3. He wished to show the union between sin and sin. Sin is not an isolated thing that is done, and then disappears without a trace. It is necessarily, and by its very nature, linked with a thousand others. Cast a small pebble into the broad ocean and it raises a ripple which expands circle after circle, and ceases not till it has rolled itself upon the most distant shore. So with sin,—with one single sin,—even what we call the slightest. It is the root of millions. It perpetuates itself for ever. Like the ocean-ripple, its influence is beyond all calculation. Yet there is this difference between them. The ripple grows fainter and sinks lower as its circle widens and recedes from the centre. Not so with sin. What was a ripple at first soon swells into a wave, ever rising higher, till we behold the huge, dark mountain-billow breaking upon the eternal shore.

4. He wished to show the creature's helplessness. He can sin, but he cannot undo the effects of sin. He can unfasten the link that binds earth to heaven, but he cannot reknit it. He can cast himself out of heaven, but he cannot raise himself up to that lost heaven again. It is not needful that God should consume him or bind him in chains of darkness, that he may be prevented from re-entering God's presence. It is enough, meanwhile, that he be left to himself. His utter helplessness becomes sufficiently manifest of itself. Deliverance must be of God, if he is to be delivered at all. His creation was of God, and it is to be seen that his new creation is also of Him, and of Him alone. God made him at first, and that was much; but He is to remake him out of sin, and that is more.

5. He wished to open up his whole character, as the Infinite Jehovah. This was his opportunity. Now he could fully bring out to view all that was in his mind and heart. He could not be seen as the Healer till some were sick. He could not be known as the Helper till there were some to help. He could not be known as the renewer of the world unless it were seen how far that world could go into decay. Therefore it was his purpose, neither to arrest sin at once, so that it might not be committed again, nor to destroy that earth where sin had arisen, that no trace of pollution might remain, but to suffer it to prolong its existence, and thus afford the occasion of his unfolding the fullness of his infinite mind and heart.

6. He wished to make creation more immovable. By man's sin and by the sin of the angels it had been proved how unstead-fast the creature was. If a third race had been created instead of man, there would just have been another fall. God had shown how frail the creature is, even in the most favourable circumstances. Therefore God proceeds no further in creation till he has laid a far deeper foundation for it to rest upon.

This he proceeds to do. By the incarnation of his Son he links creation to himself in ties that cannot be broken.

Perhaps, reader, you are one of those who in this age are setting their hearts on knowledge. It is well. But here is knowledge, the deepest and the fullest of all. You are aspiring after science—longing to scale its heights. Here is the first of sciences—science truly divine. The knowledge of creation in all its parts and proportions, and substances and laws, is counted science, and eagerly sought after. Nor is it an unworthy knowledge, or one which an immortal spirit might not delight in. But if the laws of the universe be worthy of your studious inquiry, what must the great Framer of these laws be? If the wondrous composition of this earth and its substances be meet for your most earnest search, what must He be who created and arranged them all? If the motions of the heavenly orbs be so wonderful, what must the great Mover be? Have you studied HIM? It is an infinite study; and oh! what a recompense of joy does it bring along with it; what marvels and what mysteries does it disclose!

Romans 11:33