thing according to the pattern shewn to him in the mount." It is thus also with respect to all the most remarkable events recorded in the Bible, whether they relate to the Jewish, patriarchal, or antediluvian ages ; they were all, in some respect, figurative and emblematical. Amongst these we must certainly number the fall of man, with all its attendant circumstances : the covenant made with him, the means by which he was induced to violate it, the way provided for his recovery, were all of lasting and universal importance. In like manner, the facts specified in our text must be regarded, not as mere uninteresting casualties, but as occur- rences of most mysterious import. In God's con- duct towards our first parents, as it is here related, we may see,
I. The manner in which He illustrated to them his promised salvation —
Our first parents, feeling in themselves the sad effects of their fall, " sewed fig-leaves together and made themselves aprons," or rather, twined together the tender branches of the fig-tree for girdles. But God was pleased to clothe them in another manner, even with the skins of beasts ; and thus to direct their attention to,
1. The blood of atonement —
[We are not expressly told, that the animals which were slain on this occasion were offered in sacrifice ; but if we duly weigh the reasons for believing that God ordered them to be slain for this purpose, we can scarcely entertain any doubt upon the subject.
In the first place, we may be sure that the offering of sacri- fices was not an institution of man's device ; and that, if it were, it could not be pleasing and acceptable to God. How could it enter into the mind of man to imagine, that the blood of a beast could make any satisfaction to God for sin ? What connexion is there between the blood of a beast and the sin of man? There was much more reason to think that God would be displeased with the unauthorized destruction of his creatures, than that he would be so pleased with it as to forgive the iniquities of mankind on account of it. Moreover, had not God himself enjoined this method of propitiating his