} The Explication of·the Text. 3 Gttr tt>xt) y11t 11ty foul feeheth, hut Ifind not. He could· make no fatisfying difcovery of it, which might fiay his enquiry. He fo.und good men very rare, &ne ,as it were ,among a thoufand; good <Women more rare, not o~e good among his thoufand wives ar.d concubines, I King1 xi. g. But could that fatisfy the grand qqery, lVhere jhall wif– aom be .found? No, it cou-ld not : (and if the experience of others, in this 'p.oint, run counter to Solomon's, as 'tis no reflect·ion on -his difcerning, it can as little decide the queftion; which will remain undetermined till th!:! lafl: ' day.) But amidfl: aU this uncertainty, there is one point found out, and fixed: 'lhh have !found. Ye may de.– pend .upon it as a moft ceitain tnth, and be fully fatis .. lied in it : Lo-, this; fix your eyes upon it, as a matter worthy .of~ m2.fl deep· aod ferious regard· ; to wit, that man 's nature(?f now depraved, but that depravation was l!Ot ft9m God, for he made man, ttpright ; . but from themfe:lves, t~t} have fo.z:ght out many inventions. DoCTRINE, G~d· m·aclc man :aftogether-righteeut.' . THis i,s t~at ftate of innoc~fl~e i'n w~ich ~od fet man · _ .. down m tthe wer1d. · 'fxs defcnbed 1n ·th-e holy f.eriptures, with a h·rming pen, in cornpar!fon o( the fol- · }owing H.ates·; -foJ! it was o( n'o con~inuance, but paffed . as fl. ftying fuadow, by man's abuii-ng the freedom of his t>Wn will. l ihaU, Firft, lnqu·ire 'iJfto the righteottfn'eft 'if tMs fiate rwherein nzaJJ· ru;~as created. Secondly, La_y before yott fome · c:f the happy coneo1fd'.. lants and cotifeq.ucnti· thereof.. Lafily; Apply ,tho whole .. . I ' Of MAN's Original Righteoufnefl. FIRST, As to the righteoufnefs· of ~his fiate, confider 7 that as uncreated tighteoufnefs, the righteoufnefs ofGod,. is the fupreme· mle ~ fo ~all created righteoufnefs, whe– ther of men or angels, bath refpeCl: to a 'law as its rule, and is ·a conformity thereunto. A creature qn no more A z be
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