[345] 2 Sent., dist. 28 (Brix. ed.), fol. 143´.
[346] Cp. Denifle, 1¹, p. 527, n. 3, p. 521.
[347] Ibid., p. 522, n. 2.
[348] Ibid., p. 541, n. 1. In spite of this, the teaching of the much-used Commentary on the Sentences continued to make itself felt, more particularly as the author enjoyed great consideration among the ecclesiastically minded, represented Nominalism at Tübingen, and was honoured as “the last of the Scholastics.” It is worth while to quote the points of his teaching on grace from his book on the Sentences with the glosses which Biel does not forget to mention. The principal passage is in 3 Sent., dist. 27, art. 3, dub. 2 to Q (according to the Lyons edition of 1514). Among the five propositions there set up, “post. Domn. Pe. de Aliaco” (d’Ailly), the first teaches the possibility of an act of love of God “ex naturalibus.” This is the reason: “omni dictamini rationis rectæ voluntas ex suis naturalibus potest se conformare.” The second proposition, however, says: “Talis amoris actus non potest stare in viatore de potentia Dei ordinata sine gratia et charitate infusa,” owing to the principle, “Facienti quod est in se.” That grace is every moment at man’s disposal is proved from many Bible passages, yet any other more perfect disposition for grace than the natural act of love of God is not possible to man; the natural act in relation to grace is, however, only prior “natura,” not “tempore.” The third proposition runs: “Charitas infusa tamen est prior in meriti ratione,” etc. The fourth: with this natural act no mortal sins can exist. The fifth: “Stante lege [i.e. præsente ordinatione Dei] nullus homo per pura naturalia potest implere præceptum de dilectione Dei super omnia. Probatur, quia lex iubet, quod actus cadens sub præcepto fiat in gratia, quæ est habitus supernaturalis.”
[349] Biel, in 2 Sent., dist. 28, says of the natural love of God: “Actus dilectionis Dei super omnia est dispositio ultimata et sufficiens ad gratiæ infusionem.... Gratia superadditur tanquam præviæ dispositioni,” etc. But ibid., fol. 143´, he says: “Sic ad præparandum se ad donum Dei suscipiendum non indiget alio dono gratiæ, sed Deo ipsum movente [sc. concursu generali].”
[350] Cp. Denifle, 1¹, p. 542 f.
[351] To Spalatin, August 15, 1519, “Briefwechsel,” 2, p. 109: “Is [Gregorius Ariminensis] solus inter scholasticos contra omnes scholasticos recentiores cum Carolostadio, id est Augustino et apostolo Paulo consentit.” Cp. “Briefwechsel,” 1, p. 84.
[352] In 2 Sent., fol. 91´ ad 2 (ed. Venet., 1503): “Deus non præcipit homini ut talia opera faciat sine auxilio suo,” etc.
[353] Cp. the scholastic passages in Denifle, 11, p. 555, n. 3. He leaves the explanation for the second volume, though A. Weiss does not give it. Denifle’s remarks (p. 557 f.) on the practical application of the principle “Facienti” are worthy of attention.
[354] Denifle, 1¹, p. 564.
[355] Denifle, 1, p. 670 f.
[356] “Opp. Lat. exeg.,” 19, p. 61 seq. Such views have often been adopted from Luther by Protestant theologians and historians. “The worth of Scholasticism,” Denifle complains, 1¹, p. 845, “i.e. the scholastic doctrine as misunderstood and misrepresented by them, is judged of by them according to Luther’s erroneous views which they receive as axioms, first principles and unalterable truths.” In the second edition A. Weiss has struck out this sentence. Denifle, 1¹, p. 840, complains with reason that Biel is accepted as a reliable representative of Scholasticism. Cp. p. 552, n. 1, after showing his inaccuracy in one passage: “The reader may judge for himself what a false impression of St. Thomas’s teaching would be gained from Biel.”
[357] In the “Resolutiones super propositionibus Lipsiæ disputatis,” concl. 1; “Opp. Lat. var.,” 3, p. 245 sq.; Weim. ed., 2, p. 403. It is of interest to see how he sums up his desire of ridding himself of the oppression of doctrinal rules in the cry: “Volo liber esse.” Cp. ibid., pp. 247, 404.
[358] See above, p. 39 ff. Cp. passages quoted below, chapter vi. 3.
[359] See above, p 80. According to Usingen the “primaria factio nostræ unionis” (i.e. of the Saxon Congr. of Augustinians) was that which Luther led astray “contra nativum conventum suum.” The “secundaria factio” was the Reformation “qua pæne desolata est nostra unio.” See Usingen, “Sermo de S. cruce” (Erfordiæ, 1524); N. Paulus, Usingen, p. 16, n. 5.
[360] Cp. Pollich, in Köstlin-Kawerau, 1, p. 87. See above, p. 86.
[361] Fol. 233´. Denifle-Weiss, 1², p. 528, n. 1; “Rom. Schol.,” p. 244.
[362] Fol. 144. Denifle-Weiss, 1², p. 526, n. 3; “Rom. Schol,” p. 108.
[363] 1-2, q. 112, a. 3.
[364] S. Thom., “in Ep. ad Romanos,” lect. 1 (on Rom. iv. 2).
[365] In Rom. iii. 27: “Non enim ex operibus est iustitia, sed ipsa sunt ex iustitia (see in this connection Luther’s statement, p. 43) ideoque non iustitiam operum sed opera iustitiæ dicimus.” Cp. Denifle-Weiss, 1², pp. 528-30.
[366] Fol. 158. Denifle-Weiss, 1², p. 531, n. 1, 2; “Rom. Schol.,” p. 130: “Hoc totum scholastici theologi unam dicunt mutationem: expulsionem peccati et infusionem gratiæ.”
[367] See Denifle-Weiss, 1², p. 542 ff.
[368] Denifle, 1¹, p. 520, n. 1.
[369] On Occam’s teaching on the supernatural habit see below, p. 154. Occam, 2 Sent., q. 26, says, it seems “quod iustitia originalis dicat aliquid absolutum superadditum puris naturalibus.” Biel speaks, 2 Sent., dist. 30, q. 1, concl. 3, of the “donum supernaturale.”