Now they (adults) are disposed unto the said justice, when, excited and assisted by divine grace, conceiving faith by hearing, they are freely moved towards God, believing those things to be true which God has revealed and promised,-and this especially, that God justifies the impious by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; and when, understanding themselves to be sinners, they, by turning themselves, from the fear of divine justice whereby they are profitably agitated, to consider the mercy of God, are raised unto hope, confiding that God will be propitious to them for Christ's sake; and they begin to love Him as the fountain of all justice; and are therefore moved against sins by a certain hatred and detestation, to wit, by that penitence which must be performed before baptism: lastly, when they purpose to receive baptism, to begin a new life, and to keep the commandments of God. Concerning this disposition it is written; He that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and is a rewarder to them that seek him; and, Be of good faith, son, thy sins are forgiven thee; and, The fear of the Lord driveth out sin; and, Do penance, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; and, Going, therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; finally, Prepare your hearts unto the Lord.
They begin by declaring that justification begins when men are "excited and assisted by divine grace." This is the first step in the logical order of things described by St. Thomas – namely, the infusion of grace. The train doesn't pull away from the station without this first thing; we cannot be saved apart from it.
Next comes the movement towards God: "conceiving faith by hearing, they are freely moved towards God, believing those things to be true which God has revealed and promised,-and this especially, that God justifies the impious by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus…[etc]" (emphasis added). They've already said this, of course, and we considered this more closely while looking at §5.
Thirdly there must be a movement away from sin: "…and are therefore moved against sins by a certain hatred and detestation, to wit, by that penitence which must be performed before baptism…" And finally, the reception of Holy Baptism, whereby we receive remission of sins: "lastly, when they purpose to receive baptism, to begin a new life, and to keep the commandments of God."
Clearly St. Thomas hasn't deviated from the Catholic Faith in making it an operation of divine grace; on the contrary, he has confirmed it. The deviation from the facts of the case is on the part of those who falsely say the Gospel is "works-based". We shall see this even more clearly in my next post, wherein we see what Trent has to say about the causes of our justification.
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