CCXXIII. Corollary XIX

COROLLARY XIX.

When both the principal and the meritorious cause of the restored order have been ascertained, it follows of its own accord that the endowments and properties of each should be declared in order. But among the endowments and properties of the principal cause and of merciful love, that one excels and is eminent which is contained in universality of time and persons. The Syrian, Greek, and Latin Fathers inculcate this¹; they adorn this with many things; and they confirm this by a manifold kind of arguments. For they confirm it by perspicuous oracles of the divine writings; they confirm it by considerations taken from the concord and harmony ἐκ δογμάτων, of dogmas; and they confirm it by reasons drawn from the innate character of God and the condition of humanity. Wherefore this theorem of Christian tradition is ratified and fixed: that the restoration of humanity began together with its fall², and that absolutely no man ever came forth into the light who did not pertain to the state of restored humanity.