Latest / Summa Theologica - Treatise on Law and Grace / 032 - Question 114 - OF MERIT In Ten Articles part 1

Transcript

032 - Question 114 - OF MERIT In Ten Articles part 1 · Summa Theologica - Treatise on Law and Grace

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Question one hundred and fourteen, Part one of Summa Theologica
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Prima Secunde Treatise on Grace. This is the LibriVox recording.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: All librivos recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Summa
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Theologica Prima Secunde Treates on Grace by Saint Thomas aquinas
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: translated by the Fathers of the English Dominican Province. Question
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: one hundred and fourteen of Merit in ten articles, Part one,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Articles one through five. We must now consider merit, which
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: is the effect of co operating grace. And under this
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: head there are ten points of inquiry. First, whether a
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: man can merit anything from God. Second, whether without grace
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: any one can marry eternal life. Third, whether anyone with
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: grace may merit eternal life condignly. Fourth, whether it is
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: chiefly through the instrumentality of charity, that grace is the
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: principle of merit. Fifth, whether a man may merit the
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: first grace for himself. Sixth, whether he may merit it
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: for someone else. Seventh, whether anyone can merit restoration after sin. Eighth,
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: whether he can merit for himself an increase of grace
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: or charity. Ninth, Whether he can merit final perseverance. Tenth,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: whether temporal goods fall under merit? First article, Whether a
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: man may merit anything from God? Objection One, you would
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: seem that a man can merit nothing from God God
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: for no one. It would seem, merits by giving another
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: his due. But by all the good we do, we
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: cannot make sufficient return to God, since yet more is
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: his due, as also the philosopher says in Ethics eight fourteen.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Hence it is written in Luke seventeen ten. When you
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: have done all these things that are commanded, you say,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: we are unprofitable servants. We have done that which we
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: ought to do. Therefore a man can merit nothing from God.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Objection to Further, he would seem that a man merits
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: nothing from God but what profits himself only, and profits
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: God nothing. Now by acting well, a man profits himself
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: or another man, but not God. For it is written
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: in Job thirty five. If thou do justly, what shalt
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: thou give him? Or what shall he receive of thy hand?
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Hence a man can merit nothing from God? Objection three. Further,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: whoever merits anything from another makes him his debtor. For
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: a man's wage is a debt due to him. Now
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: God is no one's debtor. Hence it is written in
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: Romans eleven thirty five, who hath first given to him?
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: And recompense shall be made to him? Hence, no one
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: can merit anything from God. On the contrary, it is
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: written in Jeremiah thirty one, verse sixteen, there is a
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: reward for thy work. Now a reward means something bestowed
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: by reason of merit. Hence it would seem that a
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: man may merit from God. I answer that merit and
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: reward refer to the same. For a reward means something
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: given anyone in return for work or toil as a
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: price for it. Hence, as it is an act of
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: justice to give a just price for anything received from another,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: so also is it an act of justice to make
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: a return for work or toil. Now justice is a
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: kind of equality, as is clear from the philosopher in
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Ethics five to three. And hence justice is simply between
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: those that are simply equal. But where there is no
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: absolute equality between them, neither is there absolute justice. But
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: there may be a certain manner of justice, as when
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: we speak of a father's or a master's right, as
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: the philosopher says in Ethics five six. And hence, when
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: there is justice simply, there is the character of merit
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: and reward simply. But when there is no simple right,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: but only relative, there is no character of merit simply,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: but only relatively, in so far as the character of
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: justice is found there. Since the child merits something from
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: his father, and the slave from his lord. Now it
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: is clear that between God and man there is the
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: greatest inequality, for they are infinitely a part, and all
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: man's good is from God. Hence there can be no
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: justice of absolute equality between man and God, but only
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: of a certain proportion, inasmuch as both operate after their
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: own manner. Now, the manner and measure of human virtue
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: is in man from God. Hence man's merit with God
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: only exists on the presupposition of the divine ordination, So
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: that man obtains from God as a reward of his
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: operation what God gave him the power of operation. For
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: even as natural things, by their proper movements and operations,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: obtain that to which they were ordained by God. Differently, indeed,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: since the rational creature moves itself to act by its
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: free will. Hence its action has the character of merit,
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: which is not so in other creatures. Reply to objection one.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: Man merits inasmuch as he does what he ought by
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: his free will. Otherwise the act of justice, whereby any
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: one discharges a debt, would not be meritorious. Reply to
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: objection two. God seeks from our goods, not prophet, but glory,
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: that is the manifestation of his goodness, even as he
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: seeks it also in his own works. Now nothing accrues
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: to him, but only to ourselves by our worship of him.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Hence we merit from God, not that by our works
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: anything accrues to him, but inasmuch as we work for
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: his glory. Reply to objection three. Since our action has
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: the character of merit only on the presupposition of the
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: divine ordination, it does not follow that God is made
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: our debtor simply, but his own, inasmuch as it is
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: as right that his will should be carried out. Second article,
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: Whether anyone without grace can merit eternal life? Objection one.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: It would seem that without grace any one can merit
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: eternal life. For man merits from God what he is
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: divinely ordained to as stated above an article one. Now,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: man by his nature is ordained to be attitude as
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: his end. Hence, too, he naturally wishes to be blessed. Hence, man,
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: by his natural endowments and without grace, can merit be attitude,
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: which is eternal life. Objection to Further, the less a
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: work is due, the more meritorious it is. Now less
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: doe is that work which is done by one who
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: has received fewer benefits. Hence, since he who has only
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: natural endowments has received fewer gifts from God than he
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: who has gratuitous gifts as well as nature, you would
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: seem that his works are more meritorious with God. And thus,
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: if he who has grace can merit eternal life to
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: some extent, much more may he who has no grace
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Objection Three. Further, God's mercy and liberality infinitely surpass human
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: mercy and liberality. Now a man may merit from another,
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: even though he has not hitherto had his grace. Much more.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: Therefore would it seem that a man without grace may
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: merit eternal life. On the contrary, the apostle says in
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Romans six twenty three, the grace of God life everlasting.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: I answer that man without grace may be looked at
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: in two states, as was said above in Question one
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: hundred nine, Article two. The first a state of perfect nature,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: in which Adam was before his sin, the second a
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: state of corrupt nature, in which we are before being
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: restored by grace. Therefore, if we speak of man in
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: the first state, there is only one reason why man
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: cannot merit eternal life without grace by his purely natural endowments,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: notably because man's merit depends on the divine preordination. Now,
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: no act of anything whatsoever is divinely ordained to anything
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: exceeding the proportion of the powers which are the principles
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: of its act. For it is a law of divine
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: providence that nothing shall act beyond its powers. Now everlasting
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: life is a good exceeding the proportion of created nature,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: since it exceeds its knowledge and desire. According to First
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: Corinthians two nine, eye hath not seen nor ear heard,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: neither hath it entered into the heart of man. And
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: hence it is that no created nature is a sufficient
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: principle of an act meritorious of eternal life, unless there
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: is added a supernatural gift, which we call grace. But
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: if we speak of a man as existing in sin,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: a second reason is added to this, notably the impediment
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: of sin. For since sin is an offense against God,
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: excluding us from eternal life. As is clear from what
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: has been said above in Question seventy one, Article six,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: as well as in Question one hundred and thirteen Article two,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: no one existing in a state of mortal sin can
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: merit eternal life unless ye be first reconciled to God
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: through his sin being forgiven, which is brought about by grace.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: For the sinner deserves not life but death. According to
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: Romans six twenty three, the wages of sin is death.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: Reply to objection one. God ordained human nature to attain
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: the end of eternal life, not by its own strength,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: but by the help of grace, and in this way
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: its act can be meritorious of eternal life. Reply to
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: objection two. Without grace, a man cannot have a work
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: equal to a work proceeding from grace. Since the more
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: perfect the principle, the more perfect the action. That the
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: objection would hold good if we supposed the operations equal
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: in both cases, Reply to objection three with regard to
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: the first reason adduced, the case is different in God
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: and in man, for a man receives all his power
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: of well doing from God and not from man. Hence,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: a man can merit nothing from God except by his gift,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: which the Apostle expresses aptly, saying in Romans eleven thirty five,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: who hath first given to him? And recompense shall be
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: made to him. But man may merit from man before
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: he has received anything from him, by what he has
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: received from God. But as regards the second proof taken
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: from the impediment of sin, the case is similar with
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: man and God, since one man cannot merit from another
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: whom he has offended unless he makes satisfaction to him
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: and is reconciled. Third article, Whether a man in grace
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: can merit eternal life condignly? Objection one. He would seem
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: that a man in grace cannot merit eternal life condignly.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: For the Apostle says in Romans eight eighteen, the sufferings
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: of this time are not worthy condignae to be compared
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: with the glory to come that shall be revealed in us.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: But of all meritorious works, the suffering of the saints
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: would seem to be the most meritorious. Therefore, no works
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: of men are meritorious of eternal life condignly. Objection two. Further,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: on Romans six twenty three, the grace of God life everlasting,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: A Gloss says, he might have truly said the wages
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: of Justice life ever li lasting, but he preferred to
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: say the grace of God, life everlasting, that we may
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: know that God leads us to life everlasting of his
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: own mercy, and not by our merits. Now, when anyone
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: merits something condignly, he receives it not from mercy, but
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: from merit. Hence, it would seem that a man with
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: grace cannot merit life everlasting condignly. Objection three. Further, merit
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: that equals the reward would seem to be condigned. Now,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: no act of the present life can equal everlasting life,
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: which surpasses our knowledge and our desire, and moreover surpasses
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: the charity or love of the wayfarer, even as it
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: exceeds nature. Therefore, with grace, a man cannot merit each
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: life condignly. On the contrary, what is granted in accordance
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: with a fair judgment would seem a condign reward, but
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: life everlasting is granted by God in accordance with the
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: judgment of justice. According to two Timothy four eight, as
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: to the rest, there is laid up for me a
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: crown of justice, which the Lord, the just judge, will
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: render to me in that day. Therefore man merits everlasting
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: life condignly. I answer that man's meritorious work may be
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: considered in two ways, first as it proceeds from free will. Secondly,
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: as it proceeds from the grace of the Holy Ghost.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: If it is considered as regards the substance of the world,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: and inasmuch as it springs up from the free will,
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: there can be no condignity because of the very great inequality.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: But if there is congruity on account of an equality
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: of proportion, For it would seem congruous that if a
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: man does what he can, God should reward him according
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: to the excellence of his power. If, however, we speak
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: of a meritorious work inasmuch as it proceeds from the
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: grace of the Holy Ghost, moving us to life everlasting,
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: it is meritorious of life everlasting condignly. For thus the
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: value of its merit depends upon the power of the
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: Holy Ghost moving us to life everlasting. According to John
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: four fourteen, shall become in him a fount of water,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: springing up into life everlasting. And the worth of the
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: work depends on the dignity grace, whereby a man being
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: made a partaker of the divine nature, is adopted as
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: a son of God, to whom the inheritance is due
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: by right of adoption. According to Romans eight seventeen, if
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: sons errs also reply to objection one, the apostle is
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: speaking of the substance of these sufferings. Reply to objection two.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: This saying is to be understood of the first cause
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: of our reaching everlasting life, notably God's mercy, but our
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: merit is a subsequent cause. Reply to objection three. The
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: grace of the Holy Ghost, which we have at present,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: although unequal to glory in act, is equal to it
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: virtually as the seed of a tree, wherein the whole
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: tree is virtually so. Likewise, by grace of the Holy
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: Ghost dwells in man, and he is a sufficient cause
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: of life everlasting. Hence, in Second Corinthians one twenty two
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: he is called the pledge of our inheritance. Fourth article
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: whether grace is the principle of merit through charity rather
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: than the other virtues. Objection One, It would seem that
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: grace is not the principle of merit through charity rather
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: than the other virtues, For wages are due to work.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: According to Matthew twenty verse eight, call the laborers and
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: pay them their hire. Now, every virtue is a principle
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: of some operation. Since virtue is an operative habit, it
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: is stated above in question fifty five, Article two. Hence
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: every virtue is equally a principle of merit. Objection two. Further,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: the apostle says in First Corinthians three eight every man
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: shall receive his own reward according to his labor. Now,
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: charity lessens, rather than increases, the labor, because, as Augustine
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: says in his Homily seventy, love makes all hard and
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: repulsive tasks easy and next to nothing. Hence, charity is
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: no greater principle of merit than any other virtue. Objection three. Further,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: the greatest principle of merit would seem to be the
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: one whose acts are most meritorious. But the acts of
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: faith and patience or fortitude would seem to be the
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: most meritorious, as appears in the martyrs, who strove for
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: the faith patiently and bravely even till death. Hence, other
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: virtues are a greater principle of merit than charity. On
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: the contrary, our Lord said in John fourteen twenty one,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. Now,
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: everlasting life consists in the manifest knowledge of God. According
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: to John seventeen three, this is eternal life, that they
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: may know THEE, the only true and living God. Hence,
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: the merit of eternal life rests chiefly with charity. I
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: answer that, as we may gather from what has been
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: stated above in Article one, human acts have the nature
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: of merit from two causes. First and chiefly from the
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: divine ordination, inasmuch as acts are said to merit that
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: good to which man is divinely ordained. Secondly, on the
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: part of free will, inasmuch as man, more than other creatures,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: has the power of voluntary acts by acting by himself.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: And in both these ways, does merit chiefly rest with charity.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: For we must bear in mind that everlasting life consists
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: in the enjoyment of God. Now, the human mind's movement
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: to the fruition of the divine good is the proper
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: act of charity, whereby all the acts of the other
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: virtues are ordained to this end. Since all the other
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: virtues are commanded by charity, hence the merit of life
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: ever lasting pertains first to charity, and secondly to the
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: other virtues, inasmuch as their acts are commanded by charity.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: So likewise is it manifest that what we do out
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: of love, we do most willingly. Hence, even inasmuch as
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: merit depends on voluntariness, merit is chiefly attributed to charity.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: Reply to Objection one. Charity, inasmuch as it has the
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: last end for object, moves the other virtues to act
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: for the habit to which the end pertains always commands
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: the habits to which the means pertain. As was said
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: above in Question nine, Article one. Reply to objection two.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: A work can be toilsome and difficult in two ways. First,
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: from the greatness of work, and thus the greatness of
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: the work pertains to the increase of merit. And thus
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: charity does not lessen the toil. Rather, it makes us
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: undertake the greatest toils, for it does great things if
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: it exists, as Gregory says in his homily number thirty
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: on the Gospel. Secondly, from the defect of the operator.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: For what is not done with a ready will is
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: hard and difficult to all of us. And this toil
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: lessens merit and is removed by charity. Reply to objection three.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: The act of faith is not meritorious unless faith worketh
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: by charity, according to Galatians five six. So two, the
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: acts of patience and fortitude are not meritorious unless a
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: man does them out of charity. According to First Corinthians
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: thirteen three. If I should deliver my body to be
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: burned and have not charity, yet profiteth mean nothing. Fifth article,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Whether a man may merit for himself the first grace?
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: Objection one. You would seem that a man may merit
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: for himself the first grace, because, as Augustine says in
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: his letter one hundred and eighty six, faith merits justification.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Now a man is justified by the first grace. Therefore
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: a man may merit the first grace. Objection two. Further,
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: God gives grace only to the worthy. Now no one
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: is said to be worthy of some good unless he
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: has merited it condignly. Therefore, we may merit the first
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: grace condignly Objection three. Further, with men, we may merit
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: a gift already received. Thus, if a man receives a
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: horse from his master, he merits it by a good
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: use of it in his master's service. Now, God is
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: much more bountiful than man. Much more therefore may a man,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: by subsequent works merit the first grace already received from God.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: On the contrary, the nature of grace is repugnant to
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: reward of works. According to Romans four four. Now to
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned according to grace,
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: but according to debt. Now a man merits what is
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: reckoned to him according to debt, as the reward of
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: his works. Hence a man may not merit the first grace.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: I answer that the gift of grace may be considered
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: in two ways. First, in the nature of a gratuitous gift.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: And thus it is manifest that all merit is repugnant
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: to grace, Since, as the apostle says in Romans eleven,
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: verse six, if by grace it is not now by
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: works Secondly, it may be considered as regards the nature
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: of the thing given, and thus also it cannot come
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: under the merit of him who has not grace, both
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: because it exceeds the proportion of nature, and because previous
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: to grace, a man in the state of sin has
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: an obstacle to his meriting grace, notably sin. But when
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: any one has grace, the grace already possessed cannot come
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: under merit, since reward is the term of the work.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: But grace is the principle of all our good works,
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: as stated above in question one hundred nine. But if
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: any one merits a further gratuitous gift by virtue of
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: the preceding grace, it would not be the first grace.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: Hence it is manifest that no one can merit for
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: himself the first grace. Reply to objection one, As Augustine
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: says in his Retractions one twenty three, he was deceived
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: on this point for a time, believing the beginning of
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: faith to be from us and its consummation to be
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: granted us by God. In this he here retracts, and
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: seemingly it is in this sense that he speaks of
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: faith as meriting justification. But if we suppose, as indeed
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: it is a truth of faith, that the beginning of
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: faith is in us from God, the first act must
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: flow from grace, and thus it cannot be meritorious of
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: the first grace. Therefore, man is justified by faith, not
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: as though man by believing were to merit justification, but
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: that he believes whilst he is being justified, inasmuch as
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: a movement of faith is required for the justification of
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: the ungodly, as stated above in Question one hundred thirteen,
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: Article four, reply to objection two, God gives grace to
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: none but to the worthy, not that they were previously worthy,
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: but that by his grace he makes them worthy. Who
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: alone can make him clean that is conceived of unclean seed.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: Acording to Job fourteen four reply to objection three, man's
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: every good work proceeds from the first grace, as from
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: its principle, but not from any gift of man. Consequently,
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: there is no comparison between gifts of grace and gifts
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: of men. End of Question one hundred and fourteen, Part
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: one read by Michael Shancraig, Lambert l C.