If unconverted men had their own way entirely

(J. C. Ryle, "The Gospel of Luke" 1858)

"Now the guards in charge of Jesus began mocking
 and beating Him. They blindfolded Him; then they
 hit Him . . . . And they threw all sorts of terrible
 insults at Him."   Luke 22:63-65

See the shameful treatment that our Lord Jesus
underwent at the hands of His enemies.

Conduct like this shows the desperate corruption
of human nature. The excesses of savage malice
to which unconverted men will sometimes go, and
the fierce delight with which they will sometimes
trample on the most holy and the most pure, almost
justify the strong saying of an old divine, that "man
left to himself is half beast and half devil."

Unconverted men hate God and all who bear
anything of God's image about them.

We have probably a very faint idea of what the
world would become, if it were not for the constant
restraint that God mercifully puts upon evil. It is
not too much to say that if unconverted men had
their own way entirely, the earth would soon be
little better than a hell.