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by a sacred and solemn oath, henceforth to work "out our salvation with fear and trembling."* hope we shall no longer deceive ourselves. It will avail us nothing hereafter, to plead our occupations, temptations, or difficulties. All must be overcome. We must no longer march with languor and heaviness in the road to heaven. Let us be vigilant. Even the faithful have much cause to upbraid themselves. Let us resume our zeal. Let us be active. "Our "salvation is nearer than when we believed." Let us redouble our exertions, like the racer near the end of his course, and the mariner in sight of the port. No more negligence, no more languor. Let us embrace with joy and affection, Jesus Christ slain for us, Jesus Christ the author of our salvation, who is now offered to us in the sacrament. By the participation of this sacrament, and of that which it signifies, I hope that salvation will this day enter into our houses; that it will enter there in the first fruits of grace and the hope of glory; and that one day, delivered from the wrath to come, we shall enter into the full possession of that salvation and that glory. God grant us this grace. Amen.

SERMON III.

THE GLORY OF THE PRIMITIVE INNOCENCE.

ECCLESIASTES VII. 29.

Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

DANIEL relates that Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, in which "a great image whose brightness "was excellent, stood before him. This image's head "was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver,

his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, "his feet part of iron and part of clay." He looked, "till that a stone was cut out without hands, which

smote the image upon his feet that were of iron "and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was "the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the

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gold, broken to pieces together, and became like "the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the "wind carried them away, that no place was found "for them and the stone that smote the image "became a great mountain, and filled the whole "earth." After having recited the dream, the prophet delivered the interpretation; saying to the Babylonian monarch: "Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a 'kingdom, power, and strength, and glory; and "wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he

"given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.'

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**

This image, with its various parts, is universally known to have been a symbolical representation of the four great empires. But may we not be permitted, on the present occasion, to consider the whole of the vision as a striking figure of man in his creation and fall, an excellent emblem well adapted to represent the glory and ruin of our nature? Is not man, in his original state, comparable to a great image," made in the likeness of the sovereign of the universe, a master-piece of the infinite Creator, composed of parts differing from each other, but united with so much skill, proportion, and symmetry, that nothing can be found in the world more perfect and beautiful. He was "standing" in his innocence, and his "brightness was excellent." The psalmist exclaims: "What is man! Thou hast "made him a little lower than the angels, and hast "crowned him with glory and honour. Thou "madest him to have dominion over the works of

thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet." To Adam, more justly than to the king of Babylon, it might have been said: "The God of "heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and "strength, and glory; and the beasts of the field "and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into "thine hand."

Vast as was the empire of Nebuchadnezzar, the rights of his dominion could not be so extensive as those of our first parent. "The head of gold" in the image was less valuable than the sublime intelli

• Daniel ii, 31–38.

+ Psalm viii. 4-6

gence, the noble and luminous reason, the sound understanding, imparted to man. "The breast "and arms of silver" were less splendid than that righteous will, that innocent and honest heart, those undepraved affections, more pure than refined silver, which formed the ornament and glory of our first parents. Though the body of man was material and terrestrial, having as it were a mixture of the baser metals, and even of clay; yet all was so skilfully combined, so exquisitely wrought, so admirably adorned, that nothing was wanting to constitute a perfect work. But alas! this excellent similitude of the Deity not long preserved its original lustre; it remained standing a very short time. Its glory was like a dream, as a shadow "that passeth away." It appeared, and behold, it is no more. Man was "like a green bay-tree: yet he passed away, and lo! he was not."

This

great image" "is fallen, is fallen;" and all the inhabitants of the earth have cause to "bewail" it. A fatal blow, on a feeble part, overthrew it; and so sudden was the stroke, that the hand which gave it could scarcely be discerned. Assailed by the seduction of Satan, captivated by the senses, struck with the beauty of a fruit, tempted by the love of pleasure, by curiosity, and the desire of greater dignity and happiness than he already enjoyed, man was cast down, crushed, "broken to pieces."

What a fall! which has spared neither the head of gold, nor the arms of silver, nor the thighs of brass, nor the legs of iron, nor the feet of earth. What a fall! which has blinded the understanding, perverted

the will, corrupted the affections, deranged the movements of the body. Our prerogatives and perfections became "like the chaff" which "the "wind carrieth away and the stone that smote" us, that is, sin which ruined us, has "filled the whole "earth." "Sin hath reigned unto death,"* over all mankind, in every part of the world. It was the peculiarity of this case, that the fatal blow came not merely from without, but also from within. The mischief proceeded from ourselves. We assisted the devil. Our first parents consented to the seduction; they sinned voluntarily their fall was the crime of their will, the effect of their unbelief and vain imaginations. This is what Solomon meant to inculcate. This two-fold state of man, the image standing and the image broken to pieces, he intended to represent, when he said: "Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright, but they "have sought out many inventions."

After many observations on human vanity and corruption, he proceeds to reveal their source. He speaks like one who has reflected much on the condition of mankind. In the verse preceding the text, he declares that nothing is so uncommon as to find a good man, and a prudent and virtuous woman. Here he seems desirous of anticipating the questions that may be asked: Whence does this arise? How has man become so wicked and corrupt? Is it a necessary consequence of his nature, or an effect of his will? What is the origin of the evil that is found in him? Solomon answers, that "from the beginning it was not so;" that the man and

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