de by the Will of God, as a creature is
said to be made, let him be anathema." The reason of this is that
will and nature differ in their manner of causation, in such a way
that nature is determined to one, while the will is not determined to
one; and this because the effect is assimilated to the form of the
agent, whereby the latter acts. Now it is manifest that of one thing
there is only one natural form whereby it exists; and hence such as
it is itself, such also is its work. But the form whereby the will
acts is not only one, but many, according to the number of ideas
understood. Hence the quality of the will's action does not depend on
the quality of the agent, but on the agent's will and understanding.
So the will is the principle of those things which may be this way or
that way; whereas of those things which can be only in one way, the
principle is nature. What, however, can exist in different ways is
far from the divine nature, whereas it belongs to the nature of a
created being; because God is of Himself necessary being, whereas a
creature is made from nothing. Thus, the Arians, wishing to prove the
Son to be a creature, said that the Father begot the Son by will,
taking will in the sense of principle. But we, on the contrary, must
assert that the Father begot the Son, not by will, but by nature.
Wherefore Hilary says (De Synod.): "The will of God gave to all
creatures their substance: but perfect birth gave the Son a nature
derived from a substance impassible and unborn. All things created
are such as God willed them to be; but the Son, born of God, subsists
in the perfect likeness of God."

Reply Obj. 1: This saying is directed against those who did not admit
even the concomitance of the Father's will in the generation of the
Son, for they said that the Father begot the Son in such a manner by
nature that the will to beget was wanting; just as we ourselves
suffer many things against our will from natural necessity--as, for
instance, death, old age, and like ills. This appears from what
precedes and from what follows as regards the words quoted, for thus
we read: "Not against His will, nor as it were, forced, nor as if He
were led by natural necessity did the Father beget the Son."

Reply Obj. 2: The Apostle calls Christ the Son of the love of God,
inasmuch as He is superabundantly loved by God; not, however, as if
love were the principle of the Son's generation.

Reply Obj. 3: The will, as a natural facul