Chapter I.
On grace, insofar as it is a gift divinely given.
After the treatise on the incarnation of the Word, which is the origin and font of every gratuitous gift, some things must be said concerning the grace of the Holy Spirit, which presents itself for our consideration in a fourfold manner. First, insofar as it is a gift divinely given.
Second, in comparison to free will.
Third, in comparison to the habits of the virtues.
Fourth, in comparison to the exercise of merits.
Concerning grace, therefore, insofar as it is a gift divinely given, the following must be held: that it is a gift which is immediately given and infused by God. For indeed, with it and in it the Holy Spirit is given, who is the uncreated gift, the best and perfect gift, which descends from the Father of lights through the incarnate Word, according to what John in Revelation saw a river, shining like crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
It is nonetheless a gift through which the soul is perfected and made the bride of Christ, the daughter of the eternal Father, and the temple of the Holy Spirit: which in no way comes about except from the dignifying condescension and condescending dignity of the eternal Majesty through the gift of His grace.
It is, finally, a gift which purges, illuminates, and perfects the soul; vivifies, reforms, and stabilizes it; elevates, assimilates, and joins it to God, and thereby renders it acceptable: on account of which a gift of this kind is rightly called and ought to be named grace making pleasing.
Now the reason for understanding the aforesaid is this: since the first productive principle, out of its supreme benevolence, made the rational spirit capable of eternal beatitude; and the reparative principle restored that capacity, weakened by sin, unto salvation; and eternal beatitude consists in possessing the supreme good; and this is God, a good surpassing beyond all proportion every dignity of human service: no one at all is worthy to attain that supreme good, since it is entirely above all the limits of nature, unless, by God condescending to him, he is elevated above himself. But God does not condescend through his unchangeable essence, but through an influence flowing from himself; nor is the spirit elevated above itself through local position, but through a deiform habit. It is therefore necessary for the rational spirit, in order to become worthy of eternal beatitude, that it become a partaker of the deiform influence. Now this deiform influence, because it is from God and according to God and for the sake of God, therefore renders the image of our mind conformed to the most blessed Trinity, not only according to the order of origin, but also according to the rectitude of choice and according to the repose of fruition. And since he who has this is immediately led back to God, just as he is immediately conformed to him, therefore that gift is immediately bestowed by God as by an inflowing principle: so that, just as the image of God immediately emanates from God, so the likeness of God immediately abides from him, which is the deiform perfection of the divine image, and therefore is called the image of re-creation.
Again, since he who enjoys God possesses God, therefore with grace, which by its deiformity disposes to the fruition of God, there is given an uncreated gift, which is the Holy Spirit, which he who has, has God also.
And since no one possesses God without being more specially possessed by him; no one possesses and is possessed by God without loving him preeminently and incomparably and being loved by him as a bride by a bridegroom; no one is so loved without being adopted for the eternal inheritance as a son: hence it is that grace which makes pleasing renders the soul a temple of God, a bride of Christ, and a daughter of the eternal Father. And because this cannot be except from the supreme condescension and graciousness of God, therefore it cannot be through any habit naturally implanted, but only through a gift divinely and gratuitously infused; which clearly appears if one considers how great a thing it is to be a temple of God, a son of God, and nonetheless to be indissolubly and, as it were, matrimonially joined to God through the bond of love and grace.
Finally, because our mind is not made conformable to the most blessed Trinity according to the rectitude of choice except through the vigor of virtue, the splendor of truth, and the fervor of charity: and the vigor of virtue purges, stabilizes, and elevates the soul: the splendor of truth illuminates, reforms, and assimilates the soul to God: the fervor of charity perfects, vivifies, and unites the soul to God, and from all these a man becomes pleasing and acceptable to God: hence it is that that deiform influence is said to have all the ten aforementioned acts, yet in such a way that it is denominated from the last as from the most complete.
For it is called grace making pleasing, because it makes the one who possesses it pleasing to God, since it is not only given freely by God, but is also according to God and for the sake of God: since it exists for this purpose, that through it the work flowing from God may return to God, in which, after the manner of an intelligible circle, consists the fulfillment of all rational spirits.
Ch. II.
On grace, insofar as it assists toward meritorious good.
Second, the grace of the Holy Spirit must be considered by us in comparison to free choice,
and this in a twofold manner. First, namely, insofar as it is an aid toward merit: second, insofar as it is a remedy against sin.
Concerning the grace of God, therefore, insofar as it is an aid toward meriting , these things must be held: that since grace is spoken of generally, specially and properly: generally it is called the divine aid bestowed freely and gratuitously upon a creature, indifferently toward any act whatsoever: and without this kind of aid of grace we can neither accomplish anything nor endure in being. - Specially grace is called the aid divinely given so that one may prepare oneself to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, by which one may arrive at the state of merit: and such is called gratuitous grace, and without this no one sufficiently does what is in oneself to prepare oneself for salvation. - Properly grace is called the aid given divinely for meriting, which indeed is called the gift of sanctifying grace, without which no one can merit, nor advance in good, nor arrive at eternal salvation. For it, as the root of meriting, precedes all merits: on account of which it has been said that "it precedes the will, so that it may will: but it follows after, lest it will in vain." Hence no one can merit it by condign merit, but "it itself merits to be increased by God along the way, so that once increased it may merit to be perfected in the fatherland and in everlasting glory by God himself, whose it is to infuse, increase and perfect grace according to the cooperation of our will and according to the purpose or good pleasure of eternal predestination.
Now the reason for understanding the aforesaid is this: because, since the first principle by its omnipotent power and most benign generosity brought forth every creature from nothing into being, and through this the creature of itself has non-being, but has all its being from another, it was so made that, on account of its defectibility, it would always need its principle, and the first principle, on account of its benignity, would not cease to exert its influence. Since therefore the rational spirit, by the very fact that it is from nothing, is in itself defective; by the very fact that it is a limited and needy nature, is curved in upon itself, loving its own good; by the very fact that it is entirely from God, is totally subject to God; and because it is defective, of itself it tends toward non-being; because it is curved, of itself it does not rise to the rectitude of perfect justice; because it is totally subject to God, and God does not need its goods, it can do nothing of itself and by its own power by which it would make God its debtor, and especially of the eternal reward, which is God, except through divine condescension: hence it is that, in order to be preserved in being, since it is defective, it always needs the help of divine presence, sustenance, and influence, by which it may be sustained in being; which, although it is universal toward all creatures, is nevertheless named by the name of grace, because it does not proceed from what is owed, but from the liberality of divine goodness.
Hence it is also that, in order to prepare itself for the gift of supernatural grace, since it is curved in upon itself, it needs the gift of another grace freely given, especially after fallen nature, by which it may be rendered capable of moral goods, which are goods from circumstance, which in no way can be called good unless they proceed from a right intention, namely that they be done not for our own sake but for the sake of the highest good, to which our curved spirit does not rise unless it is anticipated by God through some grace freely given.
Hence it is no less the case that, in order to perform meritorious works of eternal reward, since it is totally subject to God and a debtor of its entire self, it needs the gift of sanctifying grace, by which God condescends to it, first accepting his image and will before the operation flowing from it: because, since "the cause is nobler than the effect," no one can make himself better nor do a work pleasing to God unless he himself first pleases, so that God first looks upon him before looking upon his gifts. And therefore every root of meriting is founded in sanctifying grace, whose function is to make a person worthy of God: on account of which no one can merit it by the merit of condignity, but only by the merit of congruity.
Once possessed, grace itself merits its own increase in the state of the wayfarer through its good use by a worthy merit. For since God alone is the fontal principle of infusing grace itself, He alone is the principle of augmenting it by way of infusing, and grace by way of merit and worthiness, and free choice by way of cooperating and meriting, inasmuch as free choice cooperates with grace and makes what belongs to grace its own.
And therefore free choice through grace merits not only the increase of grace in the state of the wayfarer by a worthy merit, but also its completion in the state of the fatherland by a condign merit, both on account of the sublimity of the gift of the Holy Spirit cooperating in the merit; and on account of the truthfulness of God who promises; and on account of the mutability of free choice that consents and finally perseveres; and on account of the difficulty of the state of meriting ; and on account of the dignity of Christ our Head who intercedes, who ought to be glorified with His members; and on account of the liberality of God who repays, whom it does not befit to render small things in return for the service of one faithfully obeying Him; and on account of the nobility of the work, which proceeds from charity, which weighs as much in the sight of the Judge as the love from which it proceeds, which incomparably prefers God above all creatures, and therefore cannot be sufficiently and fittingly recompensed except in God and the supreme Good.
From all of which, as from seven reasons, the sevenfold grace causes eternal glory to be merited by a merit not only of congruity, but also of condignity.