Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-07-17

Babylon Turns Ont to be the Garden
of notwithstanding Discoveries
Babylenfan Inscriptions Confirms-
tory Of Biblical History.

rdIeu, he maue u Speecn, IN WllCn
he expressed his conviction that
the Babylonian writings and monu,
ments now in the possession of the
British Museum would turn out to
be intimately connected with the
earliest Biblical writings, and that,
before long, the whole of the early
history given in the Book of Gene
sis, from the time of Abraham,
| downward, would be found existing
in its original form among these
primitive stone records. He also
announced that in short time he
should submit to the Society evil
dence that the name Garden of
Eden" was the old and natural name
Of Babylon:
| He stated that there were Babylo-
nian documents which gave an ex-
act geographical description Of that
Paradise in which the opening scene
of human history is laid, answering
exactly to the topography and the
| geodesical particulars of Holy Writ.
In them he has found the four riv-
ers, or rather the four branches of
"the river which went out of Eden
to water the garden" mentioned by
the very same names-Pison,
Gihion, Hidekel and Euphrates.
He has also met with accounts of
the flood and the building of the
Tower of Babel, which bear with
singular directness and value upon
the Biblical narrative of those
events. If he should realize all he
anticipates, he will give to the world
one of the most interesting archeo-
logical and antiquarian discoveries
ever made.
Among Biblical critics it has long
been a matter of discussion whence
came the two different accounts Of
the creation of the world, of man,
and of his history from his emana-
ton from the hands of his Creator
down to his destruction by the del
uge, which form the first nine chaps
ters of Genesis. These two nara
tives have been distinguished re-
spectively as the Jehovah and the
Elohim records, because in the one
the Jehovah is spoken of as Jeho-
yah and in the other in the plural
form as Elohim. Probably Sir
Henry Rawlinson's discoveries will
throw light on the subject and thus
clear up the obscurity which hangs
over that portion of the sacred text.
IF this should be the case, he will
be a benefactor to theology and
Biblical lore, as well as to history
and archaeology.
There is nothing amazing in the
fact that the sculptured archives of
Babylonia, necessarily the chief me-
mortal of tradition and belief
among the Chaldeans, should be re-
fiected in the annals of a race
which came forth from Chaldea
still, the prospect of comparing the
originals with the derived reports,
and of finding the authentic sources
from which Elohist and Jehovist |
drew their statements, is one which
will naturally excite vivid expecta'
tons among Biblical scholars, and
cannot fail to arouse very general
curiosity. The cause of religion |
has always been advanced by dis
coveries in science, Notwithstanding |
the outcries made against them by |
well-meaning but rather short sight
ed persons.
Truth can never gainsay truth,
nor can we 60 back to the practice,
whether political or religious, which
is said to have laid hands on Galileo
for asserting that the earth moved.
Nevertheless, it moves" is true of
everything as well as of the planet
we live on; and if these new discov-
cries, or any others, interpret to US,
in positive and simple sense, le-
gends which have been lost in the
sacred mist of tradition, the Bibli-
cal account cannot but gain in clear
ness, while the intent which dictated
the record must be carried out with
increased directness and force.
The character of all such investi~
cations has ever been IN the highest
sense Seriptural and Christian. 1t |
may turn out that the Chaldeans had
traditions of Eden, of the Flood,
and Of Babel, and that Abraham
brought them from Cur of the Chal-
dees," to Canaan, and handed them
down to his posterity, and these
traditions may also have found their
way into other lands, long before |
Abraham's time, which would part
ly account for their universally. |
Let US, at any rate, know what the |
Babylonian records can tell about
the Garden of Eden. If Hiddekel, |
Poison, and Gihion can be identified
without geographical bewilder-
ment, let it by all means be done.
We have our doubts about the prob
ability of this.
Euphrates remains, but it seems
strange that the three other rivers
should have disappeared so COM
pletely in country where no
natural convulsions have taken
place within recorded history.
Neither the heat nor the sand have
been able to obliterate the Euphra-
tes, and it is difficult to imagine that
they could have obliterated the
others, unless they were insignii-
cant streams. But the turn which
Sir Henry Rawlinson has given to
the meaning of the term Garden of
Eden,' throws light on that pass
age in Isaiah (chap. xxxVii, V. 49,
Have the gods of the nations de-
livered, as Gozan and Haran and
Rezaph, and the children OF Eden
which were in Telassar ? And on
that in Ezekiel (chap. xviii, V. 13O
"Thou hast been in Eden, the gar
den of God"
OUR Ex-P -PREsIDENTs.--O ex Presi~
dents who still live are three, thank
God-Fillmore, Pierce and johnson. We
have a certain liking for Fillmore; we
cannot help but admire certain things in
Pierce; but as a never-say>die sort of