world; and this is not of the Father, but of the world, 1 John ii. 16. Nor has Satan been able to add one more to these three in the practice of five thousand years, nor need he, for these are enough. However, the woman took and ate, and all was over with her. Sin entered, not in a hostile way, but in a lascivious one; strange emotions seized her, much like those wild unaccountable raptures which at times appear in graceless professors, just before they go mad, attended with uncommon light, pride and consequence; and, having satisfied herself with the fruit, she carried some to her husband, and strongly recommended it; who saw where she was, and was well-armed with light and knowledge, with a filial fear, with a good conscience and a sound mind, and not without strong oppositions to it, by the Spirit of God: but she became now a complete mistress of arts, by the ascendency of Satan over her, and by the possession he had gotten of her; therefore she powerfully enticed him, and persuaded him, and sin having entered into her heart, and the law likewise, it wrought in her the fire of concupiscence, Rom. vii. 8. She was filled with wanton amours, and her eyes and tongue soon prevailed; for she took him with her eyelids, and by the moving of her lips she forced him, and he went after her, against both light and knowledge, like an ox to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks, Prov. vii. 22. These things God resents; I mean her persuasions and his wilful compliance; for both appear in Adam's sentence, at his arraignment,

"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." Natural affections, together with the charms and artifice of Eve, under the evil influence of Satan, overcame Adam, just as the daughters of Cain prevailed against the sons of God since, Gen. vi. 2; as is plain from the word of God, " For Adam was first formed, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression, 1 Tim. ii. 13, 14. He took of the fruit, and did eat, and all was lost; the eyes of them both were opened; not in a good sense, as when God opens the understanding of poor sinners by the gospel; but in a bad sense, to see what they had lost and what they had gained; as the rich man in hell lifted up his eyes, to see that his soul was lost and damnation obtained. And so here, the God of this world blinded their eyes with his vail; and all the enjoyment of God's presence and the light of his countenance was hid; and their eyes were opened to see the mystery of iniquity, in the lusts of the flesh, the depths of Satan's guiles, the guilt they had contracted, the shame they were covered with, and the curse or sentence of the law that had entered into them. And just so does the poor sinner find it now when the commandment comes, and sin revives; all manner of concupiscence is stirred up, with unutterable enmity,

malice, and desperation; under which the sinner sees an angry judge; sinks down into the horrible pit, and dies without either hope, help, or expectation. Eve's eyes were opened before, and now the eyes of both were opened. The new man of grace, which was God's image, in which they were made, was put off; and the old man, as he is now called, with all his deceitful lusts, was put on. Satan wonderfully enlightened them into the arts of carnal gratifications; and set these before them as the quintessence of all real pleasures; and so he serves every child of God to this day, when the best beloved is not at home. These evil imaginations entered and abode with them; and it is sin's entrance here that gives him the name of the old man: "The old man which is corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts," and which deceived them, and is what they have communicated to us. And upon the entrance of these the Holy Spirit, being grieved and offended, forsook him; and at the departure of the Spirit, the image of God vanished; spiritual wisdom, righteousness, holiness, love, and the light of immortal glory, all went together; and, sin having entered, and the law too, they became filled with evil desires, and with carnal and amorous delights, and with continual vain imaginations about these things, Gen. viii. 21. And these deceitful lusts they have communicated to all their children, who are all filled with the same to this day; and this every child of God, under heaven, knows to his sorrow.

When Adam and Eve under this new influence, had wearied themselves in keeping wedding, then came pouring in, all at once, slavish fear, guilt, shame, confusion, and the cutting accusations of Satan and conscience; and then they began to patch and cover themselves with leaves, as all their children do to this day when the spirit convinces them of sin. And no sooner had they added this sin to the former by covering with a covering, but not of God's Spirit, Isa. xxx. 1, than the voice of God called to Adam. It may be observed here, that when God judged Adam and Eve the curse lighted upon the earth; and Adam's sentence is, that in sorrow he should eat the fruit of it all the days of his life; and that of the woman was, that he would multiply her sorrow by conception and care; and that the heaviest curse falls immediately upon the serpent, and upon the devil in him. There was no call to pass any sentence of condemnation upon either Adam or Eve; the sentence of death went forth from God before they had transgressed. And when the devil laid the old man of sin at their door, death followed at his heels; and, as soon as each of them, by eating the fruit, had opened the door, "Sin entered, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned," Rom. v. 12.

Upon this matter, we may clearly see that the whole of God's image, with which Adam was adorned, was wrought, and preserved in its glorious lustre, by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost,

who, being grieved and offended at man's sin, immediately left him; though, like Samson, he did not directly feel it, the lust of the flesh, and wanton desires and pleasures, springing up to supply the absence of God, as in Samson, till the cheat was discovered by shaking himself. And this the children of God find to their sorrow whenever the

presence of God goes, and they get under spiritual desertions; for the same bait, as the most pleasing substitute to flesh and blood, is presented to them. God's image in Adam, and all his soul's adorning, was owing to the indwelling of the Holy Ghost; and, when that sweetest of all comforters took his leave, all was gone; and, when nature had spent all her pleasing charms, they felt for their inward peace, might, tranquillity, and happiness; and, finding all gone, they agreed together to make aprons of leaves. But we must now take our final leave of paradise, for God's image is gone, and divine life is lost, and the garden of Eden is too sacred and holy a spot for rebels in league with Satan to range in. We may, from what has been observed, get a sight, and God knows we have long had a woful sense, of what Adam obtained when the Holy Ghost left him. He was called, before his fall, a son of God; and, when fallen, a child of wrath and a child of the devil; for his image Adam took, for he fell into sin, death, and condemnation; as Satan did. And, from Satan's deception in the ser+ pent, Satan was not the only one that obtained the name of a serpent. The best judge in heaven and