Book I, Chapter 46

Chapter Xlvi

Against certain people who concede predestination and reprobation to glory and to punishment, but deny that these are to any fixed degrees.

There is still, concerning the matter of predestination and reprobation, a certain babble so foolish that it may perhaps seem more foolish to contradict it earnestly than to utter it as a fable. For the Philosopher says in Metaphysics 3, 15, of those who philosophize in the manner of fables, "It is not worth taking up with zeal" 1. Nevertheless, since the wise man bids us answer the fool, lest he seem wise to himself, I will answer him by meeting him not earnestly but in a perfunctory way. Certain persons, then, seeing predestination and reprobation so firmly founded that they cannot do away with them altogether, at least labour to mutilate them in some respect. They grant that some are predestined to glory and some reprobated to punishment, but they say that no one is predestined or reprobated to any fixed degree of glory or punishment. Now this position cites and supplies no reason or Authority to prove its intention. Like a historian, it merely asserts that it is so; hence it is dismissed as easily as it is "proved." Nevertheless, over and above what is needed, I shall bring some reasons against it. When the final judgment is completed, God will ‖E1 wish and prepare for each his own degree of glory or punishment. Therefore, by the twenty-third chapter, he also prepared and willed it so beforehand from eternity; and therefore, by the nearest chapters, he predestined that it be so from eternity. Likewise, he foreknew this eternally; therefore, by the eighteenth chapter, he eternally pre-willed it. The twenty-second and twenty-seventh prove the same, and the others that follow; indeed all the chapters that prove Predestination

in general will likewise prove it in particular, and in degree. And all the chapters that ought to reprove this last view will likewise reprove that first one. Likewise, God predestined to each a degree of merit, and therefore also of ‖A1 reward. What I have assumed is evident from chapter 31, and can be made more evident still, because no ‖A2 creature, without God acting, moving and conserving, can do or move anything. Indeed it cannot even go on conserving an action or motion actually existing, as the third, the fourth, and the ‖A3 fourteenth show. No ‖A4 creature, therefore, can by itself intensify its own motion or merit without God, for this is greater. If, then, God intensifies someone's merit in time, this is not purely naturally, nor by cognition alone, but by his willing, as the eighth and ninth demonstrate; and by the twenty-third this willing is not new but eternal. Therefore, by the nearest chapters, he predestined that it would be so. Likewise, grace brings about every degree of merit, and only as itself acted on and moved by God, as the fortieth chapter showed, etc., as was argued in the one just before. Likewise, to merit much and intensely is better than to merit simply and weakly; therefore, by what was set out in the thirty-eighth of this book, that [greater merit] is from God. Hence in Philippians 1: "He who has begun a good work in us will complete it." On this the Gloss, and it is Augustine's, says: "God, by cooperating in us, completes what by working he begins, because he works in us that we may will, as the one who begins, and cooperates with those who will, as the one who completes." And in the sixth book against Julian, 18: "Ignorance and concupiscence are remitted in the reborn and diminished in those who progress. Ignorance is diminished as truth shines more and more; concupiscence is diminished as charity burns more and more. Nothing good in these two respects is from us. For we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit who is from God, B1 that we may know the things given to us by God." Likewise the venerable Bede, on the Song of Songs, treating that verse of the seventh chapter, "I will go up into the palm tree and take hold of its fruits," says thus: "The Lord goes down into his garden when he bestows heavenly gifts on the faithful. He goes up into the palm tree when he grants increases of virtues to the advancing elect, brings them forward to progress, and graciously bestows [them]" 2. And below, in the same, on that verse, "Who is this that goes up leaning upon my beloved?": "Rightly leaning upon him, for without his help she was able not only to ascend to the summit, but not even to rise again at all. For both the progress of virtues and the very beginnings of faith we can have only by the Lord's bounty." Likewise, if God predestined and provided merit for his own absolutely, and not any fixed degree, then as far as the degree goes God would leave merit unprovided for and commit it to chance or fortune. It would be ruled by no providence and no care, which chapter 27 with the chapters that follow does not permit. The Wise Man likewise contradicts it, Wisdom 11, saying to God, C1 "You have arranged all things in measure, and number, and weight." The Philosopher also, in the Secret of Secrets, part 1, chapter 16, agrees with him: "God by his wisdom appointed all things with equal weight and fixed number and order, and established them for his servants, that they might serve him" 3. And in the thirteenth of the Metaphysics, chapter two, he says thus: "Of the good the chief forms are order, commensuration, and determinateness" 4. Whence then are these goods, if not from the first in the genus of goods, C2 which pours every good into all the rest? Whence also Hermes, in On the World and Heaven 1: "There," he says:

"the text of the fatal work, the series of the ages, the disposition, the boundary of all temporal things, is inscribed by the finger of the supreme Disposer," as had been recited more fully in the second of this book. Wherefore Boethius also, in book 4 of On the Consolation of Philosophy, prose six, introduces Philosophy saying: "Every generation of things, and the whole course of changeable natures, and whatever else is moved in any way, obtains its causes, order and forms from the stability of the divine mind. This, set in the citadel of its simplicity 5, has established a manifold manner for the conduct of things. This manner, when it is beheld in the very purity of the divine intelligence, is called providence; but when it is referred to the things which it moves and disposes, it was called fate by the ancients. That these are different will readily be clear. For providence is that very divine reason which disposes all things; but fate is the disposition inherent in movable things, through which providence binds each thing to its own orders." And this [fate] also directs each thing in motion, distributed by places, D1 forms and times, as the twenty-eighth cited more fully. Whence Augustine, On Free Choice 2, 28: "All goods, however small, however great, cannot be except from God. However much they fall short, and tend toward not being, still some of form remains to them, so that they are in some way; and whatever remains to any failing thing is from that form which does not know how to fail, and it does not allow the very motions of failing or of advancing things to exceed the laws of their numbers." E1 This proposition blessed Prosper excerpted from here and inserted in his Sentences, chapter 380 6, where this title is prefixed to it: "The creator leaves nothing disordered in any creatures whatever." And the same Augustine, On Genesis according to the Letter 4, 5, treating the aforesaid authority of the Wise Man and showing in what way these three are [God] and in what way they are not, says thus: "In so far as we know measure in what we measure, and number in what we number, and weight in what we weigh, these are not God; but in so far as measure sets a limit to everything,

and number gives form to everything, and weight draws everything to rest and stability, he is first, and truly, and uniquely these, who bounds all things, and forms all things, and orders all things; and nothing else is understood by the saying. How could it have been said through the ‖A1 heart and human tongue, 'You have arranged all things in measure, and number, and weight,' unless you have arranged all things in yourself? For measure and number and weight are not to be noticed and thought of only in stones and wood and suchlike movable things, however corporeal, whether terrestrial or celestial. There is also a measure of acting, so that the advance may not be irrevocable and unrestrained; and there is the number of the affections of the soul and of the virtues, by which it is gathered from the deformity of folly to the form and comeliness of wisdom; and there is the weight of will and love, so that it may appear how much each thing is weighed in desiring, fleeing, preferring and postponing. But this measure of souls and minds is held in check by another measure, and number is formed by another number, and weight is carried off by another weight. The measure without measure is that to which what comes from it is equal, and it is itself from nowhere else; the number without number is that by which all things are formed, and it is not itself formed; the weight without weight is that by which all things are brought back that they may be at rest." And below, in the same, 7: "Let us know, then, that 'all things' are said to be arranged 'in measure, number, and weight' as though it were said: those things were arranged so as to have their own measures and their own numbers and their own weight, in respect of which they would be changed, according to the changeability of each kind, by increases and decreases, by multitude and fewness, by lightness and heaviness, according to the disposition of God." And in On Predestination against the Pelagians, 4: "Who is sufficient to comprehend this measure, this number, this weight of God, so as to be able to set forth all his constitutions in these three definitions? In measure, I think, quality is established; in number, quantity; in weight, an equalized ratio." B1 Hence also Numbers 22: "If Balak should give me his house full of gold and silver, I could not change the word of the Lord my God, so as to say more or less." With this last opinion Gregory, Moralia 27, 22, plainly agrees, on that verse of Job 37: "The clouds scatter his light, which go round about all things; wherever the will of the one who governs has led them, to everything that he commanded them."

Likewise, what Christian is so undevout and dry as never to pray to God to purify his thoughts, increase his devotion, kindle his love, and make him abound in good works, when the whole Church humbly entreats: "Almighty everlasting God, direct our actions in your good pleasure, that in the name of your beloved Son we may deserve to abound in good works"? And the Apostle prays this for his neighbour; who then will not pray it for himself? This, says the Apostle: "I pray that your charity may abound more and more" (Philippians 1); and 1 Thessalonians 3: "May God multiply you and make you abound in charity" — or: "in charity toward one another and toward all." And to whom did he pray for this, if not to God? And why do we ‖C1 ask God for this, unless he himself does what we ask? For otherwise to ask him would seem vain and derisory. Hence blessed Augustine, On the Gift of Perseverance 2 7, proving that perseverance is not from us but from God, argues in this way: "Why is perseverance asked of God if it is not given by God? Is this too a derisory petition, when that is asked of him which is known not to be given by him but to be in man's power? But do not be deceived," says the Apostle; "God is not mocked. If you ask something truly and faithfully from so great a rich one, believe that you receive what you ask from him from whom you ask it. Do not honour him with your lips and exalt yourself above him in your heart, believing that what you pretend to ask from him is yours from yourself." And the same is found below, in the same book, 36 and 12, where Augustine always holds that nothing is to be asked of God except what is believed to be going to be done by him. And in On Grace and Free Choice 29: "We say, 'Lead us not into temptation,' that sins may be avoided; which we would by no reasoning ask of the Father who is in heaven, if we could accomplish this by the power of the human will." And below, in the same, he says that blessed Cyprian, in his book On the Lord's Prayer, shows that the things which are commanded to be fulfilled in the Law are to be asked for in prayer; which assuredly, as Augustine says, would be done most vainly if the human will, without divine help, sufficed to do them. And in On Holy Virginity 17: "The voices of pious entreaties are witnesses that the very things which are commanded by God are not done unless he who commands gives and helps; for they are asked for falsely if we could do them without the help of his grace." Blessed Cyprian also, in his fifth homily, entitled On the Lord's Prayer 8, expounding that verse, "And do not allow us to be led into temptation," speaks thus: "When we ask that we may not come into temptation, we are reminded of our weakness and infirmity, lest anyone exalt himself insolently, seeing that the Lord Jesus, teaching humility, said: 'Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.' So, when humble and submissive confession comes first, and the whole is given to God, whatever is asked suppliantly with the fear of God is granted by his own kindness." This authority too Augustine brings to the same conclusion about the good of perseverance, 9; and the Lord clearly hints at the same in Matthew 7, when he says thus: "Ask, and it will be given to you," or "and you shall receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you" — from him, namely, of whom you ask, whom you seek, and at whose door you knock. And the Apostle, Romans 10: "The same Lord of all, rich toward all

who call upon him" — that is, rich in riches, as Lord, distributing generously to all who call upon him faithfully from within. Hence the Psalmist, Psalm 36 [37]: "Delight in the Lord, and he will give you the requests of your heart"; and James 1: "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all abundantly and does not reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, doubting nothing; for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, which is moved and carried about by the wind. Let not that man think, therefore, that he will receive anything from the Lord." Whoever asks faithfully, then, without any doubting, ought to hope that he will receive from the Lord what he has asked; and the series of both Testaments attests this most frequently. Since, then, we faithfully ask the Lord for increases of good works, no Catholic may doubt that the Lord will bestow them on us abundantly. Hence the Apostle, 2 Corinthians 9: "The Lord is able to make all grace abound in you, so that, having always in all things every sufficiency, you may abound in every good work. And he who supplies seed to the sower will also provide bread for eating, and will multiply your seed, and increase the growth of the fruits of your righteousness." Hence holy Prosper, in his book For the Preachers of God's Grace, chapter 2, recites a most Catholic definition of Cassian, saying: "From which," he says, "it is manifestly gathered that the principle not only of deeds but also of good thoughts is from God, who breathes into us the beginnings of a holy will, and grants the power and the opportunity of carrying out the things which we rightly desire. For every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who both begins what is good, and carries it out, and completes it in us, as the Apostle says: 'He who gives seed to the sower will also supply bread for eating, and will make the fruits of your righteousness grow.'" Furthermore, who is so foolish a flatterer as to give thanks to God for something he did not believe he had received from him, as the thirty-first chapter argued? And who is so ungrateful as never to render thanks to God for the increase of good deeds and works? Indeed, since the Apostle says in 2 Thessalonians 1: "We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is fitting,

since your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of each one of you for one another abounds." On this Augustine, On Grace and Free Choice 40, says thus: "The Apostle said this lest, perhaps, they be puffed up over so great a good which they had from God, as though they had it from themselves. Therefore, because your faith grows exceedingly," he says, "and the love of each one of you for one another abounds, we ought to give thanks to God for you." Likewise, God predestined for Samson so great a merit that he would abstain in manifold ways and be a Nazirite of the Lord, and would begin to free the people of Israel from the hand of the Philistines, Judges 7 9. Likewise he similarly predestined so great a merit for Solomon that he would build a temple for himself, 2 Kings 7 10. And for Isaiah so great a merit that [God] would set his mouth like a sharp sword, so that he would be the Lord's salvation to the end of the earth, with many other eminences of merits, Isaiah 49. And for Jeremiah, that he would be a prophet among the nations, would go to all those to whom he was sent, would speak everything that [God] commanded him, and would be appointed over nations and kingdoms, to uproot and to destroy, to scatter and to disperse, and likewise to build and to plant, Jeremiah 1. And for John the Baptist so great a merit that he would be great before the Lord, would drink neither wine nor strong drink, would convert many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God, and would go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, Luke 1. Indeed, as Malachi 3 and Matthew 11 make quite clear, he would be called an Angel, who would prepare the way before the face of Jesus Christ. And for Paul so great a merit that the Lord Jesus Christ would say of him, "This man is a vessel of election for me, to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for my name," as Acts 9 shows. Many similar things also occur very often in Scripture. And who, finally, would dare to say that no fixed degree of merit was predestined for the Lord Jesus Christ, but that this was neglected through carelessness and left to chance and fortune? Nearly all the Prophets prophesied most earnestly, in the Spirit of the Lord, about his greatest merits, and Christ himself said to his Father: "Lord, you have tested me and known me; you have known my sitting down and my rising up; you have understood my thoughts from afar; you have searched out my path and my line, and have foreseen all my ways," E1 Psalm 138 [139]. Nor can anyone pretend that [God] predestines a fixed degree of merit for some and not for others; or for one man some degree of future merit and for another none. Chapter 27 and the others that follow forbid it, and so does the fact that the Lord, who is master of all, will not draw back before anyone's person 11, nor stand in awe of anyone's greatness, since he himself made the small and the great, E2 and he has equal care of all, Wisdom 6. To this some impudent person will perhaps reply that God did not predestine those great merits mentioned, but only foretold them. But that cannot stand, because if God truly foretold them, he foreknew them, and so he also pre-willed them eternally and predestined them, as the eighteenth, the twenty-third, and the nearest chapters

clearly show. It can also be had from the thirty-first of this book that God predestined all merits for all, therefore also these merits for these persons. It is evident besides, from the series of Scripture cited above, that God not only foretold but promised those great merits; therefore he himself was going to do them, and this by his will, not new but eternal, etc., as above. A1 For Joshua 23 is written: "As therefore God has fulfilled in deed what he promised, and all things have come prosperously, so he will bring upon you whatever evils he has threatened, because you have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God." And the Apostle, Romans 4, speaking of the promise which the Lord made to Abraham, Genesis 15, that his seed would be like the stars of heaven, says thus: "In the promise of God he did not waver through distrust, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, fully knowing that whatever God has promised, he is able also to do." A2 Treating this authority, Augustine, On Rebuke and Grace 56, says: "He himself therefore makes them good, that they may do good. For he did not promise them to Abraham for this reason, that he foresaw that they would be good of themselves; for if that were so, what he promised would be not his but theirs. But Abraham did not believe in this way; he believed because what he promised, he is able also to do. He does not say, 'what he foreknew he is able to promise,' or 'what he foretold he is able to show,' or 'what he promised he is able to foreknow'; but 'what he promised he is able also to do.' He himself therefore makes them persevere in good, who makes them good." The same, On the Predestination of the Saints 3: "We must beware, brothers beloved of God, lest man exalt himself against God when he says that he does what God promised. Was not faith promised to Abraham? He, giving glory to God, most fully believed, because what God promised, he is able also to do. He himself therefore makes the faith of the nations, who is able to do what he promised." And below, in the same, 12: "God promised what he himself was going to do, not what men would. For even if men do the good things that pertain to worshipping God, he makes them do what he commanded; they do not do it so that he may do what he promised. Otherwise, for God's promises to be fulfilled would lie not in God's power but in men's, and what was promised by the Lord would be rendered to Abraham by them." And the same, On the Spirit and the Letter 18: "God promises this, which he himself does; for

he does not promise and another do — which is no longer promising, but foretelling." Hence the forty-fifth proposition of Prosper's Sentences is excerpted. And if anyone is still not ashamed to quibble further, saying that in the authorities of Scripture cited there is no promise concerning merits but a prediction, let him hear the Apostle, Romans 9: "Not all who are of Israel are Israelites, nor are all who are the seed of Abraham sons of Abraham, but 'in Isaac shall your seed be called,'" Genesis 21; that is, "Not the children of the flesh are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as seed. For this is the word of promise: 'At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son,'" Genesis 18. And Augustine, On the Spirit and the Letter 18, says: "This is the promise to Abraham in which it was said to him, 'In Isaac shall your seed be called.' If, therefore, these words, 'In Isaac shall your seed be called,' and 'Sarah shall have a son,' are words of promise, why not other similar words similarly uttered?" Moreover, for evil works, such as tribulations and persecutions, a fixed limit is set in advance; therefore also for good ones. For God has no less care for good works than for evil ones. Hence Psalm 79 [80]: "You will feed us with the bread of tears, and give us drink in tears in measure"; and Psalm 103 [104]: "The mountains ascend and the plains descend into the place which you founded for them; you set a limit which they shall not pass, nor shall they return to cover the earth." On this Augustine, Tract. 2, understands the mountains and plains not as different things but as the same, namely secular powers in different conditions. Hence he says: "As long as the mountains ascend and the plains descend, [the meaning is:] they raged, and were appeased. When they raged, they were mountains; when they were appeased, they became plains; for he founded a place for them. Why do they not rage now? Why are they not mad? Why do they not take pains, if they cannot overturn our land, at least to cover it? Why not? Hear: 'You set a limit which they shall not pass, nor shall they return to cover the earth.' They received the due limit, because they cannot pass the end imposed." Likewise Psalm 94 [95]: "In his hand are all the ends of the earth, and the heights of the mountains are his." On this Augustine says: "Earthly powers have been adverse to the Church; they have promulgated laws against the Church; they have tried to blot out the Christian name from the earth. You, perhaps, are troubled by so many temptations on account of the scandals of the world; but the scandals themselves do nothing to you, since they have received their measure from the Lord, since the sea is his. For this world is the sea, and the waves cannot rage except up to the shore where he himself set the limit. Therefore no temptation, unless it has received its measure from the Lord, takes anything from you, corrects anything, levels anything, cleanses anything" 12. And in City of God 5, 22: "These earthly kingdoms the one true God rules and governs as it pleases him; so also the very times of wars, as it lies in his decision, in his just judgment and mercy, either to crush or to console the human race, so that some wars end sooner and others later." The same thing blessed Job makes clear. Hence at 28 he says thus: "He himself," that is, God, "beholds the ends of the world, and looks at all things which are under heaven, who made weight for the winds, and weighed the waters in measure, when he set a law for the rains and a way for the sounding storms." And below, 38: "I surrounded

it," that is, the sea, "with my limits, and set a bar and doors, and said, 'Thus far you shall come, and you shall go no farther.'" Likewise each Predestined will have a degree of reward according to the degree of his virtues, and above all of charity or grace, because the better anyone has been, the better it will be for him. And according to the Philosopher, Ethics 2, 6 13: "Every virtue perfects that whose virtue it is, and makes it fare well." And according to Augustine, Enchiridion 95: "The greater charity is in anyone, the better is he in whom it is." But every increase of true virtue, of charity or grace, is from God, who does it and wills it, and this by a willing not new but old. God therefore predestined for each a fixed degree of these virtues on the way, and of the rewards in the homeland. That God makes the increase of virtues on the way is proved from this: God makes the increases of good works, as was proved above, and from these habits are always increased, as is evident from the Philosopher, Ethics 2, 2; or if there are any habits which are not increased from works, those are increased by God alone. Likewise, by the second chapter, no ‖A1 creature alone can preserve any virtue in being; therefore it cannot do so in any fixed degree either, because this is the same or greater. Likewise, nearly all the reasons and authorities proving that the increases of works are from God will likewise prove that the increases of virtues are from him; and especially the arguments from petition and the giving of thanks. For the faithful faithfully ask God for an increase of virtues; therefore the whole Church also prays thus: "Grant us, we ask, O Lord, an increase of faith, hope, and charity." Whence the Apostles, already faithful, said, "Lord, increase our faith," Luke 17; and the father of the sick boy: "I believe, Lord; help my unbelief," Mark 9. The Apostle too, 1 Thessalonians 3: "May the Lord," he says, "multiply you and make you abound in charity also toward one another and toward all"; and many similar things occur quite often in Scripture. Likewise, who is so graceless and ungrateful 14 as not to render thanks to God for an increase of charity and grace, when for an increase of temporal goods he would do this with a ready heart? Moreover, the Apostle too, 2 Thessalonians 1, says thus: "We ought always to give thanks to God for you, as is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly

and the love of each one of you for another abounds." Since, then, an increase of virtue is asked of God, and thanks worthy of God are rendered for it when received, it is certain that it is given by him, as was argued above. This gradual progress of virtues and merits, and the fixed limits of prosperities and adversities, and of human life itself, established by God, blessed Job also shows, saying: "You have set his limits, which cannot be passed," Job 14. And below, 31: "By each of my steps I will declare him." On the first of these blessed Gregory, Moralia 12, 1: "None of the things," he says, "that happen to men in this world come about without the hidden counsel of Almighty God. For God, foreknowing all that will follow, decrees before the ages how they shall be arranged through the ages. For it has already been fixed for man how far the prosperity of this world shall follow him, or how far adversity shall strike him, lest immoderate prosperity lift up his elect, or excessive adversity weigh them down. It has also been fixed how long he shall live in time in this mortal life itself. Rightly therefore it is said, 'You have set his limits, which cannot be passed.'" This can also be understood according to the spirit, because we sometimes strive to advance in virtues and receive certain gifts beforehand 15, but, repelled from others, we lie in the depths. For no one grasps as much virtue as he desires, because almighty God, discerning inward things, sets a measure to spiritual advances themselves, so that from the good which he tries to grasp and cannot, he may not exalt himself over those things which he can. On the second, moreover, in Moralia 22, 18 and 19, he teaches the same view beautifully, as is recited more fully in the forty-first of this book. The same Gregory below, 20, shows this same thing through that verse of Mark 9, "I believe, Lord; help my unbelief"; and through that of Luke 17, "Increase our faith"; and through the authority of Ezekiel 47, which he expounds morally, saying thus: "Wisdom itself too, which is wont to be the teacher of good works, is given to the panting mind by increments, so that it may be ascended to without doubt by degrees of great moderation. This the Prophet Ezekiel fittingly announces in a figurative narrative, who tells of that man whom he had seen on a high mountain, saying: 'He measured a thousand cubits, and led me through water up to the ankles, and again

...he measured a thousand, and led me through the water up to the knees; and he measured a thousand, and led me through the water up to the loins; and he measured a thousand, and led me to a torrent that I could not cross, because the deep waters of the torrent had swollen, a torrent that cannot be forded. For what is signified by the number a thousand, if not the fullness of the gift conferred? This course of Gregory's argument is recited in the Canon De poenitentia, distinction 2, Haec quae de charitate.

Moreover, charity or grace is a habit. It is not naturally acquired, nor naturally acquirable by any ‖E1 creature, but supernaturally infused freely by God, as the thirty-fifth chapter and those following have taught. Therefore it cannot be naturally ‖E2 increased either, for it is of the same nature under any of its degrees. As it is created by the Lord alone, then, so it is increased by him alone. Hence the Psalmist, in Psalm 137 [138], says to God: "You will multiply virtue in my soul" 16. The Apostle says, in 2 Corinthians 3: "We are transformed from clarity to clarity by the Spirit of the Lord"; and in Romans 12: "to each one, as God has apportioned the measure of faith." On this the Gloss that is ascribed to Augustine says that this faith, namely, God has apportioned in measure: for he also dispenses faith to each in measure. The same Augustine says too, on that verse of Psalm 118 [119], "Set a law for me, Lord," etc., in Sermon 11: "Why does this man still ask that a law be set for him, who, had it not been set for him, would surely not have run the way of God's commandments in the breadth of the heart, that is, in charity, the fullness of the law? But since he speaks as one who is making progress, and knows that his progress is a gift of God, what else does he ask, when he asks that a law be set for him, except that he may make more and more progress in it? Finally he added: 'And I will seek it always.' For what does he seek that he already has, except that he both has it by acting and seeks it by progressing? But what is 'always'? Was 'always' said to mean as long as one lives here, because for so long one makes progress?" And further on, in the same work, on that verse of the same Psalm, "Give me understanding, that I may learn your commandments," in Sermon 18, he says this: "Our understanding makes progress toward understanding the things it believes, and faith makes progress toward believing the things it understands; and the mind makes progress in understanding itself, so that these same things may be understood more and more. But this does not happen by its own powers, as though they were natural, but with God helping and giving, just as it is medicine, not nature, that makes a damaged eye recover the power of seeing. He, then, who says to God, 'Give me understanding that I may learn your commandments,' is not wholly without it, like a beast; nor is he any man whatever, such that he should be counted among those who walk in the vanity of their mind, darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God: for if he were such a one, he would not say this. And it is no small understanding to know from whom understanding must be asked; and one must consider how much more deeply the divine commandments are to be understood, when the man who already understands so well, and who has already said earlier that he has kept the words of God, still asks that understanding be given him in order to learn them."

Again, in 1 Corinthians 12: "There are distributions of graces, but the same Spirit; and there are distributions of ministries, but the same Lord; and there are distributions of workings, but the same God who works all things in all; and to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for usefulness. To one indeed through the Spirit is given the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge, to another faith, to another the grace of healings, to another the working of powers 17, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of speeches. But all these things are worked by one and the same Spirit, dividing to each as he wills." Here the Apostle plainly shows that both the habits of virtues and the acts are divided among individuals according to the will of the Holy Spirit, and by the one God who works all things in all. Hence it is clear that their beginnings, as well as their increases, are likewise distributed. Augustine plainly bears witness to this, On the Predestination of the Saints 13, speaking thus: "When it is said," they say, namely the Pelagians, "'If you believe, you will be saved,' one of these is demanded, the other offered; what is demanded is in the power of humans, what is offered is in the power of God. Why not both in God's power, both what he commands and what he offers? For he is asked to give what he commands. The believers ask that their faith be increased; they ask on behalf of unbelievers that faith be given to them; and so faith is a gift of God both in its increases and in its beginnings. Now 'If you believe, you will be saved' is said in the same way as 'If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live.' For here too, of two things, one is demanded, the other offered: 'If by the Spirit,' he says, 'you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live.' So it is demanded that we put to death the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit, but that we may live is offered. Why then does it please us to say that putting to death the deeds of the flesh is not a gift of God, and to refuse to confess it a gift of God, because we hear it demanded of us, with the reward of life offered if we do it? God forbid that this should please those who partake of grace, the defenders of grace. That is the damnable error of the Pelagians, whose mouths the Apostle soon stopped, adding: 'For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God,' lest we believe that we put to death the deeds of the flesh not through God's Spirit but through our own. He was speaking of this Spirit of God there also, where he says: 'But all these things are worked by one and the same Spirit, dividing to each as he wills,' and among them he named faith as well." It is therefore a damnable error of the Pelagians to apportion faith or grace, namely its beginning and its increase, one by giving to God, the other to ourselves. For the whole is to be given wholly to God, as is clear from the same author, above, in the third [chapter] of the same work, saying thus: "If God works our faith, acting in a wondrous way in our hearts that we may believe, is it to be feared that he cannot do the whole, and that man therefore claims for himself its first parts, so that he may merit to receive the last ones from him? See whether anything else is being done in this way than that the grace of God be given in some manner according to our merits, and so grace be no longer grace. For in this way it is rendered as a debt, not given freely: for it is owed to the believer that his faith be increased by the Lord, and the reward of the faith taken up is faith increased." And further on, in the same work: "Man strikes a bargain with God, to claim for himself a part of faith and to leave a part to him; and, what is more arrogant, he takes the first part himself, gives the next to God, and in what he says belongs to both he makes himself prior and God posterior." From this it is clear that faith is increased by God, and that it is arrogance for man to assign a part of faith to himself and a part to God. Therefore the whole good

of ours let us give wholly to God, as Augustine says in On the Good of Perseverance 9 18: "We live more securely if we give everything to God, and do not entrust ourselves partly to him and partly to ourselves."

Again, this was the error of Cassian the Pelagian. For as holy Prosper recites in his book For the Preachers of the Grace of God against Cassian, 25, he spoke thus in his second definition: "God's protection is therefore inseparably present to us, and so great is the creator's devotion toward his creature that his providence not only accompanies it but continually goes before it, as the Prophet, who experienced it, confesses, saying: 'My God, his mercy will go before me.' Yet when he has observed in us some rising of good will, he illuminates it and strengthens it and urges it to salvation, granting increase to that which he himself planted or which he has seen to have emerged by our own effort." Against this Prosper immediately adds: "Already at this point there is a departure from the preceding definition, and what had been wholly given to grace is now partly assigned to free choice."

Again, a Pelagian error gave us the beginning of our faith and God the whole increase, as is clear from On the Predestination of the Saints 2 and 3. This error gives God the beginning and us the whole increase. This one therefore differs from the other as the original from its converse 19. Indeed, this one seems worse than that. For the former assigns to man the prior part of faith, but the worse, that is, the less good, and gives God the later part, but the better. The latter, on the contrary, assigns the better part to man and gives the worse to God.

Again, if the increase of grace were to be assigned to man, this would be on account of man's merit, namely because the merit of the human will would come first and the increase of grace would follow. This is contrary to Augustine, writing to Pope Boniface against the Pelagians, as Lombard recites in Sentences 2, distinction 26, in these words: "Grace itself merits to be increased, so that, increased, it may merit also to be perfected, the will accompanying and not leading, attending behind and not going before." With this the forty-first chapter also agrees, proving that grace precedes the human will in acting. The thirty-ninth chapter likewise proves that no one merits an increase of grace condignly, indeed that the increase of grace itself is given freely, and therefore was also freely predestined by him, as has been argued many times.

The Apostle also bears witness to this in Colossians 2, saying: "Let no one seduce you, ‖C1 wishing in humility and the religion of the angels, things which he has not seen, walking in vain, puffed up by the mind of his flesh, and not holding the head from which the whole body, supplied and built up through joints and bonds, grows into the increase of God." On this the Gloss says: "The head, that is, Christ; from whom, that is, from whose fullness by receiving, the whole body, that is, the Church, supplied and built up through the joints of charity and the bonds of faith and hope and works, in which the faithful are joined and alike, grows into the increase of God, that is, as much as God has foreseen." The increase of virtues and works is therefore foreseen and predestined by God under any of its degrees; and therefore for each of the predestined a fixed degree of blessedness is predestined. For these correspond to one another mutually, which can be shown by almost all the means by which it was shown above concerning the degree of works and virtues.

Furthermore, and specially to the same point: the diversity of mansions in the house of the heavenly Father contributes no less to the perfection and adornment of the glorious city of God than the number of citizens does. But this number is predestined by God; therefore that diversity is too. The venerable Anselm not only asserts this number but also proves it, in Cur Deus homo 1, 16, in this way: "It is not to be doubted that the rational nature which is, or is to be, blessed in the contemplation of God has been foreknown by God in a certain rational and perfect number, such that it would be fitting for that number to be neither greater nor smaller. For either God does not know in what number it would be better fitting for it to be established, which is false, or, if he knows, he will establish it in that number." And this same reasoning applies likewise to the degrees of rewards. And Augustine says, On Free Choice 3, 18: "If all the angels had sinned, they would cause the creator of the angels no want for governing his realm. For neither would his goodness, as though from some weariness, nor his omnipotence, through some difficulty, fall short of creating others, whom he would place in those seats that the others had abandoned by sinning; nor could a spiritual creature, however great the number damned for its deserts, constrict the order that fittingly and becomingly receives any who are damned."

If therefore others are to be placed in the seats of those who sinned, the number seems to have been fixed beforehand; and if there is a fixed order that fittingly and becomingly receives any who are damned, much more does it seem to be likewise with the saved. The same, Enchiridion 21 20: "The heavenly Jerusalem, our mother, the city of God, will not be cheated of any number of her citizens, or perhaps will even reign with a richer abundance. For we know neither the number of the holy men nor of the unclean demons, in whose place the sons of holy mother Church, who appeared barren on earth, will succeed and remain, in that peace from which those fell, without any limit of time. But the number of those citizens, whether the one that now is or the one that is to be, lies in the contemplation of that craftsman who calls the things that are not as though they were, and arranges all things by measure, and number, and weight."

And the same, On Rebuke and Grace 61: "The number of the predestined is so fixed that no one is added to them or taken away from them." He proves this by two authorities of Scripture. The first is Matthew 3: "Bear fruit worthy of repentance," says John the Baptist, "and do not say among yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father'; for God is able to raise up 21 sons of Abraham from these stones." This is to show that these men are to be cut off, if they do not bear fruit, in such a way that the number promised to Abraham may not be lacking. But it is said more openly in the Apocalypse: "Hold fast what you have, lest another receive your crown," and this is Apocalypse 3. For if another is not going to receive it unless this one has lost it, the number of the elect is fixed, that is, it cannot be increased or diminished, as Lombard expounds in Sentences 1, distinction 40, and as indeed seems a reasonable understanding. With this that verse of Job 34 agrees well: "He will crush many and countless ones, and will make others stand in their place." On this Gregory says, Moralia 25, 9: "It is to be noted that when, as some fall, others are said to be made firm to stand, the number of the elect is shown to be fixed and definite." Whence also to the Church of Philadelphia it is said through the angel: "Hold fast what you have, lest another receive your crown."

Still further, in line with what was premised, the diversity of degrees of mansions in heaven is recognized as pertaining to divine providence and predestination no less than the names of the future heavenly citizens do. But the proper names of all the elect are most certainly contained under divine providence and predestination. For the Prophet says of God, in Psalm 146 [147]: "He who counts the multitude of the stars, and calls them all by name." By the stars, moreover, Augustine and all the Doctors understand the elect and predestined. Is not this too fittingly prefigured in that command of the Lord: "Take the sum of the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, by their congregations and houses, and the names of each one" (Numbers 1)? Does not the Truth himself say: "Rejoice because your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10), and in John 10, "he calls his own sheep by name"? On this Augustine, in Sermon 45: "For he has their names written in the book of life." Hence the Apostle says: "The Lord knows those who are his."

Furthermore, the diversity of degrees of the heavenly mansions produces the beauty and adornment of the heavenly Church, as diversity of sounds makes a melody sweeter and variety of colors makes a picture more beautiful, as no one is unaware. Hence, as both philosophical and theological writings also testify concerning contraries and diverse things, as set out in 34 of the first 22. Therefore Alhazen 23 also, in the second book of his Perspective, in the chapter on beauty, says: "Diversity makes beauty. For the shapes of the members of an animal are of diverse parts, and are not beautiful except by reason of the diversity of the parts. If the nose were wholly of equal thickness, it would be at the height of ugliness; and its beauty is due to the diversity of its two extremities and to its pyramidal form. Likewise the beauty of the eyebrows consists in nothing except that their extremities are finer than the remaining parts in front; and likewise, when all the members of an animal are examined, it is found that their beauty arises only from the diversity of the shapes of their parts. And likewise with writing 24: if all the parts of the writing were of equal thickness, they would not appear beautiful, since the extremities of letters do not appear beautiful except when they are finer than the rest; for even if the extremities of the letters, and their middle parts, and their continuation were of one uniform thickness, the writing would be at the height of ugliness. Diversity, therefore, makes beauty." Why else, moreover, would God command that the curtains of the tabernacle be made variegated, and the veil woven with beautiful variety? Why else would the Prophet praise the heavenly queen, the triumphant Church, the spouse of Christ, having neither spot nor wrinkle, from the variety of her clothing, saying: "The queen stood at your right hand in a gilded garment, surrounded with variety"? And who is the author of this beauty, if not God, the most beautiful author of all beauty, and acting not by a changeable and novel will, but by an unchangeable and eternal one, as the things previously set out have clearly taught?

Corollary

Corollary, that all degrees of graces, merits, prosperities, adversities, of glory or of punishment, in the present and in the future, are likewise predestined by God eternally and distinctly.

From these things it is clearly seen that all degrees, and each single one, of graces, merits, prosperities, adversities, of glory or of punishment, in the present and in the future, are likewise predestined by God eternally and distinctly. This whole Corollary follows so patently from what has been premised that it nowhere needs the help of a proof.