ance to himself of a blessed natural life as long as he should continue obedient. Regarded in this light he might frequently have eaten of the tree before his fall, not perhaps as a physical means of perpetuating life, but, sacramentally, as Christians eat of the Lord's supper, to confirm their faith in the Divine promises. What is to be understood by the tree of knowledge of good and evil?'

'Tree of knowledge,' &c. Gr. The tree of knowing that which may be known of good and evil.' Chal. The tree of whose fruit they that eat shall know the difference between good and evil.' These paraphrastic glosses give the true sense of the expression. The tree was so called because, being appointed a test of obedience, Adam by eating of its fruit would acquire the knowledge of good by losing it, and of evil by experiencing it. The term knowledge, in the idiom of the Scriptures, usually carries with it the idea not only of simple intelligence, but also of a practical feeling or experimental sense of the thing known. Thus the Psalmist, Ps. 101. 4, 'I will not know a wicked person;' i. e. I will not have complacency in him. Mat.

7. 23, Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity;' i. e. I never approved of you. Rom. 7. 7, I had not known sin but by the law;' i. e. I had not practically and experimentally known it.

Is it necessary to suppose that there was but a single tree of each of the species here mentioned ?

Ans. As the original term for 'tree' is repeatedly used as a noun of multitude implying many trees, (see note on Gen. 3. 2.) as the phrase 'every tree,' v. 9, undoubtedly signifies every species of tree; and as the Holy Spirit has preserved a studied analogy between the descriptions of the Mosaic and the Apocalyptic Paradise, Rev. 22. 1, in the latter of which were many trees growing on either side of the river, so we may

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reasonably infer that by the expression tree of life,' we are to understand a class, set, or species of trees, whose peculiarity as evergreens signally adapted them to their symbolical use. So also of the tree of knowledge of good and evil;' we may conceive it to have been a general appellation of a class of prohibited trees. We may suppose therefore that Adam, in traversing the wide and beautiful tract of Eden, would frequently meet with each of these species of trees, and while he was at full liberty to pluck and enjoy the fruit of the one, he was to consider himself as forbidden by the most awful sanctions from putting forth his hand to the other.

How was the garden watered, and what is said respecting the river? v. 10.

'A river went out of Eden; Heb. 'River was going forth from Eden.' Probably the word 'river' in this passage like day' v. 4, or tree' v. 9. is to be taken in a collective sense implying a number of rivers, viz. the four afterward specified, flowing in different directions about the garden or through it. Out of Eden;' Heb. 'Ma-Eden,' from Eden; i. e. as we understand it, from the time of the being of Eden. The following instances of a similar usage may perhaps confirm this rendering. Num. 14. 19, As thou hast forgiven this people from Egypt even until now ;' i. e. from the time of their being in Egypt. Hos, 13. 4, 'I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt; i. e. from the time of thy deliverance from the land of Egypt. So Gen. 24. 67, 'And Isaac was comforted after his mother;' Heb. i. e. after his mother's death.' Is. 48. 8, Wast called a transgressor from the womb; i. e. from the time of birth. Prov. 29. 21, He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child; i. e. from the age of childhood. So also 2 Tim. 3. 15, And that from a child; (Gr. 'Apo brephous,') thou hast known the Holy Scriptures,' i. e. from the period of childhood. So in numerous other instances. The phrase 'from Eden' in like

manner we apprehend to mean, from the earliest period of the existence or establishment of Eden.-From thence; Heb. Misshâm.' This also we take to be a particle of time rather than of place, for which the following authorities may be cited. Hos. 2. 15, And I will give her her vineyards from thence; Heb. Misshâm' i. e. from that time. Is. 65. 20. There shall be no more thence (Heb. Misshâm') an infant of days;" i. e. from that time. The Heb. term, like the Latin inde has, in different connections, the import of both time and place. Our idea therefore of the historian's meaning in this passage is summarily this, That it was designed to inform us, that a number of rivers, viz. the four just about to be mentioned, began, coevally with the formation of Eden, to flow over that delightful region to water and fertilize it, and continued thus to flow under the character of the rivers of Eden as long as the garden of Eden itself continued, but that afterward (Heb. ' from thence') at an indefi-, nitely subsequent period, these four rivers were parted,' i. e. by geographical assignment, not by physical disruption or any alteration in their channels or cour ses in consequence of the deluge, and became four heads,' or in other words the same rivers became four capital streams belonging to countries bearing no lon→ ger the name of Eden, though covering the same extent of territory. Thus, for illustration, let us go back in imagination to the period when none of the states west of the Allegany were erected into constituent. members of the union. It might then be said in general terms that the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Ohio, and the Arkansas flowed abroad to water the great Western Valley. But after that extensive region was partitioned out into different states, then the above-mentioned class of rivers would naturally 'become parted' in their topographical relations, and stand connected, as so many separate heads,' or capital streams, with the territorial limits into which they might fall, or along which they might run;

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that too although there had not the slightest change taken place in the actual localities of the streams. This interpretation, the reader will perceive, is based upon the apprehended import of the original, and to that we appeal in its support.-'Heads ;' i, e. as explained above, capital streams, principal rivers. That the word here is synonymous with 'river,' and cannot mean source,' or 'fountain-head,', is evident from v. 13, where it is said that the name of the second river -not head-is Gihon.'

What were the names of the four 'heads,' or main rivers, and what countries did they compass? v. 11-14.

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It should be noticed that Moses here says the name of the first is Pison'-not was. His object is to state the names which the four primitive rivers obtained after the obliteration of Eden, and which they bore at the time when he wrote. There is no evidence that they had any name at all as long as they were merely the rivers of Paradise.- Pison.' So called from the multitude, increase, or diffusion of its waters; a river which largely overflowed its banks, and spread itself over the adjacent country. Accordingly the author of Ecclesiasticus, ch. 24, 25, in allusion to this etymology, says of God, He filleth all things with his wisdom as Pison.'-Compasseth.' This word in the original does not always signify to encircle, but sometimes merely to pass along by the side of, to meander, or wind its way through. It occurs Josh. 15. 3, and 16. 6, in which it is rendered passed along' and 'passed by.' -Havilah.' Probably the name of a man. There were two persons of this name, the one the son of Cush the son of Ham, Gen. 10. 7, whose territory lay between the southern extremity of the Dead Sea and Egypt. Gen. 25. 18; 1 Sam. 15. 7. But as there was no river in this vicinity answering to the description of the Pison, and as this was not a region noted for the production of gold or precious stones, this cannot

be the 'Havilah,' here intended. The other person of this name, Gen. 10. 29, was the son of Joktan of the race of Shem. His possessions are supposed to have fallen to him in India, or the country watered by the Indus; in or near the region afterward termed Cabul, which seems to be derived from Havilah, as the letters band v in all the oriental languages are frequently interchanged. He was brother to Ophir, whose land also abounded in gold, and the editor of Calmet, with other eminent geographers, is of opinion that the ships of Solomon in sailing to Ophir ascended the Indus. The two brothers therefore probably settled near together, and if so, the Indus bids fair to have been the ancient Pison. This then we suppose may be considered as determining the eastern boundary, or rather the eastern region of Eden. Accordingly the

Targ. Jon. renders the verse thus; The name of the first river is Phison, which environs the whole land of India where there is gold, and the gold of that land is excellent. Good;' i. e. fine, precious. So 2 Chron. 3. 5. And the greater house he ceiled with fir tree, which he overlaid with fine gold, (Heb. 'good gold.')

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Bdellium. An aromatic resinous gum, exuding from a certain species of tree, and used as incense for burning. Onyx-stone.' A precious gem resembling the human nail, (Gr. Onux,' nail,) elsewhere translated Beryl.'- Gihon;' importing eruption of waters. The identity of this river, like the former, can be determined only by settling the locality of the country which it compassed.- Ethiopia,' Heb. Cush,' The land of Cush, Gr. Ethiopia, appears to be taken for a very extensive region spreading along the southern coast of Asia and the eastern coast of Africa, embracing particularly all those races of people whose dark complexions shewed the effect of a tropical sun; which is the etymological import of the word Ethiop.' Of these the inhabitants of Egypt and the regions lying to the south, among which was Ethiopia proper, were the most distinguished, and we seem to be guided