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tare, quanta pro nobis pertulit ;"
ture :
"
AND THEIR REFUTATION. 345
Dcus homo and
St. Bonaven-
$ihil enim in Anima ita operatur universalem sanctifica-
sicut meditatio Passionis Christi." St. Paul said he
tionem,
"
wished to know nothing but Christ crucified : For I judged not
myself to know anything among you but Jesus Christ, and him
crucified" (Cor. ii, 2). And withal, Molinos says we ought not
to think on the humanity of Jesus Christ.
8. He also had the impiety to teach, that we should ask
nothing from God, for petitioning is a defect of our own will-
Here is his fourteenth proposition :
"
Qui Divine voluntati resig-
natus est, non convenit ut a Deo rem aliquam petat ; quia petere
est imperfectio, cum sit actus propriaa voluntatis. Illud autem
Petite et accipietis, non est dictum a Christo pro Animabus inter-
nis," &c. He thus deprives the soul of the most efficacious means
of obtaining perseverance in a good life, and arriving at the
Grace of perfection.
to pray unceasingly :
faint" (Luke, xviii, 1) ;
Jesus Christ himself, in the Gospel, tells us
" We ought always to pray, and not to
" Watch ye, therefore, praying at all
"
Pray without
times" (Luke, xxi, 36) ; and St. Paul says :
ceasing" (I. Thes. v, 17) ; and "Be instant in prayer" (Col. iv, 2).
And still Molinos will tell us not to pray, and that prayer is an
imperfection. St. Thomas (3) says that continual prayer is ne
cessary for us till our salvation is secured ; for though our sins
may have been remitted,
still the world and the devil will never
cease to attack us till the last hour of our lives :
"
Licet rernit-
tantur peccata, remanet tamen fomes peccati nos impugnant
interius, et mundus et Daemones, exterius." qui impugnant In
this battle we cannot conquer without the Divine assistance, and
this is only to be acquired by prayer, as St. Augustin teaches us,
that except the first Grace, that is, the vocation to Grace or
Penance, every other Grace, especially that of perseverance, is
only given to those who pray for it :
" Deus nobis dat aliqua non
orantibus, ut initium Fidei, alia nonnisi orantibus praeparavit,
sicut
perseverantiam."
9. We have now to examine his second maxim, which, as wo
said in the commencement, allows evil to be innocent. When
the soul, he says, is given up to God, whatever happens in the
(3) St. Thom. 3 p. q. 1, 39, a. 5.