Catholic Theology Plain Pure Peaceable, Section 1
SECT. I. The first Law.
1. GOd the free Creator, Lord and Benefactor of the world, was pleaſed to make his Creatures of various ranks; and among the Rational to make Man a free undetermined ſelf-determining Agent, not fixed by Neceſſity in Love and Obedience, but left with a Power of Loving and Obeying, which he could uſe or not uſe; that ſo he might be a fit ſubject of Gods Moral Government by Laws, and perſwaſions in this world, in order to a more fixed ſtate of holineſs. Not but that Angelical Confirmation had been better for us; But it pleaſed not God to compoſe the univerſe of Creatures only of the nobleſt order.
2. When God exerciſeth only a Moral not-determining operation upon this world of Free Agents, it is not any diſhonour to his Will or Power as if he could do no more; But it is his Delight thus to govern the creature according to the nature and rank which he hath made it in; and his non-volitions and non-operations of a higher ſort, are agreeable to his Perfection, Wiſdom and Liberty▪ Higher action being uſed on higher creatures.
3. Yet hath God placed and kept theſe free Agents, not only under his Moral Government, but alſo under his Dominion and diſpoſal; ſo that he will do with them as his own, what he lift, and none ſhall fruſtrate his diſpoſing Will.
4. It pleaſed him firſt to make man perfect under a Law of Perfection, making innocency or perfection the only condition of Life, and the contrary of Death.
5. When Man had ſufficient Grace to have kept this Law (not ſufficient to aſcertain the event, but ſufficient Power to have ſtood, that is▪ as much Grace as was neceſſary to his ſtanding, ſine qua non eſſe potuit▪ & cum qua eſſe potuit) he broke it, and ſinned againſt that ſufficient, Grace, before God either denyed him any thing neceſſary, or withdrew any from him.
6. From whence it is clear that the Nature of Man's Will is ſuch, as that it is made to uſe a Power which doth not neceſſitate, or determine it ſelf, or is determined neceſſarily, but freely: And that it is no Deifying of the Will, nor extolling it above its Nature, to ſay that it can act or determine it ſelf, without Gods pre-determinating premotion; or by that ſame meaſure of help which at another time doth not determine it. Though its Nature, and its Act as ſuch be of God, yet ſo is its Liberty too; and therefore by the Power and Liberty given by God, the Will can act or not act, or turn it ſelf to this object or to that, without more help than the ſaid natural ſupport and Concurſe: And this Power and Liberty is its Nature, and Gods Image.
7. From hence alſo it is evident that there is ſuch a thing (or operation of God) as Grace Neceſſary called ſufficient, which is not effectual. For God took no Grace away from Adam before he ſinned, nor let out any temptation upon him which he was not able to reſiſt; nor did he ſin for want of neceſſary Grace; but by that ſame degree of help might have overcome.
8. God paſſing Sentence on faln Man for ſin, would not forgive him the temporal death, nor common calamities of this life, but curſed the creatures which he was to uſe, as part of his penalty.
9. But the Great evil which ſin brought on man, was the loſs of Gods approbation and complacency, and of his Spirits ſaving Communion and help, and of Gods Image on man's Soul, and of Communion with God herein; and alſo his right to life eternal. All which man's own ſin caſt away, and man was both the Deſerver and Executioner▪ without any change in God.
10. Yet was all this privation penal, in that God made Man ſuch a creature, as that his own ſin ſhould become his puniſhment or ruine if he committed it, ſo that all Puniſhment is not determinatively of God, though Gods Antecedent Will did make that which by man is made a Cauſe. As in argument, God ſaith antecedently [If thou ſin, thy own ſin ſhall be thy torment and miſery] and man ſaith [I will ſin] Therefore it is Man that is the determining Cauſe of the Concluſion [My own ſ…, ſhall be my torment and miſery]: So it is in Cauſation, God antecedently to man's ſin, doth reſolve [I will make Man ſuch a Creature, with ſuch a Mind, Conſcience and Will, as that his Holineſs ſhall be his Health, and Joy, and his immediate Receptive capacity of my favour and of his Communion with me, and of his title to my ſpirit and Glory: And that if he forſake me and his Holineſs, in the very Nature of the thing, he ſhall loſe all this Life, Light, and Love, Joy and Communion, and title to my Grace, and ſhall feel the torments of his own Conſcience telling him of his ſin and loſs.] This is Gods Antecedent Law: Nay, this is Gods Antecedent Creation, to make man ſuch a Creature. Now if man ſin, his ow… ſin doth ipſo facto become his miſery, and yet is not cauſed at all by Gods But yet that his Nature was made ſuch as ſin ſhould prove a miſery to▪ was Gods Work. And from that Antecedent Creation or Conſtitution the Relative form of a Puniſhment reſulteth to the Sinner. Even as God ſaith [If thou Murder it ſhall be thy ſin] or [Thou ſhalt not Murder] And man doth Murder: Here the Act that is ſin is of man; but that the Relation of ſin belongeth to that act, reſulteth partly from the Law which forbiddeth it; and yet God is not the Cauſe of ſin; though he Antecedently decreed, [Murder ſhall be ſin if thou commit it.] So is it alſo with this ſort of Puniſhment which is either ſin it ſelf, or the effect or reſult o… ſin immediately.
By which we ſee that when ſin and puniſhment are found in one thing, God is the Cauſe (Antecedently) of the formal Relation of a Puniſhment, without being a Cauſe of the ſin: yea, antecedently is ſome cauſe of the formal relation of the ſin, by his Law, without cauſing any of the ſin it ſelf, as the author of it.
As if God make man of ſuch a temper, as that ſurfetting, drunkenneſs, luſt, will make him ſick, and hazard his life; Here God did no otherwiſe puniſh him than by making him ſuch a man; which he turned to his own deſtruction by his ſin. If a man make a thorn Hedge about his Garden, that men may not ſteal his fruit, and thoſe that will ſhall …rick themſelves, it is they that prick and puniſh themſelves. If God ſay, He that will leap into the fire ſhall be burnt, or into the water ſhall be drown'd; it is they that do it that cauſe the evil; and yet ſome formal relation of penalty may reſult to it from Gods conditional antecedent Law. I ſay not that God executeth no other kind of puniſhment: But theſe are the moſt common.
11. Man having thus caſt away Gods Image and his Innocency, could beget a Child no purer, holier or better than himſelf: For he could not communicate that which he had loſt. So that our Nature is vitiated with Original ſin, and unhappy in the miſerable effects. Bradwardine hath a ſhift which ſerveth them that ſay man could do no good in Innocency without ſupernatural Help, viz. Making that Help to be Gods Will that it ſhall be done: But is not Gods Will called our natural Help when it is the foundation of Nature, working by natural means? It's true that free will without Gods Will could do nothing.
12. The promiſory part of the Covenant or Law of Innocency became null or ceaſed with man's firſt ſin, ceſſante ſubditorum capacitate; and ſo the Condition which is its modus. So that no man ever ſince was under the Obligation of that Law as a Covenant of life, ſaying [Be Perfect or Innocent and Live], nor obliged to perfect perſonal perpetual obedience as the condition of Life; for it was become naturally impoſſible. And God maketh not Promiſes and Covenants upon Natural impoſſibilities, whatever we ſay of Moral ones. If the Devils before their fall were under this Covenant [Be Perfect and Live.] Yet now they are not under it.
Here ſome worthy Divines go into both extreams: Some ſay that all the Law of Innocency is ceaſed, Precept, Promiſe, and Threatning. Others ſay that all ſtill are in force or being. The Truth I think is between them as followeth.
1. God ſtill commandeth perfect obedience, ſo far as that the leaſt violation of his Law is ſin.
2. This Law bindeth us as the Creator's Law: but not as meer Creator: But as put with Nature into the hand and power of the Redeemer, to whom all Power or Government is committed, and ſo all Laws are now both the Creators and Redeemers.
3. Theſe Precepts bind us not now in ſo full a ſort as they did Adam, even to obedience; Though the Law be as perfect: Becauſe there is ſome Diſpoſitio Recipientis neceſſary to the effecting an Obligation upon us: And where any Natural Impoſſibility hath befaln us, though by ſin, it will make ſome alteration in the obligation.
4. The Commination of the ſaid Law is ſo far ſtill in force, as to make Puniſhment (even perpetual) to be our deſert for every ſin, and ſo far to oblige us to Puniſhment, that if we are not pardoned, we ſhall not eſcape; for it is natural for ſin to deſerve Puniſhment.
5. This obligation is not only Remediable or pardonable, but conditionally (as well as by the Fundamental Merit of Chriſt) Remedyed and pardoned to all men immediately; and actually pardoned to penitent Believers.
6. The Promiſſory Covenanting part was not (properly) Abrogatedly God: For he was not the Changer.
7. The Promiſſory part is now really ceaſed, and is No Promiſe, no… … Covenant of God: And this was done by Man's ceaſing to be a capable ſubject; which becauſe ſome few worthy Divines deny, I prove.
1. If it be yet a Promiſe, it is Abſolute (which none ſaith) or Conditional: And if ſo, either the Condition is quid praeteritum, quid praeſen…, vel quid futurum: But none of theſe; 1. A Paſt and Preſent Condition are not proper Conditions of the thing, but forms of ſpeech: And either that Condition already is, or is not; If it be; the Promiſe is abſolute in ſence: If it be not; the Promiſe is No Promiſe i… ſence, but equivalent to a Negation, as common reaſon as well as the civil Law confeſſeth. If it be quid Ignotum, the notice may be Conditional ſtill, but not the proper Donation. But here it is quid notiſſimu…, and God is feigned to ſay, If Adam and his Poſterity have no ſin, I will juſtifie and bleſs them; which is equivalent to [I will not]. If the Condition be ſuppoſed Future, e. g. [If Adam and his ſeed ſin no more, they are juſt] it is falſe, becauſe they are already guilty.
2. The eſſence of a Condition is to ſuſpend the effect, till performed. But here the effect is not ſuſpended: Ergo there is no conditional promiſe, Total loſs is no ſuſpenſion.
3. When the Condition is once totally violated and become impoſſible, all ſence and civil Law ſaith, Res tranſit in judicatum, & Lex in Sententiam; and the Promiſe ceaſeth Ceſſante capacitate Promiſſarit: And ſo it is here.
4. That which is a Promiſe is alſo a Law, and is eſſentially the Expreſſion of Gods Will for the Government of his Subjects, and for a conditional Rule of Right to the thing promiſed: This is its very definition▪ But it is unworthy of God, to ſay that he doth ever ſince the fall, tell the world, [If you are not faln or Sinners, you ſhall be juſtified] or [on condition that you be ſuch as never did ſin, you ſhall live]. This were to threaten or condemn us ironically or with deriſion, under the name of a Promiſe, or Covenant, or Law.
Yet the change as I ſaid is made by man, who hath made himſelf uncapable to be the object of ſuch a Promiſe, or ſubject to ſuch a Law.
And I know that it is a Queſtion of no ſmall Difficulty, whether any proper promiſe of life was made to Adam himſelf, and ſo whether this was properly a Promiſing Covenant? But I can preſume to ſay no more than I can prove; which is, 1. That as Natural there ſeemed to be in it an intimation of the Will of God, to give Adam perpetual felicity if he obeyed, 1. In that God made his Soul Immortal: Not ſuch as could …t ceaſe to be; but ſuch as in its Nature was fitted to perpetuity. And a perpetual Soul muſt be perpetually happy or unhappy: And God would not ſubvert the Nature of Spirits, nor make Souls unhappy for nothing. 2. Becauſe Holineſs it ſelf would be and infer Happineſs to a perpetuated Soul. To love God perfectly is to be perfectly happy. And God would not have taken away man's holineſs from him. 3. Becauſe God having voluntarily become man's Rector, that Juſtice which conſiſteth in doing as a Rector ob fines regiminis, ſecundum mores ſubditorum, ſeemeth to be a virtual Promiſe, that it ſhall go well with the obedient. 4. Becauſe God put into man's Soul a natural inclination to its own perpetual felicity. 5. And alſo a holy Inclination perpetually to Love his God, and to know him. 6. And God commanded Man in the very Law of Nature (and poſitively) certain means to be uſed, no doubt in order to ſuch felicity as the end which man by nature was obliged to intend. And doubtleſs God would not do all this in vain; His command to ſeek Life, is a kind of Promiſe, that faithful ſeekers ſhall obtain it. 7. And as Nature made Puniſhment due to the ſinner; ſo it ſeemeth implyed in that very threatning of Nature, that the obedient ſhall ſpeed better.
Whoever is angry with me for it, I muſt ſay, that theſe Natural Evidences are no inconſiderable perſwaders of my judgment, and directors of it about the certainty and nature of the Promiſe to Adam.
2. But beſides theſe, though the Scripture be very ſilent here, yet the ſame ſeemeth implyed, 1. In the threatning of death to Adam. 2. In the titles of [Redemption Reconciliation Remiſſion,] &c. given in the Goſpel to the acts of our Salvation by Jeſus Chriſt: which ſeem to import that they reſtore us into that ſtate of Heavenly hope, which we fell from in Adam; when we all ſinned and came ſhort of the Glory of God, Rom. 3.