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God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

§. IV.

15th Q.-Did Adam evince his love and gratitude to his Creator for all these blessings?

A.-No, for though the Almighty allowed him freely to eat of every tree of the garden in which he was placed, except the tree of knowledge of good and evil, of which God forbad him to eat, saying, that on the day he ate of it he should surely die, yet notwithstanding this injunction he did eat of it.

Gen. ii. 16. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayst freely eat; 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.

See also the Proofs to the two next Answers.

16th Q.-What induced Adam to eat the forbidden fruit?

A. The serpent or devil tempted Eve, and she took of the fruit and did eat, and she gave to Adam, and he also ate thereof.

Gen. iii. 4. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 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. 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.

John viii. 44. He [the devil] was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of

it.

1 John iii. 8. He that commiteth sin, is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning.

Rev. xii. 9. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.

17th Q.-Did Adam and Eve die in the day they ate of the forbidden fruit?

A. They did not cease to exist as creatures, but they died to that spiritual life or divine image in which they had communion with God.

Rom. vi. 23. The wages of sin is death.
Rom. v. 12.

By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin.

Rom. viii. 6. To be carnally minded, is death; but to be spiritually minded is life, and peace: 7. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God.

James i. 15. When lust hath conceived; it bringeth forth sin and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth

death.

John v. 24. He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me,-is passed from death unto life. 25. The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that bear shall live.

Eph. ii. 1.

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.

Eph. v. 14.

from the dead, 1 Tim. v. 6.

while she liveth.

Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise and Christ will give thee light.

But she that liveth in pleasure is dead

1 John iii. 14. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. loveth not his brother, abideth in death.

He that

Rev. iii, 1. I know thy works, that thou hast a name, that thou livest, and art dead.*

18th Q.-What were the consequences of this spiritual death to our first parents

A. They lost the righteousness and purity, the love, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit, which were the fruits of the divine image in which they were created, and were brought under the dominion of the evil inclinations which have ever since abounded in the world, and, having yielded themselves to the power of sin, they became liable to temporal death and eternal misery.

See the Proofs to the 20th Answer.

19th Q.-Has the earth suffered any change. in consequence of the fall of man?

A.-The ground was cursed in consequence of it, so that it produces thorns and thistles,

Though most of these texts may not appear to apply personally to Adam, they prove that the death that is the consequence of sin, which Adam's was, is a death of a deeper import than merely that of the body.

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and man was turned out. of the garden of Eden, and is doomed to till the ground, and with sorrow to eat of the fruit of it to the day of his death, when his body is to return. to the dust whence it was taken.

Gen. iii. 17. And unto Adam he [God] said, Because thou hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thec, 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. 18. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. 19. 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. 23. Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

20th Q.-Are all mankind involved in the effects of Adam's disobedience?

A. Yes, for as Adam had effaced the divine image in himself, and become wholly degenerate, so his children can have no good thing as belonging to their nature, which he, from whom they derive their common nature, had not to communicate.*

It may be proper to observe, that we do not hereby impute any guilt to infants; because as the Scripture says, Rom. iv. 15. "Where no law is, there is no transgression." Also, Rom. v. 13.

But sin is not imputed, when there is no law." Nevertheless, as "a seed of sin is transmitted to all men from Adam, called death in the Scriptures, and the body of death, seeing it is indeed a death to the life of righteousness and holiness;" "they [Infants] have need of Christ, as a Saviour, who died for them, to deliver them from this." Barclay's Apology, 8th edit. Prop. iv. §. 4. p. 104. §. 5. p. 107 and 108. Barclay's Works, fol. edit. p. 771.

Gen. vi. 5. And God saw that every imagination of, the thoughts of his [man's] heart was only evil continually.

Jer. xvii. 9. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Rom. viii. 7. The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. 8. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

1 Cor. ii. 14. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Matt. xv. 19. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.

1 John ii. 15. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Gen. v. 3. And Adam begat a son in his own likeness, after his image.

Job. xiv. 1. Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. 2. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. 4. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.

Psal. li. 5. Behold I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

John iii. 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. Gal. v. 19. Now the works of the flesh are manifest; which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness. 20. Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, 'murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

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