Gen. iii. 11 — 13. Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof 1 com- manded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done ? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
THE immediate effects of sin are not easily dis- covered by us at this time : for if we look for them in ourselves, our partiality and self-love conceal them from us ; and if we look for them in others, the uni- versal prevalence of those effects prevents us from ascribing them to their proper cause. To see them in their true colours, we should be able to contrast the habits of some person during a state of inno- cence with those which he manifests after the commission of sin. Doubtless there are glaring in- stances of iniquity, from the investigation of which we may gather instruction : but we shall make our observations to the greatest advantage, if we exa- mine the records respecting the conduct of our first parents after their unhappy fall. The accounts given of them are not indeed very full and circum- stantial ; yet the narration, brief as it is, is sufficient to elucidate the immediate influence of sin upon the mind, as well as its remoter consequences in the destruction of the soul. There are two things in particular which we shall be led to notice from the words before us ;
I. The way in which men betray their consciousness of guilt —
Mark the conduct of our first parents. While they were innocent, they were strangers either to shame or fear : but instantly after their transgression, they made coverings for themselves of fig-leaves, and fled from the presence of their God. Here we may behold ourselves as in a glass : they have set a pat- tern to us which all their posterity have followed :
32 GENESIS, III. 11— 13. [g.
however men may affect to be innocent, they all be- tray their consciousness of guilt in these two things ;
1. They conceal themselves from themselves, and from each other —
[Knowing that their hearts are depraved, and that, if narrowly inspected, they would exhibit a most disgusting ap- pearance, men will not turn their eyes inwards. They will not examine the motives and principles of their actions : they cast a veil over the workings of pride and ambition, of envy and malice, of falsehood and covetousness, of carnality and selfishness : and then, because they see no evil in their actions, they hastily conclude there is none. And so success- ful are they in hiding from themselves their own deformity, that when all around them are even amazed at the impro- priety of their conduct, they take credit to themselves for virtuous principles and laudable deportment.
If we should attempt to open their eyes, and to set before them their own picture, they would not even look at it, but would be offended with our fidelity, and condemn us as desti- tute of either charity or candour.
Now, would men act in this manner if they had not a secret consciousness that all was not right within ? Would they not rather be glad of any assistance whereby they might discover any latent evil ; or, at least, be glad to " come to the light, that their deeds might be made manifest that they were wrought in God ? "
There is the still greater anxiety in men to hide their shame from each other. The whole intercourse of mankind with each other is one continued system of concealment. All endeavour to impose on others, by assuming the appearances of virtue; but no one will give credit to his neighbour for being as guiltless in his heart as he seems to be in his con- duct. A thorough knowledge of a person whose principles have been tried, will indeed gain our confidence : but who has so good an opinion of human nature in general as to com- mit his wife or daughter to the hands of a perfect stranger ; or to give him unlimited access to all his treasures ; or even to take his word, where he can as easily obtain a legal secu- rity ? But, if men were not conscious of depravity -within themselves, why should they be so suspicious of others ? The fact is, they know themselves to have many corrupt propen- sities ; and justly concluding that human nature is the same in all, they feel the necessity of withholding confidence where they have not been warranted by experience to place it.]