and the question arises, how can it be made habita-
ble for plant, animal, and man ? Must the sun give
forth an intenser heat and a more brilliant liarht?
ITo. It must clothe its heat, which is the life of all
material things, in a grosser element ; it must come
down from its essential purity, and adapt itself to
the nature of the objects it desires to act upon. Is
it not so? In the same analogous manner the Lord
veiled the brightness of His glory, and the intense
ardor of His love, in a natural and even material
form, that He might adapt them to the end He de-
sired to accomplish. It was no lack of Divine love
or Divine power ; it was human power, the power
to act directly upon man's senses, that was needed.
The Lord did not need propitiating. Man had be-
come separated from the Lord, and he needed recon-
ciling, atoning, to be at one with Him again ; and
to accomplish this end, a medium or a mediator was
necessary, a bridge to span this gulf between man
and the Lord ; and that medium must be a human
nature investing the Divine, touching the Divine
Life on one side, and human life in its most sensu-
ous and material forms, on the other side. Such a
nature Jehovah assumed, and by means of it, re-
established a direct communication between Him-
self and man, and brought His saving, life-giving
power to bear upon him.
