of God.

His rational creatures were endowed

with moral goodness. As revelation is meant for man, a very particular account is given of his original rectitude. He was created" after the image of God, in his likeness;" that is, " in righteoufnefs and true holinefs h."

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To his rational creatures he alfo gave a perfect law. Man was fubjected to a pofitive precept. But we are by no means to fuppofe that the law was confined to this. The moral law was written on his heart by the finger of God: and this, as to the fubftance of it, is the tranfcript of infinite holiness. In every respect, it is holy, just and good. It was fo, even in its covenant-form. It is fo, as a rule of life to believers. Although they are in no refpect juftified before God by their obedience to this law; yet, fuch is his holiness, that he requires that they should be "perfect as "their Father in heaven is perfect," and ftill press forward toward this perfection.

That law of ceremonies which God gave his ancient people, contains a ftriking reprefentation of his holiness. Whence did God enjoin fo many washings and purifications? Had they, or could they have, any virtue in themselves? Often did he affure them of the contrary. But by the obfervation of these, according to the imperfect nature of the difpenfation, he would ftill remind them of his infinite hatred of fin. Did the touch of a dead body communicate ceremonial defilement ? Thus the Supreme Lawgiver taught, in the most

Gen. i. 26.; Eph. iv. 24.

lively

lively manner, the contaminating nature of all the actions of a natural man, and the neceffity of being "purged from dead works, that we may "ferve the living God." Why were there fo many perfons, places and things, confecrated by him, as partaking of an external holiness? Can mere outward rites render a man well-pleafing to God? Can any place be in itself more facred than another, to him who is LORD of the whole earth? Can irrational or inanimate creatures be the fubjects of true holiness? Nothing of this kind was ever meant. But it was the will of God, by these fhadows and fenfible reprefentations, daily to inculcate on a grofs and obdurate people the neceffity of purity of heart, of being really devoted to the LORD, of being holy in all manner of converfation.

In a great variety of inftances, the holiness of God is practically demonftrated by the operations of his juftice. 1. Deeply to impress the mind of man with the majesty of divine juftice, seems to have been one fpecial defign of the Spirit of infpiration, efpecially in the writings of the Old Teftament. This appears as the most prominent feature in the hiftory given us of the covenant made with Adam. We have fcarcely had time to contemplate and admire the goodnefs of God in the formation of man, and in the ample provifion made for his fuftenance and comfort; ere we are made to tremble at the appearance of a more awful perfection. A promife this cove

nant

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nant undoubtedly contained; but it lay hid in that terrific threatening, "In the day thou eateft,-dying thou fhalt die i." How foon is the voice of bleffing fucceeded by that of the curfe! The one would almost seem to be uttered, only to give tenfold energy to the other. The effect of the bleffing, pronounced on the earth, has barely appeared, ere we are aroufed by that alarming denunciation, ever fince verified in the experience of guilty man; "Curfed is the ground for thy "fake." When God had created "an help "meet" for man, he bleed them both, faying, "Be fruitful and multiply." When he pays them another vifit, this very increase, which originally flowed from the bleffing, is converted into a curfe; "I will greatly multiply thy forrow, and thy "conception." How quickly is the threatening changed into a fatal fentence actually pronounced; "Unto duft fhalt thou return!" No fooner is it pronounced, than it is partly executed; "So "he drove out the man," drove him out of that delightful garden, which had been created for his use, and in which he had been placed but a short time before.

We advance but a fingle ftep further in the history of mankind, when we are arrested by another difplay of divine juftice. The firft man, born of woman, receives from the Supreme Judge a folemn warning as to the neceffary connexion between fin and punishment. To Cain he

faid,

i Gen. ii. 17. k Chap. i. 24. iii. 17. I Chap. i. 28. iii, 16.

faid, "If thou doft not well, fin lieth at the door"," that is, it lieth like a beaft of prey, ready to devour; certain punishment awaits thee. And no fooner had he tranfgreffed, than his fin laid hold of him, in its neceffary confequence. Formerly the earth was curfed for man's fake. But here the curfe feems to expand, and to acquire an increase of force, with the increase of human guilt: "Now "art thou curfed from the earth "." Man was driven out of paradife before. In this firft-born of man, the curfe is fo forcibly exemplified, that he fpeaks of himself as an outcaft from creation: "Behold thou haft driven me out this day from "the face of the earth"." In this language, however, he only expreffes the more remarkable execution of the curfe, primarily executed on his parents. For he thus explains it; "From thy "face fhall I be hid, and I fhall be a fugitive and "a vagabond on the earth."

The hiftory of about fixteen hundred years is next condensed in a few lines. Here, although the life of man was at its greatest extent, the narrative is most abridged, as if the Spirit of infpiration would teach us, that the prefent life, even at its utmoft ftretch, is but a fhadow; and that the longeft period, when paft, feems to the mind, equally with the fhorteft, as a tale that hath been told. We are hurried down the ftream of time, through eight fucceflive generations, and are allowed no paufe, till we find ourfelves encompaffed with the waters of deftruction.

m Gen. iv. 7. n Chap. iii. 17.; iv. 11.

On this aw

ful

o Chap. iii. 24.; iv. 14.

ful display of juftice, the facred hiftorian dwells much longer than on all the events which took place during fixteen centuries before; as long as on the whole hiftory of man after that of his creation. Such a difplay of divine justice was this, that in God's conduct towards mere man, there never was, and we are affured there never will be, any thing equal to it, while time endures. It therefore claims our particular attention.

That this event might inconteftably appear the effect of punitive juftice, full warning was given. It was preceded by a denunciation of the vengeance purposed; while at the fame time an opportunity was given for repentance, during the miniftry of Noah, and the exercife of divine longfuffering, for an hundred and twenty years.

When this period was elapfed, God would no longer ftrive with man by his word and Spirit. He proceeded to ftrive with him in another way, by the threatened judgment. Then all nature confpired against the impenitent rebel. God "call"ed to the heavens from above, and to the earth, "that he might judge his people," by executing vengeance, in a moft fignal manner, on their enemies, according to the threatening previously denounced.

The deftruction was fuch as cannot be accounted for on natural principles. It was immediately the work of God. Every thing that takes place, in respect of fupreme agency, proceeds from him. But he afferts his claim to this work as of an ex

traordinary