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De Exhortatione Castitatis

II.

[1] Quam denique modesta illa uox est: Dominus dedit, dominus abstulit, ut domino uisum est, ita factum est. Et ideo si nuptias sublatas restauremus, sine dubio contra uoluntatem dei nitimur, uolentes habere rursus quod habere nos noluit. Si enim uoluisset, non abstulisset. Nisi si et hoc uoluntatem dei interpretamur, quasi et rursus nos uoluerit habere quod iam noluit. [2] Non est bonae et solidae fidei sic omnia ad voluntatem dei referre, et ita adulari < sibi > unumquemque dicendo nihil fieri sine nutu eius, ut non intellegamus esse aliquid in nobis ipsis. Ceterum excusabitur omne delictum, si contenderimus nihil fieri a nobis sine dei uoluntate, et ibit definitio ista in destructionem totius disciplinae, etiam ipsius dei, si aut quae non uult de sua uoluntate producat, aut nihil est quod deus non uult. [3] Sed quomodo uetat quaedam quibus etiam supplicium aeternum comminatur (utique enim quae uetat non uult, a quibus et offenditur), sic et e contrario quae uult et praecipit et accepto facit et aeternitatis mercede dispungit. Igitur cum utrumque ex praeceptis eius didicerimus, quid nolit et quid uelit, tamen nobis est uoluntas et arbitrium eligendi alterum, sicut scriptum est: Ecce posui ante te bonum et malum: gustasti enim de agnitionis arbore. [4] Et ideo non debemus quod nostro expositum est arbitrio in domini referre uoluntatem, quod non ipse uult aut non uult quod bonum est qui malum non uult. Ita nostra est uoluntas, cum malum uolumus aduersus dei uoluntatem, qui bonum uult. [5] Porro si quaeris, unde uenit ista uoluntas, qua quid uolumus aduersus dei uoluntatem, dicam: ex nobis ipsis. Nec temere. Semini enim tuo respondeas necesse est, siquidem ille princeps et generis et delicti Adam uoluit quod deliquit. Neque enim diabolus uoluntatem ei imposuit delinquendi, sed materiam uoluntatis subministrauit. Ceterum uoluntas ei de inobaudientia uenerat. [6] Proinde et tu si non oboedieris deo, qui te proposito praecepto liberae potestatis instituit, per uoluntatis libertatem uolens deuerges in id quod deus non uult, et ita te putas a diabolo subuersum, qui etsi quid uult te uelle quod deus non uult, non tamen facit ut et uelis, quia nec tunc inuitos protoplastos ad uoluntatem delicti subegit, immo neque inuitos neque ignorantes quid deus nollet. [7] Vtique enim nolebat fieri, cui admisso mortem destinabat. Ita diaboli opus unum est, temptare, quod in te est, an uelis. At ubi uoluisti, sequitur ut te sibi subigat, non operatus in te uoluntatem, sed nactus occasionem uoluntatis. [8] Igitur cum solum sit in nobis uelle, et in hoc probetur nostra erga deum mens, an ea uelimus quae cum uoluntate ipsius faciant, alte et impresse recogitandam esse dico dei uoluntatem, quid etiam in occulto uelit.

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On Exhortation to Chastity

Chapter II.--The Blame of Our Misdeeds Not to Be Cast Upon God. The One Power Which Rests with Man is the Power of Volition.

What moderation, in short, is there in that utterance, "The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away; as seemed (good) to the Lord, so hath it been done!" ¹ And accordingly, if we renew nuptials which have been taken away, doubtless we strive against the will of God, willing to have over again a thing which He has not willed us to have. For had He willed (that we should), He would not have taken it away; unless we interpret this, too, to be the will of God, as if He again willed us to have what He just now did not will. It is not the part of good and solid faith to refer all things to the will of God in such a manner as that; and that each individual should so flatter ² himself by saying that "nothing is done without His permission," as to make us fail to understand that there is a something in our own power. Else every sin will be excused if we persist in contending that nothing is done by us without the will of God; and that definition will go to the destruction of (our) whole discipline, (nay), even of God Himself; if either He produce by ³ His own will things which He wills not, or else (if) there is nothing which God wills not. But as there are some things which He forbids, against which He denounces even eternal punishment--for, of course, things which He forbids, and by which withal He is offended, He does not will--so too, on the contrary, what He does will, He enjoins and sets down as acceptable, and repays with the reward of eternity. ⁴ And so, when we have learnt from His precepts each (class of actions), what He does not will and what He does, we still have a volition and an arbitrating power of electing the one; just as it is written, "Behold, I have set before thee good and evil: for thou hast tasted of the tree of knowledge." And accordingly we ought not to lay to the account of the Lord's will that which lies subject to our own choice; (on the hypothesis) that He does not will, or else (positively) nills what is good, who does nill what is evil. Thus, it is a volition of our own when we will what is evil, in antagonism to God's will, who wills what is good. Further, if you inquire whence comes that volition whereby we will anything in antagonism to the will of God, I shall say, It has its source in ourselves. And I shall not make the assertion rashly--for you must needs correspond to the seed whence you spring--if indeed it be true, (as it is), that the originator of our race and our sin, Adam, ⁵ willed the sin which he committed. For the devil did not impose upon him the volition to sin, but subministered material to the volition. On the other hand, the will of God had come to be a question of obedience. ⁶ In like manner you, too, if you fail to obey God, who has trained you by setting before you the precept of free action, will, through the liberty of your will, willingly turn into the downward course of doing what God nills: and thus you think yourself to have been subverted by the devil; who, albeit he does will that you should will something which God nills still does not make you will it, inasmuch as he did not reduce those our protoplasts to the volition of sin; nay, nor (did reduce them at all) against their will, or in ignorance as to what God nilled. For, of course, He nilled (a thing) to be done when He made death the destined consequence of its commission. Thus the work of the devil is one: to make trial whether you do will that which it rests with you to will. But when you have willed, it follows that he subjects you to himself; not by having wrought volition in you, but by having found a favourable opportunity in your volition. Therefore, since the only thing which is in our power is volition--and it is herein that our mind toward God is put to proof, whether we will the things which coincide with His will--deeply and anxiously must the will of God be pondered again and again, I say, (to see) what even in secret He may will.