The Essence and Divisions of Grace

St. Thomas III, q. 62, a. 1; on IV Sentences, d. 1, q. 1, a. 4; Disputed Question On Truth 27, a. 4.

30. Notions. - Opus operatum¹ is the work which is effected, and it is opposed to the opus operantis: this is the very subjective operation of man according as it is imputable to him and has dignity, value, merit from him; the former is not the meritorious operation itself but the objective work itself produced, abstracting from the personal value and merit of the one operating.

¹ This formula seems first to have been used by Peter of Poitiers (d. 1205), in Book of Sentences V, c. 6; it was employed by Innocent III, On the Mystery of the Holy Altar, book III, c. 5; by William of Auxerre, Summa aurea, on IV, d. 1, a. 2 and 3; by St. Albert the Great, on IV Sentences, d. 1, a. 5; it is also reported by St. Thomas, on IV Sentences, d. 1, q. 1, a. 5, qc. 1, and by St. Bonaventure, on IV, d. 1, a. 1, q. 5.

In the sacraments the opus operatum is the sensible sign itself; this external work objectively considered:

1. positively: according to the Council of Trent, confers grace;

2. negatively: that sign does not have power from the subjective disposition or merit, whether of the minister operating the placing of the sacrament, or of the man operating the reception, but from God;

3. whence the subjective operation, whether of the minister or of the recipient, by its own power is in no way the cause of that grace which is conferred through the objective external sign;

4. nevertheless it is its condition sine qua non; for without the work of the one ministering there would not be the external work worked, and without the disposition which is the work of the recipient, in him there would be an obstacle, on account of which the opus operatum could not confer grace.²

² "Baptism is established not by the merits of those by whom it is administered, nor of those to whom it is administered, but by its own sanctity and truth, on account of Him by whom it was instituted, to the destruction of those using it badly, to the salvation of those using it well," Augustine, Against Cresconius IV, 19.

31. Thesis. The sacraments of the New Law cause grace ex opere operato. - This is of faith from the definition of the Council of Trent, sess. 7, can. 6-8, against the Protestants.

The thesis is opposed:

1. to the Protestants, who teach that the sacraments are symbols ordained to exciting faith, and signs of divine promises, not conferring sanctification except through the faith of the recipient, as they generally say with Luther (cf. can. 5 and 8); or also that the Holy Spirit, on the occasion of the sacrament, excites faith in the predestined, not in others, as the Augsburg Confession has it (cf. can. 7); or that they are external signs of justice accepted through faith, or mere signs of Christian profession by which the faithful are distinguished from infidels, as is more pleasing to Zwingli, the Socinians, Unitarians, and Rationalists (cf. can. 6);

2. to the Modernists, whose following proposition was condemned (41): "The sacraments look only to this, that they recall into the mind of man the always beneficent presence of the Creator";

3. also to the Donatists, Waldenses, and Wycliffe, who contended that the sacraments do not operate ex opere operato but dependently on the virtue of the minister, and therefore that sacraments conferred by a depraved minister are invalid (cf. can. 8 and 12).

It is proved: 1. From the Scriptures, which teach:

a) that the effect of the sacraments is not so much faith as grace which sanctifies (Eph. V, 26; I Cor. VI, 11), spiritually cleanses (Eph. V, 26), washes away or remits sins (Acts II, 38; XXII, 16; I Cor. VI, 11; John XX, 22, 23; Jas. V, 14, 15), by which we are reborn and renewed spiritually (John III, 5; Tit. III, 5), which consists in the conferral of the Spirit of Christ and of salvation (Acts II, 38; VIII, 17; XIX, 6; Mk. XVI, 16; Gal. III, 27; I Pet. III, 21; Heb. X, 22); moreover all these things indicate habitual grace making one pleasing;

b) they teach that this effect is obtained by the power of the sensible sign itself, as through a cause: for when the sign has been placed, the effect is immediately had (Mk. XVI, 16; Acts VIII, 17; Gal. III, 27); it is obtained through an external sign: through the laver (Tit. III, 5); by the laver of water in the word of life (Eph. V, 26); by the imposition of hands (II Tim. I, 6); by eating the flesh of Christ (John VI, 55); the laver itself regenerates and renews (Tit. III, 5); indeed causality is attributed to water just as to the Holy Spirit Himself (John III, 5). Therefore the sensible sign itself is a true cause of grace.

2. From Tradition: according to the Fathers a) the Holy Spirit and the power or divine omnipotence flows into the elements, and thus a supernatural power is present in the symbols for sanctifying men;³ - b) they compare the sacraments to natural causes, and especially the water of Baptism regenerating with the maternal womb from which we are generated;⁴ - c) they explicitly state that the end and effect of the external sign is grace to be produced in the soul;⁵ and therefore they extol and wonder at the power of the symbol.⁶ Whence Symbols and Councils confess one Baptism unto the remission of sins (Council of Milevis, can. 2; Constantinople I; Orange II, can. 25; Florence, decree for the Armenians).

³ Tertullian, On Baptism 4; Cyril of Jerusalem, mystagogical catechesis 3, n. 3; Cyril of Alexandria, on John III, 5; Ephraem, Against Scrutators, sermon 40.

⁴ Cyprian, ep. to Donatus n. 4; Cyril of Jerusalem, mystagogical catechesis 2, n. 4; Chrysostom, on John, hom. 26, n. 1; Gregory of Nyssa, oration on the Baptism of Christ; Ephraem, Hymn on Virginity XXXVIII, 3; Leo, sermon 5 on the Nativity of the Lord, 5.

⁵ Epistle of Barnabas 11-12; Hermas, similitude IX, 36; Origen, on John VI, 17; Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh 8; On Baptism 5 and 7; Optatus of Milevis, On the Schism V, 1; Augustine, on John tr. 3, n. 5; on Psalm 83, 2.

⁶ Augustine, on John tr. 80, n. 3, and several alleged under a and b.

3. From the practice of the Church, which administers sacraments to children, to the insane, to those destitute of senses; uses in the sacraments the Latin, Greek, etc., tongue; commands the reception of the sacraments to all. But if the sacraments did not confer grace ex opere operato, but only excited faith, it would follow a) that Baptism conferred on infants would be of no efficacy; b) that sacraments conferred on him who did not understand the language would effect nothing; c) that the sacraments would confer grace as much on bystanders as on recipients, which nevertheless even the Protestants themselves deny. Therefore the practice of the Church is against the Protestants.

32. Corollary. - From what has been said it is easily understood that the words of the sacraments are not merely sermonic and promissory, as the Protestants say, but consecratory: for although, which we do not deny, 1) they can instruct the bystanders and excite them to faith, because they are real preachings of the divine word; likewise 2) they themselves contain divine promises or recall promises already made; nevertheless 3) and principally, they are immediately ordained to the blessing, consecration, or sanctification of the thing or person, and only secondarily and dependently on this principal end are they also sermonic and promissory (Council of Trent, sess. 7, can. 5 and 6). - Moreover they are consecratory in a threefold way: a) as to the matter, which they determine to sacramental signification (n. 12); b) as to the recipient, insofar as they are part of the sign sanctifying and consecrating him; c) as to their origin: for they were instituted by Christ and thus consecrated to producing supernatural effects.

Whence Hugh of St. Victor, On the Sacraments l. n. et scr. (P.L. CLXXVI, 35): "The sacraments of grace, through the invocation of the Trinity, receive sanctification in themselves and then confer sanctification, so that from sanctification they may be sanctifying."

33. Observation. - The Protestants object with texts of Scripture: a) affirming that we are justified through faith; and b) excluding the value of works distinct from faith.

Reply to the first: through faith we are justified, because faith is one, indeed the first, of the dispositions required for justification, since it is the root of all the others; whence we are justified through faith in an affirmative sense, not exclusively: for the Scriptures also indicate or require other dispositions (I John III, 3; Rom. VIII, 24; Lk. VII, 47; I John III, 14; Lk. XIII, 3; Acts II, 38; III, 19), indeed they affirm that faith itself does not suffice (I Cor. XIII, 2; Jas. II, 24-26; Gal. V, 6).

To the second: hence those works are excluded which do not rest on faith, such as works of the Mosaic law, or merely natural works, but not works which arise from faith itself, since these also are necessary (Jas. II, 24-26; Mt. VII, 21; Rom. II, 6-13).

These things are customarily explained more broadly in the treatise on Grace.

DISSERTATION IV

St. Thomas, q. 110 and 111.

In this article the question is principally of habitual and sanctifying grace, which by antonomasia is called grace, whereby namely we are constituted sons of God and heirs of the kingdom, to which actual grace is reduced, as disposition to form and motion to term; and which therefore does not constitute a species distinct from habitual grace.

You will ask 1° whether grace is an intrinsic gift.

I answer. Affirmatively ¹. It was decided of faith in the Council of Trent, sess. VI, can. 11, against Lutherans and Calvinists. ¹ Here, q. 110, a. 1, c.

[There is read: « If anyone says that men are justified either by the sole imputation of the justice of Christ, or by the sole remission of sins, excluding grace and charity which is diffused in their hearts through the Holy Spirit and inheres in them, or even that the grace whereby we are justified is only the favor of God: let him be anathema. »]

And it is evident from the Apostle, I Tim., IV, 14, saying: Neglect not the grace that is in thee. And II Tim., I, 6: I admonish thee, that thou stir up the grace of God which is in thee. This matter will return when we treat of justification.

^{1 1} Here, q. 110, a. 1, c.

You will ask 2° whether habitual grace is a quality of the soul.

I answer. Habitual grace is a habitual gift remaining in the soul, and therefore of the genus of quality ¹. ¹ Ibid., a. 2, c. — 2. Ibid.

The first part, which the Council of Vienne had chosen as more probable, the Clementine de fide defined, Trent, sess. VI, chapter 16, saying: « Our justice is said to be ours, because we are justified by it inasmuch as it inheres in us. »

(In the aforesaid Clementine, lib. I, tit. I, cap. unic., it is said: « Since with respect to the effect of baptism in infants certain teachers of theology are found to have held contrary opinions, some of them saying that through the power of baptism guilt indeed is remitted to infants, but grace not conferred; others, on the contrary, asserting that both guilt is remitted to them in baptism and the virtues and informing grace are infused as to habit, if not for that time, as to use: but we, attending to the general efficacy of the death of Christ, whereby it is applied equally to all the baptized through baptism, have judged, with the approval of the sacred council, that the second opinion, which says that informing grace and the virtues are conferred in baptism upon infants as well as adults, ought to be chosen as more probable and more consonant and in accord with the sayings of the saints and of the modern teachers of theology. ») According to the opinion which the Council of Vienne approves, grace is in the soul as form. But form is of the genus of habit, as is said in the exposition of this opinion. Therefore grace is a habitual gift. Whence by the Tridentine it was defined that it inheres in us.)

The reason is 2° ². God provides no less for those whom he loves toward having supernatural good than for creatures whom he loves toward having natural good. But he so provides for natural creatures that he not only moves them to natural acts, but also bestows on them certain forms and virtues which are principles both radical and proximate of acts, so that of themselves they be inclined to such ² Ibid.

^{1 1} Ibid., a. 2, c. — 2. Ibid.

motions, and thus the motions whereby they are moved by God be connatural and easy to creatures, according to that, Sap., VI, 1: He disposeth all things sweetly. Therefore much more those whom he moves toward obtaining eternal supernatural good he infuses certain forms or supernatural qualities, according to which they may be moved sweetly and promptly by him toward obtaining eternity. Now these supernatural forms are grace and the infused virtues, grace as radical principle of supernatural operations, the virtues as immediate principle.

The second part also is evident. Quality is a permanent habit difficultly movable, disposing the subject so that it be well or ill disposed in its being or operating. But sanctifying grace is permanent, as is evident from what has been said; it is difficultly movable, as much as lies in itself and its principles, namely leaning upon divine influx, and of itself importing an inclination contrary to sin, which is destructive of it, although per accidens, by reason of state and subject, it can easily be moved; and finally it disposes man, of himself indifferent to good and evil, so that he be well disposed concerning divine things. Therefore.

You will ask 3° whether sanctifying grace is a participation of the divine nature.

I answer. ¹ Sanctifying grace is a participation of the divine nature, not only morally, consisting in rectitude of will and imitation of the holiness and justice of God in his works, but also physically: not in this sense, that through grace the divine nature as to essence is communicated to man; but in this sense, that it is a gift distinct indeed from the divine nature, but analogically and imperfectly imitating and expressing it, according to that express saying of St. Peter, epist. II, 1, 4: By whom (Christ) he hath given us most great and most precious promises, that by these you may be made partakers of the divine nature. The reason is. By divine nature we understand that which in God is conceived as root of the divine perfections and radical principle of the divine operations, namely seeing himself intuitively, loving himself with beatific love, making all things outside himself. But sanctifying grace physically imitates and expresses this fountal and primitive perfection of God. Therefore. — Proof of minor. The just man by force of sanctifying grace is radically disposed and inclined toward seeing God intuitively, toward loving him with blessed love, and toward doing all things for him. Moreover he [grace] is the root of the infused virtues, which are images and participations of the attributes. Therefore. ¹ Here q. 110, a. 3 et 4, c; q. 112, a. 1, c.

You will ask 4° whether sanctifying grace is really distinguished from charity.

[Durandus holds that it is distinguished by name only; Scotus, formally; some, virtually, by reason of diverse offices; the Thomists, with the Angelic Doctor and many outsiders, really. With these latter, more probable.]

I answer. Affirmatively ¹. ¹ Here q. 110, a. 3, c.

It is proved 1° by authority. The Apostle, Rom., V, 5, says: The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who is given to us. By Spirit however is understood the grace whereby the Holy Spirit dwells in us. Trent, sess. VI, chapter 7: « The renewal of the interior man takes place through voluntary reception of grace and gifts. » Augustine, de Dono perseverantiae, c. 16, n. 41: « Grace precedes charity. » Therefore.

It is proved 2° by reason ². Charity supposes grace. Therefore. — Proof of antecedent. Virtue supposes nature proportioned to itself. Whence, as human virtue supposes human nature, which it disposes in order to obtaining a natural end, so supernatural virtue supposes a nature elevated to supernatural being, which it disposes congruously in order to obtaining a supernatural end. — I subjoin. But charity is a supernatural virtue, and supernatural being is communicated through grace, as was said. — It is confirmed. Grace is a participation of the divine nature; charity, a participation of the divine will. But these participations are distinct. Therefore. ² Ibid.

For the solution of objections, note that the same effects are not rarely attributed in Scripture to grace and charity, not because they are one habit, but because they are interconnected among themselves and inseparable from their nature, and each in its mode concurs toward justification.

You will ask 5° in what grace is subjected.

I answer. To be subjected in the very essence of the soul, and not in any of its powers; because the perfection of a power is an active virtue, but grace is not an active virtue, but something prior to virtue, as we said. Therefore.

It is confirmed. Through grace we are regenerated into sons of God. But generation terminates to essence prior to its termination to powers. Therefore.

Grace as such, taken theologically, insofar as we treat of it here, is « a supernatural gift granted gratis by God to a rational creature in view of the merits of Christ, in order to eternal salvation. »

[It is called « a gift, » which holds the place of genus. It is called « supernatural, » that it be distinguished from natural gifts, which are called graces only in a wide sense. Yet by this there is not excluded a certain disposition of natural things by singular providence in order to salvation; for this is supernatural on the part of the end and of the principle. It is called « granted gratis, » that is, owed in no way, otherwise it would not be grace, as the Apostle says, Rom., XI, 6. It is said to be « granted by God to a rational creature in view of the merits of Christ^{1 1} Ibid., a. 4, c.

in order to salvation. » By the first particles is designated the subject or material cause of grace; by the following, the efficient cause; by the next, the meritorious cause; by the last, the final cause.]

Grace thus taken is divided 1° into external and internal. External grace is that which does not affect man intrinsically, but extrinsically only, such as are the divine law, the preaching of the Gospel, miracles, the examples of Christ and of the saints, occasions of doing good prepared by supernatural providence, occasions of sinning removed by the same providence: in one word, every effect of supernatural providence ordered to our salvation. Internal grace is that which affects man intrinsically, either by inhering, as habitual grace and the infused virtues, or by moving inwardly, as are the actual graces of intellect and will.

2° Internal grace is divided into grace gratis data and grace gratum faciens. Grace gratis data is that which is per se primo ordered to the salvation of others; grace gratum faciens is that which is per se primo ordered to the salvation of the recipient.

[3° Grace gratum faciens is divided into habitual, which sanctifies formally and resides in the essence of the soul, and actual, which concurs efficiently to justification. 4° Actual grace is divided into operating and cooperating. St. Thomas explains here, q. 111, a. 2, c, this division founded upon the Scriptures, councils, and Fathers thus: « The operation of some effect is not attributed to the thing moved, but to the mover. In that effect, therefore, in which our mind is moved and not moving, but God alone is the mover, operation is attributed to God; and accordingly grace is called operating. But in that effect in which our mind both moves and is moved, operation is attributed not only to God but also to the soul; and accordingly grace is called cooperating. » The Angelic Doctor proceeds, applying this distinction to the internal and external acts of man: « There is in us a twofold act. The first indeed is interior, of the will. And with respect to this act, the will stands as moved, but God as moving, especially when the will begins to will good, whereas before it willed evil. And therefore, according as God moves the human mind to this act, grace is called operating. » But another act is exterior; and since it is elicited by the will, it follows that for this act operation is attributed to the will. And because God also aids us toward this act, both inwardly confirming the will that it may arrive at the act, and outwardly offering the faculty of acting, with respect to such an act grace is called cooperating. » And he teaches this from Augustine saying it, and proving it from Scripture, lib. de Gratia et libero arbit., chapter 17, n. 33: « He [God] works in us that we may will without us, who cooperates with those willing, perfecting. On which account the Apostle says, Philipp., I, 6: Being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will perfect it unto the day of Christ Jesus. Therefore that we may will he works without us; but when we will, and so will as to do, he cooperates with us. »

It must be noted, however, that it is certain that the will does not stand merely passive toward that first act; for it is a vital volition of good, consequently an act elicited by the will. Nor does it follow that the will in this first volition is not free; for that the will act freely it is not necessary that it move itself from a preceding act, but it suffices that the object be proposed under an indifference of judgment; for then there intervenes a virtual deliberation. Compare what is said on this in the treatise de Angelis and in the treatise de Actib. hum.

5° Grace is divided, by the same St. Thomas, into prevenient and subsequent, according to the order of prior and later effects. For he says here, q. 111, a. 3, c: « As grace is divided into operating and cooperating, according to different effects, so also into prevenient and subsequent, however grace be taken. Now there are five effects of grace in us: the first of which is, that the soul is healed; the second, that it wills good; the third, that it efficaciously carries out the good it wills; the fourth, that it perseveres in good; the fifth, that it attains glory. And therefore grace, according as it causes in us the first effect, is called prevenient with respect to the second effect; and as it causes in us the second, it is called subsequent with respect to the first effect. And just as one effect is posterior to one effect and prior to another, so grace can be called prevenient and subsequent, according to the same effect, with respect to different ones. And this is what Augustine says in the lib. de Natura et Gratia, chapter 31, n. 35: « He prevents us that we may be healed; he follows after that being healed we may be strengthened; he prevents us that we may be called; he follows after that we may be glorified. »]

6° Grace is divided into sufficient and efficacious. That which suffices for something is said in two ways: 1° simply and in every respect; 2° secundum quid, that is, in one genus only, but not in every respect. Thus healing suffices for life simply, but not in every respect, so as to be perfect health; for it fails in another genus, as will be more fully explained below. By sufficient grace here we do not understand that which suffices simply and in every respect, but that which suffices in its own genus, that is, in the reason of a power of acting. By efficacious grace, moreover, we understand that which applies this power to act. To this notion suit the various definitions which are current concerning each. Sufficient grace is that which confers the faculty of acting well; efficacious that which provides the good use of this faculty. Likewise, sufficient grace is that which gives the good power, if we will; efficacious that which makes us will. Likewise, sufficient grace is the grace of possibility, efficacious the grace of action. And finally, according to Augustine, sufficient grace is the aid without which not, efficacious grace the aid by which. All coincide. This is the most celebrated division of grace, about which the gravest difficulties are raised, which we shall endeavor to elucidate in the following articles.

Grace, then, is preeminently the gift of God, freely bestowed upon us with a view to our sanctification and the obtaining of life everlasting. This gift of God is no other

¹ John iv. 10 ff.

than the gift of Himself appropriated to the Holy Spirit inasmuch as it pertains to the work of our sanctification, and by appropriation the Holy Ghost is the sanctifier. We are taught this by numerous passages in Holy Scripture. "The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us," says St. Paul.¹ The Holy Spirit is so given to us that He dwells within us as in His temple. "Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"² "Or know you not that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?"³ "What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: I will dwell in them and walk among them. And I will be their God, and they shall be

¹ Rom. v. 5.

² 1 Cor. iii. 16.

³ 1 Cor. vi. 19.

my people."¹ God thus dwelling within us, vivifies us, helps us to subdue our fleshly appetites, testifies to us that we are the sons of God, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.²

God is everywhere, and as He creates all things, so He sustains all things and physically concurs with the natural activity of all things. "In Him we live, move, and have our being." By grace in Him we begin to live a new and higher life, we begin to move and have our being in a higher and supernatural order.

So, then, while God dwells within the human soul He is by no means inactive there. He always respects the liberty of His creature, but nevertheless He is always striving to draw the soul into ever closer union with Himself in preparation for that final union which Holy Scripture calls life everlasting. That eternal life consists in

¹ 2 Cor. vi. 16.

² Rom. viii. 11 ff.

the knowledge and love of God.¹ We can know God in this life by the natural light of reason, we can know Him still better in this life by the light of His grace, but in life everlasting we shall know Him in a far more perfect way by the light of glory. "We see now through a glass in a dark manner, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know even as I am known."² "We are now the sons of God, and it hath not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like to Him, because we shall see Him as He is."³

That final destiny of the human soul is something far above its natural desires, capacities or needs. It is a supernatural destiny, a living on familiar, intimate, and the closest possible terms of a loving son with a most affectionate Father. It has pleased

¹ John xvii. 3.

² 1 Cor. xiii. 12.

³ 1 John iii. 2.

God to raise man to that lofty estate, to place man by His side in the divine order of being, permanently raising him above the merely created order. Man must be gradually educated so that when the time comes he may take his place becomingly in the great family of God.

While dwelling in the human soul, God Himself undertakes the education of His child. He does this in the first place by what theologians call actual graces. Those actual graces consist especially of illuminations of the mind and movements of the will. The mind has to be enlightened by God so that it may see and understand and realize divine truths, appreciate their beauty, and realize their desirableness. The will has to be moved by God so that it may actually desire them. Herein man can do nothing of himself; helped by divine grace all that he can do is to give his consent and cooperate with the action of God. "Not that we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God."¹ "For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to accomplish according to His good will."² be just unless the merits of Our Lord Jesus Christ are communicated to him, that, however, is done in this justification of the wicked, while by the merit of the same most holy Passion, through the Holy Ghost, the charity of God is poured forth in the hearts of those who are justified, and inheres in them, so that in justification, together with the forgiveness of sins, a man at the same time receives all these infused virtues, faith, hope, and charity, through Jesus Christ in whom he is engrafted."¹ All these Scriptural expressions indicate that grace is something more than the mere extrinsic favor of God. In adopting man for His child by grace and assuring him of a father's love, God works wonderful changes in the human soul. What was before stained by sin becomes clean and pure, what was before darkness becomes light. What was by nature a little less than the angels, is raised by grace in some sort to the level of the deity, it becomes "a partaker of the divine nature," says St. Peter.¹ washes the soul from the stains of sin, it does not merely cover sin, it destroys all traces of it. Of its nature too it does not merely adorn the soul with a heavenly beauty, it makes it fruitful in good works. "Whosoever is born of God committeth not sin; for His seed abideth in him."¹

By such illuminations of the mind and strength-giving movements of the will God enables the loving soul to do what otherwise it could not do, to keep God's commandments and to avoid grievous sin.

Besides these actual graces the Catholic Church teaches that God gives sanctifying or habitual grace to men.

"Justification," says the Council of Trent, "is not merely the forgiveness of sins, but the sanctification and renovation of the inner man, by the voluntary acceptance of grace and gifts; by which a man instead of being unjust becomes just, and instead of being an enemy becomes a friend, so that he may be an heir according to hope of life everlasting.... For although no one can

¹ 2 Cor. iii. 5.

² Phil. ii. 13.

In the same chapter the Council teaches that baptism is the instrumental cause used by God in the justification of the wicked.

By sanctifying grace infused into the soul by baptism we are "born again"; "born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." We become a "new creature in Christ Jesus." By this new birth we are made "partakers of the divine nature."²

¹ Sess. vi. c. 7.

This is the beginning of that spiritual life which one day is to leap forth into life everlasting. Not alone by actual graces does God preserve the soul of His child from sin and gradually educate it for heaven. There is a radical opposition between sanctifying grace and sin, as radical as that between light and darkness. Mortal sin drives sanctifying grace from the soul, it is the death of the spiritual life. The infusion of grace

¹ 2 Peter i. 4.

¹ 1 John iii. 9.