354 
as the first sign of the offended Deity in the flaming sword, as 
acceptable with the first offering, -that is, the first recorded 
sacrifice, — and afterwards falsely substituted for the offering 
itself. Human sacrifice, specially by fire, and by the nearest 
relatives, as commemorating the first homicide and fratricide 
through a quarrel, the subject of which was an offering by , fire ; 
and also, in its propitiatory form, as appeasing the anger indicated 
by the fiery sword, and illustrative of an endeavour to realize 
an event which, through such means— the suffering of the seed 
of the woman— should produce a reconciliation, as evidently 
promised.fhe worship 0 f the serpent I recognize an acknow- 
ledgment of his power, and of the tradition of the obedience 
rendered him by the first parents of mankind. In human 
sacrifices to him, there is a recognition of the great 
traditionary sacrifice of felicity, in the intercourse with 
Deity, made by the human race through first following his 
counsels, and also of the introduction of the death of man; 
as well as a desire to propitiate him for any anger he might 
entertain, arising from a worship of the visible symbol of the 
Deity; and in the joint worship of the sun and the serpent 1 
observe another record of that drama in the final act of which 
the spiritual nowers of good and evil were both represented as 
visibly present. In the worship of a good and bad serpent-power 
I recognize the confusion arising from the amalgamation ot the 
sun and serpent as a combined deity, the benign influence of 
the sun, and the malific power of the serpent; but more parti- 
cularly— and this brings us to the primal origin— from the 
knowledge promised by the serpent, as the result of obeying is 
counsels, the knowledge of good and evil , a title also given to 
the tree eaten of; hence the prevalence of tree and serpent 
worship, and the proof of the wide-spread tradition of the tall. 
It is a very remarkable fact, that whereas tree and serpent 
worship are generally described together, in Nineveh it is the 
sun emblem, which I have before described as Asshur, that is, 
the sacred symbol raised above the tree (fig. 31c) ; thus giving 
us the combined emblems of good and evil with tree-worship also. 
See diagram, which contains also a serpent altar and a tree altar 
of writing dates back to a very remote period ; and there is no reason why 
it should not have been used even before the Noachian Deluge. The recent 
extraordinary revelations upon the Creation and the Fall, from the clay 
tablets of Kouyunjik, as read by Dr. George Smith, may lead to a conclusion 
on this subject ; and while it is reasonable to suppose that Moses was the 
first compiler for the Hebrews, may prove beyond question that the traditions 
so sacred to us were not new to him, but internationally acknowledged as the 
true accounts of those great events, even long before his time. 
