254. That by the "seed of the serpent" is meant all infidelity, is evident from the signification of a "serpent" as being all evil; "seed" is that which produces and is produced, or that which begets and is begotten; and as the church is here spoken of, this is infidelity. In Isaiah, in reference to the Jewish Church in its perverted state, it is called a "seed of evil doers" a "seed of adultery" a "seed of falsehood:" Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, sons that are destroyers they have forsaken Jehovah, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel, they have estranged themselves backward (Isa. 1:4). Again:
Draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer. Are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood ? (Isa. 57:3, 4). And again, speaking of the "serpent" or "dragon" who is there called Lucifer:
Thou art cast out of thy sepulchre like an abominable shoot, because thou hast corrupted thy land, thou hast slain thy people the seed of evil doers shall not be called to eternity (Isa 14:19, 20).
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