64. But, my opponents ask, if Christ came as the Saviour of men, as3844 you say, why3845 does He not, with uniform benevolence, free all without exception? I reply, does not He free all alike who invites all alike? or does He thrust back or repel any one from the kindness of the Supreme who gives to all alike the power of coming to Him,—to men of high rank, to the meanest slaves, to women, to boys? To all, He says, the fountain of life is open,3846 and no one is hindered or kept back from drinking.3847 If you are so fastidious as to spurn the kindly3848 offered gift, nay, more, if your wisdom is so great that you term those things which are offered by Christ ridiculous and absurd, why should He keep on inviting3849 you, while His only duty is to make the enjoyment of His bounty depend upon your own free choice?3850 God, Plato says, does not cause any one to choose his lot in life;3851 nor can another’s choice be rightly attributed to any one, since freedom of choice was put in His power who made it. Must you be even implored to deign to accept the gift of salvation from God; and must God’s gracious mercy be poured into your bosom while you reject it with disdain, and flee very far from it? Do you choose to take what is offered, and turn it to your own advantage? You will in that case have consulted your own interests. Do you reject with disdain, lightly esteem, and despise it? You will in this case have robbed yourself of the benefit of the gift.3852 God compels no one, terrifies no one with overpowering fear. For our salvation is not necessary to Him, so that He would gain anything or suffer any loss, if He either made us divine,3853 or allowed us to be annihilated and destroyed by corruption.
Footnotes
- 3844
So the ms. and Oehler, reading ut, which is omitted in all other edd.; in this case, the words in italics are unnecessary.
- 3845
So Orelli, reading cur (quur in most edd.) for the ms. quos. Instead of non—“not,” which follows, the ms., according to Oehler, reads nos, and he therefore changes quos into quæso—“I ask, does He free all of us altogether?”
- 3846
There is clearly no reference here to a particular passage of Scripture, but to the general tone of Christ’s teaching: “Him that cometh unto me, I will in nowise cast out.” Orelli, however with his usual infelicity, wishes to see a direct reference, either to Christ’s words to the woman of Samaria (John iv. 13–15), or, which is rather extraordinary, to John vi. 35–37: “I am the bread of life,” etc. Cf. n. 9, p. 459.
- 3847
Lit., “the right of drinking.”
- 3848
Lit., “the kindness of.”
- 3849
Lit., “what waits He for, inviting,” quid invitans expectat; the reading of the ms., both Roman edd. and Oehler. Gelenius, followed by Canterus and Elmenhorst, changed the last word into peccat—“in what does He sin,” adopted by the other edd., with the addition of in te—“against you.”
- 3850
Lit., “exposes under decision of your own right.”
- 3851
Cf. Plato, Rep., ii. st. p. 379: “of a few things God would be the cause, but of many He would not;” and x. st. p. 617 fin.
- 3852
So LB., Orelli, Oehler, adopting the emendation of Ursinus, tu te muneris commoditate privaveris, for the unintelligible reading of the ms., tuti m. c. probaveris.
- 3853
i.e., immortal, deos, so corrected by Gelenius for the ms. deus—“if either God made us.”