14.— On the Sanctifying Grace of God.
"Where sin abounded, grace did more abound. That as sin hath reigned to death, so also grace might reign by justice unto life everlasting." — Romans v. 20.
[Cardinal Bellarmin was born at Monte Pulciano in 1542. At the age of eighteen he entered as novice of the Society of Jesus.
Clement VIII. raised him to the rank of cardinal in the year 1601.
Paul V. wishing to retain him near him, the cardinal resigned his archbishopric and devoted himself to the Court of Rome until the year 162 1. He died the same year at the novitiate of the Jesuits, whither he had retired from the commencement of his serious illness.
This learned cardinal has enriched the Church with several works.]
GOD, when He created man, gave him a free-will, and this in so perfect a way that, without constraint, without impairing his liberty, He rules him by His power, frightens him by His threats, and wins him by His blessings.
He has an earnest wish for the salvation of all, but He waits for their consent, for their co-operation. It is to gain them that He warns, that He encourages them, that He leads them on in so wonderful a manner, so as to bring them, with His assistance, to that happiness which is their destiny.
These are the inventions of His wisdom, which the prophet Isaiah says that he will announce to the people (Isaiah xii.)
For those who are reprobates, at one time He warns them with mildness, at another time* He encourages them
