The same word is used twice in James iii. 7, and is translated kind. "Every kind of beasts, birds, serpents, things in sea, is tamed of man-kind:" literally, “whole animal race is tamed by the human race."

If φυσις here meant "constitutional depravity," the same word in Rom. ii. 14 must mean constitutional goodness, where we are told that some "do by nature the things contained in the law." So, too, we read of the "olivetree," wild by nature, in Rom. xi. 24, 21.

"By nature," here, plainly means the original condition, not the original constitution. Just so, we call wild animals, in a state of nature; and savages, the children of nature.

These five texts are the strongest in the Bible to support the doctrine of Total Depravity; and, as such, are constantly quoted. They have very little weight, and none are from the words of Jesus.

On the other hand, there are many passages which seem to declare that there is something good in man, in his unconverted or natural state; and that, even in that state, he may turn toward the light, and struggle against evil.

John iii. 20, 21: "Every one that doeth truth cometh to the light."

Matt. xxvi. 41: . . . "The spirit is willing; the flesh is weak."

Rom. ii. 24: "Gentiles, who have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, and show the work of that law which is written in the heart."

Acts x. 35: "In every nation, he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, is accepted of him."

But the passage most strikingly and thoroughly opposed to the doctrine of Total Depravity, is the description, in the seventh chapter of Romans, of the conflict between the law in the members and the law of the mind. Paul, speaking evidently from his own experience in his unconverted state,

describes this conflict. He teaches that man is not totally depraved; but that, even in the carnal man, there is a good principle, only that it is conquered by the evil. "I delight," he says, "in the law of God, after the inward man." "With the mind, I serve the law of God." "His will," he says, "is to do that which is good." If the mind delights in the law of God, and the will to do right is present with us, we evidently are not totally depraved; but the total depravity, if anywhere, is in the flesh only, as Paul plainly says: "I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing;" that is, the depravity is physical, not moral. But physical depravity is not guilt, but only disease.

Nevertheless, there is a sense in which man may be said to be often totally sinful; but this is only in a total alienation of the will from God. It is not a total depravity, but a total alienation. Total depravity, therefore, is not natural, nor natural depravity total. Total depravity is the depraved or rather perverted choice, which chooses darkness instead of light, evil instead of good.

Let us see what there is of this in man.

The gospel of Christ, as I understand it, undertakes to effect an entire change, a radical reformation, in human character. It proposes to reform the life by changing the heart; by giving new aims, new affections, new aspirations, new objects of love and pursuit. Jesus does not endeavor to alter and improve, a little here and a little there, on the outside of the character, to improve a little our modes of action in this and the other particular; but he alters the conduct and character by altering the fundamental ideas, by inspiring an inward life. This wonderful crisis, which takes place in the profoundest depth of our nature, under the influence of the gospel; this great event of life, which forms the turning-point of our being and history,

is called

in the New Testament "the new birth," "regeneration," "to be born again," "conversion," "a new creation,” “to be born of God," "to be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire," "to put off the old man," "to have Christ formed within us." It is a very superficial view which explains away the meaning of all these profound expressions, and supposes that they only signify a little outward improvement and reformation. We need just such a change as is here described, a radical one, not a superficial one. All need it. Those who are the most pure in heart, and most blameless in character (spotless children, as they seem to us, of a heavenly world), feel their own need of this change no less than do the profligate and openly vicious. Parents and friends say, "We have no fault to find with them." They do not say they have no fault to find with themselves. They feel they have all kinds of fault to find with themselves, and nothing is so painful to them as this commendation. They say, "Outwardly we may seem innocent; but we feel an inward want, that weighs on our heart like a frost."

"This is a true saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." It is because we are sinners that we need to experience this great change. I do not wish to exaggerate the amount of human sinfulness. Theologians have carried their attacks on human nature quite too far; and the result has often been, that men have looked on sin as a sort of theological matter, which had nothing to do with actual life. They have cheerfully admitted that they were totally depraved by nature, and could not think or will a good thing; and then have thought no worse of themselves than before. We know that there is something good in men, something which God loves; some pure aspiration, even in the natural heart; some throbs of generosity, some warn

ings of conscience, some pure love, some courageous virtue, in the humblest, the most depraved, the most abandoned. There are some flowers of sweetest perfume which spring up on the uncultivated soil of the natural heart, on which God and his angels smile; for the seeds of those flowers God himself planted. We have seen harebells, graceful and lovely as the sweetest greenhouse plant, growing out of a sand-heap; and we have seen some disinterested, generous benevolence in the mind of a hardened profligate. It is not, therefore, because there is nothing good in man that he needs a change of heart, but because he is destitute of a deep-rooted and living goodness till this change has taken place.

Look at the actual sins of men. The majority of men, in a civilized community like ours, do not commit great crimes, or fall into flagrant vices; because they have little to attract them to such a course, and much to deter them from it. They are aiming at those objects which they need the countenance, aid, and good opinion of their fellowmen to obtain: to be glaringly vicious would make it impossible. Also there is a certain amount of conscience, which restrains them; the influence of good education and good habits, which preserves a certain uprightness, and purity of character. But is it a deep principle? If so, why do the vast majority of men allow themselves in many small violations of the same laws which they would not break on a large scale? They would not steal; yet they commit, every day, some slight acts not perfectly honest: they take advantage of others in little things. They would not lie; yet they exaggerate, and conceal part of the truth, and color their statements to produce an effect. They would not kill; but they are willing to injure one who has interfered with their interests. With these tendencies and feelings, why would they not, under different influences,

commit greater crimes? How often do we feel, in talking with the criminal and abandoned, that, in their circumstances and with their temptations, we might have been as bad as they!

Does not all this show that there is a deep and hidden fountain of evil within our heart, which is restrained by external influences, by checks and barriers with which God has kindly surrounded us? and, if these were taken away, it would break out into something far worse than now appears. How much there is of evil under the smooth surface of refined society! How many thoughts of sin pass to and fro in the heart, while the countenance seems pure and calm! Who ever looked into the interior depths of our most moral community, and saw all the secret sins and pollutions which are hidden there? Every now and then, there occurs in the midst of the most refined classes some startling revelation of long-concealed wickedness, which makes men look each other in the face, and draw a long breath, as though they should say, "Which of us will next fall?" So in the midst of a fruitful country, of lakes and valleys and vine-clad hills, the earth will sometimes open, and a river of melted lava pour forth, desolating all around. We hear of this with wonder, and do not think that right beneath our own feet, a few miles down, under these smooth fields and gentle plains, that same fiery ocean is rolling its red billows. God has laid his hand upon our heart, and restrains its lawless passions as he restrains the tornadoes and earthquakes and volcanic fires, else they might easily hurry us to swift destruction.

Still, if this were all, no radical change might be necessary. It might be enough, that, by effort and self-discipline and direction of the thoughts, we gradually overcome our evil habits and tendencies; but when we resolve to do so, and make the effort, we meet with an unexpected