(a) The heavenly Father, Father of mercies, sent Christ Jesus, His Son, to men, when the blessed fulness of time arrived, in order to redeem both the Jews who were under the law and the Gentiles who followed not after righteousness, so that they might lay hold of righteousness, and all receive adoption as sons*. God offered Him to be a propitiation for sin through faith in His blood, and this, not only for our sins but also for the sins of the whole world: Sess. VI, chap. 2. (b) Yet all do not receive the benefit of His death, but only those to whom the merit of His passion is communicated; wherefore, unless they are born again in Christ, they will never be justified: Sess. VI, chap. 3. (c) The origin of justification is to be derived from the prevenient grace of God through Christ Jesus, that is, from His call: Sess. VI, chap. 5. (d) Men are disposed to righteousness when, being stirred by divine grace, and acquiring faith by hearing, they are freely moved towards God, believing those things to be true which sire divinely revealed and promised and especially this, that the ungodly are justified by God by His grace, by the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; and when they realise that they are sinners, from fear of divine justice, by which they are profitably disquieted, they are raised to hope, trusting that God, for Christ's sake, will be well-disposed towards them: Sess. VI, chap. 6. (e) The consequence of this disposition and preparation is actual justification, which is not only a remission of sins but also a sanctification and renewal of the interior man by the reception of grace and gifts, whereby man, from being unrighteous, becomes righteous, and from being an enemy becomes a friend, so as to be an heir according to the hope of eternal life: Sess. VI, chap. 7. (f) The final cause of justification is the glory of God and of Christ, and life eternal. The efficient cause is God Who freely cleanses and sanctifies. The meriting cause is the most dearly beloved and only-begotten of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who, although we were enemies, on account of the exceeding great love wherewith He loved us, and by His most holy passion upon the cross, earned justification for us, and made satisfaction on our behalf to God the Father. The instrumental cause is the sacrament of baptism, which is a sacrament of faith without which no one can ever be justified. The formal cause is the sole righteousness of God; not that whereby He is righteous Himself, but that whereby He makes us righteous, with which, that is, we, being gifted by Him, are renewed in the spirit of our mind. Moreover, we are not only reputed righteous but truly called righteous; being so in reality, each according to that measure which the Holy Spirit imparts to everyone just as it pleases Him: Sess. VI, chap. 7, par. 2. (g) Justification is a transference from that state in which man is born a son of the first Adam into a state of grace and adoption among the sons of God through the second Adam, our Saviour Jesus Christ: Sess. VI, chap. 4. * In the Decree of the Council of Trent the following sentence appears

Quo factum est ut coelestis Pater, Pater misericordiarum et Deus totius consolationis, Christum Jesum filium suum, et ante legem, et legis tempore, multis sanctis patribus declaratum ac promissum, cum venit beata illa plenitudo temporis, ad homines miserat; ut et Judaeos qui sub lege erant redimeret; et gentes, quae non sectabantur justitiam, justitiam apprehenderent atque omnes adoptionem filioruna reciperent.

In the Summaria Expositio (Brief Exposition) this is quoted in an abbreviated form as follows:

Quod Caelestis Pater, Pater misericordiarum, Christum Jesum, Filium suum, cum venit beata plenitudo temporis, ad homines miserit, ut et ad Judaeos, qui sub lege erant, et ad Gentes, quae non sectabantur justitiam....

This presents some difficulty in translation, and the text has been modified by adding redimeret after erant and omitting ad before Judaeos and before Gentes, in accordance with the wording of the original.