Perhaps it might be to put them in remembrance of the first Sin, that was introduced into Paradise by the old Serpent: This kind of Punishment could not but bring to their Mind that gloomy Moment in which the human Nature was morally and mortally wounded by that evil Spirit, in the Form of a Serpent. This being allow’d, we may infer, that Man’s Memory stands in need of a Remembrancer, even of Paradise lost. And oh! who can think of that inexpressible Loss, without dropping a silent and solemn Tear?

Some Learned Jews themselves, speaking upon this Subject, say, the Reason why they were chastised by Serpents, was because they had done the Actions of the old Serpent, in using an ill Tongue against God, against Moses, and Manna, the Bread of Heaven.

SECT. III.

WHY called Fiery Serpents?

A natural and a moral Reason may be assigned for it.

1. The sacred Volume seems to account for the natural Reason, when it says, God sent fiery Serpents. The Hebrew word is Seraphim, that is Burners, because they appeared in the form of a Flame. The LXX calls them Serpents of Death[[353]], because their Wounds proved mortal.

[353]. Οφεις θαναουνται.

As soon as the People were wounded, their Blood was inflamed, and according to some Jewish Authors, they were scorch’d with insatiable Thirst. Of the Hebrew word Saraph, the Greeks, by changing the Position and Order of Letters, have borrowed the Name Prester, which is a kind of fiery venemous Serpent, called also Dipsas and Causon, whose Wound is accompanied with a most vehement Heat and Thirst, and generally incurable, as some have formerly said. They may be properly called Fiery, as their Colour was glowing, a proper Representative of Fire. In the West-Indies are Adders, red as Blood, about seven or eight Foot long, and appear by Night as a burning Coal[[354]].

[354]. Atl. America, 179.

2. They might be called Fiery also, from a moral Consideration; for, that raging Heat in the Body might represent the outragious Disorders of the Mind, flowing from conscious Guilt, neither of which were the Attendants of an original State. Hence, perhaps, it is that Satan’s Temptations are styled fiery Darts, because when complied with, they kindle a Fire in the Conscience, a Prognostick, and Taste of the Unquenchable[[355]].