( 67 , ) SERMON THE PERPETUAL OBLIGATION,OF TIIE MORAL LAw; THE EVIL OF SIN, AND ITS DESERT OF PUNISHMENT. 1 Jonrg iii. 4. Sin is the transgressionof the law. And Ross. vi. 53. The wages ofsin is death. THE blessed God has an undoubted right to command and govern his creatures, and when he makes known his will, or lays the knowledge of it within their reach, this becomes a law to them, this determines what is their duty; and a transgression of this law, or disobedience to it, is sin; and sin carries in it the notion of moral evil, which deserves some penalty to be inflicted on the sinner. Now that the .moral law is such a law as I have de- scribed, and has such consequences attending the trans- gression of it; I shall endeavour to shew in the following method : I. I shall consider what we mean by the moral law, and where this law is to be found. II. I shall prove that it reaches to all mankind, and is ofperpetual obligation. III. That sin, or the transgression of it, is a Very great and heinous evil. IV. That it justly deserves punishment from the hands of God. I shall pursue each of these in their order. The first enquiry is, What we mean by the móral law ? To which I answer : -- Answer. The moral law signifies that rule which is gi- ven to all mankind todirect their manners or .behaviour; considered merelyas they are intelligent and social crea- tures, as creatures who have an understanding to know God and themselves, a capacity tojudge what is right and wrong, and awill to chuse and refuse good and evil. This law, I think, does not arise merely from the ab- stracted nature of things, but also includes in it the exist- ence of God, and his will manifested some way or other, or at least put within the reach of our knowledge : it in-
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