the most abominable and oppressive cruelty, and indulged dispositions of the most deadly rage and malice. "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell ?" Matt. xxiii. 33. In the mystical visions which the apostle John beheld concerning the destinies of the church, the persecutors that should at one period be permitted to harass it, are described as "having power in their mouth and in their tails, for their tails are like unto serpents, and they have heads, and with them they do hurt," Rev. ix. 19.

But while we shudder at the craft and malignity which are thus charged by the pen of inspiration on some individuals, we have cause for deep humility at an equally unerring charge, which comprehends the whole human race, "There is none that doeth good, no not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips." Surely we may humbly adopt the apostle's conclusion, "That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God," Romans iii. 10, 13, 19.

7. There is a vice, too commonly prevalent, and too lightly thought of, which; however, discovers so much wantonness and mischief, and is often productive of such direful consequences, that the wisest of men has considered it worthy of comparison to the destructive bite of a serpent or an adder. It is that of flattery, babbling, and mischief making. "Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a

babbler is no better," Eccles. x. 8. St. James goes still farther, and represents an ungoverned tongue as more untractable and mischievous than even a serpent:

For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed, of mankind; but the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison." James iii. 7, 8.-Let us ever be upon our guard, and implore the powerful aid of divine grace in restraining this unruly member, and sanctifying it as an instrument of praise to God, and of kindness and instruction to those with whom we converse.

8. The deaf adder-the adder either naturally deaf, or which by a cunning device stops its ears, and resists the enchantments that would restrain it from mischief-is considered a fit emblem of those, whom no restraints of humanity, reason, or religion, can deter from their malice and oppression, Ps. lviii. 4, 5.-There are two classes of sinners to whom the resemblance is especially applied, and against whom the most awful judgments are threatened: The hardhearted, Prov. xxi. 13. "Whoso stoppeth his ears to the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard."-2. The despisers of God, Prov. i. 24-31. Those who obstinately shut their ears against divine counsels and reproofs in the time of their calamity may call for mercy, but in vain.

There are many threatenings and many promises, in which allusion is made to these creatures literally, or to the enemies of the church, under the figurative

character of serpents and adders. Sometimes, for their transgressions, the people of God are threatened with visitations of these venomous creatures, or of enemies as crafty, cruel, and malignant. Thus the dying lawgiver of Israel declared, that if the people rebelled against their God, he would send the teeth of beasts among them, with the poison of serpents of the dust, Deut. xxxii. 24, and when the iniquity of Israel was nearly full, Jeremiah the prophet was sent to repeat the threatening: "For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the Lord," Jer. viii. 17. The sinners in Sion are warned, that all their subterfuges shall prove vain, and all their confidences treacherous, where the Lord shall arise to judgment. "It shall be to them as if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him ; or went into his house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him," Amos v. 19; " and though they be hid from my siht in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them." Amos ix. 3. There are also many promises to the people of God, of protection and deliverance; some of them delivered in the form of threatenings against their cruel foes. It is promised to the godly, "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder, the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet," Psalm xci. 13. The ruin of Philistia and the deliverance of Judah, are thus predicted by Isaiah. King Uzzah had subdued the Philistines, but in the weak reign of

Ahaz they had again invaded and triumphed over Judah, and exulted in their advantage; but the prophet thus addressed them, "Rejoice not, thou whole Palestine, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken"; (this prediction was uttered on the death of Ahaz, and the accession of his son Hezekiah, who proved a far more terrible and successful enemy than any of his forefathers had been,) for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent," Isaiah xiv. 29.

The destruction of other formidable enemies of Israel (probably either Egypt or Assyria) is thus predicted. "In that day, the Lord, with his sore and great and strong sword, shall punish leviathan the presence piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent, and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea," Isaiah xxvii. 1. And its enemies in general are thus threatened: "They shall lick the dust like a serpent; they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth; they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of thee," Micah vii. 17.

There are some special promises of preservation given to the early disciples of our Lord, which were remarkably fulfilled both in a literal and figurative sense. They shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them," Mark xvi. 18. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serprnts and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you," Luke x. 19. One miraculous literal fulfil

ment of these promises has already been recorded, Acts xxviii.; nor were the frequent deliverances of the heralds of the cross from their persecuting enemies less remarkable, (see Acts v. xii. xvi. 2 Tim. iv. 7.

10. In our Lord's ministry there are two allusions to serpents, distinct from those already noticed, and which are highly instructive. The first is an appeal to parental tenderness, as affording an illustration of the tender compassion of the Father of mercies, and as encouraging our approach with humble boldness to his throne, for the mercies we need, especially those spiritual blessings which are of infinite value, and which are repeatedly promised in connexion with prayer. "Without me (says our Lord) ye can do nothing," John xv. v.-"We are not sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves, but one sufficiency is of God," 2 Cor. iii. 5. Admitting these statements, we are too apt to draw an improper inference, and adopt a line of conduct the very reverse from that which they are designed to inculcate. We can do nothing without the grace of God; but we are not therefore to sit down in sullen indolence, and say, 'If God does not bestow his grace upon us, all efforts upon our part would be but vain, our ruin is inevitable, and we cannot be responsible for what we never received.' No; God has promised to give his holy Spirit to them that ask him; and if we have not, it is because we ask not. An earthly parent, though evil, will give to his child to the best of his ability and