Grace, Actual and Habitual Part 11

G.o.d, being omniscient, knows not only the abstract number of the elect, but every individual predestined to Heaven. To us the number of the elect is wrapped in impenetrable mystery. St. Thomas justly observes: "Some say that as many men will be saved as angels fell; some, so many as there were angels left; others, in fine, so many as the number of angels who fell, added to that of all the angels created by G.o.d. It is, however, better to say that 'G.o.d alone knows the number for whom is reserved eternal happiness,' as the prayer for the living and the dead expresses it."(592) Whether G.o.d will round out the number of the elect by suddenly precipitating the end of the world or by a sort of "natural selection," is an open question. To a.s.sume the latter could hardly be reconciled with the dogma of the universality of His saving will. St. Augustine seems to favor the former.(593)

As regards the relative number of the elect, some writers (_e.g._ Ma.s.sillon) represent it as so infinitesimally small that it would almost drive a saint to despair,-"as if the Church had been established for the express purpose of populating h.e.l.l."(594) Even St. Thomas held that relatively few are saved.(595) But the arguments adduced in support of this contention are by no means convincing.(596) Recently, the Jesuit Father Castelein(597) impugned the rigorist theory with weighty arguments.

He was sharply attacked by the Redemptorist G.o.dts,(598) who marshalled a great number of authorities in favor of the sterner view. The controversy cannot be decided either on Scriptural or traditional grounds. In our pessimistic age it is more grateful and consoling to a.s.sume that the majority of Christians, especially Catholics, will be saved.(599) If we add to this number not a few Jews, Mohammedans, and heathens, it is probably safe to estimate the number of the elect as at least equal to that of the reprobates. Were it smaller, "it could be said to the shame and offense of the divine majesty and mercy, that the [future] kingdom of Satan is larger than the kingdom of Christ."(600)

3. THE MOTIVE OF PREDESTINATION.-The efficient cause of predestination is G.o.d; its instrumental cause, grace; its final cause, the divine glory; its primary meritorious cause, the merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. On these points all theologians are agreed. Not so as to the motive that induced G.o.d to predestine certain individuals to the exclusion of others. The question narrows itself down to this: What influence, if any, do the merits of a man exert on the eternal decree of predestination?-and may be formulated in three different ways.

a) What influence do the merits of a man exert on his predestination to the initial grace of vocation? Recalling the dogma of the absolute gratuity of grace, our answer must be: None. For whatever merits one may have acquired before he receives the initial grace of vocation, must be purely natural, and consequently worthless in the eyes of G.o.d for supernatural predestination. "To a.s.sume," says St. Thomas, "that there is on our part some merit, the foreknowledge of which [on the part of G.o.d]

would be the cause [motive] of our predestination, would be to a.s.sume that grace is given to us [as a reward] of our [natural] merits."(601)

b) What influence do the merits of a man exert on his predestination to grace and glory? Catholic theologians are unanimous in holding that, since grace is absolutely gratuitous and inseparably connected with glory as its effect, the union of both can no more be based upon _natural_ merit than the initial grace of vocation itself, which transmits the quality of gratuitousness to each and every one of the graces that follow in its wake, up to and including justification and eternal beat.i.tude. Those among the Fathers who defended the gratuity of predestination against the Pelagians and Semipelagians, really aimed at safeguarding the gratuity of initial grace, in order not to be constrained to say with Pelagius that "the grace of G.o.d is given as a reward of merit."(602) "What compelled me in this work of mine [_De Dono Perseverantiae_] to defend more abundantly and clearly those pa.s.sages of Scripture in which predestination is commended," says St. Augustine, "if not the Pelagian a.s.sertion that G.o.d's grace is given according to our [natural] merits?"(603) Obviously these Fathers did not have in view the _praedestinatio ad gloriam tantum_, as the champions of the _praedestinatio ante praevisa merita_ mistakenly a.s.sert, but what they meant was that complete predestination which comprises grace and glory as one whole. Similarly, the early Schoolmen, when they speak of the "gratuity of predestination," usually mean complete predestination.(604) D'Argentre's researches show how necessary it is to draw sharp distinctions and carefully to establish the real state of the question before claiming the common teaching of the Scholastics in favor of any particular theory of predestination.

c) What influence do the _supernatural_ merits of a man exert on his predestination to glory as such? Here the controversy begins.

Predestination may be considered either as the cause of supernatural merit or as its effect. If it is considered as the cause, the problem takes this shape: Did G.o.d, by an absolute decree, and without any regard to their future supernatural merits, eternally predestine certain men to the glory of heaven, and only subsequently decide to give them the efficacious graces necessary to reach that end, particularly final perseverance? If, on the other hand, predestination be considered as an effect of supernatural merit, the question will be: Did G.o.d predestine certain men to the glory of Heaven by a merely hypothetical decree, making His will to save them dependent on His infallible foreknowledge of their supernatural merits? The lack of decisive Scriptural and Patristic texts on this subject has led to a division of Catholic opinion, some theologians favoring absolute predestination _ante praevisa merita_, others hypothetical predestination _post praevisa merita_. Without concealing our conviction that absolute predestination is untenable, we shall set forth both theories impartially and examine the arguments on which they rely.

4. ORTHODOX PREDESTINATIONISM, OR THE THEORY OF PREDESTINATION ANTE PRAEVISA MERITA.-Some theologians conceive the divine scheme of salvation in this wise: (a) _In ordine intentionis_, G.o.d, by an absolute decree, first predestines certain men to eternal salvation, and then, in consequence of this decree, decides to give them all the graces necessary to be saved; (b) in time, however, or _in ordine executionis_, He observes the reverse order, that is to say, He first bestows the pre-appointed graces and subsequently the glory of heaven as a reward of supernatural merit acquired by the aid of those graces.

This theory reverses the relation of grace and glory. While it correctly(605) represents glory as the fruit and reward of supernatural merit in the order of execution, it wrongly represents it in the order of intention as the cause of supernatural merit, whereas it is merely an effect. This opinion is championed by most Thomists,(606) some Augustinians,(607) and a few Molinists.(608) Their arguments may be sketched as follows:

a) In innumerable pa.s.sages of Sacred Scripture predestination to eternal happiness is represented as a work of pure mercy, nay, even as an arbitrary act of G.o.d. Take, _e.g._, Matth. XXIV, 22 sqq.: "And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened.... For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect."(609) Here, it is claimed, the elect are represented as so thoroughly confirmed in faith and in good works as to be proof against error.

This conclusion is unwarranted. The phrase "those days" manifestly refers either to the destruction of Jerusalem or to the end of the world. If it refers to the destruction of Jerusalem, the "elect," according to Biblical usage,(610) are the faithful Christian inhabitants of the Holy City, for whose sake G.o.d promises to shorten the terrible siege. If it referred to the end of the world, _electi_ would indeed stand for _praedestinati_, but the context would not forbid us to interpret their predestination hypothetically, as merely indicating the immutability of the divine decree, which is not denied by the opponents of the theory.

Another text quoted in favor of absolute predestination _ante praevisa merita_, is Acts XIII, 48: "As many as were ordained (_praeordinati_, teta?????) to life everlasting, believed." Here, we are told, predestination to eternal life is given as the motive why many believed.

But the text really says nothing at all about predestination. ?eta?????

is not synonymous with p??teta????? or p?????s????. The more probable explanation is the following: As many believed as were disposed to receive the faith. It is wellnigh impossible to a.s.sume that all who received the faith at that time were predestined, while those that refused to be converted were without exception reprobates. But even if _praeordinati_ were synonymous with _praedestinati_, the text would merely say that certain predestined souls embraced the faith, without affording any clue as to the relation between conversion and predestination.

The ninth chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans is the main reliance of the advocates of absolute predestinationism, though the pa.s.sage is unfit to serve as a _locus cla.s.sicus_ because of its obscurity. Let us examine a few of the verses most frequently quoted. Rom. IX, 13: "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated," is alleged to prove the absolute predestination of Jacob and the negative reprobation of Esau. But many theologians hold that Esau was saved, and, besides, the Apostle is not dealing with predestination to glory, but with Jacob's vocation to be the progenitor of the Messias. Esau, who was not an Israelite but an Idumaean, was simply pa.s.sed over in this choice (_odio habere __ minus diligere_; cfr. Matth. X, 37). If the pa.s.sage is interpreted typically, it should be done in harmony with the context, that is to say, as referring to the gratuity of grace, not to predestination.

The same may be said of Rom. IX, 16 and 18: "It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of G.o.d that showeth mercy.... He hath mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardeneth."(611)

The strongest text alleged by the advocates of absolute predestination is Rom. IX, 20 sq.: "O man, who art thou that repliest against G.o.d? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it: Why hast thou made me thus? Or hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor?" Here the Apostle really seems to have thought of predestination. But the simile must not be pressed, lest we arrive at the Calvinistic blasphemy that G.o.d positively predestined some men to heaven and others to h.e.l.l. The _tertium comparationis_ is not the act of the Divine Artificer, but the willingness of man to yield his will to G.o.d like clay in the hands of a potter.

Nor is it admissible to read into the Apostle's thought even a _negative_ reprobation of certain men. For the primary intention of the Epistle to the Romans is to insist on the gratuity of man's vocation to Christianity and to reject the presumption that the Mosaic law and their bodily descent from Abraham gave the Jews preference over the heathens. The Epistle to the Romans has no bearing whatever on the speculative question whether or not the free vocation of grace is a necessary result of eternal predestination to glory.(612)

b) Among the Fathers the only one to whom the advocates of absolute predestinationism can appeal with some show of justice is St. Augustine, who, with the possible exception of Prosper and Fulgentius, was the most rigorous among early ecclesiastical writers,-so rigorous, in fact, that Oswald does not hesitate to call him "the head and front of all rigorists in the Church."(613)

However, this is saying too much. Augustine's genuine teaching is still in dispute among our ablest theologians. Some(614) deny that he broke with the almost unanimous teaching of his predecessors, while others think that in the treatises _De Dono Perseverantiae_ and _De Praedestinatione Sanctorum_, and in several of his letters, the Saint frankly taught absolute predestinationism. The latter group of writers is split into two cla.s.ses. A number of Thomists and Cardinal Bellarmine not only a.s.sert that Augustine taught absolute predestination, but boldly adopt his supposed teaching. Petavius, Maldonatus, Cercia, Oswald, and others censure this view. Franzelin(615) undoubtedly strikes the right note when he says: "If there were a manifest discrepancy between Augustine's teaching and that of the other Fathers, I should not hesitate to follow Pighius, Catharinus, Osorius, Camerarius, Maldonatus,(616) Toletus,(617) and Petavius(618) in reverently departing from his doctrine, because in that case we should be dealing merely with a private opinion."(619) Under these circ.u.mstances the Patristic argument for the theory of absolute predestination evidently lacks convincingness.(620)

c) It was probably because they felt its weakness that some of the later champions of the theory attempted to prove absolute predestination _ante praevisa merita_ by philosophical arguments. Gonet reasons as follows: "He who proceeds in an orderly way, wills the end before he wills the means necessary to attain it. But G.o.d proceeds in an orderly way. Therefore he wills the end before the means. Now, glory is an end, and merits are means to attain that end. Consequently, G.o.d wills glory before He wills merits, and a man's preelection to glory cannot be based on foreknowledge of his merits."(621) This argument, if it proved anything, would prove the logical impossibility of conditional predestination. But it overshoots the mark and consequently proves nothing at all. _Qui nimium probat, nihil probat._

Gonet moreover a.s.sumes what he sets out to prove, namely, that G.o.d _voluntate antecedente_ decreed the glory of certain men to the exclusion of others. This _pet.i.tio principii_ vitiates the entire polysyllogism.

G.o.d's will to save is universal. He wills the eternal happiness of all men _antecedenter_, and the reprobation of some only _consequenter_; hence eternal predestination is not absolute, but hypothetical, that is, it depends on merit. That the divine scheme of grace can take a different course _in ordine intentionis_ from that _in ordine executionis_ is a mere fiction. If eternal salvation in the order of temporal execution is given only as a reward of merit, it must be a reward of merit also in the order of intention. In both cases predestination depends upon a future condition.

Perhaps the worst feature of the theory of absolute predestination is the fact that it involves the absolute reprobation of those not predestined to glory. "If it could be validly argued," says Gutberlet, "that, since the end must be willed before the means, salvation must be decreed before the means to its attainment (_i.e._ merits), the argument would be applicable also to the d.a.m.ned. If G.o.d _voluntate antecedente_ wills to lead only a few to salvation, and if this intention must precede every other, then He must likewise _voluntate antecedente_ have in view the end of the reprobates, which is His own glorification through the manifestation of His justice and mercy. Hence He must also decree the means necessary to obtain this end, _i.e._ He must cause these unfortunate creatures to sin, in order that they may reach the end for which He has predestined them; in other words, He must pre-ordain them to sin and eternal d.a.m.nation,"(622) which is what Calvin teaches. The advocates of the theory naturally shrink from adopting such a blasphemous conclusion, and fall back upon the theory of _negative_ reprobation, which, however, amounts practically to the same thing.(623)

5. THE THEORY OF HYPOTHETICAL PREDESTINATION POST PRAEVISA MERITA.-Predestination, like G.o.d's will to save all men, is based on a hypothetical decree. Those only are predestined to eternal happiness who shall merit it as a reward. It is solely by reason of His infallible foreknowledge of these merits that G.o.d's hypothetical decree of predestination becomes absolute. Or, as Beca.n.u.s puts it, "G.o.d first prepared the gifts of grace, and then elected to eternal life those whose good use of the gifts He foresaw."(624)

This view, which strongly appeals to us for the reason that it sets aside the cruel theory of "negative reprobation," was defended by such earlier Scholastics as Alexander of Hales and Albertus Magnus, and by many eminent later writers, _e.g._ Toletus, Lessius, Fra.s.sen, Stapleton, Tournely, and is held to-day by nearly all theologians outside the Thomist school. What gave it special authority in modern times was the recommendation of St.

Francis de Sales, who, in a letter to Lessius (Aug. 26, 1618) described the theory of conditional predestination _post praevisa merita_ as "more in harmony with the mercy and grace of G.o.d, truer and more attractive."(625) This view has a solid basis both in Scripture and Tradition.

a) Holy Scripture clearly teaches the universality of G.o.d's saving will.

Now if G.o.d _voluntate antecedente_ wills the eternal salvation of all men without exception,(626) He cannot possibly intend that only some shall be saved.

It is further to be noted that the Bible makes not only the temporal realization but likewise the eternal promise of glory dependent on the performance of good works. St. Paul, whose Epistle to the Romans is cited as a _locus cla.s.sicus_ by the advocates of the theory,(627) wrote towards the end of his life to Timothy: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. As to the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the Lord the just judge will render to me in that day."(628) In writing these lines the Apostle no doubt had in mind the sentence of the Universal Judge: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,"(629)-which may with far greater reason be termed a "cla.s.sical"

text than the obscure ninth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. To prepare for men the kingdom of heaven from the foundation (_i.e._ beginning) of the world, is to predestine them to eternal happiness. Now, G.o.d has "prepared" the kingdom of heaven for men in view of their foreseen merits, that is to say, conditionally. The causal conjunction _enim_ in the sentence following the one just quoted (Matth. XXVI, 25): "_Esurivi enim et dedistis mihi manducare_, etc.," refers to the entire preceding sentence, not only to the _possidete_ in time, but also to the _paratum_ in eternity. Consequently, the eternal decree of predestination itself, like its temporal execution, depends on good works or merit. This interpretation of Matth. XXV, 34-36 is confirmed by the sentence p.r.o.nounced upon the reprobates, Matth. XXV, 41 sqq.: "Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me not to eat, etc." The "everlasting fire" is manifestly decreed from all eternity in the same sense in which it is inflicted in time, namely, _propter et post praevisa merita_. Billuart's contention(630) that h.e.l.l has been prepared solely for "the devil and his angels" is untenable, because in several other Scriptural pa.s.sages(631) the reprobates are expressly cla.s.sed among the followers of Satan. If we add to this that our Divine Lord, in foretelling the last judgment, had naturally to formulate his prediction so as not only to show its absolute justice but likewise to intimate that, had they so willed, the d.a.m.ned might have had their place on the right hand of the Great Judge, we must admit that the theory of predestination _post praevisa merita_ has a solid foundation in Scripture.(632)

b) The Greek Fathers unanimously favor hypothetical predestination, which fact has caused the theory to be commonly referred to as "_sententia Graecorum_."(633)

Thus St. Chrysostom interprets the judgment of the Son of Man as follows: "Possess ye the kingdom [of heaven] as your own by heredity, as a paternal heritage, as a gift long due to you; for it was prepared and arranged for you before you came into existence, because I knew beforehand that you would be what you are."(634) Theodoret says: "He did not simply predestine [men], but He predestined them because He foreknew [their merits]."(635)

The Latin Fathers before St. Augustine all without exception taught hypothetical predestination. St. Hilary says: "Many are called, but few are chosen.... Hence election is not a matter of indiscriminate choice, but a selection based on merit."(636) And St. Ambrose: "Therefore the Apostle says: 'Whom he foreknew he also predestined' (Rom. VIII, 29); for He did not predestine before He foreknew, but He predestined a reward to those whose merits He foresaw."(637)

The question cannot, as Bellarmine contends,(638) be decided on the sole authority of St. Augustine, because he is claimed by both parties to the controversy.(639)

On account of the existing differences of opinion it is impossible to establish the theory of hypothetical predestination on the basis of Scholastic teaching.(640) The opinion of St. Thomas is in dispute;(641) likewise that of St. Bonaventure. Scotus in his controversy with Henry of Ghent shows a disposition to favor absolute predestination, but leaves the question open. "Let every one," he says,(642) "choose whichever opinion suits him best, without prejudice to the divine liberty, which must be safeguarded against injustice, and to the other truths that are to be held in respect of G.o.d."(643)

6. A COMPROMISE THEORY.-For the sake of completeness we will add a few words on a theory which takes middle ground between the two just reviewed, holding that, while the common run of humanity is predestined hypothetically, a few exceptionally favored Saints enjoy the privilege of absolute predestination.

Among the champions of this "eclectic" theory may be mentioned: Ockam,(644) Gabriel Biel,(645) Ysambert,(646) and Ambrosius Catharinus.(647) The Saints regarded by these writers as absolutely predestined to eternal glory are: the Blessed Virgin Mary, the prophets and Apostles, St. Joseph, St. Aloysius, and a few others, as well as all infants dying in the grace of Baptism. Billuart,(648) Dominicus Soto, and certain other divines attack this theory on the ground that it makes the salvation of the great majority of the elect a matter of chance and thereby imperils the dogmatic teaching of the Church. This objection is unfounded. For though the "eclectic" theory has little or no support either in Revelation or in reason, it sufficiently safeguards the dogma of predestination by admitting that _voluntate consequente_ none but the predestined can attain to eternal beat.i.tude.

Only with regard to the Blessed Virgin Mary are we inclined to make an exception. It is probable that she was predestined to eternal glory _ante praevisa merita_, because, in the words of Lessius, the privileges she enjoyed "exceed all measure and must not be extended to any other human being."(649)

Article 4. The Reprobation Of The d.a.m.ned

The reprobation of the d.a.m.ned is sometimes called _praedestinatio ad gehennam_, though, as we have remarked, the term "predestination" should properly be restricted to the blessed.

There can be no absolute and positive predestination to eternal punishment, and the pains of h.e.l.l can be threatened only in view of mortal sin. Hence reprobation may be defined, in the words of Peter Lombard, as "G.o.d's foreknowledge of the wickedness of some creatures and the preparation of their d.a.m.nation."(650)

A distinction must, however, be made (at least in theory), between _positive_ and _negative_ reprobation. To teach positive reprobation would be heretical. Negative reprobation, on the other hand, is defended by all those Catholic theologians who advocate the theory of absolute predestination _ante praevisa merita_.(651)

1. HERETICAL PREDESTINARIANISM OR THE THEORY OF THE POSITIVE REPROBATION OF THE d.a.m.nED.-Heretical Predestinarianism was taught by Lucidus, Gottschalk, Wiclif, Hus, the younger Jansenius, and especially by Calvin.

The latter a.s.serted that the salvation of the elect and the d.a.m.nation of the reprobate are the effects of an unconditional divine decree.(652)

According to this abominable heresy, the sin of Adam and the spiritual ruin which it entailed upon his descendants are attributable solely to the will of G.o.d. G.o.d produces in the reprobate a "semblance of faith," only to make them all the more deserving of d.a.m.nation. In the beginning of the seventeenth century Arminius and a few other theologians of the Dutch Reformed Church, repelled by Calvin's _decretum horribile_, ascribed the positive reprobation of the d.a.m.ned to original sin (_lapsus_). These writers, called Infralapsarians or Postlapsarians, were opposed by the strict school of Calvinist divines under the leadership of Gomarus. The great Calvinist Synod of Dordrecht (1618-1619) condemned the principles of Arminius, and subsequently his adherents were driven from Holland.

The Catholic Church condemned Predestinarianism as early as 529 at the Second Council of Orange, which among other things declared: "We not only refuse to believe that some men are by divine power predestined to evil, but if there be any who hold such a wicked thing, we condemn them with utter detestation."(653)

The Tridentine Council defined against Calvin: "If any one saith that the grace of justification is attained to only by those who are predestined unto life, but that all others who are called, are called indeed, but receive not grace, as being by divine power predestined unto evil; let him be anathema."(654)

Calvinism, both supra- and infra-lapsarian, is easily refuted from Revelation and Tradition.

a) It runs counter to all those texts of the Bible which a.s.sert the universality of G.o.d's saving will,(655) the bestowal of sufficient grace on all sinners,(656) and the divine attribute of holiness.(657)

Calvin endeavored to prove his blasphemous doctrine chiefly from the ninth chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans.(658) His disciple Beza relied mainly on 1 Pet. II, 7 sq.: "But to them that believe not, the stone which the builders rejected, the same is made the head of the corner: and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of scandal, to them who stumble at the word, neither do believe, whereunto also they are set,"(659) _i.e._, according to Beza, predestined not to believe.(660) But this interpretation is obviously wrong. For we know from Is. VIII, 14(661) and Matth. XXI, 44,(662) that those who fall on this stone are ground to powder as a punishment for the sin of unbelief.(663)

b) The Fathers, especially those of the East, are unanimous in upholding the orthodox teaching of the Church. The only one whom adherents of Predestinarianism have dared to claim is St. Augustine.