attained only by the incarnation and exaltation of the Son of God. But as God sees the end from the beginning, as his plan is immu- table and all comprehending, this supreme exaltation of humanity was designed from the beginning, and included in the dominion with which man was invested.
§ 5. The Doctrine of the Romish Church.
The doctrine of Romanists as to the original state of man agrees with that of Protestants, except in one important particular. They hold that man before the fall, was in a state of relative perfec- tion ; that is, not only free from any defect or infirmity of body, but endowed with all the attributes of a spirit, and imbued with knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, and invested with dominion over the creatures. Protestants include all this under the image of God ; the Romanists understand by the image of God only the rational, and especially the voluntary nature of man, or the freedom of the will. They distinguish, therefore, between the image of God and original righteousness. The latter they say is lost, the former retained. Protestants, on the other hand, hold that it is the divine image in its most important constituents, that man forfeited by his apostasy. This, however, may be considered only a difference as to words. The important point of difference is, that the Protestants hold that original righteousness, so far as it consisted in the moral excellence of Adam, was natural, while the Romanists maintain that it was supernatural. According to their theory, God created man soul and body. These two constituents of his nature are naturally in conflict. To preserve the harmony between them, and the due subjection of the flesh to the spirit, God gave man the supernatural gift of original riiihteousness. It was this gift that man lost by his fall ; so that since the apostasy he is in the state in which Adam was before he was invested with this supernatural endowment. In opposition to this doctrine, Protestants maintain that original right- eousness was concreated and natural. Original rigliteousness, says Jjuther,^ "Nonfuisse quoddam donum, quod ab extra accederet, sep- aiatum a natura hominis. Sed fnisse vere naturalem, ita ut natura Adie esset, diligere Deum, credere Deo, agnoscere Deum, etc. Haec tarn naturalia fuere in Adamo, quam naturale est, quod oculi lumen recipiunt." The Council of Trent does not speak explicitly on this point, but the language of the Roman Catechism is clearly in accordance with the more direct teachings of the theologians of the Church of Rome, to the effect that original righteousness is a super-
1 In Genesis^ cap. iii.; Works, edit. Wittenberg, 1565 (Latin), vol. vi., leaf 42, page 2.
!04 PART II. Cu. v. — ORIGINAL STATE OF MAN.
natural o;ift. In describing the original state of man th?.t Catechism says,^ "Quod ad animam pertinet, eum ad imaginem et similitudinem suam f'orniavit, liberumque ei arbitriuni tribuit : omnes praiterea mo- tu3 aninii atque appetitiones ita in eo temperavit, ut rationis imperio nunquain non parerent. Turn originalis justitise admirabile donum addidit, ac deinde cseteris animantibus praeesse voluit." Bellarmin ''* states this doctrine in clearer terms: "Integritas ilia, cum qua primus liomo conditus fait et sine qua post ejus lapsum homines omnes nas- cuntur, non fuit naturalis ejus conditio, sed supernaturalis evectio. . . . .^ Sciendum est primo, hominem naturaliter constare ex carne, et spiritu, et ideo partim cum bestiis, partim cum angelis communi- care natnram, et quidem ratione carnis, et communionis cum bestiis, iiabere propensionem quandam ad bonum corporale, et sensibile, in quod fertur per sensum et appetitum : ratione spiritus et commu- nionis cum angelis, habere propensionem ad bonum spirituale et intelligibile, in quod fertur per intelligentiam, et voluntatem. Ex his antom diversis, vel contrariis propensionibus existere in uno eodemque homine pugiiam quandam, et ex ea pugna ingentem bene agendi difficultatem, duin una propensio alteram impedit. Sciendum secundo, divinam providentiaiu initio creationis, ut remedium adhi- beret hulc morbo sen languori naturae humanae, qui ex conditione niateriaj oriebatur, addidisse homini donum quoddam insigne, justiti- am videlicet originalem, qua veluti aureo quodam fraBUO pars inferior parti superiori, et pars superior Deo facile subjecta contineretur."
The question whether original righteousness was natural or su- pernatural cannot be answered until the meaning of the words be determined. The word natural is often used to designate that which constitutes nature. Reason is in such a sense natural to man that without it he ceases to be a man. Sometimes it designates what of necessity flows from the constitution of nature ; as when we say it is natural for man to desire his own happiness ; sometimes it designates what is concreated or innate as opposed to what is adven- titious, accessory, or acquired ; in this use of the word the sense of justice, pity, and the social affections, are natural to men. Original righteousness is asserted by Protestants to be natural, first, with the view of denying that human nature as at first constituted in- volved the conflicting principles of flesh and spirit as represented by Bellarmin, and that the pura naturalia, or simple princijjles of nature as they existed in Adam, were without moral character ; and, secondly, to assert that the nature of man as created was good, that
1 Streitwolf, IJbri SyinboUn Ecclesice CathoIiccB, vol. i. p. 127.
2 De Gralia Primi Hominis 2. DispiUaiionts, vol. iv. p. 7, c. 8 7«rf. 6, — p. 15, c. d.