Footnote 420: A _Greek_ word that signifies _a Serpent_. Footnote 421: _Calmet._ One of the Fathers speaking of these Hereticks, observes how they affirm’d,——_That Wisdom made itself a Serpent_——had given Knowledge to Man, and that the Position of Man’s Bowels, winding about like Serpents, shews that there is in us a hidden Substance that engenders the Figure of Serpents[422]. Surely those Fathers of the Church were Children in Understanding, that gave way to such mystical Conundrums. Call them no more Fathers, but Children of Antiquity. Footnote 422: _Irenæus adv. Hæres._ (lib. 1. cap. 34.—_sophiam serpentem factam_—) who flourish’d in the close of the 2d Century. These Hereticks, in the Consecration of the Eucharist, always had a Serpent ready in a Box, which they produced on that Occasion, making it come out by certain Charms, and lick the Bread, and having kissed the same, they eat it[423]. Another Historian expresses it thus, _viz._ “When their Priests celebrated their Mysteries, they made one of these Creatures to come out of his Hole, and after he had roll’d himself upon the Things that were to be offer’d in Sacrifice, they said _Jesus Christ_ had sanctified them, and then gave them to the People to worship them[424].” _N. B._ I don’t apprehend how the _Learned Abbot_ makes them bring in the Name _Jesus_ here, a Name which in the same Page he says, they obliged their Proselytes to renounce. Footnote 423: _Bingh. Index Heret._ Footnote 424: _Calmet_’s _Histor. Dict._ vol. ii. p. 668. This strange Superstition seems to be derived from the Heathen, who at the Feasts of _Bacchus_, used to carry a _Serpent_, and to cry, _Evia, Evia_[425]: And _Evia_, says _Clemens Alexandrinus_, if it be asperated, _Hevia_, signifies in the _Hebrew_, a _female Serpent_. Dr. _Lightfoot_ observes, that there being no such Word in the _Hebrew_, _Clemens_ must mean the _Chaldee_, in which _Hivia_ signifies a Serpent. Footnote 425: Ευια, ευια. 2. The Reputation gain’d by the Serpent in Paradise, was heighten’d by the wonderful Cures done by the brazen Serpent in the Wilderness. As this strange Occurrence was capable of various Glosses, so it must undergo different Constructions. The _Brazen Serpent_ was brought to _Canaan_, where ’twas kept in remembrance of the miraculous Cures their Forefathers had received from it in the Wilderness; and, ’tis probable, the _Israelites_ themselves were the first that paid divine Honours to it, and the Idolatry might begin in the days of the Judges; others say, under the Kings of _Judah_[426]. Footnote 426: _Jurieu_, vol. ii. from _Rabbi Kimchi_, who says they burnt Incense to it, from the time the Kings of _Judah_ had corrupted themselves ... _in locum_.