Or, if I were to go on and demand of you which of all these heroes of whom you boast, you could certainly show to have been, or to be sanctified, or to have had the Spirit, or to have displayed real miracles, my conviction is that you would have to work very hard, and all in vain. 179 Much of what you say is borrowed from common use and public discourse, 180 which loses more than you suppose of its credit and authority when summoned to the bar of conscience. The proverb is true, ‘Many pass for saints on earth, whose souls are in hell.’
SECT. 2. The excellencies of the Fathers were not of, or for Free will.
But let us grant, if you please, that all of them were sanctified, had the Spirit, and worked miracles (a concession which you do not ask for). Tell me, was any one of them sanctified, did any one of them receive the Spirit and work miracles in the name of or by the power of Freewill; or to confirm the doctrine of Freewill? God forbid, you will say: all these things were done in the name of and by the power of Jesus Christ; and in support of the doctrine of Christ. Why, then, do you adduce their sanctification, their having the Spirit, and their miracles, in support of the doctrine of Freewill, for which they were not given and worked? Their miracles, therefore — their having the Spirit, and their sanctification — are all ours, who preach Jesus Christ in opposition to the powers and works of men. Now, what wonder is it, if those men (holy, spiritual, and workers of miracles as they were) being every now and then forestalled by the flesh, have spoken and acted according to the flesh?
This happened more than once to the Apostles themselves, when living under the immediate eye of Christ. For you do not deny, but even assert, that Freewill is not a matter of the Spirit, or of Christ, but a mere human affair; so that the Spirit which was promised, that he might glorify Christ, cannot possibly preach Freewill. Therefore, if the Fathers have sometimes preached Freewill, then they have assuredly spoken by the flesh, as men, and not by the Spirit of God. Much less have they worked miracles so that they might support it. Thus, your allegation respecting the Fathers, as having been sanctified, having the Spirit, and working miracles, is inapplicable — since it is not Freewill, but the dogma of Jesus Christ which is proved thereby, 181 as opposed to that of Freewill.
SECT. 3. Luther challenges him to show effects of Freewill in the three particular excellencies which he has selected out of Erasmus’ catalogue.
But come now, you who are on the side of Freewill, and assert that a dogma of this sort is true; that is, it has come from the Spirit of God. Still, still I say, manifest the Spirit, publish your miracles, display your sanctification.182 Assuredly you who assert it, owe these things to us who deny it. The Spirit, sanctification, miracles, should not be demanded of us who deny it; they should be demanded of you who assert it. For a negative advances nothing, is nothing, is not bound to prove anything, nor should it be proved itself. An affirmative ought to be proved. You affirm the power of Freewill; a human substance. But no miracle has ever yet been seen or heard of, as performed by God, for any dogma in support of a human thing, but only for one in support of a divine thing. We have it in charge to receive no dogma whatsoever, which has not first been proved by divine attestations. (Deu 18.15-22.) Moreover, the Scripture calls man a vanity and a lie; 183 in effect, this is saying that all human things are vanities and lies.
Come then, come I say, and prove that your dogma in support of a human vanity and lies, is true. Where now is your manifestation of the Spirit? Where is your sanctification? Where are your miracles? — I see talents, erudition, and authority — but God has given these to the Gentiles also.
And yet we will not compel you to great miracles, such as that of healing a lame horse, 184 lest you complain of a carnal age. 185 However, God is in the habit of confirming his doctrines by miracles, without any regard to the carnality of the age. He is not moved by the merits or demerits of a carnal age, but by mere pity and grace, and by a love of establishing souls in solid truth, unto His glory. 186 You are at liberty to work a miracle as small as you please. No, by way of provoking your Baal to exertion, I jeer at you, and I challenge you to create even a single frog in the name and by the power of Freewill — the impious Gentile magicians in Egypt were enabled to create many of these. I will not put you to the trouble of creating lice, which they also were not able to bring forth. I will set you a still lighter task: take but a single gnat or louse (since you tempt and mock my God with your fleer 187 about healing a lame horse). And if with the whole united force, and the whole conspiring efforts, of both your God and yourselves, you are able to kill it — in the name and by the power of Free will — then you will be proclaimed conquerors; and it will be admitted that you have maintained your cause, and we will come quickly and adore this God of yours — the marvellous slayer of a louse!
It is not that I deny your having the power to remove even mountains; but because it is one thing to assert that some act has been performed by the power of Freewill, and another to prove it.
What I have said of miracles, I say also of sanctification. If in so great a series of ages and of men, and of all the things which you have named, you are able to show a single work (let it be but lifting a straw from the ground); or a single word (let it be but the syllable ‘my’); or a single thought (let it be but the feeblest sigh) — proceeding from Freewill — by which they have either applied themselves to grace, or earned the Spirit, or obtained the pardon of sin, or have negotiated anything with God (let it be as diminutive as you please — we will not talk about their sanctification); you will again be the victors, and we will be the vanquished! But then, it must be through the power and in the name of Freewill! For, as to what is done in men through the power of a divine creation, it has Scripture testimonies in abundance. You certainly ought to exhibit some work of this kind, if you would not make yourselves ridiculous teachers by spreading dogmas throughout the world, with all this superciliousness 188 and authority, about a thing of which you produce no record. For those things (the most disgraceful thing imaginable) are called dreams, when they produce no result whatsoever for persons of “such great consequence, living through such a series of ages, men of the greatest erudition and sanctity, who also have the power of working miracles.” The result will be that we prefer the Stoics before you. Although they too described a wise man such as they never saw, they still endeavoured to exhibit the likeness of some part of him in their own character. But you have absolutely nothing to show; not even the shadow of your dogma.
So again, with respect to the Spirit — if out of all the assertors of Freewill, you can show me one who possessed even so small a degree of strength of mind, or good feeling, that it might enable him to despise a single farthing, to forego a single roll of the die, or to forgive a single word or letter of injury (I will not talk of despising wealth, life, and fame), in the name and through the power of Freewill, then take the palm again, and I will be content to be sold as your captive. 189 You should at least show us this, after all your big, swelling words, 190 boasting of Freewill. Otherwise, you will again seem to be wrangling about goats’ wool, or like the noble Argian, seeing plays in an empty theatre. 191
SECT. 4. The saints practically disclaim Freewill, however they may dispute about it.
But, in contradiction to your statement, I will easily show you that holy men, such as you vaunt yourself to possess, as often as they come to pray or plead with God, approach him with an utter forgetfulness of their own Freewill — despairing of themselves, and imploring nothing but pure grace alone, which they acknowledge to be far removed from their own deservings.
Such a man Augustine frequently proves himself to have been; such did Bernard when, in his dying-hour, he said, ‘I have lost my time, for I have lived abominably.’ 192 I do not see any power alleged in these expressions, which applies itself for grace. Rather, they accuse these men of absolutely turning away from all the power which a man has. 193 And yet, in their disputations, these self-same holy men sometimes spoke a
