Eternal.-Death first reigned on the spirit or soul, which consisted first in guilt upon the soul. Now where guilt is, there is filth, and where these are, there is enmity against God; so that God can have no communion there; besides, he was wroth, and so forsook them, as part of their punishment.. So this spiritual Death was part for the beginning of his vengeance on them, which consisted in the imputation of sin to Adam and his posterity. I say, the imputation of sin is quences of that redemption is an indubitable right to all the blessings of the new covenant; and in the words above cited, there is a solemn recognition on the part of the Father, of the compleat satisfaction arising from the blood-shedding of his anointed. Agreeable to the prophetic relation of him, he hath led captivity captive,―rather he hath led forth a multitude of prisoners, he hath ascended upon high and obtained, in consequence of the work performed, gifts for men,yea, rebellious men ;-for Christ being treated as a traitor in the traitor's room, for ever removed every idea of their treachery. Did the law require obedience, and that kind of obedience which was out of the power of the sinner, in consequence of his moral debility, to yield? Yes; Christ obeyed that law, and in consequence of his obedience, he became the end of the law, to T is the cause of this enmity; and according to the possessing of this guilt, so is the enmity vented out against God, Gen. iv. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8; Rev. xvi. II. So this guilt seizing the soul, disables it to perform its powers over its sensual life; and so being forsaken of God, is captivated by the Devil and its own lusts: and as long as that guilt remains, they are subject to the Devil, in whom they have believed, and to their own lust, which they chose to gratify, rather than to keep the every one that believeth.-The law is in itself the ministration of death, and it pursues the sinner in all its rage, according to his feelings, until he enters by faith into Christ. I know of no cire, cumstance better calculated to express this truth, than the man-slayer, with the avenger of blood pursuing hard after him; he follows him with an inflexible determination to be revenged; and as the devoted victim nears the city of refuge,—the avenger of blood, with colossal strides, strives to overtake him, and seeing him within the gate. (the gate being opened, not by the pursued) het throws himself prostrate upon the ground to lengthen his revengeful arm the more, but he cannot reach, he dares not enter through the gates into the city, because it is a city of refuge this city of refuge is the end of the pur suit, and the avenger is either stifled with his rage, the law of God, Eph. ii. 1, 2, 3, Eph. iv. 18, 19. There are two things by which God, as it were, points out the truth to our very sight, as though he should say, ye that are so sensual, that ye will believe nothing but what ye know naturally; behold, there is a sensual proof of it. First. As first, you see infants die before they have acted sin; how should it stand with my justice to kill these, if they were not sinners? Answer rage, or waits to recruit his strength, to inform the world that his designs were defeated.—Thus is a poor guilty sinner smarting under the agonies of a guilty conscience, the curses of God's law; -he is pursued, having heard something of a Saviour,-like Noah's dove, after having with eager eyes explored the watery surface, finds no resting place; unable any longer to flutter its wings, it descries the ark,—it recruits its spirits and makes one effort more,-it perches upon its top, the falling rain washes it away, it again rises,it flutters its feeble wings against its undulating sides;-Noah hears-and puts forth his hand and takes her in. Thus does the guilty apply to ordinances and means, until at last selfcondemned and self-despairing, the spirit of God leads him to Christ, who becomes the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth, The Answer me this: though ye will not believe it, yet ye see it daily; yet so void of understanding that ye neither believe me nor your own eyes, Rom. v. 14, 15. are you, Secondly. You see the first thing that infants do (which can be judged to be an act of their reasonable will) is sin. Psalm lviii. 3, The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies: verse 4, their poison is like the poison of a serpent, they are The law can go no further,-God never designed it should have any further influence, ---any further demand;---it has no more claim upon the believ er, than the dead husband has over his surviving partner affrighted pharisaism recoils with horror at the thought, and asks with all the sanctified grimace of subtilized hypocricy, is not the law then a rule of life? admitting that it is, let me ask you, do you obey it in any one point whatever? if you speak honestly, you will answer in the negative; for the law is perfect, and requires perfect obedience; man being imperfect, imperfection is necessarily stamped upon all he does; and the imperfection of obediencc (if that which is imperfect deserves the name) would damn the soul,-for that man who falls short in any one instance, transgresses the whole law. But we are told, that the law which is the rule of are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear: as though the Lord should say, ye sensual beasts, if ye believe not me, answer me the cause of these things which ye see daily. Now, if the question be, What is original sin? I answer first negatively, It is not the enmity that is in us, for that is but the wages of sin, and not the sin itself; for this spiritual death is but the wages of it: the loss of God's image, knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, and understanding of a christian's life, is a satisfied law in the hands guage |