506 THE ATONEMENT. WILLIAM OF PARIS. a reconciliation between the divine mercy and justice. "God's justice," says he, "required an adequate punishment for all; his mercy could not permit this; hence the adjustment that God took upon himself the punishment for all, and bestowed the gift of salvation upon all through himself." But the doctrine above mentioned, of the justice experienced by Satan, is to be met with also in him. Thomas Aquinas adopts Anselm's doctrine of satisfaction, together with all the other points thus far developed in his representation of it. Like Anselm, he places the satisfaction furnished by Christ over against the punishments which mankind must have suffered for sin. The satisfaction consisted in this, that Christ offered something of infinite worth, something exalted above the whole creation, to God. In suffering from love and obedience, Christ offered to God something greater than was required as a satisfaction for the entire sins of mankind; first, by reason of the greatness of the love with which he suffered; then by virtue of the dignity of his life, which as the life of the God-man possessed an infinite worth; and thirdly, on account of the greatness of his sufferings. Hence, the "passion of Christ" is not only "sufficient," but also "superabundant" for the sins of all mankind. In connection with this satisfaction, Thomas now mentions also the punishment borne by Christ for mankind: "Christ must take upon himself, as he says, that punishment which is the termination of all other, which virtually contains all other in itself, that is, death. But besides the deliverance of man from sin by the satisfaction furnished for him, many other things come in in addition, which make this way in which the redemption of man was accomplished especially suited to bring man to perceive how much God loves him, and thus to call forth the love in which salvation is grounded; and next, to operate as an example of humility and of every virtue." In his apologetical work, he lays special stress on the consideration that the union of God with human nature was to serve the purpose of imparting to men the firmest assurance, that they could attain to supreme blessedness, to immediate fellowship with God, when the wide distance between God and man must have otherwise been to them a cause of despondency. Hence, from that time onward, the longing after blessedness had become vastly stronger among men, and all worship of the creature had been destroyed. William of Paris, in following the explication of Anselm,3 has prosecuted it still farther, in a way peculiar to himself. He begins with the principle: "It is the case with spiritual and bodily distempers, that they can only be cured by their opposites, and the satisfaction must redimeret, quatenus inimicos ad caritatem accenderet, superbos ad humilitatem redu ceret. Modum invenit, per quem utrique satisfecerit tam misericordiae quam justitiae, judicavit igitur, ut assumeret in se poenam pro omnibus et donaret per se gloriam universis. Sermo i, fol. vi, ed. Colon. 1575. 2 Illam poenam, ad quam omnes ordinantur, et quae continet in se virtute omnes poenas, quamvis non actu. In lib. iii, Sent. Distinct. xx, Quaest. i, Artic. iii. 3 In his book De causis, cur Deus homo. 4 L. c. c. v: Quod contraria contrariis curantur tam in spiritualibus, quam in corporalibus. RELATION OF THE INCARNATION TO THE PLAN OF THE UNIVERSE. 507 also be the opposite of the transgression, and commensurate with it, or still beyond it. In the first sin, and every following one, three things go together, pride, disobedience, and cupidity. Now as in the first sin of man, who was for making himself independent of God, and arrogating to himself equality with God, was exhibited the climax of all this, so the remedy and satisfaction for this could only be again the extreme contrary, that God himself, the all-sufficient, the Lord of all, should humble himself, subject himself, to the obedience which man was bound to render, and assume his poverty. This alone could be an adequate remedy and an adequate satisfaction, which God as man only could furnish. When, through the love of God, this adequate satisfaction was given, the divine mercy might, without injury to justice, bestow on man the forgiveness of sin, and deliver him from his wretchedness; and thus the antagonism between these two divine attributes was reconciled.' Furthermore," he says, "by love, man must be led back to fellowship with God; but nothing is so well suited to excite love as love, the manifestation of love, which enkindles love in return. By nothing, however, could God so show his love as by entering himself into union with human nature, taking upon himself its sufferings by giving up his life for his enemies, which is ever the highest proof of love. The chief end of man, as all true philosophers must own, is divine life, the deification in which the glory of man consists. Accordingly, God must become man by participating in human nature, in order that man might become God by a corresponding participation in the divine nature."3 A peculiar mode of contemplating the import and aim of the work of redemption, and one which had not appeared since the time of the systems of the Gnostics and of the Antiochian school, was first brought up again by the schoolmen of the thirteenth century, namely: the view of it as a work necessary to the perfection of the whole universe. This view was connected, in their case, with the investigation of the question whether the incarnation of God must have taken place even if man had not sinned. For inasmuch as by this union of God with the creature the universe is raised to that highest point of perfection to which it could not have otherwise attained, it seemed to them it might be said that this union must have taken place even if there had been no sin. In relation to this question, as to all the rest, the arguments were duly weighed on both sides; and Bonaventura, for instance, brings as a reason on the negative side that, as the incarnation of God was a fact which far surpassed in dignity the work of creation, so it cannot be considered as anything that had a place in the original plan of that work, but a deviation to the opposite of that which should have been, must necessarily precede, in order to furnish the occasion for an 1 Misericordia et veritas obviaverunt sibi, justitia et pax osculatae sunt. Dum enim altera per viam exigentiae satisfactionis, altera autem per viam omnimodae remissionis incederet, obviam altera alteri nunquam venisset, nisi altitudo divini consilii ambas in uno illo beneficio sociasset. Quia amor amore convenientius accenditur, sicut ignis igne, decuit Deum amorem nostrum amore suo accendere. 3 Quid mirum est, Deum esse factum hominem, participatione humanae naturae, ut homo etiam fieret Deus, congruenti sibi participatione deitatis? 508 RELATION OF THE INCARNATION TO THE SYSTEM OF THE WORLD. adjustment of so extraordinary a nature. After having stated the arguments on both sides, he remarks: "Which side has the best, is known only to him who became incarnate for us. It is difficult to decide between two suppositions which may both pass as conformable to the Catholic faith." He distinguishes between the interest of reason and that of piety. That view appears to him most agreeable to the former, according to which the perfection of the universe, the completion of God's work, required his incarnation; and that view most agreeable to the latter, according to which God is not made dependent on the perfection of the universe; but this fact is contemplated as a work of God's free love for the extirpation of sin, while at the same time it most nearly accords with the sacred Scriptures." To this view likewise Thomas Aquinas most strongly inclines. As the sacred Scriptures uniformly consider the incarnation of God as a necessary remedy against sin, so it is safest to rest satisfied with this view. To the perfection of the universe the natural reference and respect of the creation to God, as the end of all, is sufficient. That personal union of the creature with the Creator transcends the limits of nature, exceeds any perfection which lies within her capacity. There is nothing to forbid the supposition that human nature after the introduction of sin might rise to a higher exaltation,- for God makes evil subservient to good. Thomas Aquinas was assuredly prevented by his moral feelings from becoming clearly conscious to himself that according to his own principles, as already set forth, he must have considered evil as something necessary, in the evolving process of the universe, though he carefully seeks to guard against every such theory by abundant precautions. The supposition, however, that this doctrine virtually lies at bottom in his mind, clearly harmonizes with the fact just stated, that he makes the elevation of the creature above the original capabilities of his nature to depend on the introduction of sin.3 The scruples by which his predecessors were deterred from recognizing the necessity of the incarnation of the Son of God in order to the perfection of the universe, are taken notice of by Raymund Lull: "It is, in itself considered, true," he says, "that the incarnation of God can be attributed to no other cause than God's free will. The creation is a work of God's free love. But this being once supposed, God's assumption of human nature is necessary; for otherwise God would not fulfil the obligations due to himself and his perfections.4 Upon the introduction of sin, the same was necessary in order that the end for which the world was created might not be defeated, but be realized notwithstanding that disturbance."5 As it regards the subjective appropriation of the work of redemption, that view still continued to be the prevailing one in the Western 1 Quia incarnatio Dei est superexcedentis dignitatis excessus oppositorum, per ipsum corrigendorum et restaurando rum. * Ad perfectionem universi sufficit, quod naturali modo creatura ordinetur in Deum, sicut in finem. Hoc autem excedit limites perfectionis naturae, ut creatura uniatur Deo in persona. *V. Summae, p. iii, Quaest. i. Artic. iii. Alias Deus non solveret debitum sibi ipsi et suis dignitatibus. • Ut satisfaceret illi fini, ad quem mundus fuit creatus. APPROPRIATION OF REDEMPTION. 509 church which Augustin had set forth in opposition to Pelagianism, that by justification must be understood the inward work of making just, the sanctification grounded in the fellowship of divine life with Christ, the subjective in contradistinction from the objective work. And we shall see how this subjective tendency in the mode of contemplating the order of salvation contributed, little as it might seem so at first glance, to keep the religious consciousness in a state of dependence on the tutelage and mediation of the church and the whole churchly theocratic system; as, indeed, the same tendency generally had the most important consequences on the whole process of the development of Christian life in the Middle Ages.1 In exhibiting the order of salvation, Bernard distinguished himself in a remarkable manner from the other church-teachers of his time. The experience which he had gained in the history of his own mental conflicts, and in the spiritual guidance of others, led him doubtless to the conviction that, amid the changing moods of subjective feelings, nothing could afford certain repose but an objective ground of trust,but confidence in Christ as Saviour, and in the grace of redemption. This direction we see him constantly following; though, in the use of the term justification, he seems sometimes to waver between the objective and subjective sides. The reference to the objective comes out plainly and distinctly in a passage of his sermons on the Song of Solomon, where, after citing Psalm 31: 2, and Rom. 3: 23, he remarks: "No one is without sin. Sufficient for all justification to me, is the faith that he is gracious to me against whom I have sinned. All that he has decreed not to impute against me, is as if it had never been. Not to sin, is God's righteousness;-God's forgiveness, the righteousness of man." Deserving of notice is also the way in which Bernard seeks to illustrate the doctrine of justification thus understood, by distinguishing between that which is gradual in the process of evolution in time, and that which is timeless in the divine intuition. "The heavenly birth," says he, "is the eternal predestination, by virtue of which God loved his chosen and made them accepted in his beloved Son in that they appear to him, in the Holy One, as conformed to his own image. They stand before the presence of the Father as those who have not sinned; at least, the fact that they have, here vanishes before God's eternal intuition, whose love covers the multitude of sins."4 And in another sermon he says:5 "Christ is not only called righteous, but righteousness itself, and justifying righteousness. Thou art as mighty in justifying as thou art rich in forgiving. Whosoever, therefore, is contrite for sin, hungers and thirsts after Omne, quod mihi ipse non imputare decreverit, sic est quasi non fuerit. • Generatio coelestis aeterna praedestinatio est, qua electos suos Deus dilexit et gratificavit in dilecto filio suo ante mundi constitutionem, sic in sancto apparentes 510 APPROPRIATION OF REDEMPTION. righteousness, let him believe on him who justifies the ungodly,-and justified by faith alone he shall have peace with God." Manifestly, he distinguishes here justification from sanctification, and derives the latter from the former, as in fact is particularly evident from what follows, where he says: "Whosoever, then, justified from sin, longs and strives after the holiness without which no man can see God, let him hear him who says,' Be ye holy, for I am holy.'" In another passage, however, the two modes of apprehending the notion of justification are confounded together by him, where he says:3 "Fear goes before, that justification may follow after. Perhaps then we are called in fear, justified through love. The just man, finally, lives by faith; but, without doubt, by that which works by love." He here derives salvation from the eternal counsels of predestination. He considers as the means for the actualization of that which is contained in them, at least in those of mature age, to be calling with justification. The man, being filled with love, becomes conscious of his justification. The love that proceeds from faith is to him the source of justification.5 By virtue of the inherent connection in which faith and love represent themselves to him, he embraces together in his notion of justification the objective and subjective parts of it, in thus expressing himself: "Beloved, we love; loving, we deserve to be loved still more. The Holy Ghost is bestowed on those alone who believe on the Crucified; and faith is powerless unless it works by love. But love is a gift of the Holy Ghost. Who is just, besides him who returns his own love to God, who first loved him?which is never done but when the Spirit reveals to the man, through faith, the eternal counsel of God respecting his future salvation. Which revelation is certainly nothing else than the infusion of the grace of the Spirit. By this the man is fitted, in that the works of the flesh are mortified, for that kingdom which flesh and blood cannot inherit,-in that he receives at one and the same time, in one Spirit, the consciousness of being loved by God, and the power to love him in return, so that he may not be loved in vain."6 The whole systematic theology of these centuries we see interpenetrated and quickened, however, by that which Augustin had represented as the principle of living Christianity as contradistinguished from Pelagianism. Very far were these theologians from substituting any form of legality, or work-holiness, in place of living Christianity. The externalization of Christianity which appeared to us in the misgrowths of the churchly life, found no point to fix upon in what they here represented as the principle; though it might do so in the supervening Quamobrem quisquis pro peccatis compunctus esurit et sitit justitiam, credat in te, qui justificas impium, et solum justificatus per fidem, pacem habebit ad Deum. 2 Qui ergo justificati a peccatis, sectari "Amor Dei, is duntaxat, qui interim ex fide est, ex quo et nostra fit justificatio. 6 Quae sane revelatio non est aliud, quam infusio gratiae spiritalis, per quam, dum facta carnis mortificantur, homo ad regnum praeparatur, quod caro et sanguis non possident, simul accipiens in uno spiritu Sentit se justificari, cum amore perfun- et unde se praesumat amatum et unde reda desiderant sanctimoniam. Ep. cvii, ditur. iv. met, ne gratis amatus sit. |