On the Imputation of Adam's First Sin · §414

Man. Post. Cap. VII: God as Judge; 8th — Adam not actu father when he sinned

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But God, when he imputes sin to men and exercises vengeance, plays a Judge's part, and has nothing before his eyes but justice, which gives each his due. So he attributes no alien sin to anyone, nor lays a penalty on anyone for a sin he neither had in himself nor committed: the purity of his justice is highest, its brightness and splendor highest. Eighth: when a King declares or makes war, he is actually King, and as King head of subjects, and actually has relation to subjects, and they to him. So when they actually are many and regard one another by mutual relations, they actually constitute one body consisting of King and subjects. But Adam, when he sinned, was not actually father, actually had no relation to us, was not actually our head, and we actually had no relation to him. That relation was born only when he began to be a father and have children. And after he was created, only at a hundred and thirty years was Seth born, from whom we all are. So we who then were nothing could not join society with him or compose a body. Subjects actually are subjects; actually their King is head; actually they are bound to execute his commands; actually they compose a body with him; actually they help him by counsel or wealth or hand or at least by vows. Next: because we were in Adam potentially, does it follow that what he did we did, and that his actions ought to be imputed to us?

Latin

Deus vero cum peccatum hominibus imputat & vindictam exercet, Judicis partibus fungitur, nihilque habet ob oculos praeter justitiam, qua suum cuique tribuit. Itaque nulli alienum peccatum attribuit, nulli poenam irrogat ob peccatum, quod nec in se habuit, nec admisit: summa est justitiae eius puritas, summus nitor, & splendor. Octavo, Rex cum bellum denunciat vel infert, actu Rex est, & qua Rex caput subditorum, & ad subditos relationem actu habet, & vicissim subditi ad eum. Itaque, cum actu & plures sint, & se mutuis relationibus respiciant, actu unum corpus constituunt, ex Rege & subditis constans. Adamus vero cum peccavit actu pater non erat, actu relationem ad nos nullam habebat, non erat actu caput nostrum, & vicissim nos ad eum nullam relationem actu habebamus. Tum demum nata est haec relatio, cum pater esse, & liberos habere coepit. Est autem, postquam creatus fuerat, centum & triginta annis demum Seth natus, ex quo nos omnes sumus. Itaque qui nulli tum eramus, cum eo coire in societatem, aut componere corpus non potuimus. Subditi enim sunt actu, sunt actu subditi, actu Rex eorum est caput, actu eius imperata tenentur exequi, actu cum eo corpus componunt, actu eum vel consilio vel opibus, vel manu, vel saltem votis juvant. Deinde, an quia eramus in Adamo potentia, sequitur quod ille fecit nos fecisse, nobisque eius actiones imputari debere?

About this text

New English, free to read. Open any section below.

English follows the locked 1661 Saumur Latin of Capita I–XIV partial through Man. Post. Caput IX (eph-ho / eph-ho pantes) before eph-ho / eph-ho pantes, reconstructed from IA PDF page images with Vision OCR and pdftotext as check. No modern English was copied. Cap. IX deepen+ remain.

Catalogue & scope

IA deimputationepri00lapl. Densify: Capita I–XII + Caput XIV + Man. Post. Cap. II–VI through Cap. X Rom. 5:14 tip. Not whole Disputatio; Cap. X Rom. 5:14+ / ~494 pp Disputatio remain.

Witnesses

This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.