lust, or that carnal desire, conceived and brought forth sin, and sin death; for, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did cat." My dear reader, you perceive that it was through unbelief, in the word of God, that our first parents became transgressors of the law of God. Satan's aim was at the word of God. He knew that if he could get Adam and Eve to believe in his lies, that they would disregard the word of God; and in this way he has always proceeded with the children of men, and he is so artful in his strivings with the human family, that it takes heavenly wisdom to make a proper distinction, and to know his operations. The eye and the ear, were those members of the body which were most interested in the fall of man. With the eye, Eve beheld the forbidden fruit; with the ear she admitted the doctrine of the serpent. Thus, those members which ought to have been otherwise engaged, became the the instruments of unrighteousness; they were yielded by our first parents, to be servants to uncleanness, and to iniquity, unto iniquity; and this is not only applicable to them, but to all their posterity, whilst in a state of nature. And now, in order to our salvation, they must be yielded servants to righteousness, unto holiness; as the Apostle Paul declares in his epistle to the Romans vi. 16—19, "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness. I speak after the manner of men, because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity, unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness, unto holiness." Now Eve did wrong in that she reasoned the case with the tempter. She ought not to have listened to any voice that led to diso

bedience. The command was given in piain language, that she could not have misunderstood it. But so it was; the tempter shaped his doctrine so as to get Eve to believe in it, for if she had not believed in the serpent, she would not have eaten of the fruit. If you examine the serpent's address, you can discover that it was a mixture of truth and error; for if he had preached all truth or all lies, he would not have overcome them; but thus mixing truth and error together, he blinded their eyes, to such a degree, that they did not discern his intention. And in this very way he deceives thousands in this our day; but we ought not to be ignorant of his devices.

After Adam and Eve had eaten, they became mortal. And their eyes being opened they saw their nakedness, and they being filled with guilt and shame, and hearingthe voice of the Lord in the garden, they were alarmed, and undertook to hide themselves from His presence. What a clear evidence of their guilty state! And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, where art thou?" These were terrible words, and coming from Him who is Omnipresent, are indicative of that polluted state which Adam was in. Thus by disobedience Adam fell from God, he lost that image which was impressed on his soul by the Creator. The union that existed between man and God was dissolved—Adam died a spiritual death the self-same day that he ate the forbidden fruit; being separated from God, which accords with the meaning of the word death. The Lord questions Adam concerning his conduct; he, in order to acquit himself, casts the blame upon the woman; and, when the woman was interrogated, she blames the serpent. The Lord God passes judgment upon the serpent, or tells the serpent what shall befal him; and "unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy

sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow shalt thou bring forth childern; 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 thou shalt return." Gen. iii. The situation of Adam was such, that he must now leave the garden; yea, it was for his own good that God turred him out of Eden. The tree of life, that precious fruit, that life-giving fruit, being forfeited by man's disobedience, must now be guarded, so that man cannot partake of it and live forever in his fallen state: therefore after Adam's expulsion from Eden, God 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." 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." Gen. iii. 22-24. That sword, which guarded the tree of life, was emblematical of the justice of God, which had been violated by man's disobedience, and must now be satisfied before an access to the tree of life can be obtained.

That Adam managed so as not only

to ruin himself, but also his posterity, is very evident. He had no children whilst a citizen of Eden; but shortly after his expulsion, he had two sons, and one of themwas a murderer. Cain slew his brother Abel. Thus Adam could not give unto his children any other nature than that which he himself possessed; which was a fleshly and corrupted mind, as like begets like. Gen. v. "And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:"-Not in the likeness and image of God, but of fallen Adam; and as Job well informs us-"Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one." Job xiv. 4. And it is certain, that we all descended from him, for we were in his loins, or blood: and the wickedness of man in a short time became so great, that God saw proper to send a flood of water to destroy all flesh, save Noah and those which were with him in the ark, "And God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was evil, and only evil continually." Gen. vi. 5. It was the belief of the old fathers and prophets, that we bring a corrupt nature into the world with us. Job tells "for vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt." Job xi. 12-by Bildad, when he asks, "How then can man be justified with God; or how can a man be clean, that is born of a woman? (xxv. 4.) David makes a public confession of his inbred corruption: "Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." Ps. li. 5.-See also Isaiah i. 5, 6; and if we look into the New Testament, we shall find testimony on almost every page. Our Lord Jesus Christ, when speaking of the state of man by nature, declares, " a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." Math. vii. 18; and in John iii. 3, "verily, verily I say

us,

unto thee, except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." "That which is born of the flesh, is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit is spirit." (6v.) Here we are instructed, that the fleshly character is connected with the birth of man. And St. Paul says, "The carnal, (or fleshly) mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." Rom. viii. 7, 8. And further, the apostle Paul treats this subject at large in his epistle to the Romans: "As it is written: there is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God: they are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." Rom. iii. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all sinned. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come; therefore as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life; For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous" Rom. v. Not only does divine revelation, but also common observation, proves to a demonstration, that man is a fallen creature. If this were not the fact, there would be no necessity for a civil government for prisons, penetentiaries, &c.; but from the fact that man has a vicious nature-prone to wickedness as the sparks are to fly upwards. A civil government is indispensably necessary for the punishment of the lawless and disobedient, and protection of the righteous. Behold the actions of man! They