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Reformed Thought for Christian Living
Human Nature in its Fourfold State Some preachers are natural poets. Boston once composed “a kind of a poem on friendship.” However he judged that it, like his other attempts […]
Human Nature in its Fourfold State
Some preachers are natural poets. Boston once composed “a kind of a poem on friendship.” However he judged that it, like his other attempts at poetry, was so poor that he committed all his poems to the flames. Boston’s strength was his deep theology and clear communication.
During his lifetime, he had two books published; one was his annotated notes on The Marrow of Modern Divinity, published in 1726. The other was Human nature in its Fourfold State, first published in 1720. It is his clearest attempt at explaining the unfolding of salvation through four states: innocence, nature, grace and eternal happiness or misery. Each section builds upon – and only makes sense – in the light of the previous section. Below is an outline of the book.
| State 1: Innocence “See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.” Ecclesiastes 7:29 Adam and Eve, “our first parents; the archetypal pair, the root of mankind… was made right… without any imperfection, corruption, or principle of corruption in his body or soul.” This state of innocence in creation was according to God as “the supreme rule.” In creating Adam and Eve, there must have been a law “to which man, as a rational creature, were subjected in his creation; and that this law was revealed to him.” Thus, our first parents had “perfect knowledge of the law” and of their duty to obey it. For Adam, this law was “written upon his mind… God impressed it upon his soul, and made him a law to himself.” Citing Romans 2:14-15, Boston sees the law of God as remaining, to some degree, in every human being. Adam’s affections were “orderly, pure, and holy” – as indeed was every part of him. Yet, despite being created in this state of innocence, “it was mutable; it was a righteousness that might be lost.” God had set Adam’s will to do good, but he did not fix it so that “it could not alter.” In this state, Adam was perfectly happy, for “happiness is the result of holiness.” He was at peace with God, the created world and himself. In applying this doctrine to us, Boston observes that God must never be blamed for our sin and unhappiness, for His creation is good. |
| State 2: Nature “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” – Genesis 6:5 This state is as sad as the first state was glorious. Sin exposes a “corrupt heart… The heart is ever framing something; but never one right thing.” In this way, “Adam’s fall has framed all men’s hearts alike.” The result is that we are liable to the wrath of God, sinful by nature, and “condemned before we have done good or evil; under the curse, before we know what it is.” It is this corruption of every part of our being that makes human laws necessary. Every part of our being is now corrupted – understanding, will, affections, conscience, memory and body. In this state of deprivation we are enemies to Christ as prophet in that we do not listen to Him; as priest in that we stumble and reject “Christ crucified,” thinking, “according to the spider’s motto” that we can “climb up to heaven on a thread spun out of their own bowels.” This leaves us in a state of wrath before God. We are an enemy to Christ in His kingly office in that we do not submit to His kingship. Answering the question as to “how man’s nature was corrupted,” Boston says, based on Romans 5:12 and 19, that “Adam’s sin corrupted man’s nature… The root was poisoned, and so the branches were envenomed… Adam, by his sin, became not only guilty, but corrupt; and so transmits guilt and corruption to his posterity.” Amongst many warnings, Boston also gives hope: “Turn your eyes, O prisoners of hope, towards the Lord Jesus Christ; and embrace him as he offereth himself in the gospel.” |
| State 3: Grace “…you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through fthe living and abiding word of God.” – 1 Peter 1:23 Only God has the power to free us from bondage in Adam. Thus, every person who now stands before God in a state of grace has been born again. Boston warns against a falsely thinking that we belong to God’s kingdom when we do not: “All that are baptised are not born again… One may engage in all the outward duties of religion, and yet not be born again… Yea hypocrites may have the counterfeit of all the graces of the Spirit.” Despite this, we need never doubt that “regeneration is a real thorough change, whereby the man is made a new creature… It is a supernatural change; he that is born again, is born of the spirit.” God’s work is “an universal change.” Where before sin infected every part of our being, now “regenerating grace, which is the salve, goes as far as the sore.” The born-again person “gets not only a new head to know religion, or a new tongue to talk of it; but a new heart to love and embrace it, in the whole of his conversation. When the Lord opens the sluice of grace on the soul’s new birth-day, the waters run through the whole man, to purify and make him fruitful.” Mind, will, affections, memory and conversation are all turned to God. In applying this, Boston realises that some people may ask: “How shall we know whether we are born again or not?” Boston replies by analogy: look to the sun and when you see its heat and light then you know that it has risen. So too, “Grace is light, and discovers itself.” He urges us to look to God and see the grace wrought change within, namely in a new knowledge of God and love for Him, and His people. He considers several cases, including; “CASE 1. I doubt if I be regenerate; because I know not the precise time of my conversion… Ans. Though it is desirable to be able to give an account of the beginning, and the gradual advances of the Lord’s work upon our souls… yet this is not necessary to evidence the truth of grace… Likeas, when we see flame, we know there is fire, though we know not how or when it began; so the truth of grace in us may be discerned, though we know not how or when it was dropt into our hearts.” “CASE 2. If I were a new creature, sin could not prevail against me as it doth? Ans. Though we must not lay pillows for hypocrites to rest their heads upon.” Yet, as to ongoing sin within a believer, Boston explains, “The new creature doth not yet possess the house alone; it dwells bedside an ill neighbor; namely, remaining corruption… These struggle together for mastery.” Boston urges us that if we be born again, then let not our ongoing sin lead us to conclude that we are not children of God, but rather let it humble us to be more watchful and thirst more “intensely after Jesus Christ.” “CASE 3. I find the motions of sin, in my heart, more violent, since the Lord began his work on my soul, than they were before that time… Ans… These stirrings may consist with a change of your nature.” Boston likens this to the sun shining through a window into a home and showing up residual grime, which was not seen before. “Sin is not quite dead in the regenerate soul, but it is dying; and dying a lingering death, being crucified, no wonder there be great fightings…” “CASE 4. But when I compare my love to God with my love to some created enjoyments, I find the pulse of my affections beat stronger to the creature than the Creator. How then can I call him Father? …Ans. It cannot be denied, that the predominant love of the world, is a certain mark of an unregenerate state.” Yet, Boston also says that nevertheless, we ought to beware of measuring our love for God merely on feelings. He gives the example of a man meeting a friend who has been away for a long time and feeling on that occasion more feeling for his friend than for his wife and children. Does that mean that he loves his friend more than his family? No. His love for his family is of a deeper and stronger level than his affections for his friend, and so it can be with our love for God. Boston gives additional cases that may cause us to doubt whether we be truly regenerate. In each case, he presses us to examine ourselves seriously, and then draws us to God’s covenant promises. The state of grace is a result of our union with Christ, reflected in the marriage of a husband and wife and becoming one flesh; so with Christ, “true believers… become one spirit,” and none can separate us from Christ. Of the benefits of being united to Christ, Boston lists the following: Justification, asthe person united to Christ is counted as justified before God: “God the Father takes the pen, dips it in the blood of his Son, crosseth the sinner’s accounts, and blotteth them out of his debt-book… The sentence of condemnation is reversed, the believer is absolved, and set beyond the reach of the condemning law.”Peace with God, and with our consciences according to the measure of our understanding our peace with God. Adoption into God’s family, which includes “seasonable correction,” for God disciplines those that He loves (Heb. 12:3-11), which is our “privilege as sons.”Sanctification, including putting to death sin within us, and feeding on Christ. Grace, the believer will grow in grace as from a child to a young man to a father. Fruitfulness, as “faith is always followed with good works.”Holiness, as every true Christian will “offer the sacrifice of praise, and they do good.” Establishment, such that “the Christian cannot fall away.” Support as “the believer leans on Christ.”Special care of the Gardener, as “believers, by virtue of their union with Christ, are the object of God’s special care and providence.” |
| State 4: Eternal happiness or misery “For I know that you will bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living.” – Job 30:23 All must die. In regards the death of the wicked, “death roots up their delusive hopes of eternal happiness… death makes their state absolutely and for ever hopeless.” The “bright side” of the cloud, is that death is the way by which the godly are taken to their eternal state, “happy and hopeful… Jesus Christ, their best friend, is Lord of that land to which death carries them.” Some saints may die “full of fears, and have little hope.” Yet, “the hopelessness of a saint” does not mean that his state is hopeless. True faith will not fail in the end. The resurrection of Christ is the assurance that God will one day raise the living and the dead to eternal judgment. In regard to the qualities of the bodies of the wicked at the resurrection, Boston admits “I find the scripture speaks but little of them,” except that they shall be unsatisfied (Luke 16:24-25), weak yet never dying under God’s wrath (Rev. 14:11), and without glory (Dan. 12:2). God’s judgment will be “righteous and impartial, accurate and searching, clear and evident.” Regarding heaven, Boston says, “There we will see Adam and Eve in the heavenly paradise freely eating of the tree of life; Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and all the holy patriarchs, no more wandering from land to land, but come to their everlasting rest… There will we see our godly friends, relations, and acquaintance, pillars in the temple of God.” Most of all, there “they shall have… glorious communion with God and Christ, which is the perfection of happiness.” Boston closes by exhorting his readers “improve time, while you have it.” |
– Graham Barnes
