N06399:93
The great Christian doctrine of original sin defended
The great Christian doctrine of original sin defended; evidences of it's [sic] truth produced, and arguments to the contrary answered. Containing, in particular, a reply to the objections and arguings of Dr. John Taylor, in his book, entitled, "The Scripture-doctrine of original sin proposed to free and candid examination, &c. / By the late Reverend and learned Jonathan Edwards, president of the College of New-Jersey. ; [Thirteen lines of quotations]The great Christian doctrine of original sin defended; evidences of it's [sic] truth produced, and arguments to the contrary answered. Containing, in particular, a reply to the objections and arguings of Dr. John Taylor, in his book, intitled, "The Scripture-doctrine of original sin proposed to free and candid examination, &c. / By the late Reverend and learned Jonathan Edwards, president of the College of New-Jersey. ; [Thirteen lines of quotations]
printed by S. Kneeland, 1758
The great Christian Doctrine of ORIGINAL SIN defended. › Part 1 › Chapter 1 › Section 2
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
In the Case we are upon, the human Nature, as existing in such an immense Diversity of Persons and Circumstances, and never failing in any one Instance, of coming to that Issue, viz. that Sinfulness which implies extreme Misery and eternal Ruin, is as the Die often cast. For it alters not the Case, in the least, as to the Evidence of Tendency, whether the Subject of the constant Event be an Individual, or a Nature and Kind. Thus, if there be a ⟨p. 20⟩Succession of Trees of the same Sort, proceeding one from another, from the Beginning of the World, growing in all Countries, Soils and Climates, and otherwise in (as it were) an infinite Variety of Circumstances, all bearing ill Fruit; it as much proves the Nature and Tendency of the Kind▪ as if it were only one Individual Tree▪ that had remained from the Beginning of the World, had often been transplanted into different Soils &c. and had continued to bear only bad Fruit. So, if there were a particular Family, which, from Generation to Generation, and through' every Remove to innumerable different Countries and Places of Abode, all died of a Consumption, or all run distracted, or all murdered themselves, it would be as much an Evidence of the Tendency of something in the Nature or Constitution of that Race, as it would be of the Tendency of something in the Nature or State of an Individual, if some one Person had lived all that Time, and some remarkable Event had often appeared in him, which he had been the Agent or Subject of, from Year to Year, and from Age to Age, continually and without Fail.†
In the Case we are upon, the human Nature, as existing in such an immense Diversity of Persons and Circumstances, and never failing in any one Instance, of coming to that Issue, viz. that Sinfulness which implies extreme Misery and eternal Ruin, is as the Die often cast. For it alters not the Case, in the least, as to the Evidence of Tendency, whether the Subject of the constant Event be an Individual, or a Nature and Kind. Thus, if there be a ⟨p. 20⟩Succession of Trees of the same Sort, proceeding one from another, from the Beginning of the World, growing in all Countries, Soils and Climates, and otherwise in (as it were) an infinite Variety of Circumstances, all bearing ill Fruit; it as much proves the Nature and Tendency of the Kind as if it were only one Individual Tree that had remain'd from the Beginning of the World, had often been transplanted into different Soils &c. and had continu'd to bear only bad Fruit. So, if there were a particular Family, which, from Generation to Generation, and thro' every Remove to innumerable different Countries and Places of Abode, all died of a Consumption, or all run distracted, or all murder'd themselves, it would be as much an Evidence of the Tendency of something in the Nature or Constitution of that Race, as it would be of the Tendency of something in the Nature or State of an Individual, if some one Person had liv'd all that Time, and some remarkable Event had often appeared in him, which he had been the Agent or Subject of, from Year to Year, and from Age to Age, continually and without Fail.