O F S E R P E N T S. 193 



fcnt of which was made to King Francis, as a great - Rarity of 

 the Kind. 



JEROM CJRDJN informs us of foine winged Dragons 

 he had feen at Paris, fo nicely preferved, that they very much 

 refembled the Living ,• they were defcribed with two Feet, weak 

 Wings, a Terpentine Head, and of the Bignefs of a Rabbit. 



Why was the Deliverance of i/fa^-/ by a Machine made in 

 the Form of a Serpent ? Perhaps, thefe ferpentine Strokes might 

 be intended as Emblems, or Memento's of the fatal Wound in 

 Paradife, where Man's Nature was firft poifoned by the Devil, 

 who made ufe of a real Serpent to feduce our firft Parents. 



What is moral Evil but the Venom of the old Serpent? A 

 Venom as pleafant to the Tafle, as the forbidden Fruit to the 

 Eye, but the End is Bitternefs. And what are Incentives to Sin, . 

 but delufivelnfmuations of the fubtle Serpent? And what is En- 

 joyment, but a pleafing Illufion, which is no fooner grafp'd, but 

 glides away as a Shadow, leaving behind it a wounded Confci- 

 ence, direful Apprehenfions and Profpecfts. 



And what are all fenfual Entertainments but fo many hot 

 Gleams that portend the Approach of warring Winds and Storms ? 

 The Powers of Darknefs that excel in Science, know how to 

 regale the human Mind with pleafant Scenes, and how to divert 

 the Senfes with delightful Charms; Charms that have no Exiftence 

 but in a deluded Imagination, 



. The Cure by a brazen Serpent, might alfo be to fhew, that 

 the Almiglity in relieving diftreffed Supplicants, is not tied to any 

 particular Medium. When the Ifraelites were poifon'd by real 

 Serpents, he heals them by the Image of a Serpent. When he 

 would deflroy Goliah the Tyrant, he does it by a Sling in the 

 Hands of David a. Youth, a very unlikely Perfon to encounter a 

 Champion. 



Thus God by the Figure of a Serpent mortifies the Pride 

 of Lucifer, the old Serpent, by which he acquir'd greater Ho- 

 nour, than if he had facrificed to the Fire all the Serpents in the 

 Wildernefs. 



This may further intimate, that Providence may employ the- 

 fame Kind of Inftruments, either for the Difplay of MerOy or 

 Juftice upon Mankind. He who heals and wounds by the Me- 

 diation of Serpents, can turn Bleffings into a Curfe, or enable us 

 to exirad Sweetnefs out of the bitter Cup. 



C c SECT. 



