Very  far  from  thinking  that  he  was  soon  to  confer  upon  sinful  men
the  power  of  remitting  sin,  they  viewed  him  with  astonishment  when
he  attributed  this  power  to  himself.     Whence  it  followed  that  "  they

(a)  St.  Matthew,  i.  21.
ciled.  Let  us  bear  in  mind  these  words  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  when  it  treats  of  the
dispositions  for  justification  :  They  (the  sinners)  must  begin  to  love  God  as  the  source  of
all  justice,  that  is  to  say,  as  author  of  the  justification  of  sinners.  This  justification  is
e\idently  the  effect  of  the  merciful  bounty  by  which  God  remits  sins,  and  tliis  mercy  is
the  attribute  under  which  God  is  here  proposed  to  the  love  of  the  sinner.  Wlierefore  he
is  bound  to  love  God,  because  God  is  sufficiently  good  to  render  him  just,  after  being  a
sinner,  and  to  render  him  just  by  mercifully  according  to  him  the  pardon  of  all  his  crimes.
