The first Chapter. Of Sinne, especiallie originall sinne; and of the vniuersall corrupting of mans nature.
¶ Looke the like place In Gen. 8. at the end.
1 FIrst, wee will sée, whether there be anie originall sin or no: for there be some, which vtterlie denie the same to bée: then wée will declare, what it is; lastlie, what properties it hath, and how by succession it is conueighed to the posteritie, and by what meanes it is released. As touching the first, we must remember, that both in the holie scriptures, & also among the fathers, it hath diuers names; for in the seuenth chapter of the epistle to the Romans, 2 it is called sinne, and the lawe of the members, and concupiscence. Else-where, it is called the want of originall righteousnes, a corruption of nature, a lumpe of wickednes, a froth, a weaknes naturall, 3 the lawe of the flesh, and such other like. The Pelagians in old time denied this sinne; at this daie, the Anabaptists denie it. These in a maner may be accounted their arguments. First they saie, that the fall of Adam was sufficientlie punished in himselfe, and that there is no cause why God will reuenge it in his posteritie; especiallie séeing it is written in the prophet Nahum, that God dooth not twise punish one and the selfe-same thing: for it sufficeth him that he had once punished. Moreouer, it is also written, 4 that The sonne shall not beare the fathers iniquitie, but the soule that sinneth, the same shall die. Further, that the bodie, when it is formed in the wombe, is the workmanship of God, and hath nothing that ought to be blamed; naie rather, which is not woorthie of great admiration: that the soule also is either created or infused by GOD: and that the meanes of propagation cannot be accounted euill; bicause marriage in the holie scriptures is commended, and that from the beginning God commanded man to beget children. Wherfore among so manie defenses of innocencie, they demand by what entrances sinne could insinuate it selfe.
They adde also, that Paule in his first epistle to the Corinthians, 5 when he exhorteth the beléeuing wife to abide with hir vnbeléeuing husband, if he will abide with hir, among other things saith; Your children are holie. But they saie, that they cannot be holie, if they be borne in sinne; and that therefore they which be borne of faithfull parents, cannot drawe with them originall sinne. They affirme withall, that it is commonlie said, that sinne is a thing spoken, doone, or lusted against the lawe of God; and that it is not sinne, vnles it be voluntarie. And (as Iohn saith in his first epistle the fourth chapter) Sinne is iniquitie, 6 contrarie wherevnto is equitie or right; and that this can be no other thing, than is conteined in the lawe, and so that sinne is a transgression of the lawe. All which things cannot fall into infants, when they be borne. And they saie further, that it séemeth not conuenient which is spoken of some; namelie, that this sinne is by the flesh or bodie powred out from one to another: for that the flesh and the bodie are in their owne nature senselesse things, neither can they séeme to be a méet subiect for sinne. And to establish their feigned deuise, they said besides, that those things which are spoken by Paule, 7 in the fift to the Romans, must be extended vnto the sinnes, which be called actuall. But they saie, that it is therefore said, that sinne entered by one man into the world, bicause of the imitation and example which the posteritie followed.
2 By these and such other like arguments they being led, denie that there is anie originall sinne. But as for death, and the afflictions of this life, which are commonlie brought as tokens whereby originall sinne is confirmed, they say that those consist of naturall causes, such as in the temperature of the elements and of the humors. And therefore they saie, it is a vaine fable, that we refer them to the fall of Adam. And they thinke it to be a thing most absurd, to affirme, that to be sinne, which by no maner of meanes can be auoided. Lastlie they saie, that if by that meanes we shall be said to sinne in Adam, bicause we were in his loines, according as it is said of Leuie in the epistle to the Hebrues, 8 that He paied tythes in the loines of Abraham: by the like and selfe-same reason we may saie, that we were in the loines of other our forefathers, from whom we haue descended by procreation; and that therefore there is no cause whie the sinne of Adam hath béene deriued vnto vs, rather than the sinne of our grandfather, great grandfather, his father, or of anie other our progenitours. And that by this meanes the state of them, which shall be borne in the latter daies, would séeme to be most vnhappie; for that they must beare the offenses of all their forefathers. These things alledge they, to prooue that there is no originall sinne.