eternal separation from the presence and glory of God, and to all the torments of hell. (c)

(a) Eccl. vii. 29. God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions.

(b) Rom. v. 12.

:

By one man sin entered into the world, and

death by sin and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.

(c) Eph. ii. 3. Among whom also we all had our conversa

tion in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh, and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.-Rom. vi. 23. The wages of sin is death.-Matt. xxv. 41. Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Q. 29. What was the object of this prohibition to our first parents?

A. The object was twofold; first, to form a test of the subjection of the creature to the great Creator; and secondly, to form the pledge of a covenant which was to decide the fate of the whole human race.

Q. 30. Such being the origin and effects of sin, can you explain what is meant by original sin?

A. Original sin, is the total depravity (a) of our nature, which is propagated with our species, or inherited from our first parents, (b) whose natures became entirely altered from holiness to sinfulness immediately after their fall; and it consists therefore in a total incapacity, naturally, for the exercises of holiness, (c) and for the discernment of divine truth; (d) an entire avérsion from all that is spiritually good, (e) and a perpetual propensity to evil. (ƒ)

(a) Jer. xvii. 9, 10. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it? I the Lord search the heart.-Is. i. 5, 6. The whole head is sick, and

the whole heart faint; from the sole of the foot, even unto the head, there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores.

(b) Ps. li. 5. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin
did my mother conceive me.

(c) John xv. 5. Without me ye can do nothing.—2 Cor. iii.
5. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any-
thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.
(d) 1 Cor. ii. 14. The natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him:
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually,

discerned.

(e) Rom. viii. 7. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

(f) Eccl. viii. 11. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.-Gen. vi. 5. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Q. 31. How is this original, or birth sin, explained in the Articles of the Church of England?

A. It is there said to be "the fault and corruption of the nature of every man that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is gone to the farthest distance possible* from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit; and therefore every person born into this world, It deserveth God's wrath and damnation." (9th Art.)

Q. 32. Wherein consist the equity and justice of God, in subjecting all mankind to wrath and damnanation, for our original or birth sin?

"Quam longissime." Translated, "very far gone."

A. It appears evidently from the natural constitution of things. The holiness of God's nature, and the society and employments of heaven, must necessarily and wholly disqualify a depraved and corrupt being (unless his nature be changed) from all enjoyment in heaven, and render it, to him, if admitted there, a place of wretchedness and misery.*

* No one really suffers condemnation for original or birth sin alone; and much less for the imputation of Adam's sin, abstractedly considered, to his posterity; although he be regarded as their federal head. For Christ is the "Lamb of God, who taketh away this sin of the world ;" he is the great Peace-maker between God and man, by whom God has reconciled all things unto himself; and the propitiation and ransom for the "sins of the whole world." (1 Cor. xv. 22, See Q. 203.) But every one, even every newborn infant, "naturally engendered of the offspring of Adam," is depraved, being "conceived in sin ;" and is therefore, not by abstract imputation of Adam's sin, but in the ordinary course of nature, really sinful from its birth, although it has not sinned against knowledge, "after the similitude of Adam's transgression." Adam's sinfulness thus imparted, renders it unmeet for the kingdom of heaven for that which is born of corrupt flesh is corrupt flesh. To complain of any injustice in God, for excluding such sinful beings, unrenewed and unsanctified in their nature, from the society of the holy and blessed in heaven, where, in this state, everything is unsuited to their taste and enjoyment, would be worse than complaining of injustice for the exclusion of madmen from the society of rational beings. We must therefore suppose that all baptized infants dying in infancy (since, although “by nature children of wrath," they are yet "undoubtedly saved") are, in a way secret to us, (like the thief on the cross,) regenerated, i. e. renewed and sanctified. Of this regeneration, baptism is the sign and seal. (Note, Pub. Bap. Infants, Ch. Eng.)

It may also be relied upon as a certain truth, that adults who perish, perish entirely by their own fault.-Matt. xxiii. 37; Acts xiii. 46; Luke vii. 30; John iii. 16—19; v. 40.

Q. 33. How would you describe, summarily, the consequences of the fall of man from his original perfec

tion ?

A. I would say that the consequences of the fall of man summarily are, the loss of the divine image, (See Q. 139,) and death temporal, spiritual, and eternal.

Q. 34. What do you mean by death temporal?

A. I mean that separation between the soul and the body, which takes place at the end of this state of existence; together with all those pains, diseases, afflictions, and troubles, to which we are exposed in this state of probation.

Q. 35. And what mean you by death spiritual?

A. I mean that dreadful darkness of the understanding, together with all that depravity in the affections, and all that perverseness and intractability in the will of mankind, in spiritual and religious matters, which are natural to all men; and which are always accompanied by a guilty and self-accusing conscience,* un

*The admonitions of conscience have been considered as a part of the image of God originally stamped upon the soul of man in a state of innocence. But perfect innocence can surely admit of no admonitions of the conscience. Nor does it appear that our first parents felt any such admonitions, till after they lost their innocence. In Gen. iii. 2. 3, Eve relates, not what the admonitions of conscience dictated, but merely her knowledge of the tenor of the prohibition. And after once conceiving the pleasure it would probably afford her to partake of the forbidden fruit, she instantly, without any apparent hesitation, or admonitions of conscience, partook of it; and so also Adam. After this, conscience begins to work, and they know that they are naked; but not before. See Gen. ii. 25; compared with Gen. iii. 7.

less men are wholly ignorant both of God and of themselves.

Q. 36. What do you mean by death eternal?

A. I mean, as before stated, (See Q. 28,) an endless banishment from the presence and glory of God; together with all that is included in the never-ceasing torments of hell.

Q. 37. You have now explained to me the nature and consequences of original sin; can you also tell me what are actual sins?

A. They are of two kinds, viz. sins of commission, and sins of omission. Sins of commission are those trespasses which are committed against the positive commands of God, or the lawful commands of men; as well also as those acts which, although in themselves good, are instigated by a sinful motive. Sins of omission are such duties neglected, either towards God or man, as are enjoined in Scripture. These are all actual sins, because, in every such case, the laws of God are transgressed: actual sin being the "transgression of the law."

You have now given me an account of the three distinct faculties of the soul of man, viz. his reason, his affections, and his will; and you have shown how these have been affected by the fall, and the present condition of man in consequence of the fall.

Q. 38. But has man no other distinct faculty of the soul?

A. No.