Sentences, Books I–II

Chapter 1 (20).

On the turning and confirmation of those who stood firm, and the turning away and fall of those who fell. After this the inquiry turns to what they became when they were divided by turning away and turning toward God. For after creation some at once turned toward their Creator, while others turned away. To turn toward God was to cleave to him in charity; to turn away was to hate or envy him—for pride is the mother of envy, through which they wished to make themselves equal to God. In those who turned, God's wisdom began to shine as in a mirror, and they were enlightened by it; those who turned away were blinded. The former were turned and enlightened by God through grace added to them; the latter were blinded not by the infusion of evil but by the abandonment of grace. They were abandoned by grace not in the sense that something previously given was withdrawn, but because grace had never been added to turn them toward God. This, then, is the turning and turning away by which those who were good by nature were divided: some became good beyond that good through justice, others became evil through guilt, that good having been corrupted. Turning made them just, and turning away made them unjust. Each was an act of the will, and in either case the will acted freely.

¹ fuerint OPW. || 13 sint] sunt LNV. || 16 adhaerere] inhaerere BCL.]

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⁴ qui MW. || accipiat] accipiant BCX; supply quis or aliquis (l. 7). || fuerunt] fuerint RTV. || quia] quod BCLTW. || 5 fuerunt] fuerint OPW. || 13 sint] sunt LNV. || 16 adhaerere] inhaerere BCL.]

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Chapter 2 (21).

He briefly touches on free choice, teaching what it is. For all possessed free choice, which is the free power and capacity of a rational will. For by will they could choose anything, and by reason judge, that is, discern; in these things free choice consists. They were not created willing to turn away or to turn toward God, but capable of willing this or that; and after their creation, by spontaneous will some chose evil, others good. And thus God divided the light from the darkness, as Scripture says¹, that is, the good angels from the evil; and he called the light day, but the darkness night, because he illuminated the good angels with his grace, but blinded the evil.

Chapter 3 (22).

After creation something was given to those who stood, by which they might turn, and not through any merit, namely, cooperating grace. If it is asked whether after creation something was bestowed on those who turned, by which they might turn, that is, love God, we say that cooperating grace was bestowed on them, without which a rational creature cannot advance toward the merit of life. It can fall by itself, but cannot advance without grace to aid it.

Chapter 4 (23).

What grace the angel needed and what he did not. The angel did not need the grace by which he would be justified, since he was not evil, but the grace by which he would be helped to love God perfectly and obey him. — What grace is operative and what cooperative*. Operative grace is that by which the ungodly is justified, that is, from ungodly becomes godly, from evil becomes good; cooperative grace is that by which one is helped effectively to will the good, to love God above all, to do good, to persevere in good, and the like, about which we shall speak more fully later². Therefore cooperating grace was given to the angels who stood firm, by which they turned so as to love God perfectly. They thus turned from the good they possessed and had not lost toward a greater good they did not possess; and this turning was effected by cooperating grace together with free choice. This grace was not added to the others who fell.

Chapter 5 (24).

1. Whether it should be imputed to them that they turned away. Therefore some are accustomed to object that it should not be imputed to those who turned away and did not turn toward God, since they could not turn without grace. But grace was not given to them; nor was it their fault that it was not given, since no fault had yet preceded in them.

2. To this one may say that those to whom that grace was added did not receive it through their merits: otherwise it would no longer be grace³, if it were given on account of a merit that existed before grace.

3. By what fault grace was not given to those who fell. That it was not given to the others, however, was their fault, because although they could stand, they were unwilling to do so until grace should be added; whereas the others stood firm until, when those fell through pride, grace was added to them. The fault of those who fell can therefore clearly be detected in this: although without grace, which they had not yet received, they could not advance, nevertheless by what had been bestowed on them in creation they could avoid falling, that is, stand firm, since nothing compelled them to fall; rather, they turned aside by their own spontaneous will. Had they not done so, what was given to the others would certainly have been given to them as well.

Chapter 6 (25).

1. That the angels were blessed at the very moment of confirmation, but whether they merited it through the grace then given them is uncertain: for different people hold different opinions about this. Here it is customary to ask whether the angels were blessed at the very moment of confirmation, and whether they somehow merited that blessedness. — That they were blessed at the very moment of confirmation is affirmed by many authorities⁴, and therefore must be held as certain.

⁷ touching on MNORTV, is touched on L. || teaching] teaches N, omitted BC. || 13 by some alone BCX. || namely…cooperating] but…cooperating LM. || 21–22 Heading omitted LVW.]

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¹¹ to them RTX. || 9 object] say LMNT. || who] which LN, corrected to which V. || 13 if] but MN. || 14 would be] if added BCM, added between the lines N. || 25 were] were LMRVWX. || 26 merited] merited BLM. || 28 were] were LMR.]

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2. Whether, however, they merited blessedness itself through the grace then given them is uncertain. For some² hold that they merited it through the grace they received at confirmation; they say that merit and reward were present in them simultaneously, and that merit did not precede reward in time, but in cause. — Others, however, think that they did not merit the blessedness they received at confirmation through the grace then added, saying that grace was not then bestowed on them for meriting, but for living in blessedness; that what was given them then was not a good by which they might merit, but one which they might enjoy happily. They say that what they then received as reward was merited through the services they rendered to us in obedience and reverence toward God; and thus reward preceded merits. I confess that this view pleases me more.