in the Flesh, condemned for Sin, might fom, admits another's Satisfaction in their Name: And in the Naine of that Cautioner and Redeemer is Salvation preached upon better Terms, Believe and thou accomplish, Rom. viii. 3. There is fome Comfort yet after this; That Covenant was not laft, and that Sentence was not irrevocable; He makes a new Transacti-fbalt be faved, Rom. x. Thou loft and ur on, lays the Iniquity of his Elect upon Chrift, and puts the Curfe upon his Shoulders which was due to them; Juftice cannot admit the Abrogation of the Law, but Mercy pleads for a Temperament of it; and thus the Lord difpenfes with perfonal Satisfaction, which in Rigour he might have craved; and finds out a Ran-fhalt be saved. done Sinner, whoever thou art, that findest thy felf guilty before God, and that thou canst not ftand in Judgment by the former Covenant; thou who haft no perfonal Righteoufnefs, and trufts in none, come here, embrace the Righteoufnefs of thy Cautioner, receive him, and reft on him, and thou Eccl. vii. 29. Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made Man upright; but they have fought out many Inventions. Trial, that this alfo was Vanity and Vexation of Spirit, not only empty and unprofitable, and not conducing to that true Bleffednefs he fought after; but, hurtful and deftructive, nothing but Grief and Sorrow in it. After he had proved all, with a Resolution to be wife, yet it was far from him, I said, I will be wife, but it was far from me, Ver. 23. And therefore, after long wandring abroad, he returns at length home to himself, to know the Eftate of Mankind, Lo, this only have I found, &c. Ver. 29. When I have fearched all other Things, and found many Things by Search, yet (fays THE one half of true Religion confifts in the Knowledge of our felves, the other half in the Knowledge of God; and whatever befides this, Men ftudy to know and apply their Hearts unto, it's vain and impertinent, and like meddling in other Mens Matters, negle&ing our own, if we do not give our Minds to the Search of thefe. All of us muft needs grant this in the general, that it is an idle and unprofitable Wandring abroad, to be carried forth to the Knowledge and Ufe of other Things, and in the mean Time to be Strangers to our felves, with whom we should be most acquainted. If any Man was diligent and earnest in the En-he) What doth it all concern me, when quiry and Ufe of the Things in the World, Solomon was; he applied his Heart to feek out Wisdom, and what Satisfaction was in the Knowledge of all Things natural, and in this he attained a great Degree beyond all other Men; yet he pronounces of it all, after Experience and I am ignorant of my felf? There is one Thing concerns me more than all, to know the Original of Man, what he once was made, and to know how far he is departed from his Original. This only I have found profitable to Men, and as the Entry and Preparation to that Bleffednefs I enquire enquire for, to have the true Difcovery | our Lofs, and lamenting our Mifery, and of our Mifery. longing for the Recovery of that Blessednefs, than that we went out with the exact Memory of all that is spoken, and could There are two Things then concerning Man that you have to fearch and to know, and that not in a trifling or curi-repeat it again. ous Manner, as if you had no other End in it but to know it, as Men do in other Things, but in a ferious and earnest Way, as in a Matter of fo much Concernment to our eternal Well-being. In Things that relate particularly to our felves, we labour to know them for fome Advantage, befides the knowing of them, even though they be but mall and lower Things; how much more fhould we propose this unto our felves in the Search and Examination of our own Eftate, not meerly to know such a Thing, but to know it that we may be ftirred up and provoked in the Senfe of it to look after the Remedy that God holds forth. There are two Things that you have to know; What Man once was made, and how he is now unmade; how happy once, and how miferable now. And anfwerable to these two, are Branches of the Text, God made Man upright, that he was once; and they bave fought out many Inventions, not being contented with that Bleffednefs they were created into, by catching at a higher Eftate of Wisdom, have fallen down into a Gulf of Mifery, as the Man that gazed on the Stars above him, and did not take Notice of the Pit under his Feet till he fell into it; and thus Man is now. So you have a short Account of the two Eftates of Men, of the Eftate of Grace and Righteoufnefs without Sin, and the Eftate of Sin and Mifery without Grace: You have the true Story of Man from the Creation unto his prefent Condition: But all the Matter is, to have the Lively Senfe of this upon our Hearts. I had rather that we went home bewailing God made Man upright: At his first moulding the Lord fhewed excellent Art, and Wisdom, and Goodnefs too; Man did come forth from under his Hand in the firft Edition very glorious, to fhew what he could do; upright, that is, all right and very exactly conformed to the noble and high Pattern, endued with Divine Wisdom fuch as might direct him to true Happinefs, and furnished with a Divine Willingnefs to follow that Direction; the Command was not above his Head as a Rod, but within his Heart as a natural Instinct; all that was within him was comely and and beautiful; For that glorious Light that fhined upon him, having Life and Love with it, produced a fweet Harmony in the Soul; he knew his Duty, and loved it, and was able to perform it. O! How much is in this one Word, Upright? Not only Sincerity and Integrity in the Soul, but Perfection of all the Degrees and Parts; no Part of Holiness wanting, and no Measure of thefe Parts; no Mixture. of Darkness or Ignorance, no Mixture of Indifpofition or Unwillingness; Godliness was fweet and not laborious; the Love of God, poffeffing the Heart, did conform all within and without to the Will of God, and O how beautiful was that Conformity! And that Love of God, the Foun tain-being, did fend forth as a Stream, Love and Good-will to all Things, as they did partake of God's Image; and fo Holiness towards God did beget Righteoufenefs towards Men, and made Men to partake of one anothers Happiness. This is a Survey of him in his Integrity as God made him, but there follows a fad but but, a fad and woful Exception: But, they have fought many Inventions. We - cannot look upon that glorious Eftate whereunto Man was made, but straightway we must turn our Eyes upon that Mifery into which he hath plunged himself, and be the more affected with it,that it was once otherwife. It is Mifery in a high Degree to have been once happy; this moft of all aggreges our Mifery, and may encreafe the Senfe of it, that fuch Man once was, and fuch we might have been, if we had not destroyed our felves. Who can look upon thefe Ruins, and refrain Mourning? It's faid, that those who faw the Glory of the firft Temple, wept when they beheld the fecond, because it was not answerable to it in Magnificence and Glory: So, I fay, it might occafion much Sadness and Grief, even to the Children of God, in whom that Image is in part repaired, and that by a fecond Creation, to think how much more happy and bleffed Man once was, who had Grace and Holinefs with out Sin. But certainly, it should and muft be at firft, before this Image be reftored, the bitter Lamentation of a Soul, to look upon it felf wholly ruinous and defaced, in the view of that glorious ftately Fabrick which once was made: How lamentable a Sight is it to behold the first Temple demolished, or the first Creation defaced, and the fecònd not yet begun in many Souls, the Foundation-ftone not yet laid. It was a fad and doleful Invention which Satan inspired at firft into Man's Heart, to go about to find out another Happiness, to feek how to be wife as God, an Invention that did proceed from Hell, how to know Evil experimentally and practically by doing it; that Invention hath invented and found out all the Sin and Mifery under which the World groans. It is a poor Invention to devife Mifery and Torment to the Creature; this was the Height of Folly and Madness, for a happy Creature to invent how to make it felf miferable and all others. Indeed, he intended another Thing, to be more happy; but Pride and Ambition got a deferved Fall, the Result of all is Sin and Misery." And now from the first devilish Invention, the Heart of Man is poffeffed with a Multitude of vain Imaginations. Man is now become vain in his Imaginations, and his foolish Heart is darkned; that Divine Wisdom he was endued withal is eclipfed, for it was a Ray of God's Countenance, and now he is left wholly in the dark without a Guide, without a Director or Leader; he is turned out of the Path of Holiness, and fo of Happiness; a Night of grofs Darkness and Blindness is come on, and the Way is full of Pits and Snares, and the End of it is at beft eternal Mifery; and there is no Lamp, no Light to fhine in it, to fhew him either the Mifery that he is posting unto, or the Happiness that he is fleeing from : There is nothing within him fufficient to direct his Way to Blessedness, and nothing willing nor able to follow fuch a Direction. And thus Man is left to the Invention and Counsel of his own despe rately wicked and deceitful Heart; and that is above all Plagues to be given up to a reprobate Mind. He is now left to fuch a Tutor and Guider, and it is full of Inventions indeed. But they are all in vain, that is, all of them infufficient for this great Purpose; all of them cannot make one Hair that is black, white, much lefs redeem the Soul; but befides, they are deftructive; they pretend to deliver, but they destroy; a defperate wicked Heart imagineth evil continually, evil againft God, and evil to our own Souls; and a deceitful Heart fmooths over the Evil, and and prefents it under another Notion, and fo, under Pretence of a Friend, 'tis the greateft Enemy a Man hath, a Bofom Enemy. All Mens Inventions, Thoughts, Cogitations, Projects and Endeavours, what do they tend to, but to the Satisfaction of their Lufts; either the Lufts of the Mind, as Ambition, Pride, Avarice, Paffion, Revenge, and fuch like; or the Luft of the Body, as Pleafure to the Ears and Eyes, and to the Flesh. Man was made with an upright Soul, with a Dominion over that brutish Part, more like Angels; but now, all his Invention runs up-defperate Difeafes. The Counsel of the on that base and beastly Part, how to a dora it, how to beautify it, how to fatif fy it, and for this his Soul must be a Drudge and Slave: And if Men rife up to any Thoughts of a higher Life, yet what is it for, but to magnify and exalt the Flesh, to feek an Excellency within, which is loft, and fo to fatisfy the Pride and Self-love of the Heart. If any Man comes this Length, as to apprehend fome Misery, yet how vain are his Inventions about the Remedy of it; not knowing how defperate the Disease is, Men feek help in themfelyes, and think by Induftry, and Care, and Art, to raise them up in fome Mear fure, and please God by fome Expiations or Sacrifices of their own Works. Now, this tends to no other Purpose, but to fatisfy the Lufts of Man's Pride, and fo it increases that which was Man's firft Malady, and keeps them from the true Phyfician. In a Word, all Man's Inventions are to haften Mifery on him, or to blindfold himself till it come on; all his Invention cannot reach a Delivery from this Mifery. Let us therefore confider this which Solomon hath found out, and if we carefully confider it, and accurately ponder it in Relation to our own Souls, then have we alfo found it with him. Confider, I Pay, what Man once was, and what you Holy Trinity that met about (if I may fo the the Lord, to continue in Sin and escape | Love of God, and purchafing his Favour Wrath? Why do ye delude your Souls by your Works? These are some of those with a Dream of having Intereft in the many Inventions Man hath sought out. Rom v. 12. Wherefore as by one Man Sin entered into the World, and Death by Sin: And fo Death paffed upon all Men, for that all bave finned. THIS HIS is a fad Subject to speak upon, yet it is not more fad than ufeful: Though it be unpleasant to hold out a Glafs to Men, to fee their own vile Faces into, yet is it profitable, yea, and fo neceffary, that till once a Soul apprehend its broken and defolate Condition in the firft Adam, it can never heartily imbrace and come to the fecond Adam. You have here the woful and dreadful Effects and Confequents of the firft Tranfgreffion upon all Mankind; the Effect is twofold, Sin and Mifery, or Sin and Death; the Subject is univerfal in both, all Men, the whole World. Behold what a Flood of Calamity hath entred at a small Cranny. By one Man's Tranfgreffion? May it not be faid of Sin in general, which the wife Man fpeaks of Strife; the Beginning of Sin is as when one lets out Water, therefore it had been good leaving it off before it had been meddled with, it entred at a fmall Hole, but it hath overflowed a whole World fince. That which firft occurrs, is, That all Mankind proceeding from Adam by ordinary Birth are involved in Sin by dam's Tranfgreffion. But that may feem a hard faying, that Sin and Death fhould flow unto the whole Pofterity who had no Acceffion to Adam's Tranfgreffion It would feem, that every Man fhould : f die for his own Iniquity,and that it should reach no further in Juftice. But confider, I pray you, the Relation that Adam flood into, and in which he is here holden out as a Figure of Chrift. Adam the firft Man was a common Perfon reprefenting all Mankind, in whose Happinefs or Mifery all should share; God contracts with him on these Terms, that his Pofterity's Eftate fhould depend on his Behaviour. Now if all Mankind would have reaped the Benefit and Advantage of Adam's Perfeverance, if fuch an undeferved Reward of eternal Life would have redounded by the free Promife unto them all, what Iniquity is it that they also be Sharers in his Mifery? Our Stock and Treasure was ventured in this Veffel, and if we were to partake of its Gain, why not of its Lofs? You fee among Men, Children have one common Lot with their Parents; if the Father be forfeited, the Heirs fuffer in it, and are caft out of the Inheritance: It might appear a furer Way to have the Fortunes of all (fo to fpeak) depend upon one, and their Happiness affured unto them upon the ftanding of one, than to have every one left unto himself, and his own Wellbeing depending upon his own ftanding; as it is more likely one, and that the firft. one, fhall not fin, than many, and especially |