artful tale. He ascribes to the Almighty the worst of motives, in forbidding his creatures to taste the tempting fruit, and declares the wonderful advantages they will gain by tasting it. "Your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil." This God knoweth, and therefore has he restrained you from eating, lest you should become such as he himself is: disappoint then his wishes, and refuse not the blessings which are placed within your reach.

The woman thus flattered, and deceived, puts forth her hand, and plucks and eats. She then gives to her husband, and he eats also. And now the promise of the serpent is in part fulfilled; they do indeed know good and evil. They know what good they have lost, they know what evil they have gained.

Immediately upon the commission of their crime, they hear the voice of the Lord God, walking in the garden, in the cool of the day; and Adam and his wife seek to hide themselves from the presence of the Lord, amongst the trees of the garden; but in vain. The Lord God calls unto Adam: and the trembling sinner is forced to come forth from his hiding place into light, to come forth and stand in the dread presence of an angry God. "And wherefore didst thou fly from before my face, O Adam? it was not always thus; once it was thy glory, thy comfort, and delight to hear my voice, and to meet thy friend, thy maker, and thy God." To these questions Adam replies, "I heard thy voice in the garden, but I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself." And the Lord said, "Who told thee that thou wast naked; hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?"

Adam, thus questioned, admits the fact: but still endeavours to excuse himself by casting the blame upon his wife. His wife in her turn, hopes to escape punishment by pleading the strength of the temptation, and directing almighty vengeance against the serpent, as the author of her sin. God, however, is not thus satisfied; upon man, and woman, and serpent the curse descends; sin entered into the world, and death by sin; man and woman are doomed according to the former threat, to die; to return, after a few years of labour and sorrow, to the dust, from

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whence they sprang; and the serpent "is cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field." And lest the Devil, the proud tempter of man, should triumph in having thus overcome the virtue and fidelity of our first parents, he hears, from the mouth of God, a sentence against himself. To his confusion, and to the peace and comfort of Adam and Eve, the Lord declares his gracious intention of sending a Saviour into the world, a Saviour born of a woman, to rescue man from the power of Satan in this world, and from the everlasting punishment in hell, which he would bring upon him in the world to come.And the Lord God said unto the serpent," I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, the descendant of the woman, the Saviour of the world, shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." That is, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, should come down from heaven, and take upon himself the nature of man, but without man's sin. The Devil should indeed be permitted to tempt him in the wilderness, to stir up sinful man to persecute him, and to take away his life by the painful death of the cross, but he should not destroy him. He should rise victorious on the third day from the grave, triumph over all the powers of darkness, save sinners from the eternal punishment of sin, which they should all inherit to the end of time, from the disobedience of their first parents, and open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

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Such is the history of the fall of man, which I have told you plainly and in a few words. I will now tell you, and I hope you will listen with attention, what lesson you may learn from this part of the word of God. In the per sons of Adam and Eve, you may behold a picture of your own selves. The Devil still exists and still tempts with the same cunning and deceitful tongue as of old, and with the same success. He whispers into the hearts of men, and says 66 yea," hath God said "thus and thus? Has he commanded you, ye children of men, to discharge this painful duty to abstain from that harmless amusement that innocent pleasure-that dearest delight? And does he threaten you with death, even with eternal death, if you do what he forbids, or refuse to do what he has commanded? Believe him not. Regard not what the Lord

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your God saith unto you. He would keep you from happiness; but put forth your hand, and pluck and eat the forbidden fruit-follow your own inclinations-indulge your own appetites and passions-consult your present ease, and fear not the anger of an invisible God-dread not the torments of another, a far-distant world, Ye shall not surely die" the death he has denounced-there is no place of punishment for impenitent sinners-there is no eternity of misery prepared for the children of men. Thus confidently assured of safety in sin, how great a part of mankind prefer the testimony of Satan to the express declaration of God. In vain does the scripture in the plainest language, inform them of their danger, and warn them to flee from the wrath to come-to repent of their sins-to amend their lives and to turn unto God. They listen greedily to the flattering snares of their greatest enemy, although caution after caution is given them by the word of God contained in the bible, and by the ministers of Christ, who explain to them that word of truth.

And say, have you, descended from fallen Adam, have you not often been tempted by the Devil to disobey the plain and express commandments of God, and, like Adam and Eve, have you not yielded to his snares? What was it that stirred you up to commit that sin and wickedness against God and your neighbour, which was the cause of your being banished from your native country and sent away, as a punishment for your crime, into this far distant land? Was it not the Devil, who first put the wicked thoughts into your hearts, and then led you on to commit the deed, under the promise that you should not surely die; that your sin should not be detected, that the law could not touch you, and that you should escape both in this world, and in that which is to come. And will you believe him again? will you again trust the deceitful tempter, the author of lies, rather than the God of truth? Having found by experience the falsehood of his promises, you will not surely be so mad as to listen to them again. Let me exhort you to bear in mind, that the same eye, which discovered Adam attempting to hide himself from his angry God, after he had tasted of the forbidden fruit, can also at all times see you? Hide what you will

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from your fellow creatures, or even from your own consciences, you can conceal nothing from your God. He is about your path, and about your bed, and spieth out all your ways; yea he knoweth every word in your tongue, and understandeth your most secret thoughts. Fly not then from him like Adam, when he calls you in the gospel of Jesus Christ to forsake your ways, and your unrighteous thoughts, and to turn unto him, who has promised to have mercy upon you, unto that God, who through the Saviour will abundantly pardon: forsake not, when opportunity of attendance is afforded you, the public worship of the church, keep holy the Sabbath day, pray unto God regularly in private, for the renewing influences of the Holy Spirit, and read with attention and devotion of mind the sacred scriptures in the bible. Thus will you be enabled by God's grace to correct the evil appetites and desires of your nature, to resist the devil, who then will flee from you.

But if you repent not, ye shall surely die. If you continue in the wilful practice of sin, in breaking the laws of the land, going on thus from one crime to another, you will be exposed to the awful danger of being cut off by the hand of justice in the midst of your days, and after death, of suffering torments, such as no mortal man can conceive, in that lake of fire and brimstone, prepared for the Devil and his angels. For, though the wicked and impenitent may endeavour to "hide themselves from the Lord God" in this world, yet must they meet his all piercing eye in another. In that dreadful day, when the dead shall arise, summoned by the trumpet of the archangel, and all the nations of the earth shall come forth to judgment, they shall again endeavour, but in vain, to conceal themselves from an angry God. To the rocks they shall cry aloud," fall on us," and to the mountains cover us," and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; But neither mountains nor rocks shall hear them. Deep shall they be plunged into everlasting destruction; and that must be their certain lot, because in this life they refused to listen to the voice of the Lord their God; they would not obey the Gospel of Christ, but neglected the duties of his religion, and cast his words of grace behind them.

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JESUS CHRIST, THE SAVIOUR OF THE LOST.

LUKE, XIX. 10.

For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

IF we have lost anything of value, it is natural, that we

should use our utmost endeavours to recover it. If a man, having a certain number of sheep, should find that one of that number had strayed away from the flock, we should conceive that no toil or trouble would be spared on his part, to bring it back to the fold. But, and if after all his search and enquiry, he of himself, were unable to find that which he had lost, and one on whom he had no claim, either of friendship or acquaintance, but on the contrary, perhaps one whom he had treated with enmity and scorn, had sought and found it for him, would he not greatly rejoice, and receive with gratitude, the recovered possession, and never forget the hand that had restored it unto him? And suppose, that like a wandering sheep, a man had lost his way in a gloomy and tempestuous night, had strayed, during the darkness that surrounded him, further and further from his home, and one whom he had little expected, had sought for him and led him back into the right path. Or suppose, again, a man had suffered all the horrors of shipwreck, and was at the point of expiring with hunger, thirst and fatigue, when a friendly vessel arrived in sight and rescued him from destruction, would not each of these embrace the proffered aid with heartfelt gratitude and unbounded thanks?

Behold in yourselves the persons thus described! such is indeed your own condition-such is your present stateyou all have erred and strayed away like lost sheep, wan