Human Nature in Its Fourfold State

by Thomas Boston

Overview

There are four things very necessary to be known by all who would see heaven: 1. What man was in the state of innocence, as God made him. 2. What he is in the state of corrupt nature, as he has unmade himself. 3. 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. 4. What he will be in his eternal state, as made by the Judge of all, either perfectly happy, or completely miserable, and that forever. These are weighty points, which 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. In Human Nature in its Fourfold State Thomas Boston addresses each of these four points and more. This will prove a truly informative and inspiring work for Christians and all who desire a closer relationship with God.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781612038377
Publisher:	Bottom of the Hill Publishing
Publication date:	02/01/2013
Pages:	218
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.46(d)

About the Author

Thomas Boston - (1677-1732), Scottish church leader Boston was born at Duns. His father, John Boston, and his mother, Alison Trotter, were both Covenanters. 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. In 1704 he found, while visiting a member of his flock, a book brought into Scotland by a commonwealth soldier. This was the famous Marrow of Modern Divinity, by Edward Fisher, a compendium of the opinions of leading Reformation divines on the doctrine of grace and the offer of the Gospel, which set off the Marrow Controversy. Its object was to demonstrate the unconditional freeness of the Gospel. It cleared away such conditions as repentance, or some degree of outward or inward reformation, and argued that where Christ is heartily received, full repentance and a new life follow. On Boston's recommendation, James Hog of Carnock reprinted The Marrow in 1718; and Boston also published an edition with notes of his own. The book, being attacked from the standpoint of high Calvinism, became the standard of a far-reaching movement in Scottish Presbyterians. The Marrow men were marked by the zeal of their service and the effect of their preaching. As they remained Calvinists they could not preach a universal atonement; rather they were particular redemptionists. In 1707 Boston was transferred to Ettrick, Scotland. He distinguished himself by being the only member of the assembly who entered a protest against what he deemed the inadequate sentence passed on John Simson, professor of divinity at Glasgow, who was accused of heterodox teaching on the Incarnation. Boston, if unduly introspective, was a man of singular piety and amiability. His autobiography is an interesting record of Scottish life, full of sincerity and tenderness, and not devoid of humorous touches, intentional and otherwise. His books, The Fourfold State, The Crook in the Lot, and his Body of Divinityand Miscellanies, had a powerful influence over the Scottish peasantry. His Memoirswere published in 1776. An edition of his works in 12 volumes appeared in 1849.