Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On Grace and Free Choice · Book VI: Grace and Free Choice in Works of Piety
Chapter 4: That the human will can will nothing in those things which pertain to piety and salvation, without the help of the grace of God
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).
There follows the second question, which is about the powers of the human will in those things which pertain to piety and eternal salvation. In which question we have the same adversaries as in the preceding: namely, the Pelagians, and those who in the Gauls strove secretly, and under a Catholic name, to favor the Pelagians — Cassian, Faustus, and others. For these preached that certain good desires, the beginning of love, the disposition toward grace, and other things of that kind, can be had from the good of nature, without special prevenient grace. To whom above all resisted St. Augustine, in the book On the Predestination of the Saints and On the Gift of Perseverance; St. Prosper, in the book against the Collator; and St. Fulgentius, in the book On the Incarnation and Grace of Christ, from chapter 13 to the end. It is also said by Ado of Vienne, in the Chronicle at the year 500, that St. Alcimus Avitus, a most eloquent man, wrote excellently against Faustus, not only in prose but also in verse; but his book seems to have perished by the injury of the times. The same Faustus was also briefly refuted by John Maxentius, in the profession of the Catholic faith which stands in the library of the holy Fathers.
We shall prove three opinions, in few words, from the Scriptures and the Ecclesiastical tradition. The first will be: that man cannot, without the special grace of God, will or do anything in those things which pertain to piety and salvation. The second: that man cannot, by his own powers, dispose himself for grace, or do anything on account of which the divine grace might be conferred on him. The third: that God cannot be loved by man — even as the author of nature, and imperfectly — without the aid of grace. For although the two latter opinions seem to be included in the first, yet it has pleased us to distinguish them: both because there are not wanting those who think otherwise, and also because each of the three opinions can be proved by its own proper arguments.
That first opinion, then, is proved, first, from prophetic, evangelical, and apostolic testimonies. For what we read in Isaias, chapter 65 — I was found by them that did not seek me; I appeared openly to them that asked not after me — and what the Lord says, Luke 19 — The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost — do these not indicate that we do not begin by seeking God, but that God begins by seeking and calling us, turned away and fleeing? And that saying of the same Lord, John 15, Without me you can do nothing, is to be understood altogether of the good work which pertains to salvation; as also that of the Apostle, 1 Corinthians 4 — For who distinguisheth thee? What hast thou that thou hast not received? — makes against those who were puffed up on account of faith, or of the justice pertaining to salvation, as we have often said elsewhere. Otherwise these sentences would not be universally true; for that some natural good works, and some moral ones also, can be done without the special grace of God, we taught above. Finally (to pass over many other things), that of the same Apostle, to the Philippians, chapter 1 — He who hath begun a good work in you will perfect it unto the day of Christ — and chapter 2 — For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to accomplish, according to his good will — shows openly enough that nothing at all of good pertaining to salvation can be begun without God.
The same opinion is proved, then, from the definitions of Councils. The first Council celebrated in the cause of Pelagius, in Palestine, defined twelve articles, which even Pelagius himself was compelled to admit. The seventh article was (as Augustine testifies in epistle 106) that the grace of God is given for single acts — and thereby that no good act pertaining to salvation (for of these was the question) can be done without grace. Then was celebrated a most numerous Council in Africa, of two hundred and fourteen Bishops, which St. Prosper, in the Chronicle, testifies was approved by the Apostolic see and received by the whole globe of the earth. The decree of this Council the same Prosper reports in these words, in the response to the eighth chapter of the Gauls: “With the two hundred and fourteen priests, whose constitution against the enemies of the grace of God the whole world has embraced, let us say with truthful profession, as their own discourse has it: that the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord helps us, not only for knowing but also for doing justice, through each single act; so that without it we can have, think, say, do nothing of true and holy piety.” There came, finally, in Gaul itself, the Council of Orange, which by the order of St. Leo was celebrated properly against the remnants of the Pelagians; in canon 7 of which Council these words are had: “If anyone affirm that by the vigor of nature he can think or choose any good thing which pertains to the salvation of eternal life, etc., he is deceived by a heretical spirit.” Thus we see that the three parts of the globe of the earth — Asia, Africa, Europe — through three Councils, conspired in the same opinion for the grace of God.
Through the same times, three supreme and most holy Pontiffs — Innocent, Zosimus, Celestine — approved the same opinion by their rescripts. Innocent, in the epistle to the Council of Carthage, which is Augustine’s 91st: “We cannot deny that we need daily aid.” And below: “How do Pelagius and Celestius trust themselves to be persuaders of any that we ought not to seek, nor need, the help of God, when all the saints testify that they can do nothing without it?” The same, in the epistle to the Council of Milevis, in Augustine, 93: “In all the divine pages we read that only the aid of God is to be joined to the free will, and that it can do nothing when destitute of the heavenly helps.” Zosimus, in the epistle to all the Bishops (as Celestine reports in the epistle to the Gauls, chapter 9): “What time intervenes in which we do not need his help? In all acts, therefore, causes, thoughts, and motions, he must be prayed to as helper and protector. For it is proud that human nature presume anything to itself.” And Celestine himself, in the aforesaid epistle, chapter 8: “Whosoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God — so that we may neither feel our own choice to be wanting, and in each single motion of the human will toward any good things may not doubt that his help avails the more.”
The same can be proved by the testimonies of other Fathers. St. Cyprian, book 3 to Quirinus, chapter 4: “In nothing must we glory, since nothing is ours.” St. Ambrose, book 2 on Luke, chapter 12 [al. 5]: “You see that everywhere the power of the Lord cooperates with human endeavors, so that no one can build without the Lord, no one keep guard without the Lord, no one begin anything without the Lord.” St. Jerome, in book 3 against the Pelagians, not far from the beginning: “This has been concluded by a long dissertation: that the Lord, by his grace, which granted us free choice, helps and sustains us in each single work.” St. Augustine, book 2 against the Two Epistles of the Pelagians, chapter 5: “We say that free choice avails not for living well and piously, unless the very will of man shall have been freed by the grace of God, and helped toward every good of action, speech, and thought.” Likewise in the book On the Predestination of the Saints, chapter 2: “As regards piety and religion, we are not sufficient to think anything as of ourselves; and no one suffices for himself for beginning or perfecting any good work whatsoever.” Likewise in the book On the Grace of Christ, chapter 26: “Let him who wishes truly to confess the grace of God so confess it that he doubt not that nothing at all of good which pertains to piety and true justice can be done without it.” And chapter 47: “If, as I said, he (Pelagius) shall consent that the will itself also, and action, are divinely helped, so that without that help we will and do nothing of good; and that that is the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord, in which he makes us just by his own justice, not ours, so that that is true justice which is to us from him — then, so far as I judge, no controversy about the help of the grace of God will remain between us.” The author of the Hypognosticon — who, as we have said elsewhere, is not Augustine, but another ancient and learned Father — book 3: “We confess that free choice is in all men, having indeed the judgment of reason — not that by it it is fit to begin, or certainly to perfect, without God, the things that pertain to God, but only in the works of the present life, both good and also evil.” And below: “Free choice, then, being vitiated, the whole man is vitiated; whereby (without the aid of grace) he is neither able to begin what may please God, nor sufficient to perfect it.” St. Prosper, in the book against the Collator, chapter 38 [al. 15]: “The inept complaint of the proud does not disturb us, who plead that free choice is taken away, if both the beginnings, and the advances, and the perseverance in good things even to the end, are said to be gifts of God; since the helps of divine grace are the stays of the human will. Willing, we pray — and yet God hath sent his spirit into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Willing, we speak — and yet, if what we speak is pious, it is not we that speak, but the spirit of our Father who speaketh in us. Willing, we work our salvation — and yet it is God who worketh in us the very willing and working.” St. Fulgentius, book On the Incarnation and Grace of Christ, chapter 13: “He who was created without the necessity of sinning, by sinning — in that by offending he lost the health of the soul — lost also the faculty of thinking the things that pertain to God. For he forgot to eat his bread; and, stripped of the garment of faith, and wounded with the wounds of carnal concupiscences, he lay so oppressed under the dominion of sin that he could in no way have had any beginning of good will, had he not received it by God’s free giving.” St. Gregory, homily 9 on Ezechiel: “He goes before us, that we may will; and follows us willing, lest we will in vain.” St. Bernard, in the book On Grace and Free Choice: “Our endeavors are both fruitless, if they be not helped, and nothing, if they be not aroused.”
To these let there come the argument from prayers and the giving of thanks. For not without cause does the Church pray that God, by inspiring, may go before our actions, and, by helping, accompany them; nor without cause does she give thanks for every good work — except that she knows that nothing of true good, that is, of what pertains to salvation, can be done without the Savior’s grace. Let there come, last of all, the condemnation of the works of Cassian and Faustus, in the Roman Council, St. Gelasius the Pope presiding, which is had in the decree of Gratian, distinction 16 [al. 15], in the canon Sancta Romana. For the works of Cassian and Faustus — which otherwise contain many very useful things — are numbered among the apocrypha for no other cause than on account of that opinion about the good works pertaining to piety, which they disputed could be done, or begun, without the aid of grace. To which add that Faustus, on account of these errors, was held a Pelagian heretic — as witness Isidore, in the book On Writers; Ado of Vienne, in the Chronicle; and the author of the life of St. Fulgentius, chapter 26. Which, had the most learned Ruard Tapper observed, he would not so often have called Faustus a Catholic.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT IV. Non posse voluntatem humanam aliquid velle in iis, quas aci pietatem et salutem pertinent, sine auxilio gratiae Dei. Sequitur altera quaestio, quae est de viri¬ bus voluntatis humanae, in iis rebus, quae ad pietatem et salutem aeternam pertinent. In qua quaestione eosdem habemusadversarios, quos in superiore, Pelagianos videlicet, et qui Pelagianis occulte, et sub nomine Catho¬ lico in Galliis favere studuerunt, Cassianum, Faustum, et alios. Hi enim bona aliqua desi¬ deria, initium dilectionis, dispositionem ad gratiam, et alia id genus, ex bono naturae, CAPUT IV. 113 sine speciali praeveniente gratia haberi posse, praedicabant. Quibus praecipue restiterunt sanctus Au¬ gustinus in libro de praedestinatione san¬ ctorum, et de bono perseverantiae. Sanctus Prosper in libro contra Collatorem. Et san¬ ctus Fulgentius in libro de incarnatione et gratia Christi a cap. 13. usque ad finem. Dicilur etiam ab Adone Viennensi in Chro¬ nico ad annum#500. egregie contra Faustum scripsisse sanctus Alchimus Avitus, vir elo- quentissimus, non solum oratione soluta, sed etiam carmine, sed liber ejus injuria tempo¬ rum interiisse videtur. Eumdem quoque Fau¬ stum breviter refutavit JoanneSjMaxentius in professione fidei Catholicae, quae in biblio¬ theca sanctorum Patrum exstat. Nos tres sententias ex Scripturis et tradi¬ tione Ecclesiastica paucis comprobabimus. Prima erit, non posse hominem sine speciali gratia Dei aliquid velle, aut facere in iis re¬ bus, quae ad pietatem et salutem pertinent. Secunda, non posse hominem propriis viri¬ bus ad gratiam se disponere, sive aliquid facere, propter quod ei divina gratia confe¬ ratur. Tertia, non posse ab homine diligi Deum, etiam ut auctorem naturae, et imper¬ fecte sine adjutorio gratiae. Quamvis enim duae sententiae posteriores in prima includi videantur, tamen placuit eas distinguere; tum, quoniam non desunt, qui aliter sen¬ tiant; tum etiam, quoniam possunt propriis argumentis singulae tres sententiae compro¬ bari. Prima igitur illa sententia probatur, pri¬ mum ex testimoniis propheticis, evangelicis et apostolicis. Quod enim legimus Isaiae cap. lxv : Inventus sum a non quaerentibus me , palam apparui his, qui me non interrogabant . Et quod Dominus ait Luc. xix : Venit filius hominis quaerere , et salvum facere quod pe¬ rierat (1). Nonne indicat, non nos incipere quaerendo Deum, sed Deum incipere quae¬ rendo et vocando nos aversos, et fugientes ? illud vero quod idem dominus ait, Joan. cap. xv. Sine me nihil potestis facere (2). In- telligendum est omnino de bono opere, quod ad salutem pertineat : sicut etiam illud Apo¬ stoli I Gorinth. iv : Quis enim te discernit? quid habes quod non accepisti (3) ? Adversus eos facit, qui ob fidem, aut justitiam ad salutem pertinentem inflabantur, ut saepe alias dixi¬ mus. Alioqui hae sententiae non essent uni¬ versaliter verae. Nam aliqua bona opera na¬ turalia, et aliqua etiam moralia sine speciali Dei gratia fieri posse, supra docuimus : De¬ nique (ut alia multa praeteream) illud ejus¬ dem Apostoli, ad Philippenses cap. i. Qui coepit in vobis opus bonum, perficiet usque in diem Christi. Et cap. ii : Deus est enim , qui operatur velle, et perficere pro bona volun¬ tate (4). Satis aperte ostendit, nihil omnino boni ad salutem pertinentis, sine Deo incho ari posse. Probatur deinde eadem sententia 'ex defi¬ nitionibus Conciliorum, primum Concilium in causa Pelagii celebratum in Palaestina, duodecim articulos definivit, quos etiam Pe¬ lagius ipse admittere coactus fuit. Septimus articulus erat (ut August. testatur in epist. 106.) gratiam Dei ad singulos actus dari, ac per hoc nullum actum bonum ad salutem pertinentem (de his enim quaestio erat) sine gratia fieri posse. Deinde celebratum est Concilium frequen- tissimum in Africa, Episcoporum ducentorum et quatuordecim, quod a sede Apostolica approbatum a toto orbe terrarum receptum fuisse, testatur S. Prosper in Chronico; hujus Concilii decretum his verbis refert idem Prosper in responsione ad octavum ca¬ pitulum Gallorum : « Cum ducentis qua¬ tuordecim sacerdotibus, quorum constitu¬ tionem , contra inimicos gratiae Dei, totus mundus amplexus est, veraci professione, quemadmodum ipsorum habet sermo, dica¬ mus, gratiam Dei per Jesum Christum Do¬ minum nostrum, non solum ad cognoscen¬ dam, verum etiam ad faciendam justitiam nos per actus singulos adjuvare, ita ut sine illa nihil verae sanctaeque pietatis habere, cogitare, dicere, agere valeamus ». Accessit denique in ipsa Gallia Concilium Arausicanum, quod jussu S. Leonis, proprie adversus reliquias Pelagianorum celebratum fuit, in cujus Concilii can. 7. haec habentur: « Si quis per naturas vigorem bonum ali¬ quod, quod ad salutem pertinet vitae aeternae cogitare , aut eligere posse confirmat, etc. haeretico fallitur spiritu ». Ita videmus, tres orbis terras partes, Asiam, Africam, Euro¬ pam, per tria Concilia, in eamdem senten¬ tiam pro Dei gratia conspirasse. Per eadem tempora tres summi, sanctissi- mique Pontifices, Innocentius, Zozimus, Cce- lestinus rescriptis suis eamdem sententiam (1) IsaieLXV, I ; Luc XIX, 10. - (2) Joan. XV, 5. — (3) I Corin. IV, 7— (4) Phil. 1, 6 ; ibid. II, 13 • / 114 LIBER TV. comprobarunt. Innocentius in epistola ad Concilium Carthaginiense, quae est apud Au¬ gustinum 91. « Adjutorio, inquit, quotidiano nos egere, negare non possumus » . Et infra : « Quemadmodum Pelagius, Gelestiusque sua¬ sores se aliquibus esse confidunt, nos adju¬ torium Dei non debere quaerere, nec egere, cum omnes sancti, nihil se sine hoc agere posse testentur? » Idem in epist. ad Conci¬ lium Milevitanum apud Augustinum 93. « In omnibus, inquit, divinis paginis volun¬ tati liberae non nisi adjutorium Dei legimus esse nectendum, eamque nihil posse coele¬ stibus auxiliis destitutam » . Zozimus in epistola ad omnes Episcopos (ut refert Coelestinus in epistola ad Gallos cap. 9.) n Quod, inquit, tempus intervenit, quo ejus non egeamus auxilio, in omnibus igitur actibus, causis, cogitationibus, nepti¬ bus, adjutor et protector orandus est. Super¬ bum est enim, ut quidquam sibi humana na¬ tura praesumat » . Ipse autem Coelestinus in praedicta epistola cap. 8. « Quotquot, inquit, spiritu Dei agun¬ tur, hi filii sunt Dei, ut nec nostram deesse sentiamus arbitrium, et in bonis quibusque voluntatis humanae singulis motibus magis illius valere non dubitemus auxilium » , Idem probari potest testimoniis aliorum Patrum. S. Cyprianus lib. iii. ad Qumnum cap. 4. «In nullo, inquit, gloriandum, quando nostrum nihil est » . S. Ambrosius lib, n. in Lucam cap. xn : « Yides, inquit, quia ubique Domini virtus studiis cooperatur humanis, ut nemo possit aedificare sine Domino, nemo custodire sine Domino, nemo quicquam incipere sine Do¬ mino » . S. Hieronymus in lib. iii. contra Pelagia- nos, non longe a principio : « Hoc, inquit, longa dissertione conclusum est, ut gratia sua Dominus, quae nobis concessit liberum arbitrium, in singulis operibus juvet atque sustentet » . S. Augustinus lib. n. contra duas episto¬ las Pelagianorum cap. 5. « Liberum, inquit, arbitrium dicimus ad bene, pieque viven¬ dum nori valere, nisi ipsa voluntas hominis, Dei gratia, fuerit liberata, et ad omne bo¬ num actionis, sermonis, cogitationis adjuta ». Item in libro de praedestinatione Sanctorum cap. 2. « Quod, inquit, attinet ad pietatem, et religionem, non sumus sufficientes cogi¬ tare aliquid quasi ex nobis, et nemo sibi sufficit ad incipiendum , vel perficiendum quodcumque opus bonum ». Item in libro de gratia Christi cap. 26. « Gratiam, inquit, Dei sic confiteatur, qui vult veraciter confi¬ teri, ut omnino nihil boni sine illa, quod ad pietatem pertinet, vcramque justitiam, fieri posse non dubitet. » Et cap. 47. «Si, inquit, ut dixi, consenserit (Pelagius) etiam ipsam voluntatem ct actionem divinitus adjuvari, ut sine illo adjutorio nihil boni velimus et agamus, eamque esse gratianWDei per Jesum Christum, Dominum nostrum, in qua nos sua, non nostra justitia facit justos, ut ea si vera justitia, quae nobis ab illo est, nihil de adju¬ torio gratiae Dei, quantum arbitror, inter nos controversiae relinquetur ». Auctor Hypognostici, qui, ut alias diximus, non est Augustinus, sed alius Pater antiquus et doctus lib. iii. « Esse fatemur, inquit, liberum arbitrium omnibus hominibus, ha¬ bens quidem judicium rationis, non per quod sit idoneum (quae ad Deum pertinent) incho¬ are, aut certe perficere sine Deo, sed tantum in operibus vitae praesentis, tam bonis, quam etiam malis » . Et infra : « Yitiato ergo libero arbitrio, totus homo est vitiatus, per quod (absque adjutorio gratiae) quod Deo placeat nec valet incipere, nec perficere sufficit». S. Prosper in lib. contra Collatorem cap. 38. « Non conturbat, inquit, nos superbien¬ tium inepta querimonia, quia liberum arbi¬ trium causantur auferri, si et principia, et profectus et perseverantia in bonis, usque in finem Dei dona esse dicantur. Quoniam opitulationes divinae gratiae stabilimenta sunt voluntatis humanae. Yolentes oramus, et ta¬ men misit Deus spiritum in corda nostra clamantem Abba Pater, volentes loquimur, et tamen si pium est, quod loquimur non sumus nos loquentes , sed spiritus patris nostri, qui loquitur in nobis ; volentes ope¬ ramur salutem nostram, et tamen ipsum velle, atque operari, Deus est, qui operatur in nobis ». S. Fulgentius lib. de incarnatione et gratia Christi cap. 13. « Peccans, inquit, ille qui sine peccandi necessitate creatus est, in eo quod animae sanitatem delinquendo perdi¬ dit, etiam illa cogitandi, quae ad Deum per¬ tinent, amisit facultatem. Oblitus est enim manducare panem suum, et expoliatus ve¬ stimento fidei, carnaliumque concupiscen¬ tiarum vulneribus sauciatus, sic jacuit op¬ pressus ditione peccati, ut nullatenus aliquod bonae voluntatis initium habere potuisset, nisi hoc Deo gratis donante sumpsisset » . CAPUT y. Sanctus Gregorius hom. 9. in Ezech. a Nos, inquit, praevenit, ut velimus, et vo¬ lentes subsequitur, ne inaniter velimus » . S. Bernardus in lib. de gratia et libero arbitrio : « Conatui nostri, inquit, et cassi sunt, si non adjuventur, et nulli, si non ex¬ citentur ». His accedat argumentum ab orationibus, et gratiarum actione. Non enim sine causa orat Ecclesia, ut Deus actiones nostras aspi¬ rando praeveniat, et adjuvando prosequatur, nec sine causa pro omni bono opere ^gratias agit, nisi quia novit, nihil veri boni, id est, quod ad salutem pertineat, sine Salvatoris gratia fieri posse. Accedat postremo damnatio operum Cas¬ siani et Fausti, in Concilio Romano, praesi¬ dente S. Gelasio Papa, quae habetur in de¬ creto Gratiani distinet. 16. canone S. Ro¬ mana. Non enim alia de causa opera Cassiani et Fausti, quae alioqui multa valde utilia continent in apocryphis numerantur, nisi propter sententiam istam de bonis operibus ad pietatem pertinentibus, quae illi sine ad¬ jutorio gratiae fieri, aut inchoari posse dispu¬ tabant. Quibus adde, Faustum propter hos errores habitum fuisse Pelagianum haere¬ ticum, ut testes sunt Isidorus in lib. de scri¬ ptoribus , Ado Vienensis in Chronico , et auctor vitae S. Fulgentii cap. 26. Quod si vir doctissimus Ruardus Tapperus observasset, non tam saepe Faustum Catholicum appel¬ lasse t.