A treatise of original sin ... proving that it is

A second Objection is, That if original sin be like a vicious habit in a man, then it cannot be transmitted unto posterity, for habits (they say) are personal things: No father doth communicate to his child any habits, either virtuous or vicious.

A second Objection is, That if original sinne be like a vicious habit in a man, then it cannot be transmitted unto posterity, for habits (they say) are personal things: No father doth communicate to his childe any habits, either virtuous or vicious.

But to this it's answered, That original sin is not an acquired habit of sin, but an innate and inbred one in us; So that as if Adam had stood, original righteousness, which was like a concreated habit in man, would have been communicated to all his posterity, thus it is no wonder, if original sin, which doth so tenaciously and inwardly adhere to all natures be transmitted to every one born in a natural way.

But to this it's answered, That original sinne is not an acquired habit of sinne, but an innate and imbred one in us; So that as if Adam had stood, original righteousnesse, which was like a concreated habit in man, would have been communicated to all his posterity, thus it is no wonder, if original sinne, which doth so tenaciously and inwardly adhere to all natures be transmitted to every one born in a natural way.

The last Objection is, That there is no necessity of supposing such an habitual vitiosity in a man; It's enough (say they) that a man be deprived of the Image of God, and when that is lost, of it's own self man's nature is prone to evil; It needs no habitual inclination to weigh him down; as if a wild beast be tied in cords and chains, lose him, untie him, and of himself he will run into wild and untamed actions.