Cap. 7 Scholastici: Aquinas on merit — sufficiency vs efficacy; John 10:15
3. The same Aquinas, On the Grace of Christ (disp. Q.), art. 7 ad 4: Christ's merit stands equally toward all as to sufficiency, not as to efficacy. That inequality comes partly from free choice, partly from divine election, by which the effect of Christ's merits is mercifully given to some and justly withheld from others. When he says free choice partly explains unequal efficacy, read that of the lost, who turn themselves from the fountain of salvation. When he says divine election partly explains it, read that of the saved, who, under God's special mercy according to election's good pleasure, receive from that fountain whatever is needed to effect their salvation. His reply to the last objection shows the mind: God freely confers on people that they obtain the effect of Christ's merit. If election mercifully gives that effect to some and denies it to others, who can doubt that Christ — knowing election and his own calling — specially offered himself and his merits for those persons, and added to a price already sufficient in itself a most effectual, singular will to work their salvation? John 10:15 points the same way: I lay down my life for my sheep — with a singular intention to redeem, free, and bring them to life, as the whole discourse there shows.
Latin
3. Idem, Quaest. Disp. De grat. Christi, art. 7. resp. ad 4. Meritum Christi quantum ad sufficientiam aequaliter se habet ad omnes, non autem quantum ad efficaciam: quod accidit partim ex libero arbitrio, partim ex Divina electione, per quam quibusdam misericorditer effectus meritorum Christi confertur, quibusdam vero justo judicio subtrahitur. Quod ait Aquinas, partim ex libero arbitrio accidere quod merita Christi, quantum ad efficaciam, non se habeant aequaliter ad omnes, id intelligendum est ex parte perditorum, qui libero arbitrio se avertunt a fonte salutis: Quod autem dixit, hanc inaequalitatem partim ex Divina electione accidere, id intelligendum est ex parte servatorum, qui, Deo secundum beneplacitum electionis specialiter illorum miserante, accipiunt a fonte salutis, quicquid necessarium est ad salutem illorum efficiendam. Hanc fuisse mentem Aquinatis patet ex responsione ad argumentum ultimum, ubi dicit, Hoc ipsum hominibus a Deo conferri gratis, quod effectum meriti Christi consequantur. Si effectus meritorum Christi ex Divina electione certis quibusdam personis misericorditer confertur, aliisque interim denegatur, quis dubitet Christum, Divinae electionis & suae vocationis optime conscium, pro iisdem personis seipsum & merita sua specialiter obtulisse, & pretio mortis in se sufficientissimo addidisse insuper efficacissimam & singularem voluntatis intentionem pro salute horum electorum operanda? Huc spectant illa, Johann. x. 15. Animam meam pono pro ovibus meis — nempe singulari quadam intentione eas efficaciter redimendi, liberandi, & ad vitam perducendi, uti ex toto discursu Servatoris eo in loco colligi potest.