on the divine command, to acknowledge the righteousness of God in manifesting his displeasure by immediately driving them out of paradise, and in pouring upon them and us, as represented in them, such awful and complicated miseries. "We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us, for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers from our youth unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God. In the application of this doctrine we may remark,

1. That there is an inseparable connexion between sin and suffering. Causes are not more necessarily connected with their correspondent effects in the natural than in the moral world. "The soul that sinneth it shall die: Every transgression and disobedience must receive a just recompence of reward. God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell." This is a principle frequently denied. Many, with the pretention of magnifying the mercy of God, would veil the glories of his justice; they flatter themselves with the enjoyment "of peace, though they walk in the imagination of their own hearts;" nay, they practically hold the living God at defiance, either to annex penalties to his laws, or to execute these penalties upon the offender. But let us enquire whether such a government, or rather, such a want of government can be consistent either with the perfections of a moral ruler, or with the or

der and happiness of the moral world. Suppose that a parent became all indulgence to his family, and permitted the various members to make their own inclination the standard of their conduct to him and to each other, would we pronounce this unrestrained indulgence an excellence in that parent, or would it ultimately tend to his own dignity, and their advantage? Must not confusion soon prove the reproach and ruin of that house? Would not the children of such a parent probably become the pests of each other, and of society? Suppose that all civil law was abolished in the United States, or, which is the same thing, that the penalties of the law were not inflicted on the transgressor, what would be the consequence? Would this mild administration conduce to the honor of our government or the welfare of individuals? Would not vice immediately rear her head, and become universally triumphant? Would not the virtuous part of the community either be the sport of the profligate, or be ensnared and corrupted by their evil examples? If laws and penalties are requisite in the small circles of families and nations, how much more in the unbounded sphere of moral agency? It is therefore evident that the honor of God as the moral governor of the universe; that the glory of his justice, of his holiness, of his truth require "that his wrath be revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." To suffer the sinner to escape un

punished would be a practical acknowledgement that the law was unjust, or that he was unable to execute the threatning denounced. The delay of punishment upon transgressors is no objection against the vindictive justice of Jehovah. By exercising forbearance towards the sinner he proves, that "he is slow to anger, that he is long suffering, and abundant in goodness," and that he is rather delighted in the display of his mercy.-"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long suffering; not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." Judgment delayed will be executed with proportionably greater fury hereafter. The longer the divine arm is suspended, the more patiently a sovereign God has borne with the individual or nation, the greater opportunities he has afforded them, the more affectionately he has expostulated with them to return and live, the more sudden and awful will be their visitation at last. "He that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself, but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes."

2. We are taught from this doctrine, the fearful condition of every man by nature, he is spiritually dead; he is already under sentence of condemnation; he is suspended

every moment over the mouth of a burning lake, and nothing but a brittle thread keeps him from dropping into its devouring flames. If the Lord God of gods be true, this is their condition while they remain related to the law as a covenant of works. How explicit and awful is his declaration respecting man in his present, fallen estate? "As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." The curse of the Almighty lies on all that they are, and all that they enjoy; on their bodies and souls; on their health and affliction; on their prosperity and adversity; on the air which they breathe, and the ground on which they walk. Their very mercies are preparing them as heirs of wrath for execution, and their judgments are the first fruits of a full harvest of perdition. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest; this shall be the portion of their cup." Each unrenewed, unjustified person is as really in a state of condemnation as the devils or the damned in hell. "He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." This, sinner, is thy privilege, that thou art yet "a prisoner of hope," and the gates of "the city of refuge" stand open for thine admission. "Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though

your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." But wilt thou dare to" continue in sin because grace abounds;" or wilt thou waste in spiritual sloth the few hours or moments of thine "accepted time" which yet remain ?-We could not believe the indifference, the stupidity, the more than brutal stupidity of man, did not our eyes actually behold it ?-Were it related to us that a colony of subjects had rebelled against their sovereign, and were tried and condemned as traitors; did we hear that their execution was postponed, and an opportunity offered them of acknowledging their crime and returning to their allegiance; did we hear that the sovereign out of pure compassion to them, and in order to vindicate the majesty of the law, appointed his own Son to suffer death in their room; were we informed that, notwithstanding this exercise of forbearance, of mercy, many of them remained indifferent or obstinate, some slighting, others openly spurning both his favor and his frown: Was such a fact related, must we not be struck with secret horror at their madness, or pronounce it utterly incredible? We should consider it impossible that rational beings could be so lost to common sense. But is there even a comparison between their infatuation and the folly, the madness of the majority of mankind? They daringly rebelled against God, and became obnoxious to his wrath; when their VOL. 2. K 2