Solomon introduces his declaration upon this point in a very awakening manner; in a manner frequent with the inspired writers, when about to deliver a sentence of peculiar weight and importance; “Lo, this only have I found;” behold, attend to this truth; this is the result of my observations, this the “conclusion of the whole matter,” this the explanation of all the evil and unhappiness in the world, that “God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions;” that man was created innocent by the wise and merciful Author of his being; formed for pure unalloyed enjoyment; and the marring and misery, which he experiences, are solely attributable to the change induced by his own apostacy and rebellion; to his seeking out ways and means of happiness, contrary to the will and appointment of his Creator. “God saw every thing that He had made, and behold, it was very good;” {314} and man, the lord of creation, was not less fitted than the objects around him, to answer the good and gracious purposes of heaven. So God “created man in His own image; in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them;” {315} in the image of holiness, and therefore happy. How far man has fallen from this state of uprightness, is a question which has caused much difference and contention in the christian world; some persons, from a desire of exalting the free grace of God, declare that the divine image in man was totally corrupted and lost by the fall; that there remains, in his unregenerate nature, no spirit or particle of excellency, no perception of what is good; that his nature is a mere chaos of disorder, a mass of decay, which is altogether incapable of producing any thing but “confusion and every evil work.” On the other hand, it is contended, that the wreck of man’s nature was but partial; that there remains a considerable disposition to practice, as well as approve, “whatsoever things are pure and honest and lovely and of good report;” that man is still able, by his own judgment and strength, in many things to please God and to serve Him. It does not fall within our purpose, on the present occasion, to attempt any accurate adjustment of this difference; but we may observe, that it is dangerous to insist upon either extreme. A belief, that man can will or do nothing, is apt to lead to a persuasion that he has nothing to will or do; that his salvation is a work totally independent of himself; a measure of grace absolutely forced upon him: and a belief, is that man able of himself to “refuse the evil and to choose the good,” that he “knows how to walk and to please God,” creates a spirit of self-righteousness, at once destructive of the sinner’s hope; preventing his dependence upon the all-sufficiency of God, and subversive of the truth of the gospel.