FathersVia Patrum

On the Imputation of Adam's First Sin · §304

Man. Post. Cap. VI: PLAC poena-order tip; GAR erotema 3 later sins

As for his other reply: first, while Adam lived his sons and grandsons sinned. Next, the judgment of the last day, and the penalty that will follow, will be later than the sins of Adam's posterity, and indeed of all of them. Third, since imputation is an act of God, and God then had present all Adam's posterity, He also had present their sins—why then could He not impute them? Finally, if penalty always follows sin in the order of nature and never precedes it, surely also sin in the order of nature always follows the existence of him to whom it is imputed, and never precedes it. S asked third. Since Adam after that first sin did not at once cease to be head of the human race, why are his following sins not equally imputed as the first? Reply 1. Because the Apostle mentions one offense and disobedience of one man, not several, on account of which men were constituted sinners. 2. Because by that first sin of his Adam was shaken out of the benefit of that covenant which God had struck with the whole race in Adam's person. And so even if he did not cease to be head by relation of origin, he did cease by relation of covenant. For the imputation of which we speak, both were necessary: that Adam be both the root whence the human race should arise, and depositary of the covenant which he might keep or lose for himself and his. When therefore this later relation of head ceased through that first sin of disobedience, it is no wonder if Adam's following sins are not imputed, since in committing them he no longer sustained that former person, nor was head in the way God had at first constituted him.

Latin

Ad alteram autem eius responsionem quod attinet, primum vivente Adamo eius filii & nepotes peccaverunt. Deinde ultimi diei judicium quae sequetur poena posterior erit peccatis posterorum Adami, & quidem omnium. Tertio cum imputatio sit actio Dei, & Deus tum habuerit praesentes omnes Adami posteros, habuit etiam praesentia eorum peccata, cur ergo ea imputare non potuit? Denique, si poena peccatum ordine naturae semper insequitur, nunquam antecedit, certe etiam peccatum ordine naturae semper insequitur existentiam eius cui imputatur, nunquam antecedit. GAR. Quaeritur tertio. Cum Adamus post peccatum illud primum continuo non desierit esse caput generis humani, cur non sequentia eius peccata aeque imputantur ac primum? Resp. 1. Quia unam unius offensam & inobedientiam, non plures memorat Apostolus, ob quam homines peccatores constituti fuerint. 2. Quia Adamus per primum illud peccatum suum, excussus est beneficio foederis illius, quod Deus cum toto genere in Adami persona pactus fuerat. Itaque etiamsi non desierit esse caput relatione originis, desiit tamen esse relatione foederis. Ad imputationem autem de qua loquimur, utrumque necessarium fuit, ut scilicet Adamus, & radix esset, unde genus humanum oriretur, & foederis depositarius, quod sibi & suis, aut conservaret, aut amitteret. Cum ergo posterior haec relatio capitis cessaverit per primum illud inobedientiae peccatum, nihil mirum si peccata Adami sequentia non imputentur, cum in eorum patratione priorem illam personam non amplius sustineret, neque caput esset eo modo, quo Deus ipsum initio constituerat.

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.