As one who, long in populous city pent,
Where houses thick and sewers annoy the air,
Forth issuing on a summer's morn to breathe
Among the pleasant villages and farms
Adjoin'd, from each thing met, conceives delight—
The smell of grain, or tedded grass, or kine,
Or dairy, each rural sight, each rural sound;
If chance, with nymph-like step, fair virgin pass,
What pleasing seemed, for her now pleases more,
She most, and in her look sums all delight:
Such pleasure took the Serpent to behold
The flow'ry plat, the sweet recess of Eve
Thus early, thus alone; her heavenly form
Angelic, but more soft and feminine,
Her graceful innocence, her every air
Of gesture, or least action, overawed
His malice, and with rapine sweet bereav'd
His fierceness of the fierce intent it brought:
That space the evil one abstracted stood
From his own evil, and for the time remain'd
Stupidly good, of enmity disarm'd,
Of guile, of hate, of envy, of revenge;
But the hot hell that always in him burns,
Though in mid heav'n soon ended his delight,
And tortures him now more, the more he sees
Of pleasure not for him ordain'd: then soon
Fierce hate he recollects, and all his thoughts
Of mischief, gratulating, thus excites :-

? With what sweet

Thoughts! whither have ye led me
Compulsion thus transported to forget

What hither brought us! Hate, not love, nor hope
Of paradise for hell, hope here to taste
Of pleasure, but all pleasure to destroy,
Save what is in destroying: other joy
To me is lost. Then let me not let pass
Occasion which now smiles; behold, alone,
The woman opportune to all attempts,—
Her husband-for I view far round-not nigh,
Whose higher intellectual more I shun-
And strength, of courage haughty, and of limb

Heroic built, though of terrestrial mould,
Foe not informidable, exempt from wound:
She fair, divinely fair, fit love for gods!
Not terrible, though terror be in love

And beauty, not approached by stronger hate,
Hate stronger, under show of love well feigned,
The way which to her ruin now I tend.""

MILTON.

So spake the enemy of mankind; and straight commenced the fraudulent temptation with the following artful interrogatory, Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? The beauteous but unwary fair one, innocently replied, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (Gen. iii. 1-5.) We shall briefly observe on the mischief contained in these few words that have been handed down to us, that they were eminently calculated to alienate the heart from God. First, by infusing a disbelief in his declarations, "Ye shall not surely die;" secondly, by maliciously intimating that their good Creator was unkindly setting a bar to their advancement in the scale of intellectual improvement, "For God doth know that ye shall be as gods:" and thirdly, that their benevolent Benefactor was designedly abridging their happiness, by prohibiting their acceptance of the proffered opportunity which the tree held

out of enlightening their understandings and enlarging their knowledge, "Your eyes shall be opened to know good and evil." Her female mind thus poisoned, she gazed upon the threefold snare, and beholding that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eye, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat.

Now these allurements to depart from duty are minutely similar to those which so continually overcome our virtue. "The desire of the flesh answers to good for food; the desire of the eyes is parallel with pleasure to the sight; and the pride of life corresponds with a tree to be desired to make one wise. Precisely conformable in every circumstance also, were the minor temptations of the second Adam. He was tempted to convert stones into bread for food, to satisfy the desire of the flesh; he was tempted with the kingdoms of the world, and the glories of them, to satisfy the desire of the eyes; he was tempted to work a miracle on the pinnacle of the temple, and to show himself moving aloft through the air, in the sight of the multitude, to display the pride of life.” * It is highly reasonable to conclude, that the permitted trials of each moral agent should be exactly proportioned to the strength, virtue, and intellect with which they have been endued. For however unequal our ways may be, "My ways are equal, saith the Lord." (Ezek. xviii. 25.) A truth most fully illustrated by those baits with which we find frail woman so easily entrapped, and

* Horne.

which appear scarcely worthy of the name of trials, when compared with the hardships, conflicts, and sufferings endured by our Lord; and far greater than the resisting of such trivial allurements, as despoiled Eve of virtue, was the trial appointed for man. The crafty adversary well knew his vulnerable side, the likeliest medium of assault; and, therefore, through the fair object of his tender love, whom he had gained, commenced the attack. Adam now was called on to exemplify, in sight of God and angels, a manly resignation to the Divine will, and to relinquish this sole partner, and sole joy of all his earthly joys-this dear, this lovely, this amiable companion, dearer herself than all-rather than disobey his God;-to break the tenderest ties of nature and affection, the bands of close affinity, and return to solitude with every terrestrial prospect blasted-the wide world before him, bereaved of human solace, help-mate, friend;-to behold the darling of his heart the prey of misery, the victim of death, whilst he retained his honour, dignity, and immortality;-to subdue his poignant grief by a firm faith in that almighty Father, the author of all his comforts, submissively awaiting his pleasure respecting him, seeking for happiness in Deity alone;-to reject the most ardent persuasives from the tongue of her he held so dear, or to listen to, and witness, her heart-rending anguish, shoud he determine to forsake and give her up for ever, as at this distressing juncture the glorious knowledge of regained life had not been imparted to man--a circumstance which rendered

this conflict infinitely more arduous than any that could since have been sustained by posterity, though wisely proportioned to the strength and endowments with which our great progenitor was gifted. He was by this severe trial, to manifest to God and heaven how his mind had since his creation been principally occupied-whether it had been frequently engaged in divine contemplation, in nurturing love and gratitude to his adorable Former, and in confirming his resolution of paying a perfect obedience to his commandsmaking His will, not his own, the governing principle of his heart. He was now to openly discover his predominant passion-whether it was love of his Maker, or love of his wife-love of the giver, or love of the gifts; and though he had been formed perfect, still was innocent-had no difficulty to struggle with in consequence of inherited corruption-no evil bent to bias his inclination; yet the contest proved too hard for our first father; he yielded up his faith, his love, his trust in God, his immortality, his virtue, his reliance on the goodness of that heavenly Father, who had so kindly considered his every want, and who would most assuredly have rewarded his persevering obedience with his signal favour and renewed blessings ;-all this he relinquished for the sake of his captivating seducer, and hearkening unto her voice, received from her hand the forbidden fruit, and did eat also.

Had Adam, however, proved victorious in this combat, it is very far from certain that his state of trial would have then been terminated. When the