they come into the world in sin, yet are capable subjects of eternal holiness and happiness; which infinite benefits for their children, parents have great reason to encourage a hope of, in the way of giving up their children to God in faith, through a Redeemer, and bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord I think, this may be answer enough to such a cavil.

Another objection is, that the doctrine of Original Sin is no oftener, and ro more plainly spoken of in scripture; it be ing, if true, a very important doctrine. Dr. Taylor, in many parts of his book suggests to his readers, that there are very few texts, in the whole Bible, wherein there is the least ap pearance of their teaching any such doctrine.

Of this I took notice before, but would here say further, That the reader who has perused the preceding defence of this doctrine, must now be left to judge for himself, whether there be any ground for such an allegation; whether there be not texts in sufficient number, both in the Old Testament and New, that exhibit undeniable evidence of this great article of Christian divinity; and whether it be not a doctrine taught in the scripture with great plainness. I think there are few, if any, doctrines of revelation, taught more plainly and expressly. Indeed, it is taught in an explicit manner more in the New Testament, than in the Old; which is not to be wondered at; it being thus with respect to all the most important doctrines of revealed religion.

But if it had been so, that this doctrine were rarely taught in scripture; yet if we find that it is indeed a thing declared to us by God, if there be good evidence of its being held. forth to us by any word of his, then what belongs to us, is, to believe his word, and receive the doctrine which he teaches us, and not, instead of this, to prescribe to him how often he shall speak of it, and to insist upon knowing what reasons he has for speaking of it no oftener, before we will receive what he teaches us, or to pretend that he should give us an account, why he did not speak of it so plainly as we think he ought to have done, sooner than he did. In this way of proceeding, if it be reasonable, the Sadducees of old, who denied any resur

rection or future state, might have maintained their cause against Christ, when he blamed them for "not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God ;" and for not understanding by the scripture that there would be a resurrection to spiritual enjoyment, and not to animal life, and sensual gratifications; and they might have insisted that these doctrines, if true, were very important, and therefore ought to have been spoken of in the scriptures oftener and more explicitly, and not that the church of God should be left, till that time, with only a few, obscure intimations of that which so infinitely concerned them. And they might with disdain have rejected Christ's argument by way of inference, from God's calling himself, in the Books of Moses, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For answer, they might have said, that Moses was sent on purpose to teach the people the mind and will of God; and therefore, if these doctrines were true, he ought in reason and in truth to have taught them plainly and frequently, and not have left the people to spell cut so important a doctrine, only from God's saying, that he was the God of Abraham, &c.

One great end of the scripture is to teach the world what manner of being God is; about which the world, without revelation, has been so wofully in the dark; and that God is an infinite being, is a doctrine of great importance, and a doctrine sufficiently taught in the scripture. But yet it appears to me, this doctrine is not taught there, in any measure, with such explicitness and precision, as the doctrine of Original Sin; and the Socinians, who deny God's omnipresence and omniscience, have as much room left them for cavil, as the Pelagians, who deny Original Sin.

Dr. Taylor particularly urges, that Christ says not one word of this doctrine throughout the four gospels; which doctrine, if true, being so important, and what so nearly concerned the great work of redemption, which he came to work out (as is supposed) one would think, it should have been emphatically spoken of in every page of the gospels."

Page 242, 243.

In reply to this, it may be observed, that by the account given in the four gospels, Christ was continually saying those things which plainly implied, that all men in their original state are sinful and miserable. As, when he declared that "they which are whole, need not a physician, but they which are sick;* that "he came to seek and to save that which was lost;"+ that it was necessary for all to be born again, and to be converted, and that otherwise they could not enter into the kingdom of heaven; and that all were sinners, as well as those whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices, &c. and that every one who did not repent, should perish ;§ withal directing every one to pray to God for forgiveness of sin ;|| using our necessity of forgiveness from God, as an argument with all to forgive the injuries of their neighbors; teaching that earthly parents, though kind to their children, are in themselves evil;" and signifying, that things carnal and corrupt, are properly the things of men ;tt warning his disciples rather to beware of men, than of wild beasts ;‡‡ often representing the world as evil, as wicked in its works, at enmity with truth and holiness, and hating him ;§§ yea, and teaching plainly, that all men are extremely and inexpressibly sinful, owing ten thousand talents to their divine creditor.||||

And whether Christ did not plainly teach Nicodemus the doctrine of original total depravity, when he came to him to know what his doctrine was, must be left to the reader to judge, from what has been already observed on John iii. 1... 11. And besides, Christ, in the course of his preaching, took the most proper method to convince men of the corruption of their nature, and to give them an effectual and practical knowledge of it, in application to themselves, in par ticular, by teaching and urging the holy and strict law of God, in its extent and spirituality and dreadful threatenings. Which, above all things, tends to search the hearts of men,

Matt. ix. 12. † Matt. xviii. 11, Luke xix. 10. Matt. xviii. 3. § Lukexiii. 3....5. Matt. vi. 12, Luke xi. 4 1 Matt. vi. 14, 15, and xviii. 35. ** Matt. vii, 11. ++ Matt. xvi. 23. Matt. x. 16, 17. §§ John vii. 7, viii. 23, xiv. · 17, xv. 18, 19. Matt, xviii. 21, to the end.

and to teach them their inbred, exceeding depravity; not merely as a matter of speculation, but by proper conviction of conscience; which is the only knowledge of Original Sin, that can avail to prepare the mind for receiving Christ's redemption; as a man's sense of his own sickness prepares him to apply in good earnest to the physician.

And as to Christ's being no more frequent and particular in mentioning and inculcating this point in a doctrinal manner, it is probable one reason to be given for it, is the same that is to be given for his speaking no oftener of God's creating the world; which, though so important a doctrine, is scarce ever spoken of in any of Christ's discourses; and no wonder, seeing this was a matter which the Jews, to whom he confined his personal ministry, had all been instructed in from their forefathers, and never was called in question among them. And there is a great deal of reason, from the ancient Jewish writers, to suppose that the doctrine of Original sin had ever been allowed in the open profession of that people ;* though they were generally, in that corrupt time,

* What is found in the more ancient of the Jewish Rabbies, who have wrote since the coming of Christ, is an argument of this. Many things of this sort are taken notice of by Stapferus, in his Theologia Polemica before mentioned. Some of these things which are there cited by him in Latin, I shall here faithfully give in English, for the sake of the English reader.

"....So Manasseh, concerning Human Frailty, page 129. Gen. viii. 21. "I will not any more curse the earth for man's sake; for the appetite of man is evil from his youth;" that is, from the time when he comes forth from his mother's womb. For at the same time that he sucks the breasts, he follows his lust; and while he is yet an infant, he is under the dominion of anger, envy, hatred, and other vices to which that tender age is obnoxious. Prov xxii. 15. Solomon says, "Foolishness is bound to the mind of a child," Concerning which place, R. Levi Ben Gersom observes thus : "Foolishness, as it were, grows to him in his very beginning." Concerning this sin, which is common and eriginal to all men, David said, Psalm li. 5. "Behold, I was begotten in iniquity, and in sin did my mother warm me. " Upon which place Eben Ezra says thus: “Behold, because of the concupiscence which is innate in the heart of man, it is said, I am begotten in iniquity." And the sense is, that there is implanted in the heart of man, Jetzer harang, an evil figment, from his nativity.

"And Manasseh Ben Israel, de Fragil, page 2. “ Behold, I was formed in iniquity, and in sin hath my mother warmed me." But whether this be undes

very far from a practical conviction of it; and many notions were then prevalent, especially among the Pharisees, which were indeed inconsistent with it. And though on account of these prejudices they might need to have this doctrine explained and applied to them, yet it is well known, by all acquainted with their Bibles, that Christ, for wise reasons, spake

stood concerning the common mother, which was Eve, or whether David spake only of his own mother, he would signify, that sin is as it were natural, and inseparable in this life. For it is to be observed, that Eve conceived after the transgression was committed; and as many as were begotten afterwards, were not brought forth in a conformity to the rule of right reason, but in conformity to disorderly and lustful affections." He adds, "One of the wise men of the Jews, namely, R. Aha, rightly observed, David would signify that it is impossible, even for pious men who excel in virtue, never to commit any sin." Job also asserts the same thing with David, chap. xiv. 4, saying, "Who will give a clean thing from an unclean? Truly not one." Concerning which words Aben Ezra says thus: "The sense is the same with that, I was begotten in iniquity, because man is made out of an unclean thing." Stapferus, Theolog. Polem. Tom. iii. p. 36, 37.

Id. Ibid, p 132, &c. "So Sal Farchi ad Gemaram,Cod. Schabbath, fol. 142, p. 2. “And this is not only to be referred to sinners, because all the posterity of the first man are in like manner subjected to all the curses pronounced on him.” And Manasseh Ben Israel, in his Preface to Human Frailty, says, “I had a mind to shew by what means it came to pass, that when the first father of all had lost his righteousness, his posterity are begotten liable to the same punishment with him." And Munsterus, on the gospel of Matthew, cites the following words from the book called The Bundle of Myrrh: "The blessed Lord faid to the first man, when he cursed him, Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt cat the herb of the field. The thing which he means, is, that because of his sin all who should descend from him, should be wicked and perverse, like thorns and thistles, according to that word of the Lord, speaking to the Prophet: Thorns and irritators are with thee, and thou dwellest among scorpions. And all this is from the serpent, who was the Devil, Sam-mael, who emitted a mortiferous and corruptive poison into Eve, and became the cause of death to Adam himself, when he ate the fruit. Remarkable is the place quoted in Joseph de Voisin, against Martin Raymund, p. 471, of Master Menachem Rakanatensis, Sect. Bereschit, from Midrasch Tehillim, which is cited by Hoornbekius, against the Jews, in these words: "It is no wonder that the sin of Adam and Eve is written and sealed with the king's ring, and to be propagated to all following generations; because on the day that Adam was created, all things were finished; so that he stood forth the perfection and completion of the whole workmanship of the world; so when