By all these things we are taught a) that there are two causes of that order which has been established for fallen men: namely, 1) God’s φιλανθρωπία toward the human race—indeed, φιλανθρωπίας ὑπερβολή, an excess of benignity, ἄπληστον πρὸς φιλανθρωπίαν τὸ θεῖον, the inexhaustible charity of the divine Majesty toward men, and the overflowing opulence τῆς χρηστότητος of goodness; then 2) the wholly similar humanity of Christ the Savior, which Basil calls πέλαγος φιλανθρωπίας, φιλανθρωπίας πηγή, and τὴν φιλάνθρωπον τέχνην, a sea of love, a fountain of clemency, and a most humane art. Therefore b) this order is of the same kind as the causes from which it is understood to have proceeded. But these are beneficent love and infinite clemency. Therefore it must be believed to be an order of benevolence and charity.
It must be believed c) to be an order in which 1) all are called into liberty and summoned to the enjoyment of the kingdom; in which 2) God directs to men a voice πατρικήν, οὐ δικαστικήν, of a father, not of a judge; in which 3) he seeks Adam, τὸ φιλοτίμημα, the object of his love; and 4) seeks him that he may heal him of the wound, free him from the disease, and restore him to soundness; in which 5) he does not permit anyone to cast away the hope of salvation and to judge human nature subject to the curse and deprived of hope; in which 6) he pities humanity corrupted by disease and imparts medicines for healing its wounds; in which 7) he places his shoulders beneath the laboring sheep in order to support it; in which 8) he repairs the damage inflicted by original fault; and in which 9) he so governs all things that they conduce to the salvation of men.
But d) an order which is such and which is distinguished by these marks as though by tesserae—
—can be judged none other than the order of universal reparation; and indeed universal no less 1) in amplitude, by which it embraces all and excludes no one, than 2) in time, in which ἀρχαῖος τῆς φιλανθρωπίας ὁ νόμος, the ancient law of benignity, extends itself to all ages and accompanies all generations.
Therefore e) by the first and antecedent will the opportunity of salvation is granted to all, the medicine of penance is present, and grace is supplied by which all may strive toward salvation if they will.
But f) by the second and consequent will the throne is granted only as a reward, and is ascribed to merits procured by grace.
For this g) is the difference between the grace necessary for attaining salvation and the attainment itself of salvation and the crown: 1) the former is τοῦ διδόντος μόνον τὸ δῶρον, the bare gift of the one bestowing, common to all, and altogether of such a kind that not even in thought can it be separated from the order of universal reparation. But 2) the crown follows τὴν τοῦ λαμβάνοντος ἀξίαν, the dignity and merit of the receiver; for καλεῖ γὰρ τὴν διδόντος ἐξουσίαν ἡ τοῦ λαμβάνοντος ἀξία: the power of the giver and the merit of the receiver answer to one another; and when God crowns, he does not bestow a favor ἁπλῶς, simply, but dispenses a reward for labors undergone.