SUMMARY.

443

What then, is the inference ?— That the ser-pent was the most ancient of the heathen gods; andthat as his attributes were multiplied by super-stitious devotion, new names were invented torepresent the new personifications which, in theprogress of time, dividing the unity, destroyedthe integrity of the original worship. Yet eachof these schismatic superstitions bore some fainttrace of its dracontic origin, in retaining thesymbolical serpent. Some of these deificationsmay be easily traced, though others are obscureand difficult.

The mystic serpent entered into the mytho-logy of every nation; consecrated almost everytemple; symbolized almost every deity; wasimagined in the heavens, stamped upon theearth, and ruled in the realms of everlastingsorrow. His subtilty raised him into an emblemof wisdom; he was therefore pictured upon theaegis of Minerva, and crowned her helmet. Theknowledge of futurity which he displayed in Para-dise exalted him into a symbol of vaticination ;he was therefore oracular, and reigned at Delphi.The “ opening of the eyes” of our deluded firstparents obtained him an altar in the temple ofthe god of healing; he is therefore the constant

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