The eyes of

with their eyes they now saw themselves naked. their minds, also, were now opened to see the cruel fraud which had been practised upon them, and to realize their guilt and ruinous folly. The scripture history expressly teaches that the necessity of artificial clothing was a consequence of man's fall from his primitive innocence and honor. The labor necessary to procure clothing, and the sufferings occasioned by the want of it, constitute a very considerable item in the toils and calamities of fallen man. It is as necessary as his food, and is no less a cause of anxiety and toil. In relation to both food and clothing, human folly has added greatly to the wants of nature; but it is undeniably true that nature has its real and urgent wants, which must be supplied, not only in order to decency and comfort, but even to the preservation of life.

Does not the view which I have presented of the primitive investiture of man's body, derive some additional credibility from what will be its condition after the resurrection? It will not have nor need artificial dress, or covering. It will be fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body. Renewing grace will restore the soul to its primitive glory in knowledge, righteousness and true holiness. May not the redemption of the body be a like restoration? I doubt not, however, that both will excel in glory beyond a mere restoration to what was the original perfection, beauty and blessedness.

2d. Another external ill in Adam's condition, when fallen, was, that the ground was cursed for his sake, and as a means of his punishment.

The inanimate, unconscious ground did not merit, and could not feel this curse. This expression of divine displeasure affected it wholly, and only in its relation to the use and benefit of man. Designed as the source from which he should derive his substance, its adaptation to that end constituted its perfection. The want of this, or an aptitude to contrary results, made it useless, or noxious. Its being cursed, therefore, denotes some great and unpropitious change by which it was bereaved of those

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qualities with which it would have ministered largely, easily and certainly to the want and enjoyment of man. To this we know that many causes must contribute. In the composition of the soil, various vegetable qualities are indispensable. The influences of heaven are no less necessary. The sun's genial and duly apportioned warmth is of essential importance, whilst refreshing dews, with the earlier and latter rain, must furnish their appropriate contributions. If any of these be denied, or if they are not dispensed in due season, measure and proportion, the earth will be barien or unfruitful. Its fertility constitutes its blessedness, or adaptation to its appropriate end. The denial or withdrawment of this is its curse. So the apostle to the Hebrews explained it: The earth which receiveth the rain which often falleth upon it, and bringeth forth herbs fit for the use of man, receiveth blessing of God: but that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned." In consequence of the divine displeasure against man, the productive power of the ground, as well as the measure and quality of its productions, are greatly diminished. Many of them are worthless, or mischievous. Such was the inheritance of man a sinner. Instead of the spontaneous and never failing abundance of Eden, he had only the scanty products of the ground greatly degenerated. Instead of its delicious fruits, his allotment was to eat the much inferior products of the earth, Whether the earth originally occupied the same relative positions. to the sun as now, or whether its positions were such as to secure a continued succession of seasons characterized only by mildness and abundant fruitfulness, we find no authority to affirm. That its actual condition now is immensely different from its primitive state, cannot be reasonably doubted. Its barren and uninhabitable wastes-its tremendous and desolating convulsions-the tempests which carry with them dismay and wide-spreading ruin-the floods which waste the lives, the possessions, the labors, and the hopes of men—the adverse seasons, and other causes which entail on mortals famine and all its dire

attendants of suffering, disease and death; these, all these, are the consequence of man's sin, and the manifestations of the merited and operating curse.

ness.

3d. Connected with the curse pronounced upon the ground was another calamity, the necessity of painful and wearisome labor. Man was not constituted for indolence and inaction. They are inconsistent with his nature, and adverse to his happiThe delightful and unwearying activity of heaven excludes them; nor were they the allotment of the earthly paradise. It was given to man "to dress and keep it." For the mind, and for the body, appropriate employments were provided and assigned in that sinless abode. To gaze on its beauties and feast on its fruits, was not man's only occupation. He must rear the tender branch, and teach it where to shoot; the lingering growth must be stimulated by appropriate applications, and wild luxuriance be controlled and restrained. He was to enjoy the beauties which were made more prominent by his own arrangement, and gather the abundance which his own diligence had cherished. But it was a care without anxiety, or fear, a diligence which knew no toil, an employment which never failed of success and reward. How unlike the condition of apostate man, an outcast from those scenes of purity and bliss which he had defiled, and forfeited by sin! and how unlike the sad inheritance which he has entailed on his posterity! In sorrow, and by the sweat of their face, they eat their bread. By wearisome and protracted labors they procure the necessaries of life, labor to subdue and exterminate the spontaneous and noxious products of the soil, labor to procure, collect and prepare the allotted means of his subsistence. Such was the condition of the first man after, and in consequence of transgression, and such is the condition of all men. The products of the earth are their common and only means of subsistence, and either directly or indirectly must they with sorrow and toil eat thereof. Their labors may not be expended immediately or directly in the cultivation of the ground; but, yet for its products they labor, for on them they subsist. And this subsistence makes up nearly the whole amount of advantage or enjoyment

procured by their painful, exhausting and almost endlessly diversified cares, anxieties and toils. The proportion of mankind is very large who are and must be occupied in bodily labors. Many of their employments are extremely toilsome. They demand great muscular effort, and are sustained by an exhausting expenditure of animal vigor and energy. Many toil in deep recesses of the earth, secluded from the beauteous scenes of earth and sky, and strangers to the cheerful light and healthful breeze of heaven; whilst others traverse the ocean, to face its dangers, and wrestle with its storms. Millions pant and toil beneath a scorching sun, and very many endure the unabating severities of wintry climes, and perpetual cold. Earth is a vast field of cares and toils, and from these none can find exemption.

But, 4th. Man, when fallen, became obnoxious, not only to suffering by tedious, unavoidable and fatiguing labors, but by an indescribable variety of diseases.

To their existence and violence, causes internal and external greatly and variously contribute. The moral derangement of the mind, and the inordinate operation of the appetites and passions corrupt and convulse the bodily frame.

Excessive cares and labors are, in instances innumerable, causes which not only impair and exhaust the vigor of the body, but induce wasting and fatal diseases.

Poisonous exhalations from the earth, its waters, and its vegetable products, often, and in every clime, vitiate the atmosphere, and we receive deadly contagion with our breath, and the food taken to sustain nature, by some contracted impurity becomes the cause of disease and death.

The constitution of the body, by being unfaithful in some of its allotted functions, not seldom inflicts calamity and disease upon the whole frame.

In addition to the causes referred to, which are only a few of very many, vicious and intemperate indulgence is the prolific parent of diseases and sufferings, which in variety, number and destructive influence are indescribable.

But without the immediate operation of violent disease, or

calamitous accident, nature itself hastens to decay. Dulness of hearing, dimness of sight, and a general failure of the animal powers, are the unavoidable concomitants of increasing and numerous years. Infirmities, sickness, and pain premonish us of the approach of death, and prepare the earthly tabernacle for its final and utter dissolution. This was the sad and concluding item in the list of Adam's external ills. "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

2dly. The internal ills of Adam's condition, as fallen.

The calamitous effects of Adam's disobedience are found especially and eminently in his moral and religious condition. Had his mind retained its purity, integrity, and peace, all his external ills, could they in that case have existed, would have been easily tolerable. The favor of God would have sweetened every bitter cup of affliction; all things would have worked together for good; joys unspeakable, and full of glory, would have lightened every burden, and chased away the gloom and anguish of every adversity; whilst hopes, full of immortality, would have scattered light and peace on all his paths, and presented before him the valley of the shadow of death, as the avenue to a heavenly paradise. But conscious guilt aggravated all his external ills, and dried up all the sources of his strength and consolation. Self reproach created confusion, dismay, and fearful forebodings anticipated merited wrath and fiery indignation. The ruin and desolation of his soul constituted the incomparably more grievous calamities of his condition.

In the 1st place, How grievous must have been the conviction of his folly! What keen remorse must have succeeded to his flattering, but now dissipated delusion! How would it bite like a serpent, and sting like an adder! He hoped for an immense increase of knowledge. He only learns that he is a transgressor and a fool. He aspired to an equality with God, but he has now become ashamed of himself, degraded, a malefactor, and a fugitive. During the prevalence of temptation, a sinner's mind is, by himself, voluntarily abandoned to infatuation. He can see nothing but the object of his vicious desire, and that he sees