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nalty, previously denounced, was in consequence executed upon them; that the effects of this penalty have devolved upon their posterity; and that evil, natural and moral, have hence been introduced into this part of God's creation, rendering it that scene of comparative imperfection and disorder, of which our daily observation furnishes us with but too convincing evidence.

Respecting the circumstantial parts of this history, attempts to know more than is recorded in the sacred narrative tend rather to darken than to elucidate the subject. The natural quality of the forbidden fruit, the form of the serpent assumed by the tempter, the perceptible change instantly felt by the offenders as the consequence of transgression, are points too briefly mentioned to admit of full explanation.

It is surely better to rest in this our acknowledged inability to penetrate further into the circumstances of the transaction, than to resolve the whole into a mystical allegory, for the purpose of rebutting some futile objections of the infidel and the scoffer. Attempts to explain away the literal meaning of Scripture, in compliance with the scepticism of the incredulous, are always hazardous, and seldom produce the intended effect. In

this instance, the plain and sober style of historical narrative precludes any fair supposition of a mystical intent. Nothing seems more improbable than that a mere fiction or apologue, however apposite, should be so interwoven with evident matters of fact, as to afford not the slightest intimation of the writer's intention that it should be otherwise than literally understood. Nor can the allegorical interpretation be here justified on any plea of necessity. Many probable conjectures may be formed, sufficient to vindicate the literal interpretation against exception. But we have also the direct authority of Scripture itself for adhering to the literal interpretation. The narrative is referred to in the New Testament as an authentic and indisputable record. In his first Epistle to Timothy, St. Paul speaks of the serpent's having

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beguiled Eve through his subtlety"," and her "being deceived in the transgression ":" and in the Epistle to the Romans, his whole argument respecting the universal prevalence of sin, is founded upon the supposed reality of this history. To discard, therefore, the literal interpretation, is to do away the main force of the Apostle's reasoning, and to represent him as laying the foundation of the

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Christian redemption upon a mere imaginary transaction.

2. Admitting, then, this evidence of the fact, we are at no loss to assign a cause fully adequate to the effect; a cause, neither incredible in itself, nor contradicted by any known testimony historical or physical. History has no fact to oppose to it: human reason has no plausible hypothesis to substitute in its stead. If, indeed, we are asked how the transgression of Adam could entail upon his posterity so universal a corruption; we may readily confess our ignorance. Here, as in many other cases, we may be certified of the fact, without being able to explain the mode. It is enough that it involves no absurdity or contradiction; nay, more, that it is rendered credible by an analogy of the most obvious and frequent recurrence. That mortality and corruption should have been the result of eating the forbidden fruit; or that whatever is engendered of a mortal and corrupt stock should partake of those qualities; is no more incredible with respect to moral affections and dispositions, than what we daily witness in the transmission of hereditary disease, or of hereditary similitude in feature and other personal qualities. To press the inquiry beyond this general analogy is neither

requisite nor expedient. We know little of the history of Adam after his fall and his expulsion from paradise; and, consequently, we know not to what extent his moral or his natural qualities were impaired by this disastrous act. But there is nothing unreasonable in supposing that the same imperfection, whatever it might be, would be transmitted to his offspring; and that, not merely from imitation of the parent's example, but from inheriting the same propensities. This, indeed, might reasonably be presumed, from the universality of the evil; since if there were no original taint of moral pravity derived from the first progenitor of mankind, it is hardly possible to conceive that some instances would not occasionally have arisen of persons entirely free from sin. Yet, who does not bear witness to the truth of the Apostle's assertion, "All have sinned, and

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come short of the glory of God?" Who, on a review of his own natural bias to evil, however counteracted by the grace of God, and by the effect of early religious impressions, will not adopt the Psalmist's confession, "Behold, "I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me?" Throughout all generations, from the first transgression of

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c Rom. iii. 23.

Adam unto the present hour, this charge continues in full force. Our blessed Saviour alone, who was not a mere son of Adam, but the Son of God;-He alone was absolutely free from sin.

The effect, then, of Adam's transgression adheres to us all. It is that corruption born in us, that natural disease of the soul, which St. Paul by a strong figure of speech denominates the law of sin. This is what is also usually called original sin; a term, which seems to have a twofold reference; used in one respect, to distinguish it from actual sin, as a propensity to evil differs from the commission of it; and, in another respect, to contrast it with that original righteousness in which man was at first created. It is called sin, not in the same sense in which we speak of actual sin, incurring the guilt of disobedience; but simply to denote that vitiated state of the natural affections, which though it does not constitute positive guilt, yet cannot but render the object of it unacceptable in the sight of God. In man, as he was originally created, there was no natural impediment to a perfect conformity of his will and affections with the will of God. In man, since the fall, such an impediment manifestly exists. His appetencies and affec

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