from our thoughts, and give ourselves wholly to our cares or pleasures? Because we are sinful. See the misery of man as to the soul; guilt and corruption.

But it is the misery of the body that is more especially put before us in the verses that we are considering: and four things are principally mentioned: pain, subjection, toil, and death. Why does woman suffer, and suffer so bitterly, in child-birth? God inflicts such sufferings on account of the first offence: and they ought strongly to remind her that she is a fallen creature. Why is woman so subject to, and so dependent upon man? Her inferiority, with all the evils that in numberless instances attend it, is a consequence of the first sin. Why does the earth so abound with thorns and thistles, and stand in need of so much cultivation? Why must man employ so much of his time and strength in providing food and clothing? Why must he live in toil and weariness during the term of life? All this proceeds from the first transgression. Lastly, why must man die with such agony after the labours of life, a melancholy object in the view of all around him? This also is the fulfilment of the first sentence, "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

Such is the condition of man. How great is his misery! How dark is the picture! Eden is changed for a wilderness, holiness for corruption, happiness for misery. What hath sin wrought? But

II. See the Consolation of man. When God passed sentence on the serpent, there was no intimation of mercy to him: but that sentence contained an express intimation of mercy to those whom he had deceived. The curse probably descended on the literal serpent, the instrument which the great Adversary used, so that he should roll along the ground, and be abhorred and dreaded among beasts. So also is Satan an abhorred and miserable being in the creation; a being that is cursed indeed, for ever separated from God.

But who is the Seed of the woman? The Lord

Jesus Christ; the Word made flesh.

"God sent forth

his Son made of a woman.' How does he bruise the head of the serpent? By bringing truth and salvation into the world, and establishing his kingdom of holiness and obedience in the hearts of men: thus the kingdom of Satan is destroyed, his power is broken. How does the serpent bruise his heel? This may relate to the sufferings of Christ on the cross, and also to all the sufferings and perplexities that the righteous undergo through the malice of Satan. What does the enmity here spoken of mean? The opposition between truth and error; between the disciples of the one aud the disciples of the other. "Marvel not if the world hate you" so said our Saviour. The religious and the irreligious are two parties, with very different feelings towards each other.

What then is the consolation of man? A Saviour, and salvation through him; God reconciled, heaven opened, redeeming mercy and grace freely offered through our great Deliverer and Restorer. Here is undeceiving comfort. Pain, subjection, toil, weariness, and death, we must all endure: but we may look to our Saviour, and, amidst our troubles, if we rightly and truly believe, rejoice in all spiritual blessings. Amidst the miseries of our fallen state, we have consolation in Christ. See then

III. The duty of man. 1. We must patiently endure the sufferings of the present state, and seek a better portion. Is this a world that is full of pain, confusion, weariness, vexation, and death? Why do we fix our affections upon it? Why do we talk so much of our misery, and yet love the world so well? It would be wiser and better to suffer with patience, and to look forward to, and prepare for, a world where misery shall never enter. 2. We should look unto Jesus, the redeemer of our fallen world. We have mercy; let us embrace it. We have light; let us walk in it it. We have salvation; let us rejoice in it. Let us seek that

true faith in the promised Seed of the woman; that, though we suffer, we may rejoice; and that though we die, we may live for evermore.

Thus we see our Misery, Consolation, and Duty. Let us bless God for such a revlation of our state, and for having opened to us, through our Lord Jesus Christ, a paradise that cannot be lost: and let us daily seek divine grace, that we may so live in faith, holiness, and obedience, as to obtain admission into it.

THE PRAYER.

O BLESSED God, thy word is true: all my experience and all my observation prove that it is so. Suffering, weariness, and death are our inheritance, as fallen creatures. I thank and praise thee for all the discoveries of thy word; and especially for the discovery of a Redeemer, by whom we have light, and life, and consolation, and eternal blessedness put before us. Help me to bear with patience, and to improve with wisdom, all my sufferings on earth: and may I so live in the faith of thy Son Jesus Christ, and in all true obedience, that I, at the appointed time, may exchange the weariness and misery of this world for the rest and blessedness of Eternity. Grant this for thy name's sake. Amen.

LECTURE IV.

ENOCH.

And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: And Enoch walked with God, after he begat Methuselah, three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not: for God took him. Genesis v. 21, 22, 23, 24.

THIS is a very remarkable history; and one that deserves our serious consideration. It leads us to the examination of eminent piety singularly rewarded: and it obliges us to rest in the pleasing and animating assurance, that if we honour God in our generation, by a noble and consistent profession of religion, he will in due time put signal honour upon us.

To have a just view of this good patriarch, we must observe what Saint Paul says of him."By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Heb. xi. 5, 6. We must also remember the testimony of Saint Jude respecting him. "And Enoch also, the the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh, with ten thousand of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." Jude 14, 15.

Let us now examine very briefly the character of Enoch, and then notice the Reward of his piety.

I. We will examine the character of Enoch. 1. We have a general view of his piety in these words: he "walked with God." These words describe very spiritual and regular piety. 1. Spiritual piety; To walk with God implies a clear knowledge of him, love of him, delight in him, peace with him, and, be it spoken with awe, familiarity with him. He who walks with God must live under a strong and abiding sense of God's presence. 2. Regular piety. Walking describes a calm, orderly, uniform, stedfast, and persevering The piety of Enoch had no irregularity and eccentricity, no fancy and folly: it was a sublime, humble, solid, and progressive course of goodness.

course.

2. We may now consider the piety of Enoch in some of its particulars. 1. What was his leading principle? It was faith. He received the revelation that God had given him of his will, and he acted upon it. 2. He contemplated the day of judgment. He looked forward to that day in which God will call mankind to give an account of their doings. 3. He warned the ungodly around him. Acquainted with the purposes of a holy God, he reproved the workers of iniquity, and showed them the dreadful punishments that awaited them. We see, then, that the piety of Enoch was founded in a principle of faith that led to right conduct. His faith was practical.

Such was the piety of Enoch. He was a believing and spiritually minded man; holy and obedient himself; and instructing others both by his example and his language. Let us apply all this to ourselves. Are we acquainted with God, and at peace with him through the blood of Christ? Do we walk with him? we a true faith? Do we look forward to a future judgment? Do we warn the thoughtless and ungodly? Piety in the ancient Patriarch and in the modern Christian is the same thing: it is faith leading to all religious

Have