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MISCELLANEOU3 COMMUNICATIONS. "V
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Design of the History of the Fall . Sir , Lincoln . It is possible I may be repeating sentiments which have been published before , but as I do not ^ recollect to have seen them any where , you will if you think proper give the following a place in your Repository .
On reading a critique on Dr . Clarke ' s hypothesis of the fall , it appeared to me not improbable that , although the account of the fall has |> een \ n general justly considered in the light of an allegory , yet there has been an error in imagining that it refers to sin in general . Upon this supposition it 1 ha £ be . en found extremely difficult
to account for the , introduction of the leading characters of it as the serpent , the woman and the forbidden fruit . May not the distinguishing part they act in this tlrama , be fully explained , by the supposition that the forbidden iruit Was idolatry ; tha , t the ^ er jpent is brought in ^ s the tempter ^ because it was the e ^ iliest emblem of a false God : that the woman
tempted Adam , in the $ ame yray as tfce IsmiKtes were tempted arid \« drawn fmp idolatry , \ % y having ; kitermarried among tljeir heatlu n ^ ei gW > purs , ancji as we read that $ fee wife of * Job also employed , all # tfee flippancy of her tongue toper *
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suade that upright man to take leave of the God of his worshi p ^ when he found he , would-not come to his succour . The first caution that the Almighty would give to an intelligent being , if he gave him any ,
would certainly be not to suffer his attention to be arrested by the second causes of his happiness , but to carry them forward to the great First Cause , and let him be the object of his admiration and worship . In the state in which the first pair are described afe being placed ^ I see scarcely a possibility of their being guilty of sin , of a moral kind ; they were exposed to no temptation , nor could they well
fall into any sin , except that of paying a reverential homage to the heavenly hosts , those splendid creatures of God , who by their imposing appearances and Xiseful agency might seem to call for their adoration . We are assured that
tjie first species of'idolatry which sprang up in the world , was the worship of the heavenly bodies , and jit was undoubtedly the most natural . Next to them , the
serpent was one of the first images of Deity that were employed b y man . Not that the serpent was deified ; for this I am persuaded was not originally intended , what-
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|> Q ' Design of the History of the Fall .
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te differ from the opinion stated above , he is at perfect liberty so to do : I make it no article of faith , nor of Christian communion ; I crave the same liberty to judge for myself that I give to others , to Which every man has an ,
indisputable right , and I hope no man will call me a heretic , for depart * ing in this respect from the common opinion , which appears to me to be so embarrassed as to be alto * gether unintelligible .
Miscellaneou3 Communications. "V
MISCELLANEOU 3 COMMUNICATIONS .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1812, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1744/page/20/
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