The moral order originally established by God was, as we have seen, disturbed by the sin of our first parents and restored by Jesus Christ. The principle of its restoration in general, and of the moral regeneration of each human individual in particular, is supernatural grace.¹ i. We can acquire no supernatural merits without grace. a) Reason enables man to perceive the truths of the natural order. For the knowledge of the supernatural truths, however, he needs a stronger light.² "The human intellect," says St. Thomas, "has a form, namely, intelligent light, which of itself is sufficient for knowing certain intelligible things, namely, those we can come to know through the senses. Higher intelligible things the human intellect cannot know unless it be perfected by a stronger light, viz.: that of faith or prophecy, which is called the light of grace, inasmuch as it is added to nature." ³ Nor is it the intellect alone that depends on God for its operation; but the will also. No man can will or perform a supernaturally good act except by the aid of a higher power; ⁴ nor can any man, without this power (which we call divine grace), love God above all things ⁵ or keep the commandments perfectly,⁶ or attain eternal salvation. ⁷ b) God is the immediate principle of all supernatural operation, including that by which man prepares himself for the reception of grace. Hence divine grace is indispensably necessary for this preparation.⁸ This is all the more evident when it is considered that God alone had it in His power to redeem mankind after the fall, to restore the moral order, and to forgive the eternal punishment incurred by sin.⁹ Even if put in the state of grace man cannot remain therein without continuous help from his Maker. Hence it is quite true to say that man can do nothing towards securing his salvation except by the grace of God.¹⁰ In this sense it has been truly said that the only thing man can do is to sin.¹¹

¹ Cfr. John I, 17; Rom. V, 20 sq.; 2 Cor. V, 19-21; Eph. II, 8-10. Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, Grace, 2nd ed., St. Louis 1917.

² 1 Cor. XIII, 3; 2 Cor. III, 5.

³ Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 109, art. 1: "The human intellect has a certain form, namely the intelligible light itself, which of itself is sufficient for knowing certain intelligible things, namely those to the knowledge of which we can come through sensible things. But the human intellect cannot know higher intelligible things unless it is perfected by a stronger light, such as the light of faith or prophecy, which is called the light of grace insofar as it is added to nature. Thus it must be said that for the knowledge of any truth man needs divine aid, so that the intellect may be moved by God to its act."

⁴ Cfr. Rom. IX, 16; Phil. I, 13. —St. Augustine, De Corrept. et Grat., c. 2, n. 3: "The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord must be understood, by which alone men are freed from evil and without which they do absolutely no good, whether by thinking, willing and loving, or acting—not only so that by its showing they may know what is to be done, but also so that by its assistance they may do with love what they know." (Migne, P. L., XLIV, 917).—St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 109, art. 2: "In each state, that of integral nature and of corrupted nature, man needs divine aid so that he may be moved by Him to act well." —Cfr. Prop. Baii Damnat., prop. 37: "He agrees with Pelagius who acknowledges any natural good, that is, any good which takes its origin from the powers of nature alone." —Prop. 65: "No good, or even non-evil, use of free choice can be admitted except by the Pelagian error; and he who thinks and teaches thus does injury to the grace of Christ." (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 917, 945). —Cfr. J. Ernst, Die Werke und Tugenden der Ungläubigen nach St. Augustin, Freiburg 1871, pp. 19 sqq.

⁵ Cfr. Rom. V, 5. —St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 109, art. 2, n. 3: "In the state of integral nature man did not need a gift of grace added to his natural goods in order to love God naturally above all things, although he needed the help of God moving him to this; but in the state of corrupt nature man needs for this also the help of grace healing nature."

⁶ Cfr. John XV, 4 sq.—St. Augustine, De Haeres., 88: "The Pelagians are enemies of God’s grace to such a degree that they believe man can fulfill all the divine commandments without it." (Migne, P. L., XLII, 47).—St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 109, art. 4: "The commandments of the law can be fulfilled in two ways. In one way, as regards the substance of the works, insofar as a man performs just and courageous deeds and other works of virtue; in this way man in the state of integral nature could fulfill all the commandments of the law, otherwise man in that state could not have avoided sin, since to sin is nothing other than to transgress the divine commandments. But in the state of corrupt nature man cannot fulfill all the divine commandments without healing grace. In another way, the commandments of the law can be fulfilled not only as regards the substance of the work, but also as regards the manner of acting, namely, that they be done from charity; and thus neither in the state of integral nature nor in the state of corrupt nature can man fulfill the commandments of the law without grace. In both states he needs, in addition, the help of God moving him to fulfill the commandments."

⁷ Cfr. Rom. VI, 23: "The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." —St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 109, art. 5: “Eternal life is an end exceeding the proportion of human nature; and therefore man through his natural powers cannot produce meritorious works proportionate to eternal life, but for this a higher power is required, which is the power of grace. Therefore without grace man cannot merit eternal life.” —IDEM, Summa contra Gentiles, III, c. 148, n. 2, 3: "A thing of lower nature cannot be brought to that which is proper to a higher nature except by the power of that higher nature; thus the moon, which does not shine of itself, is made luminous by the power and action of the sun, and water, which of itself is not hot, is made hot by the power and action of fire. [And dogs and horses, parrots and monkeys, learn tricks by contact with man, which they never would have learnt in their wild state. And savages are civilized by coming in contact with a culture higher than their own, but for which contact with a higher race they would have remained perennial savages. As man humanizes the brute, and civilizes his savage brother, so does God divinize man. —Jos. Rickaby, S.J., Of God and His Creatures, London 1905, p. 319]. But to see the First Truth itself in itself [in which precisely eternal beatitude consists] so transcends the faculty of human nature that it is proper to God alone. Therefore man needs divine assistance in order to attain that end [i. e., beatitude]. Every thing attains its ultimate end through its operation. But an operation receives its efficacy from the operating principle; hence through the action of seed something is generated in a determinate species, the power of which preexists in the seed. Therefore man cannot through his own operation arrive at his ultimate end, which transcends the faculty of his natural powers, unless his operation receives from divine power efficacy for the aforesaid end."

⁸ John VI, 44; XV, 5.—Cfr. Conc. Trident., Sess. VI, can. 3: "If anyone says that without the prevenient inspiration of the Holy Spirit and His help man can believe, hope, love, or repent as he ought, so that the grace of justification may be conferred upon him, let him be anathema." —St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 109, art. 6: "To prepare oneself for grace is, as it were, to turn toward God, just as one whose eye is turned away from the light of the sun prepares himself to receive the sunlight by turning his eyes toward the sun. Hence it is evident that man cannot prepare himself to receive the light of grace except through the gratuitous aid of God moving him inwardly."

⁹ Gal. II, 21. —Cfr. Conc. Arausic. II., can. 14: "No wretched man is freed from any misery unless he is first anticipated by the mercy of God." — Can. 19: "Since human nature cannot preserve without God’s grace the salvation it has received, how will it be able without God’s grace to restore what it has lost?" (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 187, 192). —St. Augustine, Enarr. in Ps., 95, n. 5: "Men were able to sell themselves, but they were unable to redeem themselves." (Migne, P. L., XXXVII, 1231).—St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 109, art. 7: "Man can in no way rise from sin by himself without the help of grace. For since sin, though passing away in act, remains in guilt, rising from sin is not the same as ceasing from the act of sin; rather, to rise from sin is for man to be restored to those things which he lost by sinning. Therefore the help of grace is required for man to rise from sin, both as to the habitual gift and as to the inward motion of God." —Cfr. Seneca, Epist., 52, 2: "Nemo per se satis valet, ut

¹⁰ Phil. II, 13.—Conc. Arausic. II., can. 9: "It is a divine gift when we both think rightly and restrain our feet from falsehood and injustice; for whenever we do good things, God works in us and with us so that we may work. God’s help must always be implored even by the reborn and holy, so that they may arrive at a good end or be able to persevere in a good work." (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 182, 183). Cfr. Conc. Trident., Sess. VI, can. 22 (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 832).—St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 109, art. 8-10.

¹¹ St. Augustine, Contra Duos Epist. Pelagian., III, c. 8, n. 24: "Captive free choice has power only for sin, but it has no power for justice unless divinely liberated and aided." (Migne, P. L., XLIV, 607).—IDEM, De Corrept. et Grat., c. 11, n. 31: "Free choice suffices for evil, but for good it is of little avail unless aided by the omnipotent Good." (P. L., XLIV, 935).—Cfr. St. Thomas, Comment, in Sent., II, dist. 28, qu. i, ad 4: "According to the Catholic faith one must walk in the middle between contrary heresies, so that we say that man can do both good and evil through free choice, yet cannot proceed to a meritorious act without the habit of grace."

2. The process of justification, by which a sinner is restored to the friendship of God, cannot take place without grace. It was in man's power to offend God, but it is not in his power to redeem himself.¹² The omnipotent Creator alone can revive a dead soul.¹³ Reconciled to the human race by the atonement, in which His only Son gave up His life for the love of men,¹⁴ God justifies the individual sinner by infusing sanctifying grace into his soul and forgiving him his sins.¹⁵

¹² St. Augustine, Enarr. in Ps., 95, n. 5: "Men were able to sell themselves, but they were not able to redeem themselves. The Redeemer came and gave the price, poured out His blood, and purchased the world." (Migne, P. L., XXXVII, 1231). —Cfr. the same author's Sermones, 20, n. i (P. L., XXXVIII, 137).

¹³ St. Augustine, Epist., 155 (al. 52), c. 1, n. 2: "Nor does anyone make man blessed except He who made man." (Migne, P. L., XXXIII, 667). —IDEM, Contra lulian., I, c. 105: "From all sins, whether original or moral, whether they exist or are to be prevented, nothing frees except the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord, in whom we have been regenerated and from whom we learned to say in prayer not only, Forgive us our debts, that is, because we have sinned, but also, Lead us not into temptation, that is, lest we sin." (P. L., XLV, 1119). —IDEM, Enchirid., c. 48, n. 14: "That one original sin is not loosed and washed away except through the one mediator of God and men, Christ Jesus, who alone could be born in such a way that He had no need to be reborn." (P. L., XL, 255). —Conc. Trident., Sess. VI, can. 1.

¹⁴ Cfr. Matth. XX, 28; XXVI, 28; Mark X, 45; XIV, 24; Luke XXII, 19; Rom. V, 10; 2 Cor. V, 18 sq.; E ph. II, 16; Col. I, 20; 1 Tim. II, 6; Tit. II, 14; 1 Pet. I, 18 sq.; II, 24.

¹⁵ Cfr. 1 Cor. VI, 11; Tit. III, 5-7. —Conc. Trident., Sess. VI, c. 7: "Justification is not merely the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man." —Can. 11: "If anyone says that men are justified either by the imputation of Christ’s justice alone or by the remission of sins alone, to the exclusion of grace and charity, which is poured forth in their hearts through the Holy Spirit and inheres in them, let him be anathema." (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 799, 821).

The first requisite of justification, therefore, is divine grace, and the moral regeneration of the sinner is God's work, —a work more wonderful than the creation of heaven and earth, because grace implies a participation of the creature in the divine nature and consequently transcends all natural agencies.¹⁶

¹⁶ Cfr. Ps. CXLIV, 9-—St. Augustine, Tract, in loa., 72, n. 3: "I would certainly say that this work is greater than heaven and earth and whatever is seen in heaven and on earth. For heaven and earth will pass away, but the salvation and justification of the predestined, that is, of those whom He foreknew, will remain. In the former are only the works of God, but in the latter there is also the image of God." (Migne, P. L., XXXV, 1823).—The Roman Missal contains this oration for the tenth Sunday after Pentecost: "O God, who manifest Your omnipotence chiefly by sparing and showing mercy, multiply Your mercy upon us," etc.

READINGS.—St. Thomas, Summa Theologica, 1a 2ae, qu. 110- 114. —Pohle-Preuss, Grace, Actual and Habitual, 2nd ed., St. Louis 1917, pp. 272 sqq. —A. Rietter, Die Moral des hi Thomas von Aquin, Munich 1858, pp. 275 sqq.—J. H. Newman, Lectures on the Doctrine of Justification, 8th impression, London 1900. —J. M. Capello, S.J., Tract. Canonic o-Moralis de Sacramentis, Vol. I, Turin 1921.

Though "the justification of the sinner is brought about by God moving man to justice," ¹ moral regeneration in the case of adults is not a compulsory, much less a magical process, but one that takes place in a manner corresponding to human nature, i. e., by the free cooperation of the will with grace.²

¹ Conc. Trident., Sess. VI, can. 1-3. —Cfr. Saint Thomas, Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 113, art. 3: "The justification of the sinner is brought about by God moving man to justice. For He it is who justifies the ungodly (Rom. III, 24)."

² St. Augustine, Serm., 169 (al. 152 4 ) 15 de Verbis Apost.), c. 11, n. 13: "The justice of God can exist without your will, but it cannot exist in you apart from your will. He who made you without you does not justify you without you. Therefore He made you without your knowing; He justifies you willing." (Migne, P. L., XXXVIII, 923).—The Angelic Doctor continues as follows in the passage quoted above (Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 113, art. 3): “God moves all things according to the mode of each, just as in natural things we see that heavy and light things are moved by Him differently because of the diverse nature of each. Hence He also moves man toward justice according to the condition of human nature. Now man according to his proper nature possesses free choice. Therefore in one who has the use of free choice, movement by God toward justice does not take place without a movement of free choice; rather, He so infuses the gift of justifying grace that at the same time He also moves free choice to accept the gift of grace in those capable of this movement.” — Contra Gent., 1. 3, c. 148, n. 2: "Divine assistance is understood to be applied to man for acting well in such a way that it works our works in us, as the first cause works the operations of secondary causes and the principal agent works the action of an instrument (Is. XXVI, 12). But the first cause causes the operation of a secondary cause according to the latter’s own mode. Therefore God also causes our works in us according to our mode, which is that we act voluntarily and not by compulsion. Consequently no one is compelled by divine assistance to act rightly."

Justification, therefore, presupposes a rational creature endowed with free-will and voluntarily subjecting itself to God.³ This movement of the will towards God takes place by faith,⁴ which turns the soul away from sin and directs it towards God.⁵

³ Conc. Trident., Sess. VI, can. 4: "If anyone says that man’s free choice, moved and aroused by God, cooperates in no way by assenting to God who arouses and calls, whereby it disposes and prepares itself to obtain the grace of justification, and that it cannot dissent if it wills, but like something inanimate does absolutely nothing and bears itself merely passively, let him be anathema," (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 814).

⁴ St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 113, art. 4: “A movement of free choice is required for the justification of the ungodly insofar as man’s mind is moved by God. God moves man’s soul by turning it toward Himself. Therefore for the justification of the ungodly a movement of the mind is required by which it is turned toward God. The first turning toward God takes place through faith. Therefore a movement of faith is required for the justification of the ungodly.”

⁵ St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 113, art. 5: “The justification of the ungodly is a certain movement by which the human mind is moved by God from the state of sin to the state of justice. Therefore the human mind must relate to both extremes according to a movement of free choice, just as a body moved locally by a mover relates to the two termini of movement. It is manifest in the local movement of bodies that the moved body withdraws from the terminus from which it begins and approaches the terminus to which it moves. Hence the human mind, while it is justified, must through a movement of free choice withdraw from sin and approach justice. Withdrawal and approach in a movement of free choice are understood according to detestation and desire. Therefore in the justification of the ungodly there must be a twofold movement of free choice: one by which through desire it tends toward God’s justice, and another by which it detests sin.” —Ibid., art. 6: "Four things are enumerated which are required for the justification of the ungodly: the infusion of grace, the movement of free choice toward God through faith, the movement of free choice against sin, and the remission of guilt." —Ibid., art. 7: "The whole justification of the ungodly consists originally in the infusion of grace. For through it free choice is moved and guilt is forgiven." —Conc. Trid., Sess. VI, cap. 6: "Sinners begin to love that God as the source of all justice, and therefore they are moved against sins through a certain hatred and detestation." — Cap. 7: "Justification itself follows this disposition or preparation; it is not merely remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man through the voluntary reception of grace and gifts, whereby man becomes just from being unjust, and a friend from being an enemy, so that he may be an heir according to the hope of eternal life." (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 798, 799).

Because concupiscence remains in the soul even after this moral regeneration,⁶ man must fight all his life against the enemies of his eternal salvation and endeavor to secure it by obedience to the commandments, by prayer and abstinence, by works of faith, hope, and charity, —in a word, he must strive unremittingly to grow "in the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ." ⁷ Though the struggle may at times seem well nigh hopeless, God's grace makes victory still possible. "In all these things we overcome, because of Him that hath loved us," say the Tridentine Fathers,⁸ and add: "God forsakes not those who have been once justified by His grace, unless He be first forsaken by them." ⁹ The necessity of cooperating with grace is illustrated in the parable of the man who failed to watch for the thief,¹⁰ that of the faithful servant,¹¹ that of the wise and the foolish virgins,¹² that of the talents which the master gave to his servants, and others.¹³

⁶ Rom. VII, 23; Gal. V, 17; Jas. I, 14; cfr. Conc. Trident., Sess. V, can. 5.

⁷ Eph. IV, 13, 15; cfr. Matth. X, 34 sqq.; XVI, 24; XIX, 17; XXVI, 41; Rom. V, 1 sqq.; VII, 18 sqq.; 2 Pet. I, 10. —Conc. Trident., Sess. VI, cap. 10: "Thus, therefore, having been justified and made friends and members of God’s household, going from virtue to virtue, they are renewed, as the Apostle says, from day to day; that is, by mortifying the members of their flesh and presenting them as weapons of justice unto sanctification. Through observance of the commandments of God and the Church, in the justice received by the grace of Christ, with faith cooperating in good works, they grow and are justified still more." (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 803).

⁸ Rom. VIII, 37; cfr. Matth. XI, 30; 1 John V, 3.—St. Augustine says in his treatise De Natura et Gratia, c. 43, n. 50: "For God does not command impossible things, but by commanding admonishes you both to do what you can and to ask for what you cannot do." (Migne, P. L., XLIV, 271).—The Council of Trent (Sess. VI, c. 11) quotes these words, and adds: "and He helps you so that you may be able." (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 804).

⁹ "For God does not abandon those once justified by His grace unless He is first abandoned by them." (Ibid.)

¹⁰ Matth. XXIV, 43 sqq.

¹¹ Matth. XXV, 1 sqq.

¹² Matth. XXIV, 45 sqq.

¹³ Matth. XXV, 14 sqq.

Sanctifying grace is ordinarily attached to certain visible signs, called Sacraments, —"through which," in the words of the Tridentine Fathers, " all true justice either begins, or being begun is increased, or being lost is re ¹⁴ paired."

¹⁴ Conc. Trident., Sess. VI, can. 20; Sess. VII, Prooem.

These means of grace man is in duty bound to use, —which is but another way of saying that he must submit himself to the Church established by Jesus Christ.¹⁵

¹⁵ Conc. Trident., Sess. VII, De Sacr., can. 4; De Bapt., can. 8 (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 847, 864).

READINGS. —St. Thomas, Summa Theologlca, 1a 2ae, qu. 113. —Pohle-Preuss, Grace, Actual and Habitual, 2nd ed., St. Louis, 97> pp. 274 sqq. —Codex Juris Canonici, can. 731-1144. (In this work we have duly noted the changes made necessary by the new Code. A succinct statement of them will be found in A. Viladevall, Mutationes in Theologiam Moralem a Novo Codice Juris Canonici Inductae, Buenos Aires 1917, and in Alb. Schmitt, S.J., Supplementum to Noldin's Summa Theol. Mor., ed. 2a, New York, 1918).

DISSERTATION V

ON THE JUSTIFICATION OF THE SINNER

St. Thomas, q. 113.

There are two effects of grace, namely the justification of the sinner and the merit of the just. Of the first we shall speak in this dissertation, of the second in the following.

I say: In the justification of a sinner his sins are not only covered, or not imputed, but are truly remitted, blotted out and taken away. This is against the Lutherans and Calvinists.

It is proved 1° in the most formal terms of Scripture. Psal. L, 3: Blot out my iniquity. And 11: Blot out all my iniquities. Isa., XLIII, 25: I am he that blots out thy iniquities for my sake. Osee, XIV, 3: Take away all iniquity. Michaeae, VII, 18: What God is like to thee, who takes away iniquity? Joann., I, 29: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sin of the world.

It is proved 2° by other terms of Scripture. Man is inwardly stained and defiled by sin, as we said of sins, and all agree. But, according to Scripture, man in his justification is cleansed, washed, purged and sanctified from his sins. Psal. L, 9: Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Ezech., XXXVI, 25: I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness. I Joann., I, 7: The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. But if sins be only covered, it is said falsely that man is cleansed, washed, purged from them, etc.

For who would say that a man stained with filth is clean and washed, because he covers the filth with a cloak?

[It is proved 3° from the council of Trent, session V, canon 5, where it is said: « If anyone denies that by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ which is conferred in baptism the guilt of original sin is remitted; or even asserts that the whole of that which has the true and proper nature of sin is not taken away, but says that it is only erased or not imputed; let him be anathema. » And in session VI, chapter 7, it is taught that « justification is not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man through the voluntary reception of grace and gifts: whence man becomes just from unjust, and friend from enemy. » Moreover this renewal of the interior man cannot consist in the fact that sin is only erased and not imputed, because then sin would truly remain in the soul, which would not be renewed from within, and man would not be truly just, but would be held as just only extrinsically, nor could he become the friend of God.]

It is proved 4° from Augustine. The holy Doctor, lib. I ad Bonif. contra duas epist. Pelag., c. 13, n. 26, answering the Pelagians who said that Catholics teach baptism does not take away crimes but erases them, and their roots remain, replies: « We say that baptism gives the pardon of all sins and takes away crimes, not erases them. » And Enarrat. II in Psal. XXXI, n. 9, expounding those words: Blessed are they whose iniquities are remitted, and whose sins are covered, on which the heretics chiefly rely, says: « Do not so understand what he said: « sins are covered, » as if they were there and alive. » Ibid. n. 12: « Let God cover the wounds; do not you. For if you wish to cover it out of shame, the physician will not cure it. Let the physician cover and cure; for the plaster covers. Under the physician's covering the wound is healed; under the covering of the wounded man the wound is concealed. » Therefore thus, according to Augustine, God covers wounds, that by covering he may heal them, like a physician who covers a wound with a plaster and heals it. Which is plainly decisive against the heretics. See other Fathers, if you please, in Bellarmine, lib. II de Justif., c. 8.

It is proved 5° from absurdities. If in the justification of the impious sins remain and are only covered, and not blotted out and destroyed, it follows 1° that man will be at once just and unjust: just, because he is justified; unjust, because he remains in sin, which is essentially injustice. 2° It follows that God loves sinners as his friends, and in order to eternal beatitude, against that word of Sap., XIV, 9: To God the wicked and his wickedness are hateful.

I say : The remission of sins, which is the justification of the sinner, does not take place by extrinsic imputation of the justice by which God is just, or of the justice of Christ, but by true and intrinsic justice, or the infusion of habitual grace¹. It is matter of faith again decided against the Lutherans and Calvinists in concil. Trid., session VI, canon 11. ¹ Here q. 113, a. 2, c.

[There it is read: « If anyone shall say that men are justified either by the sole imputation of the justice of Christ, or by the sole remission of sins, to the exclusion of grace and charity which is poured forth in their hearts through the Holy Spirit and inheres in them, or even that the grace by which we are justified is only the favor of God ; let him be anathema. »]

It is proved 1° from the Scriptures of the preceding art., prob. 2ª, cited above, in which the sinner is said to be washed, cleansed, renewed, sanctified; for no one can be washed, cleansed, renewed, sanctified, except by something intrinsic whereby he be denominated and be such.

2° Scripture frequently says we have in us grace, charity and justice whereby we are just. Joann., I, 16 : Of his fulness we all have received, and grace for grace. Rom., I, 5 : By whom we have received grace. Ephes., IV, 7 : To every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the giving of Christ. Rom., V, 5 : The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who is given to us.

3° The justification of the sinner is an effect of the love of God¹. But love is not only affective but effective, making the beloved object intrinsically pleasing and just, as we proved above dissert. IV, a. 1. ¹ Ibid.

4° The formal cause is distinguished from the efficient. But the justice of Christ is the efficient cause of our justice. Therefore it is not its formal cause.

It is confirmed. Our justice now grows, now diminishes. But the justice of God and Christ is always equal. Therefore.

They object here Scripture passages attributing to us the justice of Christ. Rom., V, 19 : By the obedience of one many are constituted just. And again, 18 : By the justice of one, unto all men unto justification of life. I Cor., I, 30, Christ is said to be made our justice and sanctification.

I answer. these things and similar ones are not to be understood in the formal sense, but causal, inasmuch as Christ is the efficient and meritorious cause of our justification; in which sense he is called our wisdom in the same place; Joann., XI, 25, the resurrection and the life. And Deuter., XXX, 20, he is called the life of men and the length of days.

[You will ask whether, by the absolute power of God, sin and grace can be together in the same subject.

I answer. Sin, both actual and habitual, and grace cannot be together in the same subject, even by the absolute power of God.

It is proved. Sanctifying grace, from its essence and reason, is justice, holiness and rectitude, whose primary and formal effect is to make him to whom it is given just, holy and right. Sin on the contrary, from its essential reason, is iniquity, uncleanness, recession from rectitude and from subjection toward divine law. But there cannot stand, even by the absolute power of God, justice with injustice, holiness with iniquity and uncleanness, rectitude with recession from rectitude. Therefore grace and sin cannot be together in the same subject.

It is confirmed. Contrary formal effects cannot be together in the same subject, because they are incompossible. But the effects of sanctifying grace and the effect of sin are contrary, and therefore incompossible. Therefore.

Note for the solution of objections. Sin does not expel grace physically, in this sense that by a positive form it destroys grace by acting physically upon it. But it expels it physically, that is, from its nature, by withdrawing from it the subject and introducing a form or disposition incompossible with grace. For iniquity, the casting off of the friendship of God, recession from God, death of the soul, etc., physically, that is from their nature, expel justice, holiness, friendship of God, life of the soul.]

The Council of Trid., sess. VI, cap. 6, assigns six acts by which the adult sinner ought to be disposed for justification, namely the act of faith, of fear, of hope, of the love of God, of penance or contrition, finally the resolution of receiving the sacraments instituted for the remission of sins, of beginning a new life and keeping the divine commandments ; which resolution is included in contrition itself. The principal question concerns faith required for justification, against the heretics.

The Lutherans and Calvinists distinguish a twofold faith.

The first they call historical, by which we believe all things contained in the sacred writings ; we call it Christian and Catholic. The second they call of the promises, by which we believe that God has promised the remission of sins. This second they subdivide into general and particular. General they call that by which we believe God has promised remission of sins and salvation to all believers in common; special they call that by which each one believes or confidently trusts his sins to be forgiven him on account of the merits of Christ. For this faith they badly confound with confidence, which belongs to hope and to the will, not to the intellect; for confidence, according to St. Thomas, is strengthened hope.

This faith or particular confidence therefore they contend is required for justification and that it alone justifies.

I say 1° : The faith required for justification is not confidence by which we believe or trust that sins are forgiven us because of Christ, but that by which we believe all truths revealed by God, on account of his authority and truth. Thus it was defined by Trid., sess. VI, can. 12.

[The tenor of this canon is : « If anyone shall have said that justifying faith is nothing else than trust in the divine mercy remitting sins because of Christ, or that it is this trust alone by which we are justified; let him be anathema. »]

It is proved 1° from most open testimonies of Scripture. Marc. last chapter, 15 and 16 : Preach the Gospel to every creature. He who shall have believed, namely the Gospel and the truths contained in it, shall be saved. Rom. X, 8 and 9 : This is the word which we preach; because if thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him up from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Therefore Christ and his resurrection, not only the mercy of God remitting sins, are the object of saving faith. Joann., XI, 26 and 27, when the Lord had said to Martha : I am the resurrection and the life. He who believeth in me shall not die forever. She answers : Yea, Lord, I have believed that thou art Christ the Son of the living God, who art come into this world. Therefore the faith required for eternal life is to believe the divinity of the Word incarnate. John concludes thus at the last chapter of his Gospel, 31 : These things are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Son of the living God, and that believing you may have life in his name. Therefore the same as before. I omit other very many testimonies of Scripture, lest I be too long.

It is proved 2° from tradition. The Church, as from the beginning so now, when she requires faith from those about to be baptized, requires no other than that by which we believe the articles of faith contained in the symbols, not truly that by which we believe or confidently trust our sins to be forgiven us. For who among the Apostles, or bishops, or other ministers ever taught one coming to him for justification thus : « Believe your sins to be forgiven you, and immediately they will be forgiven. » Such doctrine would indeed be absurd and offensive to pious ears.

It is proved 3°. Faith rests upon the authority alone of God revealing, who can neither deceive nor be deceived. But nowhere is it revealed to me or to another particularly that sins are forgiven. Therefore I cannot believe this with certain faith.

It is proved 4°. Justifying faith must precede justification; for it is its cause. But that faith of the heretics does not precede, but follows justification, otherwise it would be false; for false is that faith by which I believe my sins forgiven, if they are not yet truly forgiven. If you say that by this faith it is not believed that sins are forgiven, but are being forgiven here and now, there always remains that that faith is posterior to that remission, because that present remission is the object of this faith; but act neither makes nor specifies its object, but supposes it and is specified by it.

I say 2° : Neither that special faith of recent heretics, which is vain and none, nor true Christian faith alone suffices for justification.

[Thus it was defined by Trid., sess. VI, can. 9 : « If anyone shall have said that the impious is justified by faith alone, so as to understand that nothing else is required which cooperate toward obtaining the grace of justification, and that it is in no way necessary that he be prepared and disposed by the motion of his own will; let him be anathema. »]

This definition is against the Lutherans and Calvinists, whom Simon Magus had gone before, by the testimony of Irenaeus, lib. I de Haeres., c. 20, who relates that Peter, John, James and Jude wrote their epistles against this error.

It is proved from these holy Apostles who wrote expressly against this error. St. James, I, 14 : What shall it profit, my brethren, if anyone say he have faith, but have not works? Shall faith be able to save him?... And 17 : Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. Which after he had proved with many arguments, he concludes the chapter thus, 24 and 26 : You see that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only... For even as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. These things are peremptory, nor do they need glossing.

St. Peter, II Epist., c. 1, 10, after exhorting to various good works, concludes : Wherefore, brethren, labor the more that by good works you make sure your calling and election. Faith therefore does not suffice, if works be wanting.

I. There are two heresies concerning justification. The Calvinists blurt out that it is unlosable. The Novatians denied pardon to the lapsed, and asserted that some crimes were irremissible. Both heresies the Church condemned.

I. Christian penitents who validly receive the sacrament of Penance are adorned with the gift of justification, and their soul becomes a temple of the Holy Ghost indwelling, and of the whole Trinity. Of old, Jews and pagans, the servitude of the devil and the idolatry of false deities being cast off, the faith of Christ being received, forthwith descended into the arena for Christ, and undaunted despised tigers, lions, and fiercer beasts, and by no means dreaded to become their banquet; they burned with a mighty desire of the rack, of stripes, and of the Cross of Christ; they feared not fires, not burning gridirons, not furnaces, not wounds; but with a strong and unconquered soul they underwent the most atrocious torments and infinite storms. We Christians, suffused with the same faith as they, imbued with the same disciplines, nourished with the same divine food, given to drink of the same most precious Blood, are sanctified by the same justification. Justification betrays itself by its effects, when we conform our whole life to the will of God and to the exemplar of Jesus Christ, on the Apostle's testimony: I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me; and again: Whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of his Son.

II. This new covenant between Christ and penitents rightly confessed is by its own nature firm, stable, and perpetual. Hence John 14, Christ says: If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our ABODE with him. Christ does not say, if any man dread, and if any man is terrified, but if any man love, and after the manner of sons, not of servants, also fear — he will keep the words and laws of Christ. And Christ, with the whole Trinity, will establish an abode in his soul.

III. But let us hear Paul the Apostle, who describes the firmness and stability of penance, 2 Corinthians 7, in these words: For the sorrow that is according to God worketh penance, STEADFAST unto salvation. That penance, I say, which is according to God — that is, formed according to the rules which God prescribed — works a stable sanctity, as St. Paul subjoins there, chapter 15: Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye STEADFAST and unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. Hence he inculcates upon the Colossians, chapter 1, the very firmness, stability, and constancy of the reconciliation entered upon through the death of the Son of God: And you, whereas you were sometime alienated and enemies in mind in evil works, yet now he hath reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unspotted and blameless before him: if so ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and immoveable from the hope of the gospel which you have heard.

IV. Everywhere the Apostle thunders, and more deeply commends and urges this stability and perseverance in the divine covenant entered upon, that we may attain the crown. But the effects and triumphs of this firm and stable justification he sets forth, addressing the Romans, chapter 8, with this grave and vehement discourse: Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? or distress? or famine? or nakedness? or danger? or persecution? or the sword? (As it is written: For thy sake we are put to death all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.) But in all these things we overcome, because of him that hath loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

V. The prerogatives of Christian justification being set before our eyes, St. Paul manifests the most sad ruin which threatens those who violate and break this most sacred covenant. He himself, bound here at Rome with chains, received tidings that the Church of Jerusalem, made up of Jews alone, was languishing, was shaken by persecutions, and was subject to the grave danger of losing the justification received. Fifty years had already elapsed from the death of Christ, and the Hebrews of Jerusalem converted to Christ saw no event of the prediction made by Christ. The Temple, the Sanctuary, the Altar, the Candlestick, the multitude of priests, the high priesthood, the sacred rites celebrated with great pomp, the solemnity of the Mosaic rites, so great a symphony, and the remaining mysteries and ceremonies of the ancient Religion, which with milk they had drunk in, glittered on every side. But the Jewish Christians themselves, forming a little handful, having for a temple a small chamber, for an altar a table, for a candlestick a lamp, for golden and silver vessels a wooden cup, harassed on this side by the perfidious Jews who dominated, on that by the gentiles, straitened and oppressed, could scarcely celebrate the divine praises in private. Amid so many tempests and storms they in a certain manner wavered. What should we do, pressed by such straits, though strengthened by so immense a multitude of miracles? St. Paul in the epistle inscribed to the Hebrews brings a safeguard to the brethren. He describes with incredible eloquence the excellence and pre-eminence of the New Testament above the Old. Come, brethren, he says, what do you dread? The temple of Christ is not material, as the Mosaic, but living, adorned with every precious stone, which you are. But Christ as the Son in his own house: which house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and glory of hope unto the end, FIRM. Chapter 3.

VI. After he has raised up his brethren and animated them to place their trust in Christ Jesus, he passes to manifesting the wretched and mournful unhappiness of those who fall back from the lofty state of justice into sin, and the extreme difficulty of rising again, in these words, chapter 6: For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated (through the Baptism of faith), have tasted also the heavenly gift (namely the most sacred body of Christ), and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost (through the sacrament of Confirmation), have moreover tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, and are fallen away, to be renewed again to penance, crucifying again to themselves the Son of God, and making him a mockery. Which truth, that he may accommodate it to their grasp and imprint it more deeply in their hearts, he offers them a likeness fetched from the very nature of things: For the earth that drinketh in the rain which cometh often upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is tilled, receiveth blessing from God. But that which bringeth forth thorns and briers is reprobate, and very near unto a curse, whose end is to be burnt. But, my dearly beloved, we trust better things of you, and nearer to salvation; though we speak thus.

VII. The exposition of the Fathers upon this word impossible is twofold. Some interpret it difficult and most difficult. Others take this word in its obvious and literal sense, saying that it is impossible that those who have fallen after Baptism should be renewed again to that pristine innocence which they once received infused in the sacred laver. For although through penance sin is blotted out, yet there commonly remain traces of scars and wounds, and malignant remnants; there remain the fattened and thickened impressions and roots of desires and lusts, which weaken the strength and open a broader way to relapse.

VIII. But let us hear Paul again pursuing his discourse, chapter 10, and in this fashion more deeply enlarging upon the same truth: Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. … For if we sin wilfully after having the knowledge of the truth, there is now left no sacrifice for sins, but a certain dreadful expectation of judgment, and the rage of a fire which shall consume the adversaries. A man making void the law of Moses dieth without any mercy under two or three witnesses: how much more, do you think, he deserveth worse punishments, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath esteemed the blood of the testament unclean, by which he was sanctified, and hath offered an affront to the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said: Vengeance belongeth to me, and I will repay. And again: The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But call to mind the former days, wherein, being illuminated, you endured a great fight of afflictions. And on the one hand indeed, by reproaches and tribulations, were made a gazingstock; and on the other, became companions of them that were used in such sort. For you both had compassion on them that were in bands, and took with joy the being stripped of your own goods, knowing that you have a better and a lasting substance. Do not therefore lose your confidence, which hath a great reward. For patience is necessary for you, that, doing the will of God, you may receive the promise. For yet a little and a very little while, and he that is to come will come, and will not delay. By these last words the Apostle foretells the imminent destruction, desolation, and most mournful overthrow of the city of Jerusalem, of the temple, and of the altar, which befell about five years after this epistle was written. By which horrible catastrophe the predictions made by Christ were more deeply imprinted upon their minds, and confirmed that Church gathered from the first-fruits of the elect people.

I. This Christian justification, which draws the strength of its firmness from the passion of Christ, makes the evangelical yoke — which is hard from hard — sweet in itself, and renders men just, holy, happy, quiet, and constant in the observation of God's commandments.

II. Let us consult the common sense and practice of Christians. You see a man outwardly bearing the appearance of virtue and piety. You see him at the same time fallen into manifest crimes, and, no vehement occasion urging, rolling again in the mire of lust. Do you not straightway disapprove him as a hypocrite, a crafty and cunning man, a whited sepulchre? Whence this? From nothing but the inmost sense of the stability and firmness of Christian justification. You have a friend whose most chaste morals, uprightness, sincerity, equity, and justice you have certainly known over an interval of several years. He sets out to a distance. After some years an occasion offers itself of hearing something about your friend. You ask how he is, what is his manner of living. You hear that the man has become crafty, lustful, fraudulent. You refuse to believe. You accuse the reporter of calumny. He replies that the matter certainly stands so. What then? Alas, you exclaim, alas how tremendous, how fearful are the judgments of God! Truly God is terrible in his counsels over the sons of men. Whence, I pray, so great an astonishment and so great a repugnance to believing a change in a just man? Assuredly from nowhere else than from that inmost instinct and more deeply imprinted persuasion by which you judge Christian justification, infused through the Holy Ghost, sealed with the blood of Christ, and nourished by the food of his most sacred body, to be stable and difficult to move. For those things which are from God are firm and stable.

III. I confess that occasions can occur, and such calamities of the times and persecutions, in which the very firmer columns tremble. Justification is by its own nature stable; but the weakness of human nature is great: therefore it can be lost. But the gifts which accompany this justification restore human strength, cure infirmity, and pour fortitude into souls. Let the manner of living of Christians and Religious themselves be consulted. Those who are truly converted and just rarely fall, flee the occasions of sinning, detest the prestiges of the world, and by prayers and fasts implore divine grace. If by some sudden chance of an urgent occasion they fall, forthwith they rise again, and busy themselves to wash away the stain with most bitter tears. Just as a true and sincere friendship, which is rare among men, is frequently not violated, so a sincere friendship entered upon between God and men through sacramental justification, while it is true, is not so easily broken.

I. The characters of Christian justification, as we have seen, constitute a man just, a son of God, holy, liberal, chaste, sincere, tolerant of injuries, praying for his persecutors, meek, humble, merciful, a father of the poor, and adorned with the remaining Christian virtues. This is the image of Christian justification which the holy Scriptures depict for us, as has been shown above.

II. Utterly diverse is the image which is seen in the morals of very many Christians. We see in our age the avaricious, usurers, the lustful, prodigals, little lovers and mistresses, mimes, mime-women, dancing-women, singing-women, gamesters, perjurers, the fraudulent, the effeminate, adulterers, frequenting the sacraments of Penance and of the Eucharist twice or four times a year. What amendment of morals? None. Apostolic ministers run through the provinces, exercising what are called sacred missions. Great crowds of every state run together in multitudes: struck with fear of the hellish furnace, they lay down the bundle of their outrages, they confess, they are absolved, they communicate. The missionaries have set out on their way, and they resume the course of their past life, and heap up crimes anew for the coming year. The same habits, lusts, usuries, frauds, lies, adulteries, perjuries, injustices. And this circle of confessions and relapses comprehends almost the whole of life. Out of so great a multitude of penitents scarcely five in a thousand give signs of true Christian justification and bring forth its fruits. This is visible and known to all.

III. But whence, you say, comes it that spectres of feigned justifications of this kind bring in no terror? Whence, that confessors administer the sacraments to those feigned Christians? Whence, that the Christians themselves, conscious of their own affairs, do not recognize their confessions to be sacrilegious? Do they not themselves hold it well understood that covenants of friendship sincerely and constantly entered upon are not easily violated? Whence therefore so horrid a hallucination? Whence so monstrous a deception?

IV. From that torrent of human custom, replies St. Augustine; from that universal prevailing habit which carries away with it sometimes even the wise, unless they diligently watch and strenuously fight. From that, finally, MIDDLE WAY which has been brought in for the forming of morals, as also for the loving of the divine decrees, says the most learned Bishop of Palmi. Two ways only did Christ lay open: one narrow and strait, the other broad and spacious. Of the former way the walkers are few, on Christ's own testimony; of the latter, many. A new middle way, devised by men and assuredly not by God, comprehends an immense multitude of Christians. The Christians of this way nourish the body sumptuously, soothe the senses, indulge in pleasure and enticements, dances, theatres, comedies, and the delights of the world: they wish to have their own little matrons and their honourable-seeming mistresses, with whom they may converse, feast, and jest. Fasts, disciplines, and hair-shirts they shudder at. They utterly refuse to restrain the impulses of concupiscence, of ambition, and of pride, and to press down the goads of the flesh. Yet, that they may distinguish themselves from wicked, dishonest, and obstinate sinners, who with loosened reins and mask laid aside run through the broad and spacious way, they recite their little prayers, read pious books, frequent the churches, and approach the sacraments on the more solemn feasts of Christ and of the Blessed Virgin. This middle way encloses in our age a greater multitude of sinners than of old the broad and spacious way described by the Gospel. Since this broad way leads to perdition. But the new middle way joins in one pagan morals and the reward of the eternal kingdom; the sacraments of Christ and the pleasures of the world; mire and darkness; good and evil. But this middle way is more seductive than the broad way. Those who tread the latter know that they are sinners, and do not approach the sacraments unless they first forsake it. But in very truth the walkers of the middle way reckon themselves happy, and think that by this way lovers, mistresses, mimes, mime-women, dancing-women and harp-players, and all the rest who frequent the sacraments, can arrive at the eternal kingdom.

V. The most learned John Morinus, Book 9, chapter 34, declares that these three ways obtained among the Jews also, in these words: “It is a celebrated saying of the Jews, more recent and ancient, that there are three kinds of men: the perfectly just, the perfectly wicked, and the intermediate; that God has three books: in the first the perfectly just are described; in the second the perfectly wicked; in the last the intermediate. That God at the beginning of the year examines the actions of all men in a solemn judgment; that the perfectly just are then at once inscribed in the first book, the evil in the second, but that the judgment of the intermediate is suspended to the tenth day of the month: if they shall have performed a perfect penance, they are to be numbered with the just; if not, with the wicked.”

VI. Moreover, as their way is a middle one, so their justification is a middle one. The middle way is new, therefore not evangelical but worldly. Similarly their justification is a middle one, is new, is not infused by Christ Jesus, not by God, but feigned by men. To the fashioning of a fictitious justification the malice of men has compelled. Certain ministers of the sacraments, burning with zeal for the salvation of men, with a pious and holy intention, as it becomes us to think, since they could not bring men to an exact observance of the Gospel and to the reforming of morals according to the norm of the baptismal profession, busied themselves to lighten the yoke of Christ, to soften the rigour of the law, and to accommodate the evangelical norm to human appetitions, says St. Augustine on Psalm 98. For this is in men a great and most usual perversity: that whereas they themselves ought to live according to the will of God, they will that God should live according to their own will. And whereas they will not that they themselves be corrected, they will that he be depraved; reckoning right not what he wills, but what they themselves will.

VII. Behold the cause unlocked and laid open why today men do not marvel when they see Christians in this week approaching the tribunal of penance and the eucharistic table, and in the next — if not in the same — approaching also the gaming table with their little mistresses and little matrons, and dances, theatres, and comedies, and even fornicating and committing adultery, either by ear, or by eye, or by touch, and frequenting all the prestiges of the world; and again the tribunals of penance; and again the company of lovers and mistresses, where they woo and are wooed, love and are loved, touch and are touched, look and are looked upon, gape and are gaped at, sigh and are sighed for. Are these the fruits of divine justification? Are these the sons of God? Do these conform their life and morals to the exemplar of Christ? Christians are not moved by this spectre of justification, by this covenant of sacraments and sacrileges. Why? Because from infancy they have been accustomed to see this perpetual circle of sacraments and relapses: because they reckon it enough to confess their sins with the least penances, although no amendment follow, although they perpetually roll and roll again in the mire of lust, like swine. They are confirmed in this persuasion by the authority of not a few casuists and confessors. These cry out with voice and writings that in our age the golden centuries flourish again. When, they say, was there so great a frequenting of the sacraments, so great a concourse to the temples, so splendid a worship, so magnificent an apparatus, so great a multitude of Sacrifices, so great a variety of song, of melody, of devotions?

VIII. But if it be replied: When were morals more dissolute? When so many profanations of temples? When were the patrimonies of the poor and of Christ more prodigally squandered upon dogs, upon horses, upon pomps and luxury? When at last have impiety and incredulity more boldly assailed Religion? — if this be cried out, straightway they retort: so croak the Rigorists, cruel, savage, unmerciful, gloomy, always murmuring against the most flourishing discipline of our age.

IX. Behold one of the causes why Christians are not moved by the unstable and fluid justification of the morals of very many Christians of our age. Very many moral doctors inveigh against theologians who inculcate upon penitents that they should chiefly grieve for that sin to which they are greatly addicted, and that they should conceive a firm and constant purpose of not sinning thereafter, as we shall presently see more clearly. And that I may reduce you to a standstill, reader, turn over very many books of the casuists which are chiefly worn by all men's hands: search severely where the true image of Christian justification is depicted according to the exemplar which the holy Scriptures propose. Inquire where its lofty effects, its characters, its most splendid prerogatives are described. In the books of which casuists will you find these things? In Gobat, in Tamburini, in Diana, in Viva, in La Croix, in Caramuel, in Leander, in Sporer, in Burgaber, in Bonacina? You will find on the contrary innumerable little distinctions, sophisms, and disagreements by which the true image of Christian justification is obscured. So it seems to my weakness. Whether I myself am deceived and deluded, let the wise be judges. For I do not set myself up as a censor, but what seem true to my littleness I submit to the judgment of the wise.

X. What wonder therefore if Christians, and still less if confessors themselves, brought up in these prejudices, should reckon that divine justification, by its own nature stable and firm, is set in this perpetual circle of confessions and relapses, in this succession of dinners and of sacraments? They see from their very cradles not a few ministers of God admitting to the sacraments Christians who, though they confess several times a year, nevertheless, as if they did not confess, indulge in luxury, immodest pomps, games, usury, ambition, and the pleasures of a raving world. They cry out besides: What? Shall the ministers of God deceive us? Is this discipline of confederating a frequenting of the sacraments with the recounted solaces and enticements of the world, propped by the authority of so many pious, grave, and upright men, to be reputed vicious and corrupt? Great, cries St. Augustine, will be the temptation. By this very temptation the Christians of the Church of Jerusalem were harassed and wavered; but St. Paul confirmed and strengthened them. St. Augustine testifies that he suffered most grave persecutions, that he might snatch the Christians of his time from error, because our adversaries, opining otherwise, kept them firm and constant in a sweet and kindly habit of living. Nor on that account did the most holy Doctor cease to cry out: On account of the morals of men who by their crooked seductions and depraved customs cease not to bring troublesome care upon us for you, we cannot keep silence. Sermon 157. Even from that time the possession of one's own liberty was opposed to the controverted mandates of the divine law, although not curled with the paint of Probabilism. There are some, says St. Augustine, or the author of sermon 4 to the Brethren in the Wilderness, who will to live by the spirit of liberty; and if they be reproved by anyone, they bark like dogs, they bite like serpents, they grieve like women in travail, calling evil good and good evil, false true and true false.

XI. Paul, I ask and beseech you, Paul the trumpet of the Holy Ghost hear; Paul read; the Gospel of Christ seriously meditate, if you love your inward salvation. Prick up your ears, that the doctrine of Paul concerning justification may cleave engraven in your hearts. The justification which Paul teaches is constant, firm, and stable. But to new Doctors, if dissenting from Paul they glory in the frequenting of the sacraments and in a painted splendour of devotion, answer with St. Paul, 1 Corinthians 5: Your glorying is not good. Know you not that a little leaven corrupteth the whole lump? Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened. … Therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. … But now I have written to you not to keep company, if any man that is named a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or a server of idols, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner: with such an one not so much as to eat. Will certain new casuists perchance say: The common opinion of the Doctors teaches the opposite? This discipline has grown obsolete, and other things of that kind?