not a little favor some such change in <strong>the</strong> narration or construction. 2. We may observe here, that <strong>Josephus</strong> supposed man <strong>to</strong> be compounded <strong>of</strong> spirit, soul, and body, with St. Paul, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, and <strong>the</strong> rest <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ancients: he elsewhere says also, that <strong>the</strong> blood <strong>of</strong> animals was forbidden <strong>to</strong> be eaten, as having in it soul and spirit, Antiq. B. III. ch. 11. sect. 2. 3. Whence this strange notion came, which yet is not peculiar <strong>to</strong> Joseph,, but, as Dr. Hudson says here, is derived from older authors, as if four <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> greatest rivers in <strong>the</strong> world, running two <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m at vast distances from <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r two, by some means or o<strong>the</strong>r watered paradise, is hard <strong>to</strong> say. Only since <strong>Josephus</strong> has already appeared <strong>to</strong> allegorize this his<strong>to</strong>ry, and take notice that <strong>the</strong>se four names had a particular signification; Phison for Ganges, a multitude; Phrath for Euphrates, ei<strong>the</strong>r a dispersion or a flower; Diglath for Tigris, what is swift, with narrowness; and Geon for Nile, what arises from <strong>the</strong> east,--we perhaps mistake him when we suppose he literally means those four rivers; especially as <strong>to</strong> Geon or Nile, which arises from <strong>the</strong> east, while he very well knew <strong>the</strong> literal Nile arises from <strong>the</strong> south; though what fur<strong>the</strong>r allegorical sense he had in view, is now, I fear, impossible <strong>to</strong> be determined. 4. By <strong>the</strong> Red Sea is not here meant <strong>the</strong> Arabian Gulf, which alone we now call by that name, but all that South Sea, which included <strong>the</strong> Red Sea, and <strong>the</strong> Persian Gulf, as far as <strong>the</strong> East Indies; as Reland and Hudson here truly note, from <strong>the</strong> old geographers. 5. Hence it appears, that <strong>Josephus</strong> thought several, at least, <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> brute animals, particularly <strong>the</strong> serpent, could speak before <strong>the</strong> fall. And I think few <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> more perfect kinds <strong>of</strong> those animals want <strong>the</strong> organs <strong>of</strong> speech at this day. Many inducements <strong>the</strong>re are also <strong>to</strong> a notion, that <strong>the</strong> present state <strong>the</strong>y are in, is not <strong>the</strong>ir original state; and that <strong>the</strong>ir capacities have been once much greater than we now see <strong>the</strong>m, and are capable <strong>of</strong> being res<strong>to</strong>red <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir former condition. But as <strong>to</strong> this most ancient, and au<strong>the</strong>ntic, and probably allegorical account <strong>of</strong> that grand affair <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> fall <strong>of</strong> our first parents, I have somewhat more <strong>to</strong> say in way 5
<strong>of</strong> conjecture, but being only a conjecture, I omit it: only thus far, that <strong>the</strong> imputation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> sin <strong>of</strong> our first parents <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir posterity, any fur<strong>the</strong>r than as some way <strong>the</strong> cause or occasion <strong>of</strong> man's mortality, seems almost entirely groundless; and that both man, and <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r subordinate creatures, are hereafter <strong>to</strong> be delivered from <strong>the</strong> curse <strong>the</strong>n brought upon <strong>the</strong>m, and at last <strong>to</strong> be delivered from that bondage <strong>of</strong> corruption, Romans 8:19-22. 6
- Page 1 and 2: BOOK 1 FROM THE CREATION TO THE DEA
- Page 3 and 4: and call it the Sabbath, which word
- Page 5: entreated God not to be angry at hi
- Page 9 and 10: sacrifice, and thereby making suppl
- Page 11 and 12: erected by them. Now this remains i
- Page 13 and 14: Chapter 3 The Flood and After 1. No
- Page 15 and 16: eight hundred and ninety-five years
- Page 17 and 18: others, unless they be suffered to
- Page 19 and 20: longer than 120 years, for many gen
- Page 21 and 22: Chapter 4 The Tower of Babylon 1. N
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- Page 25 and 26: Cethimus possessed the island Cethi
- Page 27 and 28: of what had been done, he prayed fo
- Page 29 and 30: or passenger over Euphrates, as man
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- Page 35 and 36: Chapter 10 Abram Fought With the As
- Page 37 and 38: order to obtain children by her; an
- Page 39 and 40: Chapter 11 God Overthrew the Nation
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- Page 43 and 44: Chapter 12 Abimelech and Ismael the
- Page 45 and 46: necessary provisions failed, she fo
- Page 47 and 48: Chapter 13 Isaac the Legitimate Son
- Page 49 and 50: and thou wilt thereby procure me Go
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- Page 53 and 54: Chapter 15 The Nation of the Troglo
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Chapter 17 The Death of Abraham A L
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called Escon, which denotes strife,
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ody, in arms, and all such sorts of
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Chapter 19 Jacob's Flight Into Meso
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elder than either thy or my birth,
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pardon for that necessity which for
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y God, he called Jacob to him the n
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orn, which I take to be that kingdo
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space asunder, that, by following t
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Chapter 21 The Violation of Dina's
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401, and Philo de Nominum Mutatione