COROLLARY XL.
In order that this real distinction, and its appositeness to the present matter, may shine forth more clearly, it will help not a little to have observed what is the cause both of the power of attaining salvation and of the attainment of it, and what conditions are necessarily demanded for effecting each. Therefore, if we give ear to the Fathers—
—1, the cause of that faculty by which we are rendered capable of obtaining salvation is situated outside us, and is wholly contained in the restored order, in redemption through Christ, in the antecedent will of God, and in his merciful love. Do you ask whence there is present to us men, as many as we are, the power of attaining salvation? The Fathers answer with one mouth that it is present from no other source than those things which we have enumerated. They answer that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, though in a diverse manner, are its authors: the Father, who loves and gives the Son, is its author; the Son, who loves and intervenes as μεσίτης, mediator, is its author; and the Holy Spirit, who loves and pours forth salvific grace upon the whole human race, is its author. But the same Fathers are witnesses that the cause to which the attainment of salvation is owed is neither one nor solely divine. For if it were one and solely divine, all would necessarily be saved2; and if it were one and solely divine, provision might indeed seem to have been made for the eudaimonic good of men, but not likewise for their moral good and virtue3. Therefore, the cause with which the attainment of salvation is joined as its proper and native effect is twofold: the one principal and divine, the other subordinate and human. The former is contained ἐμμέσως, mediately, in the antecedent will, and ἀμέσως, immediately, in grace, which accompanies the efficacy of the antecedent will; but the latter is the free cooperation of men itself, by which they do not repel God when he arouses them, hear him when he calls, and follow him when he goes before them. Therefore, the faculty of attaining salvation and its attainment cannot be compared γενετικῶς, according to their genesis, without their distinction appearing most manifestly. This is apprehended with equal evidence from the conditions which must conspire to effect the power of salvation and its attainment. For to effect the power of salvation the antecedent will, furnished with those endowments which we have vindicated for it, is necessary and suffices; but for attaining salvation there is need that the industry and diligent zeal of men be joined together with the antecedent will.