If we hold fast to this difference, the objection of Rothe will not hold : ' The religious-moral perfection of the first parents of our race would exclude all jisycholog- ical possibility of the fall.' But this possibility is ex- plained by the creation of man, who, as it were, stands out of God ; not holy and perfect like God, and j'et not a mere creature like the beast : he is not under and in the law of necessity, but possesses the likeness of God and freedom. The perfection of a creature is not divine, not absolute. The want of such perfection in a creature casts no shadow upon the Creator. Ac- cording to the doctrines of Emanation and Pantheism, which mix God and the world, the fall cannot be ex- plained, but only according to the doctrines of God and of the creation. "When, then, hj the creation, God set free beings out of himself, then the possible departure from God was given, and the question, A\'herefore did not God hinder the evil that he fore- saw? is entirely inadmissible. God docs not prevent evil, because \.y so doing, contrarj' to his own will, he would injure and destroj' the province of freedom (the divine image). Thus our Saviour did not hinder the murderous blows of his enemies, while at the same time he did not will or excuse them. In like man- ner, God was Lord over the parents of our race and over the serpent; but if he by his own will restrained his highest power, and left free play-room to free cre- ated beings, and ."-till retains the government, he is not therefore destitute of power, but only consistent, and worthj' to be adored. Man should rather complain of himself, but give thanks to God that he has endow- ed him with such prerogatives, and glorify him with soul and 1 ody, which are God's. There was no neces- sity at all to sin ; that complaint can only Le estab- lished on the ground that, as Rothe teaches, evil inev- itably developed itself. Besides, from the beginning of the world God had provided for the human race, whose fall he foresaw, the most perfect means of grace and gifts, in order to make that injury abundantly good, and to lead back the fallen ones to himself and his kingdom. Indeed, as all evil, so also must the sin of our first parents redound to the praise of the merciful God, because Isy it was conditioned tlie mis- sion of the second Adam as the Redeemer of the world. But the possibility of the fall without blame to the Cre- ator being admitted, another question arises : Through what incitement did it become a reality? Even to this question the Scriptures give a satisfactory answer: it took place through outward prompting — through evil spiritual influence, which was already existing in cre- ation. Upon the basis of a created but stillspiritual existence, the possibility of being moved and poisoned ly an influence at enmity with God must be admitted. The inexperience of our first parents, who were not isolated in the new world, coiTcsponded exactlj' with the subtlety of Satan in the form of a serpent. The kingdom of Satan, as a spiritual power, and the pecca- bility of the first pair, whose pure self-determination was ensnared and obscured through that power, fur- nish a satisfactory explanation of the fall. The fall itself was certainly a free self-determination, other- wise no blame could attach to it ; but not altogether so : both the decision and the guilt were shared \.y the devil, as the murderer from the beginning: it was a co-operation of human freedom with the temptation of the evil principle itself. But, according to the Scrip- ture account, the temptation of our first parents was gradual, and the motives to the fall are thus psycho- logically clear. First of all, the serpent raised a doubt concerning the divine prohibition and the ruinous con- sequences of sin : ' Yea, hath God said. Ye shall not cat of every tree of the garden ?' ' Ye shall net sure- ly die.' Then he awakened pride, inducing man to overleap his appointed condition to become like God, and to use his freedom arbitrarily, and according to his own pleasure : ' God dotli know that in tlie day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened, and
FALL OF MAN
475
FALLOW-DEER