Dist. 44
Book II: On the Creation of Things · Distinction 44
# DISTINCTIO XLIV.
Cap. I. De potentia peccandi, an sit homini vel diabolo a Deo.
Post praedicta consideratione dignum occurrit, utrum peccandi potentia sit nobis a Deo, vel a nobis. — Putant quidam, potentiam recte agendi nobis esse a Deo, potentiam vero peccandi non a Deo, sed a nobis, vel a diabolo esse; sicut mala voluntas non a Deo nobis est, sed a nobis et a diabolo, bona autem nobis a Deo tantum est. « Bonae namque voluntatis et cogitationis initium non homini ex se ipso nasci, sed divinitus parari et tribui, in eo Deus evidenter ostendit, quia nec diabolus nec aliquis Angelorum eius, ex quo in hanc caliginem sunt detrusi, bonam potuit vel poterit resumere voluntatem; quia, si possibile foret, ut humana natura, postquam, a Deo aversa, bonitatem perdidit voluntatis, ex se ipsa rursus eam habere potuisset, multo possibilius hoc natura haberet angelica, quae quanto minus gravatur terreni corporis pondere, tanto magis hac esset praedita facultate1 ... Non igitur homo vel Angelus a se voluntatem bonam habere potest, sed malam. Similiter et de potentia inquiunt, per similitudinem voluntatis de potentia boni vel mali disserentes, quod illa sit a Deo, non ista. »
Sed pluribus Sanctorum testimoniis indubitanter monstratur, quod omnis potestas mali a Deo est, a quo est omnis potestas. Ait enim Apostolus2: Non est potestas nisi a Deo; quod non de potestate boni tantum, sed et mali intelligi oportet, cum Pilato etiam Veritas dicat: Non haberes in me potestatem, nisi datum esset tibi desuper. « Malitia nempe hominum, ut ait Augustinus3, cupiditatem nocendi per se habet; potestatem autem, si ille non dat, non habet ... Ideoque diabolus, antequam aliquid tolleret Iob, dicebat Domino: Mitte manum tuam, id est, da potestatem, « quia etiam nocentium potestas non est nisi a Deo, sicut Sap. 999pientia ait: Per me reges regnant, et tyranni per me tenent terram. Unde Iob de Domino ait: Qui facit regnare hypocritam propter perversitatem populi. Et de populo Israel dicit Deus: Dedi eis regem in ira mea[^4] ». « Nocendi enim voluntas potest esse ab hominis animo, potestas autem non est nisi a Deo, et hoc abdita aptaque iustitia5 »; nam per potestatem diabolo datam iustos Deus facit suos. De hoc etiam Gregorius in Moralibus6 ait: « Tumoris elatio, non potestatis ordo, in crimine est. Potentiam Deus tribuit, elationem vero potentiae malitia nostrae mentis invenit. Tollamus ergo quod de nostro est, quia non potentia iusta, sed actio prava damnatur ». — His auctoritatibus aliisque plurimis evidenter ostenditur, quod non est potestas boni vel mali cuicumque nisi a Deo aequo, etsi te lateat aequitas.
Cap. II. An aliquando resistendum sit potestati.
Hic oritur quaestio non transilienda silentio. Dictum est supra, quod potestas peccandi et nocendi non est homini vel diabolo nisi a Deo. Apostolus7 autem dicit, quod qui potestati resistit Dei ordinationi resistit. Cum ergo diabolo sit potestas mali Dei ordinatione, eius potestati non esse resistendum videtur. — Sed sciendum est, Apostolum ibi loqui de saeculari potestate, scilicet rege et principe et huiusmodi; quibus non est resistendum in his quae iubet Deus eis exhiberi, scilicet in tributis et huiusmodi. Si vero princeps aliquis vel diabolus aliquid iusserit vel suaserit contra Deum; tunc resistendum est. Unde Augustinus determinans, quando sit resistendum potestati, in libro de Natura boni[^8] ait: « Si aliquid iubeat potestas, quod non debes facere, hic sane contemne potestatem, timendo maiorem potestatem. Ipsos humanarum rerum gradus adverte. Si quid iusserit curator, nunquid faciendum est, si contra proconsulem iubeat? Rursus, si quid ipse proconsul iubeat, et aliud iubeat imperator, nunquid dubitatur, illo contempto, illi esse serviendum? Ergo si aliud imperator, aliud Deus iubeat, contempto illo, obtemperandum est Deo ». — Potestati ergo diaboli vel hominis tunc resistamus, cum aliquid contra Deum suggesserit, in quo Dei ordinationi non resistimus, sed obtemperamus. Sic enim Deus praecepit, ut in malis nulli potestati obediamus. — Iam nunc his intelligendis atque pertractandis, quae ad Verbi incarnati mysterium pertinent, integra mentis consideratione intendamus, ut de ineffabilibus vel modicum aliquid fari, Deo revelante, valeamus.
Explicit liber secundus.
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# DISTINCTION XLIV.
Chapter I. On the power of sinning, whether it is from God to man or to the devil.
After the foregoing matters it presents itself as worthy of consideration whether the power of sinning is from God to us, or from ourselves. — Some think that the power of acting rightly is from God to us, but the power of sinning is not from God, but from ourselves, or from the devil; just as an evil will is not from God to us, but from ourselves and from the devil, whereas a good one is from God alone to us. « For that the beginning of a good will and thought is not born to man from himself, but is divinely prepared and bestowed, God plainly shows in this, that neither the devil nor any of his Angels, from the time they were thrust down into this darkness, was able or will be able to resume a good will; for if it were possible that human nature, after, being turned away from God, it lost the goodness of its will, could of itself have it again from itself, much more possible would the angelic nature have this, which, the less it is weighed down by the burden of an earthly body, the more it would be endowed with this faculty1 ... Therefore neither man nor Angel can have a good will of himself, but only an evil one. And in like manner they say of power also, discoursing about the power of good or of evil after the likeness of the will, that the former is from God, not the latter. »
But by many testimonies of the Saints it is shown beyond doubt that all power of evil is from God, from whom is all power. For the Apostle says2: There is no power but from God; which must be understood not of the power of good only, but also of evil, since to Pilate also the Truth says: Thou shouldst have no power against me, unless it were given thee from above. « For the malice of men, as Augustine says3, has of itself the desire of doing harm; but power it has not, unless He give it ... And therefore the devil, before he took away anything of Job's, said to the Lord: Put forth thy hand, that is, give power, « for even the power of those who do harm is only from God, as Wisdom says: By me kings reign, and tyrants by me hold the earth. Whence Job says of the Lord: Who maketh a hypocrite to reign for the sins of the people. And of the people of Israel God says: I gave them a king in my wrath[^4] ». « For the will to do harm can be from the mind of man, but the power is only from God, and that by a hidden and fitting justice5 »; for by the power given to the devil God makes the just His own. Concerning this also Gregory in the Morals[^6] says: « It is the swelling of pride, not the order of power, that is in the crime. God bestows the power, but the malice of our mind devises the elation of power. Let us therefore take away what is from ourselves, since it is not just power, but the wicked deed, that is condemned ». — By these authorities and very many others it is evidently shown that there is no power of good or of evil to anyone except from a just God, even though His equity is hidden from thee.
Chapter II. Whether one must sometimes resist a power.
Here arises a question not to be passed over in silence. It has been said above that the power of sinning and of doing harm is not in man or the devil except from God. But the Apostle says7 that he who resists the power resists the ordinance of God. Since therefore the devil has the power of evil by God's ordinance, it seems that his power must not be resisted. — But it must be known that the Apostle there speaks of secular power, namely the king and the prince and the like; whom one must not resist in those things which God commands to be rendered to them, namely in tributes and the like. But if some prince or the devil should command or persuade something against God, then it must be resisted. Whence Augustine, determining when a power must be resisted, in the book On the Nature of the Good[^8] says: « If a power commands something which thou oughtest not to do, here indeed despise the power, fearing a greater power. Consider the very grades of human affairs. If a curator commands something, is it to be done, if he commands against the proconsul? Again, if the proconsul himself commands something, and the emperor commands something else, is it doubted that, the former being despised, the latter is to be served? Therefore if the emperor commands one thing and God another, the former being despised, God is to be obeyed ». — Let us therefore resist the power of the devil or of man when it suggests something against God, wherein we do not resist God's ordinance, but obey it. For thus God has commanded, that in evil things we obey no power. — Now let us bend our whole consideration of mind to the understanding and treating of those things which pertain to the mystery of the incarnate Word, that we may be able, God revealing it, to utter at least some little about things ineffable.
Here ends the second book.
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- Fulgent., de Fide ad Petrum, c. 3. n. 34. In quo loco originale habet et praeparari et tribui pro parari et tribui.Fulgentius, On the Faith, to Peter, c. 3, n. 34. In which passage the original has et praeparari et tribui (and to be prepared beforehand and bestowed) for parari et tribui (to be prepared and bestowed).
- Rom. 13, 1. Seq. locus est Ioan. 19, 11. Quae sequuntur in hoc capitulo sumta sunt ex Glossa ad Rom. loc. cit., sed multis a Magistro omissis.Rom. 13:1. The following passage is John 19:11. What follows in this chapter is taken from the Gloss on Romans at the cited place, but with many things omitted by the Master.
- Enarrat. in Ps. 32. serm. 3. n. 12. Locus Scripturae est Iob 1, 11. Vulgata: Extende manum etc.Expositions on the Psalms, on Ps. 32, sermon 3, n. 12. The scriptural passage is Job 1:11. The Vulgate has: Stretch forth thy hand etc.
- August., de Natura boni, c. 32, in quo textu citantur Prov. 8, 15; Iob 34, 30, in quo pro perversitatem, quod cum originali Augustini habent nostri codd., Vulgata cum Vat. aliisque edd. peccata. Denique Ose. 13, 11: Dabo tibi regem in furore meo.Augustine, On the Nature of the Good, c. 32, in which text are cited Prov. 8:15; Job 34:30, where for perversitatem (perversity), which our codices have together with Augustine's original, the Vulgate together with the Vatican edition and others reads peccata (sins). Finally Hosea 13:11: I will give thee a king in my fury.
- Libr. XI. de Gen. ad lit. c. 3. n. 5, et fere idem dicitur Enarrat. in Ps. 29. serm. 2. n. 6. In hoc textu pro abdita aptaque iustitia, quod legitur in Glossa nostrisque codd. et edd., in libro Gen. ad lit. habetur abdita altaque iustitia.Bk. XI of On Genesis according to the Letter, c. 3, n. 5, and nearly the same is said in Expositions on the Psalms, on Ps. 29, sermon 2, n. 6. In this text, for abdita aptaque iustitia (by a hidden and fitting justice), which is read in the Gloss and in our codices and editions, the book On Genesis according to the Letter has abdita altaque iustitia (by a hidden and lofty justice).
- Libr. XXVI. c. 26. n. 48.Bk. XXVI, c. 26, n. 48.
- Rom. 13, 2.Rom. 13:2.
- Non ibi, sed Serm. 62. (alias 6. de Verbis Domini) c. 8. n. 13. Pro Si aliquid originale et edd. 1, 8 Si illud, inferius pro curator edd. procurator, refragantibus codd. A B C D et originali.Not there, but in Sermon 62 (otherwise 6, On the Words of the Lord), c. 8, n. 13. For Si aliquid (If anything) the original and editions 1, 8 read Si illud (If that), and below, for curator (curator) the editions read procurator (procurator), against codices A B C D and the original.