Man in His Original and in His Lapsed Stage
Ecclesiastes 7:29
See, this only have I found, that God has made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.


I. GOD MADE MAN UPRIGHT. Our text, then, teaches us that man was made in a state of perfect conformity to some rule. If it is asked, what rule? I answer, the law of God, for this is the only perfect, immutable and eternal rule to which God requires His creatures to be conformed, and in conformity to which rectitude or uprightness consists.

1. A state of perfect conformity to the Divine law implies the possession of an understanding perfectly acquainted with that law.

2. A state of perfect uprightness, or conformity to the Divine law, implies a memory which faithfully retains all its precept.

3. A state of perfect conformity to the Divine law implies a conscience which always faithfully applies it.

4. A state of perfect conformity to the Divine law implies a heart which perfectly loves that law.

5. A state of perfect conformity to the law of God implies a will perfectly obedient and submissive to that law; or, in other words, to the Divine government and authority.

6. There still remains one faculty possessed by man, which it is necessary to consider — that which is usually called the imagination. When man left the forming hand of his Maker, this faculty, like the others which we have mentioned, was entirely free from moral imperfection. Instead of filling the mind, as it now does, with vain thoughts, waking dreams, and worthless or sinful fancies, it presented nothing but holy images of spiritual and heavenly objects.

II. THOUGH GOD MADE MAN THUS UPRIGHT, THEY HAVE SOUGHT OUT MANY INVENTIONS.

1. Men have sought out or invented many new ways in which to walk, forsaking the good old way in which God originally placed them.

2. Men have forsaken the one living and true God, in whom they live, and move, and are, and sought out or invented innumerable false gods and created idols, to which they give that homage and attention which are due to Him alone.

3. Men have ceased to be conformed to the Divine law, and have sought out many other rules — rules more agreeable to their present sinful inclinations — by which to regulate and try their conduct. Some adopt for this purpose the laws of their country; others the opinion of some human teacher; while a third and more numerous class govern themselves by the maxims which pass currently in the society of which they happen to be members. Thus, in various ways, men measure themselves by themselves, and compare themselves among themselves, and therefore are net wise; for while they follow these rules of human invention, they have lost all that uprightness, that conformity to the Divine law, which has been described.

4. Notice, among the inventions of sinful man the innumerable excuses, pleas and apologies which he has sought out to justify his conduct, and to make himself appear unfortunate, rather than criminal.

(E. Payson, D. D.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

WEB: Behold, this only have I found: that God made man upright; but they search for many schemes."




Solomon's Estimate of Woman
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