Losing The Light

Si autem non credideris ei, et fugeris manus eius, erit causa imperfectionis in te, qui non obedisti, sed non in illo, qui vocavit. Ille enim misit, qui vocarent ad nuptias; qui autem non obedierunt ei, semetipsos privaverunt a regia coena. Non igitur ars deficit Dei; potens est enim de lapidibus suscitare filios Abrahae; sed ille qui non consequitur eam, sibimet suae imprefectionis est causa. Nec enim lumen deficit propter eos qui semetipsos excaecaverunt: sed illo perserverante quale et est, excaecati per suam culpam in calignine constituuntur. Neque lumen cum magna necessitate subjiciet sibi quemquam: neque Deus coget eum qui nolit continere ejus artem. Qui igitur abstiterunt a paterno lumine, et transgressi sunt legem libertatis; per suam abstiterunt culpam, liberi arbitrii et suae potestatis facti. Sanctus Ireneaus Lugdunensis, Adversus Haereses, Liber IV Cap XXXIX Source: Migne PG 7.1110d-1111b

But if you will not believe in Him, and will flee from His hands, the cause of imperfection shall be in you, who did not obey, and not in Him who called. For He sent out to call people to the marriage, but those who did not obey Him deprived themselves of the royal feast. 1 Therefore the work of God is not defective, for He has the power to raise up children from stones for Abraham, 2 but the man who does not obtain it is the cause to himself of his own imperfection. For light does not fail because of those who have blinded themselves, but while it remains the same as ever, those who have been blinded are established in darkness through their own fault. The light does not enslave any one by any overwhelming necessity, nor does God force anyone who is unwilling to be part of His work. Therefore those who have fallen from the paternal light and transgressed the law of liberty, have fallen through their own fault, since they were made free willed and possessed power over themselves. Saint Ireneaus of Lyons, Against Heresies, Book 4, Chap 39 1 Mt 22.3 2 Mt 3.9