alone with God is a dreadful thought to him. He would rather be alone with any human being. And there cannot be a stronger proof of how great and decided a change we all need, even that of being new created in Christ Jesus, before we are fit to dwell in the presence of the Lord in glory, and before we can really feel that to be for ever with the Lord would be to us real happiness. Surely this thought would convince many a one of a wrong and dangerous state, if it were not that men sought to smother their conviction, and like Adam and Eve, vainly hope to hide from God.

But, ah! how awful will be the sound of that voice to those who go to their graves unreconciled to God, which shall at the last day, meet their ears, even the voice of the Son of God, saying to them, "where art thou!"

Hear God's voice now, asking us to be reconciled unto Him through the death of His Son. Know the blessed presence of His Spirit in the heart drawing us unto Himself. Learn His will by searching the Scriptures daily, and then shall we not fear that mighty voice at the last day, nor wish to hide ourselves from Him, with whom it will be perfect pleasure to dwell through all eternity.

We find that God first addressed Himself to Adam, doubtless because to him He had

given the command which had been broken. Adam put the guilt upon the woman; the woman upon the serpent; as we read in the twelfth and thirteenth verses. This guided the order in which they each received their punishment. But it did not alter their guilt in God's sight. Men can always find excuses for their guilt. They can plead the peculiarity of the circumstances under which they were tempted, that it was not their own fault, but another's; that temptation was strong and their nature weak, that had they been differently situated they would have acted differently, but all these are cobwebs which a Holy God who cannot look upon iniquity does not regard as just excuses for sin. Perhaps Adam had not sinned if Eve had not given him the fruit: perhaps Eve had not sinned if the serpent had not tempted: yet both suffer punishment, and hear the sentence against their guilt spoken by God in the order in which they had sinned.

First, "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; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

You will observe, there is enmity on both sides," thee and the woman." "Her seed and thy seed." The Devil is opposed to Christ, and Christ to him. The Devil has enmity against those who are God's children through faith in Christ: and they that are truly such are opposed to him. Moreover the Devil's seed is spoken of; and there is enmity between them and the woman's seed. We have said, the woman's seed means Christ, and they that are Christ's. Who then are the Devil's seed? undoubtedly the ungodly. The Lord said to the unbelieving Jews, “Ye are of your Father, the Devil." So also in (1 John iii. 10), "The children of the Devil:" and v. 8, "He that committeth sin is of the Devil." As long as the world shall last there shall be enmity between God's children and Satan's seed. It cannot be otherwise. We must expect it, it is part of our curse. And it comes from the nature of the case. "Every one that doeth evil hateth the light." Where it shines most fully, there most enmity will be directed. Christ was "the sun of righteousness." He shined for a time when in our flesh upon earth, and men rose up against Him, and sought to put out that great light. They crucified the Lord of glory. This was Satan and his seed showing enmity against

the woman and her seed, which is Christ. Just then in the same way, as the children of God reflect the light of Christ, they are hated by the world. Many like their master have been cast out of the world, that they might not shed light on men's wicked actions. Thousands have been persecuted, and are to this day troubled on the same account. Abel suffered for this cause, and all the prophets suffered on the same account. A wicked king said of one, "I hate him, for he doth not prophecy good concerning me, but evil." (1 Kings xxii. 8.) This is the real cause of men's hatred against Christ's disciples. Their examples, their abstinence from evil, their words against sin, these things offend. Thus did John the Baptist bear witness unto death of the truth of this Scripture. Thus did all the Apostles and early Christians suffer. Thus did our Reformers in our land prove the fact of this hatred against light, when they were burned, as we may say, for their love to God's truth. And none of God's children now escape altogether some of the evil effects of this enmity. Always to confess Christ before men, ever to act upon God's word, at all times fearlessly to speak for Christ, and plead his cause against sinners, must bring upon us some of that enmity which sought to crush the prince of glory.

But after all, this is but a bruising of the heel, and that is not to the real injury of the Church. It may make us go halt all our lifetime; it may make is sorrowful, and often with fears within and without, even as it made Christ, "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;" yea, even as it caused Him to be crucified, but all this works together for good. We are more than conquerors, for we overcome, and get very rich spoils. Satan and his seed think evil against us, but God means it for our good, to save alive much people, to humble them, and prove them, to "make them perfect through sufferings," to bring them to glory.

For Christ, it is promised, shall bruise the head of the serpent. This is final destruction foretold. Christ was "born of a woman" for this very end. For this purpose was He manifested in the flesh. When He obeyed the law for man, when He died for sin, when He rose again from the dead, and was received into glory, He did then "spoil principalities and powers." He robbed Satan of his "lawful captives," and began that work of which it is written in Heb. ii. 14. "That through death, He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the Devil.”

And the time is coming when Christ will complete this work, and "the God of peace