LECTURE V.

HUMAN NATURE.

ECCLESIASTES VII. 29.

LO, THIS ONLY HAVE I FOUND, THAT GOD HATH MADE MAN UPRIGHT; BUT THEY HAVE SOUGHT OUT MANY INVENTIONS.

HUMAN NATURE, as it now is, will be our subject of inquiry this evening. And, as it is my chief purpose, - in these lectures, to discuss topics, on which we differ more or less widely from our fellow Christians, I will define at the outset the view of human nature, commonly termed total depravity. The fairest mode of doing this is by quotations from the Assembly's Catechism, which is still accepted as the standard of doctrine in the Calvinistic churches of Great Britain and America. The words of this catechism, which I will not undertake to interpret, are as follows: God created man in his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over his creatures. When God created man, he entered into a covenant with him upon condition of perfect obedience, forbidding him to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death. Our first parents, being left to the freedom of their own

will, fell from the estate wherein they were created, by sinning against God. The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity, all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him in the first transgression. The sinfulness of that state, whereinto man fell, consists in the guilt of Adam's first sin, the want of original righteousness, the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin, together with all the actual transgressions which proceed from it. All mankind by the Fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever. This constitutes the misery of that estate, whereinto man fell.' Though this jargon is still acknowledged as the standard of faith, probably very few in our own community would pretend to interpret it, or would own themselves believers in the appalling consequences, which might be derived from it. There are perhaps few, who would assert, in so many words, that the unconscious infant lies under God's wrath and curse, and is, by virtue of his birth into the world, without any sinful act of his own, liable to the pains of hell forever. But it is now generally maintained by those called Calvinists, first, that human nature sustained a radical change after Adam's first transgression; secondly, that Adam, as the representative, (the federal head, as their phrase is,) of the whole human family, involved all his posterity in his own guilt; and, thirdly, that in some sense or degree men are now born sinners. These propositions demand, each a separate examination.

1. It is maintained, that human nature sustained a radical change after Adam's first transgression. This, if true, is a historical fact, of which we might with reason expect to find some record in the Bible. We, however, look in vain for it. The Mosaic narrative says nothing of such a change. Man's place of residence was indeed changed. He was driven from Eden, and a life of labor was appointed him. But would he have been left in indolence, had he been innocent? Labor is the fundamental law of all spiritual worth and progress; and we cannot suppose, that if a man had not transgressed, he would have been exempt from it. God could never have designed an earthly paradise for man's permanent abode. The law, 'subdue the earth,' which was a law of arduous labor, was given before the fall; and the garden of Eden was but the cradle of man's intellectual infancy, in which he was fostered, till he became sufficiently conversant with outward objects, to manage his own affairs with discretion. Had he not sinned, he would still, for his own sake, have been removed from the garden, though he would have sought the wilderness in a more cheerful and hopeful spirit, than that, in which, after his transgression, he entered upon the stern, yet salutary discipline of a laborious life. But when he went forth, no curse was uttered upon him, or upon the partner of his guilt. The condition of mortal life was unfolded to them; but it was not so much as hinted, that its condition would have been essentially otherwise, had they remained innocent. Indeed, the very appointments of toil and physical suffering are those, on which the

blessing of God most manifestly rests, those, from which proceeds the surest growth of virtue and piety, —those, on which the divine example of the innocent Saviour sheds its brightest rays. But, could it be maintained that man's condition on earth was essentially modified by Adam's sin, still this would prove nothing with regard to his nature; nor can it be pretended, that there is the slightest allusion in the Bible to the change of his nature, as a historical fact.

But the change of man's nature is inferred from the earliness and frequency of human guilt ever since Adam, from the fact that sins are among the first acts of every man's moral agency. But the eating of the forbidden fruit is the only recorded act of Adam's and Eve's moral agency. They yielded to the first temptation, when surrounded by what seemed to be constraining motives to obedience. Certainly there never was a first sin so wanton, or so difficult to be accounted for as theirs. Of every other tree in the garden they might eat. The express voice of God had charged them not to eat of this. Gratitude, hope, fear, all conspired to insure their obedience. But they fell as soon as they were tempted. What more have their children done? Their sin was of the same kind with most of the sins of their posterity, that is, the yielding of principle to impulse, -the seizing of a momentary gratification, without thought, at the time, of duty or of consequences. If the sins of their posterity, then, prove their nature to be depraved, equally does the first transgression of Adam and Eve prove, that they were created with a depraved nature. There is, in the

case of our first parents, and in that of their posterity, an identity, which militates strongly against the idea of any change of nature after the fall.

2. It is maintained by our Calvinistic brethren, that Adam, as the representative or federal head of his posterity, involved them all in the guilt of his first transgression. This doctrine assumes for its basis the following alleged facts. God made at the outset a covenant with Adam in behalf of all mankind, the conditions of which covenant were, that, if Adam remained innocent, he and all his posterity should enjoy eternal life, but that, if he sinned, he and all his posterity should go into everlasting punishment. Adam consented thus to stand for the whole race. They all, therefore, sinned in and through him as their head or representative. This is expressly the doctrine of the Assembly's Catechism. It is almost too absurd to demand an answer; and might, at first thought, seem too revolting to our instinctive notions of right and justice, to deserve a respectful treatment. But it has been, and still is believed by many worthy and good men ; and therefore ought not to be passed over in silence, or with sneers.

It seems a fatal objection to the doctrine just stated, that no mention is made in the Bible of a covenant between God and Adam; nor is the slightest hint anywhere given of Adam's acting in behalf of his posterity. Then again, Adam had no right to act in their behalf. A representative must be authorized, he was not authorized. You and I never gave him a power of attorney to obey or sin in our stead,