We shall be called upon to notice, this morning, first, the truthfulness of this assertion; secondly, the universality of the evil here complained of; thirdly, we will still further enter into the depths of the subject, and press it to your hearts, by showing the enormity of the evil; and after that, should we have time, we will deduce one or two doctrines from the general fact.
7. I. First, we are called upon to speak of the truthfulness of this great statement “the carnal mind is enmity against God.” It needs no proof, for since it is written in God’s word, we, as Christian men, are bound to bow before it. The words of the Scriptures are words of infinite wisdom, and if reason cannot see the ground of a statement of revelation, it is bound, most reverently, to believe it, since we are well assured even should it be above our reason, that it cannot be contrary to it. Here I find it written in the Scriptures, “the carnal mind is enmity against God”; and that of itself is enough for me. But did I need witnesses, I would conjure up the nations of antiquity; I would unroll the volume of ancient history; I would tell you of the awful deeds of mankind. It may be I might move your souls to detestation, if I spoke of the cruelty of this race to itself, if I showed you how it made the world an Aceldama {a} by its wars, and deluged it with blood by its fightings and murders; if I should recite the black list of vices in which whole nations have indulged, or even bring before you the characters of some of the most eminent philosophers, I should blush to speak of them, and you would refuse to hear; yes, it would be impossible for you, as refined inhabitants of a civilized country, to endure the mention of the crimes that were committed by those very men, who nowadays, are held up as being paragons of perfection. I fear if all the truth were written, we should rise up from reading the lives of earth’s mightiest heroes and proudest sages, and would say at once of all of them, “They are clean gone out of the way; they are altogether become unprofitable; there is no one that does good; no, not one.”
8. And did not that suffice, I would point you to the delusions of the heathen; I would tell you of their priestcraft, by which their souls have been enthralled in superstition; I would drag their gods before you; I would let you witness the horrid obscenities, the diabolical rites which are to these besotted men most sacred things. Then after you had heard what the natural religion of man is, I would ask what must his irreligion be? If this is his devotion, what must be his impiety? If this be his ardent love of the Godhead, what must his hatred of it be? You would, I am sure, at once confess, did you know what the race is, that the indictment is proven and that the world must unreservedly and truthfully exclaim, “guilty.”
9. A further argument I might find in the fact, that the best of men have been always the readiest to confess their depravity. The holiest men, the most free from impurity, have always felt it most. He whose garments are the whitest, will best perceive the spots upon them. He whose crown shines the brightest, will know when he has lost a jewel. He who gives the most light to the world, will always be able to discover his own darkness. The angels of heaven veil their faces; and the angels of God on earth, his chosen people, must always veil their faces with humility, when they think of what they were. Hear David: he was not one of those who boast of a holy nature and a pure disposition. He says, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Here all those holy men who have written in the inspired volume, and you shall find them all confessing that they were not clean, no, not one; yes, one of them exclaimed, “Oh wretched man that I am; who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”
10. And more, I will summon one other witness to the truthfulness of this fact, who shall decide the question; it shall be your conscience. Conscience, I will put you in the witness box, and cross examine you this morning! Conscience, truly answer! be not drugged with the laudanum {b} of self-security! speak the truth! did you never hear the heart say, “I wish there were no God?” Have not all men, at times, wished that our religion were not true? Though they could not entirely rid their souls of the idea of the Godhead, did they not wish that there might not be God? Have they not had the desire that it might turn out that all these divine realities were a delusion, a farce, and an imposture? “Yes,” says every man, “that has crossed my mind sometimes. I have wished I might indulge in folly; I have wished there were no laws to restrain me; I have wished, as the fool, that there were no God.” That passage in the Psalms, “The fool has said in his heart, there is no God,” is wrongly translated. It should be, “The fool has said in his heart, no God.” The fool does not say in his heart there is no God, for he knows there is a God, but he says, “No God, — I do not want any, I wish there were none.” And who among us has not been so foolish as to desire that there were no God? Now conscience, answer another question! You have confessed that you have at times wished there were no God; now, suppose a man wished another dead, would not that show that he hated him? Yes, it would. And so, my friends, the wish that there were no God, proves that we dislike God. When I wish such a man dead and rotting in his grave, when I desire that he did not exist, I must hate that man; otherwise I should not wish him to be extinct. So that wish — and I do not think there has been a man in this world who has not had it — proves that “the carnal mind is enmity against God.”
11. But conscience, I have another question! Has not your heart ever desired, since there is a God, that he were a little less holy, a little less pure, so that those things which are now great crimes might be regarded as venial offences, as peccadillos? Has your heart never said, “Would to God these sins were not forbidden. Would that he would be merciful and pass them by without an atonement! Would that he were not so severe, so rigorously just, so sternly strict to his integrity.” Have you never said that, my heart? Conscience must reply, “You have.” Well, that wish to change God, proves that you are not in love with the God that now is, the God of heaven and earth; and though you may talk of natural religion, and boast that you do reverence the God of the green fields, the grassy meads, the swelling flood, the rolling thunder, the azure sky, the starry night, and the great universe — though, you love the poetic beau ideal of Deity, it is not the God of Scripture, for you have wished to change his nature, and in that have you proved that you are at enmity with him. But why, conscience, should I go thus all around? You can bear faithful witness, if you would speak the truth that each person here has so transgressed against God, so continually broken his laws, violated his Sunday, trampled on his statutes, despised his gospel, that it is true, indeed, most true, that “the carnal mind is enmity against God.”
12. II. Now, secondly, we are called upon to notice the universality of this evil. What a broad assertion it is. It is not a single carnal mind, or a certain class of characters, but “the carnal mind.” It is an unqualified statement, including every individual. Whatever mind may properly be called carnal, not having been spiritualised by the power of God’s Holy Spirit, is “enmity against God.”
13. Observe then, first of all, the universality of this as to all people. Every carnal mind in the world is at enmity against God. This does not exclude even infants at the mother’s breast. We call them innocent, and so they are of actual transgression, but as the poet says, “Within the youngest breast there lies a stone.” There is in the carnal mind of an infant, enmity against God; it is not developed, but it lies there. Some say that children learn sin by imitation. But no: take a child away, place it under the most pious influences, let the very air it breathes be purified by piety; let it constantly drink in draughts of holiness; let it hear nothing but the voice of prayer and praise; let its ear be always kept in tune by notes of sacred song; and that child, notwithstanding, may still become one of the grossest of transgressors; and though placed apparently on the very road to heaven, it shall, if not directed by divine grace, march downwards to the pit. Oh! how true it is that some who have had the best of parents, have been the worst of sons; that many who have been trained up under the most holy auspices, in the midst of most favourable scenes of piety have nevertheless, become loose and wanton! So it is not by imitation, but it is by nature, that the child is evil. Grant me that the child is carnal, and my text says, “The carnal mind is enmity against God.” The young crocodile, I have heard, when broken from the shell, will in a moment begin to put itself in a posture of attack, opening its mouth as if it had been taught and trained. We know that young lions when tamed and domesticated, still will have the wild nature of their fellows of the forest,