himself was one of nakedness and shame. Had he lost man's rich inheritance and God's behest, dominion over all the earth? No! This had never been bestowed on Adam.
Genesis iii. 11, 12. And He said, Who told thee that
thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I
commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat? And the man
said. The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave
me of the tree, and I did eat.
Here there is an attempt to trace all human errors
directly or indirectly to God, or good, as if He were the
The beguiling first lie
creator of evil. The allegory shows that the
snake-talker utters the first voluble lie, which
beguiles the woman and demoralizes the man. Adam,
alias mortal error, charges God and woman with his own
dereliction, saying, “The woman, whom Thou gavest
me, is responsible.” According to this belief, the rib taken
from Adam's side has grown into an evil mind, named
woman, who aids man to make sinners more rapidly than
he can alone. Is this an help meet for man?
Materiality, so obnoxious to God, is already found in the rapid deterioration of the bone and flesh which came from Adam to form Eve. The belief in material life and intelligence is growing worse at every step, but error has its suppositional day and multiplies until the end thereof. Truth, cross-questioning man as to his knowledge of False womanhood error, finds woman the first to confess her fault. She says, “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat;” as much as to say in meek penitence, “Neither man nor God shall father my fault.” She has already learned that corporeal sense is the serpent. Hence
