A professed dislike, and (which is worse) contempt of the gracious covenant which God had made with him; and (7.) Disobedience to the express command of his Creator.

This sin will also appear to be an aggravated sin if we consider (1.) That it was committed against as great knowledge as ever any mere man had; (2.) That it was an ill requital of the kindness of God to him, and the care of God for him: he sinned against the clearest light and dearest love that ever sinner sinned against; (3.) That the command broken was neither hard to understand, hard to remember, nor hard to obey; (4.) That there was all the reason in the world why he should obey, and nothing that deserves to be called a reason why he should not; (5.) That the temptation was not very strong. An apple (if it were so) was, one would think, no great tempting thing. 'Twas a transgression without cause. Ps. xxv. 3; (6.) That there was no enemy in the garrison; no corruption, I mean, in his bosom, to betray Adam to this sin: nay, the freedom of his will was such that he had a power, and the holiness and rectitude of his will such that he could not but have an inclination, to resist it; (7.) That he turned aside quickly; Exod. xxxii. 8; he kept his integrity but a very little while; (8.) That the place where this sin was committed was paradise; that sweet place of holiness

and happiness; at the sea, even the Red Sea; Ps. cvi. 7; and lastly, that this sin was the first sin; a fountain and foundation of sin; that this opened the gap which all the sin and misery that has been ever since, and will be to eternity, came in at. Now, laying all this together, it will appear that though this sin, at first sight, looks like a small matter, and not deserving the death threatened, yet that it was an exceeding sinful sin.

7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

Their conscience was soon awake, after they had sinned; their hearts smote them, like David's, when he had numbered the people. 2 Sam. xxiv. 10. Before their sin, they could not see what an evil and a bitter thing it was to depart from God; they could not see the sad effects and consequences of sin; but now their eyes were opened, and they did see it. They saw the happiness they had fallen from, and the misery they were fallen into. They saw a loving God provoked, his grace and favour forfeited,—his likeness and image lost,-dominion over the creatures gone; in a word, they saw themselves stript of

all their paradise privileges. They saw (and it was a sad sight) their nature corrupted, a law in their members warring against the law of their minds, (Rom. vii. 23,) and themselves, with all their posterity, exposed to all miseries both in this life and in that which is to come. Thus their eyes were opened; thus they experimentally knew good and evil; good, by the loss of it; evil, by the sense of it.

They knew that they were naked. So they did before, but now they knew it with shame and confusion of face. Shame is the fruit of sin; sometimes, shame in the world before men; always, either the shame of true repentance, which ends in glory, or that shame and everlasting contempt, to which the wicked shall rise at the great day. Dan. xii. 2.

They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. When they saw their nakedness, they did what they could to cover it, and yet alas! it was but a poor shift. Just like these aprons are all the pretences which sinners make to excuse themselves when they have sinned.

8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the

LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

Perhaps the offenders were not arraigned immediately after the commission of the sin. God let them alone awhile, to feel where they were; and it may be they were ready to say, peace, peace; to bless themselves in their own way, (though a wicked way,) till their iniquity was found hateful, and that it was quickly. Observe,

1. The place where, in the garden; the very place where, not long before, they had enjoyed sweet communion with God, and received gracious evidences of his love to them; in the place where it was said, ye are my people, (Hos. i. 10,) in that very place was it said to them, ye are not my people; in the garden; the very place where they had sinned.

2. The Judge before whom,-JEHOVAH, God blessed for ever, who had authority to reckon with them; for though he gives not to us an account of any of his matters, yet he expects that we should give an account to him. 'Twas the God they had provoked, -whose law they had broken,-whose majesty they had offended,-whose love they had despised. 'Twas fit then that he should examine them about it.

3. The time when,-in the cool of the day; that is, in the afternoon, towards evening. God did not

H

come in the night;-that would have been much more dreadful and terrible: not in the heat of the day, but in the cool of the day, noting a calmness of spirit.

4. The manner of the Judge's coming,-not in thunder and lightning; no, the Lord was not in the fire, the Lord was not in the earthquake; 1 Kings xix. 11; but (as there, v. 12. so here,) in a still small voice. Walking,-not riding upon the wings of the wind, but walking; for he is slow to anger, though swift to show mercy. He did not, as men too often do, pass sentence rashly. They heard his voice; he gave them warning by this voice, which was like a trumpet sounded before the judge, to give the prisoners notice of his coming. Some think this voice was the thunder. Ps. xxix. 3. It was more probably God's calling, Adam, Adam; or, as some conceive, discoursing with himself concerning the sin of Adam, as he afterwards reasoned with sinful Jerusalem. Isa. v. 1-6.

5. The offenders' flight: they hid themselves; either for shame, because they were naked,—or for fear, because they were guilty. Flight argues guilt. Nothing is more desirable to a guilty sinner, than a hole to hide his head in, when an offended God comes. Rocks and mountains are welcome then. Rev. vi. 16. Before they sinned, it was otherwise with them: