ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.' Having by these words of deceit openly declared that God was a liar, Satan now began to strive to convince Adam and Eve of the truth of the blasphemous thought that God was not desirous of their safety and happiness; but on the contrary forbade their attainment of perfect bliss and glory. Hence Satan, making this false statement, said that they would not die through eating the fruit of that tree, nay rather through doing so would soon be perfected in glory and happiness and become like God Himself. In this way he was trying hard to increase, concerning God's love and truth, the doubt which he had put into Eve's mind, in order to render them both proud and devoid of trust in God. Hearing those words of blasphemy, Eve gave them entrance into her mind, and yielded to the desire to eat the fruit which God had forbidden, so that she forgot God's commandment. And the fruit of that tree appealed to her so strongly that she took it and ate, and gave to Adam also. Thus they committed sin.

When by deceit Satan had led Adam and Eve to trust his word, and, through obeying him, had made them cast away from their hearts the trust in God and love of God which they had previously possessed, then that bond of union (علاقة) which had existed between Adam and his Creator was broken, and all the happiness which that union had bestowed was done away. That is to say, since Adam had

been created a free agent, it was possible for him to cease to love God and no longer to seek to do His will, and, according to the manner of the human heart, his mind became set only upon the thing which pleased himself and upon which he trusted. Therefore, when unbelief and disobedience took the place of love and trust, at once that bond of union and all the happiness and glory which were connected therewith vanished, and Adam fell into as great degradation and misery after his sin, as he had previously possessed honour and happiness. For Adam turned away from God and left Him, and yielded to Satan, whom he had preferred to trust and obey. Thus his will no longer continued to be in accordance with the will of God, but he became haughty and self-willed, and, through losing his position of dignity and happiness and becoming stubborn and disobedient, became acquainted with good and evil. Through attaining this knowledge he doubtless became, in a manner, like God, in a way in which he had not previously resembled Him. But Satan, too, is proud and self-willed and free in precisely the same way as Adam became. Accordingly, had not God helped us in accordance with the loving purpose by which from eternity¹ He had determined upon the salvation of men, then assuredly man would have been like Satan and would have shared his punishment. Yes, Adam's sin was so evil and so great that it cast Adam