Having originated in the wisdom of the supreme Legislator, and having been appointed as a rule of life and a test of obedience, to protect the interests of the divine government in the world, it stands as unchangeably pure in its nature, and as unalterable in its requirements, as the God, who gave it, is in his own immutable essence. Behold sin, then, in this pure mirror. How is its deformity exposed, and its malignity enhanced by the purity of that law of which it is the transgression! Every sin, in a greater or less degree, aims at destroying the very existence of the divine law; and at subverting the dominion which Jehovah claims as his own indisputable prerogative amongst his own creatures. Sin implies an effort to set up another in direct opposition to the supremacy of Heaven. It is a direct and gross insult upon the Majesty of God. It pours contempt on his legislative authority to make laws, and virtually impeaches his wisdom and justice in requiring obedience to them. Sin is rebellion against the Most High; and its dreadful concomitants are anarchy and confusion. In its hideous deformity, it bears the impress of hell; and, like that malign spirit that attempted to usurp the sovereignty of the skies, it carries the features of that black apostacy, that would have pushed from his throne the Holy One of Israel. Such is the nature of sin. But trace it, in its origin, its consequences, and its effects, and you will perceive its aggravations swell in every view. See its fatal effects even in heaven itself. What disorder did it occasion among the armies of the skies! When, after having lifted up an innumerable company of angels with proud rebellion against the throne of God, it plunged them, with Lucifer at their head, from the summit of bliss and honor, down to the inextinguishable flames and bottomless abyss of tophet. Or, go to Eden, and mark there the sad catastrophe of our fall. See our first parents arrested by the hand of justice, and, like a pair of criminals, compeers in guilt and partners in woe, turned out of that delectable spot, where all the rich spontaneous gifts of nature concurred with the light of God’s countenance, to make it a representation, in miniature, of the celestial paradise. See the angry cherub brandishing his flaming sword, placed as a vengeful guardian of the tree of life. Behold shame, sorrow, disease, and death, the melancholy attendants on the unhappy culprits! the earth under their feet, cursed with briers and thorns! and elements around them, armed with the thunder of their Creator’s frown! Ask, what is the cause of this sad reverse of their former state of rest, peace, and fertility? The answer is, this hath sin done.