the day of their trial in eternity, in a future state of existence; but he called them to judgment immediately. To the tempter he said, "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. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow, and thy conception; in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken : for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." (Gen. iii. 14-19.) All which is here recorded, not only belongs to the present state of mortality, but is peculiar to it. Even to the tempter there is no intimation that he had exposed himself to any sufferings beyond that life which was sup

ported by dust. He was not told that he should go on his belly and eat dust after he was dead, but all the days of his life. The Lord God gave no intimation to the woman that her sorrow or conception should be multiplied in eternity, or that she should bring forth children in sorrow in a future state, or that in that state her desire would be to her husband, or that in eternity, thousands of years after their bodies had returned to dust, he should rule over her. Nor was Adam told that the ground should be cursed for his sake in a future state, nor that it should bring forth thorns and thistles in eternity, or that in eternity he should eat the herb of the field, or that in the sweat of his face he should eat bread in a future state; but only until he returned to the ground out of which he was taken.

It seems perfectly reasonable that our professed divines, who consider the doctrine of future endless punishment so essential to piety, as such a pillar in the temple of religion, so essential for the support and defence of moral virtue, should be called on to reconcile the facts which we have noticed, embraced in the Scripture account of the first transgression, with their views. Can they inform us why the Creator did not threaten Adam with punishment in eternity, if such punishment was intended? Can they render any good reason why the Creator did not present this pious doc

trine to Adam, and enforce it on his mind with as much energy as they now endeavor to enforce it? Was it because the Creator had but a small regard to the support and defence of moral virtue, that he neglected to threaten Adam with any punishment after he should return to the dust from whence he was taken? These queries they ought to solve; and then proceed to inform us what better reason there is now for them to hold up this doctrine of hereafter punishment, than there was for the Creator to make it known in the beginning.

murderer.

Having noticed the first transgres- Case of Cain the sion, and all the retributions which divine wisdom saw fit to award to the offenders, and finding them all confined to the present mortal state of man, we may pass to consider the second sin of which mention is made in the Scriptures, and the punishment with which it was visited. Many and various have been the conjectures respecting what was meant by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; and about what the first transgression consisted in, various opinions have been entertained; but the second sin mentioned in the sacred records is so definitely stated, that no difference of opinion respecting it is entertained. It was the murder of Abel by his brother Cain. For this act of violence the Lord said to Cain, "The voice of thy brother's blood

crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth." (Gen. iv. 10-12.)

For this atrocious sin we are informed, in the above quoted passage, that Cain was cursed; but the curse was not put off to a future state; nor was the judgment deferred until Cain went into another world. The day of judgment came immediately, and he was doomed to his punishment without delay. The curse which was denounced on this murderer was from the ground which had received his brother's blood; and it was said to him, 66 now art thou cursed." It was not intimated to Cain that he would be called to give an account of this murder in a future state; nor was he told that he was in danger of being punished in eternity. He was not told that he should be a fugitive and a vagabond in a future state, but in the earth.

If the preachers of the present day, who so zealously contend for the doctrine of future punishment, and who attach to it those weighty consequences which we have noticed, were as circumspect as the importance of divine truth demands, it is believed that before they would proceed to sentence Cain to a state of endless

punishment, they would endeavor to render some good reason why the Creator did not, though he intends doing it hereafter; and also why it is now any more necessary for pious, religious, or virtuous purposes, to hold up this doctrine, than it was when sin first made its appearance in the world.

We have a much more formidable Punishment of the account of sin and its punishment, Antediluvians. after the earth became extensively inhabited, than we have in the two instances which we have noticed. The case of Cain was evidently considerably advanced, as to magnitude, beyond that of his parents. It is very evident that the crime of murder committed by Cain, was more heinous in the sight of God, than was the offence of Adam and Eve. This we infer from what was denounced as retributions in the several cases. There is, indeed, some degree of similarity in these cases, but we are not informed that either Adam or Eve was cursed, or driven from the presence of the Lord, or made a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; but these weighty denunciations on Cain caused him to exclaim, "My punishment is greater than I can bear." This complaint we are not informed was made by Adam or Eve, or that they had an occasion thus to exclaim. Their condition, under all the inconveniences of the righteous retributions rendered