2d. That it consists primarily in the mere supremacy of the sensual part of our nature. It is a depraved habit or bias of will.
3d. That it consists solely in the absence of holy dispositions, because, from the inherent activity of the soul, sin exhibits itself from the beginning in the way of a positive proneness to evil.
On the other hand, we affirm —
1st. That original sin is purely moral, being the innate proneness of the will to evil.
2d. That having its seat in the will averse to the holy law of God, it biasses the understanding, and thus deceives the con- science, leads to erroneous moral judgments, to blindness of mind, to deficient and perverted sensibility in relation to moral objects, to the inordinate action of the sensuous nature, and thus to cor- ruption of the entire soul.
3d. Thus it presents two aspects : (1.) The loss of the original
248 ORIGINAL SIN.
righteous habit of will. (2.) The presence of a positively un- righteous habit.
4th. Yet from the fact that this innate depravity does em- brace a positive disposition to evil, it does not follow that a posi- tive evil quality has been infused into the soul. Because, from the essentially active nature of the soul, and from the esential nature of virtue, as that which obliges the will, it evidently fol- lows that moral indifference is impossible; and so that depravity, which President Edwards says " comes from a defective or privi- tive cause," instantly assumes a positive form. Not to love God is to rebell against him, not to obey virtue is to trample it under foot. Self-love soon brings us to fear, then to hate the vindicator of righteousness. — Edwards on " Original Sin," Part IV., sec. 2.
2. Why is this sin called original ?
Not because it belongs to the original constitution of our nature as it came forth from the hand of Grod, but because, 1st, it is derived by ordinary generation from Adam, the original root of the human race ; and, 2d, it is the inward root or origin of all the actual sins that defile our lives.
3. How may it be proved that the doctrine of original sin does not involve the corruption of the substance of the soul ?
It is the universal judgment of men that there are in the soul, besides its essence and its natural faculties, certain habits, innate or acquired, which qualify the action of those faculties, and con- stitute the character of the man. Those habits, or inherent dispo- sitions which determine the affections and desires of the will, gov- ern a man's actions, and, when good, are the subjects of moral approbation, and, when evil, the subjects of moral disapprobation on the part of all men. An innate moral habit of soul, e. g., original sin, is no more a physical corruption than any acquired habit, intellectual or moral, is a physical change.
Besides this, the Scriptures distinguish between the sin and the agent in a way which proves that the sinful habit is not some- thing consubstantial with the sinner, Eom. vii., 17 ; " sin that dwelleth in me," Heb. xii., 1, etc.
4. How can it be shown that original sin does not consist in
NOT DISEASE. 249
disease, or merely in the supremacy of the sensuous part of our nature ?
While it is true that many sins have their occasions in the inordinate appetites of the body, yet it is evident the original or root of sin can not be in them —
1st. From the very nature of sin it must have its seat in the moral state of the voluntary principle. Disease, or any form of physical disorder, is not voluntary, and therefore not an element of moral responsibility. It is, moreover, the obligation of the will to regulate the lower sensuous nature, and sin must originate in the failure of those moral affections which would have been supreme if they still continued to reign in the will.
2d. From the fact that the most heinous sins are destitute of any sensuous element, e. g., pride, anger, malice, and aver- sion from God.
5. How can it be proved that this innate disposition or habit of soul, which leads to sinful action, is itself sin ?
1st. This innate habit of soul is a state of the will, and it is an ultimate principle that all the states as well as acts of the will related to the law of conscience are moral, i. e., either virtuous or vicious. — See above, Chapter XIV., questions 9 and 10.
2d. These permanent habits or states of the will constitute the moral character of the agent, which all men regard as the proper subject of praise or blame.
3d. This inherent disposition to sinful action is called " sin" in Scripture, Kom. vi., 12, 14, 17 ; vii., 5-17. It is called "flesh" as opposed to " spiritual," G-al. v., 17, 24 ; also " lust," James i., 14, 15 ; and " old Adam" and "body of sin," Kom. vi., 6 ; also "ignorance/'' "blindness of heart," "alienation from the life of God," and a condition of "being past feeling," Eph. iv., 18, 19.
6. Hoiv can it be shown that original sin does not consist sim- ply in the ivant of original righteousness ?