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