Monday, October 13, 2008

Edwards on Christian fortitude

"Though Christian fortitude appears in withstanding and counteracting the enemies that are without us; yet it much more appears in resisting and suppressing the enemies that are within us. . . ."

Jonathan Edwards, Religious affections, pt. 3, sec. 8 ((Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1986 [1961]), 278).

When God moves the will

"just as by moving natural causes He does not prevent their acts being natural, so by moving voluntary causes He does not deprive their actions of being voluntary, but rather is He the cause of this very thing in them; for He operates in each thing according to its own nature."

Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiæ I.83.1.ad 3, trans. FEDP.