230 A NATURAL HISTORY 



" tempted Eve was the Chrifi, who afterwards came down and 

 " was incarnate in the Perfon of Jejiis: That it was Jejin, but 

 " not the Chrift^ that fuffer'd ; for which reafon they made al! 

 " Profelytes to their Sedt, to renounce Jefus *." If a Sedl of 

 Chriflians 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 affirm'd, That JVifdom made itjelf a Serpent had given 



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

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

 Subftance that engenders the Figure of Serpents -(-. 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 Eucharift, 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 kiffed the fame, they eat it %. Another Hifto- 

 rian exprefles it thus, inz. " When their Priefts celebrated their 

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

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

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

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

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

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

 he fays, they obliged their Profelytes to renounce. 



This flrange Superftition feems to be derived from the Hea- 

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

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

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

 pent. Dr. Lightfoot obferves, that there being no fuch Word in 

 the Hebrew, Clemens muft mean the Chaldee, in which Hhia 

 lignifies a Serpent. 



2. Th 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. 



t Irevaus adv. Haref. (^lib. I. Ci.^. ■^j^.—fophiam Jerientem pBim—) who flou- 

 rifh'd in the dole of the 2d Century, 

 t Bingh. Index Herst. H Ca/met's Hifcr. Dill, v A. ii. p. 668. 



