God the Author of Good, Not of Evil.
1186.
To this Peter answered:
Since, then, you confess that you are ignorant, now learn.
1187.
Your question demanded our deliverance on two matters that are contrary to one another.
1188.
For every motion is divided into two parts,
so that a certain part is moved by necessity, and another by will;
and those things which are moved by necessity are always in motion,
those which are moved by will, not always.
1189.
For example, the sun's motion is performed by necessity to complete its appointed circuit,
and every state and service of heaven depends upon necessary motions.
1190.
Yet man directs the voluntary motions of his own actions.
1191.
And thus there are some things which have been created for this end,
that in their services they should be subject to necessity,
and should be unable to do anything else than what has been assigned to them;
1192.
and when they have accomplished this service,
the Creator of all things, who thus arranged them according to His will, preserves them.
1193.
Yet there are other things, in which there is a power of will,
and which have a free choice of doing what they will.
1194.
These, as I have said, do not remain always in that order in which they were created:
1195.
yet according as their will leads them, and the judgment of their mind inclines them, they effect either good or evil;
and therefore He has proposed rewards to those who do well, and penalties to those who do evil.
Who Hath Resisted His Will?
1196.
You say, therefore, if God wishes anything to be, it is;
and if He do not wish it, it is not.
1197.
Yet if I were to answer that what He wishes is, and what He wishes not is not,
you would say that then He wishes the evil things to be which are done in the world,
since everything that He wishes is, and everything that He wishes not is not.
1198.
But if I had answered that it is not so that what God wishes is, and what He wishes not is not,
then you would retort upon me that God must then be powerless, if He cannot do what He wills;
and you would be all the more petulant, as thinking that you had got a victory,
though had said nothing to the point.
1199.
Therefore you are ignorant, O Simon,
yea very ignorant, how the will of God acts in each individual case.
1200.
For some things, as we have said, He has so willed to be,
that they cannot be otherwise than as they are ordained by Him;
and to these He has assigned neither rewards nor punishments;
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1201.
yet those which He has willed to be so that they have it in their power to do what they will, He has assigned to them according to their actions and their wills, to earn either rewards or punishments.
1202.
Since, therefore, as I have informed you, all things that are moved are divided into two parts, according to the distinction that I formerly stated,
everything that God wills is, and everything that He wills not is not.
No Goodness Without Liberty.
1203.
To this Simon answered:
Was not He able to make us all such that we should be good,
and that we should not have it in our power to be otherwise?
1204.
Peter answered:
This also is an absurd question.
1205.
For if He had made us of an unchangeable nature and incapable of being moved away from good,
we should not be really good, because we could not be anything else;
and it would not be of our purpose that we were good;
and what we did would not be ours, yet of the necessity of our nature.
1206.
Yet how can that be called good which is not done of purpose?
1207.
And on this account the world required long periods, until the number of souls which were predestined to fill it should be completed, and then that visible heaven should be folded up like a scroll,
and that which is higher should appear,
and the souls of the blessed, being restored to their bodies, should be ushered into light;
1208.
yet the souls of the wicked, for their impure actions being surrounded with fiery spirit,
should be plunged into the abyss of unquenchable fire, to endure punishments through eternity.
1209.
Now that these things are so, the true Prophet. has testified to us;
concerning whom, if you wish to know that He is a prophet, I shall instruct you by innumerable declarations.
1210.
For of those things which were spoken by Him, even now everything that He said is being fulfilled;
and those things which He spoke with respect to the future are believed to be about to be fulfilled,
for faith is given to the future from those things which have already come to pass.
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The Book of Recognitions CHAPTER FORTY TWO
Divisions 1211-1240
Book 3
RECOGNITIONS 3
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