Thus all these things are historical facts. This is a point which I am repeatedly admonishing every hearer and reader to bear in mind, lest he should be stumbled by the authority of some of the fathers, who leaving pure and positive history turn aside to hunt allegories. It is on this ground that I am so partial to Lyra and so willingly rank him with the best of commentators. He always carefully abides by and follows history. And although he sometimes permits himself to be swayed by the authority of the fathers, yet he never suffers himself to be turned aside by their authority from the plain and real sense of any portion of the Scriptures to allegories. But much more wonderful is that which Moses here speaks concerning "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." For here we have to inquire, what this tree was, why it was so called and what would have been the consequence, or result, if there had not been this tree in paradise. Augustine and those who follow him rightly consider the matter, when they observe that the tree was so called from that which was shortly to take place and to be ordained concerning it; and from the solemn consequences which followed. For Adam had been so created and the garden of Eden so planted and constituted that if any inconvenience had occurred to his natural body and life, he had a protection against it and remedy for it in "the tree of life," which could preserve his powers and the perfection of his health at all times. Wherefore if Adam had thus remained in his innocency, wholly swallowed up in the goodness of his Creator and in the bountiful provision which that goodness had made for him on every side and in every way, he might have acknowledged God his Creator throughout that life of innocence and might have governed all the beasts according to his will, not only without the least painful toil or trouble, but also with the highest pleasure. For all things had been so created as to afford man the extreme of pleasure and delight without the least degree of evil or harm. After Adam therefore had been so created and so surrounded with every blessing that he was intoxicated as it were with joy in God and with delight in all the other creatures around him, God then creates a new tree, a tree of knowledge and of distinction between good and evil, in order that Adam by means of that tree might have a certain sign of worship and reverence of God. For after all things had been delivered into the hand of Adam that he might enjoy them according to his will or according to his pleasure, God next requires of him that by means of this "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" he should show his reverence and obedience towards God as his Creator; and that he should hold fast, as a sign of this exercise of his obedient worship of God, that he would not taste any of the fruit of this tree; thus refraining, as in obedience to God's prohibition.