of the old transgression was remitted. And, on the other hand, the remission of the penalty of the past would be wholly unavailing, without the permanent restoration of a divine and living principle in man's spiritual part.

7. The great result, therefore, of the plan of redemption, when fully carried out in relation to man, is to restore him to such a position of harmony with God, that he may be said ever afterwards to live in and from God. Nothing short of this is redemption;-nothing short of this is worthy to be thought of and to be regarded as redemption.

And this great result, -a result on which depends union or separation, life or death, happiness or woe, is made to turn upon his own free choice. It is not left to him, however, to choose a mixed or middle course. And the reason is that there is no such course. "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." There can be but one true life, and that is life from God. Our heavenly Father, dwelling in man as the Divine Teacher or Comforter, must be the whole, the true life and the whole life in us, or he can be nothing. And this is a matter, which, as a moral agent, man is called upon to decide for himself; namely, whether God, without dividing his influence with any other master or teacher, shall be his inward life, and thus be, in all coming time, the inspiration and source of all good. This choice is given him in Christ. If he accepts God, he lives. If he rejects him, he dies.

S. In the day of his true restoration, therefore, God once more really dwells in man. We do not say, however, that he actually enters and takes full possession at once. Just as soon as man gives his exiled Father permission to enter as a whole God and a God forever,

he enters effectually; but ordinarily he enters by degrees, and in accordance with the usual laws and operations of the human mind. He does not break the vessel of man's spirit, nor mar its proportions, nor deface anything which is truly essential to it; but gradually enters into all parts of it, reädjusts it, removes the stains which sin had made upon it, and fills it with divine light. Man's business in this great work is a very simple one. It is to cease all resistance, and to invite the Divine Master of the mind to enter it in his own time and way. And even this last is hardly necessary. God does not wait even to be invited to come, except so far as an invitation is implied in the removal of the obstacles which had previously kept him out. Man's ceasing from all resistance, and his willingness to receive God as the all in all, and for all coming time, may be regarded as essentially the completion of the work in respect to himself; but the work of God, who is continually developing from the soul new powers and new beauties, can be completed only with the completion of eternity.

. 9. In connection with what has now been said, we may understand what is meant by the second form of redemption, or mental redemption. But this is not all that is involved in the great work of Christ. In addition to the redemption of the individual, which of course is involved in the redemption of the mind of the individual, there is also social redemption; that is to say, man is redeemed and elevated in all his relations, — not only as a man, but as the member of a family, as a neighbor, as a citizen. In all these respects, just so soon as he has become the subject of a new life, received from the great Author and Master of life, he is not merely guided by the ordinary sympathies of our nature, and the ordinary sentiments of duty, but by those sym

pathies and sentiments as they are purified and heightened by the perfected influences of religion. As society in its various modifications is made up of individuals associated with other individuals, the redemption and elevation of the whole mass will correspond to the redemption and elevation of the individual. And man cannot become godlike by unity with God, he cannot say with the apostle, "Christ," which is an expression for the true image and power of God, — "liveth in me,” without diffusing the image of the inward Divinity over every relation he sustains, over every association of which he is a member. And thus the families and societies of earth, under the purifying influences and power of religion, will reflect the brightness of the families and societies of heaven.

CHAPTER III.

OF UNION WITH GOD IN THE WORK OF MENTAL OR PERSONAL REDEMPTION.

References to the prophet Isaiah. — Remarks. Of man's union with God in the work of his own restoration. — References to the prophet Malachi. Of inward death or crucifixion.- Spiritual crucifixion followed by spiritual resurrection. Of the soul's new life.

CONCERNING the ultimate effects of Christ's coming upon the material world, and upon the inferior orders of creation, effects which are incidentally connected with man's restoration, who is the head of the whole system, it is not necessary to add anything to the few remarks already made. With one or two passages, therefore, from the prophet Isaiah, we leave that view of the subject. Of the restoration of the earth, he says: "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon." Of the animal creation, he says: "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion, and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them." +

* Isa. 35: 1, 2.

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† Isa. 11: 6.

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2. It may undoubtedly be said of these, and other similar passages, that they are figurative. But it will be found, in the end, that the truth which they anticipate and predict will exceed the beauty of the picture, as it existed in the imagination of the prophetic poet. When the head of creation resumes his nature of holy love, the untamed and violent passions of the inferior members will become extinct. And the earth herself, as if conscious of the mighty change, will withdraw her thorns, and crown herself with roses.

3. But our great business now is with man. Whatever other things may be involved incidentally in the work of redemption, the great object of Christ's coming is the restoration of man. And pursuing the subject of the union of man with God in this new aspect, namely, in the work of redemption, the question arises here, how can man be said to be united with God in the work of his own restoration?

Various answers might be given to this inquiry. A full examination of the subject involved in the inquiry would exceed our limits. We propose, therefore, to make but few remarks upon it. Our first remark is this. Man corresponds in his position, and may be said to be united with God in the work of his personal recovery, when he willingly and firmly yields his disfigured spirit to the restoring power of the hands of the great workman. In other words, he unites with God in his own restoration, when he lets the great Master of the mind work upon him.

4. There is an illustration of the subject to be found in the prophet Malachi: "Who may abide the day of his coming?" says the prophet, "and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap. And he shall sit as a refiner and