SERMON XVII. ON TOTAL DEPRAVITY. PSALM li. 5. Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. IN the order of our review, the third point in the Calvinistick system of theology, is the subject of our morning attention. This scholastick article follows. 3. "Mankind are totally depraved in consequence of the fall of Adam; and by virtue of Adam's being their federal head, the guilt of his sin was imputed, and a corrupt nature conveyed to all his posterity, from which proceed all actual transgressions; and that by sin, we are subject to death, and all miseries temporal, spiritual, and eternal." The doctrine of imputation has already been considered. Most of those among us, who choose to be ranked with Calvinists, deny imputation; but they still hold to total depravity. Let this be our present subject. It will be my endeavour to make it evident that men are not totally depraved 1. By showing that the passages from scripture, which are usually quoted as authority in support of the doctrine of total depravity, do not prove it. 2. By analyzing the human constitution, and reviewing those actions of men which naturally flow from constitutional principles. I am, 1. To show that the passages from scripture, which are usually quoted as authority, in support of the doctrine of total depravity, do not prove it. I shall first introduce a text from Genesis.-" And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living as I have done." Criticks in the Hebrew language inform us, that the word for, in this verse, should be rendered, though; at least, that the Hebrew word will bear thus to be translated, and often has the meaning of though. Let us review the passage with this correction. The antediluvian world had rendered themselves too corrupt and vile to be reformed by motives suited to the minds of free moral agents. God therefore removed them from the stage of moral action, that the earth might be re-peopled with a better race from the family of pious Noah. Accepting the sacrifice of this patriarch for his own preservation, when the world of his fellow-beings were destroyed, God was graciously pleased to promise, that he would not again thus destroy a whole generation, though the imagination of their hearts should be evil from their youth. This passage, I apprehend, is not descriptive of the natural tendency of the human mind, nor of the moral complexion of its powers and affections; but it alludes to a period of almost universal corruption. Men had abandoned themselves to impiety, violence, and licentiousness. It therefore furnishes no proof of universal and total depravity. A text from Jeremiah is often produced as an authority in aid of the doctrine of total depravity, and as proof that the natural man is, by fatal necessity, self-deceived." The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it ?" When we attentively look into the chapter from which this passage is taken, we find that Jeremiah is showing the folly of placing our chief trust and confidence in man. To dissuade from it, he remarks, that the heart of man may be deceitful, and when his inclination is pure, his strength is weakness; he therefore directs those, whom he addresses, to place their confidence in God."Thus saith the Lord, cursed be the man, who trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord blessed is the man, that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is." In this connexion, the text quoted follows." The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the hearts and try the reins, even to give to every man according to his ways." No proof is here found of any inherent malignity dwelling in the moral constitution of man; but a denunciation is pronounced against the individual, who, forgetting his God, places his chief dependence on a man weak and frail like himself. The hearts of our fellow-beings, the prophet assures us, we cannot fully know their warmest declarations of friendship may be deceitful: their acts of benevolence may be designed to gain our confidence, the more deeply to wound us; and with the best dispositions, their strength is but weakness. Trust then in God, who is wise and benevolent, and powerful; who penetrates the secrets of the heart, and will reward every man according to his works. This text degrades not human nature; but leaves to self-approbation its full confidence, and to conscious rectitude its enlivening hopes. Our text is by many considered as conclusive proof of total depravity. I shall therefore more fully illustrate it." Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." Let us attend to the occasion on which these expressions were uttered. David had been guilty of offences the most atrocious. The prophet Nathan had presented his picture in full view, and drawn it in the brightest colours. In a pathetick manner he had represented the circumstances which aggravated the king's guilt, and in the name of God, had denounced judgment against him. David was terrified by this denunciation of divine wrath. The lively representation of his case by the prophet, awakened his drowsy conscience, and in consternation he contemplated his sins in all their magnitude of guilt and danger; and in the glowing figures of eastern language, he expressed his penitence, and implored forgiveness. In this state of mind, he composed the psalm of which our text is a part.- "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness; according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." The subsequent context breathes the same strain.-" Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation; and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness." The whole psalm breathes the spirit of contrition and peni tence. David was humbled under a deep conviction, that he had dishonoured the religion which he was bound to support, and thereby had offended his Maker. He was disposed to take the guilt and the responsibility on himself. While he thus acknowledges his own criminality, he appears to be fully sensible of the justice of God in his condemnation : he debases himself, and in the strong language of passion, confesses his guilt, and with fervour sup plicates divine compassion and forgiveness. To apply the language of David on this occasion to mankind, and consider it as descriptive of the moral complexion of human nature, is just as absurd, as it would be to apply the penitent expres |