“By the favor of God, [man] was advanced to be confederate with Heaven, in the first Covenant, called, The Covenant of Works. God reduced the Law, which he gave in his creation, into the form of a Covenant, whereof perfect obedience was the condition: life was the thing promised, and death the penalty. As for the condition, one great branch of the natural Law was, that man believe whatsoever God shall reveal, and do whatsoever he shall command…” 

Editor’s note: This is part one of a four-part series introducing Scottish theologian Thomas Boston’s book, The Fourfold State of Human Nature.

Thomas Boston (1676-1732) was a minister and theologian in the Church of Scotland, whose preaching and writings continue to encourage Christians around the world to this day. His book, Human Nature in Its Fourfold State, was second in popularity only to the Bible in Scotland in the eighteenth century. Such an influential book should not be overlooked by Christians today, as Boston has much to teach us about God’s redemptive plan from Genesis to Revelation.

The book is divided into four main parts, covering creation, the fall of man, redemption in Christ, and the consummation of the kingdom of God. Boston writes,

There are four things very necessary to be known by all that would see Heaven: First, What Man was in the state of innocence, as GOD made him. Secondly, What he is in the state of corrupt nature, as he hath unmade himself. Thirdly, What he must be in the state of grace, as created in Christ Jesus unto good works, if ever he be made a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light And, Lastly, What he shall be in his eternal state, as made by the Judge of all, either perfectly happy, or compleatly miserable, and that forever. These are weighty points, that touch the vitals of practical godliness, from which most men, and even many professors, in these dregs of time, are quite estranged. I design therefore, under the divine conduct, to open up these things, and apply them.[1]

Here is a brief introduction to the first state of man, innocence, in Boston’s own words (all quotations are from the uncopyrighted version in the University of Michigan Digital Collection:

The State of Innocence; or Primitive integrity, in Which Man Was Created:

Man Had Perfect Knowledge of God’s Law

Man’s understanding was a lamp of light. He had perfect knowledge of the law, and of his duty accordingly: he was made after God’s image, and consequently could not want knowledge, which is a part thereof, Col. iii. 10. (p. 19)

Man’s Righteousness Was Set Toward Good but Was Still Moveable to Evil

[Man’s righteousness] was mutable; it was a righteousness that might be lost, as is manifested by the doleful event: His will was not absolutely indifferent to good or evil; God set it towards good only; yet he did not so fix and confirm it’s inclinations, that it could not alter. No, it was moveable to evil: and that only by man himself, God having given him a sufficient power to stand in this integrity, if he had pleased. (p. 22)

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