Compared with these fables, how ennobling, grand and sublime is the theory of evolution. We behold the great and mysterious energy of universe operating in a manner calculated to inspire our minds with wonder, awe and admiration. The truly marvellous development of ourselves from a chaotic nebula of attenuated matter, through all the varied and manifold stages of existence, with their beautiful and useful properties, is indeed an overwhelmingly convincing evidence of the existence of an omniscient and omnipotent, although absolutely inscrutable author; and I doubt much whether anyone ever approached this subject with an honest desire to be guided by reason in his search for truth, who did not experience this profound reverence for the unknown author. Can we believe that these two narratives in Genesis are also calculated to inspire such a sentiment in the minds of those who are fairly well educated and amenable to reason? What kind of a deity, think you, is this god of Genesis? The concluding portion of the 2nd narrative will at once inform us. This story is well known to all of us, and is a very remarkable one, for we learn from it the startling fact that the serpent, or devil, was the greatest benefactor to the human race, and, moreover, truthful; while god was the greatest enemy the race ever had, and was guilty of falsehood and treachery. God placed this man and woman in the garden, in front of a very strong temptation, pointed out the temptation to them, and threatened them with instant death if they yielded to it. This god is supposed to be omniscient, and therefore knew well enough before he placed them there that the poor creatures would fall on the very first temptation. Can we conceive more glaring injustice and diabolical cruelty than this? Now the serpent knew very well that they would not die if they ate the fruit, but that, instead, they would become wise; and eventually he persuaded them to eat. Who spoke the truth, god or the devil? Did the man and woman die on the day they ate the fruit? Far from it. That day, were there any truth at all in the narrative, would have been the grandest day ever known to man; for by the eating of that fruit was made known to him the difference between good and evil, that he might be able to seek the one and avoid the other; his benefactor being the serpent, or devil, the circumventor and conqueror of god.