it the sign of a virtuous mind, to seek the praise of men; and of a vicious one, to be content with _the honour that cometh of_ God _only_! III. 1. I proceed to draw a few inferences from what has been said. And, _first_, from hence we may learn one grand, fundamental difference between Christianity, considered as a system of doctrines, and the most refined Heathenism. Many of the ancient Heathens have largely described the vices of particular men. They have spoken much against their covetousness or cruelty, their luxury or prodigality. Some have dared to say, That “no man is born without vices, of one kind or another.” But still, as none of them were apprized of the fall of man, so none of them knew of his total corruption. They knew not, that all men were empty of all good, and filled with all manner of evil. They were wholly ignorant of the entire depravation of the whole human nature, of every man born in the world, in every faculty of his soul, not so much by those particular vices, which reign in particular persons, as by the general flood of Atheism and idolatry, of pride, self-will and love of the world. This therefore is the first, grand, distinguishing point between Heathenism and Christianity. The one acknowledges, That many men are infected with many vices, and even born with a proneness to them; but supposes withal, that in some the natural good much overbalances the evil. The other declares, That all men are _conceived in sin_, and _shapen in wickedness_: that hence there is in every man a _carnal mind, which is enmity against_ God, _which is not, cannot be subject to_ his _law_, and which so infects the whole soul, that _there dwelleth in_ him, _in his flesh_, in his natural state, _no good thing_; but _all the imagination of the thoughts of his heart_, is _evil_, only _evil_, and that _continually_. 2. Hence we may, _secondly_, learn, That all who deny this, call it _original sin_, or by any other title, are but Heathens still, in the fundamental point which differences Heathenism from Christianity. They may indeed allow, That men have many vices: that some are born with us: and that consequently we are not born altogether so wise or so virtuous, as we should be: there being few that will roundly affirm, “We are born with as much propensity to good as to evil, and that every man is by nature as virtuous and wise, as _Adam_ was at his creation.” But here is the shibboleth: is man by nature filled with all manner of evil? Is he void of all good? Is he wholly fallen? Is his soul totally corrupted? Or, to come back to the text, Is _every imagination of the thoughts of his heart only evil continually_? Allow this and you are so far a Christian. Deny it, and you are but an Heathen still.