'78 OF THE MORAL LAW, AND THE EVIL OF -SIN. ESERM, Y. Clad given him, and the hope of all that he had pro- mised." Every sin incurs a forfeiture of life itself, and all the present and future comforts of it, according to the express words of the threatening ;' Gen. ii. 17. " In the day, that thou eatest of the forbidden fruit thou shalt surely die," that is, thou shalt become mortal and liable, to death*. And the apostle tells us ; Rom. vi. 23. " The wages of sin is death." Nor is such a forfeiture of life and the blessings of it by sin, utterly unknown to the heathen world, as St. Paul declares; Rom. i. 32. " Who knowing the judgment of God, that they who commit such things are worthy of death:" And I think the very light of nature might find out this ; for it would be strange indeed if God the Creator should be bound to continue life or any blessing to a creature which bad broken his allegiance to his Maker, and by a wilful and presumptuous offence, had as it were renounced the very end and design for which he was made. Proposition III. " This forfeiture of life and the blessings of it by sin, is an everlasting forfeiture." Every sin is usually and justly supposed to increase its demerit or desert of punishment, according to the dignity of the person whose law is broken. Sin against a father or a prince carries greater guilt in it, than that which is committed against a neighbour or a servant : And in this way ofargument sin against God appears to have a sort of infinite evil in it, because it is committed against the infinite Majesty of heaven : And on this account every sin deserves a sort of infinite or everlasting punishment, * Death in its original, and most proper and natural sense, signifies the loss of life, and together with it the loss of all its blessings and comforts. This is the commonif-not the universal sense of the word in the writings of Moses: And in the sanction of a law it is reasonable to suppose the word is used in its most natural and proper sense. Death in scripture is used sometimes for the loss of privileges, blessings and comforts, even where life remains : In this sense it signifies theyoul's loss of the image of God, of holiness and peace: This is called spiritual death. Thus the Ephe- sians are said to be dead in trespasses and Sins. Epic. ii. 1. Sometimes death signifies the loss of blessings in the world to come, together with positive sorrows and sufferings both in soul and body for ever. So in Rom. viii. 13. " If ye live after the flesh ye shall die ;" and Johnvi. 50. Q0 This is the bread which came down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die" In Rev. xxi. 8. this is called the second death. Note -death in all these senses is either the natural consequent ofsin, orit is the legal punishment of it, according to its several aggravations, as will ap- pear afterward,
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