see the extent of his crime. The earth would only produce fruit in answer to his labour. Misery came, and death was visible then to him, as the consequence of his disobedience. Adam beheld the murdered body of his son: the reward of his sin— the punishment of his crime. He felt too, like his children, the evil passions of the soul: the burnings of the conscience, and the tortures of a depraved mind, led him to the grave; but whatever he might have felt in his own person, the sight of Abel, after he had been slain by the envious hand of his brother, thereby demonstrating the effects of sin, must have wrung his mind with deeper anguish, than all other consequences—the blood of his own child, and the life extinct through his sin, and the appearance of death for the first time, must have shown to him the enormous extent of his disobedience and the awful consequences of his crime. The loss of the favour of Deity must have been felt in these effects. Adam saw them, and felt them in his own person-he saw them also in the persons of his children. But

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although the forefather had sinned against heaven, and incurred the righteous indignation of the Almighty, still God had compassion and mercy upon the children of disobedience. "The seed of the woman, said he, “shall bruise the serpent's head :" here was the promise of the Messiah, the first that was made. Various types prefigured his appearance, the prophecies all foretold it. And when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son made of a woman, 'to reconcile us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” Now was God manifested in the flesh: the second person in the Trinity, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, came and dwelt among us in the form of man to atone for the sins of the whole world. He became the advocate with the Father, and reconciled him to us disobedient children. The plan was laid in heaven simple though it was, none but

the Deity could have laid it. Jehovah was dissatisfied with the creatures, that he had made, for they had rebelled against him; they had within them the sin of the forefather, and the evil nature, that brought forth the actual transgression. They were at enmity with the Father; for how could he love a disobedient race? How could he continue in his favour those, who had transgressed against his holy laws? God is as pure and holy, as he is Almighty and Omniscient; hardly then could he, extensive as his mercy and compassion are, behold with delight his children, who had sinned against him. Sin was odious and hateful to his eyes; but although man had fallen from his primitive purity, God's love was so great, that he sent his own Son to restore the lost, and to reconcile them to himself. How great the condescension of heaven, for Eternal Majesty to behold with compassion a rebellious and sinful race of men! Still greater was it in sending his own Son to accomplish the reconciliation,—to be led like a sheep to the slaughter, and to suffer death for the sins of the whole world!

The iniquity of us all was laid upon him: he died for the original and the actual sins of men. He preserved the justice of God, and evidenced in his own person the unlimited mercy of heaven. of heaven. God declared that death should follow sin; but Jesus conquered the grave, and gave to us the victory. The outward tenement may fail, the flesh may crumble into dust, corruption may prey upon the body, but the spirit will return to God, who gave it. The soul is immortal; the grave cannot hold it: for God in Christ has conquered the grave, deprived death of his sceptre, and obtained a reconciliation with the Father. Christ died for original and actual sin: he took upon himself the sin of Adam, and appeased the wrath of Jehovah. He did all for man, that man required; he obtained for man that, which man had lost, and which none but Christ could have gained. The reconciliation with the Father could only be made through the interposition of the Son. God was in Christ-the Deity took humanity, and out of the human burst forth the Divine. Christ was the Son of Man, and

he was the Son of God. The Son of Man, as to his humanity-the Son of God, as to his Divinity-God manifested in the flesh. Great is the mystery of godliness! When on earth, the divine majesty walked in humanity, and from his humanity beamed forth his Divinity. His works on earth proved his divine nature; his sufferings upon the cross his human nature. The great work, that he accomplished, proved him God; the death, that he suffered, proved him man:-" God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and man, of the substance of his mother, born in the world;""Equal to the Father, as touching his Godhead; and inferior to the Father, as touching his manhood.” And yet not two persons but "one; not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh; but by taking of the manhood into God. altogether; not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man: so God and man is one Christ." The two natures were necessary, the divine and the human ; and these were united in the accomplish

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