The Bible defines unregenerate man as fallen and evil, and his spontaneous self-expression will be the same. The process of civilization requires the inhibition of spontaneity. Mario Praz, in The Romantic Agony , showed clearly that the Romantic quest led into a world of perversity and evil. To stress spontaneity, as our modern culture does, is thus to undermine civilization. Not surprisingly, the student rebels of the 1960s urinated and defecated on public premises in their protests against civilization.
Spontaneity is a modern fetish of a dangerous kind.
We have seen too much spontaneity and too little civilization. There is, however, a spontaneity of another kind. Unlike fallen man, Christian man develops another kind of spontaneity as he grows in faith. Psalm 119 gives us an account of this. The psalmist does not see God's law as a restraint but as a delight.