And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. (Genesis iii. 1-8.)

WE have contemplated Adam in innocency: the mournful reverse is now to be considered.

Perhaps some might ask, How could it possibly happen, that holy beings, such as Adam and Eve were, should ever admit even a thought of sin? We must confess ourselves unable to answer the question: all that we can reply, is-They did fall into sin. It is clear that they were open to temptation, and that the tempter knew this. Satan, who assumed the form of a serpent, took advantage of their exposed state, and plied his temptations with so much subtilty, that Eve first, then Adam, fell into transgression. The steps by which they sinned are, alas! too easily understood by us: seeing that we ourselves are constantly prone to fall after the same manner, and into similar transgressions.

Let us examine, then, each part of this affecting narrative. It is set before us as a glass, wherein to discern our own sinful nature, that we may be made humble and penitent!

1. The leading fault of Eve was, her Listening to the words of the Tempter, and venturing to parley with him. He drew her into conversation about the forbidden fruit: he began by throwing out suspicious hints concerning that God, who had placed them in Eden, and laid them under a certain prohibition. On hearing such insinuations, Eve ought to have

at once perceived that the serpent was an enemy of her God; and she ought consequently to have ceased conversing with him. Instead of which she allows the intercourse to continue, giving answers of a very unsatisfactory nature, and stating the law of God in terms different from those in which the Lord himself had given it.-On this fact we may ground the general observation, that it is dangerous to admit any suggestion from Satan into our minds: and if ever any evil thought is injected by the tempter, our best defence against it, is-The pure word of God: not inventions or alterations of our own; but the simple word of God, just as it stands in the Bible.

2. Next, see how Satan presses his advantage. His first step was artful: his second, daring. He flatly gives the lie to God, and introduces into Eve's bosom the spirit of Unbelief. "The serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die."-There is no falsehood which Satan more desires to instil into our hearts, than, that God will never fulfil his threatenings. And sinners no less eagerly embrace the lie, that there is no such place as hell, no such thing as everlasting punishment. In a word, they believe Satan, rather than God.

3. But, that Eve may not be shocked on hearing her Creator thus "made a liar," Satan immediately works on her Ambitious curiosity. He tells her how much she loses by not eating of the fruit of that particular tree, and how much she would gain by tasting it. "Ye shall be as gods;" that is, ye

shall know something which God himself has kept from you: ye shall have your eyes opened to discern good and evil! The thought of all this wonderful change puffed up her imagination. Eve, now becoming vain, began to think there must be something great in this flattering language. Discontentment with her present limited knowledge would now steal upon her mind.-So easy is it for us to pant after something, we know not what: and to pine with dissatisfaction, till we get that imagined something.

4. And now the poison begins to work. Her Wandering Eye, gazing upon the forbidden tree, completed Satan's temptation, and Eve's ruin.-Oh, when shall we learn to govern the eye, that quick inlet to sin? When shall we be convinced, that things "pleasant to the eye," are frequently fatal to the soul? When shall we be so truly wise, as willingly to remain ignorant of many things, which it is not our proper business to know? Will not Eve's bitter experience forewarn us?-How many have been beguiled by alluring objects, or by proud speculations to their eternal perdition! Oh that we were wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil!

5. Eve next ventures on the Commission of the sin to which she was tempted. She takes of the fruit of the tree, and eats. She breaks through the only restraint, which a wise and holy God had laid upon her and her husband. She sins and she is first in the transgression!

6. Not content with this, she now becomes the Tempter of her husband. "She gave unto her husband with her, and he did eat." She does Satan's work. Adam complies: whether induced by the same false reasons, we know not. In his case there was one motive more, to overcome him; namely, the solicitation of his wife. But in yielding to this, he only increased his own sin: for he showed that he valued her affection more than God's favour. It was his duty to resist her solicitation.

Nothing ought more to pain our hearts than Sin! Every thing connected with it, is awful and affecting! In this true history of the beginning of sin we behold the arch-murderer and liar, triumphant: our gracious God, insulted: two previously-innocent persons, self-destroyed: and their vast family of millions of descendants, plunged into guilt and misery! O let us be covered with shame and confusion of face, to think how deep we have fallen; and let our earnest cries ascend to heaven, for the redemption of our lost souls!

SECTION III.

OUR FIRST PARENTS CONVICTED AND SENTENCED.

And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life :

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake: in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

(Genesis iii. 9—24.)