be subject to punishment. These men admit that a mortal and corrupt nature is derived from Adam to all his descendants; and that this corruption is so strong, that no man ever lived to the age of maturity without sin; and consequently that every such person is liable to divine punishment, for the sins which he has himself actually committed, but not for Adam's sin. They therefore think that infants and idiots die, because of Adam's sin, but that no farther punishment awaits them. Our being thus adjudged to death, and to all the miseries that accompany mortality, they think may be well called God's wrath and damnation, as temporary judgments are often so denominated in Scripture in this sense they understand the words of the Article; and bishop Burnet seems to think it possible, that the framers of it, although their own opinion coincided with that of Augustine, from a spirit of moderation, designedly used such expressions as would admit of another interpretation.

It must be acknowledged that original guilt, considered in this point of view, is a difficult and abstruse subject; and as the Scriptures do not inform us what were the full and precise effects of Adam's disobedience upon his posterity, it is perhaps scarcely to be expected that there should be an uniformity of opinion among divines

VOL. II.

R

In

divines upon that point; we may however observe, that the difference between those who confine original guilt to a mere liability to death and șin, and those who extend it to a liability to punishment also, is not very material, since both sides admit that Christ died as a propitiation for all the sins of the whole world, whatever were the nature and character of those sins. either case the effects of Christ's obedience are commensurate with those of Adam's disobedience; and upon either principle, if we believe the Gospel, and act conformably to its precepts, all our sins, whether original in Adam, or actual in ourselves, will be forgiven, and we shall be eternally happy: "As by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life (j)." They who consider the sin of Adam as imputed to all his descendants, believe that that sin will be remitted for the sake, and through the mediation, of Christ, and they contend that it is as consonant to perfect justice to impute the sin of Adam, as to impute the merits of Christ, to all mankind; and that the divine goodness is fully vindicated by the assurance, that God had pre-ordained the redemption of

(j) Rom. c. 5. v. 18.

man

man by Christ Jesus, when he punished the disobedience of Adam upon his posterity. There are indeed many passages in Scripture, which from the context appear to refer solely to the redemption of mankind from the guilt and penalty of sin, which Adam entailed upon the human race. In this sense, "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," was "the Redeemer of the whole world,”-delivered all mankind, without any exception, from the power of sin and death, to which they are by nature subject, and rendered them capable of eternal happiness, but at the same time at liberty, as responsible beings, to forfeit or secure that title to immortality, which he purchased by his blood. Thus the case of infants and idiots, who arc incapable of actual sin, of individual guilt, is clearly consistent with the justice and goodness of God, though considered as by nature liable to punishment. Thus "the Gentiles who are without the law" of Moses or cf Christ, and cannot be saved by faith ("for how shall they believe if they have not heard?") partake of "the salvation which is by Christ;" and thus the world collectively is "made free from sin"-free from the punishment of original or birth-sin"being justified freely by grace," while individually "all men are sinners," remain in a corrupted

state of nature, and subject to disease and death, and the miseries of this world, and liable to future condemnation; for, "there is no man liveth that sinneth not," doth not commit actual sins.

AND THIS

INFECTION OF NATURE DOTH

REMAIN, YEA IN THEM THAT ARE REGENERATED, WHEREBY THE LUST OF THE FLESH, CALLED IN GREEK ΦΡΟΝΗΜΑ ΣΑΡΚΟΣ, WHICH SOME DO EXPOUND THE WISDOM (k), SOME SENSUALITY, SOME AFFECTION, SOME

THE

THE DESIRE OF THE FLESH, IS NOT SUBJECT TO THE LAW OF GOD.

That the corruption of

The

nature does always continue, every one must know from his own experience; and that it is not subject to the law of God, is expressly asserted by St. Paul: "The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be (1)." members of the church of Rome maintained that original sin is entirely taken away by baptism; but there is no authority for this opinion in Scripture; on the contrary, St. Paul says to the Galatian converts, "The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would (m):"

(k) The Vulgate renders it Sapientia Carnis.
(1) Rom. c. 8. v.7.

(m) Gal. c. 5. v. 17.

and

and St. Peter admonishes the Christians to whom he writes, " to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul (n):" and St. James says, every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed (o)." These Epistles were all written to persons who had been baptized, and the apostles evidently consider them as still liable to the "infection of nature," contracted by the fall of man. "There is no reason," says bishop Burnet, "to think that baptism takes away all the branches and effects of original sin; it is enough if we are by it delivered from the wrath of God, and brought into a state of favour and acceptation: we are freed from the curse of death by our being an-titled to a blessed resurrection; and if we are so far freed from the corruption of our nature, as to have a fœderal right to such assistance as will enable us to resist and repress it, though it is not quite extinct in us so long as we live in these frail and mortal bodies, here are very great effects of our admission to Christianity by baptism, though this should not go so far as to root all inclinations to evil out of our nature."

THAT THERE IS NO CONDEMNATION FOR THEM THAT BELIEVE AND ARE BAPTIZED, we learn from St. Paul: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus

(n) 1 Pet. c. 2. v. 11.

(0) James, c. 1. V, 14.