SIN. 



whatever infirmities belong to it, is no other than God's own 

 work or gift ; and he thinks, that to afTert that the nature 

 which God gives us is the hateful objeft of his wrath, is little 

 lefs than blafphemy againft our good and bountiful Creator. 

 In his addrefs to the Ephefians, the apoftle is not fpeaking 

 of their nature, or the natural conftitution of their fouls 

 and bodies as they came into the world, but evidently of the 

 vicious courfe of life they had led among the Gentiles. 

 Nature frequently fignifies an acquired nature, which men 

 bring upon themfelves by contrafling either good or bad 

 habits. Befides, by nature may here fignify really, properly, 

 truly ; for nxm, children, ftriftly fignify the genuine children 

 of parents by natural generation ; and figuratively the word 

 denotes relation to a perfon or thing by way of friendfhip, 

 regard, imitation, obligation, &c.; fo that " children of 

 wrath" are thofe who are related to wrath, or liable to re- 

 jeftion or punithment. The Ephefians, as the apoftle tells 

 them, were Ttuva ?v3-!i, natural genuine children of wrath, 

 not by natural birth, or the natural conftitution of their 

 bodies or fouls, but they were related to wrath in the higheft 

 and flrifteft fenfe, with regard to fin and difobedience : — 

 Nature, in a metaphorical expreffion, fignifying that they 

 were really and truly children of wrath, i. e. flood in the 

 ftrifteft and clofeft relation to fuffering. 



Another pallage, fometimes referred to in conneftion vrith 

 this fubjeft, viz. Rom. viii. 7, 8, contains not fo much 

 as a fingle word that can carry our minds to Adam, or any 

 confequences of his fin upon us. 



Gen. vi. 5. exprefles the univcrfal wickednefs of the old 

 world, but does not fo much as intimate that our nature is 

 corrupted in Adam ; for the hiftorian doth not charge their 

 fin in any way upon Adam, but upon themfelves : and be- 

 fides, Noah is exempted out of the number of the corrupt 

 and profligate ; but this could not have been the cafe if the 

 alleged text is a good proof that by Adam's tranfgrefiion 

 the nature of all mankind is corrupted. 



Another text, which has been confidered as of great im- 

 portance in tliis controverfy, is Pf. li. 5, 6. " I was 

 fhapen in miquity, and in fin did my mother conceive 

 me." The word iri'^'^^ri' which we tranflate Jhapen, 

 fignifies, fays our author, to bring forth or bear. (If. 

 li. 2. Prov. viii. 24, 25.) Again, the word 'jriOH' 

 conceived me, properly fignifies tvarmid me ; and the expref- 

 fion conveys the idea, not of his being conceived, but 

 warmed, cherifhed, or nurfed by his mother, after he was 

 born. Accordingly, the verfe is thus tranfiated, " Behold, 

 I was born in iniquity, and in fin did my mother nurfe me ;" 

 which has no reference to the original formation of his con- 

 ftitution, but is a periphrafis for his being a finner from the 

 womb, and is as much as to fay, in plain language, I am a 

 great finner ; or I have contracted habits of fin. This, it is 

 faid, is a fcriptural way of aggravating wickednefs. (See 

 Pf. Iviii. 3. Ifaiah, xlviii. 8. ) In the whole pfalm there 

 is not one word about Adam, or the efFefts of his tranfgref- 

 fion upon us. The pfalmift is charging himfelf with his 

 own fin. But if the words be taken in the literal fenfe of 

 our verfion, then it is manifeft that he chargeth not himfelf 

 with his fin and wickednefs, but fome other perfon. But 

 our limits will not allow of our enlarging farther in this 

 way. 



Dr. Taylor proceeds, in part iii. of his book, to examine 

 and anfwer objections. It is aflced, i. Are we not in worfe 

 moral circumftances than Adam was ? If by moral circum- 

 Itances be meant the ftate of reafon and virtue in the world, 

 it is certain, that fince Adam's firft tranfgreffion, this has 

 become very different from a ftate of innocence. But this 

 is not the fault of human nature, no more than Adam'3 fin 



was the fault of his nature, but occafioned, a9 his tranf- 

 grefiion was, by the abufe of it. If by moral circumftances 

 be meant the provifion and means which God has furnilhed 

 for our fpiritual improvement, the apoftle to the Romans 

 exprefsly affirms, that in or by Jefus Chrift, God hath given 

 us an abundance of grace. But if by moral circumftances 

 be meant moral abilities, or mental powers, our author fug- 

 gefts, that there is no ground in revelation for exalting the 

 nature of Adam to fuch a degree of purity and ftrength 

 as fome divines have raifed it, when they affirm, that all his 

 faculties were perfeft, and entirely devoted to the love and 

 obedience of his creator. The fequel of his hiftory feem$ 

 to be inconfiftent with this notion. 



It is laid that man was made in the image of God ; 

 but can this be affirmed of his pofterity ? The image of 

 God muft be underftood either of the rational faculties of 

 his mind, or the dominion he had over the inferior crea- 

 tures, by which he bore the neareft refemblance to God of 

 any beings in this world ; and not, as Dr. Taylor conceives, 

 of hohnefs and righteoufnefs, which is a right ufe of our 

 fpiritual faculties; becaufe fuch an ufe of them could not be 

 till after they were created ; and this writer is of opinion, 

 that original righteoufnefs is as far from truth as original fin ; 

 and that to talk of our wanting that righteoufnefs in which 

 Adam was created, is to talk of nothing we want. Two 

 texts, w'z. Rom. ii. 14, 15, and Ecclcf. vii. 29, are cited by 

 the Aftembly of Divines in their larger Catechifm, to prove, 

 that our firft parents had the law of God written in their 

 hearts, and power to fulfil it, in oppofition to their pof- 

 terity, who want that rig^hteoufnefs in which they are fup- 

 pofed to have been created, and whofe nature is corrupted to 

 a lamentable degree : but if thele texts ipeak not of our 

 firft parents, but of their pofterity, and of the moft cor- 

 rupt part of their pofterity too, it muft be true, and the 

 truth is very important, " that by nature we have the law 

 of God written in our hearts, and power to fulfil it," as 

 well as they ; and are equally bound to be thankful to God 

 for our being, and to glorify him by it. 



We have already ipoken of that moral taint and in- 

 feftion, which we are laid to have derived from Adam; and 

 in confequence of which we have a natural propenfity to fin. 

 This taint or infeftion muft exift either in the body or the 

 foul. In the foul, which immediately proceeds from God, 

 it cannot exift ; nor in the body, which, in a ftate feparate 

 from the foul, is inaftive mstter, which in itfelf,neither is nor 

 can be the fubjeft of moral good and evil. But fuch an 

 infeftion, wherefoever it exifts, or howfoever it is propa- 

 gated, cannot be derived from Adam to every human 

 being, independently of the will and operation of God ; 

 and to aflert, that it is by his will and operation, is evi- 

 dently to make him the author of the pollution. It is main- 

 tained, that by propagation it is not polfible for parents to 

 communicate vice ; which is always the faulty choice of a 

 perfon's own will, otherwife it is not vice. Children, it has 

 been faid, be^in very foon to fin, and how can this faft be 

 accounted for but upon the fcheme of original fin ; namely, 

 that it is infufed into their nature ? To this objeftion it has 

 been replied, that th^ir early fin is owing to the early want of 

 inftruftion and difciphne. Another objeftion, which is 

 ftrongly urged by the advocates of original fin, is this : 

 Adam was a common or federal head and reprefentative of 

 all his pofterity, and confequently all his offspring finned in 

 him, as their root ; juft as Levi is faid to pay tithes in 

 Abraham (Heb. vii. 9.) and as the branches mufl be mo- 

 rally corrupt, if the root be in that ftate. (Rom. xi. 16.) 

 To the arguments deduced from the firft of thefe paftages it 

 has been rephed, that neither the cafe of Abraham and 



Levi, 



I 



