Section CXI

Come now, and inquire of Cyprian to whom the grace of the Savior and the benefit of penance are divinely dispensed: whether to some only, or absolutely to all; and whether only to those who have contracted lesser offenses, or even to those who have imposed no measure upon their sins. This is the open and explicit reply of the most holy martyr: that concerning the amplitude both of salutary grace and of that heavenly charism by which we are called back to repentance, it can—and indeed ought—to be established from those things which a) are expressed in the divine writings ῥητῶς, expressly and in so many words; which b) we read in the same writings as adumbrated and expressed τυπικῶς, typically; and which c) are deduced by the fullest right from the analogy of other benefits whose necessity is far less. For if any do not trust these rules, or pursue other and human rules, they will put forth, not divine counsels, but the mockeries of their own mind.

Nothing, moreover, is more manifest than a) that the universal grace of the Savior and the universal charism of penance are demonstrated by obvious and explicit testimonies of Scripture;—

—than b) that the same universal amplitude is exhibited by types and images; and than c) that the mode and rationale of divine providence in those things which regard the present and bodily life are such that the universal ambit of those gifts which relate to the soul and salvation can be doubted only perversely. For it is not lawful to think that that supreme Deity, which provides so exquisitely for bodies, which illumines bodily eyes with diffused light, and which abundantly pursues the whole human race with its benefactions, is, on the contrary, more sparing in imparting those things by which the mind is cultivated, by which the soul lives, and without which no hope of obtaining immortality shines upon men.

Arnobius understood this¹, and therefore committed it to everlasting letters:

But if absolutely all who understand themselves to be men not by the appearance of bodies but by the power of reason were willing to lend an ear for a little while to the salutary and peaceful decrees of Christ, and, through the pride and haughtiness of their enlightenment, did not trust their own senses rather than his admonitions, the whole world, its customs long since converted to gentler works, would pass its life in the softest tranquility and would come together in salutary concord under unbroken sanctions of covenants.

But although there are men who very often present disobedient ears to interior grace and resist it, God nevertheless is of such goodness and clemency that he neither abandons them wholly nor entirely closes to them the way of recovering better fruit.

For God, says Lactantius², especially desires men to be cleansed from sins, and therefore commands that penance be done³. But to do penance is nothing other than to profess and affirm⁴ that one will sin no further.

But Victorinus, opposing those who brought the divine goodness and power into jeopardy on this account⁵, that many among men give themselves over to sins and therefore incur eternal death, writes among other things⁶:

The death of condemnation will not prejudice his power, nor does condemnation conquer the purpose of his will; but his mercy is not empty, nor is the grace of renewing without reason; for it is given to those who ask, just as those who do not ask have been condemned.

Explaining this more distinctly immediately afterward⁷, he continues:

This was the cause of not indulging the first sinners: when, by his interrogation, he called them to penance, he saw them repelling their own salvation, and condemned them. But he had mercy upon those who were born from them and fled to him. For it is just that those who are willing and penitent, fleeing to him who is able to furnish it, should obtain it; but that the ungrateful and resisting, casting the fault of their deed upon God and having constituted themselves the cause of condemnation, should be dismissed. That justice did not permit this grace to be given to the first-formed: he who condemns did not himself refuse to furnish it. He was also before what he now is and will be: he who is now good was good before; he who is now merciful was merciful before; always remaining in that which he is, immutable. When he condemned him because of fault, it is necessary to discern the fault itself.