This passage is
difficult to render alike from the variety of readings and the
obscurity of each. I have endeavoured to represent the force
of the Greek ἐκ
τῆς
ἑτοιμασίας
τοῦ ἐφ᾽
ἡμῖν, understanding by
“τὸ
ἐφ᾽
ἡμῖν,” practically,
“our free will.” cf. the enumeration of
what is ἐφ᾽
ἡμῖν, within our own control, in the
Enchiridion of Epicetus, Chap. I. “Within our own
control are impulse, desire, inclination.” On
Is. vi. 8, “Here am I; send me,”
St. Basil writes, “He did not add ‘I will go;’
for the acceptance of the message is within our control
(ἐφ᾽ ἡμῖν), but to be
made capable of going is of Him that gives the grace, of the
enabling God.” The Benedictine translation of the
text is “per liberi arbitrii nostri
præparationem.” But other readings are (i)
τῆς
ἑτοιμασίας
αὐτοῦ, “the preparation
which is in our own control;” (ii) τῆς
ἑτοιμασίας
αὐτοῦ, “His
preparation;” and (iii) the Syriac represented by
“arbitrio suo.”