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I. THE GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE FIRST SIN.

1. Creating uncertainty in the mind as to duty towards God.

2. Nourishing the hope that God is not in earnest.

3. Producing a doubt as to God's goodness and sincerity.

II. THE SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE FIRST SIN.

1. Contaminating.

2. Destructive to human love.

3. Bringing men morally to the same level.

4. The precursor of physical suffering.

III. THE IMMEDIATE EFFECT OF THE FIRST SIN.

1. Burdening the soul with guilt.

2. Disturbing its peace with fear.

3. Obliterating its true conceptions of God.

IV. THE PUNISHMENT OF THE FIRST SIN.

1. Its punishment shows that sin is foreign to our nature.

2. That sin and punishment are linked together.

3. That God is just in its punishment.

4. That God is willing to pardon sin.

5. That liberty is not without its attendant risks.

6. That knowledge without holiness is dangerous.

(Homilist.)

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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?'"