Yorkville Enquirer

[Original.]

HUMAN DEPRAVITY.

What man was when he came from the hands of his mighty maker, no one can say from actual experience. Adam knew, by experience, what he was before he sinned, and he knew what he was after he sinned; but none of his race have had the same experience. This being the case, all that we know of man before the fall, is from testimony. The only testimony we have on the subject, is contained in the Bible. If we reject the Bible, then we are in the dark. From the Bible, we learn that God made man in his own image. This image the Bible teaches, consisted in knowledge, righteousness and holiness. It will not, we suppose, be denied that the Bible teaches that up to the moment of Adam's sin, he was happy. It is admitted that we can have only a visionary notion of what true happiness means. Still, we know, by experience, that our present condition is one of misery. No one, not even the most rabid infidel, will deny this. Such a denial would clash with the universal experience of all men, in all ages and in all countries, and under all circumstances. Another thing that the Bible teaches is, that sin is the cause of misery. The wages of sin is misery. On account of man's sin, a curse was pronounced upon everything with which man is in any way connected. The ground is cursed, the beasts of the field groan under a curse, and the whole creation groaneth and travaileth under this curse. Romans, 8:22 That man is depraved, no one will deny, unless he be willing to assert that a perfect God made an unholy and sinful creature, and then declared that this creature was very good. Since no one will make this assertion, we may inquire into the extent of this depravity. The Bible must be our guide. Led by it, we conclude that man's depravity is universal; that is, that it embraces all men. In proof of this, we shall simply quote a few of the many passages of Scripture which bear directly on this point: "God looked upon the earth and, behold, it was corrupt." Gen. 6:12. The intelligent reader need not be told that the word earth is put for the inhabitants of the earth. "They, [the human family] are corrupt; they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand and seek God." What was the discovery which He made? Here it is. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Ps. 14:1. 2, 3. The Jew is no better than the Gentile: for Paul says that he, as an inspired Apostle, had proved that both Jew and Gentile are under sin. Rom. 3:9. That men universally are depraved, is taught in every part of the Bible. It would not be extravagant to say that it is taught in every chapter, on every page. The next thing that demands our attention, is the degree of this depravity. On this point, also, we must take the Bible for our authority. No argument is necessary. All that is required is to examine the sacred record. What, then, does the Bible teach on this point? Assuredly, it teaches that the depravity of the human family is a total depravity. That is, man, by the fall, lost everything in him which resembled God, in whose image he was created. In other words, man, by his sin, lost the image of God and became a child of the devil. Now for the proof. 'There is no faithfulness in their mouth: