must therefore have been in his spiritual image that man was created. In holiness, in happiness, in knowledge such as became his state,—in these things, man resembled his Maker.

Now it is very remarkable, that after the fall, we are expressly told that " Adam begat a son in his own likeness after his image,"1 that is, as unlike the original holy image of God as darkness is to light, or corruption to incorruption. For would we ascertain from the mouth of God himself, what man was then like, let us go a chapter or two further, and we shall find the Lord looking down upon his ruined creation, upon those things which his hand had made, and which he had once pronounced to be very good.

Now "God looked upon the earth, and behold it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth; 2 and God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."3 Can the Spirit of truth testify of our character in plainer or in stronger terms?

But lest those who resist even the Spirit when his words would convince them of sin, should

1 Gen. v. 3.

e Ibid. vi. 12.

3 Ibid. vi. 5.

object that this description is only applied to the wicked generation that was swept away by the flood, God has provided against this subterfuge.

The windows of heaven are stopped; the rain from heaven is restrained; the waters return from off the earth; and the ark rests upon the mountains of Ararat. Eight chosen persons, the remains of the once countless multitude, come forth from this hiding-place of the Lord's providing, and join together in a sacrifice of thanksgiving which rises up as a sweet-smelling savour before God. Let us pause a moment to see what we can collect from Scripture concerning the persons who knelt around the family altar. One of them is cited as a pattern of holiness throughout the Old and New Testament. We learn but little of his three sons: yet an act of filial piety is recorded of two of them which, together with the blessing of their inspired father, mark them, in our esteem, for holy men. Nothing is told us concerning their wives: yet we may not unfairly suppose, that out of this little female remnant there would be some who, like their husbands and father, walked with God. So that we have here eight persons, of whom we

1 Gen. viii. 20, 21.

know that three were good; and we know only of one who was wicked. Now it was upon this very occasion in which the sweet savour of this very sacrifice was ascending before God, that he said, "I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." What, still evil? Still does the Holy Ghost bear his testimony against man? Yet not one of all that rebellious generation remains. Mankind is reduced to an exceeding small compass. Never has the earth been so purified. Never since has it contained so select an assembly as that which we are now considering. Yet still-still the character of man is thus given by Him who cannot lie. "The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth: "the heart of the righteous Noah, no less than that of the ungodly Ham: for had there been an exception in so small a circle, the Judge of the whole earth would not have included them all in the same sweeping accusation. Moreover, he declares that the heart of man will be always evil: for that is the very reason he gives, why he will curse the ground no more for man's sake. He does not say,

6

I will not do it again, because they will im

1 Gen. viii. 21.

but,

prove their hearts will grow better; 'I will do so no more, because the heart of man is evil from his youth.' Not all the waters of the flood can wash out the guilty stain which Adam has entailed upon his children—not all the waters of the flood can cleanse the earth, so long as one of Adam's sin-defiled race shall remain upon its surface. And to this day, if we had no other witness to testify against us that our hearts are evil; yet have we an accusing monitor in the clouds, even the bow of the covenant which God has set there for a sign to us, that he will not in our days bring the waters to cover the earth; because the imaginations of the thoughts of our hearts are evil-only evil-evil continually-evil from our youth. The Hebrew word rendered imaginations is, as we learn from the marginal notes, much stronger than the interpretation conveys an idea of, since it signifies the whole intents, purposes, and desires of the heart.

Would we know the reason of this indelible pollution, which fallen man has transmitted to his latest descendants? let that given by scripture suffice-"Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one."1 But is not the new

1 Job xiv. 4.

born babe innocent? Yes, from the commission of actual sin, but not from the pollution of a nature altogether sinful; for who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? "Death pas

sed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”1 Why then is death so often commissioned to snatch away the babe in the first hour of its existence?-why, but because that babe is a sinful creature? Sin, that root of bitterness, has already shot its fibres into the inmost soul. That infant born of the flesh, is flesh" and

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as such cannot please God"-cannot bring forth any other than the accursed fruits of the flesh. As surely as the cockatrice' egg will hatch into a viper, so surely will the babe born of unclean parents, be itself unclean ;-so surely it will be "by nature a child of wrath, even as others." 4 And therefore it is as the Apostle tells us, that, "Death reigneth over all, even over all them that have not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression." 5 I entertain not a doubt that these little ones are redeemed by the blood of Jesus; but that they need redemption, that they are sinners, children of wrath by nature,—of this truth I am equally well assured, and every little mound in the

1 Rom. v. 12.
Ephes. ii. 3.

4

2 John iii. 6.

3 Rom. viii. S.

5 Rom. v. 14.