Saturday, October 21, 2006

Forfeit.

Herman Witsius has written:
“Adam in departing from the prescribed rule, forfeited the ornament of the image of God, in which he was formed, for himself and all his posterity. And whilst he wickedly affected a forbidden equality with God, came most to resemble the devil, and, like that evil spirit, deformed himself by his own crime: than which we can imagine nothing more hideous or base. The soul of the sinner is a horrid monster, mis-shapen, huge and devoid of light; mere darkness, mere confusion, everything disjointed and out of order there; nothing properly placed; the things we should despise are esteemed, and what we should value most are neglected. Was any to take a clear view of his inward disposition in a faithful mirror, he would certainly, with the utmost horror, fly from himself as from a most terrible spectacle. And indeed, if holiness is the most beautiful ornament of the divine perfections, that thing must needs be the most deformed, which is not only the most unlike, but diametrically opposite to that ornamental beauty. This is that [greek phrase] mentioned Jam. i. 21. Filthiness and superfluity or naughtiness; to this it is owing, that man is become abominable in the sight of God, who cannot but turn away the radiant eyes of his unspotted holiness, Hab. i. 13.”
(Witsius, Herman. The Economy of the Covenants Between God and Man, Volume II, Kingsburg, CA: den Dulk Christian Foundation, 1990, p. 7-8)

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