the Spirit speaketh thus-“Ah! sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, children that are corrupters; they have forsaken the Lord; they have provoked the holy One of Israel unto anger; they are gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint :" strong figures of speech, intimating the desperately diseased state of the whole people. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked," says Jeremiah. Elsewhere the same prophet mentions the cause of the debasement of his countrymen thus-" The crown is fallen from our head:" mark what follows; "Woe unto us that we have sinned!" Daniel subscribes to the same fact, the rebellion of man against the pure laws of a holy God; "We have sinned, and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts, and from Thy judgments :' now, what follows? "therefore the curse is poured upon us." But let none try to evade the charge of universal guilt, by pleading that these passages refer to the national sins of a peculiar people. “No,” says the Apostle of the Gentiles, "for we have before proved that Jews and Gentiles are all under sin." "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." "The Scripture"-the inspired oracles of an unerring God—“ hath concluded all under sin.” We might also, establish the proposition, by tracing those physical evils, to which the race is subjected, to their source. Let one suffice. Is death one of the evils to which man is exposed? That it is, the most inveterate Atheist will admit. Now death is at once the proof and the result of guilt; so at least thought the apostle; and though those who are too wise in their generation, to receive instruction from the God of heaven, may think Paul no great authority, yet, where can be found so simple, and at the same time so philosophical (setting aside for the moment the idea of its inspiration) an account of the matter as this "As by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned?" These passages are amply sufficient to convince all who receive the Holy Scriptures as a revelation from God, that the children of Adam are, without exception, awfully guilty; and alas! experience too fully corroborates the reiterated proclamation of Heaven. As to those infatuated persons, who deny or palliate the enormity of their transgressions, we simply remind them, that one of the holiest men that ever lived, includes himself when he writes-"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."

II. MAN IS POLLUTED. As the human race are guilty in the eye of Eternal Justice, so are they defiled, in the eye of Eternal Purity. As rebellion springs from the spirit of opposition to the government of Heaven, so the love of impurity arises from hatred to the character of God. The law which men break is "holy," and therefore it is hated. Its glorious purity constitutes its chief offence in their estimation. Were it less holy, it would be less hated. Were its demands more agreeable to the defiled inclinations, did it give greater latitude for wallowing in the mire, greater scope to debased indulgences, there would be fewer clamours against the extent of its requirements, and greater admiration of its precepts; but as it is "spiritual," demanding purity in "the inward parts," taking cognisance of “the motions of sin" in the soul, sending its holy and sleepless inspection into the "chambers of imagery," "trying the reins" and searching the core of the heart, implacable hatred is excited against it, and its infinitely holy Author is considered a harsh Being, with whose requisitions it is impossible to comply. Such facts evidence the utter spiritual degradation of the beings to whom they refer. If perfectly sinless beings are acquainted with the secret workings of the depraved heart in man, with what pity and amazement must they notice those workings in reference to that law which is "holy, just and good!" It is impossible to conceive of any class of intelligent beings, in any part of the universe, for whom the Creator has provided no law, inasmuch as intelligence implies accountability, and accountability pre-supposes a standard of judgment; consequently sinless angels are amenable to their Sovereign; and as the law under which man is placed is necessarily a transcript of the Lawgiver's moral character, the law which regulates angelic beings is essentially similar; that is, requiring intense love to God; but oh! how different the estimate of its excellence in the mind of a sinful man and a holy angel! The latter loves it, because it is like his God; the former hates

it for that very reason. The one feels that obedience to its pure requirements is the essence of his heaven; the other fancies that the attempt to keep it would render him miserable. His deceitful heart whispers that obedience to the precepts of Jehovah would be a voluntary imposition of intolerable bondage. How polluted therefore is the human mind!, How degrading is that depravity which opposes a law because of its purity!

But there are men, who have unblushingly asserted, that Jehovah's law is not perfect; that it is unsuitable to the condition of the human race; that its requirements are not immutable; and that living, as they say, under a milder dispensation, it has been so modified as to suit the state of man. The keenness of its edge has been blunted, lest it smite too severely! It has become a dead letter, obsolete in its injunctions, fit only to be thrown among the lumber of repealed statutes! An ancient edict, no doubt necessary for the Jews, or which probably might have been required for the Antedeluvians, but certainly incompatible with the march of spiritual intellect which distinguishes a certain class of moderns!

Such sentiments as these ought to lead us to admire the patience of God, who permits rebels thus daringly to revile Him, with apparent impunity; for they are in effect assertions, that He winks at sin, that noncompliance with His requirements is a matter of no consequence, and that His moral character has changed! The moral law was promulged for the double purpose of revealing Himself to, and regulating the conduct of His creatures. The estimate we form of it, therefore, is proportionate to our estimate of God. In the same proportion in which we love its purity, and bow to its authority, we love the purity and recognise the authority of God who gave it. Let it be recollected, that the law of God is an emanation from His own eternal and unchanging rectitude and purity; and that no possible change in the mode by which He manifests Himself to His creatures, can imply a relaxation of His authority over them. Mercy may interpose to save, and Justice may listen to her propositions, but whilst doing so, the reins of government fall not from her hands. Any proposal which would suggest a compromise would be rejected. Is there imperfection in the Lawgiver? If not, the law is of necessity perfect. Can God change, to accommodate Himself to the sinful state of man? If not, the authority of Sinai is not silenced by the mercy of Calvary. The spirit of Antinomianism is not the spirit of Christ; for it does our adorable Saviour very little honour-an honour which He himself repudiates-to insinuate that He has redeemed His people from the allegiance of creatures. "He has redeemed thein from the curse of the law;" but instead of purchasing them from the position of subjects, the grand effect of His redeeming love is to make them "obedient children""sanctified ones"-"lovers of God"-" a holy people"-" spiritually minded""faithful servants"-"having a good conscience" and "the law of God in their hearts." The transcendent authority and matchless purity of Jehovah's law are best seen, in connection with redeeming mercy, through the medium of the atonement. And in proportion to the degree in which the Antinomian spirit is indulged, the practice of holiness (to which gratitude to Jesus is the strongest prompter) will be neglected. For surely if any thing can excite us to admire and bow to the precepts of God, it is the recollection that we are bought by the blood of His Son. The Antinominian spirit therefore is essentially vile. It is the parent of the grossest heresy. We have neither the right, nor the inclination to censure religious parties as such; but we have both the right and the inclination to point out, to the extent of our ability, any root of bitterness which may spring up among the branches of the tree of life, and "thereby many be defiled."

In demonstration of the depth and universality of human pollution, let the following passages of Scripture be consulted. "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence." "They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good." They are all gone aside, they are together become filthy." The prayer of David indicates his deep consciousness of great uncleanness-"Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin; or, according to Dr. Clarke, "wash me again and again, cause my washing to be multiplied." The frequent ablutions enjoined on the Jews prove, at once, the holiness of God, the necessity of approaching Him with "clean hands and a pure heart," and the natural pollution of mankind. The writer of the

seventy-third Psalm, (probably Asaph,) speaking of the wicked, says, "They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression; they speak loftily;" a passage which is thus translated by Bishop Horsley

They are in the last stage of degeneracy, and they talk for evil;
They pronounce oppression from on high."

The writer of the book of Proverbs mentions the universal defilement of the human soul thus—“Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin ?" Isaiah exclaims-"Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips." God says, that when He passed by Jerusalem, He saw her polluted in her own blood; and the Saviour, when exposing the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, illustrates the subject in the following manner-"Those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man; for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies; these are the things which defile a man." Paul, writing to Titus, asserts that, "to them that are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled." It might here also be urged, that the necessity of sanctification, and the work of the Holy Spirit in renovating the soul, as well as those passages of Scripture in which the blessings of salvation are represented under the figure of "water," strongly imply the polluted state of the human spirit; but we conclude by remarking that the heart of man is an epitome of the mystic Babylon-" the habitation of devils, the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." III. MAN IS CONDEMNED. If it be true that man has received a just and perfect law from heaven, for the regulation of his heart, affections and conduct, which, notwithstanding, he has wilfully broken; and if it be true that the Lawgiver is unchangeable; it follows, that those who have rebelled are under condemnation; for otherwise, (that is, if the transgressor is not condemned,) it argues either weakness or connivance at sin in the Lawgiver. But as neither of these hypotheses can be admitted for a moment, there is no alternative but to admit that man is obnoxious to punishment-a punishment equivalent to the amount of his iniquity. Admit that the Lawgiver is infinitely holy, it follows that the law is also holy; for the supposition that an imperfect law could emanate from such a source is palpably absurd. Admit also, that no possible change in the subject can warrant à change in the law, because of the ascertained unchangeableness of the Sovereign, and the conclusion is irresistible-the sinner is certainly condemned. A law among men which has not the power to punish the offender is no law at all, it is a dead letter; and shall man be more just than his Maker? shall the creature have more correct ideas of rectitude than his Creator? We must either deny that we are guilty, or admit that we are condemned. Either we have never transgressed, or we are liable to the full consequences of transgression; for the idea of a compromise between the law and the sinner is equally untenable, with the idea of a change in the moral perfections of Jehovah. If the latter is inadmissible, the former is impossible. But that man is guilty, fearfully guilty, is demonstrated, not only by the revelation of unerring Truth, and the opinion of all holy beings, whose unclouded understandings make them capable of a righteous verdict, but by the experience of the human race for six thousand years; hence the attempt to prove either the necessity or the equity of the sentence of punishment registered against him, is little better than the attempt to prove a truism; for as surely as he is sinful, he is sentenced. The character of "Him with whom we have to do," makes it necessary that the one should as inevitably follow the other, as the consciousness of crime follows its wilful commission; and indeed the consciousness of guilt in man may be defined as the response of his own soul to the voice of condemnation pronounced on high. It is the hand of his spirit, subscribing the decision of the eternal Judge. Every pang of anguish, every feeling of remorse, and every dart of shame, are so many of the officers of justice, telling the criminal, in a language which he cannot misunderstand, that he is indeed a prisoner. He may change his position, but he cannot get rid of his fetters. He may court the darkness, or covet the night; but a sleepless eye is continually on him. He may "take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;" but the manacles of a prisoner are on his soul, and

are carried with him in his flight. He may "ascend into heaven, or make his bed in hell;" but his reins are possessed, and escape is impossible. He cannot, with any propriety of language, be called even a prisoner at large; for though he had a passport to its worlds, the extent of the universe could not afford him an asylum from the eye of Omniscience, or a hiding-place from the stroke of Justice. And if he put an end to his own existence, and thus terminate a life which is not his property, instead of thereby defeating Justice, he anticipates its call to appear at the judgment-seat, and adds immeasurably to the woes of his doom. The suicidal weapon ratifies the judgment of Heaven in the blood of the criminal. Is this a dark picture? It is not more melancholy than true; and it is as far from being overcharged, as a finite mind is from being able to comprehend the full demerit of offences against an infinitely holy Being. The truth is, the holiness of God requires the punishment of every sinner, and its requirements will be complied with, either on the head of the sinner himself, or they will find satisfaction in that glorious Substitute, whom the plan of mercy reveals. It is Jehovah's intention to purge this world from every stain, because in Himself He is "glorious in holiness;" and if "He cannot look on sin but with abhorrence," and as He must be true to Himself, the condemnation of the impenitent is rendered necessary-necessary as a part of His moral administration. Let us examine this thought a little more minutely. That holy angels exist, will be granted; and that they are subjects of the Divine government, will also be granted. What then? Why, if their Sovereign permit daring rebels to revel in iniquity, and to pass unpunished, will they not be overwhelmed with wonder? Is it impossible that they may begin to think that there is a flaw in His rectitude? that His holiness is not infinite? that His forbearance is a passive acquiescence in evil? If His hand is not lifted to strike the transgressor, will they not be ready to view the "prosperity of the wicked" as a premium on transgression; and will they not infer that others may rebel with similar impunity? In this view of the case, the continuance of loyalty in the breasts of those beings requires the signal punishment of the revolted. Not that they continue obedient from the fear of vengeance, (such a thought is incompatible with the idea of felicity,) but rather from their admiration of, and joy in, holiness; but when they see their Sovereign drawing His sword from its scabbard to punish guilt, they will adore Him afresh; they will see that holiness and happiness are not only conjoined, but identical; and they will lay new emphasis on their shout of admiration, when, with veiled faces, they exclaim, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty!" Further, let us suppose this world a colony in the Divine dominions-far distant from the seat of government—the inhabitants of which are up in arms against their rightful King. Suppose also, that the fact of their rebellion is known, not only to the "princes, powers, thrones, mights, and dominions," who wait the high behests of the Almighty, but also that the startling news has spread to some of the worlds which roll in interminable space; and will not their pure inhabitants wait the result with intense anxiety? Will they not stretch their pinions to meet any angelic messenger, as he flies with more than lightning speed on some Divine embassy, and inquire how the points at issue between heaven and earth are being settled? Thus, then, to speak after the manner of men, the stability of the Divine government, the continuance of Jehovah's sovereignty in the universe, the swaying of His sceptre over the worlds He has built, seems greatly to depend on the character of His dealings with the human race. Accordingly we find the Creator assuring Adam, that, in the day of his rebellion, he should surely die, intimating the indissoluble connection between obedience and life, disobedienee and death; and from the moment of the transgression of our first parent a state of mortality commenced, at once the symbol and proof of spiritual death.

Away, then, with that flimsy philosophy, "falsely so called," which, having scepticism for its prompter, tells us that this world is too insignificant, and its inhabitants too mean, to receive any of the attention of God! Such affected humility is the child of satanic pride. God has created nothing too mean to receive attention from Himself; hence such dogmas are derogatory of His wisdom and glory. There is an invisible chain of mutual dependence between all created things; and we doubt not, that the spiritual history of man-his sad fall, and the gloriou

scheme of redemption by the incarnation and atonement of the Son of God-will form (nay, does form) a theme of wonder and praise in many a world, on which the human eye never gazed. The boundless love, regulated by boundless wisdom, which could save any sinner in harmony with the claims of inflexible justice, will undoubtedly excite the admiration and produce the gratitude of countless myriads throughout eternity. But these thoughts belong more properly to a future essay. We proceed, therefore, to remind the man who fancies himself too insignificant for the Divine notice when his conscience accuses him of guilt, that he argues not thus when the thought of his "good deeds" enters his mind. Oh! no. When his supposed "merits" are the subject of thought, he magnifies and exaggerates, and sometimes goes the insane length of dreaming that his virtues do not merely counterbalances his vices, but leave a sufficient surplus to form a passport to heaven. But this dishonest process, and dangerous trifling, will neither withstand " the hail which shall sweep away the refuge of lies," nor the brightness of that day which shall "be revealed by fire." Nay, even while in this world, how dreadful is the condition of the condemned sinner, or the unbeliever! (for the terms are synonymous). The sword of Divine justice, suspended by the patience of God, hangs over his head, wherever he move; and once that patience is exhausted, or the brittle thread by which he holds existence is broken, he is led forth to receive the just reward of the "deeds done in the body.”

"Be

Finally, let the following scriptures, forming, as they do, part of the revelation of the Judge of all the earth, speak to the understanding and conscience. sure your sin will find you out," said Moses to the Israelites; and the warning continues in force to this hour. "The curse of the Lord is," even now, notwithstanding seeming prosperity in numerous instances," in the house of the wicked." And lest the sinner should think that his punishment arises from some arbitrary arrangement on the part of God, we read, "His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins"—" Upon the wicked He shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest; this shall be the portion of their cup"-their just and appropriate punishment; perhaps an allusion to the oriental custom of the master of the feast giving to every guest a cup or measure of liquor. "Wickedness overthroweth the sinner." Here, cause and consequence are stated in the simplest language. Nothing therefore can be more certain, than that "God giveth to the sinner travail," as the legitimate result of his own misdeeds. "And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed”— "The soul that sinneth, it shall die; and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. In his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die." "If ye believe not that I am He" (that is, the "light of the world," the promised Messiah,) "ye shall die in your sins," said Jesus to the Pharisees. The apostle Paul tells the Romans that "the wages of sin is death ;" and the Corinthians, that "the letter killeth ;" and he tells the Galatians that the language of the law is, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." In like manner the apostle James tells us, that "sin bringeth forth death." Not to multiply quotations, listen to the declaration of Peter; "The Lord knoweth how to reserve the unjust to the day of judgment to be punished;" on which day the ever-glorious Redeemer who now stands with outstretched arms inviting sinners to flee from "the wrath to come," and who is "ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead" will say to the rejecters of His grace, "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Then the condemnation will be complete; for the sentence will be irrevocable, and the prisoner of justice will be a prisoner of despair. Meantime, let the reader and writer recollect, that, "while it is called to-day," the guilty may find pardon, the polluted cleansing, and the condemned deliver ance; for man is now a 66 prisoner of hope." "God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son, might not perish; but have EVERLASTING LIFE."

that whosoever believeth in Him