Question XXIX: On the effects of faith

§ St. Thomas, quaest. 7. in two articles.

St. Thomas enumerates twin effects of faith, namely Fear and the Purification of the heart. He gathers each from Scripture: Fear indeed from 2. of James: The demons believe, and tremble: Purification, from 15. Acts: Faith purifying hearts.

But St. Bonaventure more elegantly, serm. 1. de pluribus Martyribus, considering that chapter 11. ad Hebr. where the Apostle places the definition of faith, and establishes it as the foundation of the whole spiritual edifice, shows that almost all good things are derived from faith.

He PROVES it, however, because Every cause, the more first it is, so much the more universal for producing all effects, as is had in the book de causis. But he confirms this with examples; for the supreme Pontiff inflows more into the Church than the Archbishop; and the latter more than the Bishop; and he more than the Archdeacon. Similarly the heavens, the higher they are, the more universal causes of effects. Finally the root inflows more than the Trunk; and the latter more than the branches for producing fruits. Since therefore faith is the foundation and root of the virtues, it must have very many effects.

FIRST therefore he asserts with the Apostle ad Ephes. and Hebr. 11. The saints by faith conquered kingdoms, etc. that faith is a Shield for resisting the adversary, and conquering him. This encomium of faith St. Cyril of Jerusalem ascribes catech. 5.

THEN he says that good works arise from faith: Whence it is said Hebr. 11. They wrought justice, that is, good works, which he enumerates at length in the Saints with an amphitheater erected. Thirdly faith is said to be the beginning of salvation: They obtained the promises.

Fourthly, he asserts faith to be illuminative of the intellect, and purgative of the affect, and fortificative of effects, and thus to rule all the potencies, which are sufficiently divided into the Cognitive, Volitive, and Operative.

It is THEREFORE illuminative, like a ray of the Sun. But as the ray more illuminates the subject that is disposed, e. g. the air than water; water than earth, and a golden tablet more than a silver one, and silver more than wood; so also faith; whence Peter 2. cap. 1. having related the glorious transfiguration of the Son of God in the figure of the Sun, says: We have the more firm prophetic word: whereunto you do well to attend, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts. The Holy Doctor continues, that the sun illuminates and warms more quiet bodies, because man becomes wise and understanding while the soul rests, as Aristotle says 7. Phys. t. 20. Therefore the Sun warms quiet water, not flowing. Thus therefore he illuminates and warms quiet minds with the ray of faith. From which he infers that heretics, because they are unstable and unquiet, are never illuminated or warmed. See the Seraphic Doctor wonderfully eloquent in his discourse.

Wherefore he says that that blind man Lucae 18. received light from Faith: Look, your faith has made you safe. For this is the first Light to salvation. Therefore Hebr. 11. it is said: It is the argument of things not appearing.

SECONDLY he proves Faith to be purgative. And he proves it with St. Thomas first from that Act. 15. Then, because the soul, since it is the most noble image of God, drinks in impurities while it is mixed with earth through faults, and unlike God, appears monstrous. But Faith, like the Sun, purges the earthly dregs, raises the humors to heaven, resolves them into showers, and sends forth the flowing ones into rains, to adorn the earth with flowers and enrich it with fruits, and vivifies it lying half-dead with horrible rigidity in winter. Therefore it is said Rom. 1. to give life: The just lives by faith; for Faith is, let it be said, the Dawn, fleeing the shadows of nights. Whence also Baptism, which is the Sacrament of light, as is said in the same epistle ad Hebr. and regeneration, is called the Sacrament of faith. See the Holy Doctor.

THIRDLY he shows faith to be operative; for the more a virtue is first, and root, and foundation, so much the more does it inflow into operation. So (he says) the virtue of the heart, which is the root or foundation of all the members, inflows most, and makes the part more robust into which it inflows from nearer, and thus renders the right part stronger, whence the right arm is stronger for fighting. From which Aristotle says lib. 2. de hist. animalium cap. 2. that the Lion first moves the right foot to walking; And the woman who is pregnant with a male, when suddenly called, first moves the right foot rather than the left. Now faith is the foundation or substance Hebr. 11. because as substance is the foundation and basis of all accidents; so also Faith, of the virtues. Hence in the chapter brought forward the highest and glorious works of the Saints are enumerated: The saints by faith, etc. See the Seraphic Doctor, whose words I am reluctant to transfer, discoursing at length loc. cit.

He PROCEEDS indeed to show that Faith is the principle of Fear; Servile fear indeed has Inform Faith as its principle; for through faith we fear the eternal punishments believed; but the beginning of Filial fear is Formed Faith, which proposes to us the benefits of God, his goodness, promises, etc.

St. Augustine enumerates the fruits of Faith serm. 10. de verbis Apostoli. Ambrose serm. 8. in Psalm. 118. and other Fathers as at St. Bonaventure in Pharetra lib. 2. cap. 23. and in Diaeta, tit. 5. cap. 3. and tit. 8. cap. 5. and p. 1. Brevil. cap. 2. and the following: and lib. 5. Compendii Theologicae veritatis, from cap. 19. to 21. In these places he says marvelous things, which it would be difficult to report worthily, unless transcribed word for word. Nor does he set forth less splendid things in the sermons of the Hexaemeron 2. 6. 8. Similarly also in other little works, which if I were to report, I would fill very many leaves; but I deliberately send you back to the Fountain, whence you may drink the veins of Paradise. I return to that sermon, in which the Holy Doctor seemed to concede Inform Faith to the demons; but he understands it, according to what was said by us with him quaest. 26.