say. But from our inquiries as to the velocity of light, we learn that some of the stars are so far from us, that if they were not created earlier than the time when our first parents were created, the light from them would not yet have reached us; so that since they are visible, they must have emitted light sooner than the above date. Fifth day: the production of all kinds of fishes and fowl. Sixth day: cattle and all animals that creep upon the earth; and lastly, man.

There appear to be two accounts of the creation given in the first two chapters of Genesis. In the first chapter there is a full and detailed account, as we have just seen; in the second is a brief summary. But this latter contains a more particular record of the creation of Eve. From the first chapter we should have concluded that Adam and Eve were created at the same time; but we afterwards learn that Eve was taken from a rib of Adam's body, in order, no doubt, to produce a strong feeling of union between them, and to show that the woman was to be subordinate to the man; for without some subordination there could be no real harmony or happiness.

From what is told of our first parents, we clearly learn that they were born free from sin; but, at the same time, that they had the power of sinning, that is, they possessed a freewill, by the exercise of which they could either obey or disobey their Maker. And in order that their obedience, which they owed to God as their Creator and Preserver, might be tested, they were told of one single restriction that was put upon their wishes. They were placed in a beautiful garden called Eden, and were allowed to eat the fruit of every tree that grew there save one; and they were warned that if they ate that, they should surely die. We know too well that this command, simple as it was, was disobeyed; and that God cut them off from companionship with himself, turned them out of the garden of Eden, and cursed the ground for their sakes, telling them that it should bring forth thorns and thistles; and that man should have to labour hard for his daily food, and at length return to the dust out of which he was originally formed.

But while he thus severely punished them, he gave them hopes of being rescued from the degradation and apparently hopeless state into

which they had fallen through their disobedience. For he promised them a deliverer who should bruise the head, and destroy the power, of him who had tempted them to sin.

They soon found by sad experience in their own family, that the sinful nature of which they had become partakers was transmitted to their posterity, as was too plainly seen in the conduct of Cain. And the contrast between the posterity of Seth and of Cain showed them very clearly that there were to be "sons of God," and "children of men," or, as Scripture calls their descendants in after-ages, "the church of God," and "the world lying in wickedness."

CONVERSATION ON CHAPTER I.

Daughter. You have not mentioned that it was the serpent who tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit.

Father. No; but I was just going to tell you, that though it is not told us in the early part of Scripture, yet we know that it was not the mere serpent that did this, but it was Satan

who was allowed to assume the form of a

serpent.

D. Who is Satan?

F. A fallen angel. Of him and many others it is said, "The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."

D. Why should he tempt our first parents? F. From hatred against God who had punished his rebellion, and from a wretched desire to make others miserable as well as himself; for those who have brought themselves into misery by their own misconduct are often anxious to draw others into the same unhappy state, even though they have received no provocation whatever from them.

D. How is it God permitted Satan to tempt Adam and Eve?

F. We can hardly answer that question satisfactorily. But if once we allow that God could, without hardship, impose a law upon his own creature, man, we should expect that he would make him capable of obeying or of disobeying, ¿. e., of retaining his original purity, or of falling into sin. And if there was to be any

test of obedience, there must have been temptation somewhere. The very existence of a law and of the forbidden fruit implied that there was an object of temptation. And it mattered very little whether the temptation came solely from the forbidden object, or from the persuasion of another. Indeed, if there had been no tempter from without, and Adam had yielded, men would have been induced to say, as many have said, that God was the author of sin.

Moreover, Satan's temptation could not make the enticement one whit stronger, or the penalty any lighter, in spite of all his falsehoods. And we know that our first parents were capable of resisting transgression, because it is clear that they were some little time in a state of innocence; for it is told us that God was accustomed to walk with Adam in the garden, in the cool of the day.