inexplicable facts of life with which we have to reckon. Christian doctrine does reckon with it, faithful, as always, to the fact.1 SECT. III.-Actions and Habits Life is manifested in action. Human actions in the state of pure nature are conceived as determined partly by the inevitable laws of nature, that is to say, by the sovereign will of the Creator, partly by man's free will. Among the laws of nature are to be included the habits or dispositions of man himself. These are partly inbred, partly acquired by repeated action. Those that are inbred or implanted by the Creator, so long as man's nature remains in its integrity, can lead him to nothing but good; those acquired under the same conditions will be equally wholesome. In this condition, then, we may say that human actions would be determined (1) by external laws of nature, (2) by good habits, and (3) by man's free will. In the state of original righteousness there will be added to these determining forces the aid of God's grace controlling and directing the human will. This aid may be distinguished as of two kinds, ordinary and special; the former infusing into the soul what is known. as habitual grace, a general disposition to seek after supernatural good and to do what is necessary for its 1 Robert Browning, in Gold Hair, suggests this as the prime reason for holding to the Christian faith. "I still, to suppose it true, for my part, See reasons and reasons; this, to begin; 'Tis the faith that launched point-blank her dart attainment; the latter moving the will to determine particular acts of the same tendency. In the state of fallen nature the human soul is deprived of habitual grace; but the history of revelation affords conclusive proof that special aid of this kind is still granted. That history is indeed nothing else but a record of such special graces, and the use or abuse of them by men. But further, in the fallen state an evil habit, called concupiscence or perverseness, is in every man by birth, and particular evil habits are rapidly acquired as the result of perverse action; by which means the freedom of the human will is impaired. We have, moreover, to reckon with the instigation of the devil and his attendant spirits, as also of evil men moving their fellows to perverse deeds. These are known as the temptations of the Devil and the World, as the moving force of concupiscence is called the temptation of the Flesh. In the state of fallen nature, therefore, human actions are determined (1) by the external laws of nature, (2) by inbred habits implanted by the Creator, (3) by good habits acquired as the result of good actions, (4) by evil habits inbred or acquired, (5) by external temptations to evil, (6) by an impaired will, and lastly, (7) by the special aid of God moving the will in the direction of supernatural good. By the first three of these forces fallen man is moved to good actions according to the will of God who made him. Such are the ordinary duties of life, the labours of the hand, the generation and the rearing of children, and the cultivation, social or individual, of the natural virtues. The image of God in which he was created is not wholly obliterated in man by the corruption of his nature. He still has the spiritual power of knowing and willing the things of God; but this power is grievously impaired, so that he judges amiss. He can still see within himself as in a mirror the reflection of the Divine likeness; but all is confused by the intrusion of evil habits and the suggestion of external temptations, so that he forgets, as St. Athanasius says, that he is created in the image of God, and he fails to order his life accordingly. Human actions therefore are not wholly bad, are never determined by pure malice, and even at the worst contain some element of a good purpose; but on the other hand they are never unmixed with evil. "We are all become as one that is unclean," says the prophet, "and all our righteousnesses are as a polluted garment." Those who are in this condition-who are in the flesh, as St. Paul has it cannot please God.1 A question has nevertheless been raised by theologians, whether fallen man can by his natural powers keep the commandments, either of the natural or of the revealed law, and in particular whether he can keep that first and greatest commandment which is to love God above all. It is argued that for God to command what is impossible is against his justice, and that to love God is natural to man, and not only to man, but also to every created being after the measure of its power. Therefore it is not impossible for man to love God with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength. And further, it may be said, we have in the Psalter the most perfect expression of the love which man owes to God; but the Psalter is the expression of the heart of fallen man. To the last point the reply is obvious, that in the Psalter we have the expression not of the unaided powers of human nature, but of human nature aided by special grace. The commandments of the natural law, being 1 Isa. lxiv. 6; Rom. viii. 8. Athanas., Contra Gentes, p. 8. Sum. Theol., 1-2. 109. 2. See Note D. a part of the order of creation, are designed for man as unfallen, who could therefore keep them. It is no imputation upon the justice of God to say that man as he is now born into the world, far removed from original righteousness, cannot observe them. The commandments of the revealed law were given to man already fallen, and are adapted to his case. These he is able to keep. St. Paul was bold to say that as touching the righteousness that is in the law he was found blameless; but this righteousness he counted refuse, and the very purpose of the law, he taught, was to render men dissatisfied with their condition.1 The great commandment concerning the love of God can be kept by men according to the measure of their existing powers, perfectly by unfallen man, imperfectly by fallen man with all that remains unspoilt of his heart and soul and strength. Fallen man therefore has no actions entirely unmixed with evil. The sinful habit infects them all. But this truth needs careful guarding on two sides. The natural virtues in fallen man are true virtues. They are not, as was rashly said, splendid vices. They fail to please God, because they fall short of that perfection for which he created man. They are good works, but they are not done as God willed and commanded them to be done; they are tarnished by the effect of the sinful habit. They have a certain moral value or merit, as being done by man's will, however impaired its freedom, in obedience to Divine command or to the impulse of the Creator. Again, the inability of fallen man to fulfil the Divine law does not free him from the imputation of guilt. The inability is a part of his sinfulness, and though it diminish the particular guilt of a particular action even to 1 Phil. iii. 6; Rom. vii. 7-25; Gal. iii. 24. vanishing point, as in the case of complete ignorance, yet the general guilt of fallen nature covers all such actions. It is probable that no sin committed by fallen man can equal in guilt a simple act of disobedience on the part of unfallen man; but every action which is tarnished by the habit of sin shares the condemnation passed upon the habit. By continuing in a course of sin a man may add to his incapacity for doing right, and take yet more away from the freedom of his will; yet he clearly does not by this diminish the general guilt of his subsequent action. What is true of progressive is true also of initial incapacity. The injury done to man's freedom does not therefore undo him as a moral agent or deprive him of responsibility, though in the judgment of particular actions there is room for the many or the few stripes according to the capacity of the agent.1 1 Man being created to live in society, the corruption of nature extends to his social order. This is the ruin of the world. The bond of social order is human law, which is partly an expression of natural law, partly the positive expression of collective human will. In the state of unfallen nature such law would be an accurate reflection of the Divine will, organizing man for the perfection of his natural life. In the state of fallen nature human law is liable to a twofold corruption. In the first place, the community as well as the individual, either from ignorance or from malice, may choose evil rather than good. Human law will then command actions which are definitely wrong. Under this head we bring all evil customs, public injustice, and tyranny. War in general springs from the same source, though a particular act of war may be good by virtue of its particular end. But however great this corruption, human society does 1 Luke xii. 47. K |