world. On the supposition of natural depravity, Noah should have been cut off with the rest; but he was "a just man," and "walked with God," and on that account he was saved. "And the Lord said unto Noah, come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation." The passage in question proves nothing but the extraordinary iniquity of a particular age; and is so far from supporting the doctrine of Total Depravity, that it is, in our opinion, directly subversive of it. And now let us examine the second text, which is Psalm xiv. 3. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. It is probable that this energetic language is to be applied to the heathen nations, who opposed and afflicted Israel. That such is its intention is rendered almost certain by the next verse. "Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the Lord." Though the expressions of the text, therefore, are so universal, they seem not to be at all intended for the Jews; and yet the Jews must have been as depraved, by nature, as the heathen, and many of them, no doubt, were in all respects as wicked. Neither could the text have been universally applicable even to the heathen; for St. Peter tells us that in every nation the righteous are accepted of God. But let its meaning be considered as ever so universal, both with regard to heathens and to Jews, still there is nothing said about the innate depravity of human nature. "They are all gone aside." Gone aside from what? From something, certainly, which had a previous existence; from the good feelings and dispositions of the heart, from the innocence of childhood, from virtuous principles, from noble impulses, from the moral purposes of life, from the true ends of their being, from all the best and really excellent part, in short, of that very nature, which the orthodox take so much comfort in reviling. But the text can hardly be understood in any other way, than as expressing, in the strong language of the east, the shocking immorality of the heathen nations in the neighbourhood of Judea. The third text is Jer. xxii. 9. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? The deceitfulness of the human heart has been a theme for the moralists of every age, and every belief. No one doubts that the heart is deceitful. The ques tion is, whether it be totally depraved. Now it is al most impossible that such a construction of the text could be better guarded against, than it is by the connexion of this passage with what precedes and follows it. In the verses which precede it, men are exhorted to put their trust in the Lord, and not to trust in man; and then the reason is given, which is, that man's heart is deceitful, and treacherous, and consequently not to be depended on. It was not meant to intimate that all hearts were equally deceitful, but simply to assert, as a general truth, that man was fickle and sinful, and apt to betray his trust, while, on the contrary, the Lord was faithfulness itself, and would never de sert those who relied on him. "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.” If we turn to the verse immediately following the text, we shall find another guard against misinterpretation, which ought to have proved effectual. "I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." Here is a doctrine most plainly unfolded, which is wholly opposed to that of total depravity, and which is expressly denied by all true Calvinists the doctrine of man's natural power to do good, and obey the will of his Maker. We are to be judged according to the fruit of our doings-not strictly, to be sure, for then who could stand?-but still, with allowances, according to the fruit of our doings, according to our works. This sentiment takes it for granted that we are able to perform good works; and of course contradicts the supposition of total depravity, which is founded by some on the above text. The fourth text, and the last which we proposed to examine, is a part of Eph. ii 3. And were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. The design of this passage, and of the whole of the context, is to impress on the minds of the Ephesian converts the incalculable advantages of the religion which they had embraced. Before the promulgation of the Gospel, the state of all men, whether Jews or Gentiles, was a state of ignorance and darkness All were the children of wrath; that is to say, being destitute of the precepts and sanctions of Christianity, they were in an exceedingly sinful condition, and liable to those punishments which God has annexed to a sinful life. But the new dispensation proposed a code of laws, and offered a system of motives, the direct and inevitable tendency of which was to enlighten, to persuade, to convert, and to save; and from children of wrath, to make men children of glory, and heirs of immortality. This is not what the orthodox are fond of calling "a forced gloss." It is borne out by an authority which even they will not think of questioning, the authority of this same epistle. In the first chapter, St. Paul evidently speaks of the Gospel as addressing itself to the understanding, and by that means influencing the conduct, and consequently the moral and spiritual condition. "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.” The phrase, "by nature," in the text, does not strictly mean by birth, but rather by situation, by condition, or circumstance. It implies an unenlightened, in opposition to an enlightened state; a former way of life, as distinguished from a subsequent, and better directed one. This meaning is given to the original word Quo, by many of the best commentators and critics. Schleusner, in his Lexicon, under the word ouois, quotes this text with the following observation. Significat autem quis hoc loco, ut omnis orationis series quemque docet, statum et conditionem eorum, qui nondum emendati et meliora edocti sunt per religionem christianam. "The word ours, in this place, signifies, as the whole context indicates, the state and condition of those, who have not yet been improved and informed by the Christian religion." The meaning of St. Paul in the text, evidently is, that both he and the Ephesian converts, before their knowledge and reception of Christianity, were in a fatal state of ignorance and error, together with the rest of the world. We have now gone through an examination of four of the chief passages of scripture, which are alleged in support of the doctrine of total depravity. We believe that the spirit of our remarks may be applied to the explanation of all the rest. There are three facts with regard to texts of this description, which must always be borne in mind as principles of interpretation. The first is, that many of them refer to particular generations, or classes of men, and not to all mankind. The second is, that an assertion of great and lamentable wickedness, is quite a different thing from an affirmation of innate and total corruption. And the third is, that such a great and remarkable change, as that from Judaism or Heathenism to the religion of Christ, may well be termed a regeneration, or a quickening from death into life, without having recourse to such an irrational and unscriptural doctrine as that of total depravity, to prove the justice and force of the phraseology. The Night-flowering Cereus.* ORIGINAL. Now departs day's gairish light- Night has dropt her dusky veil- Flora's radiant evening star. *The night-flowering Cereus, or Cactus grandiflorus, is one of our most splendid hot-house plants, and is a native of Jamaica and some other of the West India Islands. Its stem is creeping, and thickly set with spines. The flower is white and very large, sometimes nearly a 18 |