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It seems, however, probable that Eden lay in some part of Syria, and not far from the Mediterranean Sea, for when Adam was banished from it, he travelled eastward; and it was at the east of the garden only that the Cherubim and flaming sword were placed. And when Cain became a vagabond he went also to the east. Probably therefore the sea was to the westward of Eden, near enough to prevent the exiles from entering the garden on that side.

However this may be, which is a matter of mere speculation, the first man and woman were placed in a delightful garden, abounding with fruits of every kind, and with permission to eat of them all, one only in the midst of the garden excepted, which was called the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Of this they were commánded not to eat upon pain of death.

till after it left the garden, so that the description of the places on the banks of those rivers, and of the situation of the rivers, has nothing to do with the garden itselt: nor is it by any means certain that Euphrates is the river afterwards known by that name.

Learned

Learned men, both Jews and Christians, explain this passage in very different ways. Some are of opinion, that it is wholly allegorical, and others, that it is the plain narrative of a real event. All agree however that when God placed man in a situation capable of happiness, he gave him a commandment which he broke. There was certainly one thing which God forbid to be done, which man rashly and ungratefully did; tempted, either by the Devil in the form of a serpent, or, as some think, by his own evil desires personified under that appearance. Whichever of these opinions be true, one fact is certain, that man disobeyed his Creator. What the command was, signified not; whether it was not to eat of a particular tree, or any other prohibition yet more trifling, still it was to be the test of his obedience; and the question was not whether he should, or should not eat the fruit, but whether he should or should not obey his Almighty Creator. Unhappily for himself as well as for his posterity, he disobeyed him; and the consequence was, that together with

the

the threatened death, labor, sin, and sorrow entered into the world*.

Yet though man had sinned, as it were with his eyes open, and had wilfully disobeyed his Maker's commands, still the goodness of God induced him not to forsake utterly the creature whom he had made. Even in the very moment when the ground was cursed for Adam's transgression, and the whole powers of nature changed from their original destination, (Gen. iii. 16, 18.) a faint hope of future redemption was granted to fallen man. The serpent, which, in its natural form, was the emblem of sin, and in its allegorical

macies, et nova febrium

Terris increbuit cohors:

Semotique prius tarda necessitas
Lethi corripuit gradum.

HOR. Lib. i. Ode 3.

It is curious in reading Heathen Authors, to observe the analogy between the early traditions, which gave rise to their Mythology, and the facts concerning the first Ages, which have been delivered down to us by Revelation. Yet this idea may be carried beyond reasonable bounds, witness two very learned works, "Gale's Court of the Gentiles," and " Bryant's Mythology."

meaning

meaning the cause of it, was cursed; and it was foretold by God himself, that the seed of the woman should bruise his head, and it should bruise his heel; that is to say, that sin, personified by the serpent, should attack and injure man, but that one sprung from a woman (Christ, made of a woman, Gal. iv, 4.) should destroy or put an end to sin. Now it is very evident, that it is Christ who is alluded to here, by the peculiar appellation of the seed, or offspring, of a woman*, because he, and he only, was produced of a virgin mother, by the immediate power of God, through the operation of the Holy Ghost, without the intervention of any natural means.

This gracious promise was the first dawn of the christian religion. Here began the great and important work of our redemption, of which the completion is not till the final consummation of all things: not

This peculiarity, that the Redeemer was to be in a limited sense the Seed of the Woman, did not escape the Jews.-Maimonides, as quoted by Jenkin on the Christian Religion.

till this mortal shall have put on immortality, and in the blessed mansions of our heavenly Father, we see Christ our Judge and Saviour sitting at the right hand of God*.

Although then man had fallen, and had become liable to sin, disease, and death, the goodness of his Almighty Creator still gave him a chance for future happiness; a chance only and not a certainty, for it still was to depend upon himself whether he would accept it on the terms upon which it was offered. These terms indeed were not fully made known to him, till many. ages afterwards, when Christ came and preached the glad tidings of salvation. Yet from the first a life of righteousness was indispensably requisite to obtain the favour of God; and there can be no doubt, that as Christ died for all, he died as well for those who lived before his mission, as for those who to this day have never heard of his name, provided their lives have

*The ancient Jews never doubted that this prophecy related to the Messiah. See the Jerusalem Targum and Jonathan on the Law as quoted by Prideaux.

been

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