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USE I. For information. This thews us, (1.) That not God, but man himself was the cause of his ruin. God made him upright: his Creator fet him up, but he threw himself down. Was the Lord's directing and inclining him to good the reason of his woful choice? Or did heaven deal so sparingly with him, that his preffing wants fent him to hell to feek fupply? Nay, man was, and is, the caufe of his own ruin. (2.) God may most justly require of men perfect obedience to his law, and condemn them for their not obeying it perfectly, tho' now they have no ability to keep it. In fo doing, he gathers, but where he has frawed. He gave man ability to keep the whole law; man has loft it by his own fault: but his fin could never take away that right which God hath to exact perfect obedience of his creature, and to punish in cafe of disobedience. (3) Behold here the infinite obligation we ly under, to Jefus Chrift the second Adam; who with his own precious blood has bought our ef cheat, and freely makes offer of it again to us, Hof xii. 9. and that with the advantage of everlafting fecurity, that it can never be altogether loft any more, John x. 28, 29. Free grace will fix those, whom free-will fhook down into a gulf of mifery,

USE II. This reacheth a reproof to three forts of perfons. (1) To thefe, who hate religion in the power of it, whereever it appears; and can take pleasure in nothing, but in the world and their lufts Surely thofe men are far from righteousness; they are haters of God Rom. i. 30. for they are haters of his image. Upright Adam in Paradife, would have been a great eye-fore to all fuch perfons; as he was to the ferpent, whose feed they prove themselves to be, by their malignity. (2) It reproves thofe who put religion to fhame, and those who are ashamed of religion, before a graceless world.

There is a generation who make fo bold with the God that made them, and can in a moment crufh them, that they ridicule piety, and make a mock of serioufnefs. Against whom do ye fport yourselves? Against whom

make

eye a wide mouth and draw out the tongue? Ifa Ivii. 4. Is it not against God himself, whose image, in fome measure repaired on fome of his creatures, makes them fools in your eyes? But be ye not mockers, left your bands be made B

Arong,

Strong, Ha, xxviii. 22. Holiness was the glory God put on man, when he made him but now fons of men turn that glory into fhame, because they themselves glory in their shame There are others that fecretly approve of religion, and in religious company will profefs it; who at other times, to be neighbour like are ashamed to own it; fo weak are they, that they are blown over with the wind of the wicked's mouth. A broad laughter, an impious jeft, a filly gibe out of a prophane mouth, is to many an unanswerable argument against religion and seriousness; for in the caufe of religion, they are as filly doves without heart. O that fuch would confider that weighty word! Mark viii. 38. Whosoever therefore shall be afhamed of me, and of my words, in this adulterous and finful generation; of bim alfo fhall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. (3.) It reproves the proud felf conceited profeffor, who admires bimfelf in a garment he hath patched together of rags. There are many, who, when once they have gathered fame ferapes of knowledge of religion, and have attained to fome reformation of life, do fwell big with conceit of themselves ; a fad fign that the effects of the fall ly fo heavy upon them, that they have not as yet come to themselves, Luke xv. 17. They have eyes behind, to see their attainments ; but no eyes within, no eyes before, to see their wants, which would surely humble them for true knowledge makes men to fee, both what once they were, and what they are at prefent; and fo is humbling, and will not fuffer them to be content with any measure of grace attained; but puts them on to press forward, forgetting the things that are behind, Phil. ii. 13, 14. But thofe men are fuch a fpectacle of commiferation, as one would be, that had set his palace on fire, and were glorifying in cottage he had built for himself out of the rubbish, tho' fo very weak, that it could not fard against a storm. USE III. Of lamentation. Here was a fately building man carved like a fair palace, but now lying in afhes: let us ftand and look on the ruins, and drop a tear. This is a lamentation, and thall be for a lamentation. Could we chule but to weep, if we faw our country ruined, and turned by the enemy into a wilderness? If we faw our houses on fire, and our houtholds perishing in the flames? But all -this comes far fhort of the difmal fight, man fallen as a star

from

Had we

from heaven, Ah! may we not now say, O that we were as in months paft, when there were no ftains in our nature, no clouds on our minds, no pollution in our hearts. never been in better case, the matter had been less: but they that were brought up in scarlet, do now embrace dungbills. Where is our primitive glory now! Once no darkness in the mind, no rebellion in the will, no diforder in the affections. But ah! How is the faithful city become an harlot? Righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. Our filver is become drofs, our wine mixed with water. That heart which was once the temple of God, is now turned into a den of thieves. Let our name be Ichabod, for the glory is departed, Happy wast thou, O man, who was like unto thee! No pain or fickness could affect thee, no death could approach thee, no figh was heard from thee, till these bitter fruits were plucked off the forbidden tree. Heaven shone upon thee, and earth smiled: thou waft the companion of angels, and the envy of devils. But how low is he now laid, who was created for dominion, and made lord of the world! The crown is fallen from our head: wo unto us that we have finned. The creatures that waited to do him fervice, are now fince the fall, fet in battle array against him; and the least of them having commiffion proves too hard for him. Waters overflow the old world, fire confumes Sodom; the ftars in their courfes fight against Sifera; frogs, flies, lice, &c. turn executioners to Pharaoh and his Egyptians; worms cat up Herad: yea, man needs a league with the beafts, yea with the very flones of the field, Job v. 13. having reafon to fear, that every one that findeth him will flay him. Alas! how are we fallen? How are we plunged into a gulf of mifery! The fun has come down on us, death has come in at our windows; our enemies have put out our two eyes, and fport themselves with our miseries. Let ns then ly down in our shame, and let our confufion cover us, vertheless there is hope in Ifrael concerning this thing. Come then, O finner, look to Jefus Chrift the fecond A dam: quit the first Adam and his covenant: come over to the Mediator and Surety of the new and better covenant: and let our hearts fay, Be thou our ruler, and let this breach be under thy hand. And let your eye trickle down, and ceafe not without any intermiffim, till the Lord look un and behold from heaven, Lam, iii. 49, 50.

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STATE

NAMELY,

The STATE of NATURE, or of ENTIRE DEPRAVATION.

HEAD I

The SINFULNESS of Man's Natural State.

GENESIS VI. 5.

And God faw that the wickedness of Man was great in the Earth, and that every Imagination of the Thoughts of his Heart was only Evil continually.

*

W

E have feen what man was, as God made him a lovely and happy creature: let us view him now as he hath unmade himself: and we fhall fee him a finful and miferable creature, This is the fad ftate we were brought into by the fall; a ftate as black and doleful as the former was glorious; and this we commonly call The fate of nature, man's natural flate, according to that of the apostle, Eph. ii. 2. And were by nature the children of wrath even as others. And herein two things are to be confidered; ft, The finfulness; 2dly, The mifery of this ftate, in which all the unregenerate do live. I begin with the finfulness of man's natural flate, whereof the text gives us a full, tho' fhort account; And God few that the wickedness of man was great, &c.

The fcope and defign of thefe words is, to clear God's juftice, in bringing the flood on the old world. There are

two

two particular causes of it taken notice of in the preceding verfes. (1.) Mixt marriages, ver. 2. The fans of God, the pofterity of Seth and Enos, profeffors of the true religion. married with the daughters of men, the profane, curfed race of Cain. They did not carry the matter before the Lord that he might chufe for them, Pfal. xlviii. 14. But without any refpect to the will of God, they chofe; not according to the rules of their faith, but of their fancy: they faw that they were fair; and their marriage with them, occafioned their divorce from God. This was one of the caufes of the deluge, which fwept away the old world. Would to God all profeffors in our day, could plead not guilty: but the' that fin brought on the deluge, yet the deluge hath not fwept away that fin; which, as of old, fo in cur day, may jufly be looked upon, as one of the caufes of the decay of religion. It was an ordinary thing among the Pagans, to change their gods, as they changed their condition into a married lot: and many fad inftances the Chriftian world affords of the fame, as if people were of Pharaoh's opinion, That religion is only for thofe that have no other care upon their heads, Exod v. 17. (2. Great oppreffion, ver. 4. There was giants in the earth in those days, men of great ftature, great frength and monfirous wickedness, filling the earth with violence, ver. 1I. But neither their strength nor treasures of wickednefs, could profit them in the day of wrath. Yet the gain of oppreffion fill carries many over the terror of this dreadful example Thus much for the connexion, and what particular crimes that generation was guilty of. But every perfon that was swept away with the flood, could not be guilty of thefe things; and fall not the judge of all the earth do right? Therefore in my text, there is a general indictment drawn up against them all, The wick edness of man was great in the earth, &c. And this is well inftructed, for God faw it. Two things are laid to theie charge here.

Firft, Corruption of life, wickedness, great wickednefs. I understand this of the wickedness of their lives: for it is plainly diftinguished from the wickedness of their hearts. The fins of their outward conversation, were great in the bature of them, and greatly aggravated by their attending fircumftances: and this not only among thefe of the race

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