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THE PLACE OF RELIGIOUS SENTIMENT IN SAINT THOMAS (Concluded) Possible developments of our relations with the divine For St. Thomas the feeling of reverence is a natural sentiment . He teaches that, to have this sentiment arise in our souls, we must know God at least confusedly. To become conscious of our dependence upon Him as the principle of our being and of all our goods, we must first experience how much we need Him. In this light, the attitudes of reverence or submission to God, which we spontaneously adopt upon recognizing His excellence and our dependence, are inspired by the cl~ar vision we suddenly have about what God means to us. The depth and intensity of our reverence for God are thus proportionate to what we know about Him. For some degree of reverence a confused knowledge about God is sufficient, but greater precision in knowing God is demanded if this reverence is to endure and flourish in the soul. Moreover, as we have noted before, our reverence for God can easily deteriorate into superstition and idolatry,. if our intellect adheres to errors concerning God. In determining the multiple causes which have a part in the development of our relations with God we shall try to ascertain which are apt to bring a:bout the deterioration of these relations, and which are apt to accomplish their rectification and inteBsification. St. Thomas considers this problem in his treatise on religion .121 We shall try first to understand the elements of solution which he offers in this place. Then we shall try to pene121 Summa Theol., 11-11, q. 94, a. 4, c. THE PLACE OF RELIGIOUS SENTIMENT IN SAINT THOMAS !2!23 trate into the immediate reasons which he gives by considering the whole of his theology, especially by considering what he says with regard to original sin. St. Thomas enumerates and classifies these factors when he deals with idolatry and superstition in the Summa. These latter are the two forms which our relations with God can take on when they degenerate by excess. However, before taking up this consideration, there is a historical question which must be taken into account: " At what moment in the history of various peoples do we find the deterioration of the natural instinct which would lead them to manifest their reverence for God and to submit themselves to Him? " St. Thomas is of the opinion that idolatry did not exist in the first ages of the world. The remembrance of the creation of the world, which was still fresh in the minds of the people, made the knowledge of the One God vivid in the human mind.122 Now we must see what would contribute to the appearance of these deteriorations in the personal history of each man. St. Thomas admits that the devil can do his part; but if the devil can influence us, this is only because our nature is already defective, either because of intellectual ignorance, or because of disorderly affections.123 Let us continue to follow St. Thomas in his analysis and try to discover the order of causality which he establishes in the interplay of these different factors, and the degree of efficiency which he assigns to each. When he shows the limitation of the devil's role, the Angelic Doctor takes notice of the fact that man and the devil act in accord and simultaneously: the devil only seals idolatry by achieving man's deception. Man is disposed to error because of his poor nature. 122 " Dicendum quod in prima aetate non fuit idolatria propter recentem memoriam creationis mundi, ex qua adhuc vigebat cognitio unius Dei in mente hominum " (Ibid. ad 2um) . 123 " Dicendum quod causa dispositiva. idolatriae fuit, ex parte naturae hominis defectus vel per ignorantiam intellectus, vel per inordinationem affectus " (Ibid., ad lum). 224 M.-BERNARD MAILHIOT The cause of idolatry was consummative on the part of the devils, who offered themselves to be worshipped by men, by giving answers in idols.124 Whatever form superstition may take, from the moment that the demons cohtribute their bit, they use their ingenuity to deceive (" deceivers of souls ") and seduce souls by clever lies. If men give themselves...

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