Thus artists melt the sullen ore of lead, Long had our pious friend in virtue trod, But now the child half-weaned his heart from God; (Child of his age) for him he lived in pain, And measured back his steps to earth again. To what excesses had his dotage run? But God, to save the father, took the son. To all but thee, in fits he seemed to go, (And 't was my ministry to deal the blow,) The poor, fond parent, humbled in the dust, Now owns in tears the punishment was just. "But now had all his fortune felt a rack, Had that false servant sped in safety back; This night his treasured heaps he meant to steal, And what a fund of charity would fail! Thus Heaven instructs thy mind: this trial o'er, Depart in peace, resign, and sin no more." On sounding pinions here the youth withdrew, The sage stood wondering as the seraph flew. Thus looked Elisha when, to mount on high, His master took the chariot of the sky; The fiery pomp ascending left to view; The prophet gazed, and wished to follow too. The bending hermit here a prayer begun, "Lord! as in heaven, on earth thy will be done." Then gladly turning sought his ancient place, And passed a life of piety and peace. PART SEVENTH. UNION WITH GOD IN THE WORK OF MAN'S REDEMPTION. CHAPTER I. OF THE SUCCESSIVE DEVELOPMENTS OF THE PLAN OF Of the two great periods in the history of redemption. — Outline of the first period. — Remarks on the principles of the Old Testament. Of the second great period. Reference to the personal history of Christ. like him. Those who are now in the world are called upon to be Of the efforts and tendencies of the present age.. The final struggle at hand. AMONG the wonderful works of God there is none more worthy of attention, none more important in its results, both to this world and to other worlds, than that of man's redemption. Man, in the exercise of that freedom of choice which God had given him, had no sooner fallen into sin and consequent ruin, than God announced to him, though at first obscurely, the great plan of salvation. As all Adam's posterity were involved in his fall, the plan of redemption, which has a relation to the whole human race in all ages of the world, occupies a great extent of time. Beginning with the promises to Adam and the early patriarchs, which were at first obscurely, and afterwards more clearly, made, it gradually unfolds itself in successive dispensations; but at last we see it in distinctness and as a whole. The plan of human redemption may be divided, for the purpose of more distinct views of it, into two great periods; including some subordinate distinctions and periods, to which it is not necessary to give particular attention here. 2. The first period is that which is antecedent to the coming of Christ;-comprehending the whole interval of time from the fall of Adam to the hour of the Saviour's birth. The second period, having no conclusion which is definitely anticipated and known by men, extends from the advent of Christ to the termination, whenever it may take place, of human history. In the first period, the only account of which is to be found in the books of the Old Testament, we have the affecting records of human sin and sorrow, interspersed with intimations of better things to come. At an early period, God, who is merciful in his judgments, selected a peculiar people, a chosen generation, to whom he made his communications, and through whom other nations and ages have been taught how widely they have wandered, and in what way they may expect to return. It is in this period that we find the histories of Noah, of Abraham, of Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, and many others, whose lives and labors are connected in various ways with the great remedial plan. It is here that we find prophecy added to prophecy; the faint intimation uttered to the sorrowing hearts of Adam and Eve, that "the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head;"-the promise to the patriarch Abraham, that in his seed "all the nations of the earth should be blessed;"- the prophetic declaration of Jacob, "the sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until SHILOH Come;" the remarkable saying of God to Moses, a saying generally understood by commentators to have a special application to Christ, the greatest of prophets, "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth;" and the prophecies of Christ's coming, and of a better and more glorious period, prophecies specific in statement and sublime in imagery, which are found in the writings of Isaiah. * 3. It is here, in this first period, that we find intimations and declarations of God's abhorrence of sin; the announcement on Mount Sinai of the eternal principles of the moral law, which sin had obliterated or obscured in the human heart; and indications, some of them of terrible import, that the relations between sin and suffering are unchangeable, and that iniquity cannot go unpunished. The Tabernacle and the Temple, during successive generations, ministered in the development and inculcation of these great truths. Priests. and Levites, in the performance of their allotted duties, helped to illustrate and confirm them. They had an expression in offerings and sacrifices, which declared the hopes as well as the transgressions of the world. It was by means of the bleeding sacrifices in particular that the Jews were taught, and other nations were destined to be taught through them, that "without the shedding of blood there is no remission." The portion of human history, which is illustrated in the records of the Old Testament, is exceedingly interesting and important. The principles which are inculcated, (all those truths and principles which have relation to God, to man's spiritual nature, to sin, redemption, and holiness,) are the same as those in the New; - less distinctly revealed, but not differing in nature. The *Gen. 3: 15; 22: 18. Deut. 18: 15, 18. Isa. 53. New is the complement and fulfilment of the Old. And it will be found true, that the Old Testament will be valued, its history, its poetry, its prophecies, its types, will be studied and gratefully appreciated, —just in proportion as the spirit of the New is felt and realized in the human heart. 4. The second period in the history of the great work of man's redemption may be regarded as beginning with the advent of Christ, which, in being the completion of a former order of things, was itself the cominencement of a new order. This new order or dispensation of things will be completed only when the objects for which Christ came, are secured by the redemption and permanent renovation of the human race. The events occurring in the first period were merely preparatory; all of them having relation to the Saviour's coming and to those events and results which were connected with his coming. Before the Saviour's birth there had been labors and sufferings; there had been teachings and prophecies, and ceremonies and sacrifices innumerable. And yet, they all were comparatively of no value, and had no effect, except in connection with the advent of the Son of God; much had been done preparatively, but nothing had been done effectually. It was Christ's coming which explained the import of preceding institutions and events, and which gave them their efficacy. And, therefore, until this period, it could not be said of the human race generally, nor of any part of the human race, "Ye are bought with a price." In the language of President Edwards, who refers, in his remarks, to the period of Christ's coming, "No part of the price was offered till now. But as soon as Christ was incarnate, then the purchase began immediately without any delay, and the whole time of Christ's humil |