sacred history, that terrible event by which sin and death were introduced into the world. See Adam, and Antediluvians, and Original Sin. The account which Moses gives of this transaction is extremely brief and concise. The serpent, he informs us, being more subtle than any beast of the field, asked the woman, whether it was true that God had not granted her and her husband leave to eat of every tree in the garden? She answered, That God had allowed them to eat of all, except only the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden; which he commanded they should not taste, nor so much as touch, lest they should die. The serpent replied, That they should not die; for God knew the virtue of the tree; and that so soon as they ate of it, their eyes would be opened, and they would become like gods, knowing good and evil. Eve, seeing the fruit tempting to the view, took of the fruit and ate; and gave also to her husband of it, and he did eat. Immediately the eyes of both were opened; when perceiving they were naked, they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. Adam and Eve, hearing the voice of God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, hid themselves among the trees; but, on God’s calling for Adam, he excused himself for not appearing, because he was naked. God demanded of him, who it was that told him he was naked; and whether he had disobeyed his command in eating the forbidden fruit? Adam confessed that the woman had offered him the fruit, and he had tasted it. She being examined likewise, acknowledged what she had done; but said, the serpent had seduced and deceived her. God then proceeded to judgment; he first cursed the serpent above all beasts, and condemned him to go on his belly, and eat the dust; adding, that he would put enmity between him and the woman, and their offspring; that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head, who should bruise the other’s heel. The woman was subjected to the pains of childbirth, as well as the dominion of her husband; and as to the man, God cursed the ground for his sake, declaring that it should bring forth thorns and thistles, and he should earn his bread by the sweat of his brow, till he returned to the dust, from whence he was taken. At last, having clothed them both with skins, he turned them out of the garden, lest they should take of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever; then, to prevent any attempt to return to their former habitation, he placed cherubims at the east of the garden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the passage to the tree of life.

This comical account being, at first view, encumbered with some difficulties, several learned and pious men have been inclined to believe the whole ought to be taken in an allegorical sense, and not according to the strictness of the letter: they allege, that the ancients, and particularly the eastern nations, had two different ways of delivering their divinity and philosophy, one popular, and the other mysterious; that the Scripture uses both occasionally; sometimes accommodating itself to the capacities of the people, and at other times to the real but more veiled truth; and that, to obviate the many difficulties which occur in the literal history of this sad catastrophe, the safest way is to understand it as a parabolical story, under which the real circumstances are disguised and concealed, as a mystery not fit to be more explicitly declared.

Though it cannot be denied that some of the ancient philosophers affected such an allegorical way of writing, to conceal their notions from the vulgar, and keep their learning within the bounds of their own school; yet it is apparent Moses had no such design; and as he pretends only to relate matters of fact, just as they happened, without art or disguise, it cannot be supposed but that this history of the fall is to be taken in a literal sense, as well as the rest of his writings. It is generally agreed, that the serpent which tempted Eve was the devil, who envying the privileges of man in innocence, tempted him, and was the cause of his forfeiting all those advantages which he had received from God at his creation; and that to this end he assumed the form of a serpent. These interpretations are supported by many passages of Scripture, where the devil is called the serpent, and the old serpent, (See John viii. 44. 2 Cor. xi. 3, and Rev. xii. 9.) Some believe that the serpent had then the use of speech, and conversed familiarly with the woman, without her conceiving any distrust in him; and that God, to punish the malice with which he had abused Eve, deprived him of the use of speech. Others maintain, that a real serpent having eaten of the forbidden fruit, Eve from thence concluded, that the two might eat of it without danger; that in effect she did eat of it, and incurred the displeasure of God by her disobedience. This, say these last authors, is the plain matter of fact which Moses would relate under the allegorical representation of the serpent conversing with Eve.

The opinion of such as believe this was not a real serpent, but only the devil under that name, is no less liable liable to exception than any of the rest. For though the devil is frequently styled in Scripture the serpent and the old serpent, yet why he should be called the most subtile beast of the field, we cannot conceive; neither will the punishment inflicted on the serpent suffer us to doubt, but that a serpent's body at least was employed in the transaction.

The nature of the forbidden fruit is another circumstance in this relation that has occasioned no less variety of conjectures. The Rabbins believe it was the vine; others that it was wheat; and others, from the circumstance of Adam and Eve's covering themselves with fig leaves immediately after their transgression, tell us, that this fruit must have been the fig; some think it was the cherry; and the generality of the Latins will have it to be the apple.

Those who admire allegorical interpretations, will have the forbidden fruit to have been no other than the sensual act of generation, for which the punishment inflicted on the woman was the pain of child-bearing. But this opinion has not the least foundation in the words of Moses, especially if we consider that Adam knew not his wife till after their expulsion out of Paradise.

Many have been the suppositions and conjectures upon this subject in general; and some have so far indulged their fancy in the circumstances of the fall, that they have perverted the whole narration of Moses into a fable full of the most shameful extravagances.