Hartford Watchman

From the Christian Intelligencer.

ORIGINAL SIN.

That the character and condition of the whole human family were suspended upon the conduct of the first man, Adam, seems to be a doctrine so clearly revealed in the holy volume, that no one can deny it who pretends to believe that the scriptures were given by divine inspiration. Thus we read: "By one man sin entered the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Through the offence of one, many be dead. The judgment was by one to condemnation. By the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. By one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. Rom. v. 12, 15,16,18,19. To prevent mistake, we are told in the 14th verse that this one man was Adam.

Before we proceed to a direct consideration of the subject before us, we shall adduce some things which pertain to the human family, to show that the doctrine of original sin is not so unreasonable, and so contrary to common sense as some men may imagine. Facts, which fall under our observation, plainly show the representative influence of the conduct of parents over the character and condition of their offspring. It is well known that reputed criminals under the Russian Government have often been doomed to perpetual exile in the cold and inhospitable region of Siberia. Parents, who by their criminal conduct, brought themselves into that dreary region, caused their children born there to be partakers in their solitude and wretchedness. Physical evils are frequently entailed upon children, by the criminal conduct of their parents. The constitution of a parent becomes diseased by his vices; and the contamination descends from parent to child during successive generations. Children, also, are often involved in moral evils by the misconduct of their parents. The deleterious influence produced upon children, by the example of wicked parents, is universally seen and admitted. Children brought up in idleness and immorality, generally live and die as they were reared.

There seems to be an hereditary likeness of natural disposition, descending from parents to children by generation. That the natural disposition of children, generally speaking, peculiarly resembles that of their parents, is observable in almost every family. In confirmation of this opinion, we might point to one nation who are, generally speaking, peculiarly choleric, to a second, who are, generally speaking, peculiarly volatile, and to a third, who are generally speaking, peculiarly reserved; and this has been remarked for centuries, if we can believe history. Taking all these considerations into view, it will not appear unreasonable that the character and condition of Adam's posterity were suspended upon his conduct in the garden of Eden.

Adam, in the garden of Eden, was under the moral law of his Creator. He felt himself bound to obey that part of it which says, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength." By partaking of the forbidden fruit, he transgressed at least the command just noticed. Abstinence from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, was the test to show that he loved God supremely. By transgression, he brought upon himself the penalty of the moral law, which is death in a three-fold sense, spiritual, temporal, and eternal. As soon as he sinned, he experienced spiritual death, or the loss of the moral image of God from his soul; which consisted, as we judge from some expressions in the New Testament, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness.-Col. iii. 10: Eph. iv. 24. Temporal death also seized upon his body, for it immediately became mortal, and commenced its progress towards the grave. And, as spiritual death, when continued and enlarged without end, becomes eternal death, he would have endured interminable misery, had not the grace of God through Jesus Christ, been a preventive.

The sin of Adam, representatively entailed upon all his posterity, descending from him by ordinary generation, a sinful character, and involved them in death spiritual, and temporal; and also eternal, except it be prevented by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Adam "begat a son" after his fall; not in the image, and after the likeness of God, but "in his own image, and after his likeness, and called his name Seth." Gen. v.3 The descendants of Adam not only inherit their nature from him, but also the infection and the guilt of his first sin; they enter the world with the same destitution of conformity to the moral image of God; with the same moral darkness of soul; and with the same total derangement and perversion of the principles of human nature, with which the whole moral person of Adam was despoiled as the consequence of his fall. They love that which they should hate, and hate that which they should love. They "call evil good, and good evil; and put darkness for light, and light for darkness: and bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter." Hence, they are like Adam after the fall, spiritually dead; certain that they shall endure temporal death; and except saved by faith in the Saviour of sinners, they are irrecoverably devoted to death eternal.

It is needless to produce numerous proofs of this doctrine. Temporal or natural death prevails over infants of the human family. Where it is found, it shows the existence of sin. But as infants of a few hours old have never sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, it will follow that their dying is in consequence of Adam's posterity, having been representatively involved in the consequences of his fall into transgression. Infants have derived from Adam by ordinary generation, the infection and guilt of his first sin. Hence, they agonize in disease, and writhe in death. Upon this ground the Psalmist says, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies."

It is in vain to object that the wages of sin is not temporal or natural death. Paul says, "Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive." 1 Cor. xv.20,21,22. Death is said to come by man and by Adam upon all men. The death in this place is temporal or natural death, for it is the same death from which Christ arose, when he became "the first fruits of them that slept." Temporal or natural death is then the result of our descent from Adam. But how do we all die in Adam? Was it in him, in his state of innocence, or in him as a fallen creature? Doubtless in his fallen state.
Christ is held forth as overcoming this death, which all die in the first man, by raising them from the dead in the resurrection morn. But Christ is no where mentioned as destroying any blessing which belonged to innocent and holy man. On the contrary, he is described as destroying the effects of sin. It is, therefore, impossible to draw any other conclusion, than that Christ, by raising the bodies of the dead, overcomes the consequence of the sin of men by Adam, in the production of temporal or natural death. Thus temporal or natural death is the wages of sin. Hence temporal death, whether in adults or infants, is an evidence that sin exists in them. That temporal death came by Adam upon all men, and is the consequence of sin, is proved by the words of Paul. "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. v. 12. It is then undeniable that temporal death is the consequence of sin; and since it prevails over infants, they must possess sin; and as we cannot consistently account for it in any other manner, we are constrained to admit that they have derived from Adam by ordinary generation, the infection and guilt of his first sin.

AlPHa BeTa.

(To be continued.)