with the invertebrate types of life; as, for example, in breathing by lungs, in their digestive organs, in the organs which serve in the higher vertebrate animals to give forth sounds, in the bones of the head, in the brain, in the structure of the vertebral column, and in the organs of reproduction.

The sentence pronounced on the serpent assumes two aspects. Its body was cursed, and permanent antagonism between its seed and the seed of the woman was declared. But here, again, it is impossible to separate between the beast and the personal evil-the bad angel-who had thus used it in order to his own purposes. The first expressions plainly refer to something in regard to the body of the reptile, which in all times was to characterize it as accursed. It has, however, been remarked already that now, as ever, it follows its own nature. Where, then, is the curse? Bear in mind what is said of the man, whose whole nature yielded without resistance to the same evil power. "Thou art cursed from the earth," was the sentence uttered against Cain, though as to mental and physical constitution all his faculties retained their identity. So here. The instrument and the agent both are set apart as cursed. The former carries the curse about with it, as it trails on its belly among the dust of the world, loathed, hated, turned away from by man. Cain's curse was not only realized in his own consciousness, but it came home to him as peculiarly poignant when he thought that not only was he avoided, but that, as the race increased, he might count on something more. "My punishment," he said, "is greater than I can bear." "It shall come to pass that every one that findeth me shall slay me." And thus is the serpent cursed in the very attitude of man to it. The strong expressions as to creeping on "its belly, and eating the dust all the days of its life," have much light shed on them indirectly in other portions of Scripture. That the original structure of the serpent was good after its kind cannot be doubted; but here that form, replete, as all others, with evidences of creative skill, and containing much in it prophetical, as it were, of some of the most important parts of the human skeleton, has a far different thought now associated with it. But the truly good may come to be linked up with a curse. "Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings." Even vegetation may be made to bear direct testimony to the same truth. "Master, behold the fig-tree which thou cursedest is withered away" (Mark xi. 21). In Leviticus xi. 42, "whatsoever goeth upon its belly" is characterized as "an abomination;" and in Psalm xliv. 25, those cast down, and feeling as if under

a curse, speak of themselves as men whose "belly cleaveth unto the earth." Again, such references as the following are suggestive in connection with this curse :-"I will send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust" (Deut. xxxii. 24). Man is abased, and he joins the mention of himself with the dust-" My flesh is clothed with worms and with clods of dust" (Job vii. 5); "Thou hast brought me into the dust of death" (Ps. xxii. 13). The extreme degradation of all opposed to the truth is thus stated-"His enemies shall lick the dust" (Ps. lxxii. 9); "They shall lick the dust like a serpent" (Mic. vii. 17).

In the other part of the curse the agent of evil is specially addressed. He was to have a seed-a people in the world, who should serve him, and over whom he should reign as the "Prince of this world;" and the woman, who was in the transgression, was to have a seed likewise, specially distinguished by this, that it should ultimately destroy, cast down, overcome the seed of the serpent, now to be known as "that old serpent called the Devil." The history which traces and which unfolds the fruits of this antagonism, has very many points in it suggestive of the relation formed between man and the beasts in Eden. These will come to be noticed in their place. But before leaving this subject, it may be profitable to refer to the remarkable influence which this association of man with the serpent has had upon the world. Traditionally, it seems to have gone with the human race wherever they wandered, and in what circumstances soever their lot was cast. All the great branches of the human family appear to have come, more or less, under its influence. In China and India, in Egypt and Persia, in Greece and in Rome, it has been the object of the worship of fear. By a natural law that which is dreaded comes to be propitiated, and, according to well-known principles, objects long propitiated come to be regarded with something like esteem. Thus the twofold worship of the serpent. Thus, too, the explanation of its place as a type of blessing-of healing, of health.

The order Ophidia, or true serpents, has ranked under it the following six families:

The fossil forms have already been named. The true rattlesnakes are

confined to America, though certain closely related forms are found both in the East and West Indies. The vipers and snakes are met with in most parts of the world. The water-snakes occur in the Indian Ocean and its neighbouring seas. The tree-snakes are found in Asia, Africa, and America. The boas in Asia, Africa, and America-the true boas being confined to America, and the genus Python being the Asiatic and African form of these large ophidians. In other portions of Scripture we will have to notice somewhat fully several species of vipers and snakes. Fig. 1, Plate IV., represents one of the pythons of Asia, the rock-snake (P. molurus). The ribs (Plate IX., Fig. 4) are highly flexible, and seem to be used by these reptiles when creeping. The pythons are not venomous, but destroy their prey by coiling in deadly folds around their victims. Once in their grasp, the most powerful quadrupeds become helpless. The prey is crushed by the force of the encircling folds, and swallowed in the entire mass. Deer, sheep, goats, and even cattle, are thus devoured. Pythons when fullgrown attain the average length of twenty to twenty-five feet, though some have been described as being nearly three times that length. Their tails are prehensile. Fixing them around the branches or trunks of trees, they dart on their prey, and drag it to the position. to which the tail clings. A remarkable feature in their structure is the presence near the tail of two movable hooks, which may be regarded as rudiments of feet. That the reader may compare the forms Python and Boa, a representation of the latter is also introducedon Plate IV., Fig. 2.

In considering the curse on the ground, in order that an explanation may be given of the thorns and thistles associated with this, it may help to give completeness to the notice if at the same time that part of the sentence against Cain, which refers to his relation to the soil, be looked at:-" And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life: Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."-(Ver. 17-19.) And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not. Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou

แ

cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth."-(Chap. iv. 9-12.) The views of the just and holy God regarding the sin which at the fall was realized on the earth, and in the earthly inhabitant, were thus clearly marked. The condition of the serpent was associated with a curse. The proud spirit who had "kept not his first estate" had an increase of degradation heaped on him by being forever represented by the serpent, "the old serpent." In the perpetuation of the race, the woman was ever to be reminded of Eden, where innocence was lost. The very earth itself came under the curse: "cursed is the ground for thy sake :"-

"Her rash hand, in evil hour,

Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she ate !.
Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat,

Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe,
That all was lost."

The points to be noticed here are (1) The altered relation between man and the earth. The original tie is stated in chapter ii., "The Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." This verse alone flatly contradicts all imaginations as to a golden age, when the soil needed not to be cared for, and when the tidings even of evil had not reached the world. The garden was to be dressed-its rank luxuriance was to be kept down, and the fruitfulness of its generous soil to be modified in one point and another; for the herbs which served the beasts for food would come under the same fertile influences as did those which were for the sustenance of the human pair. The garden was to be kept-not tended merely, but watched that intruding evil might be put at a distance. It appears clear from this, that intimation had been given of danger from some quarter. Work and watchfulness were the natural accompaniments of innocence. The necessity to work is thus not a result of sin; it has the dignity of the unfallen state about it. Nevertheless there was a change; the soil became changed as regarded its gifts to man. Formed of the same constituents as before, it yet yielded not its treasures for man's use as it had done; and the simplest change in its relation to the rain, the dew, the sunlight, could make hardest toil a stern task-"In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread." No fanciful interpretation is needed. The principle implied here runs throughout the entire Scriptures. The sovereignty of God