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THE TREES WHICH BLOSSOMED IN PARADISE.

"AND out of the ground made the Lord 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.”—Gen. ii. 2.

The tree of life appears to have been a pledge of immortality; and by eating the fruit of it, life and felicity were sealed to Adam, whilst he continued in a state of obedience. From other passages of Scripture, we find that this tree was an emblem of Christ the Saviour.

"In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."-Rev. xxii. 2.

FIRST COMMAND GIVEN TO MAN BY HIS CREATOR.

"AND the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; 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."-Gen. ii. 15—17.

THE SERPENT.

FROM Scripture, it is evident, that there are certain evil spirits, who were originally happy and glorious creatures, living in the presence of God, and enjoying his favour: but who having been misled, by ambition, were induced to rebel against God; hence they all fell into a rooted enmity against holiness, and into a state of interminable horror, blackness, and despair. The prince of these evil spirits is man's implacable enemy, tempter and his accuser; and he will also be ultimately the tormentor of those, who disobey the divine commands, in this life. He is called in Greek Diabolos, Beelzebub, Belial, and Apollyon. His Hebrew name is Abaddon; and he is in Scripture symbolized by the figures of a dragon and a serpent. The first step, which this our enemy took towards the destruction of mankind, is thus described in the Book of Genesis:

"Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he 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 into the woman, Ye shall not surely die 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. 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.—”Gen. iii. 1—6.

OF THE CHANGE IN THE SITUATION OF MANKIND AFTER MAN'S DISOBEDIENCE.

ON his being "ensnared by the tempter, the situation of man experienced an entire change. His body immediately became liable to pain and death, and all the powers of his mind, and every thought of his brain, became utterly corrupt. Sin parted him from God, in whose divine light he was wont to delight, as an affectionate child rejoices in the presence of a tender parent; and, from that period--excepting in the case of a comparatively few holy persons, whom God has, from time to time, chosen, out of the world to be his especial servants and children-mankind have been delivered up to the bondage and slavery of the Evil One, who is prince of this world; and who has been permitted to exercise his diabolical power, under various forms and pretences, in different regions of the globe, from the time of the fall of man unto the present day. Our Saviour himself calls the devil the prince of this world; and on a certain occasion he allowed this Evil One to boast, in his presence, of having all the kingdoms of the earth at his disposal.

"Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.' John xii. 31.

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Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.' Matt. iv. 8, 9.

OF ORIGINAL SIN.

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"ORIGINAL sin is the irreparable error and corruption of the nature of every man, originating in Adam; whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the spirit; and, therefore, in every person born into this world, it deserveth God's wrath and damnation. And this infection of nature doth remain, even, in them that are regenerated; by which the lust of the flesh, called in the Greek, phronema sarkos, which some do expound the wisdom, some

the passions, some the affections, some the desire of the flesh is not subject to the law of God. And although there is no condemnation for them that believe and are baptized; yet the apostle doth confess, that the very anticipation of, or intention to do evil, partakes of the nature of sin."-9th Article of the Church of England.

"And Jesus said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man."-Mark vii. 20–23.

GOD'S FIRST PROMISE.

IMMEDIATELY after the fall of man from his original righteousness, the Lord appeared to him, and delivered to him the first promise of a Saviour, to be born of woman; thereby pointing out, that "degenerate man" was incapable of saving himself by any of his own works and deserts, and that without shedding of blood there could be no remission of sin. From this revelation of the will of God, Satan, the prince of this world, took occasion to institute those bloody sacrifices of human victims, which have prevailed among heathen nations from the beginning of the world until this present time; a custom thus described in the prophet Isaiah :

"But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress. Are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood; inflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the cleft of the rocks?"-Isaiah lvii. 3-5.

OF DEATH.

ANTERIOR to the fall of Adam, mankind were not subject to death. Death is the punishment of sin, and it is two-fold: viz. temporal death, or the separation of the soul from the body; and eternal death, which is the destruction of both soul and body in hell, or eternal separation from God. Death was introduced into the world by Adam: but our Lord has promised to make us more than conquerors over it, and to take from its sting and torment.

"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming. -O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."-1 Cor. xv. 22, 23, 55—57.

PARADISE CLOSED THE TREE OF LIFE SHUT UP.

"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.

ADAM'S SON CAIN.

CAIN was the eldest of the two sons of Adam. He was a tiller of the ground, and brought an offering of the fruits of the ground unto the Lord: but his offering was rejected, because it was not made in faith, and in reference to the promised Saviour. Abel brought a lamb-which is the standing type of Christ as a sacrifice for sin; and his offering was accepted: a circumstance which so much enraged Cain, that he fell upon his brother and slew him.

Thus it would seem, that from the beginning of the world, the true followers of the Lamb of God have been hated and persecuted by the self-righteous; that is, by those who seek acceptance through their own good works, rather than by the blood of Christ. And this enmity must continue, according to the nature of things, throughout time, and through eternity.

"Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."-Rom. viii. 7.

RENOWNED MEN WHICH LIVED BEFORE THE FLOOD.

THE descendants of Cain became mighty, and men of renown; but it does not appear that any of them were pious persons. The eldest son of Cain was Enoch, who built the first city

on earth.

Lamech was the first person who took two wives, thereby deviating from the original institution of marriage.

Jubal was the father of such as dwelt in tents; the descendants of Jubal invented the harp and organ; and Tubal-Cain was the instructor of every artificer in brass and iron. But these men were extremely wicked; and, in a few ages, found means so to corrupt the descendants of Seth, the younger son of Adam, that the whole world became one scene of violence and wickedness, which continued until the flood of waters passed over the earth, which destroyed them all: affording an awful lesson to us-in these latter days-lest, at the coming of

Christ, we should be found wanting, and in a similar case with the sinners, before the flood rolled forth from the Almighty's hand!

"But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For, as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not, until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.”—Matt, xxiv. 37-39.

OF THE FLOOD.

[Year of the World, 1656.]

AND the Lord said, I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah (who was a descendant of Seth) found grace in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord commanded him to build an ark of gopher wood: and the Lord ordered Noah to go into the ark, with all his house; and to take of every clean beast, by sevens, the male and his female; and of every unclean beast, by two, the male and his female; and of fowls, by sevens; to keep seed alive upon the earth. And it came to pass, that the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. And Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, Noah's sons, and Noah's wife, and the wives of his sons, entered the ark. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both fowls, and beasts, and cattle, and every creeping thing, and every man, excepting those that were in the ark.-Gen. vi. and vii.

"For if God spared not the angels, that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; and spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished."-2 Peter ii. 4, 5—9.

THE ARK.

THE ark is the vessel in which the patriarch and his family were saved, during the flood. The preservation of Noah, and his kindred in the ark, was a figure of regeneration, and a type of the salvation of sinners in the Church of Christ. But the great enemy of mankind, who has ever been on the watch, to convert the dispensations of Providence, and the mysteries of true religion, to his own wicked purposes, has

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