Chapter 10.—The Analogy of Grace.

No doubt all they imitate Adam who by disobedience transgress the commandment of God; but he is one thing as an example to those who sin because they choose; and another thing as the progenitor of all who are born with sin. All His saints, also, imitate Christ in the pursuit of righteousness; whence the same apostle, whom we have already quoted, says: “Be ye imitators of me, as I am also of Christ.”31    1 Cor. xi. 1. But besides this imitation, His grace works within us our illumination and justification, by that operation concerning which the same preacher of His [name] says: “Neither is he that planteth anything, nor he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.”32    1 Cor. iii. 7. For by this grace He engrafts into His body even baptized infants, who certainly have not yet become able to imitate any one. As therefore He, in whom all are made alive, besides offering Himself as an example of righteousness to those who imitate Him, gives also to those who believe on Him the hidden grace of His Spirit, which He secretly infuses even into infants; so likewise he, in whom all die, besides being an example for imitation to those who wilfully transgress the commandment of the Lord, depraved also in his own person all who come of his stock by the hidden corruption of his own carnal concupiscence. It is entirely on this account, and for no other reason, that the apostle says: “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so passed upon all men; in which all have sinned.”33    Rom. v. 12. Now if I were to say this, they would raise an objection, and loudly insist that I was incorrect both in expression and sense; for they would perceive no sense in these words when spoken by an ordinary man, except that sense which they refuse to see in the apostle. Since, however, these are the words of him to whose authority and doctrine they submit, they charge us with slowness of understanding, while they endeavour to wrest to some unintelligible sense words which were written in a clear and obvious purport. “By one man,” says he, “sin entered into the world, and death by sin.” This indicates propagation, not imitation; for if imitation were meant, he would have said, “By the devil.” But as no one doubts, he refers to that first man who is called Adam: “And so,” says he, “it passed upon all men.”

10. Imitantur quidem Adam, quotquot per inobedientiam transgrediuntur mandatum Dei: sed aliud est quod exemplum est voluntate peccantibus, aliud quod origo est cum peccato nascentibus. Nam et Christum imitantur sancti ejus ad sequendam justitiam. Unde et idem apostolus dicit, Imitatores mei estote, sicut et ego Christi (I Cor. XI, 1). Sed praeter hanc imitationem, gratia ejus illuminationem justificationemque nostram etiam intrinsecus operatur, illo opere de quo idem praedicator ejus dicit, Neque qui plantat est aliquid, neque qui rigat; sed qui incrementum dat Deus (Id. III, 7). Hac enim gratia baptizatos quoque parvulos suo inserit corpori, qui certe imitari aliquem nondum valent. Sicut ergo illo in quo omnes vivificantur, praeter quod se ad justitiam 0115 exemplum imitantibus praebuit, dat etiam sui spiritus occultissimam fidelibus gratiam, quam latenter infundit et parvulis: sic et ille in quo omnes moriuntur, praeter quod eis qui praeceptum Domini voluntate transgrediuntur, imitationis exemplum est, occulta etiam tabe carnalis concupiscentiae suae tabificavit in se omnes de sua stirpe venientes . Hinc omnino, nec aliunde, Apostolus dicit, Per unum hominem peccatum intravit in mundum, et per peccatum mors; et ita in omnes homines pertransivit, in quo omnes peccaverunt. Hoc si ego dicerem, resisterent isti, meque non recte dicere, non recte sentire clamarent. Nullam quippe in his verbis intelligerent sententiam cujuslibet hominis , nisi istam quam in Apostolo intelligere nolunt. Sed quia ejus verba sunt, cujus auctoritati doctrinaeque succumbunt, nobis objiciunt intelligendi tarditatem, cum ea quae tam perspicue dicta sunt, in nescio quid aliud detorquere conantur. Per unum, inquit, hominem peccatum intravit in mundum, et per peccatum mors. Hoc propagationis est, non imitationis: nam si imitationis, Per diabolum diceret . Quod autem nemo ambigit, istum primum hominem dicit, qui est appellatus Adam. Et ita, inquit, in omnes homines pertransiit.