reason, our passions to conscience, and our desires to the commandments of God. We must oppose to our spiritual adversary "the "helmet of salvation" and "the sword of

the spirit," and present "the shield of "faith" against "all the fiery darts of the "wicked one;" and, above all, we must pray, with "all prayer and supplication," for the assistance of that Holy Spirit, who will be our sure support in the time of unlooked-for trial, our all-sufficient succour in the hour of unexpected need, and who will assuredly in the end bring us off from the field of battle "more than conquerors."

DISCOURSE V.

Subject. THE PROMISE OF THE
SAVIOUR.

CHRIST PROMISED, PREFIGURED, AND PREDICTED, THROUGH THE WHOLE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. THE POWER AND PARTIAL SUCCESS OF OUR SPIRITUAL FOE. EFFECTUALLY RESISTED BY THE SINCERE CHRISTIAN. MORAL INFErences.

GEN. iii. 15.

I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

T is the observation of an ingenious writer, "In reading the book of Gene"sis, search for Christ, for Moses wrote "of him. More is said of him here than "most men suspect. In truth, Jesus is the "sum and substance of the whole book, and "is all along set forth in types.'

This remark is quite accurate as far as it goes; but might, with the utmost propriety,

be extended to almost every book of the Old Testament, which, more or less, shadows out the promised Saviour, and the redemption wrought for fallen man through his atonement.

For this assertion we have the authority of Christ himself, who tells the Jews that the scriptures generally "bear witness" of him; and in his conversation with the disciples, after his resurrection, he declares to them, that the events which had occurred were only fulfilments of "all the things "which were written in the law of Moses, (or the Pentateuch,)" and the Prophets," (or the historical as well as prophetical books,)" and the Psalms, concerning "Him;" thus pointing at the whole of the Bible as predictive of himself.

A wonderful chain, indeed, of promises and intimations, of types and prophecies, runs through the entire canon of the old covenant, indicating and prefiguring, with the most astonishing accuracy, that "great "salvation," whose completion and history are narrated in the New Testament; and scarcely a page of it can be opened which does not carry in it some allusion, either direct or indirect, to the promised "seed of "the woman," of Him, who, "in "the "fulness of time," was to be manifested in

the flesh, to" bruise the serpent's head;" or, in other words, to check the present influence, and destroy, eventually, the whole power, of Satan.

It is true, that the intimations of the Messiah in the earlier periods of the world were comparatively obscure and glimmering, like the first misty dawn of the "morn

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ing spread upon the mountains;" but as "the day-spring from on high" advanced, and the advent of the Saviour drew nearer, every succeeding age bore a brighter and clearer testimony to the truth of the original promise; and, by more frequent and more particular predictions, assured to believers the approaching appearance of "the Sun "of righteousness" on the horizon of a world that lay in "darkness and the sha"dow of death."

The text contains the first intimation afforded to mankind of this great Redeemer, and (if I may so express myself) of the method of his redemption; and never was a cheering promise given when succour was more needed, or solace could be more acceptable.

The fatal act which robbed man of innocénce, nature of her harmony, and the world of its beauty, had been committed; and the trembling culprits, our first parents, stood

before their insulted Maker, abashed and terrified; looking forward, with the justest expectation, to the execution of that sentence upon them, which their wilful disobedience and daring rebellion so well deserved -eternal death, utter extinction, hopeless annihilation! The situation of Adam and his guilty partner, however, is best described in the words of Holy Writ; than which nothing can be more affecting and impressive.

"And they heard the voice of the Lord "God walking in the garden in the cool "of the day; and Adam and his wife hid "themselves from the presence of the Lord "God amongst the trees of the garden.

"And the Lord called unto Adam, and "said, Where art thou? And he said, I "heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.

"And He said, Who told thee that thou "wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the "tree whereof I commanded thee that "thou shouldest not eat?

"And the man said, The woman whom "thou gavest to be with me, she gave me "of the tree, and I did eat.

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"And the Lord God said unto the woman, What hast thou done? And the