CHAPTER XIII.

GENESIS ii. 9.

And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

THERE was, as we have noticed, another tree, standing in the midst of the garden of Eden, with the history of which we are importantly concerned: it was called "the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” A deeper mystery hangs about this tree than that which is upon the tree of life. The frequent reference of the Scriptures to the tree of life, gives much of interpretation of it and its use; but this one, not in like manner referred to, is enveloped, as it were, in thickest darkness,-one proper effect of the violation of the command which prohibited the eating of it. Our inquiry in respect of it must be very cautious and very humble: all mere speculation must be avoided with scrupulous exactness: no wandering of the imagination must be suffered: we must proceed on scriptural ground alone, narrow as may seem the pathway of it, not turning to the right hand or to the left.

This tree, we are informed, was planted in Paradise by God; which information tells us, that, if abstained from, there was nothing in its design hostile to the interests of man; thus the goodness of the Creator, in the planting of it, is unimpeachable; for Paradise, from the very signification of the term, could not have admitted or contributed to its growth, if its nature or character had been malignant and noxious. That the eating of it was, in the result, destructive to man, is not to be ascribed to any innate evil in the tree, but to man's abuse of its property and intention; and, since God formed nothing without a benevolent purpose, at the close of each work, pronouncing it to be "good," we may be sure that, if man had passed his probation satisfactorily, it would, in some way or other to us now secret, have been applied to the augmentation of his happiness, or, at least, to the continuance of his enjoyment. It was placed in Paradise, and within man's reach. Why it was placed within his reach, when the touch of it was death, can appear to us only as with a purpose of probation, or trial. The other purposes, which God had in it, I repeat, we are and must be ignorant of; and that there might have been purposes connected with us and our welfare, which would thereafter have been perceptible, had man retained his innocence, but which his disobedience frustrated, is accordant with every notion we have of God, His wisdom, and His goodness; this, however, is a subject upon which we cannot enter, as we have no revelation of it: besides which, it would carry us out

into questions regarding the fall, whereas our present proposal is but of creation, and the condition of man before the happening of the fall; and all such inquiry as it would cause us to make, as concerning this tree, would not and could not bring us nearer to the understanding of it. The planting of it, and the nature of it, so far as the words which acquaint us with its existence, and with the effect which the application to it would produce, are all with which we have to do-all, upon which we can gain any instructive knowledge. The only safe way in which we can look to it, is as of probation, it having been to man the means of probation, and that in which he wretchedly failed; the consequences of his failure are, unhappily, too evident to us. To the violation of God's prohibitory command, death was promised; and, on violation of it, death did ensue; death, moral and physical. The subject is awful, and not to be approached without fear and trembling.

The tree is called "the tree of knowledge of good and evil" this is the appellation given to it in the verse which narrates its planting or growing; and this is likewise the appellation by which God makes it known to Adam, and in which He forbids the eating of it. The words " knowledge of good and evil" undoubtedly have a meaning, in which the nature and the effect of the tree, as unto man, are necessarily intended; and, it can be no undue prying into the secret things, that we endeavour to explain them, provided, it is again and again to be urged,

that we confine ourselves to them.

We know the

tree but under this appellation, and by the effect which it had upon mankind. Some persons have supposed that the name was added to it after the fall and from its effect, man then, when it was too late to see the folly of desiring the knowledge, truly understanding what had been good for him, and what was evil; then seeing that good had lain in abstinence, and that evil had sprung from violation; but, this supposition is, I think, to be rejected. There is no sufficient ground for it. In the history of the planting of Paradise, it is called by this name; and, if that were the only occurrence of it in the chapter containing that history, it would not be adverse to any rules of construction to suppose that Moses was speaking of it, not under its original name, but under a name by which in his days it was generally known; when, however, we find God Himself, in His warning to Adam, describing it by this same name, we are left in the absolute necessity of assuming, that that was the name given to it by the Creator: "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." The name, in all probability, was given from its anticipated effect; from its property, which could not but be known in its utmost extent unto God; and, why should man depart from the plain words of Scripture, when they supply an intelligible and appropriate meaning? why should he endeavour to graft useless theories upon clear declarations and statements?

Most commentators seem to be of opinion, that the name was given because God would try man by this tree whether he would be obedient or disobedient; yet, I doubt the sufficiency of such an interpretation; I do not perceive in it an adequateness to the subject. It, certainly, was that, by which man's obedience, or disobedience was to be known; still, that was the proof, not the effect. The name I hold to have been given by the Creator, from his knowledge, which compassed futurity, of the effect of it, which effect was the knowledge of good and evil. It is thus seen to be very significant. So long as man refrained from it, he would understand there was evil in the touch; he would understand, that the only knowledge he should gain by application to it, would be evil,-the knowledge of evil, corrupting and empoisoning the knowledge of good. It is not to be thought, that, because the word " good" is introduced, the eating of the fruit of the tree would give a better knowledge of good. When Adam was about to transgress, he might have been tempted to think so but, the mixture of evil with good destroys, or noxiously affects, the enjoyment of good. Good he had; and, as he had it in fullest measure, why should he have sought to know more than had been given and revealed? Evil he did not desire; and, he was deceived into an imagination that he might make himself acquainted with the nature of evil, without being noxiously affected by it, a most palpable deceit, as St. Paul would teach us where he says, "I had not known sin but

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