"Secondly, His will lay straight with the will of God. There was no corruption in his will, no bent or inclination to evil; for that is sin, properly so called; and, therefore, inconsistent with that uprightness with which it is expressly said he was endued at his creation. The will of man was then naturally inclined to God and goodness, though mutably. It was disposed by its original make to follow the Creator's will, as the shadow does the body. It was not left in an equal balance to good and evil; for then he had not been upright, or conform to the law; which no more can allow the creature not to be inclined to God as his end, than it can allow man to be a god to himself.

"Thirdly, His affections were regular, pure, and holy. All his passions, yea all his sensitive motions and inclinations were subordinate to his reason and will, which lay straight with the will of God. They were all, therefore, pure from all defilement, free from all disorder or distemper; because all their motions were duly subjected to his clear reason and his holy will. He had also an executive power, answerable to his will: a power to do the good which he knew should be done, and which he inclined to do; even to fulfil the whole law of God. If it had not been so, God would not have required perfect obedience of him. For to say, that the Lord gathereth where he hath not strewed,' is but the blasphemy of a slothful servant.

"From what has been said it may be gathered, that man's original righteousness was universal and natural, yet mutable.

"1. It was universal, both with respect to the subject of it, the whole man, and the object of it, the whole law: it was diffused through the whole man; it was a blessed leaven that leavened the whole lump. Man was then holy in soul, body, and spirit: while the soul remained untainted, the members of the body were consecrated vessels and instruments of righteousness. A combat between reason and appetite, nay the least inclination to sin, was utterly inconsistent with this uprightness in which man was

created; and has been invented to veil the corruption of man's nature, and to obscure the grace of God in Christ Jesus. And as this righteousness spread through the whole man, so it respected the whole law. There was nothing in the law, but what was agreeable to his reason and will. His soul was shapen out in length and breadth, to the commandment, though exceeding broad; so that his original righteousness was not only perfect in parts but in degrees.

"2. As it was universal, so it was natural to him. He was created with it. And it was necessary to the perfection of man, as he came out of the hand of God: necessary to constitute him in a state of integrity. Yet

"3. It was mutable. It was a righteousness which might be lost, as appears from the sad event. His will was not indifferent to good and evil: God set it towards good only, yet did not so fix it, that it could not alter; it was movable to evil, but by man himself only.

"Thus was man made originally righteous, being 'created in God's own image,' (Gen. i. 27,) which consists in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, (Col. iii. 10. Eph. iv 24.) All that God made was very good, according to their several natures, (Gen. i. 31.) And so man was morally good, being made after the image of him who is good and upright, (Psa. xxv. 8.) Without this he could not have answered the end of his creation, which was to know, love, and serve his God. Nay, he could not be created otherwise. For he must either have been conformed to the law in his powers, principles, and inclinations, or not. If he was, he was righteous; if not, he was a sinner, which is absurd and horrible to imagine.

“And as man was holy, so he was happy. He was full of peace as well as of love. And he was the favourite of heaven. He bore the image of God, who cannot but love his own image. While he was alone in the world he was not alone, for he had free, full communion with God. As yet there was nothing to turn away the face of God from the work of his own hands: seeing sin had not as yet entered, which alone could make the breach.

"He was also lord of the world, universal emperor of the whole earth. His Creator gave him dominion over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, and every thing that moveth on the earth.' He was God's deputy-governor in the lower world; and this bis dominion was an image of God's sovereignty. Thus was man crowned with glory and honour, having all things put under his feet.'

“Again, as he had perfect tranquillity in his own breast, so he had a perfect calm without. His heart had nothing to reproach him with, and without there was nothing to annoy him. Their beautiful bodies were not capable of injuries from the air. They were liable to no diseases or pains; and though they were not to live idle, yet toil, weariness, and sweat of the brows, were not known in this state.

.

"Lastly, He was immortal. He would never have died if he had not sinned. Death was threatened only in case of sin. The perfect constitution of his body, which came out of God's hand was very good, and the righteousness of his soul removed all inward causes of death. And God's special care of his innocent creature secured him against outward violence. Such were the holiness and the happiness of man in his original state.

"But there is now a sad alteration in our nature. It is now entirely corrupted. Where at first there was nothing evil, there is now nothing good: I shall,

"First, Prove this:

"Secondly, Represent this corruption in its several parts:

"Thirdly, Shew how man's nature comes to be thus corrupted.

"First, I shall prove that man's nature is corrupted, both by God's word, and by men's experience and observation.

"I. For proof from God's word, let us consider,

"1. How it takes particular notice of fallen Adam's com municating his image to his posterity. Gen. v. iii, Adam begat a son in his own likeness, after his image.' Compare

this with ver. 1, 'In the day that God created man, in the image of God made he him.' 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; a holy and righteous God made a holy and righteous creature; but fallen Adam begat a son, not in the likeness of God, but in his own likeness: corrupt, sinful Adam, begat a corrupt, sinful son. For as the image of God included righteousness and immortality, so this image of fallen Adam, included corruption and death. Moses giving us in this chapter the first bill of mortality that ever was in the world, ushers it in with this observation, that dying Adam begat mortals. Having sinned he became mortal, according to the threatening. And so he begat a son in his own likeness,' sinful and therefore mortal; and so sin and death passed on all.'

"Let us consider, 2. that text, Job xiv. 4, Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.' 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 uncleanness here mentioned is a sinful uncleanness; for it is such as makes man's days' full of trouble.' And it is natural, being derived from unclean parents. "How can he be clean that is born of a woman?' God can bring a clean thing out of an unclean; and did so in the case of the man, Christ; but no other can. Every person then that is born according to the course of nature is born unclean; if the root be corrupt so are the branches. Neither is the matter mended, though the parents be holy. For they are such by grace, not by nature: and they beget their children as men, not as holy men; wherefore as the circumcised parent begets an uncircumcised child, so the holiest parents beget unholy children, and cannot communicate their grace to them as they do their nature.

"3. Hear our Lord's determination of the point. John iii. 6, That which is born of the flesh is flesh.' Behold the corruption of all mankind; all are flesh. It does not mean all are frail (though that is a sad truth too: yea, and

our natural frailty is an evidence of our natural corruption :) but, all are corrupt and sinful, and that naturally. Hence our Lord argues, that because they are flesh, therefore they must be born again,' or they cannot enter into the kingdom of God,' ver. 3, 5. And as the corruption of our nature evidences the necessity of regeneration, so the necessity of regeneration, proves the corruption of our nature. For why should a man need a second birth if his nature were not ruined in the first birth? Even infants must be born again, for this rule admits of no exception. 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,) the whole old man, to put off, (Col. ii. 11.) And now by the appointment of Christ, they are to be baptized; which shews they are unclean, and that there is no salvation for them, but by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.'

"4. We are by nature children of wrath.' We are worthy of, and liable to the wrath of God: and that by nature; and therefore doubtless we are by nature sinful creatures. 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?' Will a holy and just God roar in his wrath against man, if he be not by his sin made a prey for wrath? No, he will not, he cannot. We 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 the things that are obvious to any person, we shall by its fruits easily discover the root of bitterness. I shall instance but in a few.

"1. Who sees not a flood of miseries overflowing the world? Every one at home and abroad, in city and country, in palaces and cottages, is groaning under some unpleasing circumstance or other. Some are oppressed with poverty or want, some chastened with pain or sickness: some are lamenting their losses; none is without a cross of one sort or another. No man's condition is so soft but