Wesley Corpus

Now, how is this to be accounted for, that, in so long a tract of time, no one nation under the sun has been able, by whole some laws, or by any other method, to remove this grievous evil; so that, their children being well educated, the scale might at length turn on the side of reason and virtue? These are questions which I conceive will not easily be answered to the satisfaction of any impartial inquirer. But, to bring the matter to a short issue: The first parents who educated their children in vice and folly, either were wise and virtuous themselves, or were not. If they were not, their vice did not proceed from education; so the supposition falls to the ground: Wickedness was antecedent to bad education. If they were wise and virtuous, it cannot be supposed but they would teach their children to tread in the same steps. In mowise, therefore, can we account for the present state of mankind from example or education. 2. Let us then have recourse to the oracles of God.