know that it hated me before it hated you. I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them. If ye [my disciples] were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, therefore the world hateth you. In these passages the world is contrasted with the pious; and both together, like the ancient terms, Jew and Gentile, include all men. There is no middle class which belongs neither to the pious nor to the world. But the world is described as ignorant of God; as alienated from God; as opposed to Jesus Christ, and his cause and people; as lying in wickedness; as dead in trespasses and sins. Is this the description of a race whose first accountable character is that of loyalty to God?

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The term flesh is also a generic term, descriptive of man in his native My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that, (or because) he also is flesh," His being an animal, furnished no reason, surely, why the Spirit of God should not strive with him. It is his moral nature, therefore, which is called flesh; and which is described in other places as alienated from God, and as lusting against the Spirit; furnishing an obvious reason why the Spirit might abandon man. In his discourse with Nicodemus, our Saviour speaks of the flesh as being that moral nature of man which is the consequence of his natural birth. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Our Saviour would not surely undertake to convince Nicodemus that the animal body is flesh. Flesh and spirit are therefore moral qualities contrasted: the one, forming the first character of man; the other, the result of a special interposition of the divine Spirit. The one disqualifying, and the other fitting a man for the kingdom of heaven. The one, that moral nature of man which renders regeneration indispensable: the other, that holy nature which is produced by the Spirit of God, when he renews the heart.

The flesh is in other places described as the comprehensive principle of moral evil in man, as the Spirit is described as being the efficient cause of all good. The works of the flesh are adultery, fornication, idolatry, hatred, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like: But the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. The flesh comprehends the depravity which remains in the Christian after he is renewed. I know that in me, in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing. All my goodness is the result of regeneration; all my sin, the remains of my corrupt nature, called the flesh. The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit lusteth against the flesh; and these two are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. The flesh, then, being the first character of man, and the comprehensive principle of evil in him, is so described as to preclude the possibility of religion as his first moral nature. For the carnal or fleshly mind is enmity against God. To be carnally minded, is death; and they that are in the flesh cannot please God; and they that live after the flesh shall die.

5. All those terms which divide the race of man into two great moral divisions such as the righteous and the wicked, the holy and the unholy, the godly and the ungodly, the just and the unjust, imply that, not a reli

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gious, but a depraved character, is first sustained. That these terms of contrast include all men is certain. From the nature of free agency, and from the declaration of God, we know that neutrality cannot exist among accountable beings. Where men are qualified to obey, and love is required, neutrality would be disobedience. To regard God with indifference, compared with the creature, would be adding insult to rebellion. But such a state of mind is impossible. No man can serve two masters-nor be indifferent towards them. He will love or hate, obey or despise. All men, then, are holy or unholy, righteous or wicked. But which is the first character sustained by man? the holy or the unholy? Not the holy, but the unholy. There is no intimation in the Bible, that men become unholy by any change from good to bad; but Christians are continually described as becoming holy by a change from bad to good. They are begotten again. They are born of God. They are created anew. They are raised from the dead. The old man is put off, and the new man is put on. By all this variety of language it is implied, that the evil nature of man is first, and that his holy nature is the result of a special divine interposition.

6. The avowed object of the death of Christ decides that mankind are not religious by nature. It was rendered necessary by a character sustained by all men. And what was the character sustained which awakened the compassion of God, and called from heaven his only begotten Son to die for man? The character sustained was that of alienation from God. Herein is the love of Christ commended, in that while we were yet ememies, he died for us, He suffered, the just for the unjust. "He died for all;" but it was because they "were all dead." In accordance with these representations, men are addressed by the gospel as dead; and are commanded to arise from the dead-as blind; and are commanded to see-as wicked; and are commanded to forsake their wicked way and turn to God. They are addressed as impenitent; and are called upon to repent; as in unbelief; and are commanded to believe. Every condition of pardon, proposed to men in the gospel, implies that they do not by nature possess it. The apostles, in their great commission, were directed to address every creature as impenitent: and Paul, in particular, was sent to the heathen, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to the living God.

When men obey the gospel, they are described as renewed as reconciled as sustaining new affections. Old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. The entire Christian character is described in the Bible as the work of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, faith, &c. But the Spirit operates only in the application of the redemption purchased by Christ, in carrying into effect the objects of his death. Before he renews the hearts of men, therefore, for whom Christ died, they are enemies, unjust, and dead in sin.

Those who reject the gospel, and perish, are represented as sustaining their own original character-as despising the riches of the goodness of God, and after their hard and impenitent heart, treasuring up wrath :-as

refusing when the Saviour called, and disregarding when he stretched out his hand. In short, men are described as becoming wicked, as a consequence of the fall of Adam, and religious, in consequence, and only as the consequence, of the interposition of Jesus Christ, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost.

7. It is declared in direct terms, expressly and unequivocally, that mankind are not religious in their first character. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God. To know and to seek God implies religion. The investigation, therefore, was instituted to decide the question, whether there was an individual of the human race who was religious by nature. Not whether any had returned, of those who had gone astray; for of such we read in the context, and throughout the Bible; but to ascertain whether there were any of the race of man who had never turned away from God, but remained, like Abdiel, “faithful among the faithless." The result of this omniscient scrutiny is, "They are all gone aside; they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good; no, not one." This is the declaration of God concerning the children of men: the result of an · omniscient investigation, made expressly to decide whether the effects of the fall were universal, or whether any religious affection remained. The apostle Paul quotes this declaration of the Most High to prove, and he says that it does prove, both Jews and Gentiles, (terms which then included all men,) that they are all under sin. But to be under sin is to be under its dominion, and under condemnation: for he proves the fact, that all are under sin, to cut off the hope of justification by the deeds of the law, and to establish the doctrine of justification by faith. But to be under the dominion of sin, and in an unjustified condition is surely inconsistent with the existence of religion. To corroborate his argument, the apostle quotes the following passage from the Old Testament, and he quotes it, that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world become guilty before God." Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace have they not known; there is no fear of God before their eyes." Now abate from this passage as much as is possible on the ground of metaphor, yet as it is quoted in a regular argument to stop every mouth, and to prove the whole world guilty before God, it does most certainly exclude the supposition of piety in those who are thus characterized. An open sepulchre is not the place of life the poison of asps is not an emblem of health; and cursing and bitterness are not the fruits of the Spirit: nor are destruction and misery found in the ways of wisdom: nor can it ever be said of the truly pious, that they have no fear of God before their eyes. Language is of no use, and inspiration affords no evidence of truth, if these terms, applied to stop every mouth and prove the whole world guilty before God, do not prove that man in his first character is not religious.

8. There is also in the scriptures much inferential evidence on this sub

ject. If man, in his first character, is religious, we should expect the fact would be implied in all the doctrines of the Bible, and if he is not religious, that it would also be implied. The difference is so great that the same doctrines cannot be true on either supposition. But to which of the two suppositions are the doctrines of the Bible accommodated? If man is not religious by nature, we should expect to find the necessity of a great moral change inculcated in the Bible. And do we not find it? "Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." We should expect to find Christians described as those who had experienced this great change: and thus they are described as born of God, created anew, and passed from death unto life. As there can be no medium between religion and irreligion, we should expect the change would be sudden. And do not all the terms which describe it imply that it is sudden? It is a creation. Is there a point of time in the process of creation, in which a substance is neither in being nor out of being? It is a resurrection from the dead. Is there a moment in which the body is neither dead nor alive? If all men in the beginning withhold from God the homage of the heart, we should expect they would continue to do so, until reclaimed by a divine interposition. And thus we read of those who received Christ, that they were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of man, but of God.

If religion in man is the result of a divine interposition, we should expect to find it described as an act of grace which God might grant, or withhold, according to his good pleasure. And do we not read that he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy? If men are without religion, we should expect that they would be required to give the heart to God, and repent, and believe immediately; and that those who perished would be represented as self-destroyers. And is it not so? Repent-believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. And do not all who perish under the light of the gospel, perish by neglecting the great salvation? Turn ye, for why will ye die? I called and ye refused. This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light.

If men are not religious in their first character, we should expect to find all their actions charged with sinful defect. And in accordance with this expectation we read, "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord." "The ploughing of the wicked is sin." "So then they that are in the flesh can not please God." And without faith it is impossible to please him."

In conclusion of the argument, I have only to add, that if the first accountable character of man is a religious character, this entire body of evidence must be reversed. All men must be conscious of supreme love to God in early life; and conviction of sin and a moral renovation must be confined to those who have lost their religion; while the great body of Christians must be supposed to be such without the consciousness of any change. At the same time the history of the world must be found to be a history of the fruits of piety,-idolatry itself being only an aberration of religious affection in children emulous to please their heavenly Father! It

should moreover be found written upon the unerring page, 'Every imagination of man's heart is good from his youth. The children of men have not gone out of the way. There is none who doth not understand and seek God, and do good, no, not one. The heart of the sons of men is full of goodness, out of which proceed holy thoughts, benevolent deeds, chastity, truth, and reverence for God. What therefore is man that he should be wicked? or he that is born of a woman that he should not be religious? How lovely and pure is man, who drinketh in righteousness like water. This is the approbation that darkness is come into the world, and men have loved light more than darkness, because their deeds are good. The whole world lieth in righteousness. He [Christ] was in the world and the world knew him. O righteous Father, the world hath known thee. The friendship of the world is friendship with God. If the world hath loved you, ye know that it loved me before it loved you. Be ye therefore conformed to the world, and be ye not transformed by any renewing of your mind. My Spirit shall always strive with man because he is spirit. For that which is born of the flesh is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto you ye must not be born again. For the works of the flesh are love, joy, peace, faith; and the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, faith. In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth every good thing. Jesus Christ came to seek and to save those who were not lost; and he died not for his enemies-not the just for the unjust. The Gospel demands of men no new character, and all the doctrines of the Bible imply the early and universal piety of the human family.' And now, who is prepared thus to reverse the whole testimony of expe-. rience, of history, and of the Holy Scriptures? In view of such overwhelming evidence to the contrary, will any man pretend to believe, that mankind are religious by nature?

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had as much evidence that your water was poisoned, as you have that the heart of man by nature is not pious-would you drink it? Were the proof as clear that an assassin would meet you on turning a corner— would you go thither? Were it proved by as various and conclusive evidence that the fire was kindling on your dwelling-would you compose yourself to sleep? Will you then, in opposition to such evidence, still endeavour to persuade yourself of the native goodness of the human heart? If it were merely the body whose life was threatened by the deception, I might still cry earnestly to you to beware: but it is your soul, and your future and eternal well-being which you put in jeopardy by setting at naught such evidence. Without religion you cannot be admitted to heaven; and would not enjoy heaven if you were admitted. Without religion you can neither keep the law nor obey the gospel; and cannot escape the condemnation which rests upon transgression and unbelief. Will you then shut your eyes against light, and stop your ears against admonition ? It is but for a moment, compared with eternity, that you can thus deceive yourself, and cry, Peace. The overwhelming consciousness must soon press upon your amazed heart, that you are without holiness, and cannot see the Lord; and that the harvest is past, the summer ended, and you not saved. There is no hope in your case while you think your heart is good, and feel no need of a divine