Page:The Garden of Eden (Doughty).djvu/65

Rh according to which the Scripture is written, is consistent, whether applied to Genesis, Isaiah or John. As this law is alike applicable to the unfolding of the true meaning of Genesis and all other portions of sacred Writ, we may be sure that we are treading on safe ground. The woman, in her relation to Adam, will appear again. She was the first to listen to the seductive voice of the serpent; the first to eat of the forbidden tree, and the first to receive the curse. In tracing these events we shall find we have not mistaken her symbolic character.

The lesson of the text is, that evil had its origin in human selfhood, and that the first step is the mother of sin. Have we ever thought how grand a thing life would be, were it elevated above the realm of self? How soon its cankering cares were gone, how far its shadows sent away, how dried of tears its weeping eyes, how soothed to smiles its face of sorrow, were it only freed from this constant sense of self! Could we not be ourselves, yet live for others? Could we not consciously receive the beautiful life of the Lord, yet pour it ever forth into the hearts of those around us? Could we not walk the earth in joy, yet know that all our joys were resting in the blessinigs we had shed over others' lives? How far the world is from this to-day! How long the path to return to the point from whence the