Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c005\">18. Let us look next at the passage: “So, then, it is not\r\nof him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that\r\nshoweth mercy.”<a id=\"r535\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f535\"><sup>[535]</sup></a> For they who find fault say: If “it is not\r\nof him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that\r\nshoweth mercy,” salvation does not depend upon ourselves,\r\nbut upon the arrangement<a id=\"r536\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f536\"><sup>[536]</sup></a> made by Him who has formed<a id=\"r537\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f537\"><sup>[537]</sup></a>\r\nus such as we are, or on the purpose<a id=\"r538\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f538\"><sup>[538]</sup></a> of Him who showeth\r\nmercy when He pleases. Now we must ask these persons\r\nthe following questions: Whether to desire what is good is\r\nvirtuous or vicious; and whether the desire to run in order\r\nto reach the goal in the pursuit of what is good be worthy of\r\npraise or censure? And if they shall say that it is worthy\r\nof censure, they will return an absurd answer;<a id=\"r539\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f539\"><sup>[539]</sup></a> since the\r\nsaints desire and run, and manifestly in so acting do nothing\r\nthat is blameworthy. But if they shall say that it is virtuous\r\nto desire what is good, and to run after what is good,\r\nwe shall ask them how a perishing nature desires better\r\nthings;<a id=\"r540\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f540\"><sup>[540]</sup></a> for it is like an evil tree producing good fruit,\r\nsince it is a virtuous act to desire better things. They\r\nwill give [perhaps] a third answer, that to desire and run\r\nafter what is good is one of those things that are indifferent,<a id=\"r541\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f541\"><sup>[541]</sup></a>\r\nand neither beautiful<a id=\"r542\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f542\"><sup>[542]</sup></a> nor wicked. Now to this we\r\nmust say, that if to desire and to run after what is good\r\nbe a thing of indifference, then the opposite also is a thing\r\nof indifference, viz. to desire what is evil, and to run after\r\nit. But it is not a thing of indifference to desire what is\r\nevil, and to run after it. And therefore also, to desire what\r\nis good, and to run after it, is not a thing of indifference.\r\nSuch, then, is the defence which I think we can offer to the\r\nstatement, that “it is not of him that willeth, nor of him\r\nthat runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.”<a id=\"r543\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f543\"><sup>[543]</sup></a> Solomon\r\nsays in the book of Psalms (for the song of Degrees<a id=\"r544\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f544\"><sup>[544]</sup></a> is his,\r\nfrom which we shall quote the words): “Unless the Lord\r\nbuild the house, they labour in vain that build it; except the\r\nLord keep the city, the watchman waketh in vain:”<a id=\"r545\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f545\"><sup>[545]</sup></a> not\r\ndissuading us from building, nor teaching us not to keep\r\nwatch in order to guard the city in our soul, but showing\r\nthat what is built without God, and does not receive a guard\r\nfrom Him, is built in vain and watched to no purpose, because\r\nGod might reasonably be entitled the Lord of the building;\r\nand the Governor of all things, the Ruler of the guard of\r\nthe city. As, then, if we were to say that such a building\r\nis not the work of the builder, but of God, and that it was\r\nnot owing to the successful effort of the watcher, but of the\r\nGod who is over all, that such a city suffered no injury from\r\nits enemies, we should not be wrong,<a id=\"r546\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f546\"><sup>[546]</sup></a> it being understood\r\nthat something also had been done by human means, but the\r\nbenefit being gratefully referred to God who brought it to\r\npass; so, seeing that the [mere] human desire is not sufficient\r\nto attain the end, and that the running of those who are, as\r\nit were, athletes, does not enable them to gain the prize of\r\nthe high calling of God in Christ Jesus—for these things\r\nare accomplished with the assistance of God—it is well said\r\nthat “it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,\r\nbut of God that showeth mercy.” As if also it were said\r\nwith regard to husbandry what also is actually recorded: “I\r\nplanted, Apollos watered; and God gave the increase. So\r\nthen neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that\r\nwatereth; but God that giveth the increase.”<a id=\"r547\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f547\"><sup>[547]</sup></a> Now we could\r\nnot piously assert that the production of full crops was the\r\nwork of the husbandman, or of him that watered, but the\r\nwork of God. So also our own perfection is brought about,\r\nnot as if we ourselves did nothing;<a id=\"r548\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f548\"><sup>[548]</sup></a> for it is not completed<a id=\"r549\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f549\"><sup>[549]</sup></a>\r\nby us, but God produces the greater part of it. And that\r\nthis assertion may be more clearly believed, we shall take an\r\nillustration from the art of navigation. For in comparison\r\nwith the effect of the winds,<a id=\"r550\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f550\"><sup>[550]</sup></a> and the mildness of the air,<a id=\"r551\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f551\"><sup>[551]</sup></a>\r\nand the light of the stars, all co-operating in the preservation\r\nof the crew, what proportion<a id=\"r552\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f552\"><sup>[552]</sup></a> could the art of navigation be\r\nsaid to bear in the bringing of the ship into harbour?—since\r\neven the sailors themselves, from piety, do not venture to assert\r\noften that they had saved the ship, but refer all to God; not\r\nas if they had done nothing, but because what had been\r\ndone by Providence was infinitely<a id=\"r553\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f553\"><sup>[553]</sup></a> greater than what had been\r\neffected by their art. And in the matter of our salvation,\r\nwhat is done by God is infinitely greater than what is done\r\nby ourselves; and therefore, I think, is it said that “it is\r\nnot of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God\r\nthat showeth mercy.” For if in the manner which they\r\nimagine we must explain the statement,<a id=\"r554\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f554\"><sup>[554]</sup></a> that “it is not of\r\nhim that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that\r\nshoweth mercy,” the commandments are superfluous; and it\r\nis in vain that Paul himself blames some for having fallen\r\naway, and approves of others as having remained upright,\r\nand enacts laws for the churches: it is in vain also that we\r\ngive ourselves up to desire better things, and in vain also [to\r\nattempt] to run. But it is not in vain that Paul gives such\r\nadvice, censuring some and approving of others; nor in vain\r\nthat we give ourselves up to the desire of better things,\r\nand to the chase after things that are pre-eminent. They\r\nhave accordingly not well explained the meaning of the\r\npassage.<a id=\"r555\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f555\"><sup>[555]</sup></a></p>","headings":["The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1 of 2","ORIGEN DE PRINCIPIIS.","BOOK III.","FROM THE GREEK."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70561-paragraph-233"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"157de183486ce9910a4e8c48a6da90aba31dad66607eb93c647ea5ad15c323d0","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 1 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie"],"edition_year":1869,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg70561-f555","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Project Gutenberg metadata: Public domain in the USA. Existing 1869 English translation; translator died 1889. Electronic transcription subject to Project Gutenberg reuse terms.","source_anchor":"f555","source_ebook":70561,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f555\">\n<p class=\"c006\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r555\">555</a>.  </span><span lang=\"grc\">ἐξειληφάσι τὰ κατὰ τὸν τόπον.</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"de125e213d16053354f22b34a1c8d477ac23f201e660e4f4841b2ed7e05bb367","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70561/pg70561-images.html#f555","text_sha256":"c6d6086e2046e1c5716d28cef8dd4b4b6645f7d8d0fe7272c1bf92f5db989f95","verified":false,"work_id":null}

references: [] | work_id: | origin: existing-private-derived-record | source: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70561/pg70561-images.html#f555