The first direct notification of evil, in it's incipient state, is given in the 18th verse of the second chapter of Genesis, where Jehovah God says, "It is not good that man should be alone." All before had been either good, or very good. But from this period evil took it's rise, and gradually accumulated through a series of successive churches, with occasional intermissions of partial restoration, until it arrived at it's full consummation, which is thus described in the 5th and 13th verses of the sixth chapter: "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them: and behold, I will destroy them with the earth." Yet, notwithstanding this general depravity and wickedness, there were still some left, who retained within themselves the capacity of being restored to a certain degree of integrity, by the reception of charity and faith from the Lord. These were represented by Noah and his family, who were preserved in the ark; and with them a new church was raised up, in the room of that which perished.
The state of man was now changed: his mind, and in some measure his body also, became the subjects of a new organization: for, whereas before the fall his will and understanding, or his two faculties of willing and thinking, were inseparably united, the latter constantly acting in subserviency to the former, after the fall, more especially after it's entire completion, the one acquired the power of being elevated above the other; that is to say, the understanding in it's separate capacity could contemplate truth, and acknowledge the justice of it's dictates, while the will still remained in the love and practice of evil. At the same time external respiration commenced, and together with it external language, sonorous and articulate; to which succeeded a written revelation, or divine rule of life, and external worship, each adapted to the state of man, now so essentially changed from what it had been previously to his fall.
This inversion of the order, in which man was originally created, being that also to which the whole human race are at this day subject, was miraculously effected for the sake of their regeneration, which was in future to be conducted through the external medium of instruction directed to the understanding, in conjunction with the interior operations of the divine mercy. In this way a new will, a new heart, together with new affections of love, and new perceptions of wisdom, were to be, and still may be, formed in man, and he himself restored, if not to the same high degree of perfection as before, yet to a near resemblance of it, and to an equal participation in the happiness of eternal life.
Redemption by the Assumption of Humanity,
VIII. Redemption by the Assumption of Humanity.
NO sooner had man eaten of the forbidden fruit, than a merciful promise was made of his future redemption and salvation, which were to be effected by the exertion of a divine power in his behalf, bruising the head of the serpent, thereby delivering him from the dominion of evil and infidelity, and restoring him to that happiness, from which he had so wofully fallen. To effect this great end, the one God, Jehovah himself, in the fulness of time descended, and, according to the principles of his own divine order, assumed a human essence and form by incarnation; in and by which form, as a medium suited to the states and perceptions of his creatures, he might not only become visible to them, but might also gradually introduce among them, from the fountain of pure divinity within that medium, such a measure of his divine influence as would tend to remove the impending destruction from their heads, and at length raise them to a state of final happiness.
The reason why this assumption of Humanity became necessary was, because in this, and in no other way, could the infinitely pure and divine essence approach the cause of man's disorder, now risen to it's extreme limit, without danger of consuming him: for as human nature is the seat and habitation of evil, it appears, that the only mode of expelling such evil, or at least of reducing it's power, was by Jehovah preparing for himself a body, wherein he might as it were come into contact with, and at the same time resist and overcome, those infernal spirits, who, being present with man, are continually seducing and endeavouring to destroy him. This combat and victory over the powers of darkness, by Jehovah himself while in the Humanity, form a principal subject of divine revelation: and hence it is that we so frequently find him described as a Mighty Man, a Man of War, a Conqueror, a King of Glory, &c. &c.
Numerous are the passages in the Sacred Scriptures, which confirm the doctrine here maintained, of the descent of Jehovah himself into the world, in order that he might become an incarnate God, and thus an everlasting Redeemer and Saviour. But the following will be found amply sufficient on the present occasion. "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel (God with us)," Isa. vii. 14. Matt. i. 22, 23. "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace," Isa. ix. 6. "It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God, we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is Jehovah, we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation," Isa. xxv. 9. "Behold, the Lord Jehovih will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: he shall feed his flock like a Shepherd," Isa. xl. 10, 11. "All flesh shall know, that I Jehovah am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob," Isa. xlix. 26.
The form, under which Jehovah appeared, and by which he may be said to have sent himself into the world, was called the Son of God; and it was so called for the reasons to be now stated. As it was impossible for the infinitely pure and naked Divinity, such as it is in itself, to come down among men, without consuming them in an instant, the divine mercy of Jehovah God prompted him to come down in such a way of accommodation, that the full intensity of his glory should be with-held from their eyes, while he presented himself in the world principally as divine truth, veiled or clothed in human nature, from which nevertheless the divine good was not, nor could be, really separate. Now this divine truth, so veiled and clothed, inasmuch as it necessarily appeared to be something distinct from the pure Divinity, while notwithstanding this latter was actually within it, as the soul of a man is within his body, was on that account called the Son of God. It is moreover to be observed, that the divine human principle within that form proceeded forth from God, or the pure Divinity, comparatively as a son from a father; and that the very maternal substances also were excited, and put into human form, by the divine power alone. Thus in both respects, that is, in reference both to the form, which was born of a virgin, and to that which came down from heaven, the Lord while on earth was called the Son of God.
The divine truth, which, as before observed, more particularly descended, and was more immediately adjoined to the visible human form, was the same as the Word, of which it is written, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word: all things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth," John i. 1, 3, 14.
The work of redemption did not, as is too generally supposed, consist in the Son's offering himself as a sacrifice in the room of mankind, with a view to appease the wrath of the Father, to satisfy his vindictive justice, and thereby to atone for the sins of the world: for in the first place, there is no such odious passion as wrath in the Divine Being, nor is he possessed of any