On the Imputation of Adam's First Sin · §298

Man. Post. Cap. VI: PLAC free vs judicial; conscience tip

Next, if it is a free action of God, how is it a judicial action of God? For by free he means, I think, what can be omitted without any violation of justice or of law. How then is it called judicial, if neither law nor justice requires it of the Judge? If no one is bound to know those things which God refused to reveal in His word, certainly no one is bound to know that imputation—if, as I contend, God did not reveal it in His word. For the rest, by those questions I chiefly attack the reasons which are usually given why that one first sin is immediately imputed to us all. Therefore either those reasons must be renounced, and refuge taken in God's will alone, to whom it pleased to impute that one and not others, or our interrogations must be answered. Finally, since God does nothing except most wisely, and most justly, and most well, if such an imputation seems to clash with justice, or wisdom, or goodness, a pious conscience shrinks from ascribing it to God, and cannot force that upon itself unless either that clash is removed, or it is somehow compelled to believe it by express testimonies of Scripture—of which there are in fact none.

Latin

Deinde si est actio Dei libera, quo modo est actio Dei judiciaria? Liberam enim, opinor, intelligit, quae potest absque ulla justitiae aut legis violatione omitti. Quomodo ergo judiciaria dicitur, si eam a Judice neque lex, neque justitia exigit? Si nemo tenetur ea nosse, quae Deus in verbo suo revelare noluit, certe nemo tenetur illam imputationem nosse, siquidem, ut contendo, Deus eam non revelavit in verbo suo. Caeterum quaestionibus illis oppugno potissimum rationes, quae reddi solent, cur unum illud peccatum primum nobis omnibus immediate imputetur. Iis igitur renunciandum est, ac ad solam Dei voluntatem confugiendum, cui placuit illud unum, non alia, imputare, aut nostris istis interrogatis respondendum. Denique cum Deus nihil faciat nisi sapientissime, & justissime, & optime, si ejusmodi imputatio aut justitiae, aut sapientiae, aut bonitati repugnare videatur, quominus tribuatur Deo pia refugit conscientia, nec potest id a se impetrare, nisi, vel tollatur illa repugnantia, vel disertis Scripturae testimoniis, quae profecto nulla sunt, ad eam credendam aliquo modo cogatur.

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. 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.