Prosper of Aquitaine

“Since, therefore, the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and this virtue can be had without wisdom, to whom belongs the beginning of fear? The blessed apostle Peter says, "Grace to you and peace be accomplished in the knowledge of God, and of Christ Jesus our Lord," who has now given "us all things of his divine power, which appertain to life and godliness." Does he say, "Who has excited in us by his help the seeds of virtues which we had naturally implanted"? Rather, he says, "Who has now given us all things which pertain to life and godliness." And in saying this, of what virtue has he placed the beginning in nature, which was not conferred by him who gave all things? Wherefore, St. Paul also says, "For what have you that you have not received? And if you have received, why do you glory as if you had not received?"”

“Unless God works in us, we cannot be partakers of any virtue. For indeed, without this Good, nothing is good. Without this Light, nothing is bright. Without this Wisdom, nothing is wise. Without this Justice, nothing is right. For the Lord says through the mouth of Isaiah, "I am, I am the Lord, and there is no one besides me who saves," and through Jeremiah, "I know, O Lord, that the way of a person is not in him. Neither is it in a person to direct his way."”

“Jeremiah, explaining that humankind receives wisdom from God, states, "I know, O Lord, that the way of a person is not his. Neither is it of a person … to direct his way." Again the Lord proclaims through the same prophet that God effects the conversion of a heart to him and says, "I will bring them again into this land. And I will build them up again and not pull them down. And I will plant them and pluck them up. And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. And they shall be my people and I will be their God, because they shall return to me with whole heart."”

“The adulterous woman whom the law prescribed to be stoned was set free by him with truth and grace when the avengers of the law, frightened with the state of their own conscience, had left the trembling guilty woman to the judgment of him who had come "to seek and save what was lost." For that reason he, bowing down—that is, stooping down to our human level and intent on the work of our reformation—"wrote with his finger on the ground," in order to repeal the law of the commandments with the decrees of his grace and to reveal himself as the One who had said, "I will give my laws in their understanding, and I will write them in their hearts." This indeed he does every day when he infuses his will into the hearts of those who are called and when with the pen of the Holy Spirit the Truth mercifully rewrites on the pages of their souls all that the devil enviously falsified.”

“Obviously, those who have heard the gospel and refused to believe are all the more inexcusable than if they had not listened to any preaching of the truth. But it is certain that in God's foreknowledge they were not children of Abraham and were not reckoned among the number of them of whom it is said, "In your seed all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed." He promised them the faith when he said, "And no one shall teach his neighbor and no one his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord.' For all shall know me, from the small among them even to the great." He promised them pardon when he said, "I will forgive their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more." He promised them an obedient heart when he said, "I will give them another heart and another way, that they may fear me all days." He promised them perseverance when he said, "I will give my fear in their heart, that they may not revolt from me, and I will visit them, that I may make them good." Finally, to all without exception he promised the faith when he said, "I have sworn by myself, justice alone shall go out of my mouth, and my words shall not be turned away. Every knee shall be bowed to me, and every tongue shall confess to God."”

“Indeed, since the sum total of all God's bounty and the soul of all virtues are given with this ineffable gift, all other gifts are granted us to enable the yearning of the faithful soul to strive effectively after perfect charity. As this is not only from God but is God, it makes steadfast, persevering and unconquerable all those whom it floods with its delight. But people who do not know the sweetness of these waters and still drink of the torrents of this world, people who even after touching with the lips and tasting of the fountain of life still like to get drunk with the golden cup of Babylon, are completely deceived by their own judgment and fall through their own fault. If they persist in this slothfulness, they themselves throw off what they had received. For without charity it is easy to lose all gifts, which same gifts are useless without charity.”

“God in truth has created the body and the spirit of every single human being. Besides the diversity each person may choose to pursue, there is an infinite variety created by God beyond what could be voluntarily achieved by everyone in what each person receives at the beginning of his or her existence. But there are those who would upset us and many who would lead us astray with their vain sayings and false opinions among those who presume to be in the know about unknowable things, having attributed these original differences to fate (even if it does not exist) and to the stars. But we are firmly convinced that God the creator forms all the different types and models of things according to his will from the original elements, and although the nature of the spirit is of one kind and the body another, he deals with them according to the methods most agreeable to him. And surely these acts of God would not have been withdrawn from human knowing if there was a reason for them to be known; or it would be clearly revealed why everything happens the way it does, if it were not sufficient to know that it happens in this way. The Lord said to Moses, "Who has given speech to humankind and who has made the dumb and the deaf, the seeing and the blind? Is it not perhaps I the Lord God?" And again in Isaiah, " 'Have I not made the sterile and the fecund?' says the Lord." In the book of Ecclesiasticus there is the saying, "Good and evil, life and death, poverty and riches come from the Lord." And Job says, "The tents of robbers are at peace, and with impudence they provoke God, even though he has given everything into their hands."”

“"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." This fear, which results from some type of frightening experience, renders one willing who began by being previously afraid, and not only willing but also wise. For thus it is written, "Happy are those to whom it has been granted to have the fear of God." What could possibly render the soul more blessed than this fear that is the parent and master of wisdom? The will is filled with the devotion that springs from wisdom and progresses from that same fear with which it began and that provoked grace. When, therefore, this fear becomes instilled in us with the force of great terror, this does not mean that it extinguishes reason or lessens our intelligence; rather, the haze that has hovered over our mind is removed, yes, and the will that was at first depraved and taken prisoner becomes right and free. For just as the spirit does not receive virtue if it has not received the beam of the true light, so grace does not confer anything to the one on whom it calls if the eyes of the will have not been opened.”

“If we go back to the beginnings of the world, we find that the Spirit of God guided all of the saints before the flood, and for this reason they are also called children of God, since, as the apostle says, "All those who are guided by the Spirit of God are children of God." And because, neglecting to obey the ancestors, they became involved in illicit and reprobate marriages, and because of this wicked communion were judged worthy of extermination, the Lord said, "My Spirit will not remain forever with these people, for they are flesh." From this it is clear that this people, whose history is narrated year by year in an orderly manner, was first spiritual, that is, having a will that was guided by the Holy Spirit, in such a way however that this government and guidance did not take away their freedom to turn toward sin. If the people had not exercised this freedom, they would not have abandoned God. Nor would they have been abandoned by God, and they would rather have been that of which it is written, "Happy the one who could have sinned but did not." Therefore, as long as they remained with God, they remained in the will that God inspired in them and by which he would have governed them. "The will," as it is written, "is predisposed by the Lord."”

“At no time does our corruptibility participate in incorruptibility, given that, our nature being destined to die, it is at all times subject to death. The beginning of this life is the beginning of death, and no sooner does our age begin to increase than our life begins to decrease. And if a stretch of time is added to it, it is not added in a permanent way but transitorily, always moving toward death. Thus a person, mortal from the beginning, who one day dies, does not die in violation of the law of mortality, and the possibility of dying is always greater for him than that of living. And although the mortality of all people derives from a single cause, nevertheless many are the weaknesses that lacerate corruptible human nature. And not only the years or the months or days of human life but every hour and each individual moment are subject to illness, depression and injuries. And there is no manner of dying that does not happen to at least someone among mortals. There hangs "a severe yoke over the children of Adam, from the day they come forth from their mother's womb until the day of their burial in the mother of all, the earth."”