Crime necessarily supposes a wilful discordance with the law of God. It can never exist separately from a condition of moral agency that is, the capacity of making a sinful choice knowingly. But sufferings and death are often endured by those who by reason of infancy were wholly incapable of distinguishing between good and evil, and could not judge of their own moral character, nor approve nor disapprove of it. As respects themselves, alone, even in their depravity, there could be no charge of criminality, and no deserving cause of penal ill. But, 2dly, on the above supposition the difficulty is not diminished. In virtue of the disobedience of Adam, they are depraved; and this depravity, never made their own by any voluntary act, is the alleged meritorious reason of sufferings and death. I am unable to see how this doctrine is less difficult, or less objectionable than that which alleges that they being one in covenant with Adam sinned with him in his first transgression, fell with him, and suffer with him. Because in this theory it is admitted, that by his transgression they inherit depravity, and are born sinful. Is this an evil less than bodily sufferings and death? It is, beyond denial, the much greater evil of the two. No other calamity so great can befall an accountable creature, as moral depravity. The proposed solution relieves none of the difficulty, and the fact is that "in Adam sinning, all die." If spiritual depravity, sufferings and death be "the wages of sin," and infants suffer these, it cannot be for their own personal sins; it must be for Adam's sin, in whom as their covenant head they virtually sinned. By the offence of one, that is Adam, they became sinners, and death passed upon all, and thus proves that all are under condemnation.

I add a few brief reflections.

1st. God is the author of all good, and only of what is good. This we may conclude from the infinite perfection and benevolence of his nature. Nor is there any example in his works as he made them; nor in his providences, where evil appears to be designed, or to be a necessary consequence. It is always the result of his gifts abused, and of his will violated. All penal ills

are the natural and deserved consequences of sin, and this was, and, is in every instance a contradiction to God's law, expressly made known, and thereby his gifts are perverted and abused.

2d. The knowledge of man's primitive state is of great practical importance. It is essential to our having correct views of the moral character and government of God, and of our own condition and character. It is essential to the experience of repentance and the hope of salvation, and magnifies the grace of God in designing and effecting our restoration to holiness and happiness.

3d. Man's ruined condition is not hopeless and irreparable. He has fallen, deeply and awfully fallen, but there is hope concerning him. God has "remembered him in his lost estate," and "laid help upon one who is mighty to save." Paradise may be regained. It has, indeed, been forfeited and lost, but there is a way of return. The cherubims and flaming sword no longer forbid our access to "the tree of life." The hindrances are removed, the way is open, and invitation is to all. "Whosoever will may come, and they who come will in no wise be repulsed or shut out." Who will neglect, or refuse the offered restoration ? We beseech you that you render not vain this grace of God.

SERMON III.

ADAM FALLEN; YET, NOT WITHOUT HOPE.

GENESIS III. 17, 18, 19.-And unto Adam He said, because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat of the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; For out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

It is a melancholy employment to survey the desolations of cities once renowned, magnificent and populous. How unlike what formerly they were are Carthage, Tyre, Babylon and many others! If the places which they occupied can be certainly known, they scarcely retain a vestige of what constituted their former importance and glory. Amidst the wild confusion and utter desolation may, perhaps, be seen some immense masses of mingled ruin, some ponderous pillars, the memorials of signal events, and of departed glory-some indications of cultivated taste some admirable products of genius, and of art. But these memorials are few. If aught can be seen, yet so little remains, that our faith in the historian almost staggers, and we instinctively and doubtingly exclaim-can the report be true! Were these once the scenes of grandeur, magnificence, splendor and busy life! Have the mighty thus fallen! Does "the fashion of this world thus pass away!" Yet, to disbelieve, would be to abandon to oblivion all the past-to deny the existence of all former generations-to make the distant ages of the world a perfect blank, and all history a cunningly devised fable. Besides, these admirable fragments, and those immense ruins, remain as silent, but intelligible and trust-worthy witnesses to the truth of the strange and saddening story of what they once were. What

a crowd of splendid and pensive thoughts press upon the mind in actually surveying those changed scenes, or even when we ponder on them as presented in the historic page! Imagination is fired, and charmed, and astonished, whilst it contemplates them as they were: when it contemplates them as they now are, all is sadness, sorrow, and humiliating wonder. How very similar are the impressions which we receive in contemplating the contrast of man's primitive and his present state-his days of glory and of bliss, with his ages of prostration, debasement and misery! In this case the facts are no less credible-the change beyond comparison more wasteful and saddening. The facts are ascertained by the testimony of the inspired record, and still there are visible the scattered fragments of a once noble edifice, the faint traces of defaced glory, the remnants of pristine worth sadly depreciated, of dignity degraded, of moral excellence lost, of god-like powers perverted, and a capacity for heavenly employments and enjoyments occupied in sordid services and joys. Guided by the revelation of God, we have contemplated Adam in his primitive integrity. We have now to contemplate Adam fallen. I propose to review

1st. The external, and 2d, the internal ills of his condition as fallen; and that our survey may not be altogether dark and dreary, I will, 3dly, consider him as under a dispensation of mercy.

1st. In considering the ills of his fallen condition, our description, and even our conception of them, as he felt them, must be very inadequate. These, for a long succession of ages, have been the common lot of man. We early become familiar with them. We have known nothing better. We expect to find on earth nothing else. We meet them as the inevitable and universal allotment of our race. This alleviates the pressure of our burden; this prepares us to feel less grievously the operation of our calamities, and abates the anguish of our distress. But to him, instead of these abatements, there was all the aggravated weight and bitterness of a sudden transition from ease to toil, from abundance to penury, from glory to shame, from pleasures to

sufferings, from life to death. In our present condition, adversity is grievous, generally, in proportion to the measure of prosperity by which it has been preceded. Want is peculiarly

calamitous to those who have known the sweets of abundance, and dishonor to those who have travelled in the path of glory. In proportion to the height of the elevation must be the depth and severity of the fall; and to the mind which possesses any proper sensibility, adversity must be eminently grievous, which the sufferer feels as the acknowledged consequence of his own perverseness and folly. All these aggravating circumstances were found in the condition of our fallen pregenitor.

As to external ills, 1st. He was bereaved of that external lustre and glory with which his body had been invested. This had previously served all the purposes of covering and ornament. I am aware that it is said of our first parents, previously to their transgression, that "they were both naked, and were not ashamed." It is true that they had not a covering such as they afterwards wore, but they had what rendered it unnecessary, and the loss of that left them in such circumstances as occasioned shame, and required artificial vesture and protection. The original word here rendered "ashamed," sometimes means to be without splendor or glory. So in Isaiah 24:23 it is said that "the sun shall be ashamed," which must mean that his radiance or brightness would be obscured. Taking the word in this acceptation as to our first parents in innocence, the meaning of that verse would be, that "they were both naked," without any external covering of clothing, such as men wear; but were not without a splendor, or lustre, which was fully equivalent to all the necessities of their condition at that time. But after transgression, they found themselves divested of this glory. This they now saw and felt to their shame and confusion. Their eyes being opened, is, beyond all doubt, figurative language, to denote some new knowledge and new convictions which they now experienced; that the delusion had passed away, and that their folly was now distinctly seen. Their bodily eyes had always been open. Eve saw the forbidden "fruit that it was pleasant to the eyes," and