shall show more at large afterward,) and in proportion as we are convinced of the reality of the former, we shall see the excellency and necessity of the latter. Contraries mutually illustrate and set off each other. Winter makes the summer appear more pleasant; and the night makes the day more agreeable and delightful. Therefore, the apostle speaks of the imputation of the sin of the first Adam, and the imputation of the righteousness of the second Adam both together; he opposes the one to the other, and draws a long, but agreeable parallel between them. Rom. v. 15-21. He chooses to speak much of Adam's sin imputed to all men for condemnation, that he may thence take occasion to magnify and extol the abundant grace of God, in imputing the righteousness of his Son Christ to all men for justification of life. ver. 18.

up

the

II. I come now, secondly, to show that all men derive an inward pollution aud depravation of nature from Adam. We have before cleared doctrine of original sin, as consisting in our having Adam's sin imputed to us. Now, therefore, we are to speak of another part of original sin, viz. that innate defilement of the soul, which is derived from Adam to all his sons and daughters, in succeeding; generations. Of this the Homily of the Misery of Mankind speaks thus, "We cannot think a good "thought of ourselves, much less can we say well, ❝or do well of ourselves." And can we neither think, speak, nor do well of ourselves? Is this the

present condition of man? And did God create him in such a weak and imperfect state? the scriptures forbid us thus to think; they acquaint us that God' created man in his own image, Gen. i. 27. i. e. Upright as the wisest man tells us, Eccl. vii. 29. If man was thus created at first, how comes it to pass, that he is now so impotent and helpless, as to be unable to think a good thought? this, therefore, shows that man's nature is spoiled, that his original righteousness is lost, and all the powers and faculties of his soul weakened and debased.

In the next page of the same homily, it is said, "Wherefore he (i. e. David) saith, Mark and behold I was conceived in sins; he saith not sin, but in the plural number, sins; forásmuch as out "of one as a fountain spring all the rest," The one here spoken of as a fountain, is before called the original root and spring head, and so justly points out to us that inbred corruption of the heart, from whence all outward iniquities have their rise. Of this our Lord himself speaks, saying, From within out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, laciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness; all these evil things come from within, and defile the man. Mark, vii. 21, 22, 23. This shows the wickedness of man's heart, and informs us, that there is no sort of sin which men commit, but what was first conceived in that womb

of iniquity. A learned divine,* speaking of this depravity of the heart, calls it "The root and foun

tain of all other sin, from whence every actual "abomination does proceed. Atheism, and pride, "and baseness, and cruelty, and profaneness, and 66 every other vice which the most wicked wretch

in the world is guilty of, doth proceed from hence. "Hell itself, which is the proper place of sin, is not "more full of sin, for the kind of it, than our na⚫ ❝ture is."

In the second part of the same homily we have these words; "Of ourselves, and by ourselves, we "have no good, goodness, help, or salvation, but, con

trariways, sin, damnation, and death everlasting." And again, hitherto we have heard what we are "of ourselves, very sinful, wretched and damna❝ble, so that we can find in ourselves no hope of

salvation, but rather whatsoever maketh unto our "destruction." We have here the sinfulness and weakness of human nature plainly set before us, and damnation mentioned as the jnst consequence thereof. One would think such passages as these should strike with some degree of evidence and conviction upon the minds of all who read these homilies; and one might justly wonder, that any who set their hands to them, should either deny man's natural depravity, or palliate it in the least; seeing it is so

plainly professed and exhibited by that church, of which they would be thought sons and ministers; yea, and for which they pretend to have so great a zeal and affection.

I shall add one passage more from the homily on Christ's nativity, which is so clear and full to the purpose, that it may justly put the matter beyond all doubt. As before, he (viz. Adam) was most "beautiful and precious, so now he was most vile

and wretched in the sight of his Lord and Maker. "Instead of the image of God, he was now become "the image of the devil, instead of the citizen of "heaven, he was now become the bondslave of hell, "having in himself no one part of his former purity

and cleanness, but being altogether spotted and "defiled, insomuch that he now seemed to be no"thing else but a lump of sin, and, therefore, by the "just judgment of God, was condemned to ever"lasting death." This is a true, but at the same time a very awful description of man since the fall. Observe by what names he is here called, a bondslave of hell, the image of the devil, a lump of sin ; and yet some people are apt to think we delineate human nature in too black characters, and make man a much worse creature than he is. But do these names justly suit man, or do they not? if these characters are jnstly affixed on man, in his fallen state, what names can be too bad for him? Or how is it possible to represent man worse than he is? Let the preachers, therefore, of the established church

take care to speak the same language, and give the same description of man in their sermons, as is here given in this homily. And least any should think this was the case of Adam, but not of his posterity, the following words are worth our notice. "This "so great and miserable a plague, if it had only "rested on Adam who first offended, it had been "much easier, and might the better have been borne. But it fell not only on him, but also on his posterity and children for ever; so that the whole brood of Adam's race should sustain the "self-same fall and punishment which their forefather

by his offence most justly had deserved." Here we see the plague i. e. the infection of sin descends to the whole brood of Adam, and they all sustain the self-same fall and punishment with himself.

It is now time to allege the testimony of the ninth article, entitled,

OF ORIGINAL SIN.

"Original sin standeth not in the following of "Adam, (as the Pelagians do vainly talk,) but it is

the fault and corruption of the nature of every "man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring "of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from ori"riginal righteousness, and is of his own nature "inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always "contrary to the spirit." This is an accurate account of the innate corruption of the soul, which

1