THÆAUTUS, so often mentioned by Sanchoniatho, attributed some Deity to the Nature of the Serpent; an Opinion approved by the Phenicians, therefore look’d upon as holy and immortal, and comes into the sacred Mysteries^[395].

They represented the World by a Circle, in the middle of which was a Serpent, representing the good Demon, or Genius of the World, by which ’tis animated, and is a Symbol of the Almighty Creator. Behold here the Blasphemy of Satan, in giving to God the Form of a Serpent, which he had borrow’d himself to make war against God in Paradise. They sometimes represented their Gods with the Bodies of Serpents, and honour’d those odious Animals with divine Worship, as Symbols of Apollo, of the Sun, and of Medicine, and were put into the Charge of Ceres and Proserpine.

HERODOTUS observes, that in his time, near Thebes, there were to be seen tame Serpents, adorn’d with Jewels, and consecrated to Jupiter, which did no harm to any body: When they died, they were buried in Jupiter’s Temple^[396]. Ælian speaks of domestick Serpents, that were in the Houses of the Egyptians, and look’d upon as household Gods; and of another Serpent worshipped in a Tower at Melitus in Egypt, that had a Priest and other Officers attending it, and served every day upon an Altar with Meal kneaded up with Honey, which the next day was found to be eaten. In Melite Eg. Draco divinis honoribus afficitur in turri quadam ... adsunt ei sacerdotes & ministri; mensa ... ex farina subacta.... Herod. lib. ii. cap. 17.

The Phenicians also sacrificed to Dragons, calling them their good Angels, their propitious and kind Spirits. Nothing more common in the Heathen Religion, than the Appearance of a Serpent in some Form or other.

The Babylonians worshipped a Dragon, which the Prophet Daniel, by a Commission from the King, killed; which, one would think, was sufficient to convince the Royal Idolater of his egregious Stupidity in worshipping a Creature as Conservator of Mankind, that could not preserve its own Life. They represented the World by a Circle in the Form of a Greek Theta Θ, and the good Demon, by a Serpent in the midst of it; under which Figure, the Protectors of Countries and Cities, called tutelary Gods, were worshipped.

The Arabians reputed Serpents sacred Beings, and therefore would allow no Violence to be offered to them; and this Superstition yet remains among those People, according to Veslingius, says my Author. They take them into their Houses, feed and worship them as the Genii, or Guardians of the Place: Not only Men, but every kind of Things, had its peculiar Genius. Two were assigned to each Person, a good and evil Genius, and those were thought to attend them from the Cradle to the Grave. We read of a sacred Dragon that was kept in Phrygia in Asia Minor, whose Residence was in a Wood, dedicated to Diana, Goddess of the Woods.

Among other strange Animals in the East-Indies, Alexander found in a Cave, a monstrous Dragon, which the Inhabitants counted sacred, and was adored by them, and daily supplied with Food: The poor, ignorant, superstitious People, humbly addrest the Conqueror, not to attack that holy Place, and disturb the Repose of their God. The victorious Army hearing its hideous and dreadful Roarings, were not a little terrify’d; they only saw its monstrous Head, when stretch’d out of its Mansion, and its Eyes appeared to them to be as big as a large Macedonian Buckler, a Species of defensive Armour^[397].

The King of Calicut (in the East-Indies, the most powerful of all the Malabar Princes) causes little Cottages to be erected for sacred Serpents, to guard them against the Inclemency of the Weather, and ’tis made Death to hurt them, being they are look’d upon as heavenly Spirits; and they believe them to be such for this Reason, because they kill Men so suddenly by the Wound they give, which is only a little Puncture, and would not prove fatal if given by other Creatures.

It is observed by some, that Serpents at this day are highly honour’d in the Kingdom of Calicut, on this side the Ganges, where the Inhabitants call their King Samori, or Zamorin, that is, Sovereign Emperor, and God upon Earth. The Dragon being a Serpent of the vigilant Tribe, was constituted and made Guardian of their Houses, of their oracular Temples, and of all their Treasures.

These Protectors of Places and Possessions, they call’d Tutelary Gods, and were worshipp’d by them under the Symbol of Serpents, without whose Sanction no Methods of Protection were available.

It is remarkable, that where the Figure of two Serpents was erected in any place, it was look’d upon as a Sign of consecrated Ground; that is, that the Place was holy, being dedicated to some God; for which Superstition they are ridiculed by one of their own Writers, viz. Persius the Satirist, that lived under Nero, who tells us, that Children were forbid to empty themselves in those Places, and not so much as make-water, for the Place is holy, as appears by the Picture of the two Serpents; the Language of which is, Profane not holy Ground.

Would you, Sir, have your Poem pass for a sacred Composure, then paint two Serpents in the Front of it.

Behold here the Original of that Popish Superstition, which forbids Men to make-water in the Church-Yard^[398].

At Alba, in a Wood not far from Juno’s Temple, is a Dragon worshipp’d by the Inhabitants, and for their greater Honour, fed by Virgins, thereby intimating, that Innocence was a proper Attendant on the Gods.

In Epirus, south of Macedonia, is a certain place sacred to Apollo, and wall’d about, within which are kept sacred Dragons, fed likewise by a Virgin Priestess, uncloathed, which they believe to be most acceptable to their idol Gods^[399]; called by Juvenal, one of their own Poets, wenching Gods.

The Epiroticks, who highly venerated Apollo, honour’d his Temple with a consecrated Dragon, which they worshipp’d in solemn remembrance of his killing the Pythonic Serpent. It were well if the same Spirit of Gratitude reign’d amongst Britons, towards the Heroes that deliver’d their Country from the great Ecclesiastical Dragon, by the glorious Revolution.

Near Lavinium was a Grove of serpentine Gods, dedicated to Juno of Argos, which was a City in Peloponnesus (famous for the Shrine of Æsculapius) now the Morea, one of whose Rivers is called Styx; or rather a Well, whose Water is so cold and venemous, that it often kills such that drink thereof; and therefore design’d by the Poets, to be a River of Hell: ’Tis said by some, that Alexander was poison’d with it.

It’s well known what Worship was paid to the Serpent at Epidaurus, a Peleponnesian City, and the Manner how ’twas pretended that Serpent was brought to Rome, which is as follows, viz.

The Romans being sorely distrest by a Plague, they sent a Galley with Ambassadors to Epidaurus, to bring the Serpent consecrated to Æsculapius to Rome, which of its own accord went aboard the Galley, and which was landed in the Isle of Tyber, where divine Honours were paid to it; upon which the Plague ceased.——Take it as represented by the Historian, who says, ... That the Plague raging terribly at Rome, and in the Vicinity, above three Years, did not abate, by any divine or human Remedy, tho’ Men had tried both; therefore by the Counsel of the Delphic Oracle, ten Ambassadors were sent to fetch the Statue of Æsculapius, that was ador’d in the Body of the great Serpent; hereupon, a very strange thing ensued, and manifestly true, both from many faithful Historians, and building the Temple (dedicated to it) in the Isle of Tyber.

When the Roman Ambassadors had delivered their Commands to the Epidaurians, who brought them into the Temple of Æsculapius ... while they were admiring a huge Shrine, a great Serpent sliding of a sudden from the Adytum (which was a Place of Retirement in the Pagan Temples, where Oracles were given, into which none but Priests were admitted) upon sight of it the Priests, in a devout Posture, said to the Company, that the Deity shrouded itself in that Form, and when it appear’d in this Fashion, ’twas look’d upon as a happy Omen.

The Serpent was seen for two Days in the Temple, and afterwards disappeared, but on the third Day it past thro’ the Croud (which gazed on and worship’d) and went directly to the Port where the Roman Galley stood; and having enter’d into it, laid itself down in the Cabin of Q. Ogulnius, the chief Ambassador. They set sail from thence ... and soon arrived at Rome. The whole City came out to see this wonderful Thing——Altars were built, Incense burnt, and Sacrifices offer’d. The Serpent swam over to the Isle of Tyber, (which afterwards was called Æsculapius’s Isle) and since was never seen.

The Senate concluding this Island to be the Place chosen by the God, decreed that a Temple should be built for Æsculapius there—whereupon the Plague ceased. The Temple grew famous for rich Offerings, in Consideration of their Deliverance from the Plague by that Deity^[400].

VALERIUS MAXIMUS says, that the Priests looking into the Sibyls Books, observed there was no other way to restore the City to its former Health, but by bringing the Image of Æsculapius from Epidaurus ... upon which Ambassadors were sent^[401].

The Poets and Mythologists, in order to shew there was no Distemper but Æsculapius could cure, said, he raised the Dead. Thus at the Request of Diana, he restor’d Hippolytus to Life, who had been torn to pieces by his Horses. We can’t doubt of the Credulity of the People in thinking him rank’d among the Gods, after so many Temples, Inscriptions, and Medals dedicated to his Memory.

The most famous Temples consecrated to Æsculapius, were that of Epidaurus^[402], that in the Isle of Co, that of Cyrene, that of Pergamos, that in the Isle of Tyber^[403].

As to the Inscriptions in honour of Æsculapius, Gruterus has these following, viz.

N. B. The Title of Conservator, or Saviour, was the ordinary Elogium of Æsculapius.

In the Isle of Co, there was a Coin whereon Æsculapius was called the Saviour; and so on a Coin of Ancyra. Games are also mentioned, instituted in honour of him as Saviour. The Symbol of Æsculapius was a Serpent, or Dragon, about a little Rod, as may be seen in several Medals, and by the Testimony of the Poet^[404]. Wherever he was worship’d in Statues of a human Figure, a Staff was put into his Left-hand, with a Serpent about it.

This seems to be the reason why Antiquity represents the first Masters of Physick (as Hermes, Æsculapius, Hippocrates, in their Statues and Medals) with a Viper added to their Figure; and also why they worship’d those Physicians under the Form of Serpents^[405].

The Serpent of Æsculapius, the reputed God of Physick, had its Rise from the miraculous Cures done by Moses’s Serpent in the Camp of Israel. Serpents of bright and golden Colour were all counted sacred to Æsculapius, and were cicur’d, or made tame by human Arts. A Dragon was usually annex’d to his Image, and to that of Health, nothing being thought available without the Presence of a Serpent.

At Pella in Macedonia, the Royal Seat, and Alexander’s Birth-place, were Dragons of a large Bulk, but of a gentle Nature, maintain’d at the Expence of the Government, as Creatures bearing a sacred Character, and worthy of the publick Regard. Because many tame Serpents were kept in that Place, the fabulous Poets said, Alexander was born of a Serpent.

The People of Argos in Greece, had Serpents in such great Veneration, that nobody was suffer’d to kill them with impunity^[406]. The Pagan Temples were wont to be haunted with Serpents, in so much that it grew into a Phrase of Speech, the sacred Serpent^[407]. And thus Serpents are deified and solemnly enrolled among the Gods.

SANCHONIATHON, a Phœnician Historiographer, and Philo Biblius, who translated his Antiquities, have left us a full Account of the Origin of the Apotheosis, or Canonization of Serpents^[408]; which leads me to say something of what the Ancients called Apotheosis of departed Souls, and the Strange Ceremonies used in the Apotheosis or Deification of the deceased Emperor, who had deserved well of their Country.

APOTHEOSIS among the Ancients was a Pagan Ceremony whereby Emperors and great Men were placed among the Gods, called also Deification, and Consecration: Temples and Altars were erected to the new Deities, viz. Serpents and Men, Sacrifices offered to them; and for that end, Colleges of Priests were instituted for the Honour of these Demi-Gods.

It was one of the Doctrines of Pythagoras, which he borrowed from the Chaldeans, that useful and virtuous Persons, after their Death, were raised into the Order of the Gods. Hence the Ancients deified all the Inventors of Things that were beneficial to Mankind, and those who had done Services of Importance to their Country.

By degrees these new Gods grew very numerous. One of their own Poets rallying them for frequent Deifications, introduces poor Atlas, who is said to bear the Heavens on his Shoulders, complaining, that he was ready to sink under the Number and Weight of so many new Gods, as were every day coin’d, and added to the Heavens, which made his Shoulders to warch. N. B. Atlas in Anatomy is the Name of the first Vertebra of the Neck, which supports the Head, and is the highest, so called in allusion to the famous Mountain Atlas in Africa, suppos’d to be the highest in the World, so that it seems to hold up the Heavens; and also to the Fable that makes Atlas King of Mauritania in that Country, to bear up the visible Heavens. I now proceed to the Description which we have in Herodian, a Greek Historian in the third Century, who in speaking of the Apotheosis of the Emperor Severus, gives us a very full Account of that strange Ceremony, viz.

... After the Body of the deceased Emperor had been burnt with the usual Solemnities, they placed an Image of Wax perfectly like him, but of a sickly Aspect, on a large Bed of Ivory, covered with Cloth of Gold, which they exposed to publick View at the Entrance of the Palace-Gate.

The greatest Part of the Day the Senate sat ranged on the left side of the Bed, drest in Mourning Robes; the Ladies of the first Rank sitting on the right side, in plain and white Robes, without any Ornaments.... This lasted for seven Days successively; during which, the Physicians came from time to time to visit the Sick, always making their Report that he grew worse, till at length they publish’d it, that he was dead.

This done, the young Senators and Roman Knights took the Bed of State upon their Shoulders, carrying it thro’ the Via sacra to the old Forum, where the Magistrates used to divest themselves of their Offices: There they let it down between two kinds of Amphitheatres; in the one, were the Youth, and in the other the Maidens of the first Families in Rome, singing Hymns set to solemn Airs in praise of the Deceased.

Those Hymns ended, the Bed was carried out of the City into the Campus Martius, in the middle of which Place was erected a kind of square Pavilion; the Inside thereof was full of combustible Matter, and the Outside hung with Cloth of Gold, and adorned with Figures of Ivory, and various Paintings.

Over this Edifice were several others, like the first in Form and Decoration, but less; always diminishing, and growing slenderer towards the Top, and a great many aromatick Perfumes, and odoriferous Fruits and Herbs were thrown all around: After which, the Knights made a Procession in solemn Measures about the Pile; several Chariots ran round it, those who conducted them being clad in purple Robes, and bearing the Images of the greatest Roman Emperors and Generals.

This Ceremony ended, the new Emperor came to the Catafalco or Pile with a Torch in his hand, and at the same time Fire was put to it on all sides by the Company, the Spices and all Combustibles kindling all at once. While this was doing, they let fly from the Top of the Building an Eagle, which mounting into the Air with a Firebrand, carried the Soul of the dead Emperor along with it into Heaven, as the Romans believ’d; and thenceforward he was ranked among the Gods. ’Tis for this Reason that the Medals wherein the Apotheoses are represented, have usually an Altar with Fire upon it, or however an Eagle taking its Flight into the Air, and sometimes two Eagles^[409].

A certain Emperor being asked, what he had done to merit an Apotheosis? He answered, He had always studied to resemble the Gods. And being asked again, In what did he endeavour to be like them? He answered, In having as few Wants as possible of my own, and doing good in the most extensive Way to others.

There is no Place so remote in the World, but has been polluted with this monstrous Idolatry, of worshipping Serpents. The northern Historians tell us, the People of Lithuania in Poland worship’d Serpents; and ’tis not long ago, since that gross Idolatry was abolish’d, of which Sigismund Baron of Herberstein, gives us this memorable Story, viz.

——Returning, says he, from Massovia near Wilna, my Host acquainted me, he had bought a Hive of Bees, from one of these Serpent-Worshippers, whom with much ado he had persuaded to kill the Serpent, and worship the true God: Within a while after coming that Way, he found the poor Fellow miserably tortured and deformed, his Face wrinkl’d and turn’d awry; and demanding the Cause of it, he answer’d, viz.

THAT this Judgment was inflicted upon him for killing his God, and that he was like to endure heavier Torments if he did not return to his former Worship. Which brings to my Mind a Passage in one of the Fathers, relating to the Carthaginians, who having been compelled by Agathocles King of Sicily to leave off those horrid Sacrifices of human Victims to Saturn, forbore them a long time: But a great Calamity being brought upon them for disusing those human Sacrifices; and to atone for their Neglect, they sacrificed at once two hundred Children of the noblest Families in Carthage^[410].

But to return to the Baron of the North, who adds, That in his Time, the People in Samogitia, East of the Baltick Sea, did still pay divine Honours to a Serpent as a Deity.... Some of those that inhabit the Deserts, adore a four-footed Serpent, under the Name of Givosit. Few Families there, are without Serpents, for their Domestick Gods, to whom they give more than ordinary Veneration, tho’ at the same time they profess the Christian Faith^[411], which Jagello their Prince received Anno Domini 1386. ibid.

The English Cosmographer accounts for them thus, viz. “The People anciently had Fire and Serpents for their Gods, nourishing the last in their Houses, and keeping the other continually burning; the Priests of the Temple always adding Fuel, that it might not fail. The Vestal Fire was not kept more carefully at Rome, nor with greater Ceremony.... To this God, (whom they call’d, Lord of the Smoke,) they used to sacrifice young Pullets, to the other their Cocks^[412].” The Seed of this Idolatry is so implanted in them, that ’tis said, that in a Village of the King’s, called Lovaniski, their chief City, they do, to this day worship Serpents. ibid.

The Lithuanians, ’tis said, ador’d three Gods, Fire, Wood, and Serpents. These last were counted their Guardian Gods. And according to a certain Historian, this kind of superstitious and diabolical Worship continues yet in some Parts of the Kingdoms of Norway and Vermolandia^[413].

The Inhabitants of Prussia were barbarous and wild in the highest degree, having of old no manner of Religion, or next to none, and first began with the Worship of Serpents^[414]. There are Countries in the Indies, says Jurieu, where Serpents are worship’d to this day.

ARISTOPHANES, in the Comedy entitled Plutus, observes that the Deity gave the Sign, viz. by hissing; upon which two monstrous Dragons skip’d out of the Temple^[415].

When Æneas sacrificed to the Manes, (the departed Soul) of his Father Anchises, he saw a Serpent come out of his Grave, which he concluded to be either the Tutelar God of his Father, or of that Place, which was counted a good Omen. We have an Account of some Priests in Asia that expose to publick View a Serpent in a brazen Vessel, attended with a great Variety of Musick. The Serpent appears in an erect Posture, opens its Mouth, and instead of a forked Tongue, appears the Head of a beautiful Virgin^[416].

NICHOLAS de Lyra makes mention of such another idle Conceit, viz. That the Serpent assumed the Face of a beautiful Maid, when it tempted Eve. N. B. In the German Bibles printed before Luther, among other Figures may be seen that of a Serpent with the Face of a very handsome Maid.

In short, so great was the Devotion paid to Serpents, that Persons and Things were denominated from them: Yea, some would be thought to proceed from Serpents, as the highest Degree of Honour. Cadmus’s Companion was called a Serpent, so the Giant in Homer, and a certain Prophet in Pausanias.

In the Primitive Church were an heretical Sect, called Ophites, that is Serpents. In Cyprus, and about the Hellespont, were a certain People that went by the Name Serpent. So a Soothsayer in Messenia, &c. But these came short of Alexander the Great, and Scipio Africanus, who were said to be born of Serpents, which they look’d upon to be the brightest Insignia in their Escutcheon; but more of this Serpentine Pride in the next Chapter.

In such wonderful Esteem were Serpents among them, that all manner of Creatures were called by their Name, as Stars, Animals, Plants, Trees, Herbs, Rivers, Stones, Islands, Proverbs.... Nothing was accounted Divine and Grand, unless graced by a Serpent^[417]. From this Divinity ascrib’d to Serpents, Pherecides took occasion to make a Dissertation concerning the Deity called Ophion, from Οφις, a Serpent^[418].

Reasons for worshipping Serpents, seem to rise from Misapplication of some Scripture Passages: But especially, 1. From the Triumphs of the Paradisaic Serpent. Pagan History from Moses. In the primitive Church, a Sect of Christians worship’d Serpents, and said the Serpent in Paradise was a good Creature. 2. From the miraculous Cures done by the brazen Serpent. Alexander affected the Honour of being begot by a Serpent, ador’d as a God, by a Decree of the Priests.

WHAT Reason can be assigned for giving religious Worship to Serpents? I answer,

It is no easy Matter to find out the Original of Pagan Idolatry, having no authentick Records of those remote Times, therefore Conjectures, or nothing must content the honest Enquirer: Something may be offer’d, without going beyond our Depth. Before I proceed, it may be proper to observe, viz. That Knowledge sprung from the Sons of Noah, who doubtless instructed their Successors in the History of the Creation, the Conquest of Paradise by a Serpent, that introduced the Knowledge of Good and Evil upon Earth.

Those whom we call Heathens, at first were Members of the true Church; the further Men went from the Spring, the Streams grew more muddy, and strange Constructions were put upon the History of Adam and Eve, Noah, and his Progeny, which in process of Time was metamorphosed into a Narrative of Fooleries and fabulous Gods.

So the Mosaick History of their Travels thro’ the Wilderness, and the Promulgation of the Law upon Mount Sinai, were strange and stupendous Events, that soon spread over the Nations in some Shape or other.

In the Phœnician Theology, we find the Creation described, almost in the Terms used by Moses. Diodorus Siculus says, the Antients liv’d upon Roots and Fruits. The Phœnician Records mention Ujoris, i. e. Adam, the first that wore Garments made of Animal Skins. The Vulcan of the Heathen was the Tubal-cain of Moses, (Gen. iv. 22.) the first Artificer in Brass and Iron: Plato’s Atlanticus is a Fable founded upon the History of Noah’s Flood: The Fable of the Giants storming Heaven, is taken from the Builders of the Tower of Babel, as before: Yea, says a Learned Father (after Numenius, the celebrated Pythagorean and Platonist) what is Plato but Moses in an Athenian Dress^[419]? But to be more particular,

1. SATAN, who conducted the War in Eden, display’d his Art under the Form of a Serpent, which Moses represents as a Creature of superior Wisdom, and Illuminator of Mankind. Now the Tradition, that the first Serpent had not only the Gift of speaking, but of communicating Science, and had held a Conference with the first Woman, to the vast Increase of her Knowledge, might at last swell to such a degree, that ignorant People might attribute to that Serpent, and her Race, a kind of Divinity; and for this Reason also, because in the Perfections of the Mind she exceeded our first Parents, who being constituted Governors of the Earth, must be supposed to be furnish’d with extraordinary Accomplishments: But, says Tradition, here is one who infused greater Knowledge into them, and made them more wise; and they, for contesting with the Wisdom of the Serpent, were turned out of Paradise, and ordain’d their Dwelling to be among the Beasts of the Field.

Surely, might the People say, so great a Being as this Serpent merits our awful Regards. Now, how far such Thoughts might operate in those early days of Ignorance and Superstition, I determine not: The Serpent indeed, is said to be more subtle than the Beasts of the Field, but not more wise than Adam and Eve.

It is more strange, to think that in the primitive Church there were certain Hereticks call’d Ophites, took their Name from Ophis^[420], who worshipped the Serpent that betray’d Eve, and ascribed all sorts of Knowledge to that Animal, maintain’d ’twas a good Creature, and that our first Parents were instructed by it to know Good and Evil. Yea, they believed, “the Serpent that tempted Eve was the Christ, who afterwards came down and was incarnate in the Person of Jesus: That it was Jesus, but not the Christ, that suffer’d; for which reason they made all Proselytes to their Sect, to renounce Jesus^[421].” If a Sect of Christians speak after this manner, what Ideas must the Heathen form of things?

One of the Fathers speaking of these Hereticks, observes how they affirm’d,——That Wisdom made itself a Serpent——had given Knowledge to Man, and that the Position of Man’s Bowels, winding about like Serpents, shews that there is in us a hidden Substance that engenders the Figure of Serpents^[422]. Surely those Fathers of the Church were Children in Understanding, that gave way to such mystical Conundrums. Call them no more Fathers, but Children of Antiquity.

These Hereticks, in the Consecration of the Eucharist, always had a Serpent ready in a Box, which they produced on that Occasion, making it come out by certain Charms, and lick the Bread, and having kissed the same, they eat it^[423]. Another Historian expresses it thus, viz. “When their Priests celebrated their Mysteries, they made one of these Creatures to come out of his Hole, and after he had roll’d himself upon the Things that were to be offer’d in Sacrifice, they said Jesus Christ had sanctified them, and then gave them to the People to worship them^[424].” N. B. I don’t apprehend how the Learned Abbot makes them bring in the Name Jesus here, a Name which in the same Page he says, they obliged their Proselytes to renounce.

This strange Superstition seems to be derived from the Heathen, who at the Feasts of Bacchus, used to carry a Serpent, and to cry, Evia, Evia^[425]: And Evia, says Clemens Alexandrinus, if it be asperated, Hevia, signifies in the Hebrew, a female Serpent. Dr. Lightfoot observes, that there being no such Word in the Hebrew, Clemens must mean the Chaldee, in which Hivia signifies a Serpent.

2. The Reputation gain’d by the Serpent in Paradise, was heighten’d by the wonderful Cures done by the brazen Serpent in the Wilderness. As this strange Occurrence was capable of various Glosses, so it must undergo different Constructions. The Brazen Serpent was brought to Canaan, where ’twas kept in remembrance of the miraculous Cures their Forefathers had received from it in the Wilderness; and, ’tis probable, the Israelites themselves were the first that paid divine Honours to it, and the Idolatry might begin in the days of the Judges; others say, under the Kings of Judah^[426].