 Section 5 of Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 2 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Adam Ulliman. Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 2 by John Calvin. Translated by Henry Beverage. Chapter 2 Part 3 But since we are intoxicated with the false opinion of our own discernment and can scarcely be persuaded that in divine things it is altogether stupid and blind, I believe the best course will be to establish the fact not by argument, but by Scripture. Most admirable to this effect is the passage which I lately quoted from John when he says, John 1 verse 4 and 5. And why so? For this reason it is said that believers in embracing Christ are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1.13 20 If we were persuaded of a truth which ought to be beyond dispute is that human nature possesses none of the gifts which the elect receive from their heavenly Father through the spirit of regeneration, there would be no room here for hesitation. For thus speaks the congregation of the faithful, by the mouth of the prophet, with thee is the fountain of life, in thy light shall we see light. Psalm 36 verse 9 To the same effect is the testimony of the Apostle Paul when he declares that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. 1 Corinthians 12 verse 3 And John Baptist on seeing the dullness of his disciples exclaims a man can receive nothing unless it be given him from heaven. John 3 verse 27 Nay, Moses also while abrading the people for their forgetfulness at the same time observes that they could not become wise in the mysteries of God without his assistance. He have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh and unto all his servants and unto all his land. The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs and these great miracles yet the Lord has not given you in heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear unto this day. Deuteronomy 29 verse 2 3 and 4 Would the expression have been stronger had he called us mere blocks in regard to the contemplation of divine things. Hence the Lord by the mouth of the prophet promises to the Israelites as a singular favor I will give them and heart to know me. Jeremiah 24 verse 7 Intimating that in spiritual things the human mind is wise only insofar as he enlightens it. This was also clearly confirmed by our Saviour when he said, No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me, draw him. John 6 verse 44 Nay, it is not he himself the living image of his Father in which the full brightness of his glory is manifested to us. Therefore, how far our faculty of knowing God extends could not be better shown than when it is declared that though his image is so plainly exhibited, we have not eyes to perceive it. What? Did not Christ descend into the world that he might make the will of his Father manifest to men? And did he not faithfully perform the office? True, he did. But nothing is accomplished by his preaching unless the inner teacher, the spirit, open the way into our minds. Only those therefore come to him who have heard and learned of the Father. And in what is the method of this hearing and learning? It is when the spirit with a wondrous and special energy forms the ear to hear and the mind to understand. Lest this should seem new, our Saviour refers to the prophecy of Isaiah which contains a promise of the renovation of the church. For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. Isaiah 54 verse 7 If the Lord here predicts some special blessing to his elect, it is plain that the teaching to which he refers is not that which is common to them with the ungodly and profane. It disappears that none can enter the kingdom of God save those whose minds have been renewed by the enlightening of the Holy Spirit. On this subject the clearest exposition is given by Paul who when expressly handling it after condemning the whole wisdom of the world as foolishness and vanity and thereby declaring man's utter destitution thus concludes, The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 14 Whom does he mean by the natural man? The man who trusts to the light of nature. Such a man has no understanding in the spiritual mysteries of God, why so? Is it because through sloth he neglects them? Nay, though he exert himself, it is of no avail. They are spiritually discerned. And what does that mean? That altogether hidden from human discernment they are made known only by the revelation of the Spirit, so that they are accounted foolishness wherever the Spirit does not give light. The apostle had previously declared that I has not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of men the things which God has prepared for them that love him. Nay, that the wisdom of the world is a kind of veil by which the mind is prevented from beholding God. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 9 What would be more? The apostle declares that God has made foolish the wisdom of this world. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 20 And shall we attribute to it an acuteness capable of penetrating to God the hidden mysteries of his kingdom? Far from us, be search presumption. 21 What the apostle here denies to man he in another place ascribes to God alone when he prays that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. Ephesians 1 verse 17 You now hear that all wisdom and revelation is the gift of God. What follows? The eyes of your understanding being enlightened. Surely if they require a new enlightening, they must in themselves be blind. The next words are that ye may know what is the hope of his calling. Ephesians 1 verse 18 In other words, the minds of men have not capacity enough to know their calling. Let no preting Pelagian here allege that God obviates this rudeness or stupidity when by the doctrine of his word he directs us to a path which we could not have found without a guide. David had the law, comprehending in it all the wisdom that could be desired. And yet not contented with this, he prays, open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. Psalm 119 verse 18 By this expression he certainly intimates that it is like sunrise to the earth when the word of God shines forth. But that men do not derive much benefit from it until he himself, who is for this reason called the Father of likes, James 1 verse 17 either gives eyes or opens them because whatever is not illuminated by his spirit is holy darkness. The apostles had been duly and amply instructed by the best of teachers. Still, as they wanted the spirit of truth to complete their education and the very doctrine which they had previously heard, they were ordered to wait for him. John 14 verse 26 If we confess that what we ask of God is lacking to us and he by the very thing promised intimates our want, no man can hesitate to acknowledge that he is able to understand the mysteries of God only in so far as illuminated by his grace. He who ascribes to himself more understanding than this is the blinder for not acknowledging his blindness. 22 It remains to consider the third branch of the knowledge of spiritual things is the method of properly regulating the conduct. This is correctly termed the knowledge of the works of righteousness. A branch in which the human mind seems to have somewhat more discernment than in the former two, since an apostle declares when the Gentiles which have not the law do by nature the things contained in the law these having not the law are a law unto themselves which show the work of the law written in their hearts their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the meantime accusing or else excusing one another. Romans 2 verse 14 and 15 If the Gentiles have the righteousness of the law naturally engraven on their minds we certainly cannot say that they are altogether blind as to the rule of life. Nothing indeed is more common than for man to be sufficiently instructed in a right course of conduct by natural law of which the apostle here speaks. Let us consider however for what end this knowledge of the law was given to men for from this it will forthwith appear how far it can conduct them in the way of reason and truth. This is even plain from the words of Paul if we attend to their arrangement. He had said a little before that those who had sinned in the law will be judged by the law and those who have sinned without the law will perish without the law. As it might seem unaccountable that the Gentiles should perish without any previous judgment he immediately subjoins that conscience served them instead of the law and was therefore sufficient for their righteous condemnation. The end of the natural law therefore is to render man inexcusable and may be not improperly defined. The judgment of conscience distinguishing sufficiently between just and unjust and by convicting men on their own testimony depriving them of all pretext for ignorance. So indulgent is man towards himself that while doing evil he always endeavours as much as he can to suppress the idea of sin. It was this apparently which induced Plato in his Protagoras to suppose that sins were committed only through ignorance. There might be some ground for this if hypocrisy were so successful in hiding vice as to keep the conscience clear in the sight of God. But since the sinner when trying to evade the judgment of good and evil implanted in him is ever and non-dragged forward and not permitted to wink so effectually as not to be compelled at times whether he will or not to open his eyes it is false to say that he sins only through ignorance. 23. Themistias is more accurate in teaching that the intellect is very seldom mistaken in the general definition or essence of the matter but that deception begins as it advances father namely when it descends to particulars. That homicide putting the case in the abstract is an evil no man will deny and yet one who is conspiring the death of his enemy deliberates on it as if the thing was good. The adulterer will condemn adultery in the abstract and yet flatter himself while privately committing it. The ignorance lies here that man when he comes to the particular forgets the rule which he had laid down in the general case. Augustine treats most admirably on this subject in his exposition of the first verse of the 57th Psalm. The doctrine of Themistias however does not always hold true for the turpitude of the crime sometimes presses so on the conscience that the sinner does not impose upon himself all semblance of good but rushes into sin knowingly and willingly hence the expression I see the better course and approve it I follow the worse. Medea of Ovid. For this reason Aristotle seems to me to have made a very true distinction between incontinence and intemperance where incontinence he says that through the passion panto particular knowledge is suppressed so that the individual sees not in his own misdeed the evil which he sees generally in similar cases but when the passion is over repentance immediately succeeds. Intemperance icolesiva again is not extinguished or diminished by a sense of sin but on the contrary persists in the evil choice which it has once made. 24. Moreover when you hear of a universal judgment in man distinguishing between good and evil you must not suppose that this judgment is in every respect sound and entire for if the hearts of men are imbued with a sense of justice and injustice in order that they may have no pretext to allege ignorance it is by no means necessary for this purpose that they should discern the truth in particular cases it is even more than sufficient if they understand so far as to be unable to practice evasion without being convicted by their own conscience and beginning even now to tremble at the judgment seat of God indeed if we would test our reason by the divine law which is a perfect standard of righteousness we should find how blind it is in many respects it certainly attains not to the principal heads in the first table such as trust in God the ascription to him of all praise and virtue and righteousness invocation of his name and the true observance of his day of rest did ever any soul under the guidance of natural sense imagine that these and the like constitute the legitimate worship of God when profane men would worship God how often so ever they may be drawn off from their vain trifling they constantly relapse into it they admit indeed that sacrifices are not pleasing to God and they are accompanied with sincerity of mind and by this they testify that they have some conception of spiritual worship though they immediately perverted by false devices for it is impossible to persuade them that everything which the law enjoins on the subject is true shall I then extol the discernment of a mind which can either acquire wisdom by itself nor listen to advice as to the precepts of the second table there is considerably more knowledge of them in as much as they are more closely connected to the preservation of civil society even here however there is something defective every man of understanding deems it most absurd to submit to unjust and tyrannical domination provided it can by any means be thrown off and there is but one opinion among men that it is the part of an abject and servile mind to bear it patiently the part of an honorable and high spirited mind to rise up against it indeed the revenge of injuries is not regarded by philosophers but by the vice but the Lord condemning this too lofty spirit prescribes to his people that patience which mankind deem infamance in regard to the general observance of the law concupiscence altogether escapes our animate version for the natural man cannot bear to recognize diseases in his lusts the light of nature is stifled sooner than take the first step into this profound abyss for when philosophers class immoderate movements of the mind among vices they mean those which break forth and manifest themselves in grosser forms depraved desires in which the mind can quietly indulge they regard as nothing 25 as we have above animadverted on Plato's era in ascribing all sins to ignorance so we must repudiate the opinion of those who hold that all sins proceed from preconceived gravity and malice we know too well from experience how often we fall even when our intention is good our reason is exposed to so many forms of delusion is liable to so many errors, stumbles on so many obstacles is entangled by so many snares that it is ever wondering from the right direction of how little value it is in the sight of God in regard to all the parts of life Paul shows when he says that we are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves to Corinthians 3 verse 5 he is not speaking of the will or affection he denies us the power of thinking a right how anything can be duly performed is it indeed true that all thought, intelligence, discernment and industry are so defective that in the sight of the Lord we cannot think or aim at anything that is right to us who can scarcely bear to part with the cuteness of intellect in our estimation a most precious endowment it seems hard to admit this whereas it is regarded as most just by the Holy Spirit who knoweth the thoughts of man that they are vanity psalm 94 verse 11 and distinctly declares that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually Genesis 6 verse 5 and 8 verse 21 if everything which our mind conceives meditates, plans and resolves is always evil how can it ever think of doing what is pleasing to God to whom righteousness and holiness alone are acceptable it is thus plain that our mind in whatever direction so ever it turns is miserably exposed to vanity David was conscious of his weakness when he prayed give me understanding and I shall keep thy law psalm 119 verse 34 by desiring to obtain a new understanding he intimates that his own was by no means sufficient this he does not once only but in one psalm repeats the same prayer almost ten times the repetition intimating how strong the necessity which urged him to pray what he thus asked for himself alone Paul prays for the churches in general for this cause says he we also since the day we heard it do not cease to pray for you and to desire that he might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that you might walk worthy of the Lord etc Colossians 1 verse 9 and 10 whenever he represents this as a blessing from God we should remember that he at the same time testifies that it is not in the power of man accordingly Augustine in speaking of this inability of human reason to understand the things of God says that he deems the grace of illumination not less necessary to the mind than the light of the sun to the eye and not content with this he modifies his expression adding that we open our eyes to behold the light whereas the mental eye remains shut until it is opened by the Lord nor does scripture say that our minds are illumined in a single day so as afterwards to see of themselves the passage which I lately quoted from the apostle Paul refers to continual progress and increase David 2 expresses this distinctly in these words with my whole heart have I sought thee oh let me not wonder from thy commandments Psalm 119 verse 10 though he had been regenerated and so had made no ordinary progress in true piety he confesses that he stood in need of direction every moment in order that he might not decline from the knowledge with which he had been endued hence he elsewhere prays for a renewal of a right spirit which he had lost by his sin Psalm 51 verse 12 for that which God gave at first while temporarily withdrawn it is equally his province to restore 26 we must now examine the will on which the question of freedom principally turns the power of choice belonging to it rather than the intellect as we have already seen and at the outset to guard against its being thought that the doctrine taught by philosophers and generally received vis that all things by natural instinct have a desire of good is any proof of the rectitude of human will let us observe that the power of free will is not to be considered in any of those desires which proceed more from instinct than mental deliberation even the school men admit that there is no act of free will unless when reason looks at opposites by this they mean that the things desired must be such as maybe made the object of choice and that to pave the way for choice deliberation must proceed and undoubtedly if you attend to what this natural desire of good in man is you will find that it is common to him with the Brutes they too desire what is good and when any semblance of good capable of moving the sense appears they follow after it here however man does not in accordance with the excellence of his immortal nature rationally choose and studiously pursue what is truly for his good he does not admit reason to his counsel nor exert his intellect but without reason without counsel follows the bent of his nature like the lower animals the question of freedom therefore has nothing to do with the fact of man's being led by natural instinct to desire good the question is does man after determining by right reason what is good choose what he thus knows and pursue what he thus chooses lest any doubt should be entertained as to this we must attend to the double misnomer for this appetite is not properly a movement of the will but natural inclination and this good is not one of virtue or righteousness but of condition is that the individual may feel comfortable in fine how much so ever man may desire to obtain what is good he does not follow it there is no man who would not be pleased with eternal blessedness and yet without the impulse of the spirit no man aspires to it since then the natural desire of happiness in man no more proves the freedom of the will than the tendency in metals and stones to attain to the perfection of their nature let us consider in other respects whether the will is so utterly vitiated and corrupted in every part as to produce nothing but evil or whether it retains some portion uninjured of good desires 27 those who ascribe our willing effectually to the primary grace of gods seem conversely to insinuate that the soul has in itself a power of aspiring to good though a power too feeble to rise to solid affection or active endeavor there is no doubt that this opinion adopted from origin and certain of the ancient fathers has been generally embraced by the school men who are want to apply that man in his natural state in purest naturalibus as they express it the following description of the apostle for that which I do I allow not for what I would that do I not but what I hate that do I to will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not Romans 7 verse 15 and 18 but in this way the whole scope of Paul's discourse is inverted he is speaking of the Christian struggle touched on more briefly in the epistle to the Coletians in which believers constantly experience from the conflict between the flesh and the spirit but the spirit is not from nature but from regeneration that the apostle is speaking of the regenerate is apparently from this that after saying in me dwells no good thing he immediately adds the explanation in my flesh accordingly he declares it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me what is the meaning of this correction in me that is in my flesh it is just as if he had spoken in this way no good thing dwells in me of myself for in my flesh nothing good can be found hence follows the species of excuse it is not I myself that do evil but sin that dwelleth in me this applies to none but the regenerate who with the leading powers of the soul tend to what is good the whole is made plain by the conclusion I delight in the law of God after the inward man but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind Romans 7 verse 22 and 23 who has the struggle in himself save those who regenerated by the spirit of God bear about with them the remains of the flesh accordingly Augustin who had at one time thought that the discourse related to the natural man afterwards retracted his exposition as unsound and inconsistent and indeed if we admit that men without grace have any motions too good however feeble what answer shall we give to the apostles who declares that we are incapable of thinking a good thought to Corinthians 3 verse 6 what answer shall we give to the Lord who declares by Moses that every imagination of a man's heart is only evil continually Genesis 8 verse 21 since the blunder has thus arisen from an erroneous view of a single passage it seems unnecessary to dwell upon it let us rather give due weight to our Saviour's words whosoever committed sin is the servant of sin John 8 verse 34 we are all sinners by nature therefore we are all held under the yoke of sin but if the whole man is subject to the dominion of sin surely the will which is its principle seat must be bound with the closest chains and indeed if divine grace were preceded by any will of ours Paul could not have said that it is God which worketh in us both to will and to do Philippians 2 verse 13 away then with all the absurd trifling in which many have indulged in with regard to preparation although believers sometimes ask to have their heart trained to the obedience of the divine law as David does in several passages Psalm 51 verse 12 it is to be observed that even this longing in prayer is from God this is apparent from the language used when he prays create in me a clean heart he certainly does not attribute the beginning of the creation to himself let us therefore rather adopt the sentiment of Augustine God will prevent you in all things but do you sometimes prevent his anger how? confess that you have all these things from God that all the good you have is from him all the evil from yourself shortly after he says of our own we have nothing but sin end of section 5 recording by Adam Olliman daily in South Asia, Scotland section 6 of institutes of the Christian religion book 2 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org institutes of the Christian religion book 2 by John Calvin translated by Henry Beverage chapter 3 part 1 everything proceeding from the corrupt nature of man damnable the principal matters in this chapter are one a recapitulation of the former chapter proving from passages of scriptures that the intellect and will of man are so corrupted that no integrity, no knowledge or fear of God can now be found in him section 1 and 2 2 objections to this doctrine from the virtues which shown in some of the heathen refuted section 3 and 4 3 what kind of will remains in man the slave of sin section 5 section 6 4 the opinion of Neopelagian Sophists concerning the preparation and efficacy of the will and also concerning perseverance and cooperating grace reputed both by reason and scripture section 7 to 12 5 some passages from Augustine confirming the truth of this doctrine section 13 and 14 sections the intellect and will of the whole man corrupt the term flesh applies not only to the sensual but also to the higher part of the soul this demonstrated from scripture 2 the heart also involved in corruption and hence in no part of man can integrity or knowledge or the fear of God be found 3 objection that some of the heathen were possessed of admirable endowments and therefore that the nature of man not entirely corrupt answer corruption is not entirely removed but only inwardly restrained explanation of this answer 4 objection still urged that the virtuous and vicious among the heathen must be put upon the same level or the virtuous proved that human nature properly cultivated is not devoid of virtue answer that these are not ordinary properties of human nature they are the assets of God these gifts defiled by ambition and hence the actions proceeding from them however esteemed by man have no merit with God 5 though man has still the faculty of feeling there is no soundness in it he falls under the bondage of sin necessarily and yet voluntarily necessity must be distinguished from compulsion the ancient theologians acquainted with this necessity condemning the vacillation of Lombard 6 conversion to God constitutes the remedy or soundness of the human will these not only begun but continued and completed the beginning, continuance and completion being ascribed entirely to God these proved by Ezekiel's description of the stony heart and from other passages of scripture 7 fire's objections 1 the will is converted by God but when once prepared does it's part in the work of conversion answer from Augustine 2 grace can do nothing without will nor the will without grace answer, grace itself produces will God prevents tan willing making him willing and follows up this preventing grace that he may not will in vain another answer gathered from various passages of Augustine 8 answer to the second objection continued no will inclining to good except in the elect the cause of election out of man hence right will as well as election are from the good pleasure of God the beginning of willing and doing well is of faith faith again is the gift of God and hence mere grace is the cause of our beginning to will well these proved by scripture 9 answer to second objection continued that good will is merely of grace proved by the prayers of saints 3 actions 1 God does not prepare man's heart so that he can afterwards do some good of himself but every desire of rectitude every inclination to study and every effort to pursue it is from him 2 this desire, study and effort 3 this progress is constant the believer perseveres to the end a third objection and three answers to it 10 a fourth objection answer, fifth objection answer answer confirmed by many passages of scripture and supported by a passage from Augustine 11 perseverance none of ourselves but of God 2 objection, refutation of both 12 an objection founded on the distinction of cooperating grace answer, answer confirmed by the testimony of Augustine and Bernard 13 last part of the chapter in which it is proved by many passages of Augustine that he held a doctrine here taught 14 an objection representing Augustine in which he explained with himself and other theologians removed a summary of Augustine's doctrine on free will 1 the nature of man in both parts of his soul namely intellect and will cannot be better asserted than by attending to the epithets applied to him in scripture if he is fully depicted and it may easily be proved that he is, by the words of our saviour that which is born of the flesh in chapter 3 verse 6 he must be a very miserable creature for as an apostle declares to be carnally minded is death Romans chapter 8 verse 8 it is enmity against God and is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be is it true that the flesh is so perverse that it is perpetually striving with all its might against God that it cannot accord with the righteousness of the divine law that in short it can be get nothing but the materials of death granted there is nothing in human nature but flesh and then extract something good out of it if you can but it will be said that the word flesh applies only to the sensual and not to the higher part of the soul this however is completely refuted by the words both of Christ and his apostle the statement of our lord is that the man must be born again because he is flesh he requires not to be born again with reference to the body but the mind is not born again merely by having some portion of it reformed it must be totally renewed this is confirmed by the antithesis used in both passages in the contrast between the spirit and the flesh there is nothing left of an intermediate nature in this way everything in man which is not spiritual falls under the denomination of carnal but we have nothing of the spirit except through regeneration everything therefore which we have from nature is flesh any possible doubt which might exist on the subject is removed by the words of Paul Ephesians chapter 4 verse 23 where after a description of the old man who he says is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts he beats us be renewed in the spirit of our mind you see that he places unlawful and depraved desires not in the sensual part merely but in the mind itself and therefore requires that it should be renewed indeed he had a little before drawn a picture of human nature which shows that there is no part in which it is not perverted and corrupted for when he says that the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind having the understanding that can be alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart Ephesians chapter 4 verse 17 to 18 there can be no doubt that his words apply to all whom the Lord has not yet formed anew both to wisdom and righteousness this is rendered more clear by the comparison which immediately follows and by which he reminds believers that they have not so learned Christ these words implying that the grace of Christ is the only remedy for that blindness and its evil consequences thus too had Isaiah prophesied of the kingdom of Christ when the Lord promised to the church that though darkness should cover the earth and gross darkness the people yet that he should arise upon it and his glory should be seen upon it Isaiah chapter 40 verse 2 when it is thus declared that divine light is to arise on the church alone all without the church is left in blindness and darkness I will not enumerate all that of course throughout scripture and particularly in the Psalms and prophetical writings as to the vanity of man there is much in what David says surely men of low degree of vanity and men of high degree are alive to be laid in the balance they are all together lighter than vanity Psalms chapter 62 verse 10 the human mind receives a humbling blow when all the thoughts which proceed from it are derided as foolish, frivolous perverse and insane 2 in no degree more lenient is the condemnation of the heart when it is described as deceitful above all things and desperately wicked Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 9 but as I study brevity I will be satisfied with a single passage one however in which as in a bright mirror we may behold a complete image of our nature the apostle when he would humble man's pride uses these words there is none righteous no not one there is none that understandeth there is none that sicketh after God they are all gone out of the way they are together become unprofitable there is none that does good no not one their throat is an open sepulcher with their tongues they have used deceit the poison of asps is under their lips whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness their feet are swift to shed blood destruction and mystery are in their ways and the way of peace have they not known there is no fear of God before their eyes Romance chapter 3 verses 10 to 18 does he thunders not against certain individuals but against the whole posterity of Adam not against the depraved manners of any single age but the perpetual corruption of nature his object in the passage is not merely to abrade men in order that they may repent but to teach that all are overwhelmed with inevitable calamity and can be delivered from it only by the mercy of God as this could not be proved without previously proving the overthrow and destruction of nature he produced those passages to show that its ruin is complete let it be a fixed point then that manners such as is here described not by vicious custom but by the property of nature the reasoning of the apostle that there is no salvation for men saving the mercy of God because in himself he is desperate and undone could not otherwise stand I will not hear labeled to prove that the passages supply with a view of removing the doubts of any who might think them coated out of place I will take them as if they had been used by Paul for the first time and not taken from the prophets first then he strips men of righteousness that is integrity and purity and secondly he strips him of sound intelligence he argues that the fact of intelligence is proved by apostasy from God to seek him is the beginning of wisdom and therefore such defect must exist in all who have revolted from him he subjoins that all have gone astray and become as it were mere corruption that there is none that does good he then enumerates the crimes with which those who have once given loose to their wickedness pollute every member of their bodies lastly he declares that they have no fear of God according to whose rule all our steps should be directed if these are the hereditary properties of the human race it is vain to look for anything good in our nature I confess indeed that all these imiquities do not break out in every individual still it cannot be denied that the hydro lurks in every breast for as a body while it contains and fosters the cause and matter of disease cannot be called healthy although pain is not actually felt so a soul while teeming with such deeds of vice cannot be called sound this similitude however does not apply throughout in a body however morbid the functions of life are performed but the soul when plunged into that deadly abyss not only labors under vice but is altogether devoid of good 3 here again we are met with a question very much the same as that which was previously solved in every age there have been some who under the guidance of nature were all their lives devoted to virtue it is of no consequence that many bloods may be detected in their conduct by the mere study of virtue they evince that there was somewhat of purity in their nature the value which virtues of this kind have in the sight of God will be considered more fully when we treat of the merit of works meanwhile however it will be proper to consider it in this place also in so far as necessary for the exposition of the subject by the hand such examples then seem to warn us against supposing that the nature of man is utterly vicious since under its guidance some have not only excelled in illustrious deeds but conducted themselves most honorably through the whole course of their lives but we ought to consider that not withstanding of the corruption of our nature there is some room for divine grace such grace under internal restraint for did the Lord let every mind lose to once and in its lusts doubtless there is not a man who would not show that his nature is capable of all the crimes with which Paul charges it Romans chapter 3 compared with Psalms chapter 14 verse 3 what can you exempt yourself from the number of those whose feet are swift to shed blood whose hands are foul with wrapping and murder whose throats and sepulchres whose tongues are deceitful whose lips are venomous whose actions are useless and just, rotten, deadly whose soul is without God whose inward parts are full of wickedness whose eyes are on the watch for deception whose minds are prepared for insult whose every part in short is framed for endless deeds of wickedness if every soul is capable of such abominations when the apostle declares this boldly it is surely easy to see what the result would be if the Lord were to permit human passion to follow its bent no ravenous beast would rush so furiously no stream, however rapid and violent so impetuously burst its banks in the elect God cures his diseases in the mode which will shortly be explained in others he only lays them under such restraint as may prevent them from breaking forth to a degree incompatible with the preservation of the established order of things hence, how much so ever men may disguise their impurity some are restrained only by shame others by a fear of the loss from breaking out into many kinds of wickedness some aspire to an honest life as dimming it most conducive to their interest while others are raised above the vulgar lot that by the dignity of their station they may keep inferiors to their duty thus, God by his providence curbs the perverseness of nature preventing it from breaking forth into action yet without rendering it inwardly pure 4. The objection, however, is not yet solved for we must either put Catalina on the same footing with Camilus or hold Camilus to be an example that nature, when carefully cultivated is not fully void of goodness I admit that the specious qualities which Camilus possessed were divine gifts and appear entitled to commendation when building themselves but in what way will they be proofs of a virtuous nature must we not go back to the mind and from it begin to reason thus if a natural man possesses such integrity of manners nature is not without the faculty of studying virtue but what if his mind was depraved and perverted and followed anything rather than rectitude such it undoubtedly was if you grant that he was only a natural man how then will you laud the power of human nature for good if even where there is the highest semblance of integrity a corrupt bias is always detected therefore as you would not commend a man for virtue whose vices impose upon you by a show of virtue so you will not attribute a power of choosing rectitude to the human will while rooted in depravity still the surest and easiest answer to the objection is that those are not common endowments of nature but special gifts of God which he distributes in diverse forms and in a definite measure to men otherwise profane for which reason we hesitate not in common language to say that one is of a good another of a vicious nature though we cease not to hold that both are placed under the universal condition of human depravity all we mean is that God has conferred on the one a special grace which he has not seen it lead to confer on the other when he was pleased to set soul over the kingdom he made him as it were a new man this is the thing meant by Plato when alluding to a passage in the Iliad he says that the children of kings are distinguished at their birth by some special qualities God in kindness to the human race often giving a spirit of heroism to those whom he destines for empire in this way the great leaders celebrated in history were formed the same judgment must be given in the case of private individuals but as those in dude with the greatest talents were always impelled by the greatest ambitions a stain which defiles all virtues and makes them lose all favor in the sight of God so we cannot set any value on anything that seems praise worthy in ungodly men we may add that the principal part of rectitude is wanting when there is no zeal for the glory of God and there is no such zeal in those whom he has not regenerated by his spirit or is it without good cause said in Isaiah that on Christ should rest the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord Isaiah chapter 11 verse 2 for by this we are thought that all who are strangers to Christ are the astute of that fear of God which is the beginning of wisdom Psalms chapter 111 verse 10 the virtues which deceive us by an empty show of their praise in civil society and the common intercourse of life but before the judgment seat of God they will be of no value to establish a claim of righteousness 5 when the wheel is enchained as the slave of sin it cannot make a movement towards goodness far less steadily pursue it every such movement is the first step in that conversion to God which in scripture is entirely ascribed to divine grace thus Jeremiah praise turn thou me and I shall be turned Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 18 hence too in the same chapter describing the spiritual redemption of believers the prophet says the Lord has redeemed Jacob and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 11 intimating how close the fetters are with which the sinner is bound so long as he is abandoned by the Lord and acts under the yoke of the devil nevertheless there remains a wheel which both inclines and hassles on with the strongest affection towards sin man when placed under this bondage being deprived not of will but of sadness of will Bernard says not improperly that all of us have a will but to will well is proficiency to will ill is defect thus simply to will is the part of man to will ill the part of corrupt nature to will well the part of grace moreover when I say that the will deprived of liberty is led or drugged by necessity to evil it is strange that any should dim the expression harsh seeing there is no absurdity in it and it is not at variance with biased use it does however offend those who know not how to distinguish between necessity and compulsion for anyone to ask them is not God necessarily good is not the devil necessarily wicked what answer would they give the goodness of God is so connected with his God head that it is not more necessary to be God than to be good whereas the devil by his fall was so estranged from goodness that he can do nothing but evil should anyone give utterance to the profane jeer that little praise is due to God for a goodness to which he is forced is it not obvious to every man to reply it is owing not to violent impulse but to his boundless goodness that he cannot do evil therefore if the free will of God in doing good is not impeded because he necessarily must do good if the devil who can do nothing but evil nevertheless seems voluntarily can it be said that man seems less voluntarily because he is under a necessity of sinning this necessity is uniformly proclaimed by Augustine who even when pressed by the invidious cavalry of Celestius hesitated not to assert it in the following terms man through liberty became a sinner but corruption and suing as the penalty has converted liberty into necessity whenever mention is made of the subject he hesitates not to speak in this way of the necessary bandage of sin let this then be regarded as the sum of the distinction man since he was corrupted by the fall seems not forced or unwilling but voluntarily by a most forward bias of the mind not by violent compulsion or external force but by the movement of his own passion and yet such is the depravity of his nature that he cannot move and act except in the direction of evil if this is true the thing not obscurely expressed is that he is under a necessity of sinning Bernard assenting to Augustine thus writes among animals man alone is free and yet seen intervening he suffers a kind of violence but the violence sitting from his will not from nature so that it does not even deprive him of innate liberty for that which is voluntary is also free a little after he adds thus by some means strange and wicked the will itself being deteriorated by sin makes a necessity but so that the necessity inasmuch as it is voluntary cannot excuse the will inasmuch as it is enticed cannot exclude the necessity for this necessity is in a manner voluntary he afterwards says that we are under a yoke but no other yoke than that of voluntary servitude therefore in respect of servitude we are miserable and in respect of will and excusable because the will when it was free made itself the slave of sin at length he concludes thus the soul in some strange and evil way is held under this kind of voluntary yet sadly free necessity both bond and free bond in respect of necessity free in respect of will and what is still more strange and still more miserable it is guilty because free and enslaved because guilty and therefore enslaved because free my readers hence perceive that the doctrine which I deliver is not new but the doctrine which of old Augustine delivered with the consent of all the godly and which was afterwards shut up in the cloisters of monks for almost a thousand years lumbered by not knowing how to distinguish between necessity and compulsion gave occasion to a pernicious error 6 on the other hand it may be proper to consider what the remedy is which divine grace provides the correction and cure of natural corruption since the Lord in bringing assistance supplies us with what is lacking the nature of that assistance will immediately make manifest its converse namely a penury when the apostle says to the Philippians being confident of this very thing that which has begun a good working new will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ Philippians chapter 1 verse 6 there cannot be a doubt that by the good work that has begun he means the very commencement of conversion in the will God therefore begins the good work in us by exciting in our hearts a desire a love and a study of righteousness or to speak more correctly by turning training and guiding our hearts unto righteousness and he completes this good work streaming us unto perseverance but lest anyone should cavill that the good work that has begun by the Lord consistent aiding the will which is in itself weak the spirit elsewhere declares what the will when left to itself is able to do his words are a new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments and do them Ezekiel chapter 36 verses 26 to 27 how can it be said that the weakness of the human will is aided so as to enable it to aspire effectually to the choice of good when the fact is that it must be transformed and renovated if there is any softness in a stone if you can make it tender and flexible into any shape then it may be said that the human heart may be shaped for rectitude provided that which is imperfect in it is supplemented by divine grace but if the spirit by the above similitude meant to show that no good can never be extracted from our heart until it is made altogether new let us not attempt to share with him what he claims himself alone if it is like turning a stone into flesh when God turns us to the study of rectitude everything proper to our own will is abolished and at which succeeds in it's place is holy of God I say the will is abolished but not in so far as it is will for in conversion everything essential to our original nature remains I also say that it is created a new not because the will begins to exist but because it is turned from evil to good this I maintain is really the work of God because as the apostle testifies we are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 verse 5 accordingly he also says not merely that God assists the weak or corrects the depraved will but he worked with us to will Philippians chapter 2 verse 13 from this it is easily inferred as I have said that everything good in the will is entirely the result of grace in the same sense the apostle elsewhere says it is the same God which worketh all in all 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 6 for he is not there treating of universal government but declaring that all the good qualities which believers possess are due to God in using the term all he certainly makes God the author of spiritual life from its beginning to its end this he had previously taught in different terms when he said that there is one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him 1 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 6 thus plainly extolling the picture is destroyed there is here a tacit antithesis between Adam and Christ which he elsewhere explains more clearly when he says we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus and to good works which God has before ordained that we should walk in them Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 his meaning is to show in this way that our salvation is a gratuitous because the beginning of goodness is from the second creation which is obtained in Christ if any even the minutest ability were in ourselves there would also be some merit but to show our utter destitution he argues that we merit nothing because we are created in Christ Jesus and to good works which God has prepared again intimating by these words that all the fruits of good works are originally and immediately from God hence the psalmist after saying that the Lord has made us to deprive us of all sharing the work immediately adds not we ourselves that he is speaking of regeneration which is the commencement of the spiritual life is obvious from the context in which the next words are we are his people and the sheep of his pasture Psalm chapter 100 verse 3 not contented with simply giving God the grace of our salvation he distinctly excludes us from all sharing it just as if he had said that not one particle remains to man as a ground of boasting the whole is of God end of section 6 recording by Shana Sear Fresno, California section 7 of institutes of the Christian religion book 2 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org institutes of the Christian religion book 2 by John Calvin translated by Henry Beverage chapter 3 part 2 7 but perhaps there will be some who while they admit that the will is in its own nature a verse to righteousness and is converted solely by the power of God will yet hold that when once it is prepared it performs a part in acting this they found upon the words of Augustine that grace precedes every good work the will accompanying not leading a handmade and not a guide the words thus not improperly used by this holy writer Lombard preposterously rests to the above effect but I maintain that as well in the words of the Samnist which I have quoted as in other passages of scripture two things are clearly taught namely that the Lord both corrects or rather destroys are depraved will and also substitutes a good will from himself in as much as it is prevented by grace I have no objection to your calling it a handmade but in as much as when formed again it is the work of the Lord to say that it accompanies preventing grace as a voluntary attendant therefore Chrysostom is inaccurate in saying that grace cannot do anything without will nor will anything without grace as if grace did not in terms of the passage lately quoted from Paul produced the very will itself the intention of Augustine in calling the human will the handmade of grace was not to assign it a kind of second place to grace the performance of good works his object merely was to refute the pestilential dogma of Pelagius who made human merit the first cause of salvation as was sufficient for his purpose at the time he contends that grace is prior to all merit while in the meantime he says nothing of the other question as to the perpetual effect of grace which however he handles admirably in other places for in saying as he often does that the Lord prevents the unwilling in order to make him willing and follows after the willing that he may not will in vain he makes him the sole author of good works indeed his sentiments on this subject are too clear to need any length in illustration men says he labor to find in our will something that is our own and not God's how they can find it, I what not in his first book against Pelagius and Celestius expounding the saying of Christ every man therefore that has heard and has learned of the Father cometh unto me Jan chapter 6 verse 45 he says the will is aided not only so as to know what is to be done but also to do what it knows and thus when God teaches not by the letter of the law but by the grace of the spirit he so teaches that everyone sees but also willing desires and acting performs 8 since we are now occupied with the chief point on which the controversy turns let us give the reader the sum of the matter in a few and those most unambiguous passages of scripture thereafter lest anyone should charge us with distorting scripture let us show that the truth which we maintain to be derived from scripture is not unsupported by the testimony of this holy man I mean Augustine I deem it unnecessary to bring forward every separate passage of scripture in confirmation of my doctrine a selection of the most choice passages will pave the way for the understanding of all those which lies scattered up and down in the sacred volume on the other hand I thought it not out of place to show my accordance with the man whose authority is justly of so much weight in the Christian world it is certainly easy to prove that the commencement of good is only with God and that none but the elect have a will inclined to good but the cause of election must be sought out of man and hence it follows that the right will is derived not from man himself but from the same good pleasure by which we were chosen before the creation of the world another argument much akin to this may be added the beginning of right will and action being of faith we must see when faith itself is but since scripture proclaims throughout that it is the free gift of God it follows that when men who are with their whole soul naturally prone to evil begin to have a good will it is owing to mere grace therefore when the Lord in the conversion of his people sets down these two things as requisite to be done namely to take away the heart of stone and give a heart of flesh he openly declares that in order to our conversion to righteousness what is ours must be taken away and that what is substituted in its place is of himself nor does he declare this in one passage only for he says in Jeremiah I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever and a little after he says I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me Jeremiah chapter 32 verses 39 and 40 again in Ezekiel I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within you and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and I will give them a heart of flesh Ezekiel chapter 11 verse 19 he could not more clearly claim to himself and deny to us everything good and right in our will then by declaring that in our conversion there is the creation of a new spirit and a new heart it always follows both that nothing good can proceed from our will until it be formed again and that after it is formed again in so far as it is good it is of God and not of us 9 with this view likewise the prayers of the saints correspond thus Solomon prays that the Lord may incline our hearts unto him to walk in his ways and keep his commandments first kings chapter 8 verse 58 intimating that our heart is perverse and naturally indulges in rebellion against the divine law until it be turned again it is said in the Psalms incline my heart unto thy testimonies Psalms chapter 119 verse 36 for we should always note the antithesis between the rebellious movement of the heart mentioned by widget is subdued to obedience David feeling for the time that he was deprived of directing grace praise create in me a clean heart of God and renew a right spirit within me Psalms chapter 51 verse 10 is not this an acknowledgement that all the parts of the heart are full of impurity and that the soul has received a twist which has turned it from straight to crooked and describing the cleansing which he earnestly demands as a thing to be created by God does he not ascribe the work entirely to him if it is objected that the prayer itself is a symptom of a pious and holy affection it is easy to reply that although David had already in some measure repented he was here contrasting the sad fall which he had experienced with his former state therefore speaking in the person of a man alienated from God he properly prays for the blessings which God bestows upon his elect in regeneration accordingly like one dead he decides to be created anew so as to become instead of a slave of Satan an instrument of the Holy Spirit strange and monstrous are the longings of our pride there is nothing which the Lord enjoys more strictly than the religious observance of his Sabbath in other words resting from our works but in nothing do we show greater reluctance than to renounce our own works and give due place to the works of God did not arrogant standing away we could not overlook the clear testimony which Christ has borne to the efficacy of his grace I said he am the true vine and my father is the husband man as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abiding the vine no more can you except you abiding me John chapter 15 verses 1 and 4 if we can no more bear fruit of ourselves than a vine can bud when rooted up and deprived of moisture there is no longer any room to ask what the aptitude of our nature is for good there is no ambiguity in the conclusion for without me you can do nothing he says not that we are too weak to suffice for ourselves but by reducing us to nothing he excludes the idea of our possessing any even the least ability if when engrafted into Christ we bear fruit like the vine which draws its vegetative power from the moisture of the ground and the dew of the heaven and the fostering warmth of the sun I see nothing in a good work which we can call our own without trenching upon what is due to God it is vain to have reporse to the frivolous cavel that the sap and the power of producing contain in the vine and that therefore instead of deriving everything from the earth or the original root it contributes something of its own our saviour's words simply mean that when separated from him we are nothing but dry useless wood because when so separated we have no power to do good as he elsewhere says every plant which my heavenly father has not planted shall be rooted up chapter 15 verse 13 accordingly in the passage already quoted from the apostle Paul he attributes the whole operation to God it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Philippians chapter 2 verse 13 the first part of a good work is the will the second is vigorous effort in the doing of it God is the author of both it is therefore rubbery from God we do not need anything to ourselves either in the will or the act words said that God gives assistance to a weak will something might be left us but when it is said that he makes the will everything good in it is placed without us moreover since even a good will is still weighed down by the burden of the flesh and prevented from rising it is added that to meet the difficulties of the contest God supplies the persevering effort until the effect is obtained indeed the apostle could not otherwise have said as he elsewhere does that it is the same God which worketh all in all first Corinthians chapter 12 verse 6 words comprehending as we have already observed section 6 the whole course of the spiritual life for which reason David after praying teach me thy way oh lord I will walk in thy truths unite my heart to fear thy name Psalms chapter 86 verse 11 by these words intimating that even those who are well affected are liable to so many distractions that they easily become vain and fall away if not strengthened to persevere and hence in another passage after praying order my steps in thy word he requests that strength also may be given him to carry on the war let not any iniquity have dominion over me Psalms chapter 119 verse 133 in this way the lord both begins and perfects the good work in us so that it is due to him first that the will conceives a love of gratitude is inclined to desire is moved and stimulated to pursue it secondly that this choice desire and endeavor fail not but are carried forward to effect and lastly that we go on without interruption and persevere even to the end 10 this movement of the will is not of that description which was for many ages thought and believed namely a movement which thereafter leaves us the choice to obey or resist it but one which affects us efficaciously we must therefore repudiate the oft-repeated sentiment of Chrysostom whom he draws he draws willingly insinuating that the lord only stretches out his hand and waits to see whether we will be pleased to take his aid we grant that as man was originally constituted he could incline to either side but since he has taught us by his example how miserable a thing free will is if God works not in us to will and to do of what used to us were grace imparted in such scanty measure nay by our own attitude we obscure and impair divine grace the apostle's doctrine is not that the grace of a good will is offered to us if we will accept of it but that God himself is pleased so to work in us as to guide, turn and govern our heart by his spirit and reign in it as his own possession Ezekiel promises that a new spirit will be given to the elect not merely that they may be able to walk in his precepts but that they may really walk in them Ezekiel chapter 11 verse 19 and chapter 36 verse 27 and the only meaning which can be given to our Saviour's words every man therefore that has heard and learned of the father cometh unto me John chapter 6 verse 45 is that the grace of God is effectual in itself this Augustine maintains in his book the predestinatione sancta this grace is not bestowed on all promiscuously according to the common brockard of Occam if I may mistake not that it is not denied to anyone who does what in him lies men are indeed to be taught that the favor of God is offered without exception to all who ask it but since those only begin to ask whom heaven by grace inspires even this minute portion of praise must not be withheld from him it is the privilege of the elect to be regenerated by the spirit of God and then placed under his guidance and government wherefore Augustine just leduride some who arrogate to themselves a certain power of willing as well as censures others who imagine that that which is a special evidence of gratuitous election is given to all he says nature is common to all but not grace and he calls it a showy acuteness which shines by mere vanity when that which God bestows on whom he will is attributed generally to all elsewhere he says how came you by believing fear lest by arrogating to yourself the merit of finding the right way you perish from the right way I came you say by free choice came by my own will why do you boast would you know that even this was giving you hear Christ exclaiming no man comments unto me except the Father which has sent me draw him and from the words of John chapter 6 verse 44 he infers it to be an incontrovertible fact that the hearts of believers are so effectually governed from above that they follow with and deviating affection whosoever is born of God does not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him first John chapter 3 verse 11 that intermediate movement which the sophists imagine a movement which everyone is free to obey or to reject is obviously excluded by the doctrine of effectual perseverance 11 as to perseverance it would undoubtedly have been regarded as the gratuitous gift of God had not a very pernicious error prevailed that it is bestowed in proportion to human merit according to the reception the individual gives to the first grace this having given rise to the idea that it was entirely in our own power to receive or reject the offered grace of God that idea is no sooner exploded than the error found the donate must fall the error indeed is to fold 4 besides teaching that our gratitude for the first grace and our legitimate use of it is rewarded by subsequent supplies of grace let us add that after this grace does not operate alone but only operates with ourselves as to the former we must hold that the Lord while he tally enriches his servants and loads them with new gifts of his grace because he approves of and takes pleasure in the work which he has begun finds that in them which he may follow up with larger measures of grace to this effect are the sentences to him that has shall be given well done, good and faithful servant thou hast been faithful over a few things I will make thee ruler over many things Matthew chapter 25 verses 21 23 and 29 Luke chapter 19 verses 17 and 26 but here two precautions are necessary it must not be said that the legitimate use of the first grace is rewarded by subsequent measures of grace as if man rendered the grace of God effectual by his own industry nor must it be thought that there is any such remuneration as to make it cease to be the gratuitous grace of God I admit then that believers may expect as a blessing from God that the better the use they make of previous the larger the supplies they will receive of future grace and that this remuneration is bestowed freely of mere good will the trite distinction of operating and cooperating grace is employed no less than unhappily Augustine indeed used it but softened it by a suitable definition namely that God by cooperating perfects what he begins by operating that both graces are the same but obtain different names in the different manner in which they produce their effects whence it follows that he does not make an apportionment between God and man as if a proper movement on the part of each produced a mutual concurrence all he does is to mark a multiplication of grace to this effect accordingly he elsewhere says that in man good will precedes many gifts from God but among these gifts is this good will itself that nothing is left for the will to arrogate as its own this Paul has expressly stated for after saying it is God which walketh in you both to will and to do he immediately adds of his good pleasure Philippians chapter 2 verse 13 indicating by this expression that the blessing is gratuitous as to the common saying that after we have given admission to the first grace our efforts cooperate with subsequent grace this is my answer if this meant that after we are once subdued by the power of the Lord to the obedience of righteousness we proceed voluntarily and are inclined to follow the movement of grace I have nothing to object for it is most certain that were the grace of God reigns there is also this readiness to obey and whence this readiness but just that the spirit of God being everywhere consistent with himself after first begetting a principle of obedience cherishes and strengthens it for perseverance if again it is meant that man is able of himself to be a fellow laborer with the grace of God I hold it to be a most pestilential delusion 12 in support of this view some make an ignorant and false application of the apostles words I labored more abundantly than they all yet not why but the grace of God which was with me first Corinthians chapter 15 verse 10 the meaning they give them is that as Paul might have seemed to speak somewhat presumptuously in preferring himself to all the other apostles he corrects the expression so far by referring the praise to the grace of God but he at the same time calls himself a co-operator with grace it is strange that this should have proved a stumbling talk to so many writers otherwise respectable the apostle says not that the grace of God labored with him so as to make him a co-partner in the labor he rather transfers the whole merit of the labor to grace alone by thus modifying his first expression it was not I says he that labored but the grace of God that was present with me those who have adapted the erroneous interpretation have been misled to him the expression or rather by a preposterous translation in which the force of the Greek article is overlooked for to take the words literally the apostle does not say that grace was a fellow worker with him but that the grace which was with him was sole worker and this is taught not obscurely though briefly by Augustine when he says good will in man precedes many gifts from God but not all gifts seeing that the will which precedes is itself among the number he adds the reason for it is written the God of my mercy shall prevent me Psalms chapter 59 verse 10 and surely goodness and mercy shall follow me Psalms chapter 23 verse 6 it prevents him that is unwilling and makes him willing it follows him that is willing that he may not will in vain to this Bernard sense introducing the church as praying thus draw me who am in some measure unwilling and make me willing draw me who am sluggishly lagging and make me run 13 let us now hear Augustine in his own words lest the Pelagians of our age I mean the Sophists of the Sorbonne charge us after their want with being opposed to all antiquity in this indeed they imitate their father Pelagius by whom of all the similar charge was brought against Augustine in the second chapter of his tretice de coreptione et gratis address to Valentinus Augustine explains at length what I will state briefly but in his own words that to Adam was given the grace of persevere in goodness if he had the will to us it is given to will and by will to become concupiscence that Adam therefore had the power if he had the will but did not will to have the power whereas to us is given both the will and the power that the original freedom of man was to be able not to sin but that we have a much greater freedom namely not to be able to sin and lest it should be supposed as Lombard erroneously does that he is speaking of the perfection of the future state that he after removes all doubt when he says for so much is the will of the saints inflamed by the Holy Spirit that they are able because they are willing and willing because God worketh in them so to will for if in such weakness in which however to suppress pride strength must be made perfect their own will is left to them in such sense that by the help of God they are able while at the same time God does not work in them so as to make them will among so many temptations and infirmities the will itself would give way and consequently they would not be able to persevere therefore to meet the infirmity of the human will and prevented from failing how weak so ever it might be divine grace was made to act on it inseparably and uninterruptedly Augustine next entering fully into the question how our hearts follow the movement when God affects them necessarily says indeed that the Lord draws men by their own wills wills however which he himself has produced we have now an attestation by Augustine to the truth which we are specially desirous to maintain namely that the grace offered by the Lord is not merely one which every individual has full liberty but the grace which produces in the heart both choice and will so that all the good works which follow after are its fruit and effect the only will which yields obedience being the will which grace itself has made in another place Augustine uses these words every good work in us is performed only by grace 14 in saying elsewhere that the will is not taken away by grace but out of God is changed into good and after it is good is assisted he only means that man is not drawn as if by an extraneous impulse without the movement of the heart but is inwardly affected so as to obey from the heart declaring that grace is given specially and gratuitously to the elect he writes in his way to benefits we know that divine grace is not given to all men and that to those to whom it is given it is not either according to the merit of works or according to the merit of the will but by free grace in regard to those to whom it is not given we know that the not of giving of it is a just judgment from God in the same episode he argues strongly against the opinion of those who hold that subsequent grace is given to human merit as a reward for not rejecting the first grace for he presses palagios to confess that gratuitous grace is necessary to us for every action and that merely from the fact of it's being truly grace it cannot be the recompense of works but the matter cannot be more briefly summed up than in the 8th chapter of his Tretise Decoreptione et Gratia where he shows first that human will does not by liberty obtain grace but by grace obtains liberty secondly that by means of the same grace that part being impressed with the feeling of delight is trained to persevere and strengthened with invincible fortitude thirdly that while grace governs the will it never falls but when grace abandons it it falls forthwith fourthly that by the free mercy of God the will is turned to good and when turned perseveres fifthly that the direction of the will to good and its constancy after being so directed depend entirely on the will of God and not on any human merit thus the will free will if we choose to call it so which is left to man is as he in another place describes it a will which can neither be turned to God nor continue in God unless by grace a will which whatever its ability may be derives all that ability from grace end of section 7 recording by Shannon Sear personal California section 8 of institutes of the Christian religion book 2 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org institutes of the Christian religion book 2 by John Calvin translated by Henry Beverage chapter 4 how God works in the hearts of men the leading points discussed in this chapter are 1 whether in bad actions anything is to be attributed to God if anything how much also what is to be attributed to the devil and to man sections 1 through 5 2 in indifferent matters how much is to be attributed to God and how much is left to man section 6 3 two objections refuted sections 7 and 8 sections 1 connection of this chapter with the preceding Augustine's solitude of a good and bad writer question answered in respect to the devil 2 question answered in respect to God and man example from the history of Job the works of God distinguished from the works of Satan wicked men 1 by the design or end of acting how Satan acts in the reprobate 2 how God acts in them 3 old objection that the agency of God in such cases is referable to prescience or permission not actual operation answer showing that God blinds and hardens the reprobate and this in two ways 1 by deserting them 2 by delivering them over to Satan 4 striking passages of scripture proving that God acts in both ways and disposing of the objection with regard to prescience confirmation from Augustine 5 a modification of the former answer proving that God employs Satan to instigate the reprobate but at the same time is free from all taint 6 how God works in the hearts of men in indifferent matters our will in such matters not so free as to be exempt from the overruling providence of God this confirmed by various examples 7 objection that these examples do not form the rule an answer fortified by the testimony of universal experience by scripture and a passage of Augustine 8 some in arguing against the error of free will draw an argument from the event that this is to be understood 1 that man is so enslaved by the yoke of sin that he cannot of his own nature aim at good either in wish or actual pursuit has I think been sufficiently proved more over a distinction has been drawn between compulsion and necessity making it clear that man though he sins necessarily nevertheless sins voluntarily but since from his being brought into bondage to the devil it would seem that he is actuated more by the devil's will than his own it is necessary first to explain what the agency of each is and then solve the question whether in bad actions anything is to be attributed to God scripture intimating that there is some way in which he interferes Augustine compares the human will to a horse preparing to start and God and the devil to riders quote if God mounts he like a temperate and skillful rider guides it calmly urges it when too slow brings it in when too fast curbs its forwardness and over action checks its bad temper and keeps it on a proper course but if the devil has seized the saddle like an ignorant and rash rider he hurries it over broken ground drives it into ditches dashes it over precipices spurs it into obstinacy or fury and quote with this simile since a better does not occur we shall for the present be contented when it is said then that the will of the natural man is subject to the power of the devil and is actuated by him the meaning is not that the wills while reluctant and resisting is forced to submit as masters oblige unwilling slaves to execute their orders inclinated by the imposters of Satan it necessarily yields to his guidance and does him homage those whom the Lord favors not with the direction of his spirit he by a righteous judgment consigns to the agency of Satan where for the apostle says that quote the God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine into them and quote and in another passage he describes the devil as quote the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience Ephesians 2,2 the blinding of the wicked and all the iniquities consequent upon it are called the works of Satan works the cause of which is not to be sought in anything external to the will of man in which the root of the evil lies and in which the foundation of Satan's kingdom in other words sin is fixed 2, the nature of the divine agency in such cases is very different for the purpose of illustration let us refer to the calamities brought upon holy Job by the Chaldeans they having slain his shepherds carry off his flocks the wickedness of their deed is manifest as is also the hand of Satan who as the history informs us the instigator of the whole Job however recognizes it as the work of God saying that what the Chaldeans had plundered the Lord had taken away how can we attribute the same work to God to Satan and to man without either excusing Satan by the interference of God or making God the author of the crime this is easily done if we look first to the end and then to the mode of acting the Lord designs to exercise the patience of his servant by adversity Satan's plan is to drive him to despair while the Chaldeans are bent on making unlawful gain by plunder such diversity of purpose makes a wide distinction in the act in the mode there is not less difference the Lord permits Satan to afflict his servant and the Chaldeans who had been chosen as the ministers to execute the deed he hands over to the impulses of Satan who, pricking on the already depraved Chaldeans with his poisoned darts instigates them to commit the crime they rush furiously on to the unrighteous deed and become its guilty perpetrators here Satan is properly said to act in the reprobate over whom he exercises his sway which is that of wickedness God also is said to act in his own way because even Satan when he is the instrument of divine wrath is completely under the command of God who turns him as he will in the execution of his just judgments I say nothing here of the universal agency of God which as it sustains all the creatures also gives them all their power of acting I am now speaking only of that special agency which is apparent in every act we thus see that there is no inconsistency in attributing the same act to God to Satan and to man while from the difference in the end and mode of action the spotless righteousness of God shines forth at the same time that the iniquity of Satan and of man is manifested in all its deformity 3. Ancient writers sometimes manifest a superstitious dread of making a simple confession of the truth in this matter the fear of furnishing impiety with a handle for speaking irreverently of the works of God while I embrace such soberness with all my heart I cannot see the least danger in simply holding what scripture delivers when Augustine was not always free from the superstition as when he says that blinding and hardening have respect not to the operation of God but to prescience but this subtlety is repudiated by writers of scriptures which clearly show that the divine interference amounts to something more than prescience and Augustine himself in his book against Julian contends at length that sins are manifestations not merely of divine permission or patience but also of divine power that thus former sins may be punished in like manner what is said of permission is too weak to stand God is very often said to blind and harden the reprobate to turn their hearts to incline and impel them as I have elsewhere fully explained the extent of this agency can never be explained by having recourse to prescience or permission we therefore hold that there are two methods in which God may so act when his light is taken away nothing remains but blindness and darkness when his spirit is taken away we become hard as stones when his guidance is withdrawn we immediately turn from the right path and hence he is properly said to incline, harden and blind those whom he deprives of the faculty of seeing, obeying and rightly executing the second method which comes much nearer to the exact meaning of the words is when executing his judgments by Satan as the minister of his anger God both directs men's counsels and excites their wills and regulates their efforts as he pleases thus when Moses relates that Simon king of the Amorites did not give the Israelites a passage because the Lord quote had hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate he immediately adds the purpose which God had in view that is that he might deliver them into their hand Deuteronomy 2 verse 30 as God had resolved to destroy him the hardening of his heart was the divine preparation for his ruin 4 in accordance with the former methods it seems to be said the law shall perish from the priests and counsel from the ancients he poureth contempt upon princes and causeth them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way again O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways and our heart from thy fear these passages rather indicate what men become when God deserts them than what the nature of his agency is when he works in them but there are other passages which go farther such as those concerning the hardening of Pharaoh I will harden his heart that he shall not let the people go end quote the same thing is afterwards repeated in stronger terms in his heart by not softening it this is indeed true but he did something more he gave it in charge to Satan to confirm him in his obstinacy hence he had previously said I am sure he will not let you go the people came out of Egypt and the inhabitants of a hostile region came forth against them how were they instigated Moses certainly declares of Sihon that it was the Lord who had hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate Deuteronomy 2 verse 30 the Psalmists relating the same history says he turned their hearts to hate his people Psalm 105 verse 25 you cannot now say that they stumbled merely because they were deprived of divine counsel for if they are hardened and turned they are purposely bent to the very end in view moreover whenever God saw it meet to punish the people for their transgression in what way did he accomplish his purpose by the reprobate in such a way as shows that the efficacy of the action was in him and that they were only ministers at one time he declares quote that he will lift an ensign to the nations from far and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth end quote add another that he will take a net to ensnare them and add another that he will be like a hammer to strike them but he specially declared that he was not inactive among them when he called Sennacherib an axe which was formed and destined to be wielded by his own hand Augustine is not far from the mark when he states the matter thus that men sin is attributable to themselves that in sinning they produce this or that result is owing to the mighty power of God who divides the darkness as he pleases five moreover that the ministry of Satan is employed to instigate the reprobate whenever the Lord in the course of his providence has any purpose to accomplish in them will sufficiently appear from a single passage it is repeatedly said in the first book of Samuel that an evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul and troubled him first Samuel 1614 1810 1909 it were impious to apply this to the Holy Spirit an impure spirit must therefore be called a spirit from the Lord because completely subservient to his purpose being more an instrument in acting than a proper agent we should also add that Paul says quote God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie damned who believed not the truth second Thessalonians 2 verses 11 and 12 but in the same transaction there is always a wide difference between what the Lord does and what Satan and the ungodly designed to do the wicked instruments which he has under his hand and can turn as he pleases he makes subservient to his own justice they as they are wicked give effect to the iniquity conceived in their wicked minds everything necessary to vindicate the majesty of God from Calumny and cut off any subterfuge on the part of the ungodly has already been expounded in the chapters on providence book 1 chapters 16 through 18 here I only meant to show in a few words how Satan reigns in the reprobate and how God works in both 6 in those actions which in themselves are neither good nor bad and concern the corporeal rather than the spiritual life the liberty which man possesses although we have above touched upon it has not yet been explained some have conceded a free choice to man in such actions more I suppose because they are unwilling to debate a matter of no great moment than because they wished positively to assert what they were prepared to concede while I admit that those men has no ability in himself to do righteousness hold what is most necessary to be known for salvation I think it ought not to be overlooked that we owe it to the special grace of God whenever on the one hand we choose what is for our advantage and whenever our will inclines in that direction and on the other whenever with heart and soul we shun what should otherwise do us harm and the interference of divine providence goes to the extent not only of making events turn out as was foreseen to be expedient but of giving the wills of men the same direction if we look at the administration of human affairs with the eye of sense we will have no doubt that so far they are placed at man's disposal but if we lend an ear to the many passages of scripture which proclaim that even in these matters the minds of men are ruled by God they will compel us to place human choice in subordination to His special influence who gave the Israelites such favor in the eyes of the Egyptians that they lent them all their most valuable commodities Exodus 11 verse 3 they never would have been so inclined of their own accord their inclinations therefore were more overruled by God than regulated by themselves and surely had not Jacob been persuaded that God inspires men with diverse affections as seemeth to him good he would not have said of his son Joseph whom he thought to be some heathen Egyptian God Almighty give you mercy before the man Genesis 43 verse 14 in like manner the whole church confesses that when the Lord was pleased to pity his people he made them also to be pitied of all them that carried them captives Psalm 106 verse 46 in like manner when his anger was kindled against Saul so that he prepared himself for battle the causes stated to have been that a spirit from God fell upon him 1 Samuel chapter 11 verse 6 who dissuaded Absalom from adapting the council of Ahetophel which was want to be regarded as an oracle 2 Samuel 17 verse 14 who disposed Rehoboam to adapt the council of the young men 1 Kings chapter 12 verse 10 who caused the approach of the Israelites to strike terror into nations formerly distinguished for valor even the harlot Rehob recognized the hand of the Lord who on the other hand filled the hearts of the Israelites with fear and dread Leviticus 26 verse 36 but he who threatened in the law that he would give them a trembling heart 28 verse 65 7 it may be objected that these are special examples which cannot be regarded as a general rule they are sufficient at all events to prove the point for which I contend that is that whenever God is pleased to make way for his providence he even in external matters so turns and bends the wills of men that whatever the freedom of their choice may be it is still subject to the disposal of God that your mind depends more on the agency of God than the freedom of your own choice daily experience teaches your judgment often fails and in matters of no great difficulty your courage flags at other times in matters of the greatest obscurity the motive of explicating them at once suggests itself while in matters of moment and danger your mind rises superior to the quality in this way I interpret the words of Solomon quote the hearing ear and the seeing eye the Lord hath made even both of them Proverbs 20 verse 12 for they seem to me to refer not to their creation but to peculiar grace in the use of them when he says the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water he turneth it with or so ever he will any one verse one he comprehends the whole race under one particular class if any will is free from subjection it must be that of one possessed of regal power and in a manner exercising dominion over other wills but if it is under the hand of God ours surely cannot be exempt from it on this subject there is an admirable sentiment of Augustine quote scripture carefully examined will show not only that the good wills of men are made good by God out of evil and when so made are directed to good acts even to eternal life but those which retain the elements of the world are in the power of God to turn them wither he pleases and when he pleases either to perform acts of kindness or by a hidden indeed but at the same time most just judgment to inflict end quote eight let the reader here remember that the power of the human will is not to be estimated by the event as some unskillful persons are absurdly want to do they think it an elegant and ingenious proof of the bondage of the human will that even the greatest monarchs are sometimes thwarted in their wishes but the ability of which we speak must be considered as within the man measured by outward success in discussing the subject of free will the question is not whether external obstacles will permit a man to execute what he has internally resolved but whether in any matter whatever he has a free power of judging and of willing if men possess both of these Attilius Regulus shut up in a barrel studded with sharp nails will have a will no less free than Augustus Caesar ruling with imperial sway over a large portion of the globe end of section 8