FathersVia Patrum

On the Imputation of Adam's First Sin · §179

Man. Post. Cap. II duplex: Mediata — Chamier; Hunnius mediate imputation

By Mediate or consequential I mean the imputation that follows upon hereditary corruption derived into us from Adam and is wrought through that corruption as means. By sharing that corruption we share Adam's sin and, so to speak, consent to it habitually—and so deserve to be numbered with Adam the sinner. Chamier taught me this in Panstratia, tome 3, book 6, chapter 4, on the punishments of sin, sections XVI–XVII. Look up the place and read it; I would have copied it here—it is striking—had I not been watching length. I cannot, though, refrain from adding the words of Aegidius Hunnius, the noted Augsburg Confession theologian, by which he teaches and explains this mediate imputation. "Paul therefore shows that Adam's fall is imputed to us his posterity not immediately and of itself, but mediately and on account of something else—namely because by that fall the first parents' nature was so polluted that they can beget only children corrupted and spoiled by sin, as it is written, Adam begat a son in his own likeness (Genesis 5). Had it been possible that their own vice was not passed to posterity, that fall as another's sin would plainly not have been imputed to them. So Paul clearly shows that that one offense yields to our condemnation only mediately, insofar as through that actual offense a horrible corruption entered nature, which he spread by carnal generation into his posterity. Thus from the fall comes corruption of nature; from that corruption derived into us come death and damnation—inasmuch as all have sinned, he says, that is, inasmuch as we ourselves have come into hereditary possession of it."

Latin

Mediatam seu consequentem appello eam, quae haereditariae corruptionis in nos ab Adamo derivatae intuitum consequitur, eaque mediante fit. Hujus enim corruptionis participatione communicamus peccato Adami, eique, ut ita loquar, habitualiter consentimus; ac propterea digni sumus, qui Adamo peccatori annumeremur. Id me Chamierus docuit Panstr. tom. 3. lib. 6. cap. 4. de poenis peccati § XVI. & XVII. Locum, si placet, quaere & lege. Huc transcripsissem (nam est insignis) nisi consulerem brevitatis. Sed tenere me non possum quin Aegidii Hunnii Augustanae confessionis Theologi celebris verba subiiciam, quibus hanc imputationem mediatam docet & explicat. Ostendit ergo (Apostolus Paulus) Lapsum Adami non immediate & per se, sed mediate & propter aliud nobis ejus posteris imputari, quia videlicet per lapsum illum polluta est natura primorum parentum, ut nonnisi peccato corruptos & vitiatos liberos procreare possint sicut scriptum est, genuit Adam filium ad imaginem suam Gen. 5. Alias si fieri potuisset, ut in posteros non vitium proprium derivaretur a primis parentibus, tum lapsus ille tanquam peccatum alienum eis plane non imputaretur. Palam igitur ostendit Paulus unum illud delictum nobis ad condemnationem cedere tantum Mediate, quatenus per delictum illud actuale introducta est in naturam horribilis corruptio, quam per carnalem generationem propagavit in ipsos posteros. Ita ut a lapsu corruptio Naturae, a corruptione naturae in nos derivata mors & damnatio perveniat, quatenus omnes peccavimus, inquit, id est quatenus ipsi in possessionem illius hereditariam devenimus.

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.