I. The natural endowments of fallen man are very extensive. He has a love of truth, great powers of investigation, and he is able to recognize the Author of nature as God and ascertain some of His perfections. Still this natural knowledge is limited. It is true to say now, no less than formerly: "Man can find no reason of all those works of God that are done under the sun: and the more he shall labour to seek so much the less shall he find; yea, though the wise man should say that he knoweth it, he shall not be able to find" (Eccle. viii. 17). The natural intelligence falls still further short of the great system of truths that belong to the higher state which God calls man to enter. Those truths are the basis on which our supernatural life must be built up. We cannot arrive at them by our power of natural penetration; and even when they are propounded to us by God through human teaching, we are still unable to assimilate them without an infusion of grace and the faculty of faith from God. Every one is capable of hearing of Our Lord and knowing Him historically; yet "no man can say, The Lord Jesus, but by the Holy Ghost" (1 Cor. xii. 3). We may have natural knowledge, but it is not sufficient ; for all that, "No man can come to Me except the Father who hath sent Me draw him" (John vi. 44). You stand in absolute need of actual graces to enable your intelligence and will to grasp the truths of the supernatural order. Prayer is necessary rather than critical analysis. Those who fall from the state of grace are very likely to lose their intellectual grasp of certain higher truths which previously seemed incontrovertible.
II. Graces of action are further necessary for the observance of the supernatural law. The natural man, it is true, is able, through the influences of a careful education or of refined society, to do many actions of high moral excellence, such as may surpass even the aims of such and such men who live by the life of the Spirit. But yet these acts of admirable virtue are on the lower level, and have no relation to the supernatural, or claim to an eternal reward. They receive, however, their full reward in the natural order. So it was with the midwives of Egypt (Exod. i. 20) and with Nabuchodonosor (Ez. xxix. 18-20). They also move God to accord the higher light, and prepare the soul to accept it, as the alms of the pagan Cornelius were remembered in the sight of God (Acts x. 31). Natural powers are limited even in their own sphere, and there are some natural virtues to which they cannot attain. So Solomon says: "As I knew that I could not otherwise be continent except God gave it. . . I went to the Lord and besought Him" (Wisd. viii. 21). Still more does natural goodness fail to reach the high standard proposed by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Grace is necessary, and with grace all is possible. The Christian ideal may be incompatible with the present age; but only in so far as men of the present age are without grace, and refuse to seek it.
III. Every one stands in need of the graces of action at every moment. The sinner needs them that he may be awakened from the sleep of sin and brought back to God. The just man cannot persevere in his virtues by force of his good habits and firm resolution. Past fidelity makes it easier to continue well, yet each new act of virtue proposed to a man requires a new influx of grace to enable him to accept the proposal and carry it out. No one can ever stand alone, he is always absolutely dependent on God, whether he be just or sinner; and at the end of a long life of faithful service, as at the moment of taking the first step, he needs assistance and support a thousand times every day. "For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to accomplish according to His good will" (Phil. ii. 13). The grace of God is the daily bread of your soul, an absolute necessary of life. You need to provide yourself daily with a new supply for your daily needs. Grace is granted in answer to prayer; and your prayer needs to be constant and daily, and even hourly. Any neglect of it entails on you a serious loss.
Read from the Original Book.
