The Hickman courier., 1872-09-28

About three years ago discourse
of Sir Henry Rawlinson, before the
royal society Of London on the site
of the Garden of Eden, was edito-
rally noticed In the Ledger. That
distinguished Assyrian explorer as
serted that he had ideciphered the
word "Eden, in some of the hero
glyphics or cuneiform inscriptions
on the ruins of Nineveh, and tnat 1t
was name given to Babylon
whence, he urged, that the last
named ancient city had been built
on the spot where Adam and Eve
resided in their state of innocence.
/ This conclusion has not been gener-
ally received, Notwithstanding the
/ high reputation of the author. 1t is
! n matter of controversy whether lhe
sacred narrative is 10 be understood
literally or allegorically. The Rev.
| w. 4. Scott, OF San Francisco, IN an
interesting PAPER just publlshec,
adopts the strictly literal sense. HIs
arguments are perhaps as concise
an embodiment of reasoning on be.
half Of the literal Interpretation oi
/ Scripture as could be furnished
| The first of them is that Eden was
The name of "a country wherein
everything needful for man was pro-
! duced, and that this name was de-
scriptive of il, signifYing "a land OF
pleasure. The second is that the
Garden (or as the Greeks called il,
Paradise, was not Elem itself,
but only portion of 1T. And
thirdly, that this garden was east
lcGrd of the writer's location all
which appears TO be clear, from the
text, "And the Lord God planted a
garden, eastward, In Eden" The
author of the narrative, standing In
! Syria, would look eastward when he
/ turned in the direction of Mesopo
TO the country lying between the
rivers Euphrates and Tigris-and
/ that this was the probable site
! OF the cradle of the human race is
confirmed by what follows Aud 4
/ river vent out OF The country Of
/ Eden to water the Garden Para
/ disc =; and from thence it was part
ed, and became into four heads
/ | hese h6 ads or streams are respect
/ fully named Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel,
and Euphrates III the narrative. The
/ first of these DR.. Scott identities
/ with the PHASES or Halys of latter
/ times. It's source Is near the head
OF the Euphrates, and 1t flows north
westly seven hundred miles, into
the Black Sea. The second is the
ArGxes, which rises ten miles from
the sources of the Euphrates, and
flows thousand miles, a little north
of east, into the Caspian Sea. The
third, "the great river which Is Hid
dekel," Daniel, X, 1. is generally
admitted to be the Tigris. Aud as
to he fourth Euphrates, there is no
dispute about it. Now all these
tour rivers have their sources in the
highlands OF Armenia, and, as it J.
stated that 1t was ''lrom the garden
that they parted and became four
heads 1t follows that the site of
Paradise was that portion of Ar
menia In which these sources we're
found. Mr.. Scott advances three
objections 10 the theory that the
face of the Garden uf Eden was
changed by the flood as to be ire
coverably lost. In the first place,
lie saws, it is by no means certain
that Noah's flood was universal, IN
the strict meaning of that word
but in arguing this he violates bis
own principle of adhering to the
strictly literal meaning of the text,
for 1T Is clear from the two nara
tives which are given in Genesis of
the Deluge that is was supposed to
over The surface of the globe. In
the second place, he mentions that
the universally OF the Deluge is
disputed by almost every geologist.
And in the third place, and this Is
his stoutest argument, 1t is inconsis-
tent with the narrative, written after
the Deluge, to say that the site o.
Eden is lost. The four rivers re-
main, and their sources can be seen
in Armenia Why should they still
exist, and yet the land in which
they spring have changed entirely ?
Ararat Is there as it was in the days
of Noah, before the flood. In truth
there has been no such transforma-
ton OF the soil as certain theologians
have asserted. Man has changed.
This region lay between the Persian
Guf and the Caspian Sea, where
now the wild Arab roams about
the cities are desolate, and the cruel
despotism of the Persian and the
Turk "hath dried up realms to
deserts"
1t must be said, however, that the
word Eden (signifying "delights'')
is manifestly used in various mean
ings in other portions of the Scrip
lures, sometimes to denote peo-
pie, again to denote country, and
again as the name Of a person, and
finally in number of ways incon-
sistent with the idea of literal inter
pIetatlon.