The theory in question was introduced into the Christian church, as an
article of faith, in the fifth century, chiefly by the influence of
Augustine, an African bishop.
To understand how it was brought about, it is needful to bear in mind the
distinction between facts and the philosophical theories that explain the
_how_ and the _why_ of these facts.
Christ and his Apostles taught the fact that all men are sinners, and the
way to escape from sin and its penalties. As, at first, Christianity
prevailed chiefly among the uneducated, it was not till some three or four
hundred years after Christ, that the philosophy of these facts agitated
the churches. Augustine was a man of powerful mind and great learning, and
with other philosophers, speculated as to “the origin of evil,” or the WHY
and the HOW all men came to be sinners.
By the aid of a few misinterpreted passages in the Bible, the following
theory was introduced and mainly by Augustine.
The Augustinian Theory.
The Creator has proved his power to make minds with such “a holy nature”
that they will have no propensity to sin, by creating the minds of angels
and of Adam on this pattern. Adam having this holy nature, with no
propensity to sin, did sin, and, as a penalty, or in consequence, all his
posterity commence existence without this holy nature, and with such a
depraved nature that every moral act is sin and only sin until God
regenerates each mind. This favor is bestowed only on a certain “elect”
number, whose salvation was purchased by the sufferings and death of Jesus
Christ.
The rest of the race, after death, are to continue an existence of
hopeless torment in hell.
This depraved nature is the “origin of evil;” that is to say, it is _the
cause_ of all the sin and consequent misery of our race in time and
through eternity. It is what is meant by the terms “total depravity,” and
“original sin” as used by theologians.
At first the pope and the church councils refused this theory, but
eventually, the Augustinian party triumphed; Pelagius and his followers
were persecuted and driven out of the church, and thus this dogma was
established as a leading feature in all the creeds and confessions of both
Catholic and Protestant churches.
So thoroughly has it been adopted that, since the time of Pelagius, there
has been little discussion among the great Christian sects on the theory
itself. These disputes have chiefly related to certain questions connected
with this dogma, which will next be noticed.