This dispute led to yet another, concerning the natural powers of the human mind. On this subject a public debate was held at Weimar in 1560, between Flacius and Strigelius. Flacius maintained that
The fall of man extinguished in the human mind every virtuous tendency, every noble faculty, and left nothing but universal darkness and corruption.
Strigelius held that this degradation of the powers of the mind was by no means universal. And, hoping to defeat his opponent by puzzling him, put this question:
Should original sin, or the corrupt habit which the human soul contracted by the fall, be classed with substances or accidents?
Flacius replied that
Original sin is the very substance of human nature.
This bold assertion opened another controversy on the nature and extent of original sin.
