Mozley: A Treatise on the Augustinian Doctrine of

AugMstinian
CHAP.
was hid, and make sweet what was unpleasant ? .....
There precedes
in the will of man a certain appetite for its
own so
power,
that it "becomes disobedient through pride.
Were this appetite away, nothing would be difficult, and
man, as he now seeks his own will, would quite as easily
not have it. sought But there has come upon him, as a
just punishment, such a corruption of nature, that it is now
disagreeable to him to obey the Divine law. And unless
this corruption is overcome by assisting grace, no one is
converted to obedience unless healed ;
by the operation of
grace, no one enjoys the peace of obedience. But by whose
grace is he conquered and healed, but by His to whom it
"
is said, Turn us, then, God our Saviour, and let Thine
anger cease from us "? which, if He does to any, He does
to them in mercy while to those to whom He does it not
;
He does it not in judgment. And who shall say to Him
(whose mercy and judgment all pious minds celebrate),
what doest Thou ? Wherefore even His saints and faithful
servants He heals slowly in some faults, so that good de
lights them less than is sufficient for fulfilling the whole
law ; in order that, tried by the perfect rule of His truth, no
flesh may be justified in His sight. Nor is such imperfec
tion intended for our condemnation, but only our humbling,
and to remind us of our dependenca on this same grace ;
we think that our own
lest, attaining facility in everything,
which is His..... Let us be wise, and understand that
Grod sometimes does not give even to his saints, with respect
to any work, either a certain knowledge, or a victorious
delight victricem delectationem in order that they may
know that not from themselves but from Him is that light
by which their darkness is illuminated, and that sweetness
by which their land yields her fruit.
1
Love, which he calls delight and sweetness, is described
in this passage as a conquering or irresistible grace ; upon
the bestowal of which certain effects of life and conduct
follow naturally, though not always in a full measure, but
only in proportion to the amount imparted of the gift
1 De Pecc. Mer. et Eem. 1. 2. c. xix.