2. All have sinned. — Man has fallen by disobedience. It was not merely the eating of the fruit ; it was the principle involved in the act that proved fatal. What was that — what but rebellion ? The conflict of the human will with the Divine. That involved death. By that act the soul of man passed from spiritual health and fell below the fulness of life, and in that sense died. And Adam's sin was diffusive. He was the first of the race. His sin entered into human nature, and the poison passed from generation to generation with ever deeper taint, so that every life repeats the sin of Adam. There is in it the refusal of the human will to submit to God's will. Thus it is absolutely and universally true that all have sinned and come short of that life which is the glory of God. We sometimes boast of our ancestors, but if we went far enough back we should have little to boast of. Think of the filth, the falseness, the lust, the cruelty, the drunkenness, the ferocity of the races out of which we have sprung. Look around you 1 Is not the text true ? In many, reason is prostituted to
* G. K. Chesterton, The Ball and the Crost.
GENESIS I. 26, 27 65
evil. The free choice of man becomes the fixed choice of evil ; myriads are the abject slaves of sin. Conscience has been so often disobeyed that its writs no longer run in the life, or it is so seared that men can commit the foulest crimes without blushing. The spirit has been so neglected that no prayer to God ever rises to the lip and no thought of God enters the mind. Think of the crimes which stain the pages of our newspapers, and the numberless crimes known only to God. Even among the most intellectual there are sins of the darkest hue. We have been rudely reminded within the last few years that our boasted aestheticism and culture may be but thin veils which hide vices we fain hoped were dead two thousand years ago. How bitter and ceaseless has been the conflict between the conscience and the will in all of us ! How powerful, almost invincible, is the habit of sin ! We never realize our bondage until we seek to break away. When the younger son of the parable stood on his father's doorstep with his patrimony in his pocket and his face toward the far country, at that moment he was a prodigal. We are all prodigals. Though we may never have reached the swine- troughs we have turned our backs on God.
^ In one of his books, Salted with Fire, George MacDonald tells of a young woman who had been led astray. A warm- hearted minister found her one night on his doorstep, and guessing her story, brought her into his home. His little daughter upstairs with her mother, asked, "Mamma, who is it papa has in the library ? " And the wise mother quietly replied, " It is an angel, dear, who has lost her way, and papa is telling her the way back." ^
3. But we see Jesus. — " Made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honour, all things put in subjection under him." We see not yet all things put under Him, But we see Jesus. He was crowned. He put all things under Him ; and humanity in Him shall yet attain this glorious supremacy. When Jesus trod the pathways of this world, limited as He was by His incarnation, how like a conqueror He worked ! He was master of all the forces of Nature. The sea became to Him an unyielding pavement of adamant. When the storm arose He had but to say, " Peace ! " and the huge, green, yeasty billows lay down at His feet Hke sleeping babes. Disease fled at His touch.
^ S, D. Gordon, Quiet Talks on ffortit Ideals^ 18. GEN,-NUM, — 5
66 IN THE IMAGE OF GOD
The dead came forth at His call. And though He yielded to the yoke of death He did it like a conqueror. " I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again," He died of His own free choice. And on the third morning He broke through the barriers of the tomb and came forth the Victor of the dark realm of Hades. He was crowned also in the moral and spiritual world. He lived a life of perfect victory over sin. All the assaults of sin beat unavailingly against the rock of His pure manhood. He mingled with men of the lowest order, but He remained without spot, and went back to God as pure as when He came from God, Christ was the first crowned of a new race. He made a new beginning, and humanity in Him will reach His level at the last. We see not yet all things put under man, but we see Jesus.
^ Dr, Barnardo used to illustrate the benefits of his redemptive work by taking a group of " specimens " to the platform with him. Look at that boy there on the right. Poor lad, he has not yet all things put under him ; no, indeed, he was picked up only an hour ago off the streets. Dirt is not put under him, and ignorance is not put under him, and vice is not put under him. He is the slave of all three. But look at that lad on the extreme left. Sixteen years of age, clean, well dressed, intelligent, and virtuous. He has been three years in the Home. What a contrast ! He has put all things under him. Even so it is with humanity. It is being transformed by Christ. Some are at the base of the ladder of progress and redemption, others are ascending, and others have again entered into the glory of God. Like Christ, humanity shall have all things put under it.