with Josephus I do not find that mans dominion did extend to the eating of Flesh till after Noah went out of the Ark and then it was permitted but certainly if we could return to our Primitive diet that life we should live by that food would be more full of health and vigour But I will say no more to this Point lest I offend the Chemical Doctors onely that man and beast did participate of one food Mans with a pleasurabe industry for so it was doubtless before the fall where 't is said God put man into the garden to dress it and to keep it but beasts with ease only without industry And therein man had the advantage for what food man produced by his industry satisfyed his knowledge equal to his appetite certainly the knowledge of the nature of productions and then the use of them to please all the senfes with their nutriture medicine was a gift as magnificent as reason is beyond insenfibility PARS SECUNDA The Text of the second Part. Cap. 1. ANd to every beast of the earth Verse 30. to every fowl of the air and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth wherein there is life I have given every green herb for meat and it was so Cap. 3. Verse 1. Now the serpent was more subtile then any beast of the field which the Lord God had made and he said unto the woman Yea hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden 2 And the woman said to the Serpent We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God hath said Ye shall not eat of it neither shall ye touch it lest ye dye 4 And the Serpent said unto the woman Yea shall not surely dye 5 For God doth know that in the day you eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as God knowing good and evil 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also to her husband with her and he did eat 7 And the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sowed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons 8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool or wind of the day and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden 9 And the Lord God called to Adam said unto him Where art thou 10 And he said I heard thy voyce in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself 11 And he said Who told thee that thou wast naked hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat 12 And the Man said The woman thou gavest to be with me she gave me of the tree and I did eat 13 And the Lord said unto the Woman What is this that thou hast done and the Woman said The Serpent beguiled me and I did eat 14 And the Lord said unto Serpent Because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all the cattel and above every beast of the field upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat all the daies of thy life 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel 16 And to the woman he said I will greatly multiply thy sorrows and thy conception in sorrow shalt thou bring forth Children and thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee 16 And unto Adam he said Because thou hast harkned to the voice of thy wife and hast eaten of the tree of the which I commanded thee saying thou shalt not eat of it Cursed is the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the daie of thy life 18 Thornes also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee and thou shalt eat the herbs of the field 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground for out of it wast thou taken for dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return 20 And Adam called his wifes name Eve because she was the mother of all living 21 Unto Adam also and his wife aid the Lord God make coats of skins and cloathed them 22 And the Lord God said Behold the man is become like one of us to know good and evil and now lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and live for ever 23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken 24 So he drove out the man and he placed at the East end of the garden of Eden Cherubims a flaming sword which turnd every way to keep the way of the tree of life Cap. 4. Ver. 1. And Adam knew his wife and she conceived and bare Cain and she said I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bore his brother Abel and Abel was a keeper of Sheep and Cain a tiller of the ground Cap. 5. Ver. 3 4 5. 3. And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years and knew his wife again and begat a son in his likeness after his Image and called his name Seth for she said God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel whom Cain slew 4. And the daies of Adam after he begat Seth were eight hundred years and he begat sons and daughters 5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty yeares and he dyed Cap. 1. Ver. 30. And to every Beast of the Earth § 1. and to every Fowl of the air and to every thing that creepeth upon the Earth wherein there is life I have given every Green Herb for meat Beasts Man being created as is supposed much about one time their food also was appointed the same there is only this differance that we find not any food assigned to them until Man was first served and then to shew the difference of their Appetites it is said to Man Behold I have given you every herb c. But to Beasts Fowls and creepers every green herb to shew that Beasts were led to their Food by Sence but Man by his Intellect If the vertue of the Plant do not satisfy his knowledge of it the Colour is not to intice the Eye is not to be judge of his Appetite though allowed to Beasts This Green is the first Colour that is mentioned in Scripture and this properly the first place and indeed no colour is so pleasing to nature and so stupifies the understanding it being impossible to
the taste and of a promising virtue What Woman could well resist those Temptations Now Adam had no more to tempt him as appears by the Text then an implicit Love and Kindness to his Wife for she gave it him without any perswasive induction that we read of and he did eat Now God did justly begin the punishment with the first offender the Serpent and gave sentence on him for tempting before he did it on those that were tempted one being a premeditate wilful and affronting act against his possitive Commands the other occasional Thou art Curst § 28. Cursing is an intentional Revenge and Revenge is mine saith God But because 't is sweet and pleasant to the tast and indeed hath a relish of Ambition we Mortals who have only power to intend and not a positive power to act revenge do Lavish our spirits into execrations which is an affront to the Deity as high as can be given and it is oft seen that by them they heap Coales of fire on their own heads for when there is such a Concretion of Evil spirits as attend Curses summon'd together they must fix somwhere and saith Solomon A curse causeless shall not take effect where it was intended And then it must necessarily fall upon him that did intend it which is but sutable to Divine Justice and therefore in things provoking our passions we must follow Gods Example herein who first examined the fact by these Interrogatives Where Who What and those acknowledged he gave his Curse and not before we are not to be guided by provocations but deliberations and the Targum says God call'd these three viz. Adam Eve and the Serpent into Judgment before he gave his sentence and we see that a Curse is a thing of that transendent Nature even Man and Beast and the Earth it self have felt th' effects of it And though David a Man after Gods heart did abound with them as we may read in his Psalms and imprecated God for their performance and many of them granted yet upon perusal of the History of his life we shall find many of them to take no effect on those he desired and some of them Retorted on himself and family God knows his own disposures best and that many times the success of our Curses would be the greatest Curse to our selves for he will execute them his own way So that we shew our duty and piety towards him in forbearing and our greatest folly in pronouncing them Above all Cattel § 29. and all beasts of the field By Cattel is meant tame Beasts and by Beasts of the field wild beasts as I have shewn elswhere Now in the first part of the third Chap. the Serpent is said to be the subtilest of the wild beasts and consequently more subtile then the tame for their want of fears and their having by a domestick Attendance almost all things necessary provided for them they have need of that subtilty or craft which is requisite for the wilder However the Curse seems first to descend on the tame beasts which in our Translation is rendered instead of Cattel Cursed be thou above thy fellows to shew that the tame were his fellows for therein was part of the Serpents subtilty to be too subtil for the tame by his dissimulation of his tameness and more subtile then the wild by Contriving more inventions I must confess I am posed at the Almighties severity herein unless it were because they were such fools to associate with a Beast of such a subtile and trecherous nature and it ought to be a Caveat to all innocents to be circumspect in their intermixture with such dangerous Companions yet this daily happens both in Families and States which can carse be prevented but by a sedulous care of our selves and actions and well weighing the nature and inclinations of others seeing it is our Fate to be intermixed with such we mush abstract the wisdom of the Serpent from his subtilty and be as wise as he and retain that innocency wherein we are Constituted whether it be like the Dove or Lamb or such other Creatures whose gentle natures ought to be our examples On thy Belly shalt thou go § 30. and Dust shalt thou eat all the dayes of thy Life The Targum of Jerusalem adds Thy feet shall be cut off and thou shalt cast thy skin every seaven years and there shall be deâ—ly poyson in thy Mouth Here the Targum explains this Curse by reading that his feet should be cut off and that he should cast his skin and his mouth be full of poyson which intimates that he had feet and that his skin or beauty was permanent and that his breath was sweet and pleasing before the curse Now it was not the want of feet that made the curse for many creatures have the like want as Snakes and Insects yet are accompted perfect in their kind Nor the eating dust for most do so for what creature in some proportion doth not daily eat it For though 't is said the Camelion lives by Aire yet it is the Atomes or dust in the aire that nourisheth it Nor casting the skin for most creatures do so every seaventh year and Physicians hold that the skins of serpents and Snakes so exuviated are very Medicinal nor having poyson in their mouth for most Creatures in some proportion afford the like both Man and Beast but the changing of that due frame proportion and constitution to another which is worse and that was and still is the curse that hangs on us For if our Eyes be made perspicuous our Eares Musical our Touch delicate our Tast distinctive our smell preservative our Limbs streight and our Minde pure and serene in bodies harmoniously Composed yet if we dim our Eyes deafen our Eares vitiate our touch taste or smell obfuscate our mindes by the ill contracts or habits of our bodies These are the curses upon the use of forbidden fruits that is the use and habit of Evil Actions for to use our sound and perfect constitutions otherwise then God by Reason prompts us to is a decurtation of our feet and an exuviation of our Constituted beauty which sills us with such venomous qualities that even our very Breaths are infections to those who are more virtuous Cap. 3. Verse 15. And I will put Enmity between thee and the Woman § 31. and between thy seed and her seed and it shall bruise his Head and thou shalt bruise his Heel The Targum of Onkelous reads the latter part of this verse thus Ipse Recordabitur He shall remember thee and what thou didst to him from the beginning and thou shalt observe him in the end The Targum of Jonathan renders that part thus Et erit And it shall come to pass when there shall be Sons of the Woman which obey the precepts of the Law they shall use their endeavour to strike thee at thy head but when they shall forsake the precepts of the Law thou
shalt study to bite them in their heels but to them it shall be a medicine to thee because they applied the medicine to the heels in the days of the King Messias This Text is of an ambiguous nature but because Jews and Christians make it the first Prophetick Text concerning a Messias and having written something of the Diversity of Religions I shall refer this to some other place to be discoursed of more at large And though my Notions herein may differ from other Writers yet without prejudice I hope to Christian Religion Cap. 3. Ver. 16. And to the woman he said § 32. I will greatly multiply thy sorrows in thy conception and in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children The Targum reads it I will multiply thy affliction and pains by the bloud of thy virginity and conceptiou which shews that as the Virgin Mary without fraction of any Membranes which causeth that virginate effusion of bloud and consequently pain and also without pain in conception or eduction brought forth a child so should every woman 't is suppos'd have enjoyed the like benefit had not this curse come upon them I confess 't is scarce conceivable how fractions or extensions of parts could be without pain but we see how Oyls and other Arts prove Emunctions and Lenitives And we need not doubt of the Almighties power and kindness in imparting unto them such knowledge whereby they should have enjoyed a progeny with pleasure both in Admission Ejection Conception and Emission without that Philosophical doom not onely upon Man but other creatures that all creatures after Coition are sad which I will not dispute whether it is because the pleasure is so short or some intermixture of pain concurrent or expectant so that there is an immediate and inexpressible sense of the departure of some Animal Spirits from them which are to supply another body as it were robbing them of their Native properties But for her complying with the Serpent and thereby disobeying God and Man she is justly doomed to those pains which certainly are no way compensated with those pleasures which Tirisius tells us of for those pleasures which are are rather Inductives and insnare into pains and tortures then any real pleasures for we may observe that those who enjoy the most are loaded with Diseases and Distempers either in Youth or Age able to restrain the most Libidinous from enjoying their Phansies more then Realities And thy desire shall be to thy husband § 33. Our Translation in the word Desire follows the Hebrew and Desires are in Latin Desideriae derived from Sydera the Stars in which formerly and now in this Age we place such an efficacy as to think they have a power over or vertue to guide our actions and such a desire ought every woman to have towards her husband Other Translators call Desire Cupiditas from Cupid which is Cuipio that is that our desires should be to such as to whom we may attribute a Piety or Goodness and upon the like account the wife ought to have her desires towards her husband Others render the Latin for Desire Amor that is a morte that she is to believe he is of power to preserve her even from dying by his vigilant care over her and therefore she ought to have her desires towards him even for her own preservation Others read Desire Conversio tua c. that she is to turn and move according as her husband thinks fit to govern for going two ways can never be succesful and is opposite to a Conjugated Love Others read Necessitus tua that is Necessasesse that is there is so perfect a necessity in obedience that it must be performed by the wife lest she cease to be or at least to enjoy any contentment to her self or husband The Targum reads it Appetitus tua a petione that is whatever she desires of her husband must be in a submissive and petitionary way Now though our Version saith onely Thy desire shall be to thy husband it doth not exclude his to her even in the same senses as before recited for doubtless as the question is undecided whether we see by Extramission or Intromission so it is in the desires between Man and Woman whether the object of him attracts her desires or the object of her attracts his or whether it be an unexpressible uniting of visuals in a moment by visuals I mean the form and figure of what is seen as well as that which sees And it is hard to find out this Attraction by other demonstration then this or the like Experiment Take a piece of Iron untouch'd by a Loadstone and such an other piece of Iron as hath been touched of an equal weight with that which is untouch'd lay these upon two pieces of Cork of equal weight and flote them upon the edges of a vessel of water then fix a thred from side to side of the vessel at an equal distance from the two Irons mounted on their Corks opposite to each other and the Irons with their Corks will by an equal pace swim towards the thread or centre to meet each other and then both will joyn with an amicable embrace as if neither would yield to an Attraction but by a stately easie and equal motion so mutually move to an union at their centre And though 't is said her desire shall be to her husband yet he is not to hide or retract his mutual and reciprocal love and desires but to let them meet in one centre and conjugated affection And he shall rule over thee § 34. Regulabi◠in our Translation that is he shall be as a King to guide thy publick affairs dominabitur says another that is he shall be a Director also in thy domestick concerns Both which we translate He shall rule over thee that is be a rule or guide to thy actions Or as Stars are supposed to guide inferior bodies by their influence so by his piety and exemplary life to direct and guide her to an upright conversation and in all hazards of life and death to cherish or prevent them And were this disposition in husbands and that imitation in wives the curse would be a blessing but the curse is still in refractoriness of obedience And women are still subject to repeat what the Serpent taught viz. that they may eat that is that they may tast of forbidden fruit and take irregular courses thinking to gain experimental knowledge and that they shall not die or be accused thereby for disobedience Cap. 3. Ver. 17. And to Adam he said § 35. Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife and hast eaten of the tree the which I commanded thee saying Thou shalt not eat of it It is the voice that gives the chief distinction to the several kinds of living creatures and the species of those kinds are also distinguished by it so that there is scarce any individual of any kind which hath not some
find out why nature should mantle her self more universally with this colour then any other unless it be admitted that the beams of the Sun on the sudden reflecting upon Earth do usually produce a Yellow colour which being mixt with the Azure colour of the Air and contemperd with the Liquid part of the Earth sends forth a Green For the mixture of Yellows and Blues produceth Greens And where it is denied to the superficies of the earth by shades or otherwise it unites its force and runs into the bodies of trees after asecret ascention mounts to the highest branches with a more sublime verdure And these green Vegetables were to invite the appetite of Beasts without inquiry it was Mans part properly to know their Natures and vertues Cap. 3. Verse 1. Now the serpent was more subtil then any Beast of the field which the Lord God had made § 2. It is conceived that beasts were made the Evening before man being the very fore-recited piece to Man so as they had the very assimilation of man by way of approximation to his creation and doubtless they did understand each others Dialects and God had them in so great regard above other Terrestrial Creatures that when he gave Dominion to Man Cap. 1. Verse 28. It was over Fish and Fowl and creeping things but not over beasts so that that Now whilst there was this Amity this conjugation of Tempers and Disposition between Man and Beast even Now That is Then The serpent was more subtile c. Whether this mas really a Serpent § 3. or the Devil in the Serpents shape I dispute not but conceive the Temptation might be by either for those who writ of Serpents make some of them even known to our age as the Basilisk and Scytala so beautiful and cunning that by their beauty splendor and subtilty entice many into destrustion and there is an other sort as the Lyzard that are so affectionate to Man that is preserves him from all dangers As for the first sort it was not likely that Eve in the state of Innocency should meet with such Nocent creatures and as to the other sort their nature disposeth not them to nocency But possibly the fruit being pleasant and the serpent discoursive the one might allurethe other perswade her to eat out of no evil intention but as incredulous that God would deny Eve the eating of so delicate a fruit But if it were the Devil in the Serpents shape then indeed he was Serpens Versatilis as the Vulgar read it that is Viro subtilior and consequently the subtilest Beast of the field And he said to the woman § 4. Yea hath God said Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden What Language the Devil or Serpent spake is not material but that which was natural to either was understood by both For it seems by the Text that that which was said by the Serpent was but as a reply to the Woman For saith the Serpent Yea hath God said as you tell me that you are not to eat of every tree of the garden So we see here were discourses tending to a temptation and she must be more Innocent then Eve in her Innocency who admits of such For methinks I hear the serpent say Hath that God who hath made you so beautiful endued you with all perfections given you all pleasures for your senses plac'd you in so sweet a garden where nothing is wanting to content your Mind or recreate your Body and can that God be so unkind after all his kindness to forbid you the Eating of a fruit so inconsiderable Yea hath God said so surely I will not believe it And so she takes the Devils Argument as granted without consulting her husband to whom the Command was given though inclusively to both By which means the Temptation went gently on Now though this discourse of the serpent may seem strange to remoter Ages yet I apprehend that in that time of Perfection Man could not be a stranger to the Dialect of all Creatures I mean in the highest considerations of comparing the Chaps and the Lips or other Tendons with inward intentions or desires and this is done by the judgment of the Eye But for that which we use by the judgment of the Ear we read that some in every age have attained to such diversities of times calls cryes expressing the mirth assistance acclamations joys or sorrows of several Birds and Beasts that Men Birds and Beasts have enjoyed a mutual intercourse of affections And the meanest Capacity finds that every kind of Creature which affords a sound is known not only in its distinct kind by its tone but every individual species of each kind is also known by their Guttural Labial Dental or Rostral sounds Nor is it prodigious to me that the Serpent should afford such perswasive discourses finding by Common observations that all Beasts Birds c. have a certain Raticination and a Language to express it the Horse speaks for his Provender the Dog for his meat and the Bird in the Cage for its seeds But I wonder more that Eve having doubtless a more perfect reason as yet in her unspotted Innocency could be perswaded by a beast or the Devil himself from neglecting her husband But they that will suffer their senses to master their Reason Love and Obepience will quickly prove wholly rebellious And therefore without her husband she replies Cap. 3. Verse 2. 3. 2. And the Woman said to the Serpent We may eat of the trees of the garden 3. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the Garden God hath said Ye shall not eat thereof § 5. See Part 1. Sect 15. I Observe that the Command was given to Adam before Eve was made of his Rib but it seems Adam had imparted that Command to Eve and that Command and in unction was sufficient for her to say that We may eat or we may not eat The wifes obedience implicitly depending upon the husbands He is to obey God and she him and in that she hath a double reward from God and him But when she strays from her husbands dictates for she had none from God we see what a curse she brought upon her self and on her tender and complying husband yea and upon the serpent which if not the Devil It may be meant only a piece of Courtship to her And therefore it is dangerous to admit of Temptations against positive Commands Neither shall ye touch it lest ye dye § 6. Here she gave the Serpent or Devil the first advantage by a false reply For first God had Commanded Adam that he should not eat of the tree cap. 2.17 and no mention in that Text of the fruit Secondly Nor did God ever command that he should not touch it Thirdly the tree of life was said to be in the miost of the garden which was not forbidden but the place of the tree of Knowledge
considerable is the Nicety between good and evil things many times good things prove poisons by their ill use and Poisons or ill things prove sometimes the best Antidotes Cap. 3. Ver. 12. And the man said § 23. The woman thou gavest to be with me she gave me of the tree to eat and I did eat Disobedience is the Nurse of Ingratitude and Ingratitude of Impudence Thus Adam instead of thanks for his Meet helper implicitly reviles God who gave her not considering that she was given rather to help then advise or if to advise yet he had the deliberative part in himself to do or not to do as he thought most prudent but without debating that with God he with impudence told God as it were that it was Gods fault to give her to him and since he had given her and that he was to shew all expressions of kindness unto her who had recommended it to him he thought himself obliged rather to observe her then him and thereupon without any more circumstance or excuse heard She gave it me and I did eat Cap. 3. Verse 13. And the Lord God said to the woman § 24. What is this that thou hast done God said to Adam Where art thou though he knew where he was and to the Woman What hast thou done though he knew what yet neither of these kind Questions could beget a civil or confessive answer but the Man said the Woman gave it to me and the Woman said the Serpent beguiled her but neither of them though they knew they had done the fact would acknowledge their own disobedience in doing it for then possibly God would have raised some Antidote from that or some other tree without a future Saviour to have Cured the infection of the Evil and to have fixt the benefit of the good But she ungrateful and Impudent as he Replies that the Serpent beguiled her and she did eat And the Woman said § 25. The Serpent beguiled me There need no inquiry into the History of Nature to know what kind of Serpent that was which beguiled Eve when as we see every Man is daily subject to be tempted by the same or the like Serpent Pride is this Serpent that tempts us to Ambitious actions Covetousness this Serpent that tempts us to injure others Luxury this Serpent that tempts us into forbidden Embraces Wine this Serpent that steales into our veines with arguments of Collour and Taste Improving the spirits and solacing our dejections until at last it so Captivates our Reason that when God asks where we are we cannot answer or what we have done we can only say with Eve The Serpent hath beguiled us Certainly it is a great punishment on our Natures that we cannot Judge or if we do that we connot refrain from Excuses and make those offences which in themselves are none For Ambition rightly placed is a vertue Covetousness Frugality Luxury if derived from the Constitution is but a more natural desire Wine a Comforter He is happy who can carry a Balance alwayes in his Mind to weigh his intentions and actions And what is thought or done not to be too Censorious of himself or others For there are certain positives wherein our Judgments connot err and therein to say the Serpent beguiled is no justifiable Excuse but in things indifferent Ecel 5. Solomons Rule is very good My Son let not thy mouth accuse thy self of sin make not those things sins which are more and Commit not those which Certainly are Cap. 3. 14. The Lord said unto the Serpent § 26. The Serpent is call'd the subtilest Beast yet doubtless every Creature hath a proportionable understanding of Gods voice Psal 19. The Heavens declare or speak the Glory of God which he first Communicates to them the Firmament speaks his handy work one day tells another what is to be done the next one night certifie another what deeds are done therein there is neither speech nor Language but their Voice is heard through the world Every individual thing either in its operation or virtual Communication speaks that to others which God speaks to them For speech is not only that of which the Ear participates but the other senses do as it were heare it equally with the Ear. We see the flowers speak their various colours this flower says I am Red another Yellow a third Mixt and we do but repeat their speech in saying what Colour they bear And besides what individuals do afford our senses they also administer discourses to our Reason and Judgment how this or that is to be virtually applyed from one we get a letter from another a syllable from a third a word from a fourth a sentence from a fifth an effectual speech And all Creatures though we know not how they understand their proportion of speech which God speaks to them yet they understand it and only Man hath the disputative part granted to him for though the Serpent was the subtilest Beast yet God would hear none of his subtile replications or Evasions But God said to Adam Where art thou And Who told thee that thou wert naked And Hast thou eaten c. To which three questions Adam gave three answers Thou gavest me the Woman she gave it me and and I did eat Then he put but one Question to Eve What hast thou done To which she made two answers The Serpent beguiled we And I did eat to shew that she also was Limited in her tongue though she would give two answers to one question So that by this Text we see that Man may enjoy a certain discourse or ratiocination with God for this was after Adams fall but the Woman a very little But other Creatures are Subject to his Voyce without ratiocinating for without Answer from the Serpent The Lord said to the Serpent Because thou hast done this § 27. c. It is not sufficient to refrain from Evil our selves but we are not to tempt others to it either by precept suggestion or Example That this Serpent had a Cunning wit the Text shews that he was Beautiful some Writers affirm Whether he eat or not let Commentators agree for if considered as a Serpent what good was the knowledg of good to him if Considered as the Devil the eating could not add to his Knowledge of goodness because he knew more in his Primitive perfection then could be added to him by secondare meanes However we may believe either by remembrance of his former Condition or by eating this he knew goodness notionally not practically but the Evil he not only knew but tempted Eve to the Knowledge of it And this by his subtilty and Beauty two such temptations to that sex that their vertues must seem to resist the harmony of Nature by resisting of them especially when they meet in one Persorn And herein methinks Eve was more excusable then Adam for here was a Lovely Serpent a delicate Fruit pleasing to the Eye delightful to