ADAM;

OR, THE FORFEITED INHERITANCE.

WHO is there that is not interested in the history of Adam, the father of our race, the head of our family, the first human being who trod this earth?

Try and picture to yourself the world newly created a beautiful world, without any of those evils in it, which now render it the abode of so much misery; everything in it showing the goodness, and love, and wisdom of a gracious God, and everything fitted to make its inhabitants happy-a world without sin, and therefore without sorrow!

Such is the world into which Adam was born nearly six thousand years ago; and shortly after, his helpmate Eve. God first made, as it were, the great house of the world, and then brought in his tenant to

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possess it. He did not give him (if I may so speak) bare walls to dwell in, but He furnished it with everything he could need to make his life happy.

Thus their cup of peace was full to the very brim; and there was nothing to mar their bliss. They were made in the likeness of God himself—not as regards their bodies, for God is a Spirit, but as regards their souls. Their minds were full of light; their hearts were holy; and all their desires were in perfect agreement with God's will. They resembled Him, as a son resembles his father. The very holiness of God was stamped upon their souls. Being perfectly pure, they could walk with God. perfectly holy, they could enjoy God. full of love, they could obey God. perfectly wise (so far, at least, as man's wisdom can reach), they could understand God. They could look up to Him, as their Father and their Friend. To hold converse with Him was their greatest joy. The world was given to them as their inheritance; and Eden (or Paradise) was their home. They were to live for ever, a sinless, endless life.

Being

Being

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And there was the Tree of Life set up before them, in the midst of the garden, to remind them of this high and blessed privilege-eternal, everlasting life.

Adam had not a single need, that God did not satisfy. He could say, even more truly than David did, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." If God had asked him, as Jesus once asked his disciples, "Lackest thou anything?" he would have answered, "Nothing, Lord; I have all, and abound." His happy life was one continued stream of blessings. The opening morning and the closing night found him engaged in the joyful work of praise.

How long this state of innocence and blessedness lasted we know not. Scripture does not tell us. It may have lasted but for a single day, or it may have been for a hundred years. But this we know, that

Adam and Eve lost it.

We find that Satan envied the happiness of our first parents, and desired nothing so much as to destroy it. One Tree there was which met their eyes day by day. It was not that Tree of which I have already

spoken, but it was another Tree, about which God had given this special command; "Eat not of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." That command was the turning point of man's obedience-there lay the trial. And surely it was no great hardship to be denied only that one thing.

It was to this forbidden tree that Satan now directed their thoughts. He appears to Eve in the form of a serpent. He speaks in praise of the tree. He describes it as having special powers. He declares that it would make them wise, like God himself. She listens to the tempter. He entices her gradually, step by step-just as he now entices us-not all at once, but by little and little. He tempts her to draw near to the tree; then to look at it, and examine it. And truly, though it was a forbidden tree, there was nothing forbidding in its appearance. "The woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes." Next, he tempts her to touch it, and then to eat of it. And, having gained his point,

And, having

he finishes by persuading her to take it to

her husband, and induce him to be a sharer

in her guilt.

Oh, how stealthy is the progress of sin! It does not generally come upon us all at once; but it creeps in little by little, until it gets full possession of the soul.

Thus did Adam and Eve break God's law, and sinned against their loving, gracious Father. The deed was now done, and never could be undone. Now, for the first time, they felt themselves to be sinners. Oh, what a change at once passed over them! Instead of approaching God with a frank, open, loving boldness, as they had hitherto done, they are full of fear and shame. But a moment before, they were upright and happy beings: now they are fallen and wretched.

While they were in this state, a voice is heard the voice of their offended Lord and Maker. That voice had always hitherto been a voice of joy to them, the most welcome sound to their ears: but now they shudder, as they hear it. "Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?" They dare not deny it.