Theological Theses · §2497 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

Not a free love or desire (book 4, chapter 11)

Thesis LIX. On that doctor's principles it is plain that this delight does not consist in any free love or desire. It is needed even in order to desire and love God, or any true spiritual good, by a free movement of the will, since such desire and love are good acts, which cannot come from the will without the grace of sweetness.

Jansenius deals with this more fully in De gratia Christi Salvatoris, book 4, chapter 11, whose heading is: 'This heavenly delight, in Augustine's mind, is a vital and indeliberate act of the soul; that is, an act of the love and desire that come before consent and before the delight that is also called the mind's rest and joy.'

Latin

LIX. Istam autem delectationem in nullo amore, vel desiderio libero consistere, juxta Doctoris illius principia manifestum est. Quandoquidem etiam ad desiderandum & amandum Deum, & quodlibet verum ac spirituale bonum, libero voluntatis motu, necessaria est: cum desiderium & amor ejusmodi sint actus boni, qui sine suavitatis gratia non possunt a voluntate proficisci. Qua de re pluribus agit Jansenius, libro quarto de gratia Christi salvatoris capite undecimo, cujus titulus est, Delectatio ista coelestis, secundum Augustini mentem, est actus vitalis & indeliberatus animae: & quidem amoris ac desiderii praecedentis consensum, ac delectationem illam, quae & quies animi, & gaudium dicitur.

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