Hence their aim is to prevent the exhaltation of men, by causing them to persist in their revolt, and fall under the eternal penalty of the law. And in view of their sins they are said to accuse them before God, and to lay crimes to their charge, so that men, like fallen angels, may be consigned to everlasting punishment. But we find in Psalms 8, and 1 Cor. 15: 24-28, and in Heb. 2: 8,9, that the human nature, in the person of Christ, is asserted to be exalted above all the universe, especially above all opposing rule and power and authority, that is above all opposing angels. And Christ says in Rev. 3: 21, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." We read also, that "the saints shall judge angels," and that "they overcome the accuser of the brethren, who accuseth them day and night before God, by the blood of the Lamb.'

Of course the moral character and future destiny of man is the present ground of conflict between evil angels and God. Man is a free agent, such God will preserve him; and now the question is, who shall decide his moral character, God or evil angels? that is, who has the greatest power over mind, not over matter? Who can exert the greatest moral influence over the minds of free agents? Traces of this conflict appear in every part of the Bible. By the wiles of Satan all men were involved in revolt and ruin apparently inevitable. In the earliest ages, a deliverer was promised who should bruise the serpent's head. Types and symbols foretold his advent. When he came in the nature of man the Devil attempted to seduce and ruin him. At the same time evil angels showed peculiar malignity towards men by possessing their bodies, yet they knew Christ, and trembled before him and besought him "not to torment them before the time," nor to "confine them in the abyss." At one time Christ in the midst of his sorrows rejoiced in spirit, and assigned as a reason, that "he saw Satan fall as lightning from heaven"-a figurative mode of indicating that he foresaw his own speedy triumph over the adversary; and again in an hour of distress he thus breaks forth: "Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say y? Father save me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father glorify thy name:" and being comforted by a voice from heaven assuring him that thus it should be, he adds in holy exultation: "Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the Prince of this world be cast out." And as the final scene drew near he had a sensation of the presence of the Adversary, for he told his disciples, "Behold the prince of this world cometh," yet he adds with holy assurance, "he hath nothing in me," that is, he shall gain no victory in the conflict; and when he was forsaken of his disciples and about to be conducted to death, these were his emphatic words to his enemies, "this is your hour, and the power of dark

ness." The conflict who can describe? He trod the battle-field alone, and of the people none was with him.

Nor were the holy angels unconcerned-though he did not ask and receive as he might "more than twelve legions of angels," yet in his solitary and bloody agony one appeared to give him strength, and on the final joyful day of victory they hailed their ascending Lord, and comforted his mourning disciples. Nor did his disciples escape their malignant power: Peter fell before the Adversary, nor had he forgotten his fall when in his epistle he endeavors as directed to strengthen the brethren, in these emphatic words: "Be sober, be vigilant, for your adversary, the devil, like a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour." Paul also says: We contend not merely with flesh and blood, but with principalities, and powers, and with spiritual wickedness in high places; and warns us to take the whole armor of God that we may be prepared to stand against the wiles of the devil. Satan is also called the god of this world;" he is said "to blind and to deceive all of those that believe not." Moreover the special message of the apostles was to turn men from the power of Satan unto God. If this conflict is so extensive and so interesting, we shall see little ground to be surprised at the joy which holy angels feel when one sinner repents, nor that they should rejoice to be sent forth as ministering spirits to minister to those who shall be the heirs of salvation, nor shall we fail to understand the Saviour when he says of the most insignificant of his disciples, that they have guardian angels in heaven who always behold the face of his Father.

Many, we know, treat with contempt, these ideas of a mighty conflict. But could their eyes be opened as the prophet of God of old, opened the eyes of his fearful servant, that he might behold the chariots and horsemen of fire that surrounded them, who can conceive of their amazement? They would perceive that crowns and empires are trifles, in comparison with that moral conflict which is raging in the empire of God. He would perceive the marshalled ranks of cpposing minds; and the rolling of a mighty flood of destiny, in the midst of which kings and empires are but as a drop of the ocean. Alas for the dreams of this world, they do not pass the limits of their senses. They hear not the sound of the trumpet, nor the clashing arms of encountering hosts, and fondly imagine that there is no conflict. They have no eye of faith to behold the movements of the eternal Spirit, nor the combination of rebel hosts in his moral empire, nor of angels of light who are ministers to the heirs of salvation, nor the glory of the incarnate Mediator, who came to destroy the works of the Devil, and who moves on from conquering to conquer.

2. Christ became incarnate in order that he might remove the legal obstacle that prevented our pardon. Man by sin was ex

posed to the penalty of the law: Gal. 3: 10-13. This penalty was executed upon the fallen angels without mercy, and doubtless they expected that the same would be the fate of man. Hence, the Bible represents our adversary as "accusing the brethren before God day and night," in order to secure their punishment. But in the words of inspiration, "they overcome him by the blood of the Lamb." That is, the atoning death of Christ delivers them. from the penalty of the law. Paul, also, in view of the atoning death and intercession of Christ, asks, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth? Here the ideas and language are legal, and relate to penalty and justification alone.

The object of the penalty is merely to sustain the authority of the law, and to show how much God values it, and how much he hates sin. It does not indicate a of love misery; he does not wish the penalty for its own sake, but merely because it sustains a law without which he sees that all his creatures must be miserable: of course, when any are punished they become an example of the evil of sin, and deter others from sinning: that is, the penalty exerts a moral influence which sustains the authority of the law of God-See 2 Peter 2: 4-9. Now as God does not desire the penalty for its own sake, but merely for its effects, he can omit it, if anything can be found to take its place. This the death of Christ is asserted to do. It establishes the law, secures its authority, and thus preserves the interests of the whole intelligent universe, while God pardons the sinner. Thus Christ "redeems his children from the curse of the law, by being made a curse for them;" and he is said to be "set forth by God as an expiatory sacrifice, so that God can now be just and yet justify him who believeth in Jesus." The operation of the death of Christ in producing this effect is not arbitrary but natural, as might easily be shown, did space permit. In accordance with these views it is often asserted, that Christ became incarnate in order that he might suffer as an atoning sacrifice, and with peculiar energy in the following remarkable passage: Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the Devil, and deliver them who through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage. And again it is said, that "in all things it became him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might (be a merciful and faithful high Priest, in things pertaining to God, to) make reconciliation for the sins of the people." Now if we remember that his death makes atonement for sin, destroys the designs of the Devil, and delivers Christians from the fear of death, we shall be able to understand another glowing passage of Paul: "O Death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law; but thanks be to God which

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giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ," the victory over sin, and over the foe of God and of man.

Under this head is included all which really belongs to the atonement, as such. It sustains the law of God, and renders pardon consistent with the interests of the universal government of God.

3. The Saviour became incarnate in order to increase the power of motives to reform the human character. To render pardon possible, on condition of repentance, is the proper effect of the atonement-but this is not reforming man. To induce man to repent is still another important end to be gained. Now it is certain, according to the laws of the human mind, that a system. of mere law and punishment has no tendency to reform a being who is entirely depraved. In the first place, it makes no provision for pardon, for the condition of law is in the words of God, "He that doeth these things shall live by them, but cursed is every one who continueth not in all things written in the book of the law, to do them;" of course a system of mere law and penalty excludes hope in the case of transgressors, and threatens vengeance. Now this, although it might keep a holy mind from sin, would never bring a sinner to repentance. It would provoke, terrify, irritate, and enrage. A sinner who is entirely selfish, and in despair, will not repent, when he knows that it will be useless; he will rage and curse the law and his God. Accordingly, Paul, in the 7th of Romans, asserts that the effect of the law upon the native heart of man is "to produce sinful emotions, which bring forth fruit unto death," and that it "excites all manner of concupiscence;" that is, of evil emotions; and that although holy, just, and good, its only tendency is to work death in the sinner. He says also that the law being weak through the flesh, could not do what God has done by the gospel, that is, reform the sinner.

Nor has the character of God, as manifested under a system of mere law, any tendency to reform a sinner, for the holiness and justice of God are fearful attributes to a rebel; his power terrifies him, and the divine truth and immutability seal his doom. Mercy is an attribute unknown under a system of law.

But by the incarnation and atoning death of Christ, a new view of the Divine character is presented. God can pardon, and of course the door of hope is opened, and it is not in vain to repent. And then a view of the Divine love and compassion is exhibited, so tender, so moving, that it tends to melt the hardest heart. "God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life; for God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved, This is love; not that we loved God, but that he loved us. Scarcely for a righteous man would one die, yet peradventure for

a benefactor one would even dare to die; but God commendeth his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us."

Hardened and sinful as man is, such appeals as these do melt and move his heart. No doctrines reform men like evangelical doctrines, and here is their great power. The law may convince men of sin, and fill them with terror, but it is the love, the unspeakable love of Christ, that dissolves the heart in godly sorrow for sin, and bitter repentance for past ingratitude. Facts in all ages correspond with this view. Among savages, or civilized men, in the cold regions of the north, and in burning deserts, this is the master-key which unlocks the human heart. We know that even this doctrine is in vain without the influences of the Holy Spirit, but he always acts in accordance with the laws of the human mind, and blesses most those means which are best adapted in their own nature to affect the heart of man. Of course since he always blesses this doctrine, it follows that in itself it has an inherent reforming power. And in our daily intercourse with mankind, we all acknowledge the principle of the human mind on which this power depends. We all know that it is easier to reform men by hope, encouragement, and kindness, than by threats or terror; one attracts and soothes, the other arouses all the pride and opposition of the heart. So wisely has God adapted his means to the nature of man. And not without cause did Paul determine to preach nothing but Jesus Christ, and him crucified, and to glory in nothing but in the cross of Christ. And justly does he call this doctrine the power of God, and the wisdom of God unto salvation.

4. The Son of God became incarnate in order that he might be able to sympathize with his people in all their innocent infirmities so that he might comfort and console them; and in their access to God inspire them with courage and hope. Accordingly, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, we read, that since he hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted. And we are exhorted "to come boldly to the throne of Grace, because we have not an High Priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin." What Christian has not felt the sustaining and consoling power of these precious words? He who is at the head of the universe, partakes our nature, sympathizes with us, and is not ashamed to call us brethren. We remember his compassion when on earth, and rejoice that he is still the same. Who in an hour of deep distress, when earthly hopes have been blasted, and the deepest recesses of the heart have been filled with unutterable sorrow, when the ties of love and nature have been rudely broken, would not rejoice to pour out his whole soul before him who can sympathize with the feeling of