登陆注册
5166700000115

第115章

For, according to this great saint, whom the popes and the Church have held to be a standard authority on this subject, God transforms the heart of man, by shedding abroad in it a heavenly sweetness, which surmounting the delights of the flesh, and inducing him to feel, on the one hand, his own mortality and nothingness, and to discover, on the other hand, the majesty and eternity of God, makes him conceive a distaste for the pleasures of sin which interpose between him and incorruptible happiness.Finding his chiefest joy in the God who charms him, his soul is drawn towards Him infallibly, but of its own accord, by a motion perfectly free, spontaneous, love-impelled; so that it would be its torment and punishment to be separated from Him.Not but that the person has always the power of forsaking his God, and that he may not actually forsake Him, provided he choose to do it.But how could he choose such a course, seeing that the will always inclines to that which is most agreeable to it, and that, in the case we now suppose, nothing can be more agreeable than the possession of that one good, which comprises in itself all other good things? "Quod enim (says St.Augustine) amplius nos delectat, secundum operemur necesse est- Our actions are necessarily determined by that which affords us the greatest pleasure." Such is the manner in which God regulates the free will of man without encroaching on its freedom, and in which the free will, which always may, but never will, resist His grace, turns to God with a movement as voluntary as it is irresistible, whensoever He is pleased to draw it to Himself by the sweet constraint of His efficacious inspirations.These, father, are the divine principles of St.Augustine and St.Thomas, according to which it is equally true that we have the power of resisting grace, contrary to Calvin's opinion, and that, nevertheless, to employ the language of Pope Clement VIII in his paper addressed to the Congregation de Auxiliis, "God forms within us the motion of our will, and effectually disposes of our hearts, by virtue of that empire which His supreme majesty has over the volitions of men, as well as over the other creatures under heaven, according to St.Augustine." On the same principle, it follows that we act of ourselves, and thus, in opposition to another error of Calvin, that we have merits which are truly and properly ours; and yet, as God is the first principle of our actions, and as, in the language of St.Paul, He "worketh in us that which is pleasing in his sight"; "our merits are the gifts of God," as the Council of Trent says.By means of this distinction we demolish the profane sentiment of Luther, condemned by that Council, namely, that "we co-operate in no way whatever towards our salvation any more than inanimate things"; and, by the same mode of reasoning, we overthrow the equally profane sentiment of the school of Molina, who will not allow that it is by the strength of divine grace that we are enabled to cooperate with it in the work of our salvation, and who thereby comes into hostile collision with that principle of faith established by St.Paul: "That it is God who worketh in us both to will and to do." In fine, in this way we reconcile all those passages of Scripture which seem quite inconsistent with each other such as the following: "Turn ye unto God"- "Turn thou us, and we shall be turned"- "Cast away iniquity from you"- "It is God who taketh away iniquity from His people"- "Bring forth works meet for repentance"-"Lord, thou hast wrought all our works in us"- "Make ye a new heart and a new spirit"- "A new spirit will I give you, and a new heart will I create within you," &c.The only way of reconciling these apparent contrarieties, which ascribe our good actions at one time to God and at another time to ourselves, is to keep in view the distinction, as stated by St.Augustine, that "our actions are ours in respect of the free will which produces them;but that they are also of God, in respect of His grace which enables our free will to produce them"; and that, as the same writer elsewhere remarks, "God enables us to do what is pleasing in his sight, by making us will to do even what we might have been unwilling to do." It thus appears, father, that your opponents are perfectly at one with the modern Thomists, for the Thomists hold with them both the power of resisting grace, and the infallibility of the effect of grace; of which latter doctrine they profess themselves the most strenuous advocates, if we may judge from a common maxim of their theology, which Alvarez, one of the leading men among them, repeats so often in his book, and expresses in the following terms (disp.

72, n.4): "When efficacious grace moves the free will, it infallibly consents;because the effect of grace is such, that, although the will has the power of withholding its consent, it nevertheless consents in effect." He corroborates this by a quotation from his master, St.Thomas: "The will of God cannot fail to be accomplished; and, accordingly, when it is his pleasure that a man should consent to the influence of grace, he consents infallibly, and even necessarily, not by an absolute necessity, but by a necessity of infallibility." In effecting this, divine grace does not trench upon "the power which man has to resist it, if he wishes to do so"; it merely prevents him from wishing to resist it.This has been acknowledged by your Father Petau, in the following passage (Book i, p.602):."The grace of Jesus Christ insures infallible perseverance in piety, though not by necessity;for a person may refuse to yield his consent to grace, if he be so inclined, as the council states; but that same grace provides that he shall never be so inclined." This, father, is the uniform doctrine of St.Augustine, of St.Prosper, of the fathers who followed them, of the councils, of St.

同类推荐
  • 翰林要诀

    翰林要诀

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 太子瑞应本起经

    太子瑞应本起经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 漆园指通

    漆园指通

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 龙树菩萨劝诫王颂

    龙树菩萨劝诫王颂

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 晋江县志道光本

    晋江县志道光本

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 萝莉丫头不好惹

    萝莉丫头不好惹

    【蓬莱岛原创社团出品】她是学校里最为平凡的女生。他是人见人爱花见花开的完美校草。在他的眼中她不过是一个整天只知道读书的丑丫头而已。他是校园中的神秘王子。缘分就是这么的神奇,当平凡的丑丫头遇上了不良校草与神秘王子,三人之间会擦出怎样的爱情火花?谁才是她的真名天子?
  • 一个侦探所

    一个侦探所

    这是一个披着推理外表的悬疑热血校园爱情小说,揭露了当代社会的现实问题,刻画出了一个个鲜活的人物,描绘了当代人们在现实生活中的彷徨,表达了作者对一个个角色无奈抉择的哀叹,发出了对当代社会不公的呐喊!好了,就这么多,我实在编不下去了!
  • Small Catechism

    Small Catechism

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 天绝魔刀

    天绝魔刀

    这是一把宝刀,削铁如泥,吹毛断发!这更是一把魔刀,闻恶人而震鞘,出鞘必饮人血!摄人心魄,风云变色!靖难之役年间,血魔教“犯上作乱,大逆不道”,遭武林十三大门派围剿,犁庭扫穴。襁褓中的孪生婴儿被幸免,分别由梅花庄和天山派收养,不料天山派掌门与养子神秘失踪。十六年后,朝廷颁布“禁武令”,武林归于平静。不料一伙神秘的黑衣杀手突对参与昔日“除魔”的门派进行血腥报复。一时间人人自危,武林风云再起,各路英豪纷纷重新拿起武器,以武破禁,矛头指向血魔教残存弟子。梅花庄养子夏鸿飞,在获知自己是血魔教少主后何去何从?欲知精彩故事,请读此书!
  • 明日歌·山河曲1

    明日歌·山河曲1

    一桩赈灾银的莫名失踪案,掀起了一场关涉庙堂与江湖的腥风血雨。 嘉南王运送的赈灾银在途中莫名失窃,一时疑云密布,震惊朝野,而此时江湖上亦风起云涌,就连名震江湖隐迹多年的六大杀手也集体重出江湖。 在失银案的追查过程中,波澜曲折,各方势力明争暗斗……
  • 美女瘦身食谱

    美女瘦身食谱

    想成为君子好逑的窈窕淑女吗?想拥有楚腰燕瘦的身材吗?吃也是可以成就一个美女的。爱美之心人皆有之,谁都想拥有完美身材,展现自身魅力。遇到体重“超标”了就着急减肥,但是忽视了减肥的科学性,所以提倡需要减肥的白领女性选用科学减肥方法。这本书针对女性的工作、生活特点,推荐了一些减肥食谱,同时也要结合运动减肥。
  • 罗斯福大传

    罗斯福大传

    本书详述了罗斯福传奇的一生,剖析了罗斯福的政治风格及政治谋略,给大家呈现一个真实而完整的政治领袖。希望本书能让您更多地了解罗斯福,用罗斯福的智慧、魅力和魄力,去充实自己、鼓舞自己、从而走向人生的辉煌。对于每一个渴望成功的人来说,本书都会是个不错的启发工具。
  • 刘永好传:饲料大王的财富人生

    刘永好传:饲料大王的财富人生

    每一个人,不管是在中国,还是在美国、欧洲,不管是黑皮肤、黄皮肤还是白皮肤,注定了你的生命也就是一百年以内。你既然知道生下来一百年以后,你就会走,你的生命价值在哪里?在于过程。其实,这20多年的磨炼对于我来说,拥有了多少财富并不重要,重要的是,我拥有了创造这些财富的能力!
  • 荒野寻食记

    荒野寻食记

    荒野中,一位魂尊御空而过,看到林烨正在一边解剖星兽尸体,一边对着直播镜头解说着星兽的构造和弱点,不由的停下来,拍了拍林烨的肩膀赞许道:“不错,不错,难得还有年轻人能这么脚踏实际的讲解星兽的弱点,小伙子我看好你哦!”然后御空飞起。林烨一脸懵逼:“我只是想告诉他们这星兽啥部位能吃而已。”刚刚飞起的魂尊一个趔趄差点摔下来,然后一脸尴尬加速离开。
  • 网游之三国定鼎

    网游之三国定鼎

    这是一个世界,一个真实的世界。有人挥洒热血,有人无悔出剑。三国,好大一个世界,好大一场烟雨,花开花落不知几时节。或许,你也曾被雨淋湿过,但不可否认那种酣畅淋漓不可抹却。这场烟花雨,不管夹雪,还是带血,都有人笑着,看着,直到冷冽。