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SERMON VII.

Ezekiel xviii. 4.

The soul, that sinneth, it shall die.

SUFFICIENT reason has (I trust) been alleged for the conviction, that there is a God of infinite power, wisdom, goodness, holiness, and purity, by whom both we and all things else were made, and by whom alone they are all upheld in being. We have moreover had clear proof brought before us, that this God has made a revelation of his will concerning us, that he has given us a law, and that the substance of that law consists in two commandments, requiring us to love him with the full exertion of our faculties, and to love all our fellow-mortals, as ourselves. It has appeared moreover upon a comparison of the

plain terms of that law with our own consciousness and observation, that we have none of us come up to the requisitions of his law, that we do not come up to its standard now, that we have broken its enactments in various particulars, that we are still breaking them every day, and that consequently by that law it is impossible, that we should be justified in his sight. The next question, that presses itself upon our attention, is-Under these circumstances in what light are we regarded by our Maker? Is he offended by our transgressions and omissions? and, if he be, are there any means of reconciling him? Will he forgive us? and may we hope to be again received into favour ?

These are questions, so deeply affecting our best and highest interests, that no reasonable man can rest in peace without having them satisfactorily answered. May God impress our hearts with a due sense of the extent of the evil, against which we have to contend, and also lead us all to a settled and well-grounded conviction of the sufficiency of the only true remedy!

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I proceed now to a consideration of the first question, which has been just suggested. what light are we regarded by him, who gave us the law, which we have broken ?

On this subject we have some intimation from natural conscience, which, like an instinct, warns us, not only, that he, who gave us a law, must be displeased at any infringement of it, but also still more particularly, that they, which commit such things as he has forbidden, are worthy of death. Hence arises that undefined horror, which is felt by most men, if not by all, in the hour of sickness and languishing, at the thought of something after death; hence their readiness to condemn in others the very faults, to which they are prone themselves; hence also their eagerness to drown in frivolity, in an unmeaning succession of amusements, or else in some more sober, but stronger excitement, the natural anticipation of futurity. Hence again the sublimest and most transporting of all subjects for meditation, the thought of God and of eternity, is the most unwelcome, and passes consequently with the least regard, because we are naturally

afraid, if we would be honest in tracing our convictions and in acknowledging our fears, that God is displeased with us; and the idea of passing eternity under a sense of his displeasure is the most comfortless of all reflections. Hence still further arises all that train of superstitious and degrading rites, vainly invented for the relief of a burdened conscience, to the bondage of which men, unenlightened by revelation, are through fear of death in many instances seen to be all their lifetime subject.

Nevertheless on a question of this kind a wise man will ask, not- What does conscience 'declare?'-but- What does God declare 'concerning it?' If God has really made a revelation of his will to men, it is but reasonable to expect, that in some part of that revelation we may find a decisive answer to the important question, in what light he regards those of his creatures, who have broken his revealed and published law. And undoubtedly we may find it there, if we will examine candidly the testimony of his word.

First, if Moses gave us the law, what does Moses say to its violators? His answer is this. You may find it in the last verse of the twentyseventh chapter of Deuteronomy- Cursed be 'he, that confirmeth not all the words of this law, to do them.' And again it is repeatedly stated in the prophecy of Isaiah—“There is no peace" (saith my God)" to the wicked"-, while saint Paul in the first chapter of his epistle to the Romans, at the eighteenth verse, sums up as it were, all previous declarations in the words-The wrath of God is revealed from 'Heaven against all ungodliness and unright6 eousness of men.'

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These however are general denunciations. We may read in other places more particular and express declarations of his wrath against offenders. Thus it is written in the eleventh psalm- Upon the ungodly he shall rain snares, 'fire and brimstone, storm and tempest. This 'shall be their portion to drink.' And again in the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy to which reference was made on a former occasion, a catalogue of curses is pronounced against all offenders, which may make the stoutest

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