SERM. XLL, THE DEATH OP MANKIND IMPROVED. 193. of their crimes. And even though he pardons the sins of his own people, so as to secure them from eternal ven- geance, yet they must pass through death, that they may learn what an evil and bitter thing it is to have offended against their Maker and their God. Whenwe see a church-yard filled with little hills of mortality, the ruins of a parish, or a spacious town, and the dust of manygenerations, we naturally cryout, as in Veut. xxix. 24. " Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and what meaneth the heat of all this great anger ?" The next verse will give you an answer to it ; yea, every man may answer himself, " because they have forsaken the Lord their God : they have forsakenhis covenant of life, and sinned against him." Those dread- ful words, " In the day thou eatest, thou shalt die, have been putting into execution almost six thousand years, and the Lord's anger is not yet turned away, but his hand is stretched out still ;" Is. v. 25. the vengeance of the Lord is not yet fully executed according to the just de- -merit of sin. Though saints are saved from the dismal consequences of death, yet God would not rescue them from dying, that they might always remember what sin deserved. Thus the death of all mankind discovers to us the aw- ful Majesty of God our Maker, who will not be affronted by his creatures, without terrible resentment; he is a holy and jealous God. (3.) It teaches us the high value that God has for his own law, that he will rather dash a whole creation to pieces, than suffer his holy law to be insulted and broken, without some reparation of the honour of it. The race ofAdam is doomed to death, for the sake of sin against this law, and mortality and a curse spread over this lower world. Let us enure our thoughts to such reflections as these, that we may ever keep our souls in awe of the Majesty of God, and dread the thoughts of breaking his laaw, which he values above a whole world of amen. O that sin may become the most hateful object in out eyes ; it is this that has laid cities desolate, and fills the graves ; it is this that has corrupted and destroyed our natures ; it has turned millions of strong and well. formed bodies into dust : ithas ruined the Omit heauti> VOL. II. Q
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=