THE SCRIPTURAL ACCOUNT, 129

The Effects of the First Sin. The effects of sin upon our first parents themselves, were, (1.) Shame, a sense of degradation and pollution. (2.) Dread of the displeasure of God ; or, a sense of guilt, and the consequent desire to hide from his presence. These effects were unavoidable. They prove the loss not only of innocence but of original righteousness, and Avith it of the favour and fellowship of God. The state there- fore to which Adam was reduced by his disobedience, so far as his subjective condition is concerned, was analogous to that of tlie fallen angels. He was entirely and absolutely ruined. It is said that no man becomes thoroughly depraved by one transgression. In one sense this is true. But one transgression by incurring the wrath and curse of God and the loss of fellowship with Him, as ef- fectually invoK^es spiritual death, as one perforation of the heart causes the death of the body ; or one puncture of the eyes involves us in perpetual darkness. The other forms of evil consequent on Adam's disobedience were merely subordinate. They were but the expressions of the divine displeasure and the consequences of that spiritual death in which the threatened penalty essentially consisted.