bringing man into existence, those purposes must be carried out. It would not be consistent for God to alter them, nor in the power of man to defeat them, whatever he might do-whether he obeyed or disobeyed.

To ascertain God's plan, we must appeal directly to the Scriptures, which we shall find at all times a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, in the investigation of correct doctrinal truth. It is said, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," and after establishing everything in its perfect order, He said,

Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind; and God saw that it was good.

And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

Thus, we see, that it was in God's plan that the waters should be an element to sustain life, and the air also, and that they should multiply therein. He said, also,

Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind; and it

was so.

And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth, after his kind; and God saw that it was good.

Now, then, we see the earth, the air, and the waters, teaming with life and animated nature. But is this all? Has God exercised his creative power, divided the darkness from the light, and placed the sun to rule the day, and the moon and stars to govern by night; give to the waters to know their place, and made the dry land to appear; has he done this for no other purpose than to give to fishes, birds, and beasts, an existence in these elements? Nay, verily. All this is but preparatory and subservient to the

one great and glorious object he had in view and yet to accomplish, viz., the creation of man. Man was the crowning glory, and chief object of the creative power. But what was God's purpose and plan concerning man?

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

So God created man in his own image; in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.

We here discover that it was in accordance with the divine will and plan, that the heavens and the earth, and all things therein, should be created for man, and that this should be his home, inheritance, and destiny. Let this be distinctly understood and kept in mind, that God has no other purpose and plan in the creation, than to have this earth peopled, possessed, and governed by man. But does God bestow this great gift of a world upon man without any condition whatever of obedience to his righteous will? By no means.

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat;

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

It was His design that man should possess this earth upon the merits of obedience to a divine law, and by making the penalty of that law death, we discover that God had no other purpose or interest in man's existence, than that he should be obedient and holy. Therefore, when he said to man, "Multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and

have dominion over it," he had no other purpose than that this earth should be peopled with holy beings, and that man should possess it only in that state. If, then, God started with this idea-with this object and purpose in his heart to have man possess this earth in a state of innocence and holiness, then be assured it will be done-His purpose and council will stand, and He will do all His pleasure. But if Adam sins, if he transgresses God's law, and death enters and passes upon all his posterity, how can God's plans be executed ?-how can this world be pos sessed and peopled with holy men? We say, if Adam sins but we may come at once to the melancholy fact— Adam did sin―he did forfeit his life, and all that made his existence desirable-God drove him from the garden; deprived him of the tree of life; cursed the ground for his sake, and said, In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground, for out of it wast thou taken; dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Again, we ask, what can be done? Has man's transgression thwarted the noble designs of God, so that He will have to destroy this whole creation, or abandon it to the possession of wicked men? By no means. God is not man, that He should be limited in His means to bring about the perfection of His plans. Instead of changing his purposes, He only changes his mode of administra tion, and by this change of administration brings about the same original purposes and plans. This new mode of administration is God's administration of mercy, and dis. covers his revealed plan of redemption.

REDEMPTION.

Redemption is the restoration, the recovering, and repossession of that which we once possessed, but by some means was forfeited or lost. Every good government has

a redemption law, so that if by misfortune a man forfeits his estate, and it passes into the hands of another, he or his friends can redeem it, and bring it into his power and possession again. Israel had a redemption law for the rostoration of property and their personal liberty, when for feited and lost by misfortune. See Lev. 25: 23.

The land shall not be sold forever; for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.

And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land.

If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.

And if the man have none to redeem it, and himself be able to redeem it,

Then let him count the years of the sale thereof, and restore the overplus unto the man to whom he sold it, that he may return unto his possession.

But if he be not able to restore it to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that bought it, until the year of jubilee; and in the jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return unto his possession.

And if a sojourner or a stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother that dwelleth by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger's family,

Either his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or any that are nigh of kin unto him of his family, may redeem him, or, if he be able, he may redeem himself.

When the Bible, therefore, speaks of man's redemption in a moral sense-in the sense of his salvation-it implies nothing more nor less than the restoration of what he lost or forfeited by the fall. Therefore, to understand redemp. tion, we have only to learn what man lost by the fall. It should be remembered that God was pleased with his work, that he pronounced everything that he had made, not only good, but very good. And when man fell and incurred the penalty of God's law, and brought a curse upon that good, how much better it harmonizes with the

character of the Divine Being, that instead of suffering his purposes and plans to fail, to rather devise means, and carry on a system of government that would effectually destroy this evil, and restore the earth to its primeval possession and blessedness.

First, then, I remark, man lost his communion and fellowship with his Maker. God proposes to restore this communion and fellowship in the change of his government, and in the plan of redemption. Secondly: Man lost his dominion and possession of the earth. God redeems this, and gives it all back to him. Thirdly: Man lost the society of a world of holy beings. God will redeem a sufficient number to carry out his original designs, so that the earth restored, will be replenished with holy and happy saints. Fourthly: Man lost his life, his access to the tree of life, and all the means by which he could obtain immortality and eternal life. God redeems his life, gives him access to another tree of life, through which he can obtain immortality and eternal life, and enjoy forever the restored or redeemed creation.

But upon what principle of justice can God redeem. man? If the penalty of his law was death, and man incurred that penalty, how can God make a law to give life again without counteracting the first law? And what is a law good for with its penalties, if the administrator rescues the transgressor from the penalty due to his crime, by another law of freedom or restoration? This would destroy all civil and moral government. To illustrate: If a parent of ten children say to them, If you will be obedient to the parental government, you may live with me, and share in all the honors and wealth of my house, and of my estate, as long as you live, but if you disobey, I will disinherit you, and drive you from the parental roof, and you shall never have any of my possessions. Now, suppose these children all disobey, how can that parent