176 A NATURAL HISTORY 



the Inhabitation of the Deity in the Tabernacle and Temple, 

 might be an Emblem of Mercy, to which the Sacrifices were of-, 

 fer'd : and may not Cherubims be fo conftrued here ? A^. B. May 

 we not date the firfh Inftitution of Sacrifice here, which foon ap- 

 pear'd in the Hiftory of Cahz and Abelf 



God might addrefs our fiift Parents after this manner; View 

 thefe v/onderful Sights over the Gate, behold in them the Scheme 

 of Salvation ! The Text thus interpreted, gives the Tempter a 

 frefli Mortification, to fee his bloody Defign defeated, and our 

 firfl Parents reftored to Favour at the Gate of Eden, in which he 

 had triumph'd over them ; and that which encreafed his Vexation 

 was, to fee this done by Chrift^ the promifed Seed, one of the hu- 

 man Race. 



In the Tabernacle and Temple there were no Reprefentations 

 of God, but only emblematical Figures erecfted over the Mercy- 

 Seat, called the Cherubims ; in, or between them, the Deity is 

 faid to dwell ; and the Law obliged the 'Jews to bring the Blood 

 of the Sacrifice before the Face of God in the Cherubims, that is, 

 v/ithin the Vail, on the Day of Expiation : and here God might 

 dired: our firfl Parents to bring their Sacrifices to him, who was 

 in a fpecial manner prefent in the Cherubims over the Gate. 



But fuppofing Adam and Eve had, after their Expulfion, en- 

 ter'd Paradife ; I don't fee what valuable End it would have an- 

 fwered, for the fpecial Promifes made to the firfl Inhabitants of 

 Paradife were now null and void. All the Bleflings peculiar to 

 that glorious Situation, were irrecoverably lofl. It was not in the 

 power of that once facred Seat to reinflate them in their prifline 

 Happinefs, 



Obj. Could not the Tree of Life reftore their forfeited Com- 

 forts ? I prefume not ; becaufe the Tree of Life, in the Defign 

 of it, was to perpetuate the happy Life of innocent Man, and not 

 to reflore the Life and Comforts of Criminals under a Sentence 

 of Death ; a Sentence irrepealable, which even the Death of our 

 Blefled Redeemer does not exempt us from. 



Upon the whole, I can fcarcely think that thefe ftrange and 

 awful Sights or Figures, over the Eafl Gate of Edeit, were only 

 to frighten our firft Parents, whofe diftreffed State ftood in need 

 of Divine Supports. To be caft out of Paradife was a Mortifica- 

 tion that needed not a fuper- added Terror; therefore to make 



thofe 



