XII. I much approve of that
common observation which has been borrowed from Augustine, that while the natural
talents in man have been corrupted by sin, of the supernatural ones he has been
wholly deprived. For by the latter are intended, both the light of faith and
righteousness, which would be sufficient for the attainment of a heavenly life
and eternal happiness. Therefore, when he revolted from the Divine government,
he was at the same time deprived of those supernatural endowments, which had
been given him for the hope of eternal salvation. Hence it follows, that he
is exiled from the kingdom of God, in such a manner, that all the affections
relating to the happy life of the soul, are also extinguished in him, till he
recovers them by the grace of regeneration. Such are faith, love to God, charity
towards our neighbors, and an attachment to holiness and righteousness. All
these things, being restored by Christ, are considered external and supernatural;
and therefore we conclude that they had been lost. Again, soundness of mind
and rightness of heart were also destroyed; and this is the corruption of the
natural talents. For although we retain some portion of understanding and judgment
together with the will, yet we cannot say that our mind is perfect and sound,
which is oppressed with debility and immersed in profound darkness; and the
depravity of our will is sufficiently known. Reason, therefore, by which man
distinguishes between good and evil, by which he understands and judges, being
a natural talent, could not be totally destroyed, but is partly debilitated,
partly impaired, so that it exhibits nothing but deformity and ruin. In this
sense John says, that "the light" still "shineth in darkness,"
but that "the darkness comprehendeth it not." (John 1:5) In this passage
both these ideas are clearly expressed -- that some sparks continue to shine
in the nature of man, even in its corrupt and degenerate state, which prove
him to be a rational creature, and different from the brutes, because he is
endued with understanding; and yet that this light is smothered by so much ignorance,
that it cannot act with any degree of efficacy. So the will, being inseparable
from the nature of man, is not annihilated; but it is fettered by depraved and
inordinate desires, so that it cannot aspire after any thing that is good. This,
indeed, is a complete definition, but requires more explanation. Therefore,
that the order of our discourse may proceed according to the distinction we
have stated, in which we divided the soul into understanding and will, let us
first examine the power of the understanding. To condemn it to perpetual blindness,
so as to leave it no intelligence in any thing, is repugnant, not only to the
Divine word, but also to the experience of common sense. For we perceive in
the mind of man some desire of investigating truth, towards which he would have
no inclination, but from some relish of it previously possessed. It therefore
indicates some clarity in the human understanding, that it is attracted with
a love of truth; the neglect of which in the brutes argues gross sense without
reason; although this desire, small as it is, faints even before its entrance
on its course, because it immediately terminates in vanity. For the dullness
of the human mind renders it incapable of pursuing the right way of investigating
the truth; it wanders through a variety of errors, and groping, as it were,
in the shades of darkness, often stumbles, till at length it is lost in its
wanderings; thus, in its search after truth, it betrays its incapacity to seek
and find it. The human mind also labors under another grievous malady, frequently
not discerning what those things are, the true knowledge of which it would be
proper to attain, and therefore torments itself with a ridiculous curiosity
in fruitless and unimportant inquires. To things most necessary to be known
it either never pays attention, or contemptuously and rarely digresses; but
scarcely ever studies them with serious application. This depravity being a
common subject of complaint with heathen writers, all men are clearly proved
to have been implicated in it. Wherefore Solomon, in his Ecclesiastes, after
having enumerated those pursuits in which men consider themselves as displaying
superior wisdom, concludes with pronouncing them to be vain and frivolous.
XVIII. We now proceed to
show what human reason can discover, when it comes to the kingdom of God, and
to that spiritual wisdom, which consists chiefly in three things -- to know
God, his paternal favor towards us, on which depends our salvation, and the
method of regulating our lives according to the rule of the law. In the two
first points, but especially in the second, the wisest of mankind are blinder
than moles. I do not deny that some judicious and apt observations concerning
God may be found scattered in the writings of the philosophers; but they always
betray a confused imagination. The Lord afforded them, as we have before observed,
some slight sense of his Divinity, that they might not be able to plead ignorance
as an excuse for impiety, and sometimes impelled them to utter things, by the
confession of which they might themselves be convinced. But they saw the objects
presented to their view in such a manner, that by the sight they were not even
directed to the truth, much less did they arrive at it; just as a man, who is
travelling by night across a field, sees the flash of lightning extending for
a moment far and wide, but with such an transient view, that so far from being
assisted by them in proceeding on his journey, he is re-absorbed in the darkness
of the night before he can advance a single step. Besides, those few truths,
which accidentally appear in their books, with what numerous and monstrous falsehoods
are they defiled! Lastly, they never had the smallest idea of that certainty
of the Divine benevolence towards us, without which the human understanding
must necessarily be full of immense confusion. Human reason, then, neither approaches,
nor tends, nor directs its views towards this truth, to understand who is the
true God, or in what character he will manifest himself to us.
XIX. But because, from our
being intoxicated with a false opinion of our own understanding, we do not without
great difficulty suffer ourselves to be persuaded, that in Divine things our
reason is totally blind and stupid, it will be better, I think, to confirm it
by testimonies of Scripture, than to support it by arguments. This is beautifully
taught by John, in that passage which I just cited, where he says that, from
the beginning, "in God was life, and the life was the light of men. And
the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." (John
1:4) He indicates, indeed, that the soul of man is illuminated with a beam of
Divine light, so that it is never wholly destitute either of some little flame,
or at least of a spark of it; but he likewise suggests that it cannot comprehend
God by that illumination. And this because all his understanding, as far as
respects the knowledge of God, is mere blindness. For when the Spirit calls
men "darkness," he at once totally despoils them of the faculty of
spiritual understanding. Wherefore he asserts that believers, who receive Christ,
are "born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God;" (John 1:13) as though he had said that the flesh is not
capable of such sublime wisdom as to conceive of God and Divine things, without
being illuminated by the Spirit of God; as Christ testified that his being known
by Peter was owing to a special revelation of the Father. (Matt. 16:17)
XX. If we were firmly persuaded
of what, indeed, ought not to be questioned, that our nature is destitute of
all those things which our heavenly father confers on his elect through the
Spirit of regeneration, here would be no cause of hesitation. For this is the
language of the faithful by the mouth of the Prophet: "With thee is the
fountain of life; in thy light we shall see light." (Psalm 36:9) The apostle
confirms the same, when he says that "no man can say that Jesus is Lord,
but by the Holy Ghost." (1 Cor. 12:3) And John the Baptist, perceiving
the stupidity of his disciples exclaims that "a man can receive nothing
except a special illumination, not a common faculty of nature. This is evident
from the complaint which he makes of the inefficacy of the many discourses in
which he had recommended Christ to his disciples. "I see that words are
unavailing to instruct the minds of men in Divine things, unless God give them
understanding by his Spirit." And Moses also, when he reproaches the people
for their forgetfulness, yet at the same time remarks, that they cannot be wise
in the mysteries of God but by the Divine favor. He says, "Thine eyes have
seen the signs and those great miracles; yet the Lord hath not given you a heart
to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear." (Deut. 29:3,4) What more
would he express, if he had called them blockheads, destitute of all understanding
in the consideration of the works of God? Whence the Lord, by the Prophet, promises,
as an instance of peculiar grace, that he will give the Israelites "a heart
to know" him; (Jer. 24:7) plainly suggesting that the mind of man has no
spiritual wisdom except as it is enlightened by him. Christ also has clearly
confirmed this by his own declaration, that no man can come to him, except the
Father draw him. (John 6:44) What! is he not himself the lively image of the
Father, representing to us all "the brightness of his glory"? (Heb.
1:3) Therefore, he could not better manifest the extent of our capacity for
the knowledge of God, than when he affirms that we have no eyes to behold his
image when it is so plainly exhibited. What! did he not descend to the earth
in order to show to men the will of the Father? And did he not faithfully fulfil
the object of his mission? He certainly did; but his preaching is not at all
efficacious, unless the way to the heart be laid open by the internal teaching
of the Spirit. Therefore, none come to him but they who have heard and learned
of the Father. What is the nature of this hearing and learning? It is when the
Spirit, by a wonderful and peculiar power, forms the ears to hear and the mind
to understand. And lest this should appear strange, he cites the prophecy of
Isaiah, where, predicting the restoration of the Church, he says, that all those
who shall be saved "shall be taught of the Lord." If God there predicts
something peculiar concerning his elect, it is evident that he speaks not of
that kind of instruction which is common also to the impious and profane. It
must be concluded, therefore, that there is no admission into the kingdom of
God, but for him whose mind has been renewed by the Illumination of the Holy
Spirit. But Paul expressed himself more clearly than all the others. After he
has condemned all human wisdom as folly and vanity, and even reduced it to nothing
he comes to this conclusion: "The natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Cor. 2:14) Whom does
he call the natural man? him who depends on the light of nature. He, I say,
has no apprehension of the mysteries of God. Why so? because through laziness
he neglects them? No, no matter how hard he tries it will not help "because
they are spiritually discerned." This implies, that being entirely concealed
from human understanding, they are discovered only by the revelation of the
Spirit; so that where the illumination of the Spirit is not enjoyed, they are
deemed foolishness itself. He had before extolled "the things which God
hath prepared for them that love him" (1 Cor. 2:9) above the capacity of
our eyes, our ears, and our minds; he had even asserted that human wisdom was
a kind of veil, by which the mind is perverted from a discovery of God. What
more do we want? The Apostle pronounces that "God hath made foolish the
wisdom of this world;" (1 Cor. 1:20) and shall we ascribe to it such a
degree of understanding, as would enable it to penetrate to God, and to the
most secret recessed of the heavenly kingdom? Far be from us such extreme stupidity.
XXI. That which he here
detracts from men, he in another place ascribes to God. Praying for the Ephesians,
he says, "May God, the father of glory, give unto you the Spirit of wisdom
and revelation." (Eph. 1:17) You hear now that all wisdom and revelation
is the gift of God. What follows? "The eyes of your understanding being
enlightened." If they need a new revelation, they are certainly blind of
themselves. It follows, "that ye may know what is the hope of your calling,"
etc. He confesses, then, that the minds of men are not naturally capable of
so great knowledge, as to know their own calling. Nor let any Pelagian here
object, that God assists this stupidity or ignorance, when, by the teaching
of his word, he directs the human understanding to that which, without a guide,
it never could have attained. For David had the law, in which all desirable
wisdom was comprised yet, not content with this, he requested that his eyes
might be opened to consider the mysteries of that law. (Psalm 119:18) By this
expression he clearly signifies, that the sun arises on the earth, where the
word of God shines on mankind but that they derive little advantage from it,
till he himself either gives them eyes or opens them, who is therefore called
"the father of lights;" (James 1:17) because wherever his Spirit does
not shine, every thing is covered with darkness. Thus also the Apostles were
rightly and abundantly taught by the best of all teachers: yet, if they had
not needed the Spirit of truth (John 16:14) to instruct their minds in that
very doctrine which they had previously heard, they would not have been commanded
to expect him. If, in imploring any favor of God, we confess our need, and if
his promising it argues our poverty, let no man hesitate to acknowledge that
he is incapable of understanding the mysteries of God, any further than he has
been illuminated by Divine grace. He who attributes to himself more understanding,
is so much the blinder, because he does not perceive and acknowledge his blindness.
XXII. It remains for us
to notice the third branch of knowledge, relating to the rule for the proper
regulation of our life, which we truly denominate the knowledge of works of
righteousness; in which the human mind discovers somewhat more acuteness than
in the two former particulars. For the Apostles declares, that "when the
Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law,
these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves; which show the work of
the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and
their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another." (Rom.
2:14,15) If the Gentiles have naturally the righteousness of the law engraven
on their minds, we certainly cannot say that they are altogether ignorant how
they ought to live. And no sentiment is more commonly admitted, than that man
is sufficiently instructed in a right rule of life by that natural law of which
the Apostle there speaks. But let us examine for what purpose this knowledge
of the law was given towards the mark of reason and truth. This is evident also
from the words of Paul, if we observe the connection of the passage. He had
just before said, "As many as have sinned without the law, shall also perish
without law; and as many as have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law."
Because it might appear absurd that the Gentiles should perish without any previous
knowledge, he immediately adds that their conscience supplies the place of a
law to them, and is therefore sufficient for their just condemnation. The end
of the law of nature, therefore, is that man may be rendered inexcusable. Nor
will it be improperly defined in this manner -- That it is a sentiment of the
conscience sufficiently discerning between good and evil, to deprive men of
the pretext of ignorance, which they are convicted even by their own testimony.
Such is the indulgence of man to himself, that in the perpetration of evil actions
he always gladly diverts his mind as much as he possibly can from all sense
of sin; which seems to have induced Plato to suppose, that no sin is committed
but through ignorance. This remark of his would be correct, if the hypocrisy
of men could go so far in the concealment of their vices, as that the mind would
have no consciousness of its guilt before God. But since the sinner, though
he endeavors to evade the knowledge of good and evil imprinted on his mind,
is frequently brought back to it, and so is not permitted to shut his eyes,
but compelled, whether he will or not, sometimes to open them, there is no truth
in the assertion, that he sins only through ignorance.
XXIII. Themistius, another
philosopher, with more truth, teaches that the human understanding is very rarely
deceived in the universal definition, or in the essence of a thing; but that
it falls into error, when it proceeds further, and descends to the consideration
of particular cases. There is no man, who, if he be interrogated in a general
way, will not affirm homicide to be criminal; but he who conspires the death
of his enemy, deliberates on it as a good action. The adulterer will condemn
adultery in general; but will privately flatter himself in his own. Here lies
the ignorance -- when a man, proceeding to a particular case, forgets the rule
which he had just fixed as a general position. This subject is very excellently
treated by Augustine, in his exposition of the first verse of the fifty-seventh
Psalm. The observation of Themistius, however, is not applicable to all cases;
for sometimes the wickedness of the crime so oppresses the conscience of the
sinner, that, no longer imposing on himself under the false image of virtue,
he rushes into evil with the knowledge of his mind and the consent of his will.
This state of mind produced these expressions, which we find in a heathen poet:
"I see the better path, and approve it; I pursue the worse." Wherefore
the distinction of Aristotle between incontinence and intemperance appears to
me to be highly judicious. Where incontinence predominates, he says, that by
the agitation of the passions, the mind is deprived of particular knowledge,
so that in its own evil actions it observes not that criminality which it generally
discovers in similar actions committed by other persons; and that when the agitation
has subsided, penitence immediately succeeds; that intemperance is not extinguished
or broken by a sense of sin, but, on the contrary, obstinately persists in the
choice of evil which it has made.
XXIV. Now, when you hear
of a universal judgment in man to discriminate between good and evil, you must
not imagine that it is everywhere sound and perfect. For if the hearts of men
be furnished with a capacity of discriminating what is just and unjust only
that they may not excuse themselves with the plea of ignorance, it is not at
all necessary for them to discover the truth in every point; it is quite sufficient
if they understand so much that they can avail themselves of no excuse, but
being convicted by the testimony of their own conscience, even now begin to
tremble at the tribunal of God. And if we will examine our reason by the Divine
law, which is the rule of perfect righteousness, we shall find in how many respects
it is blind. It certainly is far from reaching the principal points in the first
table; such as relate to trust in God, ascribing to him the praise of goodness
and righteousness, the invocation of his name, and the true observation of the
Sabbath. What mind, relying on its natural powers, ever imagined that the legitimate
worship of God consisted in these and similar things? For when profane men intend
to worship God, though they are recalled a hundred times from their vain and
trivial fancies, yet they are always relapsing into them again. They deny that
sacrifices unaccompanied with sincerity of heart are pleasing to God, thereby
testifying that they have some ideas concerning the spiritual worship of God,
which, nevertheless, they immediately corrupt by their false inventions. For
it is impossible ever to persuade them that every thing is true which the law
prescribes concerning it. Shall I say that the mind of man excels in discernment,
which can neither understand of itself, nor hearken to good instructions? Of
the precepts of the second table it has a little clearer understanding, since
they are more intimately connected with the preservation of civil society among
men. Though even here it is sometimes found to be deficient; for to every noble
mind it appears very absurd to submit to an unjust and imperious despotism,
if it be possible by any means to resist it. A uniform decision of human reason
is that it is the mark of a servile and abject disposition patiently to bear
it, and of an honest and open mind to shake it off. Nor is the revenging of
injuries esteemed a vice among the philosophers. But the Lord, condemning such
excessive pride of mind, prescribes to his people that patience which is deemed
dishonorable among men. But in the universal observation of the law, the censure
of lust wholly escapes our notice. For the natural man cannot be brought to
acknowledge the disorders of his inward dispositions. The light of nature is
smothered, before it approaches the first entrance of this abyss. For when the
philosophers represent the inordinate dispositions of the mind as vices, they
intend those which appear and manifest themselves in the grosser external actions;
but those corrupt desires which more secretly stimulate the mind, they consider
as nothing.
XXV. Wherefore, as Plato has before been deservedly censured for imputing all sins to ignorance, so also we must reject the opinion of those who maintain that all sins proceed from deliberate malice and pravity. For we too much experience how frequently we fall into error even when our intention is good. Our reason is overwhelmed with deceptions in so many forms, is obnoxious to so many errors, stumbles at so many impediments, and is embarrassed in so many difficulties, that it is very far from being a certain guide. Paul shows its deficiency in the sight of the Lord in every part of our life, when he denies "that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves." (2 Cor. 3:5) He does not speak of the will or of the dispositions, but he also divests us of every good thought, that we may not suppose it possible for our minds to conceive how any action may be rightly performed. Are all our industry, understanding, and care so depraved, that we cannot conceive or meditate anything that is right in the sight of God? To us, who do not contentedly submit to be stripped of the acuteness of our reason, which we esteem our most valuable endowment, this appears too harsh; but in the estimation of the Holy Spirit, who knows that all the thought of the wisest of men are vain, (Psalm 94:11) and who plainly pronounces every imagination of the human heart to be only evil, (Gen. 6:5; 8:21) such a representation is consistent with the strictest truth. If whatever our mind conceives, agitates, undertakes, and performs, be invariably evil, how can we entertain a thought of undertaking any thing acceptable to God, by whom nothing is accepted but holiness and righteousness? Thus it is evident that the reason of our mind, whatever it does, is unhappily subject to vanity. David was conscious of this when he prayed that understanding might be given him, to enable him rightly to learn the commandments of the Lord. (Psalm 119:34) For his desire to obtain a new understanding implies the total insufficiency of his own. And this he does not once, but almost ten times in one Psalm he repeats the same petition -- a repetition indicating the greatness of the necessity which urges him thus to pray. What David requests for himself alone, Paul frequently supplicates for the churches at large. "We do not cease to pray for you," says he, "and to desire, that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing." (Col. 1:9; Phil. 1:4) Whenever he represents that as a blessing of God, we should remember that he thereby testifies it to be placed beyond the ability of man. Augustine so far acknowledges this defect of reason in understanding the things of God that he thinks the grace of illumination no less necessary to our minds than the light of the sun to our eyes. And not content with this, he adds the following correction -- that we ourselves open our eyes to behold the light, but that the eyes of our minds remain shut unless they are opened by the Lord. Nor does the Scripture teach us that our minds are illuminated only on one day so as to enable them to see afterwards without further assistance; for the passage just quoted from Paul (Col. 1:9) relates to continual advances and improvements. And this is clearly expressed by David in these words: "With my whole heart have I sought thee; O let me not wander from thy commandments." For after having been regenerated, and having made a more than common progress in true piety, he still confesses his need of perpetual direction every moment, lest he should decline from that knowledge which he possessed. Therefore, in another place, he prays for the renewal of a right spirit which he had lost by his sin; (Ps. 51:10) because it belongs to the same God to restore that which he originally bestowed, but of which we have been for a time deprived.
Translated by John Allen
from The Institutes of the Christian Religion