It is the effect of sin to scar the conscience, and to harden the heart : and the more heinous our transgressions are, the more shall we be disposed to criminate the authority that calls us into judgment lor them. Even in hell itself this disposition is exercised, yea, it rages with uncontrolled and incessant fury : the damned spirits " gnaw their tongues for pain, and blas- pheme the God of heaven because of their pains, and repent not of their deeds1'."]
Hence then we may observe,
1. How soon did " the enmity which God has put between the Serpent's and the Woman's seedq" begin to shew itself!
[It is an undeniable fact, that " all who live godly in Christ Jesus do suffer persecution r : " and the world, yea sometimes Christians themselves also, are ready to think that the opposition made to them is discreditable to their cause. But our Lord and his Apostles taught us to expect precisely the same treatment which they themselves received s. They inform us also how all the Prophets were used by those among whom they sojourned1: they declare that, in all ages, even from the beginning of the world, " they who have been born after the flesh have persecuted those who were born after the Spirit";" and that all " the blood shed from the time of righteous Abel" to the time that Christ himself was nailed upon the cross x, served to illustrate " the enmity of the carnal mind against God," and the path in which all must walk who would finally attain to glory. Hence persecutors are empha- tically said to " go in the way of Cainy." " Let none then think it strange that they are called to endure a fiery trial, as though some strange thing happened unto them2;" but "let them rejoice and glorify God on this behalf a;" knowing that myriads who are now in heaven " came thither out of great tribulation b ; " and that, "if they also suffer with Christ, they shall in due time be glorified together with himc."]
2. How vain is it to cultivate the friendship of the world!
[If, in any situation, fellowship could have been maintained between a carnal and a spiritual man, we may well suppose that it should subsist between the two first men who were born into the world, educated as they must have been with the strictest care, and necessitated as they were to cultivate a
P Rev. xvi. 10, 11. <i Gen. iii. 15. r 2 Tim. iii. 12.
s John xv. 18 — 20. * Acts vii. 52. u Gal. iv. 29.
x Matt, xxiii. 35. y Jude 11. z 1 Pet. iv. 12.
a 1 Pet. iv. 13, 14, 16. b Rev. vii. 14. c Rom. viii. 17.