which is its due, and, thus to restore man to this place, in the happy family of God The value of the gospelconsists in its being attue representation of the gracious cha racter of God in relation to his rebellious creatureslat Jesus Christ is the subject of the gospel, for he is Godtin relation to sin

hers The gospel tells us how fulb ofdlové he is towards sinners,I in.call his feelings, and in all his actions. It tells us of a dove

beyond utterances and sconception,oof his humbling himself even to the death of the cross for them, of his suffering for them on earth, and of his reigning for them in heaven.odIt tells us that this is our God, the God who made us, and with whom we have toɔdo, that this is he, from whom we have been turning away with fear or thatred, or disgust or indifference, and who yet lath adh along beenothus loving us and hath been putting forth his love to us continual ly in every breath which we draw, and in all the care, and protection, and support which wevexperience and it tells suisl'all this that owe may be constrained to love him supremely, and to choose him for our portions and to odepend on him, with an

absolute confidence, and thus to have our individual will subordinated to his will. Before Christ came into the world, God had promised that he should come; for no sooner had man fallen, than he received an intimation of God's purpose of restoring him. There is something very striking in the form in which this first intimation of the Deliverer was given; and it appears to me that much instruction as to the nature of the gospel, may be obtained by examining the characteristic features of it.

This intimation, as appears from the record in the third chapter of Genesis, was not addressed to our first parents themselves, but formed a part of the sentence pronounced in their hearing, against the serpent who had deceived them. "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed, and her seed, it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." The most prominent feature in this sentence is, that the serpent's head was to be bruised by a descendant of the woman. This intimated to the human pair, that it was the purpose of God to raise up a champion of their race, who should avenge

their quarrel with the serpent, and undo what he had done, at the expense of a comparatively slight hurt to himself. Now, as the work of the serpent had been to draw them away from the love of God, so the undoing of that work was to draw them back to the love of God, as the serpent's work had been to introduce sin and its consequences into the world, so the undoing of that work was to destroy sin and its consequences. And as this restoring work was to be done by a champion of the woman's seed, it would give to the human pair an assurance that their interests would be well regarded.

This sentence was pronounced on the serpent before Adam and Eve received their own sentence. They had endeavoured to hide themselves from the presence of God. They had feared the worst. But they were now compelled to stand before him, and answer for themselves. They must have felt the vanity of any excuses, and anticipated the execution of the penalty denounced against disobedience. As they stood trembling before their Judge, they heard the sentence pronounced against their deceiver, in which his final defeat,

and the subversion of his plans by one of their own descendants were predicted. And, although this prediction was in the form of a threatening against their adver sary, rather than of a promise of good to themselves, yet they could nots but feel that it did contain a strong consolation for them. How could the serpent's head be said to be crushed, whilst they continued the victims of his plots? The more they considered it, the more it would appear to them a prediction of their restoration. And after hearing this prediction, they would listen with greater calmness to their own sentence and they would receive the dif ferent sorrows denounced on them, supported by the hope of the coming restora tion..

It is evident that this prediction did more than merely open up to Adam and Eve a distant prospect of the future retrieval of their ruined state. They must have found their feelings towards God and their relation to him much altered by it, They saw that God had not abandoned them, and that his thoughts towards them were thoughts of compassion, even whilst

he was pronouncing sentence upon them. They saw that, although they were to be sent forth from Paradise into the wilderness of the world, and although they were to be taught the evil of sinming against God, by a life of suffering, yet the mind of God was even then planning their return, and that his love was even then preparing the means of accomplishing it. Would they not feel relieved by this discovery? They had feared the wrath of God, they knew that they had deserved it, and their consciences spoke terror to them. But they found that he pitied them, and that although they were to suf fer, yet his love watched over them. Would they not feel, that that which they had chiefly feared as the sting of suffering, even the wrath of God, was taken away, and that the thought of his compassionate care of them might well sweeten that cup of sorrow, which their own hands had mixed, and their own deservings had earned? Would they not say, nay, let Paradise go since our God speaks to us in peace? Would they not read in the kindness which gave this consolation an assur