all thy dispensations, whether of good or evil-knowing "that all things are in reality working together for good to them that love God 1."

1 Romans viii. 28

SERMON IX.

ON THE FALL OF MAN.

GEN. iii. 22, 23.

And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

ONE of the most obvious circumstances which must strike the mind of every one who looks abroad on the world around him, is the imperfect character and brief existence of every thing connected with humanity. We see a wisdom and a power exhibited in the system of nature, which only render its manifold imperfections the more inexplicable. We are not surprised at the failure of ignorance or weakness,

for we can perceive a satisfactory reason for it; but when we see a power which is boundless, and a wisdom which is unfathomable, overcome what appear to us almost insuperable difficulties, and then apparently fail where the task seems to become easy, we are at once led to suspect that there is some principle in operation of which we are ignorant, and that the whole truth is unrevealed to us-perhaps is beyond the reach of our understandings. This mixture of excellence and imperfection, of mighty means employed for seemingly inadequate ends, may be distinctly traced through every thing connected with man. Look, for instance, at the successive seasons of the year, and the wonders which they bring in their train. What wisdom and power must be exercised before a single grain of corn can be produced! How unsearchable must be the thoughts of him who filleth the valley with corn and herb for the use of man,-by whose will the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and

maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater." And yet for how transient a purpose is all this wisdom exercised! The season is soon past-the fruits which it produced soon consumed-and another and similar exercise of Divine power is soon required to keep this imperfect system of things from falling into absolute ruin! Again; let us look to ourselves, for whose use this wonderful system appears to have been principally designed, and we shall see the same truth still more strikingly illustrated. We have bodies which must pass through many years of helplessness to ourselves, and of care and anxiety to others, before they arrive at the perfection of their nature; and which are in a more than ordinary degree liable to outward accident and inward decay. Yet do they consist of a mechanism so wonderful, and are so admirably adapted to answer the numberless purposes for which they are designed, that we are be

1 Isaiah lv. 10.

yond measure astonished that imperfection should mingle itself so thoroughly with a structure otherwise so ingenious and complete. Nor, when it has arrived at the pitch of its perfection, is there any pause allowed it for the exercise of its powers; ere the blossom falls the canker is too often busy at the root; and ere the fruit be ripe, it is dried up and withered. Again; look at what is still more important, and still more wonderful-the mind. How inexplicable is its existence; how noble the ends which it is designed to answer; how extensive its reach; how various its powers! Yet here, also, imperfection is at hand, and mixes itself deeply with the most glorious faculty of man. How many years must be spent in the laborious cultivation of the mind, in mere preparation for its exercise? How many failures occur from ignorance, error, and inability? And then, how soon does the grave close for ever on all our knowledge and acquirements! But-to come to that point with which we are more immediately concerned; in order to see this