Breve discurso contra a doctrina de Calvino (Short Discourse against calvin’s Doctrine)

What Calvin alleges as substantiation for his pseudo-doctrine that men are prevented from doing good deeds and engaging in the truth because of their corrupt nature, arising from Adam’s sin and that, although God commanded him later to obey His law and precepts, is not because they would be able to observe them, but rather because they should and could act before a person sinned. For example, a man who owed a great sum of money and squandered it all despite the fact that his creditor could put him into prison, reminding him daily and asking for what he is owed, not because he might possibly be able to repay it, for he no longer has the money, because when he had it, he did not pay it back to the creditor (a totally inappropriate example because the creditor sought only to punish and harass the debtor because he had consumed and spent everything that he had rather than ask and demand that he pay the debt). For it would be gross ignorance to ask for the impossible and even more so in the case of God demanding this of man, commanding man to serve Him, an impossibility given man’s corrupt nature. And this example would only be fitting if God were to proceed to punish man because, when man could pay the debt of serving Him, he did not, but in no way should He command man and help him with new laws and precepts such as the law which He later gave to Israel on Mount Sinai, since they could not, by themselves, observe or fulfill a single precept or act of virtue. Thus, the aforementioned Calvin claims to substantiate his wretched doctrine with the seemingly impossibility of observing a precept out of love for God as the Blessed one commands him, saying: and you shall love your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might (Deuteronomy 6:5), saying that no one can possibly attain this degree of divine love and, consequently, the other precepts, both positive and negative. In order to reveal the falseness of this allegation, we must first explain the real distinction that exists in saying there is an impossibility in human affairs, for there are two types: physical impossibility and moral impossibility. The physical one occurs when things cannot naturally act contrary to their natural attributes, such as fire not being able to become cold. Similarly, Calvin’s ascribing to man the impossibility of engaging in virtuous acts, saying that this is a consequence of his corrupt nature whereby he has totally changed his attributes, thus making it impossible for him to do good deeds like a dead man functioning as a living person without God reviving him by granting him grace. The second way is nothing more than a difficulty but not a moral impossibility, because this comes from man’s inclination toward vice more than towards virtue—confirmed by his habit and practice of doing more harm than good, which in large measure is customarily called second nature, as stated by the philosopher, “habit is second nature.” What is certain, however, is (as everyone has experienced within himself) that no matter how accustomed to something a man is, he can fight and overcome such a habit, even though it be difficult. Thus, with regard to impossibility, we reject Calvin by citing the experience that man has within himself, since surely when a man wishes to decide to perform good deeds, it is not so impossible for him to do so (even though it be as difficult for a dead person to act like a living one, if we concede the aforementioned impossibility, which would, in large measure, mean the difficulty with which man, after Adam’s sin, became inclined toward vice, which is not the case, so that the impossibility of serving God, by wishing to decide to do this and overcome his difficulty, largely by God promising him His assistance so that for his part, he begin to act according to our dictum (“one who comes to purify himself is endorsed on High” [b. Yoma 38b]). In many scriptural passages this is confirmed beyond the great remedy of penitence whereby God is satisfied to such an extent that, although a man live his entire life in sin, diminishing himself before God at the end in perfect contrition and penitence, he frees himself of blame and returns to God’s grace and is saved, as is made manifest by the fulfillment of the Holy Doctrine above and beyond the whole law. Although suffice it to say that He commands us to do that which Calvin claims to be impossible to observe, if considered part by part, one will find it to be the opposite because firstly when it comes to the positive commandments, he will not find anyone desirous of observing them, since there is a violent aversion on the part of one’s appetite and the corruption of human nature, for charity well demonstrates how much a man, in commiserating with his neighbor’s distress, is inclined to assist him, for there are few negatives which will make it difficult for him to fulfill such precepts. Generally, the deprivation that comes when one is bereft of fulfilling his obligation is apparently what Calvin warns against when he claims that the person did not flaunt the other precept, for example, not out of love for God for the many things that endear him to the Blessed One in the aforementioned verse, thus daring to state that man cannot attain this degree of divine love as we mentioned above when referring to His name. Now, to put an end to this alleged proof and, thereby demonstrate and prove the veracity of our correct doctrine, one should first know that this love which God commands us so dearly to express is a continuous act in which He wants us to persist always and that, in so doing, we love with all our might, virtue, and, at times, by having always the love of God in our heart, we show it in deeds on those occasions when we are offered the opportunity to do so. Having said this, we ask Calvin: Is there a greater act that man can perform out of love for God and the greatest of all those that He asks of us in the said verse: And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might? I must confess that that is what is meant by with all your soul—that is, when the occasion arises whereby, in order not to offend God, it may become necessary to forfeit one’s life and allow oneself to be martyred out of love for His holy service, as is well known and as the statement of the philosopher says: “Life is the best of all one’s possessions and if man delivers it up out of love for God, any other he may have is of lesser importance and, thus, it is the most important and the greatest possession that God asks of us.” Let us now see if such an act is possible or impossible for human nature to observe, for it is certain that when he may wish to deny it, continuous and repeated experience will perforce make him confess. For it is not only in those acts that they profess the true religion but so also do papists and sectarians and even idolatrous peoples. There has been an innumerable number of people who have spontaneously allowed themselves to become martyrs out of love for what they understand is their God, and so many of us, including our own Jews, can exhibit glorious martyrs who, in honoring the holy name of the Blessed God, suffered martyrdom, for the Jewish people has continually endured such martyrdom among the nations of the world. It is a frequent martyrdom, the obvious way to act so that their adversaries will not be able to press them to leave the law of God and free themselves by engaging in the accepted practices of the gentiles among whom they live.

Other works by d’Aguilar: Epítome da grammática hebrayca (1660); Dinim de sehitá e bedicá (1681). “Tratado da imortalidade da alma” (ms.); “Tratado de la retórica; Epitome ou compendio da logica” (ms.).