OF HUMAN. NATURE. Q89 believe man is corrupt, because the Bible tells us he is so. Let us believe that all were so by nature, even the best, since we learn it from this Divine source. Let us, from the same authority, trace the disorder to its source from a fallen parent, its seat in a corrupted heart, its extent through the whole man, its uni- versality over the entire race. All are willing to allow that we are subject to frailties, to imperfections, to infirmities ; facts compel us to confess a propensity to crimes, but worldly men confine the commission of them to the vulgar. But to rest here would lead us to a very false estimate of the doctrine in question, Contrary to the decisive lan- guage of Scripture ; it would establish corruption to be an accident, and not a root. It would, by a division of offenders into two classes, deny that all offences are derived from one common principle. Among the higher ranks there is little temptation to the commission of certain sins ; murder is rare, fraud uncommon,
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