Reformed Covenanter
Cancelled Commissioner
WHEN man fell from God, great was his fall indeed; for he fell from the Creator to the creature; he fell from heaven to earth; he fell from the height of happiness to the depth of misery, for he fell from holiness into sin. And ever since man first fell from holiness to sin, he hath been unable to rise again from sin to holiness.
Ever since he first chose the evil before the good, he hath been unable to choose the good before the evil. I know that as he was created at the first with freedom of will, he had power so to choose the good as to refuse the evil, and so to refuse the evil as to choose the good. And I know also, that when he fell from God he did not quite lose that freedom of his will, for he is still a reasonable creature, and wheresoever there is reason in the understanding there is freedom in the will. But I know withal, that this freedom of will is much corrupted and degenerated now since the fall, from what it was before the fall.
Then it was free to choose the good as well as the evil; now it is free to choose the evil but not the good: then it was free from sin to holiness; now it is free from holiness to sin: then it could so refuse the evil as to choose the good, and so choose the good as to refuse the evil; but now it can only so refuse the good as to choose the evil, and so choose the evil as to refuse the good. So that though the fall did not destroy it, yet it corrupted it; though the will be still free, yet not to God, not to grace, not to piety, but only to the world, to sin, and to iniquity. ...
For more, see William Beveridge on fallen man’s corrupt will.
Ever since he first chose the evil before the good, he hath been unable to choose the good before the evil. I know that as he was created at the first with freedom of will, he had power so to choose the good as to refuse the evil, and so to refuse the evil as to choose the good. And I know also, that when he fell from God he did not quite lose that freedom of his will, for he is still a reasonable creature, and wheresoever there is reason in the understanding there is freedom in the will. But I know withal, that this freedom of will is much corrupted and degenerated now since the fall, from what it was before the fall.
Then it was free to choose the good as well as the evil; now it is free to choose the evil but not the good: then it was free from sin to holiness; now it is free from holiness to sin: then it could so refuse the evil as to choose the good, and so choose the good as to refuse the evil; but now it can only so refuse the good as to choose the evil, and so choose the evil as to refuse the good. So that though the fall did not destroy it, yet it corrupted it; though the will be still free, yet not to God, not to grace, not to piety, but only to the world, to sin, and to iniquity. ...
For more, see William Beveridge on fallen man’s corrupt will.
