for ever in a world of trouble. Job vii. 16. How humble should man be, that was not only made of dust, but is dust itself. If Adam had not sinned, he should not have died,-being made immortal by the gift of God, upon condition of perfect obedience; which condition, he not performing, lost the benefit, and became mortal. Death came into the world at the heels of sin; so that in the dust of the grave, in the skulls of the charnel house,-we may see, as in a glass, the sad fruits and effects of sin; that the wages of sin is death. Rom. vi. 23.

From the whole we learn,

1. What an evil and a bitter thing it is to depart from God; that sin unavoidably brings down the wrath of God; and that that wrath is intolerable.

2. What a sad condition every one of us is born in; that we are children of wrath, and heirs of the curse and condemnation. 'Tis good to be often remembering this rock whence we are hewn, and this hole of the pit whence we are digged. Isa. li. 1.

20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

Hitherto we have found her mentioned by no other name but the woman, and his wife; but now

she hath another name, and that of Adam's imposing, which was a token of her further subjection to him. Eve signifies life; and the reason of this name being given is here rendered, because she was the mother of all living. Some think this is mentioned as an instance of Adam's folly, in giving his wife such a glorious name, when he and she both were in such misery. Others take it in a good sense, and consider that Adam comforted himself in the hope of the promised Messiah, who was to be the seed of the woman, and was to quicken and enliven those whom Adam by sin had made dead. Put Adam,-red earth, and Eve,-life, together, and they make a man; for what is man but enlivened clay?

21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

It is a special instance of God's great care of our first parents that, bad as they were, he provided not only food, but also raiment, for them. Thus doth he in the midst of wrath remember mercy. They had provided for themselves fig leaves,-clothing that would last but a while; but God made them coats of skins, which were wider, warmer, and more durable. Such is the difference between our righteous

ness and Christ's: our own is like fig leaves,-a covering narrower than we can wrap ourselves in, as the prophet speaks. Isa. xxviii. 20. Christ's righteousness, like these coats of skins, is large and lasting. 'Tis a garment of God's making, 1 Cor. i. 30; but we must put it on. Gal. iii. 27.

Coats; that is, plain clothing, without any of those impertinencies which the wanton wit of man hath since invented. Isa. iii. 18.

Of skins; the skins of beasts slain for the purpose: not silk, or satin, or velvet,-but plain skins. Though Adam was then the greatest man in the world, yet see how meanly God his father clad him.

The beasts whose skins these were, some think were killed in sacrifice, which was certainly an instituted way of worship not much younger than Adam. "The first thing that dies in the world, is a sacrifice, or Christ in a figure."-LIGHTFOOT.

The killing of these beasts at this time, for this purpose, was perhaps to remind Adam and Eve of their mortality; that whenever they looked at their clothes, they might think of dying.

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:

Here's the execution of the sentence: for God's threatenings are not bugbears to frighten children and fools, but real things. As one of us, to know good and evil. Knowledge is a divine thing: the more we have of it, the more we are like to God. And now lest he put forth. Adam having lost the promise of immortality, there was reason why he should be deprived of the benefit of the tree of life, which was the seal of that promise. The tree of life was sacramental; and now God did for sin excommunicate Adam,-debar him from the sacrament.

23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

Paradise was no longer a place for Adam, now he was become a sinful Adam. He had forfeited his Eden privileges, and was therefore expelled the fruitful garden, and must take up with the barren common, where he had less pleasure and more toil, -where he would soon find the difference between the trees of Eden and the herbs of the field.

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.

Care was taken, not only to put out Adam, but to keep him out, by placing a Cherubim with a flaming sword in his hand, to keep the tree of life. Here we see one sad effect of sin; that by it the holy angels became enemies to man, who before were ministering spirits sent abroad for his good. The angels are enemies to those to whom God is an enemy. When man fell out with God, he fell out with the angels too.

The flaming sword in the angels' hand was to be a standing evidence to Adam that God was angry with him; and that, though he did not for the present inflict the threatened death upon him, yet there were no hopes to attain the forfeited life in the former way.

By these cherubims and this flaming sword, it is intimated to us, that the way of spotless innocency was now no longer the way to acceptance with God, either for Adam or any of his children. So that those that hope to be saved by their own perfect, personal, and perpetual obedience, will prove mis