original sin is a penal evil. The loss of original righteousness and the consequent disorder of our nature, are the penalty of Adam's first transgression. So far the doctrine of Thomas is in strict ac« cordance with that of Augustine. His discussion of the subject migiit be framed into an exposition of the answer in the " West- minster Catechism " which declares tlie sinfulness of that estate into which men fell, to consist in the guilt of Adam's first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature. The point of difference relates to the degree of injury received from the apostasy of Adam, or the depth of that corrup- tion of nature derived from him. This Thomas calls a languor or weakness. Men in consequence of the fall are utterly unable to save themselves, or to do anything really good in the sight of God without the aid of divine grace. But they still have the power to cooperate with that grace. They cannot, as the Semi-Pelagians taught, begin the work of turning unto God, and therefore need preventing grace (^gratia prcBveniens^ , but with that grace they are enabled to cooperate. This makes the difference between the effectual (irresistible) grace of Augustine, and the synergism which enters into all other systems.
Doctrine of the Scotists.
4. Duns Scotus, a Franciscan, Professor of Theology at Oxford, Paris, and Cologne, where he died a. d. 1308, was the great oppo- nent of Thomas Aquinas. So far as the subject of original sin is concerned, he sided with the Semi-Pelagians. He made original sin to consist solely in the loss of original righteousness, and as this was purely a supernatural gift, not pertaining to the nature of man, its loss left Adam and his posterity after him, precisely in the state in which man was originally created. Whatever of disorder is consequent on this loss of righteousness is not of the natiu'e of sin. " Peccatum originale," he says, " non potest esse aliud quam ista privatio [ justitiae oi'iginalis], Non enim est concupiscentia : tum quia ilia est naturalis, tum quia ipsa est in parte sensitiva, ubi non est peccatum." ^ Men, therefore, are born into the world in puris naturalibus, not in the Pelagian sense, as Pelagians do not admit any supernatural gift of righteousness to Adam, but in the sense that they possess all the essential attributes of their nature uninjured and uncontaminated. As free will, i. e., the abiHty to do and to be whatever is required of man by his Maker, belongs essentially to his nature, this also remains since the fall. It is in-
1 In Lib. IV. Sentent., lib. ii. dist. xxx. qu. 2; Yenico, 1503, 2d part, fol. 83, p. 2, b.
174 PART II. ch. vm.— sm.
deed weakened and beset with difficulties, as the balance wheel of our nature, original righteousness, is gone, but still it exists. Man needs divine assistance. He cannot do good, or make himself good without the grace of God. But the dependence of which Scotus speaks is rather that of the creature upon the creator, than that of the sinner upon the Spirit of God. His endeavour seems to have been to reduce the supernatural to the natural ; to confound the distinction constantly made in the Bible and by the Church, be tween the providential efficiency of God everywhere present and always operating in and with natural causes, and the efficiency of the Holy Ghost in the regeneration and sanctification of the soul.^
The Dominicans and Franciscans became, and long continued the two most powerful orders of monks in the Roman Church. As they were antagonistic on so many other points, they were also opposed in doctrine. The Dominicans, as the disciples of Thomas Aquinas, were called Thomists, and the Franciscans, as followers of Duns Scotus, were called Scotists. The opposition between these parties, among other doctrinal points, embraced as we have seen, that of original sin. The Thomists were inclined to moderate Augustinianism, the Scotists to Semi-Pelagianism. All the theories however above mentioned, variously modified, had their zealous advocates in the Latin Church, when the Council of Trent was assembled to determine authoritatively the true doctrine and to erect a barrier to the increasing power of the Reformation.
Tridentine Doctrine on Original Sin.
The Council of Trent had a very difficult task to perfoi-m. In the first place, it was necessary to condemn the doctrines of the Re- formers. But the Protestants, as well Lutheran as Reformed, had proclaimed their adherence to the Augustinian system in its purity and fulness ; and that system had received the sanction of coun- cils and popes and could not be directly impugned. This difficulty was surmounted by grossly misrepresenting the Protestant doc- trine, and making it appear inconsistent with the doctrine of Au- gustine. This method has been persevered in to the present day. Moehler in his " Symbolik" represents the doctrine of the Protes- tants, and especially that of Luther, on original sin, as a form of Manicheism. The other, and more serious difficulty, was the great diversity of opinion existing in the Church and in the Council it self. Some were Augustinians ; some held that original sin con-
1 Ritter s Gescldchte der christUchen Philonophie, vol. iv. pp. 354-472.