Henry pays for him; and John has no longer any claim. But James is cruel
and ungrateful to Mary, his tender mother. Henry, though no relation,
acts the part of a loving and dutiful son to Mary. But will this satisfy
the mother's claims on James, or entitle him to her esteem, approbation,
and blessing? If, indeed, by force of Henry's example or persuasion, or
any more mysterious influence, James repents and becomes himself a good
and dutiful child, then, indeed, Mary is wholly satisfied; but then the
case is no longer a question of debt in that sense in which it can be
paid by another, though the effect, of which alone St. Paul was
speaking, is the same in both cases to James as the debtor, and to James
as the undutiful son. He is in both cases liberated from the burthen,
and in both cases he has to attribute his exoneration to the act of
another; as cause simply in the payment of the debt, or as likewise
'causa causae' in James's reformation. Such is my present opinion: God
grant me increase of light either to renounce or confirm it.

Perhaps the different terms of the above position may be more clearly
stated thus:

1. 'agens causator'
2. 'actus causativus:'
3. 'effectus causatus:'
4. 'consequentia ab effecto.'

1. The co-eternal Son of the living God, incarnate, tempted, crucified,
resurgent, communicant of his spirit, ascendant, and obtaining for his
church the descent of the Holy Ghost.

2. A spiritual and transcendant mystery.