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ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE TO PROSPER AND HILARY Introduction HE SUBJECT of perseverance is now to be considered more carefully (in the former book we have already said something about it when dealing with the beginning of faith \ What we maintain, then, is that the perseverance by which we persevere in Christ to the end is a gift ofGod. And by "the end" I mean the time at which this life is finished, during which alone there is the peril of falling. Thus, it is uncertain whether anyone has received this gift so long as he is still living. [PL 45.994] For ifhe falls before his death, he is said, and quite rightly said, not to have persevered. How, therefore, could he who has not persevered be said to have received or possessed perseverance? Now if a man were to have continence , and later fall away and become incontinent, or likewise were to have justice, or patience, or faith itself, and fall away, he would rightly be said to have had it but not to have it now. For he was continent, orjust, or patient, or faithful, [995] for a time. But when he has ceased to be so, he no longer is what he was. But he who has not persevered, how could he have been "persevering," when it is only by persevering that a person can show that he is persevering, and he has not done this? Now someone might resist this argument by saying, "Suppose that after a person became a believer, he lived, let us say, ten years, and that halfway through that period he fell away from his faith-did he not persevere for five years?" I will not argue about words, if someone thinks that this should also be called perseverance, for however long it lasted. But certainly a person 1. See, for instance, De praed. sanet. 8.16 and 14.26-29. 271 272 GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE who did not persevere to the end can in no way be said to have had that perseverance ofwhich we are now speaking, by which one perseveres in Christ to the end. Someone who was a believer for only a year, or as much shorter a time as one may think, if he lived faithfully until death, possessed this perseverance , rather than one who believed for many years, but then a short time before death fell away from steadfastness of faith. The Grace ofFinal Perseverance 2.(2) This being established, let us consider whether this perseverance , of which it is said, "He that shall persevere unto the end, shall be saved,,,2 is a gift of God. For if it is not, how is that statement of the Apostle true, "Unto you it is given for Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him,,?3 Now of these things, the one relates to the beginning and the other to the end. Nevertheless, both are said to be gifts ofGod, for both are said to be given, as we have already said above.4 For what is more truly the beginning for a Christian than to believe in Christ? What better end than to suffer for Christ? Nevertheless , in that which concerns faith in Christ, whatever sort of objection has been raised, that not the beginning but the increase offaith should be called the gift ofGod-to this opinion, with the help ofGod, I have responded sufficiently above.5 But what argument could be made that perseverance to the end is not given in Christ to the one to whom it is given to suffer for Christ, or, to put it more precisely, to whom it is given to die for Christ? For the Apostle Peter also shows us that this is the gift ofGod when he says, "It is better doing good (ifsuch be the will of God) to suffer, than doing evil.,,6 When he says, "Ifsuch be the will of God," he shows that it is a divine gift, but not one given to all the saints, to suffer for the sake of Christ. Nor do those whom the will ofGod does not wish to arrive at the experience and glory ofsuffering fail to attain the kingdom ofGod, ifthey have persevered in Christ to the end. But who would say 2. Matt 10.22. 4. De praed. sanet. 2·4. 6.1Pet3·17· 3. Phil 1.29. 5. De praed. sanet., passim. [3.143.4.181] Project...

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