and not to nature; and the individuals possessing such holiness are uniformly spoken of as exceptions to the unrenewed part of mankind. While, on the other hand, wickedness of every kind is recorded as affording legitimate specimens of human nature; because it is the spontaneous result, and unchecked effusions, of our fallen and polluted nature. This is a fact which no sensible and candid reader of the Bible will attempt to disprove, and which clearly proves, beyond all successful contradiction, that man by nature, as well as by practice, is a fallen, sinful being. Any attempt at disproving this doctrine is only another confirmation of this awful fact, and an illustration of the consequent folly. Vain and depraved man fain would be wise and pure; though man is born like a wild ass's colt, and goeth astray as soon as he is born. (See Watts on the Ruin and Recovery of Mankind, and MacLean on Original Sin, vol. ii., page 144, Edinb. Ed.)

We conclude, then, that all moral evil, ruin, misery, and disgrace, which now exists amongst mankind, and all the punishment due to sin in the future life, is traceable to original sin, or man's fall from his primal, glorious condition. Moral as well as physical depravity being natural and hereditary to the posterity of Adam, all mankind are involved in the consequences of this moral aberration from God. To suppose that moral evil is immediately infused into man's nature by the Creator, is an hypothesis repugnant to reason, and inconsistent with the perfections of the Divine character. On the other hand, it is a well known fact, developed in thousands of instances, that not only physical but moral and intellectual qualities are hereditary. Beside, for God to make man evil and depraved, and then

to punish him because or on account of that depravity, would be incompatible with both justice and wisdom, not to mention benevolence. The depravity of infants can be attributed to the fall of our first parents, and the laws of natural generation only. The adoption of this hypothesis

is in harmony with the well known fact, that infants, incapable of actual sin, suffer and die. We have before proved, that such suffering and death are the natural result of original sin; we may therefore safely infer, that moral suffering, and spiritual death also, are effects of the same cause. In fact, all the evil in the universe is the conse

quence of sin. See Dr. Pye Smith, on the "Apostacy of Man," (F.L. of Theol. page 380, &c.) where this subject is ably discussed, and from which we extract the following quotation. On this intricate, and complicated subject, the Doctor remarks: "This doctrine does not imply such an imputation as would be expressed by saying that the holy and adorable God esteems the posterity of Adam as having actually done that which he did. The judgment of God cannot but be according to fact and truth. The sin or the holiness of another being cannot be made ours by any species of transfer; but only by participation, in the way of resemblance, or consent, or adoption, or imitation. The fact of such participation is established by the ample evidence of human depravity. That which we have now laid down is the ground, or prior reason in the Divine equity, for such a practical constitution of things in relation to the first man and his posterity. As the intrinsic excellency (=merit) of the Saviour's obedience is such as entitles Him to the reward of such honour and happiness as accrues from the bestowment of the eternal, divine, and holy life on all

whom he designates as his own; that is, all who, by a holy and mind-uniting (=participating) faith are one with Him; so the violation of the covenant by Adam had, by an appointment of Divine justice and wisdom which we can but imperfectly comprehend, the effect of separating from the fountain of life, of dissolving whatever would have been the springs and causes of holiness, or moral advantages, to his posterity, and of freedom from physical evils. Hence a subjection to depravity and death, and to other consequences more or less intense according to the degree of actual sinfulness; and there is that connection between Adam and his posterity, by the constitution of moral government under which God, in his perfect rectitude, goodness, and wisdom, saw fit to place them, which is the ground or reason of those consequences." Page 383.

XV.

MAN'S RESTORATION AND SALVATION.

Man cannot by any means restore himself. Human redemption not the work of Angels, or of any created beings. Christ the only Saviour of the world. Atonement, Propitiation, Redemption, and Reconciliation. Was it absolutely necessary that Christ should die? History of Redemption. To what extent redemption was made known to the Antideluvians. Abel's offering. Animal sacrifices considered. Vicarious sacrifice. Jewish sacrifices were typical of Christ's. "The fulness of time" considered. In connection with this great and glorious theme there are several particulars which claim our distinct and careful consideration. It may be proper to shew

First. That man could not by any means restore and save himself. None but the most degenerate of our race could suppose that man, who is, in his moral and spiritual nature, totally ruined, could devise means to rectify and renew his own polluted and entirely depraved nature-as soon could the dead man bring himself to life again. Yet, strange to say, every age has produced a generation wise in their own eyes: men who have contended for the dignity and power of humanity, and have maintained the possibility of fallen man's self-restoration to his pristine purity and honour, by his own natural, unassisted powers. The schemes which they have generally invented or adopted have been some kind of education and intellectual training, together with the adoption of certain political measures and social regulations. Many of these educa

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tional and political schemes have been tried; some on a comparatively small, and others on a more extensive scale. But what have been the results? Disappointment, vexation, loss, and ruin; that is, whenever these systems have been set up in opposition to the Bible, or by way of attempting to supersede Christianity. The Psalmist calls upon all the inhabitants of the world, high and low, rich and poor together, to hear this: That no man can by any means redeem his brother, or give to God a ransom for him that he should still live for ever, and not see corruption. (Psalm xlix. 1-9.) This primarily refers to the death of the body, and the redemption of human life. Death and corruption are the natural consequences or effects of sin, in relation to the body and human life; and moral depravity and spiritual death are the results of sin in reference to man's moral and spiritual nature. And the effects of sin could as soon be counteracted in the former case as in the latter. Men might as well attempt to perpetuate natural life, and defy corruption, as to attempt the renewal of their moral nature, and to save themselves from the consequences of sin in the life to come. Man is not only depraved, as we have before proved, but helplessentirely unable to save himself. Sound morals, strict order in social life, a good education in the arts and sciences, the accumulation of general knowledge, and the application of that knowledge to the accomplishment of wise and benevolent purposes, are all good in a certain sense. But the highest intellectual attainments, and the most polite accomplishments, never did, nor never can, qualify a man to restore and save his own soul from sin and its consequences. Many profound scholars, and intel