and to the events of all places, past, present, and to come; the mind is quickly lost in the vastness of these ideas, and unable to find any sure guide to direct its progress; it becomes at every step more bewildered and entangled in the endless mazes of metaphysical abstraction. We cannot by searching find out God.' 'Such knowledge is too wonderful and excellent for us; it is high, we cannot attain unto it.""

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SERMON II.

ON THE ATONEMENT.

ISAIAH xliv. 22.

"I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins; return unto Me, for I have redeemed thee."

MAGNIFICENT beyond all description was the scene that awaited man, when summoned by his Creator to take possession of the new-made world; and stupendous beyond every effort of imagination, the influence which established it. Yet, enough has been revealed to enable us to form some idea of the wondrous scene. We may picture to ourselves the moment, when the voice of the Almighty was heard to utter, "Let there be light;" and dispersed before the heavenly Host, the con

fusion, and the disorder of chaos. For at the bidding of His resistless power, the shapeless mass was soon reduced to order, the restless floods were rolled together in a heap, and the dry land appeared. Then was the lovely face of nature first beheld; and grass, and herbs, and trees, spangled the surface of the earth. The brilliancy, which had hitherto existed only at the command of God, was now provided with its own abode: and the greater light shone forth to rule the day; and the lesser one the night. Nature had yet been furnished with no animated form, to enjoy the bounties thus created; but soon, every living creature that moveth, sprang from the hand of creative power; and the hum of life arose as the incense of praise. Then, last, was ushered on the stage of life, the Lord of all; whose body owned no better origin than dust, but whose nobler part, which constituted his sovereignty over the rest of the creation, was an emanation from the Divinity Himself; for God breathed into the dust the breath of life, and it was animated with a living soul.

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Sunk, as our minds are, by the unhappy fall which soon succeeded, we can form no just conception of the feelings, which actuated Adam, when viewing for the first time that mighty whole, each separate part of which, when reviewed by God Himself, had been approved as very good." His mind was then in unison with the harmony around him; his happiness, unchecked by the knowledge of guilt; his adoration, warmed by the glow of innocence, and his wonder excited by the powers of Omnipotence. Yet, as we cannot rest upon this blissful scene, and our attention must be called from the contemplation of happiness to gaze upon its forfeiture, we will also quickly draw a veil across the sad reverse; and, bearing in mind the tempter's triumph, turn our bewildered thoughts to contemplate an act of Divine power, even more fraught with wisdom and mercy than the creation itself.

We will pause, however, for a moment to look upon the fallen man. Shame has usurped the place of innocence; misery reigns where joy once held her undisputed

sway; the undying property of his soul, which once was held his greatest blessing, is turned into his bitterest curse, and only tends to preserve an existence, formed indeed for happiness, but now become the heir of misery. Driven from the scenes of his former blessedness, behold him, for a time, wandering in wretchedness and want; and then depart to dwell for ever under the tyranny and mockery of his victorious foe. But while this dismal prospect lay before him, and the remembrance of his former bliss, and the consciousness of his present change, and the survey of his future woes, were hurrying his broken energies to despair, a scheme of mercy was devised on high, and the counsels of Omnipotence were guided by love.

The triumph of the tempter was soon to end. The fair creation, indeed, was viewed an altered and disordered scene. A fruitful soil was cursed with barrenness, and a wilderness had arisen upon the ruins of Paradise. And man was yet more changed, than the universe around him. Toil was henceforth to usurp the seat of