he was to stand, and survey this great globe, filled with his own offspring; and to see the whole immense family, like himself, children of God, and heirs of his everlasting love.

2dly. How greatly has Man fallen from his original state!

What proofs of humiliation are visible in every thing, found in the present world!

In our bodies, particularly, what seeds of weakness, distress, and decay! The first proofs that we possess life, are the cries of pain and suffering, inarticulately uttered by the Infant, just entered into the world. How often does even that infant agonize, and expire, in the cradle! If he passes into Childhood, how many pains does he undergo; how many fears; how many sorrows! How frequently is he carried, while a child, to the grave! Should he arrive at Youth, what a train of new evils is he obliged to encounter! and in how many instances does the canker-worm, or the frost, nip the blossom, and wither it beneath the fond eye of parental love! Should he become a Man: sickness, pain, and sorrow, still hunt him through every course of life; and not unfrequently infix their fangs in his heart-strings: while Death, always watching for his prey, descends when he is least aware, and seizes, and bears away, the miserable victim! Should he live to Old Age: his strength declines, his face is furrowed with wrinkles, and his head whitened with hoary locks; his body bends toward the earth, from which it was taken; and, exhausted by suffering, he resigns his breath, and is conveyed to the dark and narrow house; devoured by worms, dissolved by corruption, and changed into his original dust!

His mind, in the mean time, the sport of evil, ungovernable passions, is ignorant, wild, wayward; the seat of a thousand errors, weaknesses, and follies. With its follies, its sins keep at least an equal pace. Selfishness in many forms, ail of them odious, distresses the parental eye, even in infancy. In childhood, in youth, in manhood, it is seen in new varieties of operation, and new appearances of deformity. Pride and ambition, avarice and sensuality, pollute and debase the man in early stages of life; and all increase their savage, brutal control, as he advances in his progress. At the same time, envy, fraud, deceit, violence, and cruelty, mould him into a monster; and scarcely permit us to believe, that he was once formed in the image of God. Where is now the mild, benevolent, equitable, dominion, exercised by our great Progenitor over his happy empire? Where the peace between Man and the inferior inhabitants of the earth? The chief traces of his footsteps through the animal world, are oppression, blood, and death.

In the Moral World, what scenes of pollution, fraud, and tyranny, of war and ravage, are every where displayed! What groans of anguish have been heard from one end of heaven to the other, and from the apostacy to the present hour!

In the Natural World, what a host of enemies to Man are arrayed by famine and disease, the storm, the earthquake, and the volcano! Even his breath, his food, his pleasure, are all means of his destruction.

Where is his purity, justice, truth, and good-will? Where his piety; his morning praise; his evening incense? Where his converse with God; his familiarity with Angels? Men are now the family of Adam; but how different a family from that, which has been described! Were the great Ancestor of Mankind to rise from the dead, and cast his eyes over this earth; what a race of children would he behold! Accompany him in your imagination to the retreats of drunkenness, gluttony, and pollution. Could he believe, that the wretches, burrowed in these foul recesses, sprang from him, who once offered up the worship of Paradise? Enter with him into a hall of justice; and see him ponder in silent amazement the terrible exhibitions of fraud and falsehood, private injustice, and personal cruelty. Behold him mark with a failing eye the lowering gloom of the gibbet, the horrid recesses of the Gaol, and the felon crimes which they were destined to reward. Follow him to the throne of Tyranny; and see his bosom heave with emotions unutterable, while he watches the devastation of human happiness, and human hope, accomplished by the iron-hand of Power; man, blasted and withered by its touch; and the fiend himself rioting on sorrow, tears, and death. Finally, adventure with him to the field of battle; and see him tremble and faint at the shouts and groans, at the sight of immeasurable fury, carnage, and wo. How would his heart rend asunder with agony; how would his eyes weep blood; at such a view of this miserable world! at the remembrance, that both the Authors, and the subjects, of these sufferings were his own offspring. Where would he now find his Eden; his virtue; his Immortality?

3dly. How desirable would it be to regain the blessings, originally bestowed on Man!

The Paradisiacal state has been an object of high estimation to all men. Our first parents were wise, virtuous and happy. They were at peace with God; enjoyed his presence; and received, continually, communications of his favour. They were companions of Angels; and shared their conversation, their friendship, and their joys. Alike were they free from pain, sickness, sorrow, and death; safe from fear and hatred, injustice and cruelty; and superior to meanness, sloth, intemperance, and pollution. They were also immortal; were destined to dwell in a perpetual Eden; were surrounded always by beauty, life, and fragrance; and were employed only in knowing, loving, and enjoying. To regain all these things, would, indeed, "be a consummation, devoutly to be wished." But God has offered them all to us; has commanded, has besought us to receive them; and has given his Son to die, that we might obtain the glorious possession. We may, therefore,

regain the blessings of that Paradise, the loss of which we so deeply lament, and the splendour of which is, at times, the delightful theme of our contemplation, and the most fascinating ornament of descriptive song.

The best of its blessings we may in a great measure regain, even here. Sin blasted all the bloom and beauty of the primitive state, and changed the garden of God into a desolate wilderness. This happy place was formed to be the residence of virtue; and virtue can again call forth all its glories, even on the face of this dreary world. Godliness has the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. The piety, truth, and benevolence, which adorned our first Parents, would again call down similar blessings from Heaven. What a world would this become, if such were again the disposition of man! How transporting a deliverance, to be freed from all the sins and sufferings of this melancholy state; and to enjoy, wherever we roved, an approving conscience, serenity of soul, an unspotted life, kindness interchanged with all men, universal peace, mild and equitable government, and the pure, constant, and delightful worship of the Infinite Benefactor. To escape from our present, melancholy, stormy, bloody world, to such a state, would be to quit, for a palace of splendour and delight, the gloom of a vault, hung round with midnight, and peopled with corpses; a bedlam, where the eye of frenzy flashed, the tongue vibrated with malice, and chains clanked, in dreadful concert, to rage and blasphemy; a dungeon, haunted with crimes, teeming with curses, filled with fiends in the human shape, and opening its doors only to the gibbet and the grave.

4thly. How glorious does the Redeemer appear in the contemplation of this subject!

Christ formed our first Parents, endued them with unspotted holiness; and invested them with immortal life. Christ planted Eden for their possession; and placed them in the enjoyment of all its felicity. Christ gave them the dominion of this lower world; and entitled them to the company of the heavenly host. All these blessings they lost by their apostacy; and, with their apostacy, the loss, also, has descended to their posterity. To restore our ruined race to the enjoyment of these blessings, Christ, with infinite compassion, left his own glory, lived in our world a frail, suffering man, and died a death of shame and agony.

He, who created Paradise at first, can create it again. He, who gave immortal life and youth; He who communicated spiritual knowledge, refined affections, and spotless holiness, to our first Parents, can communicate them to us. By creating them at first, He has proved, that he is able; by becoming incarnate, living and dying for our sakes, He has proved, that he is willing.

For this end, He has assumed the government of all things. In his Father's house, He has told us, are many mansions. To that happy residence, He has gone before to prepare a place for us.

Nay, He has declared, that He will create new heavens and a new earth, for the reception of those, who trust in him, and love his appearing. In this new world, He has assured us, there shall be no more death nor sorrow, nor crying, nor any more pain: for all these former evil things shall then have passed away. In this happy region, the righteousness, which the Paradise below the Sun was destined to reward, will dwell for ever. There the Tree of life blossoms, and bears anew: and there Immortality flows again in the pure river of life. There the sun no more goes down; neither does the moon withdraw itself; for Jehovah is the everlasting light of his children, and their God their glory. From that delightful world the Redeemer cries, Behold I come quickly, and my reward is with me. Oh! that every heart present may answer, Even so, Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

SERMON XXIII.

THE SOUL NOT MATERIAL.

GENESIS ii. 7.-And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul

IN my last discourse, I considered the creation of man, under

these two heads :

1st. The character of the Creator; and,

2dly. The nature of the Being which was created.

Under the latter head, I observed, that man, the Being which was created, was composed of two entirely distinct parts, commonly termed the body and soul. Of the latter, I also observed, that it was a simple, uncompounded, immaterial substance being in this respect, as well as in others, made in the image, or after the likeness, of God. This assertion, I regard as being the amount of that, which is contained in the text. I am well aware, that the text itself has been variously construed. Instead, however, of considering these different constructions, I shall attempt to settle the true meaning, by appealing directly to an interpreter, whose opinions will not be disputed. The Apostle Paul quotes this passage in the following manner: For thus it is written, the first man, Adam, sysvero sis tuxay (wrav, was made or became a living soul. This quotation determines, in my view, absolutely, that the text is accurately rendered into our language by the translators.

The doctrine, which I consider as contained in the text, has also been abundantly disputed. Three entirely different opinions have been formed on this subject.

The first is, that which I have already advanced; viz. that man is an Immaterial substance, an Intelligent, Voluntary being; the subject of attributes, the author of actions, and destined to immortality.

The second is, that man is a Material, thinking, voluntary being; differing in nothing, but his modification and its effects, from other material substances. Some of those who hold this scheme, believe him immortal; while others limit his existence to the present world.

The third is, that man is neither of these, but a mere succession, or Chain, as the abettors of it express themselves. of Ideas and Exercises.

That something is true with regard to this subject, must be admitted; and that all these schemes cannot be true. I would willingly have avoided the discussion of a subject so metaphysical; but, when I observe the importance which it has assumed in