wise man, he "sought out many inventions." A sad
invention indeed! He found out misery and slavery to himself, who was made
free and happy. His freedom and happiness was to be in subjection to his
Maker, under the just and holy commands of his Lord, who had given him
breath and being. It was no captivity or restraint to be compassed about
with the hedges of the Lord's holy law, no more than it is a restraint on
a man's liberty to have his way hedged in, where he may safely walk, that
he may keep himself within it, from pits and snares on every hand. But,
alas!--if we may say alas, when we have such a redemption in Jesus
Christ,--Adam was not content with that happiness, but seeking after more
liberty, he sold himself into the hands of strange lords,--first sin, and
then death. "Other lords besides thee, O Lord, have had dominion over us,"
Isa. xxvi. 13. This is too true in this sense; Adam seeking to be as the
Lord himself, lost his own lordship and dominion over all the works of
God's hands, and became a servant to the basest and most abominable of
all, even that which is most hateful to the Lord,--to sin and death. And
this is the condition we are now born into. Consider it, I pray you,--we
are born captives and slaves, the most noble, the most ingenuous, and the
most free of us all. Paul speaks of it as a privilege to be born free; to
be free in man's commonwealth. It is counted a dignity to be a free
citizen or burgess of a town. Liberty is the great claim of people
now-a-days; and indeed it is the great advantage of a people to enjoy that
mother and womb privilege and right. But, alas! What is all this to be
free-born in a civil society? It is but the state of a man among men. It
reaches no further than the outward man, his life or estate. But here is a
matter of greater moment,--know you what state your souls are in? Your
souls are incomparably more worth than your bodies, as much as eternity
surpasseth this inch of time, or immortality exceeds mortality. Your souls
are yourselves, indeed; your bodies are but your house or tabernacle you
lodge into for a season. Now then, I beseech you, ask whether you be born
free or not. If your souls be slaves, you are slaves indeed; for so the
evangelist changeth these. Matthew saith, in chap. xvi. 26, "what hath a
man gained, if he lose his own soul?" And Luke, chap. ix. 25, saith, what
hath he gained, if he "lose himself?" Therefore you are not free indeed
except your souls be