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    ess where falls no dew , no former L Wr rain , whose sandy plain ields no nourishment , produces no Lea thing , and no seed for the support oi the famished traveller , no soring , no purling brook to quench his thiff ^ where only the dry and worthless sand moss , •* the heath of the

    desert , " preserved the semblance of teo-eta ' tion , —like that moss , he shall never partake of the gentle dew from h eaven , nor of the blessings of the fertile earth , " he shall not see when

    good cometh . " I saw that sinners were ingenious to deceive themselves and others : I saw that the heart of Judah with sin engraved upon it thus must be deeply and desperately wicked , and that the altars upon which sin in its blackest colours was written

    ( altars consecrated to idols ) " whilst their children remembered them , and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills , " where they worshipped Baal and Moloch and the Queen of heaven , must bean abomination in the sight of God , " who searches the heart , and tries the reins , even to give

    every man according to his ways , and according to the fruit of his doings . " I might err , I was not infallible , my heart might deceive me , but I sought evidence , I think I was not influenced

    either by hope or fear to reject this passage , like the rest that went before it , as wholly inconclusive testimony when produced to witness the universal , radical , original and moral corruption of human nature .

    I went on , I opened the New Testament , I read Christ ' s Sermon on the Mount : there I found every thing to prove that man was a frail , sinful mortal , but not a vessel filled by nature to the very brim with moral corruption , aade under the wrath and curse of Y ° d- I read of the pure in heart , of foe merciful , of inherent righteousn « s , of a righteousness that must be produce d , ver y far beyond that of the Jtfibeg - and Pharisees , to fit a man |« f the kingciom of heaven . I read of

    ** T P erfection , of a good tree IPwxtocing good fruit , and a corrupt JJS 7 <> uit : I read of doing the 2 Z . » and hearing , and doing 3 * L y 3 Ul 8 B of Jesus Christ , that the d J built his house upon this d J " ** J 6 hh «• ' <* a blind man Wed tosightvby Jesus Christ , and * L ^ . Prised to hear the disciples ^ Rm S him « whether this man had

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    sinned or his parents that he was born blind , " but I wondered not at all , at Christ ' s answer , ' * Neither hath this man sinned nor his parents . ' * I react of evil thoughts and evil deeds proceeding out of the heart of man , and I knew that nothing upon earth besides could produce them . I heard the human heart described

    - Matt . xii . 35 , as a treasur y * i € A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things , and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth evil things . " I read in the parable of the sower ,

    Luke xv . of seed " sown in the good ? round of an honest and good heart / 1 ' saw the man Jesus , the son of Adam , Abraham , Judah , David , Manasseh , one of the wickedest tyrants that ever lived , and traced among his ancestors many great sinners , and I was sure that he derived his nature from his

    parents , yet I believed that he was * without sin , " touched with a feeling of our infirmities , tempted in all points as we are , our brother , partaker of our flesh and blood . Here a good old lady interrupted me ; she said that she was satisfied of the existence of

    corru pt nature , because infants cry when they are born ! Good old lady I Jf you could be literally born a secon d time , and have all your teeth to cut over again , you would cry too , but they evince passion before they can speak ; yes , trjey are not blocks of marble , _ they have nerves and feel

    they express their sense of uneasiness , hunger , cold and pain : blind puppies , too , . whine from the same causes ; but if you cannot distinguish between the natural expression of animal feeling , want , and passion , and ori ginal sin , neither probably do you see the difference between a sinner and a

    fool by nature , an unhappy circumstance , which will effectually prevent us from plunging together into this deep subject . I certainly found nothing in ( he Old Testament to support this doctrine ; but I am again interrupted . A philosophical . Calviriist , one of the rational brethren , who accounts for

    every thing , came forward with his text , " He answered and said , verily , no one can bring a clean thing out of an unclean , " Job xiv . 4 , and context . " Certainly not , therefore God will not require more of such a creature , than he is capable of performing , nor

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    Scriptural Examination of Original Sin * 5 IQ

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1816, page 519, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2456/page/19/