us_)." (Gieseler 3, 2, 245.) By original sin "the
substance of man is destroyed (_substantiam hominis ablatam esse_);"
after the Fall original sin is the substance of man; man's nature is
identical with sin; in conversion a new substance is created by God. In
particular, the assertions concerning the substantiality of original sin
gave rise to the so-called Flacian Controversy. After Strigel, at the
second session of the disputation in Weimar, had dilated on the
philosophical definitions of the terms "substance" and "accident"
("_accidens, quod adest vel abest praeter subiecti corruptionem_"), and
had declared that original sin was an accident which merely impeded free
will in its activity, Flacius, in the heat of the controversy,
exclaimed: "_Originale peccatum non est accidens_. Original sin is not
an accident, for the Scriptures call it flesh, the evil heart," etc.
Thus he fell into the pitfall which the wily Strigel had adroitly laid
for him. Though Flacius seemed to be loath to enter upon the matter any
further, and protested against the use of philosophical definitions in
theology, Strigel now was eager to entangle him still further, plying
him with the question: "_An negas peccatum originis esse accidens?_ Do
you deny that original sin is an accident?" Flacius answered: "_Lutherus
diserte negat esse accidens_. Luther expressly denies that it is an
accident." Strigel: "_Visne negare peccatum esse accidens?_ Do you mean
to deny that sin is an accident?" Flacius: "_Quod sit substantia, dixi
Scripturam et Lutherum affirmare._ I have said that Scripture and Luther
affirm that it is a substance." (Luthardt, 213. 216.)

After the session in which the fatal phrase had fallen from his lips,
Wigand and Musaeus expostulated with Flacius, designating (according to
later reports of theirs) his statement as "this new, perilous, and
blasphemous proposition of the ancient Manicheans (_haec nova,
periculosa et blasphema veterum Manichaeorum propositio_)." (Planck 4,
611.) Flacius declared that, "in the sudden and pressing exigency, in
the interest of truth, and against Pelagian enthusiasm, he had taken
this expression [concerning the substantiality of original sin] from
Luther's doctrine and books." (Preger 2, 324.) In the following (third)
session, however, he repeated his error, declaring: I must stand by my
statement that original sin is not an accident, but a substance,
"because the testimonies of the Holy Scriptures which emp