had most probably been slain in presence of the guilty, naked, perishing transgressors, not only to shew them what death was, the ultimate of the penalty they had incurred; but also, and chiefly, to typify the great Sacrifice which was in after-ages to appear, and, by dying, to bear away the sins of man, and the penalty due to them. Very shortly afterwards, we read of godly persons keeping up intercourse with God, Gen. iv. 4. in the way of sacrifice; and we are told in the New Testament, that they did it by faith, Heb. xi. 4. Faith always has respect to what God hath said either in the way of declaration, command, or promise. God had declared and promised to our first parents a Saviour, and doubtless he commanded the sacrificing of animals as an expression of faith and obedience, and a means of keeping them alive. How strikingly do the dealings of God with man, ever since he became a sinner, proclaim in his ear, "O man, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in Me is thine help found."

The sentence pronounced was immediately in part executed; and thus in the day that they ate of the forbidden fruit, they began to die; yet not in its full extent. The offenders were not immediately cut off by death; but space was given them for repentance their lives also were prolonged, in order to the building up of the human race: but they were driven out of their delightful abode, and every hope of return to it was cut off from them. They immediately commenced a life of toil and sorrow, and

became exposed to all the inconveniences arising from excessive heat, cold, and other changes of the weather; from the hardness and barrenness of the earth; and from the untractableness, fierceness, and destructiveness of the brute creatures-so different from their original constitution. More especially were the transgressors from that period exposed to pain, sickness, and sorrow, in their own persons; and to the anguish of sympathy, in the pains inflicted on each other, and on their future offspring; and, added to all these outward evils, an inward inability to good, and proneness to evil, from which they could not be perfectly freed, until death should have fulfilled the threatened purpose on their bodies, and their spirits should return to the God who gave them; made pure through the anticipated bloodshedding of the woman's promised seed.

In closing this section, it seems natural to inquire, where was the garden of Eden, the delightful abode of man in a state of innocence, and where was the residence of our first parents after quitting it? It must be admitted, that the geographical researches hitherte made, have not enabled us to reply with any degree of certainty. The Hebrew word Adena, or Eden, signifies pleasure, or delights, and we may conclude that the whole region was among the most favoured parts of the earth; yet even of this, one sacred enclosure was yet more highly cultivated and adorned by the beneficent Creator, as the residence of his favoured creature man, in a state of innocence. Hence, in

the absence of positive information, conjecture has at different times rested upon almost every spot in Asia distinguished by its beauty and fertility; especially if in its neighbourhood were found any collection of waters, that could be supposed to answer to the description of the sacred historian, Gen. ii. 8—14. Some geographers have imagined the situation of Paradise in Syria or the Holy Land; but no lake in that country is capable of furnishing four streams from one reservoir; others have assigned it on the Tigris and Euphrates in Chaldea; but the four heads above alluded to, cannot be found there; others have fixed upon Armenia, a little to the north of Chaldea; but it is remarkable, that no nation has preserved any tradition of this as the spot. More recent researches have suggested probable grounds for assigning it considerably eastward of any of theseon Mount Caucasus. This supposition is thought, by its advocates, to combine all those requisites which are deemed necessary coincidences with the Mosaic narration. "Mountains (say they) furnish the source of rivers; many rivers rise in that vast ridge of mountains. Paradise furnished four rivers ; four rivers rise adjacently from these mountains, fully answering the description given by Moses of the rivers of Paradise, and differing only in name. This difference, it is probable that farther investigation may reconcile; and on the whole, this spot appears more correctly to agree with the Mosaic account than any other in the known world.”

It ought to be remarked, that some modern geologists suppose the earth to have undergone so complete a revolution at the general deluge, as to render it utterly in vain to search for any spot by its antediluvian description; and that those which were originally the most prominent parts of the earth, are now completely embosomed in the depths of the ocean. That such a visitation produced a very great partial change on the face of the earth, cannot be doubted; yet it seems scarcely probable that the great outlines should be entirely effaced; that lofty mountains should be reduced to the level of the plain, or carried entirely away by the swelling billows. However, the sacred historian, who wrote long after the deluge, describes the geography of Eden as then acknowledged, and from the explicit manner in which he writes, as if desirous of being clearly understood, we cannot suppose that it was beyond the reach of investigation.

The residence of our first parents after the fall was probably not far distant from the abode of innocence and happiness whence they had been excluded. Early tradition favours this opinion, and Scripture at least does not contradict it.

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II.-FROM THE FALL OF MAN TO THE GENERAL DELUGE.

§ 1.Of Cain and Abel. Gen. iv. 1–24.

B. C. 4003.

WITHIN about a year after their expulsion from Paradise, Adam and Eve became the parents of a son; to whom Eve, in the fulness of her joy, gave the name of Cain, which signifies a possession. In addition to the common gladness which arises in the heart of a parent, and recompenses all her anguish in the birth of a living child, Eve probably flattered herself that she had a higher cause of satisfaction, and that the infant she clasped to her fond maternal bosom was no other than the promised seed. Alas! if such was her fond imagination, what additional bitterness must it have inflicted in the disappointment that awaited her. Children should be careful not so ill to requite the care and tenderness of their parents, as to disappoint all the expectations they have formed concerning them; and compel them to say, instead of "these same comforting us concerning the work of our hands," they will "bring down our gray hairs with sorrow to the grave." Eve again