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an everlasting Monument of the Truth, and to fix an eternal Brand upon the impious Sacrilege of the Romis Church. For when the Evangelift omits the Word All, in the Relation of the Delivery of the Bread, and mentions it, as it should feem, fo emphatically in that of the Cup; it is plain, that fomething more is defigned, than a bare hiftorical Relation. And this I take to be the Cafe of many of the Types, and Predictions, of the Old Tefta. ment. They were not fo exactly discoverable, before the Coming of Chrift; becaufe Men were not acquainted. with the Life, and Actions, of That bleffed Perfon, which did fo exactly correfpond with thofe remarkable Paffages of the Old Teftament, that did prefigure them: But, after wards, they could not but own them to be defigned for Marks of Him, when they compared our bleffed Saviour, and the Types and Prophefies together. For then, there appeared fuch a wonderful Analogy, between the Oeconomy of the Old and New Law; that the Ceremonies and Expiations, commanded by Mofes, were known to be but Shadows of the Doctrine and Satisfaction of Chrift; and that the Lives and remarkable Actions of feveral fa mous Perfons, before the Birth of our Saviour, were but laid out, by Order of God's Providence, for rough Draughts of the great Defign of Chrift's Mediatorship, There are a Multitude of Inftances, of this Kind, to be produced out of the five Books of Mofes, and other Books of the Old Testament, which will convince any one, that will be at the Pains, to obferve them himself, by a careful Reading, or out of Chriftian Expofitors, and other Wri ters; nay, they may be difcovered even from the Jewish Rabbins themfelves, who make many of thofe Paffages Types of the Meffias, as we do. And now after all, what Abfurdity is there, that a Book wrote by divine InSpiration, as we fuppofe the Old Testament to be, fhould have a wife Regard to the Actions and Occurrences of future Times; and have another Accomplishment of its Hi Story or Predictions, different from what was primarily de fign'd? Have not you and I oftentimes feveral Reasons and Motives for doing one and the fame Thing? And there

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therefore, Why may not God Almighty indite one Hiftory, or Prophefy, which may ferve Two feveral Ends, or which may have Two feveral Completions? The carrying on of two fuch Defigns, can in no wife be denied to the divine Wisdom; which, we fee, does in fome Measure lie, within the Compafs of human Sagacity. And 'tis but reasonable to think, that fuch a great and unparallel'd Inftance of the divine Providence, as the fending of the Meffias to fave the Souls of Mankind, the like of which never was, nor ever will be known again; I fay, 'tis but reafonable, That this amazing Difpenfation fhould not ftand fingly by it felf, and fall upon Mankind without any previous Preparation; but that Men fhould be difpofed thereunto, by fome great Prophefies and Prefigurations; and that many of the other leffer Lines of God's Providence, fhould be pointing at, and drawing to this mighty Center. And befides, this is yet more reasonable, when the infallible Spirit of God in the New Teftament, does it felf direct to these Types, and does point out to us, what former Occurrences were Prefigurations of the Meffias, and his Difpenfation. But, however, we ought not (as fome do) to make ufe of this typical Way of explaining Scripture, to the deftroying the Letter, and when, it is plain, the Words are literally Prophetick; when only the Prophet has gone off, on a fudden, from his firft, to a more fublime and diviner Subject. And now, having premifed thus much, I will give a fhort Anfwer to the prophetick Texts of Scripture, juft now quoted.

Phil And I wish you good Luck in your Expofitions of them; I am fure, they make the Generality of your Commentators, to fweat under the Difficulties, and ferve only to make us Infidels Sport, with their clashing with

onè another.

Cred. Why then, by your Leave, I will begin with Gen. iii.15. that of the third of Genefis, ver. 15. I will put Enmity be A Prophecy tween thee and the Woman, and between thy Seed and her of Chrift. Seed: It fball bruife thy Head, and thou shalt bruife his

Heel. I fay, this is a very direct and clear Prophesy of our bleffed Saviour. For God Almighty, who pake

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thefe Words, directs them to the Devil, an envious and malicious Spirit, who had embodied himself in, and made Ufe of the corporeal Organs of a certain Animal, which Mofes here calls a Serpent; and therefore he fo expreffes himself, that the Words may agree both to the Devil and the Serpent too, who by this Poffeffion had acquired a fort of perfonal Union with one another; fo that what was faid to one might be understood of either of them. The Sense of the whole Malediction, in which this Prophefy is contained, (as it is laid down in the present, the foregoing and following Verfes,) feems in thort to be this.Because there are four Delinquents, who have "had an Hand in this great Depravation of human Na"ture, and the vitiating this noble Work of human "Kind; therefore you fhall all of you fhare your al"lotted Punishments. As for the Serpent, whofe Bo"dy was made Ufe of for this wicked Defign, I ad"judge his Body, for a Monument of this unhappy "Milcarriage, to be changed from his original Figure; "from that ere& Gate, that beautiful and fhining Form, "that nimble and volatile Motion which he has hitherto enjoyed, into the hated Shape of one of the ordinary "creeping ferpentine Kind. As for the Man, who was

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overcome by the Allurements of his Wife, the Earth "fhall be curfed for his Sake, and he fhall be forced "with Labour and Toil to earn the Neceffaries of Life, "fince he would fo perverfely violate the Law of God,"

and unnaturally ruin his whole Pofterity, for fuch a "foolish Gratification of his Appetite, The Woman, for her Guilt, fhall undergo the Pains and Difficulty "of Travel. But the Devil, who was the principal Author of this Mifchief, fhall have his Head bruifed "by the Seed which fhall be born of the Woman, "Though thou, O Satan, mayft bruife the Heel of the "Woman, and of her Off-fpring, by disturbing them "with Temptations, and making them obnoxious to

temporal Calamities; yet Chrift, that Holy Seed, which "fhall be born of her, fhall bruife thy Head, he fhall "perfectly deftroy thy Power, and ruin thy Kingdom;

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the bruifing of her Heel fhall not be a mortal Wound, "but fhall be healed by the Merits of the Meffias; but the Wound in thy Head (like that of the Serpent "which thou doft poffefs) fhall be incurable; for «Chrift not taking upon him the Nature of Angels, "Heb. ii. 16. fhall leave thee and thy Seed, thy felf,

and the other fallen Spirits, for ever irremediable". Indeed fome modern Criticks and Commentators, will have thefe Words to be understood only of the corporeal Ser pent; but this without fufficient Ground. For if these Words were only directed to the corporeal viperous Serpent, what a jejune Meaning, nay, what an unjuft De termination muft this divine Menace carry with it? Here is a Curfe on the Serpent to go always upon his Belly, when according to this Suppofition he never went otherways. And befides, here is the Man, the Woman, and the Serpent, curfed to fome Purpose, who had but the leffer Share in the Guilt; and the crafty Devil, who was the wicked Contriver and Carrier on of all this Mifchief, muft upon this Suppofition escape Scot-free. For unless under the Name of the Serpent the Devil be underftood, he can have no Share in the awarded Punishment. Now the great Occafion, which has made Interpreters fo much difagree upon this Place, (fome attributing the Curfe wholly to the Devil, and others wholly to the Serpent,) has been the Want of the due Confidering the perfonal Union, which was then betwixt the Devil and the Serpent; fo that the Word Thon, fpoke to both of them in Conjunction, might agree to either; or, when it was directed to the outward Appearance of the Serpent, might be understood of the Devil, who was actuating those Organs. So that, when the Curle fays, Upon thy Belly foalt thou go that is to be understood of the outward Serpent, or the Body which the Devil did then poffefs. When it fays, I will put Exmity between thee and the Serpent, &c. that may have a double Meaning, and may be understood both of the outward Serpent and of the Devil; of the Antipathy of Mankind to viperous Animals, and the Malice of the Devil to us, or the War be

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tween the Flesh and the Spirit. But when it fays, The Woman's Seed fball bruife thy Head; this can be understood only of the Devil, who was to have his Share of the Pu nishment inflicted upon him, this Way. For certainly, nothing could be more grievous to that malicious Spirit, than to have his Plot thus defeated by this gracious Pro mife of the Meffias; to fee the Hopes of fallen Mankind thus on a fudden raifed, and his own for ever funk, Indeed, it may be allowed, that the Phrafe bruising of the Head is a Metaphor drawn from the ufual Way of kil ling a Serpent, which is wounding the Head; and the brifing the Heel may be likewife taken from the Ufage of venomous Reptiles to bite the Heel or Foot; but this can never be the full Senfe of the Words, unless we can fuppofe, that the Devil had no Hand in this fad Dif after, or that Mofes tells this Story only of a common Serpent, that once upon a Time did talk. Which would be fuch a filly Piece of legendary Stuff, as the ex cellent Writings of that wife Author do demonftrate he could never be guilty of. Nor is it any Objection againft what I fay, that one Part of this Execration relates to the corporeal Serpent, and the other to the De vil; becaufe, at that Time, when the Devil poffeffed the ferpentine Organs, they were, as it were, perfonally united, and for a Time one. So that it was very proper to fay, Thou shalt go upon thy Belly, meaning the Serpent, Thon fbalt have thy Kingdom destroyed, meaning the De vil, though the word Thou were directed only to the outward vifible Serpent: This, I fay, is altogether as proper, as when any one fhall fay to the fame individual me, Thou walkeft, thou thinkeft, though thefe be the Acts of two diftinct Beings, though naturally united, the one of my Body, the other of my Mind, which are as much Two in their original Natures, as the Devil and the Serpent.

Phil. But when there is nothing of the Devil here mentioned, nor of his Empire being deftroyed; why fhould you Chriftians fly to fuch a hard metaphorical Senfe, which no Body could have found out but thofe

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