HKB
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Often appears with: providence and divine governance · conversion and faith · the problem of evil and theodicy · sin, guilt, and repentance · religious persecution and toleration · equity, mercy, and pardon · women’s weakness · will, choice, and freedom · vows and repentance · the problem of evil · the passions and the emotions · the nature and attributes of God
Usually: argument (3) · letter or document (3) · exhortation (3) · reflection (2) · crisis of belief (2) · injustice endured (2) · detachment (2) · lament (2) · resignation (2) · reverence (2)
“Penitence is the tree of life to them that receive it.” Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, and Other Poems · insight
“Yet it is better to permit their crime than to act in a way which would render God himself blameworthy, and provide the criminals with some justification for the complaint that it was not possible for them to do better.” Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Freiherr von, Theodicy · observation
“Therefore he elsewhere declares, not merely that God assists the infirmity of our will, or corrects its depravity, but that he “worketh in us to will.” Jean Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Vol. 1 of 2) · insight
“Among those who are wedded to God I am wedded to a man; among the heroic supporters of the Cross I am the slave of a human desire; at the head of a religious community I am devoted to Abelard alone.” Peter Abelard, The love letters of Abelard and Heloise · vivid
“For "God is faithful," saith St. Paul, "who suffereth you not to be tempted above what you can bear, but giveth also with the temptation a way out.” Sir Thomas More, Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation · insight
Augustine prays to God, explaining that God “prevented” both his evil and his good, giving him being and blessing by grace rather than need, merit, or human service.
I call upon Thee, O my God, my mercy, Who createdst me, and forgottest not me, forgetting Thee. I call Thee into my soul which, by the longing Thyself inspirest into her, Thou preparest for Thee. Forsake me not now calling upon Thee, whom Thou preventedst before I called, and urgedst me with much variety of repeated calls, that I would hear Thee from afar, and be converted, and call upon Thee, that calledst after me;…
Penitence is likened to a tree whose root is contrition and whose branches are confession and satisfaction, with grace tied to God, judgment, hell, and the love of God that drives the heart to hate sin.
have no voice to speak to him; nor they may not flee from pain; nor they have no goodness in them that they may shew to deliver them from pain. [Under the fourth head, of good works, the Parson says: —] The courteous Lord Jesus Christ will that no good work be lost, for in somewhat it shall avail. But forasmuch as the good works that men do while they be in good life be all amortised [killed, deadened] by sin follo…
He explains divine grace as the remedy that heals depravity, beginning and completing conversion by God’s Spirit—turning and creating a new heart—so all good will and works originate from God.
nearly a thousand years after was confined to the cloisters of monks. But Lombard, for want of knowing how to distinguish necessity from coaction, gave rise to a pernicious error. VI. It is necessary, on the other hand, to consider the remedy of Divine grace, by which the depravity of nature is corrected and healed. For since the Lord, in the assistance which he affords us, bestows on us that which we need, an exhib…
Leibniz replies to Bayle’s charge that God offers grace to those destined to refuse, arguing God permits resultant crime within an overall plan to preserve justice and avoid making God blameworthy.
that God could produce in each human soul all the thoughts that he approves: but this would be to act by miracles, more than his most perfectly conceived plan admits. 115. VII. 'He offers grace to people that he knows are destined not to accept it, and so destined by this refusal to make themselves more criminal than they would be if he had not offered them that grace; he assures them that it is his ardent wish that…
Heloise tells Abelard she remains in a place of confinement due to “unfortunate love” and disgrace, vows she is not penitent for the past, and asks God for mercy and help renouncing desire.
where you have placed me; and then my ashes shall rest here and wait for yours in order to show to the very last my obedience and devotion to you. Why should I conceal from you the secret of my call? You know it was neither zeal nor devotion that brought me here. Your conscience is too faithful a witness to permit you to disown it. Yet here I am, and here I will remain; to this place an unfortunate love and a cruel …
Heloise recalls Abelard’s first declarations, asks God for grace, compares Abelard’s bodily punishment to rescue, admits her own weakness, and describes her hypocrisy: appearing virtuous while hiding love.
Even into holy places before the altar I carry the memory of our love, and far from lamenting for having been seduced by pleasures, I sigh for having lost them. I remember (for nothing is forgot by lovers) the time and place in which you first declared your passion and swore you would love me till death. Your words, your oaths, are deeply graven in my heart. My stammering speech betrays to all the disorder of my min…
Heloise describes her cloister confinement as relentless grief, rejects her earlier view of it as a prison, and asks Abelard to restore her esteem by seeking her spiritual improvement.
thou not despair for having rioted in such false pleasures?’ In short, Abelard, imagine all the remorse of mind I suffered, and you will not be astonished at my change. Solitude is insupportable to the uneasy mind; its troubles increase in the midst of silence, and retirement heightens them. Since I have been shut up in these walls I have done nothing but weep our misfortunes. This cloister has resounded with my cri…
In the Prologue, Teresa says she was ordered to describe her way of prayer and the grace of God within her, and she asks readers to remember her sins so her account may help confessors.
me better, may succour my weakness, so that I may render to our Lord some portion of the service I owe Him. May all creatures praise Him for ever! Amen. 1. The Saint, in a letter written November 19, 1581, to Don Pedro de Castro, then canon of Avila, speaking of this book, calls it the book "Of the compassions of God"--Y ansi intitule ese libro De las Misericordias de Dios. That letter is the 358th in the edition o…
Anthony urges Christians not to rely on their own strength, but with God’s grace to endure persecution rather than forsake faith, citing Paul’s promise about not being tempted beyond endurance.
more, as we may well see both by sundry stories and in the epistles of St. Ciprian also. And therefore, which way God will take with us, we cannot tell. But surely, if we be true Christian men, this can we well tell: that without any bold warranty of ourselves or foolish trust in our own strength, we are bound upon pain of damnation not to be of the contrary mind but what we will with his help, however loth we feel …