Letters

⁶ Surely the man who says this is no ordinary blasphemer; the poison of his heresy is no common poison. Since our wills are free, they argue, we are no longer dependent upon God; and they forget the Apostle's words “what have you that thou did not receive? Now if you received it why do you glory as if you had not received it?” A nice return, truly, does a man make to God when to assert the freedom of his will he rebels against Him! For our parts we gladly embrace this freedom, but we never forget to thank the Giver; knowing that we are powerless unless He continually preserves in us His own gift. As the apostle says, “it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy.” To will and to run are mine, but they will cease to be mine unless God brings me His continual aid. For the same apostle says “it is God which works in you both to will and to do.” And in the Gospel the Saviour says: “my Father works hitherto and I work.” He is always a giver, always a bestower. It is not enough for me that he has given me grace once; He must give it me always. I seek that I may obtain, and when I have obtained I seek again. I am covetous of God's bounty; and as He is never slack in giving, so I am never weary in receiving. The more I drink, the more I thirst. For I have read the song of the psalmist: “O taste and see that the Lord is good.” Every good thing that we have is a tasting of the Lord. When I fancy myself to have finished the book of virtue, I shall then only be at the beginning. For “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” and this fear is in its turn cast out by love. Men are only perfect so far as they know themselves to be imperfect. “So likewise ye,” Christ says, “when you shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.” If he is unprofitable who has done all, what must we say of him who has failed to do so? This is why the Apostle declares that he has attained in part and apprehended in part, that he is not yet perfect, and that forgetting those things which are behind he reaches forth unto those things which are before. Now he who always forgets the past and longs for the future shows that he is not content with the present.

They are for ever objecting to us that we destroy free will. Nay, we reply, it is you who destroy it; for you use it amiss and disown the bounty of its Giver. Which really destroys freedom? The man who thanks God always and traces back his own tiny rill to its source in Him? Or the man who says: “come not near to me, for I am holy; I have no need of You. You have given me once for all freedom of choice to do as I wish. Why then dost Thou interfere again to prevent me from doing anything unless You Yourself first makest Your gifts effective in me?” To such an one I would say: “your profession of belief in God's grace is insincere. For you explain this of the state in which man has been created and you do not look for God to help him in his actions. To do this, you argue, would be to surrender human freedom. Thus disdaining the aid of God you have to look to men for help.”