On examining into the mysterious fact of our own present existence, we find that, like Adam, we are all of us living souls; all of us breathing, moving, individual beings. But how came we

to be what we are, and what we shall soon cease to be? Evidently we are so, because in the Providence of God we were so born; and most evident it is that we, who live now, could not be what we are; that we could not have been so born at all, but for the intermediate existence of a vast number of generations, between ourselves and the commencement of the human race. We know, for instance, that the present population of the world is about nine hundred millions, and that it has been gradually increasing from remote generations. We read of times in the history of our own island when it did not contain one-tenth part the number of its present inhabitants. As we trace history further and further back, first to the deluge, and then again up to Adam, we find the same law holding good, namely, the gradual decrease of the population of the world in proportion to the greater distance of time from the present hour. Like a large lake, which, as it dries up gradually by the heat of the sun, first leaves the surrounding creeks destitute of water, then retires towards its own centre, and decreases from its margin into less and less day by day; till at last, leaving its ancient channels to harden under the burning rays, it has found its retreat, and coiled itself up in its own

native spring, the original source of its existence and the father of its being; so it is with the population of the world, viewed by the light of history. It decreases with the distance of time into less and less, shrinking up into a smaller number, from son to parent, and from that parent to his parent, and from him to his, and so on in succession, till at last coming to the first parent of all, who, as such, could have had no parents himself, we find him revealed to us in Adam, the parent-spring and original source of all former generations of men, and of the whole present population of the entire globe.

Now if this be not greatness, to be the progenitor of all the souls that ever have lived, or now live, or shall live through all ages, I know of nothing great in the history of mankind.

Adam, then, was great, you will remember, first, as being the son of God; secondly, as being the parent of all living souls. But there is still one further point in which, as I conceive, Adam was greater than in either of the two former. And yet I hardly know how to call it great; and certainly it was a greatness, of all human greatness the most unenviable for who would choose the greatness of Adam, as son of God and parent of men, if, together with that greatness, he must also resemble Adam in possessing the terrible and fearful distinction of being the parent of sin, and the father of death to the whole race of men through all genera

tions and all ages? He was created pure and spotless from his Maker's hand. He was created a stranger to death, so that death had no concern with him. He might have lived immortal, and have been the parent and forefather of sinless and immortal beings through all time. It was in his power to do as he pleased: but he chose evil rather than good; he chose death rather than life and immortality; he chose to obey Satan rather than God. Then came into operation the immutable law, that "sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death;" that no unclean thing should have the power to give birth to what is clean; that no mortal should have power to give birth to what is immortal. Adam and Eve had become sinful, had become unclean, had become liable to death. Their children, as they were born, were necessarily of the same nature as the parents. "No corrupt tree bringeth forth good fruit." Their children gave birth to children like themselves. The fountain was tainted at its head, and what could be expected of the lake which was derived from so impure a source? It must be impure too: it could be no otherwise. Thus sin and death were perpetuated from father to son, in every one born of the offspring of Adam. Sin and death, a sinful nature and a deathly existence, became the inheritance of every living soul born into the world, in all countries and all ages. From that time till

1 James i. 15.

2 Luke vi. 43.

now, man can do nothing good of himself. Death has become "bone of his bone;" sin has become "flesh of his flesh." We ourselves, each one of us, possess the same evil nature; not less evil surely for having come down to us through so many evil generations. We ourselves, weighed down by the sins of Adam and our own, may cry out "to corruption, Thou art my father; to the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister."

Behold the awful triumph achieved over the human race by the Satanic ruler of the darkness of this world! Behold our state by nature, the children of the "first Adam, who was made a living soul!" Behold the result of the greatness of the first Adam-- misery, sin, everlasting death, eternal condemnation, no power of turning to God, slavery to Satan, despair, destruction, in the bud of life the worm which cankers its bloom, in the grave the worm of corruption, in hell the worm which never dies!

Blessed, then, be God the Father Almighty, who sent into the world, as at this time, the second Adam to redeem us who were children of wrath, to make us heirs of everlasting life! His mercy did not forsake us; He pitied our lost estate; He sent His Son in the fulness of time; He sent Him to save those who but for Him were lost for ever; He sent Him to subdue Sin and Satan, to gain the victory over Hell and Death, that "since by man

Job xvii. 14.

came death, by man might come the resurrection of the dead;" that "as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all might be made alive.”

"God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

But now, secondly, let us observe more particularly the greatness of Him who is called by St. Paul in our text the Last Adam. We have seen the greatness of the first Adam; let us now observe attentively how infinitely greater was the second; and, believe me, this is a matter upon which it is of no little importance to have a sound belief; for it is at the root of all true religion rightly to acknowledge the greatness and glory of our Saviour Christ, both God and man in one Person.

Now the real point and centre of the difference between the first Adam and the second is set forth in the text. We are there told that "the first Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening Spirit." From this we learn that the first Adam, with all his greatness, consisted but of a soul and body, possessing a life like our own, and no more. Christ, on the other hand, had not only a living soul and body, but also a quickening Spirit; that is to say, a Spirit which had the power of imparting Itself to other living souls and bodies, and quickening them, or making them spiritual and immortal, and heirs.

11 Cor. xv. 21, 22.

2 John iii. 16.