Genesis 3

Genesis 3:1-13

The Temptation Genesis 3:1-13 WORDS There are some very vital questions which naturally tome to most minds. These we will seek to answer.

1. Did God know that man would sin when He created him? This question has been asked us on various occasions, and we have always replied, that God did know. Known unto God are all of His works from the creation. God knew that man would sin before He created him, because Jesus Christ was a Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world, and was dedicated to His Calvary work as a part of God’s eternal plan, both in creation and redemption. God knew not only who would sin, but how many would sin. He knew also who and how many would be saved. In truth, God wrote the names of the redeemed in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and He gave them unto Christ as the heritage of His Calvary work, before man was created. God knew who would be saved, and whom He foreknew He foreordained to be conformed unto the image of His Son. He knew who and how many would be damned, but He did not foreordain their damnation. God not only knew who and how many would be saved, but He knew every strategy of Satan which would be used in the wreckage of the race. He knew every avenue that sin would take. He bottled up, as it were, all of the tears, heard all of the cries, saw all of the woes, and weighed all of the carnage of sin, before He created man. God, of course, knew the whole entail of the plan of redemptive grace. He knew and ordained the steps which would be taken for man’s salvation, and He planned beforehand the Word of God which would give unto man the Divine revelation of the redemption.2. If God knew that man would sin before He created him, then why did He create him? This is a second question, contingent upon the first. We find many questioning the wisdom of God in His creation, inasmuch as God is omniscient. The difficulty with most of us is that we look at the creation while it is yet an unfinished picture. In spite of the tremendous wreckage of sin, and the innumerable host of the damned; in spite of the incomparable agonies of Christ’s substitutionary work upon the Cross, yet, we read, “That Christ will see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied.” Sometimes, we think that but few will be saved. The Bible, however, speaks of innumerable multitudes of the redeemed. If we would answer the query, “Why did God make man?” let us take our journey into the eternal ages to come, and get the vista of the New Jerusalem, and the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife, clearly before us. Let us then visit the new heaven and the new earth, and behold the nations of the saved who walk in the light of the City. If we would know why God made man, we must first know the exceeding riches of His grace, which will be revealed in the ages to come. I. THE (Genesis 3:1)
2. Satan’s sagacity. There is a little expression concerning Satan in the Book of Ezekiel which runs, “Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness.” Satan was extremely wise in his approach to the woman. He spoke through the serpent who was more subtle than any beast of the field.
3. Satan’s subtlety. Not only was Satan wise, but his sagacity was displayed in his subtlety. (1) Satan covered up his real self. He did not tell the woman that he was the one who had been cast out of Heaven. He did not even let her know that he was anywhere in or about the Garden. God had given unto Adam a warning of Satan’s possible approach, when He had commanded him to dress and to keep the Garden. The word “keep” carries with it the thought of “guard,” or, “protect,” suggesting a possible enemy. (2) Satan’s use of the highest forms of life. Satan used the serpent because of his supremacy, in those days, over every other beast of the field. Until this hour, Satan can far better press forward his deceptive work through the ministration of the great, and the wise, and the noble of earth, than through the outcast and the scum of humanity. If Satan can possibly find a religionist, a Pharisee, or, a Sadducee, or, a Judas, through whom he may speak, he is more than delighted.
4. Satan’s fallacy. Satan began to speak unto the woman by asking a question which threw a question mark upon the character and honor of the Almighty. Satan thus was false to God, false to the woman. He is always false and undependable in what he does and says. II. THE (Genesis 3:2-3)
5. God’s gracious bounty. The woman said unto the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the Garden.” In this admission from the woman, we see how gracious God had been in supplying to man enough, and to spare. God has given promise to every one who names His Name, that He will supply all their need according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus. A supply that is according to the riches of a king, would not be scant. Certainly, a supply according to the riches of the eternal God must be abundantly sufficient. The very earth is filled with every necessity of every kind for man’s bounty. Not only this, but God causes His blessings to fall upon the poor and upon the rich; upon the saint and upon the sinner. God is gracious to the ungracious, and merciful to the unjust.
6. God’s one restriction. The woman admitted, “But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the Garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” The woman overstated God’s restriction, because God had not said, “Neither shall ye touch it.” God’s denials unto mankind, are always beneficent. There is a reason for every, “Thou shalt not.” When the Lord puts His veto on anything, let us abide by His command. If He says, “Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men,” let us not break through and try to taste forbidden sweets. III. SATAN’S SECOND WORD (Genesis 3:4-5)
7. Impugning God’s honesty. Satan, through the serpent, said unto the woman,— “Ye shall not surely die.” God had said, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” This spirit of Satan is abroad in this twentieth century of enlightenment. The Word of God is being set at naught, repudiated, and denounced by thousands of men who profess to be preachers, and leading laymen in our churches. God says that, “Without shedding of blood is no remission,” and His statement is reinforced by innumerable Scriptures. These men step forth and ridicule the Blood, announcing, withal, that men are saved by their own good deeds and lives. God states that Christ will reign on David’s throne, and men deny and ridicule the statement.
8. Impugning God’s motive. The devil said, “God doth know,” etc. In other words, Satan is not only giving God the He, but he is saying that God is deceptive; and that He knows that He is misleading Adam and Eve. This same spirit is also rampant today. Some men proclaim that God talks of hell, and of the lake of fire merely to scare men, when He, Himself, knows that there are no such places.
9. Promising better things. God said, that eating of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the Garden would bring death. The devil asserts that it would bring blessing,— that their eyes would be opened, and that they themselves would be as gods knowing good and evil. In other words, Satan asserts that God is straining every nerve to keep man out of his best. How false is all of this, and yet how prevalent! IV. EVE’S (Genesis 3:6)
10. The lust of the flesh. When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, she did eat. Here you have the thought of the flesh, and its plea. Eve had plenty to satisfy her appetite without eating that which was forbidden. God has said to the Christian, “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” The “lust of the flesh” has a far deeper significance than foods which are for the stomach. The lusts of the flesh are made manifest, and include adultery, uncleanness, witchcraft, hatred, envying, murders, revellings, and many such like things.
11. The lust of the eye. The woman saw that the fruit was pleasant to the eye. It did not seem foreboding, but rather attractive. There are many things today which appeal to the eye. These are beautiful without; they are alluring and enticing. David said, “I made a covenant with my eyes.” God has taught us that we should not walk after the sight of our eyes.
12. The pride of life. The woman saw that the fruit of the tree was desired to make one wise. Not all sinners major in the lusts of the flesh, nor even in the lusts of the eye. Some may be fairly decent on these lines, and yet they may follow far from God in the realms of human wisdom and the pride of life. The three things we have mentioned are all included in the Epistle of John as “The things of the world.” Remember how Jesus Christ said, “I have chosen you out of the world.” V. SIN’S RESULT (Genesis 3:6-7)
13. She gave also unto her husband. The Bible plainly says, “No man liveth unto himself.” Had the woman sinned alone, it would not have drawn the race into the awful chasm of darkness into which it fell. When, however, she gave unto her husband, and he did eat, then sin was passed on unto all who were born of Adam’s line. God has said, “As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all then, for that all have sinned.” Again, the Bible says, “By one * * many were made sinners.”
14. They knew they were naked. Satan had told them that their eyes would be opened; and their eyes were opened, alas, to the fact that they were sinners. This was not what Satan inferred. He spoke as though it would be a wonderful advantage to have opened eyes knowing good and evil. To this day men know that they are sinners, but that by no means makes their sin the less sinful. It increases, instead of diminishes sorrow.
15. They made themselves aprons. This was the effort of Adam and Eve to hide their sin. From that day on, the world of sinners has sought to clothe itself in order that it may cover up its shame. They that sin, sin in the night; they work their wreckage behind closed doors, and painted windows, and screens. There is another truth here. The world tries to cover its sin with a bloodless robe. It seems to think that the robe of the slain Lamb is not necessary. There is a great deal of “fig-leaf preaching” these days, as though sin could be taken away by merely being hidden from sight. The heart, however, is still deceitful and desperately wicked, and no raiment of false profession can change the villainy of the human heart. VI. THREE (Genesis 3:9-12)
16. Where art thou? Some one has said that the first question of the Old Testament is, “Where art thou?” and that the first question of the New Testament is, “Where is He?” God came walking in the Garden in the cool of the day. Adam and Eve were hiding from God in the midst of the trees. However, all things are open and naked to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. God called unto Adam and said, “Where art thou?” We wish that each unbeliever might ask himself the same question. If he answered truly, he would say: “I am far from God.” “I am walking in the way that leads to death.” “I am without hope, without God, and without Christ; an alien to the covenants of promise.” Oh, lost one, where art thou? and where art thou going? What will be the end of thy rejection of Christ, and of thy sinful heart?
17. Who told thee? God went back of man’s sin, to its source. Didst thou do this of thyself, or did another tell thee? God realized that the enemy in his power had swayed the man from the way of righteousness and of truth.
18. Hast thou eaten? In the third question is the very essence of all sin. Sin is the transgression of the Law. Sin is disobedience. God said, “Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?” Man brought upon himself the havoc of sin. He suffered because he ate; he groaned because of his own transgression. When we turn to our own way, we must be willing to pay the price thereof. Salvation brings man back into the place of obedience. Sin is a star unorbed swinging on its own maddened way, out of the will of God. VII. THE OF ALL (Genesis 3:13)
19. The answer to the question before us reaches through the course of earthly time. In order to tell what the woman had done, we would have to encompass the story of the Adamic race, not alone in its beginning, but on down through the centuries, so long as the earth endures. Every sinner who lives must have his part in this tale of woe. Every sigh and every sorrow, every tear and every tragedy, every heartache and every broken home— all is a part of the answer to this question.
20. The answer to the question before us reaches beyond the shores of time into the eons of eternity. Hell and its terrors, sheol and its darkness, the lake of fire and its horrors, all have their part in the answer to the question, “What is this that thou hast done?”
21. The answer to this query shows the source from which all of sin’s sorrow and punishment flow. It is childish to complain at God, and say that God damns the sinner. God does pronounce the curse, but death and hell are the wages of sin. It is sin, when it is finished, that bringeth forth death. We reap that which we sow. AN Temptation is strikingly set forth in the following:— “Fred Boone stood dumbfounded as he watched the twenty-foot python crush the unfortunate man. Gaining control of himself in another instant, he swung his rifle to his shoulder. There was but one chance of saving Sundu. With steady aim he drew bead on the head of the python. One, two, three times he fired, and then added two more. Each shot scored a bird’s-eye. Five bullets penetrated the head of the python, and the coils slowly unfolded as the beast writhed in its death struggle. “Cries of excitement burst from the natives as Fred fired, superseded by exclamations of joy as they recognized the missionary and saw the python writhing in death. The moment the folds loosened sufficiently, Sundu slipped from them and made his escape. Bowing before the white man, the black chief acknowledged his gratitude to the missionary. Now was Fred’s opportunity, and he grasped it immediately. “‘Yes, Sundu, I saved your life that time. In return for it, I want permission to preach to your people. The evil one has bound them with sin, and they are fast in its coils, even as you were in the python’s power. None can save from the serpent of sin but Jesus Christ, who crushed sin and freed its captives. I have freed you from the python, but a greater serpent has you In its power. Jesus Christ alone can save you. Do I have your permission to carry the Gospel of Christ to your people?’ “Sundu, grateful as he was, granted the request, and Fred accompanied him to the other side of the kopjies, where he carried on his warfare against another serpent, sin, and in the course of years he saw Sundu and many of his tribe accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour. And thus the work of the Lord continues in every clime, under varying conditions, and in peculiar circumstances, and individual believers are added to the Body of our Lord,"— L. L. Wightman, in “Gospel Herald.”

Genesis 3:14-19

The Curse and the Cure Genesis 3:14-19 WORDS

1. We have for today a curse without a cure. When God spoke to the serpent He pronounced a curse upon him, which neither in the Garden, nor subsequently throughout the Bible, has any promised cure. We read of the deliverance of other beasts of the field, and then comes this solemn statement, “And dust shall be the serpent’s meat.” From its proud and lofty height the serpent, the most subtle of all the beasts of the field, was cursed with the words, “Upon thy belly shalt thou go.” There is no pardon in prospect for the serpent.
2. We have a curse followed by a promised cure. The fact of the cure from the curse is plainly stated in the expression, “It shall bruise thy head”— an expression which holds in it all of the agonies of Calvary. The extent of the cure is set forth in many Scriptures which follow throughout the Word of God. The cure is made possible through the seed of the woman. The seed of the woman is none other than the Son of God. In corroboration of this fact, we have the genealogy of Jesus Christ from Adam to Mary in the Book of Luke. The cure which is promised, with the exception of the serpent and Satan, is just as wide as the curse which was pronounced.
3. We have the beginning of the unfolding of God’s great creative plan. As soon as Adam and Eve had sinned, God steps into the Garden to make the great pronouncement of a secret which had been with God from before the foundation of the world. That secret was, that Jesus Christ, the Creator, should become the Saviour of that which He had created and made.
4. We have the eternal supremacy of Christ over the devil. It was plainly stated that Satan would bruise Christ’s heel, but that He, Christ, would bruise Satan’s head. This conquest raged during the earth life of Christ. Satan sought to slay Christ as the Babe, in the edict of Herod that the male children under two years of age should be slain. He sought to overthrow Christ in the wilderness temptation.

He sought to cast Christ down over the brow of the hill at Nazareth. He sought to kill Him while He lay asleep in the boat. He sought to vanquish Him in the Garden, and then upon the Cross; and we believe he sought to hinder the glorious ascension. However, through it all, and over it all, Christ prevailed, and finally He took His seat far above all principalities, and powers, and the world rulers of this darkness. 5. We have the particular revelation of Christ’s Calvary conflict. It was on the Cross that Christ met the combined onslaught of Satan and his forces. Satan-driven men, and Satan-guided principalities and powers, all joined in one supreme conflict around the Cross against the Son of God. It was there that our Lord, single-handed and alone, met these powers and triumphed over them in it. With what triumphant shout, did the Son of God cry, “It is finished”! His death was Satan’s defeat, man’s deliverance, and His own eternal glorification. I. THE CURSE UPON THE WOMAN (Genesis 3:16)

1. Sorrow in motherhood. A woman’s greatest joy is the fruitage of her greatest sorrow. He who desires gold must obtain it through the anguish of toil. God has put man’s blessings low, where he can reach them only by the way of suffering and of sorrow. Every son and every daughter is a child of travail and of heartache. This is part of the curse.
2. Submission to her husband. Our text says that the woman’s desire shall be to her husband, and he shall rule over her. Much of this has been changed so far as its “abusive sense” is concerned, through Christ and Christianity. In heathendom the woman is for the most part the slave of her husband. It is she who does the menial task, and lifts the heavy load. He certainly rules over her. Under the sway of Christianity, womanhood has been emancipated from the abuse of her husband’s authority. Christ and the New Testament did not remove from the husband the place of headship in the home, but they did put the ban forever upon unseemly lordship. They taught that wives should be subject to their own husbands in everything; but that husbands should love their wives. The relationship between husband and wife should fall in line with that hallowed and holy relationship which exists between Christ and the Church. The Church is subject to Christ, but His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Womanhood still feels the curse, however, both in her sorrow in motherhood, and in her subjection to man. In spite of all that has been said, woman still holds a place of supreme joy, and of incalculable worth. “Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely, trust in her.” Thank God for grace! II. THE CURE OF THE CURSE UPON THE WOMAN FOUND IN THE CROSS (Isaiah 53:4)
3. Jesus Christ was the Man of Sorrows. Not for one moment would we suggest that Jesus Christ carried a sorrowful mien, and that He was continually shadowed and gloomy in His countenance. Not so. Our Lord was anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows. Christ, in the darkest hour of His night, could bequeath His joy unto His disciples, saying, “These thing’s have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full,” The sorrows which Christ Jesus knew were our sorrows. He carried our pains, He knew our woes. It is most striking to note that the climax of the sorrows of Christ was upon the Cross. He bore our sorrows as He moved among men, healing the sick and raising the dead. He wept because we weep. However, when He came to the Cross, the sorrows of death laid hold upon Him. His death is called, “The travail of His soul.” If God pronounced upon the woman sorrow in her motherhood, then that woman in her own travail, only anticipated the deeper and greater sorrow which should be Christ’s, when He brought forth spiritual sons.
4. Full deliverance from sorrow yet awaits the saved. When Calvary meets its full fruition in the blessed Over There, there will be no more sorrow, neither crying, nor pain; for the former things will have passed away. If sorrow falls like a pall in the Garden, when the curse is pronounced, it is lifted in the glory, when the work of the Cross is fully realized. No more the curse, will then be the theme of our song. III. THE CURSE UPON THE GROUND (Genesis 3:17-18)
5. Why the curse was given. God said unto Adam, “Cursed is the ground for thy sake.” There is a deep import to these words. The ground, of course, had done nothing evil. It was not capable of sinning. It was only for man’s sake that the ground had to suffer. There are two things before us. (1) God’s chastening upon man was for his good and not his harm. Had God left the earth uncursed, and permitted man to have everything that he desired apart from any trouble or inconvenience, it would have only hastened him on in his evil way. The thorns and thistles were sent to arouse man to his own sinful state, and to his need of a Saviour. The Word says, “Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth.” Chastening may not seem an act of love, and it may not, therefore, seem joyous; however, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness. (2) No man sinneth unto himself. Sin touches not alone the one who sins, but everything connected with the sinner. Adam dragged down with him the whole of God’s marvelous creation.
6. The result of the curse upon the ground. We read, “Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.” As long as the ground grows the thorns and the thistles, the briars and the weeds, we will know that we are still living in a land subjected to the curse. Thorns and thistles are neither good for food, nor for raiment. They are only fit to be cast out and burned. Originally the ground knew nothing of all of this. Thorns and thistles came because of sin, and they will remain as long as sin dominates the world. The prick of the thorn suggests the prick of sin. There is a verse which reads: “That which beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.” IV. THE CURE OF THE EARTH IN THE CROSS (Isaiah 55:13)!
7. Did the Cross of Christ effect the physical earth? How often do we hear the question, “Is Divine healing in the Atonement?” There is but one answer to the question and, that is, Was sickness a part of the curse? Everything is in the Atonement which was under the curse, that is, everything that man’s sin wrought, Christ came to undo. We do not by any means assert that Divine healing and the deliverance of the physical earth from its thorns and thistles, are in the Atonement in the same sense that sin is there. The moment we believe, we are made the righteousness of God in Him. However, the, moment we believe we are not delivered from all of the results of the curse. It is not until we enter the New Jerusalem that we read, “And there shall be no more curse.” How remarkable is that expression, “When they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon His head”! God pronounced the curse of the thorns, and the thorns pressed the forehead of Him who was made the curse for us.
8. The answer of the Cross to thorns and thistles. Our text says, “Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree.” When the Lord Jesus comes to the earth, the creation which has been subjected for man’s sake, and which during the ages has travailed together in pain even until now, shall be delivered into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. V. THE CURSE UPON THE MAN (Genesis 3:19)
9. The curse entailed the sweat of Adam’s face. Sweat stands for toil and labor. It also stands for anguish and suffering. Many men are so distressed under the pain of living that they seek to end their life, thinking, perhaps, that thus they may cease from their struggles. From the day that God pronounced the curse, saying, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,” the world has sought to remove this sting of sin. Early in the history of man we read of the harp and the organ. We read, also, of every artificer in brass and iron. The world today has reached the apex of invention. In spite of all man’s effort, however, he has not overcome the curse. It seems to us that there is more of sweat mixed in with the luxuries and comforts of the twentieth century, than there has ever been. All kinds of amusements have been invented to quiet the race so that it will not feel the curse of its toil.
10. The curse entailed dust unto dust. The Lord said, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Every son of Adam’s line, with the exception of one or two, has fallen under this part of the curse. Death comes alike to all. The somber notes, “Dust unto dust” have been heard so long and so frequently that man has almost become steeled against their wailing woe. There is, however, a deeper meaning to this death. It looks not only to physical, but it includes that death which means eternal separation from God, and life, and light, forevermore. This is the curse. VI. THE CURE OF THE CURSE UPON THE MAN FOUND IN THE CROSS (Luke 22:44)
11. Christ sweating as it were great drops of blood. We wonder if there is not a relationship between, “In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread,” and, “His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” God, in the garden, said, “In the sweat of thy brow.” The echo conies from Calvary down through the centuries, “His sweat was as it were.” The result of all this is seen in that wonderful statement in Revelation: “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” In. the Golden City, there will be no weariness, and no toil. His servants will serve Him but they will serve apart from any thought of laboriousness.
12. Christ tasting the cup of death for every man. So far as physical death is concerned, He died. This does not mean that the Christian shall not physically die, for he does die, and he will die until the Lord’s Second Coming takes up those in Christ without dying. There is, however, one thing that Christ has already accomplished for us. He has taken away from us the sting of death, which is sin. The Christian can now look death in the face, and say, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” We thank God who giveth us the victory in Christ Jesus. There is another thing the death of Christ has done for us. It has altogether taken from us that eternal death which means separation from the Father. We cannot be hurt of that second death. Indeed, we have passed out of death, into life. Physical death may overtake us, but spiritual death can never claim us. He that believeth on the Son has passed out of death and into life. VII. THE MUCH MORE OF GRACE OVER THE CURSE (Romans 5:15) “Where sin abounded, Grace did much more abound.” If through the offence of one many be dead, much more the Grace of God, and the gift by Grace, which is by one Man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. If sin reigned unto death, much more will Grace reign unto eternal life. Whatever sin may have wrought, whatever havoc it may have played, Jesus Christ has shown us the way out.
13. Here and now Grace abounds over sin. We cannot but feel that in Christ Jesus we have been lifted above Adam’s first estate. We are sons of. God in a very real, and blessed way. We are already partakers of eternal life. We are the heirs of all things. We have now within us God’s earnest of all the good things which are laid by for us in the ages to come. We realize that we are still in the flesh, and yet we are not of the flesh. We are in the world, but we are not of the world. To us old things have passed away, and all things are made new.
14. In the ages to come Grace will superabound. When we have been quickened and changed into His image, in the resurrection, when we have entered into the glorious City of the saved, we will realize that what Adam lost in the fall, has been made up for us a thousandfold in the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. Eden was a wonderful abode, but Heaven will be far more wonderful. There was much in Eden, but there will be many things in Heaven, which were not in Eden. It is only in the eternal ages that we will begin to enter in to the exceeding riches of His Grace. AN Once when I was preaching in St. Paul’s Church, Halifax, the Westminster Abbey of Canada, as it has been called, I told at the close of the sermon the following story: “Many years ago Doctor Valpy, a well-known English scholar, wrote a verse of four lines as the longing of his heart and the confession of his faith. This was the stanza: ‘In peace let me resign my breath, And Thy salvation see; My sins deserve eternal death, But Jesus died for me.’ Some time afterwards he gave this verse to his friend, Doctor Marsh, a Church of England clergyman and the father of Miss Marsh, the author of the ‘Life of Captain Hedley Vicars,’ and the verse became a great blessing to him. Doctor Marsh gave the lines to his friend, Lord Roden, who was so impressed with them that he got Doctor Marsh to write them out, and then fastened the paper over the mantelpiece in his study; and there, yellow with age, they hung for many years, a memorial of the beloved! hand that traced them. Some time after this an old friend— General Taylor, one of the heroes of Waterloo— came to visit him at Tollymore Park. Lord Roden noticed that the eyes of the old veteran were always fixed for a few moments on the motto over the mantelpiece. ‘Why, General,’ said Lord Roden, ‘you will soon know the verse by heart.’ ‘I know it now by heart,’ replied the General, with feeling, and the simple words were the means of bringing him to know the way of salvation. Some two years afterward the physician, who had been with the old General while he lay a-dying, wrote to Lord Roden to say that his friend had departed in peace, and that the last words which fell from the old General’s lips were the words he had learned to love in his lifetime."— Canon Dyson Hague, M. A.