It reproves the proud self-conceited professor, who admires himself in a garment he hath patched together of rags. They have eyes behind, to see their attainments; but no eyes within, no eyes before, to see their wants, which would surely humble them: But those men are such a spectacle of commiseration, as one would be, that had set his palace on fire, and were glorifying in a cottage he had built for himself out of the rubbish, tho' so very weak, that it could not stand against a storm.
Here was a stately building, man carved like a fair palace, but now lying in ashes: This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation. Could we chuse but to weep, if we saw our country ruined, and turned by the enemy into a wilderness? If we saw our houses on fire, and our housholds perishing in the flames? But all this comes far short of the dismal sight, man fallen as a star from heaven! Had we never been in better case, the matter had been less: Where is our primitive glory now! Once no darkness in the mind, no rebellion in the will, no disorder in the affections. How is the faithful city become an harlot?
Righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. Our silver is become dross, 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 tho O man, who was like unto thee! No pain or sickness could affect thee, no death could approach thee, no sigh was heard from thee, till these bitter fruits were plucked off the forbidden tree. Heaven shone upon thee, and earth smiled: 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: The creatures that waited to do him service, are now, since the fall, set in battle-array against him; and the least of them having commission proves too hard for him. How are we plunged into a gulf of misery! The sun has come down on us, death has come in at our windows; our enemies have put out our two eyes, and sport themselves with our miseries. WE have seen what man was, as God made him, a lovely and happy creature: This is the sad state we were brought into by the fall: And herein two things are to be considered; 1 st, The sinfulness; 2 dly, The misery of this state, in which all the unregene rate do live.
The scope and design of these words is, to clear God's justice, in bringing the flood on the old world. There are two particular causes of it taken notice of in the preceeding verses. The sons of God, the posterity of Seth and Enos, professors of the true religion, married with the daughters of men, the profane, cursed race of Cain. They did not carry the matter before the Lord, that he might chuse for them, Psal.
But without any respect to the will of God, they chose; not according to the rules of their faith, but of their fancy: This was one of the causes of the deluge, which swept away the old world. Would to God all professors in our day, could plead not guilty: It was an ordinary thing among the Pagans, to change their gods, as they changed their condition into a married lot: There was giants in the earth in those days, men of great stature, great strength, and monstrous wickedness, filling the earth with violence, ver.
But neither their strength nor treasures of wickedness, could profit them in the day of wrath. Yet the gain of oppression still 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 person that was swept away with the flood could not be guilty of these things, and shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
And this is well instructed, for God saw it. Two things are laid to their charge here. First, Corruption of life, wickedness, great wickedness. I under stand this of the wickedness of their lives; for it is plainly distinguished from the wickedness of their hearts. The sins of their outward con versation, were great in the nature of them, and greatly aggravated by their attending circumstances: And then it is added, in the earth.
To vin dicate God's severity, in that he not only cut off sinners, but defaced the beauty of the earth; and swept off the brute creatures from it, by the deluge; that as men had set the marks of their impiety, God might set the marks of his indignation, on the earth. To shew the heinousness of their sin, in making the earth, which God had so adorned for the use of man, a sink of sin, and a stage whereon to act their wickedness, in defiance of heaven.
God saw 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 forsaken the curst, tho' they had forsaken 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 spring-head; a corrupt heart was the source of all. The soul which was made upright in all its faculties, is now wholly disordered. 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: Yea, and every imagination, every frame, of his thoughts, is so. The heart is ever framing something; but never one right thing: But is there not, at least, a mixture of good in them? No, they are only evil, there is nothing in them truly good and acceptable to God: Whatever changes may be found in them, are only from evil to evil: From the first day, to the last day in this state, they are in midnight darkness; there is not a glimmering of the light of holi ness 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! Surely that corruption is ingrained in our hearts, interwoven with our very natures, has sunk into the marrow of our souls; and will never be cured, but by a miracle of grace. Now such is man's heart, such is his nature, till regenerating grace change it. God that searcheth the heart saw man's heart was so, he took special notice of it: Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart saying. What is that to us? Had the history of the deluge been transmitted unto us, without the reason thereof in the text, we might thence have gathered the corruption and total depravation of man's nature: If we saw a wise man, who having made a curious piece of work, and heartily approved of it when he gave it out of his hand, as fit for the use it was designed for rise up in wrath and break it all in pieces, when he looked on it afterwards; would we not thence conclude the frame of it had been quite marred, since it went out of his hand, and that it does not serve for that use it was at first designed for?
How much more, when we see the holy and wise God, destroying the work of his own hands, once solemnly pro nounced by him very good, may we conclude that the original frame thereof is utterly marred, that it cannot be mended, but it must needs be new made, or lost altogether? But did the deluge carry off this corruption of man's nature? Did it mend the matter?
No it did not. God, in his holy providence, That every mouth may be stopped, and all the new world may become guilty before God, as well as the old, permits that corruption of nature to break out in Noah, the father of the new world, after the deluge was over. Behold him as another Adam, firming in the fruit of a tree. He planted a vineyard, and he drank of the wine, and was drunken, and he was uncovered within his tent.
More than that, God gives the same reason against a new deluge, which he gives in our text for bringing that on the world: Whereby it is intimated, that there is no mending of the matter by this means; and that if he would always take the same course with men that he had done, he would be always sending deluges on the earth, seeing the corruption of man's nature remains still.
This we learn from 1 Pet iii. To conclude then, these waters, tho' now dried up, may serve us for a looking glass, in which we may see the total corruption of our nature, and the necessity of regeneration. Now is there a sad alteration, a wonderful over turn, in the nature of man: In prosecuting of this doctrine, I shall,. Secondly, Represent this corruption of nature in its several parts.
And here we shall consult, 1. Men's experience and observation. First, How the scripture takes particular notice of fallen Adam 's communicating his image to his posterity, Gen, v. Adam begat a son in his own likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth. Compare with this, ver 1. Behold here, how the image after which man was made, and the image after which he is begotten, are opposed.
Man was made in the likeness of God: For as the image of God bore righteousness and immortality in it, as was cleared before, so this image of fallen Adam bore corruption and death in it, 1 Cor. Moses, in that fifth chapter of Genesis, being to give us the first bill of mortality, that ever was in the world, ushers it in with this, that dying Adam begat mortals. Having sinned, he became mortal, according to the threat ning; and so he begat a son, in his own likeness, sinful, and therefore mortal: Doubtless, he begat both Cain and Abel in his own likeness, as well as Seth. But it is not recorded of Abel; because he left no issue behind him, and his falling the first sacrifice to death in the world, was a sufficient document of it: Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
Our first parents were unclean, how then can we be clean? How could our immediate parents be clean? Or, how shall our children be so? The unclean ness here aimed at is a sinful uncleanness; for it is such as makes man's days full of trouble: Man is born of a woman, ver. And how can he be clean that is born of a woman?
An omnipotent God whose power is not here challenged, could bring a clean thing out of an unclean; and did so, in the case of the Man CHRIST; but no other can. Every person that is born according to the course of nature, is born unclean. If the root be corrupt, so must the branches be.
Neither is the matter mended, tho' the parents be sanctified ones: Wherefore, as the circumcised parent begets an uncircumcised child, and after the purest grain is sown, we reap corn with the chaff; so the holiest parents beget unholy children, and cannot communicate their grace to them, as they do their nature; which many godly parents find true, in their sad experience. Thirdly, Consider the confession of the Psalmist David, Psal.
Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Here he ascends from his actual sin, to the fountain of it, namely, corrupt nature. He was a man according to God's own heart; but from the beginning it was not so with him. He was begotten in lawful marriage; but when the lump was shapen in the womb, it was a sinful lump. Hence the corruption of nature is called the old man; being as old as ourselves, older than grace, even in those that are sanctified from the womb.
Fourthly, Hear our Lord's determination of the point, John iii. That which is born of the flesh, is flesh. Behold the universal cor ruption of mankind, all are flesh. Not that all are frail, tho' that is a sad truth too; yea, and our natural frailty is an evidence of our natural corruption; but that is not the sense of this text: And as the corruption of our nature evidenceth the absolute necessity of regeneration; so the absolute necessity of regeneration plainly proves the corruption of our nature: Infants must be born again, for that is an except John iii.
And therefore, they were circumcised under the Old Testament, as having the body of the sins of the flesh, which is conveyed to them by natural generation to put off, Col. God made him but a little lower than the angels: He hearkened to a brute, and is now become like one of them. Like Nebuchadnezzar, his portion in his natural state is with the beasts, minding only earthly things, Philip. Nay, brutes, in some sort, have the advantage of the natural man, who is sunk a degree below them. He is more witless, in what concerns him most, than the stork, or the turtle, or the crane, or the swallow, in what is for their interest, Jer.
He is more stupid than the ox or ass. Nay, more than all this, the scripture holds out the natural man, not only as wanting the good qualities of those creatures; but as a compound of the evil qualities of the worst of the creatures, in which do concenter the fierceness of the lion, the craft of the fox, the unteachableness of the wild ass, the filthiness of the dog and swine, the poison of the asp, and such like. Truth itself calls them serpents, a generation of vipers; yea more, even children of the devil, Mat.
Surely then, man's nature is miserably corrupted. Lastly, We are by nature children of wrath, Eph. We are worthy of, and liable to the wrath of God; and this by nature: We are condemned before we have done good or evil; under the curse, ere we know what it is. But will a lion roar in the forest while he hath no prey?
No, he will not, he cannot. Let us conclude, then, that according to the word of God man's nature is a corrupt nature. If we consult experience, and observe the case of the world in these things that are obvious to any person that will not shut his eye, against clear light; we will quickly perceive such fruits, as discover this root of bitterness: I shall propose a few things, that may serve to convince us in this point. First, Who sees not a flood of miseries overflowing the world? And at length death the wages of sin, comes after these its harbingers, and sweeps all away.
Now, what but sin has opened the sluice?
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There is not a complaint nor sigh heard in the world, nor a tear that falls from our eye, but it is an evidence that man is fallen as a star from heaven; for God distributeth sorrow in his anger, Job xxi. There are graves of the smallest, as well as of the largest size, in the church-yard; and there are never wanting some in the world, who like Rachel, are weeping for their children, because they are not, Mat.
Secondly, Observe how early this corruption of nature begins to appear in young ones: Solomon observes, that even a child is known by his doings, Prov. It may soon be discerned, what way the bias of the heart lies. Do not the children of sallen Adam, before they can go alone, follow their father's footsteps?
What a vast deal of little pride, ambition, curiosity, vanity, wilfulness, and averseness to good appears in them: And when they creep out of infancy, there is a necessity of using the rod of correction to drive away the foolishness that's bound in their heart, Prov. Which shews, that if grace prevail not, the child will be as Ishmael, a wild ass man, as the word is, Gen.
Thirdly, Take a view of the manifold gross out-breakings of sin, in the world. The wickedness of man is yet great in the earth. Behold the bitter fruits of the corruption of our nature, Hos. By swearing and lying, and killing and stealing, and commiting adultery, they break out, like the breaking forth of water and blood toucheth blood. The world is filled with filthiness, and all manner of lewdness, wickedness, and profanity. Whence is this deluge of sin on the earth, but from the breaking up of the fountains of the great deep, the heart of man; out of which proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts.
Mark vii, 21, Ye will, it may be, thank God with a whole heart, that ye are not like these other men: As looking into clear water, ye see your own face; so looking into your heart, ye may see other men's there: So that the most vile and profane wretches that are in the world should serve you for a looking glass; in which you ought to discern the corruption of your own nature: Lions make not a prey of lions, nor wolves of wolves: Upon how slight occasions will men sheath their swords in one another's bowels!
The world is a wilder ness, where the clearest fire men can carry about with them, will not fright away the wild beasts that inhabit it, and that because they are men, and not brutes but one way or other they will be wounded. Since Cain shed the blood of Abel, the earth has been turned into a slaughter-house; and the chace has been continued since Nimrod began his hunting; on the earth, as in the sea, the greater still devouring the lesser. When we see the world in such a ferment, every one stabbing another with words or swords, we may conclude there is an evil spirit among them.
These violent heats among Adam 's sons, speak the whole body to be distempered, the whole head to be sick, and the whole heart faint. They surely proceed from an inward cause, James vi. Lusts that war in our members. Fifthly, Consider the necessity of human laws, fenced with terrors and severities; to which we may apply what the apostle says, 1 Tim.
Man was made for society: And that from hence we may the better see the corruption of man's nature, consider, 1. Every man naturally loves to be at full liberty himself; to have his own will for his law; and if he would follow his natural inclinations, would vote himself out of the reach of all laws, divine and human. And hence some the power of whose hands has been answerable to their natural inclination have indeed made themselves absolute, and above laws; agreeable to man's monstrous design at first, to be as gods, Gen.
There is no man that would willingly adventure to live in a lawless society: Thus men discover themselves to be conscious of the corruption of nature; not daring to trust one another, but upon security. How dangerous soever it is to break thro' the hedge: They will not only sacrifice their credit and conscience, which last is highly esteem'd in the world; but for the pleasure of a few moments, immediately succeeded with terror from within, they will lay themselves open to a violent death by the laws of the land wherein they live.
The laws are often made to yield to men's lusts. Sometimes whole societies run into such ex travagancies, that like a company of prisoners, they break off their fetters, and put their guards to flight; and the voice of laws cannot be heard for the noise of arms. Consider what necessity often appears of ammending old laws, and making new ones; which have their rise from new crimes that man's nature is very fruitful of.
There would be no need of mending the hedge, if men were not like unruly beasts, still breaking it down. I cannot but think, that one grand design of that sacred history, was to discover the corruption of man's nature, the absolute need of the Messiah, and his grace: How cutting is that word, the Lord has to Samuel, concerning Saul, 1 Sam. The same shall reign over or, as the word is, shall restrain my people. O the corruption of man's nature! Sixthly, Consider the remains of that natural corruption in the saints. Tho' grace has entered, yet corruption is not quite expelled: They said it present with them at all times, and in all places, even in the most retired corners.
If a man have an ill neighbour, he may remove; if he have an ill servant, he may put him away at the term: But should the saint go into a wilderness, or set up his tent in some remote rock in the sea, where never foot of man, beast, nor fowl had touched, there will it be with him. Should he be, with Paul, caught up to the third heavens, it shall come back with him, 2 Cor xii. It followeth him as the shadow doth the body: It is like the fig-tree in the wall, which, how nearly soever it was cut, yet still grow till the wall was thrown down; for the roots of it are fixed in the heart, while the saint is in the world, as with bands of iron and brass.
It is especially active when he would do good, Rom. Hence often in holy duties, the spirit even of a saint as it were evaporates: But consider these few things on this head. If it be thus in the green tree, how must it be in the dry? Have they got a new nature, and yet so much of the old remains with them? How great must that corruption be in others, where it is altogether unmixed with grace?
The saints groan under the remains of it as a heavy burden? O wretched man that I am!
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What tho' the carnal man lives at ease and quiet, and the corruption of nature is not his burden: No, no; only he is dead, and feels not the sinking weight. Many a groan is heard from a sick bed; but never one from a grave. In the saint, as in the sick man, there is a mighty struggle; life and death striving for the mastery: And this is the case of all unregenerate, who make provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. If the garden of the diligent afford him new work daily, in cutting off and rooting up; surely that of the sluggard must needs be all grown over with thorns.
Some children, by their features and lineaments of their face, do, as it were, father themselves: Every one of us bear the image and impress of their fall upon him: And is not this a print of Adam 's image? Is not men naturally much more desirous to know new things, than to practise old known truths? How like to old Adam do we look in this, itching after novelties, and dis relishing old solid doctrines? We seek after knowledge rather than holiness; and study most to know these things, which are least edify ing.
Our wild and roving fancies need a bridle to curb them, while good solid affections must be quickened and spurred up. And in this do we not betray it plainly that we are Adam 's children. The very heathens are convinced, that man was possessed with this spirit of contradiction, tho' they knew not the spring of it.
How often do men give themselves the loose in these things, in which, if God had left them at liberty, they would have bound up themselves! And is it not a repeating of our father's folly, that men will rather climb for forbidden fruit, than gather what is shaken off the true of good providence to them, when they have God's express allowance for it! And was not this the rock our first parents split upon?
How apt is weak man, ever since that time, to parley with temptations! God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. Men might often come fair off if they would dismiss temptations with abhorrence, when first they appear; if they would nip them in the bud, they would soon die away; but alas! And was not this the very case of our first parents? Man is never more blind than when he is looking on the objects that are pleasant to sense.
Since the eyes of our first parents were opened to the forbidden fruit, men's eyes have been the gates of destruction to their souls; at which impure imaginations and sinful desires have entred the heart, to the wounding of the soul, wasting of the consci ence, and bringing dismal effects sometimes on whole societies, as in Achan 's case, Joshua vii.
Holy Job was aware of this danger, from these two little rowling bodies, which a very small splinter of wood will make useless; so as with that King who durst not, with his ten thousand, meet him that came with twenty thousand against him, Luke xiv. This was one ingredient in the sin of our first parents, Gen. O how happy might we be, if we were but at half the pains about our souls, that we bestow upon our bodies!
What shall we drink? Wherewithal shall we be clothed? But the truth is, most men live as if they were nothing but a lump of flesh: They mind the things of the flesh, Rom. If the consent of the flesh be got to an action the consent of the conscience is rarely waited for: This also was Adam 's case, Gen. Some one thing is always missing; so that man is a creature given to changes. And if any doubt of this, let them look over all their enjoyments; and after a review of them, listen to their own hearts, and they will hear a secret murmuring for want of something: Since the hearts of our first parents flew out at their eyes, on the forbidden fruit, and a night of darkness was thereby brought on the world; their posterity have a natural disease, which Solomon calls, The wandring of the desires, or, as the word is, The walking of the soul, Eccl.
This is a sort of a diabolical trance, wherein the soul traverseth the world; feeds itself with a thousand airy nothings: And the soul is never cured of this disease, till overcoming grace bring it back, to take up its everlasting rest in God thro' Christ: You will see this was the ruin of Adam, Gen iii. And tho' we have by nature, more of the fox than of the lamb; yet that ill property some observe in this creature, viz.
That if one lamb skip into a water, the rest that are near will suddenly follow, may be observed also in the disposition of the children of men; to whom it is very natural to embrace an evil way, because they see others upon it before them. Ill example has frequently the force of a violent stream to carry us over plain duty: And nothing is more plain, than that generally men chuse rather to do what the most do, than what the best do.
When we have ruined ourselves, and made ourselves naked, to our shame; we naturally seek to help ourselves by ourselves: What pains are men at, to cover their sin from their own consciences, and draw all the fair colours upon it that they can? Therefore, the first question of the convinced is, What shall we do?
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How shall we qualify ourselves? What shall we perform? Not minding that the new creature is God's own workmanship or deed, Eph. We are every whit as blind in this matter as he was, who thought to hide himself from the presence of God among the shady trees of the garden. We are very apt to promise ourselves more security in a secret sin, than in one that is openly committed.
The eye of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me, Job xxiv. And men will freely do that in secret, which they would be ashamed to do in the presence of a child; as if darkness could hide from an all-seeing God. Are we not naturally careless of communion with God; ay, and averse to it? If he would let them alone, they would never inquire after him.
Very far from it. And was it not thus in the case before us? Adam confesseth his nakedness, which he could not get denied; but not one word he says of his sins: It is as natural for us to hide sin, as to commit it. Many sad instances thereof we have in this world; but a far clearer proof of it we shall get at the day of judgment, the day in which God will judge the secrets of men, Rom. Many a foul mouth will then be seen, which is now wiped, and saith, I have done no wickedness, Prov.
Lastly, Is it not natural for us to extenuate our sin, and transfer the guilt upon others? And when God examined our guilty first parents, did not Adam lay the blame on the woman? And did not the woman lay the blame on the serpent? Now Adam 's children need not be taught this hellish policy; for before they can well speak, if they cannot get the fact denied they will cunningly lispout something to lessen their fault, and lay the blame upon another.
Nay, so natural is this to men, that in the greatest of sins, they will lay the fault upon God himself; they will blaspheme his holy providence, under the mistaken name of misfortune or ill luck, and thereby lay the blame of their sin at heaven's door. And was not this one of Adam 's tricks after his fall? Observe the order of the speech.
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He makes his apology in the first place; and then comes his confession: The woman, says he, or that woman, as if he would have pointed the judge to his own work, of which we read, Gen. There was but one woman then in the world; so that one would think he needed not have been so nice and exact in point ing at her; yet she is as carefully marked out in his defence, as if there had been ten thousand.
The woman whom thou gavest me: And to make the shift look the blacker, it added to all this, thou gavest to be with me, a constant companion, to stand by me as a helper. This looks as if Adam would have fathered an ill design upon the Lord, in giving him this gift. And after all, there is a new demonstrative here, before the sentence is compleat: This much for his apology.
But his con fession is quickly over, in one word, is he spoke it and I did eat. And there is nothing here to point to himself, and as little to shew what he had eaten. How natural is his black art to Adam 's posterity? He that runs may read it. So universally does Solomon 's observe hold true, Prov. The foolishness of men perverteth his ways, and his heart fretteth against the Lord Let us then call fallen Adam, father; let us not deny the relation, seeing we bear his image.
And now to shut up this point, sufficiently confirmed by concurring evidence from the Lord's word, our own experience and observation; let us be persuaded to believe the doctrine of the corruption of our nature: But who can comprehend it? Who can take the exact dimension of it, in its breadth, length, height, and depth? The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: However, we may quickly perceive as much of it, as may be matter of deepest humiliation, and may dis cover to us the absolute necessity of regeneration.
Man in his natu ral state is altogether corrupt. Both soul and body are polluted, as the apostle proves at large, Rom. The Understanding, that leading faculty, is despoiled of it's primitive glory, and covered over with confusion. There is none that understandeth, Rom. Mind and conscience are defiled, Tit. The natural man's apprehension of divine things is corrupt, Psal. Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself.
His judg ment is corrupt, and cannot be otherways, seeing his eye is evil: And his imaginations, or reasonings must be cast down, by the power of the word, being of a piece with his judgment, 2 Cor. First, There is a natural weakness in the minds of men, with respect to spiritual things.
The apostle determines concerning every one that is not endued with the graces of the Spirit, That he is blind, and cannot see afar off, 2 Pet. Hence the Spirit of God in the scrip tures, clothes, as it were, divine truths with earthly figures, even as parents teach their children, using similitudes, Hos. Which, tho' it doth not cure, yet doth evidence this natural weakness in the minds of men. But we want not plain proofs of it from experience. How hard a task is it to teach many people the common principles of our holy religion, and to make truths so plain as they may understand them?
Here there must be precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, Isa. Try the same persons in other things, they shall be found wiser in their generation than the children of light. They understand their work and business in the world, as well as their neighbours; tho' they be very stupid and unteachable in the matters of God. Tell them how they may advance their worldly wealth, or how they may gratify their lusts, and they will quickly understand these things; tho' it is very hard to make them know how their souls may be saved; or how their hearts may find rest in Jesus Christ.
Consider these who have many advantages, beyond the common gang of mankind; who have had the benefit of good education and instruction; yea, and are blest with the light of grace in that measure, wherein it is distributed to the saints on earth: What ignorance and confusion do still remain in their minds! How often are they mired, even in the matter of practical truths, and speak as a child in these things. It is a pitiful weakness that we cannot perceive the things which God has revealed to us: What dangerous mistakes are to be found amongst men, in their concerns of greatest weight!
Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent. Nay truly, the life of every natural man is but one continued dream and delusion: And therefore in scripture account, be he never so wise, he is a fool and a simple one. Secondly, Man's understanding is naturally overwhelmed with gross darkness in spiritual things. Man, at the instigation of the devil, attempting to break out a new light in his mind, Gen. When God at first had made man, his mind was a lamp of light: Ye were sometimes darkness.
Sin has closed the windows of the soul, darkness is over all that region. It is the land of darkness and shadow of death, where the light is as darkness. The prince of darkness reigns there, and nothing but the works of darkness are framed there. We are both spiritually blind, and cannot be restored without a miracle of grace.
This is thy case, whosoever thou art, if thou art not born again. And that you may be convinced in this matter, take those following evidences of it. The darkness that was upon the face of the world before, and at the time when Christ came, arising as the sun of righte ousness upon the earth. When Adam by his sin had lost that primitive light wherewith he was endued in his creation, it pleased God to make a gracious revelation of his mind and will to him, touching the way of salvation, Gen iii. This was handed down by him, and other godly fathers, before the flood: After the flood, as men multiplied on the earth, the natural darkness of mind prevails again, and the light decays, till it died out among the generality of mankind, and is preserved only among the posterity of Shem.
And even with them it was well near its setting, when God called Abraham from serving other gods, Josh. God gives Abraham a more clear and full revelation, and he communicates the same to his family, Gen. They being carried down into Egypt, that darkness prevailed so, as to leave them very little sense of true religion: The Jews, and the true light with them, were within an inclosure, Psal. Gross darkness covered the face of the Gentile world; and the way of salvation was utterly unknown among them. They were drowned in superstition and idolatry; and had multiplied their idols to such a vast number, that above thirty thousand are reckoned to have been worshipped by those of Europe alone.
Whatever wisdom was among their Philosophers, the world by that wisdom knew not God, 1 Cor. If we look within the inclosure, and, except a few that were groaning and waiting for the Consolation of Israel, we will see a gross darkness on the face of that gene ration. Tho' to them were committed the oracles of God; yet they were most corrupt in their doctrine Their traditions were multi plied; but the knowledge of these things wherein the life of re ligion lies, was lost: Masters of Israel knew not the nature and necessity of regeneration, John iii. Their religion was to build on their birth privilege, as children of Abraham, Matth.
And to rest in the law, Rom. The former is an evidence of the latter. What, but the natural darkness of men's minds, could still thus wear out the light of external revelation in a matter upon which eternal happiness did depend? Men did not forget the way of preserving their lives: The great cure on the generation re mained to be performed, by the Spirit accompanying the preaching of the apostles; who, according to the promise, John xlv.
I find a miracle wrought upon one that was born blind, performed in such a way, as seems to have been designed to let the world see in it, as in a glass, their case and cure, John ix.
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He made clay, and anointed the eyes of the blind man, with the clay. What could more fitly represent the blindness of men's minds, than eyes closed up with earth? Thus the Lord's word discovers the design of that strange work; and by it shews us, that the eyes of our under standing are naturally shut. Then the blind man must go and wash off this clay in the pool of Siloam; no other water will serve this purpose. If that pool had not represented him, whom the Father sent into the world, to open the blind eyes, Isa.
I think the Evangelist had not given us the interpretation of the name, which he says, signifies, sent, John ix. And so we may conclude, that the natural darkness of our minds is such, as there is no cure for; but from the blood and Spirit of Jesus Christ, whose eye-salve, only can make us see, Rev. Every natural man's heart and life is a mass of darkness, disorder and confusion; how refined soever he appear in the sight of men.
For we ourselves also, saith the apostle Paul, were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, Tit. The unrenewed part of mankind is rambling through the world. And therefore, Wo unto the blind world because of offences, Matth. Errors in judgment swarm in the world; because it is night, wherein all the beasts of the forrest do creep forth. All the unregenerate are utterly mistaken in the point of true happiness; for tho' Christianity hath fixed that matter in point of principle; yet nothing less than overcoming grace can fix it in the practical judg ment.
All men agree in the desire to be happy: They are like the blind Sodomites about Lot 's house, all were seeking to find the door, some grope one part of the wall for it, some another; but none of them could certainly say, he had found it: Look into thine own unregenerate heart, and there thou wilt see all turned upside down: The natural man is always as a workman left without light; either trifling or doing mischief.
Try to catch thy heart at any time thou wilt, and thou shall find it either weaving the spider's web, or hatching cockatrice-eggs, Isa.
A sad sign of a dark mind. The natural man is void of the saving knowledge of spiritual things. He knows not what a God he has to deal with; he is unacquainted with Christ; and knows not what sin is. The greatest graceless wits are blind as moles in these things. Ay, but some such can speak of them to good purpose: Many a man that bears the name of a Christian, may make Pharaoh 's confession of saith, Exod.
I know not the Lord, neither will they let go when he commands them to part with. God is with them as a prince in disguise among his subjects, who meets with no better treat ment from them, than if they were his fellows, Psal. Do they know Christ, or see his glory, and any beauty in him for which he is to be desired? Do they know what sin is, who hug the serpent in their bosom, hold fast deceit, and refuse to let it go? I own indeed they may have a natural knowledge of those things, as the unbelieving Jews had or Christ, whom they saw and conversed with: But the spiritual knowledge of them they cannot have; it is above the reach of the carnal mind, 1 Cor.
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him: He has some notions of spiritual truths, but sees not the things themselves, that are wrapt up in the words of truth, 1 Tim. Understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm. In a word natural men fear, seek, confess, they know not what. Thus may you see man's under standing naturally is overwhelmed with gross darkness in spiritual things. Thirdly, There is in the mind of man a natural bias to evil, where by it comes to pass, that whatever difficulties it finds, while occupied about things truly good, it acts with a great deal of ease in evil; as being in that case, in its own element, Jer.
The carnal mind drives heavily in the thoughts of good; but furiously in the thoughts of evil. While holiness is before it, fetters are upon it: Let us reflect a little on the apprehension and imagination of the carnal mind; and we shall find uncontestible evidence of this woful bias to evil. As when a man, by a violent stroke on the head, loseth his sight, there ariseth to him a kind of false light, whereby he per ceiveth a thousand airy nothings; so man being struck blind to all that is truly good, and for his eternal interest, has a light of another sort brought into his mind; his eyes are opened, knowing evil, and so are the words of the tempter verified, Gen.
The words of the Prophet are plain, They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge, Jer. The mind of man has a natural dexterity to devise mischief: Why should we be surprised with the product of corrupt wits: They row with the stream; no wonder they make great progress: Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin; he does it not as by art, for his seed remaineth in him.
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But on the other hand, It is a sport for a soul to do mischief: To do with wickedness nicely, as the word imports, is as a sport, or a play to a fool; it comes off with him easily; and why, but because he is a fool, and hath not wisdom; which would mar the contrivances of darkness? The more natural a thing is, it is done the more easily. Thus Saul, who wist not what to do, before the priest began to con sult God, is quickly determined when once the priest's hand was in: Such a devilish dexterity hath the carnal mind, in deviling what may most effectually divert men from their duty to God.
Doth not the carnal mind naturally strive to grasp spiritual things in imagination; as if the soul were quite immersed in flesh and blood, and would turn every thing into its own shape? Let men who are used to the forming of the most abstracted notion, look into their own souls, and they shall find this bias in their minds: For it plainly discovers, that men na turally would have a visible deity, and see what they worship: The reformation of these nations blessed be the Lord for it hath banished idolatry, and images too, out of our churches: The world, in the time of its darkness, was never more prone to the former, than the unsanctified mind is to the latter.
And hence are horrible, monstrous, and mi shapen thoughts of God, Christ, the glory above, and all spiritual things. What a difficult task is it to detain the carnal mind before the Lord! When God is speaking to men by his word, or they are speaking to him in prayer, doth not the mind often leave them before the Lord, like so many idols that have eyes, but see not; and ears, but hear not?
The carcase is laid down before God, but the world gets away the heart: Say not, it is impossible to get the mind fixed. It is hard indeed, but not impossible. Grace from the Lord can do it, Psal. Agreeable objections will do it. A pleasant speculation will arrest the minds of the inquisitive: Were we admitted into the presence of a king to petition for our lives, we would be in no hazard of gazing through the chamber of presence: But here lies the case, the carnal mind, employed about any spiritual good, is out of its element, and therefore cannot fix.
Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin. Their eyes cannot cease from sin; so the words are constructed that is, their hearts and minds venting by the eyes, what is within, are like a furious beast, which cannot be held in, when once it has got out its head. Let the corrupt imagination once be let loose on its proper object; it will be found hard work to call it back again, tho' both reason and will be for its retreat.
For then it is in its own element; and to draw it off from its impurities, is as the drawing of a fish out of the water, or the renting of a limb from a man. It runs like fire set to a train of powder, that resteth not till it can get no further. Consider how the carnal imagination supplies the want of real objects to the corrupt heart; that it may make sinners happy, at least, in the imaginary enjoyment of their lusts. Thus the corrupt heart feeds itself with imagination-sins: And this it doth, not only when people are awake, but sometimes even when they are asleep; whereby it comes to pass, that these sins are acted in dreams, which their hearts were carried out after, while they were awake.
I know some do question the sinfulness of these things: But can it be thought they are consistent with that holy nature and frame of spirit, which was in innocent Adam, and in Jesus Christ, and should be in every man? It is the corruption of nature then, that makes filthy dreamers condemned, Jude 8.
Solomon had experience of the exercise of grace in sleep: And if a man may, in his sleep, do what is good and acceptable to God, why may he not also, when asleep, do that which is evil and displeasing to God? The same Solomon would have men aware of this; and prescribes the best remedy against it, namely, The law upon the heart, Prov. When thou sleepest, says he, ver. For one's being kept from sin, not his being kept from affliction is the immediate proper effect of the law of God im prest upon the heart, Psal.
For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life. Now the law is a lamp of light, as it guides in the way of duty; and instructing reproofs from the law, are the way of life, as they keep from sin: And remarkable is the particular in which Solomon instanceth, namely, the sin of uncleanness, to keep thee from the evil woman: These things may suffice to convince us of the natural bias of the mind to evil.
Fourthly, There is in the carnal mind, an opposition to spiritual truths, and an aversion to the receiving of them. It is as little a friend to divine truths, as it is to holiness. The truths of natural religion, which do, as it were, force their entry into the minds of natural men, they hold prisoners in unrighteousness, Rom. And as for the truths of revealed religion, there is an evil heart of unbelief in them, which opposeth their entry; and there is an armed force—necessary to captivate the mind to the belief of them, 2 Cor.
God has made a revelation of his mind and will to sinners, touching the way of salvation: No, they do not; for he that believeth not on the Son of God, believeth not God, as is plain from 1 John v. They believe not the promises of the word: The promises are as silver cords let down from heaven to draw sinners unto God, and to waft them over into the promised land; but they cast them from them. They believe not the threatnings of the word.
As men travelling in defarts carry fire about with them, to fright away wild beasts: But men naturally are more brutish than beasts themselves; and will needs touch the firey smoak ing mountain, tho' they should be thrust through with a dart. But he confutes their confidence, roundly telling them, John v. Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me. Did ye believe the truths of God, ye durst not reject, as ye do, Him who is truth itself. The very difficulty you find in assenting to this truth, bewrays that unbelief I am charging you with.
Has it not proceeded so far with some at this day, that it has steeled their fore-heads with the impudence and impiety, openly to reject all revealed religion? To convince you in this point, consider these three things. How few are there who have been blest with an in ward illumination, by the special operation of the Spirit of Christ, letting them into a view of divine truths in their spiritual and heavenly lustre! How have you learned the truths of religion, which ye pre tended to believe! Life Just Moves Right Along.
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