SERMON xtIL THE DEATII OF KI,NDRED IMPROVEïJ. 1 eon. iii. 22. ---Whetherr Iife or death,-----all are yours. HAPPY and immortal had Adam been, and all his children, if he had not ventured to break the command of his Creator : Life had been theirs in the most glorious sense of it; and death had not been known. But when sin entered into the world, death followed close behind. it, according to that just and solemn threatening, " In the day thou eatest, thou shalt surely die ; Gen. ii. 17. And what a dismal havoc has this enemy made amongst the inhabitants of our world ! It has strewed the earth with carcases, and turned millions of human bodies into dust and corruption. The very name of death spreads a terror through all nature : But as dreadful and formi- dable as it is in itself, the grace of Christ makes a bles- sing of it, and sanctifies it to the advantage of his own people. In the former discourse on this subject, we have learned some divine lessons from death, in its widest extent of dominion. The death of all mankind yields some special advantage to a.saint: He is taught to reap some benefit from the death of impenitent sinners, though it carries along with it such a fearful train of at- tendants, and draws after it a long- eternity of torments. He knows how to derive some advantage from the death of his fellow christians ; and whether they die in the joy of faith, and serenity of spirit, or whether their sun sets in aclotud, and fears and doubts attend them, in that im- portant hour, still he is taught to profit by it. In these three instances; it appears that death is ours; death is in this respect made the treasure and property of a Christian, as he is instructed to improve it, to his own sacred interest, and to the welfare ofhis soul. We proceed now to the Fourth general head, and shall endeavour to shew 1rev
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