be raised from the dead, the old and the young, the good and the bad, not because they have done good or bad, but simply because God appointed them.

How then can these verses or any one of them be quoted to sustain the doctrine of imputed depravity? If they are made to refer to spiritual death and spiritual life, they prove too much; for instance, in the 22d verse, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Here the death and the life are equally extensive, the same all that die shall be made alive; and by making them refer to spiritual death and spiritual life, this portion of Scripture at least, would go to prove the doctrine of universal salvation, which we know is contrary to the whole tenor of Scripture.

O! what a long list of errors, which are ruinous to the souls of men, grow out of the habit of forcing texts of Scripture from their obvious meaning, to support some favourite system of doctrine, not in accordance with the word of God.

Again, as an argument in favour of imputed depravity, we are told that it is a law of nature, that like produces its like, and reference is then had to Adam being created in the likeness of God, holy and upright, also to his depraved character after his fall; and several texts of Scripture are quoted, as they suppose, in confirmation of the position.

Psalm li. 5. Behold! I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Genesis v. 3. And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth.

Job xiv. 4. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?

not one.

Job xv. 14. What is man that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

Here they say that Adam begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; that is, a depraved creature like himself, and so on, depravity is generated from father to son through the whole race of man.

Now all this is based on the supposition that the soul is gene

rated by the parents, as well as the body, and that both soul and body are depraved.

If this position is correct, that like produces its like in a moral point of view, why are not the children of pious parents less depraved than the children of unbelievers?

It is very absurd to advocate material depravity, the depravity of the body, or the depravity of the material creation. In the first part of this discourse I have shown that all the material creation is made to obey certain fixed laws, which are the very laws of their existence, and they can obey no other; they may be compelled, by the mind of spiritual agents, to move contrary to the laws of their nature, but can never be governed by the ten commandments, hence they cannot commit sin; and if they cannot sin, it is extreme folly to talk of their depravity.

Depravity has reference to moral qualities, and proceeds from the heart, or the affections, and not from the body. Then, as I have before stated, all the arguments derived from these texts, in support of imputed depravity, are based on the supposition that the soul is generated by the parents, which is a point very far from being proved.

For the soul or spirit of man is his rational, immortal, and immaterial substance, which cannot be generated like our bodies; this spirit is neither male nor female, and when separated from our bodies, "there will be neither marrying nor giving in marriage; but we shall be as the angels of God in heaven." Our bodies partake of the characteristics of our progenitors, but our spirit is the direct production of our Creator. The body of Adam was first formed out of the dust of the ground, an inanimate body, as it is written in Genesis ii. 7. "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." Here the word life in the original, is in the plural number, [the breath of lives,] and may signify, that by the breath of his nostrils, the soul and the spirit were both united to the body; the soul as the source of animal life, and the seat of sensation; and the spirit as the source of moral exercises,

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and of spiritual life; and that both are retained so long as the breath continues with the body.

But in regard to the descendants of Adam, the time when the soul or spirit is united to the body, we shall proceed to quote several texts of Scripture, which, it is conceived, have an important bearing on this subject.

Job declares, in regard to himself, that his soul was communicated with his breath; chapter xxxiii. 4. "The Spirit of God made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.”

It would appear that this ought to settle this question; but we proceed: Job iii. 16. "Or as a hidden untimely birth, I had not been; or as infants that never saw light."

Here Job discriminates in regard to the continued existence of infants, between an untimely birth, and a regular matured birth; and between an infant that never saw the light, and one that had opened its eyes on the objects of this life; and insinuates that an untimely birth, and one that never saw the light, had ceased to exist.

Psalm lviii. 8. "As a snail melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun." Here is strong language, and it is more than intimated that an untimely birth shall melt away as the snail, and cease to exist.

The Scriptures represent the soul or life as seated in the blood, Genesis ix. 4. "But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat; 5th, and surely your blood of your lives will I require," &c.

Leviticus xvii. 11. "For the life of the flesh is in the blood; 14th, for it is the life of all flesh, the blood of it is for the life thereof."

Deuteronomy xii. 23. "Only be sure that thou eat not the blood; for the blood is the life" thereof.

Then if the blood is the life, the foetus in the womb is nourished by the blood of the mother, and not by any blood or life of its own: for if it has blood and life of its own, then the blood of two lives flow in the veins of one individual.

Galatians i. 15. "But when it pleased God, who separated

me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace." That is, "When it pleased God, who gave me a separate and personal existence, and called me by his grace." The Apostle here intimates that he had no separate personal existence till the time of his birth.

Then it would appear that the fœtus in the womb, being in several ways connected with and deriving its nourishment from the parent, and under these circumstances is a part of herself; and has no separate existence until the act of parturition; and that the soul or spirit is not given till this separation takes place, the infant breathes the vital air, has its own circulation of blood, and is nourished by its own appropriate organs; at which time it is complete in all its parts and functions; and then, and not till then, does it possess a soul or spirit, and a separate personal existence.

It is generally understood and believed, that when temporal death takes place, the soul or spirit leaves the body when the breath ceases; and this is expressed in Job xxxiv. 14, 15: “If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath; all flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust." And Job xv. 30: "And by the breath of his mouth shall he go away;" and Job xxvii. 3: “All the while my breath is in me, and the Spirit of God is in my nostrils;" that is, as long as my soul is retained in my body, till I die.

Then if the soul of Adam was communicated to his body with his breath, and the soul of Job was given with his breath, and the souls of all men depart when their breath ceases; and if the fœtus has no separate existence from the mother; we think it is clear that all the descendants of Adam have their souls given at the time of their first act of breathing.

The only apparent objection to this conclusion, is the case of Mary and Elizabeth, recorded in Luke i. 39 to 45, where it is stated by Elizabeth, that the babe leaped in her womb for joy. But this is a solitary case, a notable miracle; and therefore cannot militate against our position.

These positions being established, on what a slender founda

tion is the doctrine of transferred depravity from father to son, by ordinary generation; unless it is understood to be material depravity, which is absurd; for the soul or spirit is the only thing of which we can predicate depravity.

Adam, in regard to his body, was not originally created immortal, and afterward became mortal by eating the forbidden fruit, for it was said to him, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground: for out of it wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." It is thought by some that he might have become immortal, by partaking of the tree of life, but this he was not permitted to do.

Once more, the doctrine that Adam's sin, or the guilt of his sin, is imputed to his posterity, or set over to their account, so that they become guilty or blame-worthy in the sight of God; and all this brought upon them, without their knowledge or consent, for a sin they did not participate in, and committed near six thousand years before many of them were born, would be charging upon the Almighty a course of conduct that is at variance with all that is right, just, and equal; conduct that would not be tolerated in any human tribunal; then how can we justify a good and gracious God, for doing that which we would abhor when transacted by man?

Again; if the whole of Adam's sin, or the guilt of his sin is imputed or set over to his posterity, then Adam must be holy, and not chargeable with his own sin; it cannot be his sin and their sin at the same time; if it can, then it would be like a case where one man commits murder, and this crime is imputed to a dozen others, and the penalty of hanging is executed on them all.

If Adam's sin, or the guilt of his sin, is imputed to his posterity, or set over to their account, so that they become guilty, the whole of it must be imputed or set over to each individual; or, it must be divided among his posterity.

If the whole of Adam's sin is imputed to each individual, this absurdity must follow as a necessary consequence; an immense number are made out of one; a stupendous miracle, exceeding