"of man's heart is evil from his youth." We may take the pfalmift David's teftimony of himself, as a fample of the reft of mankind; and indeed he plainly intimates, that it is a common calamity. "Who can underftand his "errors? Cleanfe thou me from fecret faults. Behold! "I was shapen in iniquity, and in fin did my mother con"ceive me."

แ

We may take also the teftimony of the apostle Paul, in his epiftle to the Romans, which is the more full to our prefent purpose, that as he had never been at Rome, he is there laying the foundation of religion in general, and the Chriftian dispensation in particular, by a clear and explicit proof of the need the world had of a Saviour, from its univerfal corruption and depravity. See then what he fays" What then? Are we better than they? "No, in no wife, for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under fin. As it is written, "there is none righteous, no not one." And again"Now we know that what things foever the law faith, it "faith to them who are under the law, that every mouth "may be flopped, and all the world may become guilty "before God-For all have finned and come fhort of the "glory of God."

You may also see that the apoftle traces this diforder to its very fource" Wherefore as by one man fin entered "into the world, and death by fin: and fo death paffed "upon all men, for that all have finned."

I fhall add but one exprefs fcripture teftimony more."And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trefpaffes " and fins."

But befides the particular paffages of fcripture, pofitively declaring this truth, the whole frame and contexture of the fcriptures, and all the difpenfations of Divine Providence recorded in them, are a proof of the fame thing. Man is every where confidered as in a fallen and finful ftate. Every thing that is prefcribed to him, and every thing that is done for him, goes upon that fuppofition. It is not one man, or a few men, that are in fcripture called to repentance, but all without exception. Now repentance is only the duty of a finner. An innocent

perfon cannot repent; he has nothing to grieve for in his heart, or to forfake in his life. It is alfo proper to obferve, that one of the fcripture characters of God is, Merciful and gracious, slow to anger, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin. Now, he could not be to us a forgiving God, and there would be no need that he fhould be revealed under that character, unless we were finners, that flood in need of pardon. Mercy, indeed, is the diflinguishing attribute of God, and this can only have respect to offenders. All the other perfections of God, might be exercised towards pure and holy creatures; but mercy, only towards finners. He might be a good, holy, just, wife, powerful God, to perfons in a ftate of innocence, but he can fhew mercy only to the guilty.

Do not the difpenfations of God's providence fhew the fame thing? He fent the flood, as a teftimony of the wickedness of the world, and for the punishment of a guilty race. Remember alfo the facrifices, which were appointed, and accepted by God, from the beginning of the world. Sacrifices are for atonement, and expiation. They are plainly a fubftitution in the room of a forfeited life. It is doing violence to common fenfe, to make them any thing elfe. The whole Jewish economy, which had in it fo many facrifices, fo many offerings, fo many wafhings and purifications, does plainly fuppofe, the perfon ufing them to be infected with fin, or moral pollution. Had not this been the cafe, they had been extremely abfurd and improper.

But the frongeft teftimony of all, that God hath given to the guilt and corruption of mankind, is his fending his own Son into the world, to redeem them, by the facrifice of himfelf-To what purpose redeem them, if they were not in bondage? Why fo coltly an expiation, if our lives had not been forfeited to divine juftice? But that it was for this purpofe, that Chrift came into the world, is fo plain, from the whole of the fcriptures, that I shall felect but one paffage out of many, to prove it-" Whom God "hath fet forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his "blood, to declare his righteoufnefs, for the remiffion of "fins that are paft, through the forbearance of God."

VOL. II.

X

.

、

What is faid already on this head, is a full proof from fcripture, that man is now, by nature, in a state of fin; that he is alfo, in confequence of that, in a state of mifery, and liable to the wrath of God, is proved by many of the fame paffages, and by many others- For the wrath of "God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness, "and unrighteoufnefs of men, who hold the truth in un" righteousness-For the wages of fin is death," &c. But I need not multiply paffages to this purpofe; for in all God's difpenfations, the deferved punishment of finners is as evident as their finfulness itfelf. It is indeed fully proved, from the effential perfections of God, particularly his holiness and juftice. He is of purer eyes than that he can behold iniquity. Evil cannot dwell with him, nor fools, that is, finners, stand in his sight.

Is not all this then my brethren, a fufficient proof, from the teftimony of God, that man in a natural ftate, is finful and miferable? fhall we affirm ourselves to be whole, if he faith we are unfound? Do we know more than God? Will we not give credit to the fountain of truth? Nor is it any objection to this, that we ourselves know it not, or are but little fenfible of it. One confiderable part of the dif eafe, is blindnefs of understanding: fo that we may, and muft, till our eyes are opened, be ignorant of our danger -We may think and fay, that we are rich, and increased in goods, and have need of nothing, while we are wretched and miserable, and blind and naked.

2. The fame thing appears from the vifible ftate of the world, and our own experience. Unbelievers are apt to hear with indifference and neglect, what they are told from fcripture teftimony, unless otherwife confirmed to them; and it is with the unbeliever we have now to do. Befides, the establishment of this truth, upon other evidence than that of fcripture, ought to have a powerful influence, in inducing men to believe the other truths in fcripture, that are connected with and founded upon it. I think it therefore, highly proper, to lay before you what evidence we have of our loft flate, from the obfervation of the world, though the fcriptures had been filent. I would likewife recommend to all, what fhall be faid on this fub

ject, to preserve your faith unfhaken, and keep you from blafphemous, unbelieving thoughts, if at any time you fhould be tempted to them: fince even unenlightened reafon confirms the foundation of divine truth, and nature, and providence confpire in preaching the doctrine of divine grace.

Now, doth not our experience, as well as the obfervation of others, fhew us, that we are born in fin, and conceived in iniquity? May we not fay from our own knowledge, that the imaginations of the heart of man, are only evil from his youth, and that continually? Is there not a pronenefs, and tendency to evil, univerfally to be observed in mankind? and a backwardnefs and averfion to that which is good? Is not this apparent even in children, upon the first dawn of reafon in their minds, and the first fight of choice or inclination in their hearts? Surely it must be owned, that in that early period, they are at least comparatively innocent-If any among us, is without fin, it muft be the youngeft; yet folly is bound in the heart of a child. How hard is it to guard them from evil, and to infpire them with good difpofitions, even by the wifeft and earliest care, in their inftruction? and even after the most fuccessful pains, are there not ftill many remaining blemishes, through the prevalence of corrupt nature, which fhew, that the ground-work itself, was faulty? But on the contrary, how eafily do men learn that which is evil? Do they need to be taught? Is it not enough to give them licence? How juft is that description in Jeremiah? They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. I am far from denying, that men are improved and forwarded in fin, by inftruction and example, as well as in that which is good: but it is plain, they are far apter scholars, in the first, than in the laft; which plainly fhews they are more powerfully difpofed to it by nature. Nay, is it not evident, from the univerfal experience and teftimony of thofe, who act from a principle of Religion; that it is extremely difficult, with all the care they can take, to refift the propenfity of nature to the contrary? And that in the beft, it often gets the fuperiority, when they are off their guard? Is not this an evidence of the depravity and cor

ruption of human nature, and its tendency to evil? Are thofe who hate fin, often overcome by it, and fhall thofe who love it, prefume to fay, they are free from it?

If any fhould afk, how I prove that that courfe of action to which human nature is inclined is evil, without the af fiftance of fcripture? I anfwer, from reason; and that many ways-from its pernicious effects on focieties, and private perfons; from the teftimony of the world in general, when others than themselves are concerned, and from the teftimony of every man's confcience in his own cafe. Who is there, that does not often feel in himself, a powerful tendency to what he cannot but in his heart condemn? Is not his confcience God's vicegerent? and doth not natural religion, as well as the religion of Chrift, declare him corrupt? So that I may fay with the Apoftle Paul, not citing the paflage as a proof, but as an illuftration and defcription of the character, and ftate of natural men, "For when the Gentiles which have not the law, do "by nature the things contained in the law; thefe having "not the law, are a law unto themselves, which fhew the "work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience "alfo bearing witnefs, and their thoughts, the mean while, "accufing or elle excufing one another."

Thus there is as much light remaining with us fince the fall, as to fhew, that we are out of the way, but not to bring us back to it again.

As a ferious confideration of the ftate of the wicked may fhew us our natural impurity, fo it bath been long ago difcovered, and confeffed by many of the ancient heathens, who never heard of the name of Chrift, nor knew of the remedy. Thefe, difcerning by nature, the perfectly pure and holy nature of God, and comparing it with the difpofitions prevalent in man, could not reconcile them together; but concluded, that a creature fo corrupt, could not come. in that condition out of the hands of its Creator. This difficulty fome of them endeavored to folve by a flate of pre-existence; which bears fome refemblance to the true folution, given of it in the holy fcripture: viz. the apoftacy of our first parents; which entailed a corrupted nature upon their poflerity, in which the light of nature and revealed truth, feem almoft wholly to coincide.