Page:PracticalCommentaryOnHolyScripture.djvu/60

 is  good,  for  his  mercy  endureth  for  ever!”  (Ps.  117,  1.)  “Let us, therefore,  love  God,  because  God  first  hath  loved  us” (1 John  4,  19). Whatever you  may  be  doing  to-day,  say:  “I  do it  for  love  of  Thee,  O my  God!”

F all  the  animals  that  God  had  placed  upon  the  earth,  none was more  cunning  than  the  serpent. Hence the  devil,  who was envious  of  the  happiness  of  our  first  parents,  made  use  of him  in  order  to  seduce  them. Eve, prompted  by  curiosity,  approaching the  forbidden  tree,  saw  a serpent  near  it. He began to speak,  and  said  to  her:  “Why  has  God  commanded  you that you  should  not  eat  of  every  tree  of  paradise?”  Eve  answered: “Of  the  fruit  of  the  trees  of  paradise  we  do  eat;  but  of the  fruit  of  the  tree  which  is  in  the  midst  of  paradise,  God  has commanded us  that  we  should  not  eat,  and  that  we  should  not