qualities, and a tree of life, because it imparts animation to every thought and every duty.*

It is reasonable to suppose, that the love of God is the ruling life of angels; and if so, how proper is it to be spoken of as the central life of celestial men - the life that was in the midst of their intelligence their intellectual garden. That this is a correct view of the subject is evident, not only from its approving itself satisfactorily to our reason, but from the circumstance of the tree of life being yet extant, and the fruit thereof, conditionally, offered to the acceptance of universal man. In the Revelations it is written, that the Lord said, "To him that overcometh, will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." (Rev. ii. 7.) To “overcome means the successful resistance of what is evil; and then, "to eat of the tree of life," plainly denotes, to be filled with the good of love, which is said to be in the midst of the paradise of God, to denote, that it is the inmost principle of all heavenly intelligence and truth.

Seeing, then, that the tree of life was significant of the good of love to the Lord, as it existed in the most ancient church, we are the more readily prepared to accept the idea, that the tree of knowledge of good and evil, was representative of all the truth of faith respecting him. The proposition, that the truth of faith is the tree of knowledge of good and evil, at once affects us as a lucid fact, which reasonings could not brighten, but might obscure. The solid knowledge of the pre-eminently religious man is, genuine truth, and this is the foundation of his faith; so, that while his love of God is his "tree of life," his faith in God is his "tree of knowledge." These are the two essential things of true religion with the human race, and thus we learn, as it were in the compass of a nutshell, the bright and practical ideas intended to be represented to man by those two trees. The reason why the eating of one of them was prohibited, we will show in another place.

*Philo says, "By the tree of life is metaphorically meant love to God, the greatest of virtues, by which the soul is rendered immortal; " and by "the tree of knowledge of good and evil, is signified that prudence which discriminates between things that are by nature opposite and contrary." - De Mundi Opificio.

Maimonides calls the law, "a tree of life." - De Pœnitentia, ix. sec. 2.

THE RIVER OF EDEN, ETC.

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CHAPTER VII.

THE RIVER OF EDEN, AND ITS BEING PARTED INTO FOUR HEADS.

"The fairest test of a theory is its application to the solution of a Phenomenon. -JOHN BIRD SUMNER, M.A., Records of Creation. Second Edition, p. 235.

Ir Eden and its garden were not intended to express, geographical positions of the earth, and if the trees of the garden did not mean productions of the vegetable kingdom, but that all these things are mentioned to signify internal states and principles, belonging to a highly cultivated condition of religious humanity; then, it is easy to infer, that by the river and its partings, are not to be understood natural waters, but the source and order, whence the several degrees of their intelligence were to be preserved in growth and fruitfulness.

They, who could compare a highly cultivated mind to a skilfully planted garden, and clearly perceive the general analogy existing between them, could, also, easily describe the more particular condition of such a mind, by some other more particular circumstances, which such a garden would require for the maintenance of its fertility and beauty. When such a people talked of lands and rivers, in connection with the spiritualities of religion, it was for the purpose of giving them a representative significance of internal things. They spoke of the geography of nature to express the conditions of intellect. They knew that the world of nature was in correspondence with the world of mind. Nor has this idea entirely vanished from the church. How common it is for Christians to speak of Zion, Canaan, and Jordan, to signify some internal and religious things. In such cases they do not think of the mountain, land, or river, but some spiritual state, which they are conceived to signify. They to whom the magnificence of nature was as a theatre, representing the gorgeous things of spiritual and heavenly life they who could

--

"Find tongues in trees, books in running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in every thing,"

would not only speak of the general condition of the mind, by some general resemblance in the world, but they would represent its particular states, by some particular features of physical nature. To such a people, a river, with its streams, would be eminently suggestive. In after-times, the beauty which they confer upon

the landscape, the fertility which they induce upon their banks, their gentle flow, and sky-reflecting qualities, have originated poetic thought and writing: but the men of the most ancient times, saw in such things something deeper than the modern poet; they beheld in such objects those interior and spiritual realities, which are the soul and origin of poetry. With them, the thought of a natural river was instantly changed into the idea of wisdom, and the varieties of wisdom they would indicate by giving names to its streams.* We need not descend into secular history for evidence of this fact; it is plentifully recognized in the Sacred Scriptures, there being numerous passages constructed on the circumstance of such a relationship being perceived. Those who are in the satisfactions arising from divine instruction, are said "to drink of the river of God's pleasures." (Psalm xxxvi. 8.) The waters, also, which the prophet saw issuing from the house which he beheld in vision, are described to have successively deepened, until they became a river that could not be passed, (Ezekiel 1 − 5,) to show how the divine truths, which are proper to the Lord's church, are continually heightening, until they attain that elevation of wisdom, which no man can pass. Again, the Psalmist says, "There is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God:" (Psalm xlvi. 4 :) where, by a river, is meant the divine wisdom of the Holy Word, and the "streams whereof," the numerous truths which descend therefrom; and these are said to "make glad the city of God," because they are productive of delight and happiness to the church. There is a remarkable similarity, in general idea, between this passage and that which says, “A river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads." (Gen. ii. 10.} "The garden is as "the city of God;" the "river" and "streams," as the "wisdom and truths" which impart gladness and refreshing. It is likewise written, that "the earth is watered with the river of God," (Psalm lxv. 9;) which spiritually means, that the external man is rendered fertile, in his works of use, through the inflowings of divine wisdom from the Word. John said that he was shown "A pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God." (Rev. xxii. 1.) Here, the

*The fables concerning the river Styx, Charon crossing the Stygian Lake, and the consecration of the fountains of Pindus, Helicon, and Parnassus to the Muses, with many other mythological intimations referring to rivers, their sources, and results, all took their rise from this perception.

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SPIRITUAL MEANING OF A RIVER.

89

pure river of water of life," plainly denotes the genuine truths of the Holy Word. It is these which impart spiritual life to man: Hence the Lord said, "The water, i. e., the truth, that I shall give him, (the man who comes to him,) shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (John iv. 14.) Every one may perceive that it can be nothing else but divine wisdom which proceeds as a river from the throne of God, and also, that its purposes must be to secure salvation and eternal life to all who will receive it. It is said to be clear as crystal, to denote that it is as pure as spiritual illumination can perceive it.

Now, it will be observed, that the river of Eden is without a name: yet, as its uses were to water the garden and keep it in fertility, it may reasonably be considered as the river of life, which was the inflowing of wisdom from the Lord, in order to maintain, among the most ancient people, their state of religious eminence in its integrity and greatness. The reason why this river is spoken of without a name is, probably, because it represented the divine wisdom, as it is in itself, and which, as such, is inexpressible to finite thought. It is only when this river of wisdom becomes parted, by entering into the human mind, and there presenting itself to the distinct faculties by which it is distinguished, that it will admit of nominal description, because it is only then that we obtain distinct perceptions of it. Hence, it was only when the river entered the garden that it was parted," it was then that it "became into four heads," which were respectively called, Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Phrat.

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It must be admitted, that divine wisdom, as it is in itself, cannot fall into finite apprehension; and every one must see, that, in order to its being understood at all by man, it must enter into some degree of his mind. These degrees are several; and divine wisdom is designed for all these, and to affect them all in the way of rendering them fertile in the things of use. These degrees, in general, are spoken of as three, and they consist of celestial, spiritual, and natural; but, there is also the rational degree, which exists between the spiritual and natural: this is a medium principle, which communicates between the scientific things which act upon the mind from without, and the intellectual perceptions which operate from within; and thus, in some measure, it belongs to both. The celestial, pertains to the will and its affections; the spiritual, to the understanding and its thoughts; the natural, to scientifics and such common knowledges as are observable from

the light of the world. The rational belongs to each of the latter two, and its office, in religious things, is, as it were, to open a door to let in spiritual influence upon the natural mind.

These, then, are the degrees or principles of mind, which the river of divine wisdom is intended to affect with its fertilizing power. The will, so as to preserve in it the orderly affections of love; the understanding, with the view of keeping in it the illuminated intelligence of truth; the reason, for the purpose of keeping it pure and open for the descent of interior thought into exterior cognizance; and the scientific, in order to exalt its purposes of use. This, also, is the order in which divine wisdom descends into celestial men, and so exercises its benign purpose upon their whole character; and these are the things signified by the river after it entered the garden, and then became parted into four heads, the streams from which are called Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Phrat.* These names, as Hebrew expressions, are, in their literal sense, significant of ideas which bear very closely upon the spiritual meaning they were intended to sustain.

Thus, by PISON is literally meant a changing or extending stream; but spiritually, it denotes the influence of divine wisdom upon the will and its affections: through this the will is continu

Pison and Gihon are utterly unknown to geography, and the best scholars, in oriental languages, now consider them only as appellations signifying a stream in general: in this sense they may easily be seen as a beautiful figure of the inflowing of different graces into the human mind. Hiddekel, is commonly believed to be the Tigris. But about this there is no certainty. Scientific geography cannot reconcile the features of that river with the scriptural account of Hiddekel. Etymological resemblances, rather than geographical features, have led to that opinion. It is thought to be the Tigris, because this river in Aramæan is called Digla, in Arabic Diglat, in Zend Teger, in Pelvi Tegera, whence it is said have arisen both the Aramæan and Arabic form to which is to be traced the Hebrew Dekel, divested of its prefix Hid, which means rapid, so that Hid-dekel signifies the rapid Tigris. Phrat is said to be the Euphrates, for similar reasons among others, into which we need not enter. The scriptural account however of Hiddekel and Phrat is, that they were but branches of another river that flowed in Eden, and which was divided in the garden. The geographical facts concerning the Tigris and Euphrates, are that they take their rise in the mountains of Armenia, fifteen miles apart, and so do not answer to the sacred description. The reason is, because the scriptural account is not given for geographical purposes. It was written among a very ancient people, with whom, there is much evidence to prove, it was customary to compare wisdom to a river, and to represent its particular influences upon the mind by streams with descriptive appellations.