Wesley Corpus

Being averse to the will, law, and ways of God, they are utterly indisposed for such an obedience as the relation between God and man indispensably requires. “And as we are all naturally averse to what is good, so we are naturally inclined to what is evil. Even young children of themselves run into evil; but are with difficulty brought to practise what is good. No sooner do they discover rea son, than they discover evil, unreasonable dispositions. And these discovering themselves in every one, even from his early childhood, manifestly prove the inbred and universal corruption of human nature. “But why is this corruption termed flesh? Not because it is confined to the body. It is the corruption of our whole nature, and is therefore termed ‘the old man.” Not because it consists merely in a repugnance of the sensual appetites to reason. This is but one branch of that corruption; the whole of it is far more extensive. Not because it is prima rily seated in the body; it is primarily seated in the soul. If “sin reigns in our mortal bodies, it is because the sinful soul uses the bodily members as ‘instruments of unrighteousness.’ “‘Nay, all which those words, That which is born of the flesh is flesh, mean, is this: All men being descended of frail and mortal parents are, like them, frail and mortal. In con sequence of Adam’s sin, all his descendants die.’ “I answer, 1. Though this be true, it is not the whole truth. Nor is it the proper truth of the text, which speaks of our being ‘born of the flesh, as the reason why we must be ‘born of the Spirit.” “2. It is not consistent with the moral perfections of God for sinless creatures to be born ‘mortal.” Death, in every sense of the word, is the proper “wages of sin.’ ‘Sin has the same casual influence on death, as the obedience of Christ has on eternal life. “3. We are not only born ‘mortal, but ‘children of wrath; we who are now regenerate, as well as others. “4. The Scripture ascribes both our “mortality’ and ‘cor ruption’ to our relation to Adam. “In him all die; ‘through the offence of one, many, all mankind, are dead, liable to death. Again: “By the disobedience of one, the same, ‘many are constituted sinners.