demning the best of men, as far as he can, he is called the Accuser of the brethren; and when he acts as the destroyer, executing just vengeance upon the souls and bodies of the wicked, he is called Abaddon; and when he acts as the deceiver of men in general, he is called the old Serpent, the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the world: And as he acted the subtle part of the cunning deceiver at first, he is called the Serpent, -a figure taken from that reptile, which is not only wise beyond conception in many countries of the east, and knows what is said to it; becomes tame; learns to dance to the tune of an instrument, and play a variety of tricks at the command of its master ;-but also, many of the serpent kind in America grow to such a size, that they are able to overcome all the animals of the forest at the watering places. Even the lions, the bears, and the tygers, are overcome by them in conflict. Hence the name serpent is given to the wicked one, both from his subtlety, and his too often victorious cruelty.

The second thing to be considered, in order to get a fair view of these verses is, the meaning of the first verse. "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" Now, the word , rendered serpent, should be rendered tempter, in

every place that it occurs throughout the whole of these fifteen verses, that it may exactly correspond with the character assumed by the archdeceiver on this occasion, according to the foregoing explanation; for the name is entirely figurative. Farther; the words, here rendered "beast of the field," might be rendered "living creature of the field ;" and if we suppose that all without paradise is here called field, then it will comprehend Adam, as well as every other living creature; for he was created before he was placed in paradise. According to this explanation, the phrase "more subtle than any beast of the field," would imply, that the tempter was more subtle than Adam himself, which is by no means an overstretched interpretation; and besides this, it is literally true, that the tempter was more subtle than any living creature of the field, whether we include Adam or not; but he may be fairly included. In this view, the idea of a reptile crawling upon the earth, is entirely excluded, as it certainly ought.

The third thing to be considered, in order to get a fair view of these fifteen verses, is, the meaning of the figurative expressions of the fourteenth and fifteenth." And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field:"-", translated here "cursed," come from the verb ", adusit aliquem

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nota, publica infamia oneravit, et e commu"nione abegit; cum ignominia expulit. Hinc "maledixit. To mark with a note of infamy: "to curse."-Robertson.

This same word is explained still more strongly by Stokius." Sed quando Deo tribuitur, est re"bus et factis mala inferre, mala pœnæ, tam "temporalis quam eterna." The smallest attention to the meaning of this word will shew the absurdity of the application of its meaning to a reptile. The snake, as such, is as perfect in its kind as ever it was. It has undergone no mark of infamy more than any other irrational animal. It has experienced nothing more of any temporal curse or punishment; and it is absolutely impossible it can experience any as eternal. The word, therefore, must be applied in all the force of its meaning to the tempter, and evidently implies, that, from the high dignity in which he was created, he was now reduced to a state of degradation beneath any of the brute creation; expelled from the society of angels; and on account of this offence marked out as the chief object of eternal vengeance. "Upon thy belly shalt thou go." This passage denotes the lowest state of affliction and sorrow, and is used to express a state of the deepest mourning on account of sin. In the xlivth Psalm, from the 24th verse, the figure is fully illustrated."Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest

our affliction and oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly cleaveth unto the earth." Every one knows that this was the position of the deepest mourning among many of the nations of the east, and is so until this day. And the meaning is, that the tempter should experience more bitter anguish on account of this deception, than all he had ever experienced before. "And dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life." Eating the dust is a figure used for the pungency of suffering experienced by an animal when pierced through by a spear, with the point fixed in the earth, so that the creature cannot escape, and, writhing in the agonies of death, tears the ground with its teeth. This figure is used by the prophet, when foretelling the destruction of the enemies of God. Micah vii. 16, 17. "The nations shall see and be confounded at their might they shall lay their hand upon their mouth; their ears shall be deaf. They shall lick the dust like a serpent: they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of thee." And in the lxxiid Psalm, the enemies of the Redeemer are represented as experiencing the same thing. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust." And if any thing more were necessary to illustrate the figure, the bulletins of the armies in the late war, are

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"We entered bat

quite sufficient. They say, "tle, continued the conflict, and made so many "of the enemies bite the dust," &c. These views all prove, that this part of the threatening against the tempter, means, that he should experience the most exquisite compunction, pierced by the sword of divine justice, in consequence of what he had done.-The following verse needs no illustration: it is significant of the whole plan of redemption. To "bruise the head" means total and final overthrow. These views set this portion of Scripture in a clear and proper light.

9. The truth is, the tempter appeared to the woman in the form of an angel of light; in that very form in which, we have reason to believe, he appeared to our Saviour. That he did not appear in the form of a serpent to him, we have every reason to believe. And from what the apostle says in the xith chapter of 1st Corinthians, there is the strongest evidence that he appeared both to our first parents, and to our Saviour, in the very same form. "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." That the Greek word is is a perfect translation of the Hebrew word, is clearly evident, because when both applied to the evil spirit, they are applied in a figurative sense. And what strengthens the argument that Satan appeared in the form