Vasquez: the holy thought before consent; merit in the consent
Thesis XLVIII. Gabriel Vasquez teaches in agreement with them that operating grace is the holy thought itself, which comes before consent, and likewise the sudden movement of the will that arises from that devout thought without our freedom, by which we are held back from evil and urged toward good.
Cooperating grace, he says, lies in the free consent, in which some merit is already found, either merit that strictly deserves eternal life or merit that obtains some gift by asking.
For God works in us without us the holy thought and the first undeliberate movement of the will, which together are the beginning of good action and of our salvation; but the consent itself that we give to this call God works with us (on Thomas, part 1, tome 1, disputation 88, chapter 6, number 20).
Latin
XLVIII. Quibus consentanea docet Gabriel Vasquez, nempe gratiam operantem esse ipsam sanctam cogitationem, quae est ante consensum, atque eodem modo motum voluntatis subitum, sine nostra libertate ex pia illa cogitatione ortum, quo deterremur a malo & ad bonum provocamur: gratiam vero cooperantem esse in consensu libero, in quo jam meritum aliquod reperitur, sive vitae aeternae condignum, sive impetratorium alicujus doni. Deum enim in nobis sine nobis operari sanctam cogitationem, & primum motum voluntatis non deliberatum, quae duo sunt initium bonae operationis & salutis nostrae: at consensum ipsum, quem huic vocationi praebemus, Deum operari nobiscum. in 1. Thom. to. 1. Disput. 88. cap. 6. num. 20.