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Untitled Article
preserved a total silence when they would have spoken out plainly : and that a doctrine which he never taught , even if true , can be no essential doctrine of Christianity . One thii > g in particular struck me in the gospel history , which common sense dictated to be fatal to the notion of original sin or hereditary depra - vity . We read that Jesus t /> ok a little child and set it up in the midst of his disciples , and
declared that , except they were converted and became like little children , they shoulcf in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven : now if little children were altogether corrupt and morally polluted , the unconverted would be more like little children than the
converted ; instead oT sinners becomiRg like little children by being converted , conversion would render them more unlike such than they were before : it would be - absurd to suppose Jesus to hold
up a creature radically corrupt , * whose very nature was morally depraved , as a pattern of what * men must become in order to their * entering the kingdom of heaven ; it would be supposing him to make radical corruption and moral depravity , essential qualifications in those who ' would enter his kingdom . It ^ appears to common sense ,.-that ( he notion of original
sin impeaches the conduct of Christ , as it supposes him to hold up a depraved , guilty creature , under the curse of God , as a . pattern of converted men . and the
subjects of the heavenly kingdom . Had he only b . een silent on the subject , his silence ought to'have been respected , and to have restrained us from asserting as an essential doctrine of Christianity ,
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Decisions of Common Sense . Letter IT * 2 $ T
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© f all the messengers of God , had p lainly taught it , and that a particular statement of it might be expected in the history which the Evangelists ' wrote of his life and doctrine . Think sir , what was my surprise , when after read - ing the four Evangelists with close attention , I Jpund that the great master of Christians , who erected the standard * of their faith ,
never so much as mentioned , or even hinted at the sin of Adam , the supposed natural depravity of his posterity , nor in any form either taught , or so much as inti-. mated the doctrine of original
sin or hereditary depravity ; but on the contrary , taught what is utterly irrcconcileable with that doctnne ; that he taught that the sins of men proceed entirely from themselves , and fall with ail their
consequences , upon their own heads . It appeared to me very strange , if Jesus knew that all moral depravity was derived by generation , and descended from . Adam , he should trace the evil actions of men no farther than
the perversity of individuals and the corrupt principles they had imbibed or formed , leaving the supposed original and universal source of moral corruption unnoticed . This appeared tome the more extraordinary , as I had
observed a contrary conduct to be pretty general among the advocates tor original sin ; that they seldom ,, if ever , speak particularly of the corruption of men ' s hearty , without intimating , if not plainly expressing its derivation from
Adam . Common sense dictated that Jesus Christ could not have the same views of this subject as are entertained by many modern professors of his name : seeing he .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1809, page 257, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1736/page/11/
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