The Serpent having ascrib’d its Reason, and Speech to the eating of that Fruit, the Woman might infer, If this Fruit did turn a Serpent into a rational Creature, why may it not transform a rational Creature into a God, and a _Woman_ into a _Goddess_? The Serpent had no occasion to say more; fir’d with the Prospect of such Preferment, she _took the Fruit and did eat_. Gen. iii. 6. _And when the Woman saw that the Tree was good for Food, pleasant to the Eye, and a Tree to be desired to make one wise, she did eat._ _N. B._ How divine and delightful a Thing is Knowledge, of which Innocency itself is ambitious! _Eve_ thirsted after the highest Degrees of Knowledge, and made no doubt of obtaining it by the Serpent’s Instructions; not knowing of any Impostor, she believed what the Tempter said. Satan, by the Serpent, as a Bait proposed Improvement in Knowledge. Thus the first Woman, Head of the human Race, fell a Sacrifice to her own Ambition, fell a Virgin, and in her Infant-State. _Icarus_, by flying too near the Sun, his waxen Wings melted, and he fell into the Sea, and was drowned. Justly was he punish’d, for not observing his Father’s Will. May I add, in favour of our Mother, that the Law forbidding that Fruit, was not immediately publish’d to _Eve_, but receiv’d at second-hand from _Adam_; and that it can’t be well supposed, that she knew the various Capacities and Qualities of Brutes, as her Husband did. But, why does _Moses_ introduce a Serpent speaking, when naturally it was a speechless Creature? In answer to this, may we not observe, that the Almighty, who has no _material Tongue_, yet is often introduced, speaking with _human Voice_ in the Scripture. The _Egyptians_ made the _Crocodile_ a Symbol of the Deity, giving this as a Reason why they worshipped God symbolically in that Creature, because it resembled God, in that it was the only Animal without a Tongue; for the Divine λογος stands in no need of Speech; he governs human Affairs without Words, and without Noise. Again, this Dialogue with the Serpent, a known Beast, is very agreeable to a Custom among the Oriental Writers, who enchase their Histories with Ornaments taken from familiar Discourses between Beasts; by which they convey moral Instructions to their Readers: Thus, on a Subject of Craft, they made the Fox to speak. With what View did the Devil tempt our first Parents to sin? I answer, ’twas out of despite to God; _i. e._ with a design to rob the Creator of the Glory he proposed to himself from the Erection of this new World: He could not attack the Almighty on his Throne, therefore he strikes at the Footstool. Since he could not reach the Person of the Almighty, he wreaks his Malice upon his _Image_, Man; Man, whose Happiness, and that of his Descendants, he envy’d; and whom, in particular he hated, as his intended Successors to the vacant Seats in the blissful Regions above.