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mitted myself to consider, what suppressions or alterations would have rendered it more agreeable to some people into whose hands it may fall. As truth will generally succeed best in the end, I have made the story such as I found it. I have concealed nothing out of fear; I have added nothing out of malice; and must now commit what I have written to that variety of judgment, which all my other writings have met with.

All good men are walking by the same way to the same end. If there are any individuals, who, by the shining of their light, render the path more plain and pleasant, let us agree to make the most we can of them, and be followers of them, who through faith and patience inherit the pro

mises.

On the Corruption of Human Nature-extracted from Apostolical Preaching considered, in an Examination of St. Paul's Epistles, by the Rev. J. B. SUMNER, M. A.

It is the doctrine of St. Paul, that, through the sin of Adam, man is born with a corrupt heart, prone to sin, averse from holiness, and unable of himself to please God. This truth, however humiliating and ungrateful, the Apostle does not allow to be forgotten, even by those that are renewed; but keeps them perpetually reminded of their natural depravity, their actual transgressions, and of the ansoundness of the little fruit they have in holiness;" so that throughout the whole of their probation they may bear in mind, that Christ's death alone placed them in a state of justification, and that their sanctification is only to be ascribed to the influence of the Holy Spirit.

To leave, therefore, out of sight the corruption of human nature, is to set aside the basis which St. Paul has laid to the whole system of the Gospel; in which our Church too has followed the example of the great Apostle, placing the declaration of man's natural corruption as the first of her doctrinal articles. To relin quish this, is to relinquish the strong

est hold possessed by the preacher over the feelings and consciences of his hearers. It is to give up a truth which is declared by the world without, and receives a concurrent testimony from the experience of the heart within. The cause of the degeneracy is known from revelation, and could not have been otherwise explained; but the fact is familiar to all; it meets our eyes abroad, and is felt by our souls at home; and requires only to be stated, to produce practical convic tion. It is this which accounts to the Christian philosopher for the anoma lous appearance which the human mind presents; for the infirmity of purpose which even its loftiest designs betray; for the inconsistent mixture of low desires with noble enterprise; for the union of meanness with greatness; of much that is abject, with much that is august in the same character: bearing evidence alike to the high original, and the grievous fall which the Scriptures record, and thus give an additional proof of their authenticity, by explaining the mystery which is otherwise inexplicable.

This, too, accounts for the lamentable truth, which leaves the mere observer of past and passing events in such deep perplexity, that the human race, whilst it seems to be making continual progress towards perfection, is still kept at an immeasurable distance from it; that, in the extensive concerns of nations, "wars and fightings," notwithstanding our experience of the misery they occasion, and the unsatisfactoriness of their most fortunate results, still find perpetual fuel in the lust of ambition and restlessness of the human mind: that if we turn to the conduct of individuals, in spite of warning and example, imprudence and excess extensively prevail; and the same errors are committed as to the nature of real enjoyment, and the means by which it is pursued, which have been lamented by former generations; and that it is impossible for the rational observer, notwithstanding the improvements in science, and philosophy, and the arts, to look forward to any probable termi nation, or diminution of those more!

delinquencies which have blackened, in all ages, the records of the human race. The preacher, therefore, who follows the statement of St. Paul, on the subject of natural corruption, has all history and experience on his side; and will alone be able to trace to their real source those inconsistencies which the best of his hearers will be most for ward to acknowledge in their own hearts. To bring mankind to a sense of their personal guilt and humiliation, was the first step of the Apostle, in the most systematical of all his writings; so it must be the first object of every preacher, to point out the existence of the disease, in order to check its growth; to prove the necessity of the remedy, that men may be willing to receive it; to teach them the value of their Saviour, by showing that they are lost without him. "They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick."

St. Paul does not precisely state the extent or degree of human corruption. That it had brought all men, from Adam, under sin and condemnation, he distinctly proves; and no less clearly asserts, that an evil principle is always lurking in the flesh, which can only be successfully opposed by the influence of the Holy Spirit. This was the practical truth, enough for man to know: he has a constant propensity to sin, and, therefore, must be subject to punishment; he cannot live a holy life, and, therefore, cannot merit reward. This too, every man who will examine himself, must intimately feel, and can subscribe to without hypocrisy. It is far better to strike the mark, than to shoot beyond it; for if a man's conscience does not answer to the condemnation of the preacher, if he cannot find himself to be so deeply wicked as he is represented, there is danger of his imagining that he is better than he is expected to be. For all practical purposes it is sufficient to declare that the condition of man after the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural strength and good works to faith, and calling upon God."*

* Art, X.

Where, therefore, the Apostle has left this subject, the modern preacher may be well contented to leave it, in his public instructions. St. Paul is better authority than even the Homi lies, excellent as they usually are: and their language on this point has no counterpart in his writings. I do not find him declare the consequence of the fall in terms like these: 66 Man, instead of the image of God, was now become the image of the devil: instead of the citizen of heaven, he was become the bond-slave of hell, having in himself no one part of his former purity and cleanness, but being altogether spotted and defiled, insomuch that now he seemed to be nothing else but a lump of sin "* "Man is of his own nature fleshly and corrupt, &c. without any spark of goodness in him, only given to evil thoughts and evil deeds."+

I cannot think that there would be any real disagreement on this point between those who yield to Scriptural authority, if they would first examine and define the meaning they affix to the terms they employ.

That the proper motive to a virtu ous life is the desire of pleasing and obeying God, and that this desire cannot become the ruling motive without the preventing and accompanying influence of the Holy Spirit, is incontrovertibly declared, and universally implied throughout the Gospel. Many persons, therefore, maintain that human nature is totally corrupt, because it is, without grace, not only incapable of this evangelical obedience, but averse to it. Admit this definition of total corruption, and there can be no farther dispute.

Others, however, maintain that the character of total corruption cannot justly be applied to a being who is confessedly capable of the benevolent affections, and of humane, compassionate feelings towards his fellowcreatures; and disposed naturally and unavoidably to approve some actions under the peculiar view of their being virtuous and of good desert; and

* Homily on the Nativity. Homily on Whit-Sunday.

to disapprove others, as vicious and of ill desert; and having in it some elements not indisposed for certain acts of virtue.

This opinion appears to me most consistent and I believe that on this moral part of the rational, i. e. of the natural faculties, the free agency and responsibility of man depends.

The assertion of St. Paul, which is commonly adduced on the other side, "I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing;" lite rally, good dwelleth not, xx dyabor: cannot go so far as to deny that human nature has "a spark of -goodness" in it; inasmuch as the Apostle in the same verse alludes to one, when he proceeds to say, "to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I do not; but the evil I would not, that I do. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man; but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind." Nor does it materially affect the argument, whether St. Paul is here speaking of the renewed or unrenewed man; since the same complaint was uttered beyond the sphere of spiritual advantages, video meliora, proboque; deteriora

sequor.

With the inward man then, i. e. with the soul or rational faculties, and with the will resulting from their proper exercise, grace co-operates, without which the will could produce no good effect, fruitlessly warring against the law of sin which is in the members,"

This opinion cannot be more clearly exemplified than by the parable of the Prodigal; who is represented, "when he came to himself," that is, when his reason led him to reflect on the consequences to which he had been reduced by guilt and folly, as exclaiming, "I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son." The assistance which these first motions of the will arising from the sincere use of the understanding, instantly and continually receive, and

by which alone they become effectual, is beautifully described in the following verse: "And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him."

The parables of the talents, and of the sower, some of whose seed fell on good ground, seem to me strongly to corroborate this doctrine, and to be quite irreconcilable with any other. Nor can I interpret, or indeed understand in any other way the Apostle's illustration, Heb. vi. 7, 8. "For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: but that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose ent is to be burned." In this passage, the earth, or soul, and the rain, or grace, are treated as distinct and separate.

I conclude by observing the inconsistency which inevitably entangles the supporters of the opposite principle. For example: "Man's will, since the fall, hath of itself no ability to any spiritual act; every good motion of it must come from the grace of God preventing, accompanying, following it. There is not, therefore, in the will of the natural man any active power to work his own conversion, There are yet certain outward acts, pre-required; as, to go to the church, to sit reverently, to hear: in these we have freedom of will either way." -Hall, Via Media, quoted from Synod. Dord. Suffrag. Theolog. Brit. ad artic. quartum.-Now, these acts, to go to church, to sit reverently, to hear, must be either good or bad, or absolutely indifferent in themselves, But it will not be argued that they are bad; neither can they be indiffer ent, or they would not be pre-required: they must partake of good, there fore; whence it follows that human nature cannot be entirely corrupt, even from the principles of those who assert it; and that it is, in a mode which we cannot explain, and in a degree which we do not pretend to define, an agent in its own improvement and renovation,

After all, the question as to any practical consequence is merely a question of words. Both sides acknow ledge that an action not performed on u right principle, if the agent has the means of knowing the right principle, is unacceptable to God. The only question is, whether the action is therefore justly termed bad, and the agent totally corrupt; and it seems to me that those who insist on this have a hard battle to fight, when confronted with common sense.

The strong and unqualified language of the Homilies relative to the corruption of human nature, which is neither copied from Scripture, nor sanctioned by experience, is imitated by many pious persons whose scruples I greatly respect, under the notion that the mercy of Christ cannot be sufficiently extolled unless man is sunk to the lowest abyss; or the helplessness of mankind sufficiently declared, except by confounding them with the beasts that perish. But it is not necessary, or wise, or apostolical, to sacrifice one point in order to gain another. Besides, "corrupt men will be proud of a possession, how much soever it may be acknowledged a divine gift; as the Corinthians made the spiritual gifts bestowed for the use of the Church an occasion of pride and division."*

The object of all preaching should be edification. That object is best affected, when the voice of the preacher strikes home to the conscience of the hearer. Now, a congregation must consist of two classes, in whatever proportion they may be mixed: one made up of those, who, having never embraced the Gospel as the hope of their salvation, are wandering at a greater or less distance from its doctrines and precepts; the other of those, who, having personally ratified the covenant of their baptism, have advanced by different degrees of progress in the road which Christ has set before them. The latter class, it is plain, can receive little benefit from the description of a state in which they are not, and perhaps ne

*Owen on the Spirit..

ver have been. to the former.

It must be addressed

Yet it is very possible that these persons, reflecting with themselves ever so sincerely, may not recognise the strong portrait drawn by the preacher of their natural corruption. To the title of Christians, undoubt edly, they have at present only an hereditary claim: but they are conscious of amiable affections; they are not strangers to the emotions or the acts of charity; perhaps they cannot charge themselves with any gross or habitual sins: and the circumstance of their being in the Church, is, of itself, a presumptive proof that they have not renounced their allegiance to their Creator, or their hope in Christ, however unreasonably entertained. Such persons should be considered as standing at the gate, and requiring to be led onward into the temple, with firmness certainly, and with no compromise of the truth, but still with a tender hand. Of this character was the scribe who came to Jesus, and acknowledged, that to "love God with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices." Mark xii. 33.* This man was no convert, and came with no friendly feelings towards our Lord: yet does he not deter him by repulsive language, but says, in the most conciliating tone, "Thou art not far from the kingdom of God."

Again, when a certain ruler came to Jesus, "asking him, Good Master, what shall I do, that I may inherit eternal life?" and replies to our Saviour's first answer, that he had "observed all the commandments from his youth up;" Christ does not at once alarm him by declaring that all his obedience was of no value; nor justify us in thinking that his regular life, as far as it went, had not been more acceptable to God than the contrary conduct would have been; but rather, "beholding him, loved him: and said, One thing thou lackest: go

* Compare Matthew xxii. 35.

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thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me." Mark x. 21.

In imitation of this divine example, St. Paul uniformly assumes the tone and language of conciliation. "King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest." And then taking advantage of the concession, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian," he pro ceeds, "I would to God that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were not only almost, but altogether such as I am!" Acts xxvi. 28. Neither does he employ himself in violent invectives upon nature in general; leaving it always understood, that it is corrupt, and must be renewed but his strong language is directed against specific sins, and that open unrighteousness of the heathen world against which the wrath of God was revealed.

It is for the imitation of conduct bearing such high authority that I plead. Against actual sin, let the preacher enforce the condemnation with which the Scriptures abound, and unequivocally affirm that "they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God:" but let him not confound weakness of faith with notorious profligacy; let him not condemn the social and natural affections, but lead them to a higher object; let him not reprobate charity as if it were a vice, but show that "there is one thing which it lacketh," without which it is not acceptable to God.

It is sometimes considered as a proof of the advantage to be obtained from the habit which I am here presuming to discourage, that such preaching generally proves attractive to the lower classes. This, however, -may be accounted for, without furnishing any justification of the practice. For, first, the lower classes, unless they are truly religious, usually are gross sinners, and, therefore, are neither surprised nor shocked at being supposed so themselves, and at the same time feel a sort of pleasure

which need not be encouraged, when they hear their superiors brought down to the same level: and, secondly, it seems to furnish them with a sort of excuse for their sins, to find that they are so universal, and so much to be expected of human`nature.

The considerate minister will not court such dangerous applause: there is no edification communicated by exciting feelings of disgust on one side, and of malignant exultation on the other. St. Paul was aware that it was safer to persuade than to repel ; and knew that even the passions and prejudices of the mind may become powerful auxiliaries to the work of grace, when rightly touched and skilfully directed. Even at Athens, shock ed as he must have been at the profanation of sacred worship and ignorance of the Almighty Creator, by which he was surrounded, he does not break out into passionate exclamations against the impurity and senselessness of heathen idolatry, but takes advantage of a circumstance in that very idolatry, to bring over the minds of the people to the truth hè came to deliver. Let no minister think it a proof of success, or of faithfulness to the Gospel, that he retains one class of his congregation, and dis gusts the other; but rather, if such should unhappily be the case, let him examine his conduct with scrupulous anxiety, lest some imprudence even in the declaration of truth; some want of conciliation in his performance of the commission intrusted to him, may have deprived him of that blessed reflection and highest consolation, "I take you to record this day, I am pure from the blood of all men." Acts xx.

The spirit of these remarks is applicable to other doctrines. Many preachers take to themselves the satisfaction expressed by St. Paul, that he "had not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God," whose manner of declaring it bears very little resemblance to that of the Apostle. But this subject seemed particularly to require them. There is no more common occasion of divisions in a congregation, than the indiscriminate

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