-
Articles/Ads
Article OPHIOLOGY AND SERPENT SYMBOLISM. Page 1 of 9 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ophiology And Serpent Symbolism.
OPHIOLOGY AND SERPENT SYMBOLISM .
PART I . " Now the serpent was more subtle than any boast of the field which the Lord had made . " —Gen . iii . 1 . IN selecting an attribute or representation of a necessary
first cause amongst the A'aried objects of creation presented to his A'ieAV ; in fixing on an incarnation of his monotheical principle of religion amongst almost infinite nature , man , acting upon the axiom , quicquid ignotum pro mirifico , would be almost by necessity induced at the first glance to fix upon the SERPENT .
This animal , to his first and superficial notice , Avas so totally unlike himself , so Avonderful in its OAVU peculiar properties , so varied in action , and in the different species so opposed in qualities , so contrasted in operation on the entire human race , — now kind and fondling , now deadly lethal and antagonistic , that even now , with the extension of our knoAvledge of natural history , we must still regard the reptile as one ofthe most
Avonderful and curious objects to invite and repay oux study in that department of knoAvledge . To man in the earliest stages of creation it must have been in every respect the representative of something differing from himself , of some unknoAvn principle of life and vitality , and therefore the more wonderful and amazing ;—its curious structure without limbs ; its biforked tongue ;
its hissing utterance ; its locomotive power of movement seemingly Avithout advancement or effort ; its habits of feeding and the supposed venom of its sting , were all general qualities Avhich man must have vieAved AA'ith avee ; and Avhen he came to examine more closely the less obvious peculiarities of a yearly casting of the skin , a faculty that seemed to offer and result in a continued
juvenescence , that great prize of immortality ; when he found that the vitality inherent in the perfect animal was continued to the separated portions , the idea Avould not be lessened , and the transition to a symbol of eternity by the easy junction of its lubricous body in a circle at head and tail Avithout end and without beginning , Avould almost ineA'itably fix the symbol to
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ophiology And Serpent Symbolism.
OPHIOLOGY AND SERPENT SYMBOLISM .
PART I . " Now the serpent was more subtle than any boast of the field which the Lord had made . " —Gen . iii . 1 . IN selecting an attribute or representation of a necessary
first cause amongst the A'aried objects of creation presented to his A'ieAV ; in fixing on an incarnation of his monotheical principle of religion amongst almost infinite nature , man , acting upon the axiom , quicquid ignotum pro mirifico , would be almost by necessity induced at the first glance to fix upon the SERPENT .
This animal , to his first and superficial notice , Avas so totally unlike himself , so Avonderful in its OAVU peculiar properties , so varied in action , and in the different species so opposed in qualities , so contrasted in operation on the entire human race , — now kind and fondling , now deadly lethal and antagonistic , that even now , with the extension of our knoAvledge of natural history , we must still regard the reptile as one ofthe most
Avonderful and curious objects to invite and repay oux study in that department of knoAvledge . To man in the earliest stages of creation it must have been in every respect the representative of something differing from himself , of some unknoAvn principle of life and vitality , and therefore the more wonderful and amazing ;—its curious structure without limbs ; its biforked tongue ;
its hissing utterance ; its locomotive power of movement seemingly Avithout advancement or effort ; its habits of feeding and the supposed venom of its sting , were all general qualities Avhich man must have vieAved AA'ith avee ; and Avhen he came to examine more closely the less obvious peculiarities of a yearly casting of the skin , a faculty that seemed to offer and result in a continued
juvenescence , that great prize of immortality ; when he found that the vitality inherent in the perfect animal was continued to the separated portions , the idea Avould not be lessened , and the transition to a symbol of eternity by the easy junction of its lubricous body in a circle at head and tail Avithout end and without beginning , Avould almost ineA'itably fix the symbol to