his own ruin. (2.) God may moft juftly 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 ftrawed. 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 punih in cafe of difobedience. (3) Behold here the infinite obligation we ly under, to Jefus Chrift the fecond Adam; who with his own precious blood has bought our efcheat, and freely makes offer of it again to us, Hof. xiii. 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 thofe, whom free-will fhook down into a gulf of mifery.

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USE II. This reacheth a reproof to three forts of perfons. (1.) To thefe, who hate religion in the power of it, where-ever it appears; and can take pleasure in nothing, but in the world and their lufts. Surely thofe men are far from righteouinefs; 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 athamed 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 cruíh them, that they ridicule piety, and make a mock of ferioufnefs. Against whom do ye Jport yourselves? Against whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? Ifa. Ivii. 4. Is it not againit God himself, whofe image, in fome measure repaired on fome of his creatures, makes them fools in your eyes? But be not mockers, left your bands be made ftrong, Ifa. 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 fhame.--There are others that fecretly approve of religion, and in religious company will profefs it; who at other times, to be neighbour-like are alhamed 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 unanfiwerable argument against religion and ferioufnefs; 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 fhall -be ashamed of me, and of my words, in this adulterous and finful generation; of him alfo fhall the Son of man be afhamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. (3.) it reproves the proud felf-conceited profeffor, who admires himself in a garment he hath patched together of rags. There are many, who, when once they have gathered fome fcrapes of knowledge of religion, and have at, tained to fome reformation of life, do fwell big with conceit of themfelves; a fad fign that the effects of the fall ly fo heavy upon them,

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that they have not as yet come to themselves, Luke xv. 17. They have eyes behind, to fee their attainments; but no eyes within, no eyes before, to fee their wants, which would furely 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 suffer them to be content with any measure of grace attained; bnt puts them on to prefs forward, forgetting the things that are behind, Philip. iii. 13, 14. But thofe men are fuch a spectacle of commiferation, as one would be, that had fet his palace on fire, and were glorifying in a cottage he had built for himself out of the rubbish, tho' fo very weak, that it could not ftand against a storm.

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USE III Of lamentation. Here was a stately building, man carved like a fair palace, but now lying in afhes : let us ftand and look ruins, and drop a tear. This is a lamentation, and fhall be for a lamentation. Could we chule but to weep, if we faw our country ruined, and turned by the enemy into a wildernofs? 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 heaven! Ah! may not we now fay, O that we were as in months past, when there were no ftains in our nature, no clouds on our minds, no pollution in our hearts. Had we never been in better cafe, the matter had been lefs: but they that were brought up in fcarlet, do now embrace dung-bills. 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 ? Righteoufnefs 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 waft thou, O man, who was like unto thee! No pain or ficknefs 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 thone upon thee, and earth smiled: thou wart 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 service, are now, fince the fall, fet in battle-array against him; and the least of them having commillion proves too hard for him. Waters overflow the old world, fire confumes Sodom; the ftars in their courfes fight against Sisera; frogs, flies, lice, &c turn executioners to Pharaoh and his Egyptians ; worms eat up Herod: yea, man needs a league with the beafts, yea, with the very ftones of the field, Job. v. 13. having reason 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 us then ly down in our fhame, and let our confusion cover us.

Nevertheless there is hope in Ifrael concerning this thing. Come then, O finner, look to Jefus Chrift the fecond Adam: quit the firft 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 intermiffion, till the Lord look down and behold from heaven, Lam. iii. 49, 50.

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STATE II.

NAMEL Y,

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The State of Nature, or of Entire Depravation.

HEAD Ꭰ 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.

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E have seen 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 state we were brought into by the fall: a state as black and doleful as the former was glorious; and this we commonly call The fate of nature, or Man's natural ftate, 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; 1ft, The finfulness; 2dly, The mifery of this ftate, in which all the unregenerate do live. I begin with the finfulness of man's natural state, whereof the text gives us a full, tho' fhort account: And God faw that the wickedness of man was great, &c.

The fcope and design of these words is, to clear God's justice, in bringing the flood on the old world. There are two particular caufes of it taken notice of in the preceeding verfes. (1.) Mixt marriages, ver. 2. The fons 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 respect 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;

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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 tho' that fin brought on the deluge, yet the deluge hath not fwept away that fin; which, as of old, fo in our day, may juftly 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 upan their heads, Exod. v. 17. (2.) Great opprellion, ver. 4. There was giants in the earth in the days, men of great ftature, great ftrength, and monftrous wickedness, filling the earth with violence, ver. 11. But neither their firength nor treafures of wickednef, 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 fwept away with the flood could not be guilty of thefe things, and fhall not the Fudge of all the earth do right? Therefore, in my text, there is a general indictment drawn up again them all, The wickedness of man was great in the earth, &c. And this is well inftructed, for God fuw it. Two things are laid to their charge here.

Firft, Corruption of life, wickednefs, great wickedness. I underftand this of the wickedness of their lives; for it is plainly diftinguifhed from the wickedness of their hearts. The fins of their outward converfation, were great in the nature of them, and greatly aggravated by their attending circumftances: and this not only among thofe of the race of curfed Cain, but thofe of holy Seth the wickedness of man was great. And then it is added, in the earth. (1.) To vindicate God's severity, in that he not only cut off finners, but defaced the beauty of the earth; and fwept off the brute creatures from it, by the deluge; that as men had fet the marks of their impiety, God might fet the marks of his indignation, on the earth. (2.) To fhew the heinoufhefs of their fin, in making the earth, which God had fo adorned for the ufe of man, a fink of fin, and a ftage whereon to act their wickednefs, in defiance of heaven. God faw this corruption of life, he not only knew it, and took notice of it, but he made them to know, that he did take notice of it; and that he had not forfaken the earth, tho' they had forfaken heaven.

Secondly, Corruption of nature. Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. All their wicked practices are here traced to the fountain and fpring-head;. a corrupt heart was the fource of all. The foul which was made upright in all its faculties, is now wholly difordered. The heart, that was made according to God's own heart, is now the reverse of it; a forge of evil imaginations, a fink of inordinate affections, and a ftorè-houfe of all impiety,

Mark

Mark vii. 21, 22. Behold the heart of the natural man, as it is opened in our text The mind is defiled; the thoughts of the heart are evil; the will and affections are defiled: the ima nation of the thoughts of the heart, (ie. whatfoever the heart frameth within itfelf by thinking, fuch as judgment, choice, purposes, devices, defires, every inward motion); or rather, the frame of thoughts of the heart (namely, the frame, make, or mould, of thefe, 1 Chron. xxix. 18.) is evil. Yea, and every imagination, every frame, of his thoughts, is fo. The heart is ever framing fomething; but never one right thing: the frame of thoughts, in the heart of man, is exceeding various yet are they never caft into a right frame: But is there not, at leaft, a misture of good in them? No, they are only evil, there is nothing in them truly good and acceptable to God: nor can any thing be so that comes out of that forge where not the Spirit of God, but the prince of the power of the air worketh, Eph. ii. 2. Whatever changes may be found in them, are only from evil to evil: for the imagination of the heart, or frame of thoughts in natural men, is evil continually, or every day From the first day, to the last day in this ftate, they are in midnight darkness; there is not a glimmering of the light of holinefs in them; not one holy thought can ever be produced by the unholy heart. O what a vile heart is this! O what a corrupt nature is this! the tree that always brings forth fruit, but never good fruit, whatever foil it be fet in, whatever pains be taken on it, muft naturally be an evil tree and what can that heart be, whereof every imagination, every fet of thoughts, is only evil, and that continually? Surely that corruption is ingrained in our hearts, interwoven with our very natures, has funk into the marrow of our fouls; and will never be cured, but by a miracle of grace. Now fuch is man's heart, fuch is his nature, till regenerating grace change it. God that fearcheth the heart saw man's heart was fo, he took special notice of it: and the faithful and true witness cannot mistake our case; tho' we are most apt to mistake ourselves in this point, and generally do overlook it.

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Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, faying, What is that to us? Let that generation, of whom the text fpeaks, fee to that. For the Lord has left the cafe of that generation on record, to be a looking glafs to all after-generations; wherein they may fee their own corruption of heart, and what their lives would be too, if he restrained them not; for as in water face anfwereth to face, fo the heart of man to man, Prov xxvii. 19. Adam's fall has framed all men's hearts alike in this matter. Hence the apoftle, Rom iii. 10. proves the corruption of the nature, hearts, and lives of all men, from what the Pfalmift fays of the wicked in his day, Pfal. xiv. 1, 2, 3: Pfal. v. 9. Pfal. cxl. 3 Pfal. x. 7. Pfal. xxxvi. 1. and from what Jeremiah faith of the wicked in his day, Jer. ix. 3. and from what Ifaiah fays of thofe that lived in his time, Ifa. Ivii. 7, 8. and concludes with that, ver. 19. Now we know, that what things foever the law faith, it faith to them that are under the law that every mouth may be stopped,

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and