made flesh,' the first link was formed which was to secure creation from
stand. The barriers in the way of its accomplishment are vast and many. The whole power of the fallen creature, both men and devils, is arrayed against it. Sin and righteousness alike oppose it,— the former blighting it, and the latter forbidding the removal of the blight. Death and life alike oppose it,—the former destroying it, the latter refusing to come and restore the desolation. The evil, too, has waxed so great, and has been of so long standing; the curse has had its full and protracted sway, so as to eat into the very core of everything good and beautiful; the poison has had time so thoroughly to infuse itself into the constitution of creation, that its life's blood seems poisoned, and the taint of corruption become ineradicable; the weight of guilt which is upon it, calling for eternal judgment, seems so tremendous specially the guilt of crucifying the Lord of glory; the authority of Satan over it seems so complete and so irrevocably established;—that the hindrances in the way of creation's restitution seem all but insurmountable. Yet the eternal purpose shall stand. Not a jot of it shall fail, —even that pertaining to the smallest atom of this moldering earth. All shall come to pass. Eternal Sovereignty has decreed it. Infinite Wisdom has planned it. Omnipotence will bring it to pass. III. The means, or process, by which God is bringing all this about.
This whole process, from first to last, centers in His Son. As the Christ of God, He is the accomplisher of the Father's purpose; and through Him God has been all along ripening that purpose, removing the hindrances, and hastening on its full revelation. 1. The first actual step was the incarnation.—When 'the Word was made flesh,' the first link was formed which was to secure creation from sinking into utter ruin, to fasten it to Godhead, and in the end to raise it up to a brighter glory and excellence than that form which it had fallen. The Son of God took bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh; and as our bodies are part of the dust of the ground, out of which they were formed, so He, in taking to Himself a true body, took into His person the materials of creation, the dust of our very earth,—thus linking creation to Himself by an indissoluble tie, and fastening earth to heaven. He took not upon Him the