eafy to me to tell all thou haft commanded me, and right it is that thou fhouldeft be obeyed in every Thing. At first I was like the other Beafts that feed upon the trodden Grafs; my Thoughts were abject, and as low as my Food, nor did I difcern any Thing but that, or Difference of Sex, nor had I any Apprehenfion of any Thing great or high: 'Till one Day as I was roving in the Field, I chanced to behold, at a great Distance, a large Tree full of Fruit, of the fairest Colours, ftreaked with Red and Gold: I drew nearer to view it, when a favoury Odour was blown from the Boughs, grateful to the Appetite, and which pleased my Senfe more than the Smell of fweet-. eft Fennel, or the Teats of a Goat or Ewe, dropping with Milk at Evening, and yet unfucked by their Kids or Lambs: I refolved not to defer fatisfying the fharp Defire I had of tafting those fair Apples; Hunger and Thirst (two powerful Perfwaders) quickened at the Scent of that alluring Fruit, both at once urged. me fo keenly: I foon wound myself about the moffy Trunk of the Tree: (for the Branches are fo high. from the Ground, that they would require the utmoit Reach, or ADAM's) about the Tree all other Beafts ftood longing and envying with like Defire, but could not reach the Fruit. And now being got up into the Middle of the Tree, where fuch great Plenty hung fo nigh, tempting to gather, and eat my Fill, I did not fpare; for I never 'till that Hour in eating or drinking had fuch Pleasure. But at length being fatisfied, it was not long before I perceived a firange Alteration in me, and my inward Powers changing to a Degree of Reafon; and though I retained my prefent Form, yet it was not long before I had the Gift of Speech. From thence forward I turned my Thoughts to high or deep Speculations, and with capacious Mind confidered every Thing visible in Earth or between; every Thing that was fair and good; but in the Rays of thy heavenly Beauty, and in thy di

vine

vine Form, I behold every Thing that is fair and good united: There is nothing fair that can be brought equal or in Comparison with thee! which was the Caufe that I came (though too importunate perhaps) to gaze, and worship thee; who art rightly declared univerfal Mistress, and Sovereign of all Creatures.

So talked the cunning Serpent; and Eve, more amazed than before, replied unwarily, Serpent! thy over-praifing me leaves the Virtue of that Fruit in Doubt, which thou haft first tafted. But tell me, where does this Tree grow? And how far is it from hence? For the Trees of GOD, that grow in PARADISE, are a great many, and various of them, which are yet unknown to us; and our Choice lies in fuch an Abundance, that we leave the greateft Part of the Fruits untouched, and ftill hanging without Decay, till more MEN grow up to be provided for, and help to confume the Gifts of Nature.

To whom the wily Serpent chearfully answered, Empress the Way is eafy, and not long; beyond a Row of Myrtle-Trees upon a Plain, juft by a Fountain, firft paffing one fmall Thicket of flowing Myrrh and Balm; if thou pleafeft to accept of me for a Guide, I can foon conduct thee thither. Lead on then, faid Eve. He going before, rowled along fwiftly, and made intricate feem ftrait; being fwift to do Mischief: Hope and Joy elevated him, and brightened his Creft: As when an Ignus fatuus (x), which it is faid fome Evil Spirit often attends) hovering and blazing with a deluding Light, misleads the Night Wanderer through Mires, or Pools; fo the Serpent glittered, and led our credulous Mother EvE into

(y) Ignis Fatuus; i. c. A filly Fire; as we call Jack in the Lanthorn, and Will with the Whilp: Becaufe it refembles

thofe Things. It is a compounded clofe united Body of oily and fulphureous Matter, and fired Vapours, exhaled from the Earth.

Fraud;

Fraud; to the Tree which was prohibited by GOD, and was the Occasion of all our Mifery: Which when fhe faw, fhe fpoke thus to her Guide:

SERPENT! we might have fpared ourselves the Trouble of coming hither; this Fruit is not for me, though there be fuch an Abundance: Let the Credit of its Virtue remain ftill with thee; wonderful indeed, if it be the Cause of such Effects! but we neither may tafte of this.Tree, nor touch it: GoD commanded it fo, and left that Command the only one of Obedience: As for the reft, we are a Law to ourfelves; our own Reafon is our Law.

To whom the Tempter artfully replied: Indeed! hath God declared ye Lords of all Things in Earth or Air, and yet faid, that ye fhall not eat of the Fruit of all the Trees in the Garden? To whom Eve (yet without Sin) replied:

We may eat of the Fruit of every Tree in the Garden; but of this fair Tree in the Midft of it, God hath faid, ye fhall not eat thereof, neither fhall ye touch it least ye die. She had fcarce faid this, though but in few Words, when the Tempter, now grown bold, (though with Show of Zeal and Love to MAN, and Indignation at the Wrong he fuffered) begins to put on a new Part; and fluctuates about difturbed, as one moved to Paffion; yet with Decency, and as about to begin to speak of fome great Matter: As when of old fome renowned Orator in Athens (z), or free ROME, where Eloquence once flourished, ftood collected in himself, and before he fpoke, with various Motions and Gestures won upon the Audience';

(*) Athens; Heb. i. e. Wif. dom, Gr. i e, Oil: from Athen, another Name for Minerua, the

Goddess of Wisdom and Inventrefs of Oil; which bestowed her Name upon this City; or from

ence; fometimes beginning with a high Voice, and coming immediately to the Subftance of the Argument, as through Zeal too hafty to introduce it gradually: So the Tempter moving, ftanding or rearing up, thus paffionately exclaiming :

O WISE, Wisdom-giving, and facred Plant, Mother of Science! now I clearly feel thy Power within me; not only to discern Things in their firft Causes, but to trace the Ways of higheft Agents, let them be thought ever fo wife. Queen of this Universe ! don't believe these cruel Threats of Death; ye shall not die: How should ye die? By the Fruit? No; that gives ye Life to Knowledge: Shall ye die by him who threatens? Look on me, me! who have touched and tafted it, and not only live, but by venturing higher than my Lot, have attained to a Life and State more perfect than Fate meant me. Shall that be denied to MAN, which is free to Brutes? Or will GoD blow up his Anger for fuch a petty Trefpafs, and not rather praise your dauntless Virtue? Whom the Pain of threatened Death (whatever ftrange Thing Death may be) did not deter from atchieving what led to happier Life, and the Knowledge of Good and Evil? Of Good how juft is the Knowledge! and Evil, (if there be any fuch Thing as real Evil) why should not

Atbis the Daughter of Cranus, the fecond King of it, according to Justin, Lib. ii. c.6. Athens was the famous City and Univerfity of Greece, on the Coaft of Atti ca, the River of Cephius upon the Egean Sea, and once the Univerfal School of Mankind; where Arts and Sciences had their firft Advancement among the Greeks, under Socrates, Plato, and many other learned Masters. It was built by Cecrops, the Egyptian, the first King of it, who lived in the Days of Mofes,

about A. M. 2448. Before Jefus Chrift 1556 Years, seven hundred and eighty before the firft Olympiad, three hundred and feventy-five before the Siege of Troy: Then it was called Cecropia, Gr. i. e. The City of Cecrops; and now Sentines and 4thina, corruptly by the Turks as they do almoft all antient Names of Men, Cities, Countries, &c. But now Learning is quite loft there. The Venetians took it from the Turks, A. D. 1687.

that

that be known, fince it might be the easier fhunned? GOD therefore, if he be juft, cannot hurt you; if he did he would be not juft, not GOD; not feared then, nor obeyed; nor is it Pain that you yourselves are afraid of, but Death. Why then was this forbid ? Why, but to keep ye low, in Awe, and Ignorance, that fo ye might always worship him: He knows, that in the Day that ye eat of that Fruit, your Eyes (that though they feem clear to you, are very dim) fhall then be perfectly opened and cleared; and ye shall be like Gods, knowing both Good and Evil, in the fame Manner as they do: Since I, by eating, am internally become rational as a Man; by like Comparifon, ye fhall be as Gods, rifing to Deity from human Nature, as I from brutal to it. So it So it may be ye fhall die, that is by putting off human Nature, to become Gods; if fo, Death were to be wifhed for, no Matter how threatened, that brings no worse than this along with it: And what I pray are Gods, that MAN may not become, if he was to participate godlike Food with them? The Gods, as they happened to be firft, take that Advantage to impofe upon our Belief, that every Thing proceeds from them: Now I queftion it; for I fee this fair Earth, as it is warmed by the Sun, productive of every Kind; but I fee them produce nothing: If they made all Things, who was it that put the Knowledge of Good and Evil into this Tree, that whofo eats of the Fruit, forthwith without their Leave, attains Knowledge and Wifdom? And wherein lies the Crime, that MAN should attain to Knowledge this Way? What Hurt can your Knowledge do him? Or what can this Tree impart against his Will, if every Thing is his? Or is it Envy? Then I ask again, can Envy dwell among Gods?------ Thefe, thefe, and many other Reafons, prove the Need you ftand in of this fair Fruit; then human Goddess! gather it, and tafte it freely.