and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." Sin is the parent of death. It bringeth it forth, as naturally as the parent bringeth forth its young. St. Paul, in a verse or two after the text, puts the same truth in another light. He calls death "the wages of sin" that recompense which sin earns, and which it will undoubtedly receive. Thus death was solemnly denounced on our first parents, as the certain consequence of sin. When God charged them not to eat of the tree of knowledge, he assured them, that death would follow disobedience: "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die."+ And what is death? It is a word of the most awful meaning. When spoken of the body, it means its separation from the soul, which is its life, and its returning to the dust, whence it was taken. But death, when spoken of the soul, as it is in the text, and in the other places mentioned above (for "the soul that sinneth, it shall die,"+) means the separation of the soul from the favour, the presence, and the Spirit of God, which is its life, and the being for ever given up to darkness, torment and despair. Hence it is called in the Revelation of St. John, "The second death."§ * James, i. 15. Ezek. xvii. 14. VOL. I. C + Genesis, ii. 17. Hence also it is opposed by St. Paul, in the passage before-mentioned, to eternal life. "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life."*. Thus also in the burial-service of our church, those, who perish in their sins, are said to die eternally: and we pray to be delivered from the bitter pains of eternal death. In short, this is the end of sin, eternal misery in hell. It is the end to which it naturally and necessarily leads. God hath unalterably decreed, that "the wicked shall be turned into hell:"+ that the unpardoned sinner shall not escape, but shall go into everlasting pu nishment. Such is the view here given of sin. From what has been said, you may have some notion of what it really is. It yields no true enjoyment at present. It brings those who commit it to shame. And if not repented of, forsaken, and pardoned, it will surely, in the end, destroy their souls for ever. This is sin. Yet this, my brethren, is the thing, which so many love, and to which they cleave. This is the master whom they choose, and serve in preference to GOD; that GOD, who, if they truly turned to him, instead of rewarding them with shame and death, would make them happy * Rom. vi. 23. + Psalm, 17. here, and glorious for ever hereafter. Surely if you would lay these would lay these things to heart, you would not continue the willing servants of sin. Only consider what injury you are doing to yourselves, by serving such a master. You are depriving yourselves of all the present peace and happiness, which you would certainly find in the ways and service of God. As yet indeed you know nothing of these things by experience; and therefore it is probable, that you rate them far below their real value. Not having ever felt the joys and comforts of religion, you account them to be little. But they are, not little. They are great; beyond your conception great. The L peace Gon-that peace which God gives to his people, and which they only know is a peace which passeth all understanding" a peace which w the workers of wickedness can never know: for there is no peace to them. A conscience void of offence, a sense of God's favour and love, a well-grounded hope of eternal glory, are causes of delight and joy, with which all the pleasures of sin are not to be compared. Would the servants of GoD be so repeatedly said in the scriptures to be happy and blessed, if they had not a happiness and a blessedness peculiarly their own? Could you but be persuaded to make trial of their ways, you would find them to be ways of pleasantness and peace, Could you but be persuaded to forsake the service of sin, you would soon be sensible of the present happiness which you are losing, by obstinately persisting in that ser vice. ་་ ” Besides, the longer you continue in the ways of sin, the greater unhappiness you are laying up for yourselves hereafter. You have seen, that shame must follow sin. Here or hereafter, either in this world, or in the next, you must be brought to shame for every sin which you commit. If you should live to repent of your transgressions, and to sorrow for them with a godly sorrow; yet every additional sin which you, commit, will imbitter that repentance, and make that sorrow deeper. The greater is. your guilt, the greater will be your shame and self-reproach, whenever GOD, in his mercy, may bring you to a penitent feeling of your sins. sins. But if this should never be the case. If the LORD, provoked at your past and present impenitence, should never grant to you repentance unto life; What, in that case, will become of you? What, in that case, are you now doing? are sealing your own destruction. You are You treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath. By every additional sin, you are adding fuel to that fire which will torment your soul for ever. Consider these things. May they work in you a holy resolution to forsake the service of sin, and to choose the service of GOD! surely you mean to do this at some time. Why delay the doing of it? Why delay to be freed from the bondage of the devil, from the guilt of sin, from the wrath of GOD? Is sin so profitable? Is the state of a sinner so safe, so happy, that any should be loath to leave it? Can you be happy too soon? Too soon be a child of GOD and an heir of heaven? Too soon be delivered from the danger of dying eternally? Would you gratify and please your worst enemy a little longer, before you quit his service? Would you fix sin a little deeper in your heart, before you try to root it out? Is your life too long? Are you afraid of having too much time, and of beginning the great work of repentance too soon? Believe it, Satan is not idle in destroying your soul, though you are negligent in saving it. Time is not standing still. You, together with it, are hastening fast towards eternity. When a few more days, or weeks, or years, at farthest, shall be past, your time of trial will |