On the Imputation of Adam's First Sin · §401

Man. Post. Cap. VII: Absurdities if Adam's will = all men's; tip before GAR reply

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You indeed say that Adam's will, when he sinned, was the will of all men: but to one who affirms without bringing a reason I oppose Chamier—our will never was Adam's will. And since that proposition is negative, it converts simply into this: Adam's will never was our will. Shall I drag the absurdity of your saying into the light? 1. If Adam's will was the will of all men, then it was a universal will. Yet it is clear it was as singular as anyone else's. 2. If Adam's will was, for example, my will, then also his soul was my soul, and his body my body, and his mouth my mouth, and his wife my wife, &c. 3. If Adam's will was my will, then I have two wills—one some thousands of years before I was; another created lately, nearly fifty years ago—one really, even locally, divided and separated from the other, one common, one proper. Further, if I have two wills, also two souls, two bodies. So I who thought myself one man have turned out two—one common, one proper; that one long since dead, this one still living. Do not flee to figures of speech. For you want Adam's sin truly and properly imputed to us all, and so us to have truly and properly committed it. But we did not truly and properly commit it unless Adam's will by which it was committed was truly and properly our will. 4. If Adam's will was the will of all men, then Adam's acts of will were acts of all men—the same of acts of mind. And if his elicited acts of will were acts of all men, then doubtless also his commanded acts of will. When he spoke, all men spoke; when he walked, all walked; when he ate, all ate; when he begot, all begot. Does this please you?—unless perhaps you want Adam's will to have had this privilege of being ours only for that moment when he sinned: I would rather it had been at some other time.

Latin

Tu quidem ais, voluntatem Adami, cum peccavit, fuisse voluntatem omnium hominum: sed affirmanti, nec rationem afferenti oppono Chamierum, voluntas nostra nunquam fuit voluntas Adami. Cum enim haec propositio sit negans, convertitur simpliciter in hanc, Voluntas Adami nunquam fuit voluntas nostra. Vin' tui huius dicti protraham in lucem absurditatem? 1. Si voluntas Adami fuit voluntas omnium hominum; igitur fuit voluntas universalis. Atqui constat tam singularem fuisse, quam alius cuiusvis. 2. Si voluntas Adami fuit, exempli causa, mea voluntas, igitur etiam eius anima fuit mea anima, & eius corpus fuit meum corpus, & eius os fuit meum os, & eius uxor fuit mea uxor &c. 3. Si voluntas Adami fuit mea voluntas, igitur duas habeo voluntates, unam aliquot millibus annorum antequam essem; alteram creatam nuper, annis abhinc fere quinquaginta, alteram ab altera realiter, immo localiter, divisam & separatam, unam communem, alteram propriam. Porro si duas voluntates habeo, etiam duas animas, duo corpora. Itaque qui me unum hominem esse putabam, evasi in duos, unum communem, alterum proprium; illum pridem fato suo functum, hunc adhuc viventem. Noli confugere ad figuras sermonis. Vis enim nobis omnibus vere & proprie imputari peccatum Adami, ac proinde nos illud vere & proprie commisisse. Non commisimus autem vere & proprie, nisi voluntas Adami qua commissum est vere & proprie nostra fuerit voluntas. 4. Si voluntas Adami fuit voluntas omnium hominum, igitur actus voluntatis Adami fuerunt actus omnium hominum: idem dicendum de actibus mentis. Quod si actus voluntatis eius eliciti fuerunt actus omnium hominum, etiam proculdubio actus eius voluntatis imperati. Cum loquebatur, loquebantur omnes homines; cum ambulabat, ambulabant omnes; cum edebat, edebant omnes; cum gignebat, gignebant omnes. Hoccine tibi probatur? nisi fortasse vis hoc privilegium habuisse voluntatem Adami ut nostra esset voluntas, pro eo duntaxat momento quo peccavit: mallem fuisset alio potius tempore.

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.