Mozley: A Treatise on the Augustinian Doctrine of

370
Note XII.
as applied to Grod, it must be the same to which you refer
when you affirm or deny it of any other personal agent
save only, that in its attribution to (rod you speak of it as
unmixed and perfect. For if not, what do you mean ? And
why do you call it by the same name ? I may, therefore,
with all right and reason, put the case as between man
and man. For should it be found irreconcilable with the
justice, which the light of reason, made law in the con
science, dictates to man, how much more must it be in
of Grod ! . . . .
congruous with the all-perfect justice
A sum of 1 ,000. is owing from James to Peter, for
which James has given a bond. He is insolvent, and the
bond is on the point of being put in suit against him, to
James s utter ruin. At this moment Matthew steps in,
pays Peter the thousand pounds and discharges the bond.
In this case, no man would hesitate to admit, that a com
plete satisfaction had been made to Peter. Matthew s
1,000. is a perfect equivalent for the sum which James
was bound to have paid, and which Peter had lent. It is
the same thing : and this is altogether a question of things.
Now, instead of James s being indebted to Peter for a sum
of money, which (he having become insolvent) Matthew
pays for him, we will put the case, that James had been
guilty of the basest and most hard-hearted ingratitude to
a most worthy and affectionate mother, who had not only
performed all the duties and tender offices of a mother, but
whose whole heart was bound up in this her only child
who had foregone all the pleasures and amusements of life
in watching over his sickly childhood, had sacrificed her
health and the far greater part of her resources to rescue
him from the consequences of his follies and excesses during
his youth and early manhood, and to procure for him the
means of his present rank and affluence all which he had
Here the
repaid by neglect, desertion, and open profligacy.
mother stands in the relation of the creditor : and here too
we will suppose the same generous friend to interfere, and
to perform with the greatest tenderness and constancy all
those duties of a grateful and affectionate son, which James
ought to have performed. Will this satisfy the mother s