phets, do so plainly describe this place by the region in which it was planted, by the kingdoms and provinces bordering it, by the rivers which watered it, and by the points of the compass upon which it lay, in respect of Judea, or Canaan. Noviomagus also upon Beda, De natura rerum, believeth that all the earth was taken for paradise, and not any one place. For the whole earth, saith he, hath the same beauty ascribed to paradise. He addeth, that the ocean was that fountain from whence the four rivers, Pison, Gehon, Tigris, and Euphrates, had their beginning; for he could not think it possible that these rivers of Ganges, Nilus, Tigris, and Euphrates (whereof the one ran through India, the other through Egypt, and the other two through Mesopotamia and Armenia) could rise out of one fountain, were it not out of the fountain of the ocean. SECT. III. That there was a true local paradise eastward in the country of Eden. 66 TO the first therefore, that such a place there was upon the earth, the words of Moses make it manifest, where it is written, " And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had made: and howsoever the vulgar translation, called Jerome's translation, hath converted this place thus, Plantaverit Dominus Deus paradisum voluptatis a principio, "The Lord God planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning;" putting the word pleasure for Eden, and from the beginning for eastward; it is manifest, that in this place Eden is the proper name of a region. For what sense hath this translation, (saith our Hopkins, in his Treatise of Paradise,) that he planted a garden of pleasure, or, that a river went out of pleasure to water the garden? But the Seventy Interpreters call it paradisum Edenis, "the paradise of "Eden;" and so doth the Chaldean paraphrast truly take it for the proper name of a place, and for a noun appellative; n Gen. ii. 8. which region, in respect of the fertility of the soil, of the many beautiful rivers and goodly woods, and that the trees (as in the Indies) do always keep their leaves, was called Eden, which signifieth in the Hebrew, pleasantness, or delicacy; as the Spaniards call the country opposite to the isle of Cuba, Florida: and this is the mistaking, which may end the dispute, as touching the double sense of the word, that as Florida was a country, so called for the flourishing beauty thereof; so was Eden a region, called pleasure or delicacy, for its pleasure or delicacy: and as Florida signifieth flourishing; so Eden signifieth pleasure: and yet both are the proper names of countries; for Eden being the proper name of a region, (called pleasure in the Hebrew,) and paradise being the choice seat of all that region, paradise was truly the garden of Eden, and truly the garden of pleasure. Now for eastward, to translate it from the beginning, it is also contrary to the translation of the Seventy; to the ancient Greek fathers, as Basil, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Gregory; and to the rabbins, as Ramban, Rabbi Solomon, R. Abraham, and Chimchi; and of the Latins, Severinus, Damascenus, &c. who plainly take Eden for the proper name of a region, and set the word eastward for ab initio : for Damascene's own words are these, Paradisus est locus Dei manibus in Eden ad orientem mirabiliter consitus; "Paradise is a place marvellously planted by the hands of "God in Eden, towards the east." And after all these fathers, Guilhelmus Parisiensis, a great learned man, and Sixtus Senensis, of latter times, do both understand these words of Eden and of the east, contrary to the vulgar translation; Parisiensis, as indifferent to both; and Sixtus Senensis, directly against the vulgar: of which these are their own words; "After this "I will begin to speak of paradise terrestrial, which God planted from the beginning, or eastward," &c. Post hæc incipiam loqui de paradiso terrestri, quem plantasse Deum ab initio vel ad orientem, &c. And then Senensis; Moses enim clarissime prodit, paradisum a Deo con 66 66 name, situm in regione terræ orientalis, quæ dicitur Eden: Eden autem esse proprium nomen, apparet ex quarto capite Gen. ubi legimus, Cham habitasse ad orientalem plagam Eden; "For Moses," saith he, "doth shew most clearly, "that paradise was planted of God in a region of the east country, which is called Eden: but that Eden is a proper it appeareth in m Genesis, where we read, that "Cham dwelt on the east border of Eden." Pererius endeavoureth to qualify this translation; for this particle, saith he, ab initio, is referred to all the time of the creation, and not to the very first day; alleging this place of Christ, that although the Devil was said to be an manslayer from the beginning, yet that was meant but after the sixth day. But surely, as I think, (referring myself to better judgment,) the Devil was from the instant of his fall a manslayer in disposition, though he had not whereon to practise till man's creation. And for conclusion, St. Hierome (if that be his translation) adviseth himself better in the end of the third chapter of Genesis, converting the word Eden by ante, and not a principio; as, "God did set a cherubin "before the garden of Eden;" Collocavit Deus ante paradisum voluptatis, cherubin; and Pererius himself acknowledgeth, that this is the true sense of this place, precisely taken, according to the Hebrew, Posuit a parte orientali horti Eden, cherubin; "He set on the east side of the garden of Eden "a cherubin." Becanus affirmeth, that the Hebrew word be signifieth with as well as in; and so the text beareth this sense; that God planted a garden with pleasure, that is to say, full of pleasure. But Becanus followeth this construction only to the end to find paradise upon the river of Acesines; for there he hath heard of the Indian fig-tree in great abundance, which he supposeth to be the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and would therefore draw paradise to the fig-tree which conceit of his I will answer hereafter. Now, because paradise was seated by Moses towards the east, thence came the custom of praying towards the east, m Gen. iv. 16. n John viii. 44. • Gen. iii. 24. and not by imitation of the Chaldeans: and therefore all our churches are built east and west, as to the point where the sun riseth in March, which is directly over paradise, saith Damascenus: affirming, that we always pray towards the east, as looking towards paradise, whence we were cast out; and yet the temple of Solomon had their priests and sacrifices, which turned themselves in their service and divine ceremonies always towards the west, thereby to avoid the superstition of the Egyptians and Chaldeans. But because east and west are but in respect of places, (for although paradise were east from Judea, yet it was west from Persia,) and the serving of God is every where in the world; the matter is not great, which way we turn our faces, so our hearts stand right; other than this, that we who dwell west from paradise, and pray turning ourselves to the east, may remember thereby to beseech God, that as by Adam's fall we have lost the paradise on earth, so by Christ's death and passion we may be made partakers of the paradise celestial, and the kingdom of heaven. To conclude, I conceive, that there was no other mystery in adding the word east to Eden by Moses, than to shew that the region of Eden, in which paradise was, lay eastward from Judea and Canaan: for the scriptures always called the people of those nations the sons of the east which inhabited Arabia, Mesopotamia, Chaldea, and Persia: of which Ovid, Eurus ad auroram, Nabathæaque regna recessit, And if it be objected, that Jeremy the prophet, threatening the destruction of Jerusalem, doth often make mention of northern nations; it is to be noted, that the north is there named in respect of those nations that followed Nabuchodonosor, and of whom the greatest part of his army was compounded; not that Babylon itself stood north from Jerusalem, though inclining from the east towards the north. Now to the difference of this translation, Peter Comestor giveth best satisfaction: for he useth the word, "from the "beginning," that is, "from the first part of the world," a principio, id est, saith he, a prima orbis parte; and afterward he affirmeth, that a principio and ad orientem have the same signification: "from the beginning and east“ward is all one;" a principio idem est quod ad orientem. But to return to the proof of this place, and that this story of mankind was not allegorical, it followeth in the text of the second chapter and ninth verse, in these words; For out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree pleasant to the sight, and good for meat, &c. so as first it appeared that God created Adam, elsewhere as in the world at large, and then put him into the garden: and the end why, is expressed verse 18, that he might dress it and keep it: paradise being a garden or orchard filled with plants and trees, of the most excellent kinds, pleasant to behold, and, withal, good for meat: which proveth that paradise was a terrestrial garden, garnished with fruits, delighting both the eye and taste. And to make it more plain, and to take away all opinion of allegorical construction, he affirmeth, verse 10, that it was watered and beautified with a river; expressing also the region out of which this river sprang, which he calleth Eden; and that Eden is also a country near unto Charon in Mesopotamia, P Ezechiel witnesseth. But to all these cabalists, which draw the truth and story of the scriptures into allegories, Epiphanius answereth in these words; Si paradisus non est sensibilis, non est etiam fons; si non est fons, non est flumen; si non est flumen, non sunt quatuor principia, non Pison, non Gehon, non Tigris, nec Euphrates; non est ficus, non folia, non comedit Eva de arbore, non est Adam, non sunt homines, sed veritas jam fabula est, et omnia ad allegorias revocantur; " If paradise "If P Ezech. xxvii. 23. |