Then Rheims contradicts himself and Trent by this statement, which is totally false. God has, and does, bind his graces to sacraments.
Yes, this "not binding" thing is utter nonsense and is a favorite tactic of the BoDers. Sure. God CAN do anything. He can come down from Heaven and make someone a priest without Holy Orders and confer the character on Him. Has God ever done that? God COULD just destroy Hell and put all those souls onto some earthly paradise. Nobody's disputing what God COULD do. It's about what God has 1) willed to do and to establish and 2) what He has revealed to us about His will (though the Deposit of Revelation).
At the same time, though, out of the other side of their mouths, claiming that anti-BoDers "bind" God with the Sacraments, they'll claim that somehow God is bound by necessity or impossibility to provide BoD ... as if God were incapable of overcoming all such necessities or impossibilities without the slightest bit of exertion on His part. Pay no attention to the many cases where God (through His saints) raised people back to life just to have them baptized or miraculously either kept them alive or provided water.
There's the case of St. Peter Claver who a woman named "Augustina" (ironic that she's named after St. Augustine) back to life in order to baptize her:
"The affair of the slave Augustina, who served in the house of Captain Vincente de Villalobos, was one of the strangest in the life of Claver...When Augustina was in her last agony Villalobos went in search of Claver. When the latter arrived the body was already being prepared for the shroud and he found it cold to the touch. His expression suddenly changed and he amazed everyone by crying aloud, "Augustina, Augustina." He sprinkled her with holy water, he knelt by her, and prayed for an hour. Suddenly the supposedly dead woman began to move...All fell on their knees. Augustina stared at Claver, and as if awakening from a deep sleep said, "Jesus, Jesus, how tired I am!" Claver told her to pray with all her heart and repent her sins, but those standing by, moved by curiosity, begged him to ask her where she came from. He did so, and she said these words: "I am come from journeying along a long road. It was a beautiful road, and after I had gone a long way down it I met a white man of great beauty who stood before me and said, 'Stop, you cannot go further.' I asked him what I should do, and he replied, 'Go back the way you have come, to the house you have left.' This I have done, but I cannot tell how." On hearing this Claver told them all to leave the room and leave him alone with her because he wished to hear her confession. He prepared her and told her that complete confession of her sins was of immense importance if she wanted to enter that paradise of which she had had a glimpse. She obeyed him, and as he heard her confession it became clear to Claver that she was not baptized. He straightway ordered water to be brought, and a candle and a crucifix. Her owners answered that they had had Augustina in their house for twenty years and that she behaved in all things like themselves. She had gone to confession, to Mass, and performed all her Christian duties, and therefore she did not need Baptism, nor could she receive it. But Claver was certain that they were wrong and insisted, baptizing her in the presence of all, to the great delight of her soul and his, for a few minutes after she had received the sacraments she died in the presence of the whole family."
-- Peter Claver: Saint of the Slaves, Fr. Angel Valltiera, S.J., Burns and Oates, London, 1960, pp. 221,222.
In this story, Augustina relates that she was not permitted to enter Heaven, despite the fact that she had lived as a devout Catholic, going to Confession, to Mass, etc.
Topic: The Catechism of the Council of Trent does not teach Baptism of Desire (Read 64733 times)