John Tauler · 36 of 121

Secondly, of the work and knowledge of grace. · 90.

But it might be urged: a child is pure and without any sins, and yet he doth not possess all virtue. I reply against this, that a child possesseth purity in the lowest degree, which is a mere necessity or necessary first condition for heaven. Therefore the child hath virtue also only in the lowest degree. As it possesseth purity only in an unmerited way, so also hath it virtue without merit, and all its virtues are imperfect, for both qualities may come to naught. It is therefore certain, that true purity is a vessel full of all virtues, and just as much as a man faileth in virtue, he faileth also in purity; therefore the absence of all sins is the possession of all virtues.