goodly paradise of Eden: not that he should be idle, and there spend his time in vain pleasure, but that he might sow, plant, prune, keep and dress it; not in any toiling or afflicting labour, but only for his voluntary and delightful exercise.

16. "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:"]-And God prescribed man a law for his diet, to this effect; Thou seest with what plenty and delicacy of fruit I have stored this garden for thee; all which, I leave to thy free choice and full liberty: feed on whichsoever thou likest:

17. "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."]-Only one tree there is, which, for the trial of thy obedience, I forbid thee and thine to taste of; the tree of experience of good and evil: so termed in regard of the event; for so soon as ever thou eatest the fruit thereof, thou shalt surely be in the state of mortality, and shalt sensibly feel evident proofs of thy frailty; and, besides this bodily death, thy transgression of this my commandment shall be punished, if I should deal with thee in the rigour of my justice, with the separation of thy body and soul from my presence for ever.

18. "And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him."]-Now before this time, even in the sixth day, the Lord had thus determined concerning man; It is neither so comfortable an estate, nor fit for the natural propagation of mankind, that the man should live alone, in one only sex: I will make him an helper, of his own nature, meet for him in both regards.

19. "And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof."]-For, when the Lord had formed of the earth every beast of the field and every fowl of the air, of their own fit matter, and had brought them to man, who was their lord, to acknowledge his sovereignty, and to receive from him their names; for howsoever Adam, out of the knowledge of their several nature, thought good to call them, so was their names:

20. "And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him."]-And when Adam had given

fit names to all the creatures; to all the tamer sort of cattle, all the fowls of the air, all wild beasts; all this while, among so great choice, Adam found not a meet helper of his own nature and form, with whom he might converse for comfort and generation.

21. "And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;"]-Wherefore the Lord God had cast man into a deep sleep or ecstacy, that he might not be sensible of what he suffered; and while he thus slept, he took out one of his ribs from his side, and closed up the breach with flesh in the room thereof:

22. "And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man."]-And of this rib thus taken from Adam God framed the woman in a most comely proportion, and brought her thus framed immediately to Adam, as a fit match to join with him.

23. "And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."]-Then Adam, lovingly and cheerfully receiving her, gladly acknowledged: This indeed is she whom I sought among all the creatures, and found not: now have I obtained of the Lord a fit helper for me; for lo, this is not only of the same nature, but, as I well see, of the same flesh, blood, and bone, with myself. She shall be therefore called Woman, because she is taken out of the Man; that as she received her substance from me, so she may take her name also.

24. "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."]Seeing therefore such was the creation of woman, and the first institution of marriage; it is the everlasting will of God that there shall be an entire and loving conjunction betwixt the man and wife and whether in their habitation, if occasion so require, or whether in the danger of the dissolution of this bond, the man shall rather leave father and mother, and his duty to them in this case, for his wife, than neglect her due satisfaction; and they two shall be so nearly knit together both in body and mind, that they shall be but as one flesh, like as at their first creation.

25. "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed."]-And such was the purity, simplicity, and perfection of their minds and bodies, as that both Adam and his wife were naked; and found not this estate either unwholesome

or unhonest, or uncomely; for as yet there was no lust in them which might breed their shame either before God or themselves.

III. 1. "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"]-Now the serpent was by nature more subtle than any beast of the field which God had made; and therefore the fitter to be employed as an instrument of Satan to betray mankind. Him therefore did Satan make choice of, and in him thus spake, in a double sense, to the woman, as the weaker vessel: Is it so, indeed, that God hath forbidden you to eat of any tree of the garden?

2. And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden :"]-And the woman said unto the serpent, We have free liberty given us to eat indifferently of the fruit of the trees of the garden, in great variety of diet:

3. "But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."]-Only from one tree in the midst of the garden hath God restrained us; and hath charged us, Ye shall not eat of that one tree, nor touch it, upon pain of death.

4. "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:"]-Then the serpent said to the woman, Tush, there is a farther matter in this prohibition; fear not, there is no danger of dying any death at all:

5. "For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”]—But herein God rather envies your further felicity; for he well knows, on the contrary, that whensoever ye shall eat of that fruit, the eyes of your understanding, which are now half shut, shall be fully opened, and ye shall be full of divine knowledge, like your Maker; for, as the name of that tree may inform you, whereas now you know by halves only that which is good, then you shall know evil also.

6. “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."]-So the woman, being won by Satan, to fix her eyes upon that fruit; and being persuaded that it was like, by the outward show of it, to be fit for use; and finding it to be exceeding pleasant to sight;

and hearing it to be a fruit of such admirable benefit, for the obtaining of further knowledge; took thereof, and did eat it; and because she would have her husband partaker with her of such happiness, she commended it to him; and he, seduced by her, did eat of it also.

7. "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons."]—Then the eyes of their understanding were opened indeed, as Satan had foretold, to discern between the good which they had lost, and the evil into which they were fallen; opened therefore to their own misery and shame; for now the impurity of their minds caused them to see and acknowledge the deformity of their bodies, which, before their sin, were no other than comely; to the hiding whereof they fastened together fig leaves, and made themselves a cover for those parts wherein now their corrupted nature told them their chief shame lay.

8. "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."]-And now, after the conscience of their sin, God, who is the judge and revenger of it, gave some sensible tokens of his presence, about that time when the heat of the day was abated, in the garden; and therefore Adam and his wife, who had wont to delight in the presence of their God, now ran away to hide themselves among the thickets of trees from the sight of him.

9. "And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?"-But God, from whom he could not be hid, audibly called him forth; and said unto him, in the person of both, Adam, where art thou?

10.

"And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself."]—Who answered, I heard thy voice in the garden, and was afraid of thy Majesty; and, in regard of myself, I saw that my nakedness had in it shame and deformity; therefore I hid myself.

II. "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?"-Then God said, Thou hast heretofore appeared before me boldly, and not complained of thy nakedness; whence therefore is thy shame and conscience of deformity? It is a wrong cause which thou pretendest: thine own mouth

evinceth thee as guilty of the breach of my law; speak out therefore more plainly against thyself. Hast thou not eaten of that fruit, whereof alone I charged thee, upon so fearful a pain, that thou shouldest not eat?

12. "And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat."]-Then Adam, still desiring to put off the blame from himself, said, It is true, I have eaten indeed; but the fault was not so much mine; for, lo, the woman, which was of thine own choosing and giving, she drew me to this sin; which of myself I should not have easily yielded to.

13. "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 woman; How is it that thou hast committed so heinous a crime, both to eat thyself, and to draw thy husband into sin with thee? And the woman said, Alas! Lord, how did I think that any of thy creatures would have thus betrayed us? behold, the serpent, a creature of thine own making, beguiled me with false promises, and induced me, in simplicity, to eat of it.

14. "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."]—Then God, not examining any further, began to pronounce sentence upon the serpent; and said, Because thou hast been used as an instrument to destroy mankind, thou shalt be most execrable and detestable above all either cattle or wild beast; and, whereas thou didst lift up thyself to deceive the woman, now thou shalt for ever crawl upon thy belly, in an ugly and horrible fashion; and as thou hast brought man back again to the dust, so thou shalt eat the dust of the earth while thou livest.

16. "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."]-Unto the woman, which was the next instrument of this sin, God said, I will greatly increase those sorrows which are proper to thy sex, and those especially which shall follow upon thy conceptions. And whereas thou shouldest have had children born without sin and born without pain, now, seeing thou hast sought too much unlawful pleasure, thou shalt, in much