In discussing the topics of this chapter it is needful to refer to certain
religious sects and parties of this country in their relations to the
subject.
The first class may be denominated the old school Calvinists, embracing
the Old School Presbyterian churches, the Reformed Dutch and most of the
Baptist denominations.
Their views are ably presented by the theologians of Princeton and their
quarterly, and by the Baptist theologians of the Newton Theological
Seminary and the Baptist periodicals.
The second class may be called the new school Calvinists, embracing
Congregational and New School Presbyterian churches. These are ably
represented in New England by the Andover and New Haven Theological
Seminaries and their respective quarterlies; and out of New England, by
the Theological Seminaries of Union and Lane, and their quarterly at
Philadelphia.
The third class are the Arminian sects, including the Methodists and
Episcopalians, whose views are ably presented in their quarterlies and
other periodicals in New York and Philadelphia.
In what does the depraved nature transmitted from Adam consist?
In seeking a definite and clear answer to the question, what is the
depraved nature transmitted from Adam, we find so much vagueness and
mistiness, that it will be needful to state first what it _is not_, and
then it will be more easy to approximate to the affirmative reply.
We find, then, that theologians teach that this depraved nature does not
consist in any of those constitutional powers and faculties of mind, of
which God is the author. For they maintain that all that God has made is
perfect and right, and that he is not the creator of that which is the
cause or origin of sin, inasmuch as this would make him “the author of
sin,” which they expressly deny. This depraved nature, then, is something
which God did not create. This is what is affirmed when theologians say
that they do not teach a “physical depravity” which demands “physical
regeneration” on the part of God.
Then on the positive side, we find that this depraved nature is something
that mind can be created without, for God made the angels and Adam without
it.
It is something which does not prevent sinful action, for Adam sinned
before it existed.
It is something which God can at any time remedy, at least to some extent,
by regeneration.
It is something which makes every moral act of every human being sin and
only sin until regeneration takes place.
It is something which man created himself, either _in_ Adam, or _by_ Adam,
or _before_ Adam.
It is something which man never can or never will rectify, so that he is
entirely dependent on God for the remedy.
It is something which most theologians describe as “a bias,” or “a
tendency,” or “a propensity,” or “an inclination,” or “a proclivity” _to
sin_, while its opposite is called _a holy nature_ which was created by
God, and which consists in a bias, tendency, propensity, inclination or
proclivity to holiness.
According to this, God created the holy nature of angels and our first
parents, and _man_ caused the depraved nature of all of Adam’s posterity.
Some theologians attempt to define it as an _unbalanced state of the
faculties_, while holiness consists in the perfect balance of the
faculties. This balanced state of the faculties conferred at his creation
on Adam has been withheld from all his descendants by a constitution
formed by God in consequence of Adam’s sin. Some theologians define this
depravity as _like_ a habit. Others hold that it is a state of _the will_,
sometimes called a _disposition_ or _ruling purpose_.
Some theologians teach that the presence of God’s Spirit, in the soul of
man is indispensable to its right action, and that his depraved nature is
the result of the “deprivation” of God’s Spirit, which was bestowed on
Adam, and is withheld from his descendants on account of his first sin.
According to this view, a holy mind is one which enjoys the presence of
God’s Spirit, and a depraved mind is one that is deprived of it.
Ability and Inability.
The next question connected with the Augustine theory is in regard to
man’s power or ability to obey God.
The old school Calvinists hold that man has no power of _any_ kind to obey
any of God’s laws acceptably until his depraved nature is regenerated by
God, and also that he has no power to do any thing that has any tendency
to secure regeneration. Every act and feeling is sin and only sin from
birth to regeneration.
The new school Calvinists hold that man has full power to obey _all_ that
God requires, but that owing to his depraved nature, he never will perform
a morally right act in a single instance, until regenerated, nor will he
do any thing that has any promise, or encouragement from the Word of God,
as tending to secure regeneration. He is as entirely dependent on God as
if he had no power of any kind. And as the inability, whether natural or
moral, is all owing to the depraved nature consequent on Adam’s sin, the
fact that man has power to do what he never will do, only adds to the
misery of the condition thus entailed.
The Arminian sects agree in the fact that the sin of Adam entailed such a
depraved nature to all the race, as more or less incapacitates for right
moral action until regeneration takes place.
The Episcopal Arminians hold to the Catholic view that baptism in part
remedies the effects of Adam’s sin, so that by the use of the means
afforded by a ministry regularly transmitted from the Apostles, the
unregenerate can gain eternal life.
The Methodist Arminians hold that depravity consists in the
“_deprivation_” of God’s Spirit which was given to Adam, and that the
death of Christ has so availed, that man now has some measure of this
Spirit restored before regeneration, so that all men have power, by the
use of certain appointed means of grace, to gain regeneration.
The main point where the Calvinists and Arminians differ is, that the
Arminians teach that man has an appointed mode for gaining regeneration,
and the Calvinists teach that he has not.
What is Regeneration?
The next question is, in what does that great change consist which is
called regeneration, and which is indispensable to salvation from eternal
woe?
The old school Calvinists say it is a new nature created by God which
naturally acts right, in place of a depraved nature which naturally acts
wrong and only wrong. With this new nature man has power to obey God
acceptably, and without it he has no power of any kind.
The new school Calvinists say that regeneration is a change of the
depraved nature of man by God, attended by a _choice_ or _ruling purpose_
to obey God in all things made by man himself. They teach also that man
can and ought to make this choice without any help from God in changing
his depraved nature, and yet, owing to this evil nature, he never will do
so till God changes it. Meantime God points out no certain way of
obtaining this indispensable aid from him.(1)
The Arminians teach that regeneration consists either in the implanting of
a new nature by baptism, and the use of other means of grace, or in the
restoration of God’s Spirit which was withdrawn from man on account of
Adam’s sin, and in some degree restored by Christ’s death.
What must we do to be saved?
The next question for a race thus mournfully ruined is, “What must we do
to be saved?”
In reply, the old school Calvinist says, you can do nothing at all.
Whoever is saved will be regenerated by God, without reference to any
unregenerate doings. It is all decided not by man in any way, but by the
“decrees” and “election” of God.
The new school Calvinist says, You _can_ do all that God requires, so as
to be perfect in every thought, word and deed, from the beginning of moral
action to the close of life, but you certainly never _will_ feel or do a
single thing that is right and acceptable until regenerated; nor will you
ever do any thing to which any promise is offered by God as that which
will secure his interference to regenerate. It is all decided, not by man,
but by the “decrees” and “election” of God.
The Arminians say you can obtain regeneration and eternal life, by the use
of the means of grace set forth in the Bible and by “the Church.”
True virtue, or right moral action.
The next question is, what is true virtue, or right moral action?
By _moral action_ is meant the act of mind in _choosing_, in distinction
from intellectual and other acts of mind.
The Calvinists, both old and new school, teach that true virtue, or right
moral action in man, is choosing to obey God’s laws after regeneration
takes place. Previous to regeneration, every choice is sin and has no
moral goodness or rectitude. Thus truth, honesty, justice, self‐denial for
the good of others, obedience to parents, are all sin in an unregenerate
mind, and true virtue in the regenerate mind.
The Antinomian Calvinist goes so far as to claim that _every_ choice of a
regenerate mind is right and holy, just as every choice of the
unregenerate is sin. Thus the practice of the most hideous vices and
crimes becomes virtue in the regenerate.
But all other Calvinists maintain that after regeneration we can and do
sin, though previous to this change no truly virtuous act is ever
performed.
The Arminians hold that true virtue consists in obeying God’s laws,
without reference to the question of regeneration. They do not hold, as do
all Calvinists, that all the doings of the unregenerate are sinful, and
thus have no promise or encouragement in the Bible as having an influence
to secure regeneration.