This forbidden tree had something in it, that, to us, seems very strange. It was to impart knowledge; and as the fruit was inviting to the eye, and a desire existing to obtain knowledge, Eve fell a victim to her unfortunate curiosity. Nor was this all. Until Eve ate thereof, it appears that the happy couple did not perceive their want of clothing. Instantly they set to work to repair this first mishap, by sewing leaves together to make aprons. But in this stage of the business, the Lord seems to have some compassion left, for he, “_the Lord, made coats of skins and clothed them_”—poor Adam and Eve being ignorant of the strength and durability of leaf aprons. We may suppose the Lord as thinking or saying to Adam,—“Why, this will never do; you must have something more lasting, or else, by every wind that blows, you will be no more than a bundle of tattered rags.” Soon, therefore, by the Lord’s assistance, poor Adam and Eve jumped into a new suit of clothes! And, to make sure of man’s destruction, by taking that which was forbidden, the serpent was permitted to point out the advantages that would follow; so that the appearance of the fruit, and the desire to get knowledge, urged on by the serpent, together with Eve’s ignorance that any thing like lying existed in the Garden of Eden, the disobedience of our first parents was, by ninety-nine chances out of a hundred, secured, and the damnation of their posterity made sure. Now, to ascribe such conduct to God, such barefaced design to quarrel with his new creation, is horrid in the extreme, and would disgrace (bad as it is said he is) the very Devil himself. And if the account is not true, if the facts, as recorded, did not take place, but are altogether to be considered as an allegory, then it follows, that human redemption is an allegory, also; and the whole fabric of the Jewish and Christian religion falls to the ground.