for a distinct name, and office, and work for each of the Persons in the Sacred Trinity. This scheme is absolutely necessary in order to the fullest and clearest exhibition of the Divine Being as existing a Trinity in Unity. It is necessary to the clearest and fullest exhibition of the love and communion subsisting between the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. The scheme of Redemption was necessary to the incarnation and mediation of the Second Person in the Trinity; and his incarnation and mediation were absolutely necessary to the most interesting and perfect union and communion between God and his creatures. Now since the scheme of Redemption is adapted, in the highest possible degree, to the peculiar mode of existence in the Divine Being; and since the peculiar mode of his existence is necessary to the perfection of his designs, operations, blessedness and glory; there can be no doubt, that this scheme is absolutely necessary to the greatest good of the universe.

2. According to Scripture, the scheme of Redemption is God's primary and original purpose. In the second chapter of Ephesians, the scheme of Redemption is represented as comprising all the designs and operations of Jehovah; and as securing the most perfect union and blessedness of all holy beings. "Unto me who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ: And to make all men see, what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent, that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." In this passage we are plainly told, that God commenced the work of creation for the express purpose of executing the scheme of Redemption. The scheme of Redemption, then, was not formed in order to repair God's original design, but was that original design itself.

That the scheme of Redemption is God's original and supreme design, appears from all those passages of Scripture which represent all things as having been created by and for the Lord Jesus Christ. "Who is the image of the invisible God, the First-Born of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities or powers: all things were created by him and for him."-In the whole plan of Divine operation, Christ is "the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the First and the Last." For it pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell." All things, therefore, not even excepting "thrones, dominions, principalities and powers," were created not only by Christ, but for him, and in subserviency to the scheme of Redemption. The angels themselves are his ministering spirits, sent forth to minister unto them who shall be heirs of Salvation."

The whole scheme of Divine operation is, in Scripture, uniformly represented as having an original and supreme reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. "He is the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person." It was for the sake of displaying his glory in the face of Christ, that God created the heavens and earth. Christ himself anticipated the work of Redemption in the early days of eternity and took supreme delight, prospectively, in view of this world and the sons of men. The Wisdom of God says, "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth. While as yet he had not made the earth nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: When he established the

clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep : When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: Then was I by him, as one brought up with him, I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him: Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men."

God represents the work of Redemption, as infinitely the most important of all his works. "For behold I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former things shall not be remembered nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice forever in the thing which I create: for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy." According to Scripture, therefore, all the designs and operations of Jehovah are subordinate to the scheme of Redemption, which is his original and supreme design. There is good reason to believe, then, that God regards the scheme of Redemption as absolutely necessary to the highest glory of his name and the greatest good of the universe.

3. The scheme of Redemption is absolutely necessary to the most perfect exercise of the Divine benevolence. God is love. Disinterested, impartial and universal benevolence is the essence and comprehension of his character. His benevolence is susceptible of a variety of modifications. Benevolence is morally excellent in its own nature: and the Divine benevolence is the supreme moral excellence of the universe. It is desirable in itself, therefore, that the Divine benevolence should be exercised; and it is supremely desirable, that it should be perfectly exercised in all its branches. Moral good is in itself more lovely and important than mere natural good; and the perfect exercise of the Divine benevolence, in all its branches, constitutes the supreme moral good of the universe. That scheme of operation, therefore, which will afford the most full and perfect exercise to the Divine benevolence, in all its branches, is absolutely necessary to the greatest good;

and is, of all other schemes, the best. This is the case with the scheme of Redemption. It affords God an opportunity for the most perfect exercise of his infinite condescension towards all his creatures, of his unmixed and uninterrupted complacency in the holy and innocent, of his infinite compassion towards the miserable, and of his infinite grace and justice towards the guilty. The scheme of Redemption is absolutely necessary to the exercise of Divine compassion, Divine grace and Divine justice, at the same time. It not only enables God to exercise some of his perfections which he could not have exercised in any other way, but it enables him to exercise all his perfections more perfectly than he otherwise could. The mere works of creation and providence enable God to exercise all those perfections which he could have exercised in a sinless moral universe, and, doubtless, to as great a degree. But in the work of Redemption he is enabled to exercise these same perfections still more perfectly, as well as to exercise some perfections which could not, otherwise, have been exercised at all.

It appears, then, that sin is necessary to the scheme of Redemption; that the scheme of Redemption is necessary to the perfect exercise of all the Divine perfections; and that the perfect exercise of all the Divine perfections is necessary to the greatest good. Consequently, sin is the necessary means of the greatest good of the universe.

4. The scheme of Redemption is necessary to the perfect display of all of the Divine perfections. It is the only scheme which could have enabled God to display his grace; and the only scheme which could have reconciled his justice and his mercy. In this scheme, justice and mercy meet together, righteousness and peace embrace each other. He exhibits all the perfections of his nature, and exhibits them in all their glory. Nor was it possible, in the nature of things, for God to display all his glory, except in the face of Jesus Christ. In a sinless moral universe, his creatures could never have seen the

glory of his justice, nor the glory of his grace, nor the glory of his long-suffering and forbearance. Were it not for his unspeakable gift in the Son of his bosom, for the meanest and most ill-deserving of his creatures, he could not have displayed all the glory of his condescension, nor all the glory of his goodness and love.

The scheme of Redemption is necessary not only to the display of all his moral glory, but also to the display of all his natural glory. In the face of Christ, God exhibits all the glory of his wisdom, and all the glory of his power. Christ is emphatically "the wisdom of God and the power of God." God has displayed astonishing wisdom and power in the creation and government of the natural world. But the display he makes of these perfections in the works of Redemption is so transcendently glorious, that, in a comparative view, the former things are not to be remembered nor come into mind. The angels delight to study the works of creation and providence; but they have a peculiar desire to look into the deep things of God in the work of Redemption. It was God's original intention, in creating all things by Jesus Christ, to make known unto these principalities and powers, by the Redemption of the Church, "the manifold wisdom of God, according to his eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord."

In view of the scheme of Redemption, the apostle not only had an overwhelming sense of the height and depth, and length and breadth of the love of God, which passeth knowledge, but exclaimed, "O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom. and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, and who hath been his counsellor? And who hath first given to him? And it shall be recompensed unto him again. For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things." God might have displayed Divine wisdom, and pow er, and goodness, in the creation, preservation and government