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AND SO we can escape the snare of this most evil spirit, if in the case
of every virtue in which we feel that we make progress, we say these words
of the Apostle: "Not I, but the grace of God with me," and "by the grace of
God I am what I am;" and "it is God that worketh in us both to will and
to do of His good pleasure." As the author of our salvation Himself
also says: "If a man abide in me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit;
for without me ye can do nothing." And "Except the Lord build the
house, they labour in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city,
the watchman waketh but in vain." And "Vain is it for you to rise up before
light." For "it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
but of God that hath mercy."
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