SERMON XV.

FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT.

1 Cor. xv. 22.

As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

OUR Holy Church, to make us sensible of the natural wants of man, and of the benefits which he receives through Christ; and by these considerations to predispose our hearts to that sorrow for sin, which should distinguish Lent, and that thankfulness for mercy and salvation, with which Easter ought to be celebrated,-for these reasons, as I apprehend, begins at this time of year her course of lessons taken from the Scriptures. You heard very lately read to you the creation of the human race and their miserable fall; and are prepared by the obscure prophecy of the seed of a woman, who should bruise the serpent's head, to expect, that you are speedily to celebrate the hard battle and glorious triumph of Jesus the Son of Mary, who is also in the Scripture distinguished by the name of the second

Adam. In these words of the Apostle we have, in a very short compass, the general principles of the Christian religion; which may be said to depend, almost entirely, on original sin and imputed righteousness;-for, as Adam was to all mankind, the author of a mortal life on earth, so was Jesus Christ the author of resurrection from the dead, and of life eternal, in the world to

come.

As, in order to feel and know the value of our cure, it is necessary to comprehend the extent of our former disease, I shall treat to-day of Adam's history, and endeavour to shew you, how justly and how mercifully God has dealt with him and his descendants; and what cause we have for thankfulness and holy fear, lest we should be found ungrateful despisers of the great salvation which has been offered to us.

It was, in the first place, very necessary and very worthy of the wisdom of God, that all mankind should proceed from one common parent; that, springing from one blood, and having in common the same hope and interest, they might consider each other in the light, and with the affection, of brethren. It is no objection to say, that the wickedness of mankind has, in part, rendered this object vain ;-it is still greatly answered by that voice of nature which can

1 Verse 45.

never be entirely extinguished; and, without which, society would itself be a den of lions. We know, by very instinct, the force of a common descent; and we know, that the cruelties practised against the unfortunate negroes, were increased, and attempted to be justified, under the false and impious notion that they were of another and inferior race of men. Against such doctrines as these, in the very first act of creation, God expressly guarded.

With equal wisdom was Adam first formed as a witness to the creation of Eve; and a part of his own body was chosen for this purpose, both to prove to her the power of that God who could make all things from nothing; and that he might know and feel her kindred nature; and that she was of the same materials with himself. And to increase this feeling of affection, he was made, we find, to experience the want of a companion; and kept for some time in loneliness; that he might know how necessary they were to each other; and might cherish and love more tenderly the help-mate, which he had so much desired.

And, though the simplicity of this early history of the world, the rude and helpless state in which its first inhabitants appear, has been made by some an objection to its probability; yet, if fairly examined, we shall find it most worthy of the wisdom of God, and of His love for the hu

man race. It would have been as easy for Him to have filled the world, at once, with a civilized and learned population; and to have given them, from their very creation, all the arts and sciences, which bring comfort to the present state of society. But the whole regular course of His dispensations would have thus been overturned, which ordained that man should acquire power and experience together; and that, under the guidance of Providence, every improvement should be effected by the development of his own energies. Supposing that a child possessed, at first, the 'strength, and growth, and inclinations of a man ; what else could be expected, than, that without experience to direct those powers, he should turn them to the destruction of others and of himself? Such would have been the situation of mankind, if thrown at once, without the experience arising from gradual improvement, into the powers and temptations of civilized society. But now they were as infants in God's hand: their language was gradually taught by Him; by Him their hands were instructed; and, till they should be able to use their knowledge, or to struggle with difficulty, they were laid, in ignorance and plenty, on the warm lap of Paradise.

It is for this reason God takes them from the common chances and dangers incident to their state; and places them in one favoured garden, adorned, we are told, with all delightful

plants, and all that were desirable for food: where, with little labour, and no care or sorrow, they pass their happy days, conversing with God continually, and walking evermore in the light of His countenance, And that no fear or sickness might approach this happy spot, the tree of Life was planted in the midst; a tree to which God had given the power of healing all diseases, and of preserving life; or which, to speak more properly, was the Sacrament and outward sign of the spiritual grace, which preserved the man from sickness and from death.

For this preservation from death, I must here observe, was merely the effect of the free grace of the Almighty; which preserved, by a never ceasing miracle, the bodily powers of man from decaying, and from weakness, and hoary hair, and trembling; and which hindred death from attacking his frame, and weighing it down to the dust. For man was not naturally immortal; nor was his body stronger than oak, or iron, or marble; all of which decay, and crumble into dust, by time. And though our souls do not necessarily perish with the body; yet is that soul supported in life and existence, by the free and uncontrolled mercy of God alone.

Immortality, then,—above all, a happy immortality was to Adam the free and undeserved gift of God and God might justly lay what commands on him He judged necessary; since all