B

the wicked to attend to religion by the example of a holy life and conversation; but are incessant in endeavoring to excite them to attend to the various means of grace. This Christian zeal embraces the various missionary objects of the present day. Those, who have this spirit in exercise, not only feel it a duty incumbent on them, to extend the knowledge of the Gospel to heathen countries, but likewise find numerous occasions at all times of performing or supporting missionary labors themselves, within the sphere of their own acquaintance. Ministers, and Christians in general, who neglect on week-days to use all the means in their power, for the spiritual good of their fellow creatures, lose their greatest op. portunities of doing good. There are numbers, in every Christian society, almost as ignorant of the Gospel, as the heathen in Africa.

and

The discountenancing suppressing of vice; the instruction of the ignorant, in moral and religious knowledge; and the distribution of the various religious tracts and publications of the present time, furnish ample scope for the benevolent exertions of every well disposed person. Considering the feeble and limited efforts of most Christians, for the advancement of religion, there is no wonder that it is not more flourishing. If the Lord's watchmen, and people were more universally and earnestly zealous in the best of causes, there is encouragement to expect, that He would appear, and more generally revive and extend it. The Scriptures assert, that lukewarmness and indiffer

ence in spiritual concerns, are highly displeasing to God. Therefore, Christian professors, who remain idle and indifferent spectators in this enlightened and eventful period, not discerning the signs of the times, have reason to apply to themselves the denunciation to the church of the Laodiceans: I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So, then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

T. 0.

For the Panoplist.

ON THE EVIL OF SIN.

SIN is defined, in the Westminster Catechism, to be the "want of conformity to, or transgression of, the law of God." I think no important exceptions can be taken to this definition. It is clear and comprises much, in concise terms.

The existence of law, is implicd in the existence of sin. Where there is no law, there is no transgression. Were there rational beings in the universe destitute of law, they must be free from guilt. Had not Pagans a law in their own consciences, transcribed there by the finger of God, they must be acquitted in the day of judgment. Such as have in their hands the Scriptures, will be judged by the Scriptures; and their demerits will be estimated, according to the standard there established.

Hence, in estimating the evil of sin, we are bound in duty to ourselves, and in gratitude to

heaven for the lively Oracles, to form no other rule, than that, which will regulate the decisions of the last day. Consulting our own happiness, and the honor of God, we shall unquestionably limit or extend our views of the heinousness of sin according to the testimony that cannot

lie.

1. Regard the character of the lawgiver. God is good. He is, essentially, Love. He allows to every creature, not only the good things claimed in virtue of a divine promise, and the privileges held in virtue of his rank among other creatures, but he bestows countless favors, that are unsolicited, and unpromised, as well as undeserved. sues one grand object, in all his works; the highest happiness of the Universe. He is vise in heart. He adopts the best possible means to secure his ob

He pur

ject, and cannot be deceived. He is just. The precepts and penalties of his laws are equably poised. Justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne. He will inflict no more punishment, in any instance, than is deserved; and will deprive no one of any promised or deserved good. He is independent. No motives of interest, terror, or partiality, can sway him from rectitude. His authority being underived, is stable beyond the possibility of being shaken. He has power to enforce his laws. No being can resist him; no successful opposition can be made. Now, if these perfections belong to God, he is perfectly qualified to be a lawgiver. And let it be remembered, that they do belong to him, in an unlimited sense. He is infinite in benevo

lence,wisdom, justice, and power. Who then will question his right to impose laws, at his pleasure, on beings of yesterday? And what finite, mind can calculate the enormous guilt of violating those laws. But

2. Consider the obligations under which men lie to God. They live, move, and have their being in Him. Man is formed with noble powers. He looks above, around, below, and, in all things, discerns the majesty of GOD. He looks back on years long since gone, forward on years to come. He lifts the curtain that hides the eternal world, and converses with invisible spirits. He knows what God expects from him: he knows the doom that awaits him if impenitent, and the inheritance he is heir to, if a believer. Day after day he is upheld; year rolls on after year; and each revolving sun brings to light new pleasures, opens new prospects, and enlarges the sphere of enjoyment. True, he is not perfectly happy; but his very sorrows are medicinal, and his trials are so accommodated to his circumstances, as to evince rather the solicitude of a parent, than the severity of a master. Now if the earth pours forth her treasures; if the eternal God reveals his justice, his mercy and his truth; if all heaven urges man to be happy; must not the sin of disregarding the obligations, thus imposed, be incalculably great?

3. Consider, further, the qualities of the law which sin violates. It is perfect. It neither requires to much, nor too little. Its penalties are neither too rig. orous, nor too mild. The punishments it threatens, are exact

ly proportioned to the crimes it forbids, and the promises it implies are worthy of God. It is therefore holy just and good. It is an eternal law. If I mistake not, we are apt to consider the moral law, as issuing from the arbitrary will of the lawgiver, and consequently as liable to be revoked at his pleasure. If so, we place it exactly on a footing with the ceremonial law, and all the other temporary ordinances that God has appointed for the benefit of his church. Herein we err. The moral law, or the great law of love; is no more dependent on the divine will, than Omnipotence, or any other divine attribute, is so dependent. It is the necessary result of infinite perfection, and of course is coeval with the existence of God. It is not eternal as to its publication, because creatures have not existed eternally; but, when ever and wherever moral creat⚫ ed beings have existed, this law has been made known, and carried into operation, Therefore, it is an universal law. Does it bind man? It binds the angel and the fiend of darkness too. God himself its author, its supporter, and its end, regulates his conduct by the same principles of love that he inculcates on us. This law binds together all worlds; and controls all operations in the natural, intellectual, and moral systems of the universe. Let it be annihilated, and confusion pervades every corner of God's dominions. Nature returns to her primitive nothing. The fire of intellect is extinguished. Moral affection expires. The throne of God is mingled in the general

ruin. Such is the tendency of sin; and if its evil may be estimated by its tendency, human language is not expressive enough to describe it adequately.

It

4. Again; sin produces actual suffering incalculably great. It blots out eternal happiness. creates eternal misery. That spark of immortality, kindled in the human breast by the Spirit of God; that living principle, which is destined to survive a burning world, and to blaze forth a radiant star in the courts above, or to gleam a baleful wandering meteor through regions of eternal darkness;—this it is, which sin makes its victim; this is the object, which it drags from celestial glory down to regions of never-ending horror. Before we conclude, that the demerit of sin can be estimated by a finite mind, we ought to pause, and distinctly view its consequences. These are defined, certain, and irretrievable. We do not calculate the severity of an affliction by its magnitude merely, but by its continuance. A momentary pang, however excruciating, is quickly forgotten, if it be followed by uninterrupted quiet; but let pains follow pains, for. years and ages without intermission, would not the evil be considered as proportionate to its duration? Suppose, then, that the sinner is given up to be food for a worm that never dies;fuel for fire that never shall be quenched; suppose that misery strictly eternal is allotted to him for his portion, and this as the wages of sin; must not the cause of such suffering be an evil so great as to baffle all calculation?

But on

the authority of God's word, we pronounce these to be the legit. imate and unavoidable consequences of sin, unless the sinner become penitent.

I am sensible, that it is sometimes said, that punishment will be eternal for no other reason, than that men, if they die impenitent, will continue to sin forever. I am much mistaken

if a passage can be found in Scripture to warrant such an opinion. We are authorized to affirm, that at the day of judgment every man will be tried, and acquitted, or condemned, according to the deeds done in the body; not according to his deeds between death and the resurrection, nor according to his deeds after the judgment. His conduct and feelings in this world, and these alone, are matters on which he will be tried and sentenced. In that solemn day the universe assembles--for what? To learn that sinners will continue to sin in hell, and therefore be punished forever? No; but to learn how they have regarded the law of God, and the Gospel of Christ, while on earth; and to learn, that contempt for the law, and rejection of the Gospel, deserve everlasting misery.

The evil of sin appears from the obligations which it violates. We are bound to love, and honor any being, in proportion to his rank and excellence. We are under greater obligations to love a good man, than a bad one; and under greater obligations to love a good man in authority, than a good man without authority. This is the dictate of

that wisdom that is without partiality. Now, if God is infinite in excellence, our obligations to love him supremely are infinitely great. If we fail in rendering him his due, we violate these infinite obligations; and this violation is a sin, which none but the Infinite Mind can fully esti

mate.

Finally, the demerit of sin may be learned, from the cross of Christ. To see the Son of God willingly led as a sheep to the slaughter; to see the second person of the adorable Trinity,in the character of the Messiah, giving up his life as a sacrifice to make atonement for sin, and to magnify and honor the law which sin had violated; to see one, who was infinitely rich, be come poor, that we through his poverty might be rich; to look at this scene, and then turn away coolly to affirm, that the occasion of his sufferings is not an infinite evil, argues a state of mind that few Christians will wish their own.

May the writer of this article, and his readers, be preserved by the grace of God, from limiting the magnitude of that evil and bitter thing which God's soul hates, according to the concep tions of our darkened under, standings. May we cheerfully submit this, and every other subject connected with our immortal interests, to the infallible decision of Him, whose lips shall pronounce the final doom of the impenitent:-Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared! for the devil and his angels.

S. S.