First, then, my reply to this cavil is "He that is ignorant, let him be ignorant still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still," Rev. 22:11. For he that will not believe the openly revealed and manifest Gospel is worthy of being left in ignorance of these more hidden passages of the Scripture and in disbelief of them altogether. Neither is our present object to confirm or illustrate the Gospel by the passage now in question, but to hold up the brighter light of the Gospel before it in order to illuminate its obscurities. And if any will not believe the shining light of the Gospel, what marvel is it if they are left to disbelieve these more obscure words of the prophets and to produce their new and absurd opinions in opposition to them? The promise of the Gospel is revealed from heaven; and moreover it is preserved in safety amidst the greatest tyrants and the most horrible punishments of our sins from God. If the Jews pertinaciously fight against this promise and will not believe it, they must be left alone. We meanwhile will deal with those who believe, and who submit to the Gospel. Christ says, John 8:44, that Satan is the "father of lies, and a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth." This is that light of the Gospel by which the dark places of the Old Testament are illumined. Now if Satan was "a murderer from the beginning" tell me, whom or what persons did he murder? Were they not Adam and Eve, whom he murdered by sin? Where did he murder them? Was it not in paradise? When did he murder them? Was it not when he made nothing of the commandment of God and promised Adam and Eve that they would be like gods if they would eat of the forbidden tree? Both propositions therefore are true. The natural serpent was in paradise; and by the natural serpent, the old serpent, the devil, deceived man and murdered him. The principal meaning of this passage therefore is to cause us to understand that the devil was the author of all this calamity; just as when any one commits murder, it may rightly be said of the sword of the murdered, "This sword killed the man." Whereas in truth, it was not the sword alone nor of itself that killed the man, but the murderer who used the sword. Indeed it is quite a common use of the figure synecdoche, the conveyance of two ideas by one expression, to understand the author of the act under the mention of the instrument made use of. Wherefore we explode this Jewish cavil utterly.