ove of the following _Sarcasm_ or _Irony_, which has a
better Authority for it than _Elijah_ or the _Psalmist_. _Moses_
introduces God speaking thus after the Fall[58], _Behold the Man is become
like one of us, to know Good and Evil!_ And I think this Passage shews,
that the whole Affair of the _Fall_, of which we have so very brief an
Account, was a very entertaining Scene; and would have appear'd so, if set
forth at large; as indeed it does under the Hands of our Divines, who have
supplied that short Narration by various Additions, founded on
Conjectures, and particularly under the fine Hand of Dr. _Tho. Burnet_,
who has made a most ingenious Dialogue of what he suppos'd pass'd between
_Eve_ and the _Serpent_[59]. To say nothing of _Milton_'s famous _Paradise
Lost_.

In fine, ever since I could read the _Bible_, I was particularly pleas'd
with the _History_ of _Jonas_, where such a Representation is made of that
_Prophet_'s Ignorance, Folly, and Peevishness, as exposes him to the
utmost Contempt and Scorn, and fixes a perpetual _Ridicule_ on his
Character. And let me here observe, that this _History_ has had ample
Justice done it, in an Explication thereof by _two_ [60] very ingenious
Authors, who, by most penetrating and happy Criticisms and Reflections,
have drawn the Character of _Jonas_ in a more open manner.

III. But, _Thirdly_, I wave my _Remedy_, and am ready to come into any Law
that shall be made to rectify this suppos'd Fault of _Irony_, by punishing
those who are guilty of it.

The great Concern is and ought to be, that _the Liberty of examining into
the Truth of Things should be kept up_, that Men may have some Sense and
Knowledge, and not be the _Dupes_ of _Cheats_ and _Impostors_, or of those
who would keep them in the dark, and let them receive nothing but thro'
their Hands. If that be secur'd to us by Authority, I, for my part, am
very ready to sacrifice the Privilege of _Irony_, tho so much in fashion
among all Men; being persuaded, that a great Part of the _Irony_
complain'd of, has its rise from the _want of Liberty to examine into the
Truth of Things_; and that if that _Liberty_ was prevalent, it would,
without a Law, prevent all that _Irony_ which Men are driven into for want
of Liberty to speak plainly, and to protect themselves from the Attacks of
those who would take the Advantage to ruin them for direct Assertions; and
that such Authors as _Rabelais_, _Saint Aldegonde_, _Blount_, _Marvel_,