"the flesh ye fhall die: but if ye through the spirit "do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” Rom. viii. 13. And Solomon, Prov. viii. 35. 36. promifing wifdom, reprefents her thus speaking: "Who fo findeth me, findeth life; all "they that hate me love death." In this fenfe, the threatening denounced against Adam, for violating the divine law, "In the day thou eatest "thereof, thou fhalt furely die," was inftantly executed. On that very day in which Adam tranfgreffed, he died in the true fenfe of death now ftated; and as he then became dead in law, liable to that punishment from God which he could not poffibly evite nor commute. And 2dly, As his animal part threw off its fubjection to his fpiritual part, and ufurped the dominion over him. In this fituation all men were faid to be dead until Chrift came into the world, when he appeared, that they might not only have life, but that they might have it the more abundantly than man ever poffeffed it, even in his primeval innocence.

Such being that state of death, in which mankind lay when Christ came to give them life, you will eafily perceive the nature of that life which he came to give them. "He came to re"deem them from the curfe of the law, being

"made

"made a curfe for them." Gal. iii. 13. By his perfect obedience, and meritorious sufferings and death, he offered for their fins an atonement, not only of infinite value, but also an atonement which was proposed and accepted by an offended God; an atonement voluntarily made by him, and therefore made without any injustice being done to him: In fine, an atonement which he had full power to make, and therefore made without injuftice being done to any other being; for being uncreated, he had, what no mere creature has, a power to lay down his life, and a power to take it again." Chrift once fuffered for fins, the

juft for the unjuft, that he might bring us unto "God." 1 Pet. iii. 18. "There is therefore now no "condemnation to them which are in Chrift Jefus,

who walk not after the flesh, but after the fpirit." Rom. viii. 1. "He is the propitiation for our fins, "and not for ours only, but also for the fins of "the whole world." John, ii. 2.

He came alfo to redeem men from their vain converfation. Them hath he quickened who were dead in trefpaffes and fins. He came to restore to man the true life of man, the fpiritual, the intellectual, and the moral life: That life which con fifts in perceiving, acting, and enjoying, as fuch a

creature

creature as man was intended to do, and ought to do: That life which raises man above the level of mere animals, and clearly marks him to be of a fuperior order of beings: That life which fits him for the real duties, and the real enjoyments of man in every fituation in which he is placed: That life, which equally in the exercise of religion, and in all the transactions of society, makes him condu&t himself as an intelligent and accountable creature, placed for a fhort and uncertain time in this world, and destined for an immortal existence in a happier state: That life, in fine, which gradually advances towards the perfection of his nature, and which qualifies him for relishing the most refined, permanent, and progreffive blifs, in the enjoyment of himself; of all the creatures of God which come within the sphere of his knowledge; and above all, of God himself as his chief good. The carnal mind which is death, is enmity against God; but bleffed are the pure in heart, for they fhall fee God.

This life Chrift begins, carries on, and at laft perfects by the gracious influence of his holy fpirit, by which he renews us after the image of him that created us, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness. By the doctrines of the gofpel, he

enlightens

gh enlightens and enlarges our understanding: By -ve its precepts he regulates our hearts and lives: By fa its ordinances, he improves our fouls in social Em and devout affections: And, by his own example, an he gradually brings us to the full ftature of perfe, fect men in him. This life thus begun, and carin tied on is eternal. Chrift hath obtained eternal redemption for us. "He giveth unto his fheep "eternal life, they fhall never perish, neither "fhall any pluck them out of his hand." John x. P28.-He who is fpiritually alive, fhall be fo for ever. His prefent fentiments and difpofitions, are only the foretaftes of those of the blessed in heaven, the fame in kind, though inferior in degree. Eternal life is only the continuance and perfection of the fpiritual life. This life which he came to bestow, is more abundant, than that life which man in innocence enjoyed. In a state of innocence, man was liable to fall from his innocence, and actually did fo; but to them who are in Chrift Jefus, there is no condemnation; who walk not after the flesh, but after the fpirit. And when, at the general refurrection their bodies shall rise spiritual, glorious, and immortal, their fouls, clothed with fuch refined bodies, will moft probably, in an eternal progrefs, rife to much higher attainments in knowledge, goodness, and happiness,

B

happiness, than thofe of which man in innocence was ever capable. Such is the conftitution of man, that his fentiments, difpofitions, affections, and enjoyments, rise in proportion to the excellence and grandeur of the fubjects on which he employs his mind. But not to mention other objects, the fupreme object of contemplation and enjoyment, must appear to thofe who are alive in Christ Jefus, in a much more glorious and amiable point of view, than it did to man in innocence, or most probably ever could have appeared to man, if he had never needed a Saviour, even the glory of God in the face of Jesus. Hence it is, that this, which more than any other fubje&t enlarges, improves, and delights all the faculties of man; this, which never could be a fubject of contemplation to man in innocence, is the due theme of contemplation, enjoyment, and praise, to all who are alive in Chrift Jefus. In Heaven they eternally fing: "To him that loved us, and washed us "from our fins in his own blood, and made us "kings and priests unto God, even his fa"ther, to him be glory and dominion for ever ❝and ever, amen." Hence it is, that their degree of knowledge, of goodnefs, and of joy, will be greater than that which was attainable by man in innocence, and greater than that which is attainable