no good thing" (Rom. 7,18); (b) the fact of the cooperation of the Almighty with the parents of every child, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3,6). Pelagius therefore, and those that follow him, while on sounder lines than Augustine, was apparently open to the charge of teaching that man could live righteously by his own strength without any need of the grace of God.

The Bible Doctrine of Dead Sin in The Flesh

There is no need to enlarge upon explanations that have already been given. It is enough to recapitulate the following leading truths.

1. Children are the result of a combination of Divine and human activity: the parts which God alone can give, soul and spirit, are of course perfect, and only the part which comes from man is imperfect owing to inherited, but dead, sin in the flesh. "For without the law sin was dead", "Now then it is no more I that do it. but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing."48 What a joy then to realise that in every birth The Lord Himself has taken a hand and given spirit to the helpless babes of even the wickedest parents! (Zech. 12,1) The illegitimate offspring of sexual irregularity are accepted by God and even at times form rungs in the Royal Ladder that led to The Messiah.49

2. All children are therefore, through their living spirit, alive to God and capable of knowing God, having the further grace of a personal Angel with instant access to the Almighty.

3. When, however, moral law enters a child's heart sin revives, for the strength of sin is the law: where there is no law there is no transgression and God is not angry until Law has been broken.50 At this point both sin and soul are alive, and temptation begins; for the now-living "sin in the flesh" proceeds to tempt the soul, and as in Eve's case by deceit enters it, and kills it. For this the soul is justly to blame, as were Adam and Eve, for rejecting the Knowledge of God which would have kept it pure, and doing that for which it would have blamed another. "Therefore thou art inexcusable