evinceth thee as guilty of the breach of my law; speak out therefore more plainly against thyself. Hast thou not eaten of that fruit, whereof alone I charged thee, upon so fearful a pain, that thou shouldest not eat? 12. "And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat."]-Then Adam, still desiring to put off the blame from himself, said, It is true, I have eaten indeed; but the fault was not so much mine; for, lo, the woman, which was of thine own choosing and giving, she drew me to this sin; which of myself I should not have easily yielded to. 13. "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."]-And the Lord God said unto the woman; How is it that thou hast committed so heinous a crime, both to eat thyself, and to draw thy husband into sin with thee? And the woman said, Alas! Lord, how did I think that any of thy creatures would have thus betrayed us? behold, the serpent, a creature of thine own making, beguiled me with false promises, and induced me, in simplicity, to eat of it. 14. "And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life."]-Then God, not examining any further, began to pronounce sentence upon the serpent; and said, Because thou hast been used as an instrument to destroy mankind, thou shalt be most execrable and detestable above all either cattle or wild beast; and, whereas thou didst lift up thyself to deceive the woman, now thou shalt for ever crawl upon thy belly, in an ugly and horrible fashion; and as thou hast brought man back again to the dust, so thou shalt eat the dust of the earth while thou livest. 16. "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee."]-Unto the woman, which was the next instrument of this sin, God said, I will greatly increase those sorrows which are proper to thy sex, and those especially which shall follow upon thy conceptions. And whereas thou shouldest have had children born without sin and born without pain, now, seeing thou hast sought too much unlawful pleasure, thou shalt, in much anguish and sore throes of travail, bring forth children; and as thou hast won thy husband, in this ne wact, to follow thee, so for ever thine appetite shall be subject to thy husband, and curbed by him at pleasure, and he shall with more command and inequality rule over thee in all thine actions. 17. "And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;"]-Also to Adam he said, Because thou hast yielded to the evil persuasions of thy wife and not to me, and hast eaten of that tree whereof alone I so deeply charged thee not to eat; behold, that earth, which I made and fitted for thy use, shall now, because of thy sin, be accursed to thee, with barrenness and evil fruit; with much toil and pain shalt thou procure and eat the fruit thereof all the days of thy life: 18. "Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;"]—And when thou hast done thy best to it, it shall deceive thy hope; and, instead of wholesome grain, shall yield thee thorns and thistles: and thou, that hast thus pleased thy taste, shalt no more eat of the pleasant fruit of this garden; but shalt be fain to take up with the herbs and fruit of the field elsewhere. 19. "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."]-And not only with vexation of mind, but with wearisome and extreme labour of body shalt thou procure thy sustenance; and that not for some short time, but till thou return to the earth: for, what proud conceit and hope soever the serpent put into thee of not dying, I tell thee, that, as of the dust of the earth thou wert formed, so now thou art in the state of certain mortality, and to dust shalt thou return. 20. "And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living."]-And Adam, now looking for that perpetuity in his seed which he saw he could not have in himself, called his wife's name Hevah, because she was and should be the mother of all living men; the posterity whereof he saw would be large and manifold. 21. "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them."]-And God the Lord, partly for wholesomeness of body, and partly to put them in mind of their corruption which had made nakedness shameful, prepared skins for Adam and Eve; and taught them both to fashion those skins into garments whereby their whole bodies might be covered, and also to put them on. 22. "And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:"]-Then the Lord God, upbraiding man with his folly, said; See now how well Satan hath performed his promise to man is he not, think you, become like one of us? hath he not gained a goodly meausre of knowledge, both of good and evil? and now heed must be taken lest he should further profane the sacrament of that other tree of life; and double his sin, by hoping as vainly to obtain an eternal life by the fruit thereof, as he hoped for the perfection of knowledge by the other. 23. "Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken."]-Therefore the Lord forced man to go forth of the garden of pleasure, as being unworthy to abide in so goodly a place any more; and set him to till the other baser earth, whence he was taken. 24. "So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life."]-And when God had thus, in disgrace, cast man out of paradise, that he might utterly cut off all hope of his return, he placed on the east side of Eden, where the entrance was, angels with flaming swords, continually shaken, to be guarders thereof; which, until the defacing thereof by the flood, duly kept it from all possibility of reentering; as in regard of the whole garden, so especially of the tree of life, which God would not have touched by man in this estate of his corruption. IV. 1. "And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD."] -Then Adam, after his banishment out of paradise, had carnal knowledge of Evah his wife; which conceived and bare a son, whom she, acknowledging the performance of God's promise and blessing, called Cain, that is, possession; because, said she, I have obtained a man, even after my fall, by the gift of the Lord. 4. "And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering."]--And Abel also himself brought of the first fruits of his flock, and of the fattest and best of them, with a faithful and cheerful heart; and the Lord showed, by some visible testimony, that he did graciously accept both Abel's person and offering. 5. "And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell."]And Cain was exceedingly moved with anger and envy against God and his brother; and bewrayed extreme discontentment in his countenance, which was now churlish and dejected. 7. "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou dost not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him."]-If thou do well, and offer in faith, is there any doubt but thou shalt be accepted as well as thy brother? but if thou do amiss, both the conscience of thy sin shall be ever ready to afflict and torment thee, and the due revenge of sin shall continually wait upon thee: and, as for thy brother, there is no cause of heart-burning towards him; for, both by nature and his own will, he is subject unto thee, and thou, as the elder brother, mayest command him. 9. "Am I my brother's keeper?"]-Am I to wait upon my younger brother, or should not he rather attend upon me? Why shouldest thou ask an account of him from me? 10. "And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground."]-Again God said, What villany is this that thou hast done? Behold, how silent soever thou be in the confession of thy sin, the blood of thy brother, which thou hast shed, cries loud in my ears out of the earth for vengeance against thee. II. "And now art thou cursed from the earth, which, &c."]Now, therefore, cursed be thou, both in thy pains which thou bestowest upon the ground, and in thy flight from this earth which hath, &c. 12. "When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth."]--And wheresoever thou shalt bestow thy pains in tilling the ground, it shall not henceforth yield thee her wonted increase; neither shalt thou be able to settle thyself any where: for thine unquiet conscience shall not suffer thee to rest, but shall drive thee from place to place, so as thou shalt be a miserable vagabond and runagate in the earth. 13. "And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater it than I can bear."]-Then Cain said unto the Lord, Alas, how 14. "Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of 15. 16. "And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and 23. "And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear |