Cheraw gazette and Pee Dee farmer. [volume] (Cheraw S.C.) 1838-1839, 1839-05-03

shuts cut every raw ofspirtual light from the
understanding. These are not only the
reigning, but the hereditary principles Of
human nature. This is the original and
perpetual malady of the soul. All this can
be traced to one cause.-The apostacy of
Adam.
As the evil the parents Of the human
family experienced, was the curse andpunlsh.
n,ent for disobedience, in them--so the con-
tinuauce of the same punishment, or the
same curse, on all the generations Of men,
from the time Of Adam to the present period,
proves, unequivocaly, that their disobedi-
ence is The same in nature, or Of the same
moral kind and that they are equally gull
~. And, furthermore, as the children could
not sin before they had existence, the par
ent must have acted in their stead, OF for
himself and them, accordingto 10 Divine
constitution, by which they we're to be par
takers ofhis moral character. And accord.
ing to the nature Of things, it must neces-
sarily, be as i. is; for every creature, and
thing, comes into existence after its kind -
and must, ill the laws Of nature are rever.
sed.
According to this reasoning, which IS
fully supported by scripture, no descendant
of Adam, can be the parent ofa sinless
offspring. All who are born Of men mus,
partake of tha. original depravity. which
Adau, tsought uu i'ilnselfi " And taioted
all his blood" Neither was the fall of Ad-
am. nor is The sinfulnoss ofthe human race,
nominal, orpartiat depravi'y. 1t is total.
Every vestige ofholiness is extinct, and the
Divine image is lost from the soul. Nor is
original sin, or depravity, as some have
supposed, q casual, or merely negative prir"
cipe.
Sin is the free and voluntary acting out
that, which the heart prefers and chooses
violation, according to the natural disposl"
ton. No human power, or human agency
can control the madness of sin, or diminish
its ,urpitude. l,reuains unmoved, and un-
relenting in the bosom, in spite Of all the
persuasion employedto subdue it. Though
the happiness Of Heaven, is promised on
condition ofrepentance, or the awful mise
ries OF everlasting damna,ion, are set forth
in all the imagery ofinspircd Truth as the
reward ofimpenitence,--yet sin is not pre-
vailed upon to yield its dominion. 1t has
fully and absolutely taken possession Of the
whole man, and peryades his whole moral
nature. Its power over all the passions and
emotions ofthe mind is evident in every
stage ofhis being. Hence, as has been be-
fore asserted, depravity must be supposed
to commence with the natural existence Of
the soul. It must likewise be regarded as
hereditary, or as having descended from
parent to child, from the first parents ofthe
human family. The attempt to explain the
universally Of sin, or its introduction, on any
other principle, must fail to satisfy the de-
mands ofreason and surely it is wholly
unscrip.ural, as the Bible positively declares,
that q" by one man sin entered into the world,
and death By SIM
may remark in CONCLUSION that TO mani
tain that infants have no moral character, is
virtually to deny the doctrine Of original
sin, and 10 render the supposition OF the''
being the subjecs Of Gods moral govern.
meat. while in that state, wholly absurd and
impossible. "