St. Augustine
scriptura: Intellegite ergo, qui insipientes estis in populo; et stulti, aliquando sapite. Eo ipso quippe, quo praeceptum atque imperatum est ut intellegamus atque sapiamus, oboedientiam nostram requirit, quae nulla potest esse sine libero arbitrio. Sed si posset hoc ipsum sine adiutorio gratiae fieri per liberum arbitrium, ut intellegeremus atque saperemus, non diceretur deo: Da mihi intellectum, ut discam mandata tua, neque in evangelio scriptum esset: Tunc aperuit illis sensum, ut intellegerent scripturas, nec Iacobus apostolus diceret: Si quis autem vestrum indiget sapientia, postulet a deo, qui dat omnibus affluenter et non inproperat, et dabitur ei. Potens est autem dominus, qui et vobis donet et nobis, ut de vestra pace et pia consensione nuntiis celerrimis gaudeamus. Saluto vos non solum meo nomine, sed etiam fratrum qui mecum sunt, et rogo ut pro nobis concorditer atque instanter oretis. Sit vobiscum dominus. Amen.
1Fideliorem hominem et qui faciliores haberet
Letters of St. Augustine
now, ye simple among the people; and ye fools, at length be wise.”a From the very fact, then, that we have been commanded and instructed to understand and be wise, it follows that our obedience is demanded, and it cannot exist unless through freewill. Yet if it were in our power of our own free-will to obey this precept, to understand and be wise, without the assistance of grace, it would be useless to say to God, “Give me understanding, that I may learn Thy commandments,”b nor would it be written in the Gospel, “Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures”c; nor would the apostle James say, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, Who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.”d But the Lord is able to grant both to you and to us, to rejoice in the speedy tidings of your peace and holy concord. I greet you, not only in my own name, but also in the name of the brethren who are with me, and I beseech you to pray for us with one heart and with all instancy. The Lord be with you! Amen.
I could never find a more trustworthy man or one1
- aPs. xciii.8.
- bPs. cxviii. 125.
- cLuke xxiv.45.
- dJames i. 5.
- eSee note on p. 322. Boniface had been recalled in disgrace from Africa, but refused to go. War was declared on him in 427, but he divided his opponents and defeated them. After a period of hesitation, Boniface called the Vandals to his aid, in May 429. The present letter was written after Boniface had fallen into disgrace, but before 429; a translation of it is given by Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders, 376–476, vol. i. pp. 495–503. His account of Aetius and Boniface, ib. pp. 456–462, should be read along with that of Freeman, Western Europe in the Fifth Century, Appendix I: “Aetius and Boniface” (pp. 305–370), who tries to clear Boniface of the charge made by Procopius of inviting the Vandals to Africa.