SECTION I.
Among Serpents, we find some that are furnished with Wings. Herodotus who saw those Serpents, says they had great Resemblance to those which the Greeks and Latins call’d Hydræ; their Wings are not compos’d of Feathers like the Wings of Birds, but rather like to those of Batts; they love sweet smells, and frequent such Trees as bear Spices. These were the fiery Serpents that made so great a Destruction in the Camp of Israel.
In their Extremity, the People addrest their Mediator, Prophet, and General, Moses, saying, O pray to the Lord that he take away the Serpents from us! The meek Prophet did so; the mediatorial Voice reach’d Heaven, and mov’d the Almighty who directs Moses to make a Serpent of Brass, (which was a Figure of the Serpents that plagued the People) and fix it upon the Top of a Pole, conspicuous to all the Assembly, promising that all those who were bit by Serpents, and should look upon this brazen Image, should be presently healed. Astonishing Clemency! The Event was answerable to this Promise.
This Method of Cure was new and strange; but he who at first called the World out of nothing, can with equal Facility command Health out of a Piece of Brass. Another Observable here, is that when the Almighty refused to hear the Cries of the Wounded in their Distress, he readily hearkened to Moses’s Intercession in their favour. Thus God accepted the Prayers of Job for his three Friends, when he would not regard the Supplications they put up for themselves. Job lxii. 7, 8.