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Muzzey, A. B : 1st Series. No. 165. Man Born Upright

James Munroe & co., 134 Washington Street., Boston, MA, 1841

Original publisher's beige paper pamphlet. Text printed in black ink. 5 1/4" x 8." Sixteen pages, complete. Pages are clean and intact overall but there is significant foxing throughout (text still very readable), the lower corners of fore-edge are bumped, and there are some small closed tears at the edges. A Good copy. "Printed for the American Unitarian Association." This is a sermon that was given by Reverend A. B. Muzzey. In his sermon, Muzzey addresses the question of whether human nature or the soul of man is inherently sinful and corrupt, morally good and upright, or somewhere in between. Muzzey uses his reasoning as well as passages from Scripture to support his belief and argument that human nature is inherently good. He clarifies that clearly people sin, but he contends this is due to external forces or internal mistakes, the latter of which he says are exceptions that run contrary to the inherent goodness of man's soul. Muzzey acknowledges that when sin is committed, people may remark, "Ah, that is human nature," but when a virtuous deed is done, it is not ascribed to human nature. Muzzey believes this sentiment to be erroneous. To back his claims, he looks to the nature of animals for comparison. He says that animals inherently want to preserve their life but occasionally make mistakes that endanger it. He uses the example of a bird that unwittingly flies into a snare. Muzzey argues that the bird did not want to commit suicide, but due to its internal mistake, it flew into the lethal trap. He compares this to human nature; people commit spiritual "suicide" because they make mistakes and fall into temptation. Muzzey also refers to several Scriptural verses and interprets them as attesting to the inherent good in mankind. Muzzey also explains that while he believes people were inherently make to be "upright," they need to work toward goodness to achieve it.. Book. Book Condition: Good. Binding: Soft cover

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