} 
 
^LA^ ' 
 
 I.il^'M. 
 
 PRESENTED TO THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 BY 
 
 k 
 
 MPS. Alexandeit Ppoudfit. 
 
 &-5-7 -. S52 
 
 Shuckford, Samuel, d. 1754. 
 
 The creation and fall of man 
 
 It 
 
 -^ur:9i- 
 
 
M 
 
 y 
 
 V / 
 
 C'^'^^'S"-" 
 
THE 
 
 CREATION 
 
 AND 
 
 FALL OF M^A N. 
 
 Supplemental Discourse 
 
 TO THE 
 
 Preface of the Firft Volume 
 
 O F T H E 
 
 Sacred and Prophane History 
 of the World conneEied. 
 
 By Samuel Shuckford, D. D. 
 Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed for J. and R. Tonson and S. Draper 
 in the Strand, m dcc liii. 
 
THE 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 LTHOUGH the enfuing 
 Treatife is not of a Size or 
 in a Form proper for a Part 
 of any Preface ; yet I call 
 it a Supplement to the Preface of my 
 firft Volume of "The Sacred and Pro- 
 phane Htflory of the World con7uSl- 
 ed^ becaufe the Subjed-Matter of it 
 ought, and was intended to have been 
 treated in that Preface ; but was de- 
 ferred, as I wifhed to fee what others, 
 who were writing after me [a\ would 
 offer upon a Subjed: fo varioufly 
 
 [a] The Writers of the Unin;erfal Hijiory foon after began to 
 publifh their Work ; and after their Account of the Creation, 
 gave us, as I hoped they would, what they could colledl of the 
 Fall of Man. See my Preface to Vol. I. p. 36. 
 
 A 2 
 
 thought 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 thought of by divers able and vakiable 
 V/riters, rather than too haftily offer 
 to the Pubhc, Sentiments upon it, 
 which I had a juft Diffidence of, as 
 many of them feemed to be more pe- 
 cuHarly my own. 
 
 A fuppofed Impoffibihty of recon- 
 ciHng a literal Interpretation of Mofes\ 
 Account of the Fall of Man, to any 
 reafonable Notions of God, and to 
 what muft in Truth be his Eifpenfa- 
 tions towards us, [b) is, I believe, what 
 has introduced the Notion of explain- 
 ing feme Parts at leaft of his Narra- 
 tion into Apologue and Fable : The 
 Shadow of Allegory feems to give us 
 feme Appearance of knowing, what 
 we do not plainly underftand ; and an 
 unexamined Hearfay of eaflern SageSy 
 \ki€\i Mythology '^n^ Literature^ amufes 
 us with a Colour of being very learn- 
 ed, whilft perhaps we really miftake 
 the Rife and Deiign of the very L,tte- 
 
 (/') See MiddletQn\ allegorical and literal hiterpretation. 
 
 rature 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 rature we have Recourfe to, in endea- 
 vouring to refolve into it Mofes\ Nar- 
 ration, which moft evidently fets before 
 us Particulars abfolutely incapable of 
 admitting any allegorical Interpretation 
 whatfoever. 
 
 That the great Point of which Mofes 
 informs us, is of this Sort; abfolutely 
 incompatible v/ith Allegory is, I think, 
 evident beyond Contradidlion [c] : And 
 I hope, the enfuing Pages, may as 
 clearly fhew, of every Part of what 
 he has related upon the Subjedl, that 
 taken literally to be done, as he has 
 recorded it, the whole very pertinently 
 agreeing to the great Defign of all 
 fubfequent Scripture, muft fhew us, 
 that, in all that happened unto our lirft 
 Parents, nothing befel them, improper 
 for their being unto M^for Enfamples[d) ; 
 and that the Account we have of 
 them, fo far from being mythic or un- 
 intelligible, is moft plainly written for 
 
 {c) Seep. 239. [d] I Cor. x. 11. 
 
 A3, our 
 
VI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 our Admonitio?t ; that we may indeed 
 learn from it, in what Manner and 
 Meafure, from the Beginning it was, 
 as it ftill is, the One Thing needful for 
 Man truly and indeed to obey God : 
 All Scripture is given by Infpiration of 
 God', and is profitable for Do&riney 
 for Reproof for CorreSiioft^ for In- 
 flruEiion iit Righteotfnefs ; that the 
 Man of God may be perfeEi^ throughly 
 furjnfhed unto all good Works [e) : If 
 in explaining Mofes\ Narration of the 
 Fall literally, we can fliew it to bear 
 evidently all thefe Characters of holy 
 Writ, as I truft from what is to follow, 
 it will be feen to bear them, we Ihew 
 what mufl: be of more real Weight 
 for a literal Interpretation, than all 
 that is otherwife fuggefted againft it. 
 
 But, tho' what I have here inti- 
 mated, and have further evinced in the 
 enfuing Treatife, will make it evident, 
 that Mofes did not here write Apologue 
 
 {e) 2 Tim. iii. i6, 17. 
 
 and 
 
PREFACE. vii 
 
 and Fables ; whether what I am going 
 to fuggeft be certain Fa6l or not, yet 
 it may not be difagreeable to the 
 Reader to remark, that the relating 
 mythologically phyfical or moral Truths 
 concerning the Origin and Nature of 
 Things, was not perhaps, as modern 
 Writers too haftily imagin, the cuftom- 
 ary Praftice of Mofes^ Age; but ra- 
 ther began after his Times. The Poet's 
 Rule may be a very good one to 
 judge even of the Stile and Manner - 
 of Authors, 
 
 lEtatis cujiifnue notandi funt tibi Mores, 
 
 Hor. 
 
 And a few Intimations may poflibly 
 fhew us, that a due Ufe of it may 
 not be altogether of no Effed in the 
 Inquiry before us. 
 
 The JVifdom of the Eaji Country j 
 and its eajiern Sages were in high 
 Efteem in the Days of Solomon (f)\ 
 
 (f) 1 Kings iv, 30. 
 
 A 4 biit 
 
vlii PREFACE. 
 
 but it is obferved at the fame Time, 
 that the Wifdom of Egypt ftood in 
 Competition with it (g) : There were 
 then lVefter7t Sages, as well as Eajlern\ 
 and how readily foever Eajlern Sages 
 flows from the Pen of modern Writ- 
 ers, as far as I can find, we muft go 
 to the Wefiern ones for the Rife of 
 Mythologic Writing. Mythology began 
 in Egypt : It was new and recent there 
 in the Times of Sanchojttatho \ the 
 V^CidrctTQ^ k^xdyodVy the Priefts, who 
 at that Tmie were moft modern, 
 had then invented and introduced 
 it [h) : Smtchoniatho flourifhed about 
 j4. M. 2760 (/) : Mofes died A. M. 
 
 2553: 
 
 [g) I Kings iv. 30. [h) When Sanchoniatho made his In- 
 quiries we are told t.iat, o\ ^ v^coTeLToi T /li^hhycoy to. ^ 
 y^yov'oTA ^^.yyJ/r^ ^ '^-^yj^^ aVg'Te^4^-''7o el^K^yoeUg )^ 
 /wjflir^ c7nvor\<Tct\']if, }Cj ro7g )co<T>/.iKoli ^a.^nixoLffi avfyiveixv 
 
 you rvQO", oJ^ fj.i] paj'ic-^i tiv^. (t\wop^.v t* >caT ahi;SHov yz" 
 lo/zV'^" Eufeb. Prsep. Evang. Lib. i. c. 9. (/) ^nnchomatho 
 flouriihed '^fv r rpcuy&jv p(^(fj9"<y»", }y o^iS'ov ro7< WMffkisi. 
 Eufeb, ibid. Troy was taken, according to Archbifliop Ujher, 
 A. M. 2820: according to the Arundel Marble 2796. Agree- 
 ably hereto Sanchoniatho is faid to have converfed with "Jerom^ 
 haul a Prieft of the God Je^vo^ in or near Phoenicia : The 
 Ccimtry of the jfe-zvs was often taken as a Par£ of Phcenicia : 
 
 The 
 
PREFACE. ix 
 
 2553 [k): In the Interval of thefe 217 
 Years, we have Reafon to fuppofe the 
 Rife of Mythology. 
 
 It is remarkable, that in this Inter- 
 val the Correction of the Year was 
 made in Egypt^ when Afeth was King 
 there (/) : AJeth or AJJts was the fixth 
 Pajior King, the fecond after ApophtSy 
 who peri£hed at the Exit of the Ifrae- 
 lites in the RedSea^ A.M. 2513 (;;;): 
 
 The four Letters of the Word Jeho~jah may eafily be fo pointed 
 as to be pronounced Jeh<voh: Gideon, who was alfo called Je- 
 rubhaal. Judges v. 32. was a Prophet, a Ruler, a great Deli- 
 verer of his People under the efpecial Direction of this God, 
 whofe Name was Jeho'vah [mn^] Judges vi, vii, viii. With 
 the Heathens, and in the moll ancient Times, the Ruler was 
 alfo Prieft unto his People ; fee Connea. Vol. If. B. 6 ; {o that 
 they might naturally deem Jeruhbaal a Pried of the God 'lAjco^ 
 Jeuoh, as they pronounced it, from his having been appointed 
 by Jeho'vah to rule and govern his People : Mr. Dod^j.-eil indeed 
 wrote a Treatife to prove Sanchoniatho not to have been thus 
 ancient : But I cannot apprehend his Endeavours to be at all 
 conclulive. Take yeromlaal to be Giaeon, and Gideo7i to have 
 ended his War againft Midian about A. IvL 2760, fee UJher'% 
 Annahy about that Time Sanchojiiatho rsight have Accefs to 
 him. {k) See Conned. Vol. III. B. 12. "p. 300. (/) 'A/- 
 
 «T©- 'TZ^O-'i^iDil r ivtOLUTUV TAq fe Z'TTAycfJ^VCti' }L^ qhH 
 
 dviiy cJi eaffii', kypvuctriffiv rB'i r,[jL^^cov "" AiyvTiltetKo^ hi- 
 WJTo^y T^' fXQVcoy 'TTfj T^r>s //- « T p a /-'-V O" * Syvcellus, p. 123. 
 According to SyncelluSy Afeth lived about A. M. 2716. Ac- 
 cording to Sir John Marffoam, we mud place him 2665. See 
 Connect. Vol. 11. p. 284. But from the Years of the Egyptian 
 icings, as I deduce them, fee Vol. JII. p, 237, his Times are 
 from 2563 to 2603. [m) See Co?inefi. Vol. III. B. xi. p. 237. 242. 
 
 AJfts 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 AJfts began to reign at the end of 50 
 Years after the Death of Apophis [n)y 
 i. e. A. M. 2563 («?); the Corredion 
 of the Year was not until after the 
 Beginning of his Reign ; in what Time 
 of it we are not told; he reigned 40 
 Years (/^); we may well place it to- 
 wards his Death (^j, about perhaps 
 A. M. 2600 (^^)5 which is about 47 
 Years after the Death of Mofes (r) ; 22 
 Years after the Death of Jojhua [s). 
 
 The Fable that is handed down to 
 us along with the Account of their 
 Corre6fcion of the Year, very fignifi- 
 cantly points out that their Mythology 
 took its rife from this Incident : They 
 now found out, that there were five 
 Days in the Year more than they had 
 thought of (/), and they mythologizedy 
 
 (k) Ibid. p. 237. (<?) The Reign of Junius, the interme- 
 diate King between Apophes Jind JJps or Afethy brings us to be- 
 gin AJJts\ Reign at this Year. (/) Ibid, [q] Conma. Vol.11. 
 Book viii. [qq) y^j died 2603. vide quas fup. (r) Mofes 
 died 2553. [s) Jofhuu died ^. A?. 2578. Connea. Vol. JH. 
 
 Book xii. p. 428. {t) The E^yptiun Year was now firft com- 
 puted to be 365 Days, being before reckoned 360 only. Syn- 
 €eUus ubi fup. Connea. Pref. to Vol, I. 
 
 that 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 that five Gods were now born, OJtris^ 
 Orusy Typhoy IJis^ and Nepthe (u): 
 They could not mean, that thefe Per- 
 fonages now firft began to be; for 
 they had been, Ages before, mighty 
 and renowned Princes in their Country; 
 but they now firft afcribed to them a 
 Rule and Influence over all Things 
 fublunary, by fuppofing each to be 
 the governing Power in fome Star, 
 thought to be animated by them. 
 The Dog-Star was reputed the Orb of 
 IJts [w) ; to the others were allotted, in 
 like manner, their refpedive Spheres [x\ 
 and the Philofophy of the Egyptians 
 at this tim.e feems to have been exerted 
 in fuch a Luftration of their Year, 
 
 XI 
 
 Acrec^s* ■ Aratus. 
 
 as to aflign ruling Influences of the 
 Stars over the feveral Parts of it, and 
 
 [zf) ConneB. Vol. II Book viii. p. 283. (ay) Upon the Pil- 
 lar of Ifis was inlcribed, '£><« «^i « cv t^w ''Arpcy rta ^vvl 
 \'7rn%KK'6(SA^ Diodor. Sic. lib. i. [x) Ctf»w<l?. Vol. 11. B. viii, 
 
 to 
 
xli PREFACE. 
 
 to fuppofe their ruling Stars animated 
 by thofe who had been the early Foun- 
 ders, and Supporters of their States 
 and Cities. What their former Theo- 
 ries had been^ fliall be mentioned pre- 
 fently. What I would here hint is, 
 that they now fell into a Way of 
 Thinking, which the Roman Poet took 
 up afterwards to make his Court to 
 Germa?iicus C^far^ 
 
 Cc^ farts Arma canant alit^ 7ios Ccefaris AraSy 
 Et qiiGfciinque Jacris addidit tile Dies, 
 
 Ovid. Fafl. Lib. I. 
 
 They confecrated, and placed over their 
 Times and Seafons, the venerable Per- 
 fonages of their moft ancient Anceftors, 
 who had laid the early Foundations of 
 all the Egyptian Glory and Profperity, 
 and they hoped, that if they with 
 proper Rites worlliipped Gods fo aufpi- 
 cious, 
 
 — — felix tot us lit annus cat. 
 
 Ovid, iibi fup. 
 
 that 
 
PREFACE. xiii 
 
 that Ages of all national Happinefs 
 might be renewed to them. 
 
 What had been the more ancient 
 Egyptian Theology, the Inquiries of 
 Sanchoniatho declare to lis: He havingr 
 examined their ancient Records, and 
 fet afide all the Mythology that had 
 been induced, gave us their true an- 
 cient Dogmata {h)\ and what he has 
 left us, evinces, that their Doctrines 
 were, that the Origin of Things hap- 
 pened from Principles of Nature efi-ec- 
 tuating without Choice or Intelligence, 
 what blindly by a mechanical Event 
 of Things arofe from them (;). He 
 talks indeed of a to Tryevfj^dy what we 
 might think to call a Spirit ; tells us, 
 that it was in love with its own Prin- 
 ciples (/^), but his Spirit was fuch an 
 One, as a modern Author exhibits to 
 
 ipoii 'A/a/xotujk'J' y^.uiidLTi av^Ke-.pS-pvo^i a, cTw ix, liZ Tru.ffi 
 
 T;t '7r^c,'.yt/.ctre4i r kat apX^^ fJLvQo'y y^ TctV dhMiyoeioLs 
 c^KTTO'^Gov rron^asLvS/J^ , ^IfJ'ucaro r t^v'9s<7/j-'. Eufeb Pra^p. 
 Evang. Lib. I. e.g. ^ (/) Id. ibid. c. lo, (i) ii^^^n ja 
 
 '3-fst7//ci r i/'Iiyj' af/j^y. Id. ibid. 
 
 us: 
 
xiv PREFACE. 
 
 us: a Spirit, " which clothed with 
 " one Set of material Organs, is only 
 *' capable of exerting its Intelligence 
 " in the Performance of Attraction or 
 ^' Repulfion, and when jarring Ele- 
 *' ments meet, breaks forth in Thun- 
 *^ der and Lightning, and Earthquakes, 
 " or any other mechanical Operations, 
 " but may, when united to a diffe- 
 " rent Set of Organs of a more ex-^ 
 " quifite and delicate Contexture, be 
 " capable of exercifing voluntary Mo- 
 " tion, may be enabled to think and 
 *' to reafon, to operate in Love or 
 " Hatred, and when provoked by 
 ^' Oppofition, may be agitated with 
 " Anger and Refentment, and break 
 " forth in Quarrels, Contention and 
 " War (/)." The Egyptia?t to vrvSCfjict 
 which generated all Things, was an 
 Original like this Author's Spiritj un- 
 to which tho' Sancho7ttatho afcribes 
 operating Principles, yet he exprefsly 
 
 {/) Eflay on Spirit, p. 24, 25. 
 
 tells 
 
PREFACE. XV 
 
 tells us, they were infenfate {m\ and 
 fometimes caufed jarring Elements, and 
 broke forth in Lightning and Thun- 
 ders {n\ and what is very wonderful, 
 he alio opined that thefe unintelligent 
 operating Powers produced fome ani- 
 mal Beings which being alive, but 
 having no Thought, procreated other 
 Beings that had both Life and Intel- 
 ligence [o)i Thefe later Produftions 
 muft be furely conceived, like the Spi^ 
 rit of our modern Writer above cited, 
 to have kindled into Cogitation, by 
 having Bodies unaccountably formed 
 to ftrike out this Flame, and without 
 which they could have made no Col* 
 lifions of a finer Nature, than what 
 might caufe the Voice of Thunder, 
 and the Flaflies of Lightning to be 
 
 [m) e')(|o«To ffvyK^aii " '7r?'.0K» oKe<i» iii\yi% nO'OOS* 
 avrr) J otpX" y^icr^o)< oL'^ef.'^eci' ctvro ''j \i <. iyivc-jffKZ r d-jTii 
 K\'i(nv. dvTQt if the Reader confults the Place, he will fee it 
 refers to to ^vcJua preceding. Eufeb. Prsep. Evang. 1. 1. c.io. 
 in princip. [n] W&.J^av (^HKei^n, }y -ra ///» ro'Tra S'nx^' 
 
 ffctp y^ ATi^.'Tr'xi' Eufeb. ibid, {o) m q rtvet ^wa, »V. iyjvTA 
 fiti«S"ii<r/r, ^ »¥ lyiviTo ^c^a va^" Id. ibid. 
 
 heard 
 
XVI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 heard and feen from them : Thefe 
 were the ancient Dogmata of Egypt [q)j 
 and it is not fo great a Wonder they 
 were fo, confidering the low State of 
 their Rudiments of Knowledge ; but 
 that any Writer fhould think of of- 
 fering Sentiments of this Sort in an 
 Age of Philofophy, fo clear and intel- 
 ligible, as all, who know Philofophy, 
 are now verfed in, is, I confefs, to 
 me moft amazing. 
 
 But this, as I have faid, was, be- 
 fore Mofes\ Age, the Wifdom of 
 Egypt : Atheifitc^ fine Deo (r), fup- 
 pofing the World to have been made 
 and governed without a God, by blind 
 and unintelligent Principles of Na- 
 ture ; and their Worfhip and Religion 
 
 Euieb. Praep. Evang. 1. i. c. lO. (r) See ConneB. Vol. II, 
 
 R. ix. It may be thought fiirprifing that it fliould ; but Philo- 
 fophy feems to have began upon thefe blind Principles in all 
 Countries. It appears to have been the old Way of thofe of 
 the firft World, who perifhed in the Flood, it^JobxyXi. 15, 
 16, 17. And in later r^ges, after the Deluge, the Greeks^ co- 
 pying after the firft Rudiments of Egypt ^ long philofophized, 
 without fuppofing any Intelligence to have made or govern the 
 World. Anaxagorns is faid to have introduced this Principle: 
 cjprO" Trt uAm N^a' W<'.s\)<Jiv' Laert. in Anaxag. 
 
 was 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 was according to it : But Mo/esy tho' 
 learned in all the TVifdom of the Egyp- 
 tians {t)j was alfo better inftruded, and 
 taught in oppofition to the Egyptiait 
 Literature, that, in the Beginning God 
 created the Heavens and the Earthy 
 and that without him was not any Thing 
 made that was made (u): And the 
 God, whom Mo/es had thus declared, 
 had moft amazingly exalted his Power 
 againft all the Gods and Religion of 
 Egypty by bringing his People, a Na- 
 tion, out of the midft of and from 
 under their Subjedion to the Egyp- 
 tiansy by fuch Signs and TVonders^ by 
 fuch a mighty Hand and Jlretched out 
 Ar7n\ by fuch amazing Miracles, 
 and intire Overthrow of all the Strength 
 of Egypty that if it were asked of the 
 Days that were pafl^ Jince the Day that 
 God created Man upon Eai^th^ no fuch 
 Thing as this great Thing had ever been, 
 nor any Thing heard like it [w). E^ypt 
 
 XVil 
 
 (/) Aas vii 22. [u] Gen. i. i. See hereafter p. lo. 
 
 (at'} Deut. w. 32 — 34. 
 
 a was 
 
xviii . PREFACE. 
 
 was deftroyed, greatly diminiftied and 
 brought low; its King and Armies 
 overwhelmed and loft in the Red- 
 Sea {x)\ fix hundred thoufand Slaves, 
 hefides Women and Children, had left 
 this Country, the Egyptians not being 
 able in the leaft to oppofe it, where now, 
 and what were the Gods of Egypt P 
 their Elementary Powers, or fidereal 
 Influences ? was it not too plain to be 
 contradided, that there was a Power 
 that ruled in the Heavens far mightier 
 than they, who difpofed of them, as 
 he pleafed, and was able to do of 
 himfelf whatfoever he would have 
 done in the Earth ? Should the Egyp- 
 tians that remained turn and inquire, 
 and feek after to ferve this God? Would 
 not State-Policy, which always has, 
 and always will try to work its Way 
 nctwithftanding Religion, have herein 
 prevented them, and offered it to their 
 Confideration, whether, if they took 
 
 [x] Exod. X. 7. xii. 29, 30. xiv. 
 
 this 
 
preface: xIx 
 
 this Courfej the Ifraelites might not 
 come and take away their Place and 
 Nation ? It feems better to have fatis* 
 fied them, to corred their Year, and 
 reform their own Syjiem\ and what 
 more likely Reform of their Religion 
 might they fall into, than now to con- 
 lider, that unqueftionably they had 
 been wrong in fuppoling Elements 
 to govern the Courfe of Natui*e, with- 
 out a perfonal Agent ruling in them : 
 But conceiving the Ifraelites to have 
 their God, they reputed every Nation 
 to have its own (y)^ and looking back 
 to their moft early Progenitors, who 
 had been the Glories of their Times^ 
 and under whom had been laid all 
 the Foundations of their public and 
 private Happinefs, they opined them, 
 after they had left the Earth, to have 
 taken their Orbs, to govern and in- 
 fluence the Things below, in fome 
 Element, Star, or Sphere above, fiom 
 
 (y) See Micah iv. 5. 2 Kings xviii. 33, .34, 3^. 
 
 a 2 Heaven. 
 
XX PREFACE. 
 
 Heaven. The Greeks thus reputed 
 AJlrcea^ after long Labours on Earth, 
 to do good to Mortals, to have at laft 
 left the World, to give her Light from 
 the Conftellation called Virgo [z] : 
 And we find it an ancient Apothegm 
 of the Egyptians^ that their moft 
 ancient Kings who had profperoufly 
 governed them, were divine \a)\ ac- 
 cordingly they now canonized thefe, 
 and endeavoured to devote and con- 
 fign themfelvcs to their Protedion. 
 
 That Mythology came in upon this 
 Alteration of their Theology^ is ob- 
 vioufly evident : for the mingling the 
 Hiftory of thefe Men when Mortals, 
 with what came to be afcribed to them 
 when Gods, would naturally occafion 
 it. And of this Sort we generally find 
 
 Aratus Phcen. ver. 134. 
 
 Thus the Egyptian Heroes departed : Tcf-<; q ']>v'XAi Kelu'rs-eiV 
 V ^,\A Pl„h Ac. JCA^ ^■i- n>r,y.'-,A I ^\ \'rr..^/^ ii: .> A J,,,,^^ 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 the Mythoi told of them [b). I will go 
 no further at this Time into this Topic^ 
 altho' I might much enlarge upon it, 
 by confidering how Mythology fpread 
 from Egypt into Phcenicia^ was indeed 
 a Httle check'd by the Inquiries of Sa?!- 
 choniatho ; but foon obtained again to 
 be grafted upon his Philofophy (r), in- 
 fedled even the Ifraelites^ when in their 
 Defedion from their Worfhip of the 
 true God, they took up the Tabernacle 
 of Moloch, and the Star of the Gcd 
 Remphan (d)\ how it travelled into 
 Greece \ where new Fables were in- 
 
 [h) The Egyptians having called their Heroes by the Names 
 of their 5/V<?rf^/ and £"/^^^«/^rv Deities, added to the HiRory 
 of the Life and Aftions of fuch Hcrces a Mythological Account 
 of their Philofophical Opinions concerning the Gods whofe 
 Names had alfo been given to fuch Heroes, ^c. See Connect, 
 Vol. ^11. B. yiii. [c) iai^ .zr<t.hiv ol iwyi^v'yjSs'Jot hy^^ ^^;~ 
 
 voi^ uVsfoi' hbiKy\<Ta.v autUu [i, e. T^pj^ictv beforegoing] iira- 
 xpu4-^» )^ t-ii TO u.v^6oS''C ^im)y^ctrdi<^ 'i^'j'yj, Eufeb. Piiep. Evano-. 
 l.'i. c. 9. ^ /.:'; The Jfraelites Worfhip of the Calf at Hc7^eb 
 was in imitation of the Sacra of the Egyptians -y for the Ecryp^ 
 tians had confecrated Animals to their Sidereal and Elementary 
 Divinities before the Ijraelites left them. See Conved. Vol. III. 
 B.xi. Vol.Il. B viii. But St Stephen, Ads vii. 43. does not 
 fay that they vvorfhipped Moloch and Remphan in the Wilder- 
 nefs; but af:cr the 40 Years in the Wildeinefs were over, at the 
 Expiration of which they came into Canaan, they were after 
 this given up to worihipthefe Gods, who were Hero Gods of 
 fome of the Countries round about them. 
 
 & 3 vented, 
 
 XXI 
 
xxii PREFACE. 
 
 vented, and added to the more an- 
 cient ones^ and thefe varied in diffe- 
 rent Ag?s [e\ until they grew too grofs 
 
 [e] The rioQ©- of Taautusy the blind Mechanical Principle 
 fo called by the Egyptian Naturalijis^ became the "Ep©- of the 
 Mythologijis, not meaning by that Word, Cupid, the blind God 
 of Lo\'e ; for, this God of Lo^ve is not named, or is, if men- 
 tioned, called ''l^«p©- mHower, never ^Rp©- or"Ep<y«; and 
 Hejfod alio names him "l^gp©-, and defcribes him to belong 
 to Fenus, and not to be *'EpQ-. For of Fenuj or Cytherea he 
 fays, 
 
 T») c^'''Ep©- c^lJt.dp7\]S'i ^^''l/XSp©' €CTr«TO XfitAor 
 
 Hefiod. Theog. v. 201. 
 Eros himfelf was not the blind and inconftant Boy unto whom 
 later Fables afcribed a Frefidency over the 
 
 ^ R£s folliciti plena Timoiis Amor — — Ovid. 
 
 over the fickle Paffion, which admits, as Terence tells us, neque 
 Confilium neque Modumy 8cc. but Eros was in the Beginning from 
 C^aos Siud fe/Ius, like riafi©- in Sanchoniatho, and is defcribed, 
 
 AvfTifAzKrii, trdvjeov re ^isov <ucLi^gov t' cluBpi^'Treov 
 
 Heliod. Theog. v. 120. 
 
 Eros, in the natural Syjiem called HoO©-, was the Principle 
 that brought Things into the Harmony of Order out of Chaos 
 or Confufion, and the Perfon feigned by the Fahulijis to be this 
 Deity was fomc eminent Perfonage, who had excelled in Abi- 
 lity to temper and moderate the Minds of Men : who had go- 
 verned himfelf, and greatly taught others to have Peace in 
 thexnfelves, and to live in Peace and Harmony with other 
 Perfor?!; : And that Love fhould follow after, wherever 
 fuch a Perfon is acquainted with Vemts^ the Goddefs of all 
 Elignnce and Beauty, is no unreafonable fuppofition ; but 
 whether this Mythos was more antique than Hefiod I am uncer- 
 tain ; I think we find nothing like it in Homer : He fuppofes 
 Ve?ius to be the Goddefs, who fubjefted unto Love both Mor- 
 tals and Immortals, and ''1^5^©-, whom Hefiod makes a Perfon, 
 is like ttK'o7Y\i, in Homer, not a proper Name, but generally, 
 I think always, a common Noun. Horn. II. 5. v§r. 197. &c. 
 
 for 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 for Philofophy to bear them, and occa- 
 fioned thofe who fpeculated upon them, 
 to think many of them only Tales of 
 Poets, to pleafe and take the Minds of 
 the Vulgar, altho' they faw in fome a 
 deeper and recondite Meaning, which 
 they endeavoured to explore and inter- 
 pret, as their Traditions furniflied Te- 
 nets for the Solution of them : But hav- 
 ing hinted that in Fad, the Writings 
 of Egypt ^ in Mofesh Age, were only 
 plain Narrations ; as they conceived 
 Things to have been caufed by Opera- 
 tions of Nature exerting themfelves 
 without any intelligent Being creating 
 and directing them; and that Mofes, 
 contrary hereto, fet forth as plainly 
 that there was a God, who created 
 and governed all Things; that in Op- 
 poiition hereto the Heathen Nations, 
 not acknowledging the One God, and 
 yet brought to think, that Agencies 
 without Intelligence could not be the 
 Powers, that ruled the World, fet up 
 Gods many ; and thofe fuch Gods, that 
 a 4 Fable 
 
 xxni 
 
xxW PREFACE. 
 
 Fable and Mythology naturally arole 
 from the Inftitution of them; and 
 confequently had their Rife not until 
 Mofes's Syfiem was thus oppofed, not 
 until after his Days, altho' I cannot 
 herein pretend to any Certainty of 
 Demonftration, yet I think, I may 
 venture to fay, nothing fo probable as 
 v/hat I have offered, can be collected 
 from any Remains of Antiquity, to 
 contradia it 
 
 The Objedions, I have replied to 
 in the enfuing Treatife, are taken 
 chiefly from Dr. Burnet^ fometime 
 Majler of the Charter-Houfe : He ap- 
 pears to have given us the Subftance 
 of vv^hat can be offered againft the 
 literal Interpretation ; other Writers do 
 but copy after him : Dr. Middleton^ I 
 think, improves not any Point he took 
 from him. One indeed he ftates in 
 a Manner fomething different from 
 Dr. Burnet^ I will here confider it as 
 Dr. Middleton reprefents it, 
 
 Pr. 
 
PREFACE. XXV 
 
 Dr. Middletojt fuggefts to us, that it 
 is not poffible for any Mortal, " to 
 " give an hiftorical Narration, to de« 
 " fcribe the particular Manner, Order 
 " and Time, in which ; or the Mate- 
 " rials, out of which this World, and 
 " its principal Inhabitant Man were 
 ^' formed: that were any Writer to 
 " pretend to it, we fhould apply to 
 " him what was faid by God to yoby 
 ^^ Where was thoiCy when I laid the 
 ^' Foundations of the Earth? declare^ 
 ^^ if thou hajl Underflanding ; And 
 ^' we fhould think the fame of him, 
 ^^ which Job confelTeth of himfelf; 
 ^^ that he had uttered what he under-- 
 " flood not ; things too wonderful for 
 " him^ which he knew not ffj : We 
 " fhould conclude at once that the 
 ^' whole, which the wifeft of Men 
 ^^ could write upon the Subjed, muft 
 " be the mere Effed of Fancy and 
 " Imagination." " From the Na- 
 
 (f) Job xxxviii. 4. 
 
 " ture 
 
xxvi PREFACE. 
 
 *' ture of the Story itfelf, we fliould 
 " readily conclude, that no Writer 
 " vvhatfbever, could be fo fufficiently 
 " informed, as to be able to give an 
 *' hiftorical Narration of it, or could 
 " have Authority enough to make it 
 " pais for fuch with any judicious 
 *^ Reader (g)'' Dr. Middleto?t intro- 
 duces the Suggeftion, not pretending 
 diredly to fay, that Mofes could not 
 poffibly, fuppofing him an infpired 
 Writer, give an authentic Account of 
 the Fads related by him, but defiring 
 to have the Reader weigh and con- 
 fider, what he would reafonably think 
 of fuch Fads fo related, if the Rela- 
 tor was believed not to have the War- 
 rant of a real Revelation from God, 
 of the Matters declared by him (/)). 
 What Argument can be drawn from 
 what he thus ojffers feems to me very 
 
 (g) See MiMetons Examinat. p. 128, Burnet's Arch^soL 
 p. 284. {h) Let us take a Review of the Story, as if it 
 had been told us by Sanchoniatho. Middletons Examinat. 
 p. 128. 
 
 obfcure 
 
PREFACE. xxvii 
 
 obfcure: The Apojlle tells us, that 
 through Faith we underjiand that the 
 Worlds were framed by the IVord of 
 God [i) : He herein evidently refers to 
 the Mofak Hiftory : That the Worlds 
 were not eternal, but were made by 
 the Power of God, may be demon- 
 ftrated from the Reafon and Nature 
 of Things; but that God /pake the 
 TVord and they were 7nade ; comma7tded 
 and they were created (^); that they 
 were not made, without the Word 
 jfpoken by him; not made by the im- 
 mediate Purpofe of his Will; but that 
 hey^/V, Let them be and they were 
 fo (/) ; as alfo that Things did not 
 inftantly, all at once take their Being, 
 as he might defign them, but in fix 
 Days, were in their feveral Orders 
 frajned and fajhionedy Day by Day^ 
 fuch in every Day, as he was pleafed 
 to appoint, when before there were 
 
 (/■) Heb. xi. 3. [k) Pfal. cxlviii. 5. Scexxxlii. 6, 9. 
 
 (/) Gen. i. 3, 6, 11, 14, 20, 24, csrV. 
 
 fione 
 
xxviii PREFACE. 
 
 none of them^ this we may have no 
 Reafon to believe [m)^ but upon the 
 
 Authority 
 
 [m) Nothing would give us fo clear a View of the ApoJih\ 
 Reafoning in the Eleventh Chapter to the Hebnivsy as the care- 
 fully obferving his Diftinftion and Definition of the Word 
 Faith: Faith y he tells us, ver. i. is the Suhjlance of Things hoped 
 far, the Evidence of Things not feen. The Word we tranllate 
 Suhjlance is \Wr£t(7/?, how we came here to render it Subfance 
 is not eafy to fay : as derived from -v^zzre and "i<:y\uiy it may fig- 
 nify what the Logicians define SubJiancSy Res fubjijiens et fubjians 
 accident ibusy but Faith, an Adl of the Mind, is no fuch Sub- 
 Jiance : There is a Paffage in the new Teftament which may 
 lead us to render this Place more pertinently : St. Paul tells 
 us, 2 Cor. ix. 4. of the van)crtf//< of his Boajling : Here we 
 render the Word the Confidence : The Apoille alTuredly believed 
 his Boafilng not to be groundlefs, 2indi t\\\s ajfured Belief hQ 
 called vTogdiffti. In this we have a clear Meaning : Faith is 
 this AJfurance, an undoubting Perfuafion of the Things hoped 
 for: The Apoftle adds, that it is the E'vidence, h.^.y'^y what 
 argues to us Things not feen: We are apt to be very indiftind in 
 oi&r Notions of Faith. In common Speech we of. en take Faith 
 and Knoivkdge the one for the other : The believing a Thing 
 upon good Teftimony, and the knowing it, are in a gCReral 
 Acceptation reputed one and the fame I'hing : But the Scrip- 
 tures ihcw us a real Difference between Faith and Knowledge : 
 They are not the fame Attalnnients ; for w-e are exhorted to 
 add the one to the other: Add, fays St. Peter, to your Faith 
 Knoivkdge, 2 Pet. i. 5. Faith is the believing Things not feen^ 
 not known to ourfel'/es, but declared to us, and believed upon 
 Teftimony, that they are true: We are capable of Informa- 
 tion, without the Teftimony of others, two wa>s, by our 
 Senfes, and by our Underftandings : Things external ftrike 
 our Senfes, and we immediately know what Imprelfions we re- 
 ceive of them : And we have an Ability of Mind to fee and 
 compare our Thoughts of Things, and to form a Judgment 
 what to conclude of them: In this Senfe divers Things, which 
 literally fpeaking are in-uifhle, may in the Language of St. Paul 
 be faid to be clearly feen, being icndirjhady Rem. i. 20. We haye 
 a Knovv'ledge, an Intuition of them in our Mind, from our 
 clear Rc:ilbn:ngs upon them, wiihcut Information of them 
 
 from 
 
PREFACE. xxlx 
 
 Authority of Mofess Hiftory: And 
 now fliall we ask the Queftion ? What 
 if we fet afide all Confideration of the 
 Authority of Mofesy and fuppofe what 
 is written by him, as if written by 
 Sanchoniatho^ or any other ancient Sage, 
 who wrote uninfpired, what he appre- 
 hended to be true, agreeably to his 
 own Sentiments of Things? I anfwer: 
 It will unqueftionably follow, fuch Sage 
 not being infallible, if there be many 
 as poffible Ways, in which the Things 
 related by him, might have been done, 
 befides the particular one he has adopt- 
 ed, we may have no Realbn to believe 
 the Particulars declared by him, exclu- 
 {ive of all others; but I fee no Point 
 hence gained towards Infidelity ; be- 
 caufe the Authority of the infpired 
 
 from another : But Faith is not of this Sort: Faith cometh by 
 Hearing, Rom. x. 17: It is the Belief of what we Ao not know, 
 of ourfelves, but are affured is known by fome other, and de- 
 clared to us: And if we wcuid accurauely diflingu fli b.^tv/een 
 Belief in the general, and that Faith which is our relicrious 
 Concern, in the One we believe 'i hings, which are tell;fiedto 
 be known by Men to be true ; in the other we believe Things, 
 that are well teftified to have been declared from God. 
 
 Writer, 
 
XXX PREFACE. 
 
 Writer, not being deftroyed, but only 
 for Argument's fake, put afide out of 
 the Queftion ; the Foundation of God 
 rematneth Jim Jure \ the Authority of 
 the infpired Writer, whenever we look 
 back to it, brings its Force along with 
 it, to aflure us, that what is declared 
 by fuch Writer mud be true, and ought 
 to be believed by us. Our Difputant 
 therefore feems to me to be contriving 
 rather how to beguile us, than fubftan- 
 tially to confute us : To be defiired for 
 Argument's fake, to lay afide the Au- 
 thority of facred Writ, to examine how 
 far the Truth, of what is declared, is 
 fuch, that by Reafon alone without 
 other Authority we may prove it, is 
 a fpecious Propofal; but if upon fuch 
 Examination, we find of the Matter 
 inquired after, that, had it not been 
 authentically related to have been done 
 in a particular Manner, many other 
 Ways might be conceived, in which it 
 might as reafonably have been effedu- 
 ated, if we will not here reaffume the 
 
 Authority 
 
PREFACE. xxxi 
 
 Authority of the Relation made to us, 
 to give it its juft Weight to determine 
 our Beliefs we cannot be faid to be rea- 
 fbned out of our Faith ; for we incon- 
 fiderately give it up, without any Rea- 
 fon for our fo doinff. 
 
 For Man fo fell, how human Life began 
 Is hard 3 for who himfelf beginning knew ? 
 Mil ton' J Parad. Loft, B. viii^ 
 
 For Man to pretend further to fpeak of 
 his own actual Knowledge of Things 
 done and paft, before he had any Be- 
 ing, is in the Nature of the Thing im- 
 poffible; but for Adam^ during the 
 Space of a Life of above 900 Years (;»^), 
 to recoiled all that he had experienced, 
 from the Time, that he had a Know- 
 ledge of his Being ; to conceive him to 
 have had Revelations from the Voice 
 of God, of all that God thought fit . 
 fhould be made known unto Men; of | 
 his Creation of the Heavens and the | 
 Earth, and of all the Hoft and Crea- \ 
 
 (n) Adam lived 930 Years, Gen. v. 5. 
 
 tures 
 
xxxii PREFACE. 
 
 \ tures of them ; for Adam frequently 
 1 to inculcate to his Children all he thus 
 \knew; for authentic Narrations of 
 thefe Things to have come down from 
 before the Flood to the Pofterities, that 
 were afterwards {p)\ and to have been 
 when Mofes wrote his Hiftory, no fuch 
 obfolete Remains, as we now may be 
 apt to think them; are Things in 
 themfelves not at all improbable. 
 
 From Adam unto Abraham^ confi- 
 dering the then Duration of Men's 
 Lives, is comparatively fpeaking no 
 greater Length for even Tradition, than 
 from our Father's Grandfather unto 
 us (p) : Abraham lived to A, M. 
 2183 {^) to fee Jacobs the Father of 
 yofeph^ about 15 Years old [r): ya- 
 cob had from his Youth up, been a 
 diligent Inquirer into, and Obferver of 
 the Hopes (j), and Fear of his Fa- 
 
 [0] There mirrbt be among the Faithful before the Flood 
 more exprefs Revelations than have come down to our Times. 
 Biihopof London hBiJJert. II. p. 237. '^ttjude, ver. 14. See 
 C677;7^^?. Vol. I. B.i. (p) See hereafter, p. 142. [q) Conr.ea. 
 Vol. IL B. vl. n. 34.. (/•) Jacob was born A. M. 2168. Vol. II. 
 B. vii. p. 117. ' (^) Ibid.'p. 188, i^c. 
 
 thers, 
 
PREFACE. xxxiii 
 
 thers (/), and had himfelf many Re- 
 velations from God {u). He came 
 down unto jofeph^ and lived with 
 him in Egypt feventeen Years before he 
 died (w), and lived there full of the 
 Hope of the Promifes^ and died in 
 the Belief of them [x\ and left Jofeph 
 as fully embracing them, and perfuad- 
 ed of them, and teftifying them unto 
 his Brethren when he alfo died (y) : 
 yofeph lived to fee his Son Ephraims 
 Children of the third Generation [z) ; 
 and Mofes was not lower than in the 
 third Generation from Levi [a] : The \ 
 Father of Mofes muft have been wxll 
 known perfonally to Jofeph : Put thefe 
 Things together, and we may reafon- 
 ably admit all that had been believed 
 from the Beginning in this Family, 
 might have come dov/n unto Mofes fo 
 authentically teftihed that all that he 
 wrote of, from the Creation to his 
 
 (/) Gen. xxxi. C3. [u] See Gen. xviii. xxxii. xxxv. <oV. 
 (ay) Gen. xlvii 28. (at) He prophefied of them to his Sons 
 very largely. Gen. xlviii. xlix xiix. 2q, (y) Gen. 1. 24. 
 («) Vcr. 23. [a) I Chron. vi. i — 3. 
 
 b own 
 
xxxiv PREFACE. 
 
 own Times, might unqueftionably be 
 received by his Brethren and Fathers 
 as well warranted to be true: And 
 \ agreeably hereto we find, that not- 
 I withftanding all the Oppofitions he 
 Ihad from his Ifraelitesj enow furely, 
 Muring the whole forty Years he had 
 ;the Charge of them [b\ to make it 
 i plain, that they were not a People dif^ 
 : poled implicitly to believe him, but ra- 
 ther, vv'herever they could find the leaft 
 \ Pretence for it, moft zealoufly afiert- 
 I ing a Liberty to gainfay and contra- 
 I did him; notwithflanding, in all he 
 I had related to them from the Creation 
 I to his becoming their Leader, we have 
 I not any one Hint, that they disbelieved 
 I it, in any One Particular at all. 
 
 But, fliould I here reft this Matter, 
 and fuppofe Mofes\ Hiftory of the Cre- 
 ation and Fall to have no greater Au- 
 thority, than what can be given it 
 from its beino; reafonable to believe he 
 
 [h) See Ci^nr.ca. Vol III. B. xii. p. 320, erV. 
 
 might 
 
PREFACE. xzxv 
 
 might write it merely from the Re- 
 cords of his Fathers^ I fhould mcil 
 egregiciifly trifle ; for, let but the Con- 
 duce of MofeSy what he fiid, and what 
 he wrote, and what he did, be con- 
 fiderately examined, and it will appear 
 beyond a Pofiibility of Contradiftion, 
 that God himfelf was in many Things 
 his infallible Diredor {c): And if God 
 was his Eiredor in ether Parts or his 
 Writings, what Reafon can we have to 
 think he was not fo from the Bcpin- 
 ning? In the Hifcory of the Fall 
 Mcfes writes lo emphatically, that one 
 Perfon iliould be defcended from the 
 V/oman, to be the capital Subduer of 
 the great Enemy of Mankind (d)\ he 
 limited this Perfon to be of the Seed 
 oi Abraham {cld)% of Ifaac (5); cf the 
 Tribe of Jt^dah ^ ffj : that Fl^/Jj end 
 B''ood only, could not have allured 
 him 1500 Years before-hand that thus 
 
 [c] See Connra. Vol. ill. B. xii. p 304 — 343 [f] ZiQ 
 
 b-reafter, p. 2c;n — 247. (<:^t^J ibid. See Gen. xxi'i. 18. 
 
 [e] xxi 11. (f) Gen. ;-:lix. 10. 
 
 b 2 - ii: 
 
xxxvi P R E FA C E. 
 
 it fhould be fgj : But the Things he 
 thus foretold were accompUflied in a 
 miraculous Manner when the Fulnefs 
 of their T'lme was come : The Predic- 
 tion then, and the fulfilling it, bear 
 an undeniable Teftiniony to each other: 
 Nothing but the immediate Power of 
 God could have brought to pafs the 
 Things foretold, in the Manner in 
 which they were accompliflied, fo that 
 the particular Accomplishment of them 
 could be none other than the Work of 
 God; and as no one could forefee 
 what God would thus do, but the Spi- 
 rit of God[h)\ fo no Man before-hand 
 could fay of thefe Things, that they 
 fhculd fo be, unlefs it had been re- 
 vealed from God. 
 
 Contrary to what the Scriptures in- 
 form us, and which I have had occa- 
 lion to mention, that our Saviour was 
 a Defcendant from Davtd^ Dn Middle- 
 ton would feem to arg-ue that he was 
 
 o 
 (g) Matt. xvi. i;. [h) i Cor. ii. ii. 
 
 not 
 
PREFACE. xxxvii 
 
 not really of the Tribe of Judah ; but 
 rather of the Tribe of Levi : I need 
 not go thro' a long Detail of what he 
 offers, the whole of it may be com- 
 prifed in a few Particulars, i. He ob- 
 fcrves, that Jofeph^ the Husband of 
 Mary the Mother of Jeftis^ was only 
 the reputed Father of our Saviour ; he 
 fays our Saviour had really no Share 
 or Participation of his Blood (/) : And 
 yet 2. That the EvaTigeliJis^ whenever 
 they deduce his Pedigree, iliew him to 
 have been the Son of David^ by a 
 Line up from Jofeph only [k): 3. That 
 they never fay, that Mary the Mother 
 of yefus^ thro' whom alone his real 
 Genealogy could come from Davidj 
 was defcended of David (/) : 4. That 
 their Silence herein feems to make it 
 probable that Mary was not of fuch 
 Defcent : 5. That Mary is obferved to 
 be the. Coufin of Elizabeth [m)^ and 
 that Elizabeth being of the Daughters 
 
 [i) Remarks on the V'ariations in the E-vangeijis, p, 29. 
 sh.) Ibid. (/) p ^o. \v:\ See Luke i. 36. 
 
 b 3 of 
 
xxxviii PREFACE. 
 
 of Aaron (;^), Mary her Coufin was 
 molt probably of the fame Tribe, 
 namely of the Tribe of Levi^ and not 
 of the Tribe of Judah [o]. The An- 
 fvver to this is, i. The Evaiigelijis are 
 particularly careful to obferve, that Je- 
 Jus was not defcended from Jofeph his 
 reputed Father (p). 2. Their deducing 
 ycfeph\ Pedigree from David^ was 
 purely to remove the Prejudices of the 
 Jews : The yews at firft would look 
 no further than to confider yefus as 
 the Carpenter's Son [q)y and were fcan- 
 dalized at the Meannefs of his Birth [r] ; 
 thouf^ht him a Fellow of fo low an 
 Extradion, that there was no faying 
 whence he was [s): Contrary to thefe 
 their prevailing SentimentSj the Evan- 
 gelijts^ at the fame Time not conceal- 
 ing or difguiiing the Truth, that Jefus 
 really was of God (/) ; that yofeph 
 w^as only his fuppofcd Father; never- 
 
 in) Luke i. 5. {0) It needs not be remarked that David wzs 
 of the Triba of Judah. [p) See iVJatt. i. \ 8—25. Luke i. 35. 
 iii. 23. iq) Matt. xiii. ^^. [?■) Ibid. (j) John i::. 29. 
 (/) Vide (^uac fop. 
 
 thelefs 
 
PREFACE. xxxix 
 
 thelefs took care to fhevv, that had his 
 Genealogy been as they imagined, to 
 be reckoned by or thro' Jojeph ; even 
 thus alfo, he would have been the Son 
 of David: and this, either of the two 
 ways in which the yews counted their 
 Pedigrees; in one they reckoned the 
 Son to belong to the Parent who begat 
 him ; in the other, where a Man died 
 without IfTue [u\ and his Brother or 
 next of Kin married the Widow, and 
 raifed up Seed to the Deceafed, the 
 Seed raifed up was counted not to the 
 real Father who begat him, but to the 
 Deceafed who died without Iflue {w): 
 And this is allowed to have occafioned 
 the Difference between St. Matihew^ 
 and St, Ltike\ Genealogies [x): both 
 which coniidered were Evidence to the 
 yews J that, altho' they were obftinate 
 and would reckon our Saviour's De- 
 fcent thro' Jofeph^ yet even here, count 
 which Way they would, the Geiiealogy 
 
 {u) Dcut. XXV. 5. (w) Ibid. ver. 6-. (a-) Matt. i. i.ukc iii. 
 
 b 4 would 
 
xl PREFACE. 
 
 would come up to David. But 3. Why 
 was not the Defcent of Mar)\ of whom 
 alone our Saviour's Genealogy could 
 truly come from David^ as exprefsly 
 faid to be from that Patriarchy as yo- 
 feph\} I anfwer, ic was. St. Luke 
 tells us in recording the Angel's Salu- 
 tation of Maryy that the Son to be 
 born of her fliould have the Throne 
 of his Father David \ fo that he re- 
 cognizes David to be the Progenitor 
 of Jefus : He immediately after allows 
 that this Child was to be born of 
 Mary without her knowing Man (j;): 
 if he had not before hinted of the 
 Child thus to be born, that by his 
 Mother he was a Defcendant of Davidj 
 his Narration would evidently be a 
 Contradidion to itfelf: But this the 
 Evangeliji had fufEciently guarded 
 againft m plainly telHng us, before he 
 begins the Salutation, that the Angel 
 Gabriel was fent to a Virgin of the 
 
 (^y) Lukei. 32, 35, 
 
 Hoife 
 
PREFACE. xli 
 
 Houfe of David [z): The Words 
 e/poufed to a Man^ wbofe Name was 
 Jofeph^ inferted between /^/rg-m— -and 
 of the Houfe of David {a)y may be a 
 Pare?7thefsy indic'a.tmg th^t of the Houfe 
 of David fbiould not be attributed 
 to Jofeph: For as I have obferv'ed, the 
 Senfe and Argument of the whole Con- 
 text muft lead us to think otherwife; 
 as indeed does alio the Manner of the 
 Expreffion : For as the Genealogies of 
 the Jews were deduced in the Male 
 Line, it is mofi: reafonable to think, 
 that if the Evangelif} had here intend^ 
 ed what he faid, to be underftood of 
 Jofeph^ his Expreffion would have been, 
 as he elfewhere fays of him, of the 
 Houfe and Li?2eage of David (/^); but 
 Women, tho' not faid to be of the Li- 
 neage, being with Propriety recorded to 
 h^ of the Hotfe of their Fathers [c\ the 
 Expreffion concurs with the Reafon of 
 
 (z) Luke i. 27. [a] The Words of the Text are, 'tt'^o^ 
 
 C/cT. An oblHnate Critic may fight this Battel, but I ap- 
 prehend d?. o'K>i i^rrCid to belong to 'T^rJpB^uo-. ^h) See Luke 
 ii. 4. {c) PfaL xlv. 10. Gen. xxiv. 40. et in al. loc. 
 
 the 
 
xlii PREFACE. 
 
 the Narration, that the Evangelijl 
 herein fpake of Mary only : But 4. Why 
 was not this Point, more frequently, 
 more clearly, more largely infiifted 
 upon? I anfwer: Becaufe it was a 
 Point doubted by none, but allowed 
 by all : It was, St. Paul tells us, 71^- 
 S'YiTKOVy r/ta?7ifejiy without Controverly, 
 that our Lord fprang of the Tribe 
 of yudah [(])\ how fprang of that 
 Tribe? by his Father yofeph? This 
 the Apoftles denied : It muft then be 
 thus undifputed by the Defcent of 
 Mary only : For 5. As to what is faid 
 of Elizabeth being Coulin to Mary^ 
 and therefore, Elizabeth being of the 
 Tribe of Levi [e] that Mary alfo was 
 of that Tribe — ; this way of arguing 
 -— for any one of Letters to make ufe 
 of it is a moft indefenfible Trifling : 
 It can have Weight only with a mere 
 EngliJJj Reader, who poffibly may be 
 deceived by the common Acceptation 
 
 {ci) Ilcb. vii. 14. (f) Luke i. 5. 
 
 of 
 
PREFACE. xliii 
 
 of our E?7P'liJh Word Coujtn : The 
 Word ufed by the Eva?7gelijl is cvpy^- 
 VYig (/); St. Paul ufes the fame, where 
 he tells us of his grea^ Heavinefs and 
 continual Sori'ow of Heart for his Bre- 
 thren^ his Kinfmen according to the 
 Flejhy his (Tvfyemii k^ (rcifKct{g)t Who 
 they were, that flood in this Relation 
 to him, he informs us very clearly. 
 They were not thofe of the Tribe of 
 Benjamin^ his own Tribe, only [h) ; 
 but they were all the Ifraelites (/), all 
 to whom pertained the Adoption^ the 
 Glory ^ and the Covenants^ and the giv- 
 ing of the Law : the Promifes, z/nto 
 which all their twelve Tribes hoped to 
 come (k) : lb that it is mod: evident, 
 that the Relation fpecified between 
 Mary and Elizabeth^ in the Word 
 Coufn or (rvfymg^ did not at all mean, 
 that they v/ere both of the fame Tribe; 
 but that they were Children of the 
 fame People; both of them Ifraelites^ 
 
 (/) Luke i. 36. "¥X!C7ci'CiT y, fTvfyzvhi ^^. {g) Rom. 
 
 ix. 3. ^h) Sse Rom, xi. i, (/) ix. 4. (-^j Aa6 xxvi. 7. 
 
 of 
 
xliv PREFACE. 
 
 of one and the fame Stock, namely 
 of the Stock of Abraham (/), The 
 Reader cannot but fee, that in this 
 Argument Dr. Middleton defcended be- 
 low every Notion we can have of a 
 Man of Learning, to invent an Expe- 
 dient to puzzle (to fuch Readers as 
 might not be able to confider the 
 Texts cited by him, in their original 
 Language) the moft clear and allowed 
 Truths concerning our Saviour, of 
 which he could not but know No real 
 Arg;ument could be formed to contra- 
 did them : And this he came down 
 to (what induced him I will not take 
 upon me to determine) at a Seafon of 
 Life, when he ftood upon the very 
 Threfldold of Immortality. 
 
 The Principles, which I have made 
 the Foundation of the following Trea- 
 tife, are, that hu?nan Reafon was not 
 originally a fufficient Guide for Man, 
 without fome expreis Revelation from 
 
 God ; 
 
P RE FA C E. xlv 
 
 God; and t\i^,t pofitive Precepts given 
 by God, however v/e may be apt to 
 conclude of them, from their not ap- 
 pearing intrt77jtcally of real Moment to 
 the Reditude of our Lives, are not 
 therefore unreafonable and vain : The 
 profefs'd Oppofers of Revelation muft 
 be herein unanimoufly againft me : 
 And fome valuable Writers not appre- 
 hending a Neceflity, tho' allov^ing the 
 Expediency of a Revelation, do not 
 intirely think with me in thefe Parti- 
 culars: The Reader will find their way 
 of Reafoning confidered in the follow- 
 ing Pages [a) : All I would here offer 
 is, that if Authority was of Mom.ent, 
 I niight cite even Dr. Middleton for 
 me in thefe Points : It is obvious to ob- 
 ferve, that he knew there might be 
 found ^* the Teftimony of all Ages; 
 " the Experience of all the great Rea- 
 " foners of the Heathen World, that 
 " Reafon \hu77tan Reafon alone] had 
 
 [a] SeeChap. y.p. 73, ^rV. 
 
 cf 
 
 not 
 
xlvi PREFACE. 
 
 *' not Light enough to guide Mankind 
 ^^ in a Courfe of Virtue and Morality" 
 — that there was " fuch an univerfal 
 " Convidion and Experience, he fays, 
 *^ of the Infufficiency of Reafon, as 
 " feemed to be the Voice of Nature 
 " difclaiming it, as a Guide, in the 
 " Cafe of Religion [b) :" In like Man- 
 ner, treating ol pofitive Precepts, he 
 deduces an Argument from what may 
 be obferved of God's Works; That 
 ^^ the Wife of all Ages have from the 
 ^' Excellency of God's W^orks collected 
 *^ the Excellency of his Nature : Yet 
 ^' in thofe Works all ftill agree; that 
 *^ there are fome Particulars, not only 
 " whole Nature, but whofe Ufe or 
 ^^ Reafon of Exigence cannot be dif- 
 " covered by the moft curious Searchers 
 " into Nature; nay, lome Things, 
 '^ which confidered feparately appear 
 " even noxious to the reft ; all which, 
 ^' tho* not underdood, are yet reafon- 
 
 {h) Letter to Dr. W^itsrland, Edit. 88. p. 49, 50. 
 
 i '' ably 
 
PREFACE. xlvii 
 
 ^f ably prefumed to be good and per- 
 «« fed in their feveral Kinds, and fub- 
 *« fervient to the general Beauty and 
 ^^ Excellency of the whole Syftem {c) : 
 He proceeds : ^' Tis full as unreafbn- 
 " able to charge all pojhive P?^ecepts 
 <^ fuppofed to come from God, v/hofe 
 ^^ Ufe and Relation to Morality we 
 <^ cannot comprehend, io Fraud and 
 <^ Impofture ; as in the vifible Works 
 " of God to impute every Thing we 
 " do not underftand, or even every 
 <^ Thing that feems hurtful, to the Con- 
 ^' trivance of fome malicious Power 
 
 <' oppofite to the divine Nature :" 
 
 ^' As on the one Hand, we do not ex-- 
 «' elude from the Catalogue of God's 
 ^' Works all thofe Particulars, in which 
 " we cannot trace the Marks of divine 
 " Wifdom ; fo on the other, we can- 
 ^^ not exclude from the Body of his 
 " Laws, thofe few Injunflions, which 
 ^^ feem not to have imprened on 
 
 (c) Id. p. 6i,. 
 
 them 
 
^Ivili PRE FACE. 
 
 *^ them the legible Charaders of Mo- 
 " rality {d)r 
 
 In examining the Text of MofeSy I 
 have propofed to the learned Reader's 
 Difquilition;, whether in the i gth and 
 2 0th Verfes of the fecond Chapter of 
 Geitefis^ two V/ords, nepeJJj chajah have 
 not been, by the Miftake of Tranfcrib- 
 ers, removed in the Text from one Line 
 into another [e)\ The Miftake is fo 
 eafy to be made, and the true and 
 clear Meanino; of the Place is rendred 
 fo indifputable, by ^ allowing fuch a 
 Tranfpofition, that I apprehend, what 
 I have luggefted, may perhaps carry 
 its own Vindication: It I had the Op- 
 portunity, which a learned Author is 
 making a very commendable Ufe of (/), 
 to fearch fuch Manufcriot Conies as 
 we have of the Hebrew Bible ; I (hould 
 very carefully have examined whether 
 any can be found, which may juftify 
 
 ■^{d) Letter to Dr. WaterlarJ, p. €i, {e) See p. ro. (f) See 
 
 Kf.nnicoti\ State of the printed Hehrs'-w Tsxt of the Old I^ila- 
 
 my 
 
PREFACE. xlix 
 
 my Suppofition: There are other Texts, 
 I could name, which I would make a 
 like Inquiry into: I will mention two: 
 one is the latter Part of the 24th 
 Verfe of the xlixth Chapter of Genefts. 
 The Inquiry (hould be whether the 
 Words now printed ^\"i;y^ ?a&^ nyi lziu;o 
 are not in any Manufcript wrote, 
 Vn^u;^ ?3i^ nyi a-^n : The fuppofed Dif- 
 ference is in one Letter only; whe- 
 ther the firft Letter in the firft Word 
 be a Mem or a Beth ; a Difference lb 
 fmall, that a Reader not very atten- 
 tive may not fee it ; the leaft Dafli of 
 a Pen added or omitted (the Letters 
 are fo fimilar) may make it the one 
 or the other. The other Text is PfaL 
 cv. 28. He fe?it Darknefs a7id made it 
 dark : In our Bibles the Tranflation of 
 the latter Part of the Verfe is, afid 
 they rebelled ?iot againjl his Word. The 
 old Verfion ftill ufed in our Co7nmon 
 Prayer is, And they were fiot obedient 
 unto his TVord: The two Verfions evi- 
 
 c dently 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 dently contradid each other : The ori- 
 ginal Words are printed 
 
 (g) nil ;io nVi 
 It would, I think, be of no Moment 
 to confider how the Traitjlators came 
 thus to differ, the Reader may fee it 
 by confulting the Critics [h) \ 1 do not 
 find any good Way propofed for the 
 bringing them to an Agreement: Both 
 the Veriions cannot be true : and it is 
 therefore poffible that neither may : I 
 would hereupon inquire whether what 
 we make two Words no nV, and read 
 loa marti^ were not originally wrote in 
 one Word nr^^V, to be read lecemoru^ 
 the literal Tranflation of the Verfe to 
 be thus ; He fent Darknefs and made 
 it dark^ a?td by his fpeaki7iig his Word: 
 In this Corredion we do not alter a 
 Letter : We only fuppofe what are 
 now read in two Words to be really 
 
 (o) The Word Is printed in the Text inZl'l, but the Mar- 
 ginal Re^rren:e tells us it iliould be XXT^. [h) Vide Poli 
 ^yioif. in loc, 
 
 but 
 
PREFACE. \i 
 
 but one, and we vowel the Words to 
 found their Syllables but very little 
 differently in the one Cafe or the 
 other (/) : But the Fad alluded to be- 
 ing, that God /aid unto Mofes^ Stretch 
 out thine Hand toward Heaven^ that 
 there may be Darknefs over the Land 
 of Egypt — And Mofes Jlretched forth 
 his Hand toward Heaven^ a7td there 
 was a thick Darknefs in all the Land of 
 Egypt (k) ; And the Intention of the 
 Pfalmijl being to afcribe thefe Mi- 
 racles moft exprefly to the Word of 
 God ; He fpake^ fays he, a?2d there 
 came divers Sorts of FlieSy and Lice in 
 all their Coajls (/) ; again, He fpake^ 
 and the Locufts came &c ; both the 
 Manner of the Pfalmiji and the clear 
 Meaning of the Place feem to lead 
 us to the Reading I am inquiring 
 for. 
 
 (/) no ^^h'. We read nOfc^V. We mull punftuate the 
 Words inftead of '^'i.rj 5^^ 1*1CN7 {^) Exod. x. 21, 22. 
 
 (/} Pfal. cv. 3., 54. ' 
 
 2 I 
 
Hi ^ PREFACE. 
 
 I am fenfible fome very pious Eng- 
 Itjh Readers may haftily conceive Of- 
 fence at every Liberty of this Sort: 
 They vi^ill be ready to ask : May not 
 a Pretender to Learning at this Rate, 
 make vv^hat he will of our Bible? I 
 anfwer, not at all; and may give a 
 very plain Sight, as it w^ere, of the 
 whole of this Matter: Suppofe our 
 EngliJJj Tongue had been originally 
 written like the Hebrew^ without in- 
 ferting the Vowels, which give us the 
 Sound of the Syllables: Let us con- 
 fider the following Paragraph^ He that 
 taketh Heed to the Commandment of-- 
 fereth a Peace-Offering [m) : It may 
 be feen, that if thefe Words, were to 
 be written without Vowels, the Words 
 Peace-Offerings might be thus cha- 
 raderiz'd, P c ffr?ig : fuppofe, thro' 
 fome early Miftake of tranfcribing, all 
 printed Copies had both divided er- 
 roneoufly thefe Letters into Words, 
 1 1 I i Ill I 
 
 {m) Ecclus. XXXV. I. 
 
 and 
 
PREFACE. liii 
 
 and had not put the proper Vowels 
 under their refpediive Letters; fuppofe 
 the Letters ^— which make one Word, 
 had the Vowels being ie e put under 
 them as I have marked them; ie to 
 be read between p and e^ and e after 
 c a letter jinal\ fo as to read this Word 
 Piece : fuppofe the firfl: / was taken to 
 be a Word by itfelf and o put under 
 it to read it of; fuppofe -^"^-^ were vow- 
 el'd as I have underlined them ; / to be 
 founded after r, e to be the final Let- 
 ter, the Word to be thus read Fri/ige; 
 would any one reft fatisfied to read 
 the Sentence, He that taketh Heed to 
 the Commandment offereth a Piece of 
 Fringe. And fhould any one fhew, 
 that of is with the following Letters 
 but one Word, and that the Letters 
 might be fo vowelled, as to read 
 pc f fr ngj a Peace Offerings w^ould 
 not the clear Senfe of the Place vindi- 
 cate this to be the true Reading, and 
 evince that the other, of what Date 
 c 3 foever, 
 
[IV 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 foever, and how much foever followed 
 mufl: be an Error? and would any rea- 
 fonable Man be ready to think of him, 
 that fhould offer fo expreffive an Emen- 
 dation, that it might be dangerous, 
 left he fhould make the Englijb 
 Tongue fpeak whatever he had a Mind 
 to, and not its certain and true Mean- 
 ing ? I do not intend to infinuate that 
 the Cafe I have put exadly refembles 
 either of our Tranflations of the Pfalmiji 
 above cited: It certainly does not, 
 neither of our Tranflations being in 
 themfelves abfurd. And the Hebrew 
 Tongue is not fo various in its Num- 
 ber of Words fo far flmilar, as that 
 Inftances can occur in it, fuch as may 
 be in our E?iglijh if fo written : But, 
 altho' in the Hebrew the Vov^els put 
 under the Words in Points, may be 
 neceffary to Pronunciation, to teach or 
 remind us to give the Word fuch Syl- 
 lables, and each Syllable fuch Sound, 
 as the Points put under them dired, 
 
 yet, 
 
PREFACE. h 
 
 yet, as fuch Points were not originally 
 in the facred Pages (;;) ; fo neither are 
 they neceffary to any one who toler- 
 ably knows the Language, to afcertain 
 to him the true Meaning of a Text ; 
 for if a Word happens to be wrong 
 punduated it may miflead him ; and 
 if it be not punctuated at all, the Let- 
 ters of the Word, and the Context, 
 will better diredl him to fee the true 
 Meaning of the Text, without any 
 falfe Bias to divert him from it. 
 
 The talking of various Readings, 
 Tranfpofitions of Words, Additions in 
 Ibme Copies of the Scriptures, Omif- 
 fions in others, are indeed Matters fo 
 managed by the artful, who defire to 
 perplex and deceive, as to raife ter- 
 rible Appearances or Apprehenfions in 
 the Minds of the well-meanino;, but 
 unwary and unlearned : And I know 
 of no Writer, that has endeavoured this 
 Point more unfairly than the late Lord 
 
 {«) See what the very learned Dean Fr'ubau:: has wrote at 
 large upon this Subjcd, Conned . Part 1. B. v, 
 
 C 4 BoUtlg-' 
 
Ivi PREFACE. 
 
 Bolinghroke : He roundly tells us, that 
 " the Scriptures are come down to us 
 " broken and conlufed, full of Addi^ 
 *' tions. Interpolations, and Tranfpo- 
 " fitions, made we neither know when 
 " nor by whom ; and fuch, in fhort, as 
 " never appeared on the Face of any 
 " other Book on whofe Authority Men 
 *' have agreed to rely [o) :' In another 
 Place he fays the Scriptures are " Ex- 
 ^' trads of Hiftories not Hiftories, Ex- 
 ^^ trads of Genealogies not Genealo- 
 " gies {p)y' and in a third Place, that 
 *' it would not be hard to fhew upon 
 " great Inducements of Probability, 
 ^' that the Law and the Hiftory were 
 ^^ far from being blended together as 
 ^^ they now ftand in the Pentateuch 
 ^^ even from the Time of Mofes down 
 «^ to that of Efdras {q) : " It would 
 not be decent in me to fay how pal- 
 pably untrue all thefe Aflertions are : 
 
 {o) Of the Sfui^y of Hipry, Letter III. p. 95, 96. [p] Id. 
 p. 102. [q) Page 100, 
 
 The 
 
PREFACE. lvi| 
 
 The two laft of them I fome time ago 
 confidered very largely, and I hope 
 with the utmoft Freedom and Impar- 
 tiality (r) : And that the lacred Books 
 are far from having had a worfe Pre- 
 fervation than other ancient Writings, 
 has been unanfwerably fhewed by a 
 more able Hand, as far as concerns the 
 new Teftament (x), and fliould Mr. Ken- 
 nicott proceed as he has began, and col- 
 late the Ma7iufcript and printed Copies 
 of the Old Teftament, we fhould fee 
 the Event come out in the one Cale, ; 
 
 as it is known to have done in the 
 other. Dr. Bentley would have told 
 Lord Bolingbroke upon what he fays of 
 Additio7iSi Omijfionsy Interpolations^ Va- 
 riations^ &c. in the Scriptures, " that 
 " it filled him with difdain to fee 
 " fuch common Stuff brought in with 
 " an Air of Importance." All his 
 Lordfhip offers has been before offered 
 
 (r) Preface to Conned. Vol. HI. p. xxvi. ^c, {s) Philehuth^ 
 Vtpfienf, P. I. p. 92 114. 
 
 by 
 
Iviii PREFACE. 
 
 by even the loweft Creatures of the 
 unbeheving Tribe ; even the Aflertion 
 his Lordfhip feems to plume upon, that 
 " the Scriptures would have been pre- 
 " ferved intirely in their genuine Pu- 
 *' rity had they been intirely didated 
 " by the Holy Ghoft (/)," and they 
 have been anfwered over and over [u). 
 T'heje are the Kings, that reigned in 
 the Land of Edonty before there reign- 
 ed any King over the Children of 
 Ifrael [w) : It is commonly obferved 
 of this Paragraph^ that it could not 
 be written until after there had been 
 a King in Ifrael', until after the Times 
 of Saul^ and confequently that it was 
 not written by Mofes : fuppofe now 
 that we can in no wife find out by 
 whom it was written ; admit that fome 
 private Owner of a Manufcript Pen- 
 tateuch wrote it in the Margin of his 
 Manufcript as a Remark of his own. 
 
 (/) Lord Bol:nghroke\ Letter HI. p. 95- {«) See Phil. Lipften, 
 (ou) Gen. xxxvi. 31. 
 
 that 
 
PREFACE. lix 
 
 that a Copier of fuch Manufcript care- 
 lefsly wrote it into the Text of his 
 Tranfcript ; is there any thing material 
 in this Interpolation? Muft not the 
 Learned fee the Scripture to be perfed: 
 without it, and can the Unlearned fee 
 any Detriment in having the Obferva- 
 tion ? Of this Sort are the Interpola- 
 tions fo formidably talked of: They 
 are very few in Number, tho' faid at 
 Random to be fo many: And what- 
 ever Apprehenfions may be raifed in 
 the Minds of the Unlearned about 
 them, nothing is more eaiy to be fhewn, 
 than that no Point of our Religion is 
 materially affedled by them at all. 
 
 But there are Omiffions in fome 
 Texts of Scripture — . They who fay 
 this ftiould produce their Inftances, 
 deal openly and fairly with the World ; 
 let us fee of what Nature their Objec- 
 tion is, that we may not be amufed 
 and alarmed, where there is no Reafon. 
 I will therefore give an Inftance or two, 
 that even the unlearned Reader may 
 
 judge 
 
Ix PREFACE. 
 
 judge of this Particular. In the xiith 
 Chapter of Exodus^ ver. 40. we read, 
 JVow the Sojourning of the Children of 
 Ifraely who dwelt in Egypt (I fhould 
 rather tranflate the Hebrew Words, 
 which they fojourned ) in the Land 
 of Egypt y was four hundred and thirty 
 Years. It is plain, that the Ifraelites 
 were not 430 Years in Egypt ^ for 
 they came into Egypt A. M. 2298 (y)^ 
 and their Exit was A.M. 2513 [z] ; 
 {o that their Sojourning in Egypt was 
 but 215 Years: But the Septuagint 
 give us this Text as follows. JVow the 
 Sojourning of the Children of Ifrael 
 which they fojourned in the Land of 
 Egypty and in the La7td of Canaan^ 
 was four hundred and thirty Years (a) : 
 The Words here added are and in the 
 Land of Canaan: Now Abraham 
 came into Canaan to fojourn there 
 
 (y) See ConneB. Vol. II. B. vii. p. i86. («) Book ix, 441. 
 yv'7r]ffi '^uf y'^ XAvadv hn 7eia,H,o(7i{t reictKoi'cC' Verf. Sep- 
 
 A.M. 
 
PREFACE. Ixi 
 
 A. M. 2083 [b)\ count hence to the 
 Exity and we find it exadlly 430 
 Years: What Difficulty now can we 
 have, even fuppofing that no Hebrew 
 Manufcript now extant, has the Words 
 we render and in the Land of Egypt [c\ 
 will any reafonable Inquirer not think, 
 that thefe Words were in the Text 
 which the Septuagint tranflated from, 
 and that they really belong to the He- 
 brew Text, tho' the manufcript Copies 
 we have may by fome Carelefnefs of 
 Copiers have omitted them. The Ob- 
 fervation of our learned Critic is a very 
 juft one. " If Emendations are true, 
 *^ they muft have been once in fome 
 " Ma?tufcriptSy at leaft in the Author's 
 ^^ Original: But it will not follow, 
 " that becaufe no Manufcript now ex- 
 *^ hibits them, none more ancient ever 
 '' did (J)," 
 
 [h) ConneSi. Vol. I. B. v. p. 275. [c] I ought not to 
 
 omit, that in the Samaritan Pentateuch the Hehreuu Words are 
 found, which we render^ and in the Land of Egypt, {d) Phileh 
 Lipf p. ip6. 
 
 No 
 
Ixii PREFACE. 
 
 No one can doubt but that Mofes^ 
 in the xxxiiid Chapter q£ Deuteronomy^ 
 bleffed the twelve Tribes, every Tribe 
 particularly according to his Blefling; 
 and yet we are faid to have no one 
 Copy of the original Text, no one 
 Verfion in the general, which mentions 
 the Tribe of Simeon at all, the Alex- 
 andrian Manufcript of the Septuagint 
 only inferting the Name Simeon in the 
 6th Verfe, writes that Verfe in that 
 one Word differently from all other 
 Copies {e) : Here then is an Omiffion 
 that can be fupplied from no Hebrew 
 Manufcript: Will it follow here is no 
 Omiffion ? No Verfion that we now 
 have amends this Omiffion except one 
 Copy of one Tranflation : Will it fol- 
 low that originally all Verfions had not 
 the Name of Simeon f Is it not ap- 
 
 (f) The Uehreiv Text is, 
 
 The common Septuagint Yqx {ion is Z«t« VMjj ty ut'i VIttjO^*!'*- 
 To) )y Wc^ ■TTTo^ii^ cA> Aej^u'C^ : The Alexandrian Manufcript is. 
 
 ei^jyoi 
 
 parently 
 
PREFACE. Ixiii 
 
 patently more reafbnable to conclude 
 the Alexaiidrian Manufcript was tran- 
 fcribed from fome Copy of fome more 
 ancient Manufcript that had the Word 
 Simeo?t^ that the Original Manufcript 
 of the Septuagi77t tranflated from an 
 Hebrew Copy, that had it likewife ; 
 and that the Word Simeon was origi- 
 nally in the Hebrew Text, however 
 thro' fome Carelefsnefs of Tranfcribers 
 it came to be dropped, and to occafion 
 great Numbers of Copies and Ver- 
 fions to be without it. There is Room 
 in all Cafes of this Nature for a rea- 
 fonable Confideration of Inquiry : And 
 I dare venture to affirm, that there is 
 no Scripture Difficulty of which a fe- 
 rious Inquirer, able to make a proper 
 Search for it, may not find a proper 
 Solution: As for thofe who have not 
 Literature for the Examination, if they 
 read the Scriptures with a careful De- 
 sign to be made wife by them unto 
 Salvatiojt^ they will foon know enough, 
 not to be led avt^ay blindly by thofe, 
 
 who 
 
Ixiv PREFACE. 
 
 who perhaps know little more than 
 what may enable them to impofe upon 
 and deceive others in Points, of which 
 whether they can fay correftly, v/hat 
 is the right or the wrongs may not be 
 materially of Moment to them. 
 
 The Learned have raifed a great Duji 
 about a Text in St. John\ Firji Epijlle^ 
 whether in Chap. v. Verfes 7 and 8, 
 For there are three that bear Record 
 \in Heaven^ the Father^ the Word^ and 
 the holy Ghoji : and thefe three are one. 
 And there are three that bear Witnefs 
 in Earthy the Spirit, and the Water 
 and the Blood, and thefe three agree 
 in one — ; whether the Words which 
 I have written in a different Charader 
 are in fome Manufcripts ; and in what 
 particular Copies they are not : The 
 Reader may fee the whole of what 
 can be offered upon this Point in 
 Dr. Mills (fjy and will probably not 
 think there is any Thing in the whole. 
 
 (f) VidQ MiBi Tejiam. nov, ad fin. Epilt. priir.x fanfti 
 Johannis* , 
 
 that 
 
PREFACE. Ixv 
 
 that will greatly afFed him, when he 
 confiders, that what is here faid of the 
 Father^ the Son^ and the holy Ghoji^ 
 that they are one^ is a Dodrine to be 
 deduced from other Tenets of Scrip- 
 ture : And, if I may be permitted, I 
 would inquire, whether it may not 
 perhaps be fhewn to be not a Jot or 
 Tittle more, than what even Mofes had 
 declared i 500 Years before the writing 
 any Books of the New Teftament were 
 at all thought of 
 
 The 3Qth Verfe of the xxxiid Chap- 
 ter of Deuteronomy has in our Englijh 
 Verfion of it thefe Words, / even I am 
 He, and there is no God with me : I 
 would hereupon obferve, i. That the 
 Hebrew Text is, \^Ani Ani Hua^ ve ein 
 Elohim nimmadi] fgj : 2. There is 
 no Word in the Text anfwering to the 
 Englijh Word even^ nor is there any 
 Verb expreffed in the Text, no Word 
 for am^ nor for is. 3. That Ani Ani 
 
 (g) The Hehre\K Words are 
 
 nop arnVi^ r^Ni N^.n *:n ^^5^ 
 
 d is 
 
Ixvi PREFACE. 
 
 is not the ufual Way of exprefling I 
 even I in Hebrew : It fliould rather 
 have been Ani hinneftiy if / even I 
 had been intended. / even I do bring 
 a Flood, is not Aniy Ani^ but Ani 
 hinneni [h)\ For thefe Reafons ought 
 we not to tranflate the Words of Mo- 
 fes literally ? Ani Ani Hua ve ein 
 Elohim nimmadi (/) /, /, He, but not 
 Gods with 7ne. The Verb fubftantive 
 here underftood fpeaks itfelf to be, 
 There are : I and I and Hey are three 
 ' perfonal Pronouns : And the whole Sen- 
 tence is verbally rendred, There are /, 
 and /, a?2d He [k)^ but ?20t Gods with 
 
 {h) See Gen. vi. 17. Behold 1 even I do bring a Flood — is, 
 
 and it is by fome thought that ''JJn here fhould be wrote T\IT\ 
 without th-QjuJ/ix ProEOun, as in Exodus xxxi. 6. 
 
 (/) nop D\i^is^ >^Ni N^n "^M •3^^ 
 
 mecum Dii at ron lile Ego Ego 
 A like Expreflion, I think, is found in Ifaiah xliii. 25. 
 
 y^\^^ nno Nin ^r'„\^ ^djn 
 
 and in a like Signification. It was God, who is anochi, anochi^ 
 hua ; or ani^ am^ hua, that blocted out the Tranfgreffions of 
 his People. [k] The Cornma in Englijh fuppjies the Copula- 
 
 tinjey which cannot but be underltood in the Hehrenv, tho' not 
 inferttd. 
 
 me. 
 
PREFACE. Ixvii 
 
 me. It was a Do6lrIne before taught 
 by Mofesy that there were more Per- 
 fons than one called yehovah^ God 
 whom no Ma?i hath feen at any Ti?ne^ 
 nor can fee \ and the Lord^ who had ap- 
 peared unto Abraham (/). And yet he 
 ftridlly charges Ifrael to hear, i, e. to 
 oblerve it to be their Faith^ that Jeho- 
 vah their Elohim v/as One Jehovah [iri] : 
 May we not fuppofe him in the Text 
 before us declaring in the Terms of the 
 fame Faith, that the three Perfons he 
 here fpeaks of were not Elohim^ Gods 
 in the plural Number (;^) ; for, to ufe 
 the Words of Scripture, they were Ojie 
 Jehovah. And now. 
 
 If what I have thus offered may be 
 admitted, it muft furely be a vain La- 
 bour for any to endeavour to flrike the 
 Words they are defirous to conteft, out 
 of the New Tejlament^ unlefs they 
 
 (/) See Conned. Vol. II. B. ix. p. 401. &c. [m) See D:;i:t. 
 vi. 4. Conned, ibid. The Hebre^M Words in Deut vi. j are, 
 
 inN nw ^yrh^ mm («) The vv^ord aT)7>{is 
 
 often ufed as a Noun plural in Scripture, fee ui3\n7N 'O^T). 
 2 Sam. "V'ii. 22. See Deut. vi. 13, &c. 
 
 d 2 could 
 
ixvlii PREFACE. 
 
 could really put the Dodrine intended 
 in them out of the old : But fuch is 
 the Haripony of Scripture, that no- 
 thing in it is really IS'ioiq SmXv(Ti(j6g[o\ 
 of a private Interpret at ion^ fo pecu- 
 liarly differing from all other Scrip- 
 tures as not to have fuch a Coinci- 
 dence with them, as may warrant it to 
 be true: Rather oftentimes what the 
 Prophets of a later Age have faid, 
 when confidered, opens itfelf to have 
 fuch a Foundation in what had been 
 faid before, tho' it be evident that the 
 Speakers had no Intention of fpeaking 
 the one from the other, that herein ap- 
 pears fome Signature of what is faid, 
 that it is of God (/>). 
 
 There remain to be confidered fome 
 other Variations ot Copies of the facred 
 Books from one another. The Books 
 of the New Teftament have it feems 
 been collated with fo fcrupulous an 
 Exadnefs, that we have it marked as 
 
 [p) 2 Pet. u 20. [p] Ibid. 
 
PREFACE. Ix X 
 
 a various Reading if there is in diffe- 
 rent Copies, or Verfions from Copies, 
 or in Citations of Texts by fubfequent 
 Writers for near 500 Years, the Jeaft 
 Difference of vvriring the fmalicft 
 Particle or Article of Speech, or if the 
 Order and Collocation of Words mi- 
 nutely differs, tho' the Meaning is ex- 
 adly, and mod clearly the fame, and 
 with all this indefatigable Precifenefs, 
 the Variations in the New Teftament 
 only are faid to be 30C00 [q)\ But let 
 us confider: Can we think of any 
 Book, that if it had been publifhed fo 
 many Years, and there were fo many 
 different Copies of it, Tranflations in- 
 to different Tongues, Citations made 
 from it in divers Languages, and all 
 thefe were to be ranfacked, and it were 
 remarked as a different Reading, where- 
 ever the Word And was wrote in three 
 Letters, or in the Charader oc, this 
 was wrote ^., that j., therefore ].fore^ &c. 
 
 (f ) See PhikUuth Lipf, 
 
 d 3 with 
 
Ixx P R E F A C E. 
 
 With many other fuch (r) Minutenefles; 
 abundance of Variations beyond Num- 
 ber might not be amaffed in this Man- 
 ner. Our learned Critic allures us, 
 upon his own Knowledge, that there 
 is hardly a Claffic Author, which thus 
 examined would not afford more Va- 
 rious Readings than the Scriptures [s] : 
 I may perhaps be allowed to fay very 
 fecurely, that of the 30000 Variations 
 in the New Teftament, not near one 
 in a thoufand are in themfelves worthy 
 to be in the leaft regarded, though the 
 Learned and Laborious do well to col- 
 left them, that thofe who know how 
 to ufe them may have full Materials 
 to fhew, that all the Fancies and Sur- 
 mifes, of which the Imaginations of 
 the Oppofers of Religion are ever preg- 
 nant, are rafh, groundlefs, frivolous 
 and vain. And as to the few that are 
 
 {r) We might gather many of this Kind of Variations from 
 Books printed in <hc old black Letter, wherein are Numbers 
 ©f Abbreviations difFcrent irom any now in ufe. {s) FhlL Lipf. 
 p. 99, 97. 
 
 of 
 
PREFACE. Ixxi 
 
 of any Moment in either the old Te- 
 ftament or the New, as far as my Httle 
 Inquiry has been able to carry me, I 
 never could fee one, of which fuch 
 an Account may not be given as will 
 fhew that it neither deprives me of the 
 Inftruftion of any Page of the facred 
 Writings, nor extinguifhes any Article 
 of the Faith^ nor alters or makes void 
 any One Duty of our Religion : And 
 may fafely affirm to thofe who of them- 
 felves may not find out thefe Particu- 
 lars, or if pointed out to them, are not 
 able readily to judge of them; that, 
 altho' I would not prevent any from 
 endeavouring to add Knowledge to their 
 Faith^ in whatever Points they are able; 
 being fully fatisfied, that no Freedom 
 of Inquiry, juftly conduced, can be of 
 DilTervice to the Truth, provided we 
 do not give our felves up to be carried 
 to a7^d fro^ with every Wind of what 
 feems new to us, beyond what we un- 
 derftand — : I fay, even the loweft of 
 our People, who can only read, mark, 
 d 4 learn, 
 
Ixxii PREFACE. 
 
 learn and digeft our Scriptures as 
 our received Englijh Verfion offers 
 them to us, to gather from them, that 
 DoBrine^ Reproofs CorreEiion and In- 
 JtruSlion in Right eoufnefs^ which they 
 plainly afford us, will find, that they 
 can want nothing more to make them 
 wife unto Salvation: And confequently 
 how obvious to them will be the An- 
 fwer long ago returned to fuch a Sur- 
 mife, as is offered by Lord Boli7igbroke? 
 That if the Scriptures were intirely the 
 Word of God, all of them abfolutely 
 given by Infpiration, they would have 
 been as abfolutely preferved from all 
 Variations of Copies, and Miftakes of 
 Tranfcribers. The Anfwer is : 
 
 What a Scheme would thefe Men 
 make? What worthy Rules would 
 they prefcribe to Providence? That 
 in Millions of Copies tranfcribed in 
 fo many Ages and Nations, all the 
 Scribes or Notaries, many of whom 
 perhaps made it their Trade and Live- 
 lihood to tranfcribe, £hould, whenever 
 
 they 
 
PREFACE. Ixxiii 
 
 they wrote out Scripture, be infallible 
 and impeccable ; that their Pens fhould 
 ipontaneoufly write true, or be fuper- 
 naturally guarded, the' the Scribes 
 were nodding and dreaming ; And to 
 what Purpofe fLould we require this 
 Miracle ? To keep clear and indubious 
 the Articles of our Faiths or the ne- 
 ceflary Rules for our moral Lives ? No : 
 In all thefe we are fafe notwithftand- 
 ing any Imperfedions of Copies ; But 
 merely to filence every Doubt and 
 Whimj which no Man truly religious, 
 drawn by the Cords of a Man, by ra- 
 tional, ingenuous and moral Motions 
 will have, but may be captioufly taken 
 up, by the Impiety and Folly of fuch 
 as will be pleafed with any Thing, that 
 but feems to be an Objedion againft 
 the Scriptures [u). Upon the whole, 
 
 Variations of Evangelijls in their 
 Accounts of the fame Fads, the Con- 
 dud of this or that particular Apoftle, 
 
 [u) S^Q PhiL Lipf. p. 112, 113. 
 
Ixxiv PREFACE. 
 
 as alfo the Differences of Copies of the 
 Scriptures, are Topics^ that defigning 
 Men, with very little Examination and 
 Knowledge of what they confidently 
 affirm, are extremely apt to take up, 
 one faying juft what another had faid 
 before him, only perhaps with a little 
 more Freedom and falfe Affurance, 
 not confidering how fully all they fay, 
 or can fay upon thefe Topics has been 
 anfwered over and over : To Writers 
 thus determined, of faying the fame 
 agings there is no end : All we can 
 do, is to remind the Candid and Sin- 
 cere, that the Points fo induftrioufly 
 propagated, have been fully, freely 
 and impartially confidered by the ableft 
 Writers not only of that Profeffion, 
 which it is become a Fafhion, with 
 fome, moft unmercifully to fpeak a- 
 gainft ; but by Gentlemen alfo of In- 
 quiry and Impartiality; of Abilities 
 and Charafters, which no Approba- 
 tion of mine can add to: And that, 
 as well from what they have particu- 
 larly 
 
PREFACE. Ixxr 
 
 larly written (w), as from what others 
 have more in the general confidered 
 upon thefe Subjeds, it may be fuffi- 
 ciently known by even the plaineft 
 Reader, that the Providence of God 
 has permitted the Scriptures, to have 
 the Lot of all other Writings, that 
 have paffed thro' the Hands of Men : 
 And has fuffered even the Writers of 
 thefe Books fometimes fo to differ, both 
 in Conduft and in Matters related by 
 them, as to give an Evidence, that 
 there has been no Confederacy of Men 
 to make the Scriptures what they are\ 
 But there is in the facred Pages; In the 
 New Teftament, a Morality fo perfedt, 
 that it cannot be conceived humanly 
 fpeaking, that the firft Preachers of 
 the Gofpel, Men of fuch low Parts 
 and Education as they were, could in 
 
 (w) No Reader, that would judge of thefe Subjefts, fhould 
 omit to confider and examine carefully Mr. M\(I\ Obfernjaticns 
 on the RefiirreB'ton of Chriji : And another Treatife intitled, 
 ^b/ervations on the Coni'trfan and Apojilrjhip ^ -S/. Paul. 
 
 all 
 
Ixxvi PRE FA C E. 
 
 all Points, without any one Error {x)y 
 have thus taught the JVay of God in 
 perfed Truth ; There is a Forgivenefs 
 of Sin, exa£tly what is neceffary for 
 Man/)^; and yet determinately in- 
 dulging no one human corruption 
 
 [x) It would have Weight with any ferious Examiner to con- 
 fider, that altho' the Wife Heathens endeavoured by the Light 
 of Reafon to trace out the Lines of moral Duty, and many 
 excellent Rules were given by many of them, and perhaps a 
 careful CoUeftor might form a good Syjlem from them all ; Yet 
 as they were but Men, fo every one of them had their Miftakes : 
 But herein there is a Difference : There are noDefefts, no One 
 Error in the Morality of the Gofpel : The firft Publifhers of it, 
 were mean, illi:erate, unlearned Men, and yet they gave us 
 moral Precepts, ** all pure, all unmixed : no Conceits or falfe 
 ** Rules ; nothing tending to the By-ends of any Man, or any 
 »* Party; no Tang of Fancy or Superftition ; no Footfteps of 
 " Pride or Vanity ; no Touch of Oftentation and Ambition ; 
 ** but all fincere : Nothing too much, nothing wanting ; bat 
 ** the whole is fo perfed and complete; tends To abfolutely to 
 " the good of Mankind, that all would he happy even in this 
 ** World, if all would fincerely endeavour to pratilife it : And 
 *' if we could come up to the full Pradtife of it, we fhould be 
 " fo whole as to need no Phyfician, to attain the Blifs and Glory 
 ** of the World to come." 
 
 (y) The Scriptures conclude every Man to be under Sin, GaU 
 iii. 2Z. affirming that there is no Man that finneth not^ i Kings 
 ▼ii. 46. Aj:id not only the Scriptures teftify that we every one 
 know this of ourfelves, that, if nue fay ive have no Siny <we de- 
 cei've ourfehesy and the Truth is not in usy i John i. 8. but the 
 very Heathens allow it : ^ifque innocentem fe dicity refpiciens 
 Teftem non Confcientiam, fays Seneca^ de Ira lib. I. The Queilion 
 then will occur, Honv can Man be ji fifed ivith God? Job xxv. 4. 
 A Eorgivenefs of Sin mull be neceffary for any Fleih to be 
 faved. 
 
 what- 
 
PREFACE. Ixxvii 
 
 whatfoever {z)y There is an Atone- 
 ment for Sin, fuch as no Invention of 
 Man would have propofed [a)y but yet 
 
 fo 
 
 {%) The Point I would here offer to the Reader's Confidera- 
 tion is. Whether if the Pardon of Sin offered in the Gofpel 
 had been the Contrivance of Men, it would not. like what 
 human Contrivance is for inventing, have offered Indulgences 
 for particular Failings ; and whether therefore on the contrary, 
 confidered truly as it is, a Dodlrine that favours no one Foible 
 of human Nature, admits no Thought of our continuing in 
 any one Sin, that Grace may abound, Rom. vi. i . as there can be 
 no Deceit where there is no Error propofed to us, a Pardon of 
 Sin thus circumftanced, flridlly commanding an impartial En- 
 deavour to perfeft every Thing that is Right, tho' it gives uft 
 Hopes, having fincerely endeavoured this, not to be called to 
 an Account which the Spirits of even y«/? Men cannot be equal 
 to, whether, I fay, fuch a Pardon of Sin does not approve it- 
 felf to be not only Grace, but Truth, John i. 17. 
 
 (a) TheSeffitiments which the inquilitive Heathens had upon 
 this Subjeft were as follow. They agreed Philofophy to be ufe- 
 ful to correal what might be wrong in us : EJi profeSo Animi 
 Difciplina Philofophia, Cic. Tufc. Difput. Lib. HI, c. 3. They 
 did not fee how they could purge or cleanfe the Confcience of 
 Sins that had been committed. All the known Rites of Ablu- 
 tion they knew to be unphilofophical : Animi Lakes nee Diutur- 
 nitate e^vanefcere nee amnibus ullis elui poteji, Cic. de Leg. lib. 2. 
 CIO. They did not think Repentance could make them whole : 
 ^em paenitet peccdjje pene eji innocens, is, I think faid by the 
 fame Writer, he does not wholly acquit upon Repentance : 
 They had Notions that there might be Purgations of Sin in 
 another World : Thus Firgil tells us of Souls departed, 
 
 exercentur pcsnis, <v€terumque malorum 
 
 Supplicia expendunt : alia panduntur inanes 
 
 Sufper.fa ad njentos : alits fub Gurgite <vafio 
 
 Infe^um eluitur fcelus , ant exuritur igni ; 
 
 ^ifque fuos patimur Manes ■ ■ ^neid. 6. 
 
 The Con{Vru6>ion in the laft Verfe is, I think, clear and eafy, 
 tho' both our Commentators and Di^ionaries feem to make it dif- 
 ficult. 
 
Ixxviii PREFACE. 
 
 fo foretold, and prefigured from the 
 Beginning, throughout all Ages, that 
 
 ficult. Ma-nes fignifies om Spirits departed QWX. of this Life. It 
 is the Accufatinje Cafe, fignifying the Part of us affedled : Like 
 doleo Caputs I ha-ve Pain in my Head; patimur Manes is ^tve/iiffer 
 in our Souls departed. But othefs philofophized, that when this 
 Life was over, they, who had lived well, Ihould go into feme 
 Star, fuch as they had made themfelves meet to live in : ^i 
 bene et honejie Curriculum 'vi-vendi a Naturd datum coifecerit ad il- 
 lud Jfirum^ cui aptus fuerit reniertetur, Cic. Lib. de Univerfo. 
 which State was not opined to be abfolutely final ; for that Spi- 
 rits in a future Life might have a Progrefs to Perfedlion, and 
 go from higher State to higher, until they arrived at their fu- 
 preme Good. Vide Platon. in Phadon. in Lib. de Legib. &€. and 
 fome allowed the Body a Participation herein with the Soul. 
 
 fjSiJ clvSpcl'Trcov fci,' iipcoa.^, o;{, 3 ^pccuv «^ J'etifj.ova.iy ctl lii^ri- 
 ovif '^v')(^a.t T ixnetCoKlw ^AfxCilvacrtv' In q J^oufxovuv oAi- 
 yau /ud-fJ iTt Xt^''V ToKhS S'l* ctpgrJii^ tteL^ap^e^.ffcu rr avjcL'Trd.fft 
 ^io7\nQ- fy.zrk^ov. Plut. Orac. Defeft. How different from 
 all thefe Schemes is what the Gofpel propofes concerning C/jriJl 
 Jefus ? that This Man offered one Sacrifice for Sins for enjer^ and 
 through the offering of his Body onee for ally nvill perfed for e-ver 
 thofe nvho come unto God through him^ Heb. x. 1 1, 12, 14. Whe- 
 ther now could the firft Preachers of the Gofpel have thefe 
 Things ? No Wifdom then in the World would have fuggelted 
 any fuch Dodlrine to them : That the Prophecies indeed ob- 
 fcurely, like a Light fhining in a dark Place, foretold them, is 
 -true ; that their Ma.^er beginning from Mofes and all the Prophets, 
 had expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the Things concerning 
 himfelf is acknowledged ; but as this Expofition was intirely 
 different from all that the Rabbies oi t\icje-ivs had opined, and 
 all their Do6lors learned in their Law and Scriptures contended 
 for, that thefe Things thus hid from the Wife and Prudent, (hould 
 at once be brought to Light by Babes, be preached uniformly 
 and confidently by a Set of Men, that had no human Learn- 
 ing ; and the Truth of them be attefted, by the Author of them 
 vifibly raifing himfelf from the Dead, and going up into Hea- 
 ven, and by the Preachers of his Dodrines being approved of 
 God, in the many Miracles wrought by them at ihc Time of 
 their preaching this Gofpel ; thefe Things mufl put it out of all 
 Doubt, that this Do8rine was not of Man, and that it was of God. 
 
 it 
 
PREFACE. Ixxix 
 
 it niuft be thought to have been ap- 
 pointed by God. In the Old Tefta- 
 ment, a Morality the very fame, tho' 
 not fo fully explained, and inforced to 
 the Perfedion, in which he who cama 
 not to dejlroy the Law and the Pro-- 
 phetSi but to fulfil them^ taught with 
 Authority^ how, what they read in 
 the Law, was to be underftood, to di- 
 red: both the Thoughts of their Hearts 
 and the Adions of their Lives ; There 
 is a Series of legal Inftitutions, fuch as 
 we may fee many Reafons to think no 
 Legiflator from human Wifdom would 
 have thought of and contrived [b) ; yet 
 in many Points fo plain a Schoolmajler 
 to bring thofe to whom they were 
 given unto Chrifi [c] ; fb clearly refer- 
 ring to Things that vt^ere to come, and 
 be revealed, as plainly to indicate, that 
 
 {h) See ConneEl. Vol. III. B. xii. p. 337. not to remark both 
 of Sacrifices of the living Creatures, fee Vol. J. B. i. p. 82, 
 and alfo of Circumcificn, that it is moft impcllible to give any 
 probable reafonable Grounds of their firft Inftitution, other 
 than that they were appointed by God. {c) Gal. iii. 24. 
 
 there 
 
Ixxx PREFACE. 
 
 there was more than human Forefight 
 and Defign in them. In a Word, in 
 both Teftaments there are fuch Pro- 
 phefies of Things that were to be, and 
 of fome that are yet to come ; fuch a 
 FulfilHng of all that is completed, 
 and thence fo reafonable an AiTurancc 
 that there fhall be a Performance of 
 what remains to be fulfilled in its Sea- 
 Ibn, as muft give every confideratc 
 Reader, whether learned or unlearned, 
 a Steadinefs of Belief better grounded, 
 than to be fhaken, by the Difputes 
 we can have concerning the Canon of 
 Scripture \ when it was fettled j by 
 whom thefe or thofe Books were par- 
 ticularly written ; what Erratas have 
 crept into fome Copies in fome Texts; 
 In all which, and many other Difqui- 
 fitions of a like Nature, that may be 
 ftarted^ however we may find that the 
 Scriptures, in their being committed 
 unto Mciij have been a Treafure fo 
 put into Earthen Veffels^ as to furniCh 
 Evidence enough, that the Excellency 
 
 of 
 
PREFACE. Ixxxi 
 
 of them is not of Man (d)^ yet there 
 are Contents in them, which, altho' 
 the Miracles done, to bear Teftimony 
 to them, were done in an Age long 
 fince paft, fo that we may carelefsiy 
 overlook them, neverthelefs will force 
 us to allow, that the Books of Scrip- 
 ture are fuch as could not have come 
 merely from Man, but muft be from 
 God. 
 
 The Original and Progrefs of Lan- 
 guage is a Subjed that has been treated 
 by many Writers : The Learned feem 
 moftly incHned to think, that God 
 put into the Minds of our firft Pa- 
 rents all fuch Words, and a Know- 
 ledge of the Meaning of them, as 
 could be neceffary for their Converfa- 
 tion with one another. They repre- 
 fent, that the allowing them to be 
 made fociable Creatures implies necef- 
 farily that they were in aftual PofTef- 
 (lon of all Words inftantly to commu- 
 
 (d) See 2 Cor, iv. 7. 
 
 e nicate 
 
Ixxxil PREFACE. 
 
 nicate a Variety of Sentiments: But I 
 confefs I do not fee the Confequence 
 to be a neceffary one : They began 
 Life, I apprehend, without any Stock 
 of adual Knowledge : They grew gra- 
 dually into Knowledge, and by like 
 Advances came to think of, and make 
 Words, to fignify what they wanted 
 to name, and converfe upon : The al- 
 lowing them to be able to do this, as 
 early, and as varioufly as they wanted 
 it, and to improve it, as faft as their 
 Knowledge increafed, anfwers every 
 focial Demand we can fuppofe, as 
 fully, and more naturally, than to 
 imagine them full of innate Words 
 before they had acquired the Senti- 
 ments, or Obfervation of the Things, 
 which were to be intended by fuch 
 Words to be fpoken of: But it is a 
 Subjed I have at different Times fo far 
 treated, that I do not fee I need add 
 any Thing to clear it [e) : As to the 
 
 {e) Conns^l. Vol. I. B. ii. Vol. II. B. ix. See the following 
 . Treat ife, Chap. ill. 
 
 Opinion 
 
PREFACE. kxxiii 
 
 Opinion of fome Writers, that our 
 firft Parents' Minds were filled witla 
 original Words, that expreffed to them 
 (what they could not otherwife know) 
 the v^ery Natures of Things, fo as to 
 enable them to fpeak, and thence to 
 think philofophically of them; and 
 that the Hebrew was originally a Lan- 
 guage of this Sort — it is romantic and 
 irrational : That there are Words of a 
 Sound correfponding to what the Ear 
 hears, when the Objed: denoted by 
 them is prefented to us, is unqueftion- 
 able; and the ufing Words of this 
 Make properly, is thought an Ele- 
 gance in many Writers. Virgil is re- 
 marked to have thrown the Sound of 
 the Thing he writes of, fometimes 
 over a whole Line, thus in the fol- 
 lowing Verfe he is obferved to found, 
 as it were, the Trumpet he fpeaks of, 
 
 Mre ciere Vivos Martemque accendere Cantu, 
 
 Vire. ^n. 6, 
 
 And in anotlier Place to exprcfs the 
 e 2 very 
 
Ixxxiv PREFACE. 
 
 very Beat of the Horfes Feet on the 
 Ground he fuppofes them to move upon, 
 
 ^adrupedanfe putrem jGnitit qiiatit Ungula 
 Campujn, Id. Mn, 8. 
 
 Homers — t^oTw (p7\oio(j^oio ^cthctorng 
 founds to the Ear both the hollow 
 Roar of the rifing Wave, and the 
 CraJJj of its Waters breaking upon the 
 Shore. Single Words may fometimes 
 afiedt the Ear in like Manner : The 
 Hebrew Word nn [ Ruach ], which 
 fignifies Wind^ may be thought to 
 found the Rujhing Noife made by that 
 Element, and many like Inftances may 
 be had from diverfe Languages, but 
 will any one fay, that the philofophi- 
 cal Natures of the Things thus de- 
 fcribed are in any wife indicated, by 
 any Word, Part, or the Whole of 
 any fuch Defcriptions ? Words are but 
 Sounds : It is eafy to conceive how by 
 arbitrary Agreement different Sounds 
 may come to denote fuch Things as 
 are intended to be meant by them; 
 
 but 
 
PREFACE. Ixxxv 
 
 but to fay any particular Sound has a 
 neceflary Connection or Relation to 
 the Effence or Nature of one particu- 
 lar Thing more than of another, is a 
 Confufion we could not fall into, if 
 we did not overlook fome Particular in 
 the Train of Thinking, that leads us 
 into it : Allowing the Word create to 
 denote the producing Things out of 
 Nothing, Creator may fignify Him w^ho 
 made all Things, and is God : But 
 the Word can have no fuch Reference 
 from any thing in the Nature of the 
 Word ; but merely from its being firft 
 eftablifhed, that to create fhall be the 
 Sound to fignify this A61 of making 
 Things have Exiftence: From fuch 
 known Defignation [Bara'j in He- 
 brew (f)\ creavit in Latin -^ any other 
 Word in any other Language appoint- 
 ed to denote the Exercife of this Ad: 
 of Power, fhall equally have this Sig- 
 nification, and without fuch Appoint- 
 
 (f) Nnn Gen. i. i. 
 
 e 3 ment 
 
Ixxxvi PREFACE. 
 
 ment no one Sound can have it, in 
 the Nature of Things, any one more 
 than any other. The Manner in which 
 Adam and Eve were brought into the 
 World, duly confidered, will lead us 
 to fuitable Thoughts of the Rife and 
 Improvement of their Language. If 
 they could be conceived inftantly to 
 have talked copioufly of all Things, 
 before Time and Experience had learn- 
 ed them to know them, there would 
 be Reafon to think that they had 
 Words for fuch Converfation not of 
 their own inventing. But Mofes hints 
 to us nothing of this Nature : The 
 contrary appears moft plainly through- 
 out his Narration, and accordingly 
 many Expreffions occur in his Hebrew^ 
 of which I apprehend the following 
 Words, The Lord is a Ma7t of War 
 may be One Inftance (g)^ which hint, 
 
 that 
 
 (g) r\Lrhl2 IL'^N r\\rV . Exod. xv. 3. I may fay of this 
 ExpreiTion, as alfo of another that occurs later, wherein God 
 is reprefented to be like a wighty Man that poiiteth hy Reafon of ') 
 Wine, Pfai. Ixxix. 65. that neither of them can be imagined 
 
 to 
 
PREFACE. Ixxxvii 
 
 that in the moft early Times, the Ex* 
 prellions ufed had their Rife not from 
 any innate Sentiments of the Natures 
 of Things, nor from Words innate, 
 that could fpeak to Men, concerning 
 Things, further than what they had 
 felt, feen or heard, and agreeably there- 
 to conceived and underftood of them. 
 As to fuch Words as God was pleafed 
 to fpeak to our firfl Parents in the Be- 
 ginning of their Lives ; I have confi- 
 dered v^hat, I think, muft be admitted 
 concerning them [h) : And that Names 
 made from Words agreed to fignify 
 Qualities of Things, may denote the 
 Natures of Things fo named, fo far as 
 to tell us, that they are reputed to 
 have the Qualities expreffed by the 
 
 to exprefs any Thing of the Nature of the Power of God : 
 Rather human Imagination ftruck with the Terror of a Man 
 of War coming forth armed to the Battle ; or of the terrible 
 Fury of a Giant, awakened, refrefhed with Wine, furniihed 
 the I^eas, that occafioned thefe Expreflions : Other Words, 
 very different would have been ufed, had a natural Defcripi- 
 tion of the tremendous Power of God, terrible in Majefty in- 
 finitely beyond what thefe Words convey to us, been at all in- 
 tended, [h) See hereafter. Chap. U. 
 
 e 4 Wordi 
 
Ixxxvlii PREFACE. 
 
 Words which are given for Names to 
 them, may reafonably be allowed (/) : 
 If I know Nabal in Hebrew to fig- 
 nify to he of no Vahu or Moment^ I 
 may poffibly conclude a Man called by 
 that Name to be one of that Charac- 
 ter {]i) ; but had any other Word than 
 JSIabaly been the Verb to fignify the 
 havino; this Charader, the Sound Na- 
 bal might have conveyed a very diffe- 
 rent Idea to me. It is the fame of all 
 other Circumftances of Things, which 
 their Names can hint to us. If Terra 
 be the allowed Word to fignify Earthy 
 the faying of a Perfon, that he is ter^ 
 rejiris^ m.ay fpeak him to be earthy ^ 
 but had the fir ft agreed Idea annexed 
 to Terra^ been what we call Heaven^ 
 it is evident nothing in Nature would 
 have prevented terrejlris being of a 
 Signification oppofite to what is now. 
 imderftood by it. What a learned 
 
 (/) See Cornell. Vol. II. B.ix. {k) i Sam. xxv. 25. 
 
 Connect, ibid. 
 
 Writer 
 
PREFACE. Ixxxix 
 
 Writer very clearly thought upon this 
 Subjed, he has exprefled as intelli- 
 gibly ; " there is, he fays, between 
 *' Sounds and Things no Relation (i) : 
 " Words fignify Things, from no 
 *^ other, than the arbitrary Agree- 
 *^ ment of Men: 'tis evident that Lan- 
 " guage is not natural but infti- 
 " tuted :" " That the human Organs 
 ^' being admirably fitted for the For- 
 " mation of articulate Sounds, thefe 
 " w^ith the Help of Reafon might in 
 " Time lead Men to the Ufe of Lan- 
 " guage — ; I own it imaginable that 
 " they might (/):" The judicious 
 Author would, I think, after all this, 
 not have imagined, that without an 
 Infpiration of Language from God, 
 Mankind might have lived a Series of 
 Generations not having a fufficient 
 Ufe of it, if he had happened to con- 
 fider the Steps and gradual Progrels 
 
 [k) ^t&Re^oelation examined vjitk Candor, Vol. T. p. 36. 
 (/) Ibid. p. 37. 
 
 m 
 
xc PREFACE. 
 
 in which Mofes reprefents our firft Pa- 
 rents coming into their Knowledge of 
 themfelves and the World [m). 
 
 The Reader will find me in the fol^ 
 lowing Sheets to have had great Af- 
 fiftance from Mr. Pope\ very excellent 
 Ejfay upon Man: The Poet himfelf 
 confefles, that he could not have ex- 
 prefled his Thoughts with that Force 
 and Concifenefs in Profe, as he could 
 in Verfe {n)\ As to myfelf, I am fure, 
 I (Lould have loft the Reader a Plea- 
 fure, and the Subje6l an Advantage, 
 had I ufed only my own Language : 
 what 
 
 I oft had thought 
 
 would have come far fhort of being 
 
 fo well exprefs'd'y 
 
 I wifli I could have had the like Af- 
 fiftance oi this powerful Pen for fome 
 other Sentiments which I have endea- 
 
 [m] See Re.'velation examined, p. 51 — 61. (?/) See what the 
 Author fays in the Defign of the Poem. 
 
 voured 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 voured to defend, but in the/e I have 
 ventured to defert the Poet, thinking 
 him to have fome Lines, that require 
 Correction: Speaking o( the primeval 
 State of Mankind, he feems to repre- 
 fent their only Guidance to have been 
 the Light of Nature; He fays^ 
 
 I'he State of Nature was the Reign cf God [o). 
 
 He in no w^ife fuppoies Man in his 
 firft Eftate to have began his reiro* 
 under the efpecial Diredion of a Re- 
 velation, but rather, that, 
 
 To copy Injiindi then was- Reafon's Part (p). 
 
 and he fends our early Progenitors to 
 learn Arts and Sciences from the ani- 
 mal World, fooner than vi^e can think 
 the animal World could be fo conii- 
 dered as to afford them this Know- 
 ledge [q] : In like Manner, he appears 
 
 to 
 
 {o) Ep. in. V. 147. fpj Ver. 171. {g) So/omon indeed 
 bids his Sluggard, Go to the Jnt, conjlder her Wayi^ and benvi/e, 
 Prov. vi. 6. And it is natural to think of Solomon^ who had 
 fearched deep into Nature, fee i Kings iv. 33. that he ihould 
 
 offer 
 
 XCl 
 
xcii PREFACE. 
 
 to think, that Sacrifices of the Hving 
 Creatures were not offered in the firft 
 Times : He reprefents that the Shrine 
 was now with Gore unjlaind (r), that 
 unhloody Jlood the har772lefs Pi'-iejl (s). 
 He has thefe and fome other Senti- 
 ments in the Third Epiftle, which to 
 me do not feem intirely to accord to 
 other Parts of his Poem: If I might 
 guefs from one Maxim hinted 
 
 offer this Inftrudlion : But to think of Mankind, that they had 
 not fought out many ln<ventions, but were without Work, De^icCt 
 and Contrivance of their own, until they had obferved the In- 
 Hindi of the Creatures, is extremely improbable : That he, 
 who, frimus^er Ar.em mo'vit agros, Virgil ; learned ef the Mo!e to 
 floiVf Pope, ver. 178. or that C«/« form'd the Plan or Build- 
 ings of his City Enoch, Gen. iv. 17. from any Obfervations of 
 the Bee, her little Cells, Lodgments and Strudures, is a wild 
 Imagination, and I dare fay, had Solomon had no Ships to fend 
 to Ophir, until Men had learn'd 
 
 of the little Nautilus to fail 
 Spread the thin Oar, and catch the dri<ving Gale. 
 
 Pope, ver. 179. 
 
 He would have brought no Gold to Jerufalem. Men had in- 
 vented a great many Arts of their own, before they could ob- 
 ferve what in any wife correfponded to them in the Creatures, 
 tho' we may perhaps well allow, that when they thus came to 
 look from themfelves to the Creatures, Reflexions might arife 
 to teach them to corredl Art by Nature, and to add to their 
 own Inventions a Regularity and Improvement which other- 
 wife they might not have thought of. (r) Pope, ibid. ver. 157. 
 (j) Ver. 158. 
 
PREFACE. xciii 
 
 ^ go, and thus o'er all the Creatures fway^ 
 7hus let the Wifer make the reft obey, (t) ; 
 
 He feems to opine fuperior Under- 
 ftanding to give a Right of Domi- 
 nion ; a Thought fpread fo largely in 
 the Imagination of [u) his admired 
 Statefman, whom he ftiles 
 
 his 
 
 (/) Ibid. ver. 195, 196. 
 
 \u) Lord Bal'ingbroke hints to us, that " the Author of Na- 
 *' ture has mingled among the Societies of Men, a few, and 
 *• but a few of thofe on whom he is gracioufly pleafed to be- 
 ** ftow a larger Proportion of the ethereal Spirit, than is given 
 ** in the ordinary Courfe of his Providence to the Sons of 
 '* Men. Thefe are they, who ingrofs almoft the whole Rea- 
 *' fon of the Species, who are born to inJiruSi, to guide and to 
 " prefer^ve, who are defigned to be the Tutors and the Guar- 
 «< dians of human Kind." See Letter on the Spirit of Patriotifm, 
 p. 10. I am at a Lofs, what to fay of this random Senti^pent: 
 it feems to me to want more Explication, and the Application 
 of it to be guarded and regulated, beyond what one would ex- 
 pedl of any Thing faid by a wife Man. If the Ethereal Genii 
 of the Age happen in any Country not to have either the Reins 
 of Gonjernment, nor the Chair, Seat, or Bench, to guide, direct, 
 and gi-ve Laiv to Mankind j and furely many of them often 
 have not ; and I can apprehend it fome Times for the good of 
 the World that they have not ; there is a far more ufefut Prin- 
 ciple to be thought of, than that thefe Wife (hould try to make 
 the reft Obey, namely, that e^very One (hould /a^' ^^ ^^ quiet, and 
 mind his o^vn Bufnefs, in the Duties of that Stadcn in Life that 
 happens to belong to him. It mull undoubtedly be a great 
 Bleuing to the World, when thofe, who have the Power over 
 others, are the truly IVife ; but the Happinefs oi Mankind can 
 never have any Settic^mcnt, unlefs thofe v.'ho may not attain 
 what they may happen to think their Genius mcil fit for, know ^ 
 how to govern themfclves wifely, and to be Patterns to others 
 to learn them the fame Thing. The Etbtreal Gentlemen act- 
 ing 
 
xciv PREFACE. 
 
 his Friend^ his Genius • 
 
 — Majier of the Poet^ and the Song^ (w) 
 
 that I fliould think, much of what 
 we find from about the 147th Line 
 of the Third Epiftle, to the 216th, 
 was written upon Anecdotes given to 
 the Poet, and in Refped to him that 
 gave them, well ornamented ; but they 
 have not that Firmnefs and Stability, 
 which can be given to nothing but 
 what is true: It would be going ab- 
 folutely from the Subjedt I am con- 
 cerned in, to examine all Mr. Pope% 
 Pofitions, which might be here ftated. 
 
 ing other wife, have often occafioned great Convulfions to the 
 Vv^orld : and many times, when they get the Power they llrive 
 for, and make the reft obey, they are neither the public Blef- 
 fing they think, nor perhaps do they do any great and real 
 good even to themfelves. Our Author's Sentiment feems no 
 better, than a not-well- digefted Refinement of a Notion to be 
 found amongft the Heathen Difputants : i;/s;. that Mankind 
 are born, fome with Endowments to rule and govern, others 
 with Capacities fit for Servitude only : That where the Rulers 
 of States find fuch, as born for Servitude will not fubmit to it, 
 a War upon thefe is but a lawful Hunting, to take Men, as 
 we do, by a like Exercife, the Beafts of the Field, to fiort and 
 reduce them to their proper Application. Nimrod was perhaps 
 a mighiy Hunter of this Sort, and hereby raifed himfelf his 
 Kingdom, Gen. x. 9. But how far any Thing of this Nature 
 can be ufeful or right, I (hall fubni;: to further Ccnfideration. 
 {^j) Epiil. IV. ver. 363. 
 
 One 
 
PREFACE. xcv 
 
 One of them, indeed, I am more par- 
 ticularly concerned in, namely, the 
 Origin of Sacrifices. I have fiippofed 
 Sacrifices of the living Creatures to 
 have been appointed from after our 
 firft Parents' Tranfgreflion, and what 
 I have oiFered upon this Topic has 
 been largely replied to: I hope I fhall 
 not mifpend a few Pages if 1 endea- 
 vour to clear this Matter, 
 
 It is argued, that Sacrifices of the 
 living Creatures were not made in 
 the moft early Ages : That they did 
 not commence until after Mankind 
 eat Flefh: That we need not imagine 
 them to have had their Rife from a. 
 pofitive Command of God ; For, that 
 there is Weaknefs enough in human 
 Nature for us to opine, that Mankind 
 might invent this Service, without 
 any Command injoining the Ufe of 
 it: All thefe Points have been treated 
 by a very ingenious Writer (^), an 
 
 [a] See Poikmdn to Hjda/^es, Letter V, 
 
 An Aver 
 
XCVl 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Anfwer to whom will, I hope, be a 
 fufficient Reply to all that can be ob- 
 jeded upon this Topic : And my An- 
 fwer hereto is, that Al?el unqueftion- 
 ably offered a Sacrifice of an Animal 
 or living Creature ; that he did it in 
 Obedience to a Command of God; 
 And confequently that the Original of 
 this Inftitution was not of human Con- 
 trivance. 
 
 I. Abelj I fay, offered a Sacrifice of 
 a living Creature: Abel^ Mofes tells 
 us, brought of the Firjllings of his 
 Flocks^ and of the Fat thereof (b): 
 This Offering was made before the 
 130th Year of the World (^), and is 
 indeed the firfl: Sacrifice the Scripture 
 mentions: That Abefs was a Sacrifice 
 of a living Creature is, I think, to be 
 proved both from Mofes' s exprefs Ac- 
 count of it, and from what is faid 
 upon it by the Author of the Epiftle 
 to the Hebrews. 
 
 [h) Gen. iv. 4. (c) Adam was but 1 30 when Seth was born 
 after Abelw^^^ killed, Qen. v. 3, 
 
 Mofes% 
 
PREFACE. xcvii 
 
 Mofes% Account begins with the 
 Offering of Cat?i : Cain brought of the 
 Fruit of the Groimd an Offeri?7g unto 
 the Lord (g) : It is plain, nothing 
 animate was intended in C^/;/s Obla- 
 tion : It was an Offering; of Corn or 
 Herbs, the Produce of the Ground, 
 and of nothing more : And it will be 
 obferved, that it is accordingly called 
 Minchah {h)\ the Word often ufed for 
 a Meat-Offeririg or Oblation of Things 
 inanimate, in Diftindion to the Sacri- 
 fice of a living Creature (;) : But Abel 
 brought of the Firjllings of his Flocky 
 and the Fat thereof : The Words that 
 follow are to be obferved: And the 
 Lord had P^efpeB unto Abel^ and to his 
 Offering {li) ; the Text fays, Ve tel 
 Mine hat ho (/) : fo that the V/ord [Min- 
 chah'] is here alfo ufed, to fpeak of 
 Abel's Offering, as it was of Cains j 
 
 (g) Gen. iv. 3. [h] nin^V nn:!oncnN\"i n^o pp Nn^ 
 
 (7) See Levit. ii. i, 4, 5, 15. vii. 9, 10. xlv. 10. xxx. 16, 
 Numb. XV, 3 — 6. xxviii, 5. et fexcent. al. in loc. [k) Gen. 
 iv. 4. (/) The Hekre-^tj Words are innJC-7N1. 
 
 f whereiu 
 
^fcviii P R E F A C E. 
 
 wherein then did they differ ? or why 
 fhould we think Ai^eh Offering to be 
 a Sacrifice of a Hving Creature, when 
 it is thus hinted to be a [ASnc^ah'j f 
 The Learned are herein very diHgent 
 to exert themfelves. Grotius obferves, 
 that the Word we render the Fat there- 
 6f [m) may fignify the Milk thereof^ 
 and would think, that Abel did not 
 facrilice a hamb\ but perhaps only 
 fome Wool and Cream, .of the Lac- 
 tage, and Growth of the Firjl lings of 
 his Flock [n). I anfwer, learned Men 
 will feem to fay fomething for any 
 Singularity they have a Mind to fup- 
 port, and Grotius is herein remarkable 
 in this Particular: But it is obfervablc, 
 that he lays the Strefs of what he 
 would argue, upon explaining a Word 
 not material to the Argument, but fays 
 nothing upon fome other Words, on 
 which the true Meaning of the Place 
 
 {m) Annot. in loc. («} Grotius obferves thefe to have been 
 thought very ancient Sacrifices by the Heathen Writers, ibid. 
 
 mofl 
 
PREFACE. xck 
 
 mofl abfolutely turns : The Word we 
 tranflate Fat^ may fignify Milk^ or 
 muft be rendred Fat^ as the Senfe and 
 Context, when it is ufed, requires; 
 but the Words here to be principally 
 confidered are, of the Firjllings of his 
 Flock [p)\ The Firjiling or Ft rj} lings 
 of Beajls^ of Cattle^ of the Herd^ or 
 of the Flocks are Expreffions very com- 
 mon in Mofes (p)^ and the Queftion 
 is, whether wherever he fpeaks of an 
 Offering of Firjllings^ he means any 
 Thing but an Offering of the living 
 Creatures fo called ? Whether in Mo- 
 fes^ Language had Abel offered only 
 IVooU and Milk or Cream^ the Ex- 
 preffion muft not have been, he brought 
 of the WooU Milk or Cream of the 
 Firjllings of his Flock ait Offering to 
 the Lord? And whether, fuppofing 
 the Word we render fat may fignify 
 Milk^ the Words of Mofes here ufed, 
 
 (o) "iJi^'i n'^DaJ!^. Gen. iv, 4. (/) Lev. xxvii. 26-. 
 
 Numb, xviii. 15. Deat. xv. 19. Numb. iii. 41. Deut. xii. o, 
 xiv. 23, l^c. 
 
 ^^ jhe 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 he brought of the Firjllings of his 
 Fiock^ and the Milk thereof^ would not 
 have denoted, that he brought both 
 the hving Creatures, and their Milk 
 alfo ? But a further Quejftion is, whe- 
 ther Firfllings were ever reckoned but 
 by the Males only [q)} If they were 
 reckoned thus only, our learned An- 
 notators miftake moft ridiculoufly : 
 Abel^ I apprehend, brought of his 
 young Rams unto the Lord ; And the 
 LaBage of his Rams — - ; our learned 
 Difputants would be as well fed, as 
 they would teach us, if they had no- 
 thing elfe to eat, till they gave up this 
 Abfurdity. In a Word : Mofes\ Ex- 
 preffion can in no wife fignify any 
 Thing elfe but that Abel brought a 
 living Animal of his Flock an Offer- 
 ing unto the Lord: For, 
 
 As to Abel\ Offering being called 
 a Minchahy that is eafy to be ac- 
 counted for: The Word Minchah is 
 
 (^) See Exod. xiii. 12. 
 
 indeed 
 
PREFACE. d 
 
 indeed often uled facrtjicaUy to denote 
 an inaittmate Offering in oppofition to 
 the Sacrifice of a living Creature : 
 but it has alfo a more general Ac- 
 ceptation. It is the Word ufed of 
 Jacobs Prefent to his Brother Ef^u (r), 
 and again, for the Prefent fent out of 
 Canaan to Jofeph [s] : It is well tranf- 
 kted, when ufed in this Senfe, by the 
 Greek Word A£^v^ a Gift: The Apoflle 
 thus renders it (/): In this general 
 Senfe it is, and may be ufed of all 
 Sacrifices both animate and i^ianimate"^ 
 for every Sacrifice is, in this Senfe, a 
 Minchah^ ASpoVy a Gifty or Prefent 
 unto the Lord ; tho' every Mi7Khah or 
 Gift, is not a Sacrifice of a living 
 Creature. 
 
 Having thus far fhewn, that Mofes 
 mud be underftood to exprefs Abel\ 
 Offering to be of a living Creature, I 
 come now to confider, that the Apofik 
 
 {r) Gei. xxxii. 13, 19. {$) xlili. 10. (/) Heb, xi. 4, 
 
 plainly 
 
cii PRE FA C E. 
 
 plainly tells us, that this was his 
 Meaning : The Writer of the Epiftie 
 to the Hebrews tells us of Jlbel\ Of- 
 fering, that it was S-vcridy i. e. the 
 Oblation of a Creature flain [u) : I 
 laid great Strefs upon the infpired 
 Writer's ufing this Term (ic;): I am 
 anfwered, that it is notorious, that the 
 Word ^v^fia is feveral Times ufed in 
 Scripture for an inanimate Oblation : 
 And the ingenious Writer above men- 
 tioned cites for his Affertion Lev, ii. i . 
 [x) Undoubtedly he might have cited 
 many other Paffages. His Miftake is, 
 he cites the Septuagint Tranilation for 
 Scripture; not confidering, that the 
 
 («) Kiv^'xAV ''a^5A. '7rej?o lujij'iii ibid. I might, I think, here 
 obferve, that the Jpoji/e elfevvhere exprefiy calls JI?e/'s Oftler- 
 ing an Offering of Blood: Alluding to the Blood of Chriji, by 
 who^e Death we have the Forgivenefs of Sins, he fays, Te are 
 
 come to the Blood of fpr Inkling ivhich fpeaketh better Things 
 
 than that of Abel, Heb. xii, 24 that of Mel ; he does not 
 
 mean JbePs Blood, or the Blood fned hy the Death of Abel, 
 for Jhel'^'i Death was no Sacrifice for Sin -, but the blood of 
 /bel was the Blood that ^/^f/ offered in his ^vaict, or Sacrifice, 
 which tho' accepted by God, as he had commanded it, was 
 but a Shadow in comparifon to the Sacrifice of Chrijl. 
 
 {^11) See Cannei-l. Vol. J. B. ii. p. 82. {:c) Phil, to Hydafp. 
 ]:.etter V. p. 32, 
 
 Xraitjlator^ 
 
PREFACE. ciii 
 
 TranJIators not being infallible, might 
 err in their Tranflation. The Tranjla- 
 tors of the Septuagi?tt were extremely 
 carelefs in their Ufe of this Word : 
 They render the third Verfe of the 
 fourth Chapter of Genejis^ nHlytiV Kctiv 
 
 Here they call Cains Offering, which 
 is defcribed and allowed to be of the 
 Fruits of the Ground only, ^vG'iaVy a 
 Sacrifice or MaBation : But then it is 
 to be remarked, that the Apofile here- 
 in particularly corrects them, removes 
 the Word S-vo'lctv mifapplied by them, 
 and ufes it of Abel\ Sacrifice only, 
 and not of Cains Offering (y) : The 
 
 infpired 
 
 (y) I would take away all poffible Ambiguity, that can be 
 fuppofed in the Apcflle's Expreffion, and would therefore ob- 
 ferve, that fhould any one imagine the Jpcflis Words to be 
 Elliptical; that the Words may be taken, By Faith Abel offered 
 4^ynore excellent Sacrifice than Cains, i. e. Sacrifice : that the 
 Word ^t/<rU(' may as well be underllood at the End of the Pe- 
 riod, as inferted in the Beginning. I anfwer, it is impoifible 
 fo to conllrue the Apoille, his Words being, 'jrirei ^heiovct. 
 ^u(7;rt> ''Ao'ca /jj^^' X^ctiv ^i^ahjJi\K-' Were this the Mean- 
 .ing it fhould be 'j^'^ t8 Kctiic' But we fay, a more excellent Sa- 
 crifice ; where do we find TAelarfit to fignify more excellent ? 
 things that are more excellent are called rat J'la.p'i^vleL' Rom. 
 ii. 1^. Phil. i. 10. J more excellent Way is, ^tct-S-' \s^Cohbj) 
 
 f 4 hi'h 
 
eiv P R E FA C E. 
 
 infpired Writers of the New-'TeJiame7it 
 are known generally to cite the Old 
 Teftament according to the Septuagint 
 Verlion, and where they do fo, it is 
 evident they did not think the Expref- 
 iron importantly faulty : But when, in 
 any particular Paffage, an Apojlle thus 
 remarkably varies and corredts the Dic- 
 tion of the Septuagint^ ought we not 
 to think he obferved an Impropriety, 
 and deiigned to amend it? 5t>cr/ot is 
 in many Places of the Septuagi?2t Ver- 
 
 IS'oVy I Cor. xli. 31. A more excellent 'Name is ,$^tA(poocoTi^9V 
 "ovouf/f Heb. i, 4, and a more excellent Mlnijlryis S'teK^jO^t^Ticy.i 
 Kei7zpy\::iCy Heb. vlii. 6. But •?« Ati<ui/ fignifies morey amplior, 
 fays Stephens, Concord. Grasco - Lat. Nov. Tefcam. And to 
 its here having this Signification agrees what follows : Jbel 
 brought ^vci'i.v nrx^ovt '^^^ Mi'iv' The Frcepofition (?^^ is 
 ufed in che New Teftament to fignify pneter, hejides, more than, 
 ever and aho'-ve : Thus St. Paul guarding the Galatians againft 
 receiving the Obfervances of the Je'wijb Law fuperadded to 
 the Chrillian Religion, moft foleninly warns them, not to re- 
 ceive any Thing that Ihould be preached to them, 'Traf 
 d.n^y^.KiG'diJ-i^j, or Ttftp* iT'j..^cLK(iC'tTi' Gal. i. 8, 9. They 
 were to receive no Do£lrines, as Gofpel, more than, o^ver and 
 aho<vet what St. Paul had preached to them. And thus JhePs 
 ^v<jiav was TKfri'ovct -s^'^' K'ii'i'* Cain had offered only 
 inanimate Gifts: Abel probably had offered thefe alfo ; for 
 thefe often accompanied the Burnt- offering : But AbePs ^vaiet 
 was fomething on.'er and heJlJes thefe, it was the MaSIation of an 
 Animal: And in the not iiaving this added, Cain came Ihort 
 «! what ought to have beeu done by him. 
 
 fioa 
 
PREFACE. cv 
 
 fion ufed to fignify inanimate OSer- 
 ings, but the Septtiagint were not in- 
 fpired Writers, and therefore ought to 
 ftand correded by thofe who were. The 
 Word ^vdia. occurs frequently in the 
 New Tejiament : But altho', after the 
 legal Sacrifices of the Old Tejiament 
 were done away^ the facred Writers of 
 the New adopted the Word ^vcict^ to 
 ufe it in a fpirittial Senfe^ to exprefs 
 the making our Bodies a livi?2g Sacri- 
 fice [z) ; to reprefent our Charity to be 
 a Sacrifice acceptable unto God [a] ; to 
 exhort to offer the Sacrifice of Praife 
 [b] — &^c. I fay ; altho', after animal 
 Sacrifices were ceafed, the one real Sa- 
 crifice being offered, which alone could 
 take away Sin [c\ infpired Writers did 
 ufe the Word B-v^ria. in 2,fpiritualSQnk^ 
 to fignify our giving ourfelves up to 
 perform many of the commanded Du- 
 ties of the Chrifiian Religion, facri- 
 
 {%) Rom. xii. i. {a) Phil. iv. i8. [h) Heb. xiii. 15. 
 
 (f; See Heb. x. 
 
 ficing 
 
cvi PREFACE. 
 
 ficing ourfelves in them truly to ferve 
 God in Spirit and in Truth ; yet, I 
 think, they did not ufe the Term 5-ii- 
 ^ crict of any Sacrifices of the Old Tefta- 
 ment, but of fuch only, wherein there 
 was the Shedding of Blood {d) ; pre- 
 ferving it an allowed Truth of all re- 
 vealed Religion from the Beginning of 
 the World, that without Jloedding of 
 Blood there had been no declared i?^- 
 mij/ion of Sin — . 
 
 11. The fecond Point I am to con- 
 sider is, that Ahel\ offering his Sacri- 
 fice, was an Obedience to fome divine 
 
 {ct) See Matth. ix. 13. xii. 7. Lukeii. 24. xiii. i. Ads vii. 
 41, 42. I Ccr. X. 18. Heb. V. I. vii. 27. viii. 3. ix. 9. &c. I 
 know but one Place in the New Tefiament, where ^vt^ict may 
 feem to be ufed of an inanimate Offering of the Law : Our Sa- 
 viour fays, e'very Sacrifice^ nraLsd -S-u^jst, are the Words of the 
 E'vangelijl, /hall be falted tvith Salt, Mark ix. 49. The Law 
 here referred to is Le^it. ii. 13. which may be thought to be 
 the Law of the Meat- Offering. But I would obferve, that the 
 Text in Le'viticus firft provides, that the Meat-Offering, which 
 was indeed 7W»/z««/^, Ihould be falted: But having ordered 
 this it adds further, With all thy Offerings thoujkalt offer Salt : 
 The Word for ihine Offerings is "IJZlIp, a Word ufed of a 
 Sacrifice of an Animal, Numb, xxviii. 2. as HOnZin Jlllp 
 Levit. i. 2. So that the Text provides, firfl, that all Offerings 
 inanimate Ihall be falted, and then further, that Salt fhall be 
 alfo ufed in all Sacrifices, and the Word ^vaict is ufed by 
 St. Mark referring to the Law given in the latter Part of the 
 Verfe. 
 
 Com- 
 
PREFACE. evil 
 
 Command, fome explicit Injundion 
 given by God : And I confefs, that to 
 me a moft unanfwerable Argument 
 that it was fo, is Abel's being faid by 
 the Apoftle, to have made his Offering 
 by Faithj Heb. xi. I have already ar- 
 gued, that the Faith concerning vi^hich 
 the Apoitle wrote this Chapter fup- 
 pofes in all the Inftances he gives, fome 
 exprefs Declaration or Diredrion from 
 God, the believing and paying Obe- 
 dience to which is the Faith fet forth 
 and recommended to us fJJ : I have 
 fliewn this to be the Fa6l in the Cafe 
 of Rahab^ when (he entertained the 
 Spies at yericho fgj : My ingenious 
 Adverfary thinks otherwife (/6); but 
 with how little Reafon, I muft intirely 
 fubmit to the Reader's impartial Con- 
 fideration : He would argue of Enochs 
 as he reafons of Rahab (/) : He opines 
 Enoch to have obtained his Tranflation 
 
 (f) Connea. Vol. I. B. ii. p. 86. (g) Vol. III. B. xii. 
 
 p. 344. 345, &c. {h) See ?hiL to Uydaf^. Letter V. p. 39, 
 
 (/] id. ibid, 
 
 to 
 
eviii PREFACE. 
 
 to Heaven, not upon Account of hfe 
 receiving and believing any particular 
 Declaration by an exprefs Revelation 
 from God to him, but upon Account 
 of the general Tenor and Condud of 
 his Life, that he was a Man of emi- 
 nent Virtue, faithfully attached to per- 
 fect Holinefs in the Fear of God, af- 
 furing himfelf, that he fhould have a 
 Reward for thus doing: 1 anKver, had 
 the Hopes of Enoch been only the ge- 
 neral and rational Expedations arifmg 
 from a moral Life, he had not been 
 herein in any wife above others eminent 
 for Faithy v/hich is not an Afl of Mind 
 paying Regard to Arguments ariiing 
 from confidering what may appear in- 
 trinfically, without external Teftimony, 
 to be in Reafon true, but Faith comet h 
 by Hearing (/('), Faith is the believing 
 fomething that is teftified or declared 
 to us (/). Accordingly, the Author of 
 Ecclefeajiicusy who obferves of Efioch^ 
 
 (i) PhiL to Eydafp. Letter V. p. 39. [k) Rora. x. 17. 
 
 ^ f/) Vide quae fup. 
 
 that 
 
PREFACE. cix: 
 
 that he pkafed God and was tra7ijlatedy 
 does not afcribe his being tranflated, 
 to his being more and above others a 
 Man of a righteous or moral Life, but 
 tells us he was made an Example of 
 Repentance unto all Generations (//): 
 We fhould perfectly underftand what 
 is here fuggefted, if we may fay a fpe- 
 cial Revelation was made to Enochs 
 that Man ftiould have Life for ever in 
 another World, if they fought it be- 
 lievingy through his Name by Repen- 
 tance, to receive RemiJ/ian of Sins [m] : 
 If Enoch embraced and teitified unto 
 others this Faith ^ and it pleafed God 
 to confirm unto the World, that what 
 he had declared by E?toch was true ; 
 by granting to Enoch not to die and 
 fall like other Men^ but without tajling 
 Deathy to be received to the Life to 
 come which was publifhed, and by 
 him believed, and declared according 
 to the Word of God, made known to 
 
 (//) Ecclus. xliv. i6. [m) See Afts x. 43. 
 
 him; 
 
ex PREFACE. 
 
 him; herein we fhew Enoch to have 
 been literally y according to the Words 
 of the Author of Ecclefiafticusy fet 
 forth an Example of Repentance unto 
 all Generations: and as clearly accord- 
 ing to the full Meaning of the ApoJlle\ 
 Expreflion, by Faith^ believing and 
 doing according to what had been 
 efpecially revealed to him, was traiif- 
 lated that he Pdould not fee Death {n). 
 There is no Point upon which many 
 able and very learned Writers appear 
 more fondly miftaken, than in not truly 
 ftating the Do6lrine oi Faith^ according 
 to the Scriptures. It is a favourite No- 
 tion with them to divide the States 
 Mankind have been in, into that of 
 natural Religion, and that of the 
 Gofpel : They call the State of Crea- 
 tion or natural Religion the Difpenfa- 
 tion of the Father y the State of the 
 Gofpel the Difperfation of the Son of 
 God : and they argue the former, na- 
 
 [n) Heb. xi. 5. 
 
 tural 
 
PREFACE. cxi 
 
 tural Religio7i^ to be a necejfary Pre- 
 paration for the latter [o] : But herein 
 they certainly introduce a Language 
 very different from the Scriptures: To 
 come Ufito God^ to feek Gody to walk 
 with Gody all thefe and other like Ex- 
 prefllons, in their Scripture- Meaning 
 fignify, to accede to that Law which 
 is from God's Mouthy to lay up his 
 Words in our Hearts ; to live accord- 
 ing to what God has revealed and 
 commanded (p)\ tht fearing God and 
 working Righteoufnefs according to 
 what is called natural Light, is not 
 what is in Scripture defigned by thofe 
 Expreffions : In like Manner the Dif- 
 penfation of the Father in Contradi- 
 ftindion to the Difpenfation of the Sony 
 muft be the Revelation of the Old Te- 
 flamenty as diftinguiflied from the Re- 
 velation in the New: Our bleffed Sa- 
 viour's Exhortation to his Difciples was, 
 
 {o) The Reader may fee this Way of Thinking fully ftated 
 by the late Dr. Clarke, Serm. I. (p) See Job v. 8. Pfal. cr. 
 4, 5. Ifa. Iviii. 2. viii. 19, 20. Deut. viii. 6. 2 Kings xxiii. 
 
 3, &c. Job xxii. 22, 
 
 that 
 
cxii PREFACE. 
 
 that as they had believed in God^ fo 
 alfo they would believe in him (^): 
 And the inforcing this particular Duty, 
 is the great Intendment of the whole 
 Epiftle to the Hebrews : God atfundry 
 'Times and iit divers Ma7t7ters had fpo- 
 ken to their Fathers (r) : Here now is 
 the Difpenfation of the Father, which 
 the Scriptures recognize, and from 
 hence the Apoftle endeavours to lead 
 them to the Difpenfation of the Son ; 
 to what in thefe laji Days God hath 
 fpoken to us by his Son [s)y that they 
 fhould take the more earneji Heed to 
 the Things which we have heard^ not 
 to negleB the great Salvation^ which 
 was began to beJpoke?t by the Lord him- 
 felf^ and was confirmed unto us by them 
 that heard hi^n^ God alfo bearing them 
 TVitnrfs^ both with Signs a?td Wo?7ders^ 
 and %mth divers Miracles and Gifts of 
 the holy Ghofl {t) : He obferved to 
 . ' i ■ . . . . 
 
 (^) John xiv. I. ■(?■) Heb. i. 1. (i) Ver. 2. (/) Cap. ii. 1—3. 
 
 them, 
 
PREFACE. cxiii 
 
 them, that in obeying Mofes^ they had 
 not refufed One, that fpake to them 
 on Earth : He exhorts them now agree- 
 ably hereto, not to refufe him who 
 fpake to them from Heaven [u) : In a 
 Word, the whole Defign of this Epiftle 
 is to fet forth to the Hebrews^ That 
 Faith had always come by Hearing *y 
 that the Foundation of all revealed 
 Religion had in all Ages been, the re- 
 ceiving and believing the Word of 
 God ; and the Intent of the eleventh 
 Chapter is to fet before us a Cloud of 
 WitneiGTes or Examples of this Fail : 
 And to fuppofe any one Inftance given 
 by the Apoftle in this Chapter to be 
 intended to hint any other Faith^ than 
 the Belief of fome explicit Revelation, 
 is to fuppofe the Apoflle to have de- 
 viated from his Argument to fome- 
 thing intirely foreign, if not oppofite 
 to it. 
 
 (a) Heb, xii. 25, 
 
 g But 
 
cxiv PREFACE. 
 
 But it will be here asked : What 
 Proof, or Shadow of Proof can we 
 bring of Eitoch^ having had any ex- 
 prefs Revelation from God ? I anfwer, 
 I. We are informed that Enoch pro- 
 phefied of the Judgment to come, that 
 the Lord would come with thoufands of 
 his Saints — &c. {w\ 2. Mofes informs 
 us, that in Emch\ Days Men began to 
 call upon the Name of the Lord [x] : 
 Upon which Words I would obferve 
 1. That the Expreffion in this Place 
 means, that at this Time began the 
 Diftindion of Mankind's being called, 
 fome the Sons of God others the Sons 
 of Men (y). 2. I have indeed obferved 
 that the Words \Kara befloem Jehovah^ 
 was an Expreffion ufed of Abraha7n 
 and his Defcendants, and fignified that 
 they invoked God, in the Name of 
 the Lord who had appeared to Abra- 
 
 (w) See Jiide 14, r j. {x) Gen. iv. 26. (y) See 
 
 Connect, Voi, L 3, i, p 42, 43-. 
 
 ham : 
 
' PREFACE. cxv 
 
 ham [z)\ But I do not think this 
 Expreffion to have been thus ufed be- 
 fore the Days of Abraham (a) 3. A 
 very learned and judicious Writer ob- 
 ferves, and gives Inftances that the 
 Word \_Hochal (^)], which we tranflate 
 begany may fignify had Hope (c) : and 
 he remarks that the Septuagint fo un- 
 
 («) See Conned. Vol. I. B. v. p. 293. I have been told that 
 I muft be thought to err in my giving this particular Interpre- 
 tation of the Words Kara he Jhem, It is faid that the xviiith 
 Chapter of the firft Book of Kings, ver. 26. ihevvs, that the 
 Expreffion fignlfies to call on the 'Name. The Priefts of Baal^ 
 w^ are there told, [;:i^y h'Pin ION? VynrfCra 1><")p^'i] 
 tailed upon the Name of Baal, Jaying^ O Baaly hear us. Are we 
 not here told plainly, that their faying, O Baal hear us^ was 
 iheir calling upon the Name of Baal? Why then muft [Ka- 
 reau hejhem Baal] be any Thing more than they called upon the 
 Name of Baal : 1 anfvver, We are eafily herein mifled by our 
 rendering [leamor'] faying^ had the Participle been here ufed 
 \^Aomarim] dicentes, there would have been a greater Plea for 
 what is objefted to me : but the infiniti've Mood'^'i^^i /^prefixed, 
 the' it may be often rendered by the Gerund in do, in Latin 
 [leamor'] dicendo, is alfo many Times to be rendered by the Ge- 
 rund in dum. [leamor] ad dicendum, fee Noldius in Partic. and 
 may lignify to the faying: when thus ufed it implies a Proceed- 
 ing from what was faid before, to fomething further. We 
 often pray unto God in the Name of our Saviour ; but we 
 often proceed further and fay, O Chriji hear us. In this Man- 
 ner, the Priefts of Baal invoked in the Name of Baal, to the 
 faying, i e. and proceeded even to pray, O Baal hear us. Kmu 
 Jhem, or Kara ^e I Jhem may fignify to in<vocate, or call upon the 
 Name-, but Kara he fnem cannot admit this Signification, fee 
 Conned, ubi fup. [a) Connect. Vol. II. B. Vll. p. 131. 
 
 {b) See RuthrfortFs Efay on Virtue, p. 297. [c] The He- 
 
 bre*i¥ Verb /H^ is fperavit: Defiderio expeftavit. ^c. 
 
 2 2 derftood 
 
cxvi PREFACE. 
 
 derflood and tranflated it. ^r©-* ^A- 
 
 TTiG^gj; Sh'^dK^^^i TO QVOfJLCL }tve/^ T^ 
 
 ^€H' To Enoch then Hope was given 
 in his being called by the Name of the 
 Lord his God. I can fee no Reafon to 
 rejed what this able Writer offers up- 
 on the Text: And we may confider 
 upon it, that the Hope was undoubt- 
 edly great unto whom it was given to 
 be called by this Name: V/hy ought 
 we not to reafon concerning them, as 
 we may of ourfeives ? Beloved^ what 
 Manner of Love was herein hejlowed 
 upon them that they poould be called 
 the Sons of God {d) P They were now 
 the Sons of God : Undoubtedly it did 
 not appear what they fhall be ; but as 
 Enoch prophefied unto them, that the 
 Lord Cometh^ with te7i thoufands of his 
 Saints^ to execute Jiidg?nent^ — it muft 
 be, that all that had this Hope of their 
 Calling, and held faft the Profeffion 
 of it, knew that when he pall appear^ 
 
 [d) See I John iii. i . 
 
 they 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 they fhall be like him^ for they pall fee 
 hi7n as he is {e) : 14^hen he "who is their 
 Life f jail appear^ they alfo foall ap^ 
 pear with him in Glory (/) : We mav 
 furely hence well underftand what was 
 the particular Revelation made to 
 Enoch \ namely, a Pvcvelation of the 
 Hope of another World, and the fup- 
 pofing him tranflated for receiving and 
 embracing this Faith, and faithfully 
 preaching it to others, himfelf living 
 an Example of Repeiitaytce according 
 to the Tenor of it, is no more than 
 fuppoiing God, to teftify in him to the 
 World, that what he had publifhed by 
 him was Truth : Ei^och w^as tranflated 
 A.M., 987, which is 57 Years after 
 Adam's Death [g): Enoch was born 
 A. M. 622 [h\ above 300 Years before 
 the Death of Adam : If v/e m.ay fup- 
 pofe Enoch to have received and 
 preached the Revelation of this Hope, 
 
 [e) I John iii. 2. (f) See CoIofT. m. {g\ See the 
 
 Table of the Lives and Deaths of the Antediluvian Fatriaichs, 
 Connect. Vol. I. B.i. p. 4.9. \h) Ibid. 
 
 CXVll 
 
 g3 
 
 in 
 
cxviii PREFACE. 
 
 in about the Middle of his Life, we 
 have the Grounds for what the Reader 
 will find me to have offered ; namely, 
 that fome time before Ada7n died, 
 God had given the Hopes of another 
 World (/). 
 
 III. I have to confider, that Sacri- 
 fices of the living Creatures were not 
 originally the Invention of Men. The 
 Waters that would argue them to be 
 fuch, carry us back to the Times of 
 Orpheus^ or of fome other fage and 
 wife Perfonages of about his Age, who 
 reformed and civilized the barbarous 
 Clans of favage and uncultivated Peo- 
 ple, who over-ran the Parts adjacent 
 to them : They endeavour to fliew us, 
 that the firfl; Step they took to huma- 
 nize the Minds of thofe they converfed 
 with, was to endeavour to diffatisfy 
 them with the Thoughts of eating the 
 living Creatures, and to perfuade them, 
 that taking away the Life of any Thing, 
 
 (/) See hereafter, p. 286. 
 
 mufl: 
 
PREFACE. cxix 
 
 muft be a Violence that could not 
 make the fo doing an acceptable Sa- 
 crifice to God. This, the Poet tells 
 us, was the Endeavour of Orpheus in 
 particular, 
 
 Syhejlres Homines facer Interprefque Deorum 
 Ccedibiis & fee do Vitiu deter ruit Orpheus y 
 Didius ob hoc lenire Tigresrapdcfque Leone s, 
 
 Hor. 
 
 Orpheus is fuppofed to have lived about 
 the Argonautic Times, later than A. M. 
 2700: But what if he, and all the 
 Reformers fuch as he was, had lived 
 much earlier; what if, not really 
 knowing the Hiftory of the Beginning 
 of Mankind, they had thought it a 
 reafonable Dodrine, very proper to re- 
 prefs and fubdue the Outrage and Vio- 
 lence they faw the Earth full of, when 
 Men not only deftroyed the Beafts of 
 the Field, but made as free with the 
 Lives of one another — ; what^ I fay, 
 if they deemed it a Dodrine that might 
 be effedual, to put an End to thele 
 g 4 Violencesi 
 
cxx PREFACE. 
 
 Violences, to teach that the Gods could 
 not be pleafed with Blood ; that the 
 firft Sacrifices of Mankind, were of the 
 Fruits of the Earth; or Mixtures of 
 Oil, Milk, and Honey, of odoriferous 
 Spices, Herbs and Gums, of the Leaves 
 of Trees, of Nuts, Acorns and Berries, 
 of every Thing, that Men could offer 
 innocuous, neither doing Violence to 
 any Thing to which God had given 
 the Breath of Life, nor to one another? 
 Will it, becaufe thefe Dodrines have in 
 ^ them, what is agreeable to the Huma- 
 nity of our Nature, and might be 
 thought reafonable to thefe Men, who 
 firft taught thefe Tenets, will it, 1 fay, 
 hence follow, that what a well war- 
 ranted Hiftory relates to us to have 
 been Fadl near 3000 Years before, was 
 mere Fiftion and Fable, becaufe it does 
 not accord to what was taught in thefe 
 fo much later Times ? 
 
 If the natural Tendernefs and Re- 
 gret of human Nature againft all Ap- 
 pearance of Barbarity were made ufe 
 
 of 
 
PREFACE. Gxxi 
 
 of to {Lew, how great a Confternation 
 it mil ft have been to the firft Men, at 
 a Time, when the Creatures were not 
 their Food {k)^ and it could not but be 
 more natural for them to fay of every 
 Thing hving, 
 
 • vitdque 7nagis quam morte juvath, 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 When to fee it living, muft have been 
 more agreeable as well as more ufe- 
 ful (/) than to put it to Death ; What 
 lefs than a Command from God, when- 
 ever they committed a Sin, that the 
 
 {k) The Writers who would argue Sacrifices of the living 
 Creatures to have commenced from human Inftitution, would 
 have it, that the eating Fleih was before the Flood ; that the 
 Command to Ncah, was to regulate, not to give the firft Li- 
 berty to eat Flefh. See Philemon to Hydafpes, p. 55. Letter V. 
 But what a mere Pretence, without Shadow of Foundation this 
 is, let any one confider, who will examine what Lamech faid 
 at the Birth of 'Noah, Gen. v. 29. \{ they had eat Flelh as 
 freely before the Flood, as after 'Noah had obtained a Grant of 
 it, what Comfort did they want or could expedl concerning their 
 I'J ork and Toil of their Hands, hecaufe of the Ground nvhich the 
 Lord had curfed? (/) The Heathen Poets conceived that foMe 
 Creatures might be facrificed upon Account of their deilroying 
 the Fruits of the Earth, of the Vines or Trees, or otherwife 
 having been prejudicial to Men. See OivVFaftor. 1. i, Metam. 
 1. 15. But nothing of this Sort can be imagined to have been 
 Abel\ Reafon for offering of the Firftling?. of his Flock. 
 
 Sin 
 
cxxii PREFACE. 
 
 Sin might not remain, and lie at their 
 Door {?n)y could have induced them 
 to bring an innocent, and to them in- 
 nocuous Animal, to offer its Blood up- 
 on Account of their own Tranfgref- 
 fion ? Time and Cuftom may recon- 
 cile us to almoft any Thing ; but it is 
 difficult to avoid the Refledion, that 
 when Mankind came firft to this Ser- 
 vice, it would truly rent their Hearts^ 
 to fee as it were Death, unto which 
 they knew themfelves muft one Day 
 come J to have difplayed before their 
 Eyes its Pangs and Agonies inili(fled 
 by themfelves on a Creature that had 
 no Demerit ; merely becaufe they had 
 themfelves committed fome Offence 
 
 againft their God; Such a Service 
 
 could not butcaufe them both to think 
 upon the Victim and upon themfelves: 
 As to the fuffering Animal ; how could 
 they avoid asking, What has this Sheep 
 done {n) f Upon themfelves they muft 
 
 [tn] See Gen. iv. 7. 
 
 [>ij ^'■^d we'-iiijiii Oves, pladdum Pccus " Ovid. 
 
 look 
 
PREFACE. cxxiii 
 
 look with Confufion of Face, that 
 whatFIefL and Blood would naturally 
 fhrink back at, was without Mercy to 
 be performed, purely upon Account of 
 their Mifdoings : One would think, 
 that whilfl: their Minds w^ere tender, 
 (and they ought carefully to have kept 
 them fo) nothing could have been in- 
 joined them, that could have been a 
 more affedling rebuke of Sin, to raife 
 in them hearty Defiires, if poflible to 
 fin no more, rather than to come often 
 to repeat a Service in its Nature fo dif- 
 agreeable; to perform deliberately the 
 Rites of it: one would think, not 
 Cain only, but all Mankind, would 
 have been glad to have avoided it, if 
 the Offering of the Fruits of the 
 Ground might have been accepted in- 
 ftead of it. 
 
 In Faft, Sacrifices appear to have 
 been offered thoufands of Years, before 
 any Thing that can be cited concern- 
 ing them from Heathen Writers was 
 written: And in Truth nothing can 
 
 be 
 
cxxiir PREFACE. 
 
 be hence cited to fhew us the Reafbn 
 of them or their Origin : Sacrifices of 
 the Uving Creatures, as in the Cafe of 
 Abel^ were made Ages before Man- 
 kind had any Thought of eating Fleflh: 
 and confequently, none of the weak 
 Reafons our ingenious Writer fuppofes 
 Mankind might fall into, to induce 
 them to offer to the Gods in their in- 
 judicious Way of thinking, Part of 
 what they experienced to be of Sufle- 
 nance to themfelves, could have any 
 Place in their Minds at all : From what 
 is argued in the New Teftament, the 
 firft Sacrifices in the World came of 
 Faithy were made in Obedience to fome 
 divine Command: They m.ay be ap- 
 prehended to be an Inftitution fo de- 
 hortatory againft Sin, that even upon 
 this Account they would appear a Com- 
 mand worthy of God, to Creatures 
 wanting to be ftrongly warned againft 
 it ; And they bear fuch a Reference to 
 what was afterv^ards in Reality to take 
 away Sin, and they might fo in- 
 
 ftrudively 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 flru^lively prepare the World to receive 
 the Revelation of it, when it fhould 
 be more fully publifhed, and to lead 
 Men to it; that, what is faid for its 
 being fuppofed to be an human Infti- 
 tution being fhewn to be frivolous and 
 without Foundation, I may, I think, 
 without further Controversy refer the 
 Reader to what I have given as the 
 Reafon of this Inftitution, viz, that 
 God having determined, what fhould 
 in the Fulnefs of Time be the Propi- 
 tiation for the Sins of the World; 
 namely, Chriji, who through his own 
 Blood obtained us eternal Redemptionj 
 thought fit, from the Time that Man 
 became guilty of Sin, to appoint the 
 Creatures to be offered, to reprefent 
 the true Offering, which was afterwards 
 to be made for the Sins of all Men [o). 
 
 I 
 
 [o] See ConmB. Vol. I. B. i. p. 84. My ingenious Adver- 
 fary, fee Philemon to Bydafpes, Letter V. p. 31. thinks it not 
 reafonable to fuppofe that ^-^^/ ofFered Sacrifice for any Sin of 
 Adams, and would argue from St. PauPs havino- faid, that Sin 
 is not imputed ^without a Laiv, Rom V. 1 3, that there was no 
 Law given in AbePi Time that declared Death to be the Pu- 
 
 niihment 
 
 cxxv 
 
cxxvi PREFACE. 
 
 I have here endeavoured very largely 
 a Reply to what has been objeded to 
 
 me 
 
 nilhment of any Sin, but of the firft Tranfgreffion ; and con- 
 fequently. that there could be no Reafon, that Abel {kon\6. of- 
 fer a Sacrifice for any Sin of his own. A little Obfervation 
 may both explain St. Paul's Meaning, and clear the Confufion 
 raifed by my Antagonifi. The Apoftle thus argues : As by one 
 Man Sin entred into the World ^ and Death by Sin, And so (I 
 fliould render it Even so) Death paj/ed upon all Men, for that 
 all Men ha-ve finned : For until the La'^ Sin ivas in the World. 
 The Point to be obferved is, That the Scriptures conclude all 
 Men under Sin. Gal. iii. 2i affirm, that there is no Man on Earth 
 that finneth not: i Kings viii. 46. This therefore being an al- 
 lowed Truth, that Sin was in the World until the Law ; that 
 from Adam unto Mofes^ not Adam ard Enje only, but every In- 
 dividual of their Defcendants had adlual Sins of their own, 
 the ApcJiU reafons, that there can be no Injuflice pretended 
 that ov Tfo ^AJ^(i(/. <ta'i'7s< 'imBvyxTKnatv, that in Adam all die, 
 1 Cor. XV. 22. i(p' S mcLi^,i<; t)f^.a^Tou' Rom, v. 12. not in 
 tvhom all finned, as our marginal Reference would correft our 
 Verfion ; for had this been intended it would have been c^ « 
 like cv 7a ''AcTau -Tzdvjii ^Oi^V/f.is^'/J'' Sf5' ^ is eo quod, inthat^ 
 or becau/e : As by one Many fays the Apoftle, Sin entered into the 
 
 World, and Death by Sin, )y ■^7eo<: e'ven fo, in like Manner ; 
 
 i e. «j dejer^^'edly Death-hath pajjed upon all Men. The Founda- 
 tion of which Reafoning is plain : For Death being the Wages 
 of Sin, and all Men having done the V/orks of our firft Pa- 
 rents, having afiually finned as well as they, we not only re- 
 ceive in dying, but by our Sins deferve the fame Wages. Hav- 
 ing thus ftated this Point, the Apoftle proceeds to confider an 
 Objedion. But Sin, fays he, is not imputed, ivhcre there is no 
 Laiv, Nenjerthelefs Death reigned from Adam to Mofes, e^ven o'ver 
 them that had not finned after the Similitude of Adarns Tranfgref- 
 fion, ver. 13, 14: The Apoftle's Argument is fo clear, 1 won- 
 der it can be miftaken. He allows, that Sin is not imputed 
 cohere there is no Laiv, which irideed is exaftly what he elfe- 
 where fays, Where no Lanv is, there is no Tranfgrejjzon^ Rom. iv. 
 15. For as St. John obferves, Sin is the TranJgreJ/ion of a La^, 
 I John iii. 4. Net'erthelefs, fays he, notwithftapding all that 
 may thus be reafoned, and ahho' none like our Parents havs 
 
 eat 
 
PREFACE. cxxvii 
 
 me upon this Subjed, I thought it 
 to require a full Confideration : I 
 would as freely defend or retradt 
 any Thing I have written^ that other 
 
 eat of the forbidden Tree, yet Death hath reigned from Acktm 
 down to Mofes ; all have received the Wages of Sin, andth-ere- 
 fore in Fa£l all have finned, and confequently, as there would 
 have been no Sin, had there been no Law; there certainly his 
 been a Law, which all Men, every one, has in many liiiUnces 
 failed of living up to, and in thefe Failures every ?vlan living, 
 or that has lived, has had adual Sin ; And thus the Apojlli^ 
 Argument concludes direftly contrary to my ingenious Cor- 
 refpondent. Akel had Sin as well as all other Men: ^.it he 
 would have had no Sin, if he had not lived under fome Law: 
 Ahel therefore lived under the Law of fome Revelation which 
 appointed Sacrifice for Sin : And upon finning, that his Sin 
 might not remain and lie at his Door, believing and obeying 
 what God had commanded, he offered his Sacrifice, and theicr 
 in hy Faith obtained Forgivenefs of Sin. 
 
 If it was not foreign to the Point before us to proceed to the 
 Context, we might refute by it a Calumny of Lord Bolingbroke 
 againft E've : He fays fhe d-amned her Children before (he bare 
 them. Study of Hijiory, Letter UL p. 109. His Lordfhip ia 
 no wife underftood, How, not as the Offence in Adam, fo aVo is 
 the free Gift in Chrij}, Rom. v. 15. In Adam indeed all'' died, 
 and fo in Chrif Jhall all he made ali've, iCor. xv. 22. But we 
 (hall not only be made alive ; that might be giv^en us, and we 
 might live unto Condemnation for our own Sins : But the free 
 Gift ahoundeth in the Forgivenefs of mavy Offences unto fujlfca^ 
 tion of Life Rom. v. 16 — 18, &c. And thus E^ve damned none 
 of her Children ; for there was no Neceffity, that ary jhould 
 thus terribly /'(f/z/2'; KW'wzxqx.o lii:e again: And to as many 
 as would truly ftrive to obtain it, Poxuer was given to become ti^e 
 Sons of God, to live unto Honour, to Glory, to eternal Happi- 
 nefs. But this is not the only Indance of this unhappy Writ- 
 er's molt unwarrantable Raflihefs: How dogmatically he ca» 
 abufe even the Scriptures, not really knowing them, muft be 
 very evident to any one that will read Mr. Hervty's moll ex- 
 cellent Remarks on Lord Bolinghroke\ Letters j a Treatife 
 worth every one's attentive Conl:deration. 
 
 Writers 
 
cxxvili PREFACE. 
 
 Writers have thought wrong, if I ap- 
 prehended it ahke material : But where 
 I think myfelf only mifreprefented, or 
 a Controverfy to be rather fought for, 
 than to be of any Service to Truth, I 
 wifli to enjoy Silence and Quiet, rather 
 than to trouble the World with a Po- 
 ther of Altercation that can be of no 
 Utility: In fome fmall Points the 
 Reader may obferve me to have varied 
 from myfelf: When I began my Con- 
 neBion I too haftily concluded, that 
 God appeared to Cain [b) : I thought 
 this a Miftake, when I wrote my fe- 
 cond Volume [c] : I have in the enfuing 
 Treatife followed what I apprehended 
 upon fecond Examination to be true(^): 
 And yet I let my Error ftand in later 
 Editions of my firft Volume, as I at 
 firft printed it: I fhall do the fame 
 Thing, as to what I differ in this Trea- 
 tife from what I formerly conceived to 
 
 {b) Connea. Vol. I. B. i. p. 2. (0 See Vol. II. B. ix. p. 396. 
 \d) See hereafter, p. 49. 
 
 be 
 
PREFACE. cxxk 
 
 be the Situation of the Garden of 
 Eden [e] : I would not, by having wrote, 
 be confined from growing wifer; but 
 hope the Alterations of what I have 
 written, may not be neceffarily fo 
 many, but that, if I live and have 
 Health to finifh my Connexion, they 
 may be colleded and referred to in a 
 Page by themfclves, and the v/hole of 
 what is printed continuing as it is, I 
 may fhew myfelf at leaft juft to the 
 World, in not printing new Editions 
 of any Thing that is mine, fuch as 
 may depreciate any former ones. 
 
 The chief Point inquired into in the 
 enfuing Treatile is indeed the diredt 
 Oppofite to what I fee ftated, by the 
 Author I have often cited : " If we 
 " confider, fays he^ the Order of the 
 " Sciences in their Rife and Progreis, 
 " the firft Place belongs to natural 
 " Philofophy, the Mother of them ail, 
 ^^ or the Trunk, the Tree ol Knov/- 
 
 {f) Conneci. Vol. T, B, I, See hereafter, Chap. viii. p. 144, &c. 
 
 h ^^ ledge, 
 
cxxx PREFACE. 
 
 '^ ledge, out of which, and in Propor- 
 " tion to which, hke fo many Branches 
 '' they all grow" (/) : The Scriptures, 
 I think, teach otherwife : The firft In- 
 formation Man had, came from hear- 
 ino* the Word of God (^), and the firft 
 Error, that came into the World, arofe 
 from our firft Parents oppofing to it 
 their fir ft Philofcphy [h] : Their Thought 
 was indeed low and mean, not deferv- 
 ing to be called Philofophy ; but it was 
 the fuppofed Science of their Day, and 
 they ventured to be led by it, contrary 
 to what God had commanded. If we 
 proceed, the Scriptures fhew us, where- 
 in the Word of God was to be to Man 
 the Grou7id of T'riith^ and how^ human 
 Science^ fdjelyfo called^ oppofed to it, 
 has been, and may ftiil be the Root 
 of all Error: And the rightly deter- 
 mining how far we ought to begin un- 
 der the Guidance oi Faith^ and where- 
 
 (f) Lord Bollnghroke^ Letters to Sir Wil'iam Wyjidham, and 
 to Mr. Fofe, p. 466. (g) Gen. ii. 15, 16. See the enfuing 
 Treatife, Chap. IV. V. {h) ]bid. Chap. IX. p. 165, 173. 
 
 .Sec Chap. Vii. p. 98, 99, ^.-c. Chap. V. p.* 82. 
 
 in 
 
PREFACE. cxxxi 
 
 in and how we may proceed to add 
 Knowledge to it, to prove and examme 
 whether we be in the Truth, in Contra- 
 diftindion to what fome contend, that 
 we muft begin in Knowledge, and 
 hereby become perfect, is the One Que- 
 ftion, which rightly ftated and exa- 
 mined, will, according to what we de- 
 termiin concerning it, incline us to 
 Deijm^ or to embrace and fee the Rea- 
 fon of the Revelation fet before us in 
 the Scriptures ; concerning which, with 
 Regard to myfelf, 1 will venture to 
 fay, I have ftudied them, not, as Lord 
 Bolingl^roke imputes to us, in order ^ (i. e. 
 right or wrong determined) to believe ; 
 But the more im.partially I examine, I 
 find more and moi e Reafon to believe 
 them to be true, and accordingly, al- 
 though I am a Clergyman^ I am verily 
 perfuaded, I believe and profefs in Mat- 
 ters of Religion no Thing, but what, 
 if I v/as a Layman, I fhould believe and 
 profefs the lame. His Lordfhip fays of 
 the Clergy^ in his round and large 
 
 Manner 
 
cxxxii PREFACE. 
 
 Manner of affirming, That " In natu- 
 " ral Religion the Clergy are unnecef- 
 " fary ; in revealed they are dangerous 
 ^' Guides" (/') : How far any will be 
 guided by me, I hope I fhall always 
 know myfelf fo well, as to leave that to 
 their own Choice: As to the Inutility 
 of my Inquiries, and alfo the Impartia- 
 lity of them, here I confefs myfelf to 
 wifh, as I think what I wiili, may be 
 a Good, not abfolutely terminating 
 upon myfelf, that the Reader will con- 
 fidcr with as unbiafled a Freedom, as I 
 have written, how far he may exempt 
 me out of his Lordfhip's mofi: abfolute 
 Sentence of Reprobation. 
 
 (/) Lord Bolinghrokey ubi fup. p. 531. 
 
 Canterbury, 
 
 June 2, 1753. 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page XXV. 1. 11 . was read nvaji, 
 
 Ixxiii. 1. 4. guarded r^fl.:/ guided. 
 
 1. 15. Motions rf<?^ Motives. 
 Ixxvili. in Notes, 1. 23. whether, read whencQ. 
 
 Page 7. 1. 23. the Lord God. read, for the Lord God. 
 43. 1. 22. dele It is illative. 
 49. 1. 14. Job. read, the Book of Jab. 
 98. in the Title of Ch.ip. VIL Him. reai Them. 
 177. 1. II, prcfevered read, perfevv^red. 
 
THE 
 
 CREATION 
 
 AND 
 
 F A L L OF M A N. 
 
 ture, 
 
 HAT Mankind have not been in 
 this World, nor this World itfelf 
 been from Eternity, may be proved 
 by many Arguments from the Na- 
 and from what is, and has in fa(5t been 
 the knov^n State of the World in the diverfe 
 Ages of it (a) : But in what particular manner 
 Men at firft began to be^ where, and how 
 they lived -, are Points we can be certain of no 
 farther, than we have fome authentic Tefti- 
 mony declaring them unto us. 
 
 [a) 5f^ Archbilhop Tillotfon, Serm. i. 
 Book I.e. 5. 
 
 B 
 
 Wilkins, Nat. Rel. 
 
 The 
 
7^^ Creation^ and 
 
 The Heathen Writers have given us their 
 Conjedures upon thefe Subjeds, but they are 
 Conjedures only {b) : Some part of what they 
 offer, might be admitted as probable ; if we 
 were not better informed, that in the Begin- 
 ning Things were not done as they fuppofed : 
 But in having Mofes Writings, we have a real 
 Hiftory of thefe Matters : And, as I have elfe- 
 where (c) made fome Obfervations upon his 
 Account of the Creation of the Heave?2S and 
 the Earth', I would herein examin, what he 
 relates concerning the Creation of Mankind > 
 the Manner and Circumftanees in which our 
 firft Parents began their Being, and the Inci- 
 dents v/hich befel them ^ hoping, that I may 
 fhew, that Mofes Account may reafonably be 
 believed to fet before us what were real Mat- 
 ters of Fa6l, and that no part of what is related 
 by him ought to be taken to be Apologue and 
 Fable, as fome Writers are fond of reprefent- 
 ing (^). 
 
 That 
 
 {h) Diodor. Sic. p. 5. Lib. i. [c] Connea:. Sac. & Proph. 
 Hift. Pref. to Vol. i. [d) It is obfervable, that fome Years 
 ago the moft forward Writers exprefied Doubt and Referve in 
 treating this Subjcdl : ^.adam ejje Parabolica in hac Narratione 
 neque pmitus ad Litter am exigenda omncs fere agnofcunt : Nonnulli 
 etiam totum Sermonetn ejfe 'volmit v'ZOTVTrcocrtv artificiojam ad expli- 
 nandas Res ^veras, faid I>r. Burnet, Archaeolog. p. 283. But 
 we find Writers, who have added no Argument beyond what 
 
 Dr. 
 
Fa l l ^ M a n. 
 
 That the Subjed I am attempting has many 
 Difficulties I am ready to confefs, and not 
 willing to be too pofitive I can remove them 
 all : But as I apprehend the Subftance of what 
 I have to offer, v/ill be feen to carry an evi- 
 dent Defign to give a Reafon for, and thereby 
 to eftablifli the Principles of revealed Reli- 
 gion ; I perfuade myfelf I fhall find all that 
 Candour, which I have long ago experienced 
 the World not unwilling to beftow upon a 
 well -intended Endeavour, condudled, as I 
 truft this ihall be, without Ill-nature, or Ill- 
 manners to other Writers, however I may 
 happen to differ from them. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 7he Contents of the firjl and fecoiid Chapters of 
 Genefis ; and how they are to be adjufled to 
 each other. 
 
 'np H E firfl and fecond Chapters of Genefis 
 
 ^ give us the whole of what Mofes relates 
 
 concerning the Creation of Mankind : And 
 
 Dr. "Burnet had before offered, now more abfolutely affcrting, 
 that the Mac'cerof Mofcs Account is inconfiftent with the Cha- 
 rafter of an hijlorical Narration^ and rauft, they fay, convince 
 all, who ccnfider it without Prejudice, that it is wholly fahu- 
 loui or dlfgorkal. See Middleton% Exam. p. 135, 
 
 B 2 we 
 
The C R E A T I o n^and 
 
 we {hall fee them to accord perfedlly, the one 
 to the other ; if we confider the firft Chapter to 
 give only a fhort and general Account of this 
 great Tranfadion ; and the fecond to be a 
 Refumption of the Subject, in order to relate 
 fome Particulars belonging to it^ which in the 
 Concifenefs of the firft Relation were paffed 
 over unmentioned. 
 
 In the firft Chapter, Mofes having recorded 
 the feveral Tranfadtions of the five preceding 
 Days, begins the fixth Day with God's creat- 
 ing the Cattel, and living Creatures of the 
 Earth [e), and then adds his Determination to 
 make Man : Godfaid, Let us make Man in 
 our Image^ after our Likenefs^ and let them 
 have Do?ninion over the Fijh of the Sea, and 
 over the Fowl of the Air^ and over the Cattel^ 
 and over all the Earthy and over every creeping 
 aiding that creepeth upon the Earth (f) : 
 After this Mofes tells us, that God efi^edtu- 
 ated his Purpofe : So God created Man in 
 his own Image y in the Image of God created 
 he HIM (g) : unto which he adds, Male 
 and Female created he them (h) : The He- 
 brew Words are as I have below tranfcribed ' 
 
 {e) Gen. i. ver. 24—25. (/) ver. 26, {g) ver. 27. 
 [h) ibid. 
 
 them 
 
Fall of Man. 
 
 them (/) : And they might be tranflated as I 
 have underlined them : T^he Male and the Fe- 
 male^ He created THE M^ i. e. He created 
 them Both ; not the Male only, but the Fe- 
 male alfo : The Words of Mofes are very plain: 
 He tells us, that God on the iixth Day created 
 the Woman as well as the Man : He does not 
 fay, that God created Both at the fame In- 
 ftant, nor in the fame Manner; for this he 
 diftindlly confiders in the next Chapter : But 
 he here hints to us that God made both the 
 Male and the Female within the time of this 
 fixth Day : And Mofes s Expreffion gives no 
 Ground for the Conceits concerning Adam be- 
 fore Eve was taken out of him, in which 
 fome Writers have egregioufly trifled [k). 
 
 eos creavit ct Fceminam Marem 
 ^k) Some fanciful Writers have reprefented, that the Man 
 was at firft created of two Bodies, a Male and a Female ; and 
 that God of thefe made two Perfons, by dividing or ieparating 
 the one Body from the other: And it is generally faid, that this 
 was a Fidlion of the Rabbins ; but I iiould apprehend it to be 
 of a more early Original. Plato\ Fable of the Androgynes (fee 
 Plat, in conviv. Vol. 3. p. 189. Edit. Serrara) ihews us what fort 
 of Traditions he met with in Searching thro' the then ancient 
 Literature, and I fhould think it no unreafonable Suppofition, 
 thai a Figment of this kind might have its firil Rife in thofe 
 early Times, when the Egyptians and Phoenicians began or made 
 Proficiency in difguifmg the plain Narrations they found of the 
 Origin of Things, with their Fables and Mythology. See Eufeb. 
 Prsep. Evang, 1. 1. c. 10. Conned, of Sac. &: Proph. Hill, 
 Vol 2. B. 8. 
 
 B 3 After 
 
The Creation and 
 
 After both the Man and the Woman were 
 created, God blefied them, and faid unto 
 them, Be fruitful^ and multiply^ a7id replenijh 
 the Earth and fubdiie it : and have Dominion 
 over the FiJJj of the Sea, and over the Fowl of 
 the Air, and over every living Thing that 
 moveth upon the Earth : And God faid. Behold^ 
 I have give?i you every Herb bearing Seed, 
 which is upon the Face of all the Earth, and 
 every Tree, in the which is the Fruit of a Tree 
 yielding Seed, to you it fball be for Meat: 
 And to every Beaji of the Earth, and to every 
 Fowl ^ the Air, and to every thing that 
 creepeth upon the Earth, wherein there is Life, 
 I have given every green Herb for Meat (/) : 
 And now the Evening and the Morning were 
 the fxth Day [m) : The fixth Day was now 
 completed, and the feventh Day began, on 
 which God having finifhed the Xreation, 
 
 (/) Gen. i. 28, 29, 30. [m] Ver. 31. This was the ancient 
 original way of computing the natural Day : It began from the 
 Morning, proceeded to the Evening, and continued until the 
 next Morning, finifhed the preceding, and began the enfuing 
 JDay : Thus the Enjening and the Momif2g were the Day. Gen. 1. 
 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31. And in this way of computing the 
 Je.'^LVs continued to their latefl Times : For thus we are told of 
 the End of the Sabbath, Matt, xxviii. i. The Sabbath was end- 
 ing, as it began to dwwn to^wards the fir ft Day of the Week: The 
 End of the Night which had clofed the Sabbath was the End 
 of the computed Day : The Day following began with the 
 Morning Sun, ' 
 
 refled 
 
Fall of Man. 
 
 Tefted from all the Work which He had made : 
 And God bleffed the feventh Day^ and JanBijied 
 ity becaufe that in it he had rejled from all his 
 Work^ which He had created and made (n) : 
 7hefe are the Generatiojis of the Heave?iSy and 
 of the Earthy whe?i they were created (o). 
 
 Mofes here ends his fummary or general Ac- 
 count of the Creation : And here, I think, the 
 Dividers of our Bible into Chapters and Verfes 
 fhouid have ended the firfl Chapter of Genefis ; 
 and the fecond Chapter fhouid have began 
 with thefe Words — — In the Day that the 
 Lord 77iade the Earth and the HeavenSy &c. 
 
 The fecond Chapter of Genejis being, as I 
 have hinted, a Refumption of the Argument 
 treated in the firft, in order to fet forth more 
 explicitly fome Particulars which the firft 
 Chapter had only mentioned in the general, 
 begins thus : In the Day that, i. e. when (p) 
 the Lord made the Earth and the Heavens ^ and 
 every Plant of the Fields bejore it was in the 
 Earthy and every Herb of the Field before it 
 grew^ the Lord God had not caufed it {q) to 
 
 rain 
 
 («) Gen. ii. 2, 3. (0) Ver. 4. (/•) EoDie, i.e. quando— — 
 Dies Tempus in Geneve P^^ffim dicitur. Cleric, in hoc. (a) We 
 begin this Sentence with the Particle For : The Hebre<w Text 
 having the Particle ^3' [ci], we put in for to aniwer it: i3ut 
 ii Ihould be here rendred nempe, quidem, indeed^ not for : the 
 B 4 Sentence 
 
8 He Creation and 
 
 rain upon the Earth -, and there was not a Man 
 to till the Ground -, nor {r) did a Mift go up 
 . from the Earth and water the whole Face of 
 the Ground : But the Lord God formed Man 
 of the Du/i of the Ground^ and breathed into 
 bis Nofrils the Breath cf Life, a?id Man be- 
 ca?ne a living Soul : And the Lord God had (f) 
 planted a Garden eajiward in Eden, and there 
 he put the Man whom he had formed — — 
 
 In 
 
 Sentence not being, for the Lord God had not caufed it to rain- 
 but rather, the Lord God had indeed not caufed it to rain 
 
 (r) We render this Paragraph, But there ivent up a Miji from. 
 the Earth, in the j^firmati^e -, whereas the Senfe of the Place 
 ihews us, that M^j intended to affert, that God made all 
 Things, before any natural Powers were in Activity to be the 
 Caufe of their Produftion : The Hebrew Particle *l [ve] is here 
 ufed, and joins fimilar, /. e. negative Sentences ; There was 
 no Man to till the Ground, nor Mift went up from the Earth. 
 The Arabic Verfion has obferved the true Meaning of the 
 Place, rendering it. Nee exhalatlo afcendehat^ &c — - — [s] We 
 idij planted, in the /^r/^^ Tenfe : B'dt the Hebre-iv perfe^ Teniae 
 is often ufed in the Senfe of a praterpluperfea, to fpeak of 
 things done in a Time paft. This the Syriac Verfion feems 
 rightly to obferve in a PaiTage like this in the 1 9th Verfe of this 
 Chapter. We fay, The Lord God formed out of the Ground enjery 
 Beaji — , as if God then made them, v/hereas the Beafts were 
 made fome time before : The Syriac Verfion is rendred, And the 
 Lord God had formed — . And thus we Ihould render the Place 
 
 before us : And the Lord God had planted a Garden . for the 
 
 Garden was undoubtedly planted on the third Day of the Crea- 
 tion, when God caufed all the Plants and Trees to fpring out 
 of the Earth, Gen. i. 11, 12, 13. Vide Diodor. Sic. Hift. 
 Lib. I. p. 5. The Greeks had Sentiments of this kind from 
 ffgypt : For thus Euripides, 
 
Fall of Man. 
 
 In this manner Mofes proceeds to reconfider 
 the Creation of Man ; firft obferving, that 
 of itfelf, or by any Powers of its own, the 
 Earth had produced nothing. It was an an- 
 cient Opinion, and very early in Egypt^ 
 where ' Mofes had his Birth and Education, 
 that the Earth originally, of i'tfclf, brought 
 forth its Fruits, and Plants, and Trees, and 
 all kinds of living Creatures, and Men [t) : 
 And fome opined that the natural Fertility of 
 the Ground for thefe Purpofes was put in 
 Adlion either by the Rain which fell from 
 Heaven, or by fome Moifture exhaled from 
 the Earth, fertihzed by the Sun, and falling- 
 down in a Mift, fpread abroad over the Face 
 
 of 
 
 Til cTeCeTf^, t?7Mf A, 3j?2f,f, »V '3-' CtA.WM Tp««e<, 
 
 TivQ- re d^vt]Tuv ' In Menalippe. v. 14. 
 
 The Roman Poet feems to have been in doubt between two Opi- 
 nions in this Matter ; rather inclining to introduce an Opifex 
 Rerum into all the Produce of the whole Creation j but not ab- 
 folutely determining againft the Opinion of all Things arifing 
 from their natural Seeds in the Earth, as foon as the Earth 
 was aptly difpofed to give Rife to them. 
 
 Vix ita Limtihus dlfcre^verat omnia certtSy 
 Cum qua prejja diu Mafsd latuere fub ipsa 
 Sidera cceperunt toto effewefcere ccelo : 
 Neu Regio foret ullafuis animallhus orhay 
 AJira tenent ccelejle folum. Forma que Deorum, 
 Cejferunt nitidis habit andee Pifcibus unda\ . 
 ^Terra Feras cepit, njolucres agitabilis aer : 
 Natus Homo eji, fi^ve hum di'vino fc mine fecit 
 
 llle 
 
lO 2^^ Creation a^d 
 
 of the Ground (u) : But Mofes, contrary to 
 all the Imaginations of this Philofophy, af- 
 firms, that by the Word of God only all 
 Things were made; that there was not a 
 Plant, which God did not create before it was 
 in the Earth ; nor an Herb, which He had 
 Bot made before it grew ; and that God had 
 made them all, before either Rain or Dew 
 had v/atered the Earth ; or the Earth had had 
 any Tillage from the Hand of Man ; for that 
 all the Produce of the World had its Begin- 
 ning before there was any Man to till the 
 Ground : Bat that other things being thus fct 
 in order, God laft of all made Man. — •— He 
 had, as I have obferved, before told us, that 
 God made Man ; and that He made two Per^ 
 fons, the Male and the Female ('z^;) : He now 
 proceeds more diftincSly to relate, of what 
 Materials God made them Both ; when, and 
 how they were created -, where He placed 
 them, and what Command and Diredions 
 He gave them, as foon as He gave theni 
 Being. 
 
 Il/e opifex Rerufn, umndi melioris Origo ; 
 
 5zV^ rectus T^elliis feduElaque nuper ah alto 
 
 ^there cognati reii7icbat Semina Call. Ovid. Metamorph. 
 
 [u) Thus perhaps they thought who would have Tung with 
 
 Pindar, "Ae^rov lAv vJ'cop' OTymp. Ode i. or thought with 
 
 *Thales .^— Jquam ejje Initium Rcrum. Cicero Lib. de Nat. 
 
 Peor. I. c. io. (w) Gen. i, 27. 
 
 And 
 
Fall(^Man. It 
 
 And I. God made the Man of the Dujlof 
 the Ground^ breathed into him the Breath of 
 Life^ and caufed him to become a living 
 Soul [x), 2. He put him into the Garden 
 which He had planted, to drefs it and keep 
 it : And having therein caufed to grow every , 
 *Tree either pleafant to the Sights or good for 
 Food', the Tree of Life alfo, and the Tree of 
 Knowledge of Good and Evil (y) ; the Lord 
 God commanded the Man, faying. Of every 
 Tree of the Garden thou may eft freely eat : But 
 of the Tree of the K?2cwledge of Good and Evil, 
 thou /halt not eat of it ; for in the Day that 
 thou eat eft thereof thou Jhalt furely die {z) z 
 3. Having given the Man this Injundtion, 
 the Lord God faid^ It is ?20t good that the Man 
 Jhould be alone, I will make him a Help meet 
 for him (jci) : But 4. before God proceeded 
 to make this meet Help for Man, the Beafts 
 of the Field being before formed {b), and 
 every Fov^l of the Air, God brought Adam 
 to a Trial how he might name them (c) : 
 And after this 5. God caufed a deep Sleep to 
 
 (;c) Gen. ii. 7. (j) Ver. 9. (2) Ver. 16, 17. («) Ver. 19. 
 
 \l) We render the Place God formed -y but, as I have before 
 
 obferved, the Syriac Verfion is rightly tranflated, God had 
 
 formed', for the Creatures were made before Man. (c) Ver. 
 
 19, 20. 
 
 fall 
 
1 2 7^^ Creation and 
 
 fall upon Adam, and he Jlept : And He took 
 one of his Ribs, and clofed up the Flejh injlead 
 thereof : And the Rib which the Lord God had 
 taken from Man, ntade He a Woman, and 
 brought her unto the Man : And Adam faid. 
 This is now Bone of my Bones, and FleJJj of my 
 Flejh, Jhe JJ:all be called IVoman, becaufe Jhe 
 was taken out of the Man [d). Thefe are the 
 Particulars relating to the Creation of Man- 
 kind, which Mofes diftind^ly mentions in this 
 fecond Chapter : And if we would place them 
 in order as they were done, together with 
 l^hat is hinted in the firft Chapter, we might 
 add them between the 27th and 28th Verfes 
 of the firft Chapter. God created Man in his 
 own Image : In the Image of God created he 
 kim, and the Male and the Female he created 
 both oj them [e). The Male ht formed of the 
 Duji of the Ground (f) ^ placed him in thq 
 Garden, commanded him his Duty there {g)y 
 declared that he did not intend him to be 
 alone {h) ; called him to try to name the 
 Creatures of the World (/); then caufed him 
 to fall into a deep Sleep, and out of the Man, 
 made the V/oman to take her Beginning [k). 
 And now both the Male and the Female being 
 
 [d] Gen. ii. 23. [e) Gen. i. 27. (/) Gen, ii. 7. [g) Ver. 
 J I — ,7. [h] Ver, 18. (z) Ver. 19, 20. [k] Ver. 21, 22. 
 
 created^ 
 
F ALL of M A Ni 
 
 created, God gave them Both the general 
 Bleffing, and faid unto them all that Mofes 
 farther adds in the 28th, 29th, and 30th 
 Verfes of the firft Chapter : In all which the 
 two Chapters intirely agree, and the fecond is 
 no more than a Supplement to the former: 
 For I think it needlefs to remark, that there is 
 no manner of Contradidion between the firft 
 Chapter's giving them Leave to eat of every Tree 
 upon the Face of all the Earth (/), when the 
 fecond fhews plainly, that of one Tree in the 
 Garden they were not to eat [m): It is only 
 to be obferved that the forbidden Tree was 
 one Tree only, and that growing in the Gar- 
 den 3 there was no forbidden Tree out of the 
 Garden all over the World ; the Reftraint, as 
 to one Tree, was injoined to be obferved by 
 them within their Garden, but wherever they 
 went out of their Garden into the Earth to 
 replcnifh and fubdue it, all was common: 
 They had no Care to inquire, whether a like 
 Tree with that prohibited in the Garden, 
 grew any where elfe in the World 3 for all 
 that grew without the Garden, every Tree, 
 and every Herb upon the Face of the Earth, 
 was indifcriminately given them for Meat. 
 
 (/) Gen. i. 29. {m) ii. 17. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
j^ The Creation and 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Some Conjiderations of fome of the Particulars 
 related by Mofes to belong to Ki2Lm's firjl 
 Day. 
 
 NO fooner was Ada?7i created^ than Mofes 
 tells us he heard the Voice of God [n) ; 
 and that, I think, upon two different Points : 
 Firjiy He was audibly commanded, that he 
 {hould not eat of the forbidden Tree (o), 
 Secondlyy He was told, that he fhould not live 
 alone 5 for that God v/ould make for him an 
 Helpy that fhould be his Likenefs (/). With- 
 
 [n) Gen. ii. 17. (0) Ibid. [p] Ver. 18. I apprehend the 
 Word which our Verjion renders an Help meet for him, might be 
 tranflated, an Help, that Ihall be his Likenefs. The Hebrew 
 Words are [lUJDIFl)] v.sz.er cenegeddo: T)\.Q interlinear Latin 
 renders them, Aux ilium quap coram eoy an Help, as it nvere he- 
 fore him, i. e. in his Sight or Prefence, to ftand ready to re- 
 ceive his Inftruftions, to aid and execute them : But I do not 
 find the Word {l^eged], ever thus ufed : To Jland before, or in 
 the Prefence of one ready for his Aid or Service, is, I think, al- 
 ways otherwife exprefied in Scripture : See Dmt. x. 8. 1 Sam. 
 xvi. 22. Ic. Some of the Verfions intimate the Meaning of this 
 PafTagf: to be, that God would make for Adam an Help like 
 himfelf: Adjutorium fimile fihi, fays the 'Vulgar Latin. BojjQ&f 
 Kctr AVTov, fays the Septuagint, The Syriac is, Adjutorem fmi- 
 km ipfi. Onkelos, Adjutoriu?n quaji eu?n. And why may we 
 not, inftead of taking the Word [Negedl to be a Pr^spofition, 
 and to fignify cor am ^ before, or in the Prefence of fuppofe it to 
 be a Noim Subjianti've from the Verb [Nagad] indicwuity and 
 tranflate \^ce7teg€ddo'] quaft Indicium ejus ; I would fay in Englijh, 
 an indicating^ or, as it 'were ^ a fpeakiitg Likenefs of him ? 
 
 out 
 
F ALL of M A n. I^ 
 
 out doubt he fufficiently underftood what was 
 thus fpoken to him, otherwife the Voice of 
 God had fpoken to him in vain. But it will 
 be here queried, How fhould Adam^ having 
 never before heard Words, inftantly know the 
 Meaning of what the Voice of God thus 
 fpake to him ? May we not fully anfwer this 
 Queftion by another ? How did the ApoftleSy 
 and fuch of the early Difciples of Chriji as 
 God fo enabled (y), inftantly know Words, 
 <uiz. the Meaning of Words, in Tongues or 
 Languages never before heard or underftood 
 by them ? The Spirit of God in both Cafes 
 raifcd in the Mind the Ideas intended, as far 
 as God was pleafed to have them perceived, 
 which the Words fpoken would have raifed, 
 had a Knowledge of fuch Words in a natural 
 way been attained. God> who planted the EaVy 
 hath given us to hear ; has fo made us, that 
 whatever Sound ftrikes that Organ, fnall move 
 the Mind of him who hears it : But in them- 
 ielves Words are but mere Sounds j when they 
 ilrike the Ear, the Underftanding inftantly and 
 naturally judges, whether they dxtfcft or loud^ 
 harp or agreeable ; i. e. how the Ear is af- 
 fedled by them : But to give Words a Mean- 
 
 (^) I Corinth, xii. lo— — -30. 
 
 ing; 
 
1 6 7^^ Creation and 
 
 ing 5 to make them carry, not only the Voice 
 of the Speaker to the Hearer*s Ear, but the 
 Intention of the Speaker's Mind to the Hear- 
 er's Heart ; this comes not naturally from mere 
 hearing, but from having learn'd what Inten- 
 tion is to be given to fuch Words as are fpoken 
 to us. Should a Man hear it faid to him, 
 Bring the Breads it is evident that if the 
 Words had never before been heard by him, 
 they v^ould be to him Sounds of no determi- 
 nate Meaning : But let the Word Bread be re- 
 peated to him, and the Loaf fhewed him, until 
 he perceives, that whenever he hears the Word 
 Breads the Loaf is intended by it ; let him 
 farther, upon hearing the Word brings fee the 
 A6lion intended by this Word done, until he 
 apprehends it, and from that time the Words, 
 whenever he hears them, will fpeak their De- 
 lign to him: But ihould we now fay, that 
 therefore feme Procefs of this fort muft have 
 been neceffary for our firft Parents underftand- 
 ing what God, in the Beginning of their 
 Being, was pleafed to caufe in Words to be 
 heard by them, we err moft inconfiderately, 
 neither attending to the Scriptures, nor to the 
 Power of God. The Scriptures fhew us, in 
 the Inftance of the Apoftles and early Dif- 
 ciples above-mentioned, that God has in Fad, 
 
 long 
 
long fince the Days of Adam^ made Men in- 
 ftantly underftand Words, never before heard 
 or learned by them : And he can undoubtedly, 
 from any Sound heard, teach the Heart of 
 Man what Knowledge he. pleafes, inftantly 
 caufing, from any Words fpoken, fuch Senti- 
 ments to arife in the Mind, as he thinks fit to 
 caufe by them : A Matter I apprehend fo plain, 
 that it cannot want in the general to be ar- 
 gued; tho* it may not be improper before I 
 leave this Topic to confider a little farther, 
 what Extent or Compafs of Ideas we may rea- 
 fonably fuppofe our firft Parents had of the 
 Things fpoken to them from theWords of God, 
 in this their firft Day heard by them. 
 
 An ingenious Writer has queried upon this 
 Subjed: : How could £1;^, upon hearing that 
 Death was threatned to the eating of the for- 
 bidden Tree, have any Notion of what could 
 be meant by dying (r), having neither feen 
 nor felt any thing like it ? Our Author feems 
 to opine, that our firft Parents could have no 
 Ideas of Death at all, if they had not fuch 
 Sentiments as Time and Experience enabled 
 
 (r) Quo Die comedetis moriemini Mori ! Quid hoc Rei 
 
 eft inquic ignara Virgo, quas nihil unquam mortuum viderat, ne 
 Florem quidem, neque Mortis Imaginem, fomnum, vel noc- 
 tcm> oculis vcl animo adhuc fenferat. Burnet. Archa^ol. p. 291. 
 
 G thenx 
 
1 8 5^^ Creation and 
 
 them to form, and gradually to have more and 
 more enlarged of it : whereas nothing can be 
 more obvious, than that if upon hearing what 
 God threatned, namely that they fliould die, 
 God caufed them to apprehend that they 
 fliould ceafe to be, tho' the Manner how might 
 in no wife be conceived by them -, a general 
 Notion of this fort might have been fufficient 
 for them. Their firft Idea of dying was un- 
 doubtedly, not the Image w^hich they after- 
 wards came to have of it, when they flew 
 their firft Sacrifice : And their Idea of Death 
 became afterwards farther augmented with 
 new Terrors : The Murder of their Son Abel 
 by Cain^ fhewed them more plainly how it 
 would afFedl them in their own Perfons ; and 
 . many Incidents, very probably, occafioned 
 them additional Obfervations and Refleftions 
 concerning it ; altho* as we cannot, fo neither 
 could they have their Idea of Death full and 
 complete, until they had gone thro' their own 
 ' Diflblutions. But as in this one Inftance fo 
 in all others, the Sentiments which God was 
 pleafed to raife in the Minds of our firft Pa- 
 rents of the Things he fpake to them, were no 
 more tbaa as it were their firft, and unim- 
 proved Notions of thofe Things : God did not 
 caufe them to think of them in that Extent 
 
 and 
 
Fall ^ M A N. ID 
 
 and Variety of Conception, which they came 
 afterwards to have about them, as their 
 Thoughts enlarged by a farther Acquaintance 
 with the Things fpoken of, and with other 
 Things from which they diftinguifhed, or with 
 which they compared them. In and from the 
 Words which God was pleafed to fpeak to 
 them, he gave them fome plain and obvious 
 Sentiments, v/hich were the firft Beginnings 
 of the Thoughts of their Lives ; Conceptions 
 which grew gradually, and produced others 
 more enlarged and diverfified, as They grew 
 more and more acquainted with themfelves 
 and the Things of the World. 
 
 It may here be coniidered, whether God 
 was pleafed to give Adajii and Kve to under- 
 ftand all the Words of fome one Language, 
 fo that whatever was faid to them in that 
 particular Tongue, was immediately conceived 
 and underftood by them. It has been by 
 many fuppofed, that God endowed them with 
 both the fpeaking and underftanding fome in- 
 nate Language : But I confefs myfelf not to 
 fee fufficient Reafons for this Sentiment, as I 
 have fuggefted in another place (i). The Au- 
 thor of Ecclejiajlicus does indeed tell us of 
 
 (/) free Conneft. Vol. i. Book 2. 
 
 C 2 •ur 
 
io T*he Creation tini 
 
 our firft Parents, that they received the life of 
 the Jive Ope?'atio?is of the Lord-, and in the 
 fixth place he imparted them JJnderJianding^ a?id 
 in the feventh Speech, an Interpreter of the Co^ 
 gitations thereof {f) ; but we fhall haftily go 
 beyond the true Sentiment of this confiderate 
 Writer, if we conclude from it, that God in- 
 ftantly gave Adam every Word he was to in- 
 troduce into his Language, or gave him in- 
 ftantly to underftand every Word of that Lan- 
 guage in which God fpake, by whomfoever 
 any Word of it might have been fpoken to 
 him. The Author of Ecclefajiicus does in- 
 deed pronounce the Speech of Man to be the 
 Gift of God ; but in like Manner he reprefents 
 the Perception of Man by his five Senfes, and 
 the Judgment of Man by his Underftanding 
 to be fo too [ii) ; not meaning that in giving 
 Man Speech, God actually gave him every 
 Word he was to utter, any more than that in 
 giving him the five Operations of his Senfes, 
 or in giving him Underfianding^ God planted 
 innate in him every Idea his Senfes were to 
 raife in him ; or actually formed upon his 
 Mind every Sentiment that was to be his Judg- 
 ment and Underftanding of the Things that 
 
 (/) Ecclefiailicas xvii. 5. («) Ibid. 
 
 wcr« 
 
Fall of M A -N. 2x 
 
 were perceived by hiai. Rather, in all thefe 
 Cafes, God gare a Capacity or Abilities only : 
 In the one he made Man capable of Senfations 
 of the Things without him ^ in the other, able 
 to form a Judgment of the Things perceived 
 by him, and in Language capable of uttering 
 Sounds, and of judging from what he had 
 heard from the Voice of God, how he might 
 make his own Sounds fignificant to himfelf, 
 and in Time to others, to intend what he 
 might fix and defign by each Sound to point 
 out and denominate. In this Manner ^dam 
 and Eve might form for themfelves all the 
 Words of their Language, over and befides 
 thofe few which had adually been fpoken to 
 them by the Voice of God : Their imme- 
 diately underftanding thefe, was unqueftion- 
 ably from him who fpake to them (le;) : But 
 becaufe they were inftantly enabled, by the 
 Power of God, who could affed: their IVIinds 
 as he pleafed, to underftand each Word that 
 proceeded /r^?;;? the Mouth of God (for other- 
 wife they could not have been intruded by 
 God's fpeaking to them), that therefore they 
 fhould as readily underftand all the Words of 
 fome one v/hole Tongue : Herein there is no 
 Confequence. 
 
 (iy) Vide quse fup. 
 
 C 3 Sdmc , 
 
22 7%e Ck^ AT I o^ and 
 
 Some Writers do indeed fet forth Adam 
 abounding in a great Fluency of Speech, pour- 
 ing forth the Fulnefs of his Heart in moft elo- 
 quent Solilcqi'ies, as foon as he perceived he 
 was in Being {x) ; but a confiderate Inquirer 
 will think this very unnatural. Adam, tho' 
 created a Man, not in the Imbecillity of In- 
 fancy and Childhood, cannot be fuppofed to 
 have had a Mind ftored with Ideas (and without 
 thefe what could be his Thoughts ? ) before 
 he attained them by Senfations from without, 
 or Reflediions upon his Perceptions within : 
 And ihall we think him to have had Words 
 upon his Tongue fooner or fafter than he ac- 
 quired Sentiments? Mofes introduces Adam 
 into the World in a manner far n\ore natural : 
 Whatever Adam heard and underftood from 
 the Voice of God, Mofes does not hint him 
 to have attempted to fpeak a word, until God 
 called him to try to name the Creatures {ww)i 
 fo that here we find the firft Attempt Adam 
 made to fpeak : And we fee the Manner and 
 the Procefs of it : God, we are told, brought 
 the Beafts of the Field, and the Fowls of the 
 Air [y) unto Adam, to fee what he would call 
 
 [x) See Milton's Paradife Loft, Book VIII. ver. 273. 
 \imx) Gen. ii. See to ver. 19, {y) The Fad here related 
 
 ■will bs more diftindly confidered Chap. 3, 
 
 them : 
 
Fall <?/ M a n. 23 
 
 thet7i : And whatfoever Adam called every 
 living Creature^ that was the Name thereof {z). 
 After Adam had been called to this Trial, we 
 find him able to name the Woman [a). But 
 before this Trial we read nothing that can 
 caufe us to think he attempted to fpeak at all ; 
 but rather, an Attention to what was faid to 
 him by the Voice of God intirely ingroffcd 
 him. God brought to Adam the Creatures, to 
 fee what he would call them ; i. e. to put Adam 
 upon confidering how to name them. But 
 how fuperfluous a thing would this have been, 
 if Adara had had an innate Word for every 
 Creature that was to be named by him ? 
 Whenever he faw a Thing, the innate Name 
 for it would have readily offered itfelf without 
 Trial ; he muft have had that Name for it, 
 and he could have had no other : But the Text 
 plainly fuppofes Adam^ in naming the Crea- 
 tures, to have been more at liberty ; Whatfo- 
 ever Adam named every living Creature^ that 
 was the Name thereof He might have called 
 them by other Names than he did ; he might 
 have fixed this or that Sound, juft as he in- 
 clined to call this or that Creature, and there- 
 fore had no innate Names for any -, but, having 
 
 (2i) Gen. ti. ig. .{a) Ver. 23. 
 
 C 4 deter- 
 
^4 "The Creation and 
 
 determined with himfelf what Sound to ufe 
 for the Name of one, and what for another, 
 God Almighty herein not interpofing, he was 
 leii to himfelf, and fo fixed what he deter- 
 mined for the Name of it. But, 
 
 I canrot but confefs, that an Incident 
 which follows may require our Examination 
 before we leave the Point before us. If we 
 confider how Eve was affected when the Ser- 
 pent fpake to her (b)^ we fee no Reafon to 
 think ihe had any Difficulty in underftanding 
 any Part of what was faid to her : She as rea- 
 dily took the Meaning of what the Serpent 
 expreffed to her, as either ihe or Adam had 
 before apprehended what had been fpoken to 
 them by the Voice of God : God doth know^ 
 faid the Serpent, that in the Day that ye eat 
 thereof^ then your Eyes Jhall be opened^ and ye 
 jhall be as Gods^ knowing Good and Evil [c). 
 God had faid nothing to them concerning their 
 Eyes bei?2g opened, nor of their being as Gods ; 
 . and therefore, if they had no farther Know- 
 ledge of the Meaning of Words, than of thofe 
 only which the Voice of God had fpoken to 
 them, here feem to have been Sounds never 
 before heard by them, and how could thefe 
 
 {b) Gen. iii. [c] Ver. 5. 
 
 be 
 
Fa LL ^ M A N. 25 
 
 be fo readily received and apprehended ? We 
 can in no wife fuppofe the Serpent to have had 
 God's Power to make his Words inftantly as 
 intelligible to E've as he pleafed. 
 
 And it will increafe the Difficulty, if we 
 may coniider the Words here fpoken to carry 
 not a plain but a metaphorical Meaning : Their 
 Eyes were to be opened^ i. e, fay fome, their 
 Underftan dings were to be enlarged) Open 
 thou mine Eyes, faid the Pfalmijly and I Jhall 
 fee wondrous things from thy Law {cc) : The 
 Pfalmiji here prays for what he elfewhere ex- 
 prelTes in Words without the Figure, that God 
 through his Commandments would make him 
 wifer, ."would give him more Underjlandiftg 
 than he fhould have had without them {d) : 
 And it may feem that, according to Mofes^ 
 the Event of their Eyes being opened was, 
 they knew they were naked [e) 3 they had a dif- 
 ferent Knowledge of themfelves, other than 
 what they had before ; fo that we may per- 
 haps think, that Mofes here ufed the Eye of 
 the Body metaphorically y for the Senfe of the 
 Underftanding, intending by the opening of 
 the one the Increafe of the Judgment of the 
 other : And if this was the Meaning of the 
 
 [cc] Pfalm cxix. 18. [d) Ver. 98, 99. [e) Gen. iii. 7. 
 
 Words 
 
26 The C^-E. AT ion and 
 
 Words of the Serpent to Eve^ and if Eve thus 
 underftood them, fhc cannot be conceived to 
 have been at this Time a mere Novice in Lan- 
 guage, juft beginning to form firft Notions of 
 a few original and plain Words; rather we 
 muft think her an Adept in the Tongue the 
 • Serpent fpake in, to have a ready Conception 
 of all the Elegancy of its Didlion, to give its 
 Metaphors and figurative Expreffion their true 
 Meaning, to receive and feel the full and real 
 Import of them. But to all this I anfwer : 
 
 I. There was no Metaphor intended by 
 Mofes in the Words In which he has expreffed 
 what the Serpent faid to Eve : The Didion of 
 the Pfalmijl is indeed figurative^ Open thou 
 mine Eyes^ and IJhallfee wondrous thi?tgsfrom 
 thy Law (f)y but the Word ufed for open^ is 
 not the fame with that of Mofes : [Gal nainai] 
 fays the Pfalmijl (g) : The Word here ufed 
 is a Termination of the Verb [Galah] : But 
 Mofes expreffes the Serpent's Words to Eve^ 
 Tour Eyes fhall be opened^ \Niphkechu neinei- 
 cera [h\ ] Mofes's Word for Jhall be opened is a 
 Termination of the Verb Pakach : The He- 
 brew Language has both thefe Verbsy and wc 
 
 (f) Pfalm cxix. ubi fup. (g) '^y^-hl 
 
 [h] o:)^J^y ^np^^ Gen. m. 5. 
 
 render 
 
Fa LL ^t/* M A N. 27 
 
 render both by the Word open ; but the one 
 only, namely Galah, fpeaks in the. metapbori^ 
 cat Senfe, means by opening the Eye in- 
 ftru (fling the Underftanding, either by our 
 forming a better Judgment of Things, or when 
 God by Vifion, or in any other manner, was 
 pleafed to give an extraordinary Revelation (/) : 
 [Pakach Nain] fignifies no more than to fee^ 
 what is the Objedt of the natural Eye [k) : 
 And to this Meaning it is confined fo ftridly, 
 that altho' \^Pakacb Nain] is fometimes faid 
 of God, when God is fpoken of, qfter the 
 manner of Men ^ yet it is ufed only where God 
 is faid to look upon fuch outward Adions as 
 can come under the Obfervation of the Eye (/) ; 
 wherever God is faid to regard what can be 
 matter of the Attention of the Mind only, the 
 Expreffion \_Pakach Nain] is, I think, not 
 ufed. 
 
 [Pakach Nain] therefore carries the Inten- 
 tion no farther than to the outward Sio;ht: {w- 
 nifies no more than to open the Eye of the 
 Body : I might fay, it has fuch a Propriety to 
 exprefs this and this only, that as facere in 
 
 ^ \t) See Numb, xxxiv. 4. [k) Gen. xxi. g. 2 Kings iv. 55. 
 vi. 17, 20. Prov. XX. 13. (/) See 2 Kings xix. 16. Ifa.xxxvii. 
 17. Dan. ix. 18, ^c. 
 
 Latin 
 
28 The C^i.kTio'^ and 
 
 Latin may be put as it were idiomatically for 
 to facrijice, 
 
 ciimfaciam Vituld Virg. 
 
 So a Participle of the Verb [Pakach] without 
 [Nain] the Word for Eye after it, may be ufed 
 in the Hebrew Language for one who has his 
 Eye-Jighty in oppofition to the being bHnd(;;2); 
 fo that we ufe Hebrew Words, not in their 
 Hebrew or true Meaning, if we take Mofes^ 
 by the Words he has ufed, to intend the Ser- 
 pent to have herein faid any thing referring 
 farther than to their natural Eye. [n) But 
 
 2. Let us obferve, that in what the Serpent 
 faid to Eve^ he was for the greater part con- 
 fined to ufe the very Words, and none other, 
 than what both Eve and Adam had heard and 
 underftood from the Voice of God > and there- 
 
 [m) Exodus iv. ii. xxiii. 8. («) It may perhaps be here 
 queried, whether the Words in this Place ufed by Mofes^ were 
 the very Words fpoken by the Serpent ? And indeed 1 Ihould 
 apprehend they were not, as I do not conceive that Mofes\ He- 
 bre^v was the firfl original unimproved Language of the World. 
 See Conned. Vol. I. B. II. But as we have all Reafon, whe- 
 ther we conceive Mofes to have wrote by an immediate Infpira- 
 tion, or whether under a divine Direftion, he wrote from an- 
 cient Memoirs of his Forefathers, which perhaps were recorded 
 in an older, and perhaps then obfolete Didion ; we may and 
 ought to allow, that he expreffed in the Language of his own 
 Times, with a ftrift Propriety, what the Serpent had fpoken 
 in Words of the fame Meaning, tho' probably of a more an- 
 t4que Form, Ccnftrudlion, and Pronunciation. 
 
 fore 
 
Fa LL ^j/* M A N. z<^ 
 
 fere all thefe flie readily underftood as fhc had 
 before heard and underftood them. Accord- 
 ingly, there could be nothing in the Serpent's 
 firft Addrefs to Eve, Yea, hath God /aid, Te 
 jhall not eat of every Tree of the Garden (p)^ 
 but what Ihe muft have readily underftood 
 from God's having faid, Of every Tree of the 
 Garden ye f7iay freely eat [q) -, only v^e may 
 remark, that tho' Mofes has in diverfe Places 
 hiftorically called God, Elohim{r), yet that God 
 not having as yet fo named himfelf to her and 
 Adar/iy the Word [^Elohijn] God, might not 
 have been heard by Eve before the Serpent 
 fpake it to her : But if this v^as in Fad: true, 
 as there w^as no other Perfon but one that had 
 fpoken before this to her or Adam^ there could 
 be no Confufion in her hearing the Serpent 
 call him \Elohim\ God ; fhe muft readily un- 
 derftand w^ho by that Name was intended by 
 him. To go on — The Serpent's next Words, 
 Ye jhall not furely die [s), muft inftantly, whe« 
 fpoken, be fufficiently underftood, from her 
 having underftood what God had faid before, ^^ 
 jJoall furely die (t), as any one that underftands a 
 Propofition affirmed, muft underftand the De- 
 
 (/>) Gen. iii. i. (^) Gen. ii. i6. (/•) See Gen. i. kii. 
 (s) Gen. iii. 4. (/} Gen. ii. 17. 
 
 nial 
 
&0 The CviV. kTion and 
 
 nial of that fame Propofition. The Serpent 
 proceeded, For God doth know^ that in the Day 
 that ye eat thereof then your Eyes Jhall be 
 opened y and ye Jloall be 7i% Go$i% [Ce Elohim] as 
 God, k?70wing Good and Evil Here I would 
 obferve, that in the Day that ye eat thereof 
 had been before faid to them from the Mouth 
 of God (a;), and that God had called the Tree, 
 the Tree of the Knowledge of Good ajid E'vil (y)^ 
 and therefore from what God had in thefe 
 Words faid to them, all the Sentiment fhe 
 had of Knowing, and of knowing Good and 
 Evil, may be conceived to arife upon the Ser- 
 pent's in thefe like Terms fpeaking to her. 
 The Serpent told her they fhould be as Gods ; 
 we render it in the plural Number, but not 
 rightly 5 for it is not reafonable to imagine the 
 Serpent intimated to her herein, that there 
 were fpiritual Beings, many in Number in the 
 invifible World ; this as yet did not enter her 
 Imagination: She and jidam had heard but 
 one that fpake to them ; the Serpent had told 
 Eve that this Perfon was [Elohini] {z) ; he 
 here tells her, that if they eat of the Tree they 
 lliould increafe in Knowledge of Good and 
 Evil, be \Ce Elohim] like him : and herein, a-s 
 
 (x) Gen. ii. 17. (ji) Ibid, [z) Gen.iii. i. 
 
 far 
 
Fall of Man. 2* 
 
 far as they had any Notions of what Know- 
 ledge was, nothing unintelHgible was propofed 
 to her. 
 
 There remains ftill to be confidered, what 
 fhe expedled from what feem'd promifed in 
 the Words, Tour Eyes Jhall be opened : But I 
 may fully anfwer this in three or four Ob- 
 fervations. i. I have already faid, that thefe 
 Words have no Reference to the Improvement 
 of the Knowledge of the Mind : What the 
 Tempter offered concerning that, came after- 
 wards under the Words Te Jkall be as God, 
 hiowing Good and Evil, The Words concern- 
 ing their Eyes being opened^ are fuch, that ac- 
 cording to the Hebrew Idiom, they fpeak no 
 more than fome Enlargement of their out- 
 ward Sight. 2. I would remark, that it can- 
 not be neceffary to fay, that Eve had an ade- 
 quate and full Notion of the true Mean- 
 ing of thefe Words. The Writers that 
 would puzzle and perplex this Matter, 
 would contend, that the Fall happened im- 
 mediately after the Creation; but we can 
 in no wife find any one Reafon for fuch an 
 AfTertion. Rather, I apprehend, we fhall 
 fee what may induce us to think that fe- 
 veral Days intervened between the Sabbath 
 
 after 
 
The Creation and 
 
 after \a) the Day of Adam and £^'/s Crea- 
 tion, and the Day on which the Serpent 
 tempted Eve. On the Night of each of thefc 
 Days, Adam and Eve in the Courfe of Na- 
 ture had known what Sleep was, and how it 
 differed from the being awake, and therefrom 
 what it vJ2iS' to Jlotit the Eye, and what it was 
 to open it ; and probably had made themfelves, 
 before the Serpent fpake to Eve, a Name for 
 the one, and a Name for the other ; and there- 
 fore, tho' the Serpent here ufed Words which 
 they had not heard from the Mouth of God, 
 yet he might not herein ufe Words which 
 they had not agreed to make, and had daily 
 fpoken to and heard from themfelves, and con^ 
 fequently were Words that were not without 
 Meaning. I do not fay that Adam or Eve^ at 
 hearing thefe Words, conceived exaftly the 
 Event which afterwards came to pafs^ for it 
 is obvious to obferve, that we may be faid to 
 know the general Meaning of Words, fuf- 
 
 {a) See hereafter. Syncellus cites the Ag-r?* Ti/iffio)? to fay, 
 that Mam was guilty of the Tranfgreflion in his feventh Year, 
 and expelled Paradife in his eighth. Syncelli Chronogr. p. 8. 
 What the Minutes of Genefis here cited were, I cannot fay, nor 
 by whom made ; their Authority can avail only to hint, that 
 there have been ancient Writers who did not think the Fall to 
 have been fo infl:antaneo(»s as others have fmce imagined. 
 
 ficiently 
 
Fall of M A N. 33 
 
 ficiently to give us Expedlations from them^ 
 and yet not be able determinatcly to fee their 
 full Extent and Import : Every one that has a 
 common Underftanding of the Greek Tongue, 
 would upon reading the Philofopher, xaSa^- 
 
 {b) apprehend that thefe Studies may greatly 
 improve us, as the Englijh Reader may, from 
 no better Tranflation of the Words than, the 
 Mathematics are Purgations of the reafonable 
 Mind : But the particular Improvement to be 
 had from them, would not hence be known 
 to any, who had not experienced the Habit 
 that may be acquired from thefe Studies of 
 purfuing long Trains of Ideas varioufly inter- 
 mingled, fo as to fee thro' all the Steps that 
 truly lead to the moft diftant Conclufions. 
 Whether Eve, well knowing from many 
 Days Experience, wherein the opening the 
 Eye differed from the fhutting it, thought that 
 after eating the Fruit fhe fhould never more 
 flumber nor fleep^ or whether fhe conceived 
 fuch an Addition to their Sight, as that they 
 might thenceforth be able to fee Him whom 
 hitherto they had heard only without his 
 
 [h) Hierocles in aujea Carmina Pythag, 
 
 D being 
 
34 ^^ Creation and 
 
 being vlfible to them (r), I cannot fay; but 
 may conceive her to have formed to herfelf 
 great Expedlations, without reaching the full 
 Meaning of the Words, much lefs appre- 
 hending what became in reality the Event of 
 them. Upon the whole : When God was- 
 pleafed to fpeak to Adam and Eve^ they hav* 
 ing not before heard Words, it is not to be 
 conceived that they could have underftood 
 what the Voice of God fpake, unlefs God 
 had caufed them to underftand the Words 
 fpoken ; but allowing that God enabled them 
 to perceive what He thought fit to fay to 
 them, and duly attending to what Mojes re- 
 lates farther, we ihall fee no Reafon to think^ 
 that any Thing more was faid to them, or 
 that they hurried into the World, or the 
 Things of the World broke in upon them,, 
 fafter, or in a greater Variety, than they could 
 form themfelves Words, to talk of, and to 
 know diftindlly, as far as their Knowledge 
 did, or it was neceffary it fliould then reach, 
 the Things they had to hear or to fpeak, to 
 be concerned in, or afFed:ed with in their 
 Lives : And therefore no more being neceffary 
 
 (f) No divine Appearance is recorded to have bqen feen 
 before the Days of Abraham. See Conned. Vol. III. B.IX. p. 596^ 
 
 for 
 
for them, than that God fhould caufe them fo 
 to underftand what He thought fit to fpeak to 
 them, we juftly conclude, that as to making 
 other Words, and fettling the Meaning and 
 Intention of them, he left our firft Parents to 
 do what He had given them full Powers and 
 Opportunity to do, in a natural Way for them- 
 felves, unto which God was pleafed to lead 
 Adam^ as far as he herein wanted Guidance 
 and Direftion in the Manner which fhall be 
 fet forth in the enfuing Chapter. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 A Confideration of the particular Manner in 
 which God was pleafed to lead Adam to name 
 the living Creatures of the World. 
 
 'T^ H E Fa(3:, which I am in this Chapter 
 
 to inquire into, is thus related to us by 
 
 Mofes: Out of the Ground the Lord God 
 
 formed every Beaji of the Fields and every 
 
 Fowl of the Airy and brcught them unto 
 
 Adam^ to fee what He would call them, and 
 
 whatfoever Adam called every living Creature ^ 
 
 that was the Name thereof: And Adam gave 
 
 Names to all Cattle^ and to the Fowl of the 
 
 D 2 Air, 
 
36 The Creation and 
 
 Air^ and to every Beafi of the Field (J). To 
 form a right Judgment of what is here faid to 
 be done, we muft not too haftily fet down 
 with our Englijh Verfion of Mofes\ Words, 
 but inquire more ftridtly into the Text of 
 Mofesy and examine how he indeed relates this 
 Matter. 
 
 The Words of Mojes are : 
 
 [^Fejtizer 'Jehon}ah Elohim min ha Adatnah col chajath haffedah, 
 
 <veteth Col Noph hajhemainiy <vejabea al ha Adam 
 
 lireoth mahjikrah lo: Ve colajherjikra lo ha Adam nepejh chajah 
 
 hua Shemo : <vejikra ha Adam Shemoth lecol hahejhema 
 
 've lenoph has Shemaim nje lecol chajath hajjedah'] (e) 
 
 The Paffage verbally tranflated is as follows : 
 And the Lord God formed out of the Ground 
 every Beajl of the Fields and every Fowl of 
 the Heavens y and He brought unto Adam to 
 fee what He would call it. And whatfoever 
 
 {d) Gen. ii. 19, 20. {e) The Hehreiv Words are, and may 
 be written and interlined as follows : 
 
 agri animal omne Humo ex Dcus Dominus etformavit 
 
 WN»- • • s w Adamum ad et adduxit coelorum volatile omne ac etiam 
 
 ipfe Adam illi nomen dedit quod etomne daret illinomen quid ad vidcBdum 
 
 Belliae omni nomina ipfe Adam etcdixit nomen ejus hoc 
 
 agri animaii et omni coelorum et volatili 
 
 Adam 
 
Fa ll ^ M a n. 27 
 
 ^Adam called it, the living creature, 
 that was the Name of it. A?id Adam gave 
 Names to every living Creature^ and to the 
 Fowls of the HeavenSy and to every Beaji of 
 the Field, 
 
 It is obfervable of the Paflage, that the 
 firft Period of it, namely, And the Lord God 
 formed out of the Ground every Beaft of the 
 Fields and every Fowl of the Heaven^ was not 
 intended to hint to us, that God, now at this 
 Jundlure, created any Hving Creatures anew: 
 Rather, the Words fhould have been rendred 
 agreeably to what is the Tranflation of the 
 Syriac Verfion (f)^ the Lord Gcd had forme d-^^, . 
 for they are not a Relation that God now 
 made them, but a Recognition of what had 
 been before related, that God had been the 
 Creator both of the Birds and Cattle (^); 
 none of which were now made at this Time y 
 for the one were created a Day fooner than 
 Adam {h), the other on the fame Day, but 
 earlier and before him (/). 
 
 In like manner : The Words which begin 
 the 20th Verfe, And Adam gave Names to all 
 Cattle, and to the Fowl of the Air^ and to 
 
 (f) Compegerat autem Dominus Deus de Humo omnem Bejiiam. 
 Vide Walt. Polyglott. Syr. Verf. in loc. [g] See Gen. i. 
 
 \h) Ver. 20. (;) Ver. 24, 25. 
 
 D 3 ever^ 
 
38 77)eCv.EAriona^J 
 
 every Beaji of the Fields do not mean that 
 Adam now, at this one Time, gave Names to 
 all living Creatures ; but are rather a Remark, 
 that the Names of the Creatures were given 
 by Adam^ and by no other : He himfelf, \ha 
 Adan{\ fays the Text, named them ; not 
 now, all at once, that undoubtedly would 
 have been too much for him : But he named 
 them gradually, fome at one Time and fome 
 at another in the Procefs of his Life, as In- 
 cidents happened to give Occafion for his fo 
 doing. 
 
 That the Fadl really was, not that Adam 
 now named all the Creatures, is evident, from 
 the very exprefs Words of Mofes^ which re- 
 late the Particular we are examining: The 
 Words of Mofes are : And the Lord God 
 brought unto Adam, to fee what he would call 
 IT {k)\ And whatfoevcr Adam called it, the 
 LIVING CREATURE (/) that was the Name of 
 IT (m): The Que (lion here to be afked is. 
 What did God bring unto the Man? Our 
 EngHJh Verfion, following other Tranfatlons, 
 
 [k) Lireoth mah jikra lo. Gen. ii. 1 8. (/) Ve col rjherjikra lo 
 ha Adam nepcjh chajath hua Sbejno. ibid, {m) Hua Shcmo. ibid. 
 The Samaritan Text is rcndred more ftridlly to the Hebreiv 
 V/ords in the Lath Tranfiation of it in our Folyglott Bible thus, 
 Adduxitqus ad Adam ^ ut <vidcrety quofnodo <vocaret illud : Et ontne 
 ouod <vocaret llliid Adam anitna <vi'ventis hoc eft Nam^n €Jus. 
 
Fa LL ^ M A N. 29 
 
 fays THEM) i. e. every Beaji of the Fields and 
 every Fowl of the Air^ for thefe are the Words 
 which THEM muft refer to: But we are to 
 obferve, that the Word them is not in the 
 Hebrew Text : According to Mofes^ the Name 
 given by Adam was [ lV ] /d?, i.e. to it : The 
 Pronoun is of t\\tfngular Number, not plural: 
 And the nt^t Sentence exprcfles this more 
 fully : The Words being not as we render the 
 Text, And whatfoever Adam called every liv^ 
 
 ing Creature. There is no Word in the 
 
 Text for every: The Hebrew Words fay, 
 Whatfoever Adam called it, the living Crea^ 
 ture^ That was the Name of, not them, 
 but the Text fays that was the Name of it. 
 
 Thus the Fad: before us appears to be, 
 that God brought unto Adam^ not all the 
 living Creatures; for the Text fays no fuch 
 Thing: God indeed made all the Crea- 
 tures [n)^ and Mofes here recognizes this Truth: 
 But God brought unto Adam fome one Crea- 
 ture only ; a {Napefo chajah^ in the fngular 
 Number {o\ to fee what he would call it: 
 
 Adam 
 
 («) Gen. i. {o) See the Text of Gen. ii. 19. Ifhould have 
 
 fome Difficulty to fay, why l^epejh chajah is not hiepejh chajahy in 
 
 the Dati've Cafe, as I think Napejh Handing after and referring 
 
 to lo the Conftruftion fliould require : But I would ofFer to the 
 
 P 4 Con- 
 
'46 The Creation and 
 
 Adam hereupon gave i t a Name : And what 
 he thus called it, that was the Name of it; 
 God was pleafed herein to bring Adam to a 
 Trial, to fhew him, how he might ufe Sounds 
 of his own to be the Names of Things : God 
 called him to give a Name to one Creature, 
 and hereby put him upon feeing how Words 
 might be made for this Purpofe : Adam un- 
 derflood the Inftrudlion, and pradlifed accord- 
 ing to it. For fo Mofes tells us : Adam gave 
 Names to all Cattle^ and to the Fowl of the 
 Air, and to every Beaft of the Field (/>). The 
 Names of the Creatures were not given by 
 any exprefs Words from the Voice of God, 
 but were of Adam\ own Making, as he pro- 
 ceeded to ufe Sounds of his own to be the 
 Names of Things, as himfelf defigned the 
 
 Confideration of the Learned, whether if in the ancient Ma- 
 nufcript this Text was wrote in Lines ending with the Words 
 which I have made the final Words of the feveral Lines, as 
 I have before tranfcribed them, Napejh chajah, might not be 
 fo fituated at the End of a Line, as that a Copyiji might miftake, 
 and put it to the End of the third Line, when it really (hould be 
 at the End of the fecond. li this may be fuppofed, the Words 
 c?f Mofes are exceeding clear, being exadlly as follows : 
 
 And the Lord God had formed of the Ground every Beaft of the Field, 
 and every Fowl of the Heavens, and brought unto Adam a living Creature 
 to fee what Nanae he would give to it. And whatfocver Name Adam gave it, 
 that was the Name of it, &c» 
 
 (p) Gen, iio 20. 
 
 Names 
 
Fa LL ^ M A N. 41 
 
 Names of them : God, as I faid, brought 
 Ada?n to name one Creature : Adam had the 
 Senfe and Under {landing to fee hereby, how- 
 he might make Words, and make ufe of them: 
 And accordingly in the Progrefs of his Life, 
 as the Creatures of the World came under his 
 Obfervation, he ufed this Ability, and gave 
 Names to them all. 
 
 And now if this was the Fad, it muft I 
 think be allowed me, that Adam had, as I 
 have already obfcrved, no formed, fixed, and 
 innate Language : For had he had fuch Lan- 
 guage, it muft have been a moft fuperfluous 
 Thing. to bring him to this Trial, to fet any 
 Creature before him to fee what he would 
 call it. An innate Language, whenever and 
 wherever he had feen any Creature or Thing 
 in the World, would have inftantly given him 
 its innate Name ; no Trial could have been 
 wanted to lead him to it, this Name would, 
 as it were, have offered itfelf, and I cannot 
 fee how he fhould have thought of any other: 
 But Mofes feems in no wife to reprefent Adafii 
 under thefe Limitations j a Creature was 
 brought to him to fee what he would call it : 
 There is not the leaft Hint, that he was fo 
 much as direfted what to call it : for [ha 
 Adam] Adam himfelf named all the Crea- 
 tures J 
 
42 ^he Creation and 
 
 tures {q) -, we have no Reafon to think that 
 God didtated the Name of any : And the Ex- 
 preffions of Mofes hint Adam to have had all 
 poffible Liberty to name them as his own 
 Imagination fhould lead him : Nothing feems 
 to have been herein fixed or determined for 
 him but he called every Thing by what Name 
 he pleafed, and whatfoever Name he fixed 
 and determined for any Creature, that was the 
 Name thereof. 
 
 Our Bibles clofe the 20th Verfe of the fe- 
 cond Chapter of Genefis with thefe Words : 
 But for Adam there was not found an Help 
 meet for him: The adding thefe Words to the 
 End of this 20th Verfe may feem to repre- 
 fent, that in the Tranfadion ending with this 
 Obfcrvation, there undoubtedly had been a 
 Survey taken of all the Creatures of the World, 
 to have it feen that none of them were fit to 
 be Adam's AflTociate, and confequently that 
 all the Creatures had been convened for Adam 
 to name them. I believe our Tranflators had 
 this Sentiment, and the Dividers of the Bible 
 into Verfes were probably of this Opinion. It 
 is a Thought that may eafily take the Un- 
 wary, tho' I am furprifed that the Difficulty 
 
 (q) Gen. ii. 20. ut fup. 
 
Fall of M A ^. 4 ^ 
 
 of conceiving how it could be, has not occa- 
 iioned it to be more ftridly examined. How- 
 ever as I have fhewn Mofes's Text to fay no 
 fuch Thing, I may as clearly evince, that in 
 the Words of Mofes, which we improperly 
 add to the 2Cth Verfe, there was really in- 
 tended no fuch Infinuation. For, 
 
 I. But for Adafn there was not found an 
 Help meet for him : Thefe Words ought not 
 to have been made a Part of the 20th Verfe : 
 They are the Beginning of the Relation of a 
 new Tranfadion, and not having any Refe- 
 rence to any thing before-going, they fhould 
 have began a new Period abfolutely indepen- 
 dent of, and detached from the former. Agree- 
 ably hereto we may obferve, 2. That the Par- 
 ticle 1 \ye^ which we heretranflate but, ought 
 to be in this Place rend red and : It is often fo 
 rendred in the firft and this fecond Chapter of 
 Genefs : It is not here a difcretive Particle, 
 disjoining and diftinguifliing two Parts of one 
 Period 5 but it is illative : It is the Particle 
 often ufed by Mofes when, having finiflied his 
 Narration of one Faft, he paiTes on from that 
 to quite another (r) : 3. If we will fiippofe 
 the Words above-cited to belong to the 20th 
 
 (r) Gen. i. 6, 9, 14, 20, &c, ii. 7, is> 18, 20, 21. 
 
 Verfe, 
 
44 7^^ Creation and 
 
 Verfe, we fhall have Difficulties to make out 
 their grammatical Conftrudion ; Difficulties 
 to afcertain a Nominative Cafe to the Verb 
 found 5 for the Word which we tranflate was 
 found is not pajfive^ as we render it : the 
 Words are n^o-nV \loa Matza], he did not 
 find, in the a^ive Voice : and the Nominative 
 Cafe to this Verb follows after the next Verb 
 in the next Verfe, and is [Jehovah Elohim] 
 the Lord God {s) : This is a Conftrudion 
 very clear and frequent in many Languages, 
 and in the Hebrew Tongue amongft others : 
 and our Translators ought to have been care- 
 fully attentive to it. 4. I would farther ob- 
 ferve, that the Hebrew Verb [Matza] does not 
 always fignify to fnd a "Things after having 
 looked for it; but when ufed with a Noun to 
 which h is prefixed it makes an Idiom of the 
 Hebrew Tongue, to which we have fomething 
 fimilar in a particular Ufe of our Word find 
 in Englijh : Buxtorf rcm^ivks (/) that the Verb 
 [Matza] with a Dative Cafe by the Prefix 
 
 ( s) The Words are Gen. ii. 20. 
 
 at cadere fecit Judicium ejus adjutorium non invenerat ethomini 
 
 Adamum. in Soporem Deus Jehovah 
 It) Buxtorf in Voce i>^c^jn. 
 
Fa LL ^ M A N^ 4 r 
 
 [k] fignifies to fu^ce : I iLould rather fay, 
 fufficienth to fupply : Thus Numbers xi. 22, 
 Shall the Flocks and the Herds be Jlain for 
 them ? mnh ^u^) [ve matza lehem\ and will 
 itfuffice them ? i. e. will it fufficiently fupply 
 them? Thus again, Judges xxi. 14. ^/2d 
 Benjamin came again at that Time, and they 
 gave them Wives which they hadfaved alive of 
 the Women of Jabejh Gilead, but [the Hebrew 
 Words are p nnV -IKIJO-Nbl, Ve loa matzaeu 
 lehem cen] and yet fo they fufficed them noty 
 they did not fufficiently fupply them fo. I 
 would, more clofely to the Hebrew, tranflate 
 both thefe Places by our Englijh Word fnd: 
 Shall the Flocks a7id the Herds be Jlain for 
 thejn ? I (hould fay, Will it find them ? la 
 the PafTage in the Book of Numbers^ They 
 gave them Wives, which they hadfaved alive of 
 the Women of fabejh Gilead, but (I fhould 
 render the Place) they did 7iot find them fo : 
 The Expreffion to find a Perfon, is ftill ufed in 
 fome Parts of England, to fignify to fupply 
 that Perfon with fuch Things as we undertake 
 to procure for him : And in this Senfe I take 
 the Word [Matza] to be here ufed by Mofes : 
 God had promifed to find Adarn with a Per- 
 fon or Helper, that fhould be his Likenefs : 
 Mofes^ now going to relate in what Ma.nner 
 
 God 
 
46 ^he Creation and 
 
 God made this Perfon, introduces his Narra- 
 tion very properly with obferving, that God 
 had not yet [u) found or fupply'd Adam with 
 this Companion : And having fuggefted this 
 Obfervation, he proceeds to relate in what 
 Manner God now fupply'd him. And the 
 Lord God had not fupply'd or found the Man 
 with the Help meet for him : But caufed a deep 
 Sleep to fall upon him^ &c. [x). 
 
 C H A P. IV. 
 
 Co72cerning the Formation of Eve, and the fur- 
 ther T2'anfaBio?2s of Adam*j frfl Day y 
 together with fome Obfervatio?2s upon the 
 whole, 
 
 ^^T^ H E Account given by Mofes of the For- 
 mation of Eve is in Words as follow : 
 A72d the Lord God caufed a deep Sleep to fall 
 upon Ad amy a-nd he fept : And he took one of 
 his RibSy a?2d clofed up the Flefj injlead there- 
 of: Af2d the Rib, which the Lord God had 
 taken from Man^ made he a Woman^ and 
 brought her unto the Man, God caufed a 
 deep Sleep to fall upon Adam : The Hebrew 
 
 {u) Gen. ii. 20. [x) Ver. 21, 
 
 Word 
 
Fall^Man. 47 
 
 Word for a deep Sleep is no-r^n IT'ardemah'X : 
 It is a Word ufed in diverfe Places in the old 
 Teftament: In fome it fignifies no more than 
 what we in Englip call a found Sleep-, a Sleep 
 from which we awake, not having dreamed, 
 or been fenfible of any thing that has paffed. 
 during the Time of it : It is thus ufed in the 
 Book of Proverbs, Slothfuhiefs cajleth into a 
 deep Sleep (y) : and more emphatically in the 
 firft Book of Samuel, where David and Abijhai 
 went by Night into SauH Camp, and took 
 away the Spear and Crufe of Water from his 
 Bolder, without awakening him or any of the 
 Soldiery, that lay afleep round about him (2;) j 
 for fays the Text [T'ardemah Jehovah^ a deep 
 Sleep of Qv from the Lord was fallen upon them^ 
 hereby meaning, that they were in a mod ex- 
 ceeding found Sleep, fo found an one, that 
 we might, ufmg the Hebrew Idiom {a) fpeak 
 
 as 
 
 (y) Prov. xix. 5. {z) 1 Sam. xxvi. 12. {a) It is a folemn, 
 but not unufaal Expreflion in the Hehre'w Tongue, to fay of a 
 Thing beyond meafure great, that it is of the Lord -, not always 
 meaning hereby, that God himfelf is the immediate Caufe of 
 it, but fignifying it to be fuch, that naturally no Account is 
 cafy to be given of it : So great was the Hardnefs of Pharaoh''% 
 Heart, that God is thus faid to have hardened it, the' Pharaoh 
 really hm-dned his onvn Heart, Exod. vii. 13, 22. viii. 15, 19,32. 
 ix. 7, 34. See Conne5l. Vol. 2. B. ix. And thus it is faid, that 
 it was of the Lord to harden the Hearts of the Canaan'ttes, that 
 they Ihould come out againjl ths Ifraelites in Battel, Jofhuaix. ig. 
 
 Not 
 
48 The Creation and 
 
 aS If God himfelf had been the Caufe of it. 
 But altho* this is the general Signification of 
 the Word \T!ardemah\ yet it is farther ufed 
 fometimes to denote that Kind of Sleep in 
 which God, in the earHer Ages of the World, 
 was pleafed in diverfe Manners to give Reve- 
 lations unto Men : Sound afleep, their Natu- 
 ral Senfations made them no Impreffions 5 but 
 by internal Vifions and Movements of their 
 Minds, they had ftrong and lively Sentiments 
 raifed in them, of what God was thus pleafed 
 to fhew unto them. Daniel fays of himfelf, 
 ufing the Verb from which the Noun Tarde- 
 mah is derived, [ISHrdamptt] I was in a deep 
 Sleepy on ?ny Face towards the Ground^ but he 
 touched me^ andfet me upright {b) : In a deep 
 
 Not that we are to fay that God aftually prevented the Ca- 
 naanites from fecuring themfelves from Ruin. See Conned. 
 Vol. III. B. XII. It was the Obftinacy of their own Hearts 
 that brought them to Deftrudion, which Obftinacy being fo 
 great, as that we in Englip would call it a fatal Oh/linacy, the 
 Hebrenv Expreflion for it was, an Obftinacy from the Lordy not 
 meaning hereby, that when any Man was temptedVz Ihouldy^jr 
 he was tempted of Gody for God cannot be tempted nuith E'vily 
 neither tempteth he any Man, James i. 13. Their Obftinacy 
 was their own Wilfulnefs, great, and indeed beyond all com- 
 mon Expreflion, and therefore faid to be of the Lord: And in 
 this Senfe I ftiould underftand what is faid of the found Sleep of 
 Saul and his Army, not taking the Text to mean any more, than 
 that it was fo deep a Sleep, as might be hard to fay how it 
 could be, that they were not awakened out of it. 
 [b] Daniel viii. 18, 
 
 Sleep 
 
Fall^Mak. 49 
 
 Sleep of this Sort Daniel was made to under- 
 ftand a Vifion that appeared to him (c). And 
 Job in hke manner in \Tarde)jjah] a deep Sleep 
 of this Kind, when a Vifion of the Night 
 befel him, faw a Spirit paffing before his 
 Face^ an Image before his Eyes, and heard a 
 Voice {d). Abram {e) in \T'ardemah'\ this 
 Depth of Sleep had a very fignal Revelation 
 made to him, and accordingly, fuch v^as ths 
 Yl^ardemah^ deep Sleeps that on the Occafion 
 before us fell on Adam : Whether abftradled 
 from all Impreffions of his outward Senfes, he 
 faw, as Balaam fpcaks, a Vijion of the AU 
 mighty (f) ; as Job mentions, a Spirit^ an 
 Image before him {g) adlually performing what 
 was done to him, I cannot determine : But, 
 as Mofes has no where faid, that Adam ever 
 faw any Similitude or Appearance to repre- 
 fent God (/&), I fhould rather think, that God 
 was pleafed, by Impreffions, fuch as the Ear 
 ufually conveys to the Mind, and which God 
 undoubtedly can caufe to arife in us, as lively 
 as he pleafes, as well without their adually 
 coming thro' the Ear, as if they did come 
 
 (r) Daniel viii. 19—26. [d) Job iv. 13, 15, 16. [e) Gen. 
 XV. 12 — 16. (f) Numbers xxiv. 16. \g\ Job ubi fup, 
 
 {h) We read of no divine Appearance to any one before the 
 ^/s oi Abraham. See Connect. Vol. il. p. 396. 
 
50 The C R E A T i,o N and 
 
 thro' it, to caufe Adam to perceive the fame, 
 as if awake he had heard that Voice, in which 
 God had before fpoken to him, commanding 
 a Rib^ a Bone to be taken out of him, and 
 i^tn that it was done; bidding the FleJI: be 
 clofed up tjijlead thereof (/), and it was fo ; 
 faying, Let the Woman be made hereof, and 
 fhe was created : Upon Adam'% awaking, he 
 found in Fad:, what in his Sleep had been, 
 fliewed to him : The Woman, fuch in reality 
 as he had before apprehended her, was brought 
 to him, /. e. was prefent before him : And he 
 now ufing the Power of naming Things, the 
 Exercife of which was upon his Mind, as he 
 had juft began to pradlife it, before he fell 
 afleep -, having had a clear Perception of what 
 had been tranfadled, faid naturally of this new 
 Creature : ^his is now Bone of my Bone, and 
 Fkp of my Flep : pe fi:all be called IVomaji, 
 becaufe jlde was taken out of Man {k) : But I 
 conceive here Adam ended : For he in no wife 
 added the Words which follow, Therefo?^eJhall 
 a Man leave Father a7td Mother y and fiall 
 cleave unto his V/ife^ and they foall be ojie 
 Flfflj {I) : For Adam could not yet fay what 
 it w;is to be a Father or a Mother^ and there- 
 
 (/) Gen.ii. 21—23. [k) Vcr. 23. (/) Ver. 24. 
 
 fore 
 
Fall^Man. ^t 
 
 fore could draw no Conclufion concerning 
 them. Mo/es indeed records thefe Words as 
 now fpoken, but he does not fay that ^dam 
 fpake them : And our Saviour has told us, 
 that not Adanjy but God himfelf faid this to 
 them : It was he which made theniy that faid. 
 For this Caufe fiall a Man leave Father and 
 Mother y and Jhall cleave to his Wife^ and they 
 twain fiall be one Flejh (m). 
 
 The laft Tranfadion of this firft Day of 
 Adam's Life was, that after the Woman was 
 created, God blefled them both, and faid un- 
 to them what we read in the 28th, 29th, and 
 30th Verfes of the firft Chapter of Genefis"^ 
 the Particulars of which may be fufficiently 
 confidered, if I take a general Review of the 
 Things concerning Adam faid and done in this 
 Day. 
 
 One of Dr. Burnefs Objedllons to the Hi- 
 ftory of Mofes is, that it heaps together too 
 many Things for the Space of Time allotted 
 to them {n) : And indeed this Writer has en- 
 deavoured to run together a Multiplicity of 
 Incidents, and to crowd them all into this 
 One Day, in order to reprefent it to have 
 
 [m] Mat. xix. 4, 5, («) Quantillo Tempore hsec omnia per- 
 
 afta narrantur ! Quot autem, et quanta congerenda funt 
 
 in huncunum Diem I Burnet. Archseol, p. 294. 
 
 E 2 been 
 
5 2 77)e Creation a^d 
 
 been a Day of great Hurry and Confufion, ra- 
 ther than fuch as the Day ought to have been, 
 on a cool and deliberate Senfe of which, and 
 a Condudl according to it, depended the Life 
 or Death ; we might fay, if there had been 
 no further Purpofe in the deep Counfel of 
 God for us, depended the Whole of Man : But 
 if we carefully examinCj and diftinguifli what 
 are the Fa6ts which Mofes afcribes to this One 
 Day, and what are not, and in what Manner 
 he defcribes them, we fhall fee Reafon widely 
 to differ from this Writer. God breathed into 
 Adam the Breath of Lfey and caufed him to 
 become a Living Soul {o) ; but Mofes in no 
 wife defcribes Adam as foon as he began to 
 think, to abound inftantly in a Variety of 
 Conceptions concerning his own Nature, con- 
 cerning the Deity ; or of the Works of God, 
 and of the Fabric of the World [f] : Had 
 Msfes brought forth Adafn expatiating in fuch 
 an unbounded Wild of fudden and indi- 
 gefted Apprehenfions, there would have been 
 Reafon lo confider whether the human Mind 
 would not have hence fallen into great Con- 
 
 {6) Gen. ii. 7. (/) We may fee a large Field of Imagina- 
 tions of this Kind molt beautifully coloured, but in Fail and 
 the Reafon of the Th-ing mere Fancy and Romance ia Milton, 
 Par. Loft. B. VIII. 
 
 fufions. 
 
fufions. But there is a Propriety in the Manner 
 in which Mofes brings Adam into the World : 
 He does not tell us, that in Order to take his 
 firft Sight of Things, God fet him upon an 
 Hill, to look around him over the Creation ; 
 but God put him into a Garden, where a few 
 plain and eafy Objedls furrounded and con- 
 fined his firft Views from taking in a Variety, 
 that would have been too much for him. A 
 bounded Shade of Trees was a Scene, that 
 neither fatigued his Eye, nor gave a Multi- 
 plicity of Conceptions to his Mind : In this 
 filent Cover from the many Things there were 
 in the World, he hears the Voice of God, 
 and feels himfelf to know what was faid to 
 him. 
 
 And the Words now fpoken to him, were 
 not fuch as called him into the midft of 
 Things to load him with a Multitude of Sen- 
 timents, either of God, of himfelf, or of 
 what was in the World -y or concerning what 
 were to be the moral and relative Duties of 
 his Life j but the Voice of God, as yet, fpake 
 to him only of the plain Objedls then viiibly 
 before him ; called the lofty Plants which he 
 faw, the Trees of the Garden > told him, that 
 he might eat of all of them except one ; but 
 commanded him not to eat of that one ; for 
 E 3 that 
 
54 7^^ Creation and 
 
 that if he did eat of it, he QcvoxiXdi furely die (g) : 
 And it is remarkable of that one Tree, that it 
 was fo diftingaifhed from all others by its Si- 
 tuation (r), ,that it could not but at Sight be 
 thereby known in order to be avoided, before 
 he had Time to make Obfervations, to fee 
 wherein one Tree differed from another. 
 
 May we add, that Aiam heard the Voice 
 of God declare, that // was not good, that he 
 fliould le alone ', but that an Help, which 
 fhould be his Likenefs fhould be made for 
 him {$) ? Take thefe Words to have fpoken 
 to him, not all the enlarged Notions of the 
 Wants and Imperfections of folitary Life (/)., 
 nor the Variety of the Comforts of focial 
 Happinefs, the Ideas of which could not 
 
 {q) Gen. ii. i6, 17. [r] It does not feem to me determined, 
 tliat the Tree of Life flood alfo in the Midft of the Garden : 
 Enje feems rather to hint that the forbidden Tree flood fingle 
 and alone in that Situation, Gen. iii. 3. Our 9th Verfe of the 
 fecond Chapter might be pointed and tranflated thus : And out 
 cf the Ground made the herd God to gronv e^ery Tree that is plea-' 
 fant tQ the Sight ^ and good for Food, and the Tree of Life : In th^ 
 midft of the Garden alfo ' the Tree of Kno<wledge of Good and Enjil, 
 And thus this Verfe would agree exactly with what E've fai4 
 in the next Chapter, {s) Gen. ii. 18. Vide qu^ fup. (/) Mil- 
 ton fuppofes Adam wor(^:rfully able to expatiate upon the Un- 
 happinefs of Solitude, the Benefits of equal Society ; to fay 
 why God might, but Man could not comfortably be alone. The 
 Rcprefentation he draws is mofl delightfully poetical : But we 
 can in no wife think confiderately, that Adam could as yet have 
 Thoughts like thefe upon the Subjeft. Milton Par. Loft. B. 8. 
 
 begin 
 
Fa'll of Man. 55 
 
 begin and increafe in him, fooner or farther, 
 than a Knowledge and Experience of Life 
 raifed and improved them; but fuppofing the 
 Words to fuggeft to him no more, than that 
 another Perfon Hke him fliould be made to 
 be with him, and that it was good for him to 
 have it fo : (a Point, which perhaps if God 
 had not told him, he would as yet not have 
 thought of); nothing herein was propofed to 
 him fo complex, as that his firft Thoughts 
 could be in any Confufion about it. 
 
 The next Incident may indeed feem an Em- 
 baralTment, if we imagine it to have been 
 tranfadted as it is commonly conceived : But 
 this, I think, I have already obviated : There 
 was no AiTemblage of the living Creatures of 
 the World for Adarn to name them, nor could 
 he at any one Time make a Survey of them : 
 It would have been a Work too large for him : 
 But obferving, that tho' Adam had heard the 
 Voice of God, yet he had not as yet made any 
 one Word of his own for himfelf, we may 
 allow, that the Fadl of his naming the Crea- 
 tures, as Mofes truly ftates it, fhews us very 
 naturally how the Man, having been enabled 
 to underftand the Words that God had fpoken 
 to him, was introduced to begin and exercife 
 himfelf to tnake further Words for the Occa- 
 
 E 4 fioi^is 
 
56 ^e Creation and 
 
 fions of his Life : The naming one Creature 
 taught him how he might name another ^ and 
 the making Names for the Creatures gradu- 
 ally apprifed him how he had it in his Power 
 to name and to fpeak of all Kinds of Things, 
 for him and Kve to begin and improve a con- 
 verlible Life : For it was in this eafy and na- 
 tural manner that, to ufe the Words of the 
 Author of the Book of Wifdom^ it was granted 
 to them, to fpeak as they would of the T'hings 
 that were given them («)• 
 
 Before jidam had proceeded far in naming 
 the Creatures, it pleafed God to caufe him to 
 fall into a deep Sleep [x)y wherein no Sen- 
 fations from without gave him any Interrup- 
 tion, but he had a clear and difimplicated Per- 
 ception of the Manner in which Eve was 
 taken out of him, and therein learned to name 
 fome Parts of his own Body, a Rib, a Bone, 
 his Flefh, and from what he had perceived 
 concerning her Origin, to name the Woman 
 alfo according to it. And, 
 
 After he had received the Perfon made for 
 him, and given her a Name reconfidering her 
 Extradl, He that made them both, faid unto 
 them (y) 5 the Voice of God fpake, what he 
 
 \u) Wifdom. vii. 15. (a-) Gen. ii. 2 1 . ^^ Videqugefup, 
 
 intended 
 
Fall of Maw. t^n 
 
 intended fliould be the ftridl and indlflbluble 
 Union of Man and Wife in their Lives. Re- 
 lations of Life were indeed here fuggefted, of 
 which Adam and E've as yet could not have 
 any Judgment; for it feems to appear that 
 Ada7n as yet did not know that Eve was to be 
 a Mother, or himfelf a Father ; it being ob- 
 ferved, that as foon as he knew fhe was to be 
 the Mother of all Livings he gave her a Name 
 accordingly, and thereupon called her Name 
 Eve {z) : But this was not until after the Fall, 
 and after the Sentence of God pafTed upon 
 them [a) : However, it may be apprehended, 
 that what God here faid muft flrike their 
 Minds, charged as yet with but few Things, 
 and be fo remembred by them, as that when 
 afterwards they came to be a Father and a 
 Mother, and in Time had Children grown up 
 to be Hufbands and Wives, they might con- 
 fider and infl;ru(S them, what in the Begin- 
 ning had been faid unto them, and how ac- 
 cording to God's original Defignation and Com- 
 mandment, Man and Wife were infeparably to 
 live together in the World. 
 
 Before the Clofe of this their firft Day God 
 blejfed them^ and faid unto them^ Be fruitful^ 
 
 (ss) Cer. iii. 20. {a) Ibid. 
 
 and 
 
.^8 The Creation and 
 
 and multiply^ and replenifi the Earth, andjuh" 
 due it, and have DGniinion over the Fijh of the 
 Sea, and over the Fowl of the Air, and over 
 every living Thing that moveth upon the 
 ^arth — {b). It does not feem that they had, 
 I rather think I may affirm, that our firft 
 Parents as yet had not looked beyond their 
 Garden : They had not feen the Compafs of 
 the World, nor took Account of the Numbers 
 of the Creatures that were therein : They had 
 not been on the Sea Shores ; neither could 
 they know the Inhabitants of the Floods, 
 whofe Paths are in the Waters; fo that it 
 would be unnatural and abfurd to think of the 
 Words now fpoken to them, that they were 
 any further underftood by them, than to give 
 them a general Expedation of feeing and be- 
 coming acquainted with a various and exten- 
 five Scene of Things far beyond what was as 
 yet beheld by, or known to them. Their 
 Garden was the Inclofure that at prefent fur- 
 rounded them : But they were now informed^ 
 that there v/as a whole World to be opened 
 to them ; that they fhould find innumerable 
 Hving Creatures on the Land, in the Seas, and 
 in the Air -, and that they themfelves (hould 
 
 {h) Gen. i. 28, ^c, 
 
 li 
 
be fruitful and multiply^ fliould replenijh the 
 Eaj'th, andfubdue it^ and have JDommion over^ 
 and be, as it were. Proprietors of all the liv- 
 ing Creatures that were created 5 that there 
 was a Suftenance provided for all Things liv- 
 ing, in the Fruits of the Ground 5 for that they 
 were all given without Exception or Reftraint, 
 the one Limitation only obferved, of one Tree 
 In the Garden, of which Adam and Eve were 
 not to eat {c). Thefe were the Intimations 
 now given them ; but they were in no wife in- 
 flrucSed by them to know the Things fpoken 
 of, as fully as Day after Day more and more 
 led them to underftand them: Rather, what 
 God now fpake to them had only this general 
 EiFedl^ it fo prepared them, that as the World 
 opened to them, nothing in it was fo abfo- 
 lutely unexpeded as to furprife and confound 
 them; for remembring what had been faid 
 to them, they might, as new things prefented 
 themfelves, gradually proceed to name them 
 and dlRinguifh them, and daily grow acquaint- 
 ed with them, to confider how they could ufe 
 their Power over them to make them ufeful or 
 agreeable to them. 
 
 I fliould add further; that how much foever 
 
 (f) Gen. i. quae fup. 
 
 of 
 
6o iToe Creation and 
 
 of thefe Things was told them, it appears to 
 have been provided for them, that they fhould 
 not hurry too faft to look into, and after the 
 many Things in the World; for the Day 
 cnfaing was to be a Sabbath (^), a Day of 
 Red, to be fet apart to recolledt and confider 
 all that had been faid and fhewed to them ; 
 that before they proceeded, they might have 
 all the Inftru(ftion which a repeated Review of 
 it could give them, diftindt upon their Hearts : 
 And when the Sabbath was over, they were 
 not inftantly at Liberty to wander at large over 
 the Earth ; for their iirft Bufinefs was in their 
 Garden : God had herein given them Em- 
 ployment : They were to drefs it^ and to keep 
 it (<?) : Their Duty here, if attended to, would 
 fo far confine them, that the World would not 
 break in upon them, nor they go into the 
 World fafter or farther than they might become 
 gradually able to receive and digeft the Know- 
 ledge of Things that would arife from it : In 
 this Manner Mofes reprefents God to have 
 given our firft Parents the Beginnings of their 
 lives: And whoever will duly examine the 
 Sentiments which he fets before us upon this 
 Sahjed, and compare them with what other 
 
 (rf'j Gen. ii. 2.. [e] V'er. 15, 
 
 Writers 
 
Fall^Man. 6i 
 
 Writers have fancied and reprefented ; of all 
 whom we fliall find none fo hkely to capti- 
 vate us as our MiltoJi (f) — : I fay, who- 
 ever will compare Mofes with other Writers 
 upon this Subjedl will find, that he deeply 
 entred into the real Nature of Man : and wiii 
 be brought to fay of him above all others, 
 
 ^anto redlius hie 
 
 nil molitiir inepte. Hor* 
 
 His Account fpeaks itfelf to be Fadl, and not 
 Fable : And however our firft Thoughts may 
 not go to the Bottom of what he has written, a 
 careful Examination of it will iliew us, that 
 they who have thought it Fable, have not taken 
 Pains truly to underftand it. I have only to 
 obferve, before I clofe this Chapter, that from 
 what has been faid we may reafonably con- 
 ceive, that our firft Parents were not hurried 
 into any Scene, of either Things or Sentiments, 
 larger or fooner than they could be able to 
 form, as they fliould want them, all fucli 
 Words as the Incidents of their Lives would 
 call for, over and bcfides thofe which God al- 
 ready had, or did afterwards fpeak to them, 
 
 (f) Paradife Loll. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
62 The Creation and 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 An Inquiry^ what we may reafonahty think to 
 have been at this Time^ the aBual State of 
 AdamV Knowledge. 
 
 ]l ^ O S T Writers who have treated of the 
 •^ Fall, give us Accounts of what they 
 think the primitive State of AdanC^ and E'Ud'^s 
 Knowledge before they committed Sin : Bat 
 their Sentiments, however they may feem in- 
 genious, are no better than groundlefs Imagi- 
 nations. Our Englip Poet reprefents Adam^ 
 as foon as he was created, not only to fee 
 Things as they came before him, but inftantly 
 to know their Natures, by God's giving him 
 an immediate Apprehenfion of them : Intro- 
 ducing ^J.-j//^ relating how he named the Crea- 
 tures ^ fuppofing the Hypothfjis to have been 
 Fa6l", that God caufed an AlTemblage of the 
 whole Animal World, to fee what Adam 
 would name every Creature of it, he makes 
 Adam fay of himfelf, 
 
 I nam" d them as theypafs^d^ and underftood 
 ^heir Natures^ with fuch Knowledge God endu'd 
 My fudden Apprehenfion. {k) 
 
 [k) Milton's Paradife Loft, Bock YIII. 352. 
 
 That 
 
F ALL of M A N. 6^ 
 
 That God could, if he had pleafed, Jkave thus 
 endowed Adamy can be no Queftion : But 
 that God did not, is plain ; for nothing can 
 be more evident, than that neither Eve nor 
 Adam had in Fadl this Knowledge : They 
 feem both to have been together when the 
 Serpent fpake to Eve (/) : But neither of them 
 appear to have been furprized at hearing a 
 Serpent fpeak in Mans Voice : The Obferva^ 
 tion they hereupon feem to have made was, 
 that the Serpent was mo7^e fiibtil than ajiy Bcali 
 of the Field {ni) : They had heard no other 
 Creature thus fpeak, and therefore apprehend- 
 ed the Serpent to have higher Endowments 
 than other Animals : But we have no Hint 
 which reprefents either of them to have been 
 at all aware that the Serpent was not by Na- 
 
 (^ The fuppofing E-ve to have gone forth to work feparate 
 from Adam on the Morning that the Temptation befel her, 
 is an ingenious Fidlion of our Poet's, which gave him Room 
 to introduce an Epifode as beautiful, and well ornamented in all 
 its Incidents, as human Imagination could contrive or can con- 
 ceive. See Milton s Paradife Loji, Book IX. But I do not fee 
 that the Text of Mofes appears to countenance it : Mofes fays, 
 that Enje, 
 
 nop niD^>^V Di jnni VDis^ni v^^o npni 
 
 fecum viro etiam et dedit et edit de frudu ejus et cepit 
 
 et edit 
 
 That Jhe took of the Fmit and did eat, and ga^ve alfo to her Hus' 
 handy who was with her, and he did eat. [tn] Gen.iii. i. 
 
 turc 
 
64 7^^ Creation and 
 
 ture as converfible as themfelves (n) 5 a plain 
 Indication, that they had no fuch Knowledge 
 of the Animal World as Milton fuppofes. 
 Milton varioufly imagines Adam to have had 
 this innate fudden Apprehenfion to guide him 
 aright to judge of all Things ; of the Nature 
 of God {0) ; of the Nature of Man (/) ; in a 
 Word, of every Thing knowable, within the 
 Reach of the human Capacity : And in Truth, 
 this feems to be the general Opinion of 
 Writers : They fpeak of Adam that he was 
 created a Philofopher ; had implanted in him 
 a natural Fund of all Science, inftantly in- 
 forming him of the true Natures of Things, 
 whenfoever any Sight of them came before 
 his Eyes, or any Occafion was given him to 
 have Thoughts of them in his Mind; that 
 he had innate Sentiments of all moral Duties j 
 
 («) Milton, Book IX. fuppofes Enje to have been much fur- 
 J)rized at hearing the Serpent fpeak, and reprefents her to aflc, 
 how he came by that Ability, and him to anfwer, that he was 
 raifed to that Attainment by eating of the Fruit of the forbid- 
 den Tree, and that fhe hence argued, that if the dumb Animal 
 was fo heightned beyond his natural Abilities by eating of this 
 Fruit, well might fhe and Adam hope to be as God, if they eat 
 of it : But however agreeable this Fidtion is in the Manner the 
 Poet has moft elegantly painted it, yet it can be but an elegant 
 Fidion. Mofes fuggefts nothing like it, nor is it likely that God 
 would have permitted what might have given a more than or- 
 dinary Appearance and Strength to the Temptation, See here- 
 after. (0) Book VIII. 357— 413, &c. (/>) Ibid, 
 
 that 
 
Fall^Man. 65 
 
 that before the Fall he was ignorant of no- 
 thing but of Sin : But the Hiftory of Mofcs 
 fets before us plain Facfls flatly contradiding 
 all thefe Aflertions, If Adam had a true and 
 innate Knowledge and Apprehenfion of the 
 Nature of God, how could he have been fo 
 ignorant of hirri with whom he had to do, as to 
 think himy^^c^ a?i one, that the getting behind 
 the Cover of a few Trees, would hide him from 
 his Prefence [q) ? or if he philofophically knew 
 himfelf, had full and innate Apprehenfions of 
 the Ufe and Light of his own Reafon, and of 
 all that could come within the Reach of it, 
 what Room could there be for the Serpent fri- 
 voloufly to offer to open further either his 
 Eyes or his Underflanding ? Rationally judg- 
 ing, and having a right Judgment of every 
 Thing that came before, either his Outward 
 Perception, or his Inward Refledion, the Ser- 
 pent's Temptation muft have appeared intui- 
 tively abfurd to him ; he would both have 
 felt himfelf not to want fuch Additions as the 
 Serpent fuggefted, and have had a better 
 Thought of Things, than to be capable of 
 imagining, that the Improvements propofed 
 to him could arife from doing what the Ser- 
 
 [q] Gen. iii. 8. 
 
 F pent 
 
66 The Creation and 
 
 pent recommended : We may therefore, If 
 we will write at Random, lay high Things of 
 Adajn and Eve*^ natural and philofophical 
 Knowledge; but we can never make them 
 appear to have had as yet much Science, if in 
 Fad: they knew Things no better than to be 
 capable of thinking, that a Serpent might na- 
 turally be able to fpeak to them, or of grofsly 
 believing, that Meat for the Body might be 
 Food for the Underftanding ; that the Fruit 
 of a Tree which they faw growing in their 
 Garden, could be a Thing to be defired to eat 
 to make one wife (r) ; a Sentiment not to be 
 digefted by any one that has, and confe- 
 quently muft fpeak our iSrft Parents as yet 
 not to have attained Advances of real Know- 
 ledge. 
 
 Ada?n, as foon as he received the Breath of 
 Life, became a living Soul [s) : But he had a 
 Body made of the Ground (/), and his Soul 
 was, as cur Souls are, fhut up within the In- 
 clofure of this Tabernacle : In this State, the 
 Things without him, the m.aterial Objeds of 
 this World, could raife in him no IdeaSy but 
 as Senfations of them were conveyed to him 
 
 (r) Gen. iii. 6. [s] Gen. ii. 7. {t) Ibid. 
 
 by 
 
Fall of M A n. 67 
 
 by his outward Senfes (u) : And he could na- 
 turally judge of what he thus perceived no 
 farther than c^'6i;^»Gj?rou d^i'ojs tmv Si^^ojjS^jccv (w)^ 
 to think of them fuitably to what was given ^ 
 or prefented to him : And if he looked in- 
 ward upon himfelf, he could forn^ Ideas of his 
 own Mind, only as he made Trial of the Ca- 
 pacity and Powers of it, and thereby carpe to 
 know them : So that Experience only could 
 give him naturally an Increafe of Knowledge. 
 Let us fuppofe him to tqrn his Thoughts frc m 
 himfelf to an higher Objedt ^ to confider Hirri 
 who made him ; 
 
 Say^ — of God above 
 
 What could he reajon^ but from what he knew ? 
 
 Pope (:v). 
 
 He knew of God as yet no more, than what 
 the Words which God had fpoken to him 
 could teach him, or his own few and firft Ob- 
 fervatlons of Things done might lead him to 
 infer. 
 
 (a) This I think muft be allowed as unqueftionable. See 
 Lockis EJfoy 071 Human Vndcrflandijig, B, 2. c. i. unlefs we could 
 imagine Ada7n to have been a Creature originally fumifhed with 
 different Abilities of perceiving the Things without hiiji, other 
 than the fi^ve Operations, or Senfes, which the Author of Ecdc- 
 Jiafiicus reprefents him to have been endued with as we are, 
 Ecclus. xvii. 5. (it) Wifdomvii. 15. (;v) Efiay on 
 
 Man. Ep, 1. 
 
 F 2 There 
 
68 l^he Creation and 
 
 There are indeed fome Texts of Scripture, 
 which, if pot rightly confidered, may lead us 
 into Miftake in this Matter. St. Faul tells us 
 of the GentileSy who had not had the Light 
 of the Law of Mofes^ that they did by Na- 
 ture the Things contained in the Law: not 
 having the Law, they were a Law unto them- 
 felves : which^ he fays, fiew the Work of the 
 Law written in their Hearts^ their Confcience 
 alfo bearing Witnefsy and their Thoughts — ac- 
 cufmgy or elfe excujing one aiiother (y) : Are 
 we now to conclude from hence, that God has 
 adually wrote, as it were, or implanted innate 
 Sentiments of Duty upon the Heart of Man ? 
 I fhould rather apprehend, that a true Eflay 
 of the human Underftanding ; a true Judg- 
 ment of whatever was, or ftill is the Ability 
 of Man will fhew us, that a Capacity of at- 
 taining juft Notions of our Duties, and not 
 an aftual Poffeflion of real Sentiments of them, 
 is the Utmoft of what the firft Man was crea- 
 ted in, or we any of us are born to : And a 
 careful Examination of what is offered by 
 St. Pauly will in no wife lead us to conclude 
 more. The Apoftle elfewhere tells us of the 
 Gentiles he fpake of, that. That which may be 
 
 (j) Rom. ii. 14, 15. 
 
 known 
 
Fa LL (?/* M A n1 69 
 
 known of God was manifejl in them, for that 
 God had Jhewed it unto them (z) : The Que- 
 ftion is, how had God fhewed it ? Had God 
 planted it innate in their Hearts ? This was 
 not the Sentiment of St. Paul : Rather, he tells 
 us, that God had fhewed it unto them ; For or 
 becaufe the invifble Things of Him from the 
 Creation of the IVorld^ are clearly feeny being 
 U7iderJlood by the Things which are made [a) : 
 The Gentile Nations, of whom the Apoftle 
 here and el fe where treats, had fo far read the 
 Volume of the Book of Nature, had fo far 
 either heard of, or known and confidered the 
 Works of God, as to be without Excufe [b)y 
 if the thence apparent Duties of their Natures 
 were not colleded by them : But we fhould be 
 in Fad: miftaken, and err from the Meaning 
 of St. Pauly if we fhould expeft to find im- 
 planted in Mens Hearts real Characters of their 
 Duties further than the Book of Nature has 
 been read and confidered by them ; or they 
 have attained a Knowledge of them, more or 
 lefs perfecft, as they have happened to hear of, 
 and be inflruded from fome of the Revela- 
 tions which God has made to the World: 
 And confequently fpeaking rationally of Adam, 
 
 {z) Rom. i. 19. («) Ver. 20. {b) Ibid. 
 
 F 3 whilft 
 
yo -7^^ C R E A 'T I o N and 
 
 whilft he had as yet heard and (c^w but a 
 very few of God's Works, and thofe few had 
 not been fo repeatedly examined by him, and 
 compared with Things that in Time followed, 
 as to give him a various Trial, and an en- 
 larged and corredled Judgment 3 he cannot be 
 thought to have attained a great Extent of 
 any Kind of Knowledge : All natural Science 
 has grown amongft Men, as Obfervation has 
 gradually increafed it : And therefore to fay of 
 Ada?72, that as foon as he lift up his Eyes, af- 
 ter he was created, and faw the Sun and 
 Moon and Stars, which gave Light upon the 
 Earth, he inftantaneoufly knew that thefe 
 Lights of Heaven were to be for SigJis a?id 
 Jor Scnfo?2s, for Days and for Tears (<:), is to 
 talk very irrationally : Pie cannot be fuppofed 
 to have known, before his firfl Evening fliewed 
 it, that the Sun was to have a going down ; 
 nor can we imagine that the next Morning told 
 him of the rifing Day, what would have 
 enabled him to have faid with the Poet, 
 
 , aliufqiie et idem 
 
 Nafceris, Hor. 
 
 He could not have told, whether the rifing 
 
 (;?) Gen.i. 14. 
 
 Sun 
 
Fall^Man. 71 
 
 Sun of his fecond Day was a new One, or the 
 fame v/hich had the Day before fhone upon 
 him. In Time he formed a better Judgment 
 of thefe and other Appearances : But as Ages 
 pafled, many of them abounding in all Kinds 
 of learned Difquifitions, before it was appre- 
 hended that the Sun did not move round the 
 Earth, it mud be a wild Notion to think, 
 that in the Beginning of the World our iirft 
 Father was poffeffed of an innate AJironomy : 
 All Notions of his innate Knowledge of the 
 Nature of the Animals, muft, if thus con- 
 fidered, fall likewife to the Ground : He 
 could know nothing of them until he ob- 
 ferved them : And then, nothing farther than 
 what he obferved, or concluded from Obferva- 
 tions made of them. And, of God, he knew 
 that he had received an audible Injundlion not 
 to eat of 07ie Tree : And he had heard from 
 the fame Voice other Particulars : And in the 
 Formation of Eve, he had had a fenfible 
 Convi6lion, that he that fpake to him had 
 great Power to make or create, and confe- 
 quently to deftroy : And he hence, as foon as 
 he had difobeyed him, reafoned, that he might 
 juftly be afraid : He ijoas afraid, and hid him- 
 felf {d) : But having had nothing yet told or 
 
 {d) Gen. iii. 10. 
 
 F 4 {hewed 
 
7 2 l})e Creation and 
 
 fliewed him, whereby he might confider the 
 Omniprefence of God, the Imperfeftion of his 
 own Sight led him to imagine he might get 
 out of God's Sight, if he hid himfelf behind 
 the Cover of a few Trees : Of Himfelf he 
 had experienced, that he faw, and heard, and 
 felt and lived ; that he tafted the Food he was 
 to eat ; that it revived his Spirits, and 
 jlrengthened his Heart (^) : And tho' I cannot 
 but think that he had a clear Intelledl to rea- 
 fon and conclude of Things as far, tho' no 
 farther, than they appeared to him, or he had 
 Experience of them; yet hitherto he could 
 have made no Advance of Knowledge, that 
 could fhew him whether there were or were 
 not Juices in the Fruit of a particular Tree, 
 which might literally cheer both God and Man 
 (f) ; give frefli Life and Spirits to the Body, 
 and to the Mind Wifdom and Underftanding 
 alfo: And therefore he did not hereupon 
 know enough to argue and refute the Falfe- 
 hood which the Imagination of Eve feems to 
 have propofed (g)^ that the Tree was to be 
 dejired to make one "wife. 
 
 It will, I am fenfible, be here faid by fome, 
 that they do not aflert Adam and Eve to have 
 
 [e] Pfal. civ. 15. (f) Judges ix. 15. (g) Gen. iii. 6. 
 
 had 
 
Fall^Man. yj 
 
 had innate any adlual Knowledge : But that 
 they apprehend Both our iiril Parents to have 
 been created with fuch Powers of Capacity, 
 that they would naturally form juft and true 
 Notions of Things, as they came under their 
 Infpecftion and Obfervation ; fo as not really to 
 want any further Inftrudlion concerning any 
 Thing which they ought or could be obliged 
 to know, than what might naturally arife to 
 them from their own Senfes and Underftand- 
 ing. Our modern Ratmialijis think, that they 
 cannot only fupport this Notion from Reafon, 
 but that they can bring Scripture alfo to con- 
 firm it. They argue, that " Mofes fays, that 
 *' God created Man in his own Image (Jj)^ and 
 *^ that Solomon tells us, that God jnade Man 
 " upright (/) ; the Meaning of both which 
 *' Expreffions taken together imports, theyfa)\ 
 *' that Man was endued with rational moral 
 " Faculties, refembling the moral Perfections 
 " of his Creator ; was made perfect in his 
 *^ Kind, capable to know and fulfil the Du- 
 " ties, and attain the End of his Creation, by 
 " a right Ufe of his rational Faculties, which 
 *' were given him to be the Guide and Rule 
 " of his Life and Ad:ions : And therefore that 
 
 {h) Gen.i. 17. (>) Ecclef. vii. 29. 
 
 " the 
 
74- ^^ Creation and 
 
 ** the Reafon which God gave, muft have 
 •' been fafficient to direct him to thofe Duties 
 ** which God required of him, and to con- 
 " dudl him to that Happinefs, which is the 
 '^ niitural Effed:, or by God's Will the ap- 
 *' pointed Reward of the Performance of it.'* 
 
 The Writer, from whom I have cited thefe 
 Words, did, I dare fay, conceive himfelf to 
 have guarded his Expreffions, in a Manner 
 liable to no Exception : But he has, I think, 
 the Misfortune common to thefe Writers, not 
 ' to hit the lead Tittle of the Meaning of the 
 Texts cited by them. 
 
 God^ he fays from Mofes, created Man in 
 hii oi.mi Image. It cannot, I think, be dif- 
 puted, but that in a moft obvious Senfe of the 
 Vv^ords, Man's being created in the Image of 
 God, may refer to the Make of his Body, 
 and intimate, that he was formed not after the 
 Fafliion of any other of the living Creatures, 
 but was made in a Pattern higher than they : a 
 more excellent Form than theirs was given to 
 him, 
 
 Pronaque cum fpe5fant animalia est era Terras^ 
 Os homini fiihlime dedit^ coslumque tueri 
 Jujjit^ et credos adfidera tollere vultus. Ov. Met. {k) 
 
 It 
 
 [k] In like manner the Ro77ia7t Philofopher : Figurajn Corporis 
 hahilcfis £t aft am Ingenio buniano dsdit : Nam cum ceeteros anmiantcis 
 
 ahjecijfet 
 
Fall<9/*Man- yc 
 
 It IS an Expreilion not unfrequent in the 
 Hedrew-ScviptmcSy to fay of Things, that 
 they are of God, if they are in Quality emi- 
 nent above others, which have no more 
 than common Perfedions : In this Manner 
 of fpeaking, Trees of a prodigious Grov^th 
 are called Trei^s of God^ or the Trees of the 
 Lord : Such were the Cedars of Lebanon -^ io 
 greatly fiouriihing and fidl of Sap, as to be 
 for that Reafon called the Trees of the Lordy 
 Trees isohich he had planted (/) : And thus Man 
 might be faid to be made in the Image of 
 God : His outward Form was of a different 
 Make; far more refpedlable, fuperior to the 
 Make of all other Creatures of the World, 
 and accordingly to fpeak fuitably of it, the 
 Expreffion is ufed, which in the Language of 
 Mofes Times was commonly faid of any Thing, 
 that was fo fuperlatively excellent as to have 
 nothing like to, or to be compared with it: 
 No Image of any Thing in the World was 
 equal to, or like that of Man ; and therefore 
 Man was faid to be created in the Image of God. 
 
 abjecijjet ad Pajlumy folum Hominem erexit, ad ceeliqiie — — - 
 
 conf pedum excita<vit : turn fpeciem ita formwuit oris, ut in ed peni- 
 tus reconditos Mores affingeret : Nam et Oculi nimis arguti, quern- 
 admodum animi affediiJimuSi loquuntury et is, qui appellatur Vul- 
 tusy qui nulla in Animante ejfe prater Hominem potefl, indicat 
 Mores. Cic. de Legib. 1. i. (/j Pfal. civ, i6. 
 
y 6 The Creation and 
 
 I would obferve, that St. Paut appears to 
 confirm to us, that the Expreffion of Mojes 
 may carry this Meaning: A Man^ he fays, 
 ought not to cover his Hcad^ forafmuch as he is 
 the Image and Glory of God: But the Woman 
 is the Glory of the Man [ni) : The Apoftle is 
 here inquiring, not into the Dignity of the 
 Mind or Soul of the Man or the Woman, 
 but confidering what ought to be the outward 
 Appearance or Drefs of their Perfons : And 
 be would not have the Man's Head covered, 
 becaufe the Man was the Image of God: His 
 Form was original, not the Copy of another ; 
 and therefore to exprefs its original Superiority 
 above all others, is faid to be of God: But 
 the Woman herein was inferior ; (he was made 
 after the Likenefs and Similitude of Man : 
 She therefore, in the Sentiment of the Apoftle, 
 ought to wear a Covering upon her Head, in 
 Acknowledgment of her not htm^fua Formce^ 
 the original Pattern of the Make ihe was of; 
 ihe was herein inferior to the Man (;;), in that 
 the Glory or Dignity of her Make was his ; 
 
 [m) 1 Cor. vii. [n) I fhould here obferve, that in the an- 
 cient Times, contrary to our modern Cuftoms, the having the 
 Head free, or without the Incumbrance of being covered, was 
 a Mark of Dignity and Superiority ; and on the contrary, to 
 wear a Covering on the Head was a Token of Inferiority and 
 Subjeftion. 
 
 fhe 
 
Fa LL ^ M A N. 77 
 
 Ihe was the Glory of the Man^ the high Excel- 
 lence of her Make was but a Copy of what he 
 the Man was made in before her. 
 
 But the Words of Mofes bear alfo a further 
 Senfe, and yet not that which the Writer I 
 have cited would put upon them. God created 
 Man to be irnmortal^ and made him an Image 
 of his own Eternity [o) : Herein a great origi- 
 nal Difference may appear to have been in- 
 tended between the Spirit of Man that goetb 
 upward y ajid the Spirit of the Beajl that goetb 
 downward (p) : And that Mofes had in View 
 this Particular, when he faid of Man, that he 
 was created iji the Image of God, feems agree- 
 able to the Reafon given for the early Law 
 pronounced againft Murder : Wkcfo feddeth 
 Man's Blood, by Man f: all his Blood be fed -^ 
 for in the Image of God made he Man {q) i 
 God fo made Man to be immortal, that it is 
 an high Infult and Violence againft the Defign 
 of God's Creation, to put an End by Murder 
 to the Life of Man : And therefore y?/r^/)», at 
 the Hand of every Mans Brother will God re^ 
 quire the Life of Man (r) : And this explains 
 our Saviour's calling the Devil a Murderer 
 
 {o) Wifdora ii, 23, (p) Ecclef. iii, 21. i^^) Gen. ix. 6. 
 (r) Ver. J. 
 
 from 
 
78 ^e Creation and 
 
 from the Beginning [s) ; a Murderer ^ he had 
 acflcd contrary to the Defign of God concern- 
 ing the Life of Man, in that when God had 
 created Man in his own Image , to be an 
 Image of his own Eternity ; to be immortal : 
 Neverthelefs^ thro' Envy of the Devi/, Death 
 came into the World [t). 
 
 Thus if we explain the Text of Mofes^ 
 without going beyond what was the intended 
 Meaning of it, we fliall find, that this Text 
 fays no more, than that Man was originally 
 ^made to be of a more excellent Form than all 
 other Creatures, and that he was made to be 
 immortal ; had not, what God did not make 
 for Man (^), Death thro' Sin come into the 
 World (x) : But there is fo little Foundatioa 
 to infer from this Text, that Mofes had any 
 Thought to reprefent, that Man was made to 
 refemble his Maker in his Powers of Know- 
 ledge (y)^ that fuch a Thought appears not 
 
 only 
 
 (j) John viii. 44. (/) Wifdomii. 24. («) Wifdom i. 13. 
 (at) Rom. V. 12. (y) If we examine what the Heathen In- 
 quirers argued upon this Subjeft, we fliall find them greatly- 
 more corred than our modern Reafoners. They All indeed, 
 except a more fenfual S ft, Epicurus and his Followers, fee 
 Cic.deNat. Deor. 1. i.e. 18. faw plainly, that Man could in 
 no wife refemble God in his outward For;;^ and F;V«r^: and 
 therefore would have underflood Mo/es's Expreflion of Man's 
 being made in the Image of God, as to Man's outward Form, in 
 no higher Senfe than I have above mentioned ; namely, that 
 Mati was of an extraordinary and fmgular Make, eminent 
 
 above 
 
F ALL of M A N. yg 
 
 only not deducible from this Text, but abfo- 
 lutely a Contradiction to what Mofcs exprcfTes 
 upon the Subjedb : For their Defire to be 
 [ Ce Elohim ] as, or like to God in know^ 
 
 above other Creatures, of a Form appropriated to Man, As 
 to his inward Powers, they faw in them what was far more 
 worthy than his outward Perfon to be compared to God. 7u — 
 f,c habeto n©n esse te mortalem, sed corpus hoc, N^c 
 enim is, quern Fcrma ijla declaraty fed Mens ctijufque is eji ^if- 
 que : Non ea Figura, qua Digito demovjirari potejl : Deum te igi- 
 tur fcito ej/e, Jiquidc?n Deus ejl, qui 'vigct, qui fentit, qui mc minify 
 qui pronjidet, qui tarn regit et mcderatur et fnoi>et id corpus cui pra- 
 pojitus eJi, quam hunc Mundum llle Frinceps Deus. Cic. Somn. Sci- 
 pionis. But however they thus thought in general Terms of ^ 
 Reremblance in Man of the divine Nature, they always, when 
 the Subject called for it, fo explained themfelves,^ as not loofely 
 to afiert, that in Man, motus ife celer Cogitationis, acumen^ fo- 
 I^rtia, quaffi Ratijiem 'vocamus. Cic. de Nat. Deor, Lib. 3. c. 27. 
 the mere Faculty of human Reafon made Man like to God, 
 rather they argued, The Likemfs of Man to God, to arif« from 
 fhis Faculty fo managed and conduced as to poffefs us of Vir- 
 tue. Ad fimilitudinetn Dei proplus accedcbat huma'na Virtus quam 
 Figura. Cic. de Nat. Deor. 1. i. c. 34. And thus Plata, »;i 
 f9iv ajj7a Quo'oretrov zS'iv t) 0; av viy.^v dv yiVTi]Tcfj ore ^i- 
 xa/oTcsT©-* Flat, in The^atet. Thus again, 'O/y.of:?:'^/^ '5-?» 
 
 • — ■ — J^'metiov }^ QuoiQV uiTdt (p^oviWiikx; y^v-.^. Id. Ibid. 
 
 Again, 'O ,ccV cgj^P'^'v yiijl^v ^i$ (pi\^ ciy.oioi jS* fi un 
 (TAxppcou di'Qfxoio? Ti y^ J^ici^Gfj-sr y^ arPiK^. Plat, de Legib. 
 1. 4. We are here to obferve that thefe Ancients, in no wife 
 like our modern Ratioiialifs, crudely afhrm Man to be endov/ed 
 with moral Faculties refembling the moral Perfeclions of his 
 Creator ; but they difiinguifa the Faculties of Man, then only 
 to render us like to God when they are fo conduced as to make 
 us ddiz^avz^t lo truly nvife, as to be rcedly ^uirtuous : They did 
 not determine our lN,ikenef5 to God to confift in our barely hav- 
 ing a Faculty of fi'ee Reafon, but they conhdercd, that v.c 
 could then only be like God when we made ourfelvesy^fy/ and 
 holyy S'lKcfjoi «^ o7iot {JATO. (p^^'-'do-ic-j?, or in other Words, 
 when we attained a right Underfafidi?ig to depart from Iniquity: 
 
 The/ 
 
8o TLe Ckeatjon a^d 
 
 ing {z)y was the Miflake that became our firft 
 Parent's Ruin. 
 
 Let us now fee how the other Text will 
 anfwer the Purpofe deiigned to be ferved by 
 it : God^ faid Solomon^ made Man upright (a) : 
 The Words of Solomoit are, God made the Man 
 YJciJhar\ we might render the Word aright : 
 God implanted in him nothing that was 
 wrong. Adam^ before the Fall, had not in 
 him the evil Inclinations of a corrupt Nature, 
 and the not having thefe was the ReBitude in 
 which he was created. When the Sentence 
 of Death pafled upon him, He, who before 
 was an Image of God's Eternity, was now be- 
 come mortal, his Body became corruptible ; 
 and a corruptible Body preffeth down the Soul [a). 
 
 They obferved the Difference between Reafon and right Reafon : 
 They pointed out an Height of Reafon, which all that are en- 
 dued with may in all Things aft intuitively aright, but this they 
 allowed to be above Man : partus autem Gradus et altijjtmus ejl 
 eorum qui Naturd boni fapientefque gigmintury quibiis a Principio in- 
 nafcitur Ratio reda^ confiavfquey quce fupra hominem putanda eJl, 
 Deoque tribuenda, Cic. lib. 2. c. 13. Herein they ftated the great 
 Difference between the human Nature and divine: They al- 
 lowed God to be the Standard of all Reditude and Truth ; but 
 
 IJLAKKov M -WK T/?, fc^ (p'xah, <tV9p^'T©-, Plato de Leg. Lib. 4. 
 Which one Point, duely confidered, is that Sobriety of know- 
 ing and eftimating ourfclves, which will lead us to admit both 
 the Sentiments I above obferve Mofes to hint to us, and what I 
 endeavour to build upon it. [tc] Gen. ii. 22. [a) Wifd. ix. 15. 
 
 He 
 
Fall^Man. 8i 
 
 He now began to have fcnfual Appetites and 
 Defires, which created him many Inclinations 
 which he had to ftrive againft, if he would 
 Jirhe againjl Sin : He was now fallen into the 
 Imperfedion in which we all labour, 
 
 Fideo meliora proboqucy 
 
 . Deteriorafequor »■ — 
 
 He might now many times fee and approve 
 the Things that are mod excellent, and yet 
 have an Heart that might caufe him often to 
 be fuch as we, the beft of us are, who, as 
 there is no Man upon Earth thatjinneth not {b\ 
 do in many Tubings offend all [c] : But tho' be- 
 fore he became corruptible he had not in him 
 thofe evil Appetites, which are fince grown 
 fo powerful in our Nature, yet it will not fol- 
 low that God originally gave him fuch a Beam 
 of unerring Underftanding, as to place him in 
 Light that would not admit of Miftake and 
 Error. 
 
 Decipimur fpecie Redfi — .~ Hor. 
 
 To this Failure Adam was fubjed in his frji 
 EJiate : And herein it was that he fell from 
 it : Both Eve and He judged what the 
 
 {b) I Kings viii. 46. {c) James iii. 2, 
 
 G Tempter 
 
$2 The Creation and 
 
 Tempter propofed to them to be very right, 
 altho* it was grofsly wrong, and in the Error 
 of their Judgment they went aftray : Their 
 Appetites were not the Strength that prevailed 
 againft them : In their Judgment lay their 
 Weaknefs ; they were mifled, they were de^ 
 ceived. Thus St. Paul fpeaks of their Tranf- 
 greffion, not imputing it to their corrupt In- 
 clinations, but to their erring in their Under- 
 ftanding ; the Serpent beguiled Eve through his 
 Subtlety (d) : The Infinuation of the Tempter 
 became too fubtle for them. Herein there- 
 fore the Writers who ufe the Text of Solomon 
 with the View abovementioned, miftake the 
 true Meaning of Solomon : From Solomon's af- 
 ferting, that God 7nade Man uprighty they 
 would infer, that God gave Adam a Perfedion 
 of adual Underftanding, by which he might 
 without further Direftion have devifed his own 
 Way aright, to complete himfelf in every 
 moral Virtue ; whereas Solomon fays no more, 
 than that God made Man [Ja/har'] ReBus^ 
 1. e. not crooked or perverfe 5 or, as we render 
 it in Englijhy upright^ i. e. not inclified^ or 
 propenfe- to Evil : Solomon fpeaks Adam to have 
 had originally a Reditude of Heart or Incli- 
 
 (</) 2 Cor. xi. g. 
 
 nation : 
 
Fall^Man. 22 
 
 nation : But thefe Writers would infer, that 
 he had a Perfedion of Head, an unerring 
 Judgment, whereas thefe are two very diffe- 
 rent Things : I can apprehend Adam to have 
 had a natural Capacity quick and lively, far 
 greater than we have -, but as he had far lefs 
 Acquaintance with, and Information of the 
 Natures of Things, than even we have had, 
 liis aftual Knowledge at the Time of his be- 
 ing feduced, muft have been lefs than our 
 Knowledge is : And confequently it happened 
 in Faft, that he erred in a Matter, wherein 
 no one of a moderate Share of improved Un- 
 derftanding would have been fo grofsly mif- 
 taken. 
 
 But may we not correal a little the Expref- 
 fions ufed in fetting forth the pretended ra- 
 tional Scheme contended for, and query upon 
 the Subjeft as follows ? Is not the Spirit of 
 Man the Candle of the Lord (f) ? Is there 
 riot a Spirit in Man (f) created with Abilities 
 of Reafoning fuited to his State? Is there 
 not herein a natural Jnfpiration of the Almighty 
 to give Man UnderJ}a?iding (g) as foon as w^e 
 
 grow 
 
 {e) Prov. XX. 27. (f) Job xxxii. 8. (g) Ibid. I think I 
 
 need not here obferve, that the Word p/tDWJ he^'^ "^^d, which 
 
 we tra«flate InffiratiQUi is the Word ufed by Uo/es Gen. ii. 7. to 
 
 G 2 fignify 
 
84 7>5^ Creation and 
 
 grow up to know the Ufe of it ? And if 
 Adam was created not a Child, but a Man ; 
 if he was created upright, having a right 
 Heart not biafled by evil Appetites, muft he 
 not have had all the Powers of a found Miiid? 
 And what can we fay or think he could want 
 more ? Would not Things have gradually ap- 
 peared to him in their true Light ? His Mind 
 not corrupted would have admitted them to 
 have been rationally confidered, and his Know- 
 ledo-e, as it grew and increafed, being fincere 
 and unbiaffed, would have led him in a right 
 Ufe of his Reafon {h) unto true Sentiments of 
 his Duty, as the Relations of Life came to be 
 known by him ; fo as that he might by his 
 own natural Light have gone wifely and vir- 
 tuoufly thro' the World, I might cite many 
 Paffages from the bell and moft virtuous Hea- 
 then Writers, to (hew, that they feem to have 
 fometimes thought the human Ability of this 
 Sort (/) : But I might again cite other Places 
 
 from 
 
 fignify, the Infpiration^ or Breath of Life : And that therefore 
 we may jnllly here take it to mean, not what we Chrijiians call 
 the Grace of God, but rather that original Ability of Mind 
 which God has given unto Man. [h] '?;rtii'jat. rd T(£?? tmc kJTktiv 
 Tatv ayciQcov (jiisiliK^v'Tcf.. S'lA Q^i^,yji(^v v'7r'<t.yQcf.'\.iv Ao^^ 
 TO 'f 4''''>f "^ «^'JTOK.t: tjTor. Hierocles. [i) EJl quidem tvera Lex^ 
 B.£^a RatiCy Natura co7igruens^ <^iff^'fa ?"« omnes, conjiansy fcmpi- 
 terna^ oua vocet ad oficiim jub^ido ', ixtanda a frmde deterreat. 
 
 Cic. 
 
Fall^Man. 85 
 
 from them, which lay a Foundation for not 
 being pofitive in this nice Difquifition (k) : And 
 herein they preferved a Sincerity of Inquiry, 
 far more to be refpe^ted than the arrogant 
 Forwardnefs of our modern Contenders for 
 the Sufficiency of human Reafon : Thefe latter 
 feldom fail to fhew an unwarrantable Difpo- 
 fition to affume, without proving, that God 
 
 Cic. de Rep. Lib. 3. in Fragment. Erat enim Ratio profeBa a 
 Rerum Naturd et ad re SI e faciendum impe liens et a Deli St anjocans. 
 Id. de Leg. Lib. 2. {k) Si tales nos Natura genuijjet^ ut earn ip- 
 fam intueri et perfpicere^ eddemque optima Duce ciirfum 'vit^ confi- 
 cere pojjemus ; haud er at fane quod quifquam Rationcm ac Doclrinam 
 requireret : Nunc parnjulos nobis dedit igniculos quos celeriter malis 
 morihus opinionihufque depri^vati fc refinguimus, ut nufquam natures 
 
 Lumen appareat. Cic. Tuf. Quasft. Lib. 3. in Init. EJi profcilo 
 
 Animi Msdicina Rhilofophia Id. ibid. This able Writer ap- 
 pears to me here to allow, that Men by Nature are not fo made 
 as to look at once to the Bottom and Truth of Things, to fee 
 without further Information, than the prompt Suggeftion of 
 their own Reafonings, the true Relations of Things and the 
 moral Duties of their Lives. Had he known what we do from 
 Mofes^ of the true Origin of Mankind, he would, I dare fay, 
 have allowed, that it might be neceflary for Man, when he firft 
 came into the World, not to be left abfolutely to himfelf, to be 
 guided by the par^vulos igniculos, as he calls them, which God 
 had given him ; he would have confidsred Man, as no: admitted 
 naturam ipfam intueri, but fo far only endowed, as that tho' he 
 had received Rationem a Deo, yet he might make it honamaut 
 non bonam afeipfo. [The Reader may find this Sentiment fug- 
 gefted by one of the Difputants, in Cic. de Nat. Deor. lib. 3.] 
 And therefore he would have rejoiced in the clear Light he 
 would have had, of Man's having all the Rationem et Difcipli- 
 nam, which he fuppofes him to want, from the Diredlions, 
 which over and above his Reafon, God began as foon as 
 Man came into Being, by exprefs Revelation to give unto 
 him. 
 
 G3 
 
 ^ 
 
 ave 
 
8$ Hoe Creation and 
 
 gave no Revelation ; until Men had firfl de- 
 parted from the Guidance of their Reafon, 
 and v^^anted to be brought back, to be told the 
 Ufe and the Light of it. And they haftily 
 conclude, that if human Reafon at firft was ^ 
 not in itfelf a fufficient Guide and Diredtion 
 for Man, it will follow, that God did not 
 fufliciently provide for him. They tell us, 
 *' that God at firft left Men to the Guidance 
 . ** of natural Light, by a due Ufe of Reafon 
 *' to difcover what beft became the Station 
 *' they were placed in, and what Duties were 
 *' incumbent upon them, in the Relation they 
 *' flood to God as their Creator, and to one 
 " another as Fellow-creatures ; expefting no 
 '^ Service fl'om them, but what their own 
 *^ Reafon vt^ould fuggeft, and the very Nature 
 *• and Circumftances of their Being w^ould 
 '^ have recommended—— : '* And they add, 
 that *' God did not interpofe until Man had 
 
 *' herein greatly failed." But all this is 
 
 diredly contrary to what Mofes informs us : 
 According to Mofes^ after Adam was created, 
 before he had had Time to do, I might fay 
 to think, of Good or Evil^ the Voice of 
 God commanded him faying^ Of every "Tree 
 of the Garden thou may eft freely eaty but of 
 the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil^ 
 
 thou 
 
Fall^Man. 87 
 
 thoujhalt not eat of it : For in the Day that 
 thou eateji thereof thoujhalt furely die (/) : A 
 Command was here given, fuch as the Reafon 
 of Man would not have inveftigated, had not 
 the Voice of God appointed it to him : And 
 confequently, a Service or Obfervation was 
 herein expefted from him, other than what 
 his own Reafon would have fuggefted : But 
 thefe Writers will perhaps fay of this particu- 
 lar Command, that it is Allegory and not a 
 Fa5i : Let us then proceed, and we ihall find, 
 that as foon as Eve was created, Adam and 
 fhe were both told, that a Man fhould leave 
 his Father and his Mother^ and fhould cleave 
 unto his Wife^ and that they Jhould be one Flefi: 
 This Command, as Mofes Hates it, was, our 
 Saviour tells us, fpoken to them by the Voice 
 of God : Herein then there is no Allegory 5 
 herein we have the Witnefs of a greater than 
 Mofes ^ that Mofes related what was really Fadl: 
 And it is a Teftimony, which, duly confider- 
 ed, will prove, that both our Saviour ufed, 
 and the Jews alfo to whom our Saviour fpake, 
 received the Accounts of what Mofes relates to 
 have been done in the Beginniizgy not as Al^ 
 legory and Fable; but to be read and cited as 
 
 (/) Gen. ii. 16, 17. 
 
 G 4 true 
 
8S T^e Creation and 
 
 true Hiftory {m) : God, in Faft, declared to 
 j4Jam and Eve^ what was to be the infepa- 
 rable Union of Man and Wife, and therefore 
 herein they were not left at fir ft to the Guid- 
 ance of Natural Lights by a due Ufe of Reafon 
 to difcover^ what befi became the Station they 
 were placed in to one another^ but received a 
 fpecial Diredlion by an audible Voice from 
 their Maker concerning this Relation of Life, 
 before they had in any One Thing failed in the 
 Ufe of their Reafon, 
 
 What thefe Writers fay further, that to fup- 
 pofe Reafon^ the Reafon of Man, in itfelf in 
 4iny State or Circumfiances an infufficient Guide y 
 is diredtly to impeach the Author of Reafon ; is 
 to fay, that God did not give Man fufiicienf 
 Abilities to know and do his Duty •^— this is 
 equally dogmatical \ contradidory to what we 
 are informed by Mofes was in Fadt, the Man- 
 ner in which, and the Abilities with which 
 Adam and Eve were brought into the World. 
 Mofes does not fay, that God originally gave 
 Adam a Sufficiency of Knowledge, for him to 
 depend folely upon it; but he abundantly 
 (hews us, that Man was not left infufficiently 
 
 \m) Have ye not read? faid our Saviour, appealing as to 
 Fad, to twhat was recorded in Mofes\ Writings. See Matt. 
 xix. 4, 55ff, above cited. 
 
 provided 
 
F ALL of M A N. 8g 
 
 provided for, becaufe he fliews us how God 
 would by his Voice have directed him, as Di- 
 reftions would be neceffary for him. Upon 
 the Whole: The Texts of Scripture above 
 cited, for there being in Man a Light of Rea- 
 fon, do in no wife determine to what Degree 
 it is given ; and therefore are not in themfelves 
 conclufive againft the Neceffity of Revelation : 
 And whatever elfe has been offered, may at 
 beft be but the Conceits of mere human Ima- 
 gination, and therefore intrinfically vain : So 
 that I ftiQuld apprehend, if we would proceed 
 as we ought in this Enquiry, it may perti- 
 nently be examined, whether in the Reafon of 
 Things it may not be right, that the infinite 
 Creator fhould make a Rank of rational Be- 
 ings, fo far endowed with Reafon, as to be 
 above the Reftraint and Confinement of In- 
 ftindl, and yet not endued with fo unerring a 
 Beam of Reafon, as not to want a further 
 Direftion, than what would arife from the 
 Intimations of their own Breads : After which 
 Enquiry carefully made, we may confider 
 whether Man was the Creature made in this 
 Rank; anl whether the Diredtions faid by 
 Mofes to have been originally given to the Man, 
 may not be apprehended to have been the 
 moft proper Means to fupply his Defeds, to 
 
 make 
 
§o n^e Creation and 
 
 make him perfeft, thoroughly furnifhed unto 
 every Thing neceffary to his anfwering the 
 great End of his Creation and Being. 
 
 C H A P. VI. 
 
 Concerning the Points above Jlated. 
 
 ^T^ H E Creation of God, as far as we can 
 examine it, in the Things that may be 
 known by us, fhews us a wonderful Connec- 
 tion of all Things to one another : If we go 
 to what I would call the loweft, the moft: 
 dead and inorganical Parts of Matter, it is 2c 
 Queftion, whether a vegetative Life does not 
 fublift in all j fo flow indeed in fome, as that 
 it will efcape our firfl: Infpection ; but Stones 
 and Minerals in Time ihew enough of it to 
 apprize us, tho' it be hard to conceive how 
 fmall its firft Beginnings are, that probably 
 there is not any Thing in the natural World 
 wherein it really is none : We may trace a 
 gradual Increafe of the Circulation of it, from 
 the more inert Parts, as it were, of Matter, 
 to the Trees and Shrubs and Plants and 
 Flowers, whofe living Growths are more and 
 more confpicuous, daily ornamented with neW' 
 Appearances of accrefcent Variety and Al- 
 teration : 
 
F A L L ^ M A N. gf 
 
 teration : And how near do fome of thefe 
 come to almoft a vifible Connedlion unto the 
 Animal World ? It is difficult to afcertain 
 how much more Senfation there is in an 
 Oyfter, if there really are not living Animals 
 of lefs Senfation than an Oyfter, of w^hofe 
 Motion we can hardly fay more, than that it 
 opens its Shell, to take in the Water and Soil 
 that is to feed it, and fliuts at the Approach of 
 any Thing that may more fenfibly affedl it, 
 than in thofe Plants which open their Flowers 
 to the foft and warm Air, but will inftantly 
 clofe up and fhrivel if any grofTer Objeft be 
 admoved almoft near enough to touch them. 
 If we enter and proceed thro' the innumerable 
 Varieties of animal Life, until we come to thofe 
 Beings in whom the Breath of it is moft confpi- 
 cuous ; if we confider the Differences of the Dif- 
 cernments of thefe, and carry on the Progreffion 
 until we enter the rational World, we may find, 
 fays an ingenious Writer [o), that there are fome 
 Brutes that feem to have as much Reafon and 
 Knowledge, as fome that are called Men ; fo 
 that the animal and rational Creation do fo 
 nearly appro- ch, that if you take the higheft 
 of the one, and compare it with the loweft of 
 
 {o) See Locke\ Efiay on Human Underftanding.Book III. c. 6. 
 
 thd 
 
92 T%e Creation and 
 
 the other, there will fcarce be perceived a 
 Difference between them. The Variety of 
 the Capacities of Men confidered, will carry 
 us over a vaft Field, and bring us to the Bor- 
 ders of the Angelic State : For Man was made 
 but a little lower thaii the Angels (p) : How 
 far, had Sin not come into the World, and 
 Death by Sin ; the higheft and moll perfedl 
 of Men might have improved and come near 
 to the loweft of the Angels, we cannot fay : 
 But if, from what we can fee of the Creation 
 of the Worlds we may reafon concerning the 
 Things that are invifible ; fuppofing that God 
 created the firfl: Man with the higheft Capa- 
 city, that could belong to the Rank of Being 
 he w^as of, yet knowing, that he was made a 
 little lower than the Angels \ that the loweft of 
 thefe Intelligences was made greater than he ; 
 we cannot place Man higher, than upon an 
 Afcent, next between the Animal and more 
 Intelledual State: And confidering, how it 
 anfwers to the Analogy of Things, that all the 
 intelledtual Powers ftiould each rife gradually, 
 one Order above another, to complete a Ful- 
 nefs in God's Creation of the Hec^mns and of 
 the Earth (q) -, it will be no unreafonable Sen- 
 
 (p) Heb. ii. 7. (?) Without this P/ato thought the Heavens 
 would be imperfc6l. zp^A'oi aTiKni ifou, jd y6 attai^a iv 
 
F A L L ^ M A N. ^ J 
 
 timent, that God created Man, with fuch 
 Powers indeed of Reafon, as to be above all 
 that can be come up to by the animal Life ; 
 but yet, not with fo mafterly a Light of Rea- 
 fon, as abfolutely to want no affiftant Informa- 
 tion. Mr. Pops has excellently well exprefled 
 what I am aiming at. In the Creation of God, 
 he obferves, that as 
 
 — All muft fully or not coherent he^ 
 And all that rifes rife in due Degree ^ 
 *Ihen in the Scale of Life and Senfe ^tis plain^ 
 *There muft be fomewh ere fuch a Rank as Man. 
 Placed on the IJlhmus of a middle State^ 
 A Being darkly wife and rudely great (r% 
 
 There muft be fomewhere in the Afcents up 
 from Senfe to the Heights of Reafon, a Rank 
 of Creatures above the Confinements and Li- 
 mitations of Inftin(ft, but not fo perfedl in 
 their Powers of Reafon, as to ftand in Need 
 of none other than their own Dired:ion. 
 
 Of this Rank the Poet deemed Man, efti- 
 mating him made, 
 
 IFith too much Knowledge for the Sceptic Side, 
 With too much Weaknefs for the Stoic's Pride, {s) 
 
 elyra yii'n ^c^uu hk i^ei. J^h J^i h /UsAAh t€A«©- iKavaf 
 eivaj. Plato in Timaso. ' (r) Pope\ EfTay on ^'ian. Ep, i & 2. 
 {s) Ibid. Ep, 2. ver, 5. 
 
 tl» 
 
94 ^^ Creation and 
 
 to have Light enough to fee how he may, 
 with a fufRcient Certainty, from known Pre- 
 mifes draw many important Conclufions, but 
 not Light enough abfolutely to reft fatisfied in 
 the Sufficiency of his own Wifdom (/). The 
 Poet gives us many rational Intimations, that 
 Man muft originally have been formed in this 
 Line of Being, that there might be a juft 
 Gradation in the Works of God : 
 
 i— - that progreffive Life may go 
 Around its Width, its Depth extend below, 
 Vaft Chain of Being, which from God hegan^ 
 Nature* s ethereal, human. Angel, Man, 
 Beafl, Bird, Fijh, Infe5l I what no Eye can fee^ 
 No Glafs can reach ! from infinite to thee^ 
 From thee to Nothing. . ^ ■ («) 
 
 The Poet further expatiates upon the Subjtdl, 
 
 Far as Creation^ s ample Range extends 
 The Scale of fenfual, mental Pow'^rs afcends. 
 
 Mark how it mounts, to Man^s imperial Race, 
 From the green Myriads in the peopled Grafs ! 
 How Inftin5f varies in the groveling Swine, 
 Compared half -reasoning Elephant ! with thine : 
 
 (/) The Stoic's Pride here hinted at, is, I think, what is ex- 
 prefied in the latter Part of the following Sentence. Judicium 
 hoc omnium Mortalium ejf ; Fortunam a Deo -petendam ejfe, a 
 fei^fo fumendam efe Sapientiam, Vide Cic. de Nat.Deor. lib. 3. 
 c. 36. [u] Ep. I. ver. 199. 
 
 'Twixt 
 
Fall^Man. g^ 
 
 ^wixt that and Keafon what a nice Barrier^ 
 For ever fefrate, yet for ever near : {w) 
 
 And he further hints to us, that we ought 
 not to think it wrong, that Man made to be of 
 this Order, has not a larger Share of Reafon to 
 guide him. 
 
 — y^j' not Man^s imperfeSf^ Heaven in Faulty 
 Say rather Man^s as perfe5f as he ought : 
 His Being meafur'd to his State and Place, 
 
 Prefumptuous Man! the Reafon would'ft thoufindy 
 Why formed fo weak^ fo little^ and fo Mind \ 
 Firft^ • if thou canft^ the harder Reafon guefs^ 
 Why formed no weaker ^ blinder ^ and no lefs. 
 
 What would this Man? would he now upward foar? 
 And little lefs than Angel would he more ? 
 ' * ' ' on fuperior Powers 
 
 Were we to prefs^ inferior mufi on ours ; 
 Or in the full Creation leave a Void. 
 Where one Step broken the great Scales deftroy^d, 
 ne general Order fince the Whole began^ 
 Is kept in Nature^ and is kept in Man. (x) 
 
 Thefe Sentiments do, I think, moft clearly 
 lead us to fee, that in the Reafon of Things, 
 there mufl be fomewhere in the Unrverfe a 
 
 (at) Pope'iM^Ly, Ep. i. ver. 199. {k) Id. ibid. ver. 35, 
 233, 163. 
 
 Being 
 
96 7%e Creation a^id 
 
 Being of fuch, and no greater Powers of Rea-i 
 fon, than are here fuppofed to belong to Man: 
 And that this is our true Standard has been 
 the Opinion of the beft Writers fyjy and 
 has been confirmed in Facfl by the Experience 
 of all Ages (2;) ; fo that for Man to talk of 
 his having unerring Reafon, or of our wanting 
 no further Inftrudion (a) than a careful At- 
 tendance to the Refult of our own Judgment, 
 is a Vanity that might fufficiently be expofed 
 in the Sentiment offered us in the Book of 
 yo& : Vain Man would be wife^ though Man 
 be born like a wild jiffes Colt [b) : Such an In- 
 dependence of underftanding is an Height, that 
 we were not made for : We may think of our- 
 felves as we pleafe 5 but from the Beginning 
 
 (y) It is the Sentiment exprelTed by Cicero^ that we are not 
 Creatures made able by Nature, Naturam ipfam intueri et perm 
 fpicerey eddemque optima Duce curfum Vita conjicere, but that wc 
 want for this Purpofe, what he calls Rationem ac DoSlrinam^ 
 having only igniculos, which if not properly fed and cherilhid, 
 will fail and be extinguiflied. See Cic. Tufc. Quaeft. Lib. 3. in 
 Princip. fup. cit. partus autem Gradus et altijjimus eorum eji^ 
 qui Naturd boni fapientefque gignuntur : quihus a Principi'o in- 
 ■nafcitur Ratioy re^a conjianfque^ qua fupra hominem putanda eji, 
 Deoque trihuenda. Cic. de Nat. Deor. Lib. 2. c. 1 3. {%) Our Scrip- 
 tures rightly tell us, that there is no Man that Jinneth not, 1 Kings 
 viii. 4. nere is not ajuji Man upon Earth, that doth Good ana 
 Jinneth not, Ecclef. vii. 20. The Philofophers fay, Sapientiam 
 mmo ajjequitur. Vide Cic. de Nat. Deor. Lib. 3. c. 32. [a] Nam^ 
 lit nihil interefty utrum nemo njaleat, an nemo pojjit njalere, Jtc non 
 hitelUgo, quid interjit, utrum ntmo Jit fapietis, ofi mmo ej^e fcjfit : 
 Vide Cic. ibid, [b) Job xi. 12. 
 
 td 
 
Fa LL <?/* M A N. 97 
 
 to this Time, from the Time that Adam was 
 brought into the World, until now, he that 
 has thus abfolutely trujied in his own Heart [c) 
 has been a Fool : What a Propriety then has 
 it to the Nature of Man, that God, as foon 
 as he was created, made to him, as Mofes re- 
 lates, an efpecial Revelation ? If the Perfec- 
 tion of Man could have come merely from his 
 Reafon, without Doubt no fuch Revelation 
 would have been given him; for the All-wife 
 God does nothing fuperfluoufly in vain [d) : And 
 therefore fince a Revelation was in Fadl made 
 to Man in the Beginning, hence know we, 
 that it was neceflary, and that his original 
 Reafon was not alone fufficient for him. For 
 as to thofe who fay, that the Narration of 
 a Revelation made to the firft Man is a mere 
 Allegory and Fable ; let not thefe pretend to 
 argue that, if the Original Reafon of Man 
 was not alone a fufficient Guide, then it muft 
 follow, that God did not fu fficiently provide 
 for the Creature made thus imperfecfl ; for the 
 Anfwer hereto is, that the Revelation given 
 
 (c) Prov. xxviii. 26. [d) The Argument ufed by the 
 
 Apoftle concerning /y^ Z^ov, might, I think, bejuftly accom- 
 modated to the Topic before us, in Words as follow : For 
 if there had been Reafon given unto Adam, fuch as, or fo fuf- 
 ficient, that it might have given him Life, verily his Righteouf- 
 jiefs would h^ve been by his Reafon. Sci Gal. ui.zi, 
 
 H tp 
 
98 7%e Ckv, ATioi^ and 
 
 to AJam, and intended to have been continued 
 over and above his natural Reafon, would 
 have been fufficient for Man's natural Weak- 
 nefs, and have thoroughly hijiruffed him more 
 and more unto every good Work^ if it had not 
 been fet afide and difregarded by him. 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 ^ome further Conji derations of the original State 
 
 of our firji Parents ; of the Nature of the 
 
 firjl Command^ or Prohibition made to him^ 
 
 and wherein confifted the Sin of their not ob- 
 
 ferving it. 
 
 'T"^ H E Point we confidered in the before- 
 "^ going Chapter was, how far we may 
 
 reafonably conjedure, from the Rank and Or- 
 der of Being Man was formed in, that he was 
 made a Creature not of abfolute independent 
 Underftanding, I would here obferve, that a 
 moft excellent Writer has hinted to us this 
 very Thing : The Author of the Book of Ec^ 
 clefiafiicus enumerates the Endowments with 
 which, and the Diredtion under which God 
 thought fit to bring our firft Parents into the 
 World. T^he Lord^ he fays, created Man of 
 the Earth — They received the Ufe of the fve 
 
 Operations 
 
Fa ll (p/* M a n. gg 
 
 Operations of the Lordy and in the fjxth Place 
 he imparted them Underjiandingy and in the 
 feve?ith Speech y an Interpreter of the Cogita-» 
 tions thereof: Counfel^ and a Tongue^ and EyeSy 
 Ears, and a Heart gave he them to under-* 
 ftand {e). In thefe and the three following 
 Verfes, he remarks, how God gave unto 
 Man his five Senfes, his Ability of Speech and 
 Underftanding : But he had before obferved, 
 that when God made Man in the Beginning, 
 he left him in the Hand of his Counfel (f) : 
 The Queftion is, whofe Counfel was Man 
 now left in the Hand of? The Latin Verfion 
 i^ysfui confliiy his own Counfel, but very ab- 
 furdly : The Greek Text is dtfrniv durov op ^ct- 
 ^ AiolShXIh cLviB' not gctoTa his own, but aura 
 his, i. e. God's Counfel: And this truly agrees 
 to what follows in the next Verfe, if Man 
 would have conformed to it : His Duty was to 
 have kept the Commandments, y^ mic^w 'zo-oir,- 
 aou ^S'oy.tccs (g) : He was to have paid unto 
 God [vToL'nohjj Tifs ^uTi^recos] the Obedience of 
 Faith : The Intimation is no other than what 
 is the Subftance of all revealed Religion ; that 
 without Faith it was impofjible Man fliould 
 
 (f) Ecclus. xvii. I 9. (f) Ibid. xv. 14. 
 
 [g] Ibid. 
 
 H 2 pleafe 
 
xoo l^he Creation and 
 
 pleafe God \h) -, for that not to follow abfo- 
 lutely the Counfels of Man s own Heart {i) ; 
 but to fear God, and to keep his Commandments ^ 
 this was to have been the Whole of Man {k) : 
 And this is what Mofes fets before us : He tells 
 us, that God made Man ; but over and befides 
 making him a living Soul, and creating him, 
 as Solomon fpeaks, Jafiar, aright, having no- 
 thing in him not meet for an Intelligence of 
 his Order and Rank of Being ; having given 
 him Senfes and Underftanding in fuch Mea- 
 fure as his Maker thought fit to beftow 
 upon him (/), over and above all, he gave 
 
 {h) Heb. xi. 6. (/) The following our onvn Counfels^ is in 
 
 Scripture- Meaning, the deferting or departing from what God 
 has revealed, to do what feemeth right in our onjjn Eyes, See 
 Pfal. Ixxi. 1 1, ^c. and many other Places that might be cited. 
 [k) Ecclef. xii. 13. (/) Ibid. vii. 20. His imperfe<n: Reafon 
 would have been the Occafion of no Evil, if he had not de- 
 parted from obferving the Commandments of God. Adam\ 
 Ability of Reafon was fuch as it ought to be in One of his 
 Kank of Being, and the important Thing to him was, to 
 Knonxi thy o^wn Pointy this Kind, this due Degree 
 Of BlinJnefsy Weaknefsy Heavn bejloixis on thee. 
 
 Pope, ubi fup. 
 He ought not to have aimed to be knowing as God, but obey- 
 ing what God commanded, thereby to have learned and done 
 the Duties of his Life, but 
 
 ■ . In reas'niiig Pride our Error lies^ 
 
 All quit their Sphere^ and rtijh into the f!ktes : 
 
 Men ^JOQuldhe Angels, Angels nvoula be Gods : 
 
 Afpiring to be Gods, if Angels felly 
 
 Afpiring to be Angels Men rebel : 
 
 And nvho hut <voiJhes to invert the Laivs 
 
 Of Order y fms againjl the Eternal Caufe. Pope, ubi fup. 
 
 him 
 
Fa l l of Man. ioi 
 
 him a Commandment, which, if he would 
 have faithfully kept to and obferved, would 
 have led him unto every Thing fufRcient for 
 him. Bat, 
 
 The Difficulty which Objecflors raife againft 
 interpreting literally what Mofez relates of the 
 Command here faid to be given, lies in their 
 conceiving the Comm.and to be in itfelf in no 
 wife rationally conducing to Man's Perfec- 
 tion : It is impoffible, they think, that fuch a 
 Being as God is, fhould appoint fo great a 
 Weight, of the Happinefs or Mifery of Man- 
 kind, to depend upon a Matter in itfelf of fo 
 litde real Importance, as the eating or not eat- 
 ing of the Fruit of a particular Tree (^) : 
 Here I confefs they ftart, what ought to be 
 examined very confiderately, and is not to be 
 fo haftily determined as fome imagine, who 
 I think add to, inftead of removing the 
 Stumbling-block by their unaccountable Ra- 
 tiocinations: They fay, '* God had laid the 
 " whole Strefs and Weight of his Authority 
 " upon this One Command : If, fay they\ 
 *^ you fuppofe a Cafe fo circumflanced, that 
 " if a Son's Difobedience to a Father, in fome 
 
 {d) Id utique videtur graviflimum et afperrimum quod Gen- 
 tem humanam plexifle, imo perdidifTe dicatur Deus, ob Rem 
 exiguam ~ Burnet Archaeol. p. 296. 
 
 H 3 one 
 
102 Tie C^Lt AT 10 1^ and 
 
 " one Pai tlcular, in itfelf of no Moment, will 
 *' infer not merely a Neglcdl, but even a Con- 
 " tempt of his Parent's Authority ; be the 
 *' Matter of the Offence what it will, will it 
 " not deferve the fevereft Refentment ? What 
 " the Son thinks a trivial Thing, and in com- 
 " mon Eftimation may pafs as fuch, he will 
 " prefume the Father will think fo too : But 
 " had the Father exprefsly laid the whole 
 " Weight of his Authority upon this one 
 *' Thing ; had he exprefsly faid before-hand : 
 " Son, whatever elfe you may think to do to 
 " pleafe or fhew Regard to me, fliall have 
 *' no Acceptance, unlefs in this One eafy 
 *' Thing, which I make and appoint to be 
 *' the Tefl of your Duty, you carefully obey 
 " me : For upon your Failure herein, I will 
 *' mod abfolutely treat you as a Rebel ; fhould 
 *' the Son after all this prefume to offend in 
 *' this One Point, would any reafonable Man 
 " plead it to be excufable ? '' I confefs, fuch 
 a Defence as this fhocks me exceedingly : It is 
 obvious that the Unbeliever will readily reply: 
 *' Should a Man build the moft magnificent 
 " Habitation in the World, and add to it 
 " in Eftate every defirable Poffeffion, but in 
 •* fome One Room of his Houfe fhould fet 
 *' up a Piece of Wood, with this ftrid Pro- 
 
 '^ hibition 
 
Fa LL ^ M A N. 103 
 
 *^ hibitlon to his Son : As a Mark of my Au- 
 ^* thority, as a Teft of your Obedience to me 
 *' your Father, I command that this One Piece 
 *' of Wood be never touched by you : For I 
 ** have made it my Will, that if ever you 
 '^ touch it, an abfolute Difherifon (hall take 
 ** Place againft you and your Pofterity for 
 '* ever/' Should the Son now offend herein, 
 I will not, fays the Free-Thinker, ask fo 
 much as a Queftion about the Son : I give 
 him up for a Fool, to receive the Fruits of his 
 trifling Impertinence : But I muft inqti -e con- 
 cerning the Father : What may Pofterity, con- 
 fidering fuch a Ruin of a whole Family unto 
 all Generations, think of him, who made fo 
 trifling an Injundion fo peremptory and fo 
 penal ? 
 
 It will not be admitted, that we write 
 worthily of God, if we fuppofe him to have 
 given ^dam a Commandment of no real Mo- 
 ment, only to make his Negled: of it, if he 
 fhould happen to negled: it, moft terribly de- 
 ftrucSive : God is not Ma?2, that he fhould lay 
 the Strefs of his Authority in Caprice ; upon 
 a matter of no Moment, whether it be ob- 
 ferved or no : And therefore, if we would 
 give unto him the Honour due unto his Name, 
 it will be proper to confider, whether fuch as 
 H 4 God 
 
104 7%e Cke AT 10^ ancf 
 
 '^ God had made to be the Nature of Man; fuch 
 a Command, as Mofes defcribes in the Prohi- 
 bition of the forbidden Tree, was not highly 
 fit, I might fay neceflary to be given him: 
 And whether, this Command being broken, 
 , it could otherwife be in the Reafon and Na- 
 ture of Things as God had made them, unlefs 
 he had created Things anew, than that the 
 Punifhment and Ruin threatned for Man, 
 muft take Place; for that otherwife, Man 
 might not have had a Way back to Honour, 
 to Glory, to Immortality : If we can in fuch 
 a Tradt of Examination as this, fearch and 
 find any Grounds to believe God, in what 
 Mofes writes, to have difpenfed to our firft Pa- 
 rents no otherwife, than fuitably to their Na- 
 tures, we fhall fee great Reafon for all that is 
 fet before us concerning the Proceedings of his 
 Providence, as Mofes has related them. 
 
 The Prophet 'Jeremiah argued to the Jews^ 
 that God fpake not unto their Fathers — con^ 
 cerning Burnt-offerings and Sacrifices : But 
 this Thi?7g commanded he them, f^y^^S^ Obey 
 my Voice, and I will be your God, and ye floall 
 be my People (f) : A direding Intimation hence 
 arifes, that the great End and Defign of the 
 
 {/) Jerem. viii. 22. 
 
 legal 
 
Fa L L of Man. 105 
 
 legal lnJlitutio7is were to difcipline and to ex- 
 ercife the Jews to obey God : In like manner, 
 when God thought fit to make the Covenant 
 of Circumcifion with Abrahmn^ the declared 
 Defign of what was inftituted was, that Abra- 
 ham fhould walk before God, and thereby he 
 perfeB (g) : And we are thus to confider the 
 Commandment given to AJam concerning the 
 forbidden Tree; not as if God fpake to him 
 concerning a Tree, merely to preferve that in- 
 violate; but he herein commanded him this 
 One Thing, namely, obey my Voice indeed-^ to 
 do whatever I ihali declare to be the Duties of 
 thy Life : Not that God required, that Man 
 fhould obey his Voice purely for the fake of, 
 and to lay a Strefs upon his own Authority ; 
 but, becaufe it was neceflary for Man, not to 
 be left to his own Guidance, but to be kept in 
 the Hand of God's Counfel : Adam^ when 
 created, was not fo made as that Diredions 
 abfolutely right in themfelves would arife to 
 him from his own Judgment of Things, for 
 the whole Guidance of his Life; and there- 
 fore God gave him a Command not to eat of 
 a particular Tree, as he afterwards gave to 
 Abraham the Command of Circumcifion : As 
 
 (g) Gen, xvii. i. 
 
 Abraham 
 
ic6 The C RE AT I ON and 
 
 Abraham received the Command of Circum- 
 cifion to be the Sign^ a Seal of the Righteouf- 
 nefs of Faith (h), fo AJam received the Com- 
 mand of not eating of the forbidden Tree to 
 be a Sign, an Atteftation, a ftanding and in- 
 violate Memorial, that he was not to follow 
 his own Inventions, but truly and faithfully to 
 obey God. 
 
 If we confider the Commandment concern- 
 ing the forbidden Tree in this Light, the Nar- 
 ration of it will be greatly cleared of the Dif- 
 ficulties furmifed to be in what Mofes has faid 
 of it. In every Revelation which God has 
 made unto Men it is obfervable, that fome 
 Pojitive Inftitution or Inftitutions are injoined, 
 for the Receivers of fuch Revelations truly to 
 pay unto God in obeying them the Obedience 
 of Faith ^ i. e. to believe and to do whatever 
 God is pleafed to declare to them, or demand 
 of them : It is thus that we receive the two 
 Ordinances, which Chrijl has appointed us in 
 the New Teftament, Baptifm, and the Com- 
 munion of Bread and Wine : It was thus that 
 the Jews were bound to obferve the Rites, 
 and to make the Sacrifices of the Law by 
 Mofes ; even as Abraham before received the 
 
 [h] Rom. iv. IK 
 
 Com- 
 
Fall ^ M A N. 107 
 
 Command of Circumcifion (/) : And thus 
 unto Adam was given the Injunction not to 
 eat of the particular Tree, that was called the 
 TCree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil : Of 
 which Command we can no more fay, that 
 God did not literally enjoin our firft Parents 
 not to eat of that Tree, than we can fay, 
 thatishe did not literally enjoin Abraham the 
 Circumcifon of the Flejh ; or the Ifraelites to 
 offer the Sacrifices which are diredled in the 
 Law ; or us Chrijlians the waJJoing of Water 
 in Baptifm, and the eating of Bread and drink- 
 ing of Wine in Remembrance of our Saviour, 
 as they are enjoin'd by him. Upon the whole: 
 The interpreting literally what Alofes fays of 
 the prohibited Tree, and afterwards of the 
 Tree of Life, does not make the Texts that 
 fpeak of them /j^/a? BTriAvasoo^ (^) ; iets up no 
 fingular or peculiar Notion in Religion, which 
 has nothing like it in the other Scriptures ; but 
 rather it is fo truly k^ dvoLXoyloiv -f 'zs-l^eoos (/), 
 has fuch an Agreement with what is read of a 
 like Nature from Faith to Faith^ in all the 
 fubfequent Revelations which God has been 
 pleafed to make unto Men, that it approves 
 itfelf in fhewing the Way of God to lead Man 
 
 [i] Rom. iv. 1 1, (i) 2 Pet. i. to, {!) Rom, xii. 6. 
 
 thro* 
 
io8 The Cvi^ kTio^ and 
 
 thro' the World to have been in this Point 
 none other than one and the fame in Principle, 
 tho* diverfified in Circumftances, as the diffe- 
 rent Circumftances of different Ages might re- 
 quire, from the very Beginning of Man down 
 to thefe laft Times, and is to continue the fame 
 until our State here be fulfilled. 
 
 The Objedors to a literal Interpretation of 
 Mofes'^ Account of the two particular Trees of 
 the Garden, do therefore vainly think them- 
 felves to have a Difficulty infuperable in alk- 
 ing ; How could there be in Nature Trees that 
 could bear fuch Fruits, as feem by a literal In- 
 terpretation of Mofes to be afcribed to the Tree 
 of Knowledge, and to the Tree of Life? For 
 if any one (liould afk us concerning Baptifm ; 
 what fort of Water can that be, which can 
 give the Wafhing of Regeneration? or con- 
 cerning the Lord's Supper ; what can we con- 
 ceive of the natural Nourifhment or Juices of 
 that Bread and that Wine, from the eating 
 and drinking of which we may be made Par- 
 takers of the Body and of the Blood of Chrift ? 
 Would any one, who thinks foberly upon the 
 Benefits afcribed to the doing thefe Things, as 
 God has commanded them, find himfelf at a 
 Lofs to anfwer in thefe Matters ? or would he 
 apprehend the Things commanded to be a 
 
 mere 
 
Fa LL of Man. 109 
 
 mere Allegory ; and that we are not injolned 
 literally to ufe real Water, or to eat and drink 
 real Bread and real Wine? Rather, how- 
 much more reafonably may we fee and appre- 
 hend, that as we eat the Bread and drink the 
 Wine, which God has commanded in AJJii- 
 rance of the Faith ^ that if we obey God, it 
 will be unto us according to his Word, to give 
 us eternal Life, to raife us up at the laft 
 Day {m\ even fo might Ada?n having done the 
 Will of God, when God fliould dire(fl it, have 
 literally /^^^yir^i; his Hand^ and taken of the 
 Tree of Life, and eaten and have lived for 
 ever [n) : And as we are to be wafhed with 
 Water as Chnf has required, and God will 
 give us of his holy Spirit, both to think and 
 to do, above what we otherwife will be able 
 of our own Sufficiency, prefumptuoufly af- 
 fuming to ftand in our own Strength without 
 him; fo ought Adam^ literally fpeaking, not 
 to have eaten of the forbidden Tree, and he 
 would have continued /;z the Hand of God's 
 Counfely and not have corrupted himfelf, and 
 his Way before God : Not that Meat, or the 
 Abftaining from any Meat recommendefb imta 
 God', not that the wafhing or not wafhing 
 
 (w) Johnvi. 54. {«) Gen. iii. 22. 
 
 with 
 
no TT^e C K'E AT ION and 
 
 with Water is in itfelf any Thing ; rather, 
 we may, and Adam and Eve might have eat, 
 or not eat, and therein have been neither the 
 better nor the worfe, had there not been the 
 Commandment of God. The Tree prohibited 
 was, I apprehend, Hke other Trees of the 
 Garden, pleafajit to the Eyes and good for Food-, 
 but the Point to have been confidered was, 
 whether in obferving the Prohibition not to 
 eat of this One Tree, the Man was not to 
 keep himfelf in the Ha?2d of God's Counfel^ 
 not to take upon himfelf to be his own inde- 
 pendent Direftor; but to have obeyed abfo- 
 lutely, wherein foever God was pleafed to give 
 him fpecial Directions, to live according to 
 every Word which fhould proceed from the 
 Month of God (nn). If Man had perfevered 
 herein, as God gave him One Law for a re- 
 lative Duty {o), he would in like manner, as 
 Occafions required, have given him others alfo, 
 which otherwife thro' Man's Inexperience of 
 the Natures of Things he would have erred in 
 inveftigating for himfelf; until God's Word 
 having thus been a Lanteym to his Feety and a 
 Light to his Pathsy Man might, thro' it, have 
 
 [nn) Deot. viii. 3. Matt. iv. 4. {0) I have before obferved, 
 that God gave our firft Parents the Law, that Man and Wife 
 Ihould not be twain, but one Flefh, Mark x. 8. Vide quae fup. 
 
 attained 
 
Fall^p/'Man. Ill 
 
 attained a right Underflanding, and having as 
 long as, and wherein foever he might want 
 them, been guided by God's Counfeh (p)^ be 
 thereby made gradually wife, meet, and fit to 
 be received unto God into Glory : But, on the 
 other Hand, Man rejeding this the Counfel 
 of God towards him, and taking upon him- 
 felf to judge abfolutely for himfelf ; it hence 
 came to pafs, that not having a Light of ac- 
 tual Knowledge of his own fufficient to pre- 
 ferve him from Error, he would find, that, 
 however God had created him [Jajhar'] able, 
 under the Direftions defigned him, to go 
 aright into the Duties of his Life ; yet now 
 not keeping himfelf within this Guidance, but 
 becoming a Follower of his own Cogitations, 
 he would become a Creature full of Error, 
 and be in the End both wicked and vain. God 
 mud be conceived not to fee us only, but to 
 fee thro' US) to know us, and to know the 
 Point upon which will turn the Iflues of our 
 Lives : He thus knew the Ifraelites, when 
 he commanded them to expel the Canaanites 
 out of their Land ; that if this one Thing was 
 not carefully obferved to be performed by 
 them, however they might refolve to keep his 
 
 (^) Pfal, Ixxiii. 24. 
 
 Law, 
 
112 The Creation and 
 
 Law, yet they certainly would be drawn away 
 into Idolatry by the Remains of that People : 
 The IJraeUtes would not apprehend this, but 
 made the Experiment : The Event came out 
 to the full of what had been foretold to 
 them (j') : In like manner, how obvious is it 
 to fee ? that God might know, that the adive 
 and bufy Faculty he had given our firft Parents, 
 iJDhich we call Reafon, not given in a greater 
 Meafure than he had endowed them with 
 it (r), would never have been kept within its 
 proper Bounds, unlefs at firft exercifed under 
 fome fuch efpecial Command as he thought fit 
 to give them, and therefore gave fuch Com- 
 mand to them, to be the ftanding inviolate 
 Memento of their Lives ; that whether they eaty 
 or whether they drank^ or wkatfoever they 
 did (^), they fliould in nothing turn afide from 
 what God commanded, to the right Hand^ or 
 to the left {t). 
 
 {q) See Exodus xxiii. 33. Judges ii. ^c. [r) Motum iftum 
 celerem Cogitationis, acumen, lolertiam, quam Rationem vo- 
 
 camus Cic, de Nat. Deor, Lib. 3. c. 27. (j) i Cor. x. 31. 
 
 (r) Deut, V. 32. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
P ALL of M A i^. 113 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Concerning the Situation of the Garden of 
 Eden. 
 
 T 
 
 HE Writers who contend, that Mcfes 
 only defigned an inftrudlive Apologue^ and 
 not a real Hillory, would reprefent, that his 
 very Defcription of the Situation of the Gar- 
 den of Eden hints this to us. They fet before 
 us the Variety of Opinions, which different 
 Writers have had concerning the Situation of 
 this Garden (p)^ and would thence argue, 
 that moft probably no fuch Spot of Ground 
 ever really exifted. Plato^ they tell us, 
 feigned A/05 ^riTroy, a fi/piters Garden, where- 
 in he relates how Porus and Penia became the 
 Parents of Eros [q) : Plato formed a Mythc-' 
 logic Tale of the Origin of the Principle he 
 termed Eros or Love, and fuppofes a Garden, 
 which he calls Jupiter's^ to have been the 
 Scene of the Fable enarrated by him: Of this 
 Sort they would have Mofes's Garden of Eden > 
 a fiftitious Scene, the fuppofed Place where 
 
 (p) Dr. MrV^/ff^»juftly remarks, that it would be tedious 
 to colleftthe ftrange Variety of Conceits which have been in- 
 vented about the fingle Article of a Paradife : The Reader 
 may find erwugh of them in Burnetii Theory y both the Latin 
 and EngUJh, (^) Plato in Sympof. 
 
114 "The Creation md 
 
 Mofes\ 7?iythological Account of the Origin of 
 Sin was tranfadted ; no more a real Spot of 
 Ground, than Jupiter's, Garden, in which 
 Plato reprefented Love to have had its firft 
 Original. They fay diverfe of the early Fa- 
 thers of the Chriftian Church underflood 
 ' Mofes in this manner, and they cite a very 
 learned one, Eufebiiis in particular, for this 
 Opinion : To which we may well anfwer 5 
 what Sentiments fome of the Fathers fome- 
 times had of diverfe Parts of Mofes Writings 
 is not very material : Our Enquiry is, What 
 we may reafonably admit the Scriptures to in- 
 form us of the Matter before us. However, 
 I would obferve of Eufebiiis^ that he certainly 
 did not mean what is inferred from him. We 
 find in our Editions of him thefe Words, 
 
 aov ysyovivcxA (pxv\©^ — (r), from hence it is faid 
 Eufebius reprefents Mofes to have wrote of his 
 Paradife mythologically^ whenas I apprehend, 
 that whoever will duly examine Eufebius^ will 
 fee, that he here hinted Plato's Sentiment of 
 
 [r] Vide Eufeb. Praep. Evang. Lib. XI F. c. 1 1. Hunc Hortum 
 Dei apud Mofem eundem ejje njolunt ncnnuUi ac b^ir,^ iu^'TTOu 'Jonjis 
 Hortum <2/»a^Platonera, et eandefn effe utrohique Hijloriam 'vel Al- 
 legoriam petrel 7 tvA<; cl'7rof>pnT^i h;y^<; ^\co(r'icc^^ fecundum urea- 
 nos Sen/us Mojisinquit Eufebm, BurneiV Archseol, p. 287. 
 
 Mofes, 
 
F ALL of M A T^, 11^ 
 
 Mofes, but not his own. Eufebhis reprefents 
 Plato to have been an allegorical Writer, and 
 the Paffage cited from him has feme Defedt (j), 
 or is obfcurely worded, but feems to me 
 to fay of him, that he aim'd to fet him- 
 felf a^T/Jcjw McJcrga;? 3 in a Point of Viev/ over- 
 againft Mofes ; to appear fuch a Writer as he 
 [^Plato^ took Mofes to have been before him ; 
 and accordingly, tho' Plato changed the Fads 
 related by Mofes (t) -, did not narrate the very 
 fame which he read in Mofes\ Writings, but 
 adopted others j yet he thought himfelf to 
 write as elegantly of Poms and Pefiia as be 
 deemed Mofes to have wrote of Adam and 
 Eve^ reputing Mofes as well as himfelf, (^x7\@^ 
 xccToc Tivocs aTToppriT'ds X6y3^y to have wrote not 
 as an Hiftorian, but in the 7nythic Stile of A!-- 
 legory : The Sentiment of the w^hole Period 
 cited from Eufebitis is different, if we under- 
 ftand Mwo-ga)5 (pctvr©^ to mean, that Mofes 
 really v/rote in A/leg ory ; that Eufebius fo 
 thought of him ; from what it would appear 
 taking thofe Words to refer to Plato^ and to 
 
 (j) I fhould fufpeftthat Eufebius wrote ^iucnco; uU Kctrd.-Ti' 
 
 VcL<; d'TTOppiWa^ Xoya^ 0A'']@-. Mof.s, qynjt ftcundum quo/- 
 
 da-m arcanosftnfus Loquenth : The Meaning of the Place would 
 thus be dear, but perhaps the un^kih'*ul Tranfcriber dropped 
 the fecond ^j-:, not feeing the Meaning of ic. (/) jd p,?mcc7c4 
 
 intend 
 
1 1 6 H:)e Creation and 
 
 intend only that Flato fo thought of Mofe^ : 
 The Greek Sentence may, I think, admit the 
 latter Senfe [u) : An Englijh Reader may be 
 apt to catch the former : And Dr, Burnet 
 hereupon endeavours, in a Manner unworthy 
 a Scholar, to palm the former upon us. We 
 may fully fee Eufebius^ Opinion of Plato's 
 imitating Mofes in the Chapter following what 
 is cited : Eufebius tells us, how Plato formed 
 his Fable of the Androgynes from what Mofes 
 had related of God's making the Woman out 
 of the Man (w) : Plato changed the Fadt re- 
 lated by Mofes^ and ufed a Fidion, as he 
 thought fimilar to it, and reputed it as war- 
 rantable 3 opining Mofes herein as well as him- 
 felf to have wrote Allegory : But Eufebius 
 hereupon tells us exprefsly, that Plato did not 
 underftand Mofes's Intention (x), was ignorant 
 of his Way of fpeaking (y) : Here then we 
 come to Eufebius's Sentiment both of Plato 
 and Mojes: He plainly ihews us that he knew 
 
 [u] The Words of Eufebius in our prefent Copies of him are, 
 Mc^aicoi KcLTci 7iVcL<; ef>roppn7ii^ ^oya^ iv rn ctpx» '^'^i '^ KoiT- 
 VM (TtTcVect)? '3-eS' rivet na^.T'tncov yiyovkvou (pciv](^t k av 
 
 'Oj£<i'-^ Ai'^liK^vi fj.o)0,''6y] TO. pnuct-jo. fj.iTcfTroim^ o YlKcLrcov 
 crm-iyf:<iaov oicf.. Iv 'ZvwTrotrieo x^ dorhi d,hK))yo\>^v 7iQc-tKiv. Eu- 
 fdb. Praep. Evang. Lib. 12. c/ii. (w) Eufeb. ibid. c. 12.. 
 
 (a-) ij.h crtjuuj^ n^cf.rtov oToict efJiTct/ S'ictvoict. Eufeb. ibid. 
 (jj /ha©- ^V i^ivu)i dyvoii^Ai 7 K^yQW Id. ibid. 
 
 Mofes 
 
Fall/?/'Man. 117 
 
 Mofes to have wrote Fadl, and Hirtory, but 
 thought Plato to miftake him, and to imagine 
 him an Allegorifi, and that in writing in that 
 Stile, he was an Imitator of him ; and accord- 
 ingly, we ought fo to conftrue what was before 
 cited from Eufebius^ as to make it agree with 
 what is thus plainly declared by him. 
 
 But to return from whence I have digrefTed: 
 The Writers, who are not for admitting in a 
 literal Senfe, what Mofes relates of the Garden 
 of Eden^ remark to us, that the Ignorance all 
 Ages have been in of the true Place and Situ- 
 ation of it, muft be deemed a confiderable 
 Argument, that no fuch real Place ever ex- 
 ifted ^z) : It is not likely, they fay, but that 
 fome of Adam's early Pofterity muft have 
 found in the World fome Traces of the 
 Manfions of their firft Parents, if any fo re- 
 markable a Place of their Abode had ever 
 been ; but if it be in Fadt true, that, choofe 
 we where we will, we can hear of no Spot of 
 Ground fo fituate and bounded as Mofes de- 
 fcribes, why fhould we think his Garden any 
 other than a mere Scene of Fancy, which no 
 real Geography could ever mark out upon the 
 
 (z) See Middleton\ ElTay upon the allegorical and literal In- 
 terpretation.— 
 
 I 3 Face 
 
ii3 77)e Creation and 
 
 Face of the (zz) whole Earth ? Bat thefe 
 Writers are in all this guilty of the moft 
 fliameful Inobfervation. They fir ft call for 
 an Inquiry, whether any of jidam's Pofterity 
 could ever trace out any Marks of the Situa- 
 tion of the Place where Adam firft lived, and 
 then overlooking, that Ages after Adam, Mofes 
 gave his Contemporaries a very particular De- 
 signation of it, they run away to a modern 
 Difquifition, whether we can now find Charts 
 of the World, that may perfedtly agree to 
 Mofes\ Defcriptions. But the beft Method 
 we can take to clear the whole of this In- 
 quiry will be to examine, I. Whether we can 
 reafonabiy admit, that any Situations of Places 
 in the World before the Flood, could pofllbly 
 be found the fame in the poft-diluvian Earth. 
 
 II. To examine whether Mofes does, or does 
 not fettle the Boundaries of his Garden, fuch 
 as they were known to be after the Flood. 
 
 III. Whether it appears that the Site of the 
 Garden, as Mcfes defcribes it, was known in 
 the World, before, in and after Mofes's Times. 
 
 IV. To determine what his Defcription of it 
 precifcly is. V. Whether there has not hap- 
 
 {zz) lHdd!cton\ Examination of the Lord Biihop of London s 
 IDiicpurfes, p. 135. 
 
 pened 
 
Fall^Man. 119 
 
 pened fince his Times fuch Alterations of the 
 Countries bordering upon its Situation, as may 
 be admitted to give us Reafon not to think 
 we can now afcertain the local Spot defcribed 
 by him 3 but how far, notwithftanding all the 
 Changes of the Face of the World, we may 
 ftill find the Country in which Mofes's Garden 
 of Eden may be reafonably concluded to have 
 had its Situation. 
 
 I. Our firft Inquiry ought to be, Whether 
 any Spot of Ground in the firft World, could 
 poffibly be found again after the Flood ? And 
 here we have to combat with two Opinions : 
 One, that the firfl World was made fo very 
 - different from the poji-diluvian Earth, that it 
 cannot be thought there was fuch a Situation 
 in it as Mofes defcribes: The other, that if 
 there had been originally fuch a primitive Si- 
 tuation, the Earth muft have fuffered fuch 
 Alteration by the Flood, that after that Cata- 
 Jlropht\ no Traces of what had been before, 
 could ever be found. For the former of thefe 
 we may read Dr. Burnef^ Theory ; that there 
 were no Hills 5 no fuch Rivers in the firft 
 World as now water the Earth [a) : But we 
 iliall find this a mere Fancy of his Philofophy, 
 
 \a] Theory, B. I. c. 5. 
 
 I 4 which 
 
120 ^e Creation and 
 
 which he would not have fallen into, had he 
 kept to what he propofed fhould condudt his 
 Inquiries, namely, the Light he might have 
 had from the holy Scriptures {h) : The facred 
 Writers have ever reputed Mountains and Hills 
 to be coeval with the World : The Writer of 
 the Book of JoI> was of this Opinion : He 
 fpeaks of the firft Man as made l^efore the 
 Hills [c); not meaning ^^ir^ them, in Point 
 of Time ; the Expreffion is, made i?i the Sight 
 of the Hills (d) ; that is, when as yet not 
 Men, but the Hills only were Speculators of 
 his coming into Being : The Expreffion inti- 
 mates what the Pfalmijl alfo fuggefts, that the 
 Mountains were brought forth as foon as the 
 Earth was made ; for to thefe he appeals as 
 to the moft ancient of Things, to argue from 
 them, of him, who was before them, that he 
 is God : Before the Mountains were brought 
 forth^ or ever thou hadjl formed the Earthy 
 even from Everlajii?ig to Everlaflifig thou art 
 God [e) : Agreeably hereto Mofes fpeaks of 
 Hills, that had not their Rife from the De- 
 luge, but were more ancient; were the Heights 
 
 [h) j^dducamus in Concilium Naturam et Rationem, pr^eennte 
 Jemper, qua licet, facrarum Literarum Luminei Tell. Theor. fac. 
 Lib. I. c. 5. [c) Job. XV. 6, [d) nraj -ijji^V. ibid. 
 
 [i] Pial. xc. 2., ■ 
 
 of 
 
T ALL of M A N. I2« 
 
 of the Earth, over and above the loftleft of 
 which the Waters of the Flood, he tells us, 
 prevailed fifteen Cubits upwards^ to cover all 
 the high Hills that then v^xre under Hea- 
 ven (f). But it v^^as in Dr. Burnefs Ima- 
 gination, that a fluid Mafs rolled round 
 upon its Axis might gradually throw out- 
 ward its earthy Particles, and become incrufted 
 over an huge Body of Waters, and growing 
 more and more firm and compact, have its 
 Surface naturally formed in an even Oval (g)i 
 But how fmall a Mote became here a Beam 
 in our Author's Eye, from his not confidering 
 the Greatnefs of this Work of God ? He does 
 not treat (tho' he is not willing to allow his 
 Conceptions to be fo narrow (gg) ), his mun* 
 dane Egg fuitably to the real Amplitude of the 
 World (/6) : Geometry fliews us of the higheft 
 Mountains of the Earth, that the Height of 
 any of them bears no greater Meafure to a 
 Semidiameter of our Globe, than to be in Pro- 
 portion to it as about i to 860 (/) ; fo that, 
 tho' to us many of the Mountains are vaft 
 
 (f) Gen. vii. 19. (g) Theory, Vol. I. c. 4. (gg) Id. c. i r. 
 {h) Theory, Vol. I. c. 5. *Tis the Doftrine of the Mundane 
 Egg : I do not know any Jymbolical Doftrine fo univerfally en- 
 tertained by the Myjla, Id. Book II. c, §. (/) V^aren. Geogr, 
 gedl. III. c. IX. Prop. VII. 
 
 Objeas, 
 
12 2 7^^ Creation and 
 
 Objefts, as they take up great Room in, or if 
 we approach them, more than fill the little 
 Orb of our Sight ; yet they are in Truth no 
 oreater Prominences on the Face of the World, 
 than an Excrefcence of about the one hundred 
 and forty third Part of an Inch high, would 
 be upon a Ball a Yard round : Our Sight is 
 not minute enough to reach fo infenfible an 
 Irregularity ; and were our Sight large enough 
 to comprehend a View of a whole Hemifphere 
 of the Earth, it would not have a Ken, that 
 could fpy fo little an Obje(5t as the {k) hugeft 
 Mountain. Had our Author thus confidered 
 the Bignefs of the Earth, Cavities for the Seas 
 imprefled upon the formed Orb of it, to re- 
 ceive the Gatherings together of the Waters, 
 which were to run from amongjl the HUls, and 
 the Mountains and Hills raifed upon the Face 
 of the antediluvian Globe, might have been 
 deemed by him to be no more than the o B-gos 
 y^ojuLST^Sv, the divine Workmafter, who gave 
 every Thing its due Weight and Meafure, 
 might know to be proper to balance the Parts 
 of tlie Earth one againft another, to give a 
 due Libration to our Globe. 
 
 {k) Varenius\ Proportion is, Montiura Altitude ad Semidia- 
 metrum Tellurislnon habet fenfilem Proportionem, five adeo 
 exic'iam, ut Rotunditati Telluris non magis officiat, quam 
 Pundum in Globi arciucialis fuperficie notatum. 
 
 But 
 
F ALL of M A N. 123 
 
 Bat the other Opinion is, that if the Earth 
 was indeed originally made fuch, as to have 
 Hills and Rivers like to what are mentioned 
 by Mofes, yet that fuch Alterations of our 
 Globe mufl: have happened from the univerfal 
 Deluge, that any the fame Mountains and 
 Rivers that were before the Flood, cannot be 
 fuppofed to have remained, to be found after 
 it: A Sentiment thought fupportable either by 
 confidering, i. What a Fradure mufl have 
 happened to the Earth, to bring forth the Abyfs 
 of Waters produced by God's breaking up the 
 Fountains of the Deep [k), or 2, The Strata 
 of the Relics of a Flood, which are faid to 
 lie every where deep in all Parts of the prefent 
 Earth. 
 
 I. Mofes tells us, that at the Deluge, all 
 the Fountains of the great Deep ivere broken 
 up (/). Our ingenious "Iheorift having obferved 
 what a Quantity of Water mufl other wife 
 have been created, to fill a Sphere extended 
 fifteen Cubits every way higher than the Sum- 
 mit of the highefl Hills (;;;), reprefents the 
 old World to have been arched over a vafl 
 Abyfs of Waters inclofed around its Center, 
 
 {k) Gen. vii, ii, (/) Ibid. (w) Theory of the Earth, 
 Vol. I. c. 2. 
 
 laid 
 
124 ^^ Creation and 
 
 laid up here as in a Store-houfe (;?), contained 
 as in a Bag [o) againft the Time, when God 
 called them forth to have the World, that 
 then was, perifh in them. God then, he fays, 
 broke up the Fountains of this Deep; caufed 
 the Compafs of the World fet over it (p) ; the 
 {(j) Earth eftablifhed upon thefe Floods to be 
 broken down, and in huge Fragments to fall 
 into this vaft Cavern, whereby the Waters 
 forced out of it, were added to the Rain of 
 forty Days, to drown the World. He adds in 
 lively Defcriptions, that the Face of the pre- 
 fent Earth, overfpread with broken Moun- 
 tains, craggy Precipices, and ragged and un- 
 (hapen Rocks, looks apparently fuch a World 
 of Ruins; ihews us, that we Hve upon the 
 Remains of a thus fradured Globe. And he 
 concludes, that if we admit his Hypothefis^ of 
 fuch a Difruption of the Earth, we cannot 
 expeft to find Rivers now, as they were be- 
 fore ; the general Source is, he fays, changed^ 
 and their Channels are all broke up (r) : It is 
 furprizing that this ingenious Author fhould 
 not refledl, that even his own Hypothefis does 
 not make it certain that the Ruins he fuppofes 
 
 («) Theory of the Earth, Vol. I. c. 7. Pfal. xxxiii. 7. [0) Ibid. 
 {/.) cxxxvi. 6. [q] xxiv. 2. (r) Theory, Vol.1. B. II. c. 7. 
 
 occupied 
 
Fall^p/'Man. 125 
 
 occupied the Face of the whole Earth : Might 
 not diverfe enormous Fragments fall into the 
 Abyfs reprcfented by him, in many different 
 Parts of the World, and for vaft and extenfive 
 Trads of Country together, and yet in other 
 Parts vaft Plains, and a well-watered Cham- 
 paign, fuch as are to be found, and have been 
 found in all Ages in many Countries have re- 
 mained not disfigured, as not having fuffered 
 in thefe Ruins ? The Difruption of the World 
 was localy here and there in Places, as the 
 rocky Precipices are found to be, which are 
 fcattered over, but do not every where cover 
 the whole Face of the Earth : And if Mofes"^ 
 Eden was in a Tradl of Country, that did not 
 break and fall in Fragments fo disjointed into 
 the Deep, its primitive Situation might remain, 
 and be well defcribed by him in the pofidiluvian 
 World. In like Manner, 
 
 2. If we examine what is offered by others, 
 concerning the feveral Strata in the Bowels of 
 the Earth, occafioned, as they reprefent, by 
 an univerfal Deluge, we (hall find nothing in 
 their Speculations, that can prove that Mofes 
 might not be able to defcribe the local Situa- 
 tion of the Garden of Eden^ by fuch Bounda- 
 ries as might really exift in the pojidiluvian 
 Earth. 
 
 The 
 
126 The Creation and 
 
 The Writers who tell us of Shells and 
 Extivice of Fifhes, of Teeth and Bones of 
 fome Animals, often found buried under the 
 Surface ; many Times deep in the Bowels of 
 the prefent Earth; fometimes inclofed even 
 within the Mafs of the moft folid Stones, or 
 Beds of Minerals ; apprehend the Earth at 
 the univerfal Deluge, to have been fo long 
 foked in the Water that overflowed it, that 
 the Cruftation or Concretion of all its Parts 
 was abfolutely loofened, and the whole Orb 
 liquidated into an univerfal Fluor-, in which 
 Trees, and Animals, Fiihes, and all forts of 
 Vegetables, not of a Contexture, fuch as that 
 Water was a proper Menjiruum to diflblve 
 them, were variouily toffed about and carried, 
 until, when God was pleafed to have the 
 Floods quieted, and the Agitations of the Wa- 
 ters become a dead Calm, Things began regu- 
 larly to fubfide ; the Earth to concrete again, 
 and the Bodies rolling here and there in the 
 turbid and thick Waters, to fink and lodge re- 
 gularly ; deeper or nearer the Surface of the 
 accrefcing Earth, as their fpeclfic Gravities 
 might reft them higher in, or fink them lower 
 into the Mud that furrounded them : That 
 ' the Bed of Earth, in which tliey became thus 
 fituated, hardening daily, fuitably to the Na- 
 ture 
 
F ALL of M A N. 127 
 
 ture of its refpedive Soil, fome Sfrafas be- 
 coming in Time a Chalk -, others vegetating 
 and conceding to Stone ; to Ore of Minerals, 
 m Concretions of various Sorts, fuch as might 
 be formed according to the different Nature of 
 the Parts they were compounded of 5 the undif- 
 folved Bodies that fubfided in them, and refled 
 where the furrounding Matter anfwered their 
 Gravity and fuftained them, became, as that har- 
 dened, inclofed in it -, and are therefore, wherever 
 the Earth is ranfacked down to the Beds they lie 
 in, found fometimes whole and intire, where 
 no Air has been introduced to loofen the Con- 
 texture of their Parts, or any Menftruum has 
 been generated, that could corrode and dif- 
 folve them: And many Times, w^here the 
 Shells or the Animals are diflblved and gone, 
 fuch a Print appears to have been taken of 
 tfeem in the yielding and foft Subftance, whilfl: 
 pliable, of the Strata they lay in, as to exhibit 
 to us even in what now are the hardefl Stones 
 Impreffions of various Kinds, more perfedt 
 than the be ft Matrices which the higheft Art 
 of Foundery could ever have made to caft 
 their Forms in : In this Manner they fuppofe 
 the liquidated Earth full of all that periilied in 
 it, to have gradually become again a round Lump, 
 precipitated to the Center of the Waters it 
 
 was 
 
128 The Creation and 
 
 was immerged in : And they fay, that after thi§ 
 Stibfidence God raifed the Earth again above 
 the Waters by breaking the round Orb, and 
 elevating fome Parts into Hills, making deep 
 Channels for Rivers and Seas, and thereby 
 draining great Trads to be dry Land for a new 
 habitable World : And they remark this to be 
 the Reafon, why in fome Mountains, and Sides 
 of Hills, the Reliques are found to lie in Lines 
 perpendicular, and not, as in other Parts of 
 the Earth, in horizontal Strata (j) : Thefe 
 Mountains, they fay, were raifed up from 
 their flat and recumbent Situation, fet as it 
 were on Edge, fa as to have what originally 
 was their horizontal Surface now pofited, flop- 
 ing or perpendicular to the Horizon^ and ac- 
 cordingly to have their whole Contents in a 
 like Situation. In this Manner we are apt ta 
 think ourfelves able fpeculatively to deftroy 
 and make a World : But whether in Faft thefc 
 Things were thus done, muft be more than 
 doubted by any one that attends to Mofes's 
 Hiftory. If the Earth within fix Generations 
 of j4dam was found to abound in fuch Ore of 
 Metals, as could employ every Artificer in 
 Brafs and Iron, of which we read ^ubal-Cain 
 
 (j) See modv:arfi Theory. 
 
 was 
 
Fa LL (^/^ M A N. 129 
 
 was an early Inflrucflor (/), there can be no 
 Conception of the whole Globe's having been 
 at the Flood of fo loofe and diffoluble a Con- 
 texture, as that forty Days Rain, and the 
 Waters that came from the great Deep, {hould 
 altogether melt it away : And if, as an inge- 
 nious Friend obferved to me in a Converfation 
 upon this Subjecfl, the Dove which Noah fent 
 out, the fecond Time from the Ark, came to 
 him in the Evening, and /?, in her Month was 
 an Olive Leaf pluckt off^ fo Noah knew that 
 the Waters were abated ; Trees, fome at leaft, 
 that were before the Flood, flood their 
 Ground, and therefore their Ground was not 
 abfoluteJy waflied away from them. Their 
 Summits or Tops of Boughs appeared as the 
 Flood decreafed, for the Dove to alight on, 
 and to bear away the Spoils of them. 
 
 The World, fuch as it fubiided during the 
 Increafe of the Flood, fuch it appeared again 
 in the Parts where the Ark refted, rifing by 
 Degrees out of the Waters : The Summits of 
 Trees upon the Hills, from one of which 
 Noah's Dove plucked an Olive Leaf, emerged 
 firfl ; the Tops of Hills became next Vifible; 
 the Earth, and. what was upon it came gra- 
 
 (/) Gen. iv. 22, 
 
 \' I 
 
 K dually 
 
130 2^^ Cre at I on and 
 
 dually into Sight, until the Face of the Ground 
 was dry : The Heathen Poet feems to have 
 defcribed this great Event, more fuitably to 
 what the Providence of God caufed to be the 
 Faft, than our Philofophers : Ovid tells us, 
 that upon the abating of the Flood, 
 
 Flumina fuhfidunt ^ colles exirevidentury 
 Surgit Humus : crefcunt Loca decrefcentibus undis : 
 Poftque diem — nudata Cacumina Silva 
 Oftendunt^ Limumque tenent in Fronde relief um^ 
 Reddiius Orbis erat, Ovid. Met. Lib, i. 
 
 The World was reftored to the Remains of 
 Mankind, not a new World, created over 
 again, upon a total Diflblution of the former j 
 but a Globe, which, however the Waters 
 left every where fufficient Marks of an Inun- 
 dation, was in no wife fo intirely ftripped of 
 its Trees, its Herbs, and all its other Garni- 
 ture, that the Sons of Noah could not know it 
 to be the fame, or could think it abfolutely 
 another Earth. 
 
 We may well account for all the Fhcenomena 
 our Naturalijis are fo full of, without run- 
 ning the Lengths of their Imaginations for a 
 Solution of them. If we confider the Ac- 
 counts and EfFeds of many leiTer Inundations 
 that have happened in diverfe Parts of the 
 
 World, 
 
Fa LL ^ M A N* 131 
 
 World, we may explain Effeds, fuch as are 
 mentioned by the Poet, 
 
 Vidi ego^ qua quondam fuerat folidijfma Tellus 
 EJfe Fretum^ vidi fa^ as ex aquore T'erras : 
 Et procul a Pelago concha jacuere marina, 
 Et vetus invent a eft in Montihus Anchor a fummis : 
 ^odquefuit Campus Vallem Becurfus Aquarum 
 Fecity et Eluvie Mons eft dedu5ius in aquor. 
 
 Ovid. Met. Lib. 15. 
 
 Great Trafts, that were formerly dry Land, 
 mav be now in the Sea : And much of what 
 the Waters covered anciently, is in many Parts 
 of the World become dry and habitable 
 Ground : The Shells of Sea-Fifli are often 
 ittn in Parts very remote from any Mention or 
 Memory of Seas, and ancient Anchors have 
 been found upon the Tops of Mountains : A 
 Flow of Waters have gulled Plains into deep 
 Valleys, and Hills have been wafhed down, 
 and born away into the Ocean. 
 
 Our own Country might afford many IHu- 
 ftrations of Fadts of this Nature. In the Levels 
 of Cambridgejhire^ there are many Reafons 
 to think, that there was anciently a Surface 
 that now lies buried fome Yards deep under the 
 prefent Sori : The bottoming of fome of their 
 
 K 2 Rivers 
 
3 2 The Creation and 
 
 Rivers fhew it (y) : And in fetting down a 
 Sluice, there has been found, fixteen feet 
 deep, a Smith's Forge, and the Tools there- 
 unto belonging, with feveral Horfe-ihoes : At 
 Whittkfey, in that County, in digging thro* 
 the Moor at eight Feet deep, they came, we 
 are told, to a perfedt Soil of Sword-Ground or 
 Grafs : Timber-Trees of feveral Kinds are 
 faid, in other Places, to lie deeply buried ; and 
 in fome Parts Skeletons of Fifties, whole and 
 intire, he many Feet under Ground in a Silt : 
 From all which Appearances our Naturalijis 
 inform us, with great Shew of Probability, 
 that fome ancient Land-Floods have brought 
 down from the higher Countries, a prodigious 
 Wafli of Soil, along with their Waters ; that 
 their Waters, not finding a fufficient Outlet to 
 run off with a ftrong Current, fpread over the 
 whole Level the adventitious Earth brought 
 along with them, which in Time hardned 
 and incrufted to a new Surface over the old 
 Ground, covering whatever was overflowed 
 upon the former Lands, and containing the 
 Exuvia of whatever Fifties or Animals, were 
 chok'd and buried in the Silt of it. From 
 thefe lefler EfFeds of leflTer Caufes, we may, 
 
 (j) See Dugdah\ Hiftory of Inbanking. 
 
Fall^Man. 133 
 
 I think, well trace the greater Effeds of 
 greater. If an Inundation of fo fmall a Coun- 
 try, as an inland Level, heaped a Soil over the 
 Face of it Yards deep, why might not the 
 univerfal Deluge of the World, in Places where 
 the Drain from them might let away the 
 Water, but retain the Sediment, lodge vaft 
 and mountainous Trads of adventitious Earth ? 
 In which might be buried all the Layers of 
 the Exuvia^ which are the noted Curiofities 
 of their Strata^ and over which the Earths 
 they were buried in, were at firft but wet 
 Mud, loofe Mould, gritty Sand, Lome or 
 Marl ; little Particles of ftony Subftance ; fome 
 of all Aptitudes for all forts of Accretion, 
 Concodion, and Vegetation, and which have 
 accordingly, in the Maturation of Ages, re- 
 mained fandy and fabulous, earthy in all Kinds, 
 or become Rocks or Minerals, Veins of Me- 
 tals, or Quarries of all forts of Stone, accord- 
 ing to the refpedive Natures of their compo- 
 nent Particles and Conftitution : The Hills, as 
 the Waters furmounted all, might in many 
 Places, where their Summits were plain and 
 extenfive, and the Fall from them but little, 
 have their Tops hugely heaped, and their 
 Sides every way loaded with thefe Incrufta- 
 tions, and in Countries where a great Fall was 
 
 K 3 open 
 
134- Th£ C^-^ AT 10-^ and 
 
 open for the Waters from high Hills, and a 
 fpacious Outlet for their Currents into the Sea, 
 Mountains of this adventitious Soil might be 
 carried off thro' the Channels of large Rivers, 
 deepned by the Torrents born thro' them, and 
 the Face of the adjacent Lands, fcoured in- 
 deed of fome of its own Surface, might have 
 its Boundaries left much the fame after as be- 
 fore fuch Deluge. 
 
 The Depths to which the Labour of Man 
 has, or ever can explore the Earth, are, com- 
 paratively fpeaking, a mere Span; for how 
 little do the deepeft Mines approach tov^ards 
 the Center of our Globe ? It may probably 
 be true, after all our Naturalijis have offered 
 upon thefe Subjefts, that none of the Shells 
 and Exuvla they talk of, fuch as really are, 
 or have been what they take them for, have 
 ever been found any where in the Earth, but 
 where the Deluge heaped and left the Soil 
 they are found in : In other Parts of the 
 World, wherein the Flood did not make a 
 new Ground, if thefe Parts were dug and 
 opened to proper Depths, undoubtedly we 
 fhould find different Layers or Strata of Earth, 
 Quarries of Stones,, or Veins of Minerals, fuch 
 as may have been forming from the Original 
 of Things, but no fuch Exuvi^ in thefe as 
 
 are 
 
Fall^Man. 135 
 
 arc found in like Beds in the other Places : 
 And where the Exuviae are found to lie per- 
 pendicularly, or a-flope, and not in horizontal 
 Lines, I fliould fufpeft, that Earthquakes, 
 fince the Deluge, may have varioufly broken 
 up thefe Places from their deepeft Founda- 
 tions; fubverted the old, and made a new Po- 
 fition of huge Fragments of them. And 
 
 If thus examining all that has been fug- 
 gefted, we can, after all, find a Situation in 
 the prefent World fo far fuch as Mofes de- 
 fcribes, as to have all Appearance of its being 
 the Trad, wherein he marked out the Boun- 
 daries of his Land of Eden, and its Garden ; 
 I cannot but conceive, that if thofe Parts were 
 dug up, and explored, Extivia of the Flood 
 would not be fo found in them, as to give 
 us Reafon to think otherwife than that the 
 Spot of Ground defcribed by Mofes, fuch as 
 he defcribes it, has exifted both upon the an- 
 tediluvian and pojidiluvian Earth. But let us 
 confider, 
 
 n. Whether the Defcription of Mofes does 
 not plainly tell us what were the Marks or 
 Bounds of his Garden of Eden in the firft 
 World ; and alfo as plainly, that thefe Boun- 
 daries remained, but had new Names, and 
 were well known in the fecond : A River, he 
 
 K 4 tells 
 
136 The Cvi'E krioi!^ and 
 
 tells us, went out of Edeii to water the Gar- 
 den, and it was a River of four Heads {b) : 
 This was the Run and Streams of the River 
 of Edcji, when the Garden was firft planted, 
 and the Man put into it : The Words of 
 Mofes muft have this, they can have no other 
 .Intention. But Mofes does not reft his De- 
 fcription here, he proceeds to tell us what 
 theie Rivers were called, and what Countries 
 they waili'd upon in after Ages : He calls the 
 firft of the Rivers Pifo7j, the fecond Gihon^ 
 the third Hiddckel, and the fourth Eu- 
 fhrafes (c) : And tells us of the firft River, 
 that it compaflTeth the whole Land of Havi- 
 lah {d)y a Country noted for its Gold and pre- 
 cious Stones (e) : of the fecond, that it com- 
 pafTeth the whole Land of Ethiopia, or 
 CnJJo (f) : of the third, that it runs Eaft into 
 AJfyria (g) : of the fourth, that it is the 
 Euphrates (h). Thefe Names of the Rivers 
 here mentioned by Mofes, three of them at 
 
 {h) Gen. ii. 10. (c) Ver. 1 1 — 14. M<9/^.f having told us that 
 the Garden was watered by a River from four Heads ; proceeds 
 here to make as it were a new Terrar of it, by giving its 
 Streams, and the Countries they wafhed upon, thole Names 
 they were called by after the Flood, .^r. (^) Gen. ii. 11. 
 
 {e) Ibid. (/J The Word which we tranflate Ethiopia is Cujh 
 in the Helrew, Gen. ii. 13. See Connedl, Sac. &:Proph. Hilt. 
 Vol. I. Bookni. p. 166. (gj Gen. ii. 14. [b] Ibid. 
 
 leaft. 
 
Fa LL of Man. 137 
 
 leaft, are not, that I know of, mentioned any 
 where by the prophane Geographers^ but the 
 moft ancient of thefe are mere Moderns, com- 
 paratively fpeaking, with regard to the ancient 
 Scripture Geography (/) : The Author of the 
 Book of Ecclcfiajficus mentions both PifoJi and 
 Giho?2 {k)y and hints both to have been Rivers, 
 that at particular Seafons of the Year abound- 
 ed in their Flow of Waters (/), and as not un- 
 worthy of being named with the Tigris and 
 Euphrates (?n) ; fo that we may think that in 
 his Day they were noted, and in no wife in- 
 confiderable Streams : The Pifon^ Mofes tells 
 us, encompafled the whole Land of Havi- 
 lah (o) ; a Country, well known by this Name, 
 from after Abraham's Days {f)-, and in the 
 Times of Saul (g) ; altho' not thus called in 
 the antediluvia?i World 5 for it muft have been 
 thus denominated from its having been planted 
 after the Flood, by Havilah one of the Sons 
 of Jokta?i (r), or perhaps originally by Ha- 
 vilah a Son of Cujl: (j) : We can find no more 
 of Gihon, than that it compaffed the whole 
 Land of Ethiopia^ or Land of Cufi (/) : The 
 
 (/■) Vide quas poll. [k) Ecclus. xxiv. 25, 27. {/) Ibid. 
 [m] Ibid. [0) Gen. ii. ubi fup. (/) Gen. xxv. 18. (^ ) i Sam. 
 XV. 7. (r) Gen. x. 29. [s) Ver. 7. See Connect. Vol. I. 
 B. III. (/) Gen. ii. ubi fup. 
 
 Country 
 
1^8 7%e' Cn.E AT ION and 
 
 Country called the Land of CuJ/j, was what 
 the Sons of Cnjh firft planted (w), moft pro- 
 bably Babylc?iia {x), undoubtedly not called 
 the Land of Ciipy until after the Flood, when 
 Cup the Son of Ham, and Grandfon of Noah^ 
 had been an Inhabitant of it. The River 
 Hiddekel was known to Da7tiel : It was a great 
 River in his Days ; one of the Vifions he faw, 
 was made to him in the third Year of Cyrus 
 King of Perfia, upon the Banks of it (y) : 
 The fourth River of Mofes's Eden was the 
 Perathy or Euphrates (2;), a River fo known 
 as to want only to be named, to be fufRciently 
 diftinguifhed from all others : It was called by 
 way of Eminence, I'he great River, in Abra- 
 ham ?> Days {a) ; again fo in like manner by 
 Mojes at the Exit out of Egypt [b) : It is well 
 known throughout the whole Scriptures by 
 the fame Name (c) -, and the Heathen Geo- 
 graphers are all very large and full in their 
 Accounts of it (d). In this Manner therefore 
 Mofes writes his Situation of the Garden of 
 Eden, not as if he thought the Flood had 
 
 {nv) Gen. x. 7. See Connea. Vol. I. B. III. (x) Ibid. 
 
 (y) Dan. X. 4. (!?;) Gen. ii. 14.. («) Gen. xv. 18. (^) Deut. 
 j. 7. (r) The Reader may find it thus named in all Parts of 
 the Old Teftament. {d) Vide Strab. Geogr. Lib. 11. Plinii 
 Nat. Hift. Lib. 5. c. 24, Lib. 6. c, 9. ^"c 
 
 wallied 
 
Fall .^ M A N. r^g 
 
 waflied it away, that the Place of it could no 
 where be found 3 but he remarks what Names 
 the Rivers of it had from after the Times of 
 the Sons of Noah^ what Countries they bound- 
 ed, and he fo remarkably obferves it to have 
 been fituate in the Neighbourhood of the moft 
 known River in the World, the River Eu^ 
 phrates ; that it muft be evident, he had no 
 Thought of placing it in fome obfcure Cor- 
 ner, which furely he would have done, if he 
 had intended a mere Fidtion : And I fhould 
 apprehend, confidering him as defcribing a 
 real Place, he would have added more, if he 
 had not thought what he wrote clear enough 
 to leave no Doubts, at the Time he wrote, 
 concerning the Situation defcribed by him* 
 But, 
 
 III. The Site of the Garden of Eden^ as 
 Mofes defcribes it, feems to have been well 
 known in the World, both before, and in, 
 and after Mofe^ Times : The Scriptures are ge- 
 nerally concife ; every Part confined to the 
 Matter it treats of: And therefore the Garden 
 of Eden being fituate beyond the Euphrates, 
 and near the River, upon whofe Banks Daniel 
 was, in his Captivity at Babylon^ it muft at 
 firft Sight be obvious, that the Land and 
 Garden of £^^^^ were in th« Neighbourhood 
 
 of 
 
140 7^^ Creation and 
 
 of Babylonia : But the Hiftory of the Bibky 
 from after Abraham's Days to about the Times 
 of the Captivity, has no Accounts relating to 
 any Thing beyond the Euphrates 5 and there- 
 fore it is no Wonder, if we meet nothing re- 
 markably relating to Places of this Country in 
 all this Interval : But Abraham and Lot came 
 into Canaan^ from Haran [e) ; and before 
 they dwelt in Haran^ they had left a further 
 Part of the Country of the Chaldees^ they had 
 come from Ur (f) : They were not young 
 Men (g) when they left thefe Parts, but may 
 be well fuppofed to have been no Strangers to 
 a Country they and their Fathers had for many 
 Generations lived in : We accordingly find 
 them readily agreeing in a material Point con- 
 cerning the Subjedl of our Inquiry : They fo- 
 journed together in Canaan^ between Bethel 
 and Hai ', their Flocks and Herds were fo 
 large, that they could not conveniently live 
 together, but were now to feparate [h) ; and 
 Lot^ we read, chofe to live in the Plain of 
 yordaUy becaufe it was every where well wa- 
 tered, even as the Garden of the Lord, and 
 
 [e) Gen. xii. 5. (f) xi. 31. (g) See Conneft. Vol. I. 
 B. 5. A'vraka?n was 70 Years old, when his Father removed 
 from Vr to Haran, ar^d 75 when he came into Canaan. 
 
 [h) Gen. xiii. 
 
 like 
 
Fa ll ^ M a n. I 41 
 
 like the Land of Egypt (/) : Abraham and Lot 
 had been together in Egypt-, fo that this 
 Country was well known to them [k) -, and 
 from the whole courfe of their Travels, it 
 muft appear, that they could have feen no 
 Parts of the World fo well watered as the 
 Plains of Jordan, except the Lands upon the 
 Waters of the A7Z?, and the Waters of Baby- 
 lon : The One they fpeak of exprefsly • and 
 the Garden of the Lord in the Country of the 
 other, they agree . to, without any farther 
 Mention than its Name, as being a Place fa- 
 miliarly known to both of them (/) j and the 
 
 comparing 
 
 (/) Gen.xiii. 10. [k) Ver. i. (/) It may feem to us a great 
 Retrofped, for Abraham to look back for Adam'i firft Habita- 
 tion : But if we confider the Length of Mens Lives from Adam 
 to Abrahajn\ Adam lived to fee Lamech 56 Years old j fee the 
 Table o^ Antedilwcian Lives according to the Hehre^v Chrono- 
 logy. ConneB. Vol. L B. L Lamech ap|>ears to have been aPer- 
 fon, that had much confidered the State of his Forefathers, the 
 Labours they had from the Ground, in God^s having curfed it. 
 He therefore knew what had been the Error of Adam's Liit, 
 and was enabled to affure his Contemporaries, upon the Birth of 
 his Son Noah, that this Child of his {houid obtain them a Re- 
 lief of their Difficulties, fee Gen. v. 29. Lamech lived to with- 
 in five Years of the Flood, fee the Table above-ci:ed. Shem, 
 the Son of Noah^ was 100 Years old two Years after the Flood, 
 fee Gen. xi. 10. and therefore was born 97 Years before the 
 Beginning of the Flood, and 92 Years before the Death of his 
 Grandfather Lamech. Shem lived 502 Years after the Flood, 
 fee Gen. xi. 10. :. .'. the Flood happening A.M. 1656. See 
 Conned. \'ol. L B.I. Shem lived to A.M.zi^S. Ahraham 
 was born A. M. 2co8. fee Conned. Vol. L E. ;. fo that Sh,m 
 lived to fee Ahraham 1 jo Years old. Ahrahum xXx^x^iqx^ might 
 
 converfe 
 
142 7^^ Creation and 
 
 comparing the Plains of 'Jordan with the Spot 
 of Ground watered by thefe Rivers faid by 
 ^ Mofes to be the Rivers of Eden^ was fo juft a 
 Sentiment, that the Writer of the Book of 
 Ecclefiajiicus afterwards agreed to its being 
 true : The Waters of Tigris^ and Pifon^ and 
 Geon^ and Euphrates^ are by him, as Abra^ 
 ham and Lot long before agreed them, very 
 properly compared with the Waters of Jor^ 
 dan (m). 
 
 But if it may be doubted whether by the 
 Garden of the Lord, mentioned by Lot to 
 Abraham,, was meant the Garden of Eden, 
 defcribed by Mofes ; let us confider how far 
 this Place's retaining this very Name in the 
 Countries where it was fituate, down to the 
 Captivity, may be of Weight to clear this Mat- 
 ter. Ezekiel, in his Prophecy againft Tyre, whofe 
 Merchants traded to all Parts of the Earth, 
 obferves of them, that they had been at the 
 Garden of God (n) : Where now was the Place 
 fo called ? in what Land ? He plainly tells us. 
 
 converfe many Years with Shem, Shem with Lantech^ and La- 
 mech with Adam : And tho' a Knowledge of where Adam firft 
 lived may feem to have travelled thro' a vail Traft of Time, 
 to come down to Abraham, yet we may obferve the Links of 
 the Chain of the Tradition of it were fo few, that we may think 
 it really not more remote from his having a full Account of it, 
 than it may be to us to know the Habitation of our Father's 
 Grandfather, [m] Ecclus. xxiv. ubi fup. [n] Ezek. xxviii. 13. 
 
 it 
 
Fa ll of M a n. 143 
 
 it was in Eden (0) : I would obferve what the 
 Merchandife was, which the Tyriam brought 
 thence; it was, the Prophet obferves, many ^ 
 precious Stones, and amongft them the Onyx 
 StGne^ and Gold (p) ; the very Commodities 
 which Mofes tells us were the Produce of this 
 Country (g) : Shall we doubt where the Pro- 
 phet imagined the Situation of this Country of 
 Edeny and this Garden of God? We may fee 
 he placed it near to Baby Ion y and amoncrft 
 the Domains of the Affyrian Empire : Eden 
 feems to have been beyond Haran and Can-- 
 nehy near to Shebah, and AJhur (r), all which • 
 well agrees with Daniel's being upon the Banks 
 of the River Hiddekely one of Mofes's Rivers 
 of Eden^ when he was of the Children of the 
 Captivity of Babylon [s) : Thefe are very di- 
 redling Hints, of which if any one will fay 
 they do not amount to a Demonftration, I 
 fhall not herein contend with him; but I 
 think at the fame Time, I may venture to 
 offer it to be ferioufly confidered, whether 
 they do not concur more reafonably to induce 
 us to admit, that the Garden of God, in Eden^ 
 was a Place, well known by that Name, to 
 
 («) Ezek. xxviii. 13. (p) Ibid. {q) Gen. ii. 1 1, 12. 
 
 {r) Ezek, xxvii. 23. [s] Daa. ubi fup. See iii. & v. Chapters* 
 
 Abraham 
 
144 ^^ Creation and 
 
 Abraham and Lot, and many Ages after by 
 the Jews in the Days of their Captivity, and 
 known to be fituate not very far from the 
 Waters of Babylon, and in a Situation very 
 well agreeing to Mofes*^ Defcription of it, 
 than all the Suggeftions, in Comparifon very 
 trifling, that can be offered to caufe us to think 
 otherwife. Let us 
 
 IV. Conlider, what Mofes's Defcription of 
 the Land and Garden of Eden precifely is. 
 And if we attend carefully to Mojes's Narra- 
 tion, we jfhall find it plainly to offer us the 
 following Particulars, i. That a River went 
 out of Eden and watered the Garden (/) : Eden 
 then was the Country higher up the Stream 
 than the Garden ; for the River ran down from 
 Eden to the Garden. 2. And from thence it 
 ivas parted {u) : After the River had run pafl, 
 /. e, at, or below the farther End of the Gar- 
 den, it v^as parted: The Meaning of the 
 Words is fufRciently clear : The River, after 
 it came out of the Land of Eden, was one 
 fmgle or undivided Stream to and all along the 
 Garden ; but when it had paffed the Garden, 
 then it divided, and branched into more 
 Streams. But 3. what next follows feems 
 
 [t) Gen.ii. 10. («) Ibid. 
 
 more 
 
Fall of M a n. 145 
 
 more confufed : It became into four Heads {w) : 
 Heads of Rivers are the Springs or Origin ^ 
 
 from whence they have their Waters : So that 
 to fay of Rivers, that the Current of their 
 Stream proceeds, and becomes into four 
 Heads, or comes to four Heads feems to be 
 an Inverlion of Nature, a kind of defcribing; 
 them to run upwards, to their Fountains, 
 when on the contrary all Streams mufl run 
 dov^nfromy and not to or i?ito their Heads. 
 The Hebrew Particle ufed by Mofes^ and 
 which we tranflate intOy is indeed [L^] (^), 
 which generally fignifies tOy or tmto ; but the 
 T'ranjlators ought to have obferved, that it 
 fometimes alfo iignifiesyrc;;/, and fo it ought 
 to have been rendered in this Place, In the 
 Book of Chronicles we read, when Solo?non 
 was made King, he^ and all the Congregatiofi 
 with him^ went [noi'?] to the high Place that 
 was at Gibeon y for there was the Tabernacle of 
 the Congregation of Gody which Mofes the Ser^ 
 vant of the Lord had made in the Wilder^ 
 nefs (y) : Here the Particle Le is prefixed to 
 Bamahy and fignifies to or tmto the high Place : 
 But in the 13th Verfe w^e are told, Then 
 
 (czv) Gen. ii. lo. [x] HpniNV Hcb. Text, (y) 2 Chron. 
 i. 3. 
 
 L SolofJJGH 
 
146 T^e Creation and 
 
 Solomon came [noa^] 5 (the fame Frefix and 
 ^ Word is again ufed) : Our EngliJIo Verfion 
 fays, from his Journey to the high Places that 
 was at Gibeon to Jerufalem : But the Hebrew 
 Text hcis no Words iox from his Journey : The 
 Vulgar Latin therefore renders the Paffagc 
 more truly, Venit ergo Salomon ab excel fo Ga- 
 beon in Jerufale?n : The Septuagint fay, Kou 
 Yih^e ^EocAMfjicau ex ^oLfjLX w OP TolSxcov ft$ Igptf- 
 GOLAYifJi' The Fadt was : Solomon had been at 
 the high Place at Gibeon, he was now to re- 
 turn back again to Jerufalemy and this the 
 Hebrew Text expreffes by, Then Solomon came 
 [labbamah] from the high Place that was at 
 Gibeon, to Jerufalem : Here the Particle [L^] 
 prefixed to Bamah fignifiesyrc;;?, tho* it is as 
 plain, that in the 3d Verfe prefixed in like 
 manner to the fame Word, it fignifies to or 
 W2to, i. e. this Particle in the Hebrew Tongue 
 may have either of thefe Significations, and the 
 neceffary Senfe of the Place muft guide us 
 when to give it the one, and when the other : 
 and under this Diredion in the Text of Mofes, 
 which we are confidering, it muft fignifyyr^?^ 
 and not ijito : The Words of Mofes are, [''J^- 
 kajah le arbanah Rajhirn [z) ] they (hould be 
 
 capitibus c quatuor et fuit 
 
 rendrcii 
 
Falx. of Man. 147 
 
 rendred, And it nvas from four Heads. This 
 then is the exprefs Aecount Mofes gives of the 
 River of pden. It eam(? from Eden to water 
 the Garden y from thence it parted ; from Eden 
 downwards to the Garden it was but. one 
 Stream; beyond the Garden it parted, and 
 branched into more Streaqis : Mofes does not 
 lay of thefe, how many they were, nor what 
 their Courfes were, where they ran to ; but 
 returns to give Account of the One Stream 
 that ran down to the Garden, and this he tells 
 us was made by the Confluence of four Rivers, 
 afterwards named by him, Pifon^ Gibony Hid^ 
 dekel and Euphrates {a) : We are, 
 
 V, To confider whether there have not hap- 
 pened fuch Alterations of the Face of the 
 Country and Rivers of Mofes'% Eden fmce his 
 Times, as may make it impofiible to trace 
 every Mark of the Garden or Land of Eden 
 as he bounded it, but to inquire neverthelefs, 
 how far we may find fufficient Marks of the 
 Situation of it. 
 
 (a) We may here obferv<; of Dr. Burnet^ that he mpft egrc- 
 gioufly miftook Mofes\ Expreffion. He aflcs infulting. Die uhi 
 in Ferris • . quafuor Flicvii nafcuntur ab uno FontCy Arciiaeol. 
 
 p. 287, 288. In his Englijh Work : Where an there feur Ri'vers in 
 our Continent y that come from one Head? Theory of the Earth, 
 Vol. I. B. II. c 7. He wQuld infinuaie Mofes to have baen guilty 
 of fuppofing an Abfurdity : But he did not underlland Mofes : 
 The Abfttrdity \& bi& own. 
 
 L 2 It 
 
14-8 The Creation and 
 
 It was evidently near to or upon the Eu* 
 phrates {h\ upon the Hiddekel (c), a River 
 not far from ancient Babylon {d) : It v^ras in 
 the Country, where the mighty Empires of 
 y^ffyria had their Seat, their Height of Gran- 
 deur and their Ruin : And we can hardly think 
 of the amazing Works performed by the 
 Powers that ruled in thefe Countries ; in their 
 Alterations of the Courfes of Rivers; building 
 and removing even great Cities; all which are 
 fince become no better than a vaft Tradl of ftu- 
 pendous Ruins, without feeing that it muft 
 be impoffible to think of finding in thefe Parts 
 any Face of Things, to a minute Degree fuch 
 as Mofes defcribed, Ages before what has been 
 their Glory in the Variety of all the Works of 
 Art, and Labours of Empire which adorn'd 
 them, and which are now their Defolation, 
 
 The two great Rivers of thefe Countries 
 are the T'igris and the Euph?^ates : Thefe have 
 been Rivers always noted by all Geographers, 
 that have wrote of thefe Parts of the World : 
 The Euphrates is not doubted to have been 
 Mofes's Perath, and we may well allow the 
 Tigris to have been his Hiddekel, confidering 
 it remarked to have been called by Daniel the 
 
 (L) Gen. ii. ubifup. (<■) Ibid, [dj Dan. x. ubi. fup. 
 
 great 
 
Fall of Man. 149 
 
 great River {e)^ the eminent Title of the 'Eu- 
 phrates (f)y and not hkely to be given to any 
 leflbr Stream, not competently to be compared 
 with it. But can we offer, as much to find 
 out what River was the Gihon or the Pifon of 
 Mofes? I confefs I think not. The Me- 
 mory of both thefe Rivers feems to have been 
 diftin<aiy kept up, to the Times of the Author 
 of the Book of Ecclefmjiicus^ who, according 
 to Dean Prideaux, wrote in Hebrew about 
 250 Years before C^rj/? (^^^ v/hat his Grand- 
 fon above a Century later turned into Greek : 
 This Writer appears to refer to all the four (/) 
 Rivers mentioned by Mofes as well known in 
 his Times, and known to have their extraor- 
 dinary Flows, like to the River Jordan, an- 
 nually ; but the Geographical Writers we have 
 now extant, are but Moderns in comparifon of 
 the Age of even this Author, none of them 
 fo old by above two hundred Years, and fome 
 that are often cited as old Writers, falling fhort 
 of him many Centuries. A vaft Change 
 
 [e] Daniel x. ubi fup. (f) Gen. xv. ubi fup. (g) Prideaux 
 Conned. Part. II. B. V. Anno ante Chriftum 132. At this time 
 the learned Dean fays it was tranflated into Greek : It was, he 
 fays, originally written in Hebrenv by the Author of it, about 
 the Time that Onias, the fecond of that Name, was High 
 Prieft at Jerufalem, which was about Anno ante Chriftum 250. 
 See his Connedl. Part II. B. II. (i) Ecclus. xxiv. 25 — 27. 
 
 L 3 began 
 
150 7>5(? Creation and 
 
 began to be made in the Face of this Country 
 about a Century before the Writing of the 
 Book of Ecclefiafticus, when Seleucus built 
 Seleucia on the Tigris^ to the defolating old 
 Babylon {h) : What the Rivers of this Country 
 were before the Province where Babylon had 
 flood began to become an Heap of deferted 
 Ruins, might be recolledted when the Writer 
 of Eccleftajiicus made mention of them ; but 
 be loft: in a good deal of Confuiion, before 
 the earliefl: Writers of Geography after his 
 Times, whofe Works are now extant, made 
 their Inquiries into the State of the World. 
 For I think Strabo'% is the moft ancient Work, 
 at leaft of any Figure, we have of this Kind, 
 and this was not compofed before the Times 
 of T'iberius. If Dionyfms Periegetes was about 
 the fame Age, Pliny and Ptolomy were much 
 later, and the Nubian Geography ftill more 
 modern. And it is obfervable, that whatever 
 more ancient Writers Strabo, or any that fol- 
 lowed him, had to colledl from, even thefe 
 had Dijfficulties about the Waters of Babylon: 
 They had no clear Accounts what were the 
 original ancient Rivers that might here concur, 
 and v/hat were artificial Lakes, Streams, and 
 
 [h) See Prideaux Conned. Part I. B. VIII. 
 
 Canals, 
 
r^i 
 
A PLAN 
 
 ,of 
 
 tAe prefirU CA<inf/^ 
 
 o/f:/,eR,vers 
 
 HIDDEKEL or TIGRll 
 
 and 
 
 UPHRATE S 
 
 the Site of Mb s E s 
 Garden an<f Ri 
 oS. Eden . 
 
Fa LL ^ M A N. I^j 
 
 Canals, cut from and into the Euphrates^ for 
 the Ornament or Convenience of that fuperb, 
 and beyond Comparifon great and populous 
 City (/) : In the Confufion hence arifing, and 
 in Length of Time growing inexplicable, we 
 may reafonably allow all Knowledge of the 
 true Channels of the Rivers Pifon and Gihon 
 to have been loft, and we fhould greatly trifle 
 were we now to pretend to a Curiofity to find 
 them : The material Point is, whether we 
 liave not enough left, indifputably certain, to 
 lead us to think Mofes's Defcription not fuch 
 a Romance as our modern ^llegorijis would ima- 
 gine. 
 
 The Garden of Eden bordered upon a River 
 made up of a Confluence of four Streams, one 
 of which was the Euphrates^ the other the 
 Hiddekel {k) : The Queftion is. Is there a 
 Place in the World where thefe two Rivers 
 and other Streams join ? I anfwer. There is, 
 'uiz. at the South-eaft Extent of the Province 
 
 (z) Qualis Fades Euphratis fuerit, priufquam manu faclis 
 Foflis et Alveis diftraheretur, difficile ell delineare : Nam et 
 illae Fofibe antiquiores pleraeque funt, quam Graeci, a quibus et 
 Naturae Rerum, aut ab hominibus gellarum Memoriam habe- 
 mus, ad fcribendum et Hiftorias componendas, aut Res naturae 
 tradendas fe compofuerunt. Cellarii Geogr. Lib. 3. c. 16. Straba 
 makes many Complaints of the Incorrettnefs of the Greek Geo- 
 graphers in many Parts of his Work, [k) Gen. ii. ubi. fup. 
 
 L 4 of 
 
152 7115^ Creation and 
 
 of the now Irak Jrabi of the Turkijh Empire,' 
 which was the ancient Chaldaea -, at the Place 
 where the Turks now have a Fortitication cal- 
 led Korna, at which Place the Hiddekel or 7V- 
 gris and Euphrates^ with fome other leffer 
 Streams, fall in and make one River. Let us 
 inquire further. Do thefe Rivers thus joined 
 continue to run in one Stream, as Mojes men- 
 tions his River of Eden to have run down from 
 Eden to the Garden of God ? I anfwer, They 
 run in One undivided Channel down to Baf- 
 for a : From hence they are parted, and run 
 in Streams navigable even by large Ships, in 
 different Channels into the Ferfian Gulf. An 
 Infpedtion of the Map I have here inferted will 
 exhibit what I offer in the clearefl View. 
 
 Whether thefe Rivers were fo large in 
 Mofes'^ Time as they now are, I do not pre- 
 tend to fay 5 tho' it is obfervable, that Hid- 
 dekel v/as a great River in Daniel'^ Days (/), 
 the Euphrates [m) was reputed eminently fo in 
 the Times of Abraham-, and it was the Tafle 
 of Mojesz Days to efleem a Ground well wa- 
 tered, which lay, as the Land of Egypt did, 
 upon the Confines of a great and overflowing 
 River, fo as that a Man might water it with 
 
 {I) Daniel, ubi i^-^. [m) Genefis, ubi Tup. 
 
 his 
 
F ALL of Man. 1^3 
 
 his Foot [n), might trace out Furrows, or 
 Channels, that might be filled with the Flow 
 of it, and convey Water to the Plants, where- 
 ever he might defire to defign Lines for its 
 Conveyance : But leaving the Reader to con- 
 fider and determine, as he thinks fit, whether 
 in the firft World, there were any Snows 
 covering, in their Seafon, the Hills or Moun- 
 tains whence thefe Rivers take their Rife, 
 and if there were not, whether their Flow 
 might not be lefs, and their Channels not fo 
 wide and deep in jiJam's Days, as they be- 
 came afterwards, when greater Currents made 
 their Way thro' them ; I might remark, that 
 this Augmentation of their Waters may, in 
 the Hand of Providence, have been one 
 Means of keeping their Channels open and 
 known even until now, and likely to continue 
 fo unto the End of the World. 
 
 The Courfe of the Euphrates is to be traced 
 in all noted Writers of Geography : And it is 
 plainly to be feen, in all the Tradls of the 
 Country it paflis thro', that in no Point, but 
 that one, I have mentioned, it can be found 
 to come to a Confluence with other Rivers, to 
 
 («) Deut. xvi. 10. Thus Exekiel hints a Vine fo planted'ni 
 a good Soil by great Waters, that it might be watered bv the 
 Furrows of her Plantation. Ezek. xvii, 7. 
 
 make 
 
154 ^^ Creation dnd 
 
 make one Stream as Mofes defcribes \ and to 
 part again, before it runs into the Sea, And 
 if, as I meafure it from Korna to Bajfora^ be 
 not above 60 Miles, we bring our Inquiry af- 
 ter the earthly Paradife within a narrow Com- 
 pafs, and however inconfiderately fome may 
 be difpofed to ridicule the Inquiry, we may 
 reafonably conclude we cannot be far from 
 the Spot which was the Garden of Eden^ any 
 where in the Confines of the Flow of this 
 River between Korna and Bajfora. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Concerning the Temptation that happened unto 
 Eve from the Serpent : and concerning her 
 and Adam'i eating of the forbidden Tree. 
 
 WJ E left Adam and Eve In the Garden of 
 ^^ Eden: The Day after their Creation 
 was a Sabbath -, to be employed in confidering 
 the Bounty and Goodnefs of their Creator; 
 what Expedlations he had given them ^ what 
 Duties injoined them, and how they might 
 perform them : And it is moft unnatural to 
 think, that when this Day was over, and they 
 began to employ themfelves in what God had 
 appointed them to do, namely, to drefs the 
 
 Garden 
 
Fa LL ^ M A N. 1^5 
 
 Garden and to keep ity they fliould go out to 
 their Work not defirous to fee and coniider 
 the Creation of God, and fully purpoiing to 
 revere and obey him, in every thing he had 
 faid, or fhould farther fpeak to them. Dr. Bur- 
 net fuppofes, that the Temptation, w^hich they 
 fubmitted to, befel them inftantly on the very 
 Day of their Creation (p) : But it is obferv- 
 able, that, altho' the Narration of Mofes is 
 very concife, 
 
 Semper ad Eventum fejlinat Hor. 
 
 although he has related to us only a few Events, 
 upon which all the whole Affairs of the firft 
 World turned 5 and relates them in their Or- 
 der as they were done, omitting all that was 
 intermediate between the Particulars recorded 
 by him; yet the Intervals of Time between 
 the Fafts recorded by him, muft have been 
 filled up in a Manner reafonably agreeing 
 to the Nature of the Things related, and 
 
 (P) V^^ ^^^ crea'vit omnia Pecora, omnes Feras, et omnia Rap- 
 
 tilia denique crea'vit Adamumy ^—-Jinitd hac opera fahrifecit 
 
 Fceminam: Eodern die Conjugium ineunt Mas et Fcemina recens nati: 
 ■ ■ Ecdem Die nova nupta, ncfcio quo Propojito, wagata inter Ar^ 
 bores nemoris, incidit in Serpent em: llle ferpens colloquium injlituit 
 cum Fcemind : Argumenta jadant hdc illuc de quddam Arhore aut 
 quodam Fruciu, edendo, 'vel ?ion edendo : Ilia tandem Rationihus aut 
 Lenociniis 'viSia Frucium comedit\ neque id tantum, fed eundem de- 
 fert marito, qui pariter comedit% Archaeol. p. 295. 
 
 the 
 
1^6 'The Creation and 
 
 the Charadler of the Perfons concerned in 
 them. 
 
 Both a juft Writer, and a judicious Reader, 
 
 Reddere Ferfonce fcit convenientia cuique 
 
 Hor. 
 
 will know how to fay, and where it is not 
 neceflary to be expreffed, how to think what 
 is fuitable to every Character : But it is hard 
 to think of God, that he jQiould permit a 
 Temptation, of fo great Confequence, to break 
 forth upon our firft Parents, before they had 
 had Time to form any Sort of Thoughts of 
 the Things about them : And we give Adam 
 and Eve no Character at all, if we imagine, 
 that, whilft the Voice of God, ftridlly charg- 
 ing them not to eat of the Tree, had fcarce 
 ceafed fpeaking to them, they would eat, be- 
 caufe they heard a Serpent fay they might 
 fafely do it. If Mofcs had exprefsly told us, 
 that they thus inftantly fell into the Sin which 
 became their Ruin, he had, I think, laid be- 
 fore us a great -Rock of Offence againft his 
 Narration : For to fuppofe, that as foon as God 
 gave the Prohibition, Adam and Eve would 
 immediately tranfgrefs it, implies not only a 
 Want abfolutely of all Confideration in our 
 firft Parents, but fomething incredibly prone 
 
 not 
 
F ALL of Man. 157 
 
 not to regard him, who only had ihewed him- 
 felf proper to be regarded by them : But 
 Dr. Burnet takes up the Sentiment only that 
 he may tragically complain of Mofes Narra- 
 tion [q) : Had not this Bias poffefTed him, he 
 would have feen, that, notwithftanding any 
 Thing faid by Mofes, many Days might in- 
 tervene between ^dam and Eve*s Creation, 
 and their breaking the Commandment of 
 God. 
 
 Our Englip Poet took a View of the Sub- 
 jeft in a better Temper and Difpofition : And 
 accordingly, tho' what he fuppofes is a mere 
 Fidlion of his own, not at all warranted by 
 Mofes^ or fuggefted by any infpired Writer ; 
 nor do I think it in Fadl true ; yet I would 
 obferve, it feemed natural to him, to imagine 
 the Angel Gabriel to have fpent half a Day 
 with Adam and Eve^ after the Night in which 
 he reprefents Eve to have had a troublcfome 
 Dream (r), and that the Temptation happened 
 
 [q] Intra unius Diei fpatiolum hac omnia confeiia hgimus :, 
 magna et multifaria Negotia. Sed ardeo dolorc, cum tantillo Tem- 
 pore omnia iwverfa et perturbata n.'ideo, totamque Rerum naturam 
 *vixdum compojttam et adornatafn '^.nte pn?m folis occafum^ ad hite- 
 ritum riere et dtformari. Mane Diei Deus dixit y Omtiia ejje bona : 
 fub mefpere omtiia funt execrabilin. ^uam Jiuxa eft Rerum rea- 
 tarum Gloria^. Opus elahoratum per fex Dies, idque omnipote'riii 
 Manuy in/amis Befiia totidcm Boris perdidit. Achisol. p. 295. 
 (r) See Mi!tcn\ Paradifc Loft, Book V. ^c 
 
 the 
 
158 Tl^t Creation and 
 
 the Day after the Angel left them (i) : He 
 tells us, that on the Day the Angel Yilite<} 
 tjiem, they had in the Morning faid, 
 
 ^heir Orifons each Morning duly paid 
 In 'various Style, ■ {t) 
 
 which implies his conceiving them to have hapl 
 diverfe Mornings, in which they had diver£- 
 fied their Devotions : I cannot tell how any 
 one that will think reafonably upon the fub- 
 jedl, can be fatisfied in fo (hocking a View of 
 it, as Dr. Burnet fets before us : But, as I be* 
 fore hinted, it is obvious to fee what milled 
 him, namely, his Difpofition to reprefent 
 Mofes*s Narration to intimate, that the Works 
 of God*s infinite Wifdom difplayed for fix 
 Days together in creating and forming a won- 
 derful Syftem of Things in the Fabric of a 
 World, were all ruin'd and undone by a lovy 
 Reptile, a Serpent, in as few Hours («) : The 
 Reflexion is fo offenfive, that if fome ftrange 
 Perverfion has not taken away our Hearts^ it 
 muft check us to confider, whether what is 
 thus faid was indeed thus done : And we (hall 
 be eafily hence led to remark, that the Ruin 
 
 (j) Paradife Loft, Book IX. {/) Ibid. Book W ver. 145. 
 
 in) Burnet, fup. citat. 
 
 that 
 
Fall of Man. 159 
 
 that happened was not fo abfurdly precipitate 
 a3 our Author reprefents it. 
 
 Our firft Parents went out daily to the Care 
 of their Garden, and made their Obfervations 
 of the Things, that occurred to them : They 
 named the living Creatures as they found Op- 
 portunities of feeing and confidering them : 
 And upon the Serpent's coming in their Way, 
 and being obferved by them, he in an humati 
 Voice fpake unto Kve {w) : They were now 
 not fuch Novices, as not to have remarked 
 that no other Creature could thus fpeak, which 
 occafioned them to think, what is recorded, 
 that the Serpent was more fubtil than any Beaji 
 of the Field which the Lord had made (at) : Had 
 the Serpent's fpeaking to them been fo early 
 in the Beginning of their Life, as to be before 
 they had made Obfervations of the other 
 Creatures, they would have had no Notion of 
 the Serpent's being herein fuperior to other 
 Animals; for they might have expedited, that 
 all other Animals might have fpokcn to them 
 in like manner : Many Days therefore may 
 reafonably be hence inferred to have paiTcd 
 between their Creation and the Serpent's thus 
 fpeaking to them; as many as we can judge 
 
 (w) Gen. iii. i. [x] Ibid. 
 
 muft 
 
i6o 7^^ Creation and 
 
 muft have intervened, before they could know 
 in the general concerning the living Creatures, 
 that none of them, the Serpent only excepted, 
 had any Power to fpeak to them: But we 
 ought to remark, that they were not as yet 
 Mafters of fo much Science, as to know, that 
 thus to fpeak could not be v^ithin the natural 
 Powers of a Brute Creature, for it gave them 
 neither Fear nor Amazement : Had they ap- 
 prehended the Serpent's fpeaking, to have 
 been an Incident miraculous and unnatural, 
 they would, as Mofes did, when he faw the 
 Bulh burned with Fire, and was not con- 
 fumed (y)^ have turned afide to fee this great 
 Sight : They would have been greatly con- 
 founded at what could be the Meaning of fo 
 unnatural a Prodigy : But, as Mofes reprefents, 
 they heard what was faid to them, as un- 
 difturbed and unmoved as they would have 
 been by any other new, but ordinary Incident, 
 that could have come under their Obfervation j 
 fo agreeably hereto we ought to fix the Time 
 of £w*s being tempted : It was not until fhc 
 and Adam had obferved in the general of the 
 Animal Creation, that none of them had the 
 Gift of Speech, and they could not have 
 
 (y) Exod. iii. 3. 
 
 obferved 
 
F A LL of M A N. l5l 
 
 obferved this of the feveral Species of Crea- 
 tures in the World, in a very few Days. It 
 happened, before they knew it to be a mira- 
 culous Thing for an Animal to fpeak, and there- 
 fore it unqueftionably did happen early in their 
 Lives (z). 
 
 Mofes calls the Serpent ti;n:f, Nachajh {a) : 
 It is the general Word for a Serpent ufed 
 throughout the old Teftament, and was per- 
 haps the original Name which Adam gave this 
 Animal, if we make x^llowance for fome 
 Variation of pronouncing the Word, after 
 
 (z) Syncellus cites fome Minutes of the Book of Genefis which 
 fuppofe feven Years to have pafTed, before the Tranfgreffion. The 
 Paifage cited by Syncellus is in thefe Words, under the Title of 
 
 dcf'eov. Syncellusy p. 8. What may be the Authority or Anti- 
 quity of this Fragment, or whether it was originally written in 
 a Language more ancient than its prefent Greei, I cannot fay, 
 but by its mentioning the PLiades, I ihould think it in no Lan- 
 guage to have been as old as Mofes's Times : For however early 
 Afterifms, or Combinations of Pluralities of Stars were formed, 
 as they certainly were very early, for we have mention of fuch 
 in the Book of Job, yet Mofes hinting nothing like them in his 
 Books, I think we mufl look for this Aftronomy in Times later 
 than his Days. This Citation then can be no x^uthority to 
 warrant our faying feven Years to have pafled before Adarns, 
 Tramgreffion ; tho' the Reafon of Things will compel us to al- 
 low, that a Competent Time muft have pafled, before our firlt 
 Parents could know enough to be able to kindle in their Llearts 
 even a Conceit of defiring to be wife, or a Notion of becom- 
 ing fo, without or in oppofition to their iVisker. [a) i£jnj« 
 Gen. iii. I. 
 
 M Words 
 
1 62 T^e Cke AT ion and 
 
 Words became of more Syllables than one (/^)» 
 The Word fignifies an Jugur, Diviiier, or Fore- 
 teller of Things to come {c) : It appears to 
 have been Adam'^ Manner in naming Things, 
 to confider fome Particular obferved of them, 
 and from that to name them : Thus knowing 
 Eve to have been made out of him, himfelf 
 being Aip {d)y Man^ he called her Aijlmh (e)y 
 which we render Woman. And thus he after- 
 wards gave her another Name, and called her 
 Chaiahy or Chevah, Evey as foon as he was 
 told fhe was to bear Children, and be the 
 Mother of all [Chat] of all Living (f) ^ of 
 all their Defcendents who were to derive Life 
 from them : So here the Serpent in his fpeak- 
 ing, foretelling that they fhould have their 
 Eyes openedy and be as Gods fgj, Adam called 
 him the Diviner, or Foreteller of what was 
 to come ; [NachaJJj] : If this may be admit- 
 ted, it will further hint Adam to have lived 
 fome Time before the Temptation ; for in the 
 firft Inftants of Life, before he had had any 
 Kind of Pradice both of Eyes and Under- 
 
 {h) See Connea. Vol. I. Book II. (c) The Verb lyHJ, from 
 which the Word denoting the Serpent is derived, fignifies where 
 it is ufed in the Old Tellament, Juguratus eji, Augurium fecit y 
 divinavity ombiatus eji : certas Conjeduras habuit. • {d) Gen. 
 ii. 23. See Connea. Vol. II. B. U. {e) Gen. ii. 23. 
 
 (f) Gen. iii. 20. (g) Gen. iii. 5. 
 
 ftanding, 
 
Fall of Man. r6j 
 
 ilanding, to confider the Difference between 
 feeing and knowing immediate Objeds, and 
 confidering and pronouncing Things that af- 
 terwards fliould be, he would not have been 
 able in any wife to give the Serpent a Name 
 implying fuch a confidered Sentiment concern- 
 ing him. 
 
 Milton reprefents Eve to have been alone, 
 without Admn prefent with her, when the 
 Serpent fpake to her (Jo)- : But we ought to ob- 
 ferve, that Mofes does not fay this 5 nor is 
 there any Thing any where hinted by the fa- 
 cred Writers, which may oblige us to admit 
 it, Milto7i\ Defign was to make 
 
 "Ex notojlBum carmen — — Hor. 
 
 Milton took the Facfl, as far as Mofes related 
 it, as the Ground of his Poem ; but orna- 
 mented it his own way, in a Variety of £//- 
 fodesy fuch as he thought might naturally co- 
 incide with what Mofes had related, and have 
 the Ufes, both of edifying as well as enter- 
 taining his Reader. And he has no where in 
 his Performance work'd up a Scene more na- 
 tural, than what he reprefents of the Vanity 
 of Rve to defire to work apart, alone by her- 
 
 {h) Paradife Loft, Book IX. 
 
 M 2 felf/ 
 
1 64 The Creation and 
 
 felf ; of the Manner of the Temptation, and 
 the Succefs of it ; of her Addrcfs to Adam 
 after (he had eaten of the forbidden Fruit; of 
 his feeing better than (lie had done, the Ruin 
 fhe was fallen into ; the fond, but rafh Refo- 
 lution he had, rather to perifh with her, than 
 to live without her j the turbulent Scenes of 
 Paffion and Difguft, of mutual Accufations 
 and Refentments that foon arofe, when both 
 of them were become guilty ; elegandy ex- 
 preffing, how furely there is in the being Par- 
 takers in Sin, what will not fatisfy but difturb 
 the Soul : But however Milton may have ele- 
 gantly reprefented thefe Things ; if we would 
 truly judge of the Subjeft, as Mofes relates it, 
 we muft diftinguifh, that all this is Milton's 
 Imagination, and not Mofes's Hiftory : Mofes 
 does not hint that Eve had to go any where 
 from the Place where fhe had eaten, to carry 
 of the Fruit of the Tree to her Hufband : 
 But Jhe took of the Fruit of the Tree and did 
 eat, and gave alfo wito her Hup and with 
 her [hh), and he did eat. The Point treated 
 proceeds without any Difcontinuance : Her 
 Huiband was with her at the Time fhe eat : 
 She eat and reached to him, and he partook of 
 
 {hh) Gen. iii. 6. 
 
 what 
 
Fa ll of Man. 165 
 
 what (he had taken (/), and eat alfo. The 
 Serpent indeed fpake to Fjve only, and fhe 
 only replied to him : She admitted his Tempta- 
 tion, and added a Sentiment of her own to 
 ftrengthen it : The Serpent told her (he iliould 
 in eating become wife : She had no Fear of 
 being over-wife^ tho* the Danger threatned 
 was, that {he fhould therein dejlroy her felf^ 
 but profeffed herfelf to fee, that the Tree was 
 good for Food, and that it was pleafmit to the 
 Eyes, and a Tree to be dejtredto make one wife-, 
 flie confidered not, not knowing, that there 
 could be 720 Wifdom, nor Underjlanding, nor 
 Counfel againji God: And Adam^ we read, 
 hearkned ujito the Voice of his Wife (k). Thus 
 far we may fay Adam was not deceived, in the 
 Words of the Apojlle (/), not meaning as the 
 Poet intimates, that Adam had fuperior Senfe 
 and Judgment beyond £^v, abfolutely to have 
 rejeded the Temptation, if after fhe had eaten, 
 and was thereby ruined, he had not rather 
 chofe to die with her than to live without 
 her {m) ; for this is intirely Milton s Fidlion : 
 
 {i) If (he had carried Fruit to her Hulband, he not being up- 
 on the Spot, to eac at the fame Time with her, this would have 
 required other Words, than thofe ufed by Mofes, to exprefs it. 
 {k) Gen. iii. 6— 17. (/) i Tim, ii. 14. hn) Paradife Loft, 
 £, iX. ver. S96, i^c. 
 
 M 3 But 
 
1 66 7Ze Cre ATioi!^ ar^d 
 
 But the Woman being deceived was in theTranf- 
 grej/ton : The Serpent thro' his Subtlety deceived 
 Eve (72). The Words fpoken by the Serpent 
 were all the Subtlety they knew of him : 
 Thefe took the Imagination of Eve firft: 
 Adam was Jirji formed^ then Eve (0), but 
 Adam was not deceived^ the Apoftle means 
 Adam was not deceived firft : Here Eve un- 
 happily took the Prcheminence, and by what 
 fhe added to what the Serpent had faid, led 
 her Hufband to be deceived alfo. This I take 
 to be the true Meaning of what the Scriptures 
 declare to us upon the Subjed:, ' But it will be 
 faid, There are much greater Points, than 
 what I have mentioned, that ought here to be 
 well explained ; as, 
 
 I. How is it poffible that a Serpent fhould 
 fpeak, as Mofes fuppofes ? I anfwer : We have 
 fo clear a Judgment of the natural Capacity 
 and Abilities of the Brute-Creation, that I 
 may be allowed to fay, i. That the Serpent 
 could not, of himfelf, be able to fpeak the 
 Words, which Mofes relates to have come 
 from him. But, 2. The Tongue of the Ser- 
 pent might be fo vibrated, if fome fuperior 
 invifible Agent moved if, as to utter the Sounds 
 
 (/;) I Tim. ii. 14. 2 Cor. xi. 3. {p) 1 Tim. ubi fup. 
 
 or 
 
Fall of M A i>f. 167 
 
 or Words, coming from, or out of its Mouth, 
 which Mofes tells us Eve heard from him. 
 This, I think, muft readily be allowed by any 
 one who will confider, how the Tongue of 
 Balaam's Afs was moved, fpeaking in Man's 
 Voice to forbid the Madnefs of that Prophet {p) : 
 But, 3. I would add here, what I confidered 
 more at iarge upon that Cafe (q) ; that there 
 can be no Reafon to imagine, that the Ser- 
 pent here fpeaking to Eve, any more than the 
 Afs there fpeaking to Balaam, underllood the 
 Meaning of any one Word fpoken by him : 
 Both their Tongues were moved, otherwife, 
 than of themfelves they would have moved 
 them : They were fo moved, that Sounds pro- 
 ceeded from them, fuch as were figniiicant 
 Words, to the Perfon who heard them, and 
 underftood fuch Words when fpoken, but 
 they were Sounds of no Meaning to the Ser- 
 pent, or to the Afs, both of whom I appre- 
 hend to have fpoken without any Kind of 
 Apprehenfion of the Intention of the Sounds 
 that came from them : In all which that there 
 was a Miracle is plain -, that the Thing was 
 impoffible, cannot reafonably be aflerted; un- 
 lefs we can affert, that the Air could not, by 
 
 (pj 2 Pet. ii. 16. (^) See Connecl. Vol. iii. Book XIL 
 
 M 4 -the 
 
i68 TI)e Ckeat ION anJ 
 
 the Power of any Agent whatfoever, be, in 
 ufing the Tongue of a Serpent, put into this 
 or that Motion, to caufe what Words fuch 
 Agent defigned to be founded by it. But, 
 4« Was it then God, who miraculoufly caufed 
 the Tongue of the Serpent to utter the Words 
 fpoken ? In the Cafe of Balaam, the Text 
 tells us, that the [rr) Lord opened the Mouth 
 of the Afs : Shall we here fay, the Lord God 
 cpened the Mouth of the Serpent in like Man- 
 ner ? I anfwer. No : The deceiving our firft 
 Parents by a Miracle, cannot be deemed a 
 Work worthy of God : It looks more fuitable 
 to belong to him, whom our New Teftament 
 denominates that old Serpent called the Devil 
 and Satan^ which deceiveth the whole World (r) : 
 The Falftioods fpoken by the Serpent unto 
 Bve feem natural enough to come from him, 
 who when he fpeaketh a Lye^ fpeaketh of his 
 own, he being the original Author of Falf- 
 hood ; for he is a Liar, and the Father of it (j), 
 and our bleffed Saviour hints, that he was the 
 real Perfon who deceived Eve ; for he was the 
 Murderer from the Beginning (/) : It was by 
 him, that Death came into the World {u) \ 
 
 (rr) Numb.xxii 28. (r) Rev. xii. 9. (^) John viii. 44. 
 (/) Ibid. («) Wifd. ii. 24. 
 
 Such 
 
Fa LL of Man. 169 
 
 Such Intimations therefore have we, that it 
 was not God, but Sataii or the Devily who 
 fpake unto our iirft Parents by the Serpent : 
 But the Queftion that will here occur is, 
 5. Can we then fay, that there is any Power 
 in the Univerfe, except the Power of Him 
 who is God over all blejfed fo?' ever, that can 
 make Alteration of the natural Faculties of any 
 Creature, caufe a mere Serpent to be heard 
 fpeaking in Man's Voice, whatever he may 
 purpofe to have fpoken : If we fay there may 
 be any fuch Power, it will be queried, whe- 
 ther, in fuppofing it, we do not fet up two 
 oppofite and contending Powers, each able, 
 beyond our being capable to diftinguifh their 
 Limitations, to create or to give Things new 
 Natures contrary to their true ones ? and do 
 we not hereby lay a Foundation for a great 
 Confufion of Sentiment concerning God, and 
 his Power over the World ? 
 
 I anfwer, 1. 1 apprehend here was no Change 
 made of the Nature of the Serpent in his fpeak- 
 ing to Eve from what in every Refpedl he was 
 before : He was the fame Reptile > went upon 
 his Belly, even then as a Serpent now does [w)-^ 
 had the fame Mouth, and Tongue the Inftru- 
 
 (ov) Vide <iu«e poftea. 
 
 ment 
 
1 70 ^he Creation and 
 
 ment of Speech as a Serpent ftill ufes : Hh 
 Tongue was indeed moved in a Way he had 
 not been accuftomed to move it, and made fuch 
 Sounds as he indeed never made before nor af- 
 ter : And Adam and Eve who heard him thus 
 fpeak, and underftood what he fpake, but did 
 not yet know that it was not natural for a Ser- 
 pent to have this Faculty, readily apprehended 
 from it, as indeed they well might, not know- 
 ing by what Power he fpake to them, that he 
 was a Creature of greater Sagacity, than all 
 other Creatures of the animal World ; all the 
 reft appearing to them to be dumb, and not 
 capable of fuch Converfation : But all this 
 while, I cannot conceive, that the Serpent 
 was at all wifer when he was fpeaking, than 
 whilft he was dumb : For, as the Vibrations 
 of Tongue which gave the Sounds he uttered, 
 were as involuntary and unconceived by him, 
 as any mechanical or convulfive Motions can 
 be; the Serpent knew no more what his 
 Tongue had uttered, than if the Words fpoken 
 had been blown acrofs him by a Wind, that 
 was not of him at all. 2. That Satan, the 
 Deiil, that fpiritual Being, who in the new 
 Teftament is ftiled the Prince of the Air, 
 may have a Power to make in the Air, by the 
 Tongue of any Bird, Beaft, or Animal, Sounds 
 
 of 
 
Fall ^ M A N. I7i 
 
 of fignificant Words, if God fliall think fit to 
 permit it, does not, as far as I conceive, con- 
 tradict any Principle of true Philofophy • any 
 more, than that he might inflift (x) on Joi, 
 or may inflid: on any of us, Boils, Sicknefs, 
 or many other Evils, if Permiflion is given to 
 him : But herein the Dependance of all Powers 
 upon God is preferved and acknowledged: 
 Herein we guard again ft all Notions of two 
 i?2depef2de7it Principles, the one Good and the 
 other Evil ^ in that we fliew in all that has 
 been done by the great Agent of Evil, that no 
 one Thing was ever done by him, but juft fo 
 far as God permitted him to go, but no fur- 
 ther. Of our great Adverfary, who feduced 
 our firft Parents, let us confider all that was 
 done by him : Did he fpeak to them from 
 Heaven, in a Voice, as God fpake to them ? 
 No: Why did he not? He was not per- 
 
 {x) The Author of the Book of Samuel, had this Notion of 
 the Agency of the Wicked One, that he could do nothing, but 
 under the Permiffion and Control of God, and accordingly lays 
 of Da'vid's numbring the People, that God moved him to do it 
 2 Sam. xxiv, when in Fad the Inftigation came immediately, 
 not from God, but from Satan^ fee i Chron. xxi. i. But the 
 Author of the Book of 5/:?«W intended to eftablifh '\i as an uni- 
 verfal Truth, that God was fupreroe, that nothing could be done 
 without him. Had God not permitted, Satan herein could have 
 done nothing ; and this, and nothing but this, was intended in 
 his faying, that he, the Urd, moved Da^dd to number thfi 
 People. 
 
 mitted 
 
72 7^e Cku AT I oi^ and 
 
 mitted to fpeak in this manner. Did he ap- 
 pear to them in Perfon -, in a Similitude that 
 might carry Dignity, and create himfelf Re- 
 fped ? No ; any Thing of this fort was not 
 allowed him. Did he make fome noble and 
 refpedable Creature of the World to propofe 
 his Infinuations ? This he was not fufFered to 
 do. Did he create even a Serpent, to have it 
 fuit the Intention he defigned to ferve by it ? 
 This can in no wife be pretended. He was 
 allowed indeed to ufe a Creature of this very 
 low Species, but not to ufe it, but at a Time, 
 when the Perfons tempted by him, did not fo 
 know the Nature of a Serpent, as to think it 
 at all a miraculous Thing, to hear one fpeak- 
 ing : And when he had Liberty to ufe this 
 Animal, was he able to make it fpeak ele- 
 gantly, what great Parts and Capacity would 
 have invented upon the Subjedl? Not at all — : 
 What Milton has intimated to us may abun- 
 dantly fliew a Field that might have been (y) 
 
 (y) Milton carries on the Temptation in a fine Procefs of 
 Reafoning, fuppofed by him to have been artfully ufed by the 
 Serpent; any Part of which muft have been infallibly too much 
 for our firft Parents, in the State of their Knowledge of the 
 Reafon of Things, to be able to gainfay or contradid : But all 
 this is Mthotis Fancy : Mofcs in no wife reprefents them to have 
 been thus tempted above muhat they nKiere able : See Milton^ B. IX. 
 vcr. 532— 732. 
 
 expatiated 
 
V ALL of M A '^. 172 
 
 expatiated in, if the Tempter had been fuf- 
 fered to argue copioufly upon the Point pro- 
 pofed : But the Fadl was, the Tempter was 
 only permitted to bring, from the Mouth of 
 his Agent, little more than a bare Negation of 
 what had been affirmed by the Voice of God : 
 In the Event indeed, little as he faid, he faid 
 enough ; for he fucceeded : But all this while 
 an impartial Examiner muft allow, that no 
 Temptation was fuffered to befal our firfl Pa- 
 rents that could have had Weight with them, 
 unlefs they gave up the great Principle, with- 
 out which nothing could be wife or flrong in 
 them J namely, that they were indeed to obey 
 God : They had heard him, that made them, 
 fay they (hould not eat : They heard a Ser- 
 pent, a low and creeping Creature, vaftly be- 
 neath themfelves, fay they might eat : They 
 apprehended nothing wonderful in this Ani- 
 mal's Speaking, fo that no Thought of a Mi- 
 racle had any Weight with them : What then 
 determined them ? We are told Adajn heark- 
 ened to the Voice of his Wife {z) -, and it is 
 plainly to be feen of Eve, that tho* the Ser- 
 pent was the Occafion of her falling, yet her 
 judging for herfelf, contrary to the Diredion 
 
 (z) Gen. iii, 17. . 
 
 of 
 
1^4 ^^ Creation and 
 
 of God, that as the 'free was pleafanf to the 
 Sight y good for Foody fo it was to be dejired to 
 make one wife 5 this was that which made the 
 Temptation too hard for her : But the Apoftle 
 tells us, the Serpent beguiled Eve by his fubtle^ 
 ty [a) : Is the Expreffion here ufed by the 
 Apoftle abfolutely coinciding with what I 
 have been faying ? I anfwer, Perfedly fo : 
 The Apoftle only reprefented a plain and real 
 Fa(fl, as it was moft evidently done : And it 
 is a very proper Way thus to fpeak Things 
 to be done as they are evidently ktri to be, 
 without always entring to the Bottom into the 
 true Springs and Caufes of them. Mofes re- 
 lates, that the Serpent was fubtle and faid — : 
 his Speaking was the Subtlety, remarked of 
 him : From his fpeaking to her. Eve re- 
 ceived Sentiments which became a Deceit to 
 her: What nov/ could be faid with more 
 Propriety of Diftion, than that the Serpent, 
 who really and truly fpake to her, beguiled 
 her : The Apoftle was no more obliged to 
 difcufs here, whether the Serpent fpake fua^ 
 or nicely diftinguiiliing 72072 fua verba y whe- 
 the Subtlety ufed by him was of his own 
 natural Sagacity, or of another's Suggeftion j 
 
 [a) 2 Cor. xi. 3, 
 
 or 
 
Fa LL ^ M A N. 175 
 
 or whether the Perfons beguiled by him did 
 not add Sentiments of their own to his Inti- 
 mations, than if his Converts had fuffered what, 
 he was afraid of, namely, their being corrupt- 
 ed from the Simplicity of the Gofpel by any 
 one fpeaking to them Things contrary thereto, ■ 
 he muft, if he had charged the Perfon fo 
 fpeaking with having corrupted them, have 
 ftridlly determined whether what fuch Perfon 
 faid to them was his own Contrivance, or only 
 Words didtated to him by fome other, and 
 whether no Improvement of what he faid 
 came into the Minds of thofe who were fe- 
 duced by him. This might be a Matter pro- 
 per to be confidered, if the Nature of the 
 Guilt of him who had deceived them, was 
 the Subjed inquired into; but was in no wife 
 neceffary, if the Facft only was to be related, 
 viz. by whom they had been deceived. The 
 Serpent beguiled Eve thro* his Subtlety (b) : 
 The Apoftle barely recognizes a Fad:, really 
 done, as Mofes had recorded it : The Words 
 which Eve had heard from the Serpent, were 
 all fhe knew of the Serpent's Si^bdety : And 
 therefore we carry the Apoflle's Words to a 
 View further than he defigned, if we fuppofe 
 
 {If) 2 Cor. xi, 3. 
 
 him 
 
176 
 
 The Creation and 
 
 him to be deciding from whom originally, 
 and by what manner of Reafoning the 
 Temptation offered to 'Eve, proceeded ; he 
 only reminds us from whofe Mouth the Words 
 ad:ually came, which miniftred the Tempta- 
 tion that was her Ruin. But the next Point 
 may have greater Difficulties : For, 
 
 II. Can it be conceived, that the infinitely 
 
 good God , the God, not of all Power 
 
 only, but of all Truth and all Reditude, 
 (hould admit, as it were, the Throne of Ini- 
 qiiity to have Fellowjhip with him^ to frame 
 Mifchief by a Law (c) ? Can we think, that 
 
 God 
 
 (f) Pfal. xciv. 20. There are Paflages in the Book of PJalms, 
 which, the' we may inattentively overlook them, hint at and 
 refute ancient abftrufe Notions, which obtained amongft the 
 then Sages of the World, who were not in the true Religion : 
 One of thefe Sentiments recorded by Theopompus to have been a 
 Tenet of the ancient Magi^ that ctVctCtuii^ tkV ai Q^tk^Tnsi, }y 
 icr^r.KK^ eiBa.v^r>ii, )y Tct o\']eL 7ai^ duTcou o/mKhixr'iat Stctfju- 
 veir See Diogen. Laert. &c. in Prooem. feems to be con- 
 lidered and refuted in P/a/. xlix. in what the Pfalmijl offers, for 
 a due Obfervation, ho^w tvife Men die, likeivife the Fooly and the 
 brutijh Per/on perijhy and lea<ve their Wealth to others ; contrary 
 to what he intimates to be the inward Thought of fome, who 
 feem to have opined, that, their Houfes (hould continue for e<ver, 
 and their D<uielling-places to all Generations^ and they call their 
 
 Lands after their onjon Na?nes &c. In like Manner ; as the 
 
 Power of God and of Satan in the Affairs of the World appears 
 to iiave been a Subjedl not unthought of, in and before Da^id\ 
 TimeSs fee Job i. & ii. 2 Sarn. xxiv. compared with i Chron. xxi. 
 above cited; I cannot determine, whether the 'Throne of Iniquity ^ 
 mentioned by the P/almiJ}, and what is faid of it, had a View 
 only to wicked earthly Rulers, as the Commentators feem to 
 
 take 
 
Fall^Man. 177 
 
 God would make a Law intrinfically of no 
 Importance, and then fuiFer a Throne of Wick- 
 ednefs^ a Power or Principality of Darknefs, 
 the Devil or any of his Angels to frame Mif- 
 chief from it ; to contrive to have it broken, 
 only to bring thereby Labour and Sorrow, Sin 
 and Mifery and Death unto Men ? Can we 
 think that God, having made a Rank of Crea- 
 tures of a lower Degree of Light and Under- 
 ftanding, but fuch, that if not tempted by 
 fome other, they would have prefevered in their 
 Obedience to him, and been happy, he fhould 
 permit a wicked Spirit, of higher Abilities 
 than they, to attack thefe Creatures in a W^y, 
 in which, without his Permiffion, he could 
 not have had Accefs to them, and thereby be- 
 guile and infnare them into Ruin ? Should we 
 not rather think it more reafonable, that if 
 God gave our firft Parents fuch a Law as has 
 been mentioned, and if being left to them- 
 felves they would not have fwerved from it, 
 he fliould not have permitted any Agent to 
 have herein perverted them ? The Objedion 
 
 take it, or might be defigned to explode falfe Do6trines of an 
 higher Nature, concerning the t^joo Principles, which fome very 
 early Sages opined to have each its Share of Power over the 
 World. trp5c-^'jT4p»? eiv&i ruv WiyvTrjio^r, ty S'vq y.cLT a.'Jiii 
 e\aj 'Aoy^di, dysiUv S'ciiixoi'sc y^ KaKsy J^sti^oyA^ Laert, 
 ubi fup. 
 
 N has 
 
178 T^e Creation and 
 
 has in It a Variety, that ought to be confidered 
 in feveral Parts, if we would fully and truly 
 anfwer it. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 ne Obje^ion lafijlated confidered and refuted. 
 
 'T^ H E Objeftion above ftated will, I think, 
 •* require us to conlider, 
 
 I. Whether it can be reafonable that our 
 firft Parents fliould be permitted to be tempted, 
 by any Being of a fuperior Intelligence above 
 themfelves, in any Manner whatfoever: But 
 if we determine this in the Negative, how 
 greatly may we err, not feeing fufficiently into 
 the Creation of God. 
 
 He^ who thro^ vaft Immenjity can pierce 9 
 See Worlds on Worlds compofe one Univerfe ; 
 Obferve how Syjlem into Syftem runs^ 
 What other Planets^ and what other SunSy 
 What varfd Being peoples ev*ry Star^ 
 May tell why Heaven made all nings as they are. 
 But of this Framey the Bearings and the Ties, 
 Thejirong Conne^ions^ nice Dependencies \ Pope. 
 
 ^he Knowledge of them may not lie within 
 our Reach, and we may therefore determine 
 
 very 
 
Fall of Man* 179 
 
 very wrong of much of v/hat VvC can only 
 partially coniider in forming our Judgment : 
 
 Refpe5iing Man, whatever Wrong we call. 
 
 May, mufi he right, as relative to alU Pope, 
 
 The Circle of our own Agency wonderfully 
 operating over and by the Powers of the Crea- 
 tures beneath us, tho' in all they do, they have 
 an Intention of their own diftindt from us, 
 may reafonably argue to us, that. 
 
 When the proud Steed jhall know why Man reftram 
 His fiery Courfe, or drives him o'er the Plains-^ 
 ^hen Jhall Man^s Pride and Bulnefs comprehend 
 His Anion's, Pajfion^s, Being's, UfeandEnd: 
 Why doing, fuff'ring, checked, impelled — ; Pope* 
 
 An Analogy to one another runs thro' the 
 Powers of all the Intelligences of the Crea- 
 tion : The Univerfe is but one Wh o le in the 
 Hand of God: We are not independent Prin^ 
 cipals unconnedted unto others : Rather, the 
 Variety of the Spheres of Adtion of all the 
 innumerable Orders of intelligent Spirits, that 
 have Being amongft the Works of the fupreme 
 God, are to have, under his Diredion and 
 Control, their Line, their Weight and Mea- 
 fure, to affedt and be affedled by one another : 
 And the Event of all is to afford a true Judg- 
 
 N 2 ment 
 
i8o 3^^ Creation and 
 
 ment of all; when all the Evil that may 
 hence have come in, Ihall have had its Courfe, 
 and be caft out, and the Sum of all be found 
 the greateft poffible Good of the Whole to the 
 Creator's Glory. 
 
 In human Works^ tho" laboured on with PaWy 
 A thoufand Movements fear ce one Purpofe gain^ 
 In God'Sy one Jingle can its End pro due e^ 
 Yet ferves to fecond too fome other Ufe : 
 So Many who here fe ems Principal alone ^ 
 Perhaps a^s fecond to fome Sphere unknown* 
 Touches fome Wheels or verges to fome Gole, 
 ^I'is hut a Part we fee^ and not a Whole. Pope. 
 
 We in no v^ife fee the Scene of the Demerit 
 of apojiate Spirits ; nor how far it may be re- 
 quifite they fiiould be permitted to fill up their 
 own Meafure, within juft and wife Limita- 
 tions (and fuch we find the Tempter of Eve 
 greatly retrained in) to anfwer the great Ends 
 of the infinite and eternal Providence. Sin in- 
 deed and Death have hereby come into our 
 prefent State, and Death muft reign upon all, 
 until the State we are in be accompliflied : 
 But let us 
 
 Wait the great Teacher Death «»— — Pope,' 
 
 and we (hall in Time be able, 
 
 T9 
 
Fall (p/* M A N. i8i 
 
 fo look thro^ Nature up to Nature's God-y 
 Purfue the Chain^ which links th" immenfe Beftgn^ 
 Joins Heav'n and Earthy and mortal and divine. 
 
 Pope. 
 
 We {hall then fee beyond' what we are now 
 able to conceive, that all that has befallen us 
 will difplay a moft amazing Height^ and Depths 
 and Length, and Breadth of the Wifdom, and 
 Power, and Goodnefs, and Glory of Him, 
 who will hence bring thofe of us, who fliall 
 be meet to be Partakers of it {d), thro' the 
 one Man, whom he has ordained, Jefus Chrift, 
 to the Kingdom prepared for Man from the 
 Foundation of the World (^), and the Wicked, 
 whether they have been Men or Angels, (hall 
 go to their own Place, But, 
 
 II. It may be faid : What if it was fit, and . 
 might anfwer great Ends, that an Evil Spirit 
 of Intelligence higher than they, fhould be 
 permitted to tempt our firft Parents ? Is there 
 not a natural Impropriety in fuppofing the 
 particular Accefs of fuch a Spirit to them to 
 have been as Mofes defcribes, and the Tempta- 
 tion to have been of the fort recorded by him? 
 To imagine that an intellecflual Spirit, not vi- 
 fible to our firft Parents, fliould fpeak to them. 
 
 [d] Col. i. 12. {e) Adsxvii. 31. Matt. xxv. 34. 
 
 N 3 not 
 
l82 He Creation and 
 
 not in a Voice that might have been thought 
 his own; but by the Tongue of a Serpent 
 feen by them, and this, to perfuade them to 
 do a Thing in itfelf neither good nor evil, to 
 eat of the Fruit of a Tree, only becaufe God 
 had bidden them not to eat of it ; is there 
 any Thing, that bears a natural Face or Ap- 
 pearance in this Procedure? has it the Co- 
 lour of a rational Endeavour to bring moral 
 Evil into the World ? If our Adversary the 
 Devil had been permitted, as he is a Spirit, to 
 have had a fpiritual Accefs to the Minds of our 
 firft Parents, to put into them evil Thoughts 
 and evil Defires, to fill them by degrees with 
 all Uncleannefs, to bring them to Deftruftion 
 both of Body and Soul — 5 This would have 
 feemed a reafonable Procedure for fuch a Spi- 
 rit of Darknefs: He has for Ages thus worked, 
 and even flill worketh thus in the Children of 
 Difohedience (f). But to fuppofe the Al- 
 mighty to have fet as it were a Spell over our 
 firft Parents, to require them not to eat of a 
 particular Tree ; to have determined, that 
 vvhilft they would keep within this Injundion, 
 no Evil Spirit fhould get within them to hurt 
 them ', but that if they would be feduced to 
 
 (fj Eph. ii, 2. 
 
 break 
 
F ALL of M A -N. 183 
 
 break thro' it, neither they nor their Poflerity 
 fhould ever after be able to be Proof againft 
 
 the Evil One ; does this look to be the 
 
 Way of the Supreme Underftanding, accord- 
 ing to the Reafon and Nature of Things, and 
 therefore to be the Way of God unto Man? I 
 have, I think, given this Objeftion all the 
 Strength it is capable of, I am fure I have en- 
 deavoured it : If I knew how to find Words 
 that would exprefs it more advantageoufly, I 
 would ufe them ; for I take it, in Truth, to 
 be the whole Hinge upon which all that is to 
 be faid againft the Religion of the BMe can 
 turn : Let us now attentively confider how far 
 we can anfwer it. 
 
 And here the material Point to be confi- 
 dered is ; Whether the particular manner of the 
 Temptation objeded to, was not in Reality 
 exadlly fuited to the Oemtomyy or Manner and 
 Meafure in which the Creator had made Man ? 
 God, the divine Workmafter, could not but 
 fo order his Difpenfations, as to have them 
 fuited to the Meafure and Nature of his Works 
 they were defigned for: Such as he made 
 Man, as to fuch he difpenfed to him 5 that 
 Man, * . 
 
 ^aln ab incepto procederet. — — Hor. 
 N 4 might 
 
184 ^^ Creation and 
 
 might have the Progrefs and Procedure of hk 
 Being exadly fuited, to what were his origi- 
 nal native Powers and Endowments. Had 
 God made Man fuch a Being, as that a true 
 and right Intelligence of the Nature of Things, 
 would at all Times inftantly have appeared 
 upon his Mind to give him a right Judgment 
 of all Things {a), the Natural Way of 
 Temptation to fuch a Beings might have been 
 to admit a perverted Spirit to try his better 
 Judgment, to draw him if he could from his 
 own right Sentiments into Evil : But if God 
 at firfi: made Man with leffer Powers, fuch a 
 Permiffion would have fubmitted Man to an 
 unequal Conflidl indeed : However reafonable 
 it may be that the Wicked One may be per- 
 mitted to attempt to catch away that which is 
 fown in our Hearts {h)y when there is that 
 fown, fo as that we need not lofe it, if we 
 will preferve it; it cannot follow, that it could 
 be fit, that he fliould be admitted before any 
 Thing was fown in the Heart of Man, to 
 pofleis the Heart, to make it naturally impof- 
 fible to have any good Thing find a Ground 
 in it. Had God made Man at firft, fuch as 
 
 [a) Si tales nos Natura genuiffet, iit earn ipfam intueriet per- 
 fpicere, eatiemque optima Dace ciirfum VitiE conficere pofle- 
 nuis Cic. Tufc. Qu.Tft. 1.3. [h] Matt, xiii. 19. 
 
 our 
 
Fall^Man. ^ 185 
 
 our Rationalijls affert, left abfolately to the 
 Guidance of natural Light, to difcover there- 
 by the Duties of his Life ; expedting no Ser- 
 vice from him, but what his own Reafon 
 would fuggeft; it would feem unnatural, 
 I might lay, a Contradiftion to alTert, that 
 before Man had done, or even thought 
 Good or Evil, God fhould interpofe to 
 give him a Law, which no Reafon of his 
 own could, without God's interpofing, have 
 laid before him, and to have him tempted by 
 the Voice of a Serpent to break this Law, ab- 
 folutely to defeat all he might otherwife have 
 done, in purfuing what his natural Powers 
 would have led him to fee to be the Reafon, 
 and reafonable Condud: of his Life : But if, 
 on the contrary, we may eftablifli from what 
 is written by Mofes, that God did not create 
 Man with this Beam of adlual Underftanding, 
 but gave him only the Information of his 
 Senfes, and a Capacity of Mind, free, as not 
 being under an over-ruling Inftindl, and yet 
 not having the Power to be fo perfedl, as to 
 want no external Information; and that God 
 defigned, wherever Man fhould want it, to 
 give him this Information, by making him 
 to hear his Voice from Heaven; requiring him 
 to have Fauh in him 3 to believe and obey 
 
 whatever 
 
1 86 The Creation and 
 
 whatever he fi:iould thus hear from his Maker 5 
 it is abfolutely confident with this Off c);z<5;^;/, 
 that he might give Man, thus far, but no far- 
 ther endowed, fuch a Command as Mofei 
 mentions, to be to him both a Sign of what 
 he was to expedl from God, for the Diredion 
 of his Life, and an inviolate Standard and Re- 
 membrancer, to pay unto God, in every Thing 
 he fhould command, the Obedience of Faith : 
 And the Faith of Man in believing God, be- 
 ing thus to come of hearing (<:), it could not 
 be meet, to have the Temptation to difobey 
 come to him otherwife than by hearing -, that 
 unlefs he would choofe to pervert himfelf, no 
 other fliould have a more intimate Admittance 
 to corrupt him : And if the Temptation was 
 thus to come to him only by hearing, furely 
 we muft allow, that what he heard from God, 
 and all that he heard to tempt him from 
 obeying God, muft appear, in all the Cir- 
 cumftances of both, to have been very fufH- 
 ciently diftinguillied, to leave our firft Parents 
 without Excufe, for their not ftridly adhering 
 to obey the one and rejeft the other. And 
 thus the whole apparent Reafonablenefs, or 
 feeming Contrariety to the Reafon of Things 
 
 (f) Rom. X. 1 7. 
 
 in 
 
Fall^Man. 187 
 
 in Mofes Relation, taken to be hiflorically true, 
 depends upon whether it be Fadl that God 
 did at firft create Man to guide his own Life 
 as himfelf fhould devife, left abfolutely to 
 himfelf to find out the Reafon of the Duties 
 he fhould inveftigate and pradife ; or whether 
 God made Man to hear his Voice, in order to 
 be diredled by it; to receive whatever God 
 fhould by external Revelation make known to 
 him ; to make this the Rule and Guide of 
 his Adtions : And this therefore is the Point 
 fo material, fo really the Whole of Man^ that I 
 hope I do not digrefs from the Intention of 
 this Undertaking, if I now and then repeated- 
 ly endeavour to prove that this ought to have 
 been the ruling Principle of our firft Parents 
 in their Lives. But, 
 
 It is afked, was the Prohibition a fort of 
 Spelly that whilft our firft Parents obferved it, 
 fo preferved them, that the Evil One could 
 have, although he was a Spirit, no Approach 
 to hurt them, nor they any Fall into Evil, 
 to their Undoing : But, that as foon as they 
 had broke thro* this Charm^ they became fb 
 liable to all Evil, from both without and from 
 within, that henceforth All Men inevitably 
 would fin, and a Freedom from Guilt would 
 be now no more? I anfwer, the Dreffing 
 
 up 
 
i88 TTjc Creation and 
 
 up a Propofition in Terms of Ridicule is not 
 a juft and rcafonable Way to difcover what is 
 true, or to detedt what is falfe {d) : It is raif- 
 ing an inconfiderate Contempt, of what ought 
 to be brought to the Bar of a more dehberate 
 Examination, to be there approved or rejeded, 
 as a right and well-weighed Judgment of 
 Things may appear for or againfl: it. And if, 
 inftead of ufing frivolous Words upon the Oc- 
 Gafion, which prove nothing, we take the 
 Point to be here confidered, under a due In- 
 quiry, we Ihall fee the Prohibition given to 
 our firft Parents, as Mofes relates it, to be no 
 &pell or Charm^ but to be what was naturally 
 both neeeffary and fufficient for them: Our 
 firft Parents were made living Souls ; they had 
 outward Perception and inward Underftand- 
 ing, but both only in fuch a Degree, that if 
 in ufing them, they would admit the Voice 
 of God to dired: them, wherever e fhould 
 fee they wanted Diredion, hereby they would 
 be kept i?! the Hand of God's Counfel, not to 
 fall into any Error to their Undoing : Their 
 Knowledge of Life, and Experience of their 
 Being, could as yet not fhew them their mo- 
 ral Situation: How fuitable then was it for 
 
 I) See Mr. Bro~Mn\ very excellent EJfay m Ridicule. 
 
 them 
 
Fall^Man. 189 
 
 them to have fome one plain Inhibition to 
 teach them that they were not to do any 
 Thing whatever, which God fhould think fit 
 by his exprefs Voice to prohibit ? And as 
 God was pleafed to add hereto his exprefs Com- 
 mands, injoining them the Duties of their 
 Lives (e), what now could they have wanted, 
 if they would truly have ffj made fbis their 
 Wifdom, this their Underjia?iding, to keep and 
 bbferve all that the Lord their God fhould 
 declare to them ? The natural Event of their 
 herein preferving themfelves, could be no 
 other, than that ufing all the Powers of their 
 own Minds, wherein foever God did not think 
 fit fpecially to interpofe ; but ftrid:ly con- 
 forming to whatever he direfted, Man, how- 
 ever made with lower Powers of Reafon than 
 Angels, might gradually have advanced, ri- 
 pening himfelf, and guided by his Creator un- 
 to all Truth : But when inftead of thus pro- 
 ceeding, our fir ft Parents deviated from obey- 
 ing the Voice of God, to hearken to the 
 Words of a lower Speaker, and to break the 
 
 [e) God's adding to the Prohibition of not eating of the Tree, 
 his Command for the relative Duty of Man and Wife, Gen. 
 ii. 24. ftievvs in what Manner he would have been pleafed to 
 kiform them, as Time and the Incidents of their Lives Ihould 
 require in other their moral Duties, (f) See Dmt. iv. 6. 
 
 Com- 
 
igo 7^^ Creation and 
 
 Commandment of him that made them, be- 
 caufe it feemed to be fleafa^it to their Eyes to 
 do fo, and a Tubing to be defired to make themr 
 ijoife ; what elfe did they herein, but take 
 themfelves out of the Hand of God*s Counfel, 
 into the Hands of their own ? And what 
 could this poffibly lead to, unlefs they had 
 been created with greater adtual Knowledge, 
 or with the Powers of a more unerring Un- 
 derftanding, but to all Miftake, and by De- 
 grees unto every evil Work* 
 
 Another Part of the Objeftion is, that if 
 our firft Parents had not been tempted from 
 without by a Deceiver, they would not have 
 broken the Commandment of their God: But 
 we fee Things fuperficially indeed, if we do 
 not fee enough to apprize us, that if we fay 
 this in our Hearty we certainly do not inquire 
 wifely into this Matter. That in Fa6t, a Ser- 
 pent fpeaking in Man's Voice, occafioned in 
 our firft Parents (whilft they two were the 
 All of Mankind as yet in the World) a Senti- 
 ment, that what God had prohibited was both 
 pleafant, and defirable in the Reafon of the 
 Thing to be done, to make them 'wifey is in- 
 deed true : And that this Sentiment was too 
 hard for them: But it can in no wife follow, 
 that, had it not been thus incidentally occa- 
 fioned^ 
 
Fall of Man. igi 
 
 fioned, earlier perhaps, than otherwife, they 
 might have thought of it, it would never have 
 had Rife in the Heart of Man : If we con- 
 lider the Nature of it, no Thought here took 
 hold of them, but what is com??2on to Man (g)-^ 
 for it has in all Ages been a captivating Point 
 in human Theory^ that what feems to us con- 
 trary to what we furmife to be Wifdom, may 
 not be a real Revelation from God : And if 
 the breaking the Commandment of the for^ 
 bidden Tree had not happened, until our firft 
 Parents had gradually formed their Hearts 
 more deliberately to rejeft it -, how know we 
 that a Cogitation would not have been raifed 
 in them, which could never be changed (h) in 
 the Way and Manner in which it muft be 
 ever fit, that God fhould govern, not abfo- 
 lutely to force the moral World : Or that had 
 it not taken Eflfecft, until the Sons of Men 
 were many, until Mankind were multiplied 
 upon the Earth, can we fay, whether the 
 Fall of Mankind would, in the Meafure 
 and the Manner of it, have been fo fuited 
 to the great and deep Purpofe in the hidden 
 Counfel of God, to bring Man out of all his 
 Evil at length to Salvation (;)? The Nature 
 
 (g)^ See Connea. Vol. TIL B. XL [h] Wifd. xii. lo. (/} See 
 Eph. i. 4— 12. iii. II. Rom. v. 12 — 19. 
 
 of 
 
192 72^ Creation and 
 
 of Virtue or Vice in moral Agents muft re-* 
 quire, that it be really in our own Choice to 
 do the one or the other ; but the Times and 
 Seafons when the Incidents (hall happen, that 
 may give us an Opportunity of ftanding or 
 falling by our own Choice, are beft left unto 
 God, to have them miniftred to us as he fees 
 to be moft proper : The Jews were permitted 
 to complete our Saviour's Death, whilft yet 
 they protefted, that if he would have come 
 down from the Crofs, they would have be- 
 lieved in him {k) : Whether they really would 
 or no, we cannot fay : But if God knew they 
 would not, it was a Mercy to them that he 
 let their Tranfgreffion be finiihed, whilft yet 
 it might be prayed for< (/) : That Mankind 
 would not fo govern that Spark of Reafon 
 wherewith God had endowed them, as not 
 through it to break away from the Depen- 
 dance which they ought to have on him, was 
 undoubtedly forefeen by God before the 
 Worlds were ; which, duly confidered, will 
 open to us to think, that if we could be ad- 
 mitted to fee the Whole of the Counfel of 
 God, we might find, that in permitting Sin 
 and Death to come by one Man into the 
 
 {k) Matt, xxvii.42. (/) Luke xxiii. 34, 
 
 World, 
 
Pa LL ^ M A N. 193 
 
 World, as is related by MofeSy he beft knew 
 how to link and connedt his Defign of bring- 
 ing, by the Obedience of One^ Mankind unto 
 Salvation. 
 
 But there remains one Suggeftion more, 
 which I think a few Obfervations may very 
 clearly refute. It will be faid. What if our 
 firft Parents did break this poiitive Command 
 concerning the Tree, of which no Reafon 
 could tell them it was intrinfically good or 
 evil J will it follow, that they therefore would 
 have difobeyed God in any one moral Law, 
 that he would have been pleafed to make 
 known to them ? We do not fee, altho' Adam 
 and Eve did not keep ijiviolate the Obfervance 
 not to eat of the Tree ; that they proceeded, 
 or had any Defire to think of breaking the 
 Law concerning Man and Wife which God 
 declared to them (w), might they not have 
 been as pundlual in obferving every moral 
 Law for the Duties of their Lives, whenever 
 fuch Laws fhould have been made known to 
 them ? I anfwer, Wc may judge very rafhly 
 in this great Matter, and in all we thus fay 
 of it only darken the Counfels of the moji 
 Highy by Words without K?20wledge (n) : The 
 
 {m) Gen.ii. 24. utfup. (») Job xxxviii. 2. 
 
 O Ifraelites^ 
 
94 ^^ Creation and 
 
 Ifraelites, I queftlon not, believed, that both 
 they and their Poflerity would keep their fo- 
 lemn Refolution {o) to ferve their own God, 
 and not to be corrupted to go after the Idols 
 of Canaan, although they did not fo ftridly 
 expel the Canaaniies out of their Land, as (p) 
 God had commanded them : But the Event 
 foon fhewcd their Imagination to be but vain : 
 God, who fees into us and fees through us, 
 knows beft what Obfervances may be neceifary 
 to exercife us to our Duties, and could beft 
 judge, whether, whenever our firft Parents 
 would go beyond the Reftraint he had pre- 
 fcribed them, they would not therein begin a 
 Cogitation^ that would naturally fill apace every 
 Meafure of Error, and heap it up, to run 
 over into their Eofom. The Principle intend- 
 ed to be eftablifhed by the Command con- 
 cerning the Tree, was, as I have faid, that 
 our firft Parents, having no actual Science of 
 Life, ftiould proceed in the Haijd, under the 
 Direcftion of God's Coimfel, to make it their 
 Wifdom and JJnderJianding, whatfoever God 
 fhould injoin them, ftridly to do thereafter : 
 And the Confequence of rejeding to be under 
 
 [p) Jodi. xxiv. 21—25. (P) See Judges i. Numb, xxxiii. 
 52> 55- 
 
 this 
 
Fa LL ^ M A N. 195 
 
 this Direflion, to follow inftead thereof what 
 feemed agreeable in their owji Eyes^ and de^ 
 Jirable in their ow7i Judgment^ might naturally 
 plant in them the Root, from whence have 
 come all the ShootSj that have been the great 
 Perverfiori of human Life \ which duly con- 
 fidered, muft lead us, not to think of the po- 
 litive Command given our firft Parents, that 
 it was a Thing indifferent or of no real Mo- 
 ment; rather, to ufe the Words of St. PauU 
 equally applicable to this the Beginning of Re- 
 vealed Religion, as to the End and Comple- 
 tion of it, God, in giving our firft Parents the 
 Law of the prohibited Tree, abounded towards 
 them in all IVifdom and Prude?2ce [q)y to give 
 them, fuch Creatures as he had made them, 
 a Law, which obferved as it ought, would in 
 its natural Event have been their Life and Sal- 
 vation. 
 
 We may fpeculate at Random as we pleafe 
 upon the Subjedl ; but if what has been Fa(ft 
 is at all to guide us, we cannot but obferve 
 that this Beginning of Error, being once ad- 
 mitted, notwithftanding God's immediately 
 proceeding to denounce and afcertain the ter- 
 rible Punifhment he had declared fhould be 
 
 [q) Eph. i. 8. 
 
 O 2 the 
 
196 T&e Creation and 
 
 the Wages of it, yet the Error itfelf did not 
 ceafe, although it could not be again commit- 
 ted in the fame Faft that was Adams Tranfgref- 
 lion J rather it grew in the World luxuriant and 
 abounded. We read of one Perfon in the firft 
 World, that moft eminently walked with God{r)^ 
 in the Obedience of Faith : Enoch (o herein 
 pleafed God as to be tranjlated (j); others 
 there were who were found faithful in their 
 Generations^ in what had been revealed to 
 them {t) ; but in the general the Principle of 
 doing what feemed right in their own Eyes, 
 appears to have fo greatly prevailed, that La^ 
 mech, a Defcendant from Cain^ fome Centu- 
 ries before Adam died [u), thought fo dif- 
 ferently from what God had moft exprefsly 
 commanded concerning Man and Wife (w)^ 
 that he introduced Polygamy {x) : And the 
 World in general, in little more than th© 
 then Age, and half an Age of a Man, was 
 become fo corrupt in Man's departing from 
 God and his Laws (y)^ to follow the Imagi- 
 
 [r] Gen. V. 22, 24. (j) Heb. xi. 5. (/) Gen. v. Ecclus. 
 xliv. Heb. xi. («) Lantech was Grandfon oi Cain ; perhaps 
 born not later than Ems the Son of Seth ; and if fo early, was 
 born almoft 700 Years before Mam died. See the Tables of 
 the Lives of the Antedilwvian Fathers, Conneft. Vol. I. B. L 
 (w) Gen. ii. 24. [x) Gen. iv. i g. (y) The Life of Man at 
 this Time was about 900 Years. See Gen. v. 
 
 nations 
 
Fa ll of Man. igy 
 
 nations of their own Hearts (;s), that to pre- 
 ferve Right and Truth from perifhing from 
 off the Face of the Earth, it became the 
 Wifdom of God, eight Perfons only faved, 
 to deftroy the World. 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 7ke immediate Confequences of our jirjl Parents 
 eating of the forbidden I'ree^ and the Sen^ 
 fence which God pajfed upon the Serpent upon 
 Account of their TranJgreJJion. 
 
 "^T O fooner had our firft Parents eat of the 
 Tree forbidden them, but we are told 
 their Eyes were opened, and they knew they 
 were naked [a) : We cannot but here afk, 
 what Sentiments could our firft Parents receive 
 from what they had done, to affedt them in 
 this Manner ? And it is amazing how many 
 Writers have moft abfurdly trifled upon this 
 Topic (i). 
 
 {z) Gen. V. 5. Job. xxii. 17. {a) Gen. iii. 7. {^) Videtur 
 ingeneraffe, nefcio quo fucco, vel qua alia Virtute, novo s fcn- 
 fus Pudoris et Modefti^, vel Nuditatis ut dicitur ; quaii nul- 
 lum Pudorem habuiffent in Rebus Venereis ante Lapfum, hodie 
 tamen in Rebus iftiufmodi innocuos maxime comitatur Pudor. 
 Burnet. Archaeol. p. 292, 
 
 o 3 If 
 
198 Tie C-^iZ hTio'i^ and 
 
 If we would know truly what Mofes here 
 intended, we muft carefully attend to what he 
 himfelf has expreffed. And here let us ob- 
 ferve, that Mofes does not fay, that what the 
 Serpent had promifed our firfl: Parents was ful- 
 filled to them : They underftood the Serpent 
 to tell them that fome great Advantage of 
 Sight would be given them {e) : But the Event 
 certainly did not anfwer their Expedlations : 
 The Serpent had faid unto them, Tour Eyes 
 jball be opened : Mofes obferves that their Eyes 
 were opened ; fo indeed they were, according 
 to a true Meaning of Mofes's Expreflion, tho' 
 not at all according to what they hoped for. 
 A Fad related by a Heathen Hiftorian, may 
 fhew us the Manner of fpeaking here made 
 ufe of by Mofes, in the Cafe of our firfl: 
 Parents. 
 
 When the ILacedcemomans confulted the 
 Oracle at DelphoSy whether they fhould make 
 War upon the Arcadians^ Herodotus tells us, 
 that the Oracle anfwered them, 
 
 Kot yLOXoV "UJi^lQV ^OIVCO (^LXfJLYjTpyia'CCcd^, 
 
 That be would give them to march over the 
 
 {e) Vide quie fup. p. 7.%. 
 
 Country 
 
Fall of M A N. 199 
 
 Country of the T'egeans^ and to rneafure its fair 
 'Plains with a Line (f) : The Lacedcemonians 
 expeded that they fliould over-ran and abfo- 
 lutely conquer T'egea, and divide and fet out 
 their Lots in that Country as they pleafed : 
 But the Event that happened was, the Lace- 
 dcemonians u^ere beaten and taken Prifoners by 
 the Tegea?i5, and were employed by them as 
 their Slaves, to meafure their Lands and to la- 
 bour in them ; And, fays the Hiflorian, mea- 
 fured with their Line the Tegean Plains : A 
 Remark fevere, but true in Fad, though not 
 in the Manner it had been expedled. And 
 thus was Mofes'^ Obfervation upon our firft 
 Parents, their Eyes were indeed opened in a 
 true Senfe of Mofes'^ Expreffion^ but in a 
 Manner very different from what they had con- 
 ceived would have befallen them. 
 
 What Mofes here intended to fay was the 
 real Event which happened to our firft Parents, 
 muft be gathered from the Ufe he makes elfe- 
 where of the Expreflion, Eyes being opejied. 
 We find it remarkably ufed in the Cafe of 
 Hagar in the Wildernefs of BeerJJjeba (g) : 
 She had wandred there with her Son 7/Z>- 
 mael [h) : The Water fhe had brought with 
 
 (/) Herodot. Lib. i. c. 66. {g) Gen. xxi. {^) Ver. 14. 
 
 O 4 her 
 
200 The Creation and 
 
 her in a Bottle was all fpent, and both (he and 
 her Child were in Danger of periihing for 
 Want of a Supply — . But Mofes tells us, the 
 Lord ope7ied her Eyes, andjhefaw a Well {K) : 
 We are not to luppofe a Miracle here done ; 
 the Well is not faid at this Time to have been 
 created; undoubtedly it was in the fame 
 Place before fhe faw it, as it was afterwards ; 
 and her Eyes might be in reality as open be- 
 fore file faw the Well, as when (he efpy'd it : 
 But (he now turned her Eyes to the Place 
 where the Well was, and faw what before fhe 
 had not obferved, and this, in Mofes's Ex- 
 preffion, was having her Eyes opened. And 
 in this Senfe Mofes writes it of our firft Pa- 
 rents : After eating of the Tree, their Eyes 
 ivere opened-, they faw a Circumftance of their 
 Condition, which before they had not re- 
 marked, and which led them to a Thought 
 as new to them, 7bey knew that they were 
 naked (/). 
 
 The Queftion now is, In what Senfe did 
 they know themfelves to be naked ? And here 
 both later Commejitators and many ancient and 
 grave Writers, have, as I above hinted, im- 
 modeftly trifled. It is generally thought, that 
 
 {k) Gen. xxi. 19. (/) Gen. iii. 7. 
 
 Nakednefs 
 
Fa l l of Man. 20f 
 
 Nakednefs now firft became a Shame: But 
 Mofes in no wife gives any fuch Intimation : 
 He tells us of a very different Pafiion here 
 raifed by it j it gave them Fear : Adain was 
 not afiamed^ but afraid lecaufe he was riaked^ 
 and therefore hid himfelf {m) : And it is ob- 
 vious to fee the jufl Reafon he had for this 
 Senfe of his Condition : The Word which we 
 render naked, has indeed in the general this 
 its moft obvious Signification ; but it is ufed 
 in other Senfes by a fort of Metaphor in many 
 Places of the Scriptures: And in the Place be- 
 fore us particularly we ought to take it, as it is 
 ufed in the Book of Job : Hell, fays that 
 Writer, is [Naj^om] iiaked before him, and 
 DeJiruBion has no Covering (n) : /. e. Hell and 
 Deftrudion lie open, not concealed from the 
 Eye, nor in any way covered from the Ven- 
 geance of God : This is a Senfe of the Place, 
 juft and elegant, free of the fhameful Foole- 
 ries which Writers, not carefully confidering, 
 have ingrafted upon it. Adam and Eve had 
 taken upon them, not to reft fatisfied in what 
 God had commanded, but to begin to think 
 for themfelves, contrary to what God had faid 
 to them. And their Thoughts taking this 
 
 (^) Cen. iii. vii. {n] Job jfxvi. 6. 
 
 Turn, 
 
202 72^ CrE AT I ON ^;^^ 
 
 Turn, one Sentiment brought on another : 
 They were now to be wife for themfeh'es, 
 without, nay againft their Maker: And how 
 natural was it for them, going in the Paths of 
 this Theory, to be reminded to confider, how 
 to guard againft him, who had feverely 
 threatned what they had committed ? Alas ! 
 their Eyes now told them they had no Cover- 
 ing ; neither could they think how to find a 
 Shelter, that might protecft them : However 
 they attempted to do the beft they could, 
 They f ewe d Fig-leaves together , and made them^ 
 felves Aprons (^). 
 
 They made themfehes Aprons, — Here again 
 Mofes is fuppofed to iliy, what no one would 
 have any Thought of, unlefs he imagined our 
 firft Parents had Reafons of Shame to cover 
 fome particular Parts of their Bodies : But 
 Mofes hints nothing like it : His Words are, 
 [Vajithperu Naleh Teenah, Vejanajhu lehem 
 Chaggorothl (p) : We may obferve, that the 
 
 Word 
 
 {o) Gen. iii. 7. 
 
 (/>) nnj.n DH? ^\D])^) nj^^n n7y nii^n^i 
 
 Veflimenta circumligata fibi et fecerunt Ficu3 foliaiurara infuerunt 
 
 i.e. 
 in-texucrunt 
 
 As the Text may be thus ccnftrued, Dr. Burnet's low Ridicule 
 of the Beginning of the Art of a Seampftrefs, of their having 
 neither Thread or Needle, is without Foundation. En ! fays 
 
 hcs 
 
Fall of M A N. 203 
 
 Word which we render Leaves^ is in the Text 
 not plural but Jingular : And I apprehend, 
 that both here, and in fome other Places of 
 Scripture, it flaould be rendred not Leaves, 
 but a Foliature^ or Intertwiniiig of Leaves, 
 and that the whole Paragraph iliould be thus 
 tranflated -, Tkey wreathed together a Foliatiire 
 of the Fig-tree, and made themfelves Enwrap- 
 ments', i. e. they wrapped themfelves up in 
 them : What they wanted was to hide them- 
 felves from God : An Apron, or a Cindure 
 about their Waftes would in no wife anfwer 
 this Purpofe, and therefore they could have no 
 Thought of fo partial a Coverings but the 
 Caling themfelves up within Boughs full of 
 Leaves, to look like Trees, and thereby to 
 efcape his Obfervation — , this might be a 
 Sentiment not too weak for a firft Thought of 
 Perfons, v/ho, when they found their Inveft- 
 ments inconvenient or infufficient, were ftill 
 fo ignorant andfoolijij before God, as to con- 
 ceive, that behind the Trees of the Garden 
 they might poffibly be hid from him. 
 
 he, Primordia Artis futariee : Sed unde illis Acui^ unde Filum ? 
 Archsol. p 293. There was no Want of any Inflruments to 
 try to intwine tender Boughs into one another, and it cannot 
 but look a very natural Thought for them to attempt a Work 
 of this Nature. 
 
 What 
 
204 ^^ Creation and 
 
 What Mofes therefore relates, thus explain- 
 ed, is highly natural: They had broke the 
 Commandment of the Lord their Gad : It 
 now came into their Minds, How fhall we 
 efcape his Obfervation ? Will he not foon fee 
 us ? and when he fees us, will he not punifti? 
 Every Thought of themfelves now was a new 
 Terror : Their Eyes were opened, and they 
 faw they had no Cover : Their Hearts were 
 alarmed, they confidered they had nothing 
 wherewith they might proteft themfelves 
 againft him : Whither now could they fly 
 from his Prefence ? or what fhould they do to 
 ward off his Difpleafure ? Had they now 
 known the World, and the Hiding-places that 
 are therein, they would have gone into the 
 Dens and Rocks of the Mount ainsy and /aid to 
 the Mountains and Rocks^ Fall on usy and hide 
 MS from the Face of Him, and from his Wrath 
 to come [q) : Bat they had as yet been little 
 farther than the Compafs of their Garden, and 
 knew of no thicker Covert than the Leaves 
 and Shelter of their Trees; with fome of 
 thefe therefore they tried to wrap up and dif- 
 guife themfelves, as well as they could, and 
 herein they feem to have amufed themfelves 
 
 {q) Rev. vi. 16. 
 
 fintil 
 
Fa LL of Man* 205 
 
 until towards the Evening of the Day : They 
 then heard the Voice of God moving from 
 one Part of the Garden to the other (r) : This 
 ftruck them w^ith a frefli Confufion : Their 
 Fears came now upon them like an armed 
 Man : They were not able to abide in the Way 
 of the Voice of God, but gat themfelves into 
 the clofeft Thicket of Trees they could find, 
 and here they hoped to lie hid : But the Voice 
 of God, calling now more peremptorily, 
 Adam^ Where art thou ? darted Terrors quite 
 through him; he could no longer fupport a 
 Thought that he was concealed, but came 
 forth confeffing, that he was afraid, becaufe 
 he was naked, and had therefore hid him- 
 felf (i) : The Tranfadtion is a mofl natural 
 Progrefs of confcious Guilt, and the Words 
 jidam now fpake, are as natural, and a deep 
 Humiliation of himfelf before God. They 
 are, as if he had faid, I was afraid, and hid 
 myfelf J but I fee I am naked, I have no Co- 
 ver from thine Eye ; I know alfo I am further 
 naked, unarmed againft, having nothing to 
 oppofe to, to protedt mc from thy Power j I 
 fubmit. Lord, do unto me as thou wilt. 
 
 (r) Gen.iii. 8— 10. [s) Ver. lo. 
 
 It 
 
2c6 Hje CRfiATioN and 
 
 It IS very obvious to remark, how our 
 Tranflators and Commentators came to have 
 a Notion of Adam and E'u^'s Shame for their 
 Nakednefs. In the laft Verfe of the fecond 
 Chapter of Genefis we have this Obfervation, 
 that, Tihey were both 7iaJzedy the Man and his 
 Wife, and were not aJJoamed : It being here 
 obferved, that no Shame attended their being 
 naked before they eat of the Tree, it was con- 
 cluded, that a Shame of being naked entred 
 with Sin into the World : But I would here- 
 upon offer to the Reader's Confideration, 
 
 I. That what is expreifed in this 25th Verfe 
 of the fecond Chapter of Genefis, is an Ob- 
 fervation that has no Manner of Reference 
 and Connection to any Thing before faid, that 
 might give Occafion for it, nor does it any 
 way lead to introduce what follows it in be- 
 ginning the next Chapter. It feems, in its 
 obvious Senfe, quite an independent Remark, 
 that might indeed be made by any one that 
 confidercd, that at that Time they were not 
 clothed : But had Mankind never worn 
 Clothes at all, nothing was as yet faid that 
 would have occafioned fuch an Obfervation. 
 Every Thing that Mofes had related, or pro- 
 ceeded to relate, v/ould have been as full and 
 complete without it as with it. 
 
 2. There 
 
Fa LL <?/* M A N. 207 
 
 2. There are feveral Obfervations of this 
 Sort, in many Parts of the Old Teftament, 
 and in this Book of Gencfis particularly, which 
 the Learned agree not to have been originally 
 in the Text, but to have been Hints wrote (fs) 
 in the Margin of ancient Copies, as Obferva- 
 tions from or upon the Text, and that Tran- 
 fcribers from Copies fo wrote upon, not care- 
 fully diftinguifhing, took them into the Text; 
 that fuch Tranfcribers, not being modern, but 
 more ancient than any printed Copies, or in- 
 deed any Manufcript Bibles now extant, we 
 may now have no Copies that have not in the 
 Text thefe Infertions. If indeed the Mean- 
 ing of the Vcrfe we are treating was, that 
 Adam and Kve were not afhamed at their wear- 
 ing no Clothing, and I could have any War- 
 rant from any one Copy for omitting it, I 
 fhould be inclined to think it an Infertion of 
 this Nature. But, 
 
 3. I apprehend the Truth to be, that this 
 Verfe was not intended at all to fpeak of their 
 being naked as to Clothing, As the Word 
 naked has metaphorical Senfes in fome Paf- 
 fages of the Old Teftament ; fo alfo has the 
 
 (fs) See Prideaux'^ Connea. Part. T. B. V. Connea. Sacr. & 
 Proph, Hiftory, Vol. II. B, VII. p. 174. Vol. III. B. XII. p.433. 
 
 Word, 
 
2o8 The Creation and 
 
 Word, which wc here tranflate ajhamed {t) : 
 It is far from fignifying in all Places being af- 
 fcfted with what we call the Paffion of 
 Shame ; it often means being confounded or de^ 
 Jlroyed. The Word here ufed is a Termina- 
 tion of the Verb [Buojh, wu], and this is the 
 Feri ufed by Ifaidh, where recoUedling how 
 God had deflroyed the Kings of Canaan be- 
 fore the Ifraelites^ and laid wajie their fenced 
 Cities into ruinous Heaps -y he tells us, that 
 their Inhabitants were of fmall Power y they 
 were difmayed^ [luini, VeboJhu\ he does not 
 here mean that they literally had the PaJJion of 
 Shame affeBing them^ but were confounded \ 
 were^ as he proceeds, as the Grafs of the Fields 
 end as the green Herby as the Grafs on the 
 Houfe TopSy and as Corn blajled before it be 
 grown up [u). And this was Mofes's Meaning 
 in the Word here ufed ; a Meaning of it per- 
 fedlly coinciding with what afterwards ap- 
 peared to be his Sentiment of Man's {landing 
 perfonally to hear the Voice of God. Mofes 
 elfewhere fpeaks it to be no ordinary Mercy, 
 that a Man (liould hear the Voice of God and 
 live {w)y and therefore he might here leave 
 
 (/) The/f^i^r^5tuTextIs^l[;ran^ N*71. («) 2 Kingsxix.26. 
 Ifaiah xxxvii. 26. (w) See Dcut. iv. 33* 
 
 US 
 
Fall of Man. 209 
 
 us this Obfervation concerning our fii ft Parents ; 
 that God fpake to them, and that, altho' they 
 flood naked before him, /. e, in his more im- 
 mediate Prefence under no Coverture, nigh to 
 him^ to hear the Voice of his Words talking to 
 themy they experienced what Mofes always re- 
 puted a very extraordinary Thing, ih^tGoddid 
 talk with Man, and they were not confoundcdy 
 but lived [x). 
 
 Thus far we have no Difficulty : We are 
 now to confider, what the Voice of God faid 
 to Adam upon his confeffing himfelf thus naked 
 before him : Aiid he [i. e. God] faid^ V/ho 
 told thee that thou waji naked'? Haji thou eaten 
 of the Tree^ whereof 1 commanded thee, that 
 thou fjouldfi 72ot eat (y)? The Words point 
 very clearly to what I have explained to be 
 the Meaning of Adam's thinking himfelf 
 naked : Had Adam intended by that Expref- 
 fion that he was afhamed to appear before 
 God, upon Account of his having no Clothes, 
 here would have been fomething faid hugely 
 trifling, and no way pertinent to any Circura- 
 ftance of his Condition : But take him to 
 mean by naked, not covered from the Sight of 
 God, and without any Defence or Proted:ion 
 
 ('.t; Deut. V. 24. (y) G^n.m u. 
 
 P againft 
 
2IO T^e Creation and 
 
 agaiiifl: his Power, and the Reply from God 
 here is, as if it had been faid. You fay you 
 are without Cover from, and without Defence 
 againft me; have you never been fo before 
 me until now ? Have you hitherto wanted any 
 Cover or Defence ? Who tells you, that you 
 now want them ? I never threatned you, but 
 for one Thing 5 art thou afraid ? Haft thou 
 done that One Thing to be afraid of me ? 
 This now fpeaks itfelf to be the Rcafon and 
 Explanation of what God was pleafed to fay 
 to Adam, and refers evidently to what Adam 
 had done to occafion this being faid to him. 
 Adam hereupon denied not, but confeffed his 
 Guilt : The Woman, faid he, whom thou gaveft 
 to be with me, Jloe gave me of the Tree, and I 
 did eat (z). The Woman being interrogated,' 
 anfwered without Evafion, The Serpent be^ 
 guile d me, and I did eat (a). All this, I 
 think, can want no Comment -, we may there- 
 fore proceed to examine the Sentence which 
 God hereupon pafTed upon the Offenders. 
 
 And here we read, that the Lord God faid 
 unto the Serpent : Becaufe thou haft done this^ 
 thou art curfed above all Cattel, and above every 
 Beaft of the Field: Upo^i thy Belly Jhalt thou 
 
 (2) Gen. iii. 12. {a) Ver. 13. 
 
V A L L of M A N. 211 
 
 go, and Dujljhalt thou eat all tJoe Days of thy 
 Life (^). The Objedors hereupon aflv —— 
 Shall ^we fay, that the Nature of the Serpent 
 was now changed ? that, before the Serpent 
 had done what he is here made criminal for, 
 he was an Animal tliat v/alked upright (r), 
 and moved in a Manner very different from 
 that he now moves in : Were his whole Make 
 and Shape and Powers of moving, upon the 
 Sentence now paffed upon him, totally al- 
 tered ? If they were not, he was before this 
 Sentence juft the fame Reptile, as he was after 
 it; and if fo, then no Punilliment was infli€l- 
 ed : If we fay God changed Jhis Make and 
 Form, and degraded him to a low Reptile for 
 the Mifchief he had done; how can this 
 be [d) ? For, where there was no Fault, how 
 fhould God punifh ? If, as I have obferved, 
 the Words which came to Eve from the 
 
 (^)Gen.iii. 1 3. (r )Vide Criticos in loc. Rivet, exercit. in GtA. (^ i?^ 
 poem Seypentis non le-vis eft ^(efdo : St Diaholus Rem tot am egit juh 
 fpecie Serpefiiis ; iielji coegit Serpent em, tit ea agerct -vel pat ere fur; 
 ^id Serpens hdt pcenas criminis a Diaholo commijji ? Dein quoad 
 Modum et For mam Ptzn.-e in Serpent em irrogata^ nempe quod in po- 
 /terum pronus irtt in Vent rem, quid hoc f,bi ^jelit non ejl facile expli- 
 catu : EreSium antta fuifje Serpent em, aut qiiadrupedum more incef- 
 fffe agre qiiis dixtrit : ^M fi 'vero ferehofur pronus in Veyitrem ab 
 Initio, ut hodieriii Argues, ineptum 'videri poffit id pro fupplicio, et in 
 Pcenam feyigularis Fa^i, huic Anim.ali imponi aut attribuij quod fern- 
 per et aNaturd habuit. Burnet Archasol. p. 291. 
 
 P 2 Mouth 
 
212 Tf:)^ Creation and 
 
 Mouth of the Serpent, were in Reality not 
 the Serpent's Words ; were Words he in no 
 wife intended, nor had any Senfe of, or Mean- 
 ing in them (^), wherein could the Serpent be 
 criminal ? and if he was not criminal, why 
 fhould he be fo execrated and degraded ? They 
 who oppofe our underflanding Mofes in a li- 
 teral Senfe, feem here to triumph, and I can- 
 not fay, that thofe who anfwer them do fpeak 
 fo clearly as might be wifhed in this Particu- 
 lar. The true Fad: in what had been done, 
 undoubtedly was, that the Serpent had been 
 no moral Agent in the Affair, had really done 
 nothing ; for he was but a mere Tool, an In- 
 flrument in the Ufc of gn Agent invifible ; 
 and therefore cannot be thought either ac- 
 countable, or deferving to be punifhed for any 
 Thing that had happened ; fo that we ought 
 carefully to examine the Words of Mofes^ 
 whether he fays any Thing that intimates God 
 to have really called the Serpent here to any 
 Account, or inflifted any Punifhment upon 
 him. 
 
 It is indeed obfervable, that not our Englijh 
 only, but all Verfions of the Text of Mofes^ 
 do render the Place, as if great Guilt was im- 
 
 {e) Vide qu«e fup, 
 
 puted 
 
FALLij/'MAN. 213 
 
 puted to the Serpent, and Punifhment there- 
 upon denounced againft him ; but if the Reader 
 be apprifed how the Hebrew Particle Ci in 
 the Text, which we tranflate Becaufe, ought 
 to have been rcndred not Becaufe, but Although^ 
 the Paflage will appear to have a very different 
 Meaning (f). 
 
 The Words ufed by Mofei are \ci najkitha 
 zaoth (g) ], we render them Becaufe thou ba/l 
 done this : The Particle [C/] has often this 
 Signification, and poffibly may be thus taken 
 where Adam is fpoken to in the 17th Verfe, 
 [Ci fiamanta (i?) ] Becaufe thou haft hearkened 
 
 unto the Voice of thy Wife : But it muft 
 
 be rendred otherwife in other Places. In Gen. 
 viii. 21. "The Lord God f aid ^ I will not curfe the 
 Ground any more for Maji' s fake -, for, \Ci\ 
 the Imagination of Man's Heart is evil from 
 his Touth : Had we here rendred the Particle 
 [Ci] Becaufe^ we had darkened the Senfe ex- 
 tremely ; the tranflating it f o r does not in- 
 tirely clear it : The Words truly rendred are as 
 follows, I will not curfe the Ground any more — 
 ALTHOUGH the Imagination of Man's Heart 
 
 (f) The Arabic Verfion feems to fpecify, that the Serpent 
 defignedly beguiled E've ; cum feceris hoc jfcienter in the Latin 
 Verfion of the Place. But how groundlcfs is this Fancy ? 
 
 (g) rw n^'u;y ^d (^) Gen iii. 17. 
 
 P 3 is 
 
214 2^^ Creation and 
 
 is evil — : This is the true Meaning of the 
 Words : God was pleafed to determine not to 
 curfe the Ground any more, although the 
 Wickednefs of Man was fuch as deferved its 
 being again curfed. And thus again in another 
 Place : KmtXJlrefched cut his right Hand^ and 
 laid it u^mz Ephraim'5 Head^ nsoho was the 
 yoimger, but he laid his left Hand upon Ma- 
 nafleh'j Head-, [a] we fay for Manafleh was 
 the firjl-horn (/) : Surely the Reafon intimated 
 Is a little coiifufed : Bat if we rendred the 
 Woi-ds, ALTHOUGH Manafleh 'ivas the firft- 
 born, the Expreflion woiild be juft and figttl- 
 ficant. And thus in PfaL xxv. Pardon mini 
 Tniqiiity, [a] We lliy, for it is great (k) -, \^e 
 fliould better exprefs the Pfalmiji'^ Meatling, 
 if we tranflated it, ALTHotrctt it is great. 
 Our Verlidri has iii one Place giveti the Par- 
 ticle this its triie Meaning : God ted them not 
 through the Land of the Phili/lines 5 we here 
 render the Particle [a] juflly although it 
 ivas near (/). 
 
 And thus the Verfe concerning the Serpent 
 diight to have been tranflated : A/id the Lord 
 Ccd /aid unto the .Serpent, although thou 
 
 ({) n^nnn ntiJ:0 id Gen. xlviii. 14, (/■) Xin 31 '3. ver. 1 1. 
 
 (/) a-lp^jExod. xiii. 17. 
 
 hq/i 
 
Fall^^/'Man. 215 
 
 hafl dojie thisy thou art curfed above all Cattel^ 
 and above every Beaji of the Field 3 upmi thy 
 Belly Jhalt thou go y and Dufi Jloalt thou eat all 
 the Days of thy Life, The Words in no wife 
 imply, that a Change of the Nature of the 
 Serpent was now inflidled on him : He re- ^ 
 mained the fame Animal he was before created : 
 But they are, as it were, an Apoflrophe to the 
 Serpent, in the Hearing of Adam and FiVe^ 
 deiigned to evince to them, what a Folly, 
 as well as Crime, they had been guilty of, 
 in being deceived by fo low a Seducer. 
 The Words are, as if God had faid to the 
 Serpent : " Although thou haft done this 
 " great Mifchief, yet thou art no lofty and 
 *^ refpectable Creature : Thou art one of the 
 ^^ meaneftof all Animals : Thou art not raifed 
 " to any high Form, but art a mere Reptile, 
 *' and fhalt always continue to be fo : Upon 
 " thy Belly thou art made to go; and flialt 
 ^' feed low all the Days of thy Life, in the 
 " very Duft.'' Adam and Bsve had conceived 
 high Notions of the Serpent, above all the 
 Beajls of the Fields which the Lord had made (q) ; 
 but God here reprehends their foolifh Fancy, 
 and fets before them, what their own Eyes 
 
 (^) Gen. iii. i. 
 
 P 4 might 
 
2 1 6 7^^ Creation and 
 
 might have told them, that the Serpent was a 
 Creature, made only for a very lov^ Life, and 
 that no fuch Elevation as they imagined (liould 
 ever belong to him (^qq). 
 
 The Tranilators of the Bible v^ere, I dare 
 fay, led to think a Punifliment was here in- 
 Aided upon the Serpent, from the Expreffion 
 of his being curfed above every Bead of the 
 Field : To be curfed may be to have f^me 
 fignal Mifchief or great Evil, either wiihed 
 to, or inflided upon the Perfon curfed : This 
 is indeed the general Signification of the Word : 
 But it ought to be confidered, whether it is 
 contrary to the Nature of the Hebrew Tongue, 
 to call a Thing curfed, when fuch Circum- 
 flances belong to it as are fo extremely bad, 
 that it might be deemed as unhappy a Thing 
 even as a mod fevere Curfe, to be under 
 them, tho' they be not inflided as a particular 
 Judgment : In this Senfe the Jews, in our Sa- 
 viour's Time, called their vulgar or common 
 People, who they thought could not know 
 
 [qq] The ancient Naturalijls have largely confidered the Pro- 
 priety of the Motion of a'Serpent, to its whole Make, and 
 
 Conilruftion of the Nature of its Body; c<i<, TviTcov y^ (poLVi^v, 
 
 rxroJ'QV iT)' &.C. Arillot. Lib. de Animalium IncQilu. c. viii. 
 
 the 
 
Fall^Man. 2i7 
 
 the Law, curfed (r) : We cannot fuppofe 
 them here to mean that the Body of their 
 People were under any particular Curfe or 
 Judgment of God, which deprived them of 
 all Poflibility of knowing their Duties; rather 
 they thought of them in the Sentiment of the 
 Prophet : Surely thefe are poor ; they arefoolijh^ 
 for they know not the Way of the Lordy nor the 
 Judgment of their God: I will get me to the 
 great Men^ and will fpeak unto them^ for they 
 have known the Way of the Lord (i). The 
 Prophet here looks upon the Poor, not as par- 
 ticularly curfed of God; for this he could not 
 think (^), but they were in fuch Circum- 
 fiances as might not have afforded them any 
 confiderable Information concerning their Du- 
 ties, and he therefore faid, he would get him 
 to the Greats as reputing it more likely to find 
 them ready to hear and underjland : And in 
 this Way the fcw^ held their Eftimation of 
 their common People : They imagined it not 
 likely thefe fhould know the Law ; and there- 
 fore they deemed them fo defpicably ignorant, 
 that tho' no particular Judgment of God was 
 in the Cafe, yet they held them in no kind of 
 
 (r) John vii. 49. >) Jerem. v. 4, 5. (/) See Prov. xxii. i. 
 Deut. XV. II. 
 
 Regard, 
 
21$ 77)e Creation and 
 
 Regard, but as in a ciirfed or moft con- 
 temptible Condition. It is no unnatural Way 
 of fpeaking to fay of poor, barren, and un- 
 |>rofitab}e Land, that it is curfed Ground, not 
 only where God rriay have been pleafed to 
 make a fruitful Land barren, for the Wicked-^ 
 7iefs of them that dwell therein {u), as was par- 
 tkularly the Cafe of the Earth thus curfed 
 H|)on our firft Parents having finned (iiu), but 
 alfo when the Land is very fteril and unfruit-* 
 fol, tho' no particular Curfe of God has ever 
 been denounced againft it. In the Hebrew 
 Tongue we often find Things eminently ex- 
 cellent in their Kind faid therefore to be of 
 God > Cedars of Lebanon, highly flourifliing^ 
 to be for that Reafon of God's planting ; fo 
 ©n the contrary the "Word curfed may as rea- 
 fonably be ufed, as it^were in contrafl;, where 
 God had given no Appearance of a Blefling* 
 Adam and Eve v/tvc thinking highly of the 
 Serpent: The Defign of what God now faid 
 was to (hew them, that he was a Creature de- 
 ferving their loweft Notice : They thought 
 him above any Beaji of the Field which the 
 Lord had made: The Words here fpoken 
 were to tell them that he w^as not above, but 
 
 («) Pfal. cvii. 34. (««) Gen. iii. 17. 
 
 beneath 
 
F A L L ^ M A N. 219 
 
 beneath all others j fo creeping and abjedl, 
 that his Make and Form might be fpoken of 
 in Terms, as if they were a Curfe upon 
 him (-z^;). But, 
 
 'I'he Words that next follow have greater 
 Difficulties : A72d I will put Eiimity betnsieen 
 thee and the Wo7nany and between thy Seed and 
 her Seed : It Jhall bruife thy Head^ and thou 
 Jhalt bruife his Heel {x). The Inquiries 1 
 would make concerning thefe Words are, 
 
 I. Whether Adajn and Eve underftood them? 
 
 II. Whether they conceived them to have any 
 Reference to the Animal, the Serpent frottl 
 whofe Mouth they had heard the words which 
 had beguiled Eve^ III. What may be thd 
 true and literal Meaning of them ? 
 
 I. Are we fure that jidam and Eve uridet^- 
 ftood what God now fpake to them (y) • 
 They are Words, which, I hope I fliall be 
 
 (ou) I do not know whether I miglit not obferve, that th^ 
 Death of being hanged on a Tree, was faid to be a ctirfed l)eat& 
 in this Senfe of the Word. See Deut. xxi. 22, 23. There were 
 other Deaths inflidled by the Laws of God ; fuch as ftoning 
 with Stones till a Man died, Levit. xx. 2, 27, ^c. Whoeve^ 
 came under the Sentence of this, or any other Death inflicled 
 by God's LavV, was ^s really accurftd of Gody as he that iVas 
 hanged on a Tree, but the Ignominy of this Death was defpicable 
 beyond others : It had a Shame belonging to it, hard to get 
 over and defpife; it was fligraatized, low, and bafe beyond 
 other Punifhments j and therefore had peculiarly this Term of 
 Reproach annexed to ic. (.v) Gen. iii, 15. -(y) Ver. 15. 
 
 able 
 
220 The Creation and 
 
 able reafonably to explain, and fhew to be the 
 firft Prophecy that was made to the World : 
 I call thtm Prophecy, as fpeaking of Events 
 to come i and that fop many Days to come, re- 
 ferring to Vv'hat was to be accomplifhed in 
 Times that were afar off [z) : And therefore, 
 tho* it feems obvious i\\2itAdam and Eve might 
 underftand from what was fpoken, that the 
 Enemy who had hurt them would at length 
 be conquered ^ yet it does not appear that they 
 were precifely informed who this Enemy was, 
 nor what the Conteft was that fliould be with 
 him and againft himj nor how, or by whom 
 in particular he (hould be fubdued. What 
 had been faid in their Hearing, concerning 
 the curfed or very low and groveling Nature 
 of the Serpent, mufl have apprized them, 
 that they had been much miftaken in their 
 Notions of this Animal : Whether it caufed 
 them to refledl, although they did not before 
 think fo, that the Serpent did not perhaps 
 fpeak of himfelf; but that they had fomc 
 greater Enemy whom they had not feen, nor 
 known, I cannot fay : But that our firft Pa- 
 rents, tho' their experimental Knowledge 
 
 {%) Ezek. xii. 27. See Dan. xii. 8, 9, 13. x. 14. viii, 26, 27, 
 Tii. 28. 
 
 could 
 
Fall of Ma n. 221 
 
 could a5 yet be but little, were not of flow 
 Parts, but able to turn every thing hinted to 
 them over in their Minds, to conceive of it 
 all that a lively Imagination would, as far as 
 they could know Things, prefent to them, 
 muft I think be admitted as unqueftionable : 
 and that they henceforward acquitted the Ser- 
 pent of all Guilt towards them, feems to me 
 to appear from what I (hall prefently confider, 
 viz, that we have no Hints in Hiftory, that 
 either they, or their immediate Defcendants 
 commenced any particular Enmity or Hoftility 
 againft the Animals called Serpents, any more 
 than againft any other of the Animals of the 
 World. But, that Adam or £^v knew tlic 
 real Meaning of what was here faid to them, 
 any more than the ancient Prophets perfedly 
 under flood what was revealed to them, to be 
 by them declared unto the World, is what I 
 fee no Reafon to conclude : Are we to think, 
 that Daniely after he had wrote down what 
 had been revealed unto him concerning the 
 feventy Weeks determined upon his People (a), 
 could have exadly determined wbaf Manner 
 of Time was here Jignijied before Hand-, or 
 how that which was tejiifed^ was to be ful- 
 
 («) Dan, ix. 24 — 27. 
 
 filled 
 
?2g ^e Creation and 
 
 filled in the Sufferings of Chrijiy and the Glor^ 
 that Jhoiild follow (aa) ? or (hall we think that 
 JDavidy to whom it had been forefhewn, thgt 
 his Soul [b) fhould not be left in Hell, neither 
 fhould God*s holy One fee Corruption y could 
 have hence been able to declare, that Jefus 
 Chrijl^ or even any One of his, David's De- 
 fcendants, fhould be dead and buried, and on 
 the third Day be raifed from the Dead ? Or 
 that even Mofes, who recorded the Words, 
 which God had thus fpoken to our firft Pa- 
 rents ; and afterwards, that in Abraham's Seed 
 all the Nations of the Earth fjould be blejfed {c) ; 
 and afterwards, that Shiloh fliould come of the 
 Tribe of Judah (d) 5 and further, that God 
 would give the Ifraelites a Prophet from among 
 their Brethren like unto him, that they fhould 
 hear him (f) ; can we fay, that Mofes could 
 have explained, as St. Paul was able after- 
 wards to fhew, who the particular Perfon was, 
 that was to be this Sjeed of the Wofnan ; the 
 Seed of Abraham 5 the Shiloh 5 the Prophet who 
 was to come\ and in what (f) particular 
 Manner all that had been foretold fhould in 
 him be fulfilled ? Prophefy was defigned to 
 
 {aa) I Pet. i. ii. [h) Pfal. xvi. lo. Ads n. 25 35. 
 
 (f) Gen. xxii. 18. {d) Gen. xlvii. 10. [e) Deut. xviii. 15, 
 (f) Gal. iii. 14—16. 
 
 point 
 
FaLL^MaN. ' 22 J 
 
 point before-hand to fomething which was 
 afterwards more f4idIy«to be revealed; to create 
 in thofe unto whom it was given, Expeda- 
 tions of Things not yet fully explained to 
 them ; which Things were in the Procefs of 
 Ages to be further added to and opened, as 
 God ihould think fit more and more to fhew 
 the Contents of them ; until, when the Time 
 was come that the whole was fulfilled, they 
 unto whom the Things foretold were accom- 
 plifhed, might look back, and by feeing from 
 the Beginning what had been faid, before any 
 one but God knew how thefe Thino;s fliould 
 fo be ; might hereby have a furer Word (g)^ 
 than could poflibly have been contrived for 
 ciimiingly devifed Fables^ to fhew them, that 
 the Things thus foretold, and thus accom- 
 plifhed, were of God : And fuch is that Series 
 of Promifes or Predidions began in the Words 
 now fpoken by God to our fkft Parents ; en- 
 larged, and more ipecihed as to their Meaning 
 by fome farther Prophecies given in after 
 Ages ; until at the End of about 4000 Years, 
 a Perfon appeared, in whofe Life and Death, 
 Refurrefiion and Glory, the v/ho!e of what 
 had been foretold, was clearly i^^n to be ful- 
 
 ' ' • " ... 
 
 (g) z Pet. i. 19. 
 
 filk-d 
 
224 ^^^ Creation and 
 
 filled truly and literally j but yet fo foretold 
 and fo fulfilled, as that no one before the 
 Things were come to pafs, ever fo under ftood 
 the Prophefies, as to think, that thus would 
 be the Event of them : Whereby it was the 
 more demonftrably proved, that the whole 
 was God's Work : For, as he only could 
 declare the Rnd from the Beginning (/j), mark 
 out truly before-hand the Traces of his own 
 deep Counfels and Defigns ; fo what had been 
 foretold by him, was always fo imperfectly 
 underftood, as to be look'd for by Men quite 
 otherwife than it came to pafs: And therein 
 it became evident, when it was come to pafs, 
 that no human Contrivance was in the ful- 
 filling it, any more than in the foretelling it ; 
 for had there been human Contrivance in it, 
 it would have been brought about to have been 
 fulfilled in quite another Manner. The Words 
 therefore before us now fpoken by God are, 
 as a moft excellently able and learned Prelate 
 has pointed out to us (/) the firfl; of " a Chain 
 <« of Prophecies reaching through feveral thou- 
 
 yh) Remember the former Things of oldy for lam Gody and there 
 is mne elfe : lam Gody and there is none like me : Declari?ig the End 
 from the Beginnings and from ancient Tt7nes the Things that are not 
 yet done: Sayingy My Counfel Jhall Jiandy and I nfjill do all my Plea- 
 fur e. Ifa. xlvi. 9, lo. (0 Bifhop Sherlock^ Preface to the third 
 Edition of The Ufe and Intent of Prophefy, 
 
 '' fand 
 
Fa ll ^ M a n. 225 
 
 *^ fand Years, manifeftly fubfervient to, and 
 ^' gradually opening one and the fan^e Ad- 
 " miniftration of Providence from Beginning 
 *' to End," of which our firft Parents knew 
 no more, than to think that they literally had 
 Hopes herein, fo far ktn by them as to give 
 them Reafon to truft and depend upon God ; 
 but not enough explained to them, to (hew 
 them what the particular Things were which 
 they were to hope for, or how or when they 
 were to be accomphflied. But, 
 
 II. Did our firft Parents apprehend any 
 Thing here faid, to concern or relate to the 
 Animal, to the Serpent from whofe Mouth 
 the Guile came, which had deceived them ? 
 I anfwer : I think they did not : Had yldam 
 and Eve underftood God to mean, that there 
 fhould be continual War between Mankind 
 and Serpents; that the Serpents fhould bite 
 the Heels of Men, and that Men fl;iould crufli 
 and bruife to Pieces the Heads of Serpents, 
 would not ancient Hiftory have given fome 
 Account of the Endeavours of Mankind, in 
 the firft Ages, to deftroy thefe their Ene- 
 mies ? It is obfervable, that God does not 
 fpeak of the Serpent as a Creature of enor- 
 mous Size, but rather as fo contemptible, that 
 Ada?n could have no Reafon to be afraid of 
 
 ^% 
 
2 26 The Ck'e AT ion a?2d 
 
 it (a), but might eafily have perhaps ftamped 
 it under his Feet : How came it then to pafs, 
 that neither ^Jam nor Eve^ if they underftood 
 that they were to deftroy Serpents, did in- 
 ftantly bruife the Head of this their Enemy ? 
 Or if it may be faid, having no Weapons, 
 they might be afraid he fhould bruife their 
 Heel, is it not wondrous they fhould never af- 
 terwards contrive how to afflidt this hoflile 
 Creature ? and that it did not become the He- 
 roifm of the firfl: Generations of the World to 
 commence a fort of religious War againft thefe 
 devoted Animals, to extirpate the whole 
 Breed of them from off the Face of the 
 Earth ? In after Ages, and in Countries where 
 
 {a) We are told by Heathen Writers of Serpents of a moll 
 incredible Size : Pliny relates from ZzVj', that when Regulus 
 commanded the Roman Forces in Africa, he was infefted by a 
 Serpent 1 20 Feet long, and fo invulnerable, its Scales being 
 impenetrable, and its Breath fo infedlious, that he was forced 
 to ufe the Military Engines, which they ufed againft Towers 
 and the Walls of Towns, before they could fubdue it, and fays 
 the Skin of it was hung up at Rome, and remained there until 
 the War with Numantia, i. e. about ico Years. Vide Plin. Nat. 
 Hift. Lib. 8. c. 14. Liv. Hift. Lib. 18. c. 15, 16. And the fame 
 Naturalift fpeaks of Serpents 20 Cubits long in other Places, 
 Vide Nat. Hift. Lib. 31. e. 2. And of fo large a Size as to draw 
 away Oxen and Stags whole. Vide 1. 18. Whether thefe Ac- 
 counts did not exceed what was ftridly the Truth, ought to be 
 confidered. The Scriptures hint Serpents in Mofes's Time to 
 have been of a more common Meafure, fuch as might lie in the 
 Way, and bite the Keels of Horfes, Gen. xlix. 17. And vrt 
 have no Reafon to fuppofe the Serpent that fpake to E've to have 
 been larger. 
 
 the 
 
Pa ll ^ M a n. 2^7 
 
 the clearing them of Serpents was thought a 
 pubhc Good, Exploits of this Kind had their 
 Glory : 
 
 — diram qui ccntudit Hydrant Hor. 
 
 The fubduing a Serpent was one of the La- 
 bours of Hercules [h) ; nay, he was faid to 
 have killed two Serpents in his very Cradle (c); 
 a Story that implies, that the killing Serpents 
 was at this Time of fuch public Utility, and 
 therefore fo highly eflimated, that no greater 
 Thing could be faid of this Hero, to give 
 high Expedlations of his future Atchievements, 
 or to evince his Origin to be more than mor- 
 tal : Can we then think, in the firfl Worlds 
 of which the Hiftory, tho' very fliort, is not 
 fo imperfeft, but that the Inventors of ufeful 
 Arts (^), of the Entertainments of Life {e)^ 
 as well as the Names of thofe who were emi- 
 nent for Religion are come down to us (^^^ ; 
 if one great Inftance of performing what God 
 had declared, had confifted in deflroying Ser- 
 pents, we fhould not have had the Name of 
 fome one Worthy at leaft, who had exerted 
 himfelf in this Warfare ? But in Truth the 
 
 [h) Apollodor. I. 2. c. 4. Mart. Ep. Lib. IX. Ep. 104. 
 (f) Apollodor. ubi fup. {d) Gen. iv. 20, 22. {e) Ver. 21. 
 (f) Ver. 26. 
 
 0^2 Animals 
 
228 TI)e Cre AT ion and 
 
 Animals called Serpents were as yet little in 
 Size, contemptible in Figure, not underftood 
 to be marked out by God, for Men to make 
 it their Employment to deftroy them ; and ac- 
 cordingly nothing more is told us, of the Ser- 
 pent's having to do with Man, or Man with 
 the Serpent, until the Flood came, and took 
 away Man and Beaft from off the Earth. The 
 Serpent that tempted Eve is reckoned amongft 
 the Beajls of the Fields and not a Water Ani- 
 mal (h) 5 and therefore we may fuppofe his 
 
 Kind 
 
 [h) Gen. iii. i. Water-Snakes are mentioned in all Writers : 
 The two Serpents related in Virgil to have killed Laocoon, are 
 defcribed to have come over the Sea. 
 
 Ecce ! autem gemini a Tenedo tranquilla per alta, 
 (Horrefco refer ens) immenjis Orhihus Angues 
 Jncu7}ihunt Pelago pariterque ad Littora tendunt : 
 Pe^ora quorum inter Flu£ius arreSia Jubaque 
 Sanguincce exuperant Undas : Pars cetera Pontum 
 Pone legit ^ finuatque immenfa Volumine Terga. 
 Fit fonitus fpumantg Salo : Jamque arnja tenebant: 
 Ardentejque Oculos fuffeSli Sanguine et Igni 
 Sibila lambehant Unguis <vibrantibus ora, ^'^^Z' -^n. 2. 
 
 The Annotators obferve, that the Latins called the IVater- 
 Snakes y Angues; the Land-Snakes, Serpentes; and when thefe 
 Animals were confecrated and in Temples, Dracones: Angues 
 aquarum funt , Serpentes Terrarunty Templonim Dracones : And fo 
 Virgil ftiles thefe very Serpents when they were faid to be hid 
 at the Feet of Pallas, 
 
 At gemini Lapfu Deluhra adfumma Dracones 
 Effugiunt, fa-orjque petunt Tritonidis Arcem, 
 Sub pedibufque De^e clypeiquefub Orbe leguntur. 
 
 Id. ibid. ver. 225. 
 The Heiress had a different Word for Serpents of the Water^ 
 from that which they ufed for the Lc{nd Kind : The River Ser- 
 pent 
 
Fa ll of Man. 229 
 
 Kind to have been preferved in the Ark, and 
 accordingly to have come to Noah {k) as in- 
 nocuous to Men, and to have been as well re- 
 ceived and difmiffed by him as any other 
 living Creature of the World 5 fo that I do 
 not fee the leafl Ground to imagine that Adam 
 apprehended in what God now faid, any 
 Thing to be intimated, that there fhould fub- 
 fift between Men and Serpents a perpetual 
 Enmity, to be always biting and deftroying 
 one another. 
 
 If we look into the Ages after the Flood, 
 we find that Serpents were before Mofes'^ 
 Days become noxious Animals (/), and Men 
 when Mofes lived were in the general afraid of 
 them {m) : There might, ere this Time be 
 
 pent they called [PHH Tennin]. Thus when Mofes's Rod was 
 turned into a Serpent before Pharaoh, it was turned [P^lH^ Le- 
 tennin\ into a Water Snake, as Pharaoh probably was now where 
 he ufually went in the Morning, to the River. But the Serpent 
 that had tempted Enje was not a \Tenni7i\ but a \_l<iachafri\ a 
 Land-Serpent. It may perhaps be obferved, that the Serpent 
 called Tennin is alfo called Nachajh, fee Exod. vli. 9, 10, 12. To 
 which it may be replied, that Nachajh was the firlt general Word 
 ufed for a Serpent, before the different Kinds of them were 
 diftinguiihed, and therefore the Water Kinds may be fometimes 
 called by this general Name ; but it will not follow, that where 
 Nachajh is ufed above, we fhould think a Water-Snake intended : 
 As in Englijh, though we may fay a Water-Snake is a Snake, yet 
 if we fhould name a Snake or Serpent only, we fhould not be 
 thought to mean a Water-Snake. (i) Gen. vi. 20. vii. g. 
 
 (/) Gen. xlix. 17. {m) Exod. iv. 3. 
 
 QjJ poifonous 
 
2 3Q ^^ Creation and 
 
 polfonous Juices in many of the Herbs and 
 Plants that grew on the Earth: The fame 
 Alteration (o) of the World, which began 
 from the Flood, and conduced to the fliort- 
 ning the Lives of Men, might caufe fuch an 
 Alteration in many Herbs, that Men might 
 not perhaps now find every green Herb and 
 Tree as wholefome, as they had found all in 
 the firft World : And the Nourifhment of 
 fome in the Concodtion of fome Animals, 
 might breed in them, what to Man and other 
 Creatures might be malignant Poifon. At the 
 going out from the Ark, the living Creatures 
 of the World appear to have been none of them 
 hurtful or deftrudive to Man : But Time 
 produced in many a Ferocity, and in others 
 other Qualities which made them terrible, and 
 Serpents were in general fuch Objedls of Ter- 
 ror in Mofes'$> Days, that when the Miracle 
 which God gave him to affure him, that he 
 fent him to Egypt took EfFe6i:, Mofes^ we 
 read, when he faw his Rod turned into a Ser- 
 pent, fled from before it (/>). But notwith- 
 ftanding any Thing that may be faid of Men's 
 natural Fears, from their Apprehenfions of 
 the Venom of Serpents, a Thought of God's 
 
 io) See Connea. Vol. I. B. I. (/) Exod. iv. 3. 
 
 having 
 
Fa LL (j/* M A N. 231 
 
 having ever given any Order in particular for 
 Man to deftroy Serpents, looks to be a mere 
 modern Imagination. We can find no Traces 
 of fuch a Sentiment in all Antiquity : Rather 
 the Sages of the early Times, who fearched 
 into Antiquity, and added to it what they 
 thought the Religion of Nature (q), to be 
 above the common Notions of the Vulgar, 
 held Serpents in high Honour, had intro- 
 duced them into their Temples (r), delineated 
 
 their 
 
 {q) See Connea. Vol. III. B. XI. The Sentiments that led 
 them to their Notions of the Divinity of the Serpent, are faid 
 to be, '7s-i'd>[ActTix,coree.7Qv to (^coov 'U(l'f]<i}v ^ k^-rmcHv y^ ^zs-y- 
 
 T» ^ : <^ iJ.ct7 \Q- 'uaexTi^a-/, X.ael'; '^oJ^covtz y^ /C^P^^ " ctAAu 
 r/t'o? r/j" ,^<y9si', (^ cou 7a Kqiita ^^^l ta^ ani^ore^^ 'Trotei'^. )^ 
 
 «r«f i^y^ei 7di op^y.ai \(p' % C«'a»'5 7dx©~' ^ 'TroKvX^i^icoTa.TOV 
 /i £5-/r, « fjLovov 7u> luS'voA'^^ov 70 yl^pd.^ ViA^eiv, ctXhct xj 
 av^nfTiv zrmS'i.'x^ct^ /i/eifoj'* Tij^u%£* ^ i'TTeiS'a.v To^eicryA- 
 VGV y.rt7fijv TAjjpoJcTii, ei? icujrou dvaKicnti'^' di hf r U^fi^ 
 
 GfJLQlUi oivTOi rdctfJTQ- KetTiTOL^i y^.ipoi^. S'tO K^ ivh^'if 
 
 ffHiTo 70 ^coov )Q ov fJ-V7y\e'i.ct^ (rvuTa^ei^w'Tr'^' Eufeb. Praep. 
 Evang. Lib. i. c. 10. We cannot fufRciently defpife the beggarly 
 Elements of this Philofophy ; but yet it ought to be obferved, that 
 it was reputed an Height of Wifdom in its Day •. a plain De- 
 monftration, what may be the Trifles of mere human Reafon- 
 ing, that has not been inlightned by any better Information. But 
 my Intention in the Citation above was to fhew, that no No- 
 tions had traditionally prevailed to intimate the Serpent to have 
 been originally a curfed Creature, appointed every where for 
 Men to deftroy them, for that the moft ancient fpeculative and 
 more curious Inquirers had no Bias againft T^heories which might 
 reprefent them to be Reprefentatives of the moft high God, 
 i^r) '^cL;]^^ \(pvfftohoywctv S<mip 'sr^Ket^* i^ to, xcV ^p^- 
 
 Qw4 * Ta 
 
232 ^Tloe Creation and 
 
 their Figures in their ancient Tables and For- 
 mularies of Worfhip (j), and gave many, 
 fuch as they thought Reafons, for thinking 
 them endowed with a Kind of divine Na- 
 ture (/) : And what is remarkable, they had 
 no Notion of the Serpents being the Repre- 
 fentative of an Evil Being in Oppofition to 
 the good God ; for the Egyptians^ we are told, 
 reputed the Serpent to be an Emblem of their 
 God Cneph (?v), by which Word they meant 
 the Ayifxi^pyos (w), we might render it the 
 Workma/ler [x), or Maker of all Things. The 
 Pkcenidans tranflated it dyct^ov AauijjLovoi, the 
 good Deify (y)^ and from their moft ancient 
 Symbols they may be thought to have intended 
 to reprefent in their ^YijjiaLTct, or myftic Fi- 
 gures of the Serpent, what fome of them 
 called the awuey^iKov (^)3 I might ren- 
 
 ^fj^f 'iis\y uiyi^ii<; vo(xtCoi^ii Kj etp-^^y^^ '^^v oKuv Id. ibid. 
 {s) Id. ibid. See the Table of Ifis, Montfauc. ^ntiq. Vol. i. 
 Part 2. B. 2. c. I. (/) Videqusfup. («) 'A/>/uV7/o/ \ivii(p 
 i TQvoixcti^affi. Eufeb. ubi fup. (^w) top J^numpyov, oi' Kt'i,'!)ol 
 "* \iyv'7noi '7s-^(Tctyopd)i:(7-ii'' Id. Lib. 3. c. 11. {x) See PFi/d. 
 xlii. I. fy) 4>nviKii etuTo dycL^v J^^JfjovA x-ctK^an" 
 
 Eufeb. Prsp. Evang. 1. i.e. 10. {%) 'Eti /uSp ol *Aiyv7rjioi 
 
 tb To '3^(A'" ^i^:^ co<; TO T«t^' yi'Mv ©nrit* r ^tV kvkKov Kcj- 
 fjLov (xW'vov]iq r 3 (xi(7Qv opiv (jiwi-iQtKQV i^TOV dyc-^iv ^aJiJiO' 
 va, (Tiii^cuioi^ii. Id. ibid. 
 
 der 
 
Fa L L of Man. 233 
 
 dcr it, the Power by which all Things do 
 conjijl. 
 
 I do not pretend to trace the exadl Time of 
 the Rife of thefe Heathen Superftitions j they 
 were brought out of one Country into ano- 
 ther : They were thought to have been intro- 
 duced into Greece by Pherecydes (^), who was 
 contemporary with Thales (<:), and did not 
 fiourifh there earher than about looo Years 
 after Mofes (d) ; but Pherecydes had them 
 from the Phcenicians (^), and the Phcenicians 
 from the Books of the Egyptia?t 'Taaufus (f) : 
 And, I think, I may reprefent thefe Notions 
 of the Serpent to have been in Vogue in Egypt 
 m and before Mofes' s Times 3 for it is much 
 to be obferved, that tho' Mofes, when he firft 
 faw his Rod turned into a Serpent, was ter- 
 rified and fled from it, until God bad him 
 put forth his Hand and take it [g) ; yet, when 
 
 [h) f^^ (^otvi'Acov Q ;^ (pipi)ivJ^»g \aCcov to.'; et(^opy,A^ l^ioKo' 
 yv]7i 'sfe^' tS tap* avtz^ Kiyofj9p>i 0(ptC'n'iUi 05k iy tgov '0(5/a- 
 ViS'iov. Eufeb. Prsp. Evang. 1. i. c. ic. [c) Pherecydes was 
 
 thought to flourifli to about the 59th Olympiad, Thales to have 
 died in about the 58th. [d] Mo/es died A. M. 2554. The 59th , 
 Olympiad was about A.M.OiSSS' (^) Eufeb. ubi fup. 
 
 (fj TdojjTQ- 01 'Aiyv-Trjioi -^co-d- 'TT^ffAyofJjua'i ■■ tUjj 
 
 jiSp tv rk A^'/-o;/T©- (r)v<nv Tyt Tc^y''0(piei>v etvrhi 'Jtz^eiATiv 
 TfltcofT®-, iy [J-iT dvTcv avBii ^oiviKi^ ■■ Eufeb. abi fup. 
 
 We are to obferve of ^pdKovl©-, that a Serpent was called 
 Draco when confecrated, put into a T«mple. Vide quae fup. 
 {g) Exod. iv. 3, 4. 
 
 the 
 
2J4. The CvLi. AT I o-R and 
 
 the fame Rod was in like manner turned into 
 a Serpent before Pbaraoh^ and when all the 
 Rods of his Magicians were turned into Ser- 
 pents likewifc, neither Pharaoh nor his Ma- 
 gicians appear to have been under any Con- 
 flernation (gg) : They knew the Arcana of 
 their Temples, that Serpents were at this 
 Time amongft the Sacra in their Worfhip, 
 and reputed the Reprefentatives not of a ma- 
 lign, but of their good God : They might 
 therefore think, that their Gods were come 
 down arnongfi them {hh), to fupport them 
 againft the Demand made by Mofes, and that 
 the wonderful Phcemmcna before them por^ 
 tended them great Afliftance and Good, but 
 no Evil to give them any Terror. It ought 
 only to be obferved, that when they faw 
 Mofes's Rod fwallow up all the Rods of their 
 Magicians {h), they ought hence to have been 
 inflrufted in the Way of their own Specula- 
 tions, that a Power appeared for Mofes which 
 literally executed Judgment againft the Gods of 
 Egypt (/), annihilating and deftroying the moft 
 wonderful Appearances they could imagine of 
 
 {gg) See Exod. vii. lo, 13. [hk) Thus the Men of Lyjira^ 
 upon feeing a Miracle, thought of Barnabas and Pauly accord- 
 ing to their Superftition, Jds xiv. 11. [h] Exod. vii. 13. 
 {i) Exod. xii. 12. 
 
 their 
 
F Ahh of M A 1^. 235 
 
 their Gods, to gainfay what by Mofes was re- 
 quired of them. 
 
 As what I have obferved does, I think, hint 
 to us, that there were in the World no No- 
 tions of Serpents antecedent to Mofes's writing 
 his Hiftory, which can in any wife fpeak 
 Mankind to have had any remarkable Enmity 
 againft, or to have thought themfelves under 
 any Command to deftroy them -, fo I might 
 obferve farther from what follows in the Books 
 of Mofes, that Serpents were not,, from any 
 Thing faid by him, devoted to either fuch 
 Odium or Deflrudion ; for I (hould think if 
 they had been fo devoted, it is not hkely God 
 would have appointed a Serpent to have been 
 fet up in the Wildernefs for the [k) People to 
 look up to, in order to be cured of the 
 Plague he then inflided upon them : Any 
 other Sign, if God had appointed it, would 
 have been as falutary : And it does not feem 
 agreeable to any End of a divine Difpenfation, 
 to have a Prophet make the Figure of a Crea^^ 
 ture an Emblem of Health and Life, if he ha4 
 defigned the fame Prophet to profcribe the 
 whole Species of that Creature to be abomi- 
 nated and deftroyed. But the Fad was, the 
 
 (k) Numb.xxi. 
 
 Serpent 
 
236 7^e Cke AT ION and 
 
 Serpent fpake to Eve^ as the Afs did to 5^ 
 /a^my both, as to themfelves, ignorantly and 
 without Intention i and neither was the one 
 ordered to be honoured for what he faid, nor 
 the other to be difgraced and deftroyed : It 
 was fit j^dam and Eve fhould be apprifed how 
 mean an Animal they had admitted to be the 
 Inftrument of deceiving them ; And God was 
 pleafed very emphatically to tell them this in 
 what he faid to them of the Serpent, as I 
 have abof e explained it : It was in no wife 
 reafonable they fhould henceforth be employed 
 to become Killers of Serpents, and agreeably 
 hereto the Words further fpoken do in no 
 wife order, nor were or could be underflood 
 by them to order them this Service, as will 
 more evidently appear by confidering 
 
 III. The true literal Meaning of the Words, 
 jinJ I will put Enmity between thee and the 
 Woman^ and between thy Seed and her Seed : 
 I T fiall briiife thy Head, and thouJl:alt bruife 
 H I s Heel. Upon which Words I would re- 
 mark, I. That nothing is faid, which in any 
 wife employed Adam : It was not faid, I will 
 put Enmity between the Man and the Woman 
 and Thee, and between thy Seed and their Seed: 
 They fiall bruife thy Head, and thou jhalt 
 bruife their Heels : But the Enmity was put 
 
 between 
 
Fa ll ^ M a n, 237 
 
 between the Woman only and the Perfon here 
 fpoken of, and between his Seed, and her 
 Seed : Adam was not the Woman, nor of the 
 Seed of the Woman ; for the Woman was 
 made out of him : He was made jirfl^ and 
 then the Woman : So that whatever this En- 
 mity was, we fee that Adam was remarkably 
 not made a Party to engage in it : An Inci- 
 dent, that could not but occafion him to refiedl, 
 that the Matter here intended could not be 
 the hating and killing the Animal called a 
 Serpent ; for if that had been defigned, a 
 Slaughter of the then Serpent would have been 
 feen to be what might more likely have been 
 inftantly accompliflied by Adam^ than by Eve 
 and her future Pofterity. 
 
 But I would obferve, that in this Particular, 
 there appears plainly what muft, with all rea- 
 fonable Thinkers, for ever filence all Pre- 
 tence of reconciling an allegorical Interpreta- 
 tion to the real Meaning of this Scripture: 
 The allegorical Interpreters fay, that the Ser- 
 pent is the Symbol of Luft and fenfual Plea- 
 fiire (/) : that Adam and E^v's being tempted 
 by the Serpent means, that they were drawn 
 
 (/) See Middleton% EJfaj on the alkgoncal and literal InUr^re- 
 tat ion, p. 132. 
 
 awaj 
 
238 The Ck-^ AT lO"^ and 
 
 ^way and inticed of their own Lujls and Appe- 
 tites ; That the Fad: in Truth was, that they 
 were originally formed to a State of Happi- 
 nefs and Perfedion, which they loft and for- 
 feited by following their Lufts and Paffions in 
 oppofition to the Will of their Creator (;;;) * 
 If now this be the true Way of interpreting 
 Mofes, it muft follow, that the Enmity ap- 
 pointed againft the Serpent means an Oppofi- 
 tion to the Infinuations of finful Appetites, a 
 Jtrivifig againfl Sin : And the Event declared 
 of this Conteft muft be, that our finful Ap- 
 petites and Lufts will often hurt us ; but that, 
 if we will prefs forwards, tho' in many Steps 
 we take, we may fomctimes meet Defeat, yet 
 in the End we fliall capitally wound and fub- 
 due them. I promife myfelf no candid ^7- 
 legoriji will accufe me of having herein falfi- 
 fied or injured his Syfiejn : Herein then is 
 fummed up all that is fo highly boafted of as 
 ratio72al : But how obvious is it to fee of all 
 this, that it does not touch the Matter related 
 by Mofes? The Enmity declared by Mofes to 
 be put, was, I oblerved, fuch, that Adam was 
 aftigned no Part of it : Eve only, and her 
 Seed, were the Parties in this Warfare : And 
 
 (w) See M</.//£'/o;/, Id. ibid. 131. 
 
 (hall 
 
Fa LL ^ M A N» 239 
 
 fhall we now fay, that Nothing more was in- 
 tended, than the Duty of ftriving againft and 
 conquering finful Appetites ? Was Jlda7?i then, 
 after the Fall, to have no fuch Appetites as 
 well as E'u^, and all that vvere to be born of 
 her ? Or was he to have no Struggle again ft 
 fuch like Paffions with other Men ? Was he to 
 be given up to a reprobate Mind, to do what- 
 ever he {hould luft ? This I take to be a plain 
 Fad, which all the Art and Siibtilty of our 
 pretended Reafoners will never be able to 
 reconcile and clear up. To this therefore 
 I would earneftly call the Reader's ftridleft 
 Attention ; I would beg to have this one 
 Point taken into the fevered Examination; 
 for I cannot but think, if it be found to be as 
 I have reprefented, the Allegory mufl here 
 meet its Bane : It will be fo clearly evident, 
 that there is fomething in the Text before os^ 
 which the allegorical Interpretation cannot 
 reach, that no one that is truly ingenuous will 
 any more contend for it. 
 
 But 2. We ought to obferve, that in the 
 Words here related by Mofes to have been 
 heard from God, it was not faid, that Man- 
 kind and Serpents fliould have a general 
 Enmity againft each other ; But the Hebrew 
 Words, if truly interpreted, denote, that 
 
 fome 
 
240 The Creation and 
 
 fome one Per/on (hould be defcended from the 
 Woman, who fhould capitally conquer and 
 fubdue the great Enemy of Mankind. If I 
 were forced to allow, that we have now fo 
 far loft the perfect Underftanding of the Idiom 
 of the Hebrew Tongue, as not to fee that the 
 Words here ufed by Mofes muft carry this re- 
 ftricftive Senfe, yet from the Septuagint Ver- 
 fion of the Place it appears, that v^hen that 
 Tranflation was made, the Hebrew Words 
 were known to have that Meaning [o). The 
 Septuagint Veriion of the Paffage is thus : 
 Y>ju t')(p^v ^r\(T(fi avx y.eaov an j^ avcc jULsaov -f 
 , ywtJcwcoiy J^ ctvx fjisarov tb ccjepuLccros dn Kj ccvoL 
 
 lx.i(Tov tS curepfJLctT^ ccvinS' A T T O 2 o-s Tj?g)f- 
 cr« :te(poi?i!iu 5^ cu tyipmeii ccvtS TLtb^vocv' /. e, 
 And I will put E'mnity between thee and be- 
 tween the Woman^ and between thy Seed, and 
 between the Seed of her : h e jJ:all bruife thy 
 Head^ and thou fialt bruife his Heel : The 
 Point to be obferved in this Tranflation is j 
 that it does not fay i t fhall bruife thy Head, 
 the Pronoun does not refer to the Word Seed; 
 but it is H E fiall bruife, the Pronoun being 
 Perfonal^ and Mafculine, not agreeing with 
 
 [o) The Septuagint Tranflation of the Books of Mofes was 
 made about 277 Years before Chriji^ about A. M. 3727. See 
 Archbiihop VJher''^ Aunals. Pridemix\ Conneft. Part. W.^, I. 
 
 the 
 
Fall of Man. 5141 
 
 the Word csne^fjicc, Seed, which is neuter -^ but 
 denoting fome one Perfon to be the Seed, and 
 that He fhould bruife the Head of the Enenpiy 
 -here fpoken of. Had the Greek Interpreters 
 thought the Text to mean that the Woman's 
 Seed or Offspring in the general were here in- 
 tended, they would have faid ayjo, to agree 
 with cs7g^/w,a, as we fay it in our Englijh-y 
 but they more correcflly rendred the Place au- 
 T05, HE, apprehending fome one particular Per- 
 fon to be here intended, and not the Offspring 
 of the Woman in the general. 
 
 But may it not be faid that the auTo$ here 
 ufed is a Miftake, that the Septiiagint did 
 perhaps not take the true Meaning of the He- 
 brew Expreflion ; that they fhould have wrote 
 not aLiTos but auTo, IT, not HE ? I anfwer. 
 We, who believe the Scriptures, have the Au- 
 thority of St. Paul to affure us, that the Sep- 
 tuagi?it Verfion is moft judicioufly right in 
 this Particular ; that Apoftle having remarked 
 to us of zfmilar 2^\A fubfequent Expreffion to 
 that which is here ufed; that God therein 
 fpake not of Seeds, as of 77ian\\ but of Seedy 
 as of one, and hereby intended Chrifl (p) : 
 Thus abfolutely certain therefore are we, that 
 
 (p) See Gal, iii. i6. 
 
 R the 
 
242 The Creation and 
 
 the Septuagint Tranflators have, in the Pecu- 
 liarity of the Pronoun auxos, given us the true 
 Meaning of the Textj for w^e have an infpired 
 Apofile teftifying to us, that they have therein 
 given us what was really the Mind of God. 
 But I would confider in the next Place the2?6'- 
 brew Text, whether that does not fpeak the 
 very fame Thing. 
 
 The Hebrew Words here ufed are \Tiua 
 jejhup ka Rofid (q) ] which fignify, not it, but 
 He himfelf fiall bruife thee in the • Head (r) : 
 The Hebrew Text may not at fir ft Sight ap- 
 pear fo remarkably to point out what the 
 Greek Verfion clearly intimates 5 for in the 
 Hebrew^ the Word [Zeran] Seed is mafculine^ 
 not neuter as the Word csrgg^a in the Greek \ 
 and therefore the Pronoun Hua in the He- 
 breiv does not, like olutqs in the Greeks di- 
 redingly vary in Gender from the Noun it 
 fhould be referred to : But we fliould here 
 confider that the Hebrew Pronoun Hua is fpe^ 
 cifically reftri<ftive, to intimate what is faid to 
 belong to fome one Perfon, or one Thing; and 
 thus the Septuagint took the Place to fpeak not 
 cf Seeds y as of many^ but of one. 
 
 {q) The Helre'w Words ai-e tm'^ p^tH'' i^U' 
 
 caput conteret te Ipfc 
 (r) Gen. Ui. 15. 
 
F ALL of Man. 243 
 
 I do not fay that the Pronoiin [Hiia] in Ht'- 
 l^rew may never be ufed, where in Greek, or 
 in other Languages, we would ufe a 7Kutral 
 Pronoun, it in Englip, Illud in Latin, or 
 ayro in Greek ; but I think, where \llua\ is 
 ufed, it naturally fpeaks the Thing intended 
 in the lingular Number, and not referring to a 
 Noun of Multitude 2.%plural : Thus Leviticus 
 X. 3. Hua ajloer dibber J ehGvah{s), we fay, Tfoj 
 is that the Lord Jpake^ which I think is de- 
 ficient of the true Emphaf.s exprefled in the 
 Hebrew : The Words were defigned to fliew 
 the Error of Nadab and Abihu% offering 
 jlrange Fire^ which the Lord comfnanded timn 
 not, i. e. had not commanded them, and they 
 fliould be tranflated, this is the One Thing, or 
 the Thi?7g it/elf which the Lord /pake : The 
 Words were intended to lay down one 
 fpecial or fpecific Rule, that was the Prin- 
 ciple in all the Laws given ; They ftridly 
 required one Thing only, namely, nothing to 
 be done, but what God diredled, to fan«flify 
 HIM, znA him o?ily, in them that come nigh 
 him {t) : We may, I think, put in it/e/f] 
 him or her felf in the Jifigidar Number where 
 [Hu^i] is ufed; And thus in the Text before 
 
 {s) n\n> ITi ni^ N*n (r) Lerit. X. 3. ss .-ibove. 
 
 R 2 us. 
 
244- ^^ Creation and 
 
 us, \Hua Jefuphka Rojlo] cannot mean it, her 
 Seed fhall bruife thee in the Head, taking the 
 Word Seed as a Noun of Multitude to intend 
 many, for in fuch Cafe the Hebrew Language 
 would have been, They Jhall bruife thee in the 
 Head ', But [Hua jefuphkd]^ if we rightly 
 tranflate the Hebrew^ muft be he himfelf in- 
 tending one Perfon and no more : And thus 
 the Tranflators of the Septuagint rendred the 
 Place, without Infpiration, and before any 
 Prophet or Apoftle had direfted any fuch In- 
 terpretation, by being only true Mafters of 
 the Hebrew Tongue, fo as not to lofe or 
 vary from the precife Meaning of a very fig- 
 nificant Expreffion in it. But I muft ftill re- 
 mark, that if I fliould be judged wrong in all 
 I have here faid of the Hebrew Expreffion, 
 the Authority of St. Paul will ftill remain, to 
 give us the true Meaning of the Place ; For, 
 in that the Apofile^ an infpired Writer, in- 
 forms us, that in the Word Seed was intended 
 not many^ but one^ and that one, Chrijl ; God 
 has not left himfelf without a Witnefs to us, 
 what was the Intention of the Words before 
 us fpokcn to our firft Parents. And, 
 
 If what St. Paul explains to be the Mean- 
 ing of the Word fpoken to our firft Parents, 
 was the real Intention of God's Purpofe in 
 
 them. 
 
Fall of Man. 245 
 
 them, we cannot but admit, that God, when 
 he caufed Adain and Eve to hear the Words 
 from him, caufed them fo far to know the 
 Intention of the Words fpokcn to them, as 
 not to imagine from them, that he defigned 
 an idle and infignificant War between Rve^ 
 and her Children, and Serpents, but he pro- 
 mifed them [Hua] him^ one Perfon of her 
 Seed, altho' he did not tell them who that 
 one Perfon was, who was to be the Captain 
 of our Salvation {u)y the Conqueror here 
 foretold to fubdue him, who had deceived 
 them. 
 
 And this was all they could poffibly, as yet, 
 know of this Matter, no more than this be- 
 ing, as I have faid, told them : Who the par- 
 ticular Perfon promifed was ; what the War- 
 fare he fhould accomplifh ; who the very 
 Enemy was, to be conquered by him, when, 
 and where, and in what Manner he fhould 
 appear j none of thefe Things can be faid to 
 have been difcovered to them : And therefore 
 as Jofeph and Mary^ when our Saviour, upon 
 coming home with them from the Temple, 
 faid to them, Wifl ye not^ that I mujl be about 
 my Father's Bufmefs ? underjlood not the Saying 
 
 {u) Heb. ii. lo. 
 
 R x which 
 
2^6 T^e Creation and 
 
 "which he [pake unto them ; but his Mother kept 
 all thefe Sayings in her Heart (w) ; fo our firft 
 Parents did not underftand the whole Mean- 
 ing of what God here intended 5 but they 
 carefally treafured up the Words in their 
 Hearts ; formed Hopes from them, the Ex- 
 tent of which they could not as yet deter- 
 mine ; preferved the Words, to have their 
 Children know them ; to the Intent that they 
 alfo might fhew their Children the fame, 
 that the Generations to come might fee the 
 whole of what God had fpoken, to obferve 
 what might farther arife in the fulfilling it. 
 
 We who live in thefe laft Days of the 
 V/orld, unto whom, in the Gofpel, the King- 
 dom of God is come, may greatly fee, what 
 that Purpofe of God is, which was hid from 
 jiges from the Foundation of the World ; but 
 is now made more manifejt (uu) : We may 
 fee fefus Chrijl^ a Man ordained ofGod{ww)y 
 of the Seed of the Woman^ moft literally 
 fpeaking, as born of a Virgin [x) 5 defcended 
 from David (y), who was of the Seed of 
 
 [tv) Luke ii. 49, 50. (uu) See CololT i. 26. {^nv) Ads 
 xvii. 31. [x) Iffl. vii. 14. Matt. i. 18, 24, 25. Lukei. 34, 35. 
 (y) St. Luke, as he tells us Chap. ii. ver. 4. that Jofeph nvas of 
 the UQufe and Lineage of Da'vidy fo alfo Chap. i. 27. informs us, 
 that the Virgin Mary alfo was a Defcendant from Da'vid. 
 
 Abraham^ 
 
Fall of Man. 247 
 
 Abraham (2:), a Defcendant of our firft Pa- 
 rents ; and may know of this one Perfon, that 
 he is to conquer that old Serpent^ called the 
 Devil and Satan^ which deceiveth the whole 
 World (a)y of whom we may confider the 
 Words to have come that were fpoken by the 
 Serpent to Eve 3 tho' our firft Parents faw him 
 not, neither underftood that they came from 
 him. We may further underftand, that by 
 the Power of Chrijl this the great Enemy of 
 Mankind will be caft down (b), whereby will 
 finally be accompliihed in a moft literal and 
 true Senfe, all that the Text before us firft 
 intimated, and all that has been fince faid pur- 
 fuant thereto, either by immediate Revelation 
 from God himfelf, or by the Mouth of all his 
 Prophets fince the World began. 
 
 This, I think, is a true Confideration of the 
 Words I have endeavoured to explain : And in 
 the Whole of what I have gone thro', as in 
 what is to follow, I fhall I hope be allowed to 
 ftand clear of what the Objedors impute to all 
 that write upon this Subjed: 5 I do not fome- 
 times adhere to a Hteral Narration, and fome- 
 times have Recourfe to Allegory, forced to al- 
 low fome Part of what was faid or done not 
 
 {z) See Matt. i. [a) Rev. xii. 9. xx, 10. (^) Ibid. 
 
 R 4 tc^ 
 
248 5^^ Creation and 
 
 to have been as is hlftorically told us ; but I 
 endeavour to (hew, that there is no Allegory in 
 the Whole, or in any Part of Mofess Rela- 
 tion : And that a material Part of what he re- 
 lates; that important Part, in which the Al- 
 legorijl muft abfolutely lofe his Point, if he 
 cannot make it out to be Allegory^ cannot 
 poffibly agree to an allegorical Interpretation at 
 all : I contend, that a real, a natural Serpent 
 as truly fpake to 'Eve^ as a real Afs fpake to 
 Balaam {h) : But I apprehend, from what we 
 may be apprized of from other Scriptures, 
 and from confidering the Nature of the Thing, 
 we may know, that neither the Afs nor the 
 Serpent fpake of {c) themfelves ; neither knew 
 they what the Words were that were fpoken 
 by them, altho' our firft Parents could not 
 
 [h) Numb. xxii. That the Afs fpeaking to Balaam was a 
 real Faft, and not a Trance, or Vifion of the Prophet's, fee 
 Cmnea. Vol. III. B. XII. p. 270. {c) Dr. Burnet trifles moft 
 egregioufly in this Particular : His Words are, A'lunt nempey fuh 
 hoc Scrpente latuijfe Diabolum, <vel malum Damonemy qui hujus am- 
 malis ore e.t organis ufus affatus eft Fceminam 'voce quaji hum-ana : 
 fed quo tefe, quo Authore hoc dicitur ? Ncn id pra fefert Litera Mo- 
 fis, cujus illi adeofunt tenaces. Burnet's Archasol. p. 29c. A plain 
 Anfwer to all this is, The Letter of Mofes fays, that the Ser- 
 pent really fpake to E've: This unqueftionably was Fadl: Mofes 
 does not fay, that he fpake of himiclf, or of any Ability of his 
 own, nor does he fay the contrary : We fee no Reafon to think 
 our firft Parents, at firft at leaft, apprehended him not to fpeak 
 of himftlf : But we have many Hmts from the New Teftament 
 who it was that fpake by or thro' \\un : Will thefe now conclude, 
 that no Voice came literally from the Serpent.? 
 
 know 
 
Fall^Man. 249 
 
 know this to be true of the Serpent at the 
 Time he fpakc to them. I take the Words 
 contained Gen, iii. 14 and 15, to have been li- 
 terally fpoken by the Voice of God 3 that the 
 former Part of them were in the way of jipo- 
 Jirophe to the Serpent, but for the Inftrudlion 
 of Adam and Eve ; for that the Serpent did 
 not know the Words, nor the Meaning of 
 them, nor was in any wife afFedled by them ; 
 but that Adam and Eve were herein remon- 
 ftrated to, and informed, how bafely they had 
 been deceived, and by hearkning to how ab- 
 jed: and contemptible an Animal, It will be 
 allowed me, that the invifible Agent, whofe 
 Words the Serpent had fpoken, was at this 
 Time prefent before God; for in Truth, all 
 Perfons and all Things may at all Times be 
 prefent before him, in what Manner he 
 pleafes ; and I take the latter Part of what was 
 fpoken, the i5thVerfe, to be a Converfion 
 of the Speaker to this wicked Spirit, de- 
 nouncing to him, what fhould literally be the 
 Doom unto which he was referved ; fpoken in 
 the Hearing of Ada?n and Eve^ tho' they did 
 not apprehend the full Meaning of it, yet fo 
 fpoken as that they muft have confidered it 
 could not concern the Animal they had heard 
 to fpeak, but had a further Intention, and was 
 
 a 
 
2 so The Creation and 
 
 a Declaration, which they ought to ponder \%\ 
 their Hearts, and tranfmit to their Children;; 
 And that from this the fir ft, and from feverall 
 other Prophecies which have followed, more: 
 enlarged and more diredling, as God has thought 
 fit to give them in the feveral Ages of the 
 World, there has been a fure Path laid, to lead 
 from Faith to Faith (c), from one revealed De- 
 claration to another, thofe unto whom fucht 
 Prophcfies have come -, fo as that we, and the 
 Pofterities that are to be, may, if we will care- 
 fully attend to the Information, have over and 
 befides all other Arguments for the Truth of it, 
 what may fliew us of the Gofpel, that it is 
 that One Purpofe of the Wifdom and Power of 
 Gody which he foretold, and therefore defigned 
 from the Beginning of the World. In all which 
 I truft I do not theologize with thofe ^ whofe 
 Schemes are incorfftent to Reafon and themfehes ; 
 but, faying none other Things than what Rea* 
 fon, fairly confidering, muft admit to be pof-* 
 fible, and Revelation warrants to be true y What 
 I offer may be more fit to be impartially con- 
 fidered, than all the Speculations of human 
 Wifdom, which cannot be truly reconciled 
 with the holy Scriptures. 
 
 [e) Rom. i. 17. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
F A L L of M A ^, 251 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 ^e Sentence faffed upon Adam and Eve, and 
 the Confequences of their TranfgreJ/ion con^ 
 fidered* 
 
 'T^ H E Sentence pafled upon F,ve was, that 
 it fliould henceforth be fpecially her 
 Duty, to be governed by and obey her Hus- 
 band {d) ; that fhe fliould bear Children (^), 
 be the Mother of all Living (f) 3 but have 
 herein a Multiplicity of Sorrow (g) : Adam 
 henceforth was to find his Tillage of the 
 Ground a neceflary but laborious Employ- 
 ment [h). In or by the Sweat of his Face^ be 
 was to eat his Bread. 
 
 It feems natural to think, that whilfl there 
 were yet but two Perfons in the World, a 
 fufficient Produce for two only might more 
 cafily be obtained from the Fruits of the 
 Trees, of the Shrubs, and from the Herbs of 
 the Ground. Might not our firft Parents, 
 notwithftanding it pleafed God to have the 
 Earth now not fo kindly fruitful, but apt to 
 abound in Thorns and Thiftles, unlefs duly 
 
 {d) Gen. iii. 16. {e) Ibid, i Tim. ii. 15. (f) Ver. 20« 
 (g) Gen. iii, 16, {h) Ver. 17—19. 
 
 cultivated 
 
252 'Th^ Creation cmd 
 
 cultivated for a better Produce (/), for feme: 
 Time at leaft, as to their Diet, find the eafy, 
 Days, which the Heathen Poets afcribed to: 
 their golden Age, 
 
 Contentique cihis nullo cogente creatisy 
 Arhuteos Pectus montanaque Fraga legehant^ 
 
 Ovid. Met." 
 
 excluded the Garden, wherever they wander- 
 ed into the adjacent Country, may we not 
 fuppofe the Earth to have afforded them 
 Fruits of diverfe Trees, Nuts and Berries, 
 Grain of all Sorts, Corn of feveral Kinds, and 
 all Salads } every Thing that grew and had 
 Seed within itfelf, being at firft created and 
 made to fpring out of the Earth [k) ? And 
 might they not hence gather daily what wc 
 may fuppofe no hard and uncomfortable Liv- 
 ing, without finding a great Preffure of Want 
 and Diftrefs ? • I anfwer : We read Mofes too 
 hartily, if we do not obferve i. However our 
 firft Parents were allowed within the Garden 
 to cat of every Tree except one (/), and the 
 Trees of the Earth, as well as the Herb upon 
 the Face of all the Earth, were given them 
 for Meat [m) ; yet upon their Expulfion out 
 
 (f) Gen.iii. 18. {k) i. 12. (/) \i. 16, 17. [m] i. 29. 
 
 of 
 
Fall of Man. 253 
 
 of the Garden, their Living would be thence- 
 forth chiefly of the Ground [71) \ Are we to 
 think, becaufe God planted or created within 
 that particular Spot of Ground, which he had 
 diftinguiflied from all others to be called The 
 Gardeuy Trees of whatever Perfedion he was 
 pleafed to give them, that therefore all Trees 
 were of their full Growth, and abounded in 
 their Fruits all over the World ? Rather, may 
 we not apprehend, that the Earth, in many 
 Parts, was made only to put forth its Shoots, 
 which grew gradually up to their Perfedion : 
 When Adam and Eve therefore were driven 
 out of the Garden, Fruits of Trees, Acorns, 
 and great Plenty of Berries, might be more 
 rare than we may haflily imagine 3 a Point I 
 think hinted, in that at firft the Fowls of the 
 Air, as well as every Beaft of the Earth, were 
 to live not fo remarkably of the Fruit of 
 Trees, as of the green Herb ; diftinguiflied 
 from the Trees, and faid to grow upon the 
 Face of all the Earth : It was of a lower 
 Growth, nearer to, and more clofely covering 
 the Ground [o). But 2. We cannot form an 
 exadt Theory of the Labours of our firft Pa- 
 rents Lives, becaufe we cannot afcertain how 
 
 (n) Gen.iii, ij. [o) i. 29, 
 
 long 
 
254 ^^ Creation and 
 
 long they lived in their firft Habitation, be- 
 fore they committed the Tranfgreflion thatl 
 caufed them to be driven from it : We may 
 oblerve, that one Part of their Employment! 
 in the Garden w^as \le7tabdab {p) ] to drefs 
 it {q) : It is the fame Word v^hich is ufed, 
 where we are told, that God fent Adam forth 
 from the Garden \la?iavod'] to till tl^e Ground^ 
 from 'whe7ice he was taken (r) : Adam was now 
 put out of the Garden into the adjacent Coun- 
 try, where God created him (s) : His Tillage^ 
 exprefled by the fame Word as his dreffing, 
 the Garden, feems to have been the fame Em- 
 ployment, only to be exercifed upon a diffe- 
 rent Soil : And if we may fuppofe him to have 
 been exercifed long enough in the Garden, to 
 know what the Employment v^as which God 
 had given him in it, we cannot think him 
 quite a Novice as to what was now to be his 
 Labour: Nothing, in Truth, confounds us in 
 forming our Conceptions concerning our firft 
 Parents, except the imagining the Fall to have 
 happened inftandy, before they had hved long: 
 enough to have fome Experience of Living : 
 Let us but fuppofe it not fo early 3 but that 
 
 [f] niDpV [q] Gen. ii. 15. [r) HGli^n "HN IDyVj 
 Gen. iii. 23. (j) Ibid. 
 
 thcyi 
 
Fall^Man. 255 
 
 they might have had fomc Months to obferve 
 of the Herbs of the Garden what they liked 
 beft to eat, and how they might cultivate 
 them, to give them a due Growth ; and wc 
 may imagine them fent forth into the World, 
 with this Care, to find Places here and there, 
 where there were fuch Produces as they had 
 eaten of 5 to cultivate and to preferve them, 
 to weed out the Thiilles which foon began to 
 grow amongft them, to defend and keep them 
 from the Cattle ; that enough of them micrbt 
 be had within fuch Diftances as they could 
 go to for the Suftenance of tlieir Lives ; and 
 this Labour, if duly confidered, will be al- 
 lowed to have been a Burden they had not felt 
 whilft they lived in the Garden ; and to be 
 fufficient, altho' at firft, before both Beads 
 and Catde, and Mankind were multiplied 
 on the Earth, it would be not abfolutely too 
 much for them. The firft Hufbandry was 
 no more than Gardening (/) ; and the Grounds 
 moft commodious for the early Tillage were 
 reputed to be fuch Spots as might be made 
 Gardens of Herbs (u), and the eafieft and hap- 
 
 (/) Antiquitas nihil prius nnrataejl quam-^ — -^Hortos Hint 
 
 frimum Agricolte ajlimabantur Prijci. '- - — Vide Pliaii Nat. HiiL 
 Lib. 19. c. 19. §. 1 — 3. (k) Deut, xi, lo. 
 
 fieft 
 
256 Hoe Creation and 
 
 pieft Situation for thefe was accounted fuck 
 as that a Man might water them with the 
 greateft Eafe {w) 3 and fuch Spots of Ground 
 abounded out of the Garden, all along the 
 Land of Eden^ on the Borders of its Rivers (x), 
 and upon fome of thefe, I conceive, Adam 
 beftowed his firft Pains, and by a diligent Car© 
 cultivated and preferved in them enough for 
 him and £*u^, of what they had often before 
 eat within the Garden : When Mankind came 
 to multiply, it would be necelTary for them to 
 look for further Provifion ; And before Adam. 
 was 130 Years old, Cairiy one of his Sons, 
 began Improvements of Tillage (y) : And tho- 
 Iron or Brafs was not yet found out, and con- 
 fequently no Inftruments for Tillage were 
 made of any Metals, it would require no ex-. 
 traordinary Imagination to conceive that this 
 early Age might, by fliarp Stones (z), cuti 
 
 (cLv) Ibid. Vide quae fup. [x) Felicitas major Bahylonice^ Se- 
 leucine ^ Euphrate at que Tigre rejiagnantibia, quoniam rigandi Mo\ 
 dus ibi manu tetnperatur. Plin. Nat. Hift. Lib. 1 8. c. xlvii. ad fini 
 (y) Adam was 1 30 Years old at the Birth of Seth, after the 
 Death o^ Ahel, Gen. iv. 25. v. 3. Abelw^^ killed by C^/«abou 
 the Time they each of them brought an Offering unto God 
 from the Improvement of their refpe6live Employments, no 
 
 Years, I fuppofe, before the Birth of Seth, Gen, iv. 2 4 
 
 (z) The great Ufe of fharp Stones made in the firft unimprovec 
 Ages of all Countries, might be colledled from all that hav« 
 wrote of the American Nations : And it might be obfervcd, thai 
 even the ufe of them, to cut as with a Knife, was not in fom 
 improved Countries laid afide even in Mo/ei\ Times, fee Exoc, 
 \v. 25. 
 
 Wood 
 
Fall of M A N. 257 
 
 Wood, and frame Tools of diverfe Sorts, fach 
 as would ferve well enough to perform their 
 lefs improved Agriculture : 
 
 — primi cuneis fcindebant fjjile Lignum. 
 
 VirgiL 
 
 Or we may fuppofe the firft Men foon able 
 to contrive how to pull off, or to cut from 
 young Trees fuch Twigs as might be fcraped, 
 and reduced to fit the Ufes they had Oc- 
 cafion to make of them, before they knew 
 how in a Workman-like Manner to take 
 dov/n a whole Tree, or wanted, or even had 
 large Trees for greater Occafions: Arts and 
 Improvements grew and had their Progrefs: 
 Abel began to be a Keeper of Sheep : And a 
 Defcendant of Cain'^ -, Jabal^ in the fixth 
 Defcent from him, fet up Booths or Tents In: 
 the Fields, and began to ordef Herds of the 
 greater Cattel : And Tubal Cain^ about the 
 fame time, found out and inftrudled others 
 to be Artificers in Brafs and Iron i^a). And 
 now we may apprehend the Tilkge of the 
 Earth received an Increafe of Improvements : 
 
 Mgx et Frumentis Labor additus 
 
 Virgil. 
 
 ia) Gen. iv. 20, 22. 
 
 ■S Tr 
 
2^8 TI)e Cke AT lO"^ and 
 
 The Gardcn-Tillage would not afford a fufS- 
 cient Produce for the increafed Multitudes of 
 Mankind, nor could large Tradls be managed 
 with the infufficient Implements of the moft 
 early Huibandry; but, as they wanted [i) 
 them, human Art and Induftry contrived bet- 
 ter : And Agriculture grew and increafed gra- 
 dually, as the Necefiities of Mankind called 
 for farther and larger Improvements of it : Of 
 all which, one Obfervation only is material, 
 that the Sentence of God upon Man was in 
 all thefe Ages enough felt, to keep them fen- 
 fible of that Part of the Punifhment de- 
 nounced which concerned the Labour of their 
 Lives [c). Our firft Parents had not fuch en- 
 larged Wants as their more numerous Pofte- 
 rity, but having lefs Knowledge how to fupply 
 their leffcr Demands 5 fufiicient for their Day 
 was the Labour thereof; tho', as the gracious 
 Purpofe of God was not inftantly to deftroy 
 Man, but to have him ripened thro' a mortal 
 Life for an happier State, no Wants were 
 made to take hold of him, but what he 
 might by Induftry and Labour get the better 
 
 {^h) — ar. Turn njari^ <venere Artes. Virg. Georg. i. 
 
 [c] Pater ipfe colendi 
 
 Hand facilem ejfe Viam <volmt ■ 
 
 cur is acnens mortulia cor da. Id. ibid. 
 
Fa LL (^Z' M A N. 2-59 
 
 of {d) : Yet we do not find that any Improve- 
 ments of Hufbandry made in the firfl World 
 were fo great, but that the moft experienced 
 in its later Times acknowledged themfelves 
 fenfible of the heavy and univerfal Burden of 
 their Lives, of the great Toil and Work of 
 their Hands before it was granted them to 
 make Ufe of animal Food, for a further Sup- 
 ply, than what they could reap from the 
 Ground {e). But, 
 
 The laft Part of the Sentence denounced 
 upon the Man was that he fliould die ; that as 
 he had been taken out of the Ground, fo he 
 fhould, after a laborious Life, return unto the 
 Ground again, and become no better than his 
 primitive Dufl (f). 
 
 This Sentence we may obferve is not fo par- 
 ticularly repeated againft Eve^ as againfl the 
 Man. But as all Experience teftifies that the 
 Woman is in no wife exempted from Death, 
 it cannot but be remarked, that enough was 
 faid in the Original Denunciation of Death (g)^ 
 as well as acknowledged by.E'i;^ herfelf (/^), 
 to fhew, that having tranfgreffed, and the Sen- 
 
 {d) — ^ _ 
 
 Improhusy et dur'is urgens in Rebus Egejiau Virg. Georg. i. 
 [e] Gen. V. 29. (f) iii. 19. (g) ii. 17. [h) iii. 3. 
 
 S 2 tence 
 
26o 7^^ Creation and 
 
 tence of Death agalnft fuch Tranfgreffion be- 
 ing in no wife reverfed, it could not be ima- 
 gined, that flie could think it fhould not pro- 
 ceed againft her. Bat there appears an evident 
 Realbn, why the Sentence of Death (hould 
 be thus repeated, and as it were reeftablifhed 
 againft Adam : He had thought, and offered 
 it as a Mitigation of his Fault, that he was 
 not firft in the Tranfgreffion ; for that the 
 Woman had mifled him to eat (/) : God 
 therefore denounced more particularly to him, 
 that he fhould not efcape the Puniihment 
 that had been declared againft what he had 
 done ; to tell him, that his Plea was no Ex- 
 cufe ; for that, (k) although he had been mif- 
 led by hearkning unto the Voice of his Wife; 
 yet, as he had done what had been com- 
 manded that he jfhould not do, he alfo fhould 
 furely die. 
 
 It has been thought by fome, that the 
 Death declared againft the Sin of our firft Pa- 
 rents, ought, according to the plain Intend- 
 ment of the Words in which it was denounced, 
 to have proceeded to an immediate Execu- 
 
 (;) Gen. iii. \r. {k) It may be obferved, that the Particle 
 Ci may be even here rendred not Becaiife^ but more elegantly 
 Although, as I have before obferved it mull be fometimea tranf- 
 lated. Vide qu?e fup. p. 213, 
 
 tion. 
 
Fall ^ M A N. 261 
 
 tion. In the Day that they eat of the Tree, 
 they \NQVQfiirely to die (/): Can it be faid with 
 any Propriety, that when Adam died nine (tn) 
 hundred and thirty Tears afterwards, that he 
 died in the Day that he eat of the Tree of the 
 Knowledge of Good and Evil ? Bat this is a 
 Cavil too trifling to want a Confutation: Every 
 one, that reads the Hebrew Bible, muft fee a 
 manifeft Difference between the general Ex- 
 preffion \bejom (/a) ] in the Day^ and \hejom 
 hazeh (<?) ] in that '■eery Day^ or [bfjom hahi^a] 
 in the fame Day (p) : Had either of the latter 
 Expreffions been ufed in the 17th Verfe of the 
 fecond Chapter of Genefs^ it might have iig- 
 nified that in the very Day of their eating, 
 they fhould without further Delay have been 
 put to Death: But the general ExprefTion in 
 the Dayy may very obvioufly claim to have a 
 larger Signification, and intend no more, than 
 that from the Time of their Tranfgrefiion 
 they fhould become mortal; have in them- 
 felves the Sentence of Death [q) fure to take Ef- 
 fedl and be executed in its Time, which he 
 who made them would appoint for it. 
 
 (/) Gen. ii. 17. [m] v, 5, (v) tlD"'^ Gen. ii. r^. 
 
 {0) r\\T\ nv:i. Gen. vii. 1 1. (/.) N^rr.n era Gen. xv. is. 
 
 See Gen. xvii. 23, 26. Exod. v. 6. xii. i. I.evit. xxiii, 29. lia. 
 vii. 20. et in aliis ubique. [q) 2 Cor. i. 9. 
 
 S 3 It 
 
262 The Cky^ai: lO"^ and 
 
 It was now determined, that they {hould 
 inevitably die ; but the Inftant, Hour, or Day 
 when, was ftill left in God's Power, and we 
 may eafily apprehend great and wife Reafons 
 why God was not pleafed to bring our firft 
 Parents, and their immediate Defcendants, to 
 a more early DilTolution : God in no wife 
 made Man for nought (r) : And altho' he 
 made 720t Death for us (^), but Man fought it 
 out in the Error of his Life (^), yet herein 
 God's abundant Goodnefs has provided for us : 
 It could not be, confident with the Liberty of 
 Reafon, and the Freedom of our Natures, 
 that he fliould abfolutely force upon us either 
 Wifdom or Virtue -, fuch Creatures as he in- 
 tended us, it was more fuitable for us to be 
 admitted to grow up if we would, as our Fa- 
 culties were capable of Improvements in both, 
 under the univerfal Influefice of his Spirit, in 
 and by which, agreeably to their refpedive 
 ^ Natures, all Things are and do conjiji {li) : 
 And confequently Time would be neceflary 
 for our increafing in all Knowledge as well as 
 Virtue. What I fhall here offer, iliall chiefly 
 concern the former. 
 
 {r) Pfal. Ixxxix. 47. (s) Wifd. i. 13. - {f) Ver. 12. 
 
 [u] See and confider John i. 9. Job xxxii. 8. 2 Cor. iii. 5. 
 Ccloff. i. 17. 
 
 We 
 
Fa ll of M a t^. 263 
 
 We now have indeed Lives as but a Sha- 
 dow, fliort as a Dream in comparifon to the 
 Duration of the iirft Men : But we ftand in 
 the Height of the Experience of Ages ; all the 
 Knowledge we want for Life is not fo far 
 from us as it was from them, who lived in 
 the Beginning: Had our iirft Parents, and 
 their immediate Defcendants, came to Decline 
 as precipitately as we do, their Knowledge of 
 Life would have been cut down too faft, for 
 any Shoots to be made that might yield a Pro- 
 duce of Arts and Sciences neceffary for the 
 Improvement of the World : So that if we 
 will duly think of Mankind, what we camiC 
 from, and how we are come up to what we 
 now are, we may fee as well of our prefent 
 Life, that it is long enough, ordinarily fpeak- 
 ing, for what is to be our Work in the 
 World (w), as thA the early Ages could not 
 but require a more extended Period, for hu- 
 man Attainments to be gradually opened and 
 difplayed -, that what Man was made capable 
 of, if he might have Time to come up to it, 
 he might not abfolutely be cut off from, by 
 not being allowed a fufficient Term to attain 
 it. The Complaint, that Life is not long 
 
 {ay) See Sherlock upon Death, c. 3. 
 
 S 4 enough 
 
2 64 5^^ Creation and 
 
 enough for Man to reap all the Fruits [x) of 
 his Labours under the Sun, might be as fen- 
 iibly felt by our earlicft Forefathers, as it is 
 by us. They lived, as I might fay, nearer 
 the Ground : Their Profpedts were not fo 
 raifed, (Things not having been tried for the 
 common Ufe and Benefit) as our Sights of 
 Thij^gb are : The Schools of Literature, or the 
 Shops of Artificers, can at once put us, even 
 in our younger Years, upon a Rife of Science 
 above what they could come near to in all 
 their Centuries; and excepting, that if they 
 would fear God, and keep his Commandments^ 
 they had herern all that they wanted for a Life 
 to come; and we in all our Attainments, Qiore 
 than this, have nothing worthy to be com- 
 pared with it ; they could not but feel of their 
 Life when over, though they did not feel it 
 fo foon as we do, that in ^mparifon to what 
 they might have hoped from it, few after all, 
 and evil^ were the Days of their Pilgrim- 
 age (y) : A Pilgrimage it was, which, how- 
 ever long we may think it to have been in 
 
 (.v) We commonly fay, j^n longa^ Vita brcvis. (y) "Jacob 
 faid this of his Days, when he was 130 Years old. Gen. xlvii. 
 9. And can we think if he had lived to the Days of the Tears 
 of the Life of his Progenitors, he would have found in the hu- 
 man Life, to ufe "Tullfz Language, the quod eft diu. Cic. de 
 Suaeduce. 
 
 counting 
 
Fa LL ^ M A N. 265 
 
 counting over the Days of the Tears of it, un- 
 queftionably feem'd to them, when they had 
 paffed through it, but as a Tale that was told-, 
 and brake off at lafl, fLort of that human 
 Perfedtion, which they might fee to be far 
 larger than what they had attained : and that 
 had their Lives been fhorter, they would not 
 have had Pvoom to lay the Foundations of what 
 God intended they fhould contribute to the 
 human Science and Improvement of the 
 World. 
 
 In the Day that our firft Parents eat of the 
 Tree, they died, or became mortal : It is fri- 
 voloufly inquired by fome, Whether the Food 
 of the Tree was not of a deadly or poifonous 
 Nature; deceitful to the Eye; appearing to be 
 good for Food (2;), but inwardly a 
 
 y^//^.^r HerMi Fejteni, Virg. [a) 
 
 treacheroufly 
 
 (g-.) Gen. iii 6. [a) The Epithet, fallax, here ufed by VirgH, 
 is I think peculiar : I do not remember any Herb defcribed by 
 the Naiuralijls to be remarkably tempting to the Eye or Tafte, 
 and inwardly a treacherous and deceitful Poifon ; but this feems 
 the Intention of VirgH\ Epithet. Mr. Po/.^well enough calls it 
 the Herb that ccnceais Poifon, fee the Notes on his Eclogue, Mef- 
 fiah : Had he had a Word that would have hinted the Herb to 
 have been tempting to induce Men to be deceived to be poilbn- 
 ed, he had more fully come up to VirgiPs Expreflion. The An- 
 Jiotators upon Plrgil fay, fallax herba, quia Mortales fallaciter 
 lis utuntur : I do not fee the Spirit of Virgil's Poetry in this Ex- 
 plication : it rather creeps to human Artifice in the UiQ of the 
 
 Medicine, 
 
266 7^e C RE AT ION and 
 
 treacheroiifly fall of malignant Juices, that 
 would have a natural Effed: to caufe Morta- 
 lity. I fljouid rather think, that as yet, every 
 Thing that God had made v/as intrinfically 
 good (^) ; that there was nothing naturally no- 
 cent and baneful ; nothing that would hurt or 
 deftroy {c) : And the Mortality of Man is in 
 no wife hinted by Mofes, tohave been the na- 
 tural Event of his having eaten of the Tree : 
 He rather fuggefts, that the Frame Man was 
 built of, would of courfe not be eternal, un- 
 lefs God was pleafed further to make it fo en- 
 
 Medicine, to reprefent the Deceit of it, than gives a lively 
 Hint, that the Herb itfelf had an inniite Quality, ,both to hurt 
 and to tempt to be deceived to Ruin, thofe v>'ho (hould be in- 
 clined to ule it: The Learned generally fuppofe Firgi/ to have 
 wrote his Pol/io upon hints taken from fome prophetic Poems 
 amongft the Rcma-nsj which had originally b.en formed from 
 fome Sentiments taken out of x\\q Je'v.ijh Scriptures. And as 
 Virgil introduces the Serpent in tMTfame Line, ocddct et Serpens 
 et fallax HerhaVenem; li it may be fuppofed that any Frag- 
 ment, or facred Book of the Heathens had hinted any Thing of 
 a Serpent's having deceived Mankind by eating, what he had 
 offered to them, or if /^/;W had, by any Search after the No- 
 tions of the 7''^tt7/^ Literature, formed any Thought of fuchan 
 ancient Sentiment, he may be conceived very poetically to have 
 thence v/rote hhfaliax Hsrha <veneni. [h) Gen. i. 3 1. 
 
 [c] Things were, I apprehend, at firft univerfally innocuous, as 
 the Prophetic Writings, and bed Comments upon them ; fee 
 Ifa. ii. 4. xi. 6, 7, 8, 9. Ixv. 25. &c. hint they will in their 
 Time be reftored to be; of which happy State of Things to 
 come, Firgil had colie6led many Sentiments almoll Verbatim^ 
 and thought them an Ornament to his Poem. See Popes Notes 
 on his Mcffiah ; and more particularly Bifliop Ckandler\ Defence 
 of Chrijii unity. 
 
 during: 
 
Fall of M A N. 267 
 
 during: Duji thou art^ aiid unto Duji thou 
 fbalt return {d), was the Declaration now 
 made to Adam : undoubtedly, he who tip- 
 holdeth all Things by the Word of his Power ^ 
 in ivhojn we live^ move^ and have our Beings 
 and by whom all Tlmtgs do confijl (<?), could 
 have fpoken the Word, and the Mortal oi out 
 firfl Parents would have put on hmnortalityy 
 and of this he gave them a Sign, in the Ap- 
 pointment of the liree of Life (f) : But this 
 Word was not as yet fpoken ; for they had 
 not yet, under the Diredion of it, taken and 
 eat of the Tree of Life to live for ever (g)^ 
 and this not being done, God was now pleafed 
 to prevent their doing it {h) : And accordingly, 
 they were henceforward to have their Houfes of 
 Clay, whofe Foundations were but Duji, Hand 
 only until Time would moulder them, and 
 bring them by a gradual Decay down again to 
 the Ground. 
 
 And this, rightly underftood, mud inflrudl 
 us to fay of the T!ree of Life alfo, that it 
 could have no natural Effecft, to give to them 
 who fliould eat it eternal Life : No fuch Power 
 in Nature could be in it : God only hath Im- 
 
 (^ Gen. iii. 19. [e] Heb. i. 3. A6ls xvii. 28. Col. i. 17. 
 (/) Gen. ii. 9. [g] iii. 22. (■/;') Ibid. 23, 24. 
 
 mortality. 
 
268 The Creation and 
 
 mortality (/), and he can give to have Life in 
 himfelf to whomfoever, to whatfoever, and in 
 what Manner foever he will : If he appointed 
 that oar firft Parents fliould, whenever he 
 commanded it, have taken and eaten of a 
 particular Tree, and from thenceforth be ina- 
 mortal, the Command is to be rationally un- 
 derflood, as we underftand our eating Bread 
 and drinking Wine in our Sacrament, in order 
 to be Partakers of the Body and Blood of 
 Chriji {k) : The outward Adion would profit 
 nothing (/), were it not the Comm.andment 
 of God : But the doing, with a faithful Heart, 
 what God has exprefsly commanded, as a Me- 
 morial, and in Acknowledgment, that we re- 
 ceive the Benefits we hope for, not as coming 
 * - of our/elves, but as they in Truth are the 
 Gift of God, may be both a Reafon, and an 
 
 (i) 1 Tim. vi. 16. {^) See Common- Prayer Communion 
 
 Office. John vi. 5 1— 5S. (/) T:he Tkjh profiteth nothing : the 
 
 Words that I /peak unto you^ they are Spirit y and they are Life, 
 fohn vi 63. Thefe Words of oar Saviour do, I think, plainly 
 hint to us, that the Notion of a tranfubftantiated Body and Blood 
 of Chrift in the Sacrament, as the ?apijQs hold it, is a Fancy 
 not groundlefs only, but in itfelf infignificant and vain, for, 
 that as the Words our Saviour fpake, the Commandment he 
 gave was not meant thus grofsly, but intended in a fpiritual 
 Senfe, the Fit Jh\vo\i\d prof i nothing: the eating the Body and 
 drinking tiie Blood of C'hriji really in his Flefli, if they could 
 do it, no; being what he commanded, would be of no Aloment 
 a: ail. 
 
 Afllirance, 
 
Fa LL ^j/' M A N. 269 
 
 AiTurance, that they fhall be given us, ac- 
 cording to our believing and doing his Word : 
 And herein we may fee, v^hy Man having for- 
 feited the Hope of Immortality, which he 
 was to have become a Partaker cf, in eating 
 of the Tree of Life ; the Liberty to eat of 
 that Tree was now denied him : We cannot 
 be fo abfurd as to imagine, that if Adam and 
 T&ve^ as foon as they had eaten of the forbid- 
 den Tree, before God had prevented them, 
 had taken alfo and eat of the Tree of Life, 
 they would thereby have defeated the Purpofe 
 of God, and notwithftanding what God had 
 denounced, would have efcaped Death, by 
 having eat of it : The Text of Mofes neither 
 fpeaks nor hints any fuch Thing. 
 
 The Words of Mofes are : And now lefl he 
 put forth his Hand^ a?id take afo of the T^ree of 
 Lifey and eat [yechai lenolam {m) j : Mofes 
 does not here ufe the Verb [vachajah], which 
 would be rightly rendred, and live, as we 
 tranflate [veacal (n)], and eat : But the Words 
 ufed by Mofes are, the Particle Fe and the 
 Participle Chai : And P"e in many Paffages of 
 Scripture fignifies not and, but as, qiiafi or 
 
 [m] ^m («) hy^^ 
 
 ficut 
 
270 The Creation and 
 
 ^cut in hatin {o\ and \ye chai] ftri6lly ren- 
 dred fignifies as living : And the expreffion of 
 Mofes rightly tranflated is, A/id 720W left he put 
 forth his Hand, and take alfo of the Tree of 
 Life as one living, i. e. ^j if he was one that 
 was to live for ever : The Senfe of the Place 
 thus rendred is clear and reafonable, free of 
 the trifling Infinuations we may otherwife de- 
 duce from it. It was not fit that God fhould 
 leave our firft Parents the Ufe of the Sign of 
 Immortality, when the Thing fignified was 
 taken from them : And therefore God now 
 ordered them to remove out of the Garden, 
 a?td placed at the Raft of the Garden of Eden 
 Cheruhims and a flaming Sword, which turned 
 every way to keep the Way of the Tree of 
 Life (/>), to deter and prevent their Approach 
 to it : God now gave them a vifible Evidence, 
 fuch as he afterwards ihewed the fews in the 
 holy Place of Sinai [q), that he was greater 
 to be feared, than it had as yet entered their 
 poor Imaginations to conceive 5 that he had 
 Hofts in Heaven to execute his Word ; Angels 
 that were his Mijiiflers, and a Flame of Fire (r). 
 
 (c») See 1 Sam. xii. 15. 2 Sam. xv. 24. et in al. loc. Noldius in 
 panic. 1 62. (/)) Gen. V. 24.. [q] Exod. xix. i6— 18. Piai. 
 Ixviii. 17. (r) Heb.i. 7. 
 
 The 
 
Fall^j/'Man. 271 
 
 The Fadts we have confidered can, I think, 
 want no farther Examination. There are un- 
 doubtedly other Inquiries, which may be ftart- 
 ed. It may be a£ked : Why, or how came it 
 to pafs, that the all-good and all-merciful 
 God, did not admit our iirfl: Parents to Mercy; 
 to repent and be forgiven, efpecially if tiiey 
 iinned no more in the like Manner ; but be- 
 came thenceforth abfolutely obedient to his 
 Word ', to be reflored to his Favour, to have 
 without dying, eternal Life ? Would not this 
 have more clearly anfwered our reafonable 
 Apprehenfions of the Nature of the Goodnefs 
 of God, than that he fhould purpofe to allot 
 us to go through a Life of many Sins^ and 
 much original and acquired Infirmity, at lafl 
 indeed to have a Way through Death, unto 
 this [t) Imm.ortality ? I anfwer : An infpircd 
 Writer has fuggefted an Anfwer to this Query : 
 If^ fays he, ive believe 7iot^ yet he abideth faith- 
 ful \ he cajinot deny himfelf (u) : If God had 
 denounced, that Man fliouid die, unlefs he 
 would keep the Commandment that had been 
 injoined him, it could not be, that he for 
 whom it is impofihle to lye (w), fhould, after 
 our firft Parents had herein tranfgrefied, ftill 
 
 (/) Matt.xxv. 34. («) 2 Tim. ii. 13. (--v/) Heb. vi, 18. 
 
 admit 
 
272 ^he Creation and 
 
 admit them not to know that Death, which 
 he had moft exprefsly declared againft fuch 
 Tranfgreffion : And to this we may unque- 
 ftionably add further ; that if it had not been 
 moft fit, in the Reafon and Nature of Things, 
 that Man now fhould die, the unerring Good- 
 nefs and Wifdom of God would not have 
 threatned nor appointed this Punifhment : This, 
 I think, is fuggefted by Mofes : Behold the 
 Man is become as one of us^ to know Good and 
 
 Evil: And noWy leji he live for ever [x). 
 
 The Meaning of the Words will, I dare fay, 
 by none be thought, that the Man by eating 
 the forbidden Tree, was adlually become wife 
 as God is wife j knowings as God is knowing: 
 This in Fad: was not true : This, in the Na- 
 ture of the Thing, was impoffible : But they 
 point out to be confidered -, that the Man, 
 whom God had made fo as that he ought 
 to be kept in the Hand of God's Counfel^ had 
 now taken upon him to be guided, contrary 
 to God's Diredions by his own : The Crea- 
 ture not made intri7ifcally allwife, not en- 
 dowed with a Beam of unerring Wifdom ; 
 not capable of being to himfelf a fteady Dic- 
 tator of every Thing that was right, for the 
 
 \x) Gen.iii. 2^, 
 
 Guidance 
 
Fall^Man. 27 
 
 Guidance of his Life (y) ; The Creature able 
 indeed to reafon, but Hable often to reafoji 7iot 
 aright (2;), had now fet up himfelf to jadge, 
 without Dependance upon what God had faid 
 or (hould fay to him, what (liould be his Good 
 and what his Evil : And now left — he live for 
 ever — : The Point here intimated feems to 
 be, whether it could be meet this Creature 
 now fubjedt to Vanity, fhould be indulged a 
 pecca7it Immortality ? And here how ought 
 we to confider, that to 
 
 Snatch from God'i Hand the Balance — 
 
 to venture to define, contrary to what is, what 
 we may think might better have been his Dif- 
 penfations to his Creatures- to 
 
 - Rejudge his Juflice^ be the God of Gcdy 
 
 Pope. 
 
 is a mofl blind Employment : Rather examin- 
 ing, what is declared to have been in Fa6l, his 
 Purpofe towards us 5 and confidering, how, 
 altho' he made Man upright (j), 
 
 (y) Qiiartus Gradus et altiffimus eorum, qai natara boni fa- 
 pientefque gignuntur, qaibas a Principio innafcitur Ratio, rec- 
 ta conftanfque quas fupra hominem putanda eft, Deoque tri- 
 buenda. Cic. de Nat. Djor. ubi fup, [%) Wifdom ii. i. 
 
 [a) Ecclef. Tii, 29. 
 
 /> 
 
2 74 ^^ Creation and 
 
 jujl and rights 
 
 Sufficient to have flood, tho' jree to fall -, 
 
 Milton Par. Loft, B. III. 
 
 Although Man had of God 
 
 All he could have Id. ibid. 
 
 confiftently with his beeing a free Agent — ; 
 I fay, confidering, that although Man was 
 thus created, yet that God, foreknowing how 
 our firft Parents would abufe their Liberty, did 
 verily fore- ordain before the Foimdation of the 
 World a Man to be the Power and Wifdom of 
 God unto our Salvation {b), we may reafonably 
 apprehend, however apt we may be to judge 
 otherwife, that if God had not known that 
 our firft Parents in eating of the Tree, had 
 began a Cogitation, which (they and their 
 Pofterity remaining free Agents) would not be 
 fo changed as we may imagine, he would not 
 have denounced nor executed upon Man that 
 Sentence of Death, v/hich obtains againft us ; 
 obferving further, that if this is indeed the 
 Appointment of God, as we have all Reafon 
 to fay of all that is fo. 
 
 Whatever is is right. Pope. 
 
 [b] See Rom. i. 26. 1 Cor. i. 24. i Pet. i. 20^ 
 
 fo 
 
Fall of Man. 2^ r 
 
 fo it muft unqueftionably be true, that if there 
 might have been fome better Way provided for 
 us, than that which is appointed, fuch better 
 Way would have been given to us : But fee- 
 ing this is the Way, and being able to prove 
 from the Scriptures, that we may if we will, 
 through this Difpenfation of God to us, come 
 at length to the Life eternal (^), we hence 
 rightly conclude, that altho* it doth not yet 
 appear 'what ive pall be (d), nor how every 
 Particular of God'sAppointm.ents doth confpire 
 to connedl and make up the one univerfal 
 Defign of him, of whom the whole Family of 
 the Heavens and the Rai^th is 7iamed {e) ; yet 
 Nothing can be fo warrantable in us, as to be- 
 lieve and confefs, that both great and mar- 
 'vellous are thy Works ^ Lord God Almighty^ and 
 jiift and true are thy Ways^ thou King of 
 Saints (f). 
 
 {c) As in Matters of Speculation and philosophical Inquiry, 
 the only Judge of what is right or wrong, is Reafon ani Expe- 
 rience ; fo in Matters either of human TelHmony or divine Re- 
 velation, the only certain Rule of Truth is the Teftimony or 
 the Revelation itfelf. Clark's Scripture Dodrine of the Trinity^ 
 Introdad. [d] i John iii. 2. [e) Ephef. iii. 15. 
 
 — - — Man, <^who here fe ems Principal alone y 
 
 Perhops acts fecond to fotne Sphere unknoivn, 
 
 Touches hme l^P'heely or •verges to fome Goky 
 
 "'TIS but a Fart ^Mefeey aiid fiat a nvhsle. Pope. 
 
 (f) Rev. XV. 13. 
 
 T 2 A 
 
276 "Th^ Creation and 
 
 A Confequence of the Fall, I apprehend, 
 muft have been, that a Depravity of the 
 Mind of Man /gradually arofe, and v^as occa- 
 fioned from it. God at firft made Man upright 
 \yaJJ:ar\ not inclined to any Evil (g) ; but 
 Man was, v^hen thus upright, to be immor- 
 tal {gg)' After the Tranfgreffion, our firft 
 Parents were to die : They had now in the 
 Body what would by degrees bring them to 
 decline, and in the End effedl their Diflblution : 
 -. And a Body become thus corruptible prejfeth 
 down the Soul {Jo) ; 
 
 pragravat un^ 
 
 Atque affigit humo divinam Particulam Aura, 
 
 Hor. 
 
 will introduce AfFedlions groffer and lefs pure, 
 irregular and diftempered; other than they 
 might have known, had they never been in- 
 cumbred with fuch a decaying Tabernacle : 
 The Sages of the Heathen World would 
 readily have admitted this Truth : St. Paul 
 himfelf, in defcribing the State of the unre- 
 generate Man, fpeaking in his Perfon, I know ^ 
 fays he, that in nie, that is, in my Flejhy 
 dwelleth no good Thing : For to will is prefent 
 
 {g) Sup. 80. &c. [gg] Vide qua3 fup. [h] Wifd. ix. 15. 
 
 with 
 
Fall of Man. 277 
 
 'with fne^ but how to perform that which is 
 good^ Ifind not ; but the Evil which I would 
 not, that I do (/) ; is hardly more exprefs than 
 Plato [k) : As long, fays Plato, as we have 
 the Body, and our Soul is intermixed with fuch 
 an Evil, we Jhall never fatisfadt or ily pojfefs our 
 f elves even of what we defire. The Philofo- 
 pher, we fee, and others that followed him, 
 would eafily have allowed it to be of the ut- 
 moft Confequence to a divine Spirit, whether 
 it be joined to a mortal or an immortal 
 Body (/) : Our firft Parents might have had in 
 the Heart, in that which was not corruptible {n), 
 what might render them, fuperior in Affec- 
 tions and Inclinations, to what naturally be- 
 came their Appetites, when a Bondage of Cor- 
 ruption began to work in them a Nature be- 
 low the Liberty of the Sons of God (0) : We 
 may eafily reconcile herein the Scriptures and 
 
 (z) Rom. vii. i8, 19. {k) '^-'^^^J^v to ct^ixa %ya>u%}J^ )tj ^v/ul- 
 
 c-cSuIBa har^? « zrm^vij.zfj^{.' Plat, in Phasd, (/) Jpfi Animi, 
 
 tnagni f/?, quali in Corpore locatifint Tanta <vis eji ad Habitum 
 
 Mentis in iis, ques gignuntur in corpore. Cic in Tufc. Difputat. 
 Lib. I. c. 33. («) See i Pet. iii. 4. [o] See Rom. viii. 21. 
 
 To (TCOUdL " ' " ^(''■'7rQ^l^t6atV il/J.COV r T« Ol^Q" ■d-Yt/^.l'' ipCOTUlTi 
 
 ;^ cmiBofJ-ii^i' ^ (iioCcov sy tlJ'coKfov 'Truv^oJ^a'Trk^iy )y <phva.eiaf 
 ifj.TTiy.'Tr^no'if rifj.dii ^oAah«* co^i to \iyo/jt^op co^ dhnB^^ tm 
 
 Plato ubi fup. 
 
 T 3 true 
 
278 
 
 Tide Creation and 
 
 true Philofophy, for the Body and the Soul 
 are fo intimately joined in our Compofition, 
 that they both mufi: have a confiderable In- 
 flaence the one upon the other : And having 
 herein intimated what our firft Parents now 
 became, it is obvious to confider, that as was 
 the Tree, fuch muft be the Branches -y that 
 henceforth there would be no natural Defcen- 
 dant from thefe now Mortals, who would not 
 have in him a Senfuality of Nature (/>), fuch 
 as mufl render it very reafonable, no-t only to 
 a Majler in Ifrael [q] -, but to any one that 
 duly eilimates the Compofition of Man, to 
 admit what our Saviour argued, namely, that 
 we muft be born again, if we would fee the 
 Ki?2gdom of God (r) : Our firft Parents now 
 came to have, and their Defendants to be 
 born to, that Duplicity of Nature elegantly 
 defcribed by Plato {s), as well as confidered 
 
 (/.) XXXIX Articles, fee Art. ix. ^^ ^{q) See John iii. 10. 
 [y] ibid. ver. 3. [s) cT/^ajj? q «Vm? ^ ctvOpcoTrivas (pvtr^.coi, 
 
 h-TTOTi J^i) acoiJcLTiv ^[^(pvrd'^eiiu^, ^ clvjcfimi y^ to ^V r^e^fioi, 
 TO Q clirioi T6 cro'/zstrO- elvTcdV, 'tt^ootov /j^ ctic^\)criv dvety- 
 itcuov eiyi i/ietv nTAfTtv ky.ei ^tc/Jcw 'TTd^ny.diTuv ^vfX(pvTov yiy' 
 
 T-ATQt<; (p'oCoV it^ d-V[J.Ql', CK^O, TS i'TTC/A'^Ct ilvToli ^ OTTOO-ct oVdJJ- 
 
 70, K^TiM/jird ccJ'mcL' Plato in Tim^eo, 
 
 by 
 
Fall of Man. 279 
 
 by St Faul (t), Mankind came now to have 
 Inclinations arifing from the Body, which 
 would often run contrary to the better Senfe 
 of the Mind ; and give every one the Unhap- 
 pinefs to know of himfelf in looking back 
 upon his Life, that he had done, thought, 
 and faid, fo many Things, below what his 
 own Mind and Sentiments would tell him, 
 ought and might have been his Condudl («), 
 as to fee in himfelf as clearly as in a Glafs, 
 that we greatly want to be delivered from a 
 Body of Sin {w) : In this Point therefore 
 Reafon and Revelation agree, and bear Tefti- 
 mony to one another 5 that we are in Fadl 
 imperfedl, not in our Knowledge only, but - 
 ftill more imperfedl in oftentimes having a 
 Will not to a6t fo well as we know to be our 
 Duties. And this Mofes's Hiftory proceeds to 
 ihew in the Adlions of Men ; and particularly, 
 that ere Adam came to be 130 Years old, Evil 
 had got fuch an x^fcendant, where it had been 
 
 [t) Rom. vii. 23. («) i Kings viii. 46. James iii. 2. 
 
 1 John i. 8. 
 
 C777 yi yjhvov iivA' yi'/o/j^Jcv i5 J^ic/A'^&iv h Tcuhri t»T 'i^ei, ^ 
 
 ei'.'ifj oHya-Qov a.S'v/jcnov x^, «V. ct'i 6pfJ^e;or, rlx\A -^io^ ctV 
 
 lAuQ- TO7C iX'^t TO yipcif- Piat. in Protag. {nv) See Rom. 
 vii. 24. 
 
 T 4 indulged 
 
8o 7^^ Creation and 
 
 Indulged [x)^ that one of Adam's Children 
 became a Murderer and flew his Brother (y). 
 But, 
 
 Mofes mentions one Particular more, which 
 I have not confidered. He tells us. Unto 
 Adam alfo, and to his IVife, did the Lord God 
 make Coats of Skins, and clothed them [z) : I 
 would obierve, i. That the Word winch we 
 render Skins ^ is in the fmgular Number a 
 Skin [a) y not Ski?2S in the plural: and that ^ 
 we have no Reafon from the Hebrew Text to , 
 put in the Particle of: The Verfe verbally 
 tranflatcd is, And the Lord God fnade a Skin 
 Coats for the Man and his V/ife^ and clothed 
 them [b). The Fad: was : God now appoint- 
 ed them to ufe the Skin of a Beafl for Clothe 
 ing, not, I apprehend manufadured into 
 Coats i Improvements of this Sort undoubt- 
 edly were afterwards introduced : Our firft 
 
 [x] Cain undoubtedly did not come at once to that outrageous 
 Wicki-dnefs of killing his ^Brother: He had been a bad Man 
 btfoic in many evil Adiions, fo Mofes hints in what he records 
 God to expofluiate unto Cain, Gen. iv. 7. and the Jpojlle fur- 
 ther obferves it i John iii. 12. Cain fw^w his Brother^ and 
 
 ivho-eforejlenx: he him ? becnuje his onjjn Works njjere e-vil^ and his 
 B^othu-s righteous, (y) Gen. iv. (2;) iii. 2 i. [a) *|ip Pcllis. 
 [h) The Hd>rtnjo Words of the Text are 
 
 'J'anjca.': et Mulicii ejus Adamo Deus Dominus Ec fecit 
 
 ct amicivit eos. Pellem 
 
 Parents 
 
Fall^Man. 281 
 
 Parents did no more than put about them the 
 Skin of fome Beaft, as we read the early In- 
 habitants of other Countries, and in later 
 Ages of the World did (c), whenever they 
 wanted fuch a Clothing. 2. Altho* the Verfe 
 we are now treating ftands prior to God's put- 
 ing ^Jam and Eve out of the Garden, and 
 the End of the Verfe fays, that God clothed 
 them^ yet I do not conceive Mofes here to hint 
 to us, that God inftantly clothed them and 
 fent them into the World : The Hebrew Word 
 \yejalbajlja7n\ a7id clothed them (d), is the Ju- 
 tare Tenfe with Vau prefixed^ which Preji:^ 
 the Grammarians obferve to turn fuch future 
 Tenfe into a perfeBy or to fpeak the Thino* 
 treated of to be adlually done : I may obferve 
 all the Verbs ufed in this and the Verfes fol- 
 lowing, he made Coats 5 clothed them ; fent 
 them forth y drove out the Man -, are thus in 
 tliG future Tenfe with Vau [e) : May we not 
 underftand the Reafon of the Piece of Gram- 
 7nar juft above hinted ? Some ancient Writers 
 imagined, that our firft Parents were permitted 
 
 Sic. 1. I. p. 14. 
 
 tUi 
 
 Pellibus, et corpus fpoliis 'vefiire ferarum. Lucret. Lib. C. 
 
 to 
 
282 The Creation and 
 
 to flay fome little time in the Garden before 
 they were put out of it into the World (f)^ 
 may not x}£i^i^ future Teiifes with the Vau pre- 
 fixed hint fomething of this Sort ? the cloth- 
 ing them, the fending them out of the Gar- 
 den, ^c, were Things abfolutely and acSlually 
 done, but fome Procefs of Time, to inftrudl 
 and prepare them for it, might be taken up, 
 before it was completed, and may not the fu- 
 ture Tenfes, with Vau prefixed, hint this to 
 us ? The Things fpoken of had their Execu- 
 tion ; but not inftantly at once -, but proceeded 
 gradually to be effected, as God thought fit to 
 have them difpatched. If we may take them 
 in this Senfe, we (hall eafily find an Anfwer, 
 ' 3. to what is or may be queried upon the Oc- 
 cafion J How fhould our firft Parents get Pof- 
 feffion of the Skins of Beafts, and make them 
 fit for the Ufes they were to make of them ? 
 I anfwer : I apprehend God at this Time ap- 
 pointed Sacrifices (g) ; and if fo, as he after- 
 wards gave Mofes Dircdlions for the Paflbver, 
 and for other Inftitutions of the jewijh 
 Law (//) ; fo he now might give our firfl Pa- 
 rents fuch Inftrudlions as they could not but 
 
 r^rU'lz viAe^o'.^ -^ 'T^^rf.ca.Ca.a^cd^' Syncel. p 8. (g) See Conneft. 
 Vol. 1. B. 2. p. 80." {h) See Exod. xii. ^c. 
 
 want, 
 
Fall of Man. 283 
 
 want, and which might fuggeft all they want* 
 ed to know upon the Occafions now before 
 them : However, I cannot but remark, in the 
 general, that we confider things with a Judg- 
 ment dull and unobferving, if we can allow 
 the Mind of Man no Invention, but as we 
 can trace and mark out the Steps that led to it : 
 How T^iibal Cain came to find out Brafs and 
 Iron, and the Ways of working them; or 
 how yiibal became (/) a Mafter of MiifiCy is 
 not to be inveftigated in this Manner : Our 
 Minds are too lively to be accounted for, by 
 fuch ftated Dedudions : incidental Sentiments 
 often ftir in us, we know not whence nor how, 
 and they lead us as often to Confequences as 
 unexpected : They open to us Trials and Expe- 
 riment?, which produce what we had no 
 Thought of, even whilft we were purfuing 
 them 3 and many Times before we are aware, 
 throw us upon what we had no Intention, or 
 even Notion of fceking : The beft Heathen 
 Writers were ready to acknowledge the Rife 
 of the ufeful and important Inventions of their 
 Lives to [k) have been of God : And we can 
 never realon of thefe Things, but fhall find 
 it to be the beft Philofophy, as well as Reli- 
 
 (0 Gen. iv. {k) Plato in Polit. 
 
 gion, 
 
284 755^ Creation and 
 
 gion, not only to acknowledge every good and 
 perfeB Gift (I) in all our Endowments, to 
 have come down from Him, in whom we live^ 
 move^ and have our Being (;;^), but 
 
 — • ^mavJrj 3 Aioi Ke^^Yify.e^oL 'urocvJes. Aratus. 
 
 He alfo, whofe incorruptible Spirit is in all 
 mngs (n), is often the Author to us of many 
 happy Turns of Mind, which lead us in what 
 we are apt to call fortunate Thoughts, unto 
 great and ufeful Difcoveries, which if we had 
 been without him in the Worlds might never 
 have been made or conceived by us. But, 4. I 
 cannot apprehend our firft Parents to have 
 been fo unthinking, that common Senfe would 
 not have led them, after a very little Expe- 
 rience of their now Condition, both to know 
 it decent to have, and to invent themfelves a 
 Covering : For what they did, when their Fears 
 alarmed them to wifh to hide themfelves 
 from {0) God, may fuggeft, what they natu- 
 rally would have done, to have been clothed in 
 the Sight of one another. Wreaths of Greens, 
 Foliages, and Flowers, might be varioufly 
 combined to have made them ornamental 
 
 (/) James i. 17. {m) Ads xvii. 28. («) Wifdom xii. 
 {9) Gen. iii. 7. 
 
 Habits, 
 
Fall of Man. 285 
 
 Habits, and we may indulge our Imagination 
 to fay, that even Solomon in all his Glory might 
 not be arrayedy beyond what Eve, after a little 
 Trial and Experience might be able to deco- 
 rate herfelf in thefe : And the Climate they 
 lived in might perhaps be fuch, that a Cloth- 
 ing of this Nature might be fometimes more 
 agreeable, than to be always in a clofer and 
 warmer Covering: But if it be confidered, 
 how foon Leaves and Flowers would fade 
 away 3 that a Drefs of long Endurance could 
 not be had from thefe Materials, and that the 
 Labour and other Cares of their Lives would 
 not admit them to lay out all their Time in 
 this one Particular, not to fay, that a Cover of 
 this Sort might not ferve in all Weathers, but 
 at fome Seafons at leafl a better Shelter muft 
 have been an happy, a neceflary Accommoda- 
 tion ; leaving our firft Parents to add any Or- 
 nament they could like, as Circumftances 
 might admit of any, the Proviiion God was 
 pleafed to make for them was fuch, that we 
 cannot fee how they could continue to live long 
 without it. 
 
 I have now carried this Undertaking to the 
 utmofl Extent I propofed to give it. It con- 
 tains, I think, an Account of all that Mcfes 
 has related of the Creati on and Fall of 
 
 Ma]:^. 
 
286 T'he Creation and 
 
 Man. It will perhaps be aflced, Did God 
 clothe them only ? Was his Care of them fuch 
 as to provide for them in this leffer, and did he 
 not inftrudl: them in greater and more impor- 
 tant Matters ? I anfwer : Undoubtedly he did : 
 And I apprehend both Mofes to fuggeft, and 
 fubfequent Scriptures to confirm to us, that 
 God gave them a Method, for their Repen- 
 tance and obtaining Pardon of their Sins, and 
 fome time before Adam died, fet before them 
 Hopes of another World : But to proceed to 
 treat of thefe would be to begin a new Sub- 
 je<fl : All I propofed herein, was to examine 
 what Mofes has faid of the Creation and Fall, 
 and what poflible Objedions may be made to 
 his Narration : I think I have omitted none of 
 any Moment : For of fome that are pretended, 
 we furely, confiftently with the greateft Can- 
 dour, may fay, that they need not be mention- 
 ed, they are too frivolous to want an Anfwer : 
 One at leaft of this Kind I find in Dr. Burnet : 
 HeaflvS, ^\ii\.\i Adam had not finned^ Could 
 all his Defcendants have come from all Parts 
 of (p) the World, in all Ages, to eat of the 
 
 One 
 
 (f) Prajtereu, fi e;: una Arbore, vcl ipfius Fruftu, perpen- 
 diilec Longjevitas vel Iininortaliias Horninum, Quid fi non pec- 
 caflet Ad'amus ? Qui potuiiient ipfi-js polleri per totum Ter- 
 
 rarum 
 
Fa LL ^ M A N, 287 
 
 One Tree of Life, planted in the Garden of 
 Eden ? Or could this One Tree have been fuf- 
 ficient unto all Times, and for all Nations ? It 
 is moft obvious to fee, i . That we cannot fay, 
 if Adam had perfevered to live according to 
 the Word of God, until he fhould have been 
 commanded to eat of the Tree of Life, whe- 
 ther, as now in Ada??i all have died, in fuch 
 Cafe, all Mankind defcended of immortal Pa- 
 rents would not have been im.mcrtal. Or 2. It 
 muft be evident, that as God knew before- 
 hand, what Events would happen in all Things, 
 'tis undeniable, that he might forefee, when 
 and how long it would be before our firfl: Pa- 
 rents would tranfgrefs , and that the Appoint- 
 ments he had made would be fufficient for 
 what would be the Duration of that State of 
 Mankind for which they were appointed. 
 3. That if Mankind had not fallen, but pro- 
 ceeded to walk with God according to his 
 Laws, until they had become fo inftrudted in 
 all Knowledge, and rooted in all Truth, as 
 never to fwerve from it , if the partaking of 
 fome Sign of Immortality had been thought 
 fit to be commanded for them in ufino: it to 
 
 rarum orbem difFuii Fru£lus repetere ex hoc Horto, vel ab hac 
 Arbore ? aut qui pctaifTst fuiiTcere toti huirano Gcnsri unius 
 Arboris Froventus ? Archaeol. p. 292, 
 
 walk 
 
^88 "The Creation and 
 
 walk humbly with God {q)y not arrogating Im- 
 mortality to themfelves as their own ; but re- 
 ceiving it, as it was indeed his Gift to them ; 
 as we have confidered, that the Ti^ee of Life 
 had no innate Virtue in itfelf to give Life (r), 
 but could be of Moment only as it was the 
 Commandment of God ; fo God might, as 
 Men multiplied and difperfed, have at fundry 
 Times and in divers Manners, given other 
 Commands, other Signs for this Purpofe as 
 neceflary and beneficial, juft as he fliould be 
 pleafed by his Word to appoint, according to 
 what he faw moft fit for difiant and diflferent 
 Parts of the World, in the Counfel of his ow?i 
 Will. 
 
 I am aware that fome may treat it as a 7*^- 
 fic of Ridiculcy to imagine that God made 
 Man fo weak a Creature as to want his Creator 
 at every T^iirn an Admonijher at his 'Elbow (j), 
 but it is obvious to reply, that to drefs a Pro- 
 pofition in ludicrous Terms, and then to laugh 
 at it, is laughing at the Drefs we give it^ but 
 does not really affedl, what ought not to be 
 treated with fo fancied a Levity. To confider 
 rationally the Order and Gradation of God's 
 
 [q) Micah vi. 6. (/•) Vide quas fup. [s] Dr. Middletons 
 Inquiry f p. 1C2. 
 
 Works, 
 
Fall of M A ^. 289 
 
 Works, will, I think, abundantly (hew us, 
 that Man ought to be (gj\ as Fad: and Expe- 
 rience agree to teftify, that he really is a Crea- 
 ture higher than and above the blinder Inftincfl 
 of an animal Life : But to fay hereupon, that 
 Man was made fo perfevfl, as to want no 
 Guidance but his own, is a Step at once to 
 an Height of Wifdom, which may be mar.y 
 Ranks above us in the intelledlual World [b) : 
 That there are prodigious Differences between 
 the Abilities of even different Men, is moft 
 apparent : And it is moft evidently reafonable, 
 that there fliould be fo -, that in the progref- 
 live Order of each Rank of Being above that 
 which is beneath it, fome fliould defcend al- 
 moft to the Species of thofe next below them, 
 as others may on the other Hand be raifed to 
 a near Approach unto the Orl? above them : 
 There may be 3 There ought to be ; There 
 are, fome Men, fuch, as that it were to be 
 wiflied they never would aol without afi Ad- 
 monijher at their Elbow 3 but, on the contrary, 
 to fay of the moft intelligent of Men, of thofe 
 who have the moft exalted hitman Underftand- 
 
 (g) See above, Chap, vi, {h) partus autcm Gradus, et 
 
 altjffimus eji^ eorum qui natura honi fapi£7itefque gignuntur ; qidhus 
 a Prlncipio innafcitur Ratio rcSla, conjianjque^ quee Jvp-n Hominejyt 
 futanda eji, Deoque trihiienda. Cic. deNac. Dcor. lib. 2. c. 13. 
 
 U ing. 
 
290 The Ckv. AT lo'i^ and 
 
 ing, that they have a Self-fufficiency of Wif- 
 dom above all Want of fuperior Diredion, 
 this is 
 
 — - — to think hygnd Mankind ; Pope. 
 
 It is to think ourfelves to have Powers, which 
 are over the Line, which is our Boundary: our 
 Nature does not reach to this Height : 
 
 Our B^eafon raife o'er Inftinoi as you can^ 
 In this 'tis God dire^Sy in that but Man. 
 
 See Pope. 
 
 In our Degree we have real Perfections both 
 of Body and Mind : The Body has its Eye, 
 the Mind its Underftanding; both of excellent 
 Ufe and Diredion : But to fay of either, that 
 they are fo perfe6V, as not in any Point to want 
 Aid, or Affiftance, is to opine beyond our T'c- 
 tbcr. The Eye of the Body is able, in many 
 Cafes, intuitively 
 
 " — ■■ — cur'vo dignofcere Return. Hor. 
 
 to diftinguifli a ftraight Line from a crooked: 
 But (liall we fay of any Man, that he has an 
 Edge of Sight fo unerring (however fome may 
 excel others in this Particular) as to be able, 
 without Line, Rule, or Meafure, by his Eye 
 alone, to raife a various Fabric, juji^ Jiraight^ 
 upright and regular in all true Dimenfions ? It 
 is the fame with the Underftanding, the Eye 
 
 of 
 
Fa hh of M a n. 291 
 
 ^f the Mind : We may be able by our Reafon 
 to deduce and judge aright of many moral 
 Duties 5 but if we would fay of the beft hu- 
 man Reafon^ that it ever did, wiihoat any 
 Rule but its own Diredlion, raife the true 
 Fabric of all moral Virtue (/) ; we muft pro- 
 duce fomething to warrant fuch Affertion, be- 
 yond what either the ancient Inquirers, or our 
 modern Reafoners have been able to evince. 
 The v/ifeft Mailers of the Greek Learning, 
 could not fix the Criterion by which they 
 might know what was only human Sentiment, 
 and what more furely was real Truth {k) : The 
 Roman Philofophy was as indeterminate : The 
 ^id ejl Virtue — • the very Exemplar Honcjli 
 was what they v/ere not able indifputably to 
 afcertain (/) : They wanted fome Teft, where- 
 by they might fettle, how to dillingailli in the 
 feveral Duties of Life, wherein Reafon and 
 Right Reafon might happen to differ from 
 
 (/) Ut fine idlo Errore dijudicare pnJJJfnus, Jiqunndo cum illo^ quod 
 honejium iJitelligimuSy pignare id ^vidihitiir, quod appclla7nus i:tiky 
 Formula quaedam conjtituendu eji, quean Ji fequcmu}- in compara- 
 tione Rerum, ah oflcio Jiunquam readimus, Cic. de Offic. Lib. 3. 
 
 c. 4. [k) ei /4J ra< it) J~o<^x tf AkOjk ^roy <^6o y'^vr] Plato 
 
 in Timajo. esT^/V «!6p>'T«< S'o^d.^ti'' }Wor<^ /yV^'-^''^^* ^roTs 
 Q }C) 'X<^</'}!. Plat, in Thoeatet. (7) Sentit Domis wiiufcujufque^ 
 ftntit Forum, fentlt curia, campi, fociii PrO'vi7ici^, ut quemadmo- 
 dumRatione recle fiat, fie Ratijne peccctur. Cic. de Nat. Dcor. 
 1. 3. c. 27. The Author of the Book of Wifdom fuggefts the 
 Difference. Vv^e may r^<?yJ//, but not aright y Wifd.ii, 1. 
 
 U z one 
 
292 Tide Creation and 
 
 one another (jn) : And it is as remarkable of 
 all our modern Moralijis {?{), that, however 
 
 they fcew a great Want of Precijion ; of de- 
 terminate and indifputable Diredion each in 
 one another's Rule or Standard, they are 
 every one at lad exadly as deficient in their 
 own [c); 
 
 The Woj'd of God is Truth (/>) : This was 
 to have been the Rule of 'Truth in all moral 
 and religious Duty to our firft Parents and 
 their Dciccndants : And a good Vnderftanding 
 would have prevailed amongfl: them, if they 
 would carefully have done thereafter ( j' ) : 
 Through the Precepts of God, as they more 
 and more improved in Knowledge, they 
 would have k^^^ the Error of every falfe 
 Way, and in Time have been able to deli- 
 neate the true Religion of our Nature ac- 
 cording- to it : But although God gave them 
 
 {m) The Teft wanted is, By what fhall we know when we 
 rcnfon aright, and when not ? A Deo, fays the Difputant in 
 7ullyy Ra.ionem habemuSy Lonafn aid non honam a nobis. Cic. de 
 Nat. Deor. 1. 3. We want a Standard, whereby to judge 
 waen we make our Reafon the one, and when the other. 
 
 («) Mr. Bro^vn, in his very excellent Ej/ay on the Moti'ves to 
 Virtue, rightly obferves, that our modern Moralijis have faid 
 little more than what might be tranfcribed from the old Greek 
 Philofcphers, and from 7////)' after him, p. 122. {0) See 
 
 Mr. Bro-Lvri"^ EJay. (/>) See Pfal. cxix. 142. John xvii, 17. 
 
 {q) Pfal c:a, 10. cxix. 104. 
 
 his 
 
Fall of Man. 293 
 
 his Inftruftions, we are not to reprefent, that 
 he was minutely at their Elbow^ to leave them 
 in nothing to themfelves, in Reafon to con- 
 iider Things; Mofes in no wife writes of 
 them in this Manner: God gave our firft 
 Parents one Command to be a Rule to them, 
 how they were to walk humbly with him (r) : 
 He gave them one more to be the Founda- 
 tion of their relative Duty to one another (j) : 
 He afterwards gave Hke Precepts in other 
 Particulars : If now they would have made 
 thefe their Faith -, to receive and believe them, 
 and to fquare their Lives according to them ; 
 Herein they would have had an abundant 
 Diredion, and would not have erred, if they 
 would not vary and decline from it: To 
 have added Knowledge to their Faith^ as the 
 Incidents arofe, which might afford them 
 Knowledge, would have been their r^^;/-i 
 able Dutyy as it is ours [t) : And" a great 
 Field for them herein to exercife themfelves 
 muft have opened daily unto them : For we 
 cannot opine them to have been fo infenfible, 
 as to think nothing to be their Duty, but 
 barely to obferve literally the Points com- 
 manded them, and no more : They were to 
 
 (r) Micah vi. 6, Gen. ii. 17, (j) Ver, 24. (/} 2 Pet. i. 5. 
 
 fee. 
 
^94 ^^ Creation and 
 
 fee, and would fee every Thing to be wrong, 
 which would make their Lives run counter 
 to the Intention of what was dire<5led: The 
 being forbidden to eat of one particular Tree, 
 injoined our firft Parents not only to abftain 
 from the Fruit of a Tree {ii), but in every 
 Thing, whenever and whereinfoever God 
 commanded, they were to obey his Voice in- 
 deed , as the being obliged never to feparate 
 from one another {w\ muft fhew it to be 
 their Duty to confider, and be rationally fuch 
 in their Condudl, as to live fuitably to this 
 indiiToluble Tye^ that what God had made 
 the indifpenfable Condition, they fliould for 
 themfelves make the real Happinefs of their 
 Lives : And thus Revelation can in no wife 
 be faid to have fuperfeded Reafon, but from 
 the Beginning to have been no more than the 
 neceffary Aid without which human Nature 
 could not be made perfect : It was given to be 
 
 {u) If it could be conceived that our firft Parents could have 
 imagined, that if they bat abilained from eating of the Tree, 
 they duly obferved the Law of God, tho' in other Points they 
 did no: live according to the Diredlions of their Maker, it is 
 evident, they would herein have kept the Form of their Reli- 
 gion only, without admitting the Power and Influence of it : 
 than which nothing can be more contrary to Reaibn, or more 
 feverely reprimanded in the holy Scriptures both of the Old 
 and New I'cilament. ^eeComied. Vol. HI. p. 1 29, ^c. 
 
 (w) Gen. ii. 24. 
 
 a 
 
F A L L ^ M A N. 
 
 a Lamp to our Feef^ and a Light to our Paths ; 
 to give us what in Tullys Language we might 
 fay are the Formula [x), to mark to us the 
 Points, which, if we had been made Creatures 
 of an higher Intelled, we might have intui- 
 tively feen for ourfelves, in looking into the 
 Natures of Things : But which, if they had 
 not been given, fuch Creatures as we arej if 
 we had had nothing to give us Judgment, but 
 the Fruits of the Tree of our own K?iowledge 
 of Good and Evil-, we fliould, not only from 
 the now Bias of our Appetites, but from (what 
 Man was fubjed: to from the Beginning) Mif- 
 takes of Underflanding, not have found or 
 purfued, fo as to be fuch as we ought, in this 
 World ; or be able juftly to f^tisfy ourfelves, 
 how we might be meet for a better. 
 
 295 
 
 (a-) "Jura, Formzil^e de omnihis Rehus confiitut^e^ ttequ'is aut in 
 Genera Injuricv^ ant in Ratione Aciionii errare poj/it, Cic. Orat. 
 pro Q^Rofcio Comoedo. 
 
 THE 
 
 E N D. 
 
N D E X. 
 
 A. 
 
 A Bilities of Underftanding ought to be different 
 
 jt\. i^ different Men, why? Page 289 
 
 Adam^ whereof^ made 11 
 
 where placed ihid. 
 
 what immediate Command he received from God 
 
 ibid, 
 called to name the Creatures ihid. 
 
 how he inftantly underftood the Meaning of 
 
 God's Voice 1 5 
 
 did not name the Creatures all at one Time 3 8 
 when firfl taught to ufe Sounds of his own lor 
 
 the Names of Things 40 
 
 learned the Ufe of Words by being called to 
 
 name the Creatures 41 
 
 not diredled what particular Names to give the 
 
 Creatures ihid. 
 
 named the Woman 50 
 
 did not make the Refledtion that the Man and his 
 
 Wife were infeparably to live together ihid. 
 when he firfl began to think, did not abound in- 
 
 flantly with a Variety of Conceptions 52 
 
 did not at firfl make long Soliloquies 22 
 
 placed at firfl in the midfl of plain and few 
 
 Objedls SZ 
 
 heard at firfl from God nothing but what was 
 
 mofl obvious and intelligible ihid, 
 
 X Adam^ 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Adam, his firft Day, not a Day of Hurry and Con- 
 
 fufion p. 52 — 61 
 
 the State of his original Knowledge 62 
 
 how he began to make Words ^^ 
 
 not endowed with a fudden Apprehenfion of the 
 
 Nature of the living creatures 63 
 
 had no fuch Knowledge of the animal World as 
 
 Milton fuppofes. 64 
 
 was no Philofopher ibid, 
 
 had no innate Science ibid. 
 
 nor innate Sentiments of Morality ibid. 
 
 all his Ideas from Senfation and Refle6lion 6j 
 knew no more of God than what he had heard 
 
 or feen could occafion him to think of him 
 
 ibid, 
 had no innate Knowledge of himfelf 64 
 
 had only a Capacity of attaining jufl Notions of 
 
 his Duty 68 
 
 not endowed with an innate Aftronomy 71 
 
 his Judgment at firil uninformed 66 
 
 how he became afraid of God 71 
 
 how created in the Image of God 74 
 
 not endowed with an unerring Underftanding 
 
 8i 
 his Capacity quick and lively ^'^ 
 
 had all the Powers of a found Mind 84 
 
 fufficiently endowed, if he would have kept God's 
 
 Commandments loi 
 
 iiaving doi^e the Will of God, might by the Tree 
 
 of Life have lived for ever 109 
 
 with Eve^ at the Time Ihe eat of the forbidden 
 
 Fruit \ 164 
 
 not fuperior to Eve in Underftanding to reje(5i 
 
 the Temptation 1 65 
 
 afraid becaufe nal<^d, why? 201 
 
 Adam 
 
INDEX, 
 
 Jdam not at firfl fenfible of God's omniprefcnce 203 
 
 what he meant in the Words he Ipake unto God 
 
 concerning his being naked 205 
 
 not appointed to die the very Day he tranfgrefTed 
 
 261 
 by eating the forbidden Tree, did not become 
 wife as God is wife 272 
 
 Adam and Eve both made on the fixth Day 5 
 
 their firft Notions of Things narrow and unim- 
 proved 1 8 
 how their Knowledge inlarged 19 
 how they formed their firft language 2 1 
 why firft employed in the Garden 60 
 the Opinion of Writers concerning their original 
 Knowledge, groundlefs 62 
 not furprifed at hearing the Serpent fpeak with 
 Man's Voice 63 
 were both together when the Serpent fpake to 
 
 believing the Serpent, a Proof of their Ignorance 
 
 whilft they did not eat the forbidden Fruit, they 
 continued in the Hand of God's Counfel 109 
 
 their eating, or not eating, in itfelf of no mo- 
 ment, but for the Commandment of God no 
 
 expeded great Advantage from their Eyes being 
 opened ip§ 
 
 their Eyes, how opened after eating the forbidden 
 fruit ihiL 
 
 not opened as they expedled ibid. 
 
 wanted to hide themfclves from God 204 
 
 did not make themfelves Aprons ibid. 
 
 their being naked, not meant as to their Cloth- 
 ing 207 
 
 X 2 Adam 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Adam and Eve^ their high Notions of the Serpent 
 
 reprehended P- 215 
 
 knew not at firft what Enemy had hurt them 220 
 
 might, from what God had faid to them, refledt 
 
 that the Serpent did not fpeak of himfelt ibid. 
 
 knew not the full Meaning of what was faid to 
 
 them concerning the Serpent 221 
 
 did not apprehend what God faid to belong merely 
 
 to the Animal from whom the Words came 
 
 which beguiled them 225 
 
 not immediately expelled the Garden 255 
 
 could not have prevented their dying, after God's 
 
 Sentence, by eating of the Tree of Life 269 
 
 Adverfary who feduced our firft Parents 1 6^ 
 
 the Manner in which he was permitted to tempt 
 
 them 171 
 
 Analogy runs through all the Intelligences of God's 
 
 Creation , 179 
 
 'Androgynes^ whence the Fable of them 5 
 
 Animals of the World, not named all at one Time 
 
 38 
 
 no Names of them innate in Adan'^% Mind 23 
 
 nor didated to him by the Voice of God 42 
 
 Appetites not the Caufe of the firft Sin 82 
 
 grofler arife from the corruptible Body 277 
 
 Appointments, God's do confpire to make up one 
 
 univerfal Defign 275 
 
 B, 
 
 Body become mortal, preffeth down the Soul 276 
 
 of what Sort ; it is of great Confequence to the 
 
 Spirit unto which it is joined 277 
 
 -Body 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Body of Sin, we fee in ourfelves that we want t^ be 
 
 delivered from it. P- 279 
 
 Born again, whence neceffary we Ihould be fo 
 
 278 
 
 Cain began Improvements in Tillage 256 
 
 Capacities of Men border upon the Angelic State 
 
 not fuch as to be an unerring Diredion unto all 
 Truth 84 — 90 
 
 Chriji^ the Perfon who is to conquer the old Ser- 
 pent 247 
 Circumcifion, its Defign 105 
 Coats of Skins, in what Manner appointed our firft 
 Parents 280 
 Command concerning the forbidden Tree fuitable to 
 what God had made Man 104 
 fome pofitive one necclTary to be given our firft 
 Parents 112 
 concerning the forbidden Tree, how to be un- 
 derftood 105 
 why fuch a Command given ibid. 
 Clothing, what our firft Parents would naturally 
 have thought of 285 
 that which God appointed our firft Parent?, ne- 
 celTary for them ihid. 
 Counfel, God's, not being obferved by Adarn^ fub- 
 jeded him to all Error 1 1 1 
 The Creation fhews a wonderful Connexion of all 
 Things to one another 90 
 
 X 3 Death, 
 
INDEX. 
 D. 
 
 Death, Sentence repeated particularly againft the 
 Man only, why ? p. 260 
 
 fit and proper, in the Reafon of Things, after 
 Man had finned 274 
 
 Dire6tions, our firil Parents rejeding God's, was 
 a great Perverfion of human Life 195 
 
 Difpenfations of God, how little able we are to de- 
 termine contrary to them 2j^ 
 Deluge, the univerfal, did not difiblve the whole 
 Globe 126 
 Effedls of it to be accounted for by confidering 
 the Effeds of fmaller Inundations 132 
 Strata^ occafioned by it, accounted for 133 
 
 Earth, originally produced nothing but by the 
 Word of God 9 
 
 Eden^ known by the Jews in the Days of their Cap- 
 tivity, to be fituate not far from the Waters 
 of Babylon 144 
 
 a Country higher up the Stream that watered the 
 Garden, than the Garden ibid, 
 
 Egyptians^ their Opinion of the original Produdl of 
 the Earth 9 
 
 reputed the Serpent to be an Emblem of the good 
 God 232 
 
 Employment of our firfl Parents in the Garden 
 
 254 
 
 Eufebius^ his true Opinion of Mofes^s Hiflory 1 1 7 
 
 Eve^ what her firfl Idea of Death 1 8 
 
 had no Difficuky in underftanding the Serpent, 
 
 why, and how ? 24 
 
 Kve^ fo called, v/hy ? 57 
 
 Ev^ 
 
INDEX. 
 
 E've not tempted before llie and Adam had obfcrvcd 
 in the general, that none of the Animal 
 Creation had the Gift of Speech 1 60 
 
 tempted before fhe knew the Animals naturally 
 could not fpeak ihid, 
 
 not alone, without Adam^ when the Serpent 
 fpake to her 163 
 
 her Duty to be governed by, and obey her hus- 
 band 2 5 1 
 declared to be the Mother of all living ihid. 
 Eyes, Adamh and Eve's opened, how ? 197 
 Eye of the Body not able, without Rule or Mea- 
 fure, to raife a regular Building 290 
 of the Mind no more able, without Rule, to 
 build us up in every Virtue 291 
 
 Faith to comiC by Hearing 186 
 
 Obedience of it to be paid unto God ibid. 
 
 Fall, not immediately after the Creation 31 
 
 G. 
 
 Garden, that of the Lord mxentioned by Lot to 
 Abraham^ was the Garden of Eden defcribed 
 by Mofes 142 
 
 Geographers, the moft ancient Heathen ones -, mo- 
 derns, with regard to the Scripture Geo- 
 graphy 137 
 
 God caufed our firft Parents inftantly to underlland 
 
 what he fpake to them 1 6 
 
 on the fixth Day created both the Man and the 
 
 Woman 5 
 
 X A ^ God 
 
I N t) E X. 
 
 God caufed Adam to underftand what he fpakc td 
 him, how ? P- 15 
 
 as foon as Man was created made an efpecial Re- 
 velation to him 97 
 the Command which he gave to Adam 1 1 
 called Adam to name the Creatures ibid. 
 did not dired Adam what to name the Creatures 
 
 injoined Man and Wife to live together 50 
 
 did not confound Adam^s firft Thoughts with a 
 Variety of Objeds 53 
 
 did not endue Adam with an unerring Under- 
 flanding 8 1 
 
 his Sentence againft our firft Parents not to have 
 been defeated by their eating of the Tree of 
 Life 269 
 
 appointed our firft Parents Clothing, in what 
 Manner 280 
 
 the firft Command he gave Adam^ fuitable to 
 Man's Nature 104 
 
 his Command againft eating of the forbidden 
 Tree, how to be underftood 105 
 
 his Word produced all Things 9 
 
 his Prophecies to our firft Parents enlarged by far- 
 ther Prophecies in After-ages 223 
 
 his Word the Rule of Truth 292 
 
 H. 
 
 Havilahy a Country well known in the Poftdiluvian 
 World 137 
 
 Heathens conje6lured only the Beginning of Man- 
 kind 2 
 acknowledg'd Man not to be a Creature of un- 
 erring Reafon S^ 
 
 Heathens 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Heathens acknowledged Man not to be of perfeft 
 Virtue p. 85 
 
 to be greatly imperfedl from the Imperfedtions of 
 the Body ihid, 
 
 acknowledged the ufeful Inventions for the Be- 
 nefit of Life to have been given them from 
 God 283 
 
 Hiddekely a River known to Daniel 138 
 
 Husbandry the firft only Gardening 255 
 
 Inftitutions legal, their Defign I05 
 
 Intelledb wanting no Guidance but its own^ many 
 
 Degrees above Man 298 
 
 K. 
 
 Knowledge, Adam^% own, not fufHcient for him to 
 depend upon 88 
 
 Land of the Garden of Eden in the Neighbourhood 
 of Babylonia 140 
 
 Life, the moft dead Parts of Matter not intirely 
 deftitute of it 90 
 
 M. ~ 
 
 Mankind not from Eternity i 
 
 how began to be known only from jMofes*% 
 
 Hiftory ibid, 
 
 imperfed, wherein 279 
 
 had our firft Parents not finned, whether they 
 
 might not have been born immortal 287 
 
 Man 
 
r N D E x^ 
 
 Man cannot be placed higher than between the 
 Animal and Angelic State P- 92 
 
 his Reafon fufficicnt, if aided by the Counfel of 
 God 95 
 
 not to think he has unerring Reafon 96 
 
 not made independent in Underflanding ibid, 
 by obeying God's Voice, would have been made 
 wife and fit for Glory * 1 1 1 
 
 guided by his Creator, might have advanced un- 
 to all Truth i ^^ 
 after the Fall born to a Duplicity of Nature 278 
 his Mind not fo (low in Invention, as that we can 
 always trace the Steps of it 283 
 a Creature a Degree above the Inflind of Animal 
 Life 289 
 his Perfedtions both of Body and Mind to a De- 
 gree only 290 
 created with Reafon above that of the Animal 
 World, but not fo endow'd as to want no af- 
 fiftant Information 93 
 Why required to obey God's Voice 1 05 
 Meat recommendeth not to God 109 
 Milton^ his Notions of Adam when firfl created, 
 poetical, but not likely to be true 54 
 his Relation how Adam named the Creatures, 
 groundlefs 62 
 does not fuppofe Adam\ and Eve\ TranfgrefTion 
 on the fame Day of their Creation 1 58 
 Miracle, none performed when the Lord opened 
 Hagar\ Eyes 200 
 Mofes wrote a real Hiftory of the Origin of the 
 World and Mankind 2 
 differs from the Egyptian Philofophy i o 
 brings Adam into the World in a Manner very 
 natural 53 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Mofes^ his Relation of the firft Beginning d^ Adam^ 
 and Eve*s Life, not a Fable p. 6i 
 
 fhews that Man was not left infufficiently pro- 
 vided for 88 
 
 his Relation of the forbidden Tree literally inter- 
 preted is agreeable to all revealed Religion 107 
 
 his Garden of Eden not a fidlitious Scene 1 1 j 
 
 fpeaks of Hills more ancient than the Deluge 120 
 
 his Eden might remain in its primitive Situation 
 after the Flood 1 25 
 
 his Garden of Eden not placed in an obicure Cor- 
 ner of the Earth i^^ 
 
 his Defcription of the Garden oi Eden confidcrcd 
 
 135 
 
 afraid of his Rod when turned into a Serpent 230 
 Mountains coeval with the World 120 
 
 the Height of the higheft bears no fenfible Pro- 
 portion to the Semidiamctcr of our Earth 121 
 
 N. 
 
 Naturalifts, their Phoenomena of the Deluge, how 
 to be accounted for 1^0 
 
 Opinion, human, how hard to diftinguifh from real 
 Truth 277 
 
 Parents, our firft had no Excufe for their Tranf- 
 
 greflion 186 
 
 why not permitted to efcape Death 271 
 
 not drove out of the Garden inflantly after their 
 
 Tranfgreffion 282 
 
 Parents, 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Parents, our firft, after the Fall would naturally 
 think it decent to be clothed p. 284 
 
 Pcrfon, one to come from the Woman who Ihould 
 conquer the great Enemy of Mankind 240 
 
 Phardoby why not afraid of the Rods of the Magi- 
 cians, when they were turned into Serpents 234 
 
 Philofophy, beft, as well as Rehgion, will teach us 
 to think the ufeful Inventions for human Life 
 to have been given from God 283 
 
 Prophecies, the Defign of them 223 
 
 fpokcn by God to our firft Parents, inlargcd by 
 
 the Prophecies in After-ages ibid, 
 
 full Event of them not known until fulfilled 224 
 
 R. 
 
 Reafon, Teft of it wanted, to fliew wherein Rcafon 
 
 and right Reafon differ from one another 291 
 
 Reditude in whi<:h Adam v/as created, what ? 80 
 
 Religion, revealed, pofitive Inftitutions a Part of it 
 
 106 
 Revelation does not fupcrfede, but aids our Reafon 
 
 294 
 without it, human Nature cannot be made perfed 
 
 ibid. 
 
 Ridicule, not a juft way to determine what is true, 
 
 or what is falfe 18& 
 
 Rivers Pifon and Gihon^ not inconfiderable ones 137 
 
 River that watered the Garden of Eden, its De- 
 
 fcription I44 
 
 Gihon and Pifon known to the Author of Eccle- 
 
 fiafiicus ^ 149 
 
 three of Mofes^s, Rivers of Eden^ not mentioned 
 
 by the prophanc Geographers. 137 
 
 Sabbath^ 
 
INDEX. 
 
 S. 
 
 Sahhath^ why inftituted 6b 
 
 Satan^ his being permitted to have a Power to caufc 
 the Serpent to fpeak, contradidls no Principle 
 of true Philofophy 171 
 
 Science, natural, grows by Experience and Ob- 
 fervation 70 
 
 Scripture and Philofophy agree as to the Nature of 
 Man 277 
 
 Senfuality of Nature in every natural Defcendant of 
 our firft Parents 278 
 
 Serpent's Words to Eve^ very few, befides what 
 Adam and Eve had heard from God 28 
 
 his fpeaking not apprehended by Adam and Eve 
 to be unnatural 160 
 
 its Name mentioned by Mofes^ probably its ori- 
 ginal Name 161 
 fpake to Eve only 1 65 
 not able of himfelf to fpeak 1 66 
 underftood not what he fpake 167 
 thought by Adam and Eve to have more Sagacity 
 than any other Creature 170 
 that which tempted Eve reckoned amongll the 
 Beafts of the Field 228 
 after the Flood, became terrible to Mankind 229 
 not changed from his original Form 211 
 Spirits, apoftate, the Scene of their Demerit not 
 fully known unto us 180 
 Strata^ thofe occafioned by the Deluge no Proof 
 againft Mofes\ Defcription of the Garden of 
 Eden 12^ 
 Straho*% Geography, when compofed J5P 
 
 Tdxts 
 
INDEX- 
 T. 
 
 Texts of Scripture cited and explained. 
 Gen, i. ver. 17 73 
 
 i, ver. 27 5 
 
 I. ver. 3 1 
 
 6 
 
 ii. ver. 6 8 
 
 ii. ver. S ibid, 
 
 ii. ver. 9 267 
 
 ii. ver. 10 145 
 
 ii. ver. 15 254 
 
 ii. ver. i6y ly 8y 
 
 ii. ver. 18 14 
 
 ii. ver. 19 36 
 
 ii. ver. 20 43 
 
 ii. ver. 21 47 
 
 ii. ver. 24 293 
 
 ii. ver. 29 13 
 
 iii. ver. i 6^ 
 
 iii. ver. 5 30 
 
 iii. ver. 7 197 
 
 iii. ver, 11 209 
 
 iii. ver. 13 211 
 
 iii. ver. 15 219 
 
 iii, ver. 21 280 
 
 iii. ver. 22 272 
 
 XV. ver. 12, 1 5 49 
 
 xvii. ver. 1 105 
 
 Exod. iv. ver. 11 28 
 
 viii. ver. 9, 10, 12 229 
 
 xxiii. ver. 8 28 
 
 Numb. xi. ver. 22 45 
 
 Judg.xxi. ver. 14 ibid. 
 
 iSam.xxvi.ver. 12 47 
 
 Job iv. ver. 13, ifi 16 49 
 
 Job 
 
I N D E X. 
 
 Job XV. ver. 6 p. 120 
 
 xxxii. ver. 8 8j 
 
 Pfal. xc. ver. 2 120 
 
 civ. ver. 16 
 
 I Pet. i. ver. 20 
 
 75 
 
 cxix. ver. 18 26 
 
 cxix. ver. 142 292 
 
 Prov. xix. ver. 5 47 
 
 Jerem. v. ver. 4, 5 217 
 
 viii. ver. 2t 104 
 
 Dan. viii. ver. 19, 26 4p 
 
 Micah vi. ver. 6 288 
 
 Wifd. ix. ver. 15 276 
 
 Ecclus. xvii. ver. 5 20 
 
 xvii. ver. i4> 15 99 
 
 John iii. ver. 10 278 
 
 xvii. ver. 17 292 
 
 Rom. i. ver. 26 274 
 
 ii. ver. 14, 15 63 
 
 vii. ver. 18,19 277 
 
 1 Cor. i. ver. 24 274 
 
 i Cor. xi. ver. 3 1 74 
 
 I Tim. xi. ver. 14 16^ 
 
 274 
 
 Tillage of the Ground, a laborious Employment 
 
 for Adam 251 
 
 Tree, the forbidden, diftinguifhed from all others 
 
 by its Situation ^4 
 
 of Life, had our fir ft Parents not finned, would 
 
 it have fufficed Mankind unto all Ages .? 287 
 
 Prohibition of the forbidden Tree, the Rule 
 
 for our firft Parents walking humbly with God 
 
 293 
 
 Truth, Word of God the Rule of it 292 
 
 Virtue 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Virtue and Vice cannot be where there is no Choice 
 
 191 
 W. 
 
 Words, in thcmfelves, mere Sounds 15 
 
 carry no Intention to us until we have learnt the 
 
 Meaning of them ibid. 
 
 Xitvtx before heard, could not naturally be under- 
 
 Itood at firft hearing 16 
 
 of God not minutely dirc6ling every Particular 
 
 of our Lives 293 
 
 World, not from Eternity i 
 
 how began to be known only from Mofes^^ 
 
 Hiftory i 
 
 not a different one after the Flood, from that 
 
 before 129 
 
 not a new one created after the Flood 130 
 
 not every where broken by the Deluge. 125 
 
 FINIS, 
 
Date Due 
 
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Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 
 
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