14. The first fruit of grace, I say, is the remission of guilt. Whence the Apostle to the Romans : Justified by faith, let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace, in which we stand and glory in the hope of the glory of the sons of God. As the Philosopher holds, one is not changed from viciousness to virtues except through habituation to the contrary habit; so guilt will never be remitted except through grace. Can the miser arrive at liberality except through the exercise of liberality? The Philosopher considers vice insofar as it denotes a certain disorder; when I have knowledge of God, I judge concerning sin, that it is an offense against God; for by transgression of the law you dishonor God ; whence it is necessary that you be subject to the vengeance of God. He who is disordered in guilt must necessarily be subject to punishment. - Sin is subject to divine vengeance; therefore the punishment must be eternal, because the offense is infinite. For the offense is as great as he who is offended; but God is immeasurable, and his majesty is infinite: therefore the offense too is infinite: therefore the punishment too is infinite, not intensively, but processively: because it is impossible for a created active power to be infinite. It is necessary, therefore, that an eternal power operate: but God is infinite: therefore if he himself changes the soul, this must be done through some influx of grace. Likewise, hell is not remitted except through grace. See therefore how grace liberates from the servitude of sin and of the devil.
15. The second fruit of grace is the fullness of justice, which consists in this, that a man be just in himself and with respect to God and with respect to his neighbor, namely that a man avoid evil and work good. And how? The Apostle says to Titus: The grace of God our Savior has appeared to all men, instructing us, that denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly, justly, and piously in this world, awaiting the blessed hope and the coming of the glory of the great God.
The grace of our God Jesus Christ has appeared, etc. This is the grace which expels all evils and bestows all goods: therefore in grace is the fullness of justice. Whence in Ecclesiasticus uncreated Wisdom says: I am the mother of fair love and of fear and of knowledge and of holy hope: in me is all grace of the way and of truth: in me is all hope of life and of virtue: come over to me, all you who desire me, and be filled from my fruits. Do you wish to be full of grace and virtue? Come over to me, that is, to Christ. And how? We cannot do this unless we are raised above ourselves: but certain things hinder us from being raised above ourselves: therefore it is necessary that we rise up against those things which hinder us. No one is established in this fullness of grace unless he rises up against himself and is raised above himself and loves God above all things and his enemy as himself; because by the name of neighbor every person is understood. Full justice, therefore, is to love God above all things, and this means to love every person, therefore both friend and enemy. But what will bring it about that a person is lifted up against himself and above himself? Surely grace; I say, the grace of the way and of truth. It is difficult for anyone to love his enemy except through grace. A stone cannot give heat of itself: but if it is placed next to a burning furnace, it can afterward give heat. If you love those who love you, what grace is that? To love only a friend is not the virtue of grace.
16. The third fruit of grace is the attainment of eternal beatitude. Whence the Apostle to the Romans: The wages of sin is death: but the grace of God is life eternal. You have the planting of life and of death. The grace of God is life eternal. But what is sin? Surely nothing other than the tree of death. Here is the tree of death, and here is the tree of life; place yourself in the garden where the tree of life is. Foolish would he be who plants the tree of death: if you planted a tree on which you were to be hanged, you would be foolish. The wicked therefore plant that tree of sin.
There is therefore a threefold fruit of grace: the first is the remission of guilt, the second is the fullness of justice, and the third is the attainment of eternal beatitude.
17. And accordingly there is a threefold grace, namely grace that heals, grace that strengthens, and grace that consummates.
Grace that heals is given in the seven Sacraments against the sevenfold disease; in the just it is preserved through the seven exercises of justice, which are treated in the seven Penitential Psalms. And not without reason are those called the seven Penitential Psalms, and not others; nor can they be changed or multiplied. Likewise, healing grace is perfected in the seven works of mercy. - Grace, however, that strengthens consists in two things. For either it operates by way of rectifying, and thus consists in the seven virtues; or it operates by way of enabling, and thus consists in the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. - Grace, however, that consummates consists in two groups of seven, namely, grace that consummates on the way in the seven beatitudes, which are touched upon in the Gospel, when it says: Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, etc.; but grace that consummates in the homeland in the seven endowments, namely, in the three endowments of the soul itself, which are vision, fruition, and retention. The first corresponds to faith; the second, to hope; and the third corresponds to charity. It also consists in the four endowments of the body, which overflow into the body from the beatitude of the soul, and are clarity, subtlety, agility, and impassibility; which correspond to the four cardinal virtues.
18. And thus there are seven groups of seven. To speak of the seven Sacraments, the seven exercises of justice, and the seven works of mercy would be too lengthy; to speak also of the seven beatitudes and the seven endowments would at present be too difficult. And therefore we propose to hold to the middle and to speak of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are the gift of wisdom and understanding, the gift of counsel and fortitude, the gift of knowledge and piety, and the gift of the fear of the Lord. And we shall proceed not in the manner in which Isaiah proceeds, but we shall begin from the last gift, namely, from the gift of the fear of the Lord; and we shall ask the Lord to grant us the gifts of the Holy Spirit, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, etc.