the
gift of habitual grace, even as the other infused virtues. Secondly,
it may be taken to denote the act of perseverance enduring until
death: and in this sense it needs not only habitual grace, but also
the gratuitous help of God sustaining man in good until the end of
life, as stated above (I-II, Q. 109, A. 10), when we were treating of
grace. Because, since the free-will is changeable by its very nature,
which changeableness is not taken away from it by the habitual grace
bestowed in the present life, it is not in the power of the
free-will, albeit repaired by grace, to abide unchangeably in good,
though it is in its power to choose this: for it is often in our
power to choose yet not to accomplish.

Reply Obj. 1: The virtue of perseverance, so far as it is concerned,
inclines one to persevere: yet since it is a habit, and a habit is a
thing one uses at will, it does not follow that a person who has the
habit of virtue uses it unchangeably until death.

Reply Obj. 2: As Augustine says (De Correp. et Grat. xi), "it was
given to the first man, not to persevere, but to be able to persevere
of his free-will: because then no corruption was in human nature to
make perseverance difficult. Now, however, by the grace of Christ,
the predestined receive not only the possibility of persevering, but
perseverance itself. Wherefore the first man whom no man threatened,
of his own free-will rebelling against a threatening God, forfeited
so great a happiness and so great a facility of avoiding sin: whereas
these, although the world rage against their constancy, have
persevered in faith."

Reply Obj. 3: Man is able by himself to fall into sin, but he cannot
by himself arise from sin without the help of grace. Hence by falling
into sin, so far as he is concerned man makes himself to be
persevering in sin, unless he be delivered by God's grace. On the
other hand, by doing good he does not make himself to be persevering
in good, because he is able, by himself, to sin: wherefore he needs
the help of grace for that end.
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QUESTION 138

OF THE VICES OPPOSED TO PERSEVERANCE
(In Two Articles)

We must now consider the vices opposed to perseverance; under which
head there are two points of inquiry:

(1) Of effeminacy;

(2) Of pertinacity.
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FIRST ARTICLE [II-II, Q. 138, Art. 1]

Whether Effeminacy* Is Opposed to Perseverance?
[* _Mollities,_ literally "softness"]

Objection 1: