OF SERPENTS. 



thofe Figures SpecHiacIes of Horror, feems not fo well fijited to 

 Perfons under Circumftances fo inexprefiibly dolorous, tho' re- 

 ilored to Favour 5 but might rather be deiign'd to condud: them 

 to God by Chri/i, the Tree of Life, 



III. I'T's njery probable a Convejfation had paji betweert the Wo- 

 man and Ser petit before the Narrative publiflSd by Mofes. She 

 might upon the firft Approach of the Serpent afl<:, How a Beaft 

 acquired the Gift of Speaking, which is the Prerogative of Ra- 

 tionals ? The Serpent might anfwer, That it was by Eating the 

 Fruit of that Tree. Eve might urge, That God had forbid her 

 to eat that Fruit upon pain of Death. The Serpent might make 

 this Return, viz. What you fay is true j 'tis allow'd to be the 

 Law under the firfl Form of Government, but I am now come 

 from the fupreme Court, to give you AfTurance of God's kind 

 Intentions to advance you to a higher and more noble Station : 

 The Prohibition of this Fruit was only a probationary Reftraint, 

 and temporary. 



Now the End of the firfl Inftitution being anfwered, 'tis the 

 Will of our Great Sovereign to take off thofe Reftraints, and 

 make you a free People. Upon the Formation of your Being, 

 he brightened your Mind with Rays of great Wifdom; but now 

 the happy Moment is come, in which he purpofes to infpire you 

 with higher Degrees of Wifdom .... By eating this Fruit, your 

 intellectual Powers will be infinitely enlarged ; for, ye Jhall be as 

 Gods, and then all the Endowments and Accomplifhments of Na- 

 ture will arrive at their full Perfection, which as yet are only in 

 their Embryo. This being only a Suppofition, I difmifs it. 



The Serpent having afcrib'd its Rcafon, and Speech to the 

 eating of that Fruit, the Woman might infer, If this Fruit did 

 turn a Serpent into a rational Creature, why may it not trans- 

 form a rational Creature into a God, and a Woman into a Goddefs ? 

 The Serpent had no occafion to fay more 5 fir'd with the Profped: 

 of fuch Preferment, fhe took the Fruit and did eat. Gen. iii. 6. 

 A?td when the Woman faw that the Tree was good for Food, pleafant 

 to the Rye, and a Tree to be de fired to 7?2ake one wife^ fie did eat. 



N.B. How divine and delightful a Thing is Knowledge, of 

 which Innocency itfelf is ambitious ! Eve thirfted after the Ivigheft 

 Degrees of Knowledge, and made no doubt of obtaining it by 



A a the 



177 



