Page:The Garden of Eden (Doughty).djvu/114

108 "for out of it thou wast taken,"—out of the earthly nature the Lord lifted thee when He placed thee in Eden; "for dust thou art,"—in and of thyself mere spiritual dross; "and to dust thou shalt return,"—by thine own act hast thou abased thyself, and art, therefore, self-condemned.

And so the woman, the man and the serpent—the affection, the intellect and the sensual nature—all passed under the curse. Yet it was, on the part of the human race, an act of self-degradation. The Lord seems to say, "I did it;" but it was not the Lord's will, but his broken law that did it. And so mankind went down, down, until our God-in-Christ came to earth to raise him up again.

Now the lesson here taught comes home to all of us. The curse is evil and sin, and it rests upon the hearts of all who cherish evil. It is self and sense, and it abides in every nature over which these twin deceivers hold sway. The woman and the man and the serpent are all in us. They are of every mind. Each one has his emotional, his intellectual and his sensual nature. In the Eden state, these are under the Divine influence; in a fallen or perverted state, they are under the curse. All human degradation is self-imposed; each curse that falls is self-originated. But the Lord comes down (if we will permit Him) into the midst of every sorrow, care or pain, and breathes his mercy there. The good Samaritan of the soul, He pours