The Mosaic history of the creation assigns to the East the first scene of human existence, and places the first pair, created in perfect equality, in a Paradise, which

“For God created man in his own image, male and female created he them,” “to be a mate and a help to each other.” — To the male, to Adam, it appears, was assigned a first task of corporeal performance; for “he was put into the garden to dress and keep it.” To the female, Eve, was permitted the first exercise of mind, in the call made on her intellect, by one who (whether considered as a “fallen spirit, second only to the first” or as a “creature more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord had made,”) sought to influence human action by intellectual means, though for evil purposes. The selection of the female for the experiment of a superhuman sophistry, indicated on her part a difficulty, rather than a facility to be won over; and the reward offered, for risking the awful penalty of death “by disobedience,” was no less than that “she should be as are the Gods, knowing good from evil!” The woman, (“seeing that the tree was to be desired, to make one wise,) took the fruit accordingly thereof and did eat.”