am able to give even now; but because I have promised to give such reasons for all things in a treatise by itself, I shall put off its exposition till that time.

After this, on the second day, he placed the heaven over the whole world, and separated it from the other parts; and he determined that it should stand by itself. He also placed a crystalline firmament round it, and put it together in a manner agreeable to the earth; and fitted it for giving moisture and rain, and for affording the advantage of dews. On the third day he appointed the dry land to appear, with the sea round about it; and on the same day he made the plants and the seeds to spring out of the earth. On the fourth day he adorned the heaven with the sun, the moon, and the stars, and appointed them their motions and courses, that the vicissitudes of the seasons might be clearly signified. And on the fifth day he produced the living creatures, both those that swim and those that fly; the former in the sea, and the latter in the air. He also sorted them as to society, and that the kinds might increase and multiply. On the same day he also formed man. Accordingly Moses says that in six days the world, and all that is therein, was made; and that the seventh day was a rest and a release from the labor of such operations; whence it is that we celebrate a rest from our labors on that day, and call it the Sabbath, which word denotes Rest in the Hebrew tongue.

Moreover, Moses, after the seventh day was over, begins to talk philosophically; and concerning the formation of man says thus: that God took dust from the earth and formed man, and inserted in him a spirit and a soul. This man was called Adam (which in the Hebrew tongue signifies one that is red), because he was formed out of red earth compounded together, for of that kind is virgin and true earth.

God also presented the living creatures, when he had made them, according to their kinds, both male and female, to Adam, and gave them those names by which they are still called. But when he saw that Adam had no female companion, no society for there was no such created and that he wondered at the other animals which were made male and female, he laid him asleep, and took away one of his ribs, and out of it formed the woman; whereupon Adam knew her when she was brought to him, and acknowledged that she was made out of himself. Now a woman is called Issa in the Hebrew tongue; but the name of this woman was Eve, which signifies the Mother of all Living.

Moses says farther that God planted a paradise in the East, flourishing with all sorts of trees, and that among them was the Tree of Life, and another of Knowledge, whereby was to be known what was good and evil; and that when he had brought Adam and his wife into the garden, he commanded him to take care of the plants. Now this garden was watered by one river, which ran round about the whole earth, and was parted into four parts. Phison, which denotes a Multitude, running into India, makes its exit into the sea, and is by the Greeks called Ganges. Euphrates also, as well as Tigris, goes down into the Red Sea. Now the same Euphrates, or Phrath, denotes either a Dispersion or a Flower; by Tigris, or Diglath, is signified what is swift, with narrowness; and Geon runs through Egypt, and denotes what arises from the East, which the Greeks call Nile. God therefore commanded that Adam and his wife should eat of all the rest of the plants, but to abstain from the Tree of Knowledge, and foretold to them that if they touched it, it would prove their destruction.

But while all the living creatures had one language at that time, the serpent, which then lived together with Adam and his wife, showed an envious disposition at his supposal of their living happily, and in obedience to the commands of God; and imagining that when they disobeyed they would fall into calamities, he persuaded the woman, out of a malicious intention, to taste of the Tree of Knowledge, telling them that in the tree was the knowledge of good and evil, which knowledge when they should obtain they would lead a happy life: nay a life not inferior to that of a god; by which means he overcame the woman and persuaded her to despise the command of God.

Now when she had tasted of that tree, and was pleased with its fruit, she persuaded Adam to make use of it also. Upon this they perceived that they were become naked to one another; and being ashamed thus to appear abroad, they invented somewhat to cover them for the fruit sharpened their understanding; and they covered themselves with fig-leaves, and tying those before them out of modesty, they thought they were happier than before, as they had discovered what they were in want of. But when God came into the garden, Adam, who was wont before to come and converse with him, being conscious of his wicked behavior, went out of his way.

This behavior surprised God; and he asked what was the cause of this procedure; and why he that delighted before in

that conversation did now fly from and avoid it. When he made no reply, as conscious to himself that he had transgressed the command of God, God said, "I had determined about you both, how you might lead a happy life, without any affliction, care, or vexation of soul; and that all things which might contribute to your enjoyment and pleasure should grow up, by my providence, of their own accord, without your labor and painstaking; which state of labor would soon bring on old age, and death would not be at any remote distance. But now thou hast abused my good-will, and hast disobeyed my commands; for thy silence is not the sign of thy virtue, but of thy evil conscience.

However, Adam excused his sin, and entreated God not to be angry with him; and laid the blame of what was done upon his wife, and said that he was deceived by her, and thence became an offender; while she again accused the serpent. But God allotted him punishment, because he weakly submitted to the counsel of his wife; and said the ground should not henceforth yield its fruits of its own accord, but that when it should be harassed by their labor, it would bring forth some of its fruits, and refuse to bring forth others. He also made Eve liable to the inconvenience of breeding, and the sharp pangs of bringing forth children; and this because she persuaded Adam with the same arguments wherewith the serpent had persuaded her, and had thereby brought him into a calamitous condition.

He also deprived the serpent of speech, out of indignation at his malicious disposition toward Adam. Besides this he also inserted poison under his tongue, and made him an enemy to men; and suggested to them that they should direct their strokes against his head, that being the place wherein lay his mischievous designs toward men, and it being easiest to take vengeance of him in that way. And when he had deprived him of the use of his feet, he made him go rolling along, and dragging himself upon the ground. And when God had appointed these penalties for them he removed Adam and Eve out of the garden into another place.

MOSES AS A LEGISLATOR.

(From the Preface to the "Antiquities.”)

ONE who will peruse this history may principally learn from it, that all events succeed well, even to an incredible degree,

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and the reward of felicity is proposed by God: but then it is to those that follow his will, and do not venture to break his excellent laws; and that so far as men any way apostatize from the accurate observation of them, what was practicable before becomes impracticable; and whatsoever they set about as a good thing is converted into an incurable calamity. And now I exhort all those who peruse these books, to apply their minds to God: and to examine the mind of our legislator, whether he hath not understood his nature in a manner worthy of him; and hath not ever ascribed to him such operations as become his power; and hath not preserved his own writings from those indecent fables which others have framed, although by the great distance of time when he lived he might have securely forged such lies, for he lived two thousand years ago, at which vast distance of ages the poets themselves have not been so hardy as to fix even the generations of their gods, much less the actions of their men or their own laws. As I proceed, therefore, I shall accurately describe what is contained in our records, in the order of time that belongs to them, . . . without adding anything to what is therein contained, or taking away anything

therefrom.

But because almost all our constitution depends on the wisdom of Moses our legislator, I cannot avoid saying somewhat concerning him beforehand, though I shall do it briefly; I mean, because otherwise those that read my books may wonder how it comes to pass that my discourse, which promises an account of laws and historical facts, contains so much of philosophy. The reader is therefore to know that Moses deemed it exceeding necessary that he who would conduct his own life well, and give laws to others, in the first place should consider the Divine nature; and upon the contemplation of God's operations, should thereby imitate the best of all patterns, so far as it is possible for human nature to do, and to endeavor to follow after it; neither could the legislator himself have a right mind without such a contemplation; nor would anything he should write tend to the promotion of virtue in his readers: I mean, unless they be taught first of all that God is the father and Lord of all things, and sees all things; and that hence he bestows a happy life upon those that follow him, but plunges such as do not walk in the paths of virtue into inevitable miseries. Now when Moses was desirous to teach this lesson to his countrymen, he did not begin the establishment of his laws after the

same manner that other legislators did, I mean, upon contracts and other rights between one man and another, but by raising their minds upwards to regard God and his creation of the world; and by persuading them that we men are the most excellent of the creatures of God upon earth. Now when once he had brought them to submit to religion, he easily persuaded them to submit in all other things; for as to other legislators, they followed fables, and by their discourses transferred the most reproachful of human vices unto the gods, and so afforded wicked men the most plausible excuses for their crimes; but as for our legislator, when he had once demonstrated that God was possessed of perfect virtue, he supposed men also ought to strive after the participation of it; and on those who did not so think and so believe, he inflicted the severest punishments. I exhort, therefore, my readers to examine this whole undertaking in that view; for thereby it will appear to them that there is nothing therein disagreeable either to the majesty of God, or to his love for mankind: for all things have here a reference to the nature of the universe; while our legislator speaks some things wisely but enigmatically, and others under a decent allegory, but still explains such things as required a direct explication, plainly and expressly.

SOLOMON'S WISDOM.

(From the "Antiquities.”)

Now the sagacity and wisdom which God had bestowed on Solomon was so great that he exceeded the ancients, insomuch that he was no way inferior to the Egyptians, who are said to have been beyond all men in understanding; nay, indeed, it is evident that their sagacity was very much inferior to that of the King's. He also excelled and distinguished himself in wisdom. above those who were most eminent among the Hebrews at that time for shrewdness. . . . He also composed books of odes and songs a thousand and five, of parables and similitudes three thousand for he spake a parable upon every sort of tree from the hyssop to the cedar, and in like manner also about beasts, about all sorts of living creatures, whether upon the earth, or in the seas, or in the air; for he was not unacquainted with any of their natures, nor omitted inquiries about them, but described them all like a philosopher, and demonstrated his exquisite