, 1870-07-16
EDEN
Baby Ion Turns Out To be tho Garden
OF Eden-AntefeatinK Di.coverIes-
HabylonlAn Inscriptions Confirm.
RGoKy of Bible Record

OF Eden-AntereatinE Discoverles-
HabylonlAn Inscriptions Confirm
ntoTy of Bible Record
From u.< Phitadtlphta L<ader.
There seeus to be reasonable expectation
Of the discovery OF the ute Of the Garden Of
Eden, II We may credit Sr..Henry Rawldson,
the distinguished Assyrian explorer, and Pres
ilent Of the Royal Asiatic Society. At meet
ing OF that society, held in London ahort
time hince, at which he WAS inangurated, he
made speech, In which he expressed his con-
viction that the Babylouian writings and mon
Museum would turn out to be intimately con-
nected with the earliest BIBLICAL writings, and
that, before long, the whole Of the early his,
tory given in tho Book Of Genesis, from the
time Of Abraham downward, would be found
existing in its original form among these prin1-
tive stone records. He also announced that
in . sbort time he would submit to tho society
evidence that the name "Garden of Eden
was the old and natural name Of Babylon.
He stated that there we're Dab5lonian docu-
scription Of that Paradise in which the opening
Bcene Of human history is laid, answering pre-
cisaly to the topography and tho geodeaical
particulars Of Holy WIT. In them be has
found he four e. rivers, o. rather, the four
to water the garden, mentioned By the very
same names, Pson, Gihon, Hiddekel. and Eu-
pirates. He has a1so met with accounts Of
the flood, and the building CT the tower Of BIZ
bel. Which bear with singular di5ectncss snd
events. II he should realize all that he antici-
pates, be will have given to the world one OF
the most interesting archaeological and anti
9narnn discoveries ever made. Among
b Biblical critics It has long been matter
ferent accounts Of the creation OF the
world, OF man, and Of his history from his I
en1anation from the hands Of his Creator |
form the first nine chap piers Of Genesis.
These two narratives have been distinguished
respectively al the Jehovah aud E1ohim rec
ords, because in the one Deity is spoken of as
Jehovah, and in the other in the plural form
as Elohim. Probably Sir henry Rawlinson'a
thus clear up tho obscuIity which hangs over
that portion ct the sacred text II this
should be the case, be would be a benafactor
to theology and Biblical lore, as we'll As to his
ins in tho III that The sci ptared @
archives Of BabJlonia, necessarily the
chief memorial Of tradition and belief
among the Cha1deans should be reflected
in the annals Of . race which cAJne forth
ing the originals with the derived reports and
Of finding the authentic sources from which
Elohist and Jehoyist drew their staten ents, is
one which will naturally excite vivid e1peetAr
tions among Biblical scholars, and cannot fail
~ 04AA1V FCA5 S0AG1A4 Cu41uHAlX~ Luz G1iak8 l
Of religion has always been advanced by dis
coveries in ecience, notwithstanding the cut
cries made against them by Weil-Meaning but |
rather short-sEhted persons. Truth can never |
gainsay truth, nor can We 60 back to the prac-
lice, whether political or religious, which is
said to have lain hands on Calico for assert
ing that the world moved. "Neyerthelees, it \
moves" is true Of everything as we'll Is the |
planet we live on aud il these new discov-
cries, or any others, interpret to Us, in a
been lost in the sacred mist Of tradition, the
Biblical account cannot but gain in clear
ness, while the intent which dictated tho record
must be carried ont With increased directuess
and force. The character Of all such invcsti-.
cations has ever been in the highest sense
\ scHptural and Christian. It may turn out that
| tho Chaldeans had traditions Of Eden, Of the
| Flood, and OF Babel, and that Abraham brought
| them with him from EUR Of the Claldees~
| to Canaan, and handed them down to poster
their way into other hands long before Abra-
ha1n's time, which would partially account Tor
their universally. Let uB, at apy rate, know
what the Babylon records can tell about the
Garden OF Eden II Hiddeksl, Pison and
Gillon can be identified without geographical
We have our doubta atoat the probability
Of this. Enphrates remains, but it seems
strange that the 1ree other rivers should
have disappeared 30 completely in country
where no natural convulSions have taken place
within recorded history. Neither the heat nor
the sand bare been able to obliterate tho
Euphrates, and it Is difficult to imagine that
they could have oblitesated the others, unless
they we're inaignifcant streams. But the turn
which Sir Henry Rawliuson has given 70 the
throws Light On that passage in Iaaiah Cch..p.
81, '. 49," Have the gods Of the nations do
1iveted them which my fathe1H have destroyed,
AZ Gozan and Harm and Rezaph, and The chil-
dren e5 Eden which were in Telassa I" And
on that in Ezekiel {chap. %, v. 81. Thou
haat been in Eden, the garden Of God