The-papacy-its-history-dogmas-genius-and-prospects-wylie

:KEY TO THE PAPACY. 401wise, and that it had been interdicted by God, eitlior becausehe grudged her the good the tree had power to bestowupon her, or, what is more probable, that she had mistakenthe command altogether. This, then, was the prime objectof Satan''s policy. He admitted, at least he did not deny,that God had promised her life ;he admitted that that lifewas good, and that she should aim at enjoying it ; and headmitted farther, that it was in connection with the treethat that life was to be attained. But the question wasmade to turn on the sort of connection ; Whether did, ordid not, the promised good reside in the tree itself? Thecommand of God plainly intimated that it did not reside inthe tree, but would be bestowed by himself, in the way ofhis ordinance, which took the form of a covenant, being observed.But the point which Satan laboured to establishwas, that the good was in the tree, and that it was intendedas the efficacious means of bestowing that good upon her.Such was the question the woman had to decide ;and accordingto her decision would one of two inevitableissuesensue,—her obedience and life, or her disobedience anddeath.If she should reject the doctrine of inherent efficacy^so boldly and artfully pi-opounded, she would of courselook elsewhere for life, even to God, and would respect hiscommand. Should she, blinded and led away by the subtletyof the serpent, embrace the doctrine of inherent efficacy^—should she come to believe that she had only to eat and toI'lve^—she would of course look only to the tree, and w^ouldstraightway partake of its fruits. Unhappily she adoptedthe latter belief, and we know the issue.But here the whole policy of Satan stands revealed.Brought within the compass of this single transaction, wecan study that policy to much more purpose than when displayedalong so extended a line of operations as the Papacypresents. Here is the key to Satan's policy of six thousandyears, and especially the key to the Papacy. This transactionexhibitsunmistakeably all the worst features of thatevil system. Here was the opus operatiun of a sacrament2 D