An Apology for the True Christian Divinity. Robert Barclay

no Law is, there is no Transgression. And again, v. 13. But Sin is not imputed, where there is no Law. To Infants there is no Law so no Transgression.Than which Testimonies there is nothing more positive; since to Infants there is no Law, seeing as such they are utterly uncapable of it; the Law cannot reach any but such as have in some Measure less or more the Exercise of their Understanding, which Infants have not. So that from thence I thus argue:

      Sin is imputed to none, where there is no Law.

      But to Infants there is no Law:

      Therefore Sin is not imputed to them.

      The Proposition is the Apostle’s own Words; the Assumption is thus proved:

      Those who are under a Physical Impossibility of either hearing, knowing, or understanding any Law, where the Impossibility is not brought upon them by any Act of their own, but is according to the very Order of Nature appointed by God; to such there is no Law.

      But Infants are under this Physical Impossibility:

      Therefore, &c.

      Secondly, What can be more positive than that of Ezek. xviii. 20. The Soul that sinneth, it shall die: The Son shall not bear the Father’s Iniquity? For the Prophet here first sheweth what is the Cause of Man’s Eternal Death, which he saith is his Sinning; and then, as if he purposed expresly to shut out such an Opinion, he assures us, The Son shall not bear the Father’s Iniquity. From which I thus argue:

      Infants bear not Adam’s Transgression.If the Son bear not the Iniquity of his Father, or of his immediate Parents, far less shall he bear the Iniquity of Adam.

      But the Son shall not bear the Iniquity of his Father:

      Therefore, &c.

      §. V.

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      Having thus far shewn how absurd this Opinion is, I shall briefly examine the Reasons its Authors bring for it.

      

      Obj. 1.First, They say, Adam was a publick Person, and therefore all Men sinned in him, as being in his Loins. And for this they allege that of Rom. v. 12. Wherefore as by one Man Sin entered into the World, and Death by Sin; and so Death passed upon all Men, for that all have sinned, &c. These last Words, say they, may be translated, In whom all have sinned.

      Answ.To this I answer: That Adam is a publick Person is not denied; and that through him there is a Seed of Sin propagated to all Men, which in its own Nature is sinful, and inclines Men to Iniquity; yet it will not follow from thence, that Infants, who join not with this Seed, are guilty. As for these Words in the Romans, the Reason of the Guilt there alleged is, For that all have sinned. Now no Man is said to sin, unless he actually sin in his own Person; for the Greek Words [Greek: eph' ô: εφ ω] may very well relate to [Greek: thanatos: θανατος], which is the nearest Antecedent; so that they hold forth, how that Adam, by his Sin, gave an Entrance to Sin in the World; And so Death entered by Sin, [Greek: eph' ô: εφ ω] i.e. upon which [viz. Occasion] or, in which [viz. Death] all others have sinned; that is, actually in their own Persons; to wit, all that were capable of sinning: Of which Number that Infants could not be, the Apostle clearly shews by the following Verse, Sin is not imputed, where there is no Law: And since, as is above proved, there is no Law to Infants, they cannot be here included.

      Obj. 2.Their Second Objection is from Psalm li. 5. Behold I was shapen in Iniquity, and in Sin did my Mother conceive me. Hence, they say, it appears that Infants from their Conception are guilty.

      Answ. How they infer this Consequence, for my Part I see not. The Iniquity and Sin here appears to be far more ascribable to the Parents than to the Child. Conceived in Sin answered.It is said indeed, In Sin did my Mother conceive me; not my Mother did conceive me a Sinner. Besides that, so interpreted, contradicts expresly the Scripture before-mentioned in making Children guilty of the Sins of their immediate Parents, (for of Adam there is not here any Mention) contrary to the plain Words, The Son shall not bear the Father’s Iniquity.

      

      Obj. 3.Thirdly, They object, That the Wages of Sin is Death; and that seeing Children are subject to Diseases and Death, therefore they must be guilty of Sin.

      Answ.I answer; That these Things are a Consequence of the Fall, and of Adam’s Sin, is confessed; but that that infers necessarily a Guilt in all others that are subject to them is denied. Death the Wages of Sin answered.For though the Whole outward Creation suffered a Decay by Adam’s Fall, which groans under Vanity; according to which it is said in Job, That the Heavens are not clean in the Sight of God; yet will it not from thence follow, that the Herbs, Earth, and Trees are Sinners.

      Next, Death, though a Consequent of the Fall, incident to Man’s earthly Nature, is not the Wages of Sin in the Saints, but rather a Sleep, by which they pass from Death to Life; which is so far from being troublesome and painful to them, as all real Punishments for Sin are, that the Apostle counts it Gain: To me, saith he, to die is Gain, Philip. i. 21.

      Obj. 4.Some are so foolish as to make an Objection farther, saying, That if Adam’s Sin be not imputed to those who actually have not sinned, then it would follow that all Infants are saved.

      Answ. But we are willing that this supposed Absurdity should be the Consequence of our Doctrine, rather than that which it seems our Adversaries reckon not absurd, though the undoubted and unavoidable Consequence of theirs, viz. That many Infants eternally perish, not for any Sin of their own, but only for Adam’s Iniquity; where we are willing to let the Controversy stop, commending both to the illuminated Understanding of the Christian Reader.

      This Error of our Adversaries is both denied and refuted by Zuinglius, that eminent Founder of the Protestant Churches of Switzerland, in his Book De Baptismo, for which he is anathematized by the Council of Trent, in the Fifth Session. We shall only add this Information: That we confess then that a Seed of Sin is transmitted to all Men from Adam, although imputed to none, until by sinning they actually join with it; in which Seed he gave Occasion to all to sin, and it is the Origin of all evil Actions and Thoughts in Men’s Hearts, [Greek: eph' ô: εφ ω] to wit, [Greek: thanatô: θανατω], as it is in Rom. v. i.e. In which Death all have sinned. For this Seed of Sin is frequently called Death in the Scripture, and the Body of Death; seeing indeed it is a Death to the Life of Righteousness and Holiness: Therefore its Seed and its Product is called the Old Man, the Old Adam, in which all Sin is; for which cause we use this Name to express this Sin, and not that of Original Sin; Original Sin no Scripture Phrase.of which Phrase the Scripture makes no Mention, and under which invented and unscriptural Barbarism this Notion of Imputed Sin to Infants took Place among Christians.

PROPOSITIONS V. & VI.

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      Concerning the Universal Redemption by Christ, and also the Saving and Spiritual Light, wherewith every Man is enlightened.

      PROPOSITION V.

[54]God, out of his Infinite Love, who delighteth not in the Death of a Sinner, but that all should live and be saved, hath so loved the World, that he hath given his only Son a Light, that whosoever believeth in him shall be saved, John iii. 16. Who enlighteneth EVERY Man that cometh into the World, John i. 9. And maketh manifest all Things