Here also this corruption is through lust, and not through the imputation of Adam's corrupt nature.

1 Peter, i. 14. "As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves, according to your former lusts in your ignorance.”

1 Peter, ii. 11. "Dearly beloved, I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul."

1 Peter, iv. 2. "That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

3. "For the time past of our lives may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings, and abomi- ̈ nable idolatries."

ye

Galatians, v. 16. "This I say then, walk in the spirit, and shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.

17. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other. 24. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."

1 Timothy, vi. 9. "But they that will be rich, fall into temptation, and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

10. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which, while some have coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

1 John, ii. 15. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world; if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."

Romans, vi. 12. "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

13. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God."

James, iv. 1. "From whence come wars and fightings among

you? Come they not hence, even from your lusts that war in your members?

2. Ye lust and have not; ye kill and desire to have, and cannot obtain; ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

3. Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

4. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

5. Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?"

Here we are distinctly informed, that these things are the result of our lusts, the gratification of our propensities and desires, our fleshly appetites; and not from any inherent depravity, or transferred corruption in our nature.

Luke, iv. 19." And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful."

It was through the desire of gratifying the carnal appetites and propensities of our nature, that the Israelites rebelled against God in their journeyings in the wilderness.

Numbers, xi. 4. "And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting, and the children of Israel also wept again and said, who shall give us flesh to eat?"

Psalm, lxxviii. 17. "And they sinned yet more against him, by provoking the Most High in the wilderness.

18. And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.

19. Yea they spake against God: they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?"

Psalm, lxxxi. 12. "So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust, and they walked in their own council."

Again, Romans, vii. 5. "For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death."

Romans, vii. 22. "For I delight in the law of God, after the inward man:

23. But 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."

Romans, viii. 5. "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh.

6. For to be carnally minded is death.

7. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

8. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. In farther confirmation of our position, we quote Isaiah. liii. 6. "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way."

Our own way, is to follow the propensities and desires of our carnal heart.

1 Peter, ii. 25. "For ye were as sheep going astray.”

These texts refer to man as being voluntary in going astray, and from which we would infer that all were once in a state in which they were not astray, at least in such a state, that it might be said they were neither sinful nor holy.

Ecclesiastes, vii. 29. "Lo! this have I found, that God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions.” Here the word they, makes this passage refer to each individual of the race.

Romans, iii. 12. "They are all gone out of the way; they are together become unprofitable."

Psalm, lviii. 3. "The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies."

This text fixes the time when we commence going astray, from the time of our birth, or when our accountability com

mences.

But the system of imputed or transferred depravity, would make us astray before we were born; and, according to this doctrine, we did not go astray, we were estranged from God, even from the very commencement of our existence.

And Peter, ii. 15. Describing notoriously wicked persons, says of them: "Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam."

These texts are deemed amply sufficient to prove the posi

tion, that all men become depraved, by voluntarily choosing to follow the things of the flesh; the gratifying the appetites of the body, and the desires and inclinations of the mind.

Many more texts might be adduced, and a great deal more might be said in confirmation of this doctrine, but I add no

more.

Brethren, a correct philosophy in regard to the origin of the depravity of our race is vastly important, and should be well understood; its bearing also on other doctrines of our holy religion, is of immense weal or wo in the cause of Jesus Christ. "And if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things." And may the God of peace delight to dwell with you, and bless you.

ERROR 1.-That Adam was our federal head and representative. There is not a word in the Bible in proof of this doctrine. Adam could not have represented his posterity, because they never appointed him to that office; he had no right to represent them without their consent; but if he was our representative, does he continue to fill that office? or when did that office cease?

ERROR 2.-That there was a covenant of works made with Adam, for himself and his posterity.

A covenant is a solemn agreement, between two or more parties, to do, or not to do, or to cause something to be done; as there is no account of such an agreement made with Adam; and as his posterity were not present to act in the case, the doctrine is not true.

ERROR 3.—That Adam's sin is imputed to his posterity.

This doctrine cannot be sustained by a single passage of

Scripture; and if it is imputed, the whole of it must be imputed to each individual of his posterity, or it must be divided among them, and, in either way, it involves a bundle of absurdities; and if one of his sins is imputed, why not the whole?

ERROR 4.-That the guilt of Adam's sin is imputed to his posterity.

This doctrine is contrary to reason and revelation. Guilt is personal ill-desert, and is inherent in personal action; it cannot be set over from one moral agent to another. Ezekiel xviii. 20. "The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. The soul that sinneth it shall die."

ERROR 5.-That the moral taint of Adam's sin is entailed upon his posterity by ordinary generation.

This doctrine is founded in ignorance of the nature of sin; sin is an act, a voluntary transgression of the law; the guilt, turpitude, or blame-worthiness of sin is not a property of the soul; it is inherent only in an individual's acts, and is not a something that can be conveyed from one individual to another, like the plague of leprosy-such an idea is ridiculous.

ERROR 6.-That the race of man are actually guilty of Adam's sin.

This is founded on the supposition that Adam and his posterity are identical, and form one accountable agent, which is false; one individual cannot be made guilty of another's acts; then how foolish to talk about making millions blameworthy of one man's act!

ERROR 7.-That all mankind fell in Adam.

This doctrine is without Scripture foundation, and contrary to reason and justice; it either supposes that they existed with Adam in a state of purity, or that they sinned before they had an existence, which is absurd.

ERROR 8.-That all mankind are condemned for Adam's sin.

This doctrine is contrary to the word of God-Ezekiel xviii. 20,"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."

ERROR 9.-That all ought to repent of Adam's sin.

The Scriptures nowhere require us to repent of Adam's sin; sin is a personal act, and cannot be repented of only by the in