Let

has not yet come, nor can it ever fully come on earth. him take his point of view in heaven, at that remote period when the yearnings of infinite love over lost man are satisfied; when loud hosannas to the Lamb that was slain "fill the eternal regions;" when the myriads of the redeemed, "without number, numberless, uttering joy," lead off in their peculiar and prominent part in the chorus of praise to the Infinite Excellence; when the glowing pictures in the apocalypse, are all realized, then might a numerical comparison between the ruin and the recovery be less out of season, and less likely to deceive.

A man, in this early morning of the work of redemption, speaking of it as a failure, were like what the last of the goggle-eyed Saurians would have been, deploring in behalf of the world the untimely extinction of all these ancient and honorable families, and their paradise lost forever. But an angel in heaven, looking down upon that transpiring ruin, and comparing it with the chart of God's future purposes for the earth, what would he have said of the ruin? What but this and with a meaning hardly less sublime than that of the words in their original application:

"Ye wheels of nature, speed your course;

Ye mortal powers decay ;

Fast as ye bring the night of death,

Ye bring eternal day."

It is sometimes said, as a covert objection, that it would have been economy for God to create a new race, rather than attempt the restoration of a fallen race. Perhaps so; and so it might have seemed economy in Him to have created the coal, as it was needed, out of its component gases, instead of preparing it through the slow processes of vegetation, decay and transformation, thus losing interest on so large a stock of raw material, for so long a time; but so He did not. The eternal Creator does not leap at results as man would in the circumstances. Stumble at it as we may, the fact is fixed and stubborn, that God's wise and benevolent providence over this earth does not pro

gress evenly, but by alternate retrocessions and advances, by deaths and resurrections, by defeats and then victories, -the forward victorious movement always going beyond the previous retreat, the retiring wave, gathering strength by a momentary calm to roll on beyond the previous highwater mark, thus showing that the great tide is steadily though slowly gaining upon the shore. As evenings and mornings made up the primitive days, and as time still advances by alternate light and shade, so moves on God's great scheme of grace. Whether as individuals, or as parts of his church, we must lose life in order to save it; and dying behold we live.

"So in the light of great eternity,

Life eminent creates the shade of death."

The fall of innocent and holy man, and then his recovery through Christ to a still higher position in the universe; his fall from a something but little lower than the angels, and then his exaltation, through the Lord of Angels, to a something so high that angels count it an honor to be judged by him,- all this is part and parcel of the great scheme by which the uplifted summits of one Geological period have been ground into sand, in order to lay the foundations of the next higher in the order of Providence; by which the vegetable and floral glory of one period is dissolved, that it may meet a necessity of higher existences in a subsequent period; and by which, at the close of the current Geological period, the earth shall be burned up, that out of its ashes may start up a new earth, worthy to be a shining member of the new heavens, wherein dwelleth righteousness. God's great store house garners up all that is worth preserving out of what we seem to lose. Goodness, truth, worth, and life, perhaps, are indestructible.

Thus each Geological period is imperfect in itself, and prophetic of something higher and better. The carboniferous period looked onward and upward. It was the first which revealed a distinct reference to man. Only its inferior uses were for the then present. Its true life was to die, and then

its strength was to lie still for ages, until man appeared, and even until he had slowly worked his way far upward towards his high destination.

Does not Redemption, in like manner, look forward to a something far higher and better than the present best? Are there not apparent inequalities and roughnesses on the surface of Christendom, which only ages of experience and attention will wear down? Are there not apparent undulations in the crust which imply a central repose even now, and which are prophetic of a perfect stability and rest, erelong, through the whole mass? Are there not still deep deposits of meaning in Christ's nature, and sufferings, in his love and his words, which only time and development can make plain? And will not time and development make them plain?

The New Testament, in this respect, is peculiarly prophetic. It demands and promises a long future on earth, and a longer future in heaven, in which to unfold the inexhaustible meaning and glories of redemption. Confident of such a long and triumphant future, it is not over anxious to solve all difficulties at once. It can afford to wait. As God did not hasten to lay the riches of the coal measures bare to the vulgar and stupid gaze of primitive and untutored men, so He does not now make haste. to parade the riches of his grace in Christ, before those who cannot appreciate it, or be benefited by it. Sometime the whole race will be fully prepared to appreciate it, and therefore it will sometime be fully unfolded.

"EPHES. 3: 10. "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 proposed in Christ Jesus our Lord."

It may be said that the analogy of geology would lead us to expect a new creation, rather than the recovery of a fallen race.

The creation of the new race was not necessary. The Fall was not a destruction. Man fell, but his man-hood

survived. He was still as distinct from, and as superior to, the brute as ever. He was still man, only fallen. He could be raised up. All that was necessary in order that he might become, or be made into, a saint, remained. With some important modifications, he could still be used for the original purpose of his creation, viz: glorifying God and enjoying Him forever. As the corrosive carbonic acid was eliminated from the atmosphere which it poisoned, leaving it a far better supporter of animal life, so could the element of sin be eliminated from fallen humanity, and then that humanity restored, rise to a higher degree of personal happiness than before, and to a loftier tone of praise to God.

To change the figure once more;- the genial temperature of the moral atmosphere into which man was created was suddenly and greatly depressed by sin; but the change was not so great as utterly to drive the life of humanity out of him. Man could yet be saved. Jehovah was not reduced to the necessity of creating a new race in order to secure his plans in regard to man from a perfect failure. He will yet fully answer the original intent of his

creation.

Again, with a slight variation of the objection, it may be said that the course of creation, as indicated by geology, favors the idea that man's period, like that of the races which have preceded him, will sometime end, to be followed in due time by the appearance of a race still higher than himself.

Answer. No higher race is needed to know, use, and exhaust the earth. Already man rides master of the seas; he subdues the stubborn soil; he chains or tames the savage beasts; he yokes the mighty energies of nature to his chariot; he retains the lightning to whisper his messages along the air from state to state; he has put it under bonds to flash them from continent to continent, along the depths of the seas; he probes the solid earth, and brings up its hidden wealth; he analyzes her complex substances, and seals up her elements where he can study their nature and their laws; he knows the earth, and knows that he knows it. No higher

order of being is needed to exhaust its capabilities or control its forces. This could not be said of any preceding race. It is admitted that all other races have had in themselves the prophecies and germs of a higher race to come; for no ruling house ever perished without first giving promise of a nobler family to succeed. The mourner over expiring dynasties therefore mourned not as without hope. But for all these races, the earth was the only field they needed. None of them ever panted for more room, or wept for want of wider realms to subjugate. Nay the earth was already too wide and too wonderful a field for them. Among all her inhabitants, there was not yet one which could separate her metals, measure her crystals, or use her coal. Her rich deposits lay slumbering in her bosom, awaiting the appearance of some one to discover, survey, and use them. They lay there as mute and yet unfulfilled prophecies of a something higher than saurian or mammal.

In man these prophecies are all fulfilled. His appearance solves all previous enigmas. He proceeds at once to exhaust these capabilities. He therefore is the glorious "coming one" for whom all the earth had been groaning and travailing in pain, through all the geological ages. At length the earth has brought forth a creature who can discover, survey, analyze, admire, and use the wondrous coal. At his word, this dull, cold, heavy substance comes forth as in resurrection; it softens for him his winters; turns night into day; and drives him, with all his heavy merchandise, over land and sea, with the speed of the wind and the force of the storm. What he does with this particular material he will ere long do with all, according to their destined uses. Thus does he take full possession of the earth.

Like the races before him, he has indeed the germs of a something higher than his present self, but these germs can unfold only in some broader sphere than earth. In his highest and best nature he is still prophetical, but it is no longer a prophecy of a footstool. It reaches unto the skies. He will never be superseded by a loftier race here, for the sphere is already too strait for himself. He is fast exhaust