Wesley Corpus

“The misery, therefore, of the brute creation is so far from being an objection to the apostasy of man, that it is a visible standing demonstration thereof: If beasts suffer, then man is fallen.” (389.) “BUT whether or no the miseries of mankind alone will prove their apostasy from God, it is certain these, together with the sins of men, are an abundant proof that we are fallen creatures. And this I shall endeavour to show, both 390 Th E DOCTRINE OF from the express testimony of Scripture, from the necessity of renewing grace, and from a survey of the heathen world.” (Pages 409, 410.) “First. The Scripture testifies that a universal degeneracy and corruption is come upon all the sons and daughters of Adam. “Every imagination of the thoughts of the heart of man is only evil continually;’ (Gen. vi. 5;) yea, “evil from his youth.” (Gen. viii. 21.) ‘The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand and seek God. They are gone out of the way; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” (Psalm xiv. 2, 3.) “There is not a just man upon earth, who doeth good, and sin neth not.” (Eccles. vii. 20.) “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way; ' (Isaiah liii. 6;) different wanderings, but all wanderers. ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Every mouth is stopped, and all the world become guilty before God. All are fallen short of the glory of God, because all have sinned. (Rom. iii. 10, 12, 19, 23.) “If one died for all, then were all dead;’ (2 Cor. v. 14;) that is, spiritually dead; ‘dead in trespasses and sins.” “Now, can we suppose that all God’s creatures would uni versally break his law, run into sin and death, defile and destroy themselves, and that without any one exception, if it had not arisen from some root of bitterness, some originaliniquity, which was diffused through them all, from their very entrance into the world?