Cap. 3 Obj. 16: Application already firm in the death itself — so not applicable where not applied
Obj. 16. It is absurd to posit that Christ’s death by Divine ordination is a lytron applicable to those to whom it is not applied; because in Christ’s death itself there was the firmest application of the death for all those for whom he is truly affirmed to have died and suffered: Therefore Christ’s death is not a remedy ordained by God except for certain singular elect persons known to God alone, to whom at length as to the event it is saving.
Sol. We deny that anything absurd inheres in the aforesaid opinion, which we have demonstrated to be true and agreeable to Divine wisdom. But what is objected — That as regards all for whom Christ died, an infallible application of the death is also included in that same death of Christ — does not seem to us to be conceded. For Christ’s offering considered in itself nakedly obtains and gets from God this universally, that all and each who have been willing to believe in Christ are saved. The Gospel preaches and promises this efficacy of Christ’s death to the whole world: but that infallible purpose of applying this death to these or those persons evangelical heralds cannot promise by name to any mortal. We say that Christ’s death is ordained for all those to whom remission of sins through faith in his blood can be announced: which grace looks to any participant of human nature. But we confess that Christ’s death is to be applied infallibly to the elect alone; because the certainty of application depends, as from a primary cause, on the secret and eternal act of God predestinating, not on the sole fact of Christ offering himself for human beings. Christ therefore in offering himself had a general intention conforming to the Father’s ordination, namely that he might indiscriminately free any human beings whatever, provided they believed in him, from the guilt of sins, and in this sense he is said to have offered himself for all. He also had, as conscious of Divine predestination, a special intention conforming to the Father’s secret and eternal good-pleasure, namely that for the sheep to be given to him according to the decree of election he might from the merit of his death obtain and give faith, salvation, all things: and with this special intention he is said to have laid down his life for his peculiar people, that is, for certain singular persons. What comes to certain ones from Christ’s death through a special act of Divine predestination ought not to overturn what was acquired for all through the very act of offering. Let infallible application rather be ascribed to predestination; but that Christ’s death is applicable to all and each through faith, let it be assigned to the offering itself from the tenor of the Divine covenant.
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Obj. 16. Absurdum est ponere Christi mortem ex ordinatione Divina esse λύτρον applicabile illis quibus non sit applicata; quia in ipsa morte Christi fuit firmissima applicatio mortis pro iis omnibus pro quibus mortuus et passus vere affirmatur: Ergo Christi mors non est ordinatum a Deo remedium, nisi singularibus quibusdam personis electis et Deo soli notis, quibus tandem quoad eventum sit salutifera. Sol. Negamus quicquam absurdi inesse praedictae sententiae, quam veram et Divinae sapientiae consentaneam demonstravimus. Quod autem objicitur, Quoad omnes pro quibus Christus mortuus est, in ejusdem Christi morte includi quoque infallibilem mortis applicationem, id nobis non videtur concedendum. Nam oblatio Christi in se nude considerata id universim a Deo impetrat et obtinet, ut omnes et singuli qui in Christum credere voluerint salventur. Hanc mortis Christi efficaciam toti mundo Evangelium praedicat et pollicetur: at infallibile illud propositum applicandi hanc mortem his aut illis personis Evangelici praecones non possunt cuiquam mortalium nominatim polliceri. Dicimus mortem Christi esse iis omnibus ordinatam quibus potest annunciari remissio peccatorum per fidem in sanguine ejus: quae gratia ad quemlibet humanae naturae participem spectat. At mortem Christi infallibiliter applicandam solis electis fatemur; quia certitudo applicationis pendet, tanquam ex primaria causa, ab arcano et aeterno actu Dei praedestinantis, non a solo facto Christi seipsum pro hominibus offerentis. Habuit igitur Christus in seipso offerendo generalem intentionem ordinationi Paternae conformem, nempe ut quosvis homines indiscriminatim, modo in eum crederent, a peccatorum reatu liberaret, et hoc sensu pro omnibus seipsum dicitur obtulisse. Habuit etiam, ut conscius praedestinationis Divinae, specialem intentionem arcano et aeterno Patris beneplacito conformem, nempe ut ovibus juxta electionis decretum sibi dandis ex merito mortis suae impetraret atque donaret fidem, salutem, omnia: et cum hac speciali intentione pro populo suo peculiari, id est, pro singularibus quibusdam personis, dicitur vitam suam posuisse. Quod quibusdam ex morte Christi obvenit per specialem actum Divinae praedestinationis, non debet illud evertere quod omnibus est acquisitum per ipsum actum oblationis. Anne infallibilis applicatio potius praedestinationi adscribatur; at quod mors Christi sit omnibus et singulis per fidem applicabilis, ipsi oblationi ex tenore pacti Divini assignetur.