392 STRENGTH AND WEAKNESSS OF HUMAN REASON. and I beg Pithander's pardon. Butwithout more compliments, we will pursue the point in hand. Let the heathens, Jews, and Christians of elder times say what they please of this degeneracy, some of your own writers now-a-days, whoare in greatest credit amongst you, if they,do not suspect the reality of the story of Adam and Eve, and'the serpent, yet at least they deny such fa- tal effects of.it as you have generally ascribed to the tali of man. To say the truth, they are almost grown weary of maintaining so harsh and so unreasonable a doctrine. Your learned Dr. Clarke tells us, that in Solomon's days, as well as in ours, God made man upright; and notwithstanding all th..t can be said of the meanness and frailness of our nature, nothrvithstanding all the disadvantages we can alledge ourselves to lie under in conse- quence of sin havingbeen brought into the world, yet God hath mademan upright; man, that is, the species or whole race ofmen. The uprightness therefore that Solomon speaks of in Eccles, vii. 29. cannot be the original uprightness which was forfeited by the sin of our first parents, but that continued uprightness with which every man comes into the world notwithstanding the fail. SeeDr. Clarke's Sermon XIV. printed in his life-time. PITH. I am sorrÿ to find a christiau writer talk at the rate this learned author does in that sermon. And indeed if the cor- ruption of human nature be so small, and its present powers so sufficient for the purposes of religion and virtue, as he represents them in that discourse, I wonder how he could speak of so uni- versal a depravation amongst mankind, as he does in his excel- lent book of Revealed Religion, Prop. v. vi. vii. which made revelation so necessary. But I wave this point at present, lest it should draw us aside too soon from our intended subject into another debate, viz. about original sin. I would therefore only take notice to you, Logisto, and I suppose you will easily grant, that man in his present condition, is kable to many mistakes in his search of truth and duty ; and that he often fails in practice of the rules of duty when they are known ; and there is something more that is necessary to be known and practised, that a sinful creature may recover the love and favour of his Maker when he is offended, than there was for an innocent creature in order to keep himself in the love of God ; and that is, as our friend So- phronious has expressed it, the duty of repentance,on our part, and she grace of forgiveness on the part of God. LOG. This is not to be denied, Sir, and therefore I really allow it. But what then ? Is it not the reasonof man sufficient to find out these things, PITH. Give me leave, Sir, to say again, that we are not in- (miring, whether human reason, in its best estate, could find out the religion of an innocent creature, whereby he might continue in his Maker's love; but whether, under all present disadvan-
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