Two Dissertations · §584 · John Davenant

Cap. IX Resp. to Major's first confirmation: original sin is by contagion, not bare imputation; Adam's penitence was for himself

Now their confirmation of the Major. First they say it clashes with divine goodness that Adam who committed the sin be immune while others are smitten who are guilty by mere imputation. That confirmation has many faults. First: the question is not about men to be punished, but about men to be reprobated. Reprobation is one thing; damnation or punishment another — as we have often pressed. So those words wander from the question's scope. Next they too much thin original sin when they say it is ours by mere divine estimation and that we are guilty only by bare imputation. It is ours by contagious propagation, not bare imputation; we are guilty not only by God's mere estimation but by damnable corruption contracted in all the soul's faculties. Further, it does not clash with divine equity or goodness to free penitent Adam and punish others dying in original sin alone. What Adam did in the intact state he did as root of the human race — for us as for himself — so he is said to have stood and fallen not for himself alone but for all posterity. What he did in the fallen state he did for himself, not for posterity; by repenting he is said to have recovered divine grace and favor for himself, not for every posterity. Finally it is not iniquitous that God from mere mercy prepared and gave true serious penitence to Adam alone, and neither prepared nor gave the same saving penitence to many sprung from Adam. No law binds God more to give all Adam's posterity what he indulged Adam than to give Judas whatever from mere mercy he gave Paul or Peter.

Latin

Jam confirmationem Majoris attendamus. Primo, dicunt repugnare bonitati Divinae, ut immunis sit Adamus qui peccatum ipsum patravit, et alii plectantur, qui mera imputatione rei sunt. Multis vitiis laborat haec confirmatio. Primo, non de plectendis hominibus, sed de reprobandis quaeritur. Aliud enim est reprobatio, aliud damnatio vel punitio, ut saepe inculcavimus. A scopo igitur quaestionis haec verba aberrant. Deinde, nimis extenuant originale peccatum, quando dicunt illud pura puta Dei aestimatione nostrum esse, nosque non aliter quam mera imputatione reos esse. Nam nostrum est, non pura puta imputatione, sed contagiosa propagatione: nec rei tantum sumus mera Dei aestimatione, sed contracta omnium animae facultatum damnabili corruptione. Porro, non repugnat aequitati aut bonitati Divinae, Adamum poenitentem liberare, atque alios in solo originali peccato morientes punire. Nam quae fecit Adamus in statu integro, fecit ut radix generis humani, et tam nobis fecit quam sibi, adeo ut non sibi solum, sed posteris omnibus stetisse et cecidisse dicatur: at quae fecit in statu lapso, sibi fecit, non posteris; nam sibi, non posteris omnibus et singulis, poenitendo gratiam et favorem Divinum dicitur recuperasse. Denique, nec illud iniquum putandum est, quod Deus Adamo uni praeparaverit ac donaverit veram ac seriam poenitentiam ex mera sua misericordia, multis autem ex Adamo prognatis neque praeparaverit neque donaverit eandem poenitentiam salutarem. Nulla enim lege magis tenetur Deus praestare omnibus posteris Adae quod ipsi indulsit, quam exhibere Judae, quicquid Paulo aut Petro ex mera misericordia exhibuit.

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