"It is not true that the will, when left to itself, can do good as well as evil; for it is not free but captive.
"It is not in the power of the will of man to choose or reject whatever is presented to it.
"Man cannot naturally wish God to be God. His wish is that he himself were God, and that God were no God.
"The excellent, infallible, and sole preparation for grace, is the eternal election and predestination of God.[284]
"It is false to say that when man does all he can, he clears away the obstacles to grace.
"In one word, nature possesses neither a pure reason nor a good will.[285]
"On the part of man, there is nothing which precedes grace, unless it be impotence and even rebellion.
"There is no moral virtue without pride or sullenness, that is to say, without sin.
"From the beginning to the end we are not the masters of our actions, but the slaves of them.
"We do not become righteous by doing what is righteous, but having become righteous we do what is righteous.