both sin, as soon as they have knowledge of law, and eventually die too.

This is strictly a question as to matter of fact, and the answer must therefore be drawn, not from philosophical theories, but from careful examination of the actual condition of human nature. If it is practicable, there should indeed be,-in all cases, the utter absence of philosophical disquisition and theory, and the plain and faithful reporting of FACTS, as far as the sacred Scriptures, and accurate observation, may enable us to ascertain them. It is exactly here, where mischief is done to religion; and it is owing to the different philosophical views, or theories, in which the farts of revelation are involved, that christian teachers and sects are found so much to differ. To separate between facts, and the doctrines, which are thought legitimately deducible from them-or the theories which are employed to illustrate or account for them would be no mean service rendered to the cause of truth. To detect the difference between the theory and the fact, or the doctrine founded on the fact, as suggested by some theoreti cal or philosophical views, is no easy task.

Indeed, an attempt to do so is exceedingly perilous; for it may awaken a host of prejudices, and excite alarm, from the sudden and almost unavoidable impression made on the minds of many, that a relinquishment of technicalities,-especially if objected against as not happily adapted to convey the scriptural idea as to matters of fact-is, at least, presumptive proof of heresy. We therefore venture on a reply to the question just suggested, with considerable solicitude; and would bespeak the reader's candid and patient attention, as we pursue, somewhat further, the difficult and much controverted topic, of the derivation of depravity. It is our desire, and has been, all along, to avoid every thing like technical phraseology, and exhibit nothing but the plain matter of fact, without respect to any

theory or system; and we again express the hope, that our readers will not be so uncharitable as to suspect error, and condemn us, without being heard and understood. Our object is neither to gratify curiosity, nor to divert the mind, by empty speculations, from that which should engage its interested attention. How could I sin in Adam? How could Adam's sin become mine? How could Adam sin for me? How could God impute Adam's sin to me? How could Adam's sin reach me? Through what channel has it been conveyed to me? These are questions of no manner of practical utility, as we apprehend, and we shall not pretend to agitate them. The Bible has not started them, nor is it at the pains to meet them. It is a question of vastly deeper moment, and one.which involves the eternal interest and destiny of us all, How have I become a sinner? Is God or man to blame?

It will readily be admitted, that mar is naturally possessed of certain capacities for action, and susceptibilities of impression inciting to action, which constitute the very elements or basis of his moral constitution. He has a thinking mind, which is both capable of perceiving external things, and of attending to its own operations, and which is competent to reflect and weigh well the considerations presented, so as to come to a fixed choice, or purpose of action.

Moreover he is capable of various movements, or agitations of soul, which are appropriate, or adapted to the nature of the different objects which present themselves, or to the character of the different thoughts which arise in his mind. His sensitive nature is capacitated for impressions of pleasure or of pain, from objects without him, or thoughts within him-which impressions, will be correspondent with the cal or supposed character of that which produces them; or, in other words, according as the mind apprehends an object to be fit to do it good or the contra

ry, will it be affected pleasurably or painfully towards it. These affections, produced by the impression of objects around, if not counteracted in some way, quickly grow into habits, and assume the permanent character of what, in common language, we call inclinations, dispositions, propensities, &c.

In addition to all this, there is thrown around the human soul a material body furnished with bones, muscles, nerves, &c., which qualify it for accomplishing the purposes of the man, and acting, so far as he comes in contact with material objects around him.

These different capacities of his nature, which may be generically denominated his constitutional susceptibilities or properties, are dependent, originally, on the sovereign will of God, the great Creator. It has pleased Him to give being to such a creature as man, and to constitute him, a thinking, feeling, acting being.

Such was the first man, and according to the law which it pleased the great Creator to ordain for the propagation of his race, these susceptibilities or constitutional properties, are derived through the process of that development, which, commencing in conception, is perfected, in due season, by birth being given to a separate existence. Adam begat a son in his own likeness, and from that day to the present, the law of reproduction has obtained in the continuous evolution of innumerable human beings. In these susceptibilities themselves, considered merely as existent, there can undoubtedly be nothing sinful, as has already been seen. It is not a sin to the embryo being, that it has been conceived, though there may have been great guilt connected with its origin, and it may be subjected to consequences appropriate to such guilt. It is not a sin to be born. Nor is it in itself a sin, to think, to feel, or to act. The sinfulness of any, or of all such things, is determined, by a reference to the will or law of

God, which defines what things are, or are not sinful. For human consciousness, which is the register of crime, notes only that which consists in personal disconformity to the law of God. No one is conscious of having himself sinned in the personal act of Adam's transgression: nor does the Spirit of God lead to repentance for any participation which it may be supposed we had in it.

The Psalmist does indeed make a very humbling allusion to the guilt and sin of his original. I was, says he, shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." But surely he could not have meant, that the growth of his body in his mother's womb, or his conception, were THEMSELVES SINFUL, or, that these natural processes were his personal transgressions What then it may be asked, could have been his meaning? Whoever will attentively consider his penitential confessions, will find that he is contrasting his own sinfulness, with the perfect holiness of the Divine Character, and after having acknowledged his own personal acts of defilement, his mind is yet further humbled by the thought, that his very existence was derived from a being that had sinned, and that, while the original process of his formation was going on, he was dependent on, and as it were involved in, the being of one who was herself a sinner. This is, and cannot fail to be, when rightly apprehended, a source of humiliation.

Although we are not conscious of any particular guilt, attaching to us personally, for any specific act of our parents, yet do we feel that we can never make proud and lofty pretensions to excellence, when we consider their character in the sight of God. The child is humbled in the recollection of his parent's crime, and that too, oft-times, where there is no distinct recognition of personal guilt. The drunkenness, lechery and dissipation of a parent, which, in

1. Psalm, li. 5.

the eyes of the world, have blasted his reputation, do seriously affect the sensibilities of a child, in any measure awakened to a sense of the impropriety of these things.

In like manner, where the heart is affected, by the Spirit of God, so far as to discern the evil of sin as ruining the reputation in the sight of God, the sinfulness of those through whom we have derived our being, cannot fail to humble us in our own estimation. It is not necessary to suppose there was any special guilt, on the part of his parents, which rendered his birth illegitimate, of which the Psalmist made acknowledgement, as some have done. The apprehension of the parent's impurity in the sight of God, will affect the heart of a child: for he insensibly feels, and is persuaded that he can make no pretensions to native moral excellence or worth derived from them. Thus was it that Job felt, and this was, doubtless, the import and extent of his interrogation. "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?"

Thus far human consciousness of guilt goes, but no further. To talk of representation, and participation in the acts of parents, are mere theoretic attempts to explain the fact, which men's intellect may, or may not receive. These are not the things which affect the conscience. It is the fact of our descent, from those whose character we cannot but condemn, that humbles us. No man repents, because of the mere susceptibilities which enter into his moral constitution, or, in other words, because he has been made capable of thinking, loving, acting, &c., but many do repent, that these susceptibilities have been derived and developed under such circumstances as to have led to sin, and involved them in the guilt of personal transgression. And so far does this sort of repentance proceed sometimes, that the sinner wishes he had never been born, or mad

1. Job, xiv. 4.