Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-09-13
A KNOTTY QUESTION.
whore was the Garden Of Eden
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About three years ago discourse of Sir
Henry Rawlinson, before The Royal Society
OF London, on the site of the Garden Of
Eden, was extensively noticed. That dis
tinguished Assyrian explorer asserted that
he had deciphered the word "Eden," in
some OF the hieroglyphics or cuneiform in
scriptlons on the ruins of Nineveh, and
that 1t was name given to Babylon;
whence he argued that the last named an
cient city had been built on the spot where
Adam and Eve resided in their innocence.
This conclusion has not been generally re-
ceiyed, notwithstanding the. high reputa-
ton OF It's author. 1t Is q matter of cOntro-
Versy whether the sacred narrative Is to be
understood literally or allegorically. The
Rev. w. A. Scott of San Francisco, in an in
teresting paper just published, adopts the
strictly literal sense. His arguments are,
perhaps, as concise an embodiment of rea-
soning on behalf Of the literal interpretation
OF Scripture as could be furnished.
The first Of them e that Eden was the
name OF country, wherein everything
needful for man was produced, and that
tins name was descriptive Of it, signifying
ga land OF pleasure The second Is thai
the Garden (or as the Greeks called it
"Psradlsef), was not Eden itself, but only
aportion of it. And thirdly, that this gar
den was eastward of the writer's location;
all which appear to be clear from the text |,
"And the Lord God planted a garden,
| eastward Ia Eden" The author of the nar-
| rative, standing in Syria, would look east
ward when he turned in the direction of
| Mesopotamia, which was the name given
| to the country lying between. the rivers
| Euphrates and Tigris-and that this was
the probable site ofthe cradle ofthe human
race Is confirmed by what follows: "And
river went out of (the country Of Eden
to water the Garden (Paradise); and from
thence 1t was parted, and became into four
heads" These heads or streams ere re-
!. spectively name Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel
| and Euphrates, in the narrative.
| The first of these DR.. Scott identifies
with the Phases or Hays of later times. It's
source is near the head of the Euphrates,
and it flows northwesterly seven hundred
miles into the Black Sea. Second is the
Araxes, which rises ten miles from the
sources ofthe Euphrates, and flows thou
sand miles little north Of east, Into the
Caspian Sea. The third, 'the great river
which is Hiddekel," Daniel, K, A. is gen.
orally admitted to be the Tigris. And as to
the fourth (Euphrates), there is no dispute
about it. Now, all these four rivers have
their sources in the highlands of Armenia,
and as 1t is stated that it was ''from the
| garden that they departed snd became four
| heads" it follows that the site of Paradise
was that portion CT Armenia in which these
sources are found. DR.. Scott advances
three objections to the theory that the face
| of the Garden of Eden was so changed
| by the Flood as to be irrecoverably lost.
In the first place, he says, it is by no
means ceEtain that Noah's food was uni
versal, in the strict meaning of that word;
but in arguing this he violates his own prin-
ciple of adhering to the strictly literal mean
ing ofthe text, for it is clear from the two
narratives that are given in Genesis of the
| Deluge, that it was supposed to be univer-
ali. e., extending all over the surface of
the globe. In the second place, he men,
tons that the universally Of the Deluge is
disputed by almost every geoloeist. And in
the third place, and this is his strongest ar
gument, il is inconsistent with the narrs-
tive, written after the Deluge, to say that
| the site of Eden is lost. The four rivers re-
main and their sources can be seen in Ar
menia.
| why 6HOuIu lucy SIM CAioG SAllu tuC ldiid
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 transformation of the
soii IS certain theologians have asserted.
Man has changed. This region lay be-
tween the Persian Gulf and the Caspian
| Sea, where now the wild Arab roams about,
the cities are desolate, and the cruel des-
| YNCfiarn nffho porafop and fha 1T1rt lfhofh
died up realms to deserts"
1t must be said, however, that the word
"Eden" (signifying delights) is manifes,ly
used in various meanings in other portions
| ofthe Scriptures; sometimes to denote a
and again as the name of person, and
finally in a number Of ways inconsistent
with the idea of literal Interpretation.