Gen. iii. 4. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall
not surely die.
IN reference to the fact before us, St. Paul says, " The serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty." And great is the subtilty which appears throughout the whole of his conduct on this occasion. He took an opportunity of addressing himself to Eve when she was alone, that so she might become an easier victim to his wiles. He insinuated his temptation
n Rom. i. 18. ° Ezek. xviii. 20. P Jam. i. 15.
<i Rev. ii. 7. r Rev. xxii. 2.
first in a way of inquiry only ; " Hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree in the garden ?" By this lie intimated, that she had made some mistake re- specting the supposed prohibition, since it was scarcely probable that her Maker, who had granted her every thing else in the garden, should impose such an unnecessary restriction upon her. When, in answer to this, Eve informed him, that not only was the restriction really given, but that it was en- forced with the most tremendous sanction that could possibly be imagined, he again insinuated that she must be under a mistake, since it could not be that so good a God should inflict so heavy a judgment for so slight an offence : " Ye shall not surely die."
Now this is the very temptation with which he has ever since, even to this present hour, assaulted unwary men, and by which he is yet daily ruining millions of the human race. We will therefore endeavour to put you on your guard against it, by shewing, I. The falsehood of the suggestion —
Two things were here insinuated, namely, That the threatening was not of such a terrific import as she imagined ; and that, whatever it might import, it should not be eventually executed. But in both these things " he lied unto her ;" for,
1. God will fulfil his threatenings to whatsoever they may relate —
[See his threatenings to individuals — Ahab, in dependence on his false prophets, and on Satan who inspired them, thought to come off victorious : but, notwithstanding his device to escape the notice of the Syrians, he was slain, according to the prediction of the prophet Micaiah. Hiel the Bethelite would rebuild the city of Jericho : but did he escape the judgment denounced, many hundred years before, against any person who should presume to make the attempt? Did he not lay the foundation in the death of his first-born, and raise up the gates in the death of his youngest sona? See his threatenings against the whole nation of Israel: Were they not carried captive to Babylon, according to His word? and
a Josh. vi. 2G. with 1 Kings xvi. 34.