CCXXXVI. Corollary XXXII

COROLLARY XXXII.

There is no more splendid argument for this active efficacy than that which is taken from the dispensation of Christ and is joined with his passion and death. For this was always the concordant doctrine and ratified dogma of all the Fathers expounding the Scriptures¹: that the incarnation of the Only-begotten, his dispensation, the death which he exhausted, and the blood which he poured forth must be believed to be so many fruits which proceeded from the antecedent divine will. For why did the eternal Word of the Father come into the world and assume flesh? Because God wills the salvation of men. Why did he put on the form of a servant and empty himself? That he might obey the paternal love toward men. Why was he obedient even unto death, and, spent by sufferings and bruised by wounds, breathe forth his most holy soul upon the altar of the cross? Because God so loved the world that he did not spare even his own Son. Therefore, it is no more permissible to doubt the efficacy of the antecedent will than it is permissible to doubt whether the tree which produces sweetest fruits is fruitful, or whether the fountain from which a most copious river bursts forth is rich.