Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1879-08-28
HUMAN DEPRAYITY.

What man was when he came from the hands
of his mighty maker, no one can say from ac-
tual experience. Adam knew, by experience,
what he was before he sinned, and he knew
what he was after he sinned but none of his
race have had the same experience. This being
the case, all that we know of man before the
fall, is from testimony. The only testimony
we have on the subject, is contained in the
Bible. If we reject the Bible, then we are in
the dark.
From the Bible, we learn that God made
man in his own image. This image the Bible
teaches, consisted in knowledge, righteousness
and holiness. It will not, we suppose, be de-
MED that the Bible teaches that up to the mo-
ment of Adams sin, he was happy. 1t is ad-
mitted that we can have only visionary no.
tion of what true happiness means. Still, we
know, by experience, that our present condl-
tion is one of misery. No one, not even the
most rabid infdel, will deny this Such de-
NAL would clash with the universal experience
of all men, in all ages and in all countries,
and under all circumstances.
Another thing that the Bible teaches is, that
sin is the cause of misery. The wages OF sin
is misery. On account of mans sin, a curse
was pronounced upon everything with which
man is in any way connected. The ground IS
cursed, the beasts of the field groan under a
curse, and the whole creation groaneth and
travaileth under this curse. Romans, 1922.
That man is depraved, no one will deny, unless
he be willing to assert that perfect God made
an unholy and sinful creature, and then de-
clared that this creature was very good. Since
no one will make this assertion, we may in
quire into the extent of this depravity. The
Bible must be our guide. Led by it, we con-
clude that mans depravity is universal; that
is, that it embraces all men. In proof OF this,
we shall simply quote few OF the many pas
sages of Scripture which bear directly on this
point "God looked upon the earth and, behold,
it was corrupt" Gen. 6 :12. The Intelligent
reader need not.be told that the word earth is
put for the inhabitants of the earth. '"They,
the human family are corrupt; they have
done abominable works, there is none that
doeth good. The Lord looked down from
heaven upon the children of men, to see it
there were any that did understand and seek
God" What was the discovery which He
made? Here it is. They are all gone aside,
they are all together become filthy; there is
none that doeth good, no, not one rs. AL,
2, g. The Jew is no better than the Gentle !;
for Paul says that he, as an inspired Apostle,
had proved that both Jew and Gentle are un-
der sin. Rom. 8. That men universally
are depraved, is taught in every part OF the
Bible. 1t would not be extravagant to say
that it is taught in every chapter, on every
page.
The next thing that demands our attention,
is the degree of this depravty. On this point,
also, we must take the Bible for our authority.
No argument Unnecessary. All that is required
is to examine the sacred record. What, then:
does the Bible teach on this point? Assured
ly, it teaches that the depravity of the human
family is total depravity. That is, man, by
the fall, lost everything in him which resem-
bled God, in whose image he was created. In
other words, man, by his sin, lost the image of
God and became child of the devil. Now
for the proof.
''There is no faithfulness in their mouth ;