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 original righteousne , and is of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the spirit; and therefore in every person born into this world, it deserveth God’s wrath and damnation. And this infection of nature doth remain, yea, in them that are regenerated; whereby the lust of the flesh, called in the Greek phronema sarkos , which some do expound the wisdom, some sensuality, some the affection, some the desire of the flesh, is not subject to the law of God . And although there is no condemnation for them that believe, and are baptized,” [ renatis , i. e. born again, is the word used in the Latin copy,] “yet the apostle doth confe , that concupiscence and lust hath of itself the nature of sin.”— Article ix. This article was intended to oppose the notion of the School divines, who maintained that the infection of our nature is not a mental, but a mere corporeal taint; that the body alone receives and transmits the contagion, while the soul proceeds, in all cases, immaculate from the hands of the Creator. Original sin they directly opposed to original righteousne , and this they considered, not as something connatural with man, but as a superinduced habit, or adventitious ornament, the removal of which could not prove detrimental to the native powers of the mind. Thus the School divines maintained, in opposition to our Articles, that the lapse of Adam conveys to us solely imputed guilt, the corporeal infection which they admitted, not being sin itself, but the subject matter; not peccatum , but fomes peccati . The Luther ans taught that original sin is a corruption of our nature in a general sense, the depravation of the mental faculties and the corporeal appetites. The Calvinists maintain that lust and concupiscence are truly and properly sin. The Scriptures teach us that the sin of Adam not only made him liable to death, but that it also changed the upright nature in which he was originally formed, into one that was prone to wickedne ; and that this liability to death, and propensity to sin, were entailed from him upon the whole race of mankind: “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death pa ed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” (Rom. v. 12.) “As by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so, by the righteousne of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” (ver. 18.) “By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners.” (ver. 19.) “Through the offence of one, many be dead.” (ver. 15.) “By one man’s offence death reigned by one.” (ver. 17.) “By man came death.” (1 Cor. xv. 21.) “In Adam all die.” (ver. 22.) “The imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” (Gen. viii. 21.) “There is no man that sinneth not.” (1 Kings viii. 46.) “God made man upright, but they found out many inventions.” (Ecc. vii. 29.) “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John i. 8.) “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” (Jer. xvii. 9.) “The flesh is weak.” (Matt. xxvi. 41.) “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.” (Gal. v. 17.) “I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.” (Rom. vii. 23.) The general corruption of human nature, in consequence of Adam’s disobedience, was acknowledged by the ancient Fathers of the Christian Church. The term Original Sin was first used by Augustine, and before his time it was called the old guilt—the ancient wound—the common curse—the old sin, .— Tomline. In Scripture this is called “the sin that dwelleth in us” (Rom. vii. 17); “the body of sin” (vi. 6); “the law of sin and death” (viii. 2); “lust” (vii. 7); “the sin which so easily besets us” (Heb. xii. 1); “the flesh” (Gal. v. 16); “the old man” (Eph. iv. 22); “the likene of Adam” (Gen. v. 3). The corruption of nature called “original sin” is derived by continual descent from father to son; wherewith all the powers of the soul and body are infected, and that in all men equally. And then, actual sin arising from hence, the understanding is blinded with ignorance and infidelity. The memory is prone to forget the good things which the understanding hath conceived. The will is disobedient to the will of God , understood and remembered by us, (the freedom of holine , which it had at the first, being now lost,) and is wholly bent to sin. The affections are ready to overrule the will, and are subject to all disorder. And the conscience itself is distempered and polluted.— Usher. Let us look into the world, let us look into ourselves, and we shall see sufficient proofs of this original corruption; even in our infancy it shows itself in many instances of obstinacy and perversene ; and as we grow up it increases with our years; and unle timely checked by our utmost care and diligence, (through the a istance of Divine grace,) produces habits of all manner of iniquity. Let the proud deist boast of the dignity of his nature, the sufficiency of his reason, and the excellency of his moral attainments; but let us Christians not be ashamed to own our own misery and our guilt; that our understandings are darkened, our wills corrupted, and our whole nature depraved: then may we apply to the Physician of our souls for the succours of his grace, which alone can help and relieve us.— Waldo.