Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1869-07-31
From the Philadelphia Ledger.
EDEN.
Babylon Turns ont 10 be tie Garden Of Eden
Interesting DiscoUeries- Butyionian Tnscrip-
TINS Contrmat0ry Of Bi5lc Record.

tioHs CorJrmat0rg Of Bi5le Record.
There seems to be remarkable expectation
Of the discovery of the site Of the Garden Of
Eden, If we may credit Sir Henry RawlInson,
tho distinguished Assyrlan explorer and Presl-
dent Of Tie Royal Asiatic Society. Al meet
ing Of that society held in London, short
time since, at which he was inaugurated, lie
made speech, in which he expressed his con-
viction that the Babylonian writings and mon
uments now in possession of the British Mu-
scum, would turn out To be intimately con-
nected with tho earliest Biblical writings, and
that before long the whole of the early history
given in the Book Of Genesis from the time Of
Abraham downward, would be found existing
in its original form among the primitive stone
records. He also announced that in q short
| time he should submit to the society evidence
| that the name "GardeD of Eden" was the old
and natural name of Babylon He stated that
there were Babylonian documents with an ex-
act geographical description Of that Paradise in
which the opening scene Of human history is
laid, answering precisely to the topography
and geographical particulars Of Holy Writ
the four branches of "the river which went
out of Eden TO water the garden" mentioned
by the very same names, Pison, Gihon. Hidde-
kel and Euphratcs. lie has also met with
accounts Of the tower of Babel, which bear
with singular dircctness and value upon the
| Biblical narrative of those events If he should
realize all that he anticipates, he will have
given the world one of the most interesting
archaeological and antiquarian discoveries ever
made. Among Biblical critics it has long been
q matter of discussion whence came the two diff
ferent accounts of the creation of the world, of
man, and of his history from his emanation
from the hands Of his Creator down to his
| destruction by the deluge, which form the first
nine chapters of Genesis. These two narra-
tives have been distinguished respectively as
the Jehovah and Elohim records, because in
the one the Deity is spoken of as Jehovah, 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 benefactor to theology and Bibli-
cal lore, as well as to history and archaeology.
There is nothing amazing in the fact that the
seulpturcd archives of Babylonia, necessarily
the chief memorial of tradition and belief
among the Chaldeans, should be reflected in
the annals of q race which came forth from
Chaldea; still, the prospect of comparing the
originals with the derived reports, and of find
ing the authentic sources from which Elohist
and Jehovist drew their statements, is one
xvhiah vivid
among Biblical scholars, and can not fail to
arouse very general curiosity The cause of
religion has alwas been advanced by discove-
ries in science, Notwithstanding the outcries
made against them by well meaning but rather
short-sighted persons. Truth can never gain
say truth, nor can we go back TO the practice,
whether political or religious, which is said to
have laid hands on Calico for asserting that
the earth moved Nevertheless, it moves" is
true of every thing, as well as of the planet
we live on; and if these new discoveries, or
any others, interpret to us. in a positive and
simple sense, legends which have been lost in
the sacred mist of tradition, the Biblical ac-
count can not but gain in clearness, while the
intent which dictated the record must be car
ried out with increased directness and force
The character of all such Investigations has ever
been in the highest sense criptural and chris
tian. 1t may turn out that the Chaldeans had
traditions of Eden, of the Flood, and of Babel,
and that Abraham brought them with him
from "Ur of the Chaldees" to Canaan, and
handed them down to his posterity, and these
traditions may also have found their way into
other hands long before Abraham's time, which
would partially account for their universally.
Let lis, at any rate, know whah the Baby
lOnian records can tell about the Garden of
Eden. If Hiddekel, Pison and Gihon can be
identified without geographical bewilderment,
let it, by all means, be done. We have our
doubts about the probability of this. Euphra-
ties remains but it seems strange that the three
other rivers should have disappeared so COM
pletely in country where no natural convui-
sions have taken place within recorded history.
Neither the heat nor the sand have been able to
ohliterate the Euphrates, and it is difficult to
imagine that they could have obliterated the
Others, unless they were insignificant streams.
But the turn which Sir Henry RawlinsOn has
given to the meaning of the term, Garden of
Eden," throws light ON that passage in Isaiah
(chap. 81 v. l2) "Have the Gods of the nations
delivered them which my fathers have destroy
ed, as Gozan and Haran and Rezaph, and tho
children Of Eden which were in Telassar =
And on that in Ezekiel (chap, 28, V. 81 Thou
has been in Eden, the garden. of God"