A SERMON.

THANKS BE TO GOD, WHO GIVETH US THE VICTORY THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.-1 CORINTHIANS XV. 57.

SIN is the only origin of all evil, natural and moral. It has divested man of his primitive glory, alienated him from God, and subjected him to suffering and death. The divine laws are all good, and in their nature calculated to promote and secure the highest happiness of all intelligent beings. Of course, these laws, if always and fully obeyed, would forever exclude from the universe, all sin and misery. Supreme love to God, is the essence of all true virtue; and the end of this, is happiness. The divine will or law, is therefore, the standard of virtue, and the rule of action for all rational, voluntary agents. These, therefore may with certainty calculate, that their ultimate happiness, will be exactly proportionate to their virtue in principle and practice. As conformity to the law of God, produces virtue and happiness, so disconformity to it, produces sin and misery. Hence, all evil has originated in the mutability and defection of the creature, and not in an insufficiency of divine benevolence; much less in a positive, divine influence. All evils, both moral and physical, are so many evidences of the sin and degradation of man. He is now in a state of exile; in a land of bondage; an enemy to God, and to himself. All the evils of his troublesome, evanescent life, are comprised in sin and

pain. These he constantly feels. His soul is filled with unhallowed desires, and with ungovernable appetites, at war with his reason and conscience. Agitated by a thousand restless activities, he wanders abroad in this valley of desolation, dissatisfied with the present, tormented by the past, and anxious for the future. Born to trouble, he is a prey to himself, to others, and to all the elements of nature. Here he pines in poverty and famine; there he languishes in wealth and luxury; there, under the reign of liberty, he rushes into vice and licentiousness; there, under the stern sceptre of despotism, he sinks into a brute, and groans under the iron hand of oppression. In every part of the globe, through every period of life, he is exposed to evils which he cannot elude, and to injuries which he cannot redress. He perpetually pants after a happiness which he cannot find. Every object in creation, however alluring to his senses and imagination, fades away under his touch. For him, the privacy of retirement soon looses its charms; public honors wither on his brow; and all the pomp of grandeur sinks beneath him. He is indeed like "the troubled ocean, which cannot rest." All things animate and inanimate; every hope and every joy; health and sickness; poverty and wealth; all within and all without; every virtue and every vice; all proclaim the wretchedness, the guilt and impotence of man. He takes up his life in sorrow, carries it on in trouble, and lays it down in death. But shall he forever lie under the bondage of corruption? Shall the ceaseless flight of ages serve only to augment and perpetuate his misery? Shall not all those who believe in Christ, spring up from death vigorous and immortal? They will be more than conquerors through him who hath loved them, and will triumphantly exclaim, "Thanks be to God! who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ."

From these words, I shall exhibit the reasons of the christian's triumph over sin and death.

First. He has evidence that he is liberated from the reigning power of sin.

The scriptures represent the unregenerate as in a state of servitude, and wholly governed by the principle of evil. "There

is none righteous, no, not one." "There is none that understandeth; there is none that seeketh after God." 66 They are all gone out of the way; they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good; no, not one." Christ said, "Whosoever committeth sin, is the servant of sin." Every thought of the imagination of man's heart, was pronounced by God, to be evil continually. "The heart of the wicked is fully set in him to do evil." The Apostle John says, "The whole world lieth in wickedness." The prevalence of evil in the heart of man, is represented in Scripture, as a kingdom, as a dominion, as a tyranny. Hence the apostle Paul speaks of sin as "reigning unto death." To those therefore, who continue in a state of nature, there is no hope of salvation and no cause of triumph. They are liable to receive "the wages of sin, which is death." It is the excellency of the gospel, that it brings into the souls of men, a principle of spiritual life, delivering them from the bondage of sin, and inspiring them with hopes of future felicity. To this Christ had respect, when he said, “If the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed." To the same transit from the bondage of sin, Paul had reference, when he said, "You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins." He declares, that they "were by nature, children of wrath even as others;" and adds, "But God, who is rich in mercy, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works." To the same purpose he says to the Corinthians, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." The real christian therefore, is one who has experienced a renovation of heart; who has the witness in himself; who knows in whom he has believed, and rejoices that "because Christ lives, he shall live also." He realizes what the apostle Paul said to the Romans, "The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together with him. The believer has abundant reason to triumph over sin and death, because he feels the power of Christ in his heart; and has assurance, by the earnest of the spirit; that he shall be delivered

from the bondage of corruption, and no more be brought "into captivity to the law of sin. He considers natural death as a wise and necessary appointment in the divine economy. He considers the second death as the just punishment of sin, and is assured that on him, that death shall have no power. The love of God is shed abroad in his heart, and while he feels the power of the world to come, he exclaims in the triumphant language of truth, "I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which in Christ Jesus our Lord." It is by knowing him in the power of his resurrection; it is by receiving his testimony; it is by obeying his command; that we can rise above the infirmity of our reason and our senses, and possess a hope full of ardor, full of immortality. He who has fled to the Saviour for refuge, who has really believed on him according to the Scriptures, can view sin and death as vanquished enemies. He views death as the destruction of all his sin and sorrow; he stands aloft on the mountain of God, and with a confidence which no danger can shake, and an ecstacy which no language can express, exclaims, "Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Secondly, Another reason of the christian's triumph over sin and death is, the evidence he has, that he is justified through Christ, and acquitted from condemnation.

Sin is the only thing which has ever rendered men obnoxious to divine justice, and exposed them to punishment. Hence we can entertain no hope of exemption from misery, unless we are pardoned by a special act of divine favor. Pardon implies the remission of punishment which may be justly inflicted. Hence pardon supposes and implies an acquittal from condemnation. The believer is made sensible of the remission of his sins, for "the love of God is shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost." He is brought into the state in which the apostle represents the Corinthians, when they had embraced the gospel; "but ye are washed; but ye are sanctified; but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit of our God."