Catholic Theology Plain Pure Peaceable, Section 7
SECT. VII. Of the Reſiſtibility of Grace.
§. 1. TO Reſiſt Grace ſignifieth, 1. Either Not-to Receive it Paſſively *Ruiz de Vol. Dei, diſp. 1…. §. 6. p. 187. diſtinguiſheth of Gods will, 1. As to its ratio totalis including not only the vi… aut cauſalitas effectiva, but alſo the formal reaſon of Volitio effi…ax, which includeth the preſcience of future contingents: And ſo he ſaith, It is never reſiſted. 2. Secundum partialem & inadaequatam rationem praeciſe ut cauſa efficiens noſtrorum actuum liberorum, & prout offert motiva, & confert cauſas ſecundas, & ſuum concurſum, abſtrahendo à formaliſſima ratione Volitionis efficacis, quae quidditativè ſupponit formaliſſimam rationem praeſcientiae, &c. Et ita etiam in ſenſu compoſito cum tota cauſalitate illius in actu primo, ut praeciſus ab actu ſecundo, poteſt non ſortiri effectum.; as a ſtone receiveth not the rain ad intus; or as oyl reſiſteth water; or hard things receive not impreſſions as the ſoft. 2. Or Not-to-Receive-Actually; which is Receptio Moralis; as a man receiveth not a gift who conſenteth not; or as he reſiſteth the light who will not open his eyes: The bare Not-Conſenting with the Will, or not uſing the ſenſes or organs, not opening the hand, &c. is ſuch a Reſiſting. 3. Or an Active oppoſition, which is more. As a man reſiſteth an Enemy, (with heart or hand); or a man by Nolition, and not only Non-volition reſiſteth a ſuiter.
§. 2. Mans ſinful ſoul reſiſteth Gods gracious operations, all theſe wayes. 1. It is Paſſively become undiſpoſed to Reception: And thus he is ſaid to have a hard heart of ſtone, and a ſeared conſcience, and to be dead and paſt feeling, Eph. 4. 18, 19. & 2. 1, 2. 2. It doth not do what it can do morally to receive grace, that is, it doth not Conari or ſuſcitate it ſelf to be willing of it. 3. Yea, it doth Poſitively reſiſt by Action, and is unwilling of Gods gracious operations: And this is twofold, 1. By willing the contrary, and proſecuting carnal intereſt, over-loving the pleaſures of the fleſh, and ſo turning away from the motions of grace, 2. And therefore by an enmity to that grace and work, which would †Bradwardine li. 1. c. 1. cor. 8. p. 5. proveth that Gods will is univerſaliter efficax nec impedibilis, fruſtrabilis aut defectibilis: which we grant as to his will as it is efficient and not meerly final and complacite: But yet the Schoolmen that ſay, he is not Omnivolens, give reaſon for it.convert him, and take him off his choſen Idols.
§. 3. No creature by reſiſting God, doth abate or retund his eſſential Power or Activity, nor make any thing properly difficult to him.
§. 4. All the Elect reſiſt Grace before it overcome and convert them: And all our lives after we reſiſt it too commonly when it exciteth us to duty, and draweth us from ſin.
§. 5. He that repenteth not of his Reſiſting of Gods Spirit and Grace, doth not underſtand and well repent of his ſin.
§. 6. All Reſiſting is not Overcoming: All Reſiſt grace, but all overcome it not, that is, do not fruſtrate it as to the due effect.
§. 7. There are ſeveral Degrees of yielding to Gods motions and operations, and ſo ſeveral degrees of overcoming. He is fully overcome by it, who yieldeth to it wholly; He overcometh it in ſome part, who yieldeth to it but in part. And becauſe Gods grace moveth us to more than we ordinarily yield to, therefore we do ordinarily overcome it in too great meaſure, even when we are happily overcome by it.
§. 8. God worketh not alike on all: ſometime (as on Paul) he ſo ſuddenly changeth the mind and will, as that at once he both produceth the Act of mans conſent, and alſo taketh away even the moral (though not the natural) power to the contrary in the antecedent inſtant. So that no man ever denyeth conſent who is ſo moved. And ſometimes he procureth Actual Conſent by ſuch an operation, as in the antecedent inſtant might have been reſiſted and overcome, there being a Moral Power to the contrary. So that there is Actually-Converting Grace which was ſuperable in the antecedent inſtant, as to Moral power; and there is ſuch a converting Grace as no man ever doth overcome.
§. 9. Gods grace when it prevaileth, doth not take away, but determine the Natural power in it ſelf, but by ſo doing formaliter & relativè it maketh it no power ad hoc to the contrary, in that inſtant. Of which more anon.
§. 10. Such grace of God as cometh from his Abſolute Will or Decree of the due Event, is never overcome. For Gods decree is not fruſtrate.
§. 11. Gods gracious operations are never overcome by any contrary Act but what he himſelf is the Agent Cauſe of, as an Act: For in Him we Live and Move and Be. Yet man is the only Cauſe of the Inordination of that act, by which it is ſet in oppoſition to Gods other acts: For God doth not militate againſt himſelf.
§. 12. The caſe lyeth thus: God antecedently to his Laws, framed Nature, that is, the Being and Natural Order of all the World; and ſo he became the Head or Root of Nature; the firſt Cauſe, who by his wiſe decree, was to concurr to the end with that Natural frame, and to continue to things their proper forms and motions: And man is one of his creatures, having a Nature of his own, to which God as the God of Name doth Antecedently concurr. By this natural concurſe of God, the fomi… cator, the murderer, the thief, &c. are naturally able to do thoſe acts: But being free agents that can do otherwiſe, God maketh them a Law to reſtrain and regulate them. And when they break this Law, they reſiſt that gracious concurſe, which ſuitable to the organical cauſe, God conjoyneth with the means: But they do this by their Natural power and activity; not uſed as God requireth them, but turned againſt his own Law. So that if God would withdraw his ſuſtentation, and deſtroy m…ns Nature, they could not reſiſt his grace. But that he will not do, being his antecedent work: and ſo God is reſiſted by his own-given-power and act, diſordered and turned againſt his grace.
§. 13. The Will of God which is thus reſiſted, is only 1. His Preceptive or Legal will, de debito. 2. And his will of purpoſe, to give man ſo much help and no more by which he can and ought to believe and Repent, is ſaid to be reſiſted or fruſtrate ſo far, when by mans fault it doth him not that good which it might have done.
§. 14. Gods Grace and Spirit are ſaid to be reſiſted when the Word and other Means are *That God doth govern inſeriora per ſuperiora, and work by means, not for want of them, but from the abundance of his Goodneſs, ſo as to communicate to his creatures the dignity of cauſality, See Aquin. 1. q. 103. a. 8. & q. 104. a. 2. Alexand. 1. p. q. 26. m. 5. a. 2. & 3. & m. 7. Albert. 1. p. q. 67. m. 4. a. 1. Richard. 1. d. 39. a. 2. q. 3. & d. 45. a. 2. q. 2. Agid. Rom. 2. d. 1. p. 1. q. 2. a. 6. & ibi Gabritl d. 1. q. 2.reſiſted which call him to his duty. For theſe themſelves are gifts and acts of grace.
§. 15. But it is not the bar… Word or Means alone, but the Spirit working in and by thoſe means which is ſo reſiſted: For though no mo…tal man can clearly know juſt how the Spirit concurreth and operateth by the Word and Means; yet we may know, that God doth limit his own operation to the aptitude of the means ordinarily; and that he worketh with and by them, not according to his Omnipotency in it ſelf conſidered, but according to the means or organs. And as in Nature he operateth, nor quantum poteſt but agreeably to the order and aptitude of Natural Cauſes; ſo in Grace he operateth, non quantum poteſt, but according to the aptitude and order of the ſapiential frame of Governing-means of grace.
§. 16. When the preaching of the Word, Education, Company and other viſible Means ſeem equal, God hath innumerable means, ſupernal, internal, external, inviſible and unknown to us, by which he can make all the difference that he maketh in men: So that we cannot prove that ever he worketh on ſouls, without any ſecond cauſe or means at all: (though we cannot prove the contrary neither.) And therefore he that reſiſteth all means, for ought we know in ſo doing reſiſteth all Gods gracious operations on his ſoul.
§. 17. *I know not how to find both ſenſe and concord in the words of your Alvarez de A…x. l. 7. diſp. 59. p. 264. Ead…m contritio que eſt ultima diſpoſitio ad gratiam & in genere cauſe materialis antecedit illam; In genere tamen cauſae formalis & efficientis, eſt effeclus ejuſdem gratiae: & propterea quamvis non ſit meritoria gratiae, eſt tamen meritoria vitae aetern…:—Et p. 265. Contritio qua penitens diſponitur ad infuſionem gratiae habitualis, eſt meritoria vitae aeternae, ut Thom. 1. 2. q. 112. a. 2. ad 1. Ergo eſt effectus gratiae habitualis: Nulla enim operatio hominis eſt-meritoria vitae aeternae niſ… procedat à grati… habituali, & ordine ſaltem naturae ſit ea poſterior: How can the Act be the ultima diſpoſitio to the infuſion of that habit which it floweth from? Unleſs he mean eadem ſpecie, and not numerically: which yet is falſe: For it is not eadem, or elſe he falſly ſuppoſeth that the ſame Love of God may go before Grace.Whereas Dr. Twiſſe ſo frequently asketh, Whether Gods condional will (and ſo his operation) be [Volo te velle, modo velis, or credere modo credas,] to give us faith if we believe, and ſo maketh non credere or non velle to be the only reſiſtance; and the Arminians to be ridiculous in making the effect antecedent to the cauſe as a condition of the cauſation and itſelf: This ſemi-ſubtilty, though it beget voluminous confidence, muſt cry peccavi, if a little more ſubtilty do but detect the defectiveneſs of it. We are not now enquiring of the Rationes fidem habendi, but of the Rationes non habendi; nor are we enquiring Whether God have made a Covenant or formal Promiſe of giving faeith upon antecedent conditions; But whether he deny (or give-not) grace for actual faith (effectual or ſufficient) to any but thoſe that reſiſt and wilfully omit the preparatory acts which they were able to perform? even preparatory Volitons? Or if you will make the queſtion to be de ratisnibus fidem habendi (not de cauſis Actus donandi) Whether God do not ordinarily give or produce the act of faith, in that ſoul, which doth not wilfully reſiſt, and omit ſuch preparatory acts as it could do? even Volitions? And ſo I anſwer,
1. It is not [I will give thee faith if thou wilt believe, or I will make thee willing if thou be willing of the ſame thing.] But it is, [1. If by reſiſting common preparing grace, thou ſo harden …hy heart, or increaſe the privation of receptive aptitude in thy ſelf, as that the ſame degree of grace, means, help, impreſs, will not change thee, which otherwiſe would have done it, and will change another not ſo ſelf-hardened, thy graceleſneſs and deſtruction (both abſolutely and as compared to others that are converted,) is imputable only to thy ſelf.
2. And if thou be unwilling to uſe the Means as thou art able, to hear, read, or meditate on that which ſhould affect thee, and unwilling (Privatively) to hear and receive the inward motions of my Spirit, which ſhould convince and turn thee) and wilt not either by previous Cogitation, or immediate conatus and ſuſcitation of thy Intellect to Think, and of the will to its act, actively concurr to receive my gracious motions and influx; thy graceleſneſs (abſolutely and comparatively) is imputable, not to me, but to thy ſelf.
3. Much more, if when thou canſt do otherwiſe, thou run the contrary way, and turn thy thoughts and affections eagerly after vanity, and hate and oppoſe my help and grace, becauſe it is againſt thy luſts.]
2. Or if you will take it in the form of a half promiſe, or encouragement from God; thus,
[1. If thou wilt not by wilful progreſs in ſin, and cuſtom, ſo increſe thy Privation, and obdurateneſs, as that the ſame meaſure of Gracie…s Means and Impreſs will not convert thee as would do one that hath not ſo abuſed common grace:
2. And if alſo thou wilt at the preſent do what thou canſt in ſtirring up thy own will to concurr, and thy Intellect to conſider, and wilt but Conſent that my Grace ſhall help thee, and that thou wilt wait for it in the uſe of means:
3. And if thou wilt not hate and reſiſt my motions, as enemies to thy luſts, and turn wilfully after vanity, in ſuch a degree as thou art even Morally able to forbear; Thou ſhalt find that I am gracious and merciful, abundant in goodneſs, and truth, and forſaking none before they forſake me, and have not appointed thee theſe means in vain. To whom thus prepared did I ever deny the grace of faith? Name him if thou canſt.]
So that [Volo, ſi velis hoc] is one thing, and [Volo ſi velis aliud, & ſi ad hoc volendum quantum potes teipſum ſuſcites, & Gratiam non oppugnes, nec contraria proſequaris, quando pravas Volitiones fr… nare poſſis] is another thing.
§. 18. That God giveth his gracious operations ſometimes in a Reſiſtible limited degree, beſides what is ſaid, is moſt evidently proved,
1. In that all Divines confeſs, that in making the World, he hath not done quantum poteſt, but quantum voluit.
2. In that there are innumerable Poſſibilia quae non ſunt aut exiſtentia aut futura. God could have made the World ſooner, or made more Orbs, Earths, Trees, Men, Brutes, in ſpecie, numero, and done more acts, and made more alterations than he doth.
3. There is certainly ſome Divine operation with and by his inſtituted means, which is limited to their inſtrumental aptitude.
§. 19. And it is no diſhonour to Gods Omnipotency to work thus limitedly and reſiſtibly: For,
1. Elſe he ſhould be the Author of his own diſhonour; who freely diverſifieth Inſtruments, Receptivities and effects throughout the World in wonderful variety.
2. If the total Non-Volitions, Non-operations, or forbearing to do what he could (as in all the innumerable Poſſibles aforeſaid) be no diſhonour to him; then to will only in tantum, and to operate hoc & hactenus, limitedly and reſiſtibly, is no diſhonour: being more than not to Will and Work at all.