Mozley: A Treatise on the Augustinian Doctrine of

CHAP. x. of Predestination.
283
honesty, it is plain that in some sense he prefers the
Divine approbation to everything else. It was accord
ingly laid down that the natural man was able to love
God above all things homo potest diligere Deum super
omnia ex soils naturallbus sine gratia. But the distinc
tion was then applied that he loved (rod
naturally, not
supernaturally, as the source and end of natural good ;
whereas charity loved Him as the centre of spiritual good
or happiness. Charity had, moreover, a positive commu
nion with (rod, which nature had not ; of which communion
a certain promptitude and delight were the results, which
did not belong to the natural love of God. !
These two kinds of goodness, then, natural and super
natural, had their respective sources assigned to them, and
the cause or motive power was pronounced, by an abbre
viation, in the one case to be reason, in the other God
2
Ratio et Deus : the Divine Power, however, operating
alike in both cases as true and original Cause. The Divine
Power, acting simply as the First or Universal Cause in
nature, moved the freewill of man to natural virtue ; acting
in a special way or by grace, it moved the same freewill
to supernatural virtue. 3
All things, says Aquinas, are
subject to Providence, and it pertains to Providence to
ordain all things to their end. But the end to which
created things are ordained by God is twofold. One is the
end which exceeds the proportion and faculty of created
nature that is to ; say, the life eternal, which consists in
the Divine vision, which vision is above the nature of
every creature. Another is the end proportioned to created
nature, and which that nature can attain by the virtue of
that nature. Now, that which cannot arrive at a point by
its own virtue must be transmitted thither by another, as
an arrow is sent by an archer at a mark. Wherefore, pro-
1
Charitas diligit Deum super quaudam soeietatem spiritualem cum
omnia eminentius quam natura. Deo. Addit etiam charitas super
Natura enim diligit Deum super naturalem dilectionem Dei, promptiomnia,
prout est principium et finis tudinem quandam et delectationem.
naturalis boni ; charitas autem, se-
cundum quod est objectum beatitu-
dinis, et secundum quod homo habet <u< >
1"* 2
* 2"* Q. 68. A. 1.
Q. 10. A. 6.