OF SE R PEN TS. 229 



Tiibal-cain of Mofes, {Gen. iv. 22.) the firft Artificer in Brafs and 

 Iron : Platos Atlanticiis is a Fable founded upon the Hiftory of 

 Noah\ Flood: The Fable of the Giants florming Heaven, is ta- 

 ken from the Builders of the Tower of Babel, as before : Yea, 

 fays a Learned Father (after Numenius, the celebrated Pythagorean 

 and Plato!ii/i) what is Plato but Mojei in an Athenian Drejs * ? 

 But to be more particular, 



I. SATAN, who conduced the War in £Jf«, difplay'd his Art 

 under the Form of a Serpent, which Mofes reprefents as a Creature 

 of fuperior Wifdom, and Illuminator of Mankind, Now the 

 Tradition, that the. firji Serpent had not only the Gift of fpeaking, 

 but of communicating Science, and had held a Conference with 

 the firft Woman, to the vaft Increafe of her Knowledge, might 

 at laft fwell to fuch a degree, that ignorant People might attri- 

 bute to that Serpent, and her Race, a kind of Divinity ; and for 

 this Reafon alfo, becaufe in the Perfedlions of the Mind flie ex- 

 ceeded our firft Parents, who being conftituted Governors of the 

 Earth, muft be fuppofed to be furnifh'd with extraordinary Ac- 

 complifliments : But, fays Tradition, here is one who infufed 

 greater Knowledge into them, and made them more wife ; and 

 they, for contefting with the Wifdom of the Serpent, were turned 

 out of Paradife, and ordain'd their Dwelling to be among the 

 Beafts of the Field. 



Surely, might the People fay, fo great a Being as this Ser- 

 pent merits our awful Regards. Now, how far fuch Thoughts 

 might operate in thofe early days of Ignorance and Superftition, 

 I determine not : The Serpent indeed, is faid to be more fubtle 

 than the Beafts of the Field, but not more wife than Adam and 

 E,ve. 



It is more ftrange, to think that in the primitive Church there 

 were certain Hereticks call'd Ophites., took their Name from 

 Ophis -f-, who worfliipped the Serpent that betray'd £w, and af- 

 cribed all forts of Knowledge to that Animal, maintain'd 'twas a 

 good Creature, and that our firft Parents were inftrudied by it to 

 know Good and Evil. Yea, they believed, " the Serpent that 



" tempted 



• Ti y«p eq'i nAariov v) Mwirv); a.TTiv.tX.a«. ^iJ en'im eft Tlato, nip Mofes qui loquitur 

 ySttice ? Or, ^lid eniin aliud eft Plato, qitam Mofes Attiiijfans 1 Cleraentis 

 Alexandrini Opera, Strom, lib i. Colonize p. 342. 

 t A Greek word that iignifies a Serferit. 



