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SERMON V.

THE ORIGIN, UNIVERSALITY, AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE APOSTACY

OF MAN.

BY THE REV. JAMES PARSONS

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· By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."-Rom. v. 12.

How vastly important is it that we | able retribution. How much of valuable should entertain correct views with re- revelation, for instance, is comprised in gard to the position and the character of the words which have been selected as the moral world! Mistakes with regard to the construction and the movement of the material universe may sometimes, perhaps, be entertained without giving rise to any considerable injury; but mistakes with regard to the moral universe, either in its attributes, its laws, or its responsibilities, never can be indulged without producing effects which, in their consequences, are most mischievous and most deadly. To these perilous mistakes, it must be observed, man in all ages is prone in consequence of the depravity of his nature. The practice has been exemplified in past ages, and it is exemplified now; and were there no guidance, no influence except that which arises from his own mind, the uniform and unbroken dominion of falsehood would prevail, attended by all its consequences of unmitigated misery and sor

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the text! What important intelligence does it comprise as to the various phenomena which we observe to be constantly taking place around us, with regard to the government of the Almighty and the everlasting destinies of mankind! What reflection it is adapted to inspirewhat improvement it is calculated to produce! If, my Christian brethren, on your own minds the facts and principles which are contained in the announcement before us, along with those other statements to which they refer, produce their due impression, it is unquestionable that the eternal welfare of your souls will be secured. If, on the other hand, these facts and these principles be despised and rejected, it is as unquestionable that those interests will be in danger-that you will be abandoned to the empire of falsehood, and have no prospect before you except that of agony and unmitigated horror, from which there is no possible redemption.

From these views let us now proceed to meditate on the important statement of the apostle that, "by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."

The value of the record of divine truth, my Christian brethren, from this circumstance, will doubtless appear to be unspeakable and infinite. It illustrates and comprises every principle respecting which man may desire to be informed, and which is associated with the preservation of his interests and welfare. Its narratives and doctrines, its precepts and its The immediate connexion in which the promises, its threatenings and its warn- text appears will not require any thing ings, all tend to our ultimate happiness like preliminary explanation; we thereas the subjects of the moral government fore proceed to observe that your attention of God, and as the heirs of an unchange- will now be directed,

I. To the origin and diffusion of sin- there he put the man he had formed. "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."

II. To the origin and diffusion of death, "As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men; for that all have sinned." And,

III. We shall mention those reflections by which our views of the combined origin and diffusion of sin and death may be duly and savingly sanctified.

And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” With regard to the latter it is said, "The Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it."

Here, you will observe, then, was the

I. We have from these words to notice law, the particular commandment of which must be viewed as being in con

THE ORIGIN AND DIFFUSION OF SIN.

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1st. As to the origin of sin.—" By one nexion with an important general design, man sin entered into the world."

Sin, my brethren, you are aware, according to the admirable definition of Scripture, is "the transgression of the law." The law is that rule which has been issued and imposed by Almighty God, as the supreme and sovereign ruler of the universe, for the unqualified and perfect obedience of his intelligent and immortal creatures, whether in thought or action; and any want of conformity, in our practical deportment, to that law, either in thought, or in action, is truly and emphatically sin. It will, of course, be understood that the "one man" by whom sin entered into the world was Adam, the first parent of our race. His history is connected with the important and momentous fact before us, and is given to us in the sacred Scriptures in a method the most succinct and clear. He was emphatically created, as we are informed, after the image of the Almighty, in righteousness and true holiness, having in his nature no one stain of impurity to mar the dignity and grandeur by which he had been invested. In that state he was placed in the garden of Eden, a fair, embalmed, and lovely spot, which had been enriched, by the grace and mercy of JEHOVAH, with every thing that could minister to delight and joy. In that place of residence we behold, also, a test of obedience, by which might be ascertained and discovered the relation existing between the creature and the Creator. We are hence informed that, "The Lord God planted a garden eastward of Eden; and

showing the right of God to commandshowing the obligation of man to obeyand showing also the responsibility and the final account which man must render to the Almighty for his conduct, as a ruler and as a judge. Satan, that fallen spirit, who by disobedience had been hurled from heaven and heavenly glory, animated by malignant hatred to God and to holiness, we are informed, became the tempter of Adam and of the woman whom God had given him as a helpmeet, that he might induce them to disobey the law under which they had been placed, and thereby introduce transgression and sin. The manner in which the enemy assumed the form of a serpent in the fell attempt is strikingly recorded, as you will find by referring to the third chapter of the book of Genesis, "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know, that, in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened; and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she

took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and | mal sensual appetite, because they saw gave also unto her husband with her, and that "the tree was good for food, and that he did eat." Here, you observe, was the it was pleasant to the eyes"-ingratitude, entrance-here was the first act of trans- because they turned against that mighty gression, an event which in its mighty God who had sustained them, and who consequences changed the path of nature, had spread around them every enjoyment and whose mighty consequences also for their free and full participation, and to will not only be felt throughout the whole whom they were indebted for life, and duration of time, but also throughout the happiness, and all these things. My duration of eternity. Christian brethren, you can now imagine one peculiar reason for their rejection. Do you not observe that the carelessness and the levity of which we have been speaking, ought, and is to be, condemned and repudiated with horror? The guilt of the first transgression is now palpably apparent before us in all its horrible enormity-a transgression which overthrew and betrayed every existing relationship between the creature and the Creatora transgression which hurled a foul insult against every attribute of the everlasting God. What, we would ask, what would have been the consequence had vengeance been fully inflicted? What would have been the consequence had the Almighty consigned the transgressors to punishment without one solitary hope of redemption, and beaten down to primeval nothing the whole of the globe which had been thus stained and polluted? But you will observe,

That in the transgression of our first parents, of which we have now given a brief survey, there was a transgression of vast and heinous amount, is a truth which cannot be too deeply impressed upon our minds. There are some among the false friends or open adversaries of revelation, who have been inclined to treat it with carelessness and levity, and have sometimes inquired-I quote their own language "What mighty offence could there be in the eating of an apple?" In answer to the ignorant skepticism upon which such an inquiry is founded, and also for the purpose of settling in your own minds those views which ought constantly to be impressed, a few observations must be made.

Let me remind you, then, as we have already stated, and do now repeat, that the particular command of the Deity, with regard to the forbidden fruit, must be viewed as being in connexion with an 2d. That while the apostle introduces important general design; and that the one fact as to the origin of sin, another is regard which was paid by man to that also comprised with regard to its diffusion, particular commandment was a kind of "all have sinned," all men, in every pledge with respect to all the relations country and in every age of the world. existing between the creature and the It is, my hearers, of inexpressible imCreator, so that as long as the command-portance that we should admit the imment was obeyed, all those relations portant fact involved in the statement of would be observed, and when it was the apostle, and also affirmed by him broken, then all those relations would be throughout the whole of the chapter, and violated. Disobedience could not but in different parts of his writings, that all produce, and disobedience did produce, men are sinners-sinners in consequence those emotions and feelings, which in of the transgression of Adam. The transtheir nature were thoroughly corrupt.gression of our first parent did not end There was, for instance, unbelief-there with himself-it was not merely personal; was ambition-there was sensuality it was transferable to his posterity, and there was ingratitude. Unbelief, because was to descend like an heir-loom, entailing they denied the right to command and the misery and corruption, to remain as long penalty that existed-ambition, because as the world should last. By one man's they aspired to be as gods, distinguish- disobedience"-it is the language of the ing between good and evil-sensuality, same writer-"many were made sinners." because they wished to gratify mere ani- As it is impossible that an evil tree should

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example, or any mode of testimony or interest whatever-yet this one fact remains invariably and unalterably the same, that man every where is a sinner. Yes, my brethren, east, west, north, south, from

bring forth good fruit, so it was impossi- | may perchance have been formed by learnble, when the nature of our first parent ing, by institutions, by education, by had become corrupted by those evil dispositions which he acquired in consequence of his transgression, that one of his descendants could enter into the world except as being a partaker of corruption also. Each, then, of the children of the tropics to the poles, ancient and moAdam enters the world with a polluted nature, or possessing what we term original sin.

dern times, scenes of civilization and philosophy, scenes of ignorance and barbarism, all bear but one stamp, the stamp This important doctrine, you will ob- of moral evil,—the stamp of transgression serve, appears to be indicated in one of against God. The charges of Scripture the early narratives of Scripture, where upon this important subject are without Adam is said to have begotten a son "in exception, and without limit: “All flesh his own likeness, after his own image," has corrupted his way upon the earth." apparently in contrast to the fact stated "There is none that doeth good, no, not of himself, that he was formed "after the one." "The heart of the sons of men likeness of God," and notifying the de- is fully set in them to do evil." "There grading tendency which had been intro- is none that understandeth, there is none duced and perpetuated by guilt. The that seeketh after God. They are all same doctrine has been affirmed constantly gone out of the way, they are together in various parts of the sacred writings. become unprofitable; there is none that If I speak to-night to an individual who doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is denies the fact of original sin existing in an open sepulchre: with their tongues human nature, let me remind him of the they have used deceit; the poison of asps following statement. There is the in- is under their lips: whose mouth is full quiry of Job, "Who can bring a clean of cursing and bitterness: their feet are thing out of an unclean? Not one." swift to shed blood: destruction and There is the inquiry of Bildad, "How misery are in their ways: and the way can he be clean that is born of a woman?" of peace have they not known: there is There is the confession of David, "Be-no fear of God before their eyes. Now hold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in we know, that what things soever the sin did my mother conceive me." There is the statement of Christ, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh." There is the asseveration of the apostle, "The old man is corrupt, according to the deceitful The statements and quotations which lusts." Now, that original sin, which is have now been offered, I trust, will be thus distinctly and solemnly mentioned considered as amply satisfactory to verify to us in the inspired writings to be a no- the application of the text. That you, torious fact, always produces practical my hearers, for yourselves, may inditransgression. Hence it is, that the vidually possess a conviction of the fact, children of the first man, by whom sin and that you may be enabled to make a entered into the world, alike and all ex- full application of the fact to your own emplify in themselves unbelief, ambition, interests, and to your own circumstances, sensuality, and ingratitude, with all their is what in this service I would earnvile brood of crimes, and exhibit these as estly aim at, and what I do most anxhaving the uncontrolled empire of the iously and most fervently desire. You human heart. It is a solemn and affect-yourselves, without exception, are the ing consideration, but one which must be possessors of a corrupted nature. You thoroughly and distinctly stated, that yourselves have indulged in many a whatever modification there may be in thought, and many a deed, of flagrant human character,-whatever modification transgression against God. You your

law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God."

As we have now endeavoured to explain to you the origin and diffusion of sin, by the structure of the text we are called to consider

selves have spurned alike the Almighty of the tree of which I commanded thee, and his law; and while you depart from saying, Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed him you are given up and abandoned to is the ground for thy sake: in sorrow the domination of sin. Think not, my shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy friends, to lull your consciences by mak- life: thorns also and thistles shall it bring ing statements with regard to imaginary forth to thee: and thou shalt eat the herb excellences; form no false excuses. The of the field. In the sweat of thy face language of earnest and solemn confession shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto becomes you," unclean, unclean!" "Be- the ground: for out of it wast thou taken : hold I am vile, what shall I answer thee?" for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou "I acknowledge my transgression, and return." There was the entrance of my sin is ever before me." "Father, I death. "The wages of sin is death." have sinned against heaven and in thy What, my friends, is the proper and sight, and am no more worthy to be natural quality so comprehended in the called thy son." "God be merciful to sentence of death announced to, and inme a sinner." Such is the language that flicted upon, Adam, as the result and becomes you, and if in spirit you use it penalty of his transgression against the not, you are living in the worst state of law? That corporeal death was included, spiritual captivity, and are passing for will not for a single moment be denied ; ward to the consummation of remediless that much more was comprehended, on and eternal woe. evangelical principles, we are called thoroughly and solemnly to believe. Viewing the phrase, to die, in the light thrown upon the subject by the principles of the gospel, and especially by the evangelical blessings with which the gospel is connected, "justification unto life-eternal life"-it is to be regarded as comprising, and our first parents must therefore be regarded as knowing it to have comprised, all that is comprehended in spiritual and eternal death ;-that is to Man, you are aware, was purposely say, the debasement of human nature conformed by the Almighty with a suscepti- sequent upon its awful alienation from bility of being affected by the prospect of God-the total and absolute withdrawreward, and by the fear of punishment. ment of the divine friendship and favour— Obedience was connected with the one, the agitation and gloomy terrors of the and disobedience was connected with the conscience at the prospect beyond the other; and thus the greatest and most grave-the consummation of all this by powerful of all possible motives was put the entrance of the immortal soul into a in action to aspire to that which is good, state of changeless retribution, where it and to the avoidance of that which is evil. is to suffer the vengeance of the Almighty Now, death was an ordained penalty, or without mitigation, unchangeably, and a penalty presented to us as the result of for ever. You can easily imagine what transgression. When Adam was placed would be the emotion of the transgressors in the garden of Eden, he was informed in Eden, when they first awoke from the that he was not to eat of the tree of for- slumber of intoxication to the full conbidden fruit, and it was added, "For in sciousness of the change which had the day that thou eatest thereof, thou passed upon their being. The voice of shalt surely die." And when he stood thunder yet reverberating its peal," Thou as a transgressor in the presence of God, shalt surely die"-nature, as if shudderwhom he had insulted, he was thus ad-ing at the sentence, heaving around them dressed, "Because thou hast hearkened the atmosphere becoming thick, and unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten dull, and heavy, charged with the ele

II THE ORIGIN AND DIFFUSION OF DEATH. "As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."

1st. With regard to the origin of death, "death by sin.'

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