144,) which has recently left the
press, our views on this subject are thus summed up:-- "The Augsburg
Confession seems to combine, both these views, (_i.e._ both absence of
holiness and predisposition to sin,) and the great body of Lutheran
divines has regarded natural, or original, or innate depravity, as that
disorder in the mental and bodily constitution of man, which was
introduced by the fall of Adam, is transmitted by natural generation
from parent to child, and the result of which is, that all men who are
naturally engendered, evince in their action want of holiness and a
predisposition to sin. Without the admission of such a disorder in the
human system, _no satisfactory reason can be assigned for the
universality of actual transgression_ amongst men." "Our own views on
this disputed subject, maybe summed up in the following features: 1.
All mankind, in consequence of their descent from fallen Adam, _are born
with a depraved nature,_ that is, their bodily and mental system is _so
disordered, as_ in result of its operation _to evince a predisposition
to sin._ 2. This natural depravity _disqualifies its subjects for
heaven_. Because the action of depraved (disordered) faculties and
powers, would not, even in heaven itself, be conformed to the divine
law, and _could not be acceptable to God_ In our natural state,
moreover, we have not the _qualifications requisite for the enjoyment
of heaven_, having no spiritual appetites.
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