Page:The Garden of Eden (Doughty).djvu/110

woman, and between thy seed and her seed." The woman, as we have before shown, represents the afFectional nature. In this connection, as there is enmity between her and the serpent, and as she was the predestined symbol of the Church in its affectional or emotional aspect, it was a simple statement of the truth, that henceforth there would be war between the genuine affection for spiritual things in the Church, and sensualism in all its forms. The seed of the serpent, or the final fruit of sensuality, was infidelity. The seed of the woman, or the wonderful issue which was to be born of the future Church, was Christ and Christianity. The enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman, was a prophecy of the war to be inaugurated by infidelity—whether Jewish, pagan, or modern—in respect to Christ and his religion. Thus the seed of the serpent has bruised his heel, that is, the heel of Christ, both in the crucifixion of his body, and in his crucifixion in every heart which has burned with hatred towards Him and the religion He taught. And the seed of the woman has bruised the serpent's head in every victory, and on the arena of every heart where true Christianity has gained a triumph over the crafty seductions of infidelity. "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth