his entertaining any hard thoughts of God, she hereby em- boldened him to prosecute his purpose in a more direct and open maimer.
Improving the advantage he had already gained, he pro- ceeded to question in direct terms the grounds of her fears, in relation to the penalty : " Ye shall not surely die." He here intimates, that she must be mistaken with respect both to the extent and certainty of the penalty. God could never threaten "death" for such an offence as that: he could threaten nothing worse even for the most heinous transgres- sion that could be committed : how then could he annex that to so small a matter as the eating of a piece of fruit? At least, if he did put forth his threat, he certainly would never execute it; "Ye shall not surely die:" it could not be, that a just and good God should ever proceed to such rigorous measures on so slight an occasion. By this daring assertion, he quite disarmed her; and persuaded her, that she must have misunderstood the divine declaration, or, at least, that it never could be carried into effect.]
2. With advantage —
[Finding that Eve did not revolt at his impious asser- tions, he went on to direct and open blasphemy. He knew, that to an intelligent and holy being nothing was so desirable as knowledge : he therefore affirmed, that there was in the fruit of that tree a virtue capable of wonderfully enlarging her views, so that she and her husband should " become as gods," and possess a self-sufficiency and independence suited to th?tt high character. In confirmation of this, he appeals to God himself; and blasphemously insinuates, that God, in with- holding the fruit from them, had been actuated by nothing but envy, and a jealousy, lest they should become as wise and happy as himself.
Such was the temptation with which that " old serpent" assaulted Eve ; hoping that, if he could prevail with her, he might, through her influence, overcome her husband also.]
Happy would it have been, if we could have re- ported of them, as we can of the second Adam, that they repelled the Tempter. But, in following the course of their history, we are constrained to notice,
II. Their sin —
Eve, overpowered by the alluring aspect of the fruit, and the hope of attaining a knowledge as supe- rior to what she already possessed, as this serpent's was to that of all the rest of the creation, ate of the