Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1889-09-07
THE GARDEN OF EDEN.
Where the First Paradise Is Supposed 10
Have Been Situated.

has been the sub. ect Of almost endless
conjecture. The three continents OF
the old world have been gone over by
theologians in seach for the most prob
able location for it; from China to the
Canary Isles, from the Mountains of
the Moon to the coast of the Baltic
each country has been the subject Of
conjecture, and no spot supposed to
correspond in the slightest degree to
the description of the first abode of the
human race has been left uneXamined.
All the great rivers OF the old world
have in turn done service as the posi-
BILE Pison and Gihon of Scripture, and
it only remains for the theorist to try
the Mississippi and the Missouri, or
some of the other large streams of the
Western Hemisphere. We may men
ton some of the principal theories of
the exact geographical position Of
Eden. The most ancient opinion,
which is given by Josephus, is that it
was in the country between the Ganges
and the Nile. This view imagines Eden
TO be very widely extended territory,
embracing all the country from the In
dus on the east to the Nile on the west.
Those who have taken this theory
suppose the Nile river to have been
Gihon and the Indus the Pison. AS
the garden was said to have been east
ward in Eden, it is placed definitely in
the valley of the Euphrates. A second
opinion does not regard Eden as in
including so wide country and places
the garden at the site of Kornah in
Babylonia, which is at the confluence
of the Euphrates and the Tigris. These
two streams of course answer for the
Pison and the Gihon, and the Land of
Cush is Chusistan or Susiana An
other hypothesis makes Cush answer
for Chownasmia on the east of the
Ca spian Sea; the country round the
head of the sea stands for Eden, and
among the small streams flowing into
the Caspian from the east finds
the four rivers of the garden.
A theory advanced by the famous
Oriental scholar, Won Hammer, was
that Eden was in Bactria. He based
this not only on the similarity of
names, finding the land of Cush in
the valley of the Hindoo Koosh mount
aims, and the Pison in the Sihon river,
which rises near the city of Cha, and
compasses the land of Ilah, the Land
of Havilah" of the Biblical Eden, but
in the fact that Iah contains both gold
and precious stones in abundance.
This corresponds to the description of
Havilah, "Where there is gold, and
the gold of that land is good, there
also is bdellium and the onyx stone"
That Eden was in Syria was the
opinion advanced by LIE Clerc, who
wrote valuable commentary on the
Scriptures. Havilah was in the land
of the Amalekites, as it is given in the
Book of Samuel; Cush is Mount Casius,
near Seleucia, and the Pison is the
River Chrysoprhoas. Others who have
taken this theory in its main points
take the Pison to be the Jordan. The
opinion, however, which has obtained
the most general support among
commentators is that Eden was
in Armenia. Cush is here variously
taken 10 be the land of the Cassal, near
Media, or CushiCapeoch, the north
part of the country between the Cas-
plan Sea and the Persian Gulf, or the
Caucasus country. The name of the
Eden streams are variously attached
to the streams flowing into the Black
Sea. The natural foundation for ac-
crediting this last theory is the idea
that while Cane moved to the East, the
posterity of Seth remained in the
neighborhood of the primeval seat Of
mankind, and that the ark of N oah
rested not very far from the place Of
his former abode. Thus Mt. Ararat ir
Armenia became a connecting point
between the antediluvian and post
diluvian worlds, and streams which
seemed to flow in channels correspond
ing to the paradisiacal streams would
naturally receive similar names. Some
other theories of the site of Eden may
be mentioned: Captain MILFORD, a pro
found student of Hindoo antiquities
places the first garden in Bamian, south
of the Hindoo Koosh range, finding
Havilah in Cabul, Cush in Cusha, tn,
Pison river in the lesser Sind, and thu
Gihon in the Hirmend. Other theorie
take the whole story given in the frs
chapters of Genesis as a myth. Will
this idea Buttman puts the garden o
Eden in India The Pison h,
Identifies with the Besyga, which
is mentioned by Ptolemy as the longes
river of India east of the Ganges, ant
Havilah with Ava, early known as
region of gold. Again, Herder, in hi
History of Mankind" identifies uEdel
with the far-famed vale of Cashmere
which had long stood to the Orienta
mind as the symbol of the land of de
lights, Many of the Orientals ais
think that the first paradise was o.
the island of Serendib or Ceylon