In the Primitive Church were an heretical Sect, called _Ophites_, that is Serpents. In _Cyprus_, and about the _Hellespont_, were a certain People that went by the Name _Serpent_. So a Soothsayer in _Messenia_, _&c._ But these came short of _Alexander the Great_, and _Scipio Africanus_, who were said _to be born of Serpents_, which they look’d upon to be the _brightest Insignia_ in their _Escutcheon_; but more of this _Serpentine Pride_ in the next Chapter. In such wonderful Esteem were _Serpents_ among them, that all manner of Creatures were called by their Name, as Stars, Animals, Plants, Trees, Herbs, Rivers, Stones, Islands, Proverbs.... Nothing was accounted Divine and Grand, unless graced by a Serpent[417]. From this _Divinity_ ascrib’d to Serpents, _Pherecides_ took occasion to make a Dissertation concerning the Deity called _Ophion_, from Οφις, a Serpent[418]. Footnote 417: Conradus Gesner. Footnote 418: Euseb. Præparat. Evang. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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.