Chapter XI.
On the production of man with respect to the whole composite.
Concerning the whole man placed in paradise, these things must be held: namely, that a twofold sense was given to him, namely interior and exterior, of the mind and of the flesh. - A twofold motion was given to him, namely commanding in the will and executive in the body. - A twofold good was given to him, one visible, the other invisible. - A twofold precept was given to him, namely of nature and of discipline; the precept of nature: Increase and multiply; the precept of discipline: Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat.
In accordance with which a fourfold help was given to him, namely of knowledge, conscience, synderesis, and grace, from which he sufficiently possessed the means to stand in the good and advance, and to guard against evil and turn away from it.
The reason for understanding the aforesaid is this: because the First Principle made this sensible world to manifest Himself, namely so that through it, as through a mirror and a vestige, man might be led back to God the Maker, to love and praise Him. And accordingly there is a twofold book: one written within, which is the eternal art and wisdom of God; and another written without, namely the sensible world. Since, therefore, there was one creature that had sense within for knowledge of the interior book, namely the Angel; and another that had all its sense without, namely any brute animal: for the perfection of the universe there had to be made a creature endowed with this twofold sense for knowledge of the book written within and without, that is, of Wisdom and of its work. And because in Christ the eternal Wisdom and its work come together simultaneously in one person, He is therefore called the book written within and without for the restoration of the world.
And because to every sense there corresponds a motion, therefore a twofold motion was given to man: one according to the impulse of reason in the mind, and another according to the impulse of sensuality in the flesh. It belongs to the first to command, and to the second to obey, according to right order: but when this is reversed, then the rectitude and governance of the soul is cast down from its state.
And because to every motion and sense there corresponds an appetite for some good, therefore a twofold good was prepared for man: "one visible, the other invisible; one temporal, the other eternal; one for the flesh, the other for the spirit. Of these goods, God gave one and promised the other, so that one might be possessed freely, and the other sought through merit."
And because a good is given in vain unless it is preserved, and is promised in vain unless one attains to it, therefore a twofold precept was given to man: one of nature for preserving the good given, the other of discipline for meriting the good promised, which could in no way be better merited than through pure obedience. Obedience however is pure when a precept obliges of itself alone, not from any other cause; and such is called a precept of discipline, because through it one learns how great is the virtue of obedience, which by its merit leads to heaven, but by its contrary casts one down into hell. Therefore that commandment was not given to man on account of any need that God had for human service, but to provide a way of meriting the crown through pure and voluntary obedience.
And since man, by reason of a defective nature formed from nothing and not confirmed through glory, was able to fall, the most benign God conferred upon him a fourfold aid: a twofold aid of nature and a twofold aid of grace. For He implanted a twofold rectitude in nature itself: one for judging rightly, and this is the rectitude of conscience ; the other for willing rightly, and this is synderesis , whose office it is to murmur against evil and to spur toward good.
He also superadded a twofold perfection of grace: one of gratuitously given grace, which was a knowledge illuminating the intellect for knowing himself, his God, and this world, which had been made for his sake; the other of sanctifying grace, which was a charity enabling the affections to love God above all things and neighbor as oneself . - And thus before the fall, man possessed perfect natural endowments, clothed nonetheless with divine grace. From which it is manifestly gathered that if he fell, this was solely through his own fault, because he scorned to obey.
Ch. XII.
On the completion and ordering of the entire consummated world.
From the aforesaid it can be gathered that the creation of the world is as it were a certain book, in which the fabricating Trinity shines forth, is represented, and is read according to a threefold degree of expression, namely by way of vestige, image, and similitude , such that the character of vestige is found in all creatures, the character of image in intellectual beings alone or rational spirits, the character of similitude in deiform beings alone: from which, as though by certain stairlike degrees, the human intellect is naturally suited to ascend step by step to the supreme principle, which is God.
Now the reason for understanding the aforesaid is this: since all creatures have a relation and dependence upon their Creator, they can be compared to Him in a threefold way, namely either as to a creative principle , or as to a motive object, or as to an indwelling gift. In the first way every effect of His is compared to Him, in the second way every intellect, in the third way every just spirit acceptable to God. For every effect, however little of being it possesses, has God as its principle. Every intellect, however little of light it possesses, is naturally suited to apprehend God through knowledge and love. But every just and holy spirit has the gift of the Holy Spirit infused into it.
And since a creature cannot have God as its principle without being configured to Him according to unity, truth, and goodness; nor God as its object without apprehending Him through memory, intelligence, and will; nor God as an infused gift without being configured to Him through faith, hope, and charity, or the threefold dowry; and since the first conformity is remote, the second proximate, and the third most proximate: hence it is that the first is called a vestige of the Trinity, the second an image, and the third a similitude.
Therefore the rational spirit is midway between the first and the last, such that it has the first below, the second within, and the third above. And therefore in the state of innocence, when the image was not vitiated but made deiform through grace, the book of creation sufficed in which man might exercise himself for contemplating the light of divine wisdom; so that he would be wise, since he would see all things in themselves, would see them in their proper genus, and would see them also in the art: according as things have being in a threefold way, namely in matter or their proper nature, in created intelligence, and in the eternal art; in accordance with which three things Scripture says: God said: let it be made: He made, and it was made.
On account of which threefold vision, man received a threefold eye, as Hugh of Saint Victor says, namely of the flesh, of reason, and of contemplation: the eye of the flesh, by which he might see the world and those things which are in the world; the eye of reason, by which he might see the soul and those things which are in the soul; the eye of contemplation, by which he might see God and those things which are in God; and thus by the eye of the flesh man might see those things which are outside himself, by the eye of reason those things which are within himself, and by the eye of contemplation those things which are above himself. This eye of contemplation does not have its act perfected except through glory, which it loses through sin, but recovers through grace and faith and the understanding of the Scriptures, by which the human mind is purged, illuminated, and perfected for contemplating heavenly things: to which fallen man cannot attain unless he first recognizes his own defects and darkness; which he does not do unless he considers and attends to the ruin of human nature.