3. Redemption possible through Jesus Christ only. The gulf of separation between God and man was made by sin, and man's guilt before God was infinite. Who could eliminate this guilt? Man being in a state of sinfulness was incapacitated to do it. An infinite guilt demands an infinite atonement or satisfaction which all the men ever created, even if atoning together, could never be competent to effect. God alone

is able to effect it. Hence in the fulness of time Jesus Christ came to redeem man, for "He had pity on the multitude."

VIII. FROM THE FALL TO THE COMING OF THE REDEEMER.

PREPARATION OF MANKIND FOR THE COMING OF THE SAVIOUR.

From Adam to the Deluge.

WHEN Adam and Eve were driven out of paradise they were moved by the grace of God to repentance. The Doctors and the Fathers of the Church are all of the opinion that Adam and Eve, after having led a life of penance, died in the hope and expectation of the promised Redeemer. In the Book of Wisdom x. 1, 2, it is expressly affirmed, "Wisdom preserved him, that was first formed by God the father of the world, when he was created alone, and she brought him out of his sin, and gave him power to govern all things." Adam lived to be 930 years old. An old tradition says he was buried on Mount Calvary, and that the cross of Christ was afterward planted in Adam's grave. It is in accordance with this tradition that, in many pictures of the crucifixion, a death's head entwined with a serpent is seen at the foot of the cross. It is the skull of

the first Adam at the feet of the second Adam dying in atonement for the sin of the first.

Adam and Eve lived to see the affliction of having one of their sons murdered and another become his murderer. Cain, their first-born, slew Abel out of jealousy, and thus we see coming on the members of the second generation of the human family the sad and bitter consequences of sin, which drove Lucifer out of heaven and expelled our first parents from the garden of Eden. Cain wandered restlessly over the face of the earth, bearing on his brow the brand of infamy. His guilty conscience would not permit him to dwell in the open country under the light of heaven, and he built for himself walls to protect him. His descendants were as godless as himself. In place of Abel another son was sent by God to Adam, named Seth, who became the progenitor of a God-fearing race of people. But sin continued to prevail more and more on the earth, and even the good were led astray.

In the time of Noe, who belonged to the tenth generation, God saw the sinfulness of men, all of whose thoughts, words, and acts tended to evil. He resolved, therefore, to destroy in a universal deluge the whole race, with the exception of the Godfearing Noe, his three sons and their wives whom He saved in the ark, into which at His command they entered, taking with them a pair of every kind of animal. After Noe left the ark God gave him His blessing, and, as the vegetable world had been very much impaired and lessened by the waters of the Deluge, permission was given to man to use the flesh of animals, though it was not allowed to use meat in blood.

Noe planted for the first time the grape-vine. From that period the days of men decreased and dwindled down to the ordinary length of a lifetime.

From the Deluge to Abraham.

But very soon after the Deluge mankind again be came forgetful of its God and His severe chastisements. Men and women, losing sight of their Creator, gave themselves up to the gratification of unholy desires. Yet they should have remembered God, for they saw before their eyes His glory, splendor, majesty, and power variously manifested in every department of creation. But they became unmindful of the Creator and went after the creature. They adored the sun, moon, and stars, supposing that these inanimate creatures brought them the blessing of fruitfulness on the earth, completely overlooking Him who made them all. Men deified their fellow-men who happened to be a little above them, and forgot completely that the intellect of man, which produces such wonderful effects, is an emission of the breath of God. Finally they went so far as to worship even the animals, in fear if they were ferocious and to be dreaded, in thankfulness if they were useful animals.

At last they bent their knees before idols of wood and stone. This was the deepest degradation to which men could sink.

Yet God did not abandon altogether these idolaters to their dismal fate, for He often bestowed graces upon them in order to prepare them for the coming of the Redeemer. He caused extraordinary men to rise up among them, who saw and understood that their worship was unworthy.

He even sent prophets among them, such, for example, as Jonas to the people of Ninive. He even permitted things to come to such a pass among men that the very idolatry in which they lived became their own punishment and the cause of deep misery, and

they began to realize their wretched condition, though they did not know how to help themselves. Hence the Book of Wisdom xii. 23, says, "Thou hast also greatly tormented them, who in their life have lived foolishly and unjustly, by the same things which they worshiped."

Hence, when the doctrine of salvation and redemption was preached by a Saviour and His disciples, all who had good will eagerly drank in this comforting teaching and held to it as their only means of escape from their dreadful misery.

Many other favors did God grant to men as so many means of keeping alive in their breasts the true belief and comforting hope in the future Redeemer. He set apart a chosen people who were to preserve this faith and to perpetuate it. Nor did He choose a nation already existing, but built up for His own purpose a new one which had not been tainted with idolatry.

At Haran in Armenia dwelt a man who, with his father Thare, had emigrated from Ur in Chaldea because idolatry was creeping into his family. But even in that distant land his kinsmen were not free from idolatry. By his subjects this man was called Abram, which means revered father. Afterward God bestowed upon him the name Abraham, which means father of a multitude. To this Abraham came the summons of the Lord, calling upon him to go forth into a strange country, the land of Chanaan, there to dwell away from his family. Without hesitation Abraham obeyed the call of God and, taking Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, gave himself up completely to the leading hand of God, who then made a covenant with him and promised him a generation as numerous as the sands of the sea.

On the other hand, Abraham was required to prom

ise for himself and his family to worship only the one true God and to keep His commandments. As long as these conditions were observed by these people God was to bless them and to defend them against all their enemies. Out of their race, too, was the future Redeemer to be born. Such was the covenant made by God with Abraham, in token of which he was to have himself and all his male descendants circumcised. This bodily circumcision was the foreshadowing of our spiritual circumcision of heart and intellect by faith and renunciation of passion in the new law.

God kept His promise and blessed Abraham, though He manifested the power of His justice toward the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha, which He destroyed with fire and brimstone because of their sins. Abraham became so powerful that he was soon able to wage war against several kings. Thus on one occasion some hostile tribes made a raid and took away Lot into captivity. But Abraham pursued them, liberated Lot, and recaptured the plunder. On his way home he was met by Melchisedech, King of Salem, who offered him bread and wine, "for he was the priest of the most high God" (Genesis xiv. 18). Abraham gave him the tithes of all.

Abraham was one hundred years old when he begat Isaac. When this son was well grown up Abraham's obedience was subjected to a very severe test, for he received from God a command to offer up in sacrifice on Mount Moria this only son, on whose life depended the fulfilment of the promise of the numerous progeny. Yet Abraham obeyed without a murmur. God, however, arrested the uplifted sword as it was about to fall with certain death on the neck of Isaac, and He renewed His covenant with Abraham, namely, that in his seed all generations of the earth would be blessed.