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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
ascribe suca > a procedure to him , and seems to common sqnse , v ft wicked libel on his righteous ckaracter . It resembles the Father of mercies to the -wolf in the
fable , who charged the Jamb he jneant to destroy with , having slandered him half a year befbre , and on the lamb's urging that it / nust be a-iiiistake for lie was not
then born , replied , If it was not you , it was * your father , and that is the sam& thing . To say men are born the subjects of such moral inability as incapacitates them for doing what God requires of them , that their growing up sinful is the natural consequence of the stafe in which they are born , yet that he condemns , and punishes them for not doing what he requires , and for effects arising from
the fault of * their nature , which they as individuals never were capable of preventing , is to charge the righteous Judge of the universe with manifest injustice . iThis notion af hereditary depravity
appears fo common sense to destroy all moral obligation , for no anan can be * ia ° der an obligation to do what is to him nattfrally impossible , no * 6 an a righteous governor requiVe it h consequently ,
if m « n be born so depraved as to he incapable of doing the Will of £ od , they can be under no obligation ' to- do his will , unless they be obliged to perform i in possibilities . " " - r ' ' ' "• ¦ »
Native is tfco work of God ; though produced by the operation of sec 6 fid causes , he is the maker of < us'all £ he-liath established ttfatf cotokfatftion , ithrftfc ^ laws of ](>| -ofcre ^^ ii ^ hy whitrb p \ V generatitons- < Jf ' itttfeit ari ^ bWy ^^ Mt into beh \ g : rf h&tocel ; ' * it ^ fp ^ h-to ^ moft mwr'tfm id ^ i& ¥ * M&fe
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nature is sinful , is to charge oursihfillness upon-God ; seeing what * - er ^ r nature is , it is his wojrki Whatever men are when first bofn God Kath . made them , for it Is impossible they should make them * selves either good or bad , b e fore they are born ; nor can their parents make them any thing before their birth but by the operation of laws which . God hath
established in nature : if then , it be said they are , in their first formation as individuals , made morally corrupt , their moral corruption is in fact , charged on JGod their maker , though he condemns and will punish them for their moral corruption ; and he is supposed to have established a constitution ,
as unalterable as the laws of procreation , for the propagation of moral depravity , of sin , that abominable thing which his soul huteth , throughout all generations . Common sense also rejects the
doctrine I am examining , as contrary to evident niatter of fact . Though a rustic , Ifeave read some of Mr . Locke ' s writings , and tliink he has clearly proved there are no innate ideas . Man is evidently born without
theknowledge of good , and evil , without any moral consciousness , nor can any be produced in him until he attains the use of reason ; consequently , be cannot be the subject of moral actions , or dispositions ,
uAtil that time ; ti . H then Tie can be under no law ; for laws can extend only to those who are capable of moral actions : aind an Apostle hath said ^ tiHier ^ thepeis rtti laze , '; there i ^ no tr&n ^ vessiott ; it ^ flivVoldiably folios t k $ 6 'hu ^ an to ^ N gs hrtemofe , eaibiiot bei > b . wi 3 i ^ af vilify rf Mtftfe ^ N ^ shaldow ^ of . p ^ o ^^ ibati be given that moral qiia-
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Decisidns of Common Setose / on the Dodtrine of Ovi&ifud Sih . fijfe
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1808, page 195, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2391/page/23/
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