Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On Grace and Free Choice · Book VI: Grace and Free Choice in Works of Piety
Chapter 2: That man cannot, without the special illustration of God, believe the mysteries of faith
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).
But it will not be difficult to refute the aforesaid error from the divine writings and the tradition of the Church. For first, the words of the Lord are clear, John 6: No man can come to me, except the Father, who hath sent me, draw him. In which place it is to be observed that the Lord did not say, “no man comes,” but “no man can come” — on account of certain men who say, less cautiously, that in fact no one believes without the special grace of God, yet that it can come to pass that he believe. Further, that to come to Christ is nothing else than to believe in him, he himself explains a little below, when he says: But there are some of you that believe not... Therefore did I say to you that no man can come to me, unless it be given him by my Father. And so, if to come is to believe, and no one can come unless he be drawn by the Father, certainly no one can believe unless he be drawn by the Father. To the same sense also were those things said by the Lord, Matthew 11: I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones. Yea, Father: for so hath it seemed good in thy sight. And no one knoweth the Son but the Father: neither doth any one know the Father but the Son, and he to whom it shall please the Son to reveal him. For the Lord speaks not of the revelation through external preaching, but through the internal illustration and persuasion, of which he said, John 6: Every one that hath heard of the Father, and hath learned, cometh to me. For a little before he had upbraided the cities in which he had preached for a long time and done very many signs; and seeing, after that preaching, that the wise and prudent — that is, the scribes and pharisees — were not converted, but only the simple crowds, he wished to explain that they indeed are rightly reprehended who did not believe, but that they who believed ought not to attribute their faith to their own powers alone, since it pleased the heavenly Father to hide these things from the wise and prudent, and to reveal them to little ones — drawing the latter, not drawing the former. A like sentence is had in John 12: Therefore they could not believe, because Isaias said again: He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart. For God is said to blind those whom he does not illuminate, since without his light they cannot see.
Moreover, the Apostle Paul is full of testimonies of this kind, so that it is a wonder there are any who have diligently turned over this Apostle and yet have not learned that faith is the gift of God. Romans 12: To every one, as God hath divided the measure of faith. 1 Corinthians 4: For who distinguisheth thee? And what hast thou that thou hast not received? 1 Corinthians 7: But I give counsel, as having obtained mercy of the Lord, to be faithful. 1 Corinthians 12: And no man can say, The Lord Jesus, but by the Holy Ghost. 2 Corinthians 3: We are not sufficient to think any thing of ourselves, as of ourselves. Ephesians 2: For by grace you are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God. Ephesians 6: Peace be to the brethren, and charity with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 1: Unto you it is given, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him. Finally, St. Luke in the Acts, chapter 13: They believed, as many as were preordained to life everlasting. And chapter 14: The Lord opened the door of faith. And chapter 16: We spoke to the women that were assembled; and a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, did hear: whose heart the Lord opened to attend to those things which were said by Paul.
Then let the testimonies of Councils and Fathers come. The Council of Orange, canon 5: “If anyone say that, as the increase, so also the beginning of faith is not in us through the gift of grace, he is proved an adversary of the Apostolic dogmas.” And canon 7: “If anyone affirm that by the vigor of nature he can consent to the preaching of the gospel without the illumination of the Holy Spirit, he is deceived by a heretical spirit,” etc. The same the Council of Trent repeats, session 6, canon 3, in these words: “If anyone shall say that without the prevenient inspiration of the Holy Spirit and his aid man can believe as is fitting, let him be anathema.” St. Augustine, book 1 On the Predestination of the Saints, chapter 2: “If we are not fit to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, assuredly we are not fit to believe anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency, by which we begin to believe, is from God.” See the same, book 1 of the Retractations, chapter 23; in epistles 90, 105, 106, and 107; in the Enchiridion, chapter 31; in the book On the Spirit and the Letter, chapters 31 and 32; in the book On the Grace of Christ, chapter 31; and book 1 to Boniface, against the Two Epistles of the Pelagians, chapter 3; finally, in almost the whole of book 1 On the Predestination of the Saints, and in the second, On the Gift of Perseverance, chapters 1, 2, 3, 19, and others. The author of the Hypognosticon, book 3, almost at the end: “Let no one at all glory that he has begotten in himself, from his own sense, the faith through which he can believe God; but let him acknowledge that, both before the law, and under the law, and after the law, the faith which is in Christ Jesus was revealed to each one unto salvation through the illumination of grace, which is from God the Father,” etc. Nor does he speak of the revelation which is had through the Scriptures — for this the Pelagians, against whom that author most keenly disputes, did not deny — but of the peculiar inspiration by which God works in minds, that they may assent to the word of preaching. St. Prosper teaches and proves the same, in book 1 On the Vocation of the Gentiles, chapters 23 and 24; and against the Collator, chapters 36 and 37; and in response 8 to the Chapters of the Gauls; and in the response to the first five doubts of the Genoese. Thus, then, he speaks (that we may set down one sentence of his), in book 1 On the Vocation of the Gentiles, chapter 24: “Abundantly, so far as I judge, it has been demonstrated by these testimonies that the faith by which the impious man is justified is not had except from the gift of God, and that it is bestowed with no merits preceding,” etc. St. Fulgentius, in the book On the Incarnation and Grace of Christ, chapter 20: “Our life takes its beginning from faith, because the just man liveth by faith. And that this faith is not born from our will, but is given to each one through the Holy Spirit, blessed Paul shows.” And below: “The pattern went before in the flesh of Christ, which we may spiritually acknowledge in our faith. For Christ, the Son of God, according to the flesh was conceived and born of the Holy Spirit. So then, in the heart of man, faith can neither be conceived nor increased, unless the Holy Spirit pour it in and nourish it. For we are reborn of the same Spirit of whom Christ was born.”
Let reasons come, last of all — and those chiefly which St. Augustine uses. The first reason is taken from the prayers of the Church. For the Church prays for unbelievers, that they may be converted; and St. Cyprian, in the exposition of the Lord’s prayer, says this very thing is commanded, when the Lord commands that in praying we say, Thy will be done, as in heaven so on earth. But those prayers would be made in vain, if unbelievers could believe without the help of God; for it would be enough to preach the faith to them, and admonish them to believe. Nor can it be answered that the Church prays God to give the habit of faith to those who will and are beginning to believe. For the Church, according to the precept of the Lord, prays for those who persecute and calumniate her; but they who persecute the Church certainly neither will nor begin to believe. The Church prays, therefore, that God make unbelievers from unwilling willing, from unbelieving believing, and from persecutors defenders — as she knows was done with the Apostle Paul himself, to whom faith was given at the very time when he was breathing threats and slaughters against the disciples of the Lord. And this very thing those most ancient prayers indicate, which are poured forth by the universal Church on Good Friday, where God is prayed to take away the veil from the hearts of unbelievers, to open the ears of their inmost hearts, to illuminate the blindness and darkness of their minds, to rescue from errors the souls deceived by diabolic fraud.
The second reason is taken from the absurdities that would follow, which are chiefly three. For first it would follow that grace is given according to our merits, and so grace would not be grace — which seemed so absurd to our Fathers that in the Council of Palestine (which was the first celebrated against Pelagius) even Pelagius himself condemned it (though with the mouth, not the heart). And that this follows St. Augustine proves in epistle 106: since there is no small merit of faith, by reason of which prayer obtains whatever it asks; for he deserves to be heard who asks with faith. Then it would follow that the beginning of salvation is from us; for since the just man lives by faith, if the beginning of faith were from us, the beginning of life would be from us. And that this is absurd is clear: both because it is repugnant to the Apostle, saying, Who hath first given to him, and recompense shall be made him? Romans 11; and, What hast thou that thou hast not received? 1 Corinthians 4; and because, if man can of himself begin to believe, he will also be able of himself to increase his faith — for it is more difficult to begin a work than to increase one begun; and so either men will not need God, or they will so divide with him as to attribute to themselves what is better, to him what is worse — or the first parts of the work to themselves, the later to God. Last, it would follow that the foundation of the divine predestination and election is utterly taken away; for the remnant would not be saved according to the election of grace, as the Apostle preaches, Romans 11, but according to the merit of faith and the good use of free choice — as St. Augustine most efficaciously proves in the book On the Predestination of the Saints. For since there are two foundations of predestination, faith and perseverance, therefore in the former of those two books he demonstrates that faith is the gift of God, and in the latter he proves the same of perseverance.
The third reason depends on the things that will be said in chapter 4. For we shall demonstrate that no work of piety can be either begun or completed without the special grace of God; and it is certain that the beginning of faith includes a pious affection, and thereby is a pious work, or at least the beginning of a pious work.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT II. Non posse hominem, sine speciali illustratione Dei, credere mysteria fidei Sed non erit difficile pra!dictum errorem ex divinis litteris et Ecclesia; traditione refel¬ lere. Primum enim perspicua sunt verba Domini Joan vi. Nemo potest venire ad me, nili. Pater, qui misit me, traxerit eum (3).Quo loco observandum est, non dixisse Dominum, Nemo venit, sed nemo potest venire, propter quosdam, qui minus caute dicunt, re ipsa neminem credere sine speciali gratia Dei, tamen fieri posse, ut credat. Porro venire ad Christum, nihil esse aliud, nisi credere in ip sum, explicat ipse paulo infra cum dicit Sunt quidem ex vobis, qui non credunt, sed propterea divi vobis, quia nemo potest ad me venire, nisi datum ei fuerit a Patre meo. Ita¬ que si venire est crcdcrc, et nemo potest ve¬ nire nisi trahatur a Patre, certe nemo potest credere, nisi trahatur a Patre. ' In eumdem sensum dicta sunt etiam illa a Domino Matth. xi. Confiteor libi Pater Do¬ mine coeli et terree, quia abscondisti hxc a sa¬ pientibus et prudentibus , et revelasti ea. par¬ vulis. Ita Poter, quoniam ita placitum fuit ante te. Et nemo novit Filium, nisi Pater, neque Patrem quis novit, nisi Filius, et cui voluerit Filius revelare (4). Non enim lo¬ quitur Dominus de revelatione per externam praidicationem, sed per internam illustra¬ tionem et suasionem, de qua dixit Joan vi. Omnis qui audivit a Patre , et didicit, venit ad (1) Matth. X, 7; Joan XV, 22. - (2) Joan XII, 37. - (3) Joan VI, 44. - (4) Matth. XI, 25. CAPUT II. 109 me (1) Nam paulo ante exproba verat civita¬ tibus, in quibus longo tempore praedicaverat et plurima signa fecerat. Et videns post eam praedicationem sapientes et prudentes, id est, scribas et pliarisaeos, non esse conversos, sed tantum simplices turbas , explicare vo¬ luit, recte quidem reprehendi eos qui non crediderunt: sed non debere suis solis viribus tribuere fidem, eos qui crediderunt, cum Patri coelesti placuerit abscondere haec a sa¬ pientibus et prudentibus, et revelare parvu¬ lis, trahendo istos, illos non trahendo. Si¬ milis sententia habetur Joan. xn. Propter- ea non poterant credere , quia iterum dixit Isaias, excxcavit oculos eorum, et induravit cor eorum (2). Illos enim excaecare dicitur Deus, quos non illustrat, cum sine ejus lu¬ mine videre nequeant. Adhaec, Apostolus Paulus plenus est ejus¬ modi testimoniorum, ut mirum sit esse ali¬ quos, qui hunc Apostolum diligenter evol¬ verint, et tamen non didicerint, fidem esse donum Dei Roman. xii. Unicuique, inquit, sicut divisit Deus mensuram fidei. I Corin¬ thiorum iv. Quis enim te dicernit ? quid au¬ tem habes, quod non accepisti ? I Corinthio¬ rum vn. Consilium autem do, tamquam mise¬ ricordiam consequutus a Domino , ut sim fidelis. I Corinth. xii. Et nemo potest dicere , Domi¬ nus Jesus, nisi in Spiritu sancto. II Corinth. iii. Non sumus sufficientes cogitare aliquid ex nobis, tamquam ex nobis. Ephes. II. Gratia estis salvati per fidem, et hoc non ex vobis, do¬ num enim Dei est. I Ephes. vi. Pax fratri¬ bus, et charitas cum fide a Deo Patre, et Do¬ mino Jesu Christo. Philip, i. Vobis donatum est, non solum ut in illum credatis, sed etiam ut pro illo patiamini (3). Denique S. Lucas in Actis cap. xm. Cre¬ diderunt, inquit, quotquot prxordinati erant in vitam aeternam. Et cap. xiv. Aperuit Do¬ minus ostium fidei. Et cap. xvi. Loquebamur mulieribus, quae convenerant, et quaedam mu¬ lier nomine Lidia purpuraria audivit, cujus Dominus aperuit cor intendere his, quae dice¬ bantur a Paulo (4). Accedant deinde testimonia Conciliorum et Patrum. Concilium Arausicanum canon, o : « Si quis sicut augmentum, ita etiam initium fidei non per gratiae donum nobis inesse di¬ cit, Apostolicis dogmatibus adversarius ap¬ probatur. » Et can. 7 : «Si quis per naturae vigorem evangelizanti praedicationi consen¬ tire posse confirmat, absque illuminatione Spiritus sancti, haereticofallitur spiritu, etc. » Idem repetit Concilium Tridentinum sess. 6. can. 3. his verbis : « Si quis dixerit, sine praeveniente Spiritus sancti inspiratione, at¬ que ejus adjutorio hominem credere posse, sicut oportet, anathema sit ». S. Augustinus lib. i. de praedestinatione sanctorum cap. 2 : « Si non sumus, inquit, idonei cogitare aliquid quasi ex nobis ipsis, sed sufficientia nostra ex Deo est, profecto non kumus idonei credere aliquid quasi ex nobis, sed sufficientia nostra, qua credere incipimus, ex Deo est. Yide eumdem lib. i. retractationum cap. 23. in epistol. 90. 105. 106 et 107. in Enchiridio cap. 31, in libro de spiritu et littera cap. 31. et 32. in libro de gratia Christi cap. 31. et lib. i. ad Bonifacium contra duas epistolas Pelagianorum cap. 3. Denique in lib. i. de praedestinatione san¬ ctorum fere toto. Et in secundo de bono per¬ severantiae cap. 1. 2. 3. 19 et ailis. Auctor Hipognostici lib. iii. fere extremo : « Nemo, inquit, penitus glorietur se fidem ex proprio sensu genuisse in se, per quam possit credere Deo : sed agnoscat, tam ante legem, quam sub lege, et post legem, fidem, quae est in Christo Jesu, per illuminationem gratiae, quae a Deo Patre est, unicuique reve¬ latam ad salutem etc. » Neque loquitur de revelatione, quae per Scripturas habetur : hanc enim non negabant Pelagiani, contra quos ille auctor accerrime disputat, sed de peculiari inspiratione, qua Deus in mentibus operatur, ut verbo pi'aedicationis assentiant. S. Prosper idem docet, ac probat in lib. i. de vocatione gentium cap. 23. et 24. et contra Collatorem cap. 36. et 37. et in re¬ sponsione 8. ad Capitula Gallorum. Et in re¬ sponsione ad prima quinque dubia Geneven- sium. Sic igitur loquitur (ut unam sententiam ejus ponamus) in lib. i. de vocatione gentium cap 24. « Abunde, inquit, quantum arbitror, his testimoniis demonstratum est, fidem, qua jnstificatur impius, nisi ex Dei munere non haberi, eamque nullis meritis praeceden¬ tibus tribui, etc. » S. Fulgentius in libro de incarnatione et gratia Christi cap. 20 :« Yita, inquit, nostra a fide sumit initium, quia justus ex fide vi¬ vit. Quam fidem non ex voluntate nostra na- (I) Joan VI, 45. — (2) Joan XII, 40. — (3) Rom. XII, 3 ; I Cor. IV, 7 ; ibid. VII, 25; ibid. XII, 3 ; 11 Cor. 111,5; Eph. II, 8, ibid. VI, 23; Phil. I, 29. -(4) Act. XIII, 48; Act. XIV, 26 ; ibid. VI, 14. no LIBER VI. sci, sed per Spiritum sanctum unicuique da¬ ri, B. Paulus ostendit. » Et infra : « Forma praecessit in carne Christi, quam in nostra fide spiritualiter agnoscamus. Nam Christus filius Dei secundum carnem de Spiritu san¬ cto conceptus et natus est. Sic ergo in homi¬ nis corde, nec concipi fides poterit, nec au¬ geri, nisi eam Spiritus sanctus effundat et nutriat. Ex eodem namque spiritu renati su¬ mus, ex quo natus est Christus. » Accedant pofetremo rationes, atque ese po¬ tissimum quibus utitur S. Augustinus. Prima ratio sumitur ab orationibus Ecclesiae. Orat enim Ecclesia pro infidelibus, ut convertan¬ tur, et hoc ipsum juberi dicit S. Cyprianus in expositione orationis Dominicse, cum Do¬ minus praecipit, ut orantes dicamus, fiat vo¬ luntas tua sicut in coelo et in terra. At fru¬ stra fierent istae preces, si possent infideles sine Dei auxilio credere : satis enim esset illis praedicare fidem, et admonere ut crederent. Neque responderi potest, orari ab Ecclesia Deum ut habitum fidei donet volentibus et incipientibus credere. Nam Ecclesia, juxta praeceptum Domini, orat pro persequentibus et calumniantibus se : qui vero persequuntur Ecclesiam, certe neque volunt, neque inci¬ piunt credere. Orat igitur Ecclesia, ut Deus infideles de nolentibus faciat volentes, de infidelibus fideles, et de persecutoribus de¬ fensores, quomodo novit, actum esse cum ipso Apostolo Paulo, cui tunc donata est fi¬ des, cum spiraret minas, et caedes in disci¬ pulos Domini. Et hoc ipsum indicant anti¬ quissimae illae preces, quae funduntur ab uni¬ versa Ecclesia in Parasceve, ubi oratur Deus ut auferat velamen de cordibus infidelium, ut adaperiat aures praecordiorum, ut illustret caecitatem, et tenebras mentium, ut eruat ab erroribus animas diabolica fraude deceptas. Secunda ratio, sumitur ab absurdis, quae sequerentur, quae sunt potissimum tria. Pri¬ mum enim sequeretur, gratiam secundum merita nostra dari, et ita gratiam non esse gratiam, quod ita visum est absurdum Pa¬ tribus nostris, ut in Concilio Palaestino (quod primum contra Pelagium celebratum est) ipse etiam Pelagius id (quamvis ore, non corde) damnaverit. Id autem sequi, probat S,. Augustinus in epist. 106. quoniam non¬ nullum est meritum fidei, ratione cujus ora¬ tio impetrat, quidquid postulat. Meretur enim exaudiri, qui postulat cum fide. Deinde sequeretur, initium salutis esse ex nobis, nam cum justus ex fide vivat, si ini¬ tium fidei esset ex nobis, initium vitae esset ex nobis. Id autem esse absurdum patet. Tum quia repugnat Apostolo dicenti: Quis pri¬ or dedit illi, et retribuetur ei. Roman. xi. Et : Quid habes, quod non accepisti ? I Co- rinth. iv. (1). Tum quia si potest homo per se incipere credere, poterit etiam per se au¬ gere fidem ; difficilius enim est incipere opus, quam augere inchoatum, atque ita vel non egebunt homines Deo, vel ita partientur cum eo, ut sibi tribuant quod est melius, illi quod est deterius, sive priores operis partes sibi? posteriores Deo. Posfremo sequeretur, tolli penitus funda¬ mentum divinae praedestinationis et electio¬ nis ; non enim salvae fierent reliquiae secun¬ dum electionem gratiae, ut Apostolus praedicat ad Romanos cap. xi. sed juxta meritum fidei, et bonum usum liberi arbitrii, ut S. Augu¬ stinus efficacissime probat in libro de praede¬ stinatione sanctorum. Quoniam enim duo sunt fundamenta praedestinationis, fides et perse¬ verantia, ideo in priore duorum illorum li¬ brorum demonstrat, fidem esse donum Dei, in posteriore idem probat de perseverantia. Tertia ratio pendet ex iis, quae dicentur in 4. cap. Demonstrabimus enim, nullum opus pietatis vel inchoari, vel perfici posse, sine speciali gratia Dei ; certum autem est, initium fidei includere pium affectum, ac per hoc esse opus pium, vel certe pii operis in¬ choationem.