when they fell! He never entertained a thought of restoring them*: but, when man fell, then, as if he himself could not be happy without us, he concerted with his eternal Son to deliver us, and to save us with an everlasting salvation0.]
2. That he should send his only-begotten Son into the world to effect this !
[What ways of accomplishing this object God might have found, it is not for us to say: but it is reasonable to be- lieve, that nothing less than the incarnation of his only- begotten Son could effect it. And how wonderful it was that he should ever adopt such a measure as that! that he should spare his only dear Son from his bosom, and send him into a world that was already cursed by sin! that he should send him to assume our very nature ; to be " made in the likeness of sinful flesh ;" yea, to be made in all points like as we are, sin only excepted ! However he might desire our recovery, it seems absolutely incredible that he should ever condescend to use such means to effect it : yet we are told that he actually did so ; and that he sent, not an angel, not all the hosts of angels, but even " his only-begotten Son, into the world, that we might live through him*1."]
3. That, in order to the effecting of it, he should make Him a propitiation for our sins !
[For the honour of God's moral government, it was ne- cessary that his hatred against sin should be made manifest, and that, if mercy were exercised towards fallen man, it should be only in a way that would consist with the rights of justice, and preserve the honour of God's broken law. This could only be done by a vicarious sacrifice, a sacrifice of equal value with the souls of all mankind. Such a sacrifice could be made by none but our incarnate God ; who therefore assumed our nature, that he might expiate sin by the sacrifice of himself, and make himself " a propitiation for the sins of the whole world." What love then was here ; that God should send his only-begotten Son into the world for such an end as this ! Had he sent him to instruct us by his doctrine and example, it had been a stupendous act of love : but to send him on purpose that he might bear our sins in his own body on " the tree," and die in our stead, " the just for the unjust, to bring us to God ;" this is a love that is utterly incomprehensible : it has heights and depths that can never be explored.]
To confirm this view of our subject, we need only call your attention to that assertion of St. Paul, that
b Heb. ii. 1G. c Zech. vi. 13. d John iii. \Q>.