OF SERPENTS. 173 



affirm'd, that the Serpent is afraid of a naked Man, but attacks 

 him if he has Clothes on. 



3. When the Serpent isaffaulted, its chief Care is to fecure 

 its Head : 'Tis attefted by many Writers, that to fave the Head,, 

 it will expofe the whole Body to Danger *. 



4. When it goes to drink, it vomits up all its Poifon, for 

 fear of poifoning itfelf. Some have defended this, but without 

 any Colour of Reafon -f-. 



They relate other Inftances of the Serpent's Wifdom, as flop- 

 ping its Ears, that it may not hear the Voice of the Charmer or 

 Inchanter ; of which the Pfalmiji takes notice. 'Tis faid, it ap- 

 pHes one of its Ears hard to the Ground, and flops up the other 

 with the end of its Tail, Pfal. Iviii. 4. Others fay, its Wifdom 

 confifts in Acutenefs of Sight ; therefore among the Greeks^ a Ser- 

 pent's Eye was a proverbial Speech for one of a quick Underftand- 

 ing |. Thefe are fome of the common Reafons affigned for the 

 Wifdom of the Serpent. 



I Now proceed to an Illuflration of the Debate between the 

 Woman and Serpent in Paradife, under three Heads. 



I. WHT may not we fuppofe, that in the Infancy of Mankind 

 there was an open Inter coiirfe between the a7igelick and human Worlds 

 and that AngeU might appear to our firjl Parents in fome vifbk 

 Form, as afterwards they did to the Patriarchs ? If this be not 

 granted, I would afk how a fallen Angel came to know there was 

 a Paradife, and a certain Tree whofe Fruit was forbidden, and 

 where that Tree was fituated in the Garden ? 



When a certain Province of Angels rebelled, they were 

 doom'd to the wide Space contiguous to our Globe, and by their 

 daily Rovings from Place to Place, they might indeed difcover 

 that little Spot of Earth, called Paradife -, but how came they to 

 be acquainted with the Laws of that Country, and that there was 

 a forbidden Tree, and where it grew ? How, I fay, could they 

 know all this without Revelation, or previous Converfation with 

 the Inhabitants of the Place ? 



* 'o ovpis C^vh.arlit Kt^ahviM. Ifiodor. Pelufiof. lib. i. p. 126. 

 t Catmet's Dillon, of the H. Bihle, vol, iii. ouc of Epiphamm. 

 t 04>ew; ijfifta, 



