O, show us, if you can, the spot of earth to which the effects of the curse have not yet reached; and tell us if, among all the tribes of men in Europe, Asia, Africa, or America, there are any to be found, who do not discover a depraved nature, who do not bear the image of the earthly. So extensive are the calamities introduced into the world by sin; so general the dire effect of our first parent's disobedience to the will of Heaven.

In order that we may enter into the import of the expression, "bearing the image of the earthly," permit us to observe, that we bear this image in our bodies, and that we bear it in our souls.

hold it,

Be

1. In our bodies, which are earthly, frail, and tending to dissolution.

Observe, this image is evident in our bodies, as they are earthly; for "the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground;" so poor in our origin, that we have no pretension at all to nobility of descent, but must look upon the earth as our common parent, and say, O, how poor a creature "is man, that is a worm, and the son of man, that is a worm !" O, what a lecture does the constitution of our frame read us upon the folly of human pride, upon the ridiculous absurdity of towering ambition! Never let us suppose ourselves to be some great ones, since it is evident that we are vile as the dust; and the ground we tread on contains the materials of our formation, and the means of our support. Verily, our bodies are but clods of clay, and soon must they return to the earth out of which they were taken. Now the condition of our frame points out the resemblance between Adam and all his race, between the father and his children. It is the image of the earthly Adam.

Our bodies are also frail, and thus bear the image described in the text. To what a long train of diseases and disorders are they liable! To what a list of accidents and ills are they exposed! "What is your life? it is even a vapor that appeareth for a little while, and then vanisheth away." Our bodies are easily borne down by weariness and fatigue, are soon brought low by affliction. How little can they sustain or endure! With what numerous proofs of their weakness are they daily presenting us! How shortly may the strongest among us, the man who boasts most of the soundness of his health and vigor of his constitution, be confined to the chamber of sickness! Ah! God may weaken your strength in the way; he may shorten your days. "We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened." And is the body a tabernacle?

"Weak cottage where our souls reside,
Flesh but a tottering wall:

With frightful breaches gaping wide,
The building bends to fall.

"All round it storms of trouble blow,

And waves of sorrow roll;

Cold waves and wintry storins beat through,
And pain the tenant soul."

O Adam! what hast thou done!

Again, Our bodies tend to destruction. They give us repeated proofs that this is not their final abode; they show that they are hasting to the grave, and that in its gloomy repository they must all shortly lie. Death reigns, and all men are his subjects: before the king of terrors we all must shortly bow; he will change our countenances and send us away. Now, in the whole of our passage to the house appointed for all living, in every step we take to the solemn dwelling of the dead, we are bearing the image of the earthly. You lose a

friend; a dear relative leaves you and life, and enters the world to come, whereof we speak; his immortal spirit has ascended to God, who gave it; but here, with you, he has left his body, to be placed in the ground till the morning of the resurrection. Before you inter it in the gloomy cavern, its destined abode, you gaze on it with the most gloomy and inexpressible feelings. O, who can tell your sensations, as you behold that cabinet now without its jewel; that tabernacle of the soul now without its tenant! As long as you can, you retain it near you; you are unwilling to part with the remains of your companion and your friend; you appear to grudge the earth its due, and the worm its prey; till at length you are obliged to say, "Bury my dead out of my sight!" The ghastly, the loathsome ruins of your well-beloved friend offend you. But, as you draw near, to take the last, last look of all that was mortal in your friend, let me ask, what is that you behold, and at which you shudder? What is that in the cold corpse which shocks the feelings of humanity, and harrows up the soul? What is it? It is the image of the earthly. Adam! And ere long you shall bear it too. It is seen in the countenance of the

dead.

You

2. We all bear this image in our souls. have seen the impression of it upon our mortal part; now let us behold it upon that within us, which can never die, the soul, the immortal principle which was at first endowed with the noblest faculties, pervaded with the finest feelings, and rendered capable of glorifying its great Creator; the soul, that once appeared the resemblance of the Deity, the genuine copy of the mind of God, now bears this inscription, "Ichabod, the glory is

departed." It now bears the image of the earthly Adam for observe,-It is defiled with sin,-and it is exposed to Divine wrath.

1. Our souls are defiled with sin.

O how impure, how unholy is the mind of man! It has received such a taint, such a stain, as you cannot remove. The moment we come into the world, we bring with us the most hateful, the most perverse dispositions; a tendency, a bias to evil; and we bear the imputation of the guilt of Adam's sin. "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" What but renovating grace can purify the polluted soul of man? Our guilt, how deep its stains! How loathsome! how offensive! How guilty are our souls before God! This is bearing the image of the earthly Adam.

2. Our souls are exposed to Divine wrath, and thus bear the image of the earthly.

While we remain in the condition in which we

were born, God is " angry with us every day." Our souls are by nature fit subjects of the Divine vengeance; and well will it be for us if the vials of Divine wrath are not poured upon our devoted heads forever and ever. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." It is the decree of Heaven,-the judgment of the skies,-the doom of man. "I have," says the great Eternal, "kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn to the lowest hell;" and our exposure to all this wrath, our "fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries," shows us the image of the earthly Adam. Here you behold an awful representation of the dire effect of human crimes, and see to what miseries and consequences sin has exposed us. Well may we mourn over the lost image of God! Surely, if we have feelings, they

must be excited here. Shall no anxiety be roused on account of the dreadful, the universal depravity of human nature? Shall no concern be discovered at the miseries of the world? God forbid! O that our head were waters, and our eyes, as it were, fountains of tears, that we might weep over the melancholy condition of our own souls, the souls of our brethren, of our countrymen, and of all mankind; for all these bear the image of the earthly Adam.

But the more pleasing part of our subject now courts our attention. Let us therefore,

II. Rejoice in the glorious truth, that, as believers, we shall also bear the image of the Lord from heaven. "As we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly."

"The second Adam shall restore

The ruins of the first;

Hosanna to that sovereign power
That new creates our dust."

And here I cannot but pause for a moment to observe, what an illustrious character is here introduced to our attention, the Second Adam! This is he who has been declared to be the Son of God with power. It is Jesus, the First-born among many brethren. And behold the excellences that meet in his character; sce his superiority to the first Adam! "The first Adam is of the earth, earthy; the second Adam is the Lord from heaven" the first Adam transgressed the Divine command, and suffered for his fault; the second Adam magnified the law, and made it honorable the first Adam ruined himself, and all his posterity; the second Adam gives us abundance of grace, imputes to us his own righteousness, and causes us to bear his image in the world. This