HKB
11 passages · search this phrase →
Often appears with: justice as a virtue · religious persecution and toleration · will, choice, and freedom · providence and divine governance · pride, vanity, and humility · fate, destiny, and necessity · works add to will · wayfarer vs glory · vainglory · unfinished projects · the problem of evil and theodicy · the fear of death
Usually: argument (9) · exhortation (6) · the test or trial (5) · reflection (2) · injustice endured (1) · sudden reversal of fortune (1) · temptation (1) · the fall of the great (1) · censure (1) · curiosity (1)
“Errors are therefore, absolutely speaking, never voluntary, although the will very often contributes towards them indirectly, owing to the pleasure one takes in giving oneself up to certain thoughts, or owing to the aversion one feels for others.” Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Freiherr von, Theodicy · insight
“Persons of intense feeling ponder upon it day and night, and it is hard for them to efface the impression of the wrong or the affront they have sustained.” Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Freiherr von, Theodicy · vivid
“And hence after anyone has been justified by grace, he still needs to beseech God for the aforesaid gift of perseverance, that he may be kept from evil till the end of his life.” Thomas, Aquinas, Saint, Summa Theologica, Part I-II (Pars Prima Secundae) · precept
“Now God freely bestows the good of perseverance, on whomsoever He bestows it.” Thomas, Aquinas, Saint, Summa Theologica, Part I-II (Pars Prima Secundae) · insight
“Beware lest ye be also plucked away with the error of the wicked, and fall from your own steadfastness: but grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our lord, and saviour Iesus Christ.” William Tyndale, The first New Testament printed in English · precept
“To faint or loiter, when only the last efforts are required, is to steer the ship through tempests, and abandon it to the winds in sight of land;” Samuel Johnson, The Works of Samuel Johnson, in Sixteen Volumes. Vol · insight
This passage exhorts believers to live in peace and growth in grace, warning that false interpretation of scripture and wicked error lead to falling away, and concludes with doxology and the start of 1 John.
shall perish with fire, and the elements shall be consumed with heat. Nevertheless we look for a new heaven, and a new earth, according to his promise, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore derly beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and undefiled: And suppose that the long suffering of the lord is health, even as our derely beloved brother P…
He tells himself that if he has benefited the general interest, he has already received his reward, and should never stop doing such good.
disgraceful than a wolfish friendship [false friendship]. Avoid this most of all. The good and simple and benevolent show all these things in the eyes, and there is no mistaking. 16. As to living in the best way, this power is in the soul, if it be indifferent to things which are indifferent. And it will be indifferent, if it looks on each of these things separately and all together, and if it remembers that not one…
Johnson argues that perseverance must be protected against discouragement, since last efforts matter; he adds lessons about ordering strong arguments late, sustaining excellence, and avoiding ruin by a single failure.
and his perseverance broken; that he knew his design to be unfinished, but that, when he saw the end so near, he could no longer refuse to be at rest. Against the instillations of this frigid opiate, the heart should be secured by all the considerations which once concurred to kindle the ardour of enterprise. Whatever motive first incited action, has still greater force to stimulate perseverance; since he that might…
He argues that angels’ evil will originates in their own defection from God, while their good will is created through God’s grace by the Holy Spirit, forming one City of God.
10. _Of the falseness of the history which allots many thousand years to the world's past._ Let us, then, omit the conjectures of men who know not what they say, when they speak of the nature and origin of the human race. For some hold the same opinion regarding men that they hold regarding the world itself, that they have always been. Thus Apuleius says when he is describing our race, "Individually they are mortal,…
He argues external actions can add goodness or malice to the will’s goodness, either by increasing the will’s persistence, intensity, and completeness, or by perfecting the will’s movement toward its term.
goodness of the end passes into the external action, and the goodness of the matter and circumstances passes into the act of the will, as stated above (AA. 1, 2). Reply Obj. 1: This argument proves that the internal and external actions are different in the physical order: yet distinct as they are in that respect, they combine to form one thing in the moral order, as stated above (Q. 17, A. 4). Reply Obj. 2: As sta…
Regarding perseverance, Thomas distinguishes three senses of perseverance and argues that while some aspects are infused with grace, continued endurance to the end requires God’s guarding assistance and is to be asked from God.
man by Christ's gift, than he had lost by Adam's sin. But Adam received what enabled him to persevere; and thus man does not need grace in order to persevere. *On the contrary,* Augustine says (De Persev. ii): "Why is perseverance besought of God, if it is not bestowed by God? For is it not a mocking request to seek what we know He does not give, and what is in our power without His giving it?" Now perseverance is b…
In Art. 9 Aquinas denies that perseverance on the wayfarer’s level is meritorious, because it depends on God’s principle motion, though the perseverance of glory is the term that falls under merit.
to ask it of God in the petitions of the Lord's Prayer, as Augustine says (De Dono Persev. ii). Therefore perseverance may come under the merit of whoever has grace. Obj. 2: Further, it is more not to be able to sin than not to sin. But not to be able to sin comes under merit, for we merit eternal life, of which impeccability is an essential part. Much more, therefore, may we merit not to sin, i.e. to persevere. Ob…
Thomas discusses pertinacity as a bad persistence tied to vainglory, arguing it is not opposed to perseverance but is opposed to it by exceeding the mean.
xxxi) that pertinacity arises from vainglory. But vainglory is not opposed to perseverance but to magnanimity, as stated above (Q. 132, A. 2). Therefore pertinacity is not opposed to perseverance. Obj. 2: Further, if it is opposed to perseverance, this is so either by excess or by deficiency. Now it is not opposed by excess: because the pertinacious also yield to certain pleasure and sorrow, since according to the P…
Calvin turns from angels to devils, saying Scripture’s purpose is to make Christians vigilant, describing Satan and demons as enemies in spiritual warfare, and urging perseverance aided by God.
to render him more propitious to us; which superstitious and curious men have endeavoured from the beginning, and even to this day persevere in attempting, to introduce into our religion. XIII. The design of almost every thing that the Scripture teaches concerning devils, is that we may be careful to guard against their insidious machinations, and may provide ourselves with such weapons as are sufficiently firm and …
Calvin argues God created humans with reason and a free will capable of choosing good and attaining eternal life, explains Adam’s fall as voluntary, and contrasts this with inherited corruption in later humanity.
becomes concupiscence and lust, and the affection of the understanding becomes will. But instead of the word “appetite,” which they prefer, I use the word “will,” which is more common. VIII. God has furnished the soul of man, therefore, with a mind capable of discerning good from evil, and just from unjust; and of discovering, by the light of reason, what ought to be pursued or avoided; whence the philosophers calle…
Leibniz claims errors are not directly voluntary, though will contributes indirectly through pleasure in thoughts or aversion, and he explains how impressions, habit, and biased attention shape belief.
*Et qui amant ipsi sibi somnia fingunt.* 25. Errors are therefore, absolutely speaking, never voluntary, although the will very often contributes towards them indirectly, owing to the pleasure one takes in giving oneself up to certain thoughts, or owing to the aversion one feels for others. Beautiful print in a book will help towards making it persuasive to the reader. The air and manner of a speaker will win the au…