THE STUDY OF HUMAN NATURE. 329 



theory upon which God manages men. What is the management of 

 men, again, but a thing founded upon human nattjre ? so that, to un- 

 derstand moral government, you are run right back to the same neces- 

 sity. You must comprehend that on which God's moral government 

 itself stands, which is human nature. 



But, a^ain, the fundamental doctrine on which our labors stand is 

 the need of the transformation of man's nature by the Divine Spirit. 

 This is altogether a question of pyschology. The old theological way 

 of stating man's sinfulness, namely, " Total Depravity," was so gross 

 and so ^discriminating, and was so full of endless misapprehensions, 

 that it has largely dropped out of use. Men no longer are accustomed, 

 I think, to use that term as once they did. That all men are sinful, is 

 taught ; but " What is meant by ' sinful ? '" is the question which 

 immediately comes back. Instantly, the schools begin to discuss it. 

 Is it a state of the fibre of the substance or the soul ? Is it any aber- 

 ration, any excess, any disproportion of natural elements ? Wherein 

 does the fault lie ? What is it ? The moment you discuss this, you 

 are discussing human nature. It is the mind you are discussing. In 

 order to know what is an aberration, you must know what is normal. 

 In order to know what is in excess, you must know what is the true 

 measure. Who can tell whether a man is selfish, unless he knows 

 what is benevolent ? Who can tell whether a man has departed from 

 the correct idea unless he has some conception of that idea ? The 

 very foundation on which you stand to-day necessitates knowledge of 

 man as its chief basis. 



Consider, too, how a minister, teaching the moral government of 

 God, the nature of God, and the condition of man and his necessities, 

 is obliged to approach the human soul. Men are sluggish, or are so 

 occupied and filled with what are to them important interests, that, 

 ordinarily, when a preacher comes into a community, he finds it either 

 slumbering, or averse to his message, or indifferent to it ; and, in either 

 case, his business is to stimulate their moral nature. But how shall he 

 know the art of stimulating man's moral nature, who has never studied 

 it ? You must arouse men and prepare them to be moulded. How can 

 you do it, if you know nothing about them ? 



A man who would minister to a diseased body must have an ac- 

 curate knowledge of the organs, and of the whole structure of the 

 body, in a sanitary condition. We oblige our physicians to know 

 anatomy and physiology. We oblige them to study morbid anatomy, 

 as well as normal conditions. We say that no man is prepared to 

 practise without this knowledge, and the law interferes, or does as far 

 as it can, to compel it. Now, shall a man know how to administer to 

 that which is a thousand times more subtle and important than the 

 body, and which is the exquisite blossom of the highest development 

 and perfection of the human system, namely, the mind in its modern 

 develojmient shall a man assume to deal with that, and raise and 



