[Since it came up on the other thread, here is high octane Anselm through the lips of Gerhard]
Let us admire the marvelous wisdom of our God, who could devise a scheme for our redemption which neither angels nor men could have devised. Infinite good was offended; an infinite satisfaction was required. Man had offended God, from man the satisfaction for sin must be required. But finite man could not possibly render an infinite satisfaction, nor could divine justice be satisfied but on the payment of an infinite ransom. For this reason God became man that, for man who had sinned, He might render a perfect satisfaction for sin, and as God who was infinite He might pay an infinite price for our redemption. Well may we wonder at this stupendous reconciliation of divine justice and mercy, which no one, before God was manifested in the flesh, could have devised, nor after He was so manifested, could fully comprehend. Let us stand in wonder at this mystery, but let us not too curiously pry into it. Let us desire reverently to study it, although we cannot fully understand it. Rather let us confess our ignorance than deny the power of God. - Johann Gerhard (taking his ideas lock, stock and barrel from St. Anselm of Canterbury) *The Mystery of the Incarnation* in Sacred Meditations (XIV)
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