ing restoring hand has been working; the wastes of sin are
already clothed with some tints of greenness; flowers of rare beauty and
splendour spring up on what sin had made a dreary, blasted desert. The
moral chaos, touched by the hand of the Divine love, the love of God the
Redeemer, already puts on some dress of beauty; nay, it glows here and
there with a nascent glory whose fountain is beyond the stars. Some
vision of a grand and glorious purpose of redemption unveils itself as
we search the secrets of man's sad history. "_Where sin abounded_," we
read in the book of life as well as in the book of Scripture, "_grace
did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might
grace reign, through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ
our Lord_." (Rom. v. 20, 21.) What we see accomplished helps us to
realize the visions of the prophetic word. "_The wilderness and the
solitary place, shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice,
and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even
with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the
excellency of Carmel and Sharon; they shall see the glory of the Lord,
and the excellency of our God._" "_Then the eyes of the blind shall be
opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame
man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the
wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the
parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of
water: in the habitation of dragons where each lay, shall be grass with
reeds and rushes. And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall
be called The way of holiness: the unclean shall not pass over it; but
it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err
therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up
thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there.
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs,
and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and
gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away._" (Isa. xxxv. 1, 2,
5-10.) Sin, the sin of the first parent, which every child of Adam
repeats, is the fundamental fact of man's being; no religion, no
philosophy, which makes light of it can lay firm hold of man's
conscience and heart. But, blessed be God, grace is the crowning fact;
and it is the crown which will r