Scotus Academicus, Tomus sextus: De Legibus Divinis et Humanis

In the new law two things must above all be distinguished; the one primary and principal, namely the grace of the Holy Spirit, which is granted to the faithful of Christ, by which they are justified, and which from the heart they fulfill insofar as there are prescribed to them the things to be done for obtaining eternal life, according to that of the Apostle to the Romans 8: The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath delivered me from the law of sin and of death. Now this grace has been granted to us most abundantly through Christ, since of his fulness we all have received, and the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who is given to us. The other is secondary and less principal, such as are all those things which dispose to grace, or pertain to its use. It is asked therefore whether both were set down in writings, or divinely inscribed in our hearts.

Note 2. Three kinds of precepts of the Evangelical law can be thought of: namely ceremonial, moral, and of faith. Those precepts are called ceremonial precepts of the Evangelical law which pertain to the sacraments, and to the sacrifice of the Eucharist, to the priesthood, and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and the external worship of God. Of this kind is that concerning Baptism: Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, etc. John 3; and that concerning the Eucharist: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man. John 6; and concerning the Sacrament of Penance: Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them etc. John 20; and concerning the Eucharistic sacrifice: Do this for a commemoration of me. To the moral precepts belong all those commands which Christ prescribed for the proper training of morals, but especially the precepts of the Decalogue, which he renewed when he said Matthew 19: If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. But to the precepts of faith belong all those things which regard faith, whether to be received, or kept, or professed. Thus Mark 16: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned.

Note 3. Among these three kinds of precepts this distinction must be established: that the Moral precepts, since they are of natural law, were not instituted by Christ, but only explicated and vindicated from the errors with which the malice of men had involved them. But the Sacramental and Ceremonial precepts were instituted by Christ, that they might take the place of the ancient ones, which were abrogated by him. Yet the precepts of faith were not newly instituted, but only were made clearer out of what was implicit: so that we are now held to believe explicitly certain mysteries which in the old law were believed only implicitly: such as the birth, passion, and death of Christ, which the Jews believed obscurely, but Christians believe expressly.

These things presupposed, two points are to be determined: first indeed, whether the Evangelical law was per se first written, both as regards what it principally imports, namely the grace and charity by which we are moved and incited to work well, and as regards the precepts and rules of working well. Second, whether Christ the Lord fittingly prescribed three kinds of precepts, moral, ceremonial, and of faith.

First Conclusion. — The Evangelical law differs from the Mosaic in that it was not first and per se delivered in writing by its sole author Christ, but proclaimed outwardly with living voice, and inwardly inscribed deep in the hearts of men through the illumination of the Holy Spirit and the abundance of grace.

This truth is proved first indeed from Jeremiah 31, where God says of the new covenant to be made by him: I will give my law in their bowels, and I will write it in their hearts. Wherefore the Apostle, addressing the faithful in 2 Corinthians 3, says: You are the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tables of stone, but on the fleshy tables of the heart: where Theophylact, from this passage of Paul, interprets the excellence of the New Testament: The law, he says, was written with ink, the Gospel for us was written by the spirit; by how great an interval then the spirit differs from ink, and the heart from stone, by so much does the new differ from the law, etc. To this concurs St. Augustine, book De spiritu et littera, chapter 17, whose words are these: There the finger of God wrought upon tables of stone, here upon human hearts. There the law was placed outwardly, whereby the unjust might be terrified: here it was given inwardly, whereby they might be justified.

You will say 1: The new Evangelical law was written just as much as the Mosaic, for the Apostles and Evangelists set it down in their writings: therefore the Evangelical law was not inscribed by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of men. —

Theologians commonly answer, following the Angelic Doctor q. 106. a. 1., that the new law contains two things: first, and principally, grace and charity diffused in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, by which we are impelled and helped to work well; second, the precepts and rules of working well. They concede therefore, as regards this second, that the new law was delivered in writing just as the old; but as regards the first, they affirm it to have been diffused and inscribed in the hearts of the faithful especially on the day of Pentecost: for so great an abundance of grace and charity was then given, that by its power the whole new law could have been preserved without writing, as St. Irenaeus teaches book 3 Against Heresies chapter 3. — Yet, since the grace of the Holy Spirit and charity is called a law not properly but only metaphorically, inasmuch as it moves and impels to work well, just as concupiscence is said improperly to be the law of sin because it leads to sin; therefore I answer otherwise, namely that although the new law, like the Mosaic, was set down in writing, yet the manner of each is not the same; since the new law was not per se first written, and for that purpose, as the Mosaic was, which was described partly by the finger of God, that is, by the ministry of Angels, and partly by Moses: but accidentally, and by occasion of writing the life of Christ, or of teaching the faithful by Epistles, or of meeting the heresies of Cerinthus and Ebion and others rising up especially against the Church, as Baronius rightly observes, following Suarez chapter 26, Section 3. Nor was it committed to writing on that same day of Pentecost on which it was promulgated, but only after the death of Christ in the year 6, when St. Matthew began to write his Gospel, as Irenaeus book 3 chapter 1 and Eusebius book 3 of the History chapter 8 teach.

You will say 2: Also the Mosaic law was engraved on the hearts of the Jews by the grace of the Holy Spirit, which was not wanting to the Jews, that they might understand and keep that law commanding many supernatural things, according to that of Deuteronomy 30: The commandment which I command thee this day is not above thee, etc. but the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayst do it; therefore this consigning of the law in the mind was not a prerogative proper to the Evangelical law. —

I answer, that although the Jews were not lacking the grace by which they could fulfill the precepts of the Mosaic law, nevertheless that grace did not look precisely to the Mosaic law, but to the new law, and to Christ its author, from whom it flowed forth as from a fountain; for it was granted solely in view of his merits. Add that the grace granted to the Jews was not of such abundance that it could be said the Mosaic law was inscribed by the Holy Spirit upon the minds of men, for this privilege was reserved for the Evangelical law itself, because on the day of Pentecost, on which it was promulgated by the visible outpouring of the Holy Spirit, it was also sealed upon the hearts of the faithful.

You will say 3: The natural law itself is also inscribed upon the hearts of men: for, says the Apostle to the Romans 2, the Gentiles who have not the law, do naturally those things that are of the law... because they show the work of the law written in their hearts: therefore it is not a privilege proper to the Evangelical law that it is written upon the minds of men. —

Alexander of Hales replies, q. 66, member 4, that in truth both laws, the natural and the Evangelical, are inscribed upon the hearts of men: but, he says, there is a twofold inscription: one inscription indeed of debt for the one acting according to the dictate implanted in conscience from the very formation of man: the other inscription according to the dictate impressed upon conscience by faith, or justification. The first inscription is of nature: the second is of the Evangelical law: the first is implanted by nature: the second is given or superadded by grace. The first is the same in all men: the second truly is the same in all believers.

Second Conclusion. — Christ the Lord, with most prudent and wholly divine counsel, prescribed three kinds of precepts in the Evangelical law, namely sacramental, moral, and of faith.

The truth of this conclusion will be clear from the exposition of each of its parts. Now the Seraphic Doctor weighed the first part most excellently thus, book 6 of the Compendium of Theology, c. 3.

Christ instituted the Sacraments of the law of grace as legislator of the new law, in which law, calling men to rewards, he gave precepts, he instituted Sacraments. For Christ, the Word of the Father, since he is of supreme goodness, and supreme truth and power, by reason of his supreme goodness promised beatifying rewards; by reason of truth he gave directing precepts; by reason of power he instituted helping Sacraments, that so through the Sacraments virtue might be restored for fulfilling the precepts, and through the precepts one might arrive at the rewards. Moreover, he instituted the Sacraments in words and elements, as Augustine says: The word is joined to the element, and it becomes a Sacrament, and there the element stands for the matter, and the form of the words for the form. And to this end the Sacraments were instituted in words and elements, that they might have clarity of signifying and efficacy of sanctifying: because while the elements offer themselves to the eyes, and the words to the ears, which are the two senses especially cognitive, they give clarity of signification. Then, the words sanctify the elements, that the efficacy of man's creation may become fuller. — Moreover, the Sacraments were instituted for a manifold cause: First, on account of the humiliation by which man seeks salvation by subjecting himself to things within. Second, on account of instruction, by which man is carried through visible things to knowing invisible things. Third, on account of exercise, by which man avoids harmful occupation and idleness. Fourth, on account of the congruity of the physician to the medicine, since since the physician is God, and man is sick, fittingly the medicine ought to contain something divine, namely invisible grace, and something human, namely the visible form of grace. Fifth, on account of the congruity on the part of the infirm, since since the infirm one is man, constituted of body and spirit, but the spirit in the body does not well apprehend spiritual things except in corporal things, con > where human reason furnishes no experience. It is evident therefore from what has been said what is the efficient cause of the sacraments, namely divine institution: what the formal cause, namely the sanctification of grace: what the final cause, namely the cure of human infirmity. — Moreover, the Sacraments of the new law are seven, according to the seven diversities of men in the Church. The first is of those entering, as Baptism. The second of those fighting, as Confirmation. The third of those recovering strength, as the Eucharist. The fourth of those rising again, as Penance. The fifth of those departing, as Extreme Unction. The sixth of those ministering, as Order. The seventh of those introducing new soldiers, as Matrimony.

The Sacraments were figured in the seven seals with which the page of the Old Testament was sealed, which the Lamb, who holds the key of David, who opens and no man shuts, unsealed. Likewise in the seven trumpets with which the Angels sounded. Likewise in the seven stars which the one like to the son of man held in his right hand. Likewise in the seven loaves with which the Lord satisfied the crowd. Likewise in the seven eyes upon one stone. Likewise in the seven lamps of the Tabernacle set upon the candlestick. Likewise in the seven washings of Naaman. — Moreover, the Sacraments are seven, which dispose one to the having of the seven virtues; for Baptism is the sacrament of Faith, Confirmation of Hope, the Eucharist of Charity, Penance of Justice, Extreme Unction of Perseverance, which is the complement of fortitude, Order of Prudence, Matrimony of Temperance. There is also another reason for the number of the Sacraments, because they are ordained against a threefold guilt, and against a fourfold punishment. Whence Baptism is ordained against original sin, Penance against mortal sin, Extreme Unction against venial sin; Order against ignorance, the Eucharist against malice, Confirmation against weakness. Matrimony against concupiscence, which it tempers and excuses. There is yet another reason for the number, because the Sacraments are the healing cause of spiritual sickness after the manner of bodily medicines. Now bodily medicine is fourfold; namely curative, conservative, preservative, and ameliorative. In like manner also the Sacraments cure. Baptism cures at once and totally. But Penance cures gradually as to punishment, until man be debtor to no punishment. Extreme Unction cures from lighter sicknesses, namely from venial ones, just as baptism and penance cure from lethal ones. Therefore the aforesaid three Sacraments are as it were curative medicine. Confirmation, however, is medicine conserving spiritual health, in which the Holy Spirit is given for strength and for the preservation of the grace given in baptism. Matrimony is preservative medicine. Order is ameliorative medicine, in which grace is augmented. The Eucharist does all these at once, for it cures venial sins, which are the occasion of a greater fall: it also conserves the grace found in man, and its increase, and so ameliorates, and nevertheless preserves.

So the Seraphic Doctor. From whom it is clear with how congruent an order Christ the Lord ordained the Ceremonial and Sacramental precepts of the new Law.

The same likewise holds of the precepts pertaining to faith. For since the sum of faith is situated chiefly in this, that the faithful man ought to know those things

which pertain to God, and Christ the Lord, according to that oracle of Christ the Lord himself, John 17, This is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent, in order that there might be had a knowledge of both that divine object, as perfect as befits mortals, the Apostles, having received it from the mouth of Christ, published it under special and distinct articles in their Creed. For, as the Seraphic Doctor observes there, book 5, c. 21, if respect be had to those who published the Creed, then the articles are twelve according to the number of the twelve Apostles: but if we consider what is to be believed radically, then the articles are fourteen, of which seven pertain to the Divinity, and seven to the humanity of Christ, and these signs are in the seven stars, and the seven golden candlesticks, in the midst of which the Son of man walked. There are therefore seven articles of Faith which pertain to the Divinity. The first is that there is one God, which is noted there, I believe in God. The second is, that the Father is God, there, the Father almighty. The third is, that the Son is God, there, and in Jesus Christ his Son. The fourth, that God the Holy Spirit is God, there, I believe in the Holy Spirit. And thus it is clear that the aforesaid four articles are concerning the unity of the divine Essence, and the Trinity of Persons. The fifth is, to believe the remission of sins for those who are in the Church, there: the holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints, the remission of sins. The sixth is to believe the resurrection of the dead. The seventh is, to believe the reward of the good, under which also is comprehended the punishment of the wicked, there, life everlasting. And these three articles pertain to the Divinity; because by the power of the Divinity there takes place the remission of sins, which is the vivification of the soul, and the resurrection of bodies, and the glorification of body and soul together. — The other seven are the articles which pertain to the humanity of Christ. The first is, to believe that the Son of God was conceived by the Holy Spirit, there: who was conceived by the Holy Spirit. The second is, to believe that the Son of God was born of the Virgin Mary, there: of the Virgin Mary. The third, that the Son of God died for us on the cross, there: Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. The fourth is, that the Son of God descended into hell according to his soul, there: He descended into hell. The fifth is, that the Son of God rose again from the dead, there: On the third day he rose again from the dead. The sixth is that the same ascended into Heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father, there: He ascended into Heaven, sitteth at the right hand of God the Father almighty. The seventh is, that the Son of God will judge the living and the dead, whether good or evil, there: From thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. So the Seraphic Doctor.

The same thing is evident regarding the Moral precepts, by which man ought to be ordered to God, to his neighbor, and to himself: to God indeed, that he may render to Him the worship owed; to his neighbor, that he may bestow justice upon him in all things; and to himself truly, that he may procure and safeguard those things which are necessary to him for salvation. And Christ the Lord duly ordained all these duties of man in the Gospel. For first He taught and prescribed distinctly the things that concern the worship of God: for God is to be worshipped and honored supremely on account of His supreme majesty; to be loved with the whole heart on account of His infinite goodness; to be feared supremely on account of His tremendous justice; to be besought earnestly on account of His paternal clemency; to be heard and followed in all things on account of His watchful providence, etc. Now Christ the Lord instructed man unto all these offices to be rendered to God: for He taught how His supreme majesty was to be worshipped, when He said, John 4: The hour cometh, and is now, when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh such to adore him. God is a spirit: and they that adore him must adore him in spirit and in truth. What manner of love ought to be bestowed upon His infinite goodness He prescribed, Mark 12, when He said: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength: by which words He demonstrates, says Alexander [of Hales], memb. 8, ad tertium, that it does not suffice to love God with the whole heart, that is, the understanding, by declining error; with the whole soul, that is, the will, by declining contradiction; with the whole mind, that is, the memory, by avoiding forgetfulness; but even with the whole strength, by adding good operation. He taught likewise how greatly God is to be feared on account of the severity of His justice, when He said, Matt. 10: Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body into hell. He disclosed also how God was to be entreated on account of His paternal clemency, while He not only prescribed the manner of praying, Matt. 6, saying: But thou when thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door pray to thy Father in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee: Praying, do not multiply words, as the Gentiles do, for they think that in their much speaking they may be heard: but He also prescribed the form of prayer, when He said in the same place: Thus therefore shall you pray: Our Father who art in heaven, etc. — Finally He taught man also how he ought confidently commit himself to the divine care and providence, when He said in the same place:

I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat, and the body more than the raiment? Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they? And which of you by taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? And for raiment why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they labour not, neither do they spin. But I say to you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these. Now if God so clothe the grass of the field, which is today, and tomorrow is cast into the oven: how much more you, O ye of little faith! Be not solicitous therefore, saying: What shall we eat: or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.

— In like manner He instructed man with respect to all the duties to be bestowed upon his neighbor: for the neighbor is to be reproved and recalled from the miseries of the soul, namely sin, relieved in the necessities of the body, protected in the goods of fortune, and incited unto the goods of glory. And Christ ordained all these duties. First indeed, when He said, Matt. 18: If thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone: while at the same time He taught that every injury was to be forgiven the neighbor, saying, Matt. 6: But if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you. He taught likewise when the neighbor was to be relieved in the miseries of the body, when He said, Luke 6: Be ye therefore merciful, as your heavenly Father also is merciful; judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. Give, and it shall be given to you: good measure and pressed down and shaken together and running over shall they give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you shall mete withal, it shall be measured to you again. In sum, He prescribed all the duties toward one's neighbor, when He said, Luke 10, that the neighbor is to be loved as oneself; and Matt. 7: All things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you also to them. And John 13: A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another, as I have loved you. By which words He calls the commandment of loving one's neighbor new, either because it was renewed and enlarged by Him, whereas before it had been almost antiquated and restricted through perverse custom, as Clement the Roman expounds, lib. 6 const., cap. 23; or because Christ prescribed it in a new manner, adding namely a new motive taken from His own example, and His marvelous love toward men, as Chrysostom says, hom. 71 in Ioan. From the fact that by His advent men were made brothers, and are on that account specially to be loved, but especially Christians, who being inserted into Christ as their Head are members of one and the same Church, on account of which they ought to love themselves as members of the same body. — Finally He ordered man toward himself, while namely He set forth the pattern of His own most holy life to be imitated by men, saying, John 13: For I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you do also. And that men might the more easily imitate this most holy life, He distinguished it as it were by three lineaments and characters, when He said, Matt. 16: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. By which words He distinguishes three duties of the Christian man; namely the renunciation of all things and of himself: for He says, Luke 14: Every one of you that doth not renounce all that he possesseth cannot be my disciple. And Matt. 19: And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name's sake shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting. — Moreover He teaches that vigilance unto the mortification of the body must be maintained unceasingly, and that the cross must be borne daily; for Christ suffered, leaving us an example that we should follow His steps. Finally He admonishes that all our acts are to be elicited out of charity, and for the glory of God, while in all things vainglory is to be avoided. Take heed, He says, Matt. 6, that you do not your justice before men, to be seen by them: otherwise you shall not have a reward of your Father who is in heaven.

You ask 1. Why Christ the Lord did not institute judicial precepts. —

I answer, that He did this indeed deliberately; because He founded no temporal kingdom or civil republic, but a spiritual community, whose principal governance is spiritual, and is ordered to a supernatural end: nor did He care for its external and political governance so far as to will of Himself to establish judicial laws useful to it, but He made the authority of enacting such laws over to His Vicar on earth, namely the Supreme Pontiff. For since it conduces to the best governance of the Church that laws often be changed according to the variety of times and occasions, Christ preferred to give the Church the power of establishing them, whereas He willed the laws promulgated by Himself to be stable and unchangeable. — Hence the Doctor concludes, in 3 dist. 10 n. 6, that the Evangelic law is indeed lighter than the Mosaic, if it be regarded according to judicial precepts in relation to Christ, because Christ instituted no precepts of this kind. But otherwise if it be regarded in relation to the rulers of the faithful, because, he says, then it was not lawful for priests or judges to enact whatever laws, as it now is lawful for Christian princes. Thus therefore in this respect it is discerned that there are fewer burdens of the Christian law insofar as it itself was handed down by Christ, but perhaps in time more others were afterwards added to it by those who have the governance of the Christian people.

You ask 2. Whether Christ added anything to the moral precepts and the faith of the ancient law. —

Alexander answers, qu. 56 memb. 8 ad tertium, that as regards the substance of the faith nothing has been added to the things to be believed, yet something has been added to the articles of the faith:

And that addition is, as of the explicit to the implicit, and of the determined to the undetermined, as appears in the example. Before the time of Abraham there was the faith of our reparation, yet implicit: afterward it became somewhat explicit in Abraham, that it would come to pass in flesh, when it was said to him: In thy seed shall all the Gentiles be blessed. Genes. 22. and thus the article concerning the Incarnation, which previously was implicit, was touched upon and somewhat made explicit: nevertheless it was not yet determined whether the incarnation would take place of a man or of a woman, until Isaias said: Behold a virgin shall conceive: likewise the manner whereby the virgin would conceive was not yet determined, until the Angel said: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee. Therefore the faith was not changed, and yet an addition was made in the faith of our reparation article by article, as of the explicit to the implicit, or rather of the more explicit to the less explicit. Similarly it must be said that in moral matters nothing has been added as regards the power of the sense: but as regards the reason of the letter an addition was made by those modes which have been spoken of