PART III.
ON THE MEANS OF GRACE.
CHAPTER I.
Grace in General.
1. Can we, by our own natural strength, keep the Commandments and be saved?
No; we cannot, without the grace of God.
'Without me you can do nothing,' says Christ (John xv. 5). ' I will put my Spirit in the midst of you, and I will cause you to walk in my commandments' (Ez. xxxvi, 27).
2. What do we understand by the grace of God?
By the grace of God we understand here an internal supernatural help or gift, which God communicates to us, through the merits of Jesus Christ, for our eternal salvation.
3. How many kinds of this supernatural help and gift, or of ' Grace ' properly so called, are there?
There are two kinds, 1. The grace of assistance, called also actual or transient grace; and 2. The grace of sanctiflcation or justification, called also sanctifying or habitual grace.
The grace of assistance is called actual and transient, because it acts transiently upon the soul, whereas the grace of sanctification or justification remains habitually in the soul, beautifies it, and makes it holy and just in the eyes of God.
§ 1. The Grace of Assistance.
4. In what does Actual Grace, or the Grace of Assistance, consist?
Actual Grace consists in this: that God enlightens our understanding, and inclines our will to avoid evil, and both to will and to do what is good.
'Give me understanding, and I will search Thy law, and I
