OF GEN. 3:15, "I WILL PUT ENMITY BETWEEN THEE AND THE WOMAN,

AND BETWEEN THY SEED AND HER, SEED."

MICRON, in his writing, reports that I said that we should not understand the seed of woman, Gen. 3:16, in a carnal, but in a spiritual sense only. To this I reply unre­servedly, that the assertion is without foun­dation. For never in my life was it my in­tention that I would exclude Christ from this promise. For, as deceived Eve was a literal woman, thus also, was the deceitful serpent a literal serpent, through which the devil deceived her. For the Lord said, "Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life," Gen. 3:14, something which the devil, who is a spirit, could not do. If we, now, are to understand the seed of woman as a gen­erative seed, as does Micron, then also, the seed of the serpent must be understood as being a generative seed, between which two the enmity would exist, solely; for the one seed must be after its own kind, for the rea­son that it is of one name. In that sense the literal serpent, only, was vanquished by Christ. Understand rightly what I write.

On the other hand, if the serpent be a spiritual serpent (as it indeed is) represent­ed by the deceitful serpent, then the woman must also be a spiritual woman, represent­ed by the deceived woman, and thus, again, the seed be after its own kind; for as the serpent is spiritual, so also, is her seed spiritual, which is falsehood, Jn. 8:44, of which alas, she begets such children as write such deceiving, lying, infamous, and partial books as Micron and Herman have done in this instance.

386In the same manner, as the woman is spiritual, Eph. 5:25; Rev. 12:6; 19:7, thus, also, is her seed spiritual, that is, the truth of which (eternal glory be to God for his grace), she begets such children as walk in the truth, sincerely speak the truth, and for the sake of the truth, willingly submit to death with yea, and nay.

And behold, between these two, the chil­dren of truth, and the children of falsehood, there is an eternal enmity. The seed of woman vanquishes, and that by sincere, firm faith, in christian patience by the Spir­it and word of the Lord; yet it receives many stings in the heel from the van­quished seed of the serpent. For their name is slandered, their doctrine is ridiculed, their life is hated unto death, their effects are stolen, their flesh is burned, and they are drowned, and must expect to be daily bitten by the venomous, blood guilty seed, as I, in my weakness, have experienced for more than twenty years.

Behold, if we understand it in such a sense as we have here shown, the spiritual things remain spiritual, carnal things, car­nal, and the Scriptures remain unbroken. But the Lord save me from hereby excluding Christ from the promise. For I am aware, by the grace of the Lord, that Christ is the power, the beginning, means and end of the whole promise, and that he will remain such forever. For he is the spiritual hus­band of this spiritual woman, Jn. 3:6; Rev. 19:7; Eph. 5:25. His Word is the seed of woman, which Word he is himself, as he says, "Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning," Jn. 8:25. He spoke and taught the truth and he is the truth, Jn. 14:6. He spoke and taught love, and he is love, 1 Jn. 4:8. In short, he spoke of wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and deliv­erance, and he is himself Wisdom, Right­eousness, Sanctification and Redemption, 1 Cor. 1:30.

He alone is the victorious Prince, and tri­umphant Conqueror who was promised by those words, who has bruised the serpent's head for us, and also, we in him, by him, as Paul says, "In all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us," Rom. 8:37. And "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me," Phil. 4:13, and, "Who is he that over­cometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" 1 Jn. 5:5.

Inasmuch as it is manifest from all this, that Christ and his Spirit, word, wisdom, truth, righteousness, sanctification, peace, deliverance, and all other attributes can never be separated in power and truth; and as it is manifest that where the one is the other must be also, therefore I will not leave it to the judgment of Micron and Herman, but to the judgment of the impartial reader, whether I exclude the man Christ, in whom our salvation is, from this promise, and say that it should only be understood spiritu­ally, notwithstanding the allegory is spirit­ual in him, as Micron reports.

It has always been my understanding that he was hereby promised unto us of a woman, and have so stated it in some of my books; yet he must thus misquote my writ­ings, as alas, he often does. I would not know for what reason I should contradict it, as he is not here promised of a man, but of a woman, Isa. 7:14, of a virgin; from which we must deduce that he was not to be the impure seed of mortal man, but the Son of the Most High.

Behold, here you have our incontroverti­ble reply, founded on the Scriptures, to all the unfounded, wordy, sophistic and pow­erless arguments which Micron and Herman adduce in their writing about the seed of woman.

I do not see why the godly women, of which he writes and to whom he complains, should not submit to this, as I allow their husbands and lords, whose honor, all vir­tuous and honorable wives should gladly maintain, and to themselves each in her sphere, according to the measure of eternal truth, that which their God the Lord, has allowed them himself, by his word, by the works of his creation, according to his di­vine pleasure.

I will not say anything about what shame Micron commits against all honorable wo­men by his unseasoned writing; I do not delight in chiding and upbraiding. It suf­fices men to assert the foundation of our doc­trine, to the praise of the Lord. He must once in a while maliciously pierce me, that 387he may thereby the more embitter some hearts against me, and that he may make truth still more hated and abhorred by our hated name.