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plained in 14, 15 Verf. And the Lord God faid unto the Serpent, Because thou haft done this, thou art curfed above all Cattle, and above every Beaft of the Field: upon thy Belly fhalt thou go, and Duft fhalt thou eat all the Days of thy Life. And I will put Enmity between Thee and the Woman, and between thy Seed and her Seed: It shall bruife thy Head, and thou shalt bruise his Heel. But to call it a fanciful Solution, as that Author does, in which view it can neither be of Ufe to Morality nor History, is to make Mofes fo injudicious and trifling a Writer, as muft fink his Genius and Defign below thofe of the worst Fabulists or Compofers of Metamorphofes. In the next Verse the fingular Pains, that are laid upon Women in Child-Bearing, are accounted for, and the Foundation of that Submiffion they owe their Hufbands is laid. Unto the Woman He Said, I will greatly multiply thy Sorrow, and thy Conception; In Sorrow thou shalt bring forth Children: And thy Defire fhall be to thy Husband, and he shall rule over thee. a The Unfruitfulness of the Ground, and the Neceffity of Man's great Labour in the Cultivation of it are accounted for in the following Words. And unto Adam be faid, Because Thou haft bearkened unto the Voice of thy Wife, and haft eaten of the Tree, of which I commanded Thee, faying, Thou shalt not eat of it: Curfed is the Ground for thy Sake; In Sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the Days of thy Life. Thorns also and Thiftles fhall it bring forth to Thee: And Thou shalt

a Verf. 16.

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eat the Herb of the Field. a Then follows an Account of the Frailty and Mortality of our Race. In the Sweat of thy Face fhalt thou eat Bread, till thou return unto the Ground; For out of it wast thou taken: For Duft Thou art, and unto Duft fhalt thou return. b I carry this View no farther because hitherto only has the Truth of the Mofaic Writings been at prefent called in Question.

THESE are the Things whofe Natures and prefent Manner of Existence Mofes has accounted for in this his Relation of the Creation and Fall. We are Witneffes that the Things do yet exist, and therefore they must have been brought into this State of Existence by fome Means or other. Whether Mofes's Manner of accounting for them is the true one or not, muft depend intirely on his Veracity. Since he has accounted for them, and fince his Description of their Origin has a strong and infeparable Connection with a Series of true Hiftory, I think We cannot behold fuch an Attempt in any other Light than as historical. His Writings are manifeftly a Relation of fome of the principal Revolutions both in the moral and natural World from the Beginning to his own Time. He writes the History of fallen Man, and he writes the Hiftory of Man's Fall. If we can prove, that he has afcribed any one of these Revolutions to wrong Caufes, or that, in any one Period, he has copied only from his Imagination, what is this but overthrowing his Veracity? Fabulifts may convey their Moral in

a Verf. 17, 18. b Verf. 19.

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feigned, but probable, Stories, making their Actors and Characters ftill confiftent with the Nature of Things, which is the Case of Allegory: Or they may form a new Creation of their own, and then the Production will be an Apologue: But, when a profeffed Historian takes in Hand to account for the prefent Nature of Things, and to deliver the Causes of their existing in the Manner we now see them exift, to do this in a Way different from the Truth can proceed from Nothing but Ignorance, or a Defire to mislead'; and the Author of fuch a Work, is not to be called an Allegorift, but a Deceiver.

IF, to thefe Arguments for a Belief that the Story of the Creation and Fall was intended for an Account of real Facts, we add the facred Teftimony of fome Paffages of later Scriptures concurring to induce the fame Belief, I hope no more need be added.

WHEREVER it is referr'd to in the subsequent Writings, both of the Old and New Testament, it is constantly done as to a Relation literally true, and literally understood. As one powerful Instance of this Kind we may again return to the Fourth Commandment, and those other Paffages which establish or inforce the Obfervation of the Sabbath. For they not only reft the Obligation to this religious Service upon the Mofaical Account of the Creation, and therefore neceffarily fuppofe its Truth: but also further, in exprefs Terms affert it. Thus the Fourth Commandment affirms that in Six Days the Lord made

Heaven

Heaven and Earth, the Sea, and all that in them is, and refted the Seventh Day: wherefore the Lord bleffed the Sabbath Day, and hallowed it. a Again: Wherefore the children of Ifrael fhall keep the Sabbath, to obferve the Sabbath throughout their Generations, for a perpetual Covenant. It is a Sign between Me and the Children of Ifrael for ever: For in Six Days the Lord made Heaven and Earth, and on the Seventh Day he refted, and was refreshed. b Here may not improperly be added, what the Author of the Epiftle to the Hebrews says, For He Spake in a certain Place of the Seventh Day on this wife, and God did reft the Seventh Day from all his Works. If then the Mofaic Account of the Creation be fictitious, the Foundation on which this Duty is laid is imaginary, and the Obligation grounded thereon ceases. The Creation of the First Man and Woman, with the Order and Manner of their Creation and Tranfgreffion, are Points whofe Validity is fupported in the following Paffages. For a Man ought not to cover his Head, for as much as he is the Image and Glory of God; but the Woman is the Glory of the Man. For the Man is not of the Woman: but the Woman of the Man. d The First Man is of the Earth, Earthy. For Adam was firft formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the Woman being deceived was in the Tranfgreffion. But I fear left by any Means as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his Subtilty, so your

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a Exod. 20. 11. b Exod 31.16, 17. c Hebr. 4. 4. d 1 Cor. 11.7,8. e 1 Cor. 15.47. f 1 Tim. 2. 14.

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Minds fhould be corrupted from the Simplicity that is in Chrift. a

AGAIN. We may behold our Saviour himfelf establishing and fecuring the Practice of a moral Duty upon the Credit of this fame Relation: And making it the Rule and Standard of that Affection which ought to fubfift between Man and Wife. The Pharifees alfo came unto him tempting him, and faying unto him, is it lawful for a Man to put away his Wife for every Caufe? And He anfwered and faid unto them, Have ye not read, that He which made them at the Beginning made them Male and Female? and faid, for this Caufe fhall a Man leave Father and Mother, and fhall cleave to his Wife: And they twain shall be one Flefb. Wherefore they are no more twain but one Flefb. What therefore God hath joined together, let not Man put afunder. b It cannot be thought tedious to run over the fame Difcourfe in the Words of another Evangelift. And the Pharifees came to him and asked him, is it lawful for a Man to put away his Wife? tempting him. And be anfwered and faid unto them, what did Moses command You? And they faid, Mofes fuffered to write a Bill of Divorcement, and to put put ber away. And Jefus answered and faid unto them, For the Hardnefs of your Heart he wrote You this Precept. But From the Beginning of the Creation, God made them Male and Female. For this Cause shall a Man leave his Father and Mother, and cleave to his Wife; and they twain fhall be one Flesh: fo then they are

a 2 Cor. 11. 3. b Matth. 19. 3 &c.

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