things of this kind we are truly and properly free.
The first question, which pertains to the intelligence, can be explained no less briefly than easily. For it is agreed between us and the adversaries — whether they be Pelagians or Lutherans — that three things above all are necessary that the supernatural mysteries be perceived by us. The first is the divine revelation, which is proposed through the Scriptures, or through preachers sent by God. For since these things are supernatural, they would never have come into the mind of any mortal, unless God himself had willed to manifest them. For thus speaks blessed Paul, in the first epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 2: We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, which is hidden. And soon: As it is written: That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him. But to us God hath revealed them by his Spirit. And Romans 10: How shall they believe him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And the Lord, John 15: If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin — because, namely, without a preacher they could not have believed, and therefore by not believing they would by no means have sinned. Hence also we see, in the last chapter of Mark, that it is commanded to the Apostles: Preach the Gospel to every creature; and in Acts 8, that Philip is sent to preach to the Eunuch; in Acts 10, that Peter is sent to preach to Cornelius; in Acts 17 [al. 16], that Paul is sent to preach to the Macedonians — because, namely, preaching is ordinarily necessary for faith. Wherefore the Lord, in Psalm 2, testifies that not by force and arms, but by the word of preaching, he has gathered his kingdom: But I am appointed king by him over Sion his holy mountain, preaching his commandment. And this (as I said) not even the Pelagians themselves denied, seeing they placed the grace of God chiefly in the doctrine revealed and delivered to us by God.
The second is some persuasion, whether through signs and prodigies or by some other means. For it is not enough, that men be bound to believe, that the doctrine revealed by God be merely proposed to them; but it is necessary that something also be added which makes that doctrine credible. Hence the Lord, Exodus 4, when he sent Moses to preach, gave him the power of working miracles, by which he might create the conviction that his preaching was truly divine. And Christ, Matthew 10, when he had said, Preach, saying: The kingdom of heaven is at hand, straightway adjoined: Heal the sick, raise the dead, etc. And in John 15, as he says, If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, so also he says: If I had not done among them the works that no other man hath done, they would not have sin. Add also what Ecclesiasticus says, chapter 19: He that is hasty to give credit is light of heart. But he believes very hastily who, without any persuasion, believes things most remote from human senses, and which surpass all understanding; for he would do the same if things most absurd, and altogether improbable, were proposed to him. With which levity of believing the Mahometans sin at this time, who without any miracles, or other congruent persuasion, receive the most absurd doctrine of Mahomet. Nor are the Calvinists far from these, who could believe many new and strange things not only without any signs and prodigies, but even against a doctrine confirmed by innumerable miracles and by the consent of the whole globe of the earth and of all ages.
The third is the command of the will. For since there is no persuasion which can compel man to believe the supernatural articles — and not even miracles themselves can altogether convince the mind — therefore there is required an inclination of the will, to move the intellect to assent to the things which surpass the power of the intelligence. And that no miracles whatever can compel someone to faith, if he will not believe, that saying of John 12 indicates openly enough: Whereas he had done so many signs, they believed not in him. Wherefore blessed Paul, in the second to the Corinthians, chapter 10, teaches that the intellect is to be led captive into the obedience of faith — that is, by a pious affection to be, as it were, compelled to assent to things which seem in a certain manner to fight with reason. Finally, St. Augustine, tractate 26 [al. 36] on John: “A man can enter the Church unwilling, can approach the altar unwilling, can receive the Sacrament unwilling; believe he cannot, unless willing.”
These things, then, being posited, which are outside controversy, the question remains: whether he who hears a preacher, or reads for himself the doctrine revealed by God, and has the congruent persuasion of miracles, or of some other testimony by which the thing proposed to be believed is made credible, can believe that thing without a special divine illustration. It was one of the errors of the Pelagians that man can believe without the special grace of God; for so St. Augustine reports in many places, but chiefly in epistle 106 to Paulinus, and 107 to Vitalis. That Tyconius also was in the same error, before the Pelagian heresy arose, the same Augustine reports, book 3 On Christian Doctrine, chapter 33. That Cassian was in the same, and certain others in Gaul, who on that account deserved to be called the remnants of the Pelagians, can be learned from the epistles of Prosper and Hilary to Augustine, and from the book of the same Prosper against the Collator. That even Augustine himself at one time stuck in the same, he himself is witness, in the book On the Predestination of the Saints, chapter 3. Finally, that this was one of the errors of Faustus of Riez is clear from his books on free choice.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT PRIMUM. Proponitur quaestio , An possint credi mysteria fidei , sine auxilio speciali. Sextus hic liber tres postremas queestio- nes absolvet, quid possit videlicet intelli- gentia humana in rebus supernaturalibus fide percipiendis, quid voluntas in iisdem appetendis et eligendis, et num in ejusmodi rebus, vere proprieque liberi simus. Prima quajstio, quae ad intelligentiam per¬ tinet, non minus breviter, quam facile expli¬ cari potest. Convenit enim inter nos et ad¬ versarios, sive ii Pelagiani, sive Lutherani sint, tria potissimum esse necessaria, ut mysteria supernaturalia percipiantur a no¬ bis. Primum est, divina revelatio, quae per Scripturas, aut praedicatores a Deo missos proponitur. Cum enim haec supernaturalia sint, nulli unquam mortalium venissent in mentem, nisi Deus ipse illa manifestare vo¬ luisset. Sic enim loquitur B. Paulus in priore epistola ad Corinthios cap. n. Loquimur Dei sapientiam in mysterio , quae abscondita est : Et mox : Sicut, inquit, scriptum est, quod oculus non vidit, nec auris audivit, nec in cor hominis ascenderunt, quae praeparavit Deus diligentibus se, nobis autem revelavit Deus per spiritum suum. Et ad Roman. x : Quomodo credent in eum, quem non audierunt ? quomodo audient sine praedicante ? Et Dominus Joan. xv : Si non venissem et locutus fuissem, pec¬ catum non haberent (1). Quia videlicet sine praedicante credere non potuissent, ideo non credendo minime peccassent. Hinc etiam videmus Marci ultimo mandari Apostolis : Praedicate Evangelium omni crea¬ turae (2). Et Act. viii. mitti Philippum, ut praedicaret Eunucho : Act. x. mitti Petrum, ut praedicaret Cornelio : Actor, xvii. mitti Paulum, ut praedicaret Macedonibus : quia videlicet ordinarie necessaria ad fidem est praedicatio. Quocirca Dominus in Psalm. ii. non vi et armis, sed verbo praedicationis reg¬ num se collegisse testatur : Ego autem con¬ stitutus sum rex ab eo, super Sion montem sanctum ejus, praedicans praeceptum ejus. Atque hoc (ut dixi) ne ipsi quidem Pelagiani negabant, quippe qui gratiam Dei in doctrina a Deo nobis revelata et tradita praecipue constituebant. Alterum est, persuasio aliqua, sive per signa et prodigia, sivealiqua alia ratione. Non enim satis est ad hoc, ut homines credere teneantur, si solum eis doctrina a Deo reve¬ lata proponatur, sed necesse est, ut accedat etiam aliquid, quod eam doctrinam credibi¬ lem faciat. Hinc enim Dominus Exod. iv. cum mitteret Mosem ad praedicandum, dedit illi potestatem operandi miracula, quibus fidem faceret, praedicationem suam vere esse divinam. Et Christus Matth.x. cum dixisset: Praedicate dicentes , appropinquabit regnum coelorum; adjunxit continuo, infirmos cu¬ rate, mortuos suscitate, etc. Et Joan. xv. sicut (1) I Corin. II, 6, 9 ; Itom. X, 14; Joan. XV, 22.— (2) Mare. XVI, 14. 108 LIBER VI. ait : Si non venissem, et loculus fuissem , pec¬ catum non haberent. Sic etiam ait : Si opera non fecissem in eis, quse nemo alius fecit, pec¬ catum non haberent (1). Adde etiam id, quod ait Ecclesiasticus cap. xix : Qui cito credit, levis est corde. Valde autem cito credit, qui res longissime remo¬ tas ab humanis sensibus, et quse omnem in- telligentiam superant sine ulla persuasione credit. Idem enim faceret, si res absurdissi¬ mas, ac omnino improbabiles ei propone¬ rentur. Qua levitate credendi peccant hoc tempore Mahomctani, qui sine ullis miracu¬ lis, aut alia congrua persuasione doctrinam absurdissimam Mahometi recipiunt. Nec longe ab his absunt Calvinistse, qui non so¬ lum sine ullis signis et prodigiis, sed etiam contra doctrinam, confirmatam innumeris miraculis, et totius orbis terne, atque om¬ nium saeculorum consensione multa nova, et mira credere potuerunt. Tertium est, imperium voluntatis. Quo¬ niam enim nulla est persuasio, qua; cogere possit hominem ad credendos articulos su- pcrnaturales, ac ne ipsa quidem miracula omnino mentem convincere queant , ideo requiritur inclinatio voluntatis, quae moveat intellectum ad assentiendum iis, quae vim intelligentiai superant. Non posse autem quaevis miracula cogere aliquem ad finem, si is nolit credere, satis aperte indicat illud Joan. xii : Cum tanta signa fecisset, non cre¬ debant in eum (2). Quocirca B. Paulus in po¬ steriore ad Corinthios cap. x. docet, capti¬ vandum esse intellectum in obsequium fidei, hoc est, pio affectu quasi cogendum, ut iis assentiatur, qua; cum ratione pugnare quo¬ dammodo videantur. Denique S. Augustinus tract. 36. in Joannem : « Intrare, inquit, quisquam in Ecclesiam potest nolens, acce¬ dere ad altare potest nolens, accipere potest Sacramentum nolens, credere non potest, nisi volens ». His igitur positis, quse sunt extra contro¬ versiam, queestio remanet, utrum qui praedi¬ catorem audit, aut doctrinam a Deo revela¬ tam per se legit, et habet congruentem per¬ suasionem miraculorum, aut alterius testi¬ monii, quo res, quae credenda proponitur, efficiatur credibilis, possit eam rem credere sine speciali illustratione divina. Fuit unus ex erroribus Pclagianorum, posse hominem credere sine speciali gratia Dei. Ita enim refert S. Augustinus multis in locis, sed pne cipuc in epist. 106. ad Paulinurn, et 107. ad Vitalem. Innodem errore etiam, ante exor¬ tam heeresim Pelagianam fuisse Ticonium, refert idem Augustinus lib. in. de doctrina Christiana cap. 33. In eodem fuisse Cassia¬ num, et alios quosdam in Gallia, qui pro- ptcrca reliquia! Pelagianorum dici merue¬ runt, cognosci potest ex epistolis Prosperi et Hilariiad Augustinum, et ex libroejusdem Prosperi contra Collatorem. In eodem etiam aliquando ha;sisse ipsum Augustinum, testis est ipse idem in libro de piacdestinatione sanctorum cap. 3. Denique hunc fuisse unum ex erroribus Fausti Rhegiensis, perspicuum est ex libris ejus de libero arbitrio.