688 SERMON Ill. are not like, but worfe than the Beafis : fo~ the fie rce{t Bea!l:s of Africa or Hyrca11ia, have a rcfpetl: for ;heir own L1kenefs : tho they devour others, yet they (pare thole of their own kind : but Men are fo degenerate as to be mofr cruel again!l: their Brethren. Thefe ~re fame of the Ev1ls that proceed from fin as theJr natural Caufe. And from hen~e tis cvtdent, that fin makes Men milerablt:, were there no Hell of Torment to receive them m the next State. Secondly, I will confider the Evils confequent to fig, as the Penal EffeCts of the fen. tence agam!l: fin; of Divine Ju!l:ice that decrees it, and Divine Power that inAiCls it: and in thefe the finner is often an aCtive Infirument of his own Mifery. r. The Fall of the Angels is the fir!l: and moll: terrible l'unifhment of fin. God [pared not the Angels that finned, hut caft them down to Hell, re/ervecl in cbains of Darknef! to Judgment. How are they fallen? from what height of Glory and Fel icity into bottomlefs Perdition? How are they continually rack'd and tormented with the Remembrance of their loll: Happinefs? If a thoufand of the prime Nobility of a Nation were executed in a day, by the fentencc of a righteous King, we lhould conclude their Crimes to be atrocious: i?numerable Angels, .dignified with the Titles of Dominions alfd Principalities, were expell d from Heaven, thetr nauve Seat, and the SanCtuary of Life, and lfe dead to all the joyful Operations of the intelleCtual Nature, and only alive to Everla!ting Pain. One fin of Pride or Envy, brought this terrible Vengeance; from whence we may infer, how provoking fin is to the holy God. We read of King Uxziah, tbat upon bis ::t~!;:;;,::;t!J~:;;~;t ~~~ •;,~ 1!;;:,;1;;1 : ~;;~~~t:ri~n t~f J,~i~~n(~:fen~i~f ~~:~ Angels: by Prefumption they were flruck witls a Leprofy, and juflly expelled from the Cele!l:ial Temple ; and not being able to (u(bi n the Terrors of the Divine Majefty, they Aed from his Prefence. 'Tis faid,God cajl tbrm dow;:,ancl they left their 01vn Habitation. 2. Confider the Penal Effects of Jin with refpetl: to Man. They are comprehended in the ferttence of Death, the firfi and lecond Death, threatcn'd to deter Adam from tranfgrelling the Law. · In the fir!l: Creation Man while innocent was immortal : for altho' his Body was compounded of jarring Elements, that had a natural Tendency to Diffolution, yet the Soul was endowed with fuch Vertue, as to imbalm the Body alive, and to preferve it from the leail: degree of Putrefaction. But when Man,.by his voluntrary fin was feparated from the Fountain of Life, the Soullofi its derivative Life from God, •nd the active Life infufed by its Union into the Body. It cannot preferve the natural Life beyend its limited Term. A righteous Retaliation. Thus the Apoflle tells us, Sin came into the Wor!tl, and Death hy Sin. Even· Infants who never committed fin, die, having been conceived in fin . And Death brought in its Retinue Evils ·fo numerous and vari· ous, that their kinds are more than words to name and diflinguilh them.. Ma11 that il /;orn ofaWoman, is offew days, and full of7'rouMe' at Ius Btrth he enters m to a Labyrinth of Thorns, this mtferable World, and his Life is a continual turning in it; he cannot efcape being fometimes prick'd and torn; and at going out of it, his Soul i1 rent from the Embraces of the Body. 'Tis as pollible to tell the number of the Waves in a tempefiuous Sea, as to recount all the tormenting Pa!lions of the Soul, all theDifeafes of the Body, which far exceed in number all the unhappy Parts wherein they are feated. What an affiicting ObjeCt would it be, . to hear all the mournful Lamentations, all the piercing Complaints, all the deep Groans from the miferable in this .prefent fbte? What a profpeCl: of Terror, to fee Death in its various fl10pes, by Famme, by fire by Sword, and by wafiing or painfu l Difeafes, triumphant over all Mankind? Wh~t a fight of Woe, to have all the Graves and Charnel-hou!es open'd, and fo maoy loathfom Carcafes, or heaps of dry naked Bones, the Trophies of Death, expos'd to view ? Such are the affiiCl:ing and the defiructive Effects of lin. For Wickeclnefl ;,.,., M R Fire : it devours the Briars and Thorns. . Bef1des other Miferies in this Life, fometimes the Terrors of an accufiug ConfCtencc feize upon Men, which of all Evils are mofi heavy and overwhelming. Solom"' who under!l:ood the Frame of Hu111ane Narure, tell s us, J/;e Spirit of a Man can be.r lm lnfir· mity, that is, the Mind fortified by Principles of Moral Counfcl and Coa!l:ancy, can endure the Affault of external Evtls: hut a wounded Spmt wbo can bear ! 'Ih1sl6 moll infupportable when the il:ing and remorfe of the Mind is from the fenfe of Gmlt : for t hen God ~ppears an Enemy righteous and fevere ; and who can encounter wtth offended Omnipotence ? Such is the flmpnefs of htS Sword, and the weight of lm Hand, that every !l:roke is deadly inward. Satan the cruel En~my of S?uls, exafperares th<> Wouod. He di.fcovers and charges f1n upon the Confc1ence, Wtth all tts ~~~~~i::s:
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