INBRED SIN.

The term "inbred" is an abbreviation of "inbreed or inborn," so that the term "inbred sin" has for centuries been used as denoting that amount and quality of moral corruption which has come down from Adam and Eve into the souls of all their posterity. This term "inbred sin" is used to distinguish the form and quantity of hereditary evil, from the form and degree of actual sins. The Bible defines actual sin thus, Any trangression of the law of God is sin. 1 John iii. 4. But the same inspired penman goes be hind the action, and defines inbred sin thus, "All unrighteousness is sin." 1 John v. 17. Let us look at the scriptural characteristics of inbred sin.

1. As to its age. It is that corruption of human nature which is as old as mankind. Actual sin can only be as old as the individual committing it, but inbred sin, so far as the moral virus is concerned, is as old as Adam. Hence, it is emphatically termed by the Holy Ghost, the "old man." But the Spirit designates it as "our old man," Rom. vi. 6. That is, it is that portion of the impure nature of Adam which is transmissible, and which resides naturally in every individual heart, till extirpated by entire sanctification. David speaks of this "inbred sin" — "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." Ps. li. 5. And he clearly discriminates between this "in born " evil and his own personal committed sins. With reference to his own personal sins, he prays, "blot out my transgressions;" but with reference to this inborn evil which had come down the ages, he says, that when it is removed he will have hidden purity and "be whiter than snow."

It is again denominated the "old leaven." "Purge out, therefore, the old leaven." I Cor. v. 7. So that "inbred sin" is our individual patrimony in the estate of our first parents, and though we personally are only a few years old, yet the moral property we inherit is six thousand years old.

2. As to the quantity of inbred sin. The Scriptures throughout teach us that the quantity and kind of inbred sin is about the same in every one born of Adam. In the amount of sin displayed and committed, no two persons may be the same, but as to inherited sin, the Bible proclaims a uniform kind of evil in every child of man. 'And God saw the wickedness of man, that, every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Gen. vi. 5. Mark, it does not say "of men," but of "man," looking at the race as a unit, they each and all, "share and share alike," in the oneness of depravity. The Hebrew word for "imagination" here not only signifies the activity of the imagination, but the latent, inherent proneness of heart which is originally the same, other things being equal, in every child, whether Abel or Cain, John or Nero. In this same chapter it says that "Noah was a perfect man." He had as much inbred sin as the rest, to start with, but he yielded to grace, and turned his inbred evil over to the power of God.

"Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world." Jno. i. 29. It does not say sins of the world, but emphatically "the sin of the world." It may be that no two persons have ever committed the same number and kinds of sins. The actual sins of the world are utterly innumerable and diverse in degree and hue, but the hereditary old man, the inbred sin of the world, is the same in all generations.- So that Jesus has not only a provision for blotting out the acts of the world, but, glory to His name, has a. provision to root out every sprout of indwelling sin from mankind.

3. As to the unity of inbred sin. Every act of committed sin may differ some from every other actual sin; actual sins may so differ that one kind may seem to prevent another kind; profligacy may prevent miserliness; but all spring from one seed of sin, deep down in the heart. Inbred sin is a unit of moral evil. If you have any sin whatever in your heart, of any kind or degree, you have the seed of all sins in you. If this truth wounds your feelings it is a demonstration that pride remains in your heart, and if you have any pride in your heart, it is but a sprout from the seed of inherited sin, and proves that you have lurking in your heart the latent germ of every form of sin. Many religionists and even preachers will stoutly deny this, but such denial only proves them ignorant both of the Scriptures and a true experience in holiness.

Let God speak as to the unity of depravity: "Lest there should be among you man or woman whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our God; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood." Deut. xxix. 1 8. Here God declares that the "root" of sin has its existence in the unsanctified hearts of individual men and women among His own people, and though "gall and wormwood" represent different forms of actual sin, yet they all sprout from the vile unit root of inbred sin. Agreeable to this old text, the Holy Ghost again repeats it in later ages. "Lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and many be defiled." Heb. xii. 15. Here we see plainly taught that the single root of depravity in the heart may so sprout and spread as to produce multiplied defilements, proving that if there be any kind of impurity in the heart, there is the germ of every kind of impurity. Paul calls it the "body of sin," Rom. vi. 6. This "body," "soma," of sin would never be termed the soma of sin were it not in the eyes of the Holy Ghost an organic whole, a unit of evil. Again, Paul calls it the "body of the sins of the flesh," Col. ii. 11. Here we see that all the manifested sins of the flesh, which are in the plural number, proceed from the inward body of inbred sin which is put in the singular. And in all these passages we see that it is the destruction of this unit "body" of inbred sin which constitutes the work of full sanctification. In a multitude of passages we see that actual, committed sins are put in the plural, while inherited sin, the "root" of sin, the "body" of sin, is always put in the singular number. The Holy Ghost did not blunder in His grammar. "Put off the old man with his deeds." Col. iii. 9. Here the "old man" is in the singular, referring to the self-nature, the unit principle of hereditary sin, but "his deeds" are in the plural, referring to the variety of sinful tempers, thoughts, words and acts springing from the unit seed of sin in the heart. If you feel down in your heart the up rising of resentment, retaliation, illwill, anger, pride, ambition, love of distinction, impure wishes, murmuring, love of money, etc., though you may conceal them, yet if you have such as these things in your hidden heart feelings, then you need a pure heart, for they are one and all the various sproutings from the deep, latent in bred sin in the soul.

4. As to our accountability for it. We are not responsible for the existence of inbred sin, but we are responsible for taking the remedy by which it can be removed. "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin." John xv. 22. He does not say sins, but sin, including the inherent body of sin. If Jesus had not revealed a remedy for our depravity, we would not be accountable for it, as our will had nothing to do with its origin and transmission, but when Jesus reveals to us a fountain of all-cleansing blood for both actual and hereditary sin, then we are accountable for that precious blood, just to the extent that we refuse to trust its efficacy! When we see the provision for the complete cleansing from inbred sin, and then refuse to accept it, we reject that part of the gospel, and virtually adopt inbred sin as our own. Hence Jesus says "no cloak for their sin," for by rejecting the sanctifying power of the blood, you thereby make hereditary depravity your own sin. So that while we are not responsible for inbred sin, we are responsible for the continuance of it, right in the face of an omnipotent Purifier. To this agrees the Scripture which says, "To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin." James iv. 17. To him that knows where to find purity from inbred sin and does not accept it, to him it is sin. It is sanctioning inbred sin to reject sanctification. Inbred sin is as old as mankind, actual sin is as old as the free-will that commits it; inbred sin is the same throughout the world, actual sin is never the same in two persons; inbred sin is a unit in the heart, actual sin has infinite diversity; for actual sin we must have a full, free justification; for in bred sin we must have a free and full sanctification.