THE

ORIGINAL STATE OF MAN,

AND

HUMAN DEPRAVITY.

THAT man, in his present state, is not what he was when he came from the hand of his Creator, is a truth so obvious to reason, that it has been admitted by observant minds in all ages and countries. Whether we contemplate him as a citizen of the natural, the moral, or intellectual world, he appears with evident indications of being a fallen creature, and an object of Divine displeasure. He enters the world under circumstances of suffering and peril; he passes through it a subject of sorrow, toil, and affliction; and leaves it often with a convulsive groan, a victim of death, a prey to worms and corruption. In his body he is subject to innumerable pains, diseases, and dangers, and every moment exposed to the shafts of mortality; in his spiritual nature he is the dupe of ignorance and sin. Beclouded in his understanding, feeble in his judgment, perverse in his will, and corrupt in his affections, he becomes a slave to his passions; or, if restrained by counsel, example, or authority, from the extremes of depravity, he still remains (unless grace effect a change) an alien to God and a stranger to solid peace and satisfaction. With an immortal nature, his tendencies are earthly; with capacities for boundless attainments, he is absorbed and infatuated with a bauble; with an instinctive love of life, he is harassed by the constant dread of death; with a thrist for happiness, he is naturally impelled to a course which entails upon him misery and destruction!

With these facts before us, we ask, what is the cause? Do these results necessarily flow from the original constitution of man's physical and moral nature? Can we attach the blame to his Creator, by supposing that he at first formed man in his body a subject of disease and mortality; in his soul a victim to sin and misery? From such a supposition reason recoils with abhorence. To entertain this would be to do violence to the plainest dictates of the human mind, for it would be to suppose that God, who is a being of absolute purity, is the sole author of sin-that God, a being of boundless benevolence, is the originator of all the misery which exists-which supposition would be both absurd and blasphemous. Even the unenlightened heathen never ascribed the origin of evil to the Supreme Deity, although in their attempts to account for it they were lost in fabulous and erroneous speculations.

H

The truth is, that although reason may determine that man's original state could not be what it is at present, and that God himself could not be the author of human misery, yet it was incompetent to discover the primeval state of man, or the cause of that melancholy change he has experienced. This mournful subject has indeed often been a theme of the poet's dirge and the philosopher's speculation, even in heathen countries; but their views present a strange and incoherent mixture of truth and fiction-what is true, being evidently borrowed from authentic tradition or revelation; and what is fabulous, the inventions of minds which sought to supply by conjecture such vacancies as lost or faded truth had left on the canvass of history. Even as an ancient painting of Raphael, Rubens, or some great master, when defaced by age, or torn into shreds by violence, but rudely put together and filled up by the pencil of some rash and unskilful hand, presents only a caricature of the proportion, harmony, and breathing genius of the original, so the discordant theories of heathen cosmogonists have more of contrast than resemblance to the simple narrative of the inspired volume. When Euryalus declares that man was made in the image of God---when Ovid makes the same assertion---when Cicero speaks of man as created erect, as if God excited him to look up to his former relation and ancient abode---when Catullus represents the unhallowed period in which justice was put to flight, and men imbued their hands in fraternal blood, and various crimes alienated the mind of God from mankindwhen Tacitus traces the progress of depravity from a period of innocence to flagitious and abandoned wickedness; and when poets and historians generally speak of a gradual deterioration from age to age, of a change from a golden era of innocence to an iron depravity*- --we can clearly perceive the general outlines of sacred truth; but as these same writers blend their narrations with the most extravagant fictions, we see that truth so distorted, obscured, and corrupted by human invention, as to bear but a distant resemblance to the divine original. In the Bible alone, therefore, we have a true account of the original state of man, and the cause of his defection and misery. Here we have infallible certainty united with the highest antiquity-we are led by the hand and instructed by the voice of our Heavenly Father, and it is equally our duty and our privilege to listen to his teachings.

From the first chapter of Genesis we learn, that as man was the noblest, so he was the last, of the Creator's works. The mansion was first constructed and furnished, and then its inhabitant was formed. This was congruous to the order and fitness of things, and to the dignified position of man as lord of this lower creation. The world would have been incomplete without man. All the works of Jehovah were indeed worthy of him-good in their nature and perfect in their kind; and he * Grey's Connexion.

looked upon them with complacency. In all these were displays of wisdom, power, and benevolence; but without man there was no mind to contemplate them-no being capable of seeing God in his works, and adoring him as their author. No being whose intellect could trace the wonderful effects in the universe to their Cause who could perceive the adaptations of wisdom, or the provisions of benevolence, or the exhibitions of power. Nor was there a mind susceptible of moral emotions-not one that could understand God's will or receive his law, or commune with his Spirit-not one who could render him voluntary homage, or send forth to him an aspiration of gratitude, devotion, and love-indeed, not one to enjoy the presence of his Maker, or be conscious of his existence. This desideratum Jehovah supplied in the creation of man.

In

"And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowls of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image: in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." another passage it is added, " And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." Gen. i. 26, 27; ii. 7. The language employed in this account of the origin of man, expresses his importance in the creation, his twofold nature, and his primeval rectitude.

In reference to his creation, there was a consultation in the Godhead," and God said, let us make man"-phraseology which is peculiar, and applied to the creation of no other being but man. Gregory Nyssen observes "that the superiority of man, to all other parts of creation, is seen in this, that all other creatures are represented as the effect of God's word, but man is represented as the work of God, according to plan and consideration, Let us make MAN in our IMAGE, after our LIKENESS." Matthew Henry remarks, in the creation of other things God speaks with authority, but in the creation of man he speaks with affection, "Let us make man." "It is, doubtless, one instance out of many supplied by the Holy Scriptures, in which God has expressed the importance of man above all his works. Man was formed to be lord of this lower world, to hold communion with the Triune God, and enjoy an immortal existence; his creation, therefore, was distinguished and honoured by a consultation in the Godhead.

He was formed with a twofold nature, body and soul-the former, like that of the inferior animals, was derived from the dust of the earth, but the latter was produced by a divine inflatus-God breathed into his nostrils the breath of lies (D") and man became a living soul-a being possessing a ration

* See Clarke and Henry in loco.

and an immortal spirit. Yet these two substances, body and spirit, so diverse in their nature and properties, and brought into existence by separate modes of divine operation, are so intimately united as to form but one person-one conscious being.

The same text informs us that man was made in the image and likeness of God. God is a spirit, and it was the spirit of man that was formed in the likeness of God, We cannot conceive how a body could be formed in the image of a spirit, but we may conceive it possible for one spirit to resemble another. The soul of man, like its divine and glorious Author, was made spiritual in its nature, and immortal in its duration-made in the image of God's eternity. It was made like God, too, in its intellectual faculties, having understanding, will, and active power, and this is what divines call "the natural image of God in his creature."

But the language of the inspired writer has especial reference to the moral image and likeness of God; and what is meant by the image in this sense may be easily understood from parallel passages of Scripture. The wise man says, "Lo, this only have I found that God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions," (Ecc. vii. 29); from which it is obvious that the original state of man was a state of uprightness, and in this consisted his moral resemblance to the Creator. The image of God is referred to in the New Testament, and in conformity with the above passage it implies a state of moral rectitude. Thus St. Paul describes believers as 66 Having put off the old man with his deeds, and put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him." Col. iii. 9, 10. Again, he exhorts believers in similar language, "That ye put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." Eph. iv. 22, 23, 24. From these Scriptures we clearly see what is the moral image of God. It is a state of uprightness, as opposed to carnal inventions— sinister purposes, corrupt designs, foolish and deceitful schemes of happiness. It is a state of divine knowledge-a knowlege and approbation of God and his holy will, as opposed to the ignorance and alienation which characterize our degenerate state. It is a state of righteousness and true holiness, contrasted with corrupt conversation and deceitful lusts.

From these and other intimations of man's original state, we see that he was a being of exalted moral excellence, and intellectual capacity-a creature endowed with great and glorious perfections. His understanding was bright, vigorous, and comprehensive, free from the bewildering mists of prejudice, and intuitively stored with knowledge. His knowledge of nature is manifest, from his giving an appropriate name to the creatures brought before him, a name significant of the peculiar

properties and habits of each species. His knowledge of the Creator's will concerning him, of the love, worship, and obedience he owed to him, was clear, correct, and adequate to his station, as an intelligent though dependant creature. His memory was quick and retentive. His conscience, free from the stains of guilt and a stranger to remorse, was a perfect transcript of the divine law-the faithful vicegerent of heaven in his soul. His will was in strict conformity to the will of his Maker. His affections were pure and spiritual, habitually tending towards God, fixed upon him with supreme ardour and delight as the Author of his being and the fountain of his happiness. His earthly passions calm; his animal appetites temperate; and both were subordinate to the nobler faculties of his nature, and the higher principles and objects of his existence. He was filled with his Maker's Spirit; he rejoiced in his favour; he reflected his image; he loved him with all his powers; he was fitted to glorify him for ever. His Maker pronounced him good-very good-a declaration which implies the absence of all evil, and the possession of every excellence, physical, intellectual, and moral, which his nature as a man, and his condition as a free agent, could admit. Yet this good was capable of enhancement, and his continuance in obedience was designed to secure that result. His mind, like that of the angels, was formed for continual expansion, refinement, and elevation, and his life for perpetual exaltation in worth, usefulness, and honour.

With these endowments man was placed in Paradise-a garden of delight, as the original expresses it-a sacred spot, selected and specially prepared by God himself, as the appropriate and happy residence of his new-formed creature. Here man passed the days of his innocence, in a region which formed no unhappy resemblance to heaven itself; surrounded by all that was good for food, pleasant to the eye, or fragrant to the smell; in an atmosphere impregnated with life; amidst streams in which life flowed; amidst fruits and flowers in which life bloomed and ripened; encircled with ever-living beauty and magnificence. To him the various displays of wisdom, power, and benevolence around him, were illustrious sources of pleasure. Wherever his eye turned its glance he saw the Deity, and he saw him with delight. The universe itself was one vast mirror, in which he beheld reflected every moment, in 'every form, the glory, the majesty, the goodness of God; while to him his prayers and praises arose more fragrant than the incense of the morning, and formed no unhappy harmony with the loftier music of heaven.'*

But man was placed in a state of probation, and this was perfectly compatible with the attributes of his nature, and the

* Some of the ideas and phrases contained in this paragraph are from Dwight, but as it is about fourteen years since I read his discourses on this subject, I do not profess to give his words exactly.