be holy, or morally upright. If he disobeyed, they would be sinful or morally depraved.(c)

Q. 6. Was Adam the cause of the depravity or sinfulness of his posterity?

A. No. He was merely the occasion of it. It was according to the divine constitution that his posterity should be depraved or sinful, if he sinned.

Q. 7. Are Adam's posterity guilty of his particular sin in eating the forbidden fruit?

A. Certainly not, if by this phrase is meant, that they are culpable for his act in eating the forbidden fruit. Moral actions, holiness and sin, are personal, and are not transferable. The sins of Adam and of his posterity, are perfectly distinct, and must of necessity be so,-as distinct as his volitions and theirs.

Q. 8. Is it just to represent Adam as chargeable with all the sins of the human race?

A. Certainly not. Adam is properly culpable for no sins but his own. The sins of his posterity are properly theirs. To cast the blame of our sins, therefore, upon Adam, and exculpate ourselves, is wicked, and savors of great impiety.(d)

Q. 9. What is meant by original sin?

(c) Rom. v. 12, 13, 14, 18, 19. Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. For until the law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed where there is no law, Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. Therefore, as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners.-1 Cor. 15. 22. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

(d) Ezek. xviii. 2, 3. 20. What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.-Deut. xxiv. 16. The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers; every man shall be put to death for his own sin. -Hosea xiii. 9. O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.

A. In the common language of theological writers it means native depravity, or the innate sinfulness of the human heart; though it is sometimes used to mean the sin which Adam committed in eating the forbidden fruit, and to mean this, because it was that sin, which, by Divine constitution, decided the moral character, or was the occasion of the native depravity, of all his posterity.

Q. 10. Does the Bible teach the native depravity of mankind? or that whenever they begin to act as moral agents, they act sinfully?

A. It does; and in the following ways. 1. The Bible teaches the doctrine of native depravity, by teaching the depravity of the whole human race. The fact that none

of mankind ever fail to become sinners and to live in the practice of sin till renewed by divine grace is more than probable proof that they are naturally averse to good and prone only to evil. (e) 2. The Bible teaches native depravity, by teaching that infants need a Saviour. All of the human race, infants as well as others, who are ever admitted to heaven, will ascribe their salvation to Christ. But this they cannot do, unless they had been the subjects of sin and condemnation. Infants then are depraved.(ƒ) 3. The Bible teaches native depravity, by requiring the baptism of infants. Baptism represents the washing of the soul from sin and pollution by the blood of Christ, applied by the Holy Spirit in His purifying influences. If then children are not depraved, their baptism is an insignificant rite.(g) 4. The Bible teaches native depravity,

(e) Rom. v. 12. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.Rom. iii. 10-12. As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable, there is none that doeth good, no, not one.-Eccl. vii. 20. For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not.

(f) Matt. ix. 12. But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.Luke xix. 10. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.-Rev. i. 5, 6. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

(g) Acts xvi. 15, 33. And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to

by teaching the necessity of the spiritual regeneration of all mankind, children as well as others, in order to their admission into heaven. All then are naturally unholy.(h) 5. The Bible teaches native depravity, by teaching that sin is the source of all the natural evils of this life, and even of death itself. These evils come upon all men, children as well as adults. All are, therefore, the subjects of moral evil or sin.(i) 6. The Bible teaches native depravity, by express declarations.(j)

Q. 11. Does the depravity of man destroy his moral agency?

A. It does not. He has the same faculties of mind which Adam had before he fell, and is, therefore, just as much bound to love God with all the heart, and his neighbor as he ought to love himself, as Adam was before his fall.

Q. 12. What is the degree of man's depravity?

the Lord, come into my house and abide there.-And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.

(h) John iii. 5, 6. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God; That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

(i) Gen. iii. 16, 17. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.-Rom. v. 12. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.

(j) Ps. li. 5. Behold I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.-Job xiv. 4. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.-Job xv. 14. What is man that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? -John iii. 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.-Ps. lviii. 3. The wicked are enstranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. -Prov. xxii. 15. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child.-Is. xlviii. 8. For I knew that thou wouldst deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb.-Gen. viii. 21. For the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth.-John iii. 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh.-Rom. viii. 7. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

A. It is entire or total. I. By this is not meant, 1. That mankind are as bad as they can be, for they are greatly restrained; or 2. That they all are equally wicked, for some are worse than others; or 3. That they are destitute of everything useful and lovely in society, for many possess very amiable and useful natural qualities; or 4. That their natural or intellectual faculties are destroyed, for these remain; or 5. That they have not the natural affections of gratitude, sympathy, pity, humanity, and the like, for all mankind, whether holy or unholy, possess these in common. But II. By this is meant, that mankind by nature are entirely destitute of holiness or moral goodness, and are sinful so far as their affections and actions partake of a moral nature. If this be not a fact, it will be difficult to point out the difference between a saint and a sinner, as the least degree of holiness gives a person the character of a saint.

Q. 13. How does it appear that all men are thus depraved?

A. From experience, observation, history, and the word of God. 1. We all are conscious, if we carefully examine ourselves, that our hearts, naturally, are not right with God, but are opposed to him, and to that which is good, because of their supreme selfishness. 2. The conduct of those of mankind, who are in an unrenewed state, which we witness in them from time to time, proves their entire depravity. 3. The history of the world is but little else than a history of evil devices and crimes. 4. The Scriptures are explicit in teaching man's entire depravity, in various passages.(k)

Q. 14. What are the consequences of man's depravity?

(k) Gen. vi. 5. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.-Rom. viii. 7, 8. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.-John v. 42. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.Rom. vii. 18. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing; for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.-1 Cor. ii. 14. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned,

A. 1. The loss of communion with God. 2. The toils and sorrows of this life. 3. The death of the body. 4. The exposure of all men to the miseries of hell forever. And, 5. The actual endurance of these by the finally impenitent.(7)

Q. 15. How are the doctrines of man's apostasy, depravity, and lost state to be regarded?

A. They are to be regarded as lying at the very foundation of the religion of the Bible, and ought, therefore, to be properly understood, and firmly believed.

Q. 1.

CHAPTER XII.

Atonement.

What is meant by the atonement?

A. The provision made for the salvation of sinners of the human race by the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ.

Q. 2.

In what does this provision consist?

A. 1. It does not consist in Christ's literally discharging the debt of sin, considering it in the light of a pecuniary debt, due from man to God; for sin is not to

(2) Gen. iii. 24, 16, 17. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden, cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.-Gen. ii. 17. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.-Gen. iii. 19. For dust thou art, and unto dust

shalt thou return.-Gal. iii. 10. For as many as are of the works of the law, are under the curse; for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.-2 Thess. i. 9. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power.Matt. xxv. 4. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.