used far greater liberties are yet happy in heaven ; and that consequently we may enjoy the object of our desire, without suffering any loss or inconvenience. In this manner the affections are kindled, and the will is bribed to give its consent"^ : then the bait is swallowed , the hook is fastened within us ; and we are "dragged away®" from God, from duty, from happiness; yea,if God donot seasonably interpose, we are drawn to ever- lasting perdition.]
Its progress to maturity is generally rapid —
[The metaphor of a foetus foi'med in the womb, and brought afterwards to the birth, is frequently used in Scripture in refer- ence to sin^ When the will has consented to comply with the suggestions of the evil prmciple, then the embryo of sin is, if we may so speak, formed within us ; and nothing remains but for time and opportunity to bring it forth. This of course must vary with the circumstances under which we are : our wishes may be accomplished, or may prove abortive : but whe- ther our desire be fulfilled or not, sin is imputed to us, because it formally exists within us : or rather it is brought to the birth, though not altogether in the way we hoped and expected.]
We proceed to notice,
III. Its issue —
Sin was never barren : its issue is numerous as the sands upon the sea-shore : but in every instance the name of its first-born has been " death.' Death is,
1 . Its penalty —
[Death temporal, spiritual, and eternal, was threatened as the punishment of transgression while our first parents were yet in paradise. And on many occasions has the threatening
been renewed^ So that sin and death afe absolutely
inseparable.]
2. Its desert —
[The fixing of death as the consequence of transgression was no arbitrary appointment. The penal evil of death is no more than the moral evil of sin. Consider the extreme malig- nity of sin : What rebellion against God ! What a dethroning of God from our hearts ! What a preferring of Satan himself, and his service, to God's light and easy yoke ! View it as it is seen in the agonies and death of God's only Son : Can that
be.
* Isai. xliv. 20. See this whole process illustrated. Gen. iii. 1 — 6.
* These seem to be the precise ideas intended to be conveyed by
^ Job. XV. 35. Ps. vii. 14, with the text.
e Ezek. xviii. 4. Rom. i. 18. & vi. 21, 23. Gal. iii. 10.