The Doctrine of Justification by Faith

Guilt in the Scripture is the Respect of sin unto the sanction of the Law, whereby the sinner becomes obnoxious unto punishment. And to be guilty is to be [Greek or Hebrew], liable unto punishment for sin, from God, as the supreme Lawgiver and Judge of all. And so guilt or Reatus is well defined to be obligatio ad poenam, propter culpam, aut admissam in se, aut imputatam, just aut injuste. For so Bathsheba says unto David, that she and her Son Solomon should be [Greek or Hebrew] Sinners, that is, be esteemed guilty or liable unto punishment for some evil laid unto their charge, 1 Kings 1.21. And the distinction of Dignitas poenae, and obligatio ad poenam, is but the same thing in divers words. For both do but express the Relation of sin unto the sanction of the Law, or if they may be conceived to differ, yet are they inseparable; for there can be no obligatio ad poenam, where there is not dignitas poenae.

Guilt in the Scripture is the Respect of sin unto the sanction of the Law, whereby the sinner becomes obnoxious unto punishment. And to be guilty is to be 〈non-Latin alphabet〉, liable unto punishment for sin, from God, as the supreme Lawgiver and Judge of all. And so guilt or Reatus is well defined to be obligatio ad poenam, propter culpam, aut admissam in se, aut imputatam, juste aut injuste. For so Bathsheba says unto David, that she and her Son Solomon should be 〈non-Latin alphabet〉 Sinners, that is, be esteemed guilty or liable unto punishment for some evil laid unto their charge, 1 Kings 1.21. And the distinction of Dignitas poenae, and obligatio ad poenam, is but the same thing in divers words. For both do but express the Relation of sin unto the sanction of the Law, or if they may be conceived to differ, yet are they inseparable; for there can be no obligatio ad poenam, where there is not dignitas poenae.

Much less is there any thing of weight in the distinction of Reatus culpae, and Reatus poenae. For this Reatus culpae is nothing but dignitas poenae propter culpam. Sin hath other considerations, namely, its formal nature, as it is a Transgression of the Law; and the stain or filth that it brings upon the Soul; but the guilt of it, is nothing but its respect unto punishment from the sanction of the Law. And so indeed Reatus culpae, is Reatus poenae; the guilt of sin, is its desert of punishment. And where there is not this Reatus culpae, there can be no poena, no punishment properly so called. For poena is vindicta noxae, the revenge due to sin. So therefore there can be no punishment, nor Reatus poenae, the guilt of it, but where there is Reatus culpae; or sin considered with its guilt. And the Reatus poenae, that may be supposed without the guilt of sin, is nothing but that obnoxiousness unto afflictive evil on the occasion of sin, which the Socinians admit with respect unto the suffering of Christ, and yet execrate his satisfaction.