Wesley Corpus

viii. 21.) I will not be provoked to this by the wickedness of mankind; for they are inclined tosin from their childhood. Was I, therefore,to do this as often as they deserve, I must be continually destroying the earth. The word-iss--imagination--(as was observed before) 422 THE DOCTRINE or includes the thoughts, affections, inclinations, with everything which the soul, as a thinking being, forges and frames within itself. And the word we render youth, includes childhood and infancy, the earliest age of man; the whole time from his birth, or (as others affirm) from his formation in the womb. “Indeed Dr. Taylor would translate the text, ‘Although the imagination of man’s heart should be evil from his youth. But, (1.) Though the particle -- sometimes signifies although ; yet for is its common meaning. And we are not to recede from the usual signification of a word without any necessity. (2.) If we read although, it will not at all invalidate our proof. For still the plain meaning of the words would be, ‘I will not send another general flood, although every figment or formation of the heart of every man is evil from his earliest infancy.’” (Page 39.) “Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust; yet man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward.’ (Job v. 6, 7.) The word which is here rendered affliction, sometimes signifies ‘iniquity. For what reason, but to show that these two, ‘sin’ and ‘affliction, are inseparable? Sin is the cause of affliction; and affliction, of whatever kind, is the genuine effect of sin. Indeed it is incompatible with the justice and mercy of God to appoint afflictions of any kind for the innocent. If Christ suffered, it was because the sins of others were im puted to him. If, then, every one of the posterity of Adam “is born to trouble, it must be because he is born a sinner: For man was not originally made to suffer. Nor while he preserved his innocence was he liable to suffering of any kind. Are the angels, or any pure, sinless creatures, liable to any sorrow or affliction? Surely no. But every child of Adam is. And it is in consequence of his sin, that the present life of man is short and afflictive; of which the very Heathens were deeply sensible.