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102 make to mind and heart they brought the curse upon themselves. And then as an excuse for this, the reply was made by the proprium—the woman—to the conscience or the Lord's voice, "The serpent beguiled me and I did eat;" meaning, "The sensual principle of my nature has been too strong for me, and I have yielded to it because I could not resist its influence." The excuse, however, is but a lame one, and helps nothing. An effort to rise from the position into which they had fallen, had been far better than a mere excuse for their degradation. It was simply, however, what the man now does every day, who, while acknowledging the abstract holiness of the Lord's instructions, persists in saying, "It is not possible for any one to keep the divine commandments." So the curse followed—the fault of man entirely, and not of the Lord. It was the consequence of departing from the true order of life, and not an arbitrary decree of God. It was the inherent demoralization caused by yielding to the proprium, and not an edict of divine wrath.

"And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field." Let us constantly bear in mind that this whole narrative is an allegory. Nothing of it transpired as a literal conversation of the Lord with man, woman, or serpent. When it reads