SERMON II.

ON THE TEMPTATION OF EVE.

GENESIS iii. 4.

And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die.

It was by too ready a compliance with this suggestion of the serpent's, that the original parents of the human race were tempted, for the first time, to disobey God. They suffered themselves to be beguiled into this disobedience, in violation of their own consciences; for the minds of both had been sufficiently impressed with notions of God's goodness and power, to have prevented their fall, had they not wilfully distrusted his veracity. Of his goodness they were fully assured, from his having provided for all their natural wants, in permitting them to eat freely of the produce of the fruitful Paradise in which they we placed ;--and of his power they had received convincing evidences, from the authority

which he had himself exercised, and from that also which he had delegated to them, over the newly created world. They could not, therefore, doubt that he was able to punish them with the death he had threatened, if they should presume to "eat of the fruit of the tree which was in the midst of the garden." Yet, with all these notices and convictions, they "staggered through unbelief." Possessing already, in the facts of their own history and experience, the knowledge of what was good, they appear at the time of their transgression, to have entertained a curiosity, if not a desire, to distinguish what was evil. This curiosity, being ascertained by the Tempter, and wrought upon by his wiles, seduced them from their allegiance to the Almighty. The instances of his goodness were, for the moment, forgotten, the dread of his sovereign power was laid aside, their faith in his beneficence and truth was perverted :-THEY FELL;-and the consequences of their fall have been visited upon us, in common with all their posterity.

It is, however, to the temptation of the woman that the text particularly relates :-and though the circumstances of that temptation are familiar to all who have read the scriptures, yet it may be useful to advert to them, on account of the application which they will admit. The serpent "said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the

trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die." I shall not enter into any abstruse enquiry or conjecture, as to the particular nature of the tree, the fruit of which our first parents were forbidden to eat,-nor shall I venture upon any 'speculation, as to the Serpent, farther than taking it for granted that Satan, or the Evil Spirit who was then at enmity with God, and who is still the great enemy of mankind, was concealed under the form of a serpentine species of animal. The fact upon which I shall endeavour to make some practical observations is, that our case is too frequently like that of Eve, who at the same time that she was fully acquainted with God's commandment, transgressed it, upon the bare insinuation that she should escape punishment. There is not a sin that we commit, which is not perpetrated with the certain knowledge that we are breaking the commandment of God, and subjecting ourselves, accordingly, to the punishments with which He has threatened us.

True it is, that, in consequence of our first parents' disobedience, our faculties and powers are much weaker than theirs, in their original state of innocence, were ;-and that the Divine image which was impressed on them by the Creator's own hand, appears in us with fainter lineaments and diminished brightness. All of us are naturally prone to evil ;

and this natural propensity, which we inherit from Adam, is not entirely destroyed even by that principle of grace which is infused into us by the Holy Spirit, on our becoming true disciples of Christ. Our earthly condition is altogether a state of warfare, in which we have to "fight the good fight of faith" and obedience, against our spiritual adversaries. God's commandments, however, "are not grievous." We have no reason to suppose that obedience-such obedience as our Heavenly Father will accept--is more difficult as it regards our performance, than it was to our progenitors in Paradise. The services which God requires of us are not less conducive to our own welfare, than they are consistent with his wisdom and power. We have the assurance of divine grace to help us in time of need;-we have the promise of the Holy Spirit to co-operate with us in every instance of our duty;-"we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous," who is not only "the propitiation for our sins, but who has himself declared, that the yoke which He has laid upon us, is easy, and that his burden is light." To deter us from sin, the denunciation of Heaven "that we shall surely die," is expressly pronounced against us, and continues to be in full force. We have also (which was not the case with man in his primitive state) such warnings as may properly be called an experience, that God will vindicate his own laws. Besides the remarkable example of our first parents-enough in itself to

admonish us; we find, in the records of holy scripture, many other proofs, set forth in the history both of nations and of individuals, that "evil pursueth sinners," and that God will not be slack to execute vengeance on them who disregard him. The destruction of the human race, except only the family of Noah, by the waters of the flood, the dispersion of that wicked generation which was engaged at the building of Babel,-the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah,--the destruction of Pharaoh and his host; and afterwards of the Israelites who had rebelled in the wilderness, the expulsion of the idolatrous nations, which had inhabited the promised land,— the punishments inflicted upon Cain,-upon Dathan and Abiram,--upon Saul,-upon Uzza,-upon David, -upon Rehoboam,-upon Ahab,-upon Herod,— upon Judas,-upon Ananias and Sapphira, and other individuals;—all these, to say nothing of the final dispersion of the Jews as a whole nation, are so many examples set forth to commemorate the judgments of God, and are recorded for our instruction.

If we would seriously examine our own hearts, we should find that the acts of disobedience of which we have been guilty, have arisen not so much from ignorance of our duty, as from suffering ourselves to be deluded by some insidious suggestion, either from within or from without. Though our consciences faithfully witness to us the danger of breaking God's laws,—and though we consent to his commandments as holy, just, and good;-yet such is the perverse