the institution thereof is described, as being established by solemn injunction. His commanding those things to be which are, and to be in such sort as they are, to keep that tenure and course which they do, importeth _the establishment of Nature's Law_.... And as it cometh to pass in a kingdom rightly ordered, that after a Law is once published, it presently takes effect far and wide, all states framing themselves thereunto; even so let us think that it fareth in the natural course of the world. Since the time that GOD did first proclaim the edicts of His Law upon it, Heaven and Earth have hearkened unto His voice, and their labour hath been to do His will[296]."--"_He spake the word_, and they were made: He commanded and they were created. He hath made them fast for ever and ever. _He hath given them a law which shall not be broken[297]._" Whether or no South overestimated Adam's knowledge, I will not pretend to decide: but I am _convinced_ the truth lies more with him than with certain modern wits, when he says concerning our first Father:--"He came into the world a philosopher; which sufficiently appeared by his writing the nature of things upon their names.... His understanding could almost pierce into future contingents; his conjectures improving even to prophecy, or the certainties of prediction. Till his Fall, he was ignorant of nothing but sin.... There was then no struggling with memory, no straining for invention. His faculties were ready upon the first summons.... We may collect the excellency of the understanding _then_, by the glorious remainders of it now: and guess at the stateliness of the building by the magnificence of its ruins.... And certainly that must _needs_ have been very glorious, the decays of which are so admirable. He that is comely when old and decrepit, surely was _very_ beautiful when he was young! An Aristotle was but the rubbish of an Adam; and Athens but the rudiments of Paradise[298]." And lastly, as for so much of the Divine narrative as concerns the Creation of the first human pair, I am content to remind you of a circumstance which in addressing believers ought to be of overwhelming weight: namely, that our SAVIOUR and His Apostles, again and again, refer to the narrative before us in a manner which precludes the notion of its being anything but severest History. Our SAVIOUR CHRIST even resyllables the words spoken by the Protoplast in Paradise; and therein finds a sanction for the indissoluble nature of the marriage bond[299].