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Himself. Eve yielded to the wiles of the archtempter. She ate
the apple and gave it also to Adam who had not the moral
courage to resist her. The poison tongue of Satan had done
its work. They fell.
—And then the voice of God was heard in that garden,
calling His creature man to account: and Michael, prince
of the heavenly host, with a sword of flame in his hand, ap-
peared before the guilty pair and drove them forth from
Eden into the world, the world of sickness and striving,
of cruelty and disappointment, of labour and hardship, to
earn their bread in the sweat of their brow. But even then
how merciful was God! He took pity on our poor degraded
parents and promised that in the fullness of time He would
send down from heaven One who would redeem them,
make them once more children of God and heirs to the
kingdom of heaven: and that One, that Redeemer of fallen
man, was to be God’s only begotten Son, the Second Person
of the Most Blessed Trinity, the Eternal Word.
—He came. He was born of a virgin pure, Mary the vir-
gin mother. He was born in a poor cowhouse in Judea and
lived as a humble carpenter for thirty years until the hour
of His mission had come. And then, filled with love for men,
He went forth and called to men to hear the new gospel.
—Did they listen? Yes, they listened but would not hear.
He was seized and bound like a common criminal, mocked
at as a fool, set aside to give place to a public robber, scourged
with five thousand lashes, crowned with a crown of thorns,
hustled through the streets by the jewish rabble and the Ro-
man soldiery, stripped of his garments and hanged upon a

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