We believe that man is fallen from original righteousness, and apart from the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is not only entirely destitute of holiness, but is inclined to evil, and evil only, and that continually; and that except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of heaven.

In this article of the Confession the doctrine of human depravity is declared - its nature, extent, and recovery from it.

Painful and humiliating as this doctrine is, it nevertheless lies at the very base of the whole Christian system. In one way and another the doctrines of atonement, redemption, and regeneration point to this cardinal or fundamental truth. By human depravity, in a general sense, is meant "a state of mind the opposite of that which is required by divine law." Webster defines it to be "a vicious state of moral character; want of virtue; absence of religious feeling and principle." Observation, experience, and the Word of God substantially agree that man in an unregenerate state is destitute of "religious feeling and principle." The first claim of the divine law, upon which every other claim hinges, is love to God, which no man in his natural state possesses.

There is some difference of opinion concerning the extent of human depravity. Some hold that it is total, while others hold that it is only partial. This difference in part arises from a want of a proper understanding of the doctrine. As a denomination, we believe in what is generally called total depravity; not total in the sense of enslaving the will, but total so far as any inherent goodness is concerned; it is not meant that bad men may not become worse, nor that all men are wicked to the

same degree, but that the moral nature of every one is corrupt, that every part is affected, so that man in his natural state is "very far gone from original righteousness." The article under review says, that "apart from the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ," he "is not only entirely destitute of holiness, but is inclined to evil, and only evil, and that continually." This is a clear and comprehensive statement of the doctrine of depravity.

If, when man fell from original righteousness, God had left him to himself, and not interposed by the gift of his Son, depravity would have been total in an absolute sense; the wreck would have been complete, and his recovery impossible. But, by the "grace of our Lord Jesus Christ," his recovery is made possible. In so far, therefore, as the light of divine grace has fallen upon the benighted and depraved soul of man, the influence of the fall is counteracted. What we mean, then, by total depravity is, first, "that all the powers of the soul are depraved"; second, that there is no natural or inherent good in man; third, "that all the good belonging to personal character has been superinduced by grace"; fourth, that the provisions of the gospel are indispensable in the recovery of mankind from this fallen state.

The penalty of the law under which Adam fell, included death, temporal, spiritual, and eternal, and but for the interposition of divine grace, this awful penalty, with all its consequences, would have fallen upon him. Adam was the federal head of the whole race, so that his posterity partakes of that nature. If there were no other argument to prove the universality of the fall, the fact that all go away from God as soon as they come to the years of accountability shows that there must be a natural bias in their nature which inclines them to do so. If all came into the world pure, it would be most reasonable to expect that at least some of them would retain that inherent purity. But do they? Observation and experience teach us that the natural trend of human nature is downward.

But we turn away from mere human reason to the Word of God. After all that may be said, the Bible is,

and must always be, the standard of proof and appeal on all the cardinal doctrines of Christianity. If man by nature is "destitute of holiness, and inclined to evil, and only evil, and that continually," the Word of God must teach it in plain, unambiguous language. It is a source of great satisfaction that on all questions involving the highest good of mankind, we have an infallible guide. In Genesis 6:5 we read, "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." In Genesis 8:21 it is written, "The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." In Psalm 51: 5 David says, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." In Psalm 58:3 it is recorded, "The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies." Job 15: 14:"What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?" Jeremiah 17:9: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" These passages teach, first, that depravity is inherent-that man is born into the world with a fallen, corrupt nature; and second, that this depravity is total total in the sense that there is no natural goodness in him. Every faculty and power of the soul is corrupted and vitiated. The thought and the imagination are evil, and toward evil continually. There is no soundness in him. Every part is affected. By the suffering and death of Jesus Christ the guilt of original sin is removed, but the effect remains, so that every power and faculty of the soul is tinged, polluted, vitiated.

one.

In Romans 3:10-23 Paul gives a description of the moral state of man. "There is none righteous, no, not They are all gone out of the way; There is none that doeth good, no, not one. All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." By a careful study of the apostle's argument it will be seen that it covers the whole ground of human depravity. "None righteous," not even one that possessed a righteous principle; they are all gone out of the way. If

there were no natural evil propensities in the heart, the universal going away from God could not be accounted for. "The Bible doctrine most evidently is that we are born with an unholy and sinful nature." All are equally involved and equally helpless, and but for the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ no one could ever be recovered from this fearful wreck.

In this article of the Confession it is declared that "except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of heaven." This is the plain doctrine our Lord taught to Nicodemus. He did not say, You may, or might, be born again, but "Ye must be born again." Whence this absolute necessity? If man is born into the world with a pure and sinless nature, why must he be born again? The words, " born of the flesh," do not, as some suppose, mean the body literally, but refer to our native sinfulness and pollution. Nicodemus had been born of the flesh literally, but now he must be born of the spirit. "Every man must have two births, one from heaven, the other from earth; one of his body, the other of his soul." Paul uses the word flesh in allusion not to the body, literally, but to the moral nature of the soul (Galatians 5:17). He says, "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit." In Romans 8: 13 we read, "If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die." In verse 8 he says, "They that are in the flesh cannot please God." By the term "flesh" in these passages the apostle evidently means the moral nature of man, and this is the sense in which our Lord uses it in his discourse to Nicodemus.

In Romans 8:7: "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Whence this carnal mind? Whence this rebellious spirit? This carnal mind is "enmity against God." It is its very nature. It is not, and cannot be, subjected to the will of God. With this rebellious nature every one is born into the world. The Word of God, experience, and observation all confirm this. Hence arises the absolute necessity of being born again. Thus the article under review says, "We believe that man is fallen from original righteousness, and apart from the grace of our

Lord Jesus Christ, is not only entirely destitute of holiness, but is inclined to evil, and only evil, and that continually; and that except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven." The doctrine set forth in this article is not only in harmony with the teachings of the Holy Scriptures, but also with the doctrine taught and believed by the great body of evangelical Christians.