Of course nothing is too hard for the Lord. But if we choose to apply this principle so extravagantly and harshly in our capricious imaginations, we may then make out God to have done anything we please, on the ground that it was not impossible for him to do it. We must not suppose, however, because he is able to do all things, that he has done what he has not done. But we must inquire whether he has really done it. God could, if he had liked, have furnished humankind with wings to fly with, just as he gave wings to kites. We must not, however, run to the conclusion that he did this because he was able to do it. He might also have extinguished Praxeas and all other heretics at once; it does not follow, however, that he did, simply because he was able. For it was necessary that there should be both kites and heretics; it was necessary also that the Father should be crucified.^[1] In one sense there will be something difficult even for God—namely, that which he has not done—not because he could not but because he would not do it. For with God, to be willing is to be able and to be unwilling is to be unable; all that he has willed, however, he has both been able to accomplish and has displayed his ability.

You, as a person, know any other person from the way he appears outside. You think the way you see. And you see as far only as your eyes do. But the Scripture says, The eyes of the Lord are lofty, People look at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart,^[1] The Lord sees and knows his own,^[2] and the plant that my heavenly Father has not planted, he roots up,^[3] and the first shall, as he shows, be last,^[4] and he carries his fan in his hand to purge his threshing floor.^[5] Let the chaff of a fickle faith fly off as much as it will at every blast of temptation; all the purer will be that heap of corn that shall be laid up in the garner of the Lord.

Admonition, then, is the censure of loving care and produces understanding. Such is Christ the Educator in his admonitions, as when he says in the Gospel, How often would I have gathered your children, as a bird gathers her young ones under her wings, and you would not!^[1] And again, the Scripture admonishes, saying, And they committed adultery with wood and stone and burned incense to Baal.^[2] For it is a very great proof of his love, that, though knowing well the shamelessness of the people that had kicked and bounded away, he notwithstanding exhorts them to repentance and says by Ezekiel, Son of man, you live among scorpions. Nevertheless, speak to them. Perhaps they will hear.^[3] Further, to Moses he says, Go and tell Pharaoh to send my people forth; but I know that he will not send them forth.^[4] For he shows both things: both his divinity in his foreknowledge of what would take place and his love in affording an opportunity for repentance to the self-determination of the soul. He admonishes also by Isaiah, in his care for the people, when he says, This people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. What follows is reproving censure: In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of people.^[5] Here his loving care, having shown their sin, shows salvation side by side with repentance.

The prophet Jeremiah, speaking in the person of God, clearly tells us that the fear of God by which we can hold on to him comes from the Lord: I shall give them one heart and one way so that they may fear me during all their days, so that all will be well for them and for their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, and I shall not cease to do good things for them, and, as a gift, I shall put fear of me in their hearts so that they may never go away from me.

It is much more difficult to persevere when a persecutor is endeavoring that one not persevere, and on this account one is sustained in perseverance to death. The latter perseverance is more difficult to have, the former easier, but for him to whom nothing is difficult, it is easy to give either one. For God has promised this in saying, I will give my fear in their heart, that they may not revolt from me. And what else do these words mean but, such and so great shall be my fear, which I will give into their heart that they will adhere with perseverance to me? . . .

So when the hand of God is on him, that we not depart from God, then the work of God (for this is what is meant by his hand) reaches indeed to us. For in Christ we have obtained our lot, being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things.^[1] Therefore it is by God’s hand, not our own, that we depart not from God. This is his hand, I say, who declared, I will give my fear into their heart, that they may not revolt from me.

Pride has so stopped the ears of their heart that the Pelagians do not hear, For what have you that you have not received?^[1] They do not hear, Without me you can do nothing.^[2] They do not hear, Love is of God.^[3] They do not hear, God has dealt the measure of faith.^[4] They do not hear, The Spirit breathes where it will,^[5] and, They who are led by the Spirit of God, they are the children of God.^[6] They do not hear, No one can come to me, unless it were given him of my Father.^[7] They do not hear what Esdras writes, Blessed is the Lord of our ancestors, who has put into the heart of the king to glorify his house that is in Jerusalem.^[8] They do not hear what the Lord says by Jeremiah, And I will put my fear into their heart, that they do not depart from me. I will visit them to make them good. They do not hear that word by Ezekiel the prophet, where God fully shows that he is not induced to make people good because they deserve good, that is, because they obey his commands, but rather that he repays to them good for evil, by doing this for his own sake and not for theirs.

This grace God placed in him in whom we have obtained a lot, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all things.^[1]And thus as he works that we come to him, so he works that we do not depart. For this reason, it was said to him by the mouth of the prophet, Let your hand be on the man of your right hand, and on the Son of man whom you made strong for yourself, and we will not depart from you.^[2] This certainly is not the first Adam, in whom we departed from him, but the second Adam, on whom his hand is placed, so that we do not depart from him. For Christ altogether with his members is—for the church’s sake, which is his body—the fullness of him. When, therefore, God’s hand is on him, that we depart not from God, assuredly God’s work reaches to us (for this is God’s hand). By this work of God we are caused to be abiding in Christ with God—not, as in Adam, departing from God. For in Christ we have obtained a lot, being predestinated according to his purpose who works all things. This, therefore, is God’s hand, not ours, that we depart not from God. That, I say, is his hand who said, I will put my fear in their hearts that they depart not from me.