7. Likewise, what the law of nature dictates always has perpetual existence; but all subjection and obedience will be abolished, because 1 Corinthians 15: When he shall have abolished all principality, etc.; the Gloss says: "As long as the world endures, men have authority over men": therefore etc.
8. Likewise, if the law of nature dictates one of two correlatives, it dictates the other also: therefore if it dictates that one must obey, it also dictates that one must command: therefore just as one can desire to obey and be subject without sin, by equal reasoning one can also desire to command and have authority. But this is false and unfitting: therefore so is that from which it follows: therefore the law of nature does not dictate commanding, and consequently neither does it dictate obeying.
9. Likewise, the law of nature dictates that the honor due to God is to be rendered to no other; but the honor due to God is shown by obeying and complying: therefore obedience is to be rendered to God alone, not therefore to man.
10. Likewise, the natural law is an impression made by the eternal law; but that impression moves the soul toward what is lofty, while to subject oneself to another by complying is contrary to what is lofty: therefore etc.
CONCLUSION.
The natural law dictates in a certain generality that the inferior should be subject to the superior by obeying, yet in diverse ways according to the diverse differences of superiority and inferiority: and this accords with the written law and the law of grace.
I respond: For the understanding of the foregoing, it must be noted that, as Augustine says in the book of Eighty-Three Questions, the natural law is an impression made upon the soul by the eternal law; and the eternal law is that by which, while it remains unchangeable, all other things are ordered. Whence Augustine, in the first book of On Free Choice: "That I may briefly explain in words, as far as I am able, the notion of the eternal law which is impressed upon us: it is that by which it is just that all things should be most perfectly ordered." But as is said in the nineteenth book of The City of God, chapter thirteen: "Order is the disposition of equal and unequal things, assigning to each its proper place." If, therefore, it belongs to the superior to preside and to the inferior to be subject, the natural law, which flows from the eternal law, naturally dictates that the inferior should be subject to the superior by obeying: and this indeed it dictates in a certain generality, yet in diverse ways, according as it happens that diverse differences of superiority and inferiority are found.
For one is said to be superior to another either with respect to the origin of nature, or with respect to the dominion of power or presidency, or with respect to the governance of providence. The first superiority belongs to nature itself by reason of itself, because "nature is a force implanted in things, producing like from like"; the second, however, by reason of vice, because, as Ambrose says, servitude is the punishment of sin; but the third belongs by reason of remedy, according to that passage in Numbers twenty-seven: Let the God of the spirits of all flesh provide a man who may be over this multitude, lest they be as sheep without a shepherd.
To the first superiority is owed filial obedience, to the second servile obedience, and to the third jurisdictional obedience, which regards the dignity of prelacy.
Hence it is, therefore, that the natural law dictates filial obedience, whether according to the state of fallen nature or according to the state of nature as instituted. - But it dictates servile obedience not simply, but in the state of fallen nature for the punishment of sin, according to the dictate of the law of nations, which flows from reason and the instinct of nature. - But it dictates jurisdictional obedience according to the state of nature as reparable or repaired, and this in the state of the wayfarer, according to that passage in First Corinthians fifteen: When he shall have brought to nothing all principality etc.; the Gloss: "As long as the world endures, Angels will preside over Angels, and men over men for the benefit of the living: but when all have been gathered together, then all prelacy will cease, because it will not be necessary." - Since, therefore, according to the threefold difference of superiority there is a threefold mode of obeying: the first, nature dictates simply, because universally and explicitly and according to every state; but the second and third implicitly and according to a determinate state.
Whence each of the aforesaid obediences accords with the law of nature, and not only with the law of nature, but also with the law of grace and the written law.
For since the law of grace considers the origin, fall, and remedy of nature: therefore it belongs to it to approve the threefold mode and distinction of the obedience mentioned above. For it approves filial obedience, Ephesians 6: Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is just. It also approves servile obedience, 1 Timothy 6: Whoever are under the yoke of servitude, let them consider their masters worthy of all honor. It also praises jurisdictional obedience, Hebrews last chapter: Obey your superiors and be subject to them: for they keep watch, etc.
On the contrary, because the written law was a law of rigor, it not only approves this threefold obedience, but also punishes transgressors of this obedience. For it punishes the rebellious son, Deuteronomy 21: If a man beget a rebellious and insolent son, who does not heed his father's command, and when corrected scorns to obey: they shall seize him and bring him to the elders, etc.
It also punishes the rebellious servant, Exodus 21: He who strikes his servant or handmaid with a rod, if he survive for a day or two, he shall not be subject to penalty, because he is his property.
It also punishes the disobedient subject, Deuteronomy 17: He who acts proudly, refusing to obey the command of the priest, that man shall die.
From what has been said, therefore, it is manifestly gathered that the obedience of man to man is consonant with the law of grace and the written law and the law of nature.
Hence the arguments that are adduced for this position are to be conceded.
1. 2. 3. To that, therefore, which is first objected from the authority of Augustine, Gregory, and the canon, it must be said that in those words they do not intend to exclude subjection and obedience, but coerced servitude, which indeed neither existed nor ought to have existed except through the intervention of the guilt of sin as a disease contrary to nature itself; in detestation of which, according to the dictate of right nature, there ought to follow the punishment of servitude, on account of the contempt of divine majesty and the captivation of human liberty and the dishonoring of the dignity of rational nature. Hence, although nature does not dictate this for itself standing upright, it nevertheless dictates it for itself falling from its state, as has been said in the preceding.
4. To that which is objected concerning the dignity of the image, the response can now be clear: because, although this subjection does not befit the formed image, it nevertheless befits the deformed image, or even the image to be reformed; just as we see in the Sacraments, that man who is to be restored is in a certain way subjected to sensible elements, although it befits man standing upright to be subject with respect to God alone.
It can also be said in another way that one can speak of the image in two ways: either in itself, or in relation to the flesh: and although the rational soul by reason of itself has to be infused by God alone and to be subject to Him alone, nevertheless by reason of the flesh, which is propagated through the power of human ministry, it has to be subject to its origin, as offspring to parent, yet in such a way that no prejudice to the dignity of the image is thereby generated.
5. To the objection that the law of nature dictates that the freedom of the will must be preserved, etc.: it must be said that since there is freedom from misery, from fault, and from coercion: freedom from coercion is twofold, namely from sufficient coercion and from inducing coercion. The first, indeed, nature dictates must be preserved altogether absolutely and always. But the second, namely from inducing coercion, it dictates only for that time in which someone abuses freedom: and because this occurs in the state of fallen nature, therefore it dictates for this time that the wickedness of wills be restrained through the commands of presiding authorities.
6. To the objection that the law of nature dictates that charity must be preserved: it must be said that just as for the perfection of a living body there is required an equality of temperament, in which all members are conformed, and a multiformity of organization, in which the members are distinguished and ordered and according to various influence some are set over others; so it must be understood concerning the mystical body of Christ. And therefore the unity of charity does not exclude the multiformity of charisms and the distinction of dignities and offices, according to which one member must be subject to another and be governed by another according to the law of prelacy and subjection.
7. To the objection that what is dictated by nature has perpetual duration: it must be said that this is true of what nature dictates absolutely, but it is not true of what nature dictates for a particular state; just as in the state of innocence it dictated that all things should be held in common, which indeed it does not dictate in corrupted nature. And therefore that proposition is false when understood universally.
8. To the objection that if the law of nature dictates one of two correlatives, it also dictates the other: it must be said that just as the law of nature dictates subjection, so also prelacy. For just as it dictates that one ought to be subject to another in obedience, so it dictates that another ought to be set over another through providence. But from this it does not follow that prelacy ought to be desired there, as subjection is desired. For the desire for subjection accords with humility and reverence, but the desire for prelacy degenerates for the most part into the pride of ambition and arrogance. Therefore, although a position of dignity can rightly be administered according to the dictate of nature, it nevertheless ought not to be desired on account of the attendant mark of pride.
9. To the objection that the honor owed to God must not be rendered to any other: it must be said that honor is owed to God both in His own nature and in His image: for the honor that is shown to a man on account of God is referred to God: and therefore what is proper to God, namely the honor of latria, ought not to be attributed to another. But that which belongs to God operating through a minister, namely governance and kingship and dominion over subjects, it is not unfitting that it be granted to another through God and on account of God and according to God, because the whole is referred to Him according to the right order, which indeed He maintains in governing the world.