CHAPTER V.
Contents.
Reasons for worshipping Serpents, seem to rise from Misapplication of some Scripture Passages: But especially, 1. From the Triumphs of the Paradisaic Serpent. Pagan History from Moses. In the primitive Church, a Sect of Christians worship’d Serpents, and said the Serpent in Paradise was a good Creature. 2. From the miraculous Cures done by the brazen Serpent. Alexander affected the Honour of being begot by a Serpent, ador’d as a God, by a Decree of the Priests.
WHAT Reason can be assigned for giving religious Worship to Serpents? I answer,
It is no easy Matter to find out the Original of Pagan Idolatry, having no authentick Records of those remote Times, therefore Conjectures, or nothing must content the honest Enquirer: Something may be offer’d, without going beyond our Depth. Before I proceed, it may be proper to observe, viz. That Knowledge sprung from the Sons of Noah, who doubtless instructed their Successors in the History of the Creation, the Conquest of Paradise by a Serpent, that introduced the Knowledge of Good and Evil upon Earth.
Those whom we call Heathens, at first were Members of the true Church; the further Men went from the Spring, the Streams grew more muddy, and strange Constructions were put upon the History of Adam and Eve, Noah, and his Progeny, which in process of Time was metamorphosed into a Narrative of Fooleries and fabulous Gods.
So the Mosaick History of their Travels thro’ the Wilderness, and the Promulgation of the Law upon Mount Sinai, were strange and stupendous Events, that soon spread over the Nations in some Shape or other.
In the Phœnician Theology, we find the Creation described, almost in the Terms used by Moses. Diodorus Siculus says, the Antients liv’d upon Roots and Fruits. The Phœnician Records mention Ujoris, i. e. Adam, the first that wore Garments made of Animal Skins. The Vulcan of the Heathen was the Tubal-cain of Moses, (Gen. iv. 22.) the first Artificer in Brass and Iron: Plato’s Atlanticus is a Fable founded upon the History of Noah’s Flood: The Fable of the Giants storming Heaven, is taken from the Builders of the Tower of Babel, as before: Yea, says a Learned Father (after Numenius, the celebrated Pythagorean and Platonist) what is Plato but Moses in an Athenian Dress[[419]]? But to be more particular,
[419]. Τι γαρ εστι Πλατων η Μωσης αττικιζων. Quid enim est Plato, nisi Moses qui loquitur Atticè? Or, Quid enim aliud est Plato, quam Moses Atticissans? Clementis Alexandrini Opera, Strom. lib 1. Coloniæ p. 342.
1. SATAN, who conducted the War in Eden, display’d his Art under the Form of a Serpent, which Moses represents as a Creature of superior Wisdom, and Illuminator of Mankind. Now the Tradition, that the first Serpent had not only the Gift of speaking, but of communicating Science, and had held a Conference with the first Woman, to the vast Increase of her Knowledge, might at last swell to such a degree, that ignorant People might attribute to that Serpent, and her Race, a kind of Divinity; and for this Reason also, because in the Perfections of the Mind she exceeded our first Parents, who being constituted Governors of the Earth, must be supposed to be furnish’d with extraordinary Accomplishments: But, says Tradition, here is one who infused greater Knowledge into them, and made them more wise; and they, for contesting with the Wisdom of the Serpent, were turned out of Paradise, and ordain’d their Dwelling to be among the Beasts of the Field.
Surely, might the People say, so great a Being as this Serpent merits our awful Regards. Now, how far such Thoughts might operate in those early days of Ignorance and Superstition, I determine not: The Serpent indeed, is said to be more subtle than the Beasts of the Field, but not more wise than Adam and Eve.