Treatise Doctrine Of Original Sin
| Author | John Wesley |
|---|---|
| Type | treatise |
| Year | None |
| Passage ID | jw-treatise-doctrine-of-original-sin-185 |
| Words | 375 |
How could a wise, just, and good God place his creature in
such a state as that the scale of evil should preponderate? Although it be allowed, he is, in a measure, free still; the other
scale does not “fly up, and kick the beam.”
3. Notwithstanding all the cavils which have been raised,
yet if those two texts (Eph. iv. 24; Col. iii. 10) are considered
together, their obvious meaning will strike an honest and
unbiassed reader, the new man, or the principle of true reli
gion in the heart, is created by God after his moral image, in
that righteousness and true holiness wherein man was at first
created. You answer, “I have endeavoured to prove the contrary;
and he does not offer to point out any one mistake in my inter
pretations.” (Page 189.) I have pointed out more than one. 4. If these are the qualifications with which such a new
made creature should be endued; and these the circumstances,
wherein, from the wisdom, justice, and goodness of God, we
should expect him to be situated ; then, by a careful survey of
what man is now, compared with what he should be, we may
easily determine, whether man is at present such a creature
as the great and blessed God made him at first. You answer in abundance of words, the sum of which is
this: “Our circumstances are, on the whole, far better than
Adam’s were; for he was under that severe law, ‘Transgress
and die.’” (Page 190.) He was so; but this does not prove
the point still; balancing this single disadvantage (if such it
was; for even that may be disputed) with the numerous
advantages he was possessed of, with the holiness and
happiness which he enjoyed, and might have enjoyed for ever,
it does by no means appear that the present circumstances of
mankind in general are better than Adam’s were. 5. God did not give Noah dominion over the brute creatures
in so ample a manner as he did to Adam. Fear indeed fell
on the brutes; but this does not sufficiently preserve man from
their outrage. In the innocent state, no man would have been
poisoned or torn by serpents or lions as now.