All that has been said, all that can be said, on these
subjects, centers in this point. The fall of Adam produced the death
of Christ! Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! Yea,
Let earth and heaven agree,
Angels and men be joined,
To celebrate with me
The Saviour of mankind;
To adore the all-atoning Lamb,
And bless the sound of Jesus' name!
If God had prevented the fall of man, the Word had never been made
flesh: nor had we ever "seen his glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father." Those mysteries had never been displayed,
"which the very angels desire to look into." Methinks this
consideration swallows up all the rest, and should never be out of
our thoughts. Unless "by one man, judgment had come upon all men to
condemnation," neither angels nor men could ever have known "the
unsearchable riches of Christ."
See then, upon the whole, how little reason we have to repine at
the fall of our first parent, since herefrom we may derive such
unspeakable advantages, both in time and eternity. See how small
pretense there is for questioning the mercy of God in permitting
that event to take place, since therein, mercy, by infinite degrees,
rejoices over judgment! Where, then, is the man that presumes to blame
God for not preventing Adam's sin? Should we not rather bless Him from
the ground of the heart, for therein laying the grand scheme of man's
redemption, and making way for that glorious manifestation of His
wisdom, holiness, justice, and mercy? If indeed God had decreed before
the foundation of the world that millions of men should dwell in
everlasting burnings, because Adam sinned, hundreds or thousands of
yours before they had a being, I know not who could thank him for
this, unless the devil and his angels: seeing, on this supposition,
all those millions of unhappy spirits would be plunged into hell by
Adam's sin, without any possible advantage from it.
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