so, God will punish me. It is mentioned in Samuel iii. 35, that he punished Eli, because his sons made themselves vile, and Eli did not restrain them. So Eli's eyes were consumed, his heart grieved, and the increase of his house died in the flower of their age; besides which, his family had to crouch for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and finally this misguided parent " fell from his seat backward, by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died." God has graciously permitted us to call him Father, and we must obey all his commandments.

When God created Adam, he gave him dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowls of the air, and over every thing that moveth on the earth, besides every tree bearing seed, and every tree in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed, for their meat. He likewise planted a garden in Eden, in which every tree grew, that was pleasant to the sight, and good for food, in which was the Tree of Life, and the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. And there was a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and was divided into four branches. The whole scenery of the garden was so beautiful, that it was called Paradise. The first commandment which God gave to man, my love, was this: "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou

shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Now God, my dear child, is holy, just, and good, and so was the commandment. It would be impious to suppose, that a holy God would be the author of an imperfect law. "Infinite rectitude cannot fail of requiring what is holy in all its branches, and in its full extent:" this therefore, shows, that man was pure and holy in his created state, and possessed of power to do the complete will of God. Equity requires, my child, "that the powers of the creature, as he is created by God, be sufficient to enable him to keep a law, which is to be the rule of his actions." There must be "proportion between the ability of the creature and the command under which he is placed." Thus it is said, that God created man in his own image, that is, in righteousness. Besides this, my child, Adam had a perfect knowledge of God; otherwise he could not have feared or served him. Without a percep- . tion of the being and powers of Deity, no acts of ado ration, reverence, trust, and love, can be exerted towards him. Ignorance of God, my love, is the effect of sin; and, therefore, man was not the unhap❤ py subject of that ignorance and blindness before his transgression, which he was afterwards. Adam, therefore, was not ignorant of his duty to God, either in the matter, manner, or extent, of it. If

he had not known what acts his maker required of him, it would have been impossible for him to behave himself agreeably to his will. When I require your obedience, my love, I suppose that you possess a knowledge of what I enjoin, otherwise you would not be liable to punishment for disobedience. Adam's disposition of mind, as it came from the hand of God, could not have been inclined to that which is wrong, or sinful. If it were so, we might say, that God is the author of sin. Adam had, therefore, no aversion to holiness, no inclination to evil. He, therefore, my love, was free from vanity, and those tumultuous passions which rebel against reason; he had no unlawful love, delight, or aversion. Besides, being created in the likeness of God, which supposes moral rectitude, he was the object of God's approbation; indeed, God would not give existence to a creature, which he could not look upon with pleasure and satisfaction. Adam was happy in his original state, being free from pain and misery. His pleasures were pure and holy. He enjoyed communion with his Creator, and was thus sensible of the divine favour: his mind, therefore, took no delight in vain and frivolous things. Besides, his pure and holy mind was not reluctant or indisposed to religious services, nor wandering and sluggish in their performance. "Perfect love to the infinitely glorious object of his

worship sweetly engaged all the powers of his soul into acts of adoration, thanksgiving, and praise. "He delighted in God his Maker."

You will say, dear child, that you have never seen such men as Adam; that you have never seen any one entirely free from the passions of human nature, nor so engaged in communion with God in his holy worship, as to give it the preference over all other thoughts. I will tell you the reason of this.

Although Adam was at first created holy and good, yet he was not a being possessing infinite perfections, and therefore was not unchangeable; for there is only one unchangeable and infinite Being, who is God, the Creator; and we do not suppose, that among all his creatures, he has formed one equal with himself, for that would be a useless work of creation. Adam, therefore, my child, was not created above the possibility of sinning, since his nature was mutable. If it had not been possible for him to change, and to be capable of disobedi ence, we cannot suppose that God would have given him any command or law to govern his conduct. It is written in the Scriptures, which I hope you will read attentively, " I am the Lord, I change not;" and again, "The Father of Lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." This is never said of man, for he was always changeable

from the first moment of his creation. The only thing that could have kept man from his apostacy from holiness to unholiness, and preserved him in a state of perfection, was the gift of divine grace, or the Holy Spirit. But he was left, my love, to the mutability of his own will, and God withheld from him the determining influence of his Holy Spirit. While he had, therefore, the power to obey the divine will, he had not the power to preserve the will infallible. It is, therefore, by this irresistible and effectual operation of divine grace on the mind, that the saints in heaven are preserved from making an evil choice, and falling into apostacy; the withdrawing of which determining act of the divine will led to the apostacy of the fallen angels, of whom, my dear child, you have yet to learn, when you feel disposed to hear me.

This mutation in Adam and Eve, my dear child, which I have described to you, was the cause of their fall. Satan, who is a fallen angel, in the disguise of a serpent, came to Eve, and enticed her to eat the fruit of the tree which God had forbidden, telling her, in persuasive language, she would partake of the knowledge of good and evil, if she ate of it. The woman, therefore, was overcome of evil, and ate, and gave to Adam also, and he did eat. The consequences were truly awful to them.

The God