[340]. Clem. Alexandrinus, who flourish’d in the second Age. Οφις αλληγορειται—ηδονη. Edit. col. p. 69. A. B. A. D. 1688.
Some Rabbinical Writers say, the Devil that deluded the Woman, came mounted upon a Serpent, in Bulk equal to a Camel, and known by the Name Sammael, an Evil Angel; called also by them, the Angel of the Dead, Prince of the aerial Region, and Chief of the Demons. Other Rabbies look upon him as the Prince of Angels; and believe, he is to preside at the last Judgment; for which Reason, they make him Offerings on the Day of solemn Expiation, to appease his Indignation[[341]]. ’Tis said, this Serpent eat the forbidden Fruit and did not die for it; the Woman inferred she might also eat, and not die.
[341]. Calmet in Verbum. Rab. Benach in Genes. iii.
Others there are, who will not allow the seducing Serpent to be an Animal, but the Devil himself in that Shape, who therefore in the sacred Writings is called the great Dragon, old Serpent, and Murderer from the Beginning. And some are of Opinion, he borrowed the Body of a real Serpent, which he made use of, as a Vehicle, thro’ which he instilled Poison into the Woman’s Mind: And if so, what occasion to say the Serpent was more subtle than any Beast?——Since the grand Enemy in tempting Eve, did not use the Craft of the Serpent, but his own Cunning, in the Management of that cruel Stratagem.
Those who are not pleased with such Ratiocinations, satisfy themselves with this, viz. That our first Parents, in whose Loins we were, transgrest, and made a Forfeiture of Paradise for themselves and Descendants; but the manner how they fell is not obvious, nor to be accounted for, in a State of Imperfection.
If it be ask’d, Why did not the divine Goodness put our first Parents beyond a Capacity of sinning? ’tis answer’d,
That Mutability is essential to all Creatures, as such, in all their Kinds: In this mutable State our first Parents were created, holy and happy: Life and Death were set before them; they had freedom of Choice, a free-will to use the Powers of Nature as they pleased; that is, they were made in a State of Liberty, with a Power to determine for themselves, whether to abide or not in that glorious Situation. So that if there be a Difficulty in accounting for the Fall, there is as great a one in supposing a reasonable moral Creature uncapable of Choice: for where there is no Choice, there can be no Virtue; and where there is no Virtue, there can be no Happiness.
Again, Adam and Eve were arm’d with a sufficient Power to stand, being created after the divine Image pure and upright, without Error in their intellectual Powers; therefore if they mistook the Object, or were imposed upon, ’twas not for want of Light in the Mind, but want of Application of that Light, which was in their power.... Which Light told them, the Tree of Life planted in Paradise, was to perpetuate their Lives; and that the Tree that had the Marks of Death upon it, would do them no harm, but by doing their own Will, or the Will of any other in opposition to his sovereign Will who had said, Eat not.
They were created pure, and capable of Perseverance; and when they fell, God did not withdraw any Gift he had conferred upon them: He did all that was necessary on his Part for their Preservation, and they had remain’d safe, if their Liberty had but conducted itself aright: Their Liberty was not tied to any particular Object, as their other Faculties were, but respected every thing that could be done, or left undone, and it might have imploy’d them after another manner.
It’s said, Out of the Ground made the Lord God to grow every Tree that is pleasant to the Sight, and good for Food; and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, of which thou shalt not eat. Gen. ii. 9, 17. Now, where lay the Difficulty of not eating, when they were in no want of Food? And if in want, were not all the Fruits of Paradise prepared for them? Why would none serve but what was prohibited? And nothing prohibited but what was deadly Poison, and what Adam knew to be so, by immediate Revelation from Heaven.