HUMAN NATURE IN ITS FOURFOLD STATE. STATE I. THE STATE OF INNOCENCE, OR PRIMITIVE INTEGRITY, IN WHICH MAN WAS CREATED. ECCLESIASTES Vii. 29. "Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions." THERE are four things very necessary to be known by all that would see heaven. First, What man was in the state of innocence, as God made him. Secondly, What he is in the state of corrupt nature, as he hath unmade himself. Thirdly, What he must be in a state of grace, as created in Christ Jesus unto good works, if ever he be made a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light. And, Lastly, What he shall be in his eternal state, as made by the Judge of all, either perfectly happy, or completely miserable, and that for ever. These are weighty points, that touch the vitals of practical god liness, from which most men, and even many professors, in these dregs of time, are quite estranged. I design, therefore, under the divine conduct, to open up these things, and apply them. I begin with "the state of innocence:" that, beholding man polished after the similitude of a palace, the ruins may the more affect us; we may the more prize that matchless Person, whom the Father has appointed the repairer of the breach ; and that we may, with fixed resolves, betake ourselves to that way which leadeth to the city that hath immoveable foundations." In the text we have three things: 1. The state of innocence wherein man was created: "God hath made man upright." By man here we are to understand our first parents: the archetypal pair; the fountain from whence all generations have streamed. "In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam." The original word is the same as in our text. In this sense man was made right, (agreeable to the nature of God, whose work is perfect,) without any imperfection, corruption, or principle of corruption in his body or soul. He was made upright, that is, straight with the will and law of God, without any irregularity in his soul. By the set it got in its creation, it directly pointed towards God as its chief end; which straight inclination was represented, as in an emblem, by the erect figure of his body, a figure that no other living creature partakes of. What David was in a gospel sense, that was he in a legal sense: one according to God's own heart, altogether righteous, pure, and holy. God made him thus: he did not first make him, and then make bim righteous; but in the very making of him, he made him righteous. Original righteousness was concreated with him; so that in the same moment he was a man, he was a righteous man, morally good; with the same breath that God breathed in him a living soul, he breathed in him a righteous soul. 2. Here is man's fallen state: "but they have sought out many inventions." They fell off from their rest in God, and fell upon seeking inventions of their own, to mend their case; and they quite marred it. Their ruin was from their own proper motion; they would not abide as God had made them; but they sought out inventions to deform and undo themselves. men. 3. Observe here the certainty and importance of these things: "Lo, this only have I found," &c. Believe them, they are the result of a narrow search, and a serious inquiry, performed by the wisest of In the two preceding verses, Solomon represents himself as in quest of goodness in the world: but the issue of it was, he could find none; though it was not for want of pains; for he counted one by one to find out the account. "Behold, this have I found, that yet my soul seeketh, but I find not.” He could make no satisfying discovery of it, which might stay his inquiry. He found good men very rare, one, as it were, among a thousand; good women more rare, not one good among his thousand wives and concubines. But could that satisfy the grand query, "Where shall wisdom be found?" No, it could not. But, amidst all this uncertainty, |