3. They are all gone aside. Without
exception, all have apostatized from the Lord their Maker, from his laws, and
from the eternal principles of fight. Like stubborn heifers they have sturdily
refused to receive the yoke; like errant sheep they have found a gap and left
the right field. They have altogether become filthy. They are spoiled
and soured like corrupt leaven, or, as some put it, they have become putrid and
even stinking. The only reason why we do not more clearly see this foulness is
because we are accustomed to it. But are there no special cases; are all
sinful? Yes, says the psalmist. He has put it positively; he repeats it
negatively: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. The Hebrew
phrase is an utter denial concerning any mere man that he of himself does good.
This is the verdict of the all-seeing Jehovah, who cannot exaggerate or
mistake. As if no hope of finding a solitary specimen of a good man among the
unrenewed human family might be harbored for an instant. The Holy Spirit adds
the crushing threefold negative none … no, not one. What say the
opponents of the doctrine of natural depravity to this? Rather what do we feel
concerning it? Do we not confess that we by nature are corrupt, and do we not
bless the sovereign grace which has renewed us in the spirit of our minds, that
sin may no more have dominion over us, but that grace may rule and reign?
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