Sin

demnation. This can neither be concealed nor denied: and it shows us, what men are so prone to disbelieve, the certainty of God's judgments. He issued his command to the man whom he had created, and said: In the day when thou transgressest the command, "thou shalt surely die." Adam disbelieved, and did transgress. Immediately was the sentence executed. entered into the world, and with sin death: death, and all that leads to death ;-so that every eye we close and every grave we stand by, nay, every pang we witness and every tear we shed, are proofs to assure us of the fact, that "the transgression of the law is sin," and that he who has given the law, will avenge the law; for "the wages of sin is death."

Here, then, is our condition: a miserable condition of physical infirmity, and spiritual ruin. "In Adam all died."

Yet in his judgment God remembers mercy. The goodness of God had been Paul's special theme in the preceding verses of this chapter. The admission of sin and death into the world, might seem to contradict this. Therefore, whilst he asserts the offence, and the consequent condemnation, he asserts also the mercy of God, and the gift by grace which is in Jesus Christ. We acknowledge that the sin of the father, Adam, has fallen in its effects upon his whole posterity. Still, observe God's goodness. If those sin, and suffer for sin, who sin through a corrupt nature, which nature they received corrupt: so likewise is righteousness imputed, through the mercy of the Gospel, to those who have not been previously righteous: nay, have been offenders. And in this respect, Adam, who transgressed, is the

figure of him who was to come. For as by him all suffered loss, by the other all received a gain. As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. As the injury was by one man, Adam; so likewise the remedy is by one man, Jesus Christ. Therefore it was, that the birth of Christ was announced as tidings of great joy to all people; inasmuch as was born into the world "a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." The Son of God had come, "to seek and to save that which was lost." In the dispensation of the Gospel, God has followed the same rule in mercy as in judgment. By Adam's disobedience evil came upon the whole world of sinful men. By the obedience of Christ a blessing is proposed to all. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself," and exempting from condemnation all that "repent and believe the Gospel." The effects of Adam's disobedience will not be fatal to them, unless they themselves continue disobedient. To as many as are conscious of these effects, and sorrowing for them to as many as feel themselves to be labouring and heavy laden, labouring under the yoke of a corrupt nature, and heavy laden with the burthen of sin to all such is the mercy offered, the invitation of Christ proposed; "Come unto me, and ye shall find rest unto your souls."

Comfort therefore may be derived, even from the contemplation of the ruin in which by nature we are involved. "If the Scripture has concluded all under sin," in that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; " Scripture also assures us, that this our natural state was so pitied, that God actively interposed for our

deliverance: "so loved the world," whilst in rebellion against him, as to send his only Son for our restoration. He has followed the same rule in mercy as in judgment. By Adam's disobedience evil came upon the whole world of sinful men. By the obedience of Christ a blessing is proposed to all. Every one, therefore, may reason with himself: By one man's disobedience the judgment of God came upon all men. We feel it in ourselves: in "the sin which is in our members :" in the sentence of death under which we live. But is there no hope? no way of escape? no "city of refuge," to which we may flee and be secure? The same Scripture, which tells us that by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, tells us also, that by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. So that if “sin hath reigned unto death, even so may grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." In this way there is escape. By trusting to the righteousness of Christ, we may be accounted righteous in God's sight: nay, be admitted into his family, and by adoption reckoned among his children. This, then, is the rock on which we should lay hold, and so cling to it as never to be shaken off. a deluge by which the world is overwhelmed, a deluge of sin and death: and its effects extend to all. Our business is, not to inquire how the waters should so prevail over the earth; but to seize upon the way of safety to take refuge in the ark, which he himself has provided who rules the deluge. In thus offering the means of preservation, God has shown that he has a design of mercy. That is done for mankind to which

There is

the Psalmist trusts, and in which he rejoices: "God shall send from on high to fetch me, and take me out of many waters." Our wisdom is, to profit by that mercy. We may be thankful that there is room for mercy, when there is so much room for judgment: that our offences, which are many, may still be blotted out: that if there is a "sentence of condemnation," there is also a "gift of righteousness:" and that if there is here a world of sin and death, there is also a world revealed to us where sin and death shall be no more, and where they who have accepted God's abounding grace shall reign in a life of holiness and happiness for ever.

V.

THE LAMB OF GOD.

JOHN i. 29.

John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

THE character in which Jesus came, and the purpose of his Incarnation, had been revealed to the Baptist, though hitherto he had not seen his person. When, therefore, John saw him coming towards him, he points him out to his disciples in terms which at once explain

4 Ps. xviii. 16.

a whole volume of type and prophecy. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

The purport is now disclosed of the fact which had been before declared, that "the Word was made flesh." It is disclosed in the description here given of Jesus, as the Lamb of God. He came to be the propitiation for sin. He came to furnish that which he alone could furnish, an atonement to the holiness of God for the guilt incurred by man.

Adam had transgressed the law which he was bound to obey, and involved the whole race of his posterity in corruption. And how could man be pardoned, and the holiness of God's government be maintained? "As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners," who could be the one, by whose "obedience many might be made righteous ?" None of the sons of men could offer an atonement. They needed atonement; for they were themselves corrupt: they had nothing to pay: "No man can redeem his brother, or make agreement unto God for him." But the Son of God, the eternal, uncreated Word, consented to stand in the stead of that guilty race. "In the volume of the book it is written of him, Lo I come to do thy will, O God.”1 Being "without spot of sin," his innocence might be received as a free offering; and, taking man's nature upon him, he could suffer man's penalty.

This was determined from the beginning. And being so determined, it was foreshown in various ways. From the earliest times, the patriarchs are represented as offering sacrifice to God. As mankind were dispersed,

1 Ps. xi. 7; Heb. x. 4, &c.