Tertullian — On the Soul 21
But if the nature of the soul is uniform from the beginning in Adam before so many talents, then it is not multiform through so many talents, nor triform — so that the Valentinian trinity may still be cut down, which is not itself recognized in Adam. What was spiritual in him? If because he prophesied that great sacrament toward Christ and the church — that came later, when God sent a spiritual force upon him. If evil also appeared in him by the admitting of the transgression, that too is not to be counted natural, which he worked by the serpent's prompting.
What remains to ask of this animal nature is whether what is called natural ought to be believed changeable. The same deny a convertible nature, to fix their trinity in single properties — because a good tree does not bear bad fruit nor a bad tree good. So if it is so, God will not be able to raise sons of Abraham from stones, nor will broods of vipers make fruits of repentance, and the apostle erred writing: you were once darkness; we were once by nature children of wrath; but you were washed. But holy sayings will never discord. A bad tree will not give good fruit if it is not grafted, and a good tree will give bad if it is not tended; and stones will become Abraham's sons if they are formed into Abraham's faith. This will be the force of divine grace — stronger indeed than nature — having in us subject to itself the free power of choice called autexousion, which, being itself natural and mutable, converts nature wherever it turns. What is born and made can take change: it can also be born again and remade. What is unborn and unmade will stand unmoved — and that belongs to God alone.
Latin
[1] Quodsi uniformis natura animae ab initio in Adam ante tot ingenia, ergo non multiformis, quia uniformis, per tot ingenia, nec triformis, ut adhuc trinitas Valentiniana caedatur, quae nec ipsa in Adam recognoscitur. [2] Quid enim spiritale in illo? Si quia prophetauit magnum illud sacramentum in Christum et ecclesiam: hoc os ex ossibus meis et caro ex carne mea uocabitur mulier; propterea relinquet homo patrem et matrem et agglutinabitur mulieri suae et erunt duo in carnem unam, hoc postea obuenit, cum in illum deus amentiam immisit, spiritalem uim, qua constat prophetia. [3] Si et malum eo in apparuit transgressionis admissum, nec hoc naturale deputandum est, quod instinctu serpentis operatus est, tam non naturale quam nec materiale, quia et materiae fidem iam exclusimus. Quodsi nec spiritale nec quod dicitur materiale proprium in illo fuit (etsi ex materia fuisset mali semen), superest, ut solum in illo et unicum fuerit naturale quod censetur animale, quod statu simplex et uniforme defendimus. [4] De hoc plane relinquitur quaeri, an demutabile debeat credi, quod naturale dicatur. Idem enim conuertibilem negant naturam, ut trinitatem suam in singulis proprietatibus figant, quia arbor bona malos non ferat fructus nec mala bonos, et nemo de spinis metat ficus et de tribulis uuas. Ergo si ita est, neque de lapidibus filios Abrahae suscitare poterit deus nec genimina uiperarum facere paenitentiae fructus et errauit apostolus scribens: eratis et uos aliquando tenebrae et: fuimus et nos aliquando natura filii irae et: in his uos quoque fuistis, sed abluti estis.
[5] Sed nunquam discordabunt sententiae sanctae. Non dabit enim arbor mala bonos fructus, si non inseratur, et bona malos dabit, si non colatur, et lapides filii Abrahae fient, si in fidem Abrahae formentur, et genimina uiperarum fructum paenitentiae facient, si uenena malignitatis exspuerint. [6] Haec erit uis diuinae gratiae, potentior utique natura, habens in nobis subiacentem sibi liberam arbitrii potestatem quod αὐτεξούσιον dicitur, quae cum sit et ipsa naturalis atque mutabilis, quoquo uertitur, natura conuertitur. Inesse autem nobis τὸ αὐτεξούσιον naturaliter iam et Marcioni ostendimus et Hermogeni. [7] Quid nunc, si et naturae condicio sic erit definienda, ut duplex determinetur, natorum et innatorum, factorum et infectorum? Atque ita quod natum factumque constiterit, eius natura capiet demutationem: et renasci enim poterit et refici. Innatum autem et infectum immobile stabit. Quod cum soli deo conpetat, ut soli innato et infecto et idcirco immortali et inconuertibili, absolutum est ceterorum omnium natorum atque factorum conuertibilem et demutabilem esse naturam, ut, etsi trinitas animae adscribenda esset. ex mutatione accidentiae, non ex institutione naturae deputaretur.