s contrived to lay down an exceedingly broad-gauge railway
to the Kingdom of Hell. Few passengers travel by their route, and
its terminus on this side is miserably small; but his route is almost
universally patronised, its terminus is magnificent, and there is an
extraordinary rush for tickets.

According to the Christian scheme, the Devil tempted Adam and Eve from
their allegiance to God in the form of a serpent. He played the devil
with Eve, she played the devil with Adam, and together they have played
the Devil with the whole human race ever since.

But let any unbiassed person read the Genesaic story of the Fall, and he
will certainly discover no reference to the Devil A serpent is spoken
of as "more subtle than any beast of the field;" it is throughout
represented simply as a serpent; and nowhere is there the faintest
indication of its possessing any supernatural endowments.

The Story of the Fall contains clear relics of that Tree and Serpent
worship which in ancient times prevailed so extensively over the East.
The serpent was formerly regarded as the symbol of a beneficent God. In
Hindustan, says Maurice, "the veneration of the serpent is evident
in every page of their mythologic history, in which every fabulous
personage of note is represented as grasping or as environed with a
serpent." According to Lajard, the word which signifies "life" in the
greater part of the Semitic languages signifies also "a serpent" And
Jacob Bryant says that the word "Ab," which in Hebrew means Father, has
also the same meaning as the Egyptian "Ob," or "Aub," and signifies "a
serpent," thus etymologically uniting the two ideas. The Tree and
the Serpent were frequently associated, although they were sometimes
worshipped apart. The Aryan races of the Western world mostly worshipped
the Tree alone. The Scandinavians had their great ash "Yggdrasill,"
whose triple root reaches to the depths of the universe, while its
majestic stem overtops the heavens and its branches fill the world. The
Grecian oracles were delivered from the oak of Dodona, and the priests
set forth their decrees on its leaves. Nutpi or Neith, the goddess
of divine life, was by the Egyptians represented as seated among the
branches of the Tree of Life, in the paradise of Osiris. The "Hom," the
sacred tree of the Persians, is spoken of in the Zendavesta as the "Word
of Life," and, when consecrated, was partaken of as a sacrament. An oak
was the sacred tree of the ancie