12 A N A TUR AL HI ST OR Y 



SECTION IV. 



1 



■^ H A T Du/l was not the original Food of the Serpent, 

 _ feems evident from the Sentence pafled upon the Paradi- 

 fiick Serpent, but the neceffaiy Confequence of the Change made 

 in the manner of its Motion, /. e. the prone Pofture of its Body, 

 by which it's doomed to hve upon Food intermix'd with Earth, 

 dried to a Powder; Du/i /halt thou eat, is one part of the Curfe. 

 It's true, Serpents eat Flefh, Birds, Frogs, Fi£h, Fruits, Grafs, 

 but as they continually creep on the Earth, 'tis impoffible but 

 their Food muft be often defiled with Dirt; fome of them may 

 cat Earth out of Neceffity, or at leaft Earth- Worms, which they 

 cannot fwallow without fome Dirt with them. No Animal but 

 has its proper Food; even the moft minute Infefts; thofe that 

 feemingly feed upon Duft, in reality feed only upon fome nutri- 

 tive Particles therein. Infedls have been feen through a Micro- 

 fcope to eat fome Particles of Duft, and rejeft many others, hav- 

 ing accurate Organs of Sight, Smelling, and Feeling, as well ac- 

 commodated to Duft, as the Organs of Ducks and Hogs are to 

 find their Food in Dirt. 



And here it may be obferved, that what the Serpent does 

 through a Neceffity from the Divine Sentence, the earthly Man 

 does from his own Will; the Serpent only by the Will of ano- 

 ther, Man eats it from his own Inclination to it; the Serpent 

 would have better Food if it could, Man might have better and 

 will not: Thisfhews that Man has a mind to be Companion with 

 the Serpent, and to carry on the Acquaintance, that was begun 

 in Paradife; the Serpent licks the Duft materially, the earthly 

 Perfon licks it morally; the one has its Tongue upon it, the other 

 has his Heart. The earthly Man is only a Man in fhape, but a 

 Serpent in Pradice : What is the Punifhment of the Serpent, is 

 made the Happinefs of the earthly Mind. 



Some Serpents are carftivoroia, and feed on Flefh; others 

 are verminivorous, and feed on Reptiles: Their Suftenance is va- 

 rious, fuited to their feveral Conffitutions, and Nature of the 

 Climates, where they inhabit. Vipers and Adders feed on Herbs, 



Weeds, Dews, as well as upon Lizards, Mice, Frogs. When 



they 



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