God's rational creation, is the great law of the universe, to which it owes its beauty, order, and felicity, and even its very being. This is the common bond of union, which links in love and concord, all the various orders of intelligences throughout the immensity of space, and without which, existence, instead of being a blessing, would be a curse more bitter than death. For, banish virtue from the world, and what could we suppose it to be, but the habitation of devils; the abode of wickedness and horrid cruelty, than which even hell itself could hardly be conceived more dismal? By vice, or wickedness, on the other hand, is meant the transgression of this law, which binds all holy beings together in mutual friendship, and consequently the alienation, the ruin, and debasement of God's noblest works, his intelligent offspring.

Whoever, then, violates the divine law, in its own nature so holy, just, and good, and in its influence, so beneficial and necessary to the welfare of every creature, basely tramples upon, and does despite to the authority of that great and good Being, in whom he lives and moves-renounces his allegiance to his rightful Sovereign becomes a rebel and a traitor to the sacred Majesty of heaven-ungratefully employs those powers, which were bestowed for the noblest purposes, against that gracious power from whom they were derived, and does all that he can do, to extend confusion and misery, and every kind of mischief, over the universe of God.

Thus, you see, what an evil and bitter thing it is to depart from the living God, how base and shocking, in

its ill desert, and how fatal and destructive in the consequences with which it is inseparably attended. Truly sin is the reproach and ruin of any people, and the more exalted in the scale of being that creature is, who doth commit it, the more completely odious and hurtful he doth become, and consequently the more obnoxious to righteous punishment.

In as far, then, as God is zealous for the honour of his laws, and the good order and peace of his whole rational creation, which depend upon their strict observance, in so far must we consider him bound to punish every transgression of these laws in the most exemplary and awful manner. As the divine law is perfect righteousness, every deviation therefrom must be iniquity. But we cannot suppose any one instance of iniquity to be connived at, or passed over with impunity, more than any other.

For the same authority which said, Thou shalt not commit adultery, hath said also, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, is guilty of all. That is to say, every single breach of the law of God argues equal contempt for the divine will, equal opposition to the divine authority with any other, and therefore the same regard to justice, which requires the punishment of sin in any one instance, requires it in all.

In like manner, to a Being of spotless purity, all manner of evil must be completely odious and abominable. Iniquity, in all the specious forms it may assume, is enmity against God. However disguised or softened from its original deformity, it must be as offen

sive to his nature, and opposite to his character, as sweet is to bitter, or darkness is to light.

As sure, therefore, as God is just and holy, we cannot suppose him to suffer any, even the smallest deviation from rectitude, under his righteous government, to pass unpunished; and with this natural sense of the ill-desert of sin, accord the awful declarations denounced in Scripture.

Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the law to do them. Hast thou not heard this of old, since man was placed upon earth, that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment. Though his excellency mount up to heaven, and his head reach unto the clouds, yet he shall utterly perish, and the place thereof shall know him no more for ever.

God cannot behold evil but with the most perfect hatred and abhorrence, and though hand should join in hand, iniquity and the workers thereof shall not pass unpunished. Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Our God is a consuming fire. God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth. The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries. Who can stand before his indignation, and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? If he looketh on the earth, it trembleth. If he touch the hills, they smoke. The angels, who kept not their first estate, he hath reserved in everlasting chains of darkness, unto the judgment of the great day, and on the wicked God shall rain snares, fire, and brimstone, and an horrible tempest. This shall be the portion of their cup.

2dly, Now, that all the human race are sinners, that we have all come short of the glory of God, and, in instances innumerable, done those things which we ought not to have done, and left undone those things which we ought to have done, is a fact of such unquestionable truth—a matter of such woeful and daily experience, that I believe no reasonable man was ever disposed to dispute it.

Does not reason, in this respect, loudly reiterate the voice of revelation, that it is our bounden duty, as well as our highest interest, to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our strength, and with all our mind, and our neighbour as ourselves? What more just and reasonable than that he, in whose hand our breath is, and whose are all our ways, to whose unmerited bounty we owe the food we eat, the raiment we put on, the air we breathe, all that we now possess, or hope to obtain, in time and through eternity, should hold the supreme place in our affections, and call forth every power and faculty within us, in cheerful subservience to his will?

Ought we not to value the approbation of that great Being, in whom we live and move, and who giveth us all things richly to enjoy, as of more importance to us than all the universe beside? Ought we not to dread that divine displeasure, which, in a moment, could reduce us to the dust, or render us completely miserable for ever, as the greatest curse that could befall us; or shall we be afraid of them that can kill the body, and after that have no more, that they can do, and fear not to

offend him, who, after he hath killed the body, hath power to cast both body and soul into hell?

Are we not, therefore, called upon by every tie of gratitude and ingenuousness, and constrained by every motive of duty and of interest, which can influence the conduct of reasonable creatures, to devote all our time and talents, our diligence and application, to the service of God, to make his holy will the constant rule of our conduct, and the promotion of his glory the main business and study of our lives?

Can any thing in heaven or earth deserve one anxious thought or wish, the regard of a single moment from any rational creature, in preference to the God of his life, and the length of his days, the bountiful supply of all his present comforts, the source supreme of all his future hopes? Or rather, must 'not all the universe beside, comparatively speaking, seem vile and insignificant? For what would it profit a man, though he should gain ten thousand worlds, and lose his own soul, or be at variance with him, at whose rebuke the sun shall become black as sackcloth, and the moon as blood; the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; and the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the chief captains, and dominions, and principalities, and powers, shall say unto the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the wrath of Him, that sitteth upon the throne?

Yet can any fact be more deplorably, and manifestly certain, than that these great and momentous truths, in which we are all so nearly concerned, seldom or