In other words, habitual grace is
the symbol of the predominance of good impulses, which lead man
to order and love, and by means of which he succeeds in subduing
his evil tendencies and remaining master in his own domain. As
for ACTUAL grace, that indicates the external means which give
scope to the orderly passions and serve to combat the subversive
passions.
Grace, according to Saint Augustine, is essentially gratuitous,
and precedes sin in man. Bossuet expressed the same thought in
his style so full of poesy and tenderness: When God formed the
bowels of man, he originally placed goodness there. In fact, the
first determination of free will is in this natural GOODNESS, by
which man is continually incited to order, to labor, to study, to
modesty, to charity, and to sacrifice. Therefore Saint Paul
could say, without attacking free will, that, in everything
concerning the accomplishment of good, God worketh in us both to
will and to do. For all the holy aspirations of man are in him
before he begins to think and feel; and the pangs of heart which
he experiences when he violates them, the delight with which he
is filled when he obeys them, all the invitations, in short,
which come to him from society and his education, do not belong
to him.
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