Deep Dive into The Doctrine of Original Sin by Jonathan Edwards - It Follows from the Proposition Proved in the Foregoing Section, That All Mankind Are under the Influence of a Prevailing Effectual Tendency in Their Nature, to That Sin and Wickedness, Which Implies Their Utter and Eternal Ruin.
The fundamental argument regarding human nature is that the universal and constant failure of all mankind to keep the law perfectly, which results in sinfulness and the subsequent exposure to eternal ruin, serves as conclusive proof of a natural propensity toward that outcome. Tendency itself is defined as a prevailing exposedness or liability, inferred by reason only through the observation of the commonness and constancy of events. A steady effect necessarily argues for a steady, sufficient cause. The unwavering constancy of sin across all ages and circumstances proves that this propensity is not merely circumstantial, but is inherent and seated in the nature common to all humanity. This is the only way to judge that any disposition belongs to man’s nature.
This inherent tendency is of the highest kind: it is universally invincible and amounts to a fixed, constant, unfailing necessity. Mankind is prone to sin because they are attended with sensual appetites and are very apt to indulge them. The opposing view, represented by Dr. T., confirms this necessity by admitting that the case of mankind is deplorable and hopeless as to escaping death, and that endeavors after righteousness are lost labor, since it is truly impossible for them to expect anything but death if they rely on the law.
Furthermore, the external world is excluded as the primary source of the problem. If mankind exhibits an universal effectual tendency to sin and ruin in this world where God has placed them, it is looked upon as a pernicious tendency belonging to their nature. This holds especially true since the world is confessed to be good and full of divine bounty. Therefore, the universal infallible tendency to sin must lie within man’s nature, whether arising from the body which God made or originating immediately in the soul itself. The existence and inherence of this effectual tendency toward utter and eternal ruin are established by acknowledged fact, though the specific moral judgment of whether this propensity is corrupt or depraved is reserved for a separate discussion.
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