Satan's statement was partly true, for he always mixes enough truth with his error to deceive those who do not know him and his ways well enough to distinguish the difference. It was true that to eat the fruit of that tree would make them wise in the knowledge of evil, but God did not want his creatures to know evil. Such knowledge brings death.

Satan lied, and he shall not surely die."

knew it, when he said, "Ye

He has been telling that lie ever since. It is the foundation stone of heathenism, paganism, and a host of other "isms" not to be found in the teachings of God's word.

The Lord has said, "The soul [being or person] that sinneth, it shall die." Eze. 18:4. And God knows. The Creator impresses upon us the fact of our lowly origin and perishable composition: "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Gen. 3:19.

Of the uncertain tenure of the life of man we read, "He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not." Job 14:2.

David says that God considers the frailty and instability of our composition. "He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust." Ps. 103:14.

The material from which man was made was very simple, very humble. "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground." Gen. 2:7.

Eve's desire for the forbidden fruit was so great that she finally yielded to the persuasion of the enemy. She ate of it, and gave it to her husband, and he also ate. They at once became sinful beings, and in consequence lost their Eden home.

Then lest they should eat of the tree of life, and

thus perpetuate a life of sin, they were driven from the garden, and cherubim and a flaming sword were stationed to guard every avenue to this life-giving tree. See Gen. 3:22-24.

Kept away from this wonderful tree, which God had appointed to perpetuate life, our first parents lost their right to an immortal life. The sentence of death was even then being carried out.

The effects of their sin did not cease with themselves. All that have been born of them come under the same sentence of death. Paul tells us the result: "As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; . . . so death passed upon all men." Rom. 5:12. The account of the origin of sin is the account of the origin of death.

HE angels of heaven were deeply interested in the work of creation as it progressed from day to day. When the first week of earthly time was finished and the completed beauty of the new world was seen, "The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." Job 38:7.

But all was changed at the fall. Man had broken his allegiance to his Creator. The earth and the human family had fallen into the hands of Satan and the rebel host, which had been so recently driven from heaven. Angel songs of joy were hushed, and sorrow filled heaven.

The results of the sin of Adam and Eve could not be mistaken or overlooked. Through the fall, man lost dominion over the earth, which had been given him at creation. This dominion was usurped by Satan, and the earth and its inhabitants were lost to the loyal universe of God. Satan had secured a

kingdom for himself, and unless it were redeemed through the infinite mercy of God, and wrested from the usurper, he would retain it forever.

The heart of the Son of God was touched with pity for fallen man. He knew the malignity which had taken possession of Satan and his rebel host. He knew the woe and suffering that would be the lot of the human race. He knew the depths of sorrow and degradation which the power of evil would bring upon the human family.

But by infinite love a plan had been devised by which man should be redeemed and the lost earth returned to its place in the moral universe of God.

Man had broken the command of God, and stood convicted as a sinner. There was but one penalty for sin,-"The wages of sin is death."

There was but One in all the universe who could satisfy the claims of the law, and rescue the race from its impending doom. The Son of God, who was equal with His Father, the Author of law, would take upon Himself the guilt of the world, and pay the penalty of death in man's behalf.

The immutability of every precept of God's law is emphasized by this dire necessity of the sacrifice of Christ. Could that law have been changed, the Son of God need not have died, for then man might have been saved without such an infinite sacrifice.

David has said, "Thou hast magnified Thy word above all Thy name." Ps. 138:2. Speaking to Israel of Christ, Jehovah said, "My name is in Him." Ex. 23:21. Christ alone bears the name of God.

The name of great earthly families is guarded

jealously. The name and reputation of the family of God may not be lightly reproached. Yet the name of Christ, the only begotten Son of God, was secondary when compared with the "word," or law, of the Almighty. Christ was to be subjected to a life of sorrow, suffering, and humiliation, and to a death of shame, that God's law might stand vindicated before the entire universe.

Gladly would angels have undertaken the work of atonement, but the death of any created being could not satisfy the claims of the law in behalf of fallen man. The angels themselves are amenable to law, and, with man, would suffer its penalties should they break it. Hence their lives could not atone for sin.

"And the counsel of peace shall be between them both." Zech. 6:13. Christ pleaded with the Father in behalf of the sinner. Between them the whole plan came in review. Great consequences were involved in the decision. If undertaken, Christ in person would be separated from His Father during His lifetime on earth. He would be a "man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." Isa. 53:3.

On earth Jesus would own no possessions; and while here, He said, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head." Matt. 8:20. He must suffer the displeasure of Jehovah for sin as the sinner must suffer it. And He must die the most ignominious death of the most hardened criminal.

Even this was not all. Do we realize that as a man Christ assumed all the conditions of a man? With the surroundings and tendencies of a man,