ended; the blissful communion which they had hitherto enjoyed with the Deity, was destroyed; they shrunk with terror from His presence,

situation, and with their station in the scale of being, they were persuaded by Satan to procure for themselves this "knowledge," as the means whereby they might obtain an advancement for themselves, in intellectual rank and in the scale of being. This "knowledge" was within their reach, but GOD had forbidden them to seek after it. Disregarding His command and His counsel, they determined upon acquiring it, as the basis upon which their elevation was to be established. Thus they placed themselves upon a new footing with relation to their Maker; they no longer were in that state in which He had placed them; the original connexion between their Creator and themselves was dissolved; they had made themselves independent agents, the instrument of whose power and promotion was to be the knowledge of the rules of holiness. They took themselves from under the sheltering protection of GOD, and adopted, as the ground of their support and advancement, "the knowledge of good and evil." But, as the possession of this knowledge carried with it the obligation to act strictly and rigidly according to those rules of holiness which it disclosed; as it imposed the absolute necessity of choosing the good, and refusing the evil; and as our first parents saw their inability to fulfil this obligation, since they found within themselves propensities, that, when they would do good, evil was present with them; they saw, for the first time, the imperfection and impotency of their nature; their "knowledge of good and evil" showed them the evil which they had committed in disobeying GOD; they knew that they were without excuse, because he had cautioned them against reducing themselves to this helpless state; "they knew that they were naked.”

Rom. vii. 21.

and, when they heard His voice, they were afraid.

When Satan pointed out to Eve a higher station in the scale of being, and asserted, that "the knowledge of good and evil" furnished the means of attaining to that higher station, he showed his "subtlety;" for this "knowledge" does show how that higher station is to be gained: it is to be gained by strict undeviating holiness, by eschewing evil and doing good". But, when he said that it would raise Adam and herself to that station, he was " a liarb;" for their natures were too imperfect to act up to that knowledge; and, failing to act up to it, they became "the servants of sin;" and as "the wages of sin is death," they incurred that penalty which God had pointed out to them as the certain result of their acquisition of the forbidden knowledge: "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." The words addressed by St. Paul to the Romans, might, then, with justice, have been addressed to our first parents: "What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death." Satan, then, having thus deceived our first parents,

z Gen. iii. 8, 10.
a 1 Peter, iii. 11.
b John, viii. 44.
e Rom. vi, 17.

d Rom. vi. 23.
e Gen. ii. 17.

f Rom. vi. 21.

and having induced them to acquire this "knowledge," which led to sin and death, is styled "a murderer from the beginning §," and is said to have "had the power of death "." But, had Adam been of a nature sufficiently perfect [TOS] to walk according to the light of the "knowledge" which he had acquired, this knowledge might have enabled him to exchange his negative goodness, his innocent ignorance, for active, positive holiness. For, after Adam was sent forth from " Eden," we find the Deity thus addressing man, "If thou doest well shalt thou not be accepted?"

Thus, then, the relation between Adam and his Maker was established upon a new basis; the original relation which had subsisted between man and GoD was cancelled, and a new covenant was formed, which was grounded upon the knowledge which Adam had chosen to adopt as the foundation of his claim to happiness. The terms of the new covenant were these: IF THOU DOEST WELL, THOU SHALT BE

8 John, viii. 44.

66

h Hebr. ii. 14.

Gen. iv. 7.-Noah is styled a just man'," and is thus addressed by the Deity: "Thee have I seen righteous before me 2." "Enoch walked with GOD, and he was not, for GOD took him 3." "The Lord accepted Job 4." Noah, Daniel, and Job, were declared by the Deity to be righteous men 5. Abel is styled by Christ, " righteous Abel"."

I Gen. vi. 9.

2 Gen. vii. 1.

a Gen. v. 24.

4 Job, xlii. 9.

s Ezek. xiv. 14.

6 Matt. xxiii. 35.

ACCEPTED; AND IF THOU DOEST NOT WELL, SIN LIETH AT THE DOOR. Two states were proposed: ACCEPTANCE and REJECTION; the former to be obtained by doing well, the latter to be the reward of not doing well. There was no alternative-no middle state-no saving clause. The deeds of man were to decide his fate. The trial of his conduct was not to be carried on in "Eden," for man had ceased to be a fit inhabitant of that abode, which was a figure of the place "wherein dwelleth righteousness;" but it was to be carried on in "the ground from whence he was taken." If he did well, he was again to be received into favour, again to be admitted into 66 Eden," or into that more glorious abode, of which the first Eden was a type. If he failed to do well, sin was to be imputed to him, and death was to be awarded as "the wages of sin."

Thus was established, between the Deity and man, THE COVENANT OF WORKS.

So Adam was "sent 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

j

Gen. iv. 7.

* 2 Peter, iii. 13.

'The "word of GOD" is called "the sword of the Spirit'." "The word of GOD is quick and powerful, and sharper than

every way, to keep the way of the tree of life 1.” And "the ground" to which Adam was sent was cursed: "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 "." The "thorns" and "thistles" were "the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things entering in "," which render man barren and unfruitful°. "That which beareth thorns

any two-edged sword." "Out of his mouth went a two-edged sword 3." "He that hath the sharp sword with two edges 4," saith, "I will fight against them with the sword of my mouth 5." "Out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he may smite the nations "." "The remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat on the throne, which sword proceeded out of his mouth"." "Life and immortality are brought to light through the gospel." "Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life9." The sword which guarded the way of "the tree of life," appears, then, to have been a figure of "the word of GOD," "the gospel of GOD 10" and of Christ "," which "is the power of GOD unto salvation"," and which keeps "the way which leadeth unto life," the way of the tree of life," " which is in the midst of the paradise of GOD."

2 Hebr. iv. 12.

3 Rev. i. 16.

4 Rev. ii. 12.

5 Rev. ii. 16.

6 Rev. xix. 15.

1 Gen. iii. 23, 24.

Gen. iii. 17, 18.

7 Rev. xix. 21.
82 Tim. i. 10.

? Matt. vii. 14.

10 Rom. i. 1.

I Rom. i. 16.

" Mark, iv. 18, 19.

⚫ 2 Peter, i. 8.