is good, for his mercy endureth for ever!” (Ps. 117, 1.) “Let us, therefore, love God, because God first hath loved us” (1 John 4, 19). Whatever you may be doing to-day, say: “I do it for love of Thee, O my God!”
Chapter IV.
PART I.
THE FALL OF OUR FIRST PARENTS.
[Gen. 3, 1— 13.]
OF all the animals that God had placed upon the earth, none was more cunning than the serpent[1]. Hence the devil, who was envious of the happiness of our first parents, made use of him in order to seduce them. Eve, prompted by curiosity, approaching the forbidden tree, saw a serpent near it. He began to speak[2], and said to her: “Why[3] has God commanded you that you should not eat of every tree[4] of paradise?” Eve answered: “Of the fruit of the trees of paradise we do eat; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God has commanded us that we should not eat, and that we should not
- ↑ Serpent. The devil, full of envy at the happiness possessed by Adam and Eve, and made more envious still by the thought that they were intended to attain to the everlasting happiness which he himself had forfeited, made use of the serpent by entering into it and speaking by its mouth. God allowed him no other tool, and, indeed, the cunning serpent was admirably suited for his spiteful and evil purpose.
- ↑ To speak. The serpent into which the devil had entered spoke.
- ↑ Why. Satan did not betray his intention by saying at once: “Eat of the fruit”, but he began by cunningly asking: “Why &c. ?” in order that Eve might be induced to hesitate and question whether the prohibition to eat of the tree of knowledge were a legitimate one, and whether God had really meant it. Eve knew that an ordinary snake can neither reason nor speak; so she must have known that it was some spirit who spoke through the serpent. She ought to have at once perceived that it was no good spirit who thus spoke, for an angel would not have questioned God’s will, being quite certain that whatever He had commanded was for the best. Now, what ought Eve to have done ? She ought either to have made no answer and fled, or she ought to have said: “God has willed it so. I do not ask why, because God knows best what is good for us.” Instead of this, Eve let herself be drawn into conversation with the devil, and thereby he had already gained half his object.
- ↑ Of every tree. By these words the devil sought to make the woman feel the burden of the restriction and its arbitrariness on the part of God.
