FathersVia Patrum

On the Imputation of Adam's First Sin · §62

Cap. VII: Infant death and Adam's sin — two senses; only mediate imputation conceded

Yet from there he draws out this argument: "To those on whom the penalty of death is inflicted on account of sin, sin is imputed. But before the law the penalty of death on account of Adam's sin was inflicted on infants. Therefore Adam's sin was imputed to them." I answer: Adam's sin is taken in two ways: (1) for that sin which, propagated from him into posterity and multiplied according to the number of men, is called flesh and the old Adam; (2) for the cause of that propagated sin, namely Adam's actual disobedience. If it is taken in the former way, I grant the whole argument. For I confess that that sin, because it is within us, is rightly imputed to us all, even to infants. If in the latter way, I distinguish the preposition "on account of": for it signifies either the near or immediate cause, or only the remote or mediate. If the former, I deny the minor proposition: the penalty of death was inflicted on infants immediately on account of the inherent vice, remotely on account of Adam's actual sin. If the latter, there follows only a mediate imputation of that actual sin, which I freely grant. Calvin taught me this, because, he says, Adam's sin is the cause of our sin, and Paul ascribes our ruin to him (Romans 5). "I call our sin," he says, "that which is inborn in us, and with which we are born." And Bullinger: "Adam's fall would not hurt us unless such perversity or corruption had been inborn in us from it as would deserve God's judgment" (Decades).

Latin

Sed tamen inde hoc argumentum elicit. Quibus irrogatur poena mortis propter peccatum, iis peccatum imputatur. Atqui infantibus irrogata est ante legem poena mortis propter peccatum Adae. Ergo iis peccatum Adae imputatum est. Resp. Peccatum Adae duobus modis accipi: 1. pro eo peccato, quod ab eo in posteros propagatum & secundum hominum numerum multiplicatum, caro & vetus Adam appellatur. 2. pro causa peccati illius propagati, nempe actuali Adae inobedientia. Si priore modo accipitur, concedo totum argumentum. Fateor enim peccatum illud, quia intra nos est, nobis omnibus, etiam infantibus, merito imputari. Si posteriore modo, distinguo praepositionem propter: nam vel causam proximam seu immediatam, vel remotam tantum seu mediatam significat. Si prius, nego minorem propositionem: irrogata est infantibus poena mortis proxime ob inhaerens vitium, remote ob Adami actuale peccatum. Si posterius, inde sequitur duntaxat peccati illius actualis imputatio mediata, quam ultro concedo. Hoc me docuit Calvinus, quia, inquit, ejus peccatum peccati nostri causa est, exitium nostrum illi Paulus ascribit. Peccatum nostrum voco, quod nobis ingenitum est, & cum quo nascimur. Et Bullingerus, non noceret nobis Adae lapsus, nisi talis ex eo perversitas seu corruptio nobis innata fuisset, quae Dei judicium promeretur.

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.