182 SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY. 



these words : O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to 

 flee from the wrath to come?' (Matthew iii. 7); 'Ye serpents, ye 

 generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?' 

 ch. xxiii. 33. Terribly expressive speeches ! A serpentine brood, 

 from a serpentine stock. As their fathers were, so were they, chil- 

 dren of the wicked one. This is God's estimate of a SINNER, wheth- 

 er he wade in wealth, or soar in fame. The Jews were the seed 

 of the serpent, who should bruise the heel of the woman's seed, 

 and whose head should be bruised by him. 



THE ADDER AND THE ASP. 



THE adder was known to the ancient Hebrews under various 

 names. It is the opinion of some interpreters, that the word Sha- 

 chal) which in some parts of scripture denotes a lion, in others 

 means an adder, or some kind of serpent. Thus, in the ninety-first 

 Psalm, they render it the basilisk, * Thou shall tread upon the ad- 

 der and the basilisk, the young lion and the dragon thou shalt tram- 

 ple under foot,' verse 13. Indeed, all the ancient expositors agree, 

 that some species of serpent is meant ; and as the term Shachal. 

 when applied to beasts, denotes a black lion ; so, in the present ap- 

 plication, it is thought to mean the black adder. 



The Hebrew Pethcn is variously translated in our version ; but 

 interpreters generally consider it as referring to the asp. Zophar 

 alludes to it more than once in his description of a wicked man : 

 * Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within 

 him. He shall suck the poison of asps : the vipers' tongue shall 

 slay him,' Job xx. 14. The venom of asps is the most subtile of 

 all; it is incurable, and, if the wounded part be not instantly ampu- 

 tated, it speedily terminates the existence of the sufferer. To these 

 circumstances Moses evidently alludes, in his character of the hea- 

 then : ' Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom 

 of asps,' Deut. xxxiii. 33. See also Rom. iii. 13. To tread upon 

 the asp is attended with extreme danger; and to express in the 

 strongest manner the safety which the godly man enjoys under the 

 protection of his heavenly Father, it is promised, that he shall trend 

 with impunity upon the adder and the dragon, Psalm xci. 13. No 

 person of his own accord approaches the hole of these deadly rep- 

 tiles ; for he who gives them the smallest disturbance, is in extreme 

 danger of paying the forfeit of his rashness with his life. Hence, 

 the prophet Isaiah, predicting the conversion of the Gentiles to the 

 faith of Christ, and the glorious reign of peace and truth in these 

 regions, which, prior to that period, were full of horrid cruelty, de- 

 clares, ' The sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and 



