In Epistolam D. Pauli Apostoli ad Galatas notae

nally they seemed to be good works according to the Law, but while he places confidence in them, they are dung. And indeed, for this very reason, the doctrine of gratuitous justification must be certain to us, as most true, because it takes away all praise of righteousness from man, and extols only that of Christ, so that He may be glorified. For if we consider how dangerous it is to attribute anything to one's own righteousness, we will say that the righteousness of Christ alone is the true righteousness. Luke 16: Whatever is exalted among men is an abomination before God.

15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace,

16 To reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, etc.

Before we were born, we could merit nothing. We always arrogate something to ourselves. There is a twofold grace:
1. That He bestows His Gospel upon an entire region, because it pleases Him so.
2. That He adds grace so that you might believe; this is a singular grace. Therefore, that we have arrived at the clarity of the Gospel, in which our happiness is placed, for itself it was the cause, as we taught in Ephesians 1. Moreover, not only from the womb, but before heaven or earth existed.

Thus, in whatever calling you may be, God destined you for it from your mother's womb. For although men who possess gifts are chosen for the Republic and the Church, nevertheless, whatever dexterity one may have, let him know that God designated him for it while still in his mother's