On the Imputation of Adam's First Sin · §303

Man. Post. Cap. VI: PLAC vs head-body reciprocity; free imputation

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PLAC. By this interrogation I did not immediately attack the immediate imputation of the first sin, but the reason by which it was fortified—namely that that first sin of Adam is imputed to all his posterity because Adam composed with his posterity one body of which he was head, we all his posterity members, and what the head does is imputed to the whole body: I objected that if this reason holds, there is no cause why what the members do should not likewise be imputed to the head, or even to the whole body, because the relation of head and members is reciprocal. And so, not attending to my mind, and to the circumstance of the place whence he drew this interrogation, the Learned Man does not answer to the point. For as to his first reply: first, it is not of the nature of a head that members be in it radically and seminarily. Next, if the question were of natural propagation, it would indeed be an excellent reason why sin was propagated from Adam into posterity rather than from posterity into Adam, because posterity are from Adam, not Adam from posterity; but when the matter is immediate imputation, which is a free act of God, if He regarded Adam's posterity as his members composing one body with him, why could God not equally impute posterity's sin to Adam and Adam's to posterity—especially since posterity were in no way the cause of Adam's sin, but Adam was the cause of posterity's sin?

Latin

PLAC. Hac interrogatione non oppugnavi immediate imputationem immediatam primi peccati, sed rationem qua firmabatur, ideo scilicet primum illud Adami peccatum omnibus eius posteris imputari, quoniam Adamus componebat cum suis posteris unum corpus, cuius ipse caput erat, nos omnes eius posteri membra, quod autem facit caput toti corpori imputatur: objiciebam, si valet haec ratio, causam non esse, cur non itidem quae faciunt membra capiti, aut etiam toti corpori imputentur, quia reciproca est capitis & membrorum relatio. Itaque non attendens ad mentem meam, & loci, unde hanc interrogationem deprompsit, circumstantiam, Vir Doctus non ad rem respondet. Nam ad primam eius responsionem quod spectat, primo non est de ratione capitis ut sint in eo membra radicaliter & seminaliter. Deinde si de propagatione ageretur naturali, optima quidem esset ratio, cur propagatum fuerit peccatum ab Adamo in posteros, potius quam a posteris in Adamum, quia nempe posteri sunt ab Adamo, non Adamus a posteris: sed cum agatur de imputatione immediata, quae sit libera Dei actio, si spectavit posteros Adami tanquam eius membra unum cum eo corpus componentes, cur non potuit Deus aeque posterorum Adamo, atque Adami posteris peccatum imputare, praesertim cum posteri nullo modo causa fuerint peccati Adami, Adamus vero causa fuerit peccati posterorum?

About this text

Josue de la Place (Placeus) — Capita I–XIV partial of De imputatione primi peccati Adami from the 1661 Saumur Latin, through Man. Post. Caput X (GAR.1–3 Rom. 5.13 tip) / before PLAC on reatus-only. Honest partial; Cap. X Rom. 5:14+ / ~494 pp Disputatio remain.

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.