repaired by his labors, appeared far less in magnitude than the good results. Why, therefore, shall he not permit it? Are there any motives to urge him absolutely to prevent it? Are there not many wise considerations to induce him to allow it? And yet, it cannot with truth be said, that God is in any sense the cause of sin, or that he is in the least degree responsible for its entrance into the world. From the preceding remarks it is also plain, that in permitting it he acted with the highest reference to the highest possible good of the universe.

Having permitted the fall of man, what a noble work is called into being through the agency of the Holy Spirit, in convicting, converting, regenerating and sanctifying the heart of the sinner. This, indeed, is a wondrous work. Behold the man whose sins have risen mountain high, whose career of transgression has brought him to the verge of an endless perdition. His soul is the seat of every moral pollution; his body is a fit temple for Satan to dwell in. Every noble faculty of his being has been disturbed and distorted by the agency of sin. There is but one process by which to him the portals of hell can be closed, and the gates of heaven opened. That process is a sanctifying one, which the Holy Spirit alone can achieve. Had man not fallen, that process had been unnecessary. By the fall it is rendered indispensable. Therefore, in the economy of God's grace, the work of performing it is appropriated to the third person in the Trinity, and by him it is gloriously achieved.

Let any man try to convert himself, and the difficulty of the task which he assumes will come home to his consciousness with a power unknown and unsuspected before. He will discover that he is unequal to it; that it is impossible for him to do it. He may earnestly toil; he may endeavor to entertain good thoughts, to

speak pure words, to perform holy actions;-and the very first temptation will overset all his calculations, throw him off his guard, and make him only augment his guilt by the addition of another presumptuous transgression. But behold that same person, when the Spirit of God has operated upon him, and exerted his renovating power. He is truly a new man, the old man having been entirely put off. He is possessed of a different nature, adorned with nobler attributes, actuated by purer principles, and sustained by a stronger energy, in his career of virtue. What he formerly hated he now loves; what he formerly loved he now abhors. That disorganized state of his faculties and moral energies, which, to some extent, constituted the fall, is now removed; and his spiritual powers and tendencies are well balanced. They perfectly harmonize. The affections, the sensibilities, the intellect, and the will, all work together in the path of obedience and holiness. The machine has been reconstructed; and though the same materials are still used, they are no longer thrown together in wild chaotic confusion, like some crushed implement of manual use, but every wheel, and spring and weight have been taken out, retouched, renewed, replaced in their proper position, and in complete order; and the impulsive, forward movement is given by the hand of God, which is designed to continue till the soul has arrived in heaven.

Now this beautiful display of divine skill and power had never been made if sin had not entered the world. There would have been no need, no possibility of it. And though it might be supposed that the want of this necessity would in itself be a very desirable state, more desirable even than its presence, we may grant such an assumption. Yet such an admission does not prove, that the blessings which God has drawn from the fall do not alleviate the evils produced by it. They do greatly alle

viate them, and, at the same time, they vastly extol the wisdom and power of that great Being, who, from so much disaster and misery can draw forth so much happiness and such skillful rescue.

By permitting the fall, God gave himself an opportunity to bring all his creatures back again to that primitive state from which they fell, if they make use of the means which he abundantly provides. He also procures thereby a remedy for the miseries of the world, which is powerful in proportion to the dreadfulness of the disease. Hence if we grant that the disease of sin is terrible, we at the same time exalt the vigor and merit of the matchless remedy. The deliverance achieved for a world will be heroic, in proportion to the imminent peril from which it is delivered. By thus exerting his divine energies, God will have performed two splendid creations instead of one; and the lustre of the former creation will not exceed, not even equal, the glory which will redound to his name through all ages by the achievement of the latter, whereby the sinner is converted and saved.

A fallen race will illustrate the power of prayer and the benevolence of the Creator, in a way which would never have been realized, had men not fallen. The son who is perfectly independent of the parent, who possesses no wants to satisfy, and who has no pardon to implore, cannot pray; neither can such a parent answer him. But the child who is on the verge of utter destitution, dying from want, and whose wants are the result of his own transgressions-how powerfully is he urged to pray, and how powerfully is the parent impelled to give? If, under such circumstances, the prayer is offered in contrition and faith, and the answer is returned in sympathy and forgiveness, both parties possess new interest in the eyes of every holder. Our feelings are enlisted in behalf of the penitent

be

child; and our admiration is absorbed in behalf of the forgiving and condescending father. It is thus with God, when he is viewed in connection with the fall. His character derives new interest from the fact that he has had a fallen and rebellious world to forgive, and that he has forgiven it. He becomes more interesting, inasmuch as when that hopeless race could be forgiven by him, only by the sacrifice of his own son, he willingly made that sacrifice. And still more, when we remember that only by suffering in the stead of his rebels himself, could his already promulgated law be satisfied, he did not hesitate to assume their guilt, and endure their punishment; then it is that the sublimity and glory of divine and paternal benevolence rise infinitely in our estimation, and we silently adore a mysterious and godlike love, which language fails adequately to describe. All this would have been impossible, had sin never entered and afflicted the world.

Now what is there in all this to call forth the contempt of Modern Infidelity? How can these facts be distorted into anything disgraceful to God, unworthy of his appro- * priate character, or incredible when recorded in Scripture? They cannot. It is only when these great truths are contemplated through the distorted medium of the corrupt heart, that they can appear suspicious or censurable. But when viewed with that teachable spirit which so well becomes frail and erring man, they possess a deep interest, and approve themselves as reasonable and trustworthy. Now the statements which we have made on this subject are wholly based on the Biblical account of the fall, and the origin of evil. And if they appear in any degree worthy of respect and credit, as thus exhibited, it is only because such statements are in accordance with the truths set forth on the page of Inspiration.

426

CHAPTER XII.

THE TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST VINDICATED.

THE transfiguration of Christ is one of those events against which Modern Infidelity has directed some of its most resolute attacks. It is recorded in the New Testa ment as one of those mysterious and impressive events which impart to the person and mission of Christ an air of inspiration and divinity. It pretends to draw back for a few moments, the veil which shrouds the invisible world from the view of mortals, and reveal some of the scenes and appearances which exist there. It presumes to bring man near to God, earth to heaven, time to eternity; while it • reveals Christ to us in an attitude both unusual and sublime,

and endeavors to teach that his religion is of an origin too noble and exalted for earth, and must be traced to its na tive skies.

The treatment which the Transfiguration of Christ has received at the hands of those who object, in the present day, to revealed religion, will serve as an illustration of the general mode of argument adopted by them. The objec tions which they propose on this point are a sample of their whole system of warfare. By exhibiting the achievements of their most eminent champions in this instance, and showing their applauded emptiness, we may form an estimate of their general fatuity. In discussing this event Strauss, in his Life of Jesus, first objects to the light, or the glittering appearance of the Saviour and the two per