Sermon 38
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imaginatoin of the thoughts of his heart was only continually. -- Gen 6:5
How widely different is this from the fair pictures of human
nature which men have drawn In all ages! The writings of
many of the ancients abound with gay descriptions of the dignity,
of man; whom some of thern paint as having all virtue and
happiness in his composition, or, at least, entirely in his power,
without being beholden to any other being; yea, as self-sufficient,
able to live on his own stock, and little inferior to God Himself.
2. Nor have Heathens alone, men who are guided in their
researches by little more than the dim light of reason, but many
likewise of them that bear the name of Christ, and to whom are
entrusted the oracles of God, spoken as magnificently concerning
the nature of man, as if it were all innocence and perfection.
Accounts of this kind have particularly abounded in the present
century; and perhaps in no part of the world more than in our
own country. Here not a few persons of strong understanding,
as well as extensive learning, have employed their utmost
abilities to show, what they termed, 'the fair side of human
nature.' And it must be acknowledged, that, if their accounts of
him be just, man is still but ‘a little lower than the angels'; or,
as the words may be more literally rendered, "a little less than
God."
3. Is it any wonder, that these accounts are very readily
received by the generality of man? For who is not easily persuaded
to think favourably of himself? Accordingly, writers
of this kind are most universally read, admired, applauded.
And innumerable are the converts they have made, not only
in the gay but the learned world. So that it is now quite `
unfashionahle to talk otherwise, to say anything to the diparagement
of human nature; which is generally allowed,
notwithstanding a few infirmities, to be very innocent, and
wise, and virtuous!
4, But, in the meantime, what must we do with our Bibles?
—for they will never agree with this. These accounts, however
pleasing to flesh and blood, are utterly irreconcilable with the
spiritural. The Scripture avers, that 'by one man’s disobedience
- all men were constituted sinners'; that 'in Adam all died,'
spiritually died, lost the life and the image of God; that fallen,
sinful Adam then 'begat a son in his own likeness’—nor was it
possible he should beget him in any other; for ‘who an bring
a clean thing out of an unclean?'—that consequently we, as well
as other man, were by nature ‘dead in trespasses and sins,’
‘without hope, without God in the world,` and, therefore,
children of wrath'; that every man may say, ‘l was shapen in
wickedness, and in sin did my mother conceive me’; that ‘there
is no difference,’ in that ‘all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God,` of that glorious image of God wherein man
was originally created. And hence, when ‘the Lord looked down
from heaven upon the children uf man, He saw they were all
gone out of the way; they were altogether become abominable,
There was none righteous, no, not one,’ none that truly sought
after God: just agreeable this to what is declared by the Holy
Ghost in the words above recited, ‘God saw,' when He looked
down fiom heaven before, 'that the wickedness of man was
great in the earth'; so great, that ‘every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.'
This is God`s account of man: from which I shall take occasion, first, to show what men were before the flood: secondly, to inquire, whether they are not the same now: and, thirdly, to add some inferences.
I. 1. I am, first, by opening the words of the text, to show
what men were before the flood. And we may fully depend
on the account here given: for God saw it, and He cannot be
deceived. He 'saw that the wickedness of man was great':
—not of this or that man; not of a few men only; not barely
of the greater part, but of man in general; of men universally.
The word includes the whole human race, every parraker of
human nature. And it is not easy for us to compute their
numbers, to tell how many thousands and millions they were.
The earth then retained much of its primaeval beauty and
original fruitfulness. The face of the globe was not rent and
torn as it is now; and spring and summer went hand in hand.
It is therefore probable, it afforded sustenance for far more
inhabitants than it is now capable of sustaining; and these must be
immensely multiplied, while men begat sons and daughters for
seven or eight hundred years together. Yet, among all this
inconceivable number, only ‘Noah found favour with God.'
He alone (perhaps including part of his household) was an exception
from the universal wickedness, which, by the just
judgement of God, in a short time after brought on universal
destruction. All the rest were partakers in the same guilt, as they
were in the same punishment.
2. ‘God saw all the imaginations of the thoughts of his
heart’—of his soul, his inward man, the spirit within him, the
principle of all his inward and outward motions. He ‘saw all
the imaginations`-it is not possible to find a word of a more
extensive signification. lt includes whatever is formed, made,
fabricated within; all that is or passes in the soul; every
inclination, affection, passion, apetite; every temper, design, thought.
It must of consequence include every word and action, as naturally
flowing from these fountains, and being either good or
evil according to the fountain from which they severally flow.
3. Now God saw that all this, the whole thereof was evil——
contrary to moral rectitude; contrary to the nature of God,
which necessarily includes all good; contrary to the divine will,
the eternal standard of good and evil; contray to the pure,
holy image of God, wherein man was originally created, and
wherein he stood when God, surveying the works of His hands,
saw them all to be very good; contrary to justice, mercy, and
truth, and to the essential relations which each man bore to his
Creator and his fellow creatures.
4. But was there not good mingled with the evil? Was
there not light intermixed with the darkness? No, none at all:
‘God saw that the whole imagination of the heart of man was
only evil,' It cannot indeed he denied, but many of them,
perhaps all, had good motions put into their hearts; for the
Spirit of God did then also ‘strive with man,` if haply he might
repent, more especially during that gracious reprieve, the
hundred and twenty years, while the ark was preparing. But
still ‘in his flesh dwelt no good thing'; all his nature was purely
evil: it was wholly consistent with itself, and unmixed with
anything of an opposite nature.
5. However, it may still be matter of inquiry, `Was there
no intermission of this evil? Were there no lucid intervals,
wherein something good might he found in the heart of man?"
We are not here to consider, what the grace of God might
occasionally work in his soul; and, abstracted from this, we have
no reason to believe there was any intermission of that evil,
For God, who saw the whole imagination of the thoughts of
his heart to be only evil, saw likewise, that it was always the
same, that it ‘was only evil continually; every year, every day,
every hour, every moment. He never deviated into good.
II. Such is the authentic account of the whole race of mankind
which He who knoweth what is in man, who searcheth the
heart and trieth the reins gas left upon record for our instruction.
Such were all men before God brought the flood upon the earth
We are, secondly, to inquire, whether they are the same now.
1. And this is certain, the Scripture gives us no reason to
think any otherwise of them. On the contrary, all theabove-
ciced passages of Scripture refer to those who lived after the
flood. It was above a thousand years after, that God declared
by David concerning the children of men, “They are all gone
out of the way of truth and holiness; ‘there is none righteous,
no, not one.’ And to this bear all the prophets witness, in their
several generations. So Isaiah, concerning God’s peculiar
people (and certainly the Heathens were in no better condition),
‘The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the
sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness; but
wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores.' The same account
is given by all the Apostles, yea, by the whole tenor of the oracles
of God. From all these we learn, concerning man in his natural
state, unassisted by the grace of God, that ‘every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart is still evil, only evil,' and that 'continually.'
2. And this account of the present stare of man is confirmed
by daily experience. lt is true, the natural man discerns it not:
and this is not to be wondered at. So long as a man born blind
continues so, he is scarce sensible of his want: much less, could
we suppose a place where all were born without sight, would
they be sensible of the want of it. ln like manner, so long as men
remain in their natural blindness of understanding, they are not
sensible of their spiritual wants, and of this in particular. But as
soon as God opens the eyes of their understanding, they see the
state they were in before; they are then deeply convinced, that
levery man living, ' themselves especially, are, by nature,
‘altogether vanity'; that is, folly and ignorance, sin and wickedness.
3. We see, when God opens our eyes, that we were before
<greek missing>- without God, or rather, Athiests in the world.
We had, by nature, no knowledge of God, no acquaintance
with Him. It is true, as soon as we came to the use of reason,
we learned ‘the invisible things of God, even His eternal power
and Godhead, from the things that are made.' From the things
that are seen we inferred the existence of an eternal, powerful
Being, that is not seen. But still, although we acknowledged
His being, we had no acquaintance with Him. As we know
there is an Emperor of China, whom yet we do not know;
so we knew there was a King of all the earth, yet we knew Him
not. Indeed we could not by an of our natural faculties. By
none of these could we atain the knowledge of God. We could
no more perceive Him by our natural understanding, than we
could see Him with our eyes. For 'no one knoweth the Father
but the Son, and he to whom the Son willeth to reveal Him
And no one knoweth the Son but the Father, and he no whom
the Father revealeth Him.'
4. We read of an ancient king who, being desirous to know
what was the natural language of men, in order to bring the
matter to a certain issue, made the following experiment: he
ordered two infants, as soon as they were born, to be conveyed
to a place prepared for them, where they were brought up
without any instruction at all, and without ever hearing a
human voice. And what was the event? Why, that when they
were at length brought out of their confinement, they spake no
language at all; they uttered only inarticulate sounds, like those
of other animals. Were two infants in like manner to be brought
up from the womb without being instructed ln any religion,
there is little room to doubt but (unless the grace of God interposed)
the event would be just the same. They would have no
religion at all: they would have no more knowledge of God
than the beast of the field, than the wild ass's colt. Such is
natural religion, abstracted from traditional, and from the influences of God's Spirit.
5. And having no knowledge, we can have no love of God:
we cannot love Him we know not. Most men talk indeed of
loving God, and perhaps imagine they do; at least, few will
acknowledge they do not love Him: but the fact is too plain to
be denied. No man loves God by nature, any more than he does
a stone, or the earth he treads upon. What we love we delight
in: but no man has naturally any delight in God. In our natural
state we cannot conceive how an one should delight in Him.
We take no pleasure in Him at all; He is utterly tasteless to us.
To love God! it is far above, out of our sight. We cannot,
naturally, attain unto it.
6. We have by nature, not only no love, but no fear of God.
It is allowed, indeed, that most men have, sooner or larer, a kind
senseless, irrational fear, properly called ‘supersitition’; though
the blundering Epicureans gave it the name of ‘religion.' Yet
even this is not natural, but acquired; chiefly by conversation or
from example. By nature ‘God is not in all our thoughts': we
leave Him to manage His own affairs, to sit quietly, as we imagine,
in heaven, and leave us on earth to manage ours; so that we
have no more of the fear of God before our eyes, than of the love
of God in our hearts.
7. Thus are all men ‘Atheists in the world.' But Atheism
itself does not screen us form idolatry. In his narural state,
every man hom into rhe world is a rank idolater. Perhaps,
indeed, we may not be such in whe vulgar sense of whe word.
We do not, like the idolatrous Heatherns, worship molten or
graven images. We do not bow down to the stock of a tree,
to the work of our own hands. We do not pray to the angels or
saints in heaven, any more than to the saints that are upon the
earth. But what then? We have set up our idols in our hearts;
and to these we bow down, and worship them: we worship
ourselves, when we pay that honour to ourselves which is due
to God only. Therefore, all pride is idolatry; it is ascribing to
ourselves what is due to God alone. And although pride was not
made for man, yet where is the man that is born without it?
Bur hereby we rob God of His unalienable right, and idolatrously usurp His glory.
8. But pride is not the only sort of idolatry which we are
all by nature guilty of. Satan has stamped his own image on
our heart in self-will also. ‘I will said he, before he was cast
our of heaven, ‘l will sit upon the sides of the north’: I will do
my own will and pleasure, independently on that of my Crearor.
The same does every man born into the world say, and that in a
thousand instances; nay, and avow it too, without ever blushing
upon the account, without either fear or shame. Ask the man,
Why did on do this?’ He answers, ‘Because I had a mind to it."
What is this but, ‘Because it was my will`; that is, in effect
because the devil and I are agreed; because Satan and I govern
our actions by one and the same principle. The will of God,
meantime, is not in his thoughts, is not considered in the least
degree; athough it be the supreme rule of every intelligent
creature, whether in heaven or earth, resulting from the essential,
unalterable relation which all creatures bear to their Creator.
9. So far we bear the image of the devil, and tread in his
steps. But at the next step we leave Satan behind; we run
into an idolary whereof he is not guilty: I mean, love of the
world; which is now as natural to every man, as to love his
own will. What is more natural to us than to seek happiness
in the creature, instead of the Crearor-—to seek that satisfaction
in the works of His hands, which can be found in God only?
What more natural than ‘the desire of the flesh'? that is, of the
pleasure of sense in every kind? Men indeed talk magnificently,
of despising these low pleasures, particularly men of learning
and education. They affect to sit loose to the gratification of
those appetites wherein they stand on a level with the beasts
that perish. But it is mere affectation! for every man is conscious
to himsel£ that in this respect he is, by nature, a very beast.
Sensual appertites, even those of the lowest kind, have, more or
less, the dominion over him. They lead him captive; they drag
him to and fro, in spire of his boasted reason. The man, with all
his good breeding, and other accomplishments, has no pre-eminence
over the goat: nay, it is much to be doubted, whether
the beast has not the pre-eminence over him. Certainly he has,
if we may hearken to one of their modern oracles, who very
decently tell us.
- Once in a season beasts too taste of love;
- Only the beasts of reason is its slave.
- And in that folly drudges all the year.
A considerable difference indeed, it must be allowed, there is between man and man, arising (beside that wrought by preventing grace) from difference of constitution and of education But, notwithstanding this, who, that is nor utterly ignorant of himself can here cast the first stone at another? Who can abide the test of our blessed Lord’s comment on the Seventh Commandment 'He that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart'? So that one knows not which to wonder at most, the ignorance or the insolence of those men who speak with such disdain of them that are overcome by desires which every man has felt in his own breast; the desire of every pleasure of sense, innocent or not, being natural to every child of man.
10 And so is ‘the desire of the eye': the desire of the pleasures
of the imagination. These arise either from great, or beautiful,
or uncommon objects- if the two former do not coincide with
the latter; for perhaps it would appear, upon a diligent inquiry,
that neither grand nor beautiful objects please any longer than
they are new, that when the novelty of them is over, the greatest
part, at least, of the pleasure they give is over; and in the same
proportion as they become familiar, the become flat and
insipid. But let us experience this ever so often, the same desire
will remain still. The inbred thirst continues fixed in the soul;
nay, the more it is indulged, the more it increases, and incites
us to follow after another, and yet another ohject; although we
leave every one with an abortive hope, and a deluded expectation.
Yea,
- The hoary fool, who many days
- Has struggled with continued sorrow,
- Renew: his hope, and fondly lays
- The desperate bet upon tomorrow!
- To-morrow comes! `Tis noon! 'Tis night!
- This day, like all the former, flies:
- Yet on he goes, to seek delight
- Tomrorow, till to-night he dies!
11. A third symptom of this fatal disease—the love of the world, which is so deeply rooted in our nature- is 'the pride of life`; the desire of praise, of the honour that cometh of men This the greatest admirers of human nature allow to be strictly natural; as natural as the sight, or hearing, or any other of the external senses. And are they ashamed of it, even men of letters, men of refined and improved understanding? So far from it, that they glory therein! They applaud themselves for their love of applause Yea, eminent Christians, so called, make no difficulty of adopting the saying of the old, vain Heathen, Animi dissoluti est ei nequam negligere quid de se homines sentiant. `Not to regard what men think of us is the mark of a wicked and abandoned mind So that to go calm and unmoved through honour and dishonour through evil report and good report, is with them a sign of one that is, indeed, not fit to live: "away with such a fellow from the earth!" But would one imagine that these men had ever heard of Jesus Christ or His Apostles; or that they knew who it was that said, ‘How can ye believe who receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour which cometh of God only?" But if this be really so, if it be impossible to believe, and consequently to please God, so long as we receive or seek honour one of another. and seek not the honour which cometh of God only; then in what a condition are all mankind! the Christians as well as Heathens! since they all seek honour one of another! since it is as natural for them so to do, themselves being the judges, as it is to see the light which strikes upon their eye, or to hear the sound which enters their ear; yea, since they account it a sign of a virtuous mind, to seek the praise of men, and of a vicious one to be content with the honour that cometh of God only!
III. 1. I proceed to draw a few inferences from what has
been said. And, first, from hence we may learn one grand
fundamental difference between Christianity, considered as a
system of doctrines, and the most refined Heathensim. Many
of the ancient Heathens have largely described the vices of
particular men. They have spoken much against their covetousness,
or cruelty; their luxury, or prodigality. Some have dared
to say, that ‘no man is born without vices of one kind or another.'
But still, as none of them were apprised of the fall of man, so
none of them knew of his total corruption. They knew not
that all men were empty of all good, and filled with all manner
of evil. They were wholly ignorant of the entire depravation
of the whole human nature, of every man born into the world,
in every faculty of his soul, not so much by those particular
vices which reign in particular persons, as by the general flood
of Atheism and idolatry, of pride, selfwill, and love of the world.
This, therefore, is the first grand distinguishing point between
Heathenism and Christianity. The one acknowledges that many
men are infected with many vices, and even born with a proneness
to them; but supposes withal, that in some the natural good
much overbalances the evil: the other declares that all men are
‘conceived in sin ` and ‘shapen in wickedness’—that hence there
is in every man a `carnal mind which is enmity against God;
which is not, cannot be, subject to' His 'law'; and which so
infects the whole soul, that ‘there dwelleth in' him, 'in his flesh,'
in his natural state, ‘no good thing'; but every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart is evil,' only evil, and that ‘continually.'
2. Hence we may, secondly, learn, that all who deny this,
call it ‘original sin,’ or by any other title, are but Heathens still,
in the fundamental point which differences Heathenism from
Christianity. They may, indeed, allow, that men have many
vices; that some are born with us; and that, consequently, we
are not born altogether so wise or so virtuous as we should be;
there being few that will roundly afirm, ‘We are born with as
much propensity to good as to evil, and that every man is, by
nature, as virtuous and wise as Adam was at his creation.` But
here is the shibboleth: Is man by nature filled with all manner of
evil? ls he void of all good? Is he wholly fallen? Is his soul
totally corrupted? Or, to come back to the text, is ‘every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart only evil continually'?
Allow this, and you are so far a Christian. Deny it, and you are
but an Heathen still.
3. We may learn from hence, in die third place, what is
the proper nature of religion, of the religion of Jesus Christ.
it is <greek here>;—God's method of healing a soul which is
thus diseased. Thereby the great Physician of souls applies
medicines to heal this sickness; to restore human nature, totally
corrupted in all its faculties. God heals all our Atheism by the
knowledge of Himself, and of Jesus Christ whom He hath sent;
by giving us faith, a divine evidence and conviction of God,
and of the things of God-in particular, of this important truth,
`Christ loved me, and gave Himself for me.’ By repentence and
lowliness of heart, the deadly disease of pride is healed; that of
self-will by resignation, a meek and thankful submission to the
will of God; and for the love of the world in all its branches,
the love of God is the sovereign remedy. Now, this is properly
religion, ‘faith’ thus ‘working by love’: working the genuine
meek humility, entire deadness to the world, with a loving,
thankful acquiescence in, and conformity to, the whole will and
word of God.
4. Indeed, if man were not thus fallen, there would be no
need of all this. There would be no occasion for this work in
the heart, this renewal in the spirit of our mind. The super-
fluity of godliness would then be a more proper expression than
the superfluity ot'naughtiness.’ For an outside religion. without
any godliness at all, would suffice to all rational intents and
purposes. It does, accordingly, suffice, in the judgement of
those who deny this corruption of our nature. They make very
little more bf religion than the famous Mr. Hobbes did of
reason. According to him, reason is only ‘a well-ordered train
of words’; according to them, religion is only a well-ordered
train of words and actions. And they speak consistently with
themselves; for if the inside be not full of wickedness, if this be
clean already, what remains, but to `cleanse the outside of the
cup?" Outward reformation, if their supposition be just, is
indeed the one thing needful.
5. But ye have not so learned the oracles of God. Ye know
that He who seeth what is in man gives a far different account
both of nature and grace, of our fall and our recovery. Ye know
that the great end of religion is, to renew out hearts in the image
of God, to repair that total loss of righteousness and true holiness
which we sustained by the sin of our first parent. Ye know that
all religion which does not answer this end, all that stops short
of this, the renewal of our soul in the image of God, after the
likeness of Him that created it, is no other than a poor farce, and
a mere mockery of God, to the destruction of our own soul. O
beware of all those teachers of lies, who would palm this upon
you for Christianity! Regard them not, although they should
come unto you with all the deceiveableness of unrighteousness;
with all smoothness of language, all decency, yea, beauty and
elegance of expression, all professions of earnest good-will to
you, and reverence for the holy Scriptures. Keep to the plain,
old faith, 'Once delivered to the saints' and delivered by the
Spirit of God to our hearts. Know your disease! Know your
cure! Ye were born in sin: therefore, 'ye must be born again,`
born of God. By nature ye are wholly corrupted: by grace
ye shall be wholly renewed. In Adam ye all died: in the second
Adam, in Christ, ye all are made alive. ‘You that were dead in
sins hath He quickened’: He hath already given you a principle of
life, even faith in Him who loved you and gave Himself for you!
Now, ‘go on from faith to faith,' until your whole sickness he
healed, and all that mind be in you which was also in Christ
Jesus'!
This work was published before January 1, 1927, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.