In
his famous book, Human Nature in Its Fourfold State, the Scottish Puritan,
Thomas Boston (1676–1732) teaches us that the four states of human nature are:
(a) Primitive Integrity; (b) Entire Depravity; (c) Begun Recovery; and (d)
Consummate Happiness or Misery.
These
four states, which are derived from the Scripture, correlate to the four states
of man in relation to sin, brought to light by by Augustine of Hippo: (a) able
to sin, able not to sin (posse peccare, posse non peccare); (b) not able not to
sin (non posse non peccare); (c) able not to sin (posse non peccare); and (d)
unable to sin (non posse peccare). The first state corresponds to the state of
man in innocency, before the Fall; the second the state of the natural man
after the Fall; the third the state of the regenerate man; and the fourth the
glorified man.
It
must be noted that in all four states, man is free to choose what to do or not
to do according to his will. His will is free because it is not forced or
compelled from without. However, his will is determined by his own moral
inclinations. This means that while the glorified man will always choose to do
good because his heart’s inclination is always to glorify God; the natural
fallen man will always do what is evil (in God’s eyes), because his motives are
never pure, and never to glorify God.
Before
the Fall, man was able to choose to do either good or evil, his heart, and so
his inclination and disposition, being innocent and not tainted by sin. But
Adam’s state was mutable and when Satan tempted Eve, and then through Eve,
tempted him, he chose to sin against God by eating the forbidden fruit and so
fell from the estate of innocency.
“When
the people of God reach heaven, they will see Jesus Christ, God and man, with
their bodily eyes, as He will never lay aside the human nature. They will
behold that glorious blessed body, which is personally united to the divine
nature, and exalted above principalities and powers and every name that is
named. There we shall see, with our eyes, that very body which was born of Mary
at Bethlehem, and crucified at Jerusalem between two thieves: the blessed head
that was crowned with thorns; the face that was spit upon; the hands and feet
that were nailed to the cross; all shining with inconceivable glory.” ~Thomas
Boston
Author
Thomas
Boston (1676–1732) was a Scottish church leader. He was educated at Edinburgh,
and licensed in 1697 by the presbytery of Chirnside. In 1699 he became minister
of the small parish of Simprin, where there were only 90 examinable persons.
His autobiography is a record of Scottish life, with humorous touches,
intentional and otherwise. His books, The Fourfold State, The Crook
in the Lot, and his Body of Divinity and Miscellanies, had a
powerful influence over the Scottish peasantry.
