cup

of his torment may be paft? Do we not tafte fome bitter ingredient intermingled with every of earthly enjoyment, as à plain proof that the curfe denounced against the firft tranfgreffion of Adam is now experienced by all his natural offspring? Curfed be the ground for thy fake, in forrow fhalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. What is the glare of the wealthy, or the majesty of the great but more fplendid mifery? Difquiet and anxiety wrankle the bofom ofthe prince upon his throne, no less than of the beggar upon. the dunghill; disease tortures alike the body covered with purple and with rags; and death, with equal fternnefs, demands admiffion into the palace of the mighty and the cottage of the mean. Although, as the plaintive patriarch expreffes it, although afflictions cometh not forth of the duft, neither doth trouble fpring out of the ground; yet man is born to trouble as the fparks fly upward. Vexation and difappointment meet us in every ftage, and occupation, and enjoyment of life. On what principle, then, can we account for this univerfal reign of mifery and death, unless from the univerfal reign of tranfgreffion? Who ever. perished being innocent? Or where were the righteous cut off? Will a tender parent deliberately fcourge the child which uniformly obeys his com mands? Will a righteous judge doom to punishment or death the citizen who has never broken the laws of his country? Or can it be confiftcnt with the benevolence or juftice of the eter

nal to pursue with conftant marks of his indignation a being who always fulfilled his pleasure and anfwered the end of his creation? There is no mifery among the angels of light, thofe bleffed fpirits that kept their firft eftate and obey the will of their creator; being perfectly holy they are perfectly happy there will be no complaint either outward or inward among all the redeemed of the Lamb through eternity; being once freed from fin, they will be freed from fuffering, its conftant attendant; they fhall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; there fhall be no more death, neither forrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain. Their bodies which are now frail through corruption fhall flourish in immortal youth. We therefore infer the apoftacy of all men from that vanity, thofe miferies to which they are now fubjected; we may reasonably conclude that all must have finned, because they actually fuffer; that deftruction and mifery are in their paths, because there is no fear of God before their eyes. Such is the reasoning of the great apoftle on this fubject. By one man fin entered into the world, and death by fin; fo that death paffed upon all men, for that all have finned; he teaches as plainly as language can exprefs that "fin brought death into the world and all our woe;" that all the afflictions which ac company man from his cradle to the grave, come only as the reward of tranfgreffion; he proves alfo from this univerfal reign of death,the corrup

tion even of infants: that they must be guilty before God, if not actually by any tranfgreffion of their own, yet originally in Adam their reprefenting head. For until the law, fin was in the world, but fin is not imputed when there is no law; Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Mofes, even over them that had not finned after the fimilitude of Adam's tranfgreffion.

THE propofition, that all have finned, is therefore undeniably established from the plain repeated teftimonies of Jehovah in his word; from the confcioufnefs which every one, who impartially fearches his own heart, must have of his imperfections from an obfervation of human conduct in every poffible circumftance and relation of life; and alfo from thofe miferies to which all are expofed. From this variety of evidence we are obliged to draw the humiliating. conclufion, There is none righteous, no, not one; they are all gone out of the way; they are altogether become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

In applying this doctrine we are called,

1. To paufe and drop a tear over the perifhed glory of human nature; into what degradation and mifery is it now plunged by tranfgref fion? How is the gold become dim, how is the moft fine gold changed? The building once food

fair and firm; all its parts proportioned with infinite wisdom, and its height towering toward the heavens; thus fituated it promifed to refift every form and to ftand an eternal monument of glory to its author, and admiration to the world, But, ah, how fallen! by one untimely fhock this fair fabric is proftrated in ruins and lies a fpectacle of pity, of fcorn to God, to angels and the univerfe. Behold man as he proceeds at first from his creator's hand; he is formed after the divine image, in knowledge, righteoufnefs and holinefs; light beams unclouded upon his underftanding; he poffeffes all that knowledge of God, of his perfons and perfections which was neceffary for the discharge of his duty or could conduce to his happiness; holiness without the leaft fpot of pollution fits enthroned on his heart; his affections are all pure and fpiritual, centering upon Jehovah as his glory and joy; the very members of his body were all holy, ready to encourage and aid his immortal fpirit in the fervice of his creator; the tongue, like a well tuned organ, expreffing the gratitude and devotion of the heart poured forth the melody of praife; the eye, upon each furvey of the natural world, of the trees which fo richly adorned the garden, of the fun which ruled by day, and the moon and the stars which adorned the evening fky, lifted up the foul to a fresh admiration of their infinite author. Every outward enjoyment was crowned with the moft intimate, uninterrupted communion of his

God. Such was the character, fuch the condition of Adam as created by Jehovah and placed in the earthly paradise. No wonder that apoftate fpirits envied his happinefs and early employed their infernal ingenuity in attempting to rob him of his God and glory. How changed, how degraded now ? Light in his understanding is fucceeded by the blacknefs of darkness; holinefs in his heart by the most incorrigible enmity and obftinacy; his affections that were once pure are become earthly, fenfual and devilish; the members of his body are utterly difordered and have become inftruments of unrighteoufnefs to fin his throat is an open fepulchre, emitting the foul abominations of his heart, his mouth formerly the organ of praile, is full of curfing and bitternefs; his feet, formed to run the way of the divine commandments, are fwift to fhed blood; "The eyes which before met the approach of God with rapture, are now clouded with forrow, tremble with fear, or ftrain with remorfe and horror at the voice of the Almighty; that tongue which was once tuned only to the accent and language of love has in a moment learned to reproach and upbraid; where innocence fat enthroned, there fell defpair broods over her own flinging reflections and tormenting fears; above, the throne of an angry God, beneath, a fathomless gulph kindled by the breath of the Almighty, within, a troubled confcience like the raging fea incapable of taking reft; the glory is departed,