fears alarmed by explicit denunciations. It is therefore expected that a conviction of religious truths should be productive of unreserved obedience. A transgression of the divine commands, is an incontestable mark of ungovernable propensities, culpable inattention, incredulity respecting the threatenings, or a want of confidence in the promises of God. Hence it is that the Jewish people, were so frequently and so severely reproached for their unbelief, "Ye rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God; and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice." "A fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel, because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation."*

In conformity to such principles, and such declarations, and to evince that "the word which is gone out of the mouth of the Lord shall not return," the sacred historian has recorded numerous instances of the accomplishment both of promises and of threatenings; in which the Disobedience of individuals has been repeatedly productive of the severest chastisement, and Obedience has received the most signal eviden

* Deut. ix. 23. Ps. lxxviii. 21, 22. See the whole of this Psalm.

ces of the divine approbation. Of these facts we shall adduce a few examples.

The first instance of a just and wise severity against Disobedience, is recorded in the history of our first Parents; whose rebellious conduct has spread its influence over all their posterity, and introduced a new arrangement in the divine administration. Death, the hated enemy of man, which destroys his plans, terminates his prosperity, inspires him with dread whenever it arrests his attention, was introduced into the world by Disobedience. The prohibition was "of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, ye shall not eat of it;" the threatening, “for in the day that ye eat thereof ye shall surely die." Whatever explanation may be given to some particulars in this narrative of Moses, concerning the transgression of Adam, whether they are to be received in a literal, or in an allegorical sense, the grand truth remains the same. He transgressed. His guilt consisted in disobedience to a command. Whatever Ideas we may entertain concerning the knowledge of good and evil, the sin consisted in its being unlawfully obtained. There is also a great diversity in the sentiments of men concerning this Death. By some it is supposed to signify absolute annihilation; an irrecoverable extinc

tion of being, such as, in the general opinion, is the destination of the inferior animals. According to some, it is a suspension of vitality, a total cessation of consciousness; inactivity in every natural, intellectual, and moral power: It has been considered as the separation of the immortal and spiritual part of man, from that which is material and perishable; the soul or conscious principle still possessing a separate existence, and powers of reflection in an unknown state: Some have imagined that by Death, in the language of scripture, is to be understood a state of permanent misery to the wicked. This diversity of opinions principally arises from the different theories that have been entertained, concerning the nature of the human soul, and the absolute irremediable demerit of sin. These theories, being venerated by their supporters as first principles, the explanations given of particular expressions, have always been conformable to them. However, the Death that was threatened and introduced into the human race, is, according to every theory, a destruction of that very interesting connection which subsists between human beings, and the present system of things. In consequence of this law of dissolution, Men, as well as all animal and vegetable productions, experience a

*

rapid succession in existence, instead of that permanency of duration which is ascribed to superior orders of beings. The sentence was intended to operate as a punishment to the offender. It was a threatening which terrified our first parents; and whatever may be the speculative opinions adopted concerning the nature of the soul, or a state of future existence, a painful uncertainty, and anxious doubts, are diffused over the whole human race, respecting our future destination.

envy

The second offence recorded, is the sin of fratricide. It proceeded from the evil spirit of in Cain, who was " very wroth," because the sacrifice of his brother Abel was such as rendered it acceptable to the Lord, while his own was rejected. He was sentenced to be "a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth."

"Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him."

In the destruction of mankind by the universal flood, the piety of Noah not only preserved him and his family from the general rùin, but he had the distinguished honour of being the parent of a new race of inhabitants. "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." "He was a just man, and perfect in Noah walked with God."

his generation; and Concerning the ex

cellency of his faith, St. Paul thus speaks. "By faith Noah, being warned of God, of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith."*

The very shameful behaviour of Ham towards his father, as it marked his character at an early period, so was it introductory to that depravity of manners which characterised the descendants of his son Canaan; and it was doubtless the occasion of that subsequent state of degradation which Noah had predicted; while the superior virtues of Shem and Japheth, descending to their posterity, entitled them to the blessings pronounced. "And he said, cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant. And God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.†

In the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the divine wrath was manifested against the extreme wickedness of the inhabitants; but the love of righteousness was most conspicuous in the preservation of Lot and his family; and also in the declaration that had there been ten righ† Gen. ch. ix. 25, 26.

* Heb. xi. 7.