6.

Now, that it is our business to live virtuously, and that God asks this of us, as not being dependent on Him nor on any other, nor, as some think, upon fate, but as being our own doing, the prophet Micah will prove when he says: "If it has been announced to thee, O man, what is good, or what does the Lord require of thee, except to do justice and to love mercy?" ¹ Moses also: "I have placed before thy face the way of life, and the way of death: choose what is good, and walk in it." ² Isaiah too: "If you are willing, and hear me, ye shall eat the good of the land; but if ye be unwilling, and will not hear me, the sword will consume you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." ³ And in the Psalms: "If My people had heard Me, and Israel had walked in My ways, I would have humbled their enemies to nothing, and laid My hand upon those that afflicted them;" ⁴ showing that it was in the power of His people to hear and to walk in the ways of God. And the Saviour also, when He commands, "But I say unto you, Resist not evil;" ⁵ and, "Whosoever shall be angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment;" ⁶ and, "Whosoever shall look upon a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart;" ⁷ and by any other commandment which He gives, declares that it lies with ourselves to keep what is enjoined, and that we shall reasonably ⁸ be liable to condemnation if we transgress. And therefore He says in addition: "He that heareth My words, and doeth them, shall be likened to a prudent man, who built his house upon a rock," etc., etc.; "while he that heareth them, but doeth them not, is like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand," etc. ⁹ And when He says to those on His right hand, "Come, ye blessed of My Father," etc.; "for I was an hungered, and ye gave Me to eat; I was athirst, and ye gave Me to drink," ¹⁰ it is exceedingly manifest that He gives the promises to these as being deserving of praise. But, on the contrary, to the others, as being censurable in comparison with them, He says, "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!" ¹¹ And let us observe how Paul also converses ¹² with us as having freedom of will, and as being ourselves the cause of ruin or salvation, when he says, "Dost thou despise the riches of His goodness, and of His patience, and of His long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But, according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou art treasuring up for thyself wrath on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every one according to his works: to those who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory and immortality, eternal life; while to those who are contentious, and believe not the truth, but who believe iniquity, anger, wrath, tribulation, and distress, on every soul of man that worketh evil; on the Jew first, and on the Greek: but glory, and honour, and peace to every one that worketh good; to the Jew first, and to the Greek." ¹³ There are, indeed, innumerable passages in the Scriptures which establish with exceeding clearness the existence of freedom of will.