Human Nature In Its Third Estate

The Renewing Nature

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Doctrinal Studies

Lesson: 9-20

Genre: Speech

Track: 29

Dictation Name: RR131Q30

Location/Venue:

Year: 1960’s - 1970’s

[Dr. Rushdoony] Our Scripture lesson is from the Gospel according to St. Matthew, the 15 chapter, verses 10-20. Matthew 15:10-20. The renewing nature.

And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable. And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.

The appeal of environmentalism is that it transfers sin from the individual to the world around him. It is always easy to gain a following in this world by using environmentalism. It appeals to people to say that their problems are not due to their sin but to their environment. This of course is the essence of socialism. Socialism says that the evil capitalists are to blame for everything. Now of course there are capitalists who are evil men. But this is not the cause of society’s problems. Humanistic conservatism has a similar answer. It says the conspiracies are to blame. Now conspiracies do exist, but the essence of the problem is always personal. Sin in the heart of man. It is sin that leads man to destroy himself and his society.

This was the issue that between our Lord and the Pharisees. The Pharisees were environmentalists. Now environmentalism especially has an appeal to people who want power. Because if environmentalism is the answer, it means that man can be changed and his world changed just by controls, by manipulating man and his society. It provides a very easy answer, it says man can solve it, it isn’t regeneration, it isn’t the power of God in mans heart that is the answer, but man and man’s controls. But our Lord said that guilt is personal. And as against the Pharisees he said it is not that which goeth into the mouth which defileth a man but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. Just that sentence, and the disciples immediately reported, knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying? Of course they were. There was much more involved then just eating with unwashed hands. What was involved was their whole claim to power. Their whole theory that it was the environment that pollutes men and therefore we, the knowledgeable people, the scientific elite, to put it in modern terms, must control man and society for man’s welfare. And our Lord made it emphatic, man is not polluted by his environment but by his heart. If he is a fallen man, if he is a sinner, out of his heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, theft, false witness, blasphemy. Pollution comes out of the heart, and if you have pollution of nature it is because man is a sinner. The sin comes out from the heart of man and pollutes the world around him. But to accept this is to declare that we are sinners. That we sin, not because we are misled or misinformed, but because we choose to disobey God.

It is to insist that the source of corruption or destruction is in us. And only as we have a new heart in Jesus Christ do we replace the will to death with everlasting life. This is why the reprobate insists that the source of corruption is outside man. It’s their way of seeking to justify themselves. And so there are many people in every age who will believe that corruption is from outside of man. And they can give you a good argument for it. The leftists for example will say it’s from above, the higher classes, the capitalists. Kings, nobles, potentates, whatever you had in a particular period of society. Well it’s easy to make a case for that, anyone of us without much thinking can think of a boss or a company that is pretty crooked to work for. It’s a very simple matter to come up with this answer. In fact we could spend a week, each of us, if we turn this into a testimonial meeting, getting up and telling stories about horrible bosses and corporations.

On the other hand, we could do the opposite as well, couldn’t we? We could, like kings and nobles and corporation presidents and chairmen of boards, get up and have a week long gab fest or testimonial meeting about the corruption of workers. About the corruption of the lower classes. Be very, very easy. Be a very simple matter. And of course you can find all kind of books about this. Books used to be written to appeal to the working classes, about the horrible lustful monsters of the upper classes, the bosses, and how they were always seducing the poor working girl and the poor servant girl. Well now, that happened. It really did. Any number of times. But of course the other side of it would be, look at the number of cases where boys in a family were seduced by servant girls and slave girls. You see, the problem is sin in the heart of man, it makes no exception, upper or middle or lower classes. And if you’re going to try to find a sin, you’d better look for it in the heart of every man. This is why it is easy for the leftists to make a case as to how terrible bosses are.

And for reactionaries in every generation to make a case as to how terrible the working classes and the slaves and the down and outers are. It’s always been easy to do it. Anyone who looks for sin in man is bound to succeed. You’ve got a ready built case.

But the biblical position is that corruption, or destruction, is from within. This is the key. Recently this was put in very telling form by a Marine Corp Colonel. He wrote an article on the collapse of the American army today. 50% of those in Europe are on drugs. In Vietnam the percentage is greater. One of the problems is shooting officers from behind, killing our own officers. If men don’t want to go into action, they just walk away to another part of the camp. On many army bases in this country, this colonel reported, just off the base, blankets, army blankets and other things are sold for pennies. And immediately, when men get up in the morning, they have to take their bedding and put it in their locker under lock and key, or it will be stolen. In many barracks, in this country, officers do not dare go into the barracks. Because they will be assaulted. And so he concludes with this statement in his study of the collapse of the American army. “We have met the enemy and they are us.” He gives a bleak picture of all the underground papers that are aimed at servicemen. At last count he said 144. That all the coffee houses near army bases, aimed at influencing the soldiers. But when it’s all toted up, he has to say that the source of corruption is from within. The lack of character, the lack of discipline. The lack of any moral standard. “We have met the enemy and they are us.”

This is why Solomon, long ago, in Proverbs 4:23 said, keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. The heart of man is the source of corruption, but when regenerated by the grace of God in Jesus Christ, the wellspring of reconstruction. There is no other answer. Now let’s see how this answer has been applied and what it has accomplished.

Let’s illustrate now the truth of Scripture from American history.

On October 20, 1824, the Reverend Elias Cornelius, a congregational minister, gave a sermon before the Salem society for the moral and religious instruction of the poor. His text was Leviticus 25:35. And if thy brother be waxen poor and fallen in decay with thee, then thou shalt relieve him. Yea though he be a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with thee.

Now let’s consider the time, 1824, Salem. Salem was hardly more than a village, or at best a small city then. 16 years later the census said that it had grown to 15000. It was much, much less in 1824. But it was a time of change in America. Every day boats were docking at Salem, at Boston, Boston, New York, and elsewhere, discharging boatloads of immigrants. People who were running away from oppression and tyranny in Europe. People who very often were far from being of the best character. People who were a problem. And tremendous slums were being created in every community where they landed. Slums that were real slums. Unthinkable in terms of what we know today. I could spend a little time on some of the horrors of the slums in those days.

What were they going to do about it? The reason for founding the Salem society for the moral and religious instruction of the poor was stated by the Reverend Mr. Cornelius. [15: 41]

The immigration had hit them. They had problems in their community, and he said, and I quote, “It was ascertained six years ago, when the society was founded, (that would be 1818) that there were several hundred families of poor people in the town, unconnected with any religious society and of course unaccustomed to the proper observance of the Sabbath and the duties of public worship. Whose children in most cases were growing up in ignorance and vice. And it was conceived that unless some effectual measures were taken to check the evil, the worst consequences might ensue. Not only to the poor, but to the town. The experience of each succeeding year has shown the correctness of this opinion, and induced the friends of the society to proceed in their object with increasing energy.” Several hundred families in a town. They had a problem. Several hundred families means a few thousand people, men, women and children considered. Now what was the answer? Cornelius went on to cite their duty as Christians to relieve those in distress or need. And he cited several biblical texts beyond the text he read. He cited Psalm 41:1, blessed is he who considereth the poor. Proverbs 21:13, who so stoppeth his ear at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself but shall not be heard. Proverbs 28:27, he that giveth to the poor shall not lack, but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse. 1st John 3:17, that who so hath this world’s good and seeth his brother have need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? Then he went on to say, and I quote, “In regard to the duty of relieving the poor, there can therefore be but one opinion. No man who cherishes the spirit of the Bible or believes its precepts to be binding, can deny it. The only question which can be asked, how the want of the poor can be most effectually relieved.” Unquote.

And so, the Reverend Mr. Cornelius said, how are we going to do it? Raise funds and dish it out to the poor? Embark on a major relief program? No, he said, we have to relieve emergency distress, but this is not the answer. He went on to say, and I quote, “The proposition I shall endeavor to establish is, that the moral and religious improvement of the poor is the surest and best means of relieving their wants.” Unquote. In other words, we’ve got to minister them religiously. We’ve got to everything to change their hearts. Then he went on to say, “First, the moral and religious improvement of the poor is the best means of relieving their temporal want. I do not mean that a moral and religious influence exerted upon their minds can satisfy the cravings of hunger, or cover the limbs that are shivering with the cold, or remove the distresses of sickness. But that, so far as these evils are the effect of moral causes, it is the most powerful and the only sure antidote against them. A thorough examination of the causes of what is called pauperism will convince anyone that in nine instances out of ten, if not in ninety-nine out of a hundred, they are traced to vicious habits. Not that everyone who is poor and dependent on charity is come to this state by his own vices. Although this is the fact in a great number of cases. But that to the full extent which has been mentioned, the poor have become so, either by their own vices or the vices of others. You shall go to any poorhouse in the land and examine minutely into the history of every pauper whom it contains, and I am willing to hazard the assertion that not one in ten will be found who has gone there in consequence of unavoidable misfortune. But many are there who have been reduced to poverty by idleness, by dissipation and prodigality, but especially by intemperance.” Unquote. So Mr. Cornelius went on to say, “Any relief to the poor which does not administer relief to the causes of poverty is futile. And how do you administer relief to the causes of poverty? You work to change the heart of man.”

And he went on to say, “The principle causes of poverty as have been shown are moral causes. These are to removed only by a moral influence, and that influence can be exerted in no way but by instilling into the mind, moral and religious principles.” Unquote. He went on to say in this sermon, that no other means had succeeded. Throughout history men had tried other means, and were trying them at that time in Europe. But nothing had been accomplished. And so he said, “secondly, the moral and religious improvement of the poor is the most direct and efficient means of elevating them in society. In giving them that influence which belongs to them as intelligent and accountable beings. Vice, as we have seen, is a frequent companion of poverty. Ignorance is another. These combined produce a moral degradation which necessarily exclude those who are the subject of it from influence. And even from respectability in society. Now here, as under the {?}, if we would elevate the poor, we must remove the causes of their depression. If a man has lost his reputation by becoming vicious, the proper way to regain it is to become virtuous. And so if ignorance prevents him from having influence, the proper way to give him influence is to enlighten him. Thirdly, the moral and religious improvement of the poor is the only means by which their eternal happiness can be secured.” Unquote.

Now what did Salem society do? It was one of a number of societies that were established, not only in Salem, but one city after another, all over the United States. Some to establish common schools, that is, Christian day schools, to educate these children. Others to establish, as this one, Sabbath or Sunday schools. Other to establish temperance societies. Others to establish emergency relief societies. And so on. Hundreds and hundreds of societies were established to cope with every possible problem from a Christian perspective. Stressing first and foremost, regeneration.

The Salem society for the moral and religious instruction of the poor, in six years time, helped get the children of the poor into common schools, or Christian day schools, it established six Sabbath schools for over 600 children of the poor, it provided a chapel for sailors, near the docks, it employed Eleazar Brainard as a missionary pastor in the community, it enlisted hundreds of men and women as part time workers to make sure there was not a single person in the slums who was not reached for Christ. Then Cornelius called attention to the social consequences of such Christian acts. And I quote. “For what can be plainer than, if you remove the causes of poverty, you lessen the taxes which are necessary for supporting it? Accordingly it will be found, take the world through, that where there is most morality in religion, there is fewest of the evils of poverty. If anyone doubts this fact let him compare New England with the more southern parts of the United States, or Scotland with England. I know, says Dr. {?} of Scotland, a parish in Scotland, the average maintenance of whose poor is defrayed by 24 pounds sterling a year. And a parish of the same population in England, where the annual assessments amount to 1300 pounds sterling. And what is the cause of this difference? It may not be the only cause, but no one will deny that it is chiefly owing the superior moral and religious culture which the Scottish peasantry have received. Similar facts might be brought from other countries, and they speak volumes in praise of the design of the society which solicits your patronage this evening.” Unquote.

Now I’ve given some time to this sermon because I think it’s very important. It’s a forgotten sermon, by the way, I happen to have it in the original copy, and I know something of the history of the society. This society and hundreds others like this, faced a tremendous deluge of immigration. There were two reactions to it.

The humanistic conservatives organized all kinds of societies, aimed at doing something about these people. These immigrants, these foreigners. To pass laws against them having citizenship, to keep them out of the country, to do one thing or another, and finally, they resorted to all kinds of mob violence. And the result was that everything these conservative humanists represented was discredited.

But the orthodox Christians of the day, by creating a wide variety of societies, schools, Sunday schools, relief societies, classes to teach English to the foreigners, in which they also taught Christian faith, orphanages, societies to deal with various vices and so on, embarked on a program of massive reconstruction. And Alexis de Tocqueville, a Frenchman, visited at the beginning of the thirties, America. He said the real government of the United States is by these Christian societies. If it had not been for this kind of reconstruction, what would have happened? Why, within two decades the United States would have ceased to be Protestant. It would have ceased to be a free country, it would have looked like another backward European country.

So called Native American movements did much to harm American life. The Orthodox Christians did more than anyone else to cope with the central problems of American life between 1800 and 1850. And they continued to exercise influence to the end of the century. We would not have a free country today if it had not been for their work. And most of them, when they began had only a handful of members who said we’re going to do one thing, and this, and they set to work and did it. Their influence, little by little, extended. So that what these people did in 1818 in Salem was picked up by people in other communities and they started their own societies and they changed the face of America.

They were concerned you see, first and last, with what is the godly answer. They made it clear, moreover, that it had to be in terms of Scripture and in terms of what our Lord said in our text, and they cited Matthew 15:10-20. Out of the heart man corruption comes. Therefore the heart of man must be regenerated and then the regenerated heart must be instructed and instructed and instructed so that it can be empowered to act.

Perhaps the most famous sermon of the first quarter of the century was delivered by Timothy White, who dates to 1752 to 1817. And it was at the beginning of this influx of immigrants. The title of his sermon, which was reprinted hundreds and hundreds of times was, “The True Means of Establishing Public Happiness”. A sermon delivered on the 17th of July 1795, before the Connecticut society of Cincinnati. His text was Isaiah 33 verse 6. And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy time. A good Puritan sentence. Wisdom and knowledge, that is in terms of God and His works, shall be the stability of thy time. And so, speaking to the people of Connecticut he said, and I quote, “Connecticut can never be distinguished for its {?} territories, superior wealth, or great numbers of inhabitants. This instead of being a misfortune, ought to be esteemed a blessing. A nobler distinction is thrown by good providence into its hand. It may rise to pre-eminence in knowledge, virtue, and happiness. We need not grudge the dross while the gold is ours, it may be the Athens{?}, not of a savage, idolatrous and brutal world, but a world enlightened, refined, and Christian. Let its citizens unite in well concerted and determined effort for this end and it will be accomplished.” Unquote. The fact that the people of the state of Connecticut and other states as well, could see it as a tremendous popular goal and get excited about pre-eminence in knowledge, virtue, and happiness, tells us a great deal.

They read, they studied, to grow in the Word of God and to apply the Word of God to one sphere after another. Because they knew that it is out of the heart of man that corruption proceeds and out of the heart of man that godly reconstruction proceeds, because, they held, the renewed nature of man in Christ is then a renewing nature. Which works in society to renew all things in terms of God and His works. This was the key that in that day provided a tremendous force and renewed this country. It is the only way it can be renewed today. Out of the heart of man what will proceed in the days ahead? Will it be corruption because men are depraved, unregenerate and corrupt? Or will it be the power of God unto salvation? The renewed heart renewing the world around it.

Let us pray. Almighty God our Heavenly Father we give thanks unto Thee that we have been renewed in Jesus Christ, regenerated, made into new creatures. Make us, we beseech Thee, a renewing force in our time, that again our country may be cleansed of corruption, may again be a mighty witness unto Thee. Let our country magnify Thy holy name and serve and exalt Thee. Grant us this we beseech Thee, in Jesus name. Amen.

Are there any questions now, first of all on our lesson? Yes.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] The heart of man is corrupt. When we are regenerated by God in Christ we are not completely sanctified, so we must continually mortify, that is, kill off the old man and his lusts in order to be able to grow freely in terms of God’s grace. So indeed, in this life we do have elements of the old man appearing in our unconscious mind and in our conscious mind. But even more powerful is the new man, and we must mortify or kill off the old and develop and strengthen everything of the new.

Yes.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] No difference really. The subconscious is the older expressions and the unconscious has been in recent years used to replace it. But they, in origin they both meant the same thing.

Yes.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] Yes. Of course they don’t have to unite, all these hundreds and hundreds of societies in those days were not united. Each was doing something. They would each pick a particular problem and work on that.

[Audience] …{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] Yes.

[Audience]….{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] Right. What they must recognize of course is that the humanistic answer, whether it’s conservative or leftist, does not have the answer, because it blames the environment. And the Christian conservative must recognize it begins with regeneration. And he must have a specifically Christian answer, and then he can accomplish something. A great deal.

This morning’s paper had a very interesting column by Al {?}. which in a sense is relevant to what we’re saying, although it doesn’t have the answers. Did any of you read this morning’s {?} column in the Herald Examiner? Well, I’ll try to read portion of it. He says, “I met Harold Grey, who created ‘Orphan Annie’, for the first and only time over thirty years ago. He was even then a legend. I was but a rumor that had just gotten started. He said, I know your stuff, {?}, you’re going to be around a long time. Take my advice and buy a house in the country, build a wall around it and get yourself ready to protect yourself. The way things are going, people who earn their living are going to have to fight off the bums someday. I remember that I was shocked and a bit amused at his words, but not surprised. Grey was known to us young liberals as a bitter old man. He was then in his fifties. I was then nearing thirty, I am ten years older today then Grey was then.

I knew then we had nothing to fear from the bums, I had been on the bum myself. In the thirties there weren’t many chances for anyone to earn a living and almost none for a kid with one leg. When a chance did come along I grabbed it and held on for dear life. I knew that us bums were eager not to be bums, and that far from threatening those who wanted to earn a living we were eager to join them. But bums have changed. And my attitude towards Harold Grey has changed.

I bought a house, as he advised me to, but I didn’t build a wall around it. In the last five years it has been broken into several times. I live on a pleasant historic street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, near Harvard. There’ve been two attempts to rob it in the last few years, one attempt {?} in our garage, one car was stolen from our garage, and most of the homes in my street have been broken into in the last few years, one four times. There have been, in the last few years, murder, muggings, and molesting in our neighborhood. It is no longer safe to walk on my street after dark. There are four people employed in my studio in midtown Boston, this year two have been mugged.” And he goes on to say, of course, that we have a different generation. There isn’t the same thing in their hearts, and he so right. He is so right. His generation still had some kind of background of Christian upbringing and training. Now the corruption of the natural man is fully in evidence.

And the world is falling in around him, on his street. A fine, beautiful old street of Cambridge Massachusetts. And it is increasing a very ugly picture. A number of these things in the paper in this past week indicate what is happening. Women’s lib by the way is doing very well. Last year the increase of crime among rose 72 7/10%. But female arrests rose 200.6%. So the women are getting up there.

And it was very interesting to read that the American Society of Marriage Counselors had a meeting recently and their past president gave an interview here in Los Angeles. He was of course, for the shacking up that goes on today, the swinging singles apartments, and he was for women’s lib, and so on. But in the concluding paragraph, of course, he {?} removing the bars against homosexuality, against everything, that what he wants of course is some form of polygamy for the future, and he thinks it’s coming.

And of course if things continue as they are, it will come. Why? Just as it did every other time in history you had women’s lib. There is so much lawlessness that the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled again and again, seven women lay hold of one man and say, we will earn our keep, but just give us protection.

And what’s the answer to that? Well it’s always been the same. You are not going to change it with any kind of legislation. You’re not going to correct it with anything but regeneration. And Christian reconstruction in terms of that. Nothing else has ever worked. And everything has been tried, over and over again.

And this is why every Christian school today and every child taught in a Christian school, represents far more than the millions that are spent and have been spent in the last forty years by conservative causes. Why? If only a fraction of those children are won for Christ, the leadership of the future is there. Society’s always been dominated by a handful of small minorities. A minority that has ability and leadership qualities. And nobody else is going to train that leadership except the Christian schools. That’s why the future is there.

And this is why the future is in our hands. Nobody else is doing anything but sitting back and bewailing what is happening, or being a part of the destruction, except those who are working in some kind of Christian reconstruction.

Yes.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] Yes. You’re going to have problems with many, many people in the Christian community because their background is really 90% humanist. This is the kind of preaching they’ve had, this is the kind of education they’ve had. And so they’re going to be a drawback sometimes to the very work of reconstruction some of them begin. But at least it’s a start, you see. It’s accomplishing something. It’s better than nothing, and with each year there will be a progressive refinement and a purification of these movements. Sometimes with very bitter struggles and ups and downs. So the progress I’ve seen, for example, since the beginning of the sixties in some of these causes and Christian schools, is enormous. It’s really staggering. And yet it was so discouraging at the beginning that you’re inclined to wonder, it’s a great hope, but will it ever add up to anything? So when we have so much to undo, even in ourselves, it is an uphill task, but it’s the only thing that is {?} effective, and it is effective.

Our time is about up. I’d like to remind you of the Chalcedon Guild dinner this Saturday, at Glendale, and if you do not have your registration in, please get it in as quickly as possible, and I have a few of the registration blanks here, I’ll just set them here, come and help yourself to them. It will be this Saturday at 6:30. And the reservations I think will close tomorrow or the next day, or very early in the week. There are some in the back and there are some here.

Then the {?} seminar on the 16th of October, our Christmas festival on December the 4th, Saturday in Glendale.

Then another announcement. Starting on Wednesday the 20th of October, Chalcedon will hold a twelve week seminar, on Wednesdays, on world history. It will meet from 7:30 to 9 pm, at 1216 Hill Dr. in Eagle Rock. And there will be a charge of a dollar per session, and I shall be teaching the classes. Those interested in more information can contact Dick Tutaris{?}. The purpose of this seminar will be to trace and to analyze the movement of world history. We could lose ourselves endlessly in the facts and details of world history, and it would take years to go into a detailed study, but what we shall try to do instead is to see the purpose, the meaning, the direction, of world history from a biblical perspective.

Let us…yes.

[Audience] {?}

[Dr. Rushdoony] Yes. It will be at 1216 Hill Dr. in Eagle Rock, at the home of the {?}. 7:30 to 9 pm.

What was that?

[Audience] {?}

[Dr. Rushdoony] 7:30 to 9pm.

Yes.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] Yes. You can see Dick {?} today and tell him that you will be there. We’d like to know how many are coming so we can plan on it and provide some material as well. So it will very important to let us know. This will start a week from Wednesday.

Let us bow our heads now for the benediction. And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, Amen.