Scotus Academicus, Tomus octavus: De Divino Gratiae Beneficio, et initium De Virtutibus Theologicis

WHETHER, AND IN WHAT MANNER FAITH RECEIVED PROGRESS AND AUGMENTATION WITH THE SUCCESS OF TIMES.

NOTE 1. From the Seraphic Doctor in 3. d. 25. art. 2, the augmentation of faith can be considered in a threefold manner: First indeed, as regards the multitude of things to be believed. Secondly, as regards the fullness of light. Thirdly, as regards the certitude of knowledge. First, I say, the augmentation of faith can be regarded as regards the multitude of things to be believed, and that either according to their addition, or with respect to their explication: for the objects to be believed can be considered as more numerous, or fewer at one time than at another: moreover, those which are proposed only implicitly at one time can be proposed at another time as things to be believed explicitly and distinctly. Similarly faith can receive an augmentation of new light with the success of times, so that those things which were revealed more obscurely at one time may appear more distinctly and more openly at another time through a more abundant illustration of doctrine and a more perspicuous proposition of the things to be believed. Finally faith can be compared either to the truth dictating, or to the intellect assenting. It is asked, however, whether in all these ways faith receives augmentation, so that now there are more, or fewer things to be believed, and that more clearly and distinctly, and also more firmly and with more certain assent, than the faithful of the nascent Church believed.

NOTE 2. Faith concerning some object can be had in a twofold manner, namely either implicitly, or explicitly. Explicit faith is, when assent is borne to the very object, as such is, so that he who believes, being questioned, can say in particular that he believes it. Implicit faith is, when we believe something, in which other things are involved, although it be hidden from us what those are, or we cannot believe this, without by that very fact believing others at least in common. Now this implicit faith can arise first from the reason of the formal object of the same thing. E.g., he who by infused faith believes one article on account of the divine authority, by that very fact seems to embrace implicitly whatever God has revealed: just as he who de- tests one grave sin, precisely because it is a grave offense of God, by that very fact seems implicitly to detest every grave sin, in which the same motive of detestation is found. Secondly, implicit containment can ari- se from this, that there be believed some collection of things taken together, in which other objects are contained, which in themselves and in particular are unknown: thus while some rustic believes all things which are believed by the Roman Church, he has implicit faith concerning all the articles and truths Ca- tholic pertaining to the integrity of faith. Finally, thirdly, it can hap- pen that something connected with another be believed, and that either because one proposition is connected with another in reality itself, or by the identity of the thing, although the connection itself cannot be known without faith; and in this way, he who believes God to be infinite, implicitly believes Him to be triune: or also the particular is known implicitly in the universal, as is evident of itself.

NOTE 3. The state of faith, as well as of the Church, can be distinguis- hed in a threefold manner, according to the threefold law of Nature, Scripture, and Grace. The state of Nature was from Adam even to Moses: that of Scripture indeed from Moses even unto Christ: finally that of Grace from the very nativity of Christ the Lord even unto the consummation of the age. Moreover each of these states can be distinguished into divers times: even as St. Gregory, Homil. 2. in Matth., distinguishes the state of the law of Nature from the very beginning of the world even unto the deluge: from the deluge and Noe even unto Abra- ham: and from Abraham even unto Moses. Similarly in each of those states men can be distinguished into two classes, namely into those who were Princes, Pastors and Rulers of others, and into those who in the manner of sheep are ruled by pastors, and are instructed and illumined in the truths of faith.

These things thus premised, there must be determined first, whether the faith of the Church has always been equal in any state whatsoever, both implicit as well as explicit, concerning the same objects to be believed. Secondly, whether the objects to be believed became known more clearly at one time than at another. Thirdly, whether they were believed at one time with greater and firmer certitude than at another.

First Conclusion. — FAITH AS REGARDS THE SUBSTANCE OF THE THINGS TO BE BELIEVED WAS THE SAME IMPLICITLY IN ALL THE FAITHFUL OF WHATEVER STATE OF THE CHURCH, AND LIKEWISE EXPLICITLY IN THE PRINCES AND RULERS, BUT NOT SO IN THE COMMON RUN OF THE FAITHFUL, UP TO THE STATE OF THE LAW OF GRACE. This Conclusion consists of three parts, of which

The First is gathered from the Apostle to the Heb. 11. where, when he had said: Sine fide impossibile est placere Deo, he adds: Credere enim oportet accedentem ad Deum, quia est, et inquirentibus se remunerator sit: but very many in any state whatsoever of the Church pleased God: therefore they must have believed that He exists, and that He is the remunerator of those who seek Him: but the substance of the things to be believed is contained chiefly in virtue of these two articles, namely the divine existence, which involves not only the Deity, but also all the attributes and the operations and excellencies of God, and the salvation of men, unto which all the operations of God ad extra are ordained; for all things are on account of the Elect: therefore, etc. — It is confirmed from this, that in the same place the Apostle says faith is the substance of things to be hoped for: but the things to be hoped for at any time whatsoever were the same according to substance, namely eternal beatitude, and those things which pertain to it; whence in the same place he adds: Iuxta fidem defuncti sunt omnes isti (namely the ancient Fathers) non acceptis repromissionibus, sed a longe eas aspicientes, et salutantes. Wherefore 2. ad Cor. 1. speaking of the ancient Fathers, he says: Habentes autem eumdem spiritum fidei. By which he signifies that the ancient Fathers had the same faith as ourselves.

It is proved moreover: the sum of faith chiefly concerns God subsistent in His Divinity, or in our humanity: but this faith has ever existed in every state of the Church: therefore, etc. The major is evident from that Ioann. 17. Haec est autem vita aeterna: ut cognoscant te solum verum Deum, et quem misisti Iesum Christum. But the minor is proved from that Actor. 4. where of Christ it is said: Non est aliud nomen sub caelo datum hominibus, in quo oporteat nos salvos fieri; whence as many as were faithful in any state whatsoever of the Church directed all their hope toward Christ, as toward the fountain of grace, and the Author, and Mediator of God and men. Hence Heb. 13. it is said: Christus heri, et hodie, et in saecula; by which Paul signifies that although Christ the Lord appeared only in the middle of the times, nevertheless He derived the influx of His divine operation and power into all peoples quite absolutely, at any time whatsoever, and under whatever law, of Nature, Scripture, or Grace: hence Apocal. 13. it is said: Agnus occisus ab origine mundi, because the future sacrifice of this divine victim, whereby the sins of men ought to be expiated, was always present to God, so that by His understanding and regard He might be moved to impart grace to men: wherefore all the faithful quite absolutely placed their hope and salvation in the Messias Himself; whence David, Psal. 21. In te speraverunt Patres nostri, speraverunt et liberasti eos; ad te clamaverunt, et salvi facti sunt.

But that the grace and succor of that divine Mediator profited men unto salvation long before His coming into the world, St. Paul teaches most excellently 1. ad Cor. 10. in these words: Patres nostri omnes sub nube fuerunt, et omnes mare transierunt, et omnes in Moyse baptizati sunt in nube, et in mari: et omnes eamdem escam spiritualem manducaverunt, et omnes eamdem potum spiritualem biberunt: bibebant autem de spiritali consequente eos Petra: Petra autem erat Christus. Hence the Holy Fathers teach that faith in Christ has always been necessary unto salvation for men in whatever state. Which also St. Paul not obscurely intimates to the Rom. 3. where, when he had said: Omnes peccaverunt, et egent gloria Dei, he adds: Iustificati per gratiam ipsius, per redemptionem, quae est in Christo Iesu, quem proposuit Deus propitiationem per fidem in sanguine ipsius ad ostensionem iustitiae suae, propter remissionem praecedentium delictorum, in sustentatione Dei, ad ostensionem iustitiae eius in hoc tempore, ut sit ipse iustus, et iustificans eum, qui est ex fide Iesu Christi. — Hence St. Augustine, Tract. ⟦tract-number illegible⟧ in Ioan. teaches most excellently that the faith of the Synagogue and of the Church is the same, as regards its object: The times, he says, have been varied, not faith: the sound of the word has been changed ⟦illegible: two short words garbled beyond recovery⟧: nevertheless the same faith joins both together. And Serm. S. De Tempore: One, he says, is the faith of the new, and of the old Testament. Wherefore lib. 1. Retractat., cap. 18. he teaches that the Christian religion existed from the beginning of the world, although it was not called by that name: The very thing, he says, which is now called the Christian religion, existed also among the Ancients, nor was it absent from the beginning of the human race, until the Same should come in the flesh, whence the true Religion, which already existed, began to be called Christian. For when after the resurrection and Ascension into heaven the Apostles had begun to preach, and very many believed, first at Antioch, as it is written, the Disciples were called Christians. Therefore in our times this is the Christian Religion, not because it did not exist in prior times, but because in later times it received this name, to know and attain which is most secure salvation. — To this most excellently accords St. Leo, Serm. De Nativitate:

Let them cease therefore, he says, the complaint of those who, murmuring impiously against the divine dispensations, complain of the tardiness of the divine Nativity: as though what was wrought in the last age of the world had not been bestowed in times past. The Incarnation of the Word brought this fruitful advantage, that it was made so that the sacrament of human salvation should never cease in any antiquity whatsoever. What the Apostles preached, this the Prophets announced: nor is that fulfilled late which has always been believed. But the wisdom and benignity of God by this delay of His salutary work made us more eager for His vocation, so that what had been foretold through so many ages by many signs, many voices, and many mysteries might in these days of the Gospel be without ambiguity: and the nativity, which was about to exceed every miracle and every measure of understanding, begat in us a faith the more steadfast, the more its preaching had been both more ancient and more frequent. Not therefore by a new counsel did God provide for human affairs, nor by a late compassion: but from the constitution of the world He instituted one and the same cause of salvation for all. But the grace of God, whereby the whole body of the Saints has always been justified, was increased at the birth of Christ; it did not begin. And this sacrament of great piety was then fulfilled throughout the whole world already filled, and then also prevailed in its significations, so that they are no less profitable who believed in it as promised than those who received it as given.

To this also the reason lends its aid: for all the faithful at any time whatsoever ought to tend toward the same beatitude, and through the same Mediator Christ: therefore it was necessary that all mutually agree in the same faith, at least implicit, and according to substance.

The second part is proved, namely that at all times the Rulers, Pastors, and Princes of the faithful had explicit faith concerning the principal mysteries; for this Christ the Lord signifies Luke 10. speaking generally to the Apostles: Beati oculi qui vident quae vos videtis; dico enim vobis, quod multi Prophetae, et reges voluerunt videre quae vos videtis, et non viderunt: et audire quae auditis, et non audierunt. From which St. Irenaeus rightly gathers, lib. 4. cap. 24. If they desired, therefore they believed in Him. Hence St. Leo Epist. 23. says that from the beginning of the human race Christ coming in the flesh was announced to men. Which announcement indeed and faith certain Gentiles also propagated amid the midst of the darkness of idolatry, as is evident in the case of the most holy man Job, who cap. 19. says: scio, quia Redemptor meus vivit. — But when this faith had been obscured by the infidelity of the Gentiles and almost extinguished, it was again raised up in Abraham; who had a more explicit faith of the mysteries, and especially of the Incarnation, as Christ the Lord testifies Ioan. 8. Abraham pater vester exultavit, ut videret diem meum: vidit et gavisus est. But from that most holy Patriarch the faith concerning the Word to be incarnate was propagated to all his posterity, whence St. Paul to the Gal. 3. Abrahae dictae sunt promissiones, et semini eius. But that divine faith, through the frequent revelations made to the Patriarchs Isaac and Jacob, God cultivated even unto the very times of Moses, concerning whom, before he received the law, St. Paul to the Heb. 11. writes thus: Fide Moyses grandis factus negavit se esse filium filiae Pharaonis, magis eligens affligi cum populo Dei, quam temporalis peccati habere iucunditatem, maiores divitias aestimans thesauro AEgyptiorum improperium Christi: aspiciens enim in remunerationem. Before the other Israelites moreover, who lived after Moses, David and Isaias had the expression concerning the Incarnation of the Word, and its mysteries of Life, Death, and Resurrection: for of David we read Matth. 22. that he calls Christ Lord in spirit, saying: Dixit Dominus Domino meo, sede a dextris meis, etc.; and of Isaias indeed Ioan. 12. Haec dixit Isaias quando vidit gloriam eius, et locutus est de eo.

The third part St. Gregory teaches openly, Hom. 16. in Ezechielem, where about the middle, he says: Dei cognitio, quae in Patribus spiritualibus fuit, nota toti populo Hebraeorum non fuit: Nam omnipotentem Deum, sanctam videlicet Trinitatem, cum Prophetae praedicarent, populus ignorabat, solum decalogum tenebat in fide, legem Trinitatis nesciens. By which he signifies that not all the faithful Israelites had explicit faith concerning the principal mysteries of faith, for instance the Trinity, and likewise the Divinity of the Messias to come: much less did they know the special mysteries, which the Christian people now believes explicitly, and which are expressed and declared distinctly in the Symbol; whence St. Paul to the Ephes. 3. says: Aliis generationibus non est agnitum filiis hominum, sicuti nunc revelatum est sanctis Apostolis eius, et Prophetis in spiritu. To which accords

S. Ioan., Epist. 1. cap. 5. Scimus quoniam Filius Dei venit, et dedit nobis sensum, ut cognoscamus verum Deum, et simus in vero Filio eius.

From these things therefore it follows that explicit faith concerning some objects in particular was not always equal, nor did the common faithful of the old Testament, nay rather even their Rulers, know the mysteries of faith so distinctly as the rude common run of Christians knows them also. Moreover even in the very state of the law of nature or of writing the equality of faith was not always the same, at one time the knowledge of things growing dim, at another renewed through the Prophets; which also happens in the state of the law of grace; for the faithful of all ages did not have equally explicit and distinct faith concerning many objects; for it happened that, when their elders had explicit knowledge of certain things, afterwards the same faith, lulled into the shadows of ignorance in most of their posterity, was again recalled to light and secured by the definitions of Councils, the sanctions of Pontiffs, and the labor and study of Doctors.

You will say 1. The whole Christian faith is contained in the new law: but the new law is wholly contained in the old law; for it is that mystical wheel within a wheel, as Ezechiel notes, cap. 1. therefore the faithful of the old Testament ought to have had a more open and explicit faith than those of the new. — I deny the consequence: for although the New Testament be enclosed at least implicitly in the old, yet from thence it is not consequent that the ancient faithful had the same explicit faith of the mysteries as ourselves: for, as the holy Apostle notes repeatedly, all things happened to them in figure.

You will say 2. The object being varied, the habit also is changed: therefore if the faithful of the new Testament believe something which was not acknowledged by the faithful of the old Testament, it follows that faith also has been changed, the contrary of which we taught above from St. Augustine saying: Tempora variata sunt, non fides, etc. — I distinguish the antecedent: the object being changed according to the intrinsic reason of the object, I concede: according to a various proposition of the same object, and a more or less explicit revelation of the same; I deny. Now the objects of faith are varied only in such wise, that those things which were formerly proposed more obscurely are now proposed and expounded more distinctly.

You will say 3. All the mysteries of faith, especially those which concern the life and state of Christ the Lord, which are not true of the past, were at some time true of the future: therefore just as it is now true that Christ has been incarnate, born, and has suffered, so it was true in the past that Christ was to be incarnate, to be born, and to suffer; and by the same reason by which it is now credible of the past, it was credible of the future. — I answer, that all things which we believe of the past were indeed to be believed of the future implicitly, I concede: explicitly only, and distinctly, I deny. For the objects of faith are proposed to us more explicitly and more distinctly than of old to the Jews; and accordingly we now believe explicitly more things than was believed by those who preceded the advent and preaching of Christ, as will be shown

Second Conclusion. — ACCORDING TO THE DIVERSITY OF TIMES FAITH HAD ITS PROFECTION, AS TO THE AUGMENTATION OF LIGHT. So the Seraphic Doctor, d. 25. art. 2. q. 2. and formerly faith was held by Prophets and Patriarchs: wherefore that Savior who is to be adored is called the Light of the world, John 8., because, as Isaias had foretold, chap. 9., at his coming the people that walked in darkness saw a great light: to them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death a light is risen. Hence He said to the Apostles, Luke 8.: To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but to the rest in parables, that seeing they may not see, and hearing may not understand. Wherefore John 15. He said to the same: You I have called friends: because all things whatsoever I have heard from my Father I have made known to you; whence the Apostle to the Ephesians 1.: We have redemption through his blood, the remission of sins according to the riches of his grace, which hath superabounded in us in all wisdom and prudence, that he might make known to us the sacrament of his will. From all which it is evident that God illumines the faithful of the New Testament with a richer light of faith than those of the old, so that the faithful of the ancient Church were illumined by faith like the twilight of dawn, whereas to us divine faith shines forth according to the fullness of all its light; for the path of the faithful, as of the Just, is as a shining light, proceeding and growing unto the perfect day. Which truth S. Leo admirably expounds, Sermon 13. On the Passion: where, having said: The Incarnation of the Word and the death and resurrection of Christ have become the salvation of all the faithful: and the blood of one Just man, which the Father purchased for us, because we believe it shed for the reconciliation of the world, conferred this upon the Fathers, who likewise believed it was to be shed. Finally he concludes: Nothing therefore, most beloved, differs from the ancient significations in the Christian religion, nor was salvation ever hoped for by the preceding Just from any other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the dispensations being varied according to the reason of the divine will, yet flashing forth one and the same light in the testimonies of the Law, the oracles of the Prophets, and the oblations of victims; because it thus beseemed those peoples to hunger, so that they could not receive the things revealed as future, but accepted them veiled; and so the authority of the Gospel would be the greater, to which so many signs, and all the miracles and mysteries of the pages of the Old Testament had ministered. Hence he adds in Sermon 2. On the Ascension: What was conspicuous in our Redeemer passed over into sacraments, and that faith might be more excellent and more firm, doctrine succeeded to vision: whose authority, illuminated by heavenly rays, the hearts of believers followed.

This truth S. Gregory also proves in his Homilies on Ezechiel, Homily 6., where he says:

With the increases of times grew the knowledge of the spiritual Fathers. For Moses knew more than Abraham; the Prophet more than Moses; the Apostles more than the Prophets, being instructed in the knowledge of almighty God. I err if this very Scripture does not say: Many shall pass over, and knowledge shall be manifold. But let us show, if we can, from the words of the same Scripture what we have said of Adam, Moses, the Prophets, and the Apostles. Who even knows not that Abraham spoke with God? And yet the Lord says to Moses: I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and my name Adonai I did not show them. Behold, more had been made known to Moses than to Abraham, since he declares that of himself which he narrated that he had not declared to Abraham. But let us see whether the Prophets could apprehend more divine knowledge than Moses. Certainly the Psalmist says: How have I loved thy law, O Lord! it is my meditation all the day. And he subjoined: Above all who teach me I have understood, because thy testimonies are my meditation. And again: I have understood above the Ancients. He therefore who relates that he meditated on the law, and testifies that he understood above all who teach him and above the ancients, manifests that he received the divine law more than Moses. How, however, shall we show that the Apostles were taught more than the Prophets? Certainly the Truth says: Many kings and prophets desired to see the things that you see, and to hear the things that you hear, but did not see them. Therefore they knew more of divine science than the Prophets, because the things which those had seen only in spirit, these also saw corporally. Fulfilled therefore is that sentence of Daniel which we cited above: because many shall pass over, and knowledge shall be manifold. Let the measure of the reed, then, which is six cubits and a palm, be taken as ten cubits, and the measure of ten cubits rise at last to thirteen, because as the world is carried toward its end, so much the more widely is the approach of eternal knowledge opened to us.

We must conclude, therefore, with the Seraphic Doctor praised above, that according to the diversity of times faith grew: first, in respect of the exhibition of truth; secondly, on account of the greater diffusion of grace; thirdly, on account of the clearer instruction; for those who now believe know the same things more clearly than men of old knew them, because the truth is now exhibited by Christ: now too the grace of the Holy Spirit is more abundantly diffused in the Sacraments of the new law on account of the merit of Christ, and the price already paid: now too faith is preached, taught, proved, and defended more openly, by the evident evidence of Christ and of His followers.

Third Conclusion. — FAITH, AS TO THE FIRMNESS OF ASSENT, WAS FAR GREATER AND MORE EXCELLENT IN THE NEW LAW THAN IN THE OLD.

Hugh of St. Victor proves this, book 1. On the Sacraments, part 11. chapter ⟦illegible: digit⟧. where he says: There are two things according to which faith is said to grow, knowledge and affection: according to knowledge faith grows when it is instructed unto science; according to affection, when it is stirred up unto devotion. Thence he says there was a notable figure in the book of Numbers, chap. 13., in the cluster of grapes, which was carried by two men on a staff: for that cluster, he says, on the staff, is Christ on the cross, whose mystery two peoples carry in Sacrament: those who went before carried, but did not see: because they who preceded his advent bore the sacraments of his passion, but not all were able to understand them through knowledge: but the second carry and see, because the faithful after the advent of Christ receive the Sacrament of his passion through faith, and already openly know it through revealed knowledge: hence it is that, since our faith has a fuller and clearer irradiation, it also imports a firmer assent of the intellect. Whence S. Leo, Sermon 2. On the Ascension of the Lord, says: This faith, increased by the Ascension of the Lord and strengthened by the gift of the Holy Spirit, neither prisons, nor exiles, nor famine, nor fires, nor the lacerations of beasts, nor torments refined by the cruelties of persecutors terrified. For this faith throughout the whole world, not only men, but even women, and not merely boys not yet grown, but even tender virgins, declared even unto the shedding of their blood. This faith cast out devils, drove away sicknesses, raised the dead. Whence even the blessed Apostles themselves, who were confirmed by so many miracles and instructed by so many sermons, yet dreaded at first the atrocity of the Lord's passion, and had received the truth of his resurrection not without hesitation, advanced so much by the Ascension of the Lord that whatever had before brought them fear was turned into joy.

We must conclude, therefore, with the Seraphic Doctor, question 3., that faith receives increase in three ways: first extensively, as to the explication of articles; secondly intensively, as to a clearer illumination; thirdly radically, as to the adhesion of certitude and devotion. Which increase indeed regards not only different men in different states, but also those living under the same law. For, as Hugh of St. Victor observes, praised above, according to the increments of faith diverse kinds of men are found.

For certain believers there are who choose to believe out of piety alone, but do not comprehend by reason whether it is to be believed or not. Others indeed approve by reason what they already believe by faith. Others again experience by the understanding of a purified mind what they believe by faith and approve by reason. In the first, faith alone makes the choice. In the second, reason joins approval. In the third, purity of understanding apprehends certitude.