SERMON II.

THE RESTORATION OF MAN.

ROм. v. 12, 18, 19.

Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned..

Therefore, as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

For, as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

MAN was originally formed in the image of God; that is, he was endued with moral rectitude in all the faculties of his rational soul. His understanding clearly discerned, his judgment at once approved, his will promptly chose, the will of

his Maker. His mind was free from every cloud of error, his heart from every sinful inclination. But, though upright he was not immutable-though innocent he was not infallible-though sinless he was not impeccable. He was created a free agent-" sufficient to have stood, yet free to fall." He did fall, and became immediately subject to the penalty denounced against disobedience. God, however, did not leave him without hope; but at the same time that he pronounced upon him the sentence of condemnation, he gave him the cheering promise of a Redeemer. Yea, even before he pronounced the curse, he gave intimation of the blessing. He levelled his thunderbolt at the head of the Tempter, before he struck his arrow into the heart of the Transgressor.

In both these important transactions the fall and the restoration, the ruin and the recovery, of our first parents-we, my brethren, are deeply interested. How we are so, the Apostle tells us in the text; in which he points out THE RE

SEMBLANCE SUBSISTING BETWEEN THE FALL OF MAN IN ADAM and HIS RESTORATION IN CHRIST. Wherein this resemblance consists, will appear if we consider his statements as to each of these momentous subjects, in the order in which they stand.

First, then, as regards our fall in Adam, the language of the Apostle is this, "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." 66 By the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation." 66 By one man's disobedience many were made sinners."-To enter fully into the meaning of these declarations, we must observe that God was pleased to constitute Adam the federal head of all his posterity; and to deal with mankind at large in him, rather than put each individual on a personal trial. The whole human race was looked upon as represented in Adam. He was, as it were, the specimen by which God chose to judge of the whole mass. Ac

cording to the issue of his probation, all were to stand or fall. Had he stood the instituted test of obedience, not only would he himself have merited the reward of a glorious immortality, but he would have earned it for his descendants likewise. His obedience, and the fruits of it, would equally have been regarded as theirs. He did not, however, stand the trial. He transgressed the commandment. He fell from his obedience, and forfeited his reward: and, falling, he drew all his posterity with him They were implicated alike in his sin and in his punishment.

What this punishment was, our text plainly tells us-DEATH. "By one man sin entered and death by sin." Nor was this only, or chiefly, the death of the body. As the soul participated in the transgression, so did it share the penalty-as it had the principal share in the guilt, so was it doomed to sustain the heaviest part of the punishment. Painful and revolting to the feelings as is the separation of the body from the soul,

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the separation of the soul from God is infinitely more calamitous. And such a breach, such a schism, did sin introduce. The soul, formed in the image of its Maker, was spoiled of its glory, and cut off from that communion with the Fountain of Life in which primarily consisted its honour and its happiness. This part of the sentence manifestly took ef fect immediately upon the act of trans-· gression for instantly we find that conscious shame and a guilty fear of God took possession of our first Parents. Spiritually, they died the death on the day that they eat of the forbidden fruit. And had the sentence been as speedily executed upon their bodies also had they been remanded to their original dust before the promise of a Saviour, or before their acceptance of that promise, we cannot doubt that they would have been for ever excluded from the presence and favour of the Lord.

Such were the penal consequences which Adam's transgression drew down upon himself-such the malediction in