, but is in another,
and cannot exist or be by itself, he must confess straight and pat that
original sin is no substance, but an accident." (877, 54; 57.)

Flacius, however, took the words "substance" and "accident" in a
different sense. He distinguished between the material and formal
substance, and the latter he regarded as man's true original essence.
This essence he explained, consisted in the original righteousness and
holiness of man, in the image of God or the will as truly free and in
proper relation toward God. He said: "Ipsum hominem _essentialiter_ sic
esse formatum, ut recta voluntas esset imago Dei, non tantum eius
accidens." (Seeberg 4, 494.) He drew the conclusion that original sin,
by which the image of God (not the human understanding and will as such)
is lost, cannot be a mere accident, but constitutes the very essence and
substance of fallen man. He argued: The image of God is the formal
essence of man, or the soul itself according to its best part, by
original sin this image is changed into its opposite: hence the change
wrought by original sin is not accidental, but substantial,--just as
substantial and essential as when wine is changed into vinegar or fire
into frost. What man has lost, said Flacius, is not indeed his material
substance (_substantia materialis_), but his true formal substance or
substantial form (_substantia formalis_ or _forma substantialis_). Hence
also original sin, or the corruption resulting from the Fall, in reality
is, and must be designated, the formal substance or substantial form of
natural man. Not all gifts of creation were lost to man by his Fall; the
most essential boon, however, the image of God, was destroyed and
changed into the image of Satan. "In homine," said Flacius, "et mansit
aliquid, et tamen quod optimum in ratione et essentia fuit, nempe imago
Dei, non tantum evanuit, sed etiam in contrarium, nempe in imaginem
diaboli, commutatum est." The devil, Flacius continued, has robbed man
of his original form (_forma_), the image of God, and stamped him with
his own diabolical form and nature. (Luthardt 215; Gieseler 3, 2, 253.)

170. Further Explanations of Flacius.

The manner in which Flacius distinguished between material and formal
substance appears from the tract on original sin (_De Peccati Originalis
aut Veteris Adami Appellationibus et Essentia_), which he appended to
his _Clavis Scripturae_ of 1567. There we read: "In this disputation
concerning the co