and must therefore be equally culpable with other games of chance. Coveting other men's property contrary to the law of love, and enriching the survivors, commonly at the expense of the relatives of the deceased, are intimately connected with them; whilst they lead men into strong temptations secretly to wish the death of others, for the sake of advantages which they inordinately desire and irregularly pursue. In fine, discontent, distrust, love of wealth, pleasure, and grandeur, desire of change, the habit of wishing, and every inordinate affection, are the evils here prohibited; and we know them to be the sources of all other crimes, and of man's misery. And the command requires moderation in respect of all worldly things, submission to God, acquiescence in his will, love to his commands, and a reliance on him for the daily supply of all our wants as he sees good. We cannot close this brief explication of the divine law, (in which we find nothing redundant, defective, or injurious, but all things holy, just, and good), more properly, than by the words of our church service, Lord, have mercy upon us,' (forgiving all our past transgressions), and write all these thy laws in our hearts, we beseech thee.' ESSAY V. On man's situation, as a sinner, in this present ›› world. ઠંડ THE apostle has defined sin to be "the transgression of the law," and whatever, in any respect or degree, deviates from this perfect rule, is sin, and * 1 John iii. 4, By the law" there exposes a man to condemnation. fore" is the knowledge of sin ;"* the better we understand the holy, just, and good commandments of God; the more enlarged will be our acquaintance with the vast variety of sins that are continually committed, as well as with the evil and desert of every transgression; and a comprehensive knowledge of our whole duty is essential to a just estimate of our own character, or our situation in respect to the eternal world. But we should not only attend to the requirements and prohibitions of the divine law; its sanctions also demand our most serious consideration. Indeed the law, strictly speaking, (as distinguished from the gospel,) is merely a rule and a sanction; a rule formed by infinite wisdom, holiness, and goodness, and enforced by supreme authority; a sanction to be awarded by immutable justice and almighty power, according to the declarations of eternal truth. Repentance and amendment are right, and accord to the spirit of the commandment; but they make no compensation for transgression, and are not noticed by the law; and the mercy exercised by the Lawgiver has reference to the provisions of another covenant. Perfect obedience is the uniform demand of the precept; condemnation inevitably follows transgression. "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and "yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all;"t even as a man is condemned for violating one of the many statutes of the realm, in a single instance, though no other offence be charged upon him. The apostle therefore declares, that " as many as are of the works "of the law, are under the curse; for it is written, "cursed is every one, that continueth not," (during his whole life,)" in all things, which are written in the "book of the law, to do them;" and the moral law must at least be included in this general language. They alone, who have at all times perfectly kept the whole law, can have the least claim to the reward which it proposes, for "the man that doeth" the commandments "shall live in them," but " the soul that sinneth, * Rom. iii. 20. † James, ii. 8-11 "shall die." And as "all have sinned, and come "short of the glory of God," (of rendering to him the glory due to his name ;) so in this respect "there is no "difference," but "every mouth shall be stopped, and "all the world shall become guilty before God;"* though an immense difference will be found between some men and others, in respect of the nature, number, and aggravations, of their offences. All attempts therefore, in a sinner to justify himself, must result from ignorance of God and his law, and of himself; or from a disposition to impeach the strictness of the law, and the justice of the Lawgiver. Our Lord himself explains the import of the curse of the law, from which he redeemed his people by becoming a curse for them, when he forwarns us, that he will say to the wicked at the day of judgment, " depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, pre"pared for the devil and his angels; and these shall "go away into everlasting punishment."+ In reflecting on this awful subject, we should recollect that man is constituted of body and soul; and that the soul purposes the act of disobedience, while the body executes its purposes; so that it is highly reasonable to suppose, that the soul will at least share the punishment which the law denounces against the offender. When therefore, the apostle reminded his brethren of their obligations to the Lord Jesus, he says, "who delivered us "from the wrath to come,"‡ whence it is evident, that he considered himself, and all the christians in the world, to have been previously exposed, not only to present effects of the divine displeasure, (from which Jesus does not deliver his people,) but also to future condemnation. The original transgression, through which by "one man sin entered into the world, and "death by sin," was indeed a violation of a positive injunction; but love to God, to himself, and to his posterity, absolutely required Adam to obey it; so that by disobedience he fell under the curse of the law, * Rom. ii. 9-23. Matt. xxv. 41-46. "the flesh, is flesh;" and the carnal mind, which is natural to us, is "enmity against God." It is the universal law of the whole creation, that every plant or animal possesses the properties of that, from which it was derived. When Adam became a sinner, he begat sons" in his own likeness ;" that, which the Creator had pronounced very good, soon became very bad; "the imagination of men's hearts were only evil continually," "the earth was filled with violence" and wickedness, and so it evidently continues to this day. If men argue, that all this results from the education, habit, and example; we might inquire how it came to pass, that bad education, examples, and habits became so general, if the nature of man be not bad also? But the impossibility, in the ordinary course of things, of "bringing a clean thing out of an unclean," shews us how the world comes to be so full of all vice and wickedness. It must be allowed by all observing and impartial persons that men in general, in all parts of the earth, are very different, in their dispositions and conduct, to what the law of God requires them to be. It is also most certain, that they are liable to a vast variety of miseries and pains; that anxiety, vexation, disappointment, and dissatisfaction are inseparable from earthly condition, pursuit, possession, and connexion; that life itself is short and uncertain; that the approach and stroke of death must always be accompanied with grievous sufferings, if not with terror and dismay; that every earthly pursuit and enjoyment must shortly be thus terminated; and that the body (however active, vigorous, comely, pampered, or decorated it may now be,) must then be consigned to the dark and noisome tomb, there to moulder to original dust. All this would be very gloomy and dreary, even if it could be certainly known that nothing further was to be apprehended; but a future state of righteous retribution must exceedingly enhance the horror of the prospect, to such persons as are condemned at the bar of their own con 1 Rom. viii. 5.......9. |