“But behold, in the cool of the day there is seen descending from the eternal hills in the distance, the radiant form of Mercy, seated in the chariot of the divine promise, and clothed with splendor, infinitely brighter than the golden rays of the morning when seen shooting over mountains of pearls. Seated beside Mercy in that chariot is seen another form like unto the Son of man. His mysterious name is the ‘Seed of the Woman,’ and girt around him shines the girdle of eternity, radiant with the lustre of the heaven of heavens. ‘He has descended into the lower parts of the earth.’ I see Mercy alight from that chariot, and she is knocking at the huge gate of this vast cemetery. She asks of Justice: ‘Is there no entrance into this field of death? May I not visit these caverns of the grave, and seek, if it may be, to raise some names at least of the children of destruction, and bring them again to the light of day? Open, Justice, open; drive back these iron bolts and let me in, that I may proclaim the jubilee of deliverance to the children of the dust.’ But I hear the stern reply of Justice from within those walls; it is,—‘Mercy, surely thou lovest Justice too well, to wish to burst these gates by force of arm, and thus obtain entrance by mere lawless violence. And I cannot open the door. I cherish no anger towards the unhappy wretches. I have no delight in their eternal death, or in hearing their cries as they lie upon the burning hearth of the great fire kindled by the wrath of God, in the land that is lower than the grave. But I am bound to vindicate the purity, holiness, and equity of God’s laws; for, ‘without shedding of blood there is no remission.’ ‘Be it so,’ said Mercy, ‘but wilt thou not accept of a surety who may make a sufficient atonement for the crime committed and the offence given?’ ‘That will I,’ said Justice, ‘only let him be duly allied to either party in this sad controversy, a kinsman, near alike to the injured Lawgiver, and to the guilty tenants of the burial-ground.’ ‘Wilt thou, then,’ said Mercy, ‘accept of the puissant Michael, prince among the hosts of heaven, who fought bravely in the day when there was war in heaven, and also vanquished Apollyon upon the summit of the everlasting hills?’ ‘No,’—said Justice, ‘I may not, for his goings forth are not from the beginning, even from everlasting.’ ‘Wilt thou not then accept of the valiant Gabriel, who compelled Beelzebub to turn and seek safety in flight from the walls of the heavenly city?’ ‘No,’—cried Justice, ‘for Gabriel is already bound to render his appointed service to the King Almighty; and who may serve in his place while he should be attempting the salvation of Adam’s race? There needs,’ continued Justice, ‘one who has, of right belonging to him, both omnipotence and eternity, to achieve the enterprise. Let him clothe himself with the nature of these wretches. Let him be born within these gloomy walls, and himself undergo