purity of God. This was the change wrought in St. Paul when he said: "I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me."[1]
Grace may also be called a supernatural and divine form, by means of which man lives as becomes his origin, which is also supernatural and divine.
Grace is, moreover, a spiritual dress, a chaste ornament of the soul, which renders her so beautiful in the eyes of God that He adopts her as His child, or rather accepts her as His Spouse. It was this adornment which made the prophet rejoice when he said: "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, and my soul shall be joyful in my God. For He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation; and with the robe of justice He hath covered me, as a bridegroom decked with a crown, and as a bride adorned with her jewels."[2] Such are the gifts with which the Holy Spirit enriches and adorns the soul. This is the garment of divers colors in which the king's daughter was gloriously arrayed.[3] For from grace proceeds that glorious variety of virtues which forms the power and beauty of the soul.
From what has been said we can judge of the effects of grace in a soul. It renders her so beautiful, as we have said, that God, Who is captivated with her loveliness, chooses her for His Spouse, His temple, and His dwelling. Another effect of grace is the strength which it imparts to the soul. This beauty and this strength are extolled in the Canticle of Canti-
