2.0 4 NATURAL HISTORY 



J 



" tempteel Eve was tlic Cbrift, who afterwards came down and 

 '' was incarnate in the Perfon of Jfjus: That it was J ejus, but 

 *' not the Chrift^ that fuffer'd ; for which reafon they made all 

 " Profclytes to their Sed:, to renounce 'Jefm *." If a Sed of 

 Chrillians fpeak after this manner, what Ideas muft the Heathen 

 form of things ? 



O N E of the Fathers fpeaking of thefe Hereticks, obferves how 



they afiirm'd, That Wifdom made itjelf a Serpent had given 



Knowledge to Man, and that the Pofition of Man's Bowels, 

 winding about like Serpents, fliews that there is in us a hidden 

 Subftance that engenders the Figure of Serpents -f-. Surely thofe 

 Fathers of the Church were Children in Underftanding, that gave 

 way to fuch myflical Conundrums. Call them no more Fathers, 

 but Children of Antiquity. 



These Hereticks, in the Confecration of the Eucharifl:, al- 

 ways had a Serpent ready in a Box, which they produced on that 

 Occafion, making it come out by certain Charms, and lick the 

 Bread, and having killed the fame, they eat it J. Another Hifto- 

 rian exprelTes it thus, 'viz. " When their Priefls celebrated their 

 *' Myfleries, they made one of thefe Creatures to come out of 

 " his Hole, and after he had roU'd himfelf upon the Things that 

 " were to be offer'd in Sacrifice, they faid yefus Chriji had fandi- 

 " fiedthem, and then gave them to the People to worfliip them ||." 

 N, B. I don't apprehend how the Learned Abbot makes them 

 bring in the Name yejiis here, a Name which in the fame Page 

 he fays, they obliged their Profelytes to renounce. 



This flrange Superflition feems to be derived from the Hea- 

 then, who at the Feafts of Bacchus^ ufed to carry a Serpenty and 

 to cry, Evia, Evia ** : And Evia, fays Clemens Alexandrinus, 

 if it be afperated, Hevia^ hgnifies in the Hebrew^ a female Ser- 

 pe?it. Dr. Lightfoot obferves, that there being no fuch Word in 

 the Hebrew^ Clemem muft mean the Chaldee, in which Hivia 

 fignifies a Serpent. 



2. T H E Reputation gain'd by the Serpent in Paradife, was heigh- 

 ten'd by the wonderful Cures done by the brazen Serpent in the 



Wildernefs. 



* Calmet. , 



\ Irenaus adv. Uaref. (lib. i. cap. ■^^.'—fopb/am /er^ entew frMjrK—) y^ho flou- 

 rilli'd in rhe cloCe of the id Century. 



t Bhjgh. Index Htret. H Calmet\ Hifcr, Di&, v j1. ii- p. 668. 



