The Fall

The effect of the fall was shame, the never-failing companion of sin. "They knew that they were naked." The image of God was gone. Their native robe of innocence was gone. Their peace and purity were gone. Awful condition! They were indeed naked and exposed to all the terrors ofincensed justice, without a covering from its wrath. Another effect of the fall was the darkness of the mind. "They hid themselves from the presence of Lord God among the trees of the garden." Amazing blindness! to hide themselves from that Being, who eyes are brighter than ten thousand suns; who fill heaven and earth with his presence, and from whom no secrets are hid. Slavish fear was another fruit of the fall. When God asked Adam why he hid himself, he replied, "I was afraid." Ah! what inward torment did sin produce in the soul of our first parents! How changed their condition! They are now afraid to look upon Him whose presence was their heaven and their joy. Impiety and impenitence were also the baneful offspring of the fall. When God charged Adam with eating of the tree whereof he commanded that he should not eat, Adam replied, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat." Mark the impiety. "The woman whom you gave to be with me;" thus charging the guilt upon the Almighty: as if he had said, "If you had never given me this woman, I would have never sinned against you." Oh! the impious insult upon divine benevolence, goodness, and love. Then mark also the impenitence of Adam; "she gave me of the tree and I did eat;" thus throwing the blame of his eating upon Eve; as if he were compelled to eat because she presented the fruit to him; and as if his own will had no part in it. We see here no conviction of sin—no confession of guilt—no contrition on account of it. The garden of Eden exhibited no signs of penitence, no brokenness of heart; nothing but hardness and obduracy. Eve was just as bad as her husband. She, in like manner, endeavored to exculpate herself by saying, "The serpent beguiled me and I did eat." Thomas Reade

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