II. Governance before and after the fall; paradise charge and the fall by serpent and free choice
II. And first it is one thing before the fall, another after the fall. For the human being, so adorned by God the creator as shown above, was placed in the garden of Eden, which we call paradise, that there he might enjoy most sweet contemplation, propagate his race, and lead a blessed life without all trouble, diseases, and death — both by Gods singular providence and by the benefit of the life-giving tree — from which he would be transferred to the most blessed life. Truly God, the highest good, that inexhaustible fountain of love, had adorned the first human with most excellent gifts, and so delighted in him that He lived, walked, dwelt, and worked in his intellect, will, and other powers, and uniquely willed to be loved again by him from the whole heart, mind, and strength.
Therefore, when the supreme Lawgiver had impressed the universal law on the human, He also enjoined a lighter command, by His right as creator and to test obedience, concerning a thing in itself indifferent — neither good nor evil (Genesis 2:16). But Satan, driven by burning envy and hatred against God and all creatures obedient to God, tried to overthrow this noblest work of the creator. Therefore, covered in a serpents form, he approaches the woman as the weaker and more open to deceit, corrupts Gods words and command, and interprets them slanderously. Humans ought indeed to have clung to Gods word and declined the serpents snares; and they could have, had they been willing to use the gifts they possessed; indeed, as Paul witnesses (1 Timothy 2:14), Adam was not deceived. Therefore knowingly and willingly they set Gods command aside, obeyed the Devil, and cast themselves into ruin.
Latin
II. Estque primo alia ante lapsum, alia post lapsum. Nam homo ita exornatus a creatore Deo, ut supra demonstratum est, in hortum Edenis, quem paradisum dicimus, collocatus est, ut ibi suavissima contemplatione frueretur, genus suum propagaret, beatam denique vitam, absque omni molestia, morbis et morte, tum singulari Dei providentia, tum beneficio arboris vivificae, ageret, e qua ad beatissimam transferretur. Nimirum Deus, summum bonum, fons ille amoris inexhaustus, primum hominem excellentissimis dotibus ornaverat, eumque tantopere in deliciis habebat, ut in illius intellectu, voluntate, caeterisque potentiis viveret, ambularet, habitaret, operaretur, uniceque vellet ab ipso redamari ex toto corde, mente, viribus. Idcirco, cum universam legem supremus nomothetes homini impressisset, iniunxit quoque ei leviusculum mandatum, pro iure suo quod ut creator in eum habebat, et ut obedientiam eius tentaret, de re quidem per se indifferente, i.e. nec bona nec mala (Gen. 2:16). Satanas vero invidia et odio in Deum omnesque Deo obsequentes creaturas flagrante impulsus, nobilissimum hoc creatoris opificium pessundare conabatur. Quapropter serpentis specie contectus ad feminam, tanquam imperfectiorem et dolis magis patentem, accedit, verba mandatumque Dei corrumpit et calumniose interpretatur. Homines debuissent quidem verbo Dei inhaerere, dolos serpentis declinare: et sane hoc potuissent, siquidem donis quibus pollebant uti voluissent; quin etiam, ut Paulus testatur (1 Tim. 2:14), Adam deceptus non est. Quapropter scientes volentes mandatum Dei posthabuerunt, Diabolo obediverunt, seque in exitium praecipitarunt.