But even against arguments such as these they are not at a loss for a contentious reply. For they say that God, if He wished, could forcibly draw even those who resist toward accepting the proclamation. But then where would self-determination be? Where would virtue be? Where would the praise of those who do what is right be? Only what is lifeless or irrational is moved toward another's purpose by another's will. But if rational and intelligent nature casts away what lies within its own power, it loses along with it the grace of its intelligence.
For what use would a person have for understanding if the power to choose anything according to one's own judgment lay in someone else's hands? And if moral choice remained unable to act, virtue would necessarily disappear, shackled by the inactivity of moral choice. If virtue did not exist, life would be dishonored, the praise of those who do what is right would be taken away, sin would carry no danger, and the differences between ways of life would go unjudged.
For who could any longer reasonably condemn the undisciplined person or praise the self-controlled one? Everyone would have this answer ready at hand: that none of the things governed by our own judgment is in our power, but human moral choices are turned by a superior authority toward whatever the one in control decides. Therefore the fact that faith does not arise in everyone is not a charge against God's goodness, but belongs to the disposition of those who receive the proclamation.