of fascinating appearance, he addressed himself to Eve,
"Hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"(930) Had
Eve refrained from entering into argument with the tempter, she would have
been safe; but she ventured to parley with him, and fell a victim to his
wiles. It is thus that many are still overcome. They doubt and argue
concerning the requirements of God; and instead of obeying the divine
commands, they accept human theories, which but disguise the devices of
Satan.

"The woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of
the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the
garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it,
lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be
opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."(931) He declared
that they would become like God, possessing greater wisdom than before,
and being capable of a higher state of existence. Eve yielded to
temptation; and through her influence, Adam was led into sin. They
accepted the words of the serpent, that God did not mean what He said;
they distrusted their Creator, and imagined that He was restricting their
liberty, and that they might obtain great wisdom and exaltation by
transgressing His law.

But what did Adam, after his sin, find to be the meaning of the words, "In
the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die"? Did he find them
to mean, as Satan had led him to believe, that he was to be ushered into a
more exalted state of existence? Then indeed there was great good to be
gained by transgression, and Satan was proved to be a benefactor of the
race. But Adam did not find this to be the meaning of the divine sentence.
God declared that as a penalty for his sin, man should return to the
ground whence he was taken: "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou
return."(932) The words of Satan, "Your eyes shall be opened," proved to
be true in this sense only: After Adam and Eve had disobeyed God, their
eyes were opened to discern their folly; they did know evil, and they
tasted the bitter fruit of transgression.

In the midst of Eden grew the tree of life, whose fruit had the power of
perpetuating life. Had Adam remained obedient to God, he would have
continued to enjoy free access to this tree, and would have lived forever.
But when he sinned, he was cut