Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1872-10-09
Where was the Garden Of Eden Lo-
filf Gated ? tt

Royal society OF LOhuoii, "" wy '''S
Of the Garden Of Eden, was extensive
ly noticed. That distinguished As
syrian explorer asserted that he had
deciphered the word "Eden" in some
of tho hyeroglyphics or inscriptions on
tha rn;rs of Ninoveh. nnd that 1t was
name given in Babylon whence he
argued that the last named ancient
city had boen built on the spot where
Adam and Eve resided in their innc-
cence. This conclusion has not been
generally received, notwithstanding
the high reputation of it's author 1t
| is matter of controversy whether the
sacred narrative is TO be understood
literally or allcgorically. The Rev.
w. A. Scott of San Francisco, in an
interesting paper just published, adopts
the strictly literal sense. His argu-
ments are, perhaps, as concise an en-
bodimeni of reasoning on behalf of the
literal Interpretation OF Scripture as
could be furnished. apN %
The first of them is that Eden was
the name Of country, wherein every
thing ncedful for man was produced,
and that this name was descriptive OF
it, signifying ia land of pleasure"
The second is that the Garden (or as
tho Greeks called it paradise" was
not Eden itself, but only a portion OF
it. And thirdly, that this garden was
eastward of the writer's location; all
of which appears TO be clear, from the
text, "And the Lord God planted a
garden, eastward in Eden" The au-
thor o. the narrative, standing in Sy.
ria, would look eastward when he
turned in the direction Of Mesopota-
mia, which was tho name given TO the
country lying between the rivers Eu
pbratus and Tigris-and that thif
was the probable site of the cradle o
The human race is confirmed by what
8 follows "And river went out of (th'
country oD Eden to water the Garder
of Paradise and from thence IL wa
! parted, and became into four heads
y 'rL~~- lad o, ~oors ara ~aera"t'~"
ly named Pison, Gibon, Hiddekel ant
!. Euphrates, in the narrative.
The 6rst of these DR.. Scott idcntl
!. fies with the Phases or Hays Of late
times. Its source is northwestern.
seven hundred miles into the Blac
Sea. The second is the Araxes, risin
= ten miles from the sources of the Eu
> pirates, and flows thousand miles
littlc north of east, into tho Caspia
Sea. The third, "The great rive
which is Hiddekel," Daniel, x, 4,)
= generally admitted to be the Tigri'
/. And as the south (Euphrate) there
= no dispute about it. Now, all thes
four rivers have their sources in th
highlands of Armenia, aud as it
stated that it was "from the garde
"a that they departed and became fol
y heads" it follows that the site Of Pa
r adise was that portion Of Armenia
which these sources are found. d
ng Scott advances three objections to Il
Of theory that the face Of the Garden
~ ~ Eden was so changed by the Flood {
lly to be irrccoverably lost q
I I'rd In the first place he says, it is
We no means certain that Noab's foC
was universal, in the strict meanir
Of that word; but ia arguing this
violates his own principle OF adheriI
to the strictly literal meaning of Il
IN text for it is clear from tho two ma
ratives that are given in Genesis
the Delugc, that it was supposed
W, be universal--i. Q, extending all ov
the surface of the globe In the SC
ond place, hc mentions that the III
VS., versatility of the Delugc is disputed
almost every gcologist. And in I
third place-and this is his strongC
!, argument-it is inconsistent with I
narratiye written after the Deluge,
say That the site OF Eden is lost. I
and four rivers remain, and their sourt
can be seen in Armenia.
BY Why should they still exist, a
,,a the land in which they spring ha
od- changed entirely Ararat is there
!. it was in the days of Noah, before I
food. In truth, there has been
ED such transformation of the soil as c.
Nv. sr tain theologians have asserted. M
ita- has changed. This region lay
,,"s tween tho Persian Gulf and the CT
plan Sea, where now tho wild Ar
roams about, tho cities are desola
and the cruel despotism of the Pcrsi
'"' and the Turk "hath dried up real
vIe v,s 10 deserts"
II must be said, however, that |
vord eden (sigpifying dolightsl
on ,on, manifestly used 10 various meanir
sna 'ons in other portions of the Scripture
ra.t an,,, ~ man N dnpnt. m nountcx, 4.