nds in which it plays a
conspicuous part? What else was the belief of our pagan fathers, that
within a dark cave in the bowels of the earth there sat a great scaly
dragon, brooding on gold? What else was the fabled garden of the
Hesperides, where the trees, guarded by a fierce and formidable
serpent, bore apples of gold? What else was the tragic story of a
father and his sons dying by the bites and crushed within the scaly
folds of a coil of serpents; and on which, as touchingly represented
in the sculptured marble, we have never looked without recalling the
fate of Adam and his unhappy offspring? And what else is the old
legend of him who with rash hand sowed serpent's teeth, and saw spring
from the soil, not clustering vines, or feathery palms, or stalks of
waving corn, but a crop of swords, and spears, and armed men? Read
that fable by the light of the Bible, and the wild legend stands out
the record of an awful fact. To the serpent the world owes it wars,
and discords, and the sin which is their source. Disguised in its
form, Satan brought in sin; and when sin entered on the scene, peace
departed--peace between God and man, peace between man and man, peace
between man and himself--the peace which, with all its blessings, He
descended from heaven to restore who is our Peace, and whom angels
ushered on the scene of His toils and triumphs, of His atoning death
and glorious victory, with songs of "Glory to God in the highest, and
on earth peace, good-will toward men."

VIII.

JESUS RESTORES PEACE BETWEEN GOD AND MAN.

There are things which God cannot do--which it were not to honour but
dishonour Him to believe He could. He can neither tempt, nor be
tempted, to sin. The sinner He may love, but not his sin; that is
impossible; as the prophet expresses it, "Thou art of purer eyes than
to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity." Indeed, I would as
soon believe that God could condemn a holy spirit to the pains of
hell, as admit a guilty one, unjustified and unsanctified, to the joys
of heaven. In that terrible indictment which God thunders out against
Israel by the mouth of Ezekiel, He says, "Thou art the land which is
not cleansed. Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves
ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get
dishonest gain. Her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar,
saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken. The
people of the land have used