Here the Bible is silent. But theologians have manufactured the _theory_ that when Adam sinned the constitution of his mind was changed, and then that this nature was transmitted to his descendants. All this is without a word of proof. Others have assumed that all mankind were existing in Adam, and "sinned in him, and fell with him," which is both unintelligible, and equally without support from the Bible. These, it is believed, are all ever claimed as direct Scripture evidence of a depraved constitution of mind consequent on Adam's sin. Two other passages are quoted as having an _indirect_ bearing on this subject. They are as follows: 2 Peter, ii., 4: "_For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment_"-- Jude, 6 verse: "_And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day._" In regard to these passages, we are to notice, as before, first, the _facts_ revealed, and, next, the _theories_ instituted in regard to them. The facts are, that there are two classes of angels, those that have sinned and those that have not; that those that sinned kept not their first estate, but left their habitations; that God cast them down to hell, and that they are reserved in chains of darkness unto the judgment of the great day. These are all the facts disclosed. Not a word is said as to the _cause_ or _reason_ why some sinned and some did not, nor as to the mode or manner by which these events were brought about. Here the _theories_ come in. Those who maintain the depravity of the human mental constitution frame their theory on these passages thus: It is here taught that there are a class of minds that have never sinned. There must be _a cause_ for this diversity from man's experience. _This cause is a perfect mental constitution._ This, it is seen, is _a mere assumption, without a word of proof from the passages quoted_! What is quite as remarkable is, that this theory is maintained in the face of the concession that both Adam and the fallen angels were as well endowed as the unsinning angels in regard to mental constitution, and yet that they all sinned just as the descendants of Adam have done. This dogma has been sustained by certain misconceptions that should be considered. The first is in the use of the term "nature." As this word is ordinarily used, it signifies that constitution, received from the Author of all things, which makes certain results or effects _invariable_. Thus, when a fountain invariably sends forth bitter waters, it is called its "nature" to do so; when a tree invariably produces bitter fruit, this is called its "nature." Now if it was a fact that the human mind never acted right, but invariably wrong, it would be proper to apply this term, and to say that in its "nature" it was totally depraved.