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Objection 1: It would seem that the effect of subsequent Penance is
to quicken even dead works, those, namely, that were not done in
charity. For it seems more difficult to bring to life that which has
been deadened, since this is never done naturally, than to quicken
that which never had life, since certain living things are engendered
naturally from things without life. Now deadened works are revived by
Penance, as stated above (Article 5). Much more, therefore,
are dead works revived.
Objection 2: Further, if the cause be removed, the effect is
removed. But the cause of the lack of life in works generically good
done without charity, was the lack of charity and grace. which lack is
removed by Penance. Therefore dead works are quickened by charity.
Objection 3: Further, Jerome in commenting on Agg. i, 6:
"You have sowed much," says: "If at any time you find a sinner,
among his many evil deeds, doing that which is right, God is not so
unjust as to forget the few good deeds on account of his many evil
deeds." Now this seems to be the case chiefly when past evil
"deeds" are removed by Penance. Therefore it seems that through
Penance, God rewards the former deeds done in the state of sin,
which implies that they are quickened.
On the contrary, The Apostle says (1 Cor. 13:3): "If I
should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should
deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me
nothing." But this would not be true, if, at least by subsequent
Penance, they were quickened. Therefore Penance does not quicken
works which before were dead.
I answer that, A work is said to be dead in two ways: first,
effectively, because, to wit, it is a cause of death, in which sense
sinful works are said to be dead, according to Heb. 9:14: "The
blood of Christ . . . shall cleanse our conscience from dead
works." These dead works are not quickened but removed by Penance,
according to Heb. 6:1: "Not laying again the foundation of
Penance from dead works." Secondly, works are said to be dead
privatively, because, to wit, they lack spiritual life, which is
founded on charity, whereby the soul is united to God, the result
being that it is quickened as the body by the soul: in which sense
too, faith, if it lack charity, is said to be dead, according to
James 2:20: "Faith without works is dead." In this way also,
all works that are generically good, are said to be dead, if they be
done without charity, inasmuch as they fail to proceed from the
principle of life; even as we might call the sound of a harp, a dead
voice. Accordingly, the difference of life and death in works is in
relation to the principle from which they proceed. But works cannot
proceed a second time from a principle, because they are transitory,
and the same identical deed cannot be resumed. Therefore it is
impossible for dead works to be quickened by Penance.
Reply to Objection 1: In the physical order things whether dead or
deadened lack the principle of life. But works are said to be
deadened, not in relation to the principle whence they proceeded, but
in relation to an extrinsic impediment; while they are said to be dead
in relation to a principle. Consequently there is no comparison.
Reply to Objection 2: Works generically good done without charity
are said to be dead on account of the lack of grace and charity, as
principles. Now the subsequent Penance does not supply that want, so
as to make them proceed from such a principle. Hence the argument does
not prove.
Reply to Objection 3: God remembers the good deeds a man does when
in a state of sin, not by rewarding them in eternal life, which is due
only to living works, i.e. those done from charity, but by a
temporal reward: thus Gregory declares (Hom. de Divite et
Lazaro, 41 in Evang.) that "unless that rich man had done some
good deed, and had received his reward in this world, Abraham would
certainly not have said to him: 'Thou didst receive good things in
thy lifetime.'" Or again, this may mean that he will be judged less
severely: wherefore Augustine says (De Patientia xxvi): "We
cannot say that it would be better for the schismatic that by denying
Christ he should suffer none of those things which he suffered by
confessing Him; but we must believe that he will be judged with less
severity, than if by denying Christ, he had suffered none of those
things. Thus the words of the Apostle, 'If I should deliver my
body to be burned and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing,'
refer to the obtaining of the kingdom of heaven, and do not exclude the
possibility of being sentenced with less severity at the last
judgment."
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