radiance of summer gilds its luxuriant and vast vales, and the golden glories of autumn hang rich and ripe on its majestic and fruitful mountain sides; and confess as you taste and enjoy its abundance, "the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord." And say above all, while you gaze on the glorious lamps suspended from its vaulted canopy, and feel the reviving influences of its cheerful solar fire, "I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live, I will sing praise to my God, while I have my being." May God grant you this grace. Amen and Amen.

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CHAPTER III.

OUR EDEN ANCESTORS.

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AND THE LORD GOD PLANTED A GARDEN EASTWARD IN EDEN; AND THERE HE PUT THE MAN WHOM HE HAD FORMED.' GEN. ii. 8.

HAVING surveyed this beautiful place of earthly abode, with all its delightful scenes, and its profusion of temporal good, we shall now contemplate the person and character, and the situation and circumstances of the favoured beings for whom all this provision of infinite goodness was made. And God said, let us make Adam, let us make MAN, after OUR IMAGE! Here is the solution of the problem that frequently suggested itself while we examined the magnificent house" For whom can it have been built?" The answer has come out at lastThis superb abode was prepared for the convenience and comfort of HAPPY MAN." Now, before God had created the people of the seas, he had prepared for them an ocean dwelling; before He brought the birds of the air into being, He had prepared them a firmament to sport in; before He formed cattle and beasts, He had prepared them herbs to browse, and forest homes, and made every provision for animal happiness; and before he made man, his last and noblest work, He had built him this splendid terrestrial house. All was ready for him. The house was furnished, and gaily too. Every

apartment was replenished with all that was useful, ornamental, and beautiful. The solar fire was kindled, the light of heaven shone brightly on his habitation, and all creation hailed the appearance of this new-made king. Studs of horses pranced fondly about him, flocks of sheep gathered meekly around him to repose at his feet, droves of oxen and herds of cattle looked complacently up to him as their new master, and the birds of paradise sang his welcome to this beautiful world. And whether we contemplate the earthly enjoyments or the heavenly prospects of our Eden ancestors, the impression is forced upon us that their original state was one of immaculate innocence and perfect happiness. Let us consider

1. Their physical perfections.

"I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."-Psa. cxxxix. 14.

Though man had his origin in the dust as to his corporeal nature-for the Lord God formed him of the dust of the ground-yet the very clay which the Great Original Potter was pleased to work up into the beautiful form of the first human body is worthy of our contemplations. Speaking on the interesting subject of the formation of our species, the inspired philosopher says "I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvellous are Thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from Thee when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth." And if it is true of a physical frame that is conceived in sin and shapen in iniquity, that it is one of the liveliest evidences of creative skill, the remark will apply with still greater force to the original constitution of the body of Adam.

Who can reflect on the structure of the human body— on its diversified parts, and their various operations; their intimate connections and their use; on the senses of tasting, smelling, seeing, hearing, and feeling; on the

organs of inspiration, respiration, digestion, and articulation who can meditate on the complete apparatus of circulation-the veins and arteries, tubes and canals, and on the rivers that flow within from the great fountain of life; on the nerves and muscles, and all the grand interior: and who can think of the wholesecurely fenced with bones and sinews, beautifully clothed with flesh, and covered with a porous skin; of the complete system in erect position, and lit up with a countenance that forms an exterior index to the various emotions of the inner man, and surpassing in beauty the vernal morn, or virgin rose, and every other creature on this side heaven: who, we ask, can contemplate such a graceful frame-work, such an exhibition of exquisite workmanship, as this woundrous formation of animate mechanism—this masterpiece of material creation-presents, and not say with the Psalmist, "I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

What we chiefly intend to express, however, is the exemption of this first man from the burning fevers, wasting consumptions, stupifying palsies, chilling agues, and distorting rheums that now fill our bodies with pain, our streets with mourners, and our sepulchres with the dust of our dearest friends. He knew nothing of weakness or lassitude; nothing of sickness or pain. No months of vanity nor wearisome nights were appointed to him; nor tossings too and fro until the dawning of the day. The seeds of corruption had no existence in his original constitution, and the pestilence that walketh in darkness had not yet commenced its march of desolation; neither had the destruction that wasteth at noonday begun its career. A stranger to disease, health bloomed on his countenance, and beauty was fresh on his lovely cheeks. He drank the waters that flowed in crystal streams from living fountains; he fed on fragrant fruits that grew in ripe abundance on the tree of life; and hence his life was one continual progress of youth and bloom, of happiness and immortality.

2. Their spiritual attributes.

"And man became a living soul.”—Gen. ii. 7.

We have a strong desire to impress you with the idea of the immense mental riches with which it pleased our heavenly Father to endow the wonderful ancestors of the illustrious Eden family. And we trust that, however much you may have been interested while contemplating the mechanism of the material body, it will be a subject of still greater interest to reflect on the natural mental attributes of the wonderful spiritual inhabitant of this beautiful tabernacle. For when the beneficent Creator had reared the splendid structure from the dust of the ground, He breathed into the nostrils of man's new-formed body the breath of lives, and man became a living soul." Hence it appears that man is a compound being, made up of matter and mind, a union of flesh and spirit, a wondrous whole, composed of two distinct parts, a material body and an immortal soul: "For there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding." What an astonishing being is man! this twofold creature lives a double life, animal and spiritual; for the original should have been translated, "Jehovah breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives"-corporeal life and intellectual life-and " man became a living soul."

Now, how much soever we may admire the wonderful structure of the human body, graceful in form and astounding in action as it may be-think what you may of its mechanical adaptations, say what you please of its exquisite proportions and organizations, call it the loveliest of all terrestrial beings, the liveliest evidence of creative wisdom, the masterpiece of material creation-yet still it is only the material house where the immaterial spirit lives, the earthly casket where the heavenly jewel is contained; and what is the house compared with the inhabitant? or the casket contrasted with its jewel? or what is the chaff to the wheat?