On the Imputation of Adam's First Sin · §188

Man. Post. Cap. II §XIX: Placeus — Paul’s sense; subordinate cause; mediate reatus

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Placeus: Did I take 'impute' as Paul took it when he said foreskin is imputed for circumcision (Romans 2:26)—yes or no? The learned man will not deny it. Then I was not gaming the word, unless he wants Paul gaming it too. I used Paul's sense; he is my heaviest warrant. But here, says he, we speak not of imputing just any thing, but of imputing another's sin. So what? May a word used of some other matter not also be used, in that same sense, of sin? He adds that imputing sin must not mean lining up different sins by different persons, or a parity of sins for punishment or guilt. How does that touch me? Did I mean by Adam's-disobedience imputation such a lineup or parity? No. Different persons' different sins are both actual; the vice born into us is not actual but only habitual. Neither of those different sins causes the other—yet Adam's actual disobedience caused the habitual vice in us. So those sins sit side by side (coordinated, if I may say so); these disobediences sit under one another. Adam's disobedience causes our inhering vice; that vice causes our guilt; therefore Adam's disobedience causes our guilt—at least as a mediate cause. We are guilty at once for the vice in us, and through that medium for Adam's actual disobedience—of which the inhering vice is a kind of habitual consent, approval, and share. That is why it may more properly be said imputed to us unto sin than foreskin unto circumcision for the Law's kept δικαιώματα.

Latin

PLAC. Sumpfine verbum imputandi eo sensu quo illud Paulus sumpsit, cum dixit praeputium imputari in circuncisionem, nec-ne? Non negat Vir doctus. Ergo in eo verbo non lusi, nisi velit in eodem verbo similiter lusisse Apostolum. In ea enim significatione illud usurpavi, cujus gravissimum habeo autorem, ipsum Paulum. At hic, inquit, non de imputatione cujusvis rei agitur, sed de imputatione peccati alieni. Quid tum postea? Est-ne aliquid quod prohibeat illud verbum, quo sensu de alia aliqua re usurpatur, eodem etiam usurpari de peccato? At per imputationem peccati non est intelligenda collatio diversorum peccatorum a diversis personis patratorum vel paritas inter diversa peccata. Quid hoc ad me? An per imputationem inobedientiae Adami talem intellexi vel collationem, vel paritatem? Non certe. Diversa peccata a diversis personis patrata sunt ambo peccata actualia; vitium nobis ab origine inhaerens non est peccatum actuale, sed habituale tantum. Illorum peccatorum diversorum unum non est causa alterius: cum tamen inobedientia actualis nobis inhaerentis habitualis causa fuerit. Itaque conferuntur illa diversa peccata, tanquam ut, ita loquar, coordinata, hae vero inobedientiae tanquam subordinatae. Cum ergo inobedientia Adami sit causa vitii nobis inhaerentis, & hoc sit causa reatus nostri, necesse est inobedientiam Adami causam esse nostri reatus, saltem mediatam. Itaque nos esse reos ob vitium nobis inhaerens immediate, eoque mediante ob inobedientiam illam actualem Adami, cujus vitium illud inhaerens habitualis quaedam est consensus & approbatio, & communio: ut ob eam causam magis proprie nobis in peccatum dici possit imputari, quam praeputium in circuncisionem, ob servata Legis δικαιώματα.

About this text

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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.