In article <143.07.06.05.478367000@srcbs.org>, George Smith says...
>


[snip]

>George Smith offers Augustin's citations in a readable manner I hope:

And it is a KEY passage in Augustine. But unfortunately, Augustine really was
relying on his reader to think of the Old Latin translation of Scripture when
hearing the sermon -- read in Latin.

I'll explain why below.


>
>
>
> From a Treatise on Grace and Free Will
>
>Chapter 4.—
>The Divine Commands Which are Most Suited to the Will Itself Illustrate
>Its Freedom.
>
>What is the import of the fact that in so many passages God requires all
>His commandments to be kept and fulfilled? How does He make this
>requisition, if there is no free will?

Really, not "free will", but "free choice of the will". The implications of the
difference are not always immediately obvious.


>What means “the happy man,”

Not 'happy', but 'beatus', which means 'blessed'. The word itself implies that
happiness comes from divine blessing.

> of whom the Psalmist says that_ “his will
>has been the law of the Lord”? (Ps. i. 2.) _Does he not clearly enough
>how that a man by his own will takes his stand in the law of God?
>Then again, there are so many commandments which in some way are
>expressly adapted to the human will; for instance, there is, _“Be not
>overcome of evil,” (Rom. xii. 1.) and others of similar import, such as,
>“Be not like a horse or a mule, which have no understanding;”

Both of these commands, like SO many others in the passage, are phrase in Latin
as "noli ...l". 'Noli' literally means "do not will to".

So a painfully literal translation of the commandment would be:

do not will to be like a horse or mule...

See how this makes the saint's point clearer?

[snip]
>Now wherever it is said, “Do not do this,” and “Do not do that,” and
>wherever there is any requirement in the divine admonitions for the work
>of the will to do anything, or to refrain from doing anything, there is at
>once a sufficient proof of free will.

This is clear in the Latin, where it is literally "do not will to". It is less
clear in English. But I hope I have made it more clear.

[snip]


--
---------------------------
Subducat se sibi ut haereat Deo
quidquid boni habet, tribuat illi a quo factus est.
(St. Augustine, Ser. 96)

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Matthew Johnson wrote:
> In article , Robert Sutherland