None can escape the righteous requirements of the law by deliberate opposition to it. That man s nature is the direct consequence of Adam s transgression does not to the slightest degree mitigate his own sins. It was a heart that loved God. And it is the possessing of a heart which has no love for God that is the very essence of human depravity. No indeed, for that is the very core of his wickedness and guilt.
Men never complain of their lack of power for loving the world.
It is only because fallen man has a heart which naturally loves the world, but he has no heart with which to love God. None would argue in any other connection as does the objector here. It is objected that if the sinner is so enslaved by sin that he is impotent to do good, his free agency is denied and he is reduced to a mere machine. This is more a metaphysical question than a practical one, being largely a matter of terms. There is much confusion on this subject.