He ascended into heaven, and 'Acts i. 9-11. 2Col. iii. 1. sitteth on the right hand of God Matt. xxv. 31, 32. 2Acts x. 12 Cor. xiii. 14. 2iii. 6. 3John 1 Ephes. v. 25-27.ii. 19,20. And ascended into heaven,' and And he shall come again with glory And I believe in the holy Ghost,1 I acknowledge one2 baptism3 for the 1 Cor. xv. 21-23. and And I look for the resurrection of 35-39. Matt. xxv. 46. *N. B. The creation of things visible and invisible is predicated of the Son only.-COL. i. 15-17. And the life everlasting. ARTICLE IX. Of Original or Birth Sin.a ORIGINAL sin standeth not in the following of Adam, (as the Pelagians do vainly talk,) but it is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil; so that the flesh lusteth a The rule of Christian faith being established in the last three articles, our church has thought it right, in the next place to proceed to those points which relate to Christians as individuals, and begins with " original sin, or birth sin.” The denomination of "original sin," to denote the corruption or depravation of human nature, derived from the lapse of our first parents, is not of very early use in the church. St. Austin is esteemed first to have used it. But, however, the doctrine is as early as christianity itself; and the writers of the first centuries express very clearly the thing itself, though under different names. For they call it," the old guilt,” “the ancient wound," "the common curse," ," "the old sin," and the like. But after the Pelagian controversy, the divines of the church generally used "originale peccatum," to signify the corruption of nature and proneness to sin, which was transmitted down from the first parents to their posterity; following therein St. Austin, who thought this the most significant expression to denote that depravation of nature, which the Pelagians denied. ORIGINAL SIN NOT THE MERE ACT OF SIN, BUT THE CORRUPTION OF OUR NATURE. b Since infants, as well as adult persons, have need of a mediator, it follows that there is something in them which stands always contrary to the spirit, and therefore in every person born into this world, it deserveth God's wrath and damnation. And this infection of nature doth in need of being remitted: and what can that be but sin? And since they are not capable of following or imitating any other person, it is evident that the sin is the fault and corruption of nature. Rom. v. 14. "Death reigned from Adam to Moses; even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression." Job xxv. 4. "How can he be clean that is born of a woman ?" Job xiv. 4. "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one." Psalm li. 5. "Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." Romans v. 12. 15. 17. 19; 1 Cor. xv. 22; John iii. 8. "That which is born of the flesh, is flesh." Rom. vii. 18: "I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." 1 John i. 10. "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and his word is not in us.” Gen. vi. 5. "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Gen viii. 21. "The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." Jer. xvii. 9. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" Matt. xv. 18, 19. Psalm xiv. 2, 3; Rom. iii. 10; "There is none righteous; no, not one." Not because God imputes to Adam's posterity the crime of his having eaten the forbidden fruit, for which crime he is supposed to have pardoned Adam upon his repentance; but because by that sin Adam thoroughly corrupted his nature, and because from a corrupt parent, we also are born a corrupt offspring. For the original righteousness being lost, nothing of good remains in us, but we are naturally propense to all evil: and therefore we are, Eph. ii. 3: "by nature the children of wrath." Rom. v. 18. "As by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation; so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." By original righteousness, the divines of the Church understand a primitive rectitude of nature which our first parents remain, yea, in them that are regenerated, whereby the lust of the flesh, called in Greek, phronema sarkos, which some do expound the wisdom, some sensuality' some the affection, some the desire of the flesh, is not subject to the law of God. And although there is were formed with, and which, if they had not sinned, would have been transmitted to all their posterity. ORIGINAL SIN NOT REMOVED BY BAPTISM. d The members of the Church of Rome maintain, that original sin is entirely taken away by baptism; but there is no authority for this opinion in Scripture: on the contrary, it militates against the assertion of St. Paul to the Galatian converts, Gal. v. 17; the admonition of St. Peter to the Christians, 1 Peter ii. 11, to whom he writes; and the affirmation of St. James. James i. 14. These epistles were all written to persons who had been baptized; and the apostles evidently consider them, as still liable to the "infection of nature," contracted by the fall of man. "There is no reason," says Bishop Burnet, "to think that baptism takes away the branches and effects of original sin; it is enough if we are by it delivered from the wrath of God, and brought into a state of favour and acceptation; we are freed from the curse of death by our being entitled to a blessed resurrection; and if we are so far freed from the corruption of our nature, as to have a federal right to such assistance as will enable us to resist and redress it, though it is not quite extinct in us so long as we live in these frail and mortal bodies, here are very great effects of our admission to christianity by baptism, though this should not go so far as to root all inclinations to evil out of our nature." Rom. vii. 18. 22, 23. "For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good, I find not. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. 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.' e This certainly cannot be doubted of, since it is too plainly condemnation for them that believe and are baptized, yet the Apostle doth confess, that concupiscence and lust hath of itself the nature of sin. manifested by sad experience. Gal. v. 17. "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." Also, Rom. viii. 18, 24. Rom. viii. 7. "The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." f Faith in Christ, joined with repentance, and evidenced by a sincere endeavour to obey his commands, will, through the merits of his death, avert the punishment due to our sins, and procure us admission into the kingdom of heaven. Mark xvi. 16. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Rom. viii. 1. "There is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." THE DISPOSITION TO SIN IN ITSELF SINFUL, THOUGH THE ACT BE NOT PERPETRATED. g Of a sin of infirmity, at least; for unless it hurry the will along with it, doubtless it is not a voluntary one, nor will it be imputed to the regenerate for their condemnation. Rom. vii. 7. "What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." ARTICLE X. Of Free Will.a THE Condition of man after the fall of Adam is a This article is levelled against the Pelagians, who asserted |