The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1922-10-27
Picture of the Tempter.

| in the time of Christ Matt. s 80, 31).
Picture of the Tempter
The serpent was an appropriate In
| Strument for Satan's use in the temp
| tation. Dean Stanley remarks: 'The
| head, and the beauty of its glittering
skin, the subtle fascination in the fixed
and steadfast gaze of its unshaded eye,
| the willy cunning of its tOrtuOus move
ments, the malignant venom of its
| poison, and the undisguised shameless
| ness of its natural lusts, the low and
grovelling descent into the dust of the
| earth, are indeed fit emblems of almost
every form of the darker side of hui
man life"
The address to the serpent refers to
two seeds. Certainly there is some
thing deeper here than the enmity
which exists between men and snakes.
The seed of the serpent must mean
the generations of evil men, culminat-
ing In the Antichrist Matt. % :93n l
Jno. 3:10O. The seed of the woman
must mean the righteous, especially
Christ (Gal 3 :16; 4 Il; Heb. 2:1i; !
Jno. 3-S). From the beginning there has
| been enmity between these two seeds
q Jno. 3:12). 1t has been we'll said.
regarding our text, that 1--WE have here
| the sum of the whole matter, and the
| rest Of the Bible does but explain the
| nature of this struggle, the persons
who wage it, and the manner and con
sequences Of the victory"
Again, in this verse, written in the
| first pages. of the Bible, there are set
before us both the first and second ad-
vents of our Lord. The serpent Is
| told he will bruiSe the heel of the
| womans seed. We are made to think
at once of the sufferings of Him who
| was truly the wOman's Seed, when He
was wounded unto death on Calvary.
We rejoice, however, that this bruis-
ing was not final, for the heel IS the
| lower part and not vital!
But we rejoice even more because of
! another bruising which is mentioned,
| when the Seed of the woman shall
| anticipated His final victory when He
overcame the Adversary In the wilder
| ness and at His resurrection (COl.
2:15). But His victory Is not yet COM
plete, and will not be until the dawn
of the happy millennial day, when Sa-
tan will be bound for thousand years,
to be finally cast into the lake Of fire.
| Notice, that while 1t was Christ's heel
| which was wounded, it is Satan's head
which Is to be bruised, and the head Is
| the vital part!
Huxleys Despair.
How thrilling that, embedded in the
very account of the entrance of sin into
| the world thousands of years ago, is
! the prophecy of Christ's final victory
| over it, which still awaits fulfillment.
| There Is much pessimism abroad today.
Huxley said: "The theory of evolu-
| ton encourages no millennial eXpecta.
| tions. If, for millions Of years, our
| globe has taken the upward road, yet.
sometime, the summit will be reached,
anu the downward route will be com
| menced" But, with this promise of
| God before us, we can say with Luther a:
Here arises the Sun of Consolation" "
We do not think 1t fanciful to see In
| this wonderful Scripture a suggestion
| Of the virgin birth of Christ. How
| shall we otherwise explain the state
ment that the Redeemer Is to be the
hut q,
said of His being the Seed of the man? ?
In closing, we would again point out
| that this first announcement of the
| gospel" of the good news, is presented
| in an announcement of warfare and of
| final Judgment on Satan. 1t reminds
| US that, while the book of Revelation
| closes with glorious visions of the new
heaven and earth, these are preceded
| by scenes of judgment, in which the
plaques of Egypt are repeated. only
| intensified, and men gnaw their very
tongues for pain. God Is long suffer
| ing, but the day of Christ's wrath
must come, If the serpent's seed are IL
be destroyed and the meek are to in
herit the earth. Gods very purposes
of good require the judgment which is
| to fall on the earth!
How we rejoice in Him who is the
| Deliverer from the wrath to come U
| Thess. :1O). Just rs God provided
coats of skins for our sinful first
| parents, so we may sing:
| Jesus, thy blood and righteousness
| NV beauty are, my glorious dress;
| Midst flaming worlds in these arrayed