The learned Witsius remarks, He who seduced man to this apostasy was doubtless a wicked spirit, who, tormented with the horrors of a guilty conscience, envied man his happiness in God, and God the pleasure he had in man. Seeking wretched consolation in a partaker of his misery, he concealed himself, therefore, in the Serpent, which was at that time not less acceptable to man than any other creature. The great Du Moulin conjectures this Serpent was of a conspicuous form, with fiery eyes; decked with gold, and marked with shining spots, such as to draw the eyes of Eve after it; and that before this, he had, by his soothing sounds, insinuated himself into Eve’s favour—which is very probable. The present learned Dr. Clarke conjectures this creature was an Ape instead of a Serpent; but the arguments he brings forward are by no means sufficient to support the fact. The form of the curse pronounced on Satan, in the Serpent, is, _Now thou art cursed above all cattle_, _and above every beast of the field_. This curse has not fallen upon that species of animals, called the Serpent, in general, though it might on that particular one which Satan made use of; for there are various kinds of Serpents, or creatures of the Serpent kind—the reeded Serpent, the fiery flying Serpent, the horned Serpent, the Basilisk, the Dragon, the Deaf Adder, the common Adder, the Viper, the Asp, the Water Snake, the Land Snake, the Rattle-Snake, the Conger Eel, the common Eel, and the Lamprey—these are of the Serpent kind. Now the Serpent the Devil abused was but one, but of what kind we know not, and the sentence of God is in the singular number—so Dr. Gill remarks, _that_ Serpent—on thy belly shalt _thou_ go, and dust shalt _thou_ eat all the days of thy life. So that as far as the curse went on the agent, when that one Serpent died the sentence was fully executed on that creature. But the curse, in all its dreadful weight, fell on the Devil, who is cursed above all sinners, who are called cattle, Beasts, and the unclean—as Lions, Dogs, Bears, Rams, Wolves, Leopards, Bulls, Heifers at grass, Foxes, and Goats. Many of these have been tamed, become useful and tractable, but Devils never were, nor never will; and Satan, the ring-leader, I apprehend is cursed above them all—_upon thy belly shalt thou go_. What the learned have said about the Serpent’s going erect is bare conjecture. But this curse is evidently upon the Devil: the word Belly in scripture, sometimes signifies the Conscience, and I believe it means this: Hence Job speaking of the seed of the Serpent, says, _they shall not feel quietness in the Belly_—it means depression and deep abasement, in awful affliction—our belly cleaveth to the ground, our soul is bowed down to the dust. This is what Satan feels, and will be cursed with for ever—no ease or rest, but hell in him wherever he goes—God’s curse and wrath upon him—the arrows of vindictive wrath sticking fast in him; nor can he feel any joy,