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The Fundamentals those of Melancthon: “Pecatum recte definitur ’avo/xla, seu discrepantia a lege Dei, h. e. defectus naturae et actionum pug- nans cum lege Dei.” II. THE UNIVERSALITY OF SIN According to the Bible, sin is not a quality or condition of soul that has revealed itself only in exceptional individuals like notorious offenders—prodigals, profligates, criminals, and vicious persons generally; or in exceptional circumstances, as for instance in the early ages of man’s existence on the earth, or among half developed races, or in lands where the arts and sciences are unknown, or in civilized communities where the local environment is prejudicial to morality; but different from this sin is a quality or condition of soul which exists in every child of woman born, and not merely at isolated times but at all times, and at every stage of his career, though not always manifesting itself in the same forms of thought, feeling, word and action in every individual or even in the same individual. It has affected extensively the whole race of man in every age from the beginning of the world downward, in every land beneath the sun, in every race into which mankind has been divided, in every situation in which the individual has found himself placed; and intensively in every individual in every department and faculty of his nature, from the circumference to the center, or from the center to the circumference of his being. Scripture utters no uncertain sound on the world-embrac ing character of moral corruption, saying in the pre-diluvian age of the world that “all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth” (Gen. 6 :12) ; in David’s generation, that all man kind had “gone aside and become filthy,” so that “there was none that did good, no, not one” (Psa. 14: 3) ; in Isaiah’s time, that “all we like sheep had gone astray and turned every one to his own way” (53 :6 ) ; in the opening of the Christian era, that “all had sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom.
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