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I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES.

1. The instrument used for the temptation. A tree.

2. The agent in conducting the temptation. The serpent.

3. The mode by which the temptation was conducted to its issue.

II. THE MORAL CHANCE which the success of this great temptation produced and perpetuated.

1. The nature of the change. A change of character. Depravity and alienation from God.

2. The extent and application of this change beyond those who submitted to it. Universal.

III. THE PENAL INFLICTIONS which in consequence of the success of the great temptation and its attendant moral changes have been incurred.

1. Exclusion from paradise.

2. Corporeal sorrow and toil.

3. The consignment of the body to death.

4. Exposure to future and eternal punishment.CONCLUDING LESSONS:

1. The voluntariness of sin. Let no one for a moment suppose that man sins by decree; he is saved by decree, but he is not lost by decree. Besides the voluntariness of sin which is one truth which requires to be acknowledged, another is the universality of sin. "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God."

2. But it is vastly important, that the remedy provided against the consequences of man's fall should be at once and gratefully embraced.

(James Parsons, M. A.)

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KJV: Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

WEB: Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, "Has God really said, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?'"