of the fall would be open to the same allegorical explanation. The very history of Adam and Eve in this transaction, as well as the geographical description of Paradise, disprove any allegorical interpretation; whilst the quotation of the history in the New Testament convinces us, that it is authentic. We may thus rest assured, that the serpent was the instrument used by the Devil for his purpose. All tradition corresponds with this conclusion. The Jews allowed, that Satan was busy in the temptation of the first pair'. But the records of the

the instance of the first man, on the point of being separated for ever from a creature formed in a perfection of beauty, of which earth has probably never seen the equal; and allied to him, as woman was never since allied to man; a part of his nature, an actual portion of himself, corporeal and mental; divinely affianced to him by a bond implying a complete communion in every sorrow, as well as joy, of his existence ?

"The narrative is also perfectly consistent with the distinction of crime, arising from the distinction of motive. Both criminals are alike exiled, and alike sentenced to the struggle with a sterile world; but on Eve, as the more presumptuous offender, is inflicted the heavy punishment of pain in her child-bearingan exclusive agony, as if the production of that offspring, whose glory may have been among her strongest inducements to dare 'to be as gods,' should be a memorial of her guilt for ever. Her rashness, too, in relying on her own judgment, and thus assuming independence of her husband, seems to have been peculiarly the object of punishment, in the declaration that he should rule over her.' St. Paul marks distinctly, as a ground of the acknowledged dependence of woman, that Adam was not the first deceived, but Eve."

1 See the Book of Wisdom, ii. 24.

New Testament, which are far more valuable, place Satan's participation in the temptation beyond all doubt. St. John says, "The great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world; he was cast out into the earth, and his angels with him1.” St. Paul also says, "I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ ?"

2

In recapitulation we observe, that the idea of the serpent having come in a plausible shape is the most probable; for it cannot be supposed, that the Fall could have been occasioned by any thing low and grovelling. And it may be concluded, that the Tempter would take the best instrument he could find, that which would prove the most likely to seduce Eve. But abandoning all conjecture, it is quite sufficient for us to know, that the Devil used the serpent for his purpose; and that the seed of the woman, who bruised his head, was Christ. And it is not a little extraordinary, that whilst the Jews shut their eyes to Christ's claims, as the expiator of original sin, their oldest books interpret the serpent to be the Devil, and the seed of the woman to be the

1 Rev. xii. 9.

2 2 Cor. xi. 3. See also Rev. xx. 2; Rom. xv. 20; John viii. 44.

Messiah. The fulfilment of the expectations of their ancestors might have been supposed capable of leading them to the truth'.

Thus it is the prophecy, and not the original form of the serpent, that demands the greatest consideration. After the Fall it was very natural for the wrath and indignation of Heaven to be excited, and for the guilty to receive punishment; but God," in the midst of wrath remembering mercy," declared, that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. God thus administered justice, and displayed his mercy: his justice, by punishing the guilty, according to his promise; and his mercy, by foretelling the blessings of the Gospel. Christ was to bruise the head of the serpent, and the serpent to bruise the heel of Christ.

Now, the bruising of the head implies the destruction of the serpent, or sin, eventually, gradually,

'That it was the Devil who tempted our first parents, may be shown by the typical analogy between Adam and Christ; see Rom. v. 14, sqq.; 1 Cor. xv. 45, sqq. When Christ was tempted, it was by the Devil; Adam yielded to the temptation, and brought sin, misery, and death into the world: Christ resisted the temptation, and at his death conquered the evil consequences of the fall. To suppose otherwise, than that the serpent was the Devil's tool, would be to destroy all analogy between the first and second Adam.

as it were, by a continual bruising; for, as we have said, in the head is the life. Thus, the head, or life of sin was to be taken by Christ, who would triumphantly overcome the evil consequences of the fall; whilst the serpent was only to bruise the heel of Christ; which implies, that wicked men would persecute the followers of Jesus, and resist his Gospel. In the one case the attack was to be made by an all-powerful Conqueror upon the head; in the other, by an inefficient adversary at the heel. It is very evident, that this prophecy could alone allude to the Messiah, and that the conception could only have been made by the Deity; for, it is utterly beyond the finite capacity of man. Its fulfilment was remarkably seen at the first advent of Christ, and will be still more so at the second advent, when the plan of Redemption shall be thoroughly worked out.

But there is another consideration worthy to be made. Our Saviour was to spring from the seed of the woman; which was evidently prophetical of his miraculous birth, however slight the allusion: thus, "when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son made of a woman." Then was the prophecy more conspicuously fulfilled. The very head of the serpent was struck at; and Jesus, after proving Himself God, by the miracles He performed, and by the fulfilment of prophecy, conquered death, the penalty

D

of Adam's disobedience, and left an antidote for sin. The contention, however, will remain until the end of time. Christians, from power immediately derived from Christ, will be bruising the head of the serpent; and wicked men, who are "of the Devil," will incessantly be bruising the heel of Christ, until the sign of the Son of Man shall appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth shall begin to mourn, and shall see Majesty coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory; and the angels, with the sound of a trumpet, shall gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Then shall the final fulfilment of this remarkable prophecy be accomplished'.

GEN. xxii. 18.

GAL. iii. 29.

The next revelation recorded respecting the Messiah by Moses in the book of Genesis was vouchsafed

1 Gen. ix. 26, 27. The prophecy that Japheth should dwell in the tents of Shem, has been explained by Theodoret (Interrog. 58. in Genesin) to have been accomplished by the advent of Christ. The words are, ἀκριβὲς δὲ τέλος ἔσχεν ἡ προφητεία τὸ τῆς οἰκονομίας μυστήριον, ὅτε αὐτὸς ὁ Θεὸς Λόγος ἐνεσαρκώθη καὶ Evηvoρúnoε. Dathe, Toller, and others have similar opinions. Various expositions of the completion of Noah's prophecy have been given; but that suggested by Theodoret is the clearest, and relates to the incorporation of the Gentiles into the Christian Church. Jerome, Augustin, and Calvin adopt the same idea with considerable force and argument. See Hengstenberg's Christology.