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shalt thou return." This sentence of condemnation for thatone offence, came upon all men." True, it is added, and for this reason, that in consequence of that one man's disobedience, many,even his whole race, were made or constituted sinners." But then, it must be remembered, that he considers infants, not as actual sinners, but only as having a corrupt nature;' and so not deserving of punishment, on their own account. It is clear, that as this author views temporal death to be the penalty of the law given to Adam; so he thinks it inflicted upon his posterity, solely on account of his one transgression. He calls temporal death, as it is inflicted upon all mankind, "the penalty of Adam's own offence:" and again he says, "As Adam, in that instance, (his eating the forbidden fruit) | acted in a publick capacity, the special penalty of this one offence was to be of a publick nature, and was to fall not only upon him, but upon all his race." This surely makes the penalty of Adam's one offence, very large, if it be not "large enough;" but, the unhappiness is, that it makes this penalty fall, chiefly, upon the posterity of Adam, who have not one of them transgressed the special law which he violated, and which threatened death not to them, but to him: "In the day that THOU eatest thereof, THOU shalt surely die." But, how is this to be reconciled with justice? It is as really unjust to inflict temporal death. as eternal death, upon mankind, for the sin of Adam. With such injustice, certain ancient hypocrites charged Jehovah: but he utterly disclaimed it, and declared by his prophet, that "the son shall not bear the iniquity of his father; nor the father, the iniquity

of his son; but, that "the soul that sinneth, it shall die."

5. As a natural consequence of the preceding erroneous notions, the author of the sermon maintains, that the death threatened to Adam, in the special law given him in Paradise, was temporal death only. Having settled it in his mind, that infants are not actually sinners-that the sin of Adam is imputed to them-and that they, consequently, suffer the same death, which he incurred by his one offence-the author recoiled from the conclusion, to which these premises would lead him, in case he should admit, that the penalty, which Adam incurred by his offences, was eternal death."— It seemed too much, that all of Adam's offspring, infants not excepted, should be doomed to eternal death, for his transgression.— He therefore concluded, that "the doom which was passed upon Adam and his posterity, for that one offence, appears to have been, corporeal death." He admits, at the same time, that "sin deserves something more than temporal death." But, it may be asked, why should God threaten Adam with a less penalty, than his offence deserved?-less, infinitely, than He intended to inflict, unless repentance and pardon should prevent? Would God thus deceive Adam? It is not thought to be consistent with the Divine character, ever to annex a greater, or a less penalty to any law, than the transgressor deserves. (See Dr. EDWARDS against CHAUNCEY.)

If the author of the sermon had purged his Calvinism of the absurd notions of imputed sin, and sin in principle and nature; he would have found no difficulty in admitting, according to both reason and scripture, that Adam was

threatened with eternal death, in case of his disobedience; since it will not from hence follow, either that "the penalty was vastly greater than the offence," or that the eternal destinies of mankind were suspended upon the conduct of Adam.' As Adam only committed, so he, alone, is guilty of original sin: and though his offence, by a Divine purpose or constitution, rendered certain the sinfulness of all his posterity; yet it neither compels them to sin, nor renders them deserving of punishment. The descendants of Adam sin as freely as he did, and are liable to punishment for their own sins only.

As the author of the sermon justly observes, by the disobedience of Adam, the native character and condition of the entire race of men, was decided,' and thus, "by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation:" and it may be

observed, with equal justice, on the other hand, that "the general atonement, made by the death of Christ, has opened the way for the pardon of all mankind, upon the reasonable and low condition of repentance; and thus, "by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life."

It may be true, as it is said in the Extracts, that the apostle changes his phraseology, in the latter part of the text, from "all" men to many; because the term, all would not apply to both parts of his comparison, in this, as in the former part of the text;" for while the free gift of Christ, places all men in a savable state, none are actually justified and saved, but the penitent and believing, who were, from the beginning, chosen to salvation, through sanctification of the spirit, and belief of the truth.

A STRICT CALVINIST..

THE DISCRIMINATING PREACHER.

Reasons why ministers ought to preach

so as to exhibit the difference between the righteous and the wicked; being an extract from Dr. Spring's Sermon at the ordination of Rev. Carlos Wilcox.

Such a method of preaching alone accords with facts. Notwithstanding the righteous and the wicked resemble each other in a multitude of particulars; in the great essentials of moral character, there is a capital distinction between them. The difference is essential, wide and everlasting. The scriptures recognise it from Genesis to Revelation. They every where speak of this distinction, and discriminate between men as the children of light and the children of darkness, the children of God and the chil

dren of the devil. There is scarcely a page, a precept, a promise, a threatening, a parable, but represents these two classes as distinct as men can be, whose views, and feelings, and pursuits, and principles of action, are diametrically opposite. And the providence of God recognises the distinction from the creation to the last day.

His moral government recognises it.His covenant of grace recognises it. And the consciences of men, and often in defiance of themselves, are constrained to recognise it, and approve or condemn, excuse or accuse them. The day of final account, we know, recognises the distinction, and divides the generations of sepamen into two classes, and " rates them one from another, as the shepherd divideth the sheep

from the goats." And eternity recognises it, in alternate accents of acceptance and thunders of denouncement, in joy and tears, in songs of deliverance and wailings of despair, in triumphs of redemption, and curses of damnation.

oquent, if it were at all to the purpose, yet it loses all its persuasion for one obvious reason, and that is, he has been preaching to nobody!~ The righteous do not feel that he is addressing them. There is not an individual in his auditory, who feels that he is speaking to him.— He altogether misconceives the facts interwoven with his message, and therefore nothing that he says, comes home to the business and bosom." But where he recognises and impresses this difference, he becomes the expositor of facts which it is impossible to gainsay, because every man has the evidence of them within. himself. All the

And now, if these are stubborn facts, if they are uncontrovertible realities, ought not ministers so to preach as to disclose them? It is most abundantly obvious, that a minister must take leave either of his senses, or of the Bible, to question their verity. And are they not sufficiently interesting to be made the theme of many an hour's reflection, many a solemn argument and expostulation, many an affect-springs of action, and all the aving interview? And can any reason be suggested why they should be dissembled or concealed?

But more than this, are not such the facts on which the obligations of the gospel ministry are predicated? If a physician, in prescribing for his patient, misapprehends the nature of the disease, and overlooks its remote and proximate causes, though his prescriptions may be very wise in their application to another state of facts, they are defective in their relevancy to the case before him. If a counsellor, in his argument, is unhappy enough to misconceive all the facts in the case before him, though his argument may be very learned and eloquent, though his exposition of legal principles may be very luminous, and his illustration of them very forcible, yet he utters nothing to his purpose, because he utterly fails to staté and unfold the points of his cause. So if a minister of the gospel should compose a sermon with correct taste and sound judgment, and should preach with distinguished ability, and yet lose sight of the difference between the righteous and the wicked, he would not preach the gospel. Though his sermon might be powerful and el

enues to the soul, are open to his influence, because he is able to individualize his hearers, and make them sensible that there are realities within them, that correspond with the diversified and appropriate representations of the preacher without them.

Of little inoment is it, then, how or what a minister preaches, so long as he overlooks or misapprehends the momentous facts involved in this distinction. I would rather go into the pulpit with a jejune and disjointed discourse, and leave no other impression on my audience, than that every man who heard me is either for God or against him;→→ than pronounce the most profound discussion of Clark, the most polished discourse of Blair, or the most erudite of Horsely, and like them, leave an auditory bound to the judgment seat of Christ, unpenetrated and unimpressed by the fact, that there is a difference between them, whose ultimate divergency is limited only by the joys of heaven, and the sorrows of hell.

Further, without exhibiting this difference, preaching has a fearful tendency to destroy men rather than save them. There is a strong and almost irresistable propensity in the

human mind, to moral insensibility. | fatal could a minister adopt, whose

The sinfulness of men, though their own, and though never involuntary, operates as a kind of disease, moral malady and derangement, the effect of which is strong delusion that they should believe a lie. They imagine themselves whole, while they have the plague of the heart, and there is no soundness in their flesh. If they have wants, they are not felt: if they are in perils, they are not feared: if from the crown of their head to the soles of their feet, they are polluted with sin; they think themselves white as snow. They even exult in this fancied security, while the arrows of the destroyer are flying thick around them, and the sting of death is piercing them through.

Now, with men who thus close their eyes, and stop their ears, and harden their hearts, and who, just so long as they can maintain their peace and security without embracing the gospel, will assuredly make light of it, the ministry of reconciliation have mainly to do. And their business with them, is not to lull them into a deeper security, but to alarm, awaken, convince, and save them-" of some having compassion, and others, saving with fear, pulling them out of the fire." But who does not see, that the indiscriminate instruction which fails to exhibit the difference beteen the righteous and the wicked, and which never makes it appear in its true importance, is only a pleasant and enchanting song, which quiets their apprehensions, and confirms them in their groundless security? What method more

avowed purpose was to justify and increase their indifference and apathy? Where are the assemblies who make a mock at all the solemnities of experimental piety-to whom every faithful admonition is as sounding brass and tinkling cymbal-and who, while they can be agitated with keen emotions, when some trivial concern of time is set before them, are yet languid and listless, cold and unfeeling as a stone, when you speak to them of the realities of eternity; if not where ministers who know their Master's will, perform it deceitfully-or where they represent the difference between the righteous and the wicked as the glowing imagery of eastern hyperbole or where false teachers lie in wait to deceive aad countervail the interdictions of the God of truth, by the primeval assurance of the father of lies, "Ye shall not surely die.” Such ministers are the malignant foes of their kind. Such ministers prowl around the fold of Christ, and go about seeking whom they may devour. It is impossible for ministers to do greater injury to their fellow-men, than thus to charm and fascinate the ear, while they strike the sting of death into the soul. There is nothing they can do half so injurious, as to suppress the truths which rob the wicked of all their consolation, or affirm the errors, which while they quiet the enemies of God in their rebellion, authorize the hope that they may persevere in their hostility and prosper.

ON THE GENERAL PROPENSITY TO PETTY SCANDAL.

A great deal of care is taken to teach birds to talk. Some families of opulence and rank, are said to

devote much of their time to this species of education. This might not be altogether a loss of time, if they would teach their birds a few sound and pithy maxims for do

mestic use, and the benefit of their | competent to the task of taking visitants.

cognizance of the violations of the ninth commandment, save in a few instances of flagrant enormity. It is said, that the trespasses of the tongue, in this way, are so innumerable, so diverse, and oftentimes so artful, that no legislator could classify them, and much less enact laws, that would reach them wholly, without destroying the liberty of speech altogether. And besides, there is, in society, much less aversion to evil speaking, than to theft. If one have his money or his goods stolen, he no sooner makes it known, than his neighbours join with him in searching for the thief, who, if found and

because common zeal, as well as common consent, take side against the culprit. But the pilferers from character fare less hard; or rather, they are tolerated, provided they manage with art and address, and mingle some wit with their malice or their levity.

In the city of London, as Goldsmith informs us, two men, living directly opposite to one another, in the same street, had a quarrel, in consequence of the information, which one of them gave against the other, for not paying the duties on bis liquors. The aggrieved party, after teaching his parrot to repeat the ninth commandment, placed the cage at the front of his house, so that, whenever the informer on the opposite side of the street, stepped out of his own door, he heard from the parrot this admonition, Thou shall not bear fulse witness against thy neighbour. This sacred precept is to be un-convicted, is sure to be punished; derstood as possessing a very wide latitude of meaning; comprehending not only perjury and gross calumny, which are both punishable by civil law, but also evil speaking, in all its multifarious shapes and degrees. It is obvious to remark, that although the prohibitory precepts in the eighth article, and the ninth, of the holy decalogue,are both levelled against evils that are alike prejudicial and pernicious to society; yet the laws of society take much more concern in the one, than in the other. Every well-regulated civil society arms itself against theft, and metes out punishment as well to petty pilferers, as to the highway robber; and yet the violations of the next succeeding article of Divine prohibition, pass, for the most part, without punishment, and almost without notice. At the same time, it is acknowledged, that money is trash, in comparison with character; so that he who steals the one does far less injury, than he who wounds the other. But, it is alledged, in excuse for this inconsistency in the distribution of punishments, that the civil law is in

And as petty violations of this part of the decalogue, pass with impunity, so they also meet with encouragement. Few are altogether without envy, which ever takes delight in a backbiting or detracting tongue. Few are without some conscious and visible faults; and the faulty are naturally prone to take pleasure in the noticeable faults of others, as it tends to quiet them about their own. From these causes, and still oftener, perhaps, from thoughtless levity, encouragement is given, almost every where, to the small dealers in detraction, who, all together, compose a pretty numerous body.

It requires no great stretch of charity to believe, that there are many persons, who have never been guilty of any openly dishonest action, and much less of downright theft, But it is to be ap

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