THE ACTUAL EXISTENCE OF CARNALITY

     Is carnality simply a degenerate condition of the heart or is it a degenerate thing in the heart? Is it (to speak of spiritual things by natural similitudes), a part of the texture of the soul which is cleansed when the heart is sanctified wholly, or is it a fallen nature or thing, separate from but abiding in the heart, which is cast out or destroyed?

     Impurities may be either foreign substances added to the pure article, like uncleanness on a dish or malaria in the atmosphere; or a degenerate condition of the texture or constituent parts of the thing itself, as decayed vegetables or putrefying meat. While diseases may be caused by foreign substances which attack or attach themselves to the body, yet these vicious elements when they find a lodgment produce a degenerate condition of the substance of the body which they thus attack.

     In natural things there may be a vast difference between these two conditions, but in religious experience this difference resolves itself into a metaphysical question which it is impossible to settle. Taking it from either point of view, the result is much the same.

     To endeavor to tell whether inward sin is a disease in the soul or a disease of the soul is puzzling our heads over questions which never will be solved until faith is lost in sight, and one which we look in vain for wise men to answer, while very few even mention the difference but use the two thoughts interchangeably.

     Leaving those who feel disposed to do so to trouble themselves with the physiological and psychological aspects of the carnal mind we will turn to consider it from the experimental point of view. Here we are confronted with three facts: (1) The heart is actually evil. (2) Carnality as a principle actually exists. (3) Nothing but the blood of Jesus can ever destroy this evil and make the heart clean.

     Carnality is not an imaginary principle of evil, an imaginary something that seems to move within but which in reality does not actually exist. This we do know, it is an evil principle or disease which is located within, and which, without the preventing grace of God, would quickly drown the whole soul in destruction and perdition.

     Carnality is not an abstract element, as pride, envy, etc., but it is an originating principle which produces these sinful manifestations and sends them out through the whole soul, filling it with a loathsome disease.

     When we state that carnality is an originating principle we do not wish to be understood as disputing the assertion that it is a passive principle and that it never moves independent of the idea from without. If the principle of evil is not present the idea may be never so vicious but its presentation will not cause one unholy desire to move, from the fact that that power or condition of the soul upon which evil operates is gone. Carnality is an originating principle because in it originates the evil desire which answers to the perverse idea from without, and there is no other place where such a desire can possibly originate. The idea is not a desire, but simply that which arouses the desire when that thing or principle is present in which resides the power of fathering or originating that desire.

     Carnality is not an abstract idea as that produced by the thought of envy or jealousy, but it is envy, jealousy and hatred in their originating principle.

     Carnality actually exists, for a thing which does not exist could not exert such a powerful influence over the whole being, and there is no other possible way of accounting for the myriad stirrings of evil of which even the saved but uncleansed soul is conscious every day.

     Carnality is not a being as man is a being; it cannot exist separate from or independent of its natural environments. It cannot think, act or will in an abstract or separate condition, but can operate only by defiling the thoughts, will and actions of a rational being; the seeming "method" in this inherent "madness" does not come from any capability to reason which it possesses, but from the fact that the natural reasoning mind is contaminated by the presence of inherent impurity.

     When the carnal mind is cast out of the heart it is not cast out as a man is thrown from a building and sent to some receptacle for receiving it, but it is blotted out or destroyed by the sin-consuming merits of Jesus' blood. Its very existence is destroyed, it is annihilated.

     Carnality is not a tangible body, as the flesh and bones of a man; it is a leaning or tendency toward evil. It is a pollution of the moral nature produced by the fall.

     Carnality has an actual existence the same as any pollution has an actual existence. We put disinfectants in the sick room to purify the atmosphere. We do this because we realize that there is such a thing as pollution. In like manner, the blood of Jesus is the soul's disinfectant.

     If we deny the actual existence of carnality we resolve the whole work of Jesus into a mighty effort to get rid of nothing; but when we view it as a vicious principle or the fundamental evil nature of the soul that is at enmity against God, and begin to realize the greatness of its infernal power, then we can see why Jesus should suffer till earth and heaven were moved.

     Some have taken the stand that carnality is simply a privation of good, but such a condition would leave the soul void of moral character, with no tendencies either to good or evil. Others have declared that it is not only a privation of good but also the presence of evil. The former leaves the soul in a state of moral nonentity, while the latter is moral entity, or actual evil. That the latter is correct seems conclusive from the fact that the unclean heart is not only deprived of the good but also produces active elements of evil which manifest themselves as occasions may arise.

     The following is from Wood's Perfect Love, page 42:

     "[Actual] sin is 'the transgression of the law,' and involves moral action, either by voluntary omission, or willful commission, and it always incurs guilt.

     "Depravity is a state or condition, a defilement or perversity of spirit. It is developed in the soul, in inclinations to sin, or in sinward tendencies.

     "[Actual] sin, strictly speaking, is voluntary, and involves responsible action, and is a thing to be pardoned.

     "Depravity is inborn, inherited, and inbred. It is derived from fallen Adam, and is augmented by actual sin.

     "All [actual] sin involves guilt; depravity does not, unless it he assented to, yielded to, cherished, or its cure willfully neglected."

     The following is from Watson's Theological Institutes, Volume II, page 79, etc.:

     "The deprivation, the perversion, the defect of our nature is to be traced to our birth, so that in our flesh is no good thing, and they that are in the flesh cannot please God; but this state arises not from the infusion of evil into the nature of man by God, but from that separation of man from God, that extinction of spiritual life which was effected by sin, and the consequent and necessary corruption of man's moral nature. For that positive evil and corruption may flow from a mere privation may be illustrated by that which supplies the figure of speech, 'Death,' under which the Scriptures represent the state of mankind. For, as in the death of the body, the mere privation of the principle of life produces inflexibility of the muscles, the extinction of heat, and sense, and motion, and surrenders the body to the operation of an agency which life, as long as it continued, resisted, namely, chemical decomposition; so, from the loss of spiritual life, followed estrangement from God, moral inability, the dominion of irregular passions, and the rule of appetite; aversion, in consequence, to restraint; and enmity to God. This connection with positive evil, as the effect, with privation of the life and image of God, as the cause, is, however, to be well understood and carefully maintained, or otherwise we should fall into a great error on the other side, as indeed, some have done, who did not perceive that the corruption of man's nature necessarily followed upon the privation referred to. It is, therefore, a just remark of Calvin, that 'those who have defined original sin as a privation of original righteousness, though they comprise 'the whole of the subject, yet have not used language sufficiently expressive of its operation and influence. For our nature is not only destitute of all good, but is so fertile in all evils that it cannot remain inactive.'"