lenity and forbearance are by it shewn to the sinner? I am aware, fully aware, that men view transgressions against the law of God in the most indulgent light. Sins have been styled human infirmities: man has been considered a frail creature, liable to err; and often have beings, whose conduct is most atrocious, been represented rather as unfortunate, and objects of pity, than of censure and condemnation. Since, then, there may be so much selfish partiality in men, as in a measure to blind them to their own criminality, our only safe course will be to hearken to the judgment of God: his judgment will be according to truth. We are taught by the inspired volume, that all sin is the transgression of the law, 1 John iii. 4, and that the transgressor is the slave of unhallowed passions. 66 And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Among whom we ALL had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh, and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath even as others." Eph. ii. 1-3. I need not multiply quotations in proof of my assertion, the one recited is sufficient.

From this portion of holy writ we learn, that sin

is the fruit of infernal agency; that the god of this world rules in the children of disobedience; and, consequently, men are considered as having rejected the true God, and given themselves to support the claims of an usurper of his unalienable rights. That this high degree of criminality attached not to heathens, considered exclusively of the Jews, but that all men, both Jews and Gentiles, were involved in the same guilt; and that the criminality of their conduct was awfully heightened by the individuals yielding up themselves willingly to the imperious dictates of this enemy of souls, is sufficiently evident. All this proves, that sin, so far from being a subordinate evil, is the source of all evils, a foul conspiracy between earth and hell to dethrone the Most High.

If men were captives to Satan per force, their situation would be truly deplorable; but in the service of sin men are entirely volunteers. The choice of a sinner is made in direct and known opposition to the will of God, to the light of judgment and conscience. "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." John iii. 19, 20. v. 40. ix. 39-41. To confirm this point, I might quote a very large por

tion of the Bible; but this would be a labour uncalled for. The word of God, and daily observation, fully prove, that the sinner has his whole heart in his pursuits. While the sacred writers frequently speak of original sin, yet they never consider that as the slightest apology for human transgression. The light shines in darkness, but it is malignant darkness which will not comprehend the light. The Saviour is come, but though this be known, yet is he neglected and despised. Mercy is exhibited, and the voice of God follows the hardened soul, calling him to turn to the Friend of sinners, and live; but

he shuts his eyes, and stops his ears. The law of

God assails him with its awful menaces of ruin, if he obey it not; but, in the spirit of Egypt's monarch, he continues to ask-"Who is the Lord that I should obey him ?" It is truly affecting to be in darkness of mind; but the sinner loves it. The way of the transgressor is hard; yet, to persevere in it, the sinner exerts all his energies, and draws iniquity as with a cart-rope. The mortification and wretchedness of an unregenerate mind are such, as to lead the man to exclaim-" I have no hope;" yet with the same breath, he adds" Idols have I loved, and after them will I go." Nay, when God in his providence smites the fool for his folly, he ceases to smite, from the awful proof, that he only hardens under the stroke, and will sin more and more!

Sin is treated as a gross impeachment of divine veracity. Unbelief, for instance, is considered as SIN emphatically, and as a cardinal crime. "And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment to come; of sin, because they believe not on me." John xvi. 8, 9. "He that believeth not God, hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son." 1 John v. 10. Unbelief is a rejection of the Saviour; but it affects not the Saviour alone, it pronounces the Father a liar. This sin, fruitful in generating every crime, prevails in the hearts of all mankind. No man, till converted by divine grace, loves the Redeemer supremely, or trusts in him alone for salvation. The sinner believes not the truth respecting his own state, nor does he see his danger without a Saviour. God's law is not trampled upon, because it has not evidence of its own divine authority accompanying it; nor are Jesus and his gospel rejected, because his character and the importance of his gospel are unknown; but from a hardened state of mind, and a wilful, obstinate infidelity of heart. The law is too holy, and the gospel is too humbling, to suit the depraved and haughty mind of an unregenerate man. And yet, nothing can be more humbling than the state of such a being: in common with the world around him, he is laid in the arms of the wicked one, 1 John v. 19. that enemy rules, that enemy exults over his pros

itself to

trate victim; and yet the victim composes rest in the most careless indifference. From such views of sin, furnished by the sacred oracles, we may most clearly and certainly ascertain, after what manner the sinner may expect to be treated who dies in his sins.

If it were allowed that the above representation of our ruined and helpless condition is true, then some might urge, that we are not under obligations to fulfil the law perfectly, from the thing itself being impossible. To this we reply, that it is no injustice in God to require what it is impossible for us to perform, when that impossibility arises from our own fault. It is not God, but ourselves, who have made the perfect observation of his laws impossible. And although we have wasted our stock, and are become bankrupts, yet he may righteously demand of us, though so helpless, that debt which we owe him. Nor can it be supposed, even if corruption could be rooted out of the sinner's heart by his own labour, and he, by divine assistance, could keep the whole law, that he could be justified and pardoned by such obedience; for the law would admit of no compromise, nor would such obedience atone for crimes which are past. By unbelief, by apostacy from God, the sinner is involved in ruin most awfully complete, and that ruin is brought upon himself as his own act and deed.