seeks its prey, its poison-fang, and its voracious appetite, no other animal is so complete a representative of the sensual principle of man's mind and life. "A wicked and adulterous generation" the Lord calls "a generation of vipers" (Matt. iii. 7; xii. 34); and they are also described in Deuteronomy, where it is said, "Their wine is the wine of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps" (xxxiii. 33). This principle, like the serpent in a bad sense, is distinguished for its wily prudence, its fascinating influence, and its deadly venom; in its sensuous reasonings it always cleaves to the ground, and is ravenous after all kinds of carnal pleasure. And when man listens to the serpent's voice, he eats of the forbidden fruit, and forfeits his purity and peace.

From this interpretation of the serpent, we may see the reason why the Lord Jesus Christ,-the Messiah,—in the earliest prophecy of the Word respecting Him, is represented under the figure of “the seed of the woman" that should "bruise the serpent's head." For He came and assumed human nature with all its hereditary infirmities, being born of a woman, that He might subdue the sensual principle, and thus destroying in his Humanity what the apostle calls "the works of the devil, that He might give authority to all that believe

away the precious fruit in triumph, and is | note referred to is as follows: "The fall, retherefore represented in the constellation as trampling on the serpent's head.

"We have the assurance of Bishop Horsley, that the Church of England does not demand the literal understanding of the document contained in the second (from verse 8) and third chapters of Genesis as a point of faith, or regard a different interpretation as affecting the orthodoxy of the interpreter:" "and indeed no unprejudiced man can pretend to doubt, that if, in any other work of Eastern origin, he met with trees of life and knowledge, talking and conversable snakes, he would want no other proofs that it was an allegory he was reading, and intended to be understood as such."-Coleridge's Aids to Reflection, p. 250.

"The legitimate or illegitimate alternative of human activity, represented in the first pages of the Bible by the tree of the knowledge [or distinction] of good and evil (Gen. ii. 17), is expressed in a general manner in these words of Jesus: 'A good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth good things: and an evil man, out of the evil treasure, bringeth forth evil things' (Matt. xii. 35; Luke vi. 45). On the allegory of the forbidden fruit, see Book 11 ch. xx., note 7; p. 66, note 48." The

lated in Gen. iii. 1-6, brings into action, under the veil of an allegory, the three fundamental passions, the sources of all sin,-the passion of independence, the desire to act without control,-'Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?—the passion of pride, the desire of becoming greater,-'Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil,'-and the passion of sensuality, the 'fleshly lusts that war against the soul,-The tree appeared good for food, and pleasant to the eyes.' He who does not recognize moral evil in this picture. is but ill acquainted with the world and with his own heart. IT IS NO LONGER DOUBTED that this narrative is allegorical; and we go still further, it was fitting that it should be so; an exact analysis of the passions was impossible in the new-born experience of the first ages. . . . In order to relate the origin of evil, it was necessary to present the fact in an emblematic picture."-Christianity; its perfect adaptation to the Mental, Moral, and Spiritual Nature of Man, by A. Coquerel, translated by the Rev. D. Davidson, M. A., with a Preface written expressly for the English edition by the author. This work has been received in England with signal approbation.

on Him to do likewise" (1 John iii. 8). The same was signified by the serpent of brass 145 which Moses, by divine direction, set upon a pole, that the people, when grievously bitten by the poisonous fiery serpents of the wilderness, might look thereunto and be healed (Num. xxi. 8, 9). In a good sense, by brass, or, as it should be rendered, copper, is signified natural goodness, flowing from the rational discernment of the truth; as by gold is signified goodness of a celestial quality, flowing from the inmost perceptions of love and faith. Hence, in describing a highly advanced state of the human mind and the church, the prophet says, "For brass I will bring gold” (Isa. lx. 17). It was from this signification of brass, that it was required to be presented to the Lord in the free-will offerings for the tabernacle, and that the altar of burnt-offering was made of this metal (Ex. xxv. 3; xxxix. 39). The serpent of brass, therefore, pointed out that sin of the Israelites which was the immediate cause of their distress, and directed their attention to the only certain means of restoration. They had loathed the bread of heaven, and desired the means of indulging their gross sensual appetites. This sensualism was represented by the venomous serpents which bit them. But Moses made a serpent of brass, and elevated it on a pole. The Holy Word, as the great prophet of God, instructs us that we can only escape the deadly fangs of sensuality by subjugating the natural mind, becoming circumspect in all our conduct, and receiving from the Lord new external as well as internal principles of goodness, which will sanctify our lowest desires, and exalt them into connection with Himself. The Lord, in this respect, is our Divine exemplar. He bruised, in his Human Nature, the serpent's head. By his inherent omnipotence He subdued all things to Himself. He glorified his Humanity, and united it forever to Himself; thus He became the very divine good even to the last and lowest principles of rational and sensual life. He alone is omnipresent, infinitely circumspect, and provident over all, so that to Him, under the deadly plague of sin, are we to look for deliverance with faithful and obedient hearts; that, like as He conquered the serpent and glorified his Humanity, so we may experience, through the influence of his Spirit, a full renewal of our carnal minds, that

is the original metal intended by the Hebrew word translated brass, and which lit erally means, to scrutinize."-Nat. Hist. of the Bible, Eng. ed., p. 55.

145 Speaking of brass, Harris says that it process. There can be no doubt that copper "is a mixed metal, for the making of which we are indebted to the German metallurgists of the thirteenth century. That the ancients knew not the art of making it is almost certain. None of their writings even hint at the

they may no longer be at enmity with Him. He therefore says, 'As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John iii. 14, 15).

When, however, the true signification was lost, the Israelites, prone to adopt the idolatry of the nations around them, worshipped the serpent of brass as a god, and burnt incense to it, and its meaning then became reversed; wherefore, Hezekiah, the good king of Israel, broke it in pieces (2 Kings xviii. 4). To instruct us that, if we pervert these holy truths by inwardly cherishing sensual affections, and substitute for real goodness the specious appearance of an empty morality, we shall be tempted to look to it in the dangerous spirit of vainglory, and even to rely upon it for acceptance with God. Under this superstitious pretext of holiness we shall become worshippers of ourselves, and make our lusts our lawgiver. In this sad state, like the wise and good king of Israel, we must break our idol in pieces, whatsoever false semblance it may assume. We must renounce the infatuated delusions of self-righteousness, to which such worship gives birth; and in the spirit of true repentance and humility we must conform, from inward motives as well as in outward life, to the instructions of true wisdom. For outward conformity to truth, without inward goodness, is corrupt, empty "as the sounding brass;" and, instead of being available to promote our advancement in the regenerate life, will only bring us into states of eternal condemnation.146

146 "In the account of man's fall, it will be observed that there is no mention of the interference of an evil spirit. And in the whole course of the sacred history there is not one text from which we can rightly infer that there is an order of beings, such as are generally represented by the fallen angels, or that sin existed before Eve's transgression.

...

| beings like the fallen angels. . By the devil and his angels (Matt. xxv. 41) is meant the whole body of wicked souls. . . . This question may be asked: If such be the case, how came the opinion so general respecting fallen angels, and whence was it derived? There can be no doubt respecting the source whence it was obtained. The first notion of the existence of a fallen angel is found in the Zendavesta. The Ahriman of Zoroaster is the original model of Satan. The later Jews became conversant with the Persian mythol

How incredible it is, that an order of angels, who enjoyed much nearer communion with God [than man], and far excelled him in every intellectual faculty, should be the authors of sin. . . . The two passages (2|ogy, and introduced this, with various other Pet. ii. 4-6, and Jude 5-7), which may be thought by some to establish the received opinions, evidently allude to the same event, 'the great apostasy of Cain.' . . . And no argument can be drawn from these passages, unsupported by collateral evidence, in favor of the generally received opinions. There is a perfect silence in Scripture respecting any fallen angels, or the existence of sin prior to Adam's transgression; our Lord in his discourses never uses an expression which implies such a notion; nor is mention made [by Him] of any separate class of

notions, into their writings; and it seems to have been adopted by the early Christians without any inquiry into the Scriptural authority upon which it rested. Our immortal countryman, Milton, by clothing this fiction of the Persian mythology in all the beauty and attraction of poetry, has so recommended it to our imagination, that we almost receive it as of divine authority; and we feel a reluctance to be convinced that all his splendid fabric is based on falsehood."— Dr. Lamb's Heb. Hicrog., p. 112 et seq.

CHAPTER XVIII.

HISTORY OF THE FLOOD, THE ARK, AND OF NOAH AND HIS POSTERITY, AN ALLEGORY; OR, RATHER, A SPIRITUAL HISTORY CLOTHED IN THE DIVINE LANGUAGE OF CORRESPONDENCES.

HE references made to Noah and the flood in the Bible are very

THE

few, viz. Isa. liv. 9; Ezek. xiv. 20; Matt. xxiv. 38; Luke xvii. 27; 1 Pet. iii. 20; 2 Pet. ii. 5; iii. 6; Heb. xi. 7. They give no indication whatever, when properly translated and rightly understood, of having respect to any physical event.

The history of a universal flood as recorded in the sixth, seventh, and eighth chapters of the book of Genesis, is not an inspired account of a flood of literal waters sweeping over the whole earth, but of a devastating inundation of false persuasions and evil lusts, superinduced by licentious conduct and carnal security, over the whole church collectively and the mind individually, which, sweeping away all the landmarks of goodness and truth, accomplished a judgment upon a perverted generation. "The flood came and took them all away" (Matt. xxiv. 39), and thus inaugurated a new epoch in human history. A new dispensation or religion was mercifully established, sig. nified by the ark in which righteous Noah, his family, and all kinds of living creatures were preserved from destruction. Hence the apostle Peter writes concerning the ark, and speaks of it as the means of salvation, saying, "The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), by the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. iii. 21).

Now, the flood is represented, according to most chronologists, as having taken place about four thousand two hundred years ago; yet there are trees believed to have been in existence at least five thousand years, and recent researches have brought Egyptian monuments to light considered to be above six thousand years old. But, I would ask, if this history were to be understood in its merely literal sense, of what real use is it to the immortal soul? How does it advance

our progress in the divine life? How does it prepare us, as all revelation professes to do, for the kingdom of heaven? It must refer to a far more terrible judgment than that which includes only the destruction of the bodily life, even of the mass of mankind then inhabiting the earth. It describes, in natural and figurative language, a flood which now and in all ages ruins and sweeps away the immortal soul, and teaches us that an ark of eternal salvation is always provided for the humble, penitent, and faithful believer, in which he may be prepared for an eternal state of blessed association with angels and conjunction with the Lord.

The purpose of the ark is described to have been the preservation of every living thing of all flesh; and for this end he was to take into the ark, firstly, his own family, consisting of eight persons, together with seven pairs of all clean animals, and pairs of everything that creepeth upon the earth; and, secondly, he was commanded to take into the ark "of all food that was eaten" a sufficiency for at least a year and ten days. Now, the ark, being described as three hundred cubits of eighteen inches long, fifty cubits broad, and thirty cubits high, could not have been of larger capacity than the Great Eastern steamship. Sir Isaac Newton and Bishop Wilkins make the tonnage of the ark less than that vessel; but Dr. Arbuthnot, by increasing the cubit to twenty-two inches, makes the dimensions larger. But we may judge how insufficient such a vessel would be from the fact which Dr. Pye Smith admits, "that of existing mammalia (or animals which suckle their young), more than a thousand species are known; of birds, fully five thousand; of reptiles, very few of which can live in water, two thousand; of insects, using the word in the popular sense, the number of species is immense, to say one hundred thousand would be moderate; each has its appropriate habitation and food, and these are necessary to its life; and the larger number could not live in water. Also the innumerable millions upon millions of animalcules must be provided for, for they have all their appropriate and diversified [food], places, and circumstances of existence." Relation between the Holy Scriptures and Geological Science, page 135.

Nor do these numbers form the only difficulty; for, as the same writer observes, "All land animals have their geographical regions, to which their constitutional natures are congenial, and many could not live in any other situation. We cannot represent to ourselves the idea of their being brought into one small spot, from the polar regions, the torrid zone, and all the other climates of Africa, Europe,