at the fundamental view of Flacius, however, was much farther apart
from Manicheism than some of his radical phrases imply, appears from his
"_Gnowthi seauton, De Essentia Originalis Institutiae,_" of 1568. After
admitting that Augustine, Luther, and the _Apology of the Augsburg
Confession_ are correct when they define original sin as an inordinate
disposition, a disorder (_ataxia_), perversion, and confusion of the
parts of man, Flacius proceeds: "The substantial form of a certain thing
for the most part, consists in the right position and disposition of the
parts; as, for example, if a human body were born which had its eyes,
ears, and mouth on the belly or feet, and, _vice versa,_ the toes on the
head, no one would say that it was properly a man, but rather a monster.
... It appears, therefore, that the inordinate disposition of the parts
produces an altogether new body or thing. Thus, forsooth, the horrible
perturbation of the soul has also produced, as it were a new kind of
monster fighting against God." (Preger 2, 409.) Accordingly, it was not
man's body and soul as such, but the alteration of the relation of his
powers toward one another and the consequent corruption of these powers,
that Flacius had in mind when he designated original sin as the new
substantial form, or substance, of sinful man.

Flacius expressly denied that the fall of man or his conversion involved
a physical change. "I do not teach a physical regeneration," he
declared, "nor do I say that two hearts are created, but I say that this
most excellent part of the soul or of man is once more established, or
that the image of God is recast and transformed out of the image of
Satan, even as before the image of God was transformed into the image of
Satan. _Physicam renascentiam non assero nec dico duo corda creari, sed
dico istam praestantissimam animae aut hominis partem denuo condi aut ex
imagine Satanae refundi aut transformari imaginem Dei, sicut antea imago
Dei fuit transformata in imaginem Satanae._" (Seeberg 4, 495.) Gieseler
pertinently remarks: "It is apparent that Flacius did not deviate from
the common concept of original sin, but from the concepts of substance
and accident, but that here, too, he was uncertain, inasmuch as he
employed the terms _substantia, forma substantialis,_ and _substantia
formalis_ promiscuously." (3, 2, 255.)

If not necessarily involved in, it was at least in keeping with his
extreme position and extravagant phras