Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On Justification · Book V: On the Merits of Works
Chapter 6: Objections from the Fathers are solved
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. VI, De Justificatione, Book V. 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).
Now they bring forward from the Fathers certain testimonies against human merits, which can be explained with little labor. First, they object those words of St. Hilary on Psalm 51: “For those very works of justice would not suffice for the merit of perfect beatitude, unless the mercy of God, even in this justice, should not reckon as vices the will of human changes and motions. The hope, therefore, is in the mercy of God for ever and ever.” I answer: the explanation of this place is to be sought from those things which we said to the first objection of the preceding chapter. For Hilary teaches only that with good merits certain sins are mingled, which, although they make not a man unjust, since they are light and venial, yet need remission and mercy, because nothing defiled can enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Second, they object those words of St. Basil on Psalm 114: “Everlasting rest awaits those who in this life have lawfully contended, not for the merits of their deeds, but of the most bountiful grace of God, in which they hoped.” I answer: Chemnitz does not rightly interpret the words of St. Basil. For in the Greek text is found neither that “not for their merits,” nor that word “grace.” For these are the words: ου κατα οφειλημα των εργων αποδιδομενα, αλλα κατα του μεγαλοδωρου Θεου. Which words signify that eternal rest is to be rendered to those who lawfully contend, not according to the debt of works, but according to the debt of the most bountiful God — that is, not for the measure of works, but for the measure of the magnificence of God; or, not as much as is owed to works, but much more, namely as much as beseems the bounty of God. But even if Chemnitz had rightly rendered the words of St. Basil into Latin, yet he would gain nothing from Basil against merits. For we should say that Basil excludes merits which are to a man from himself, and preaches merits which are to a man from grace. For when he says that everlasting rest awaits those who lawfully contend, he openly posits merits; for to him who lawfully contends the prize is owed by right. But when he adds (if indeed he adds), “not for the merits of their deeds, but of the most bountiful grace of God,” he indicates that no one lawfully contends by his own powers alone, but through the grace of pardon; and thereby that everlasting rest is given to those who contend, not for their own merits — that is, acquired by their own powers — but for the grace of God, from which true merits are born.
Third, they object from Augustine those words on Psalm 70, sermon 2: “Thy sins are thine own; thy merits are God’s. Punishment is owed to thee; and when the reward shall come, he will crown his own gifts, not thy merits.” Likewise that from sermon 15 on the words of the Apostle: “Thou wilt save them for nothing; thou findest nothing whence to save, and much findest thou whence to condemn.” Likewise those words from the book On Grace and Free Choice, chapter 9: “He chose rather to say, The grace of God is life everlasting, that we might understand that God brings us to eternal life not for our merits, but for his mercy.” I answer: St. Augustine, wherever he condemns merits, speaks of merits which are in us, from us — that is, without the grace of God. Which can be most plainly understood from two places. The former place is in epistle 105 to Sixtus: “That very eternal life, which at the end shall be had without end, and is therefore rendered to preceding merits — yet because the same merits, to which it is rendered, were not gotten by us through our own sufficiency, but wrought in us through grace, it too is called grace, for no other reason than because it is given freely; nor because it is not given to merits, but because the very merits, to which it is given, were themselves given.” And below: “To whom eternal life is owed, is true justice; but if it be true justice, it is not of thee, it is from above, descending from the Father of lights, that thou mightest have it — if indeed thou hast it, thou hast surely received it. For what hast thou that thou hast not received? Wherefore, O man, if thou art to receive eternal life, it is indeed the wage of justice, but to thee it is grace, to whom justice itself is grace. For it would be rendered to thee as a debt, if the justice, to which it is owed, were to thee from thyself.” We have from this place that our justice, to which eternal life is rendered, is true justice, and thereby truly meritorious — not so imperfect that it can be called sin, as the adversaries say. We have next that Augustine, when he says that eternal life is not owed to us of merit, but given freely, speaks of a man such as he is without the grace of God, and who works by his own powers alone; for to a man, as he works from grace, Augustine never denied that eternal life is owed of merit, since to the very justice which a man works through grace he says that eternal life is rendered as a wage.
The latter place is in the book On Grace and Free Choice, chapter 6: “When the Pelagians say that this grace alone is not according to our merits — namely that by which sins are forgiven to a man — but that the grace which is given at the end, that is, eternal life, is rendered to our preceding merits, it is to be answered them: If they so understood our merits as to acknowledge them also to be gifts of God, that opinion would not be to be reproved; but since they so preach human merits as to say that a man has them of himself, most rightly does the Apostle answer, Who distinguisheth thee? and what hast thou that thou hast not received? and if thou hast received, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received? To one so thinking it is most truly said: God crowns his gifts, not thy merits — if thy merits are to thee from thyself, not from him. For if such they be, they are evil, and the evil God crowns not; but if they be good, they are gifts of God.” And chapter 7: “If thy good merits are gifts of God, God crowns not thy merits as thy merits, but as his gifts.” And chapter 8: “The Apostle, when he had said, By grace you are saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should be lifted up, saw that men could think this so said as though good works were not necessary to believers, but faith alone sufficed them, and again that men could be lifted up over good works, as though they sufficed of themselves to do them; therefore he soon added, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus in good works, which God hath prepared that we should walk in them.” And below: “That (namely, the grace of a good work), to which it is given, is only grace; but this (that is, eternal life), which is given to it, since it is a reward, is grace for grace, as a wage for justice, that it may be true, since it is true, that God will render to every man according to his works.” From these it is manifestly gathered what St. Augustine holds concerning merits; nor need anything be added to his words, since without any ambiguity he has said that he condemns those merits which are not to us from God.
Fourth, they object that from St. Prosper, book 1 On the Vocation of the Gentiles, chapter 17 (or, in another edition, chapter 5), where he says: “Therefore in the parable of those who labor in the vineyard the same reward and the same wage is given to all the workmen, whether they have labored much or little, that they who have sweated with much labor, and received no more than the last, may understand that they have received a gift of grace, not the wage of works.” I answer: St. Prosper considers eternal life as it is one and the same, or as it is equal in all the blessed. For not one longer, another shorter, but all shall live for ever. And he says that this eternal life is a gift of grace, not the wage of works, in that sense in which Augustine said, God crowns his gifts, not thy merits — namely, eternal life is not the wage of works which are to us from us, but which are to us from the grace of God. And that this might be understood, therefore God willed to bestow eternal life on those who had labored much and on those who had labored little, lest they who labor much be lifted up over their own powers. But that St. Prosper denies not true merits, which arise from grace, is plain from the same place, where he says: “Good merits follow in a man after grace is attained, but go not before.”
Fifth, they object that of St. Gregory, book 9 of the Morals, chapter 11: “If I shall have done a work of virtue, I recover unto life not from merits, but from pardon.” I answer: St. Gregory speaks of merits which are in us from us, in the manner in which we said Augustine and Prosper speak. For he would exhort us to humility, and therefore says that, when we do works of virtue, we recover unto life, not from merits acquired by our own powers, but from pardon, through which, being justified by God, we begin to have justice and good works.
Sixth, they object St. Bernard, who in sermon 1 On the Annunciation speaks thus: “Neither are the merits of men such that for them eternal life is owed of right, or that God would do any injury unless he gave it.” Likewise sermon 15 on the Psalm, “He that dwelleth”: “The whole merit of man is to place all his hope in him who saves the whole man.” And sermon 61 on the Canticles: “Therefore my merit is the compassion of the Lord.” Chemnitz adds also the altercation of St. Bernard with the devil, in which he is read to have said: “I confess I am not worthy, nor can I by my own merits obtain the kingdom of heaven. But my Lord, possessing it by a double right — by the inheritance of the Father, and by the merit of his passion — content with the one himself, gives me the other.” I answer: in the first testimony St. Bernard teaches that eternal life is not owed to merits by absolute right, because merits presuppose both grace and promise. For this he himself explains a little below, saying that eternal life is therefore not owed to merits of right, because the merits themselves are born of grace. But, grace and promise presupposed, that eternal life is owed of right the Apostle teaches when he says, 2 Timothy 4, There is laid up for me a crown of justice. And to the Hebrews 6, God is not unjust, that he should forget your work and labor. And St. Augustine, On Nature and Grace, chapter 2: “God is not unjust, that he should defraud the just of the wage of justice.” To the other places we answer that they were said by St. Bernard that we might understand our merits to be not from us, but from the mercy of God; which he explains more clearly, sermon 68 on the Canticles: “Take care to have merits; when thou hast them, know that they were given,” etc. Perhaps also St. Bernard, both from humility, which knows not its own merits, and from uncertainty of his own grace, prudently trusted not in his own merits, but in the sole mercy of the Lord — which we shall show in the following chapter is to be imitated. But not therefore had he no merits, because he acknowledged not his own merits.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT VI. Solvuntur objectiones ex Patribus. Jam vero ex Patribus nonnulla proferunt testimonia contra merita humana, quae fa¬ cili negotio explicari poterunt. Primo, objiciunt illa verba sancti Hilarii in Psal. li. « Non enim illa ipsa justitia) ope¬ ra sufficerent ad perfecta; beatitudinis me¬ ritum, nisi misericordia Dei, etiam in hac justitia; voluntate humanarum demutatio¬ num, et motuum, non reputet vitia. Spes igitur in misericordia Dei in sa)culum sae- culi ». Respondeo : Explicatio hujus loci petenda est ex iis, qua) diximus ad primam objectio¬ nem capitis superioris. Solum enim Hilarius docet, cum bonis meritis admisceri peccata qusedam, quae tametsi non faciunt hominem injustum, cum sint levia, et venialia, tamen remissione, et misericordia indigent, quia nihil coinquinatum intrare potest in regnum c telorum. Secundo, objiciunt illa verba sancti Basi- lii in Psalm. cxiv. « Manet sempiterna requies illos, qui in hac vita legitime certaverunt, non ob eorum merita factorum, sed de mu¬ nificentissimi Dei gratia, in qua sperarunt ». Respondeo : Non recte verba sancti Basi- lii Kemnitius interpretatur. Non enim in Graeco textu invenitur illud : « Non ob eo¬ rum merita », neque illud, <t gratia ». Haec enim sunt verba : ou xata 6tpEiXrltua -rwv Ipywv airoosSopiva a XX a /.ata xou [/.syaXoSwpou ®*ou. Quae verba significant, requiem aeternam reddendam esse legitime certantibus, non secundum debitum operum, sed secundum debitum Dei munificentissimi, id est, non pro mensura operum, sed pro mensura ma¬ gnificentiae Dei, sive non quantum debetur operibus, sed multo amplius, quantum vide¬ licet decet munificentiam Dei. Sed etiamsi recte Kemnitius verba S. Ba- silii latine reddidisset ; nihil tamen obtine¬ ret ex Basilio contra merita. Diceremus enim a Basilio excludi merita, qua; sint ho¬ mini a se, et praedicari merita, quae sint homini ex gratia. Nam cum dicit, manere requiem aeternam legitime certantes, aperte ponit merita : legitime enim certanti debe¬ tur jure bravium. Cum autem addit (si ta¬ men addit); «Non ob eorum merita factorum, 3ft!f sed de munificentissimi Dei gratia », indi¬ cat, neminem legitime certare suis solis viri¬ bus, sed per gratiam condonationis. Ac per hoc non ob merita propria, id est, propriis viribus acquisita, sed ob gratiam Dei, a qua merita vera nascuntur, dari certantibus re¬ quiem sempiternam. Tertio, objiciunt ex Augustino illa verba ' in Psal. lxx. concion. 2.« Tua peccata sunt, merita, Dei sunt. Supplicium tibi debetur, et cum praemium venerit, sua dona corona¬ bit, non merita tua ». Item illa ex serm. 15. de verbis Apostoli : « Pro nihilo salvos facies illos, nihil invenis, unde salves, et multum invenis, unde damnes ». Item illa verba ex libro de gratia, et libero arbitrio, cap. 9. « Maluit, inquit, dicere, Gratia Dei vita aeter- na, ut intelligeremus, non pro meritis no¬ stris Deum nos ad aeternam vitam, sed pro sua misericordia perducsre. Respondeo : S. Augustinus, ubicumque merita damnat, loquitur de meritis, quae sint in nobis, ex nobis, id est, sine gratia Dei. Id quod ex duobus locis apertissime intelligi poterit. Prior locus est in epistol. 105. ad Sixtum : « Ipsa, inquit, vita aeterna, quae in fine, sine fine habebitur, et ideo meritis prae¬ cedentibus redditur; tamen quia eadem me¬ rita, quibus redditur, non a nobis parta sunt per nostram sufficientiam, sed in nobis facta per gratiam, etiam ipsa gratia nuncupatur, non ob aliud, nisi quia gratis datur : nec ideo, quia meritis non datur, sed quia data sunt, et ipsa merita, quibus datur ». Et in¬ fra : « Cui debetur vita a)terna, vera justitia est; si autem vera justitia e3t, ex te non est, de sursum est descendens a Patre luminum, ut haberes eam, si tamen habes, profecto accepisti. Quid enim habes, quod non acce¬ pisti? Quapropter, o homo, si accepturus es vitam a)ternam, justitia) quidem stipendium est, sed tibi gratia est, cui gratia est ipsa justitia. Tibi enim tamquam debita reddere¬ tur, si ex te tibi esset justitia, cui debetur. » Habemus ex hoc loco, justitiam nostram, cui redditur vita qgterna, veram esse justi¬ tiam, ac per hoc vere meritoriam, non au¬ tem ita imperfectam, ut peccatum dici pos¬ sit, ut adversarii dicunt. Habemus deinde Augustinum, cum dicit, nobis non deberi vitam aeternam ex merito, sed gratis donari, loqui de homine, qualis est sine gratia Dei, et qui suis solis viribus operatur : homini enim, ut operatur ex gratia, numquam ne¬ gavit Augustinus, deberi vitam a)ternam ex UBER V. 356 merito, cum ipsi justitia), quam homo per gratiam operatur, dicat, reddi tamquam sti¬ pendium vitam aeternam. Locus posterior est in libro de gratia, et libero arbitrio cap. vi. « Cum, inquit, dicunt Pelagiani, hanc esse solam, non secundum merita nostra gratiam, qua homini peccata dimittuntur : illam vero, quae datur in finem, id est, aeternam vitam, meritis nostris praece¬ dentibus reddi, respondendum est eis. Si enim merita nostra sic intelligerent, ut etiam ipsa dona Dei esse cognoscerent, non esset reprobanda ista sententia; quoniam vero roe- ritahumanasic praedicant, ut ea ex semetipso habere hominem dicant, prorsus rectissime respondet Apostolus : Quis enim te discer¬ nit? quid autem habes, quod non accepisti? si autem accepisti, quid gloriaris quasi non acceperis? prorsus tali cogitanti verissime dicitur : Dona sua coronat Deus, non merita tua : si tibi a te ipso non ab illo sunt merita tua. Haec enim si talia sunt, mala sunt, quae mala sunt, non coronat Deus : si autem bo¬ na sunt, Dei dona sunt». Et cap. 7. « Si, inquit, Dei dona sunt bona merita tua, non Deus coronat merita tua, tamquam merita tua, sed tamquam dona sua » . Et cap. 8. « Apostolus, inquit', cum dixis¬ set. Gratia salvi facti estis, per fidem, et hoc non ex vobis, sed Dei donum est, non ex operibus, ne quis extollatur, vidit utique, putare posse homines, hoc ita dictum, quasi necessaria non sint opera bona credentibus, sed eis fides sola sufficiat, et rursus posse homines de bonis operibus extolli, velut ad ea facienda sibi sufficiant : mox itaque ad¬ didit, ipsius enim sumus figmentum, creati in Christo Jesu, in operibus bonis, quae prae¬ paravit Deus, ut in illis ambulemus. Quid est hoc, quod cum Dei gratiam commen¬ dans, dixisset, non ex operibus, ne forte quis extollatur, cur hoc dixerit, rationem reddens, ipsius enim sumus, inquit, figmen¬ tum, creati in Christo Jesu, in operibus bo¬ nis? quomodo ergo non ex operibus, ne forte quis extollatur? sed audi, et intellige, non cx operibus dictum, tamquam tuis ex te ipso tibi existentibus, sed tamquam his, in quibus te Deus finxit, id est, formavit, et creavit ». Et infra : «Illa (nimirum gratia boni operis) cui datur, tantummodo gratia est. Haec au¬ tem (id est, vita aeterna), quae illi datur, quoniam praemium est, gratia est pro gra¬ tia, tamquam merces pro justitia, ut verum sit, quoniam verum est, quia reddet unicui¬ que Deus secundum opera ejus ». Ex his ma¬ nifeste colligitur, quid S. Augustinus de meritis sentiat : neque opus est verbis ejus aliquid addere, cum sine ullis ambagibus dixerit, illa se • merita damnare, quae non sunt nobis ex Deo. Quarto objiciunt illud ex sancto Prospero in lib. I. de vocatione gentium, cap. 17. sive (in alia editione) cap. 5. ubi dicit: «Ideo in parabola de his, qui laborant in vinea, • dari idem praemium, eamdemque mercedem omnibus operariis, sive multum, sive parum laboraverint, ut ii, qui multo labore suda¬ runt, nec amplius, quam novissimi accepe¬ runt, intelligant, donum se gratiae, non ope¬ rum accepisse mercedem ». Respondeo : Considerat sanctus Prosper vitam aeternam, ut est una, et eadem, sive ut est aequalis in omnibus beatis. Neque enim alius longius, alius brevius, sed omnes in aeternum vivent. Dicit autem, hanc vitam aeternam donum esse gratiae, non operum mercedem, eo sensu, quo dixit Augustinus, dona sua coronat Deus, non merita tua, vi¬ delicet non est vita aeterna merces operum, quae sint nohis a nobis, sed quae sunt nobis a gratia Dei. Atque ut hoc intelligeretur, ideo voluit Deus vitam aeternam tribuere iis, qui multum, et iis, qui parum laboraverant. Ne, qui multum laborant, de suis viribus extollantur. S. autem Prosperum non negare vera merita, quae oriuntur cx gratia planum est ex eodem loco, ubi dicit : a Bona merita sequi in homine post adeptaim gratiam, non autem praecedere » . Quinto, objiciunt illud sancti Gregorii lib. ix. Moralium, cap. ii. « Si opus virtutis exercuero, ad vitam non ex meritis, sed ex- venia convalesco ». Respondeo : Loquitur sanctus Gregorius de meritis, qua) sunt in nobis ex nobis, eo modo quo loqui diximus Augustinum , et Prosperum. Yult enim ad humilitatem nos adhortari, et ideo dicit, cum opera virtutis facimus, nos ad vitam convalescere, non ex meritis propriis viribus acquisitis, sed ex venia, per quam justificati a Deo justitiam, et bona opera habere incipimus. Sexto, objiciunt sanctum Bernardum, qui in ser. 1. de Annunciatione sic loquitur : « Neque talia sunt hominum merita, ut pro¬ pter ea vita aeterna debeatur ex jure, aut Dens injuriam aliquam faceret, nisi eam do- CAPUT VII. 357 naret ». ltein serm. 15. ia Psalmum? « Qui habitat. Totum, inquit, hominis meritum est, si totam spem suam ponat in eo, qui totum hominem salvum facit ». Et serm. 01. in Cant. « Proinde meritum meum, miseratio Domini». Addit etiam Kemnitius altercatio¬ nem sancti Bernardi cum Diabolo, in qua dixisse legitur : « Fateor, non sum dignus ego, nec propriis possum meritis regnum obtinere coelorum. Caeterum Dominus meus duplici jure illud possidens, haereditate Pa¬ tris, et merito passionis, altero ipse conten¬ tus, alterum mihi donat. » llespondeo : In primo testimonio docet sanctus Bernardus, vitam aeternam non de¬ beri meritis ex jure absoluto, quia merita prtesupponunt et gratiam et promissionem. Id enim paulo infra ita ipse explicat, dicens, propterea non deberi meritis vitam aeternam ex jure, quia merita ipsa nascuntur ex gra¬ tia. Praesupposita autem gratia et promis¬ sione, deberi vitam aeternam ex jure, docet Apostolus, cum ait II ad Timoth. iv. Ile po¬ sita est mihi corona justitiae. Et ad Ileb. vi. Non est injustus Deus , qui obliviscatur operis vestri et laboris (1). Et sanctus Augustinus de natura et gratia, cap. 2. e Non est inju¬ stus Deus, ut justos fraudet mercede justi¬ tiae » . Ad alia loca respondemus, ea dicta esse a sancto Bernardo, ut intelligamus, merita nostra non esse ex nobis, sed ex misericor¬ dia Dei ; quod clarius explicat serm. 08. in Cant. « Merita habere cures : habita, data noveris, etc. » . Fortasse etiam sanctus Ber¬ nardus, tum ex humilitate, qua? propria me¬ rita ignorat, tum ex incertitudine propria) gratiae, prudenter non confidebat in meritis suis, sed in sola misericordia Domini. Quod imitandum esse in sequenti capite pluribus ostendemus. Sed non ideo merita non habe¬ bat, quia merita sua non agnoscebat.