then, if they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden, they would run to meet [him. But now the case was altered: he that was before a loving Father, was now become an angry Judge; and they were become afraid of nothing more than his sight and presence. This comes of sin.

Hid themselves from the presence of God. What madness was this, to think to hide themselves from Him from whom they could not hide themselves, all things being naked and open before him. Heb. iv. 13. What folly was it to fly from him whom they should have flown to; he being the God of all comfort and consolation. Rom. xv. 5. Did ever any hide himself from God and prosper? (Job xxxiv. 22. Amos ix. 3. Jer. xxiii. 24.) No, never.

9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

Called. The word signifies to cry aloud; noting Adam's great distance from him. He must call aloud, before Adam-who was now dead in sincould hear.

Where art thou? This was not an enquiring question, as if he did not know where he was; but a convincing, chiding question. Where? Not in what place?-but in what state? O Adam, Adam,

what hast thou done? Into what a sad condition hast thou plunged thyself by this sin of thine, that thou dost now fly from that God that before thou soughtedst and lovedst! Think whither thy sin has brought thee! How art thou fallen, O Lucifer, son of the morning! Isa. xiv. 12. Some read it, Alas for thee, O Adam! Whether thou canst pity thyself or not, I cannot but pity thee; pity thy madness, pity thy misery, pity thy folly, pity thy fall.

10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

We have here Adam's shuffling reply to God's question. He owns no more but what was manifest; confesses his flight,-the effect,-but suppresses his sin, the cause. He doth not say, I was afraid because I was guilty,-but because I was naked; though that had been enough to prove him guilty; for before he sinned, his nakedness was not his shame. We say, blushing is the colour of virtue; but here 'twas the colour of sin.

11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

Another startling question is here propounded by God to Adam. "I see that thou art ashamed of thy nakedness; but who told thee that thy nakedness was thy shame? How camest thou to know it? Was it not thine own sin that taught it thee?"

Hast thou eaten? Now comes the question, guilty or not guilty; and, for Adam's further awakening, he is reminded of the law that had been given him: whereof I commanded thee. In the trial of malefactors, the statute which they have broken is sometimes read: so here. Sin is nowhere seen so plainly as in the glass of the command. I commanded; I, thy Maker,-I, thy Master,-I, thy Benefactor.

12 And the man said, the woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

Adam knew 'twas to no purpose to plead not guilty, for the show of his countenance witnessed against him; and therefore he becomes his own accuser: I did eat. For all his shuffling and cutting, God drew it out of him at last; for when he judges, he will overcome. But this confession doth not look

like a truly penitent confession; for he doth not take shame to himself, but stands upon his own jus

tification, laying all the fault upon his wife: she gave

me of the tree. Nay, worse yet: 'twas the woman whom thou gavest to be with me; tacitly blaming God himself, as accessory to the sin. "Thou saidst it was not good for me to be alone; but it seems now it had been better for me to have been alone; for if thou hadst either left me without a wife, or given me a better, I should have done well enough." Thus doth one sin beget another. The foolishness of man perverteth his way, and his heart fretteth against the Lord. Prov. xix. 3.

13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

The woman's answer to this question is much like her husband's. He followed her example in sinning, and she followed his example in excusing it. Observe, she saith nothing of her tempting her husband to eat; that was such prodigious wickedness,— a sin of so deep a dye, that she could not for shame own it. She puts off the fault; The serpent beguiled me. The man lays all the blame upon the woman, and she upon the serpent. Sin is a brat that nobody is willing to own; a sign that it is no creditable thing. We are all, in this matter, like our first pa

rents, ready enough to sin, and as ready when we have sinned to disown it, and lay the blame upon others: this is called covering our transgression as Adam, from which holy Job clears himself. Job xxxi. 33.

Beguiled me. All the devil's temptations are beguiling; he promises fair, but never performs; shows the bait, but hides the hook.

14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.

The offenders being found guilty by their own confession, besides the personal and infallible knowledge of the Judge, and nothing of weight being alleged to stay the sentence, the passing of that doth immediately follow. Adam was first examined and arraigned, because he was principally concerned, and because, being the head, from him better was expected. But he was last sentenced, because he last sinned. God begins with the serpent, because there the sin began. The serpent was sentenced without being tried, his ma