GRACE
703
GRACE
recognized by St. Augustine Gib. LXXXIII, Q. Ixxvi,
n. 2). In conformity with this interpretation and
with this only is the tenor of the Scriptural doctrine,
namely, that over and above faith other acts are
necessary for justification, such as fear (Ecclus., i, 28),
and hope (Rom., viii, 24), charity (Luke, vii, 47), pen-
ance with contrition (Luke, xiii, 3 ; Acts, ii, 38; iii, 19),
almsgiving (Dan.,iv, 24; Tob.,xii, 9). Without char-
ity and the works of charity faith is dead. Faith re-
ceives life only from and through charity (James, ii,
26). Only to dead faith (fides informis) is the doc-
trine applied: "Faith alone does not justify". On
the other hand, faith informed by charity {fides for-
mata) has the power of justification. St. Augustine
(De Trinit., XV, 18) expresses it pithily thus: "Sine
caritate quippe fides potest quidem esse, sed non
et prodesse." Hence we see that from the very be-
ginning the Church has taught that not only faith but
that a sincere conversion of heart effected by charity
and contrition is also requisite for justification — wit-
ness the regular method of administering baptism and
the discipline of penance in the early Church.
The Council of Trent (Sess. VI, cap. viii) has, in the light of Revelation, assigned to faith the only correct status in the process of justification, inasmuch as the council, by cleclaring it to be the "beoinning, the foundation, and the root", has placed faith at the very front in the whole process.
Faitli is the beginning of salvation, because no one can be converted to God unless he recognize Him as his supernatural end and aim, just as a mariner with- out an objective and without a compass wanders aim- lessly over the sea at the mercy of wind and wave.
Faith is not only the initiatory act of justification, but the foundation as well, because upon it all the other predisposing acts rest securely, not in geometric regularity or inert as the stones of a building rest upon a foundation, but organically and imbued with life as the branches and blossoms spring from a root or stem. Thus there is preserved to faith in the Catholic system its fundamental and co-ordinating significance in the matter of justification. A masterly, psychological description of the whole process of justification, which even Ad. Harnack styles "a magnificent work of art ", will be found in the famous cap. vi, " Dispon- untur" (Denzinger, n. 798). According to this the process of justification follows a regular order of pro- gression in four stages: from faith to fear, from fear to hope, from hope to incipient charity , from incipient charity to contrition with purpose of amendment. If the contrition be perfect (contritio caritate perfecta), then active justification results, that is, the soul is immediately placed in the state of grace even before the reception of the sacrament of baptism or penance, though not without the desire for the sacrament (vo- tum sacramenti). If, on the other hand, the contrition be only an imperfect one (atlritio), then the sanctify- ing grace can only be imparted by the actual recep- tion of the sacrament (cf. Trent, Sess. VI, cc. iv and xiv). The Council of Trent had no intention, how- ever, of making the sequence of the various stages in the process of justification, given above, inflexible ; nor of making any one of the stages indispensable. Since a real conversion is inconceivable without faith and contrition, we naturally place faith at the beginning and contrition at the end of the process. In excep- tional cases, however, for example in sudden conver- sions, it is quite possible for the sinner to overlap the intervening stages between faith and charity, in which case fear, hope, and contrition are virtually included in charity.
The "justification by faith alone" theory was by Luther styled the article of the standing and falling church (articulus staittis et cade7ttis ecclesia;), and by his followers was regarded as the material principle of Protestantism, just as the sufficiency of the Bible without tradition was considered its formal principle.
Both of these principles are un-Biblical and are
not accepted anywhere to-day in their original se-
verity, save only in the very small circle of orthodox
Lutherans.
The Lutheran Church of Scandinavia lias, according to the Swedish theologian Krogh-Tonningh, experi- enced a silent reformation which in the lapse of the several centuries has gradually brought it back to the Catholic view of justification, which view alone cari be supported by Revelation and Christian experience (cf . Dorner, " Geschichte der protestantischen Theolo- gie", 361 sqq., Munich, 1867; Mohler, "Symbolik", §16, Mainz, 1890; "Realencyk. fiir prot. Theol.", s. v. " Rechtfertigung ' ') .
(c) The Protestant theory of non-Imputation. — Embarrassed by the fatal notion that original sin wrought in man an utter destruction extending even to the annihilation of all moral freedom of election, and that it continues its existence even in the just man as sin in the shape of an inerad- icable concupiscence, Martin Luther and Calvin taught very logically that a sinner is justified by fidu- ciary faith, in such a way, however, that sin is not absolutely removed or wiped out, but merely covered up or not held against the sinner. According to the teaching of the Catholic Church, however, in active justification an actual and real forgiveness of sins takes place so that the sin is really removed from the soul, not only original sin by baptism but also mortal sin by the sacrament of penance (Trent, Sess. V, can. v; Sess. VI, cap. xiv; Sess. XIV, cap. ii). This view is entirely consonant with the teaching of Holy Scrip- ture, for the Biblical expressions: "blotting out" as applied to sin (Ps., 1, 3; Is., xliii, 25; xliv, 22; Acts, iii, 19), "exhausting" (Heb., ix, 28), "taking away" [II Kings, xii, 13; I Par., xxi, 8; Mich., vii, 18; Ps. X (Heb.), 15; cii, 12], cannot be reconciled with the idea of a mere covering up of sin which is supposed to continue its existence in a covert manner. Other Biblical expressions are just as irreconcilable with this Lutheran idea, for instance, the expression of "cleansing" and "washing away" the mire of sin (Ps., 1, 4, 9; Is., i, 18; Ezech., xxxvi, 25; I Cor., vi, 11; Apoc, i, 5), that of coming "from death to life" (Col., ii, 13; I John, iii, 14); the removal from dark- ness to light (Eph., V, 9). Especially these latter expressions are significant, because they characterize the justification as a movement from one thing to an- other which is directly contrary or opposed to the thing from which the movement is made. The oppo- sites, black and white, night and day, darkness and light, life and death, have this peculiarity, that the presence of one means the extinction of its opposite. Just as the sun dispels all darkness, so does the ailvent of justifying grace drive away sin, which ceases from that on to have an existence at least in the ethical order of things, though in the knowledge of God it may have a shadowy kind of existence as something which once was, but has ceased to be. It becomes intelligible, therefore, that in him who is justified, though concupiscence remain, there is " no condemna- tion" (Rom., viii, 1) ; and why, according to James (i, 14 sqq.), concupiscence as such is really no sin ; and it is apparent that St. Paul (Rom., vii, 17) is speaking only figuratively when he calls concupiscence sin, because it springs from sin and brings sin in its train. Where in the Bible the expressions " covering up" and "not imputing" sin occur, as for instance in Ps. xxxi, 1 sq., they must be interpreted in accordance with the Divine perfections, for it is repugnant that God should declare any one free from sin to whom sin is still actually cleaving. It is one of God's attributes always to substantiate His declarations ; if He covers sin and does not impute it, this can only be effected by an utter extinction or blotting out of the sin. Tradi- tion also has always taught this view of the forgive- ness of sins. (.See Denifle, "Die abendlandischen
