'Voices From The Past' Vol. 1 — December 16

While man was a lovely and happy creature, by sin he cast himself into a sinful and miserable state. Every imagination of his heart was evil continually. His mind and will were defiled. There was nothing now in man truly good and acceptable to God. What a vile heart and corrupt nature is this! It is a corruption ingrained in the heart and interwoven in our very nature. It grieved the Lord that he had made man upon the earth. Our understanding was corrupted and covered with confusion. We have fallen into the hands of our adversary. The will has now turned traitor, and rules under the hold of Satan's fetters and is controlled by evil. Man's affections are wholly disordered and corrupted. They are as the unruly horse unwilling to receive a rider or which violently runs away with the rider. The heart is the mother of abominations. It loves what it should hate and hates what it should love. It has become a threefold cord against heaven and holiness that is not easily broken: a blind mind, a perverse will, and disorderly affections. The conscience is corrupt and defiled, and the body has become defiled. Thus, we see the necessity of regeneration, and a total change of nature. The cure must go through every part of man. Regeneration makes a new head for knowledge, a new heart and new affections for holiness (2 Cor. 5:17). This change cannot be made by human industry, but by the mighty power of the Spirit of God (John 3:5). Remember dear saints, the day the Lord took you by the hand. O what moved him to take you and command your chains to fall off? Admire the matchless love that brought you out of wrath. He brought you into his palace on the day you might have been led forth to execution. Be wholly his and do not think lightly of sin.

Devotional Readings taken from Puritan Devotional Readings 'Voices From The Past Vol.1.'
Thomas Boston, Human Nature in its Fourfold State, pp. 59-181
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