The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-07-14
Bruising the Serpent's Head
And 1 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-Genesis iii, Is.

This is one of the great texts of the Bible. 1t is one
|of a number of passages in the Bible that seem in a few
words to sum up the teaching of the entire volume.
There are a number of texts in the Bible so full of truth
and meaning that in all ages they have found Judgment in
the thought and consciousness of all men, and this is one
among these passages. And this fifteenth verse of the third
chapter of Genesis is remarkable for the truth it teaches
and remarkable too for the circumstances under which it
was spoken. Man had just fallen God had bestowed up
on hin that most wonderful of all His gits-the power Of
choice, freedom of will, the power to do as he pleased,
to act if he would against and apart from God, an en-
|dowment such as God had bestowed upon none other Of
His creatures, one that makes man separate from all Gre
alton, the standing wonder of Gods universe, able to set
up his will against that of God. Man did choose to follow
the solicitations of evil from without, OF inclination from
within, and in rebellion against Gods will went forward to
do that which seemed good in his own eyes. He eXchang-
ed his innocence for experience and experience brought
knowledge of evil, and with it sorrow, remorse, separation
from God. Just at this moment, a trembling cuPrit be-
fore God, self-convicted, out of the disaster and ruin that
Had overtaken him, man hears these words, The seed of
the woman shall bruise the serpent's head. " Just when he
realizes that he is lost and undone, man learns that there
lis hope. lust when most completely overcome by the
powers of evil, man learns that this evil shall be checked
in future. In the blackness and darkness of the present
there comes to man the vision of light in the future. In
all this we have a true representation of human life in all
time-disaster, and out of disaster hope that does retrieve
disaster. This is I the drama of human life as the third
chapter of Genesis pictures it; a drama, and yet not a trag-
edy, for it does not end as tragedies do, in utter and final
ruin, but in ultimate victory. This representation and
drama of life, then, as Genesis presents it, is not dependent
for its truth upon an actual garden, or a real serpent.
Whatever a man may believe about that, this narrative
does express a truth that is true in the experience OF
every man ; of the first man and of the last man to-day
who has reached self-consciousness. Self-Will, separation
from God, and sorrow, who doesn't know these three acts
of the drama and our text to-day presents the other two
acts, out of this defeat of lifes plans hope, and out Of
hope conquest. THE seed of the woman shall bruse the
serpent's head. We know by experience the first three
acts, life's sins, and SORROWS, and reverses our text to-day
presents us the last two, life's overcoming. Let us step
forward to meet its gracious message. 1t is full to over
flowing with bright and sunny hoPefulness. The seed Of
the woman shall bruise the serpents head. Mans loss
and ruin shall be made good to him. So speaks God on
the day of mans fall, and this divine optimism we know is
not fanciful and visionary, but arises out of a full knowl-
edge of man and his condition. Let US share in this hope
fulness, that in due time we may realize in ourselves its
truth. This promise, then, has been termed the Protevan-
gelium, the first gospel, proclaimed first on the day OF
mans detection, when first he had need of it.
What then is the character of that gospel that is pro-
claimed in our text? Of what kind is that salvation that
is promised? Is it that man shall not be punished for his
sin Not at all nothing is said in that protevangellum,
this first gospel, about punishment for sin. 1t does not
say that salvation is to come to men by being freed from
the condemnation and punishment of sin. This gospel
says that salvation is to be attained by not shining, by des-
troying sin, by ceasing to sin. The head OF the serpent
shall be bruised. Evil shall be overcome and destroyed.
How Tar removed, then, is THIS hrSt gOSPel from the saliva
ton you often hear preached to-day, which is freedom
from the punishment of sin. This salvation is from sin it.
self, that which every man needs, and that which alone is
worth anything. A salvation, then, that looks primarily to
free a man from the punishment of sin, and is not directed
to the removal of sin itself, is false and visionary. Sin is
its own punishment, and a man can only escape the pun
ishment by ceasing to sin. Sin means always degeneraCy,
separation from God, the failure and loss of mans highest
powers and capabilities: That is its CHASTITY punishment.
So long as a man sins, he does experience in himself this
punishment. He can be free from the punishment only by
ceasipg to sin. He can escape the degeneracy that sin
brings only by being more and more regenerated in a life
|of purity, and truth, and holiness. God has SO perfectly
ordered this present world that His laws do execute them
selves, do bear in themselves their own punishment for the
man who violates them: God in His government of the
world has not as an afterthought preiXed certain external
penalties to transgresslon OF law as human government
does but His rule is of so perfect a kind that violation OF
law brings its own punishment. The man who transgress-
es experiences this, experiences it more and more as time
goes on; for his sins have a tendency to increase, and with
that increase the greater the punishment, the separation
from God, the disorder and ruin of his highest nature.
This result and punishment he can escape only by being
freed from sin, and by actively leading a life in and unto
God, a life of righteousness and holiness. Beware then,
nv friends, of an offer of salvation which is directed main
ly to avoiding the punishment of sin, and that is not adj
dressed primarily to a deliverance from sin itself. 1t is not
the salvation that this first gospel offers. See to it that
the religion of your life does not consist in a future escape
from the punishment of sin see to it that it is a present
salvation and freedom from sin.
But how is the promise of our text, this first gospel,
to be realized? WHO is to retrieve the black disaster of
mans transgression? Who is this seed of the woman that
is to bruise the ~serpents head? Theologians and Bible