the sea, even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me!"* "I heard Thy voice," said Adam, "and was afraid, because I was naked, and hid myself."

Ah! it was because the voice of the Lord, which now was heard in Eden, was not that voice which had pronounced that every thing was good, and had blessed its happy creature. The voice of the Lord comes this time "with the wind of the day,† walking in the garden." The generality of interpreters see in these words, simply an intimation of that breeze which is felt in the morning and in the dusk of the evening. But do they not rather imply, that the voice of the Lord is borne upon the wings of a tempestuous wind, which now for the first time howls through the groves of Eden? "He maketh the winds his messengers, his ministers a flaming fire." "The voice of the Lord is powerful, the voice of the Lord is full of majesty; the voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire;

Ps. cxxxix. 7—11.

See marginal reading. Ps. civ. 4. See Heb. i. 7.

the voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness." Scarcely has sin polluted the earth, when all nature is filled with gloomy terror. The disordered elements proclaim the violation of that harmony, which prevailed between the creature and the Creator. The impetuosity of the wind batters and uproots the plants which adorned Eden, blasts their balmy flowers, despoils them of their fresh verdure and of their delicious fruits. Dark and menacing clouds overcast an atmosphere charged with the displeasure of the Most High, which frequent flashes of lightning fearfully express. Guilty man has fled, and sought in vain a refuge amid the trees of the garden.

Always, my brethren, always shall the voice of the Lord be heard against sin. Ever since that solemn day when God placed man in a state of responsibility from which he can never escape, the voice of the Lord has been heard against all sin, and never will it let it pass unpunished. Ever since that solemn day when God proclaimed His holy law from Mount Sinai, amid thunderings and lightnings, and clouds, and earthquake, and annexed to it this sanction: "Cursed is every

one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them," the voice of the Lord has been heard against every violation of that law, pronouncing its malediction. And if that terrible voice comes not upon the wings of the wind, as in Eden, where Adam trembled when no one accused him, it is heard in the recesses of a guilty conscience, where it echoes by anticipation the tremendous sentence which it shall pronounce at the last day. If Adam flees from the voice of God before it accuses him, what shall we do in "that great and terrible day of the Lord, when the elements being on fire shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and when the Judge of the Universe, coming in His glory with all His holy angels, shall take vengeance on all them that know not God, and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ?" What shall the voice of the Lord then be against sin, and what shall be the despair of those, who, wishing, like Adam, to flee, and not being able, shall say unto the mountains, Fall upon us, and unto the rocks, Hide us from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb!

Shall the voice of the Lord, then, be silent against sin? No, my brethren, no; never, never! It will follow down into the lowest depths of the place of reprobation those who shall have despised that voice when it proclaimed mercy and pardon, and it will be in their remembrance, the worm that never dieth, and the fire that is never quenched. Sinis an indelible stain upon an immortal soul, unless it be washed away by the blood of the New Covenant, which cleanseth from all sin.

Yet after having caused His fearful voice to be heard in Eden, the Lord speaks to ruined man. He calls him. If it be to bring him to judgment, what will become of a creature who hath failed to fulfil the end of his being, and, in a manner, frustrated the design of God? How shall I give thee up, O Ephraim! How shall I deliver thee, O Israel! Mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger; I will not return to destroy Ephraim, for I am God, and not man; the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. No, the Lord does not utterly destroy His guilty creature; He does not yet

even pronounce against him the sentence of condemnation, which He afterwards utters as "the wages of sin." He does not abandon man to his own misery; He pities his deplorable condition; He wills that he should be constrained to acknowledge Him, even in His judgments, as a God "slow to anger."

Where art thou? saith the Lord to Adam, covered with confusion, and not yet repentant, where art thou? O my creature, O sovereign of this universe, into what a gulf of misery thou hast precipitated thyself! Thou, whom I loved, thou wast so happy in communion with Me, where art thou? Thou who wast clothed with majesty and innocence, thou on whose brow I had planted a ray of mine own glory, where art thou? How great is thy disgrace! How great the bitterness of thy remorse! What a voice, my brethren, what a voice of mercy! How calculated to make the two guilty inmates of Eden look within themselves, to show them the depth of their fall, and to lead them, humbled and repenting, to the feet of their Creator, to see if they might find grace and pardon with Him!

And you, my beloved brethren, you who have all likewise sinned, have you never