conversation with the woman; whilst the punishment is pronounced to be out of all proportion too severe, for an offence in itself so trivial.

In answer to the observations touching the suspension of so inestimable a benefit, upon the eating or not eating of a particular fruit, we beg to observe, that, circumstanced as our first parents are represented to have been, it appears very difficult to devise any other, not to say any more appropriate, test of their faith and obedience. Of no moral crime, in the ordinary meaning of the term, could they be guilty. With the whole world for their possession, they could neither steal, nor covet, nor defraud; without another man or woman in existence, they could not commit adultery; for deceit or falsehood there was no room; to blasphemy they, to whom the glory of Almighty God was daily made manifest, could not well give utterance; how then could they be tried, except by the establishment of some arbitrary test? and what test so natural, as that of some fruit tempting to the eye, and doubtless of singular fragrance? The objection, therefore, if made at all, must not stop where it does. It must go on, and condemn all trial, because none besides that which actually occurred can be conceived. Now this, so far from diminishing, would only increase our perplexities a thousand-fold;-is it not therefore wiser and better to receive the declarations of Holy Writ literally, as they are made? The talking serpent is, without doubt, an extraordinary occurrence, view it how we may; but let us not therefore treat it as a fiction. It is at least not more surprising than the raising of the dead, of which no professed Christian doubts; whilst it may, after all, involve no such contradiction as has at first sight been supposed. Let it be borne in mind that the whole transaction is represented by the inspired historian, as something quite distinct from the ordinary occurrences of nature. A spirit possessed of great power is stated to have been the immediate agent-the serpent is said to have been the instrument, and nothing more than the instrument, by which that spirit acted. Now until we can explain with accuracy how it comes about, that spirit operates upon matter at all, it is not for us to declare, that this particular mode of operation was, or is impossible; whilst its very contradiction to the dictates of her own experience may be supposed to have had its full weight in leading the woman into the commission of the crime against which she

had been warned. If, as Milton represents him to have done, the tempter urged as a reason why she should eat of the fruit, that its juice had endowed him, an animal_naturally dumb, with the faculty of speech; can we conceive any argument more weighty with one already more than halfdisposed to seek for knowledge at all hazards? Be this, however, as it may, we see nothing in the record itself, calculated to excite the reasonable distrust of any reflecting person. It holds its place in a volume confessedly and avowedly declarative of events out of the pale of ordinary calculation; and if that volume can be proved to be authentic, there seems to be no more reason for rejecting this, than other narratives to the full as extraordinary.

Lastly, in answer to such as contend, that the punishment awarded was wholly disproportionate to the degree of guilt incurred, it is sufficient to observe, that the punishment was simply a return on the part of man, to a state of nature, whilst the offence was as rank and flagrant an act of rebellion as ever was committed. A man is no less a thief who steals all that he can, provided that all be one shilling, than is his neighbour who steals all that comes within his reach, because it chances to be a bag of diamonds. Adam was as much disobedient to the will of God, in eating the forbidden fruit, as Aaron was disobedient, when he framed and worshipped the golden calf.

Finally, it is absurd to demand, why did God expose man to such a trial, knowing, as he unquestionably did, that man would fall? He who goes on asking such questions can never be fully satisfied, because, while we see through a glass darkly, it is in vain to expect that we shall obtain a satisfactory insight into God's designs in creating at all; but thus much we may observe, that if God foresaw how the trial would end, as he undeniably did, he likewise provided a more adequate remedy for the evil. Moreover, God having created man a free and responsible agent, it was right that an opportunity of exercising that freedom should be afforded; and though the issue was calamitous in no ordinary degree, it may be more than doubted whether man would have been so happy as he is, had no such opportunity of erring occured. Freedom of will is necessarily allied to a liability to err; and the former being as essential to happiness as to responsibility, it was better that it should be ours, fraught with danger as it is, than that we should fill the place of mere machines in God's universe. But above

all, when we consider how God interfered to heal the wound which Adam's frailty inflicted, we shall not it is presumed, cast a shadow of reproach upon our most beneficent Creator: it is enough for us to know, that if God permitted Adam, in the exercise of his free will, to fall, and to incur for himself and his posterity the sad calamity of death, he also, by the sacrifice of his own beloved Son, has more than restored to us the station which our great ancestor once filled in Paradise.

CHAPTER III.

Offspring of our first Parents.-Death of Abel.-Descendants of Cain and Seth.-Gradual peopling of the earth.-Noah and his family.-The Deluge.-Objections stated and answered.

A. M. 100 to A. M. 2257.-B. C. 5311 to 3154.

It has been shown that, previous to passing upon Adam the awful sentence of death, God cursed the earth with barrenness for his sake, and, to fulfil this curse, he caused a change greatly for the worse to take place in the temperature of the atmosphere. This was done not in anger, but in pity-not through any exuberance of wrath, such as frequently prompts us to heap execrations upon things inanimate, but that Adam, now rendered mortal, might have the less cause to regret that his sojourn in this world was not to be for everlasting. That men's affections for earth and earthly things become light, and easily withdrawn, in proportion as their lives make up a continued series of priva tions, the experience of every day proves; and as death is necessarily far more terrible in anticipation than in reality, God only acted with his accustomed goodness, when he caused the future career of our first father to partake at least as much of privation as of enjoyment. But though condemned to inhabit a world from which his subsistence was henceforth to be extracted only by the sweat of his brow, man was not entirely deserted by his Maker, or left to discover, through the efforts of his own genius, every means for the alleviation of his sorrows. Almighty God having vouchsafed to him the religious institution of sacrifice, as a type of that great act which should in aftertimes

make good his losses, taught him to form from the skins of the animals slaughtered, clothes adapted to his wants; and, though the fact is not expressly mentioned by Moses, instructed him, we may well believe, in the rudiments, at least, of agriculture, and other useful sciences.

But though thus gracious and longsuffering, it would have accorded neither with his own designs, nor yet with the new condition into which man had passed, had God permitted him to continue, changed as he was, an inmate of the garden of Eden. With the commission of the fatal offence, man's claim to possess so fair an abode ceased; and as it would have tended in no degree to advance his happiness had his sojourn there been protracted, the Almighty determined to remove him at once. For this purpose, an Angel was directed to drive him forth from Paradise, "to till the ground from whence he was taken :" in other words, Adam was dismissed from his lovely dwelling in Eden, and rendered once more a denizen of that particular district where, previous to his admission into the paradisaical covenant, he had dwelt.

The oriental writers who have touched upon this subject, unite in representing the sorrow and repentance of our first parents, as deep and lasting. Of this, we conceive there can be little doubt; whilst their future history distinctly proves, that to their entreaties for pardon, God did not turn à deaf ear. On the contrary, he cheered them with the prospect of their future Deliverer; still granted them the Shechinah, or visible glory, to direct them, and still held with them from time to time conversations from the midst of that fiery pillar. It is true, that the intercourse between God and man was now very different, both in its nature and effects, from that which had prevailed during the period of man's innocence; yet was it consolatory in the highest degree to the poor criminals to know, that they were not utterly forsaken; and hence they set about the task of subduing the stubborn earth, if not in absolute joy, at all events with resignation and pious gratitude.

They had not long returned to their original abode when Eve produced a son, whom, because she fondly flattered herself that he was the promised Redeemer, she called Cain. The word signifies a possession; and the extravagance of her joy, when, as she herself expresses it, "she had gotten the man from the Lord," clearly demonstrates that such were her ill-founded expectations. By and by,

she bore another son, whom his parents called Abel, a word interpreted by some to mean sorrow," ," by others, "vanity" but, according to either explanation, sufficiently indicative of the frame of mind in which it was given. If "sorrow" be the right interpretation, then, no doubt, the name refers to the grief of the child's parents, either because of their fallen state, or because they had discovered, that their hopes concerning Cain were groundless; if "vanity," then was it intended to denote that they held him in small repute in comparison with his brother, or that they knew their expectations concerning that brother to be in reality without foundation. The question is not, however, of sufficient importance to be enlarged upon here: however the phrase may be resolved, it will not materially affect the import of Holy Writ.

It has been supposed by most divines, ancient as well as modern, that, though Moses makes no mention of the fact, each birth, at the beginning of many generations, was of twins. This is the more probable, because such a provision seems necessary in the infancy of the world, and it receives sufficient confirmation from the statement afterwards advanced, that " Adam begat sons and daughters." Be this, however, as it may, our history is for a time confined principally to the proceedings of Adam's two elder sons, Cain and Abel.

We are told by the inspired author of the Pentateuch, that, as the young men grew up, they not only turned their attention to different pursuits, but exhibited a striking contrariety of disposition and temper. Cain became a cultivator of the ground, for which his muscular form probably adapted him; whilst Abel, a more gentle and delicate specimen of human nature, devoted his time to the tending of flocks. In like manner, Cain appears from the first to have been haughty, arrogant, and rebellious; Abel, docile, humble, and pious. And this diversity of temperament has been accounted for, we think with great show of reason, on the following principles: Cain, educated by his doting parents in the idea that he was the promised seed, grew up with exaggerated ideas of his own importance; and when the truth came to be revealed to him, wounded pride, instead of giving place to such feelings as became him, rankled in his heart, and drove him into impiety. Abel, on the other hand, of whom no such ridiculous expectation had been formed, was taught from his childhood to fear God,