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AND THEIR REFUTATION. 393
St. Joseph, all the rights and all the debts of his first-born ances
tors was united ; but as none of these could satisfy the Divine
justice, the Saviour, who alone could do so, was bound to make
satisfaction for all, for he was the chief among the first-born, and
on that account, he says, he was called the Son of Man. This
title, however, St. Augustin says, was applied to our Lord as a
title of humility, and not of majority or obligation. As the Son
of Man, then, he says, he was the first-born among men ;
and as
the Son of God, he was bound, according to the rigour of justice,
to sacrifice himself to God for his glory, and the salvation of man
kind :
" Dobitum
contraxerat in rigore justitiae fundatum, qui
natus erat Filius hominis, homo Primogenitus simul Dei Unigeni-
tus, ut so Pontifex idem, et hostia ad gloriam Dei restituendam,
salutcmque hominum rcdimendam Deo Patri suo exhiberet."
Hence, he says that Christ, by a natural precept, was bound, ex
condigno, to satisfy the Divine Justice by his Passion :
"
Offere
Se tamen ad satisfaciendum Deo ex condigno, et ad expiandum
hominis peccatum, quo satis erat passione sua, Jesus Christus
Filius hominis, et Filius Dei pra?cepto naturali obligabatur."
Christ, therefore, he says, as the Son of Man, and the first-born
of man, contracted a debt, obliging him, in rigorous justice, to
atone to God, by his Passion, for the sins of mankind. We
answer, that our Saviour could not, either as Son of Man, or
first-born of man, contract this strict obligation to make satisfac
tion for mankind. He could not be obliged, as the Son of Man,
for it would be blasphemous to assert that he incurred original
sin :
"
Acccpit enim hominem, says St. Thomas (12), absque pec-
cato." Neither could he be obliged to it, as the first-born among
men. It is true, St. Paul calls him the first-born among many
brethren ; but we must understand in what sense the Apostle
applies this term. The text says :
" For
whom he foreknew ho
also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of his
Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren"
(Rom. viii, 29). The Apostle here instructs us, that those whom
God has foreseen will be saved, he has predestined to be made
like unto Jesus Christ, in holiness and patience, poor, despised,
and persecuted, like him on earth.
(12) St. Thorn. 3 p. q. H, a. 3.