COROLLARY XV.
The account of this state must be investigated more deeply, and its nature declared more distinctly. Following the Fathers of the Church as our guides, and with Christian revelation carrying the torch before us, as is fitting, we shall accomplish this if first we inquire into its origin and then its manifold endowments and properties. And as regards the origin, this is the indubitable judgment of tradition1: no other principal and supreme cause of the restored state can be found and assigned than the merciful love of God toward the human race. Love, indeed, by which God, moved by his innate goodness, loved his image, although corrupted and depraved; but merciful love, because God was present to the wretched and provided for the unworthy. To this merciful love, as to the supreme fountain of restoration, the doctors of East and West unanimously appeal; this they extol; they proclaim the excess of benignity; they celebrate mercy with the highest praises; and, adhering to the Scriptures2, just as they call God ἀγάπην, love, so they attribute to him σπλάγχνα ἐλέους, the bowels of mercy, and salute him as τὸν πατέρα τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν καὶ Θεὸν πάσης παρακλήσεως, the Father of mercies and God of all consolation.