A TREATISE OF THE Situation OF PARADISE,  
Written by P. D. HUET Bishop of SOISSONS.  
To which is prefixed a Map of the adjacent Countries.  
Translated from the French Original.  
LONDON, Printed for James Knapton at the Sign of the Crown in St. Paul's Churchyard, MDCXCIV.   

TO THE READER.  
OUR first Parents, READER, were turned out of Paradise for their Disobedience: Many of their Posterity endeavour by their Disbelief of Moses' Writings, to turn Paradise out of the World. To stop and correct this Humour, several Learned Books have been put in Print; and this, the last of all.  
It was writ by that Excellent, and much Celebrated Peter Daniel Huet, now Bishop of Soissons in France. Because the French Copy was scarce, and like to be so; and the Argument so useful in these days: It hath been judged very expedient to put it forth in English.  
Atheists and Scoffers, whom the Psalmist calls Pests, usually demand, What's become of Paradise? Show us the place in the Maps? And if this be not done for them (they are generally lazy) with all exactness, butted and bounded by Longitude and Latitude; hedged in with Degrees, and Minute Measures; attested also by Strabo and Ptolemy; they will slide into a disbelief first of Genesis, then of the whole Bible, and lastly of all revealed Religion.  
This great and wise Author hath pitched upon that very Method, which this sort of Men call for. He treateth the cause and question with good profane History (which they so much love) and Humane Testimony. Could the Situation of Persepolis, of Solomon's Tadmor, the course of Virgil's Timavus be so clearly described and set out; I suppose these Men would cease their Dispute about those Matters. In the present Controversy they are more you're. For should they acknowledge Satisfaction in this Point, they must alter, retract, and part with many other their ill grounded Persuasions. They mightily doubt the reality of the Torments of Hell, because they have not yet found it proved to be Local. This is very difficult to prove; for should one come from the Dead, they would not believe him. I see no way more probable to remove their distrust, than Experiment; But who ought to be at the Pains and Cost of it, but they that want to be convinced? Well then; If these Men stand to their own Principles, they must henceforth allow the History of Paradise; for it is here so fully and plainly evidenced to be Local, as any thing can possibly be, so distant in time, and remote in Situation.   

A TABLE OF THE Chapters and Sections OF THIS TREATISE.  

PREFACE.  

1 THE Occasion and Argument of this Work. Page 1  
2 The manner how it is handled. p. 3  
3 Diversity of Opinions upon the Situation of the Terrestrial Paradise. ibid.  
4 And upon such things as have any reference to its Situation. p. 5  
5 And also upon some other matters concerning Paradise, which are out of our Subject. p. 6  
6 Mr. Bochart, who intended to treat of this matter, hath not made known clearly his mind. p. 7  
7 We cannot discover the Situation of Paradise, but by the words of Moses. p. 9    

CHAP. I. The Text of Moses, and a Summary declaration of our Opinion.  

1 THE Text of Moses, where the Situation of Paradise is described. p. 10  
2 The Opinions which have been proposed hitherto, do not agree with the words of Moses, which do mark it out exactly. p. 11  
3 Our Opinion is the only one which doth agree with them. p. 12  
4 A short declaration of our Opinion. ibid.  
5 No Opinion cometh nigher ●o ours, than that of Calvin and Scaliger. p. 14    

CHAP. II. The Explanation of the eighth Verse of the second Chapter of Genesis.  

1 THE Obscurity and Ambiguity of this eighth Verse. p. 15  
2 What the word Eden signifieth: Many take it for a Noun Appellative. p. 16  
3 Others differ about it; but the greatest part take it for the name of a place. p. 18  
4 A frivolous distinction of the Rabbins between Eden marked with five Points, and Eden marked with six. p. 19  
5 The Preposition which is added to the word Eden, proveth that it is a name of a place. ibid.  
6 Many places have been called by the name of Eden. p. 21  
7 The Situation of Eden, where Paradise was. p. 22    

CHAP. III. A Continuation of the Explanation of the eighth Verse.  

1 A New Ambiguity, in this Verse by the Hebrew word Mikkedem. p. 26  
2 Mikkedem may signify Time, and Place; but here it doth signify specially Place. p. 30  
3 One might allege to prove this, the ancient Custom of the Christians, to set their Churches Eastward. p. 31  
4 Moses hath always used the word Mikkedem in the signification of a Place. p. 33  
5 Moses doth signify here, by the Word Mikkedem, that Paradise was situated in the Eastern Part of Eden. p. 34    

CHAP. IV. The Explanation of the tenth Verse.  

1 THE Ambiguity of the tenth Verse. p. 37  
2 The Foundation of that opinion which maketh the four Rivers of Paradise rise out of the same Spring, and to dive under ground, and spring again some where else. p. 40  
3 The opinion which holdeth that the River which did go out of Eden to water Paradise, did spring without Paradise, and Eden, is better grounded. p. 42  
4 It is supported by the description which Moses hath given. p. 43  
5 An approach to more exact knowledge of the Situation of Paradise. p. 44    

CHAP. V. A Continuation of the Explanation of the tenth Verse.  

1▪ A New Ambiguity in this Verse▪ The division of the River was made out of the Garden. p. 47  
2 The four heads into which the River was divided, were four different Rivers. p. 49  
3 Why these four Rivers were called heads. p. 51    

CHAP. VI The Explanation of the eleventh Verse.  

1 A General view of the course of the Euphrates and Tigris. p. 56  
2 The face of the Country through which the Euphrates and Tigris run, is very much changed since Moses his days. p. 57  
3 The Euphrates at first had but one Channel which joined it to the Tigris, but since many others have been made. p. 58  
4 More Channels drawn out of the Euphrates. p. 60  
5 Other Alternations made in those places. p. 62  
6 Some have denied, without reason, that the Tigris and Euphrates, after their conjunction, separate themselves before they fall into the Sea. p. 64    

CHAP. VII, A Continuation of the Explanation of the eleventh Verse.  

1 THE most common opinion concerning the Phison is, That it is the Ganges. p. 67  
2 Foundations of this Opinion. p. 68  
3 They do not. satisfy the Objections. p. 70  
4 Some have believed that the Phison is Indus, others Hydaspes, others Hyphasis. p. 72  
5 Haython, believed it to be Oxus. ibid.  
6 Many Rabbins, Nilus. ibid.  
7 Others, Phasis. p. 73  
8 Some, Danube. ibid.  
9 Some others Naharmalca. p. 74  
10 And others, lastly, the Eastern Channel of those two into which the Tigris and Euphrates are divided, after their former conjunction. p. 75  
11 We will show that the Phison. is the western Channel of those two, into which the Tigris and Euphrates after their conjunction are divided. ibid.  
12 The origin of the word Phison serveth to prove it. 76  
13 Many learned Men have had some knowledge of Phison. 78  
14▪ Phison hath since communicated its name to the other Rivers. p. 81    


CHAP. VIII. A Continuation of the Explanation of the eleventh Verse.  
1 DIvers opinions concerning the Land of Chavilah. p. 83  
2 A view of the true Situation of the Land of Chavilah through which the Phison runneth. p. 85    

CHAP. IX. A Continuation of the Explanation of the eleventh Verse, and the beginning of the Explanation of the twelfth.  

1 THe Gold of Arabia. p. 88  
2 And principally of Chavilah. p. 90    

CHAP. X. A Continuation of the Explanation of the twelfth Verse.  

1 DIvers opinions about the signification of the Hebrew word Bedolach. p. 91  
2 The two more probable are, that which would have it to be an Aromatic Gum, and that which would have it to be some sort of Pearl. p. 92  
3 The most known fishing for Pearls in the World, is that near Chavilah. p. 93  
4 There is found also a great deal of Bdellium in the same Country. 96    

CHAP. XI. A Continuation of the Explanation of the Twelfth Verse.  

1 DIvers Opinions about the signification of the Hebrew word Schoham. p. 98  
2 Arabia was some time the Country, in all the World, most abundant in precious Stones. p. 100  
3 The Ancients believed that the Onyx was not to be found, but in Arabia. p. 102    

CHAP. XII. The Explanation of the Thirteenth Verse.  

1 THE two most common Opinions about the Gehon are, that which maketh it to be the Nile, and that which would make it to be the western Channel of those two, which divide the Tigris and Euphrates after their conjunction. p. 104  
2 The grounds of that Opinion which would have Gehon to be Nilus. p. 105  
3 Of the Hebrew name Schichor, which Jeremiah giveth to Nilus, and which the Seventy render by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. p. 106  
4. Why many believed, that Nilus and some other Rivers did come from Heaven. p. 108  
5 Many confounded Oxus and Nilus. p. 111  
6 The grounds of the Opinion which would have the Gehon to be the most western Channel of the two, which divide the Tigris and Euphrates, after their conjunction. ibid.  
7 Gehon is the eastern Channel of the two which divide the Euphrates and Tigris after their conjunction. p. 112  
8 The Origin of the word Gehon proveth it. p. 113  
9 Why Moses hath affixed fewer marks to Gehon than to Phison: And why some have believed that Nilus did come out of Euphrates. p. 115    

CHAP. XIII. A Continuation of the Explanation of the Thirteenth Verse.  

1 THE name of Chus is given to Aethiopia, to Arabia, and to Susiana. Here it is intended of the last. p. 117  
2 That Chus is Cutha in the Scripture, and called Chuzestan at this time. p. 119  
3 We find some footsteps of the name Chus in the Cossians and Cissians, People of Susiana. p. 121  
4 Why it hath been said that Memnon was an Aethiopian. p. 122  
5 Of the Statue of Memnon, which, they say, spoke, when it was enlightened by the rising Sun. p. 124  
6 The truth of the History of Memnon. p. 127  
7 Confirmed by the Testimony of some Ancients. p. 128    

CHAP. XIV. The Explanation of the Fourteenth Verse.  

1 CHiddekel, Diglath, and Tigris, are the same name, and the same River. p. 130  
2 The vain Conjectures of the Ancients about the Origin of the name of the River Tigris. p. 132  
3 The true Origin of that name. 135  
4 Chiddekel is not Naharmalca. p. 136    

CHAP. XV. A Continuation of the Explanation of the fourteenth Verse.  

1 THE Hebrew word Kidmath in this place cannot signify, to the East. p. 137  
2 In what sense we must understand that the Tigris goeth toward Assyria. p. 139    

CHAP. XVI. A Continuation of the Explanation of the fourteenth Verse.  

1 FAlse Origins of the name of the Euphrates. p. 140  
2 The true Origin of that name. 142  
3 Virtue imputed to the Waters of the Euphrates. p. 143    

CHAP. XVII. Other Proofs of the Situation of the Terrestrial Paradise, proposed in this Treatise.  

1 IT may be proved further, that the Terrestrial Paradise was situated in the place which I have marked, by the Fertility and the Beauty of that Country. p. 144  
2 And because it was first inhabited. p. 149.  
3 The true signification of the Hebrew word Nod. ibid.  
4 What were those Columns of the Posterity of Seth. p. 150  
5 We may further conjecture at the Situation of Paradise, by the place where the Ark of Noah rested. 152    

CHAP. XVIII. Objections answered.  

1 FIrst Objection. p. 154  
2 Second Objection. p. 155  
3 Third Objection. p. 156  
4 Fourth Objection. ibid.    

CHAP. XIX. A Recapitulation of the whole Treatise.  

1 GOD planted a Garden in Eden Eastward. p. 159  
2 A River did go out of Eden, to water the Garden. p. 161  
3 It did divide itself and became four heads. p. 162  
4 The first is Phison. ibid.  
5 Which doth water the Land of Chavilah, fertile in Gold. p. 163  
6 In Pearls, and in Bdellium; in the Onyx, and in all sorts of precious Stones. p. 164  
7 The second River is the Gehon, which watereth the Land of Chus. p. 165  
8 The third is the Tigris, which runneth towards Assyria. And the fourth is the Euphrates. p. 166  
9 All the marks by which Moses hath described the Situation of Paradise, agree only to that Situation which I have proposed. ibid.  
10 The question about the Situation of the Terrestrial Paradise is no Point of Faith. p. 167     


A Map of the Situation of the TERRESTRIAL PARADISE.    

A Treatise of the Situation of the Earthly Paradise.  

PREFACE.  
I. The Occasion and Argument of this Work. II. The manner observed in the treating of it. III. The Variety of Opinions about the Situation of the Earthly Paradise. IV. About what relateth to its Situation. V. And also about other things concerning Paradise, which are not of my Subject. VI Mr. Bochart, who intended to treat this matter, did not clearly declare his Opinion. VII. The Situation of Paradise is no other way to be discovered, but by the words of Moses.  
I. I HAVE not forgotten, as you 
The Occasion and Argument of this Work.  see, Gentlemen, what I promised you some time since, to write this Treatise. I made you that promise when many of us being met together, before the hour appointed for our Academical Exercises, there was some talk about the Situation of the Earthly Paradise, occasioned by a Bible that lay open upon the Table at the second Chapter of Genesis. I told you at that time my opinion concerning it; and as you were ask me the Proofs of what I suggested, and I was ready to give them, the Clock struck, and broke off our discourse; you only told me when we parted, that I should not come off so: And I answered, That I very willingly did take upon me that Debt, and should clear it one time or other. I do it now, Gentlemen, and I'll endeavour that it may be in good coin. But to confess the truth in this, I do not so much perform my Promise, as I follow my Inclination. And, as I have had the honour for many years of being a Member of your Society, and having been received amongst you in so favourable a manner, I am very glad to give you publicly this mark of my Thankfulness, and to show the World that I glory in the title of being with you a Member of the Academy. But above all I most passionately desire to express the great Veneration I have for a Society so famous for the Virtue, Honour, Politeness, great Parts and great Learning of its Members; and more to be valued for those Qualities, which put it far out of the reach of Detraction and Envy, than for the eminent Dignities of most of the Members of it.  
II. But yet, Gentlemen, don't expect 
The manner observed in the treating of it.  here an Elegancy of Speech, nor Fineness of Thoughts: You must, on the contrary, prepare yourselves to a dry Reading, to a tho●●y Inquiry, to the Tediousness of Citations, and to hear some Greek and Hebrew Words. A matter as dark as this is, cannot be made clear but by these helps: I call it dark, for altho' the Wit and Learning of the Fathers of the Church, of the Interpreters of Holy Scripture, and of all sorts of learned Men, hath been more employed about this matter than any other; and altho' it hath produced an infinite number of Books, yet there is hardly any certainty in it. Their number will render my attempt excusable, and if I do not succeed, their example will merit pardon.  
III. Nothing will show more evidently, 
Variety of Opinions about its Situation.  how little the Situation of the Earthly Paradise is known, than the variety of Opinions of those who inquired about it. They placed it in the third Heaven, in the fourth, in the Orb of the Moon, in the Moon itself, upon a Mount near the Orb of the Moon, in the middle Region of the Air, out of the Earth, upon the Earth, under the Earth, in a hidden place and far beyond the Knowledge of Men. They placed it under the arctic Pole, in Tartary, in the place where now is the Caspian Sea. Others have placed it as far as the extremity of the South, in the Land of Fire. Many will have it to be in the East, either along the sides of the River Ganges, or in the Isle of Ceilan, deriving also the name of Indies from the word Eden, which is the name of the Province where Paradise stood. They have placed it in China, and beyond the East also, in a place uninhabited. Others in America, others in Africa under the Aequator, others in the Aequinoctial-East, others upon the Mountains of the Moon, from which they thought the Nile sprung. The greatest part in Asia, some in the great Armenia, others in Mesopotamia, or in Assyria, or in Persia, or in Babylonia, or in Arabia, or in Syria, or in Palaestina. Some also would have honoured with it our Europe, and which is beyond the greatest Impertinency, placed it at Hedin a City in Artois, upon no other ground than the Affinity of that name with the word Eden. I do not despair, but some Adventurer, to have it nearer to us, will one day undertake to place it at Houdan.  
IV. This variety of opinions is not 
Concerning such things as have relation to its Situation.  only about the Situation of Paradise, but also about those things which have any relation to it. The Phison, which was one of the branches of the River that did water it, many think to be the Ganges, others the Nile, the Hyphasis, the Cyrus, the Danube also; and in fine, the eastern Channel, through which the Tigris and Euphrates being joined discharge themselves into the Persian Gulf. They will have the Country of Chavilah, through which this River passes, to be the Indies; they will have it to be the Susiana; some a part of Arabia. They are divided about the Bdellium which is to be found there, and they do not know, whether it is an aromatical Gum, or a precious Stone, or Pearls. They are no less divided about the Onyx, being uncertain whether it is really the Onyx, or the Sardonyx, or the Beryl, or the Carbuncle, or the Crystal. The Gehon, which was another branch of the same River that sprung out of Paradise, is the Nile, according to the most common opinion; others will have it to be the Gehon, a Brook near Jerusalem, which the Scripture calls in other places Siloe; others affirm that it is the Araxus; and some more clear-sighted, but yet not enough, will have it to be the western mouth of the Tigris joined with the Euphrates. All do not agree that the Province which the Gehon crosses, called Chus in the Hebrew Text, and Aethiopia in the vulgar Translation, be Aethiopia in Africa, some being of opinion it is that other in Arabia.  
V. I pass over many other questions, 
And also about other things concerning Paradise, which are not of my subject. Aug. de Gen ad Lit. l 8. c. 1. & de Civit. D. l. 13. c. 21. Hier. quaest. Heb. in Gen. 4 Esd. 3. 6.  which are treated of in the Books of Divines, and even of the Fathers, as that which is proposed by St. Austin, viz. Whether Paradise be Spiritual or Material, or both together? As this other, viz. Whether it was created before the World, as St. Jerom seems to believe with the ancient Hebrews, and the Author of the fourth Book of Esdras; or, Whether it was created on the third day with the Plants of the Earth, or whether it was created in the order observed by Moses in speaking of it. Such also as these are viz. What was its extent, which some Interpreters have as boldly determined, as if they had measured it; some making it equal to that of the whole East; others to that of Asia and Africa together; some to that of the whole Earth; and the Talmudists, who set no bounds to their own Extravagancies, making it threescore times larger. Whether there were any living Creatures in it, which some have denied, forgetting the Serpent who seduced our first Parents, and even not admitting in it the Bird of Paradise? Whether it be still in being? Whether Enoch, Elias and St. John the Evangelist have been carried thither alive, as into a place of Refuge against Death, to continue there until the end of the World? All these Questions do not belong to my subject, and I only intent to inquire into the Situation of Paradise.  
VI Of late Mr. Bochart, whom I 
Mr. Bochart who intended to treat of this matter, did not clearly declare his opinion.  look upon to have been one of the most learned Men of his Age, did intend to treat of this matter. This he declares in some places of his Writings, and he speaks of it, as if the work had been already finished, and as if his Phaleg had been but a sequel of it. Yet I heard from one of his Relations, that after his Death they found nothing amongst his Papers, but a very imperfect draught of his design, which even doth not declare what opinion he was of. It were to be wished that he had performed his Enterprise. No body was more capable to do it than he, by reason of the understanding he had of the letter of Holy Scripture, which he got by a very long Study, by reason of his great skill in the Oriental Tongues, and by reason of his being so well versed in the Profane Authors. He hath a little declared his mind upon this question in some places of his Works, but so variously that he seems to contradict himself, for in his 
Boch Phal. l. 1. c. 4. Hieroz. part. 2. l. 5. c. 5.  Phaleg he places Paradise about Babylon; and in his Book of the Animals mentioned in Holy Scripture, he seems to be almost of the opinion of Calvin, who placed it upon the sides of the Tigris and Euphrates joined together; in Chaldaea, between the City of Apamea and the Persian Gulf. However being long uncertain whether the Relations of Mr. Bochart would find at last in his Closet that work perfected, as he had insinuated, I still deferred to collect my Observations: But seeing that after four and twenty years, which is the time that this learned Man hath been dead, no body gives us hopes of any such work, I'll try to give some light to this matter.  
VII. But because the only thing we 
The Situation of Paradise is no other way to be discovered, but by the words of Moses.  may rely upon, are the words which Moses makes use of in describing the Situation of the Earthly Paradise, we must first of all recite them to you, translating them word for word out of the Original.   

CHAP. I. The Text of Moses, and a Summary Exposition of our Opinion.  
I. The Text of Moses, where the Situation of Paradise is described. II. The Opinions aforementioned do not agree with the words of Moses, who describes it exactly. III. No other Opinion but ours can agree with it. IV. A brief Exposition of our Opinion. V. No other Opinion comes so near to ours, as that of Calvin and Scaliger.  
I. GEnesis Chap. II. v. 8. And the Lord 
The Text of Moses, where the Situation of Paradise is described.  God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had form.  
V. 9 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food: the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  
V. 10. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.  
V. 11. The name of the first is Phison: that is it which compasses the whole land of Chavilah, where there is gold.  
V. 12. And the gold of that land is good: there is Bdellium and the Onyx-stone.  
V. 13. And the name of the second river is Gehon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Chus.  
V. 14. And the name of the third river is Chiddekel: that is it which goeth toward Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.  
V. 15. And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it.  
II. The Situation of the Earthly 
The Opinions aforementioned do not agree with the words of Moses, who describes it exactly.  Paradise seems to me so exactly determined by these words, that I very often wondered at the Interpreters shutting their eyes at it, to give way to so many frivolous Conjectures, who have so little relation to it; for if you ask for example those who place it in Syria near Damascus, where be those four Rivers, and those Regions of Chavilah and Chus, they let you stay without any answer at all. If you ask those, who will have it to be in Mesopotamia, or in Babylonia, above the place where the Tigris and Euphrates join together, where may then be the Countries of Chavilah and Chus, they are forced to set them in such places as contradict the Testimony of all Antiquity. If one objects to those who fancied that the Nile was the Gehon, and the Ganges the Phison; the distance of their Springs, and those of the Tigris and Euphrates: They defend themselves by Miracles, or by Fictions, giving out what they think may be, instead of what is, and affirm, without any proof, that the Spring of those four Rivers was really in Paradise; but that after having watered that delightful place, they dived into the Earth, and went to look for some other Sources, towards the end of the World, through some subterraneous Canals. Thus humane minds go astray, when once they swerve from Truth.  
III. But I will not lose time in refuting 
No other Opinion but ours can agree with it.  particularly all these Opinions; it will be sufficient to propose my own, and to show not only that it perfectly agrees with Moses' description and the ancient Geography, but also that it is the only one which answers to it, and that whosoever will look for another, will fall into insuperable Difficulties.  
IV. I say then that the Earthly Paradise 
A brief Exposition of our ●●inion.  was situated upon the Canal which the Tigris and Euphrates joined together do make, between the place of their coming together, and that of their going one from another, before they fall into the Persian Gulf. And because this Canal made some turnings or windings; I say, to speak more precisely of it, that Paradise was situated upon one of those turnings, and likely upon the Southern Branch of the biggest, which hath been marked by Agathodaemon in the Geographical Tables of Ptolemy, when that River comes Eastward again, after having made a long turning towards the West, about 32 Degrees 39 minutes Northern Latitude, and 80 Degrees 10 minutes Longitude, according to the Delineation of Agathodaemon, very near the place where he sets Aracca, which is Erec in Scripture. Now my design is not to examine whether the Position of Ptolemy be right, it suffices me to have delivered my opinion. I add to it, that the four heads of this River are the Tigris and Euphrates before their coming together, and the two Channels that carry it into the Sea after it has divided itself; that the more Western of these two Channels is the Phison, that the Country of Chavilah, through which it goeth, is part of Arabia Felix, and part of Arabia Deserta; that the Gehon is the Eastern Channel of the two aforementioned, and that the Country of Chus is Susiana.  
V. Of all those that inquired into 
No other Opinion comes so near to ours as that of Calvin and Scaliger. Calvin. in Gen. c. 2. Scalig. de emend. temp. l. 5. & epist. l. 4. epist. 441.  this matter, none is come nearer to the opinion I propose, than John Calvin in his Commentaries upon Genesis. Joseph Scaliger followed him close, and after him the Divines of Louvain, and afterwards a great many others; but they took no notice of that Meridional Branch of the great turning of the River, tho' the words of Moses expressly require it, as I shall show. They have set the Gehon at the West and the Phison at the East, and they consequently displaced the Countries of Chus and Chavilah; all which makes their opinion and that which I maintain essentially different. But to confirm it with solid proofs, and to show the perfect agreement of it with the Description of Moses, it is necessary carefully to examine his words.   

CHAP. II. An Explanation of the eighth Verse of the second Chapter of Genesis.  
I. Obscurity and Ambiguity of this eighth Verse. II. What the word Eden is. Many take it for an appellative name. III. Others think otherwise, but the greatest part take it for the name of a place. IU. Frivolous distinction of the Rabbins between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 marked with five Points, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with six. V. The Preposition added to the word Eden, makes it evident that it is the name of a place. VI Many places have had the name of ●●en. VII. Situation of the Province of Eden, wherein Paradise stood.  
I. VErse 8. And the Lord God planted 
The Obscurity and Ambiguity of this eighth Verse▪  a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had form. Many Ambiguities render this place dark, and give occasion to an infinite number of Explications and different Opinions. Let this be spoken with the good leave of those who maintain that Holy Scripture explains itself. The Hebrews have but one Preter Tense to express the Praeterimperfect Tense, the Perfect, Plusquamperfect, and the Aorist or Indefinite Tense. What I have rendered in this place by the Aorist, planted, form, (as the Seventy Interpreters rendered it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and some others after them,) has been rendered by the Praeterplusquamperfect Tense by most of the Translators, who would have their Translation to agree with the opinion they had, probable enough in itself, that God had planted the Earthly Paradise the third day of the Creation. As for me who am persuaded, and have elsewhere showed, that a Translation, if true, aught to represent, if possible, even the Ambiguities of the Original; I thought I ought to keep here, that of the Hebrew, in the French.  
II. Verse 8. A garden in Eden. Here 
What the word Eden is. Many take it for an Appellative name.  is a new Ambiguity more considerable than the former. The Hebrew word Eden may be taken for an Appellative name, which signifies Pleasure, Delight, or for the proper name of a place. Symmachus an ancient Interpreter of Scripture, cited by St. Jerom, Severianus 
Jer. Quaest. Hebr. in Gen. Sever. hom. 5. in Hexaem.  Bishop of Gabala, who lived in St. Chrysostom's time, and the Poet Leonius, have taken here this word in the first sense. Symmachus renders Eden, a delightful Garden, a flourishing Garden, confounding, as some others after him, Eden with Paradise. They do farther quote a Catena Graecorum to defend this Interpretation. Some modern Interpreters, and among others the Author of the ordinary Gloss, and the Divines of Louvain follow it, and they conceive this was the original of those curious Gardens which the Princes of the East caused to be made, by which they would represent the Garden of Eden. Such a one was that golden Garden valued at five hundred Talents, which Aristobulus King of the Jews presented unto Pompey, and which Pompey afterward carried in Triumph, and consecrated unto Jupiter in the Capitol. This Garden was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in strictness of Speech is Eden, Pleasure, and the conformity between those words Garden of Eden and Garden of Adonis, may well have been the occasion of those Gardens consecrated to Adonis, which the Greeks, Egyptians and Assyrians planted in earthen Vessels, and in silver Baske● to adorn their Houses withal, and to carry them about in their Processions; tho' I am not ignorant that the Mythologists who by their Fictions have obscured the truth of the History, refer the original of the Gardens of Adoms to those Lettuces in which Venus put his body newly killed.  
III. The Seventy Interpreters and 
Others think otherwise, but the greatest part take it for the name of a place.  the vulgar Translation vary about the signification of the word Eden, and seem to approve of both senses; that is to take it as a proper, and as an Appellative name, for the Seventy Interpreters take it for the name of a place, in this verse which we are about to examine: But in the 15th following verse, and in other places, they take it for an Appellative name. On the contrary, the Author of the vulgar Translation in those two places, and in many others takes Eden for an Appellative name, but in the fourth Chapter of Genesis verse 16. he takes it for the proper name of a Country. But all the other Fathers of the Church both Latin and Greek, all the Interpreters of Scripture ancient and modern, and all the Orientals do agree that Eden is a local name taken from the beauty of the place; as Placentia amongst the Latins; Callichorus and Callicolona amongst the Greeks; Beauvais, Beauma●oir, Beaumesnil amongst the French; Hypsa, Enna, Talysus, and the Elysian Fields, so called by the Phoenicians. This universal consent of so many learned Men, is the first proof I produce to assert that Eden is the name of a place.  
IV. I know that some Rabbins and 
A frivolous distinction of the Rabbins between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 marked with five Points, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with six.  some Interpreters after them have refined in this, and distinguished the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eden marked with five Points, from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 marked with six, pretending that when it is marked with five Points, it denotes the Earthly Paradise, and with six, other places. But besides that the Authority of the Rabbins, who have daubed and crusted over with their Points the Hebrew Text of Scripture, is not of great weight, and that I do not see that the modern Grammarians do approve of this distinction, I'll discover the falseness of 
The Preposition added to the word Eden, makes it evident that it is the name of a place.  it, when I shall inquire after the Situation of the Country of Eden.  
V. The second proof that I make use of, to show that Eden is the name of a place, is grounded upon the Hebrew Text, where it is said that God planted a Garden 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Eden: The Preposition expressed by the letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 clearly declaring, according to its principal and more natural use, the situation of the Garden in Eden▪ I know this Particle hath many uses in Scripture, and that sometimes it is translated by the Genitive Case, which the Author of the vulgar Translation probably followed, when he translated Paradisum voluptatis. But besides that most of the places in which this Preposition is rendered by the Genitive, may be otherwise translated; we know by other Particles and Prepositions that are joined with the word Eden in Scripture, the signification of this here: As in the 10th verse of the second Chapter of Genesis: And a river went out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Eden. And in the 16th verse of the fourth Chapter: Cain dwelled in the land of Nod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the East of Eden. And in Isaiah: He will make her wilderness 
Isa. 51. 3.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like Eden. Now as these places cannot be translated so: And a river went out of pleasure: Cain dwelled on the east of pleasure; he will make her wilderness like pleasure: So in the place in question the word Eden cannot be rendered by that of Pleasure.  
VI My third Proof will be the Example 
Many places have had the name of Eden.  of many other places, which by reason of their Beauty were also called Eden: Such was that spoken of by the Prophet Amos, very different and far distant from that of Moses: It was a beautiful Valley in Syria, situated 
Amos 1. 5.  betwixt Libanon and Antilibanon, whereof Damascus was the Metropolis. This Valley deserved the Name of Eden, or rather of Beth-Eden, that is to say, House of Pleasure, by reason of its Fertility and Pleasantness. This induced some to believe, That the earthly Paradise stood there; and they were the more persuaded of it, because they found in the Neighbourhood a Town called Paradise, mentioned by 
Plin. lib. 5. cap. 23. Ptolom. Asiae tab. 4.  Pliny and Ptolemy. They sought also there the place where Adam was created, and that where Cain killed his Brother, and persuaded themselves to have found 'em there. But all these Conjectures disappear, when you go to compare 'em with the Text of Moses, and all the Circumstances that are marked in it; and when you find there neither Phison, nor Gehon, nor Chavilah, nor Chus. Such was Adana, a Town in Cilicia, so called by reason of the goodness of its Soil, and the pleasantness of its Situation. Such is also the Village of Eden, near Tripoli in Syria on the way which leads unto Libanon▪ where some have placed the earthly Paradise. And, finally, such is that famous Port, called Adana, or Aden, so much resorted to these many Hundred Years; which for having been the most delightful place, of a very delightful Country, I mean of the Arabia Felix, hath been called itself Arabia Felix, as comprehending in it all the Beauties of that Country: Tho' besides that Adana, there was another in the middle of the same Country, bearing the same Name with the first, for the same Reason. It is no wonder then, that the Arabians who inhabited that Province, believed that Paradise was amongst amongst.  
VII. Having, as I think, clearly 
Situation of the Province of Eden wherein Paradise stood.  demonstrated, that the Name of Eden is the proper Name of a Place, we must now endeavour to discover its Situation, that we may know that of Paradise, which was the noblest Part of it. We read in the fourth Book of 
4 Reg 19 2. Isa. 37. 12.  Kings, and in Isaiah, That Sennacherib King of Assyria, designing to terrify Ezechias, who had rebelled against him, boasts that he had destroyed the Countries of Gozan, of Haran, of Reseph, and of the Children of Eden, who were in Thelassar. The Learned agree, that Gozan is the Gauzanitis, a Province in Mesopotamia; that Haran and Reseph are Carrhae and Rescipha, Cities in the same Land of Mesopotamia; the first of which hath been famous by the overthrow of Crassus; That Eden is the same Country where Moses hath placed Paradise, and that Thelassar is Talatha, a City in Babylonia, placed by Ptolemy upon the Canal of the Tigris and Euphrates joined together: And when Stephanus the Geographer speaks of a City on the Euphrates called Adana, we are almost sure that he means some retired place of the Inhabitants of the Land of Eden, which took its Name from it. In the Prophecy of the Prophet Ezekiel, about the destruction of 
Ezech. 27. v. 23.  Tyre, when he enumerates the Nations with whom this powerful City used to Trade, he puts Haran and Chene, and Eden together. Here is again Haran and Eden joined together; which shows, That the same places are to be understood as in the precedent Text; that is, Carrhae in Mesopotamia, and the Country of Eden mentioned by Moses: And the Interpreters agree to it. Now in these Two places the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eden is marked with Six Points; which shows how vain is the forementioned distinction of the Rabbins betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eden marked with Five Points and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eden marked with Six. The Land of Eden extended itself below, yea perhaps also above the coming together of the Tigris and Euphrates, and took up a good part of that vast Country, which hath since been called Babylonia. At first Babylonia ended at the joining together of the Tigris and Euphrates. The Land which lies below that coming together as far as the Persian Gulf, is called Iraque by Alferganus, commonly called Alfragan, by Abulfeda, and other Arabian Geographers, from the Name Erec, which with Babylon and other places, was the beginning of the Kingdom of Nimrod: 
Gen. 10. 10.  These are the Words of Moses. Ere● was a Town situated on the common Canal of the Tigris and Euphrates. Babylon was situated on the Euphrates above the joining of the Two Rivers. These Two Towns gave their Name to Two Provinces. Babylonia extended itself as far as the joining of the Rivers; and the Province of Erec or Iraque extended itself all along the common Canal of these two Rivers on the Right and the Left Hand, from their joining together to their coming into the Sea. Time hath altered these things. Iraque hath extended itself to Babylonia, Assyria and Media, and gave 'em its Name; and Babylonia possessed itself of the whole ancient Province of Iraque. I say then, that the earthly Paradise was situated in Eden, a part of the Province of Babylonia, or Iraque, which extended itself all along the common Channel of the Two great Rivers, near the place 
Pool lib. 6. cap. 3 & Tab. V. Asiae.  where was the ancient Town of Erec, or Aracca, according to the Position of Ptolemy.   

CHAP. III. A Continuation of the Explanation of the Eighth Verse.  
I. New Ambiguity of this Verse in the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. II. Mikkedem may signify both Time and Place. III. We might prove it by the ancient Custom of the Christians, of turning their Churches Eastward. IV. Moses makes constantly use of the Word Mikkedem to signify a Place. V. Moses meant here by the Word Mikkedem, that Paradise was situated in the Eastern Part of Eden.  
I. VErse 8. Eastward, the Hebrew 
New Ambiguity of this Verse in the Word Mikkedem.  Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mikkedem, which I render by this Word Eastward, is the Cause of a great many new Ambiguities, and diversity of Explanations: For as it may signify both Time and Place, the Author of the Vulgar Translation; who is no other here than St. Jerom; the Grecian Translators, Aquila, Theodotion and Symmachus; the chaldaic Paraphrasts, Onkelos, and Jonathan; and the Interpreters who make open Profession of following the Vulgar Translation, have taken it in the first Sense, and rendered it, in the beginning. This very Translation is ambiguous: for some understand it as if this Garden had been planted before the Creation of the World. The Author of the Fourth Book of Esdras, Jonathan the Paraphrast, and St. Jerom himself, as I told you before, are of that Opinion. Some make it only as old as the World, and the greatest part pretend that it was planted the Third Day of the Creation. Those who believe that by the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mikkedem, is meant a Place, and not Time, are not all of the same Mind: for some are persuaded, that it signifies the extremity of the East; others, and those more in number and of greater Learning, maintain, That the Word East is never given in Scripture to the Regions that are beyond the Persian Gulf; but only to those that lie betwixt that Gulf and Judaea; I mean Arabia, Chaldaea, Mesopotamia, and Persia. I shall add this Proof to theirs, That the Chaldaeans, who dwelled towards the lower part of the Euphrates, were called Sabaeans by the Arabians and Jews, that is to say Eastern; and their Book concerning Husbandry, so often quoted by Rabbi Maimonides, was called the Easterly Book; and that the Christians of St. John which live about Bassora, which is a part of the ancient Chaldaea, bear still that Name. I shall add to this, That besides the Regions just now named by me, and called Eastern by the Sacred Authors; those also that were situated along the easterly side of the Tigris, are more especially called, as by their proper Name, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kedem, East. And this hath given occasion to the Poets to feign that Memnon was the Son of Aurora, or the Morning, because he was born in Susiana, a Province adjoining to that of Eden. As the easterly side of the Trigris was called East, so the Westerly was on the contrary called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ereb, West, from whence Arabia took its Name. The Word East being thus a relative Term; and seeing that one and the same place may be easterly and westerly if diversely considered, Arabia hath been called East, as also its neighbouring Provinces in respect to Judaea; and West in respect to the Tigris. Let us now return to the divers Expositions of the Text now in question. Some presumed, that as Moses wrote these Words in Arabia Petraea, he had a regard to its proper Situation, and called that East, which was so in respect to the place where he than happened to be. Others think, that as he wrote to the Hebrew Nation, and in reference to that time to come, when it should be established in the promised Land, he only minded that Land. And the most part pretend that this Word Eastward, according to the Rules of Grammar, refers to the immediately foregoing Words, planted a Garden in Eden; and that Moses meant that the Garden comprehended the easterly part of the Land of Eden. For my part, I suppose that the Province of Eden extended itself on both sides of the River, and adjoined to Susiana; and that therefore the part which was beyond the River, did partake of the very Name Kedem, East; as also all the Lands that lay on the easterly side of it; and that when Moses said that the Garden was Eastward, he meant that it was in that part of the Province of Eden, which was beyond the River, and was called Kedem, East. Some Commentators, by way of accommodation, approving of the Two significations of Time and Place given to the Hebrew Text, (and which indeed may both stand together) and desiring to reconcile the divers Translations, maintain, That the Holy Ghost inspired this ambiguous Word to Moses, that we might understand that God planted this Garden in the East, and planted it at the beginning of the World, that is, on the Third Day of the Creation.  
II. I am not contrary to that Opinion, and I grant that the Word 
Mikkedem may signify both Time and Place; but here it signifies chiefly Place.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mikkedem may signify the time of the Creation of the Earthly Paradise, provided that it be granted to me, That it first and particularly doth signify its Situation. And indeed all things do convince us of this; for if we come to reckon Suffrages, we shall oppose to those that I produced in behalf of the signification of Time, the Seventy Interpreters, attended with all the Grecian Fathers, and many of the Latin, the Rabbins, Aben Ezra, David Kimchi, and Selomoh Jarchi, with David de Pomis, the Oriental Translators, and most of the Modern Interpreters and Grammarians. To the Authority of the Vulgar Translation, we shall oppose the old Italic Translation; out of which St. Jerom did probably take the Text that we now examine, as it is cited in his Hebraick Questions, translated in these Words; Et plantavit Dominus Deus Paradisum in Eden, contra Orientem. And the Lord God planted a Garden in Eden, overagainst the East. It is plain, that only the respect he had for the Three ancient Grecian Interpreters, Aquila, Theodotion, and Symmachus, made him alter the Italic Translation in this Place, and made him infer out of the Words they made use of, That Paradise had been created by God before Heaven and Earth. Nevertheless this Italic Translation, from whom this place of our Vulgar Translation hath been taken, was made use of even from the beginning of Christianity, long before and after St. Jerom's time, in the Church of Rome, and in all the Churches of Italy, before all the other Translations. And as it was composed upon the Translation of the Seventy Interpreters, and that the place alleged by St. Jerom follows them Word by Word, I am, not without good Ground, brought to think, that it was taken out of that old Translation.  
III. To show the universal Consent 
We might prove it by the ancient custom of Christians turning their Churches Eastward.  of the Church in giving to this Text the signification that I am for, I could produce a Custom that was practised a long while in it, and is not yet abolished, to direct towards the East the Buildings of Churches, and oblige Christians by that Situation to turn to the East in making their Prayers. The chief Reason for it given by the Fathers, is, say they, to put us in mind, when we look toward that part of the World, where that delicious Placo stood, of the Happiness we have lost by the Sin of our first Father; and of the Care we ought to take for the recovering of it. But it seems more probable to me, that the Church brought in this Custom to distinguish itself from the Religion of the Jews, whose Temple was turned towards the West; as it is likely that the Jews placed theirs so, to distinguish themselves from their Neighbours, who for the most part were Idolaters, and Worshippers of the Sun, and made their Prayers towards the East: which Idolatry had crept in amongst the People of God, and is condemned by Ezekiel. And it is a remarkable thing, 
Ezek. 8. 16  that as the ancient Religion, I mean the Jewish, ordered that Prayers should be made towards the West; and that afterwards the Christian Religion altered this Custom, and prescribed that Prayers should be made towards the East. So the ancient Romans did build their Temples toward the West, which Custom was since abolished, by disposing them towards the East, before the time of Augustus' himself: As Vitruvius who lived at 
Vitruu. l. 4. c. 5. Hygen. de limitib. constit.  that time says, and also Hygenus the Surveyor, who did write in the time of Trajan, the Rules of his Art.  
IV. We can make no doubt that 
Moses makes constantly use of the word Mikkedem to signify a place.  Moses made use of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mikkedem, in the sense I take it, when we see that in the following Narrative he always made use of it in the same sense; as when he says, That God having turned Adam out of Paradise, he dwelled on the East of that place. For altho' St. Jerom translateth, Ante Paradisum voluptatis, he doth nevertheless denote the East, which according to the Language of Scripture, is the ●ore part of the World. He takes it also in the same sense, when he speaks of the confusion of Languages, and says, That 
Gen. 11. 2.  those who went to build the Tower of Babel, departed from the East to 
Gen. 12. 8.  go into the land of Se●●aar. He uses it twice in the same sense, when he describes the Situation of the Mountain where Abraham did incamp, after he went from Sichem, to signify that the Town of Hai was on the East of that Mountain, and the Mountain on the East of Bethel, and Bethel towards the Sea, that is to say on the West of the Mountain, making an opposition between the East and the West. He 
Gen. 13. 11  takes it so too, when he relates the parting of Abraham and Lot from each other, saying that the latter retired towards the East. And finally he makes use of it in the same sense in the book of Numbers, when 
Numb. 34. 11.  he gives us to understand, that Ribla was on the East of Ai. I shall not quote many other places out of the other Sacred Authors, in which this term is taken in the same sense: These will suffice to show that it was appropriated, as it were, to descriptions of places.  
V. But all the Ambiguity is not 
Moses meant by the word Mikkedem that Paradise was situated in the easterly part of Eden.  yet taken off; for altho' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mikkedem is here the name of a place, and denotes the East, yet it is uncertain, whether Moses would only give us to understand, that Paradise was Easterly in respect to himself when he was a writing this; and in respect to the Promised Land, to the Inhabitants whereof he did write; or whether he meant that it was in the easterly part of the Land of Eden: But I think that Moses having said that Paradise stood in the Land of Eden; and the Land of Eden being so near the Arabia Petraea, where then the Israelites were, very few of them were ignorant of its Situation; and it sufficed him to have said, that Paradise was in the Land of Eden, to let us know that Paradise was easterly in regard to himself and to the Promised Land. Whereas it was necessary to mark in what place of the Land of Eden Paradise was. For what likelihood is there that Moses having undertaken to describe exactly the Situation of this Garden, of which he in the Series of his Narrative gives so precise and uniform marks, after he had said that it stood in the Land of Eden, should neglect to express the part of that Land where it stood, and should speak of the time of its Creation, which had been marked enough in the first Chapter, where he relates the creation of Plants? Was it more necessary to know into how many branches the River that watered Paradise did divide itself, and into what Countries these branches extended themselves, and what Commodities were brought out of those Countries, than to know in what part of a Province, to which some Authors give a very great ex●●nt, this delicious Garden was situated? Would this be agreeable to the exactness of a good Historian, who being willing to relate, how the Venetians took lately from the Turks Napoli di Malvesia, should only say, that it is a Town in the Morea? Ought he not to have added, that it is situated on the easterly Coast of that Province?   

CHAP. IV. Explanation of the tenth Verse.  
I. Ambiguity of the tenth Verse. II. The Ground of the Opinion of those, who think that the four Rivers of Paradise spring out of the same Head, and having entered into the Earth again, come forth in other places. III. The Opinion of those who maintain that the River which came out of Eden to water Paradise, had its Spring out of Paradise and Eden, is better grounded. IV. It is established upon the description of Moses himself. V. We begin to know more precisely the Situation of Paradise.  
I. VErse 9 And out of the ground 
Ambiguity of the tenth Verse.  made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food: the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  
Verse 10. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.  
The words of the ninth Verse have no relation to the Situation of the Earthly Paradise, and are out of the subject of this work. But he that will read the following words with application, will find that none in all this description, do more exactly mark the Situation of Paradise, yet none have been so little understood, none also have been a greater cause of mistakes to those who passed them over with a ●light and superficial view, and knew not how to get clear of the Ambiguities, that are there at least in as great a number, as in the foregoing places; for when Moses says that a river went out of Eden to water the garden, we know not, whether he means that a River went out of the Earth, and had its Spring in the Province of Eden, from whence it run along into the Garden; or whether he means that its Spring was in the Garden itself, that was in the Province of Eden; or whether his meaning be only that after having run through that Province, it went out of it to water the Garden. All these significations have their defenders, both ancient and modern: The number is great of those that by the word went out, understand, grew or sprung out of the earth. And because this River divided itself into four others, the heads of which are far from the Province of Eden, some have imagined subterraneous Conduits, through which the Waters of this Fountain were carried very far, and went out again to make the Ganges, Tigris, Euphrates, and Nile. Such is the opinion of those who think that the sealed Fountain, Fons signatus, which they pretend was the same that is now adays to be seen between Bethlehem and Hebron, and of which Solomon speaks in his Songs, was the Spring of the four Rivers; and that the enclosed Garden, Hortus conclusus, which they set in the same place, was the Earthly Paradise. St. John Damascene fancied 
John Damasc. de orthod. fid. l 2. c. 9  that the Ocean was that Spring, and consequently that all the Earth was Paradise. Some believed that though the word River be here made use of in the singular Number, yet it hath a plural and collective Signification, which comprehends the four Rivers. Upon this ground, having found the Springs of the Tigris and Euphrates pretty near one another in the greater Armenia, they looked thereabouts for the Spring of the Phison and Gehon; and deceived by some conformity of names, or some light resemblance, they made divers conjectures, all which have some essential defect, and do agree but with one part of the description of Moses. El-idris the Geographer, whom they without reason call Nubian, it being much more probable that he was born a Subject to Roger the second King of Sicily: This Geographer, I say, fancying 
Geogr. Nub. climb. 2. part. 10.  that the Spring of this River, spoken of by Moses, was in Paradise, placed Paradise at the Spring of the Chamdan, a great River in China.  
II. Although the Opinion of those 
Ground of the opinion of those, who think the four Rivers spring out of the same head, and having entered into the Earth again, come forth in another place.  who fancy that these four great Rivers sprung out of the same head, and entered into the Earth almost as soon as they were come out of it, to go into very remote places and there come forth again, be very strange, yet it hath found credit, even amongst the Heathens themselves, and so much the more, because there are great conformities betwixt those Rivers. Their overflowings are at set times, though produced by different causes; the Euphrates and Tigris, as the Po, and many others, by reason of the Snow of the Mountains, which melteth away at the approaches of the Sun; the Nile and Ganges, as all those of the Torrid Zone, by reason of the Rains that are frequent there, when the Sun is vertical. The same Animals are found in the Ganges and in the other Indian Rivers, as in the Nile, as Crocodiles, and also Hippopotames, if we give credit to Philostratus and Onesicritus. The 
Phil. Vit. Apol. l. 6. c. 1. Onesicrit. Strabo l. 15.  latter is contradicted by Strabo; and yet it is true, that the Nile is not the only River that produces these Animals. In that of Petzora, and in all the Coast of the samoyedes, which lies towards the straits of Vaygats, there is to be found an amphibious Animal which the Moscovites call Morss, and is really a kind of Hippopotame. This may well be the reason why it was thought that the Nile and Ganges had one and the same Spring; since Alexander having found some Crocodiles in the River Indus, and Beans like to those of Egypt, upon the sides of the Acesine, a River that falls into the Indus, did not question but he had found the Spring of the Nile. For all the Ancients, knowing very little of Geography, thought, even since the time of Marcus Paulus a Venetian, who lived four hundred years ago, that the Aethiopians were neighbours to the Indians, and very often took the one for the other; and that the Nile came from the East, and had its Spring in the Indies. Virg●… 
Virgil. Georg. l. 4.  tells it very plainly, and the Poet Gratius, who lived in the time of Augustu●, writes, that the Kings of Egypt did reap the Nard which grows on the sides o● the Ganges. They believed also, as Pausanias and Philostratus inform us, 
Pausan. Corinth. Philostrat. vit. Apoll. l. 1. c. 14.  that the Nile was derived from the Euphrates, which after having plunged his Waters into some Meers, sprung o●● again in Aethiopia under the name of Nile. And finally we know, by the Testimony of the Poet Lucan, and of B●●tius, 
Lucan. l. 3. Boet. Consol. l. 5. metr. 1.  some fancied that the Euphrates and Tigris had the same Spring. Here the● you have the Springs of the Ganges, Nile, Euphrates and Tigris very near one another and even united, according to ancient Geography, which is indeed very false and very ridiculous, and which very much helped the receiving 
The opinion of those who maintain that the river which came out of Eden to water Paradise, had its Spring out of Paradise and Eden, is better grounded.  the gross Error of those who misunderstood the words of Moses, which we are now about to examine.  
III. But those who maintain that this River that went out to water Paradise, had its Spring out of Paradise and Eden, and that the word went out doth not signify sprung out, but run f●om Eden into Paradise, are more in number and of greater weight. The word Egrediebatur, which the Author of the vulgar Translation made use of; and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Seventy Interpreters used, answered to by the Oriental Translations, express the running of a River, and not its Spring. And even the term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 jotses which is in the Hebrew Text, gives us the same Notion. For altho' it is taken elsewhere, and even by Moses himself, for the Spring of Waters; yet these being figurative Expressions, and this word being never made use of in historical Narratives, I do not see what may be inferred from thence for its proper signification. The Hebrews have many other words much more proper for that signification; and they have none more proper than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 jatsa to signify coming out or running to go into another place.  
IV. If we consider well the thing 
It is established upon the description of Moses himself.  itself described by Moses, it leadeth us to this very sense. For Eden and Paradise being two different places, (I mean different, as the whole from its part) and the Sacred Author having a mind to say, that the River went from one to go into the other, he expressed the two bounds of this running, Eden and the Garden, and he used the Words and Particles most suitable to this Expression; for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 jatsa, as I said, in its most natural sense, signifies go out; and the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Min, which is joined with the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eden in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Meeden, doth denote the place of this going out. The Seventy Interpreters rendered it very well by the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and the vulgar Translation by De. In the following word, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l●haschcoth, to water, the Particle expressed by the letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commonly denoting the Gerund, signifies the final cause of this going out: And the following words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ethhagan, the Garden, denote the local bound of this running. If by these words, And a river went out of Eden to water the Garden, Moses had meant that this River sprung out of the Earth in Eden, 'tis evident his Narrative had been defective; having said nothing of the running of this River: And to make it complete, it should have been in these words, And a River had its Spring in the Land of Eden, from whence it ran along to water the Garden.  
V. This Explication being received, 
We begin more precisely to know the Situation of Paradise.  we begin to have a clearer sight of the Situation of Paradise. I said that Paradise was situated on the Canal of the Tigris and Euphrates joined together, betwixt their coming together 〈…〉 separating from one another. This Canal is now called Schat-el Arab, that is to say, the River of the Arabians. It is the River here spoken of by Moses: Seeing Paradise comprehended the easterly part of the Province of Eden, as I suppose, I have plainly evidenced it; and the River that did water it, ran through that Province, before it entered into Paradise; it must necessarily follow, that Paradise was situated on one of the turnings of this River, that goeth from West to East. And if any should desire to have something more precise or particular in this, we may understand that great turning of the River toward the West, betwixt its joining and dividing, and which is called Agathodaemon in the Maps of Ptolemy, and say that Paradise stood at the easterly end of the Meridional Branch of this turning. And consequently all those who set it in the places where this River runs towards the West, or the South, have been under a mistake. Perhaps it had another turning in Paradise, and then ran as before toward, the South. Josephus says, That it encompassed that delicious place, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Which 
Joseph. Antiq. l. 1. c. 2.  I but partly believe, for I am persuaded that the greatest part of the Garden was on the easterly side of the Tigris. I desire the Reader to reflect on this Observation, which is of very great Importance for the present inquiry.   

CHAP. V. Continuation of the Explanation of the tenth Verse.  
I. New Ambiguity of this Verse. The River divided itself out of the Garden. II. The four heads into which the River was divided, were four different Rivers. III. Why these four Rivers are called heads.  
I. VErse 10. And from thence it was 
New Ambiguity of this Verse. The River divided itself out of the Garden.  parted, and became into four ●eads. The Rules of Grammar do require that this Particle from thence be referred to what he named last, viz. the Garden. And indeed Moses, besides the other marks he hath given of the Situation of this Garden, having undertaken to describe it to us by the Rivers or Channels, into which this great River that waters it is divided, the Description which he is a going to make of these Channels, aught to be referred to this Garden. Yet as Paradise was a part of Eden, one may consider Eden and Paradise together in the description of these four Branches; because they were divided from one another, after they had passed out of both. Moses hath marked it plainly enough, when he said, That a river went out of Eden to water the Garden; for these words give us to understand, that there was but one River in the Garden and in Eden, and consequently that the division did not happen there. Nevertheless the Subtlety of the Interpreters hath found here matter wherein to exercise itself. Some say that the Particle from thence relateth to Eden, and that the River divides itself there into four Channels, before it cometh into the Garden. Others will have that division to be made at the entrance of the Garden. Those who pretend that the River divides itself in Eden, do not agree among themselves; some of them supposing that it divides itself into four Channels in Eden, which run all four into Paradise; others admitting but one of them into Paradise, leave the remainder in Eden. There are some who affecting to refine this matter, suppose that the River is first of all divided into two branches; and a little lower each of these two branches subdivided in two others to make four. Mahomet, a bold and confident Contriver, entered not into these particulars, when according to his own Humour and Genius he framed the Idea of a Paradise, watered by four Rivers, the first of pure Water, the second of Milk, the third of Wine, and the fourth of Honey. Although many of his Followers speak but of the three last, reckoning the Water for nothing: The best and soundest part of the Interpreters is persuaded that the Division was made, out of the Garden.  
II. Verse 10. And became into four 
The four heads into which the River was divided, were four different Rivers.  heads. Many Translators passed over these two words and became, and expressed them not in their Versions. The Seventy Interpreters are of that number, and probably the vulgar Translation retained this Omission from the Ancient Italic, which was composed according to that of the Seventy Interpreters. One might justly wonder that St. Jerom, who ●ound Mysteries in the very Disposition of the words of Scripture, hath not supplied what was wanting in this place. Although the Faithfulness which all Translators, especially those of the Word of God, owe to the Public and to that Sacred Original, had not bound them to account to us for those words; the only clearing of the matter, I mean of the Situation of Paradise, should have engaged them to it: For when Moses, after he had said, That the River divided itself after its going out of Paradise, added, And became into four heads: Methinks he meant by that, that this division made four Channels, which are so many different and separated Rivers, and never came together again. It is then as much as if he had said, And from thence it divided itself, and became into four heads: Signifying first the Division, and then the Effect and Parts of the Division. This is the Sense that the Hebrew Phrase doth impart: As in the second Book of 
2 Sam, 13. 28.  Samuel the Hebrew Text is, Be in brave and valiant men: To signify, Be brave and valiant. As St. Matthew, 
Matt. 19 5.  meaning it thus, And they shall be both one flesh; kept the Hebraism of Moses, And they shall be both in one flesh. And 
Gen. 2. 24.  as St. John, instead of saying, And 
1 John 7. 8  these three are one, hath spoken like an H●llenist, that is to say, he made use of an Hebrew Phrase with Greek words, And these three are in one.  
III. Verse 10. Into four heads. The 
Why these four Rivers are called Heads.  word Capita, which the Author of the vulgar Translation made use of, translating literally the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Raschim, deceived many Commentators; for having found in Horace, Propertius, 
Horat. Carm. l. 1. Od. 1. Propert. l. 2. Eleg. 12.  and in some other Latin Authors, the word Caput, in the signification of Source or Spring, they took it here in the same sense, and thought that this River produced the Springs of the Rivers which Moses is a going to name. They were surely mistaken, for the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Raschim and Capita are taken here in the figurative sense; not as some Interpreters expound, to signify Rivers which are the heads, and as it were, Princes of the other Rivers in the Land, in the same sense as Virgil said, Fluviorum 
Virgil. Georg. 1. & Aeneid. 8  Rex Eridanus; and speaking of the Tiber, Hesperidum regnator aquarum; because the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Raschim, taken in that sense, aught to have been followed with the name of the thing, which these Rivers had been the heads of, as it is to be seen in those places of Virgil, and almost always in Scripture; but it signifies the beginnings; the approaches; what ●ne meets with first. The Seventy Interpreters have very well expressed that word by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The French word Têtes is often used so: And it is a mistake of Severianus and Glycas, to 
Sever. Gabal. Hom. 5. in Hexaem. Mich. Glyc. Ann. part. 1.  render the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Seventy Interpreters by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Fountains. We find in many places of Scripture the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rosh, metaphorically used, to signify the beginning of a way, and rendered by the Seventy Interpreters by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and by Caput in the vulgar Translation. It is taken elsewhere for a body of Soldiers; in that sense the Seventy Interpreters translate it also by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. It might be well rendered in Latin by the word Agmen, which should perhaps pretty well fit this place; for Virgil saith, Venit agmen 
Virgil. Georg. 1.  aquarum. And the Samarita● Translator very probably rendered in this sense the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Raschim, by that of Nozelim, which answer to the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nozelim, that is to say, run of Waters, Ductu● aquarum; and not Islands, as it is in the Version of the English Polyglot▪ But the most proper and natural Sense is, that the River divided i● self into four heads, four beginnings▪ four entries. And it would be very properly spoken, to say of one, wh● coming out of the Garden had taken Shipping on the River, that having failed a while, he entered into the Phison or Tigris. In this one must not consider the great River with its four branches, in respect to the running of its Water, but in respect to the disposition of its Channel. It must be looked upon as an Highway, of which it may be said, that it crosses over a Forest, and from thence divides itself into four ways, whether the division be made above or below the Forest. Moses did not say whether the division of the River happened above or below Paradise, or whether it happens near or far. He denoted it plainly enough, when he named the four Channels or Rivers, which grew from that division. Those four Rivers were so well known in the places where Moses then was, and to those to whom he wrote, that it was enough to name them that they might be known. Yet he was not contented with it; and as if he had foreseen that future Ages, and far Nations, who were also concerned in the design of his work, might want some clearing of this matter, he gave so evident tokens to make those Rivers known, that no Man can mistake them but for want of heed; and cannot but easily perceive that the four Rivers which divided the great River of Paradise, were the Euphrates and Tigris above it; and under it the two branches which divide the common Channel of the Tigris and Euphrates, before it falls into the Persian Gulf. And this will be made evident by what follows.   

CHAP. VI Explanation of the eleventh Verse.  
I. A general Idea of the running of the Euphrates and Tigris. II. The Land which the Euphrates and Tigris run through is much altered since the time of Moses. III. The Euphrates had at first but one Channel which joined it to the Tigris, but many others have since been drawn out of it. IU. More Channels yet drawn out of the Euphrates. V. Other alterations in those parts. VI Some denied without any ground that the Tigris and Euphrates being joined together, do separate themselves again before they fall into the Sea.  
I. VErse 11. The name of the first is Phison; that is it that compasseth the whole land of Chavilah, where there is gold.  
Verse 12. And the gold of that land is good: there is Bdellium and the Onyx-stone.  
Before we treat in particular of the 
A general Idea of the running of the Euphrates and Tigris.  Rivers of Paradise, it is necessary to give the Reader an Idea of the running of the Euphrates and Tigris, without which he can not, but with difficulty, understand what I have to say. The Euphrates hath its Spring in the great Armenia, on the northerly side of the Mount Abos, which is a branch of the Taurus. The Tigris hath its Spring in the same Land on the southerly side of the Mount Niphates, which is another branch of the Taurus. These two Springs are above a hundred Leagues off from one another. The Euphrates takes its course towards the West, the Tigris towards the East; and they encompass Mesopotamia, one of the most famous and fruitful Countries upon Earth. They come after that together by many Channels which encompass the ancient Babylonia. Then again making but one Channel they run on towards the South, and before they enter into the Persian Gulf, they▪ part from one another again, and encompass a great Island, which formerly was called Messene, and now is called Chader.  
II. In the time of Moses the figure 
The Land which the Euphrates and Tigris run through is very mu● altered since the time of Moses.  of that Land was very different from what it hath been since, and is now; the Industry of Men, the Power of the Kings of Assyria, Egypt and Persia, and of the Caliphs', who by turns were Masters of those Countries; the length of Time, the Violence of the Sea, and the Overflowings of Rivers, have caused many Alterations in it. Of the five Channels that carry the Water of the Euphrates into the Tigris, and many Lakes, four have been made by the Industry of Men; that only which run through the great City of Babylon is natural. This seems not to agree with the opinion of some ancient Authors, who have writ that the Euphrates entered into the Sea, towards the West, by a mouth peculiar to itself, and quite different from those two, which since this River and the Tigris had in common; from whence one might infer that in Moses' time the Euphrates was not joined with the Tigris. These Authors add, That this Channel being very much cut and diverted by the Arabians called Scenites, to water their dry and barren Country, is become so weak, and diminished so much, as not to be able to run into the Sea, as it happened to the Rhine, by reason of the frequent Cuts made by the Dutch.  
III. But so great a River as the 
The Euphrates had at first but one Channel which joined it to the Tigris. But many others have since been drawn out of it.  Euphrates, swelled with many Rivers, and increased every Summer by the melted Snows and Torrents from the Mount Taurus, was able enough in those beginnings to make two Channels, because it afterwards made so many others. Some were first made, only to prevent the Overflowings that ruined the Country; their number was since increased, to water such Countries as wanted Water. Nebuchadonozor, who was a very great Prince, and undertook many high things, signalised himself in those Works; and that he might free that Country from the Waters of the Euphrates, under which it was wholly drowned, digged the chief Channels; and to prevent the Country from growing dry, he made very large Ponds and Sluices, and mastered that unruly River, and its troublesome Waters. But tho' this great quantity of Water might at first furnish the Canal that fell into the Tigris, and that which ran towards Arabia, and entered into the Sea, it is yet more credible, that the Euphrates had but one natural Canal, by which it emptied itself into the Tigris; and that the other which diverted it towards the West, was the work of the Arabians. All the Ancients, and even those who best described these Canals made by hand, do affirm so constantly that the Euphrates joined naturally with the Tigris, and that those who digged some others, did but follow the Indication of Nature, that the contrary cannot be said without rashness. We read in an ancient Fragment of Abydenus, quoted by Eusebius, that all that Land 
Euseb. praep. Evang. l. 9 c. 41.  was at first so covered with Water, that it was called the Sea. This could not be, but by the overflowing of the Euphrates, whose Channel is very high; so that when it found any way to come out, it was by a natural fall carried into the flat Country of the Babylonians, and having ran over it, it necessarily fell into the Tigris, which was near and whose Channel was very low. And this obliged Trajan to leave off the design which he had, to draw a new Trench from the Euphrates to the Tigris, that Boats might be brought thither, of which he designed to make a Bridge over the Tigris. He was afraid that too great a draining should happen of the Waters of the Euphrates, and that it should become innavigable.  
IV. These Overflowings being prevented 
Other Channels yet drawn from the Euphrates.  by Trenches (which could be easily made in that Country, its ground being ●very fat and ●oft, but wanted often to be renewed) and▪ by Sluices. The Arabians following that example, to avoid a contrary evil, I mean the drought of their Sandy Ground, began to divert the Waters of the Euphrates, and to draw them to themselves; and having watered their Soil, they let the overplus run into the Sea. This overplus was dried up since by new Cuttings. It may be also that this Conduit was but a Torrent, which in Summer run into the Sea, when the Euphrates overflowed. However, the Assyrians and Babylonians, who by reason of a long Possession considered these Waters as their own, opposed this Theft of the Arabians; and thereupon arose great Quarrels betwixt those Nations. It seems, that to make an end of those Quarrels, and restore to the Babylonians what belonged to them, Alexander undertook to re-establish the Euphrates in its former Channel, by stopping the Canal called Pallacopas which made that River run another way. Those that digged this Ditch, had no other design but to hinder the Overflowings of this River, which happened every Summer, by conveying its Waters into Ponds and Meers; but the Babylonians Territory remaining dry throughout all the rest of the Year, and that of the Arabians enjoying the benefit of it, Alexander designed to restore things to their former State, as a Governor of Babylon had before undertaken to do. The work was begun, but the death of that Prince hindered it from being finished then, as it hath been since. Alexander viewed several of these Conduits, caused them to be made clean, opened some, stopped others, and caused some new ones to be made. Many other Princes took the same care. One may see still, along the common Channel of the Tigris and Euphrates, on the right hand and on the left, many Canals made by the Industry of Men. The Persians, who did not understand Navigation, neither Commerce, or Sea-fights, and being afraid that their Country should be invaded, by means of the Tigris and Euphrates, caused Falls and Cataracts to be made in many places of those Rivers. Alexander restored them to their natural State, so tha● Ships could go up the Tigris as far as Opis and Seleucia; and up the Euphrates as far as Babylon; and thus Art wrestling against Nature, all that Country hath been altered.  
V. Moreover the Sea that runs impetuously 
Other Alterations happened in those parts.  into the Persian Gulf through the straits of Ormus, and the Tides whereof come thirty Leagues up into the Euphrates, falls with great Vehemency upon that Coast, which is the Extremity of the Gulf, and maketh a great Ravage in it. These violent Tides, with the swiftness of the Tigris, and a Storm that came on a sudden, put Trajan and his Legions in a great danger, near the Island made by the separation of the Tigris and Euphrates. That Country is flat, and in some places is defended by Banks; but in many others the Waters of the Sea breaking easily in, destroy by their sharp Salt the Fruits of the Earth and make it barren. The same aforementioned Nebuchadon●zor, who performed so many great things, subdued this Sea by strong Banks, as he had subdued the Euphrates, and repressed the Robberies of the Arabians, who even at that time were very great Thiefs, by causing the City of Teredon to be built on the Limits of their Country pretty near that place towards the East, the Waters of the Rivers carried so much Mud along with them to their mouth, that the Sea was thereby very much put back. Insomuch that the Fort of Spasina, situated on the Coast, betwixt the easterly mouth of the Tigris, and that of the Euleus, which formerly was but half a League from the Sea, was distant from it by fifty Leagues in Pliny's time, who 
Plin. l. ●. c. 27.  assures us that no where else so great and quick a gain ever happened. Yet I am much inclined to think that there is a mistake in the cipher, which is but too common in the Books of the Ancients. I know the same Pliny said 
Plin. l. 18. c. 17. Theophr. de Causs. Plant. l. 8. c. 7.  after Theophrastus, that the Euphrates and Tigris carry no mud along with them; but this cannot be understood but of their Waters that are near their Springs, for all overflowing Rivers must necessarily become muddy, and the modern Travellers inform us, that the Waters of the Euphrates, drawing near the Sea, are very yellow and muddy. Besides, that the Fort of Spasina lieth not on the mouths of the Euphrates and Tigris, nor on that of the Euleus, but on the Shore between the mouths of those Rivers. Succession of time hath put the Sea into its ●ights again; for the Inhabitants of the Country show the place of a great Town that lies under Water. Besides all these alterations, there are to be seen along the Banks of the Tigris and Euphrates, the Ruins of many fine Cities, the Riches and Greatness whereof are so much extolled in the ancient Histories.  
VI One may wonder that so learned 
Some denied without an● ground, that the Tigris and Euphrates being joined do separate themselves again before they fall into the Sea.  Men, as were Card. 
* Bellarm. de Grat. prim. hom. c. 12.  Bellarmin, and the Fathers 
† Malvend. de Parad. c. 48.  Malvenda and 
* Bonfrer. in Gen. 2. 11.  Bonfrere, could deny, that the Tigris and Euphrates being joined together do separate themselves again, before they enter into the Sea. What will then become of that great Island made by their separation, called at present Chader, which 
† Philost. l. 3. c. 7.  Philostorgins so plainly describes, when he says, that the Messenians are the Inhabitants of it, that it is surrounded partly with Sea, partly with sweet Water, viz. That of two great Rivers into which the Tigris is divided before it runs into the Sea. And we must not take for an Exaggeration what he says about the largeness of these two Canals, since that of the Euphrates and Tigris is twice and half as broad as the Seine at Paris, tho' ●t be extraordinary deep. To the Testimony of Philostorgi●s, you may add that of Asini●s Quadratus spoken of by Ste●●anus 
Steph. in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  the Geographer, who says, that this Country, called Messena, is in compassed by the Tigris and Euphrates. You may yet join to it the Testimony of Ptolemy, who assigns two mouths to the 
Ptolom. l. 6. c. 6.  Tigris, the one Easterly, and the other Westerly, and placeth the City of Te●edon in the midst. But the Ciphers of the Situation of this Town are faulty in that Author, for it doth not lie in the Island, but on the Arabian Bank of the westerly Canal, and the Ruins of it are to be seen at present. Add moreover the Suffrage of Xiphilinus, who says, 
Xiphil. Trajan.  that Trajan possessed himself of that Island called Messena made by the Tigris towards its mouth, and where he had been exposed to ●●reat danger. Add 
Marc. Heracl. Peripl.  also that of Martion of Heraclea, who speaks of the easterly mouth of the Tigris, and consequently supposes there was a westerly one. And finally add to ●t the Testimony of the Travellers of these late times, and especially of Teix●ira 
Teixeir. c. 3. Thevenot. Tom. 2. l. 3. c. 4.  a Portugese, and of Mr. Thevenot a Frenchman, who have seen and described the division of these two Canals.   

CHAP. VII. Continuation of the Explanation of the eleventh Verse.  
I. The most common opinion concerning the Phison is, That it i● the Ganges. II. The Ground of this Opinion. III. Which d● not satisfy all the Objections. IV. Others believed that the Phison was the Indus; others th● Hydaspes; others the Hyphas●… V. Haython, the Oxus. VI Many Rabbins, the Nile. VII. Others the Phasis. VIII. Some the Danube. IX. Some others, the Naharmalca. X. And in fine, others the easterly Canal of the two, into which the Tigris and Euphrates joined together, are divided XI. The Phison is the westerly Canal of the two, into which are divided the Tigris and Euphrate after they be joined together, and the proofs of it. XII. The Origin of the word Phison serves to prove it. XIII. Many learned Men have had some knowledge of what the Phison is. XIV. The Phison hath since given its name to other Rivers.  
I. VErse 11. The name of the first is 
The most common Opinion concerning the Phison is, that it is the Ganges.  Phison. The word River must be supplied here, which the sacred Author expresseth afterward when he speaks of the other Rivers. This is the first of the four, into which the great River that went out of Eden and Paradise was divided. It would be a very great undertaking, very tedious to the Reader, and yet more to me, to relate in particular the different opinions Men have had about this River, the Names of the Authors that maintained them, and the reasons whereon they grounded them; and to lose time in examining and contradicting them. I will only touch upon them by the buy, being persuaded that they cannot be better confuted, than by carefully seeking after the Truth, and endeavouring firmly to establish it, when it is found; for this being done, every thing that will not agree with it, must necessarily fall of itself. The most ancient and generally liked opinion is, That the Phison is the Ganges. It seems that Josephus was the first Author of it; 
Joseph. Antiq. l. 1. c. 2. Euseb. de locis Hebr. Ambros. de Parad. c. 3. Epiph. Anchor. c. 58. Hieron. Epist. 4. ad Rust. c. 1. & quaest. Heb. in Gen. August. de Gen. ad litter. l. 8. c. 7.  Eusebius, St. Ambrosins, St. Epiphanius, St. Jerom, St. Austin, many other Fathers of the Church, and most of the modern Interpreters and Divines have followed the opinion of Josephus. The Indians themselves were of the same opinion, and it was upon this account that they believed the Ganges Holy, that it washes away their Sins, and Sanctifieth them, when they wash in it, and that it will save them after Death, if their Bodies be plunged in it.  
II. The Beauty, Riches and Conveniencies 
The grounds of this Opinion.  of that River wherewith the Books of Travellers are filled, are the chief reasons why Men gave credit to that opinion; for tho' Arrian hath written that all the Indians, whom Alexander subdued, had no Gold, yet 
Exped. Alex. l. 5.  there was some in their Country; and Moses had a regard to the Nature of the Country, and not to the Manners of the Inhabitants. It is certain that the Ganges hath some Gold in its Sands, and on its Banks; that it is reckoned one of the chief Rivers that produceth precious Stones; that the Kingdoms of Golconda and Bisnagar, that lie on the westerly Coast of the Gulf of Bengal, where the Ganges empties itself, are full of Pearls and precious Stones; and it not being likely that mean Rivers should come out of a place prepared and adorned by the hands of God, that Honour could not be ascribed, but to the most famous Rivers of the World. So the Beauty and Riches of the Ganges made Men believe, that it came out of Paradise, and this opinion was the occasion of its being reputed Holy. But besides, as those who pretend that the Phison is the Ganges, do also persuade themselves that the Gehon is the Nile, we discover another Motive, that inclined them to give credit to that opinion. I mean this 
Eccl. 2●. 35. & seq.  place of Ecclesiasticus, where we read that God filleth all things with his wisdom as Phison, and as Tigris in the time of the new fruits. He makes the understanding to abound like Euphrates, and as Jordan in the time of the Harvest. He maketh the doctrine of knowledge appear as the light, and as Gehon in the time of Vintage. The Fathers in reading this, persuaded themselves that the Author had begun the Enumeration of those Rivers with the East, and finished it with the West, according to the custom of the Hebrews, to look on the East in their Geographical Descriptions, and by consequence to have the North at their left hand and the South at their right; and that the Phison being the most easterly of the five, it could be no other than the most noble of the Rivers of the East, which is the Ganges. The Tigris comes after, as being the most easterly of the four others; next to it comes the Euphrates; then Jordan; and in fine the Gehon, which ought to be the most famous River of the West, as the Ganges was of the East; and they found none to be preferred to the Nile. But nothing that I see can induce us to believe, that that sacred Author had a regard to this, in disposing these Rivers in such an order, but that rather he did dispose them so by chance.  
III. This ground being laid, that the 
Which doth not satisfy to the Objections made against it.  Phison is the Ganges, they took no notice of the Objection that might reasonably be made, concerning the distance of its Spring, from the Springs ● the other Rivers, which came out ● the same place; by which they ●ade the Garden almost as big as the ●arth. They had recourse to some ●●●olous Conjectures, or to Fictions without any ground, or to a Miracle, ●hich is the ordinary Reinge of those ●ho have no Reason to defend them●lves, and a most sure means to justify ●e most strange Opinions. They had ●●ard some falsely say, that the Tigris ●d Euphrates sprung out of the same ●ead; and they had heard it truly said, ●at pretty near that Spring, they hid themselves under the Earth, and soon ●fter came out again. They did not examine the length of this hidden ●nning, and they gave a huge extent ● a length of few Miles. They said, that ●is pretended Spring divided its Wa●ers into four Rivers, which afterwards ●d themselves under the Earth, and ●at through long and unknown turn●gs, under many Countries and Seas, ●hey run to the Extremity of the World, ●d there came out again. Upon that ●ound they made choice of what ●ivers they pleased, to make the Phison ●d Gehon out of them. And indeed ●iver for River, they could not choose ●etter than the Ganges.  
IV. Those who without going s● 
Others thought that the Phison was the Indus; others the Hydaspes; others the Hyphasis.  far, believed that the Phison is th● Indus, or Hydaspes that falls into it, o● the Hyphasis, which, as some think, fal● also into it; or according to the opinion of others, enters into the Sea b● its proper mouth, found in it some o● the Advantages that the others foun● in the Ganges. The Hydaspes bea● Gold and precious Stones; and Phil● storgius, to show that the Hyphasis ● 
Philostorg. l. 3. c. 10.  the Phison, says, there grows the Clov● tree, which the Inhabitants of th● Land think to be one of the Trees o● Paradise; and that it presently cure those who plunge themselves in it in the heat of a Fever.  
V. But I cannot guests upon wh● 
Haython, the Oxus.  account Haython Prince of Armeni● and Friar of the Order of Premonstr● tho' very well instructed in the Astai● of the East, called Phison the gre● River of Oxus, which falls into th● easterly side of the Caspian Sea, not withstanding all the Arabian Write● call it Gehon, being persuaded that ● is the River so called that comes out o● Paradise.  
VI Many Rabbins of great Repu● 
Many Rabbins, the Nile.  and very Ancient, with the Arabian and amongst others the Translators ● Scripture printed in England, gave to the Nile the Title of Phison upon the same accounts it had been adjudged to the Ganges.  
VII. Those who pretended that it 
Others the Phasis.  was the Phasis, so renowned by the Voyage for the Golden Fleece, had not much ado to find Gold in it. It's Spring is not far from those of the Tigris and Euphrates. Its Waters are extraordinary good. There are some Pearls to be found in the neighbouring Seas, but so ruddy, that the Inhabitants do not take the pains to gather them. But I do not see how they will find there the Onyx, or any other precious Stones, or the Bdellium; and I see much less, how they will be able to make Colchis to be the Land of Chavilah.  
VIII. Caesarius, Brother to St. Gregory 
Some the Danube.  of Nazianzum, and Severianus Bishop of Gabala, did not surely think of all these Circumstances, when they affirmed that the Danube is the Phison; for though some ancient Authors reckoned the Danube amongst the Rivers that afford Gold and precious Stones, and that Hungary, through which it runs, and Bohemia that lieth near it, may have afforded it some, I do not think that either precious Stones; or Bdellium, were ever found there, or that Germany ever pretended to the Honour of being Chavilah. Many learned Men of ancient times, very able in other respects, have been very ignorant of Geography. Caesarius, whom I just now quoted, maintains, that this same Phison, which he supposes to be the Danube, is nevertheless also the Ganges and Indus; and that having run through Aethiopia and Elymais, which he fancies to be the Land of Chavilah, it falls into the Ocean near Cadis.  
IX. But those who supposed it to 
Some others the Naharmalca.  be the Naharmalca, one of the Canals that join the Euphrates with the Tigris, minded neither these relations, nor the nature of that Canal, which was made by Nabuchodonozor, and therefore was called Naharmalca by the Chaldaeans, and the Royal River by the Grecians, and by consequence was not in Moses' time, and much less in Adam's time. They had done better to side with those who ingenuously confessed, they did not know the situation of that River.  
X. Amongst all those that have 
And in fine, others the easterly Canal of the two into which the Tigris and Euphrates joined together, are divided.  been mistaken in this Inquiry, none are more excusable, and are come nearer to truth, than those who believed that the Phison is the easterly Canal of the two into which the Tigris and Euphrates are divided, after their coming together near Apamea, and before their falling into the Sea. Calvin, as I already observed, was the 
Calv. in Gen. 2. 8. Scal. de emend. temp. l. 5. & epist. l. 4. Epist. 441.  first Author of this opinion. Scaliger, commended it very much, and embraced it 〈…〉 afterwards many others. They might perhaps find Pearls, precious Stones and Gold along the sides of that Canal, but certainly they never found there the Land of Chavilah.  
XI. Having showed what the Phison 
The Phison is the westerly Canal of the two, into which the Tigris and Euphrates joined together, are divided, and the proofs of it.  is not, we must now show what it is. I already said, that it is the westerly Canal of the two into which the Tigris and Euphrates joined together are divided. To show it, we must remember that Moses wrote his Pentateuch in Arabia Petraea; and that of the four Rivers which he mentioned, this Canal was the nearest him: So that natural order required that he should name it first. The easterly Canal presented itself next to it, and I shall make it evident that this Canal is really the Gehon, which he named the second. Having passed over this River, and turning to the left hand, to come back to the place that we came from, we meet with the Tigris, and then with the Euphrates; and that is the order observed by Moses. As if I had a mind to make the Enumeration of the four greatest Rivers in France, I being at Paris, and having begun with the Loire, should in the second place mention the Garonne, the natural order would require of me to go next to the Rhone, and then to end at the Seine, that kind of circuit. Besides we must observe, that Moses hath given more marks, to distinguish the Phison, than for any of the other three; because that being once known, we can scarce mistake the others. Then he puts some marks on the two following, the Gehon and Tigris, and none on the Euphrates, which cannot remain uncertain, when the three others are known.  
XII. The Etymology of the word 
The Etymology of the word Phison serves to p●●ve it.  Phison helpeth also to distinguish it; for most of the Hebrew Grammarians agree, that it is derived from the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pusch, which signifies to run out, to be full, to increase, to multiply; or from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pascha, which signifies to spread itself; because, as I have already said, Tides are so violent and so high at that end of the Persian Gulf, that Trenches were not a sufficient defence against their Eruptions into the grounds, that are very soft and low. So all that Coast is full of Lakes, marshy places, and Sands 
Strab. l. 16.  as Strabo observeth. In Moses' time, when the Industry of Men had yet opposed nothing to those attacks, it is credible the overflowings were much greater than they are now. No name could then be given more suitable to that Canal that was apt so often to 
Joseph. Antiq. l. 1. c. 2. Scal. de emend. temp. l. 5.  overflow, than the name of Phison, which Josephus very well rendered by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is to say, Plenty; and Scaliger yet better, by that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which signifies, the overflowings of the Tide, the flux of the Sea. The Author of the Ecclesiasticus made 
Eccl. 24. v. 35.  an Allusion to that Etymology, when he says of God, That he filleth all with wisdom like the Phison. I know there are many other Etymologies of that word; but this which I do propose, is authorized by the votes of the most famous Grammarians.  
XIII. Schickard a Germane Professor, 
Many learned Men had some knowledge of what the Phison is.  a Man who understood extraordinary well the easterly Languages, and Affairs of the East, seems to have had a glimpse of the truth, when he wrote in his Commentary on the Tarich of the Kings of Persia, that he is sure the Phison is to be looked for in Arabia, and that all the Rivers of Paradise run into the Persian Gulf, and that their mouths are very near one another. Steuchus speaks yet▪ more expressly of 
Steuch. Co●mop.  it, saying, That the Phison comes from the Euphrates, and runs towards the Arabians of Chavilah. Yet he is mistaken in this, that he doth not derive the Phison from the Tigris and Euphrates joined together, but from the Euphrates alone before their joining. The Arabians have hit the nail, when they said, that the Phison was the Canal of the Euphrates, which runs not far from Bassora. Some of them had given that name to the Nile, as I already observed; but others more clear sighted, undeceived themselves and acknowledged the Truth. 
* Gigg. lex. Arab. tom. 3. p. 1056.  Giggeius and 
† Gol. lex. Arab. p. 1039.  Golius must be consulted upon that. I know not where 
* Kirch. Turr. Bab. ●. 1. c. 5.  Father Kircher a Jesuit took the Geographical Map which he inserted in his Description of the Tower of Babel, whether he had it from the Arabians, or from his own Learning which was extraordinary great. He describes in that Map the running of the four Rivers, Phison, Gehon, Tigris, and Euphrates, and gives the name of Phison to the westerly Canal, and the name of Gehon to the easterly one, into which the Tigris and Euphrates are divided after their coming together. Mr. Bochart, 
Bochar. Hieroz. Part. 2. l. 5. c. 5.  who designed to declare his mind more plainly and at large upon this, in his Treatise concerning the Earthly Paradise, leaves us to guests at his opinion, when he says by the buy, in his Book concerning the Beasts of Holy Scripture, that the Phison is that branch of the Euphrates, of which Teixeira, in the 
Teixeir. Travel from the Indies into Italy, Chap. 3.  Book of his Travels from the Indies into Italy, says, that it runneth into the Persian Gulf, towards Catif, near Baharen. Catif is a Town on the easterly Coast of Arabia, that gave to the Persian Gulf the name of Elcatif-Sea, as it is now called. And Baharen is an Island of the same Gulf, about ten Leagues off from Catif, of which I shall have an occasion to speak hereafter. 
Voyage d● Mr. Thevenot, Tom 2 Liv. 3. Ch. 9 & 1  Mr. Thevenot in the Books of his Travels describes this Canal. He says, that it runneth between the Country of Bassora, and the Island Chader, strait towards the South; that the easterly Canal bears the same name with the Tigris and Euphrates joined together, and is called Schattel-Arab, that is to say, the Arabian River; and that these two Branches make the great Island Chader, to which Teixeira gives above fourscore Leagues in length: I believe that he meant Spanish Leagues, which make about sixscore of ours. The Canal which runs along that Island towards the West, is probably the same that Alexander caused to be made in a stony Soil, and more firm than the natural Canal through which one might sail toward Arabia, which was not two Leagues distant from it. This last which Moses speaketh of, was easily shut up by the ebbing of the Sea; its bottom being very soft and apt to be stirred, did not make a great resistance It was truly this that was called Phison; but because that of Alexander took its place, and was very near it, I gave it the same name, according to ordinary use; that alloweth not the names of Rivers to be altered, when their Channel or their mouth is altered; no more than it doth the names of Towns, when they alter their Situation.  
XIV. The name of Phison in Moses' 
The Phis●● hath since given its name to other Rivers.  time was peculiar to that westerly Canal, that run towards Arabia; but it hath been given since to the Tigris and Euphrates joined together; and from the names of Phison and Tigris made but one, came that of Pasitigris, which was given since even to the easterly Canal. So that the names of Tigris, Euphrates, and Pasitigris were almost indifferently given to all the parts of the Euphrates, that are betwixt its joining with the Tigris, and the Sea. As now adays the name of Schattel-Arab, that is to say, Arabian River, is given almost to all the same parts. And to make it yet more intricate, Alexander's Soldiers returning from the East, gave to the River Oroatis which limiteth the Susiana on the East, the name of Pasitigris which limiteth the same on the West; Whether they mistook in it, or did it on purpose; affecting to give famous names to the places they conquered, that they might increase the Fame of their Victories. After this manner they gave the name of Caucasus to the Mount Parapamis●●, and the name of Tanais to the River Orexartes. The Historians who afterwards did write Alexander's Conquests, according to what these Soldiers related, and did not distinguish the false Pasitigris, I mean the Oroatis, from the true one, that is the Tigris, made a new Pasitigris, not only out of these two Rivers, but also out of the Eulaeus, which, as some think, is the Choaspes; and according to others only receives it into its Channel; and having given to it the name of Pasitigris, they gave it also the name of Tigris, and that of Euphrates.   

CHAP. VIII. Continuation of the Explanation of the eleventh Verse.  
I. Divers Opinions concerning the Land of Chavilah. II. The true Situation of the Land of Chavilah, through which the Phison runneth, is shown.  
I. VErse 11. That it is which compasseth 
Divers Opinions about the Land of Chavilah.  the whole land of Chavilah. The surest marks whereby we may know the Phison, are those that Moses gave of it, when he said, that it waters the Land of Chavilah; that there are to be found in that Land, good Gold, Pearls, or Bdellium, and the Onyx-stone. If then I can show, that these marks belong only to that River which I pretend to be the Phison, no body will be able to contradict my opinion. Those who inquired after the Situation of this River, whose different opinions I mentioned before, aught to have begun here; for if having once found the Country of Chavilah where there was plenty of Gold, Pearls, and precious Stones, they had also found in it a River that had any communication with the Gehon, Tigris and Euphrates, they had argued very rationally, to infer, that that River was the Phison. But instead of that, they placed the Phison where they pleased, and as it happened; and then they called Chavilah, that Land they had chosen, to place the Phison in. And as the two most common opinions are, that the Phison is the Ganges, or that it is the easterly Canal of those two which do divide the Tigris and Euphrates after their being joined; so the two most common opinions concerning Chavilah, are, that it is that part of the Indies which the Ganges runneth through, as most of the Fathers believed; or that it is the Susiana, which lieth on the East of that Canal. Josephus, followed by 
Joseph. Antiq. l. 1. c. 7. Hieron. quaest Heb. in Gen.  St Jerom, and by many others, imagined another Chavilah in Africa, towards the West, and gave that name to Getulia, without giving any reason for it. I do not see any other, but the conformity there is betwixt the words of Chavilah and Getulia, by transposing of the letters. If this be a good proof, we must receive all Anagrams as solid Arguments.  
II. To find out Chavilah, they should 
The true Situation of the Land of Chavilah, which the Phison runneth through, is shown.  have followed the Footsteps of the Sacred Writers. In the tenth Chapter of Genesis, where the dispersing of Nations that happened after the Confusion of Babel, is very exactly described, and where one may find the names of the Patriarches and Founders of Nations, which are almost all the 
Gen. 10. 7. Gen. 10. 26 & seq.  same names, with them of those Nations, there is mention made of two Chavilahs; one, the Son of Chus; and the other the Son of Joctan. M. Bochart, 
1. Par. 1. 23.  who very learnedly explained that Chapter in his Phaleg, showeth, that this last Chavilah is the Founder of the Nation that inhabits the Land of Chaulan, situated on the easterly Coast of the Arabian Gulf, on the West of Arabia Felix. This Land hath no Affinity with that we look for; but the other hath, which took its name from Chavilah Son of Chus, as the same M. Bochart doth tell us. Moses, 
Boch. Phal: l. 4. c. 11. Gen. 25. 18 1 Sam. 15. 7  and the Author of the Book of Samuel, very plainly point at the Situation of this Land of Chavilah, when in order to express the two Extremities of Arabia, which lieth near the Holy Land, they mention Chavilah and Sur. Sur was a Desert adjoining to Egypt, towards the end of the Arabian Gulf. It follows then that Chavilah was on the other side of Arabia, towards the end of the Persian Gulf, that is to say, beginning at the West of the mouth of the Canal, which I pretend to be the Phison, and extending itself towards the South, along the westerly Coast of that Gulf, as far as Catif. And Josephus relating the same things 
Joseph. Ant. l. 6. c. 8  that are spoken of in these places of Moses and of the Book of Samuel, and having a mind to mark the same limits of that distance, instead of Sur, puts Peluse, the first Town one meets going from Palaestina into Egypt, along the Seashore; and instead of Chavilah he puts the Erythraean or Red Sea, plainly declaring by those words the Situation of Chavilah. The Inhabitants of that Land were not unknown to Profane Authors. They call them Chaulothéans, Chablasians, Chaulasians, and Chaveléans, which names are manifestly derived from Chavilah, or Chavilath, (as it is written, when it is con●●●ued) and place them betwixt the Nabathéans and Agréans, which were Ishmaelites, by origin Inhabitants of Arabia Deserta, pretty near the end of the Persian Gulf. Many learned Men amongst the Modern, and especially Steuchus, Beroaldus, Grotius, Hornius, 
Steuch. Cosmop. Beroald. Chron. l. 2. Grot. in Gen. 2. 11. Horn. in Sulpit. Sever. l. 1. Boch. Phal. Praef. & l. 4. c. 11.  and Bochart, have acknowledged this Situation of Chavilah, and very well seen, that these Nations which I named just now, borrowed from it their Name and Situation. Calathua, a Town in Arabia Deserta, which Ptolemy sets near the same places, hath perhaps some relation to this.   

CHAP. IX. Continuation of the Explanation of the Eleventh Verse, and a beginning of the Explanation of the Twelfth.  
I. Gold of Arabia. II. And especially of Chavilah.  
I. THis is not all; we must find 
Gold of Arabia.  here some Gold, and that good too. That will not be difficult; for Authors both Sacred and Profane do very much commend the Gold and Riches of Arabia. Diodorus writes, that 
Diodor. 1. 2. & 3.  in Arabia was found natural Gold, of so lively a colour, that it was very much like the brightness of the Fire; and so fixed, that it wanted neither Fire nor Refining to be purified. Towards the West of that Land there was such abundance of Gold in the Country of the Aliléans and Cassanites, that they valued it less than Silver, Brass and Iron. One may judge how rich the Sabeans and other Arabians were, by the Gifts that were made by the Queen of Saba and all the Kings of Arabia, to Solomon, and by many other Testimonies of Scripture, and also by what Agatharchides hath written, viz. That the Sabeans had filled Syria with Gold. Many Nations in Arabia had the Name of Sabeans. But to come to Chavilah, that lies on the westerly and southerly Coast of the Persian Gulf, it cannot be questioned but Ezekiel meant those that inhabited the 
Ezek. 27. 20, & seq.  same Coast, when he says to the City of Tyre, That the Merchants of Arabia, Dedan and Cedar, furnished it with their Commodities; that those of Saba and Rhegma did trade there in Gold and precious Stones, and in all sorts of Spices; that Haran, Chene and Eden; Saba, Assur and Chelmad sold there all kinds of Merchandices of a high value. There was a great Communication betwixt all these Nations through the Euphrates, and the Persian Gulf; and we must particularly observe that the Prophet joins Eden, a Region where Paradise was situated, to Saba that lies in the Neighbourhood of Chavilah. Of this Saba must also be understood the words of David directed to Jesus Christ, under the name of Solomon, in that Prophetical Psalm, the 72, when he foretells 
Psalm 72. v. 10, 15.  him that the King● of Saba shall bring him Gifts and Gold out of their Country: Which Prediction was fulfilled, when the Wise Men that came 
Matt. 2. v. 1, 11.  from Arabia, according to the most common opinion, offered to our Saviour Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. Rhegma, mentioned by Ezekiel, was also a Town in Arabia, situated on the same Gulf, abounding in Gold and precious Stones.  
II. Arabia being thus so filled with 
And especicially of Chavilah.  Riches, and especially with Gold, and very fine Gold, no doubt but it very much dealt in it with the neighbouring Provinces, situated along the Euphrates, which was then the most populous Country in the World; and the Province of Chavilah lying between those Countries, besides the Gold of its own, had to be sure a great deal also in its Warehouses from the neighbouring Provinces, by the Traffic and Intercourse of Merchants.   

CHAP. X. Continuation of the Explanation of the twelfth Verse.  
I. Divers Opinions concerning the signification of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bedolach. II. The two most probable are, that it signifies an Aromatical Gum, or Pearls. III. The most famous Fishing for Pearls in the World, is near Chavilah. IV. There was also found in the same Country abundance of Bdellium.  
I. THE Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bedolach, 
Divers Opinions concerning the signification of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bedolach.  which is rendered by that of Bdellium, is very variously translated by the Interpreters. The Seventy Interpreters will have it to signify here the Carbuncle, and in the eleventh Chapter of Numbers, the Crystal. Most of the Greek and Latin Fathers agree with them in the first Exposition. St. Jerom after Josephus, and the three 
Joseph: Ant. l. 3. c. 1  Greek Interpreters, Aquila, Theodotion and Symmachus, renders this word by that of Bd●llium, which is a sweet-smelling Gum, and supposed by many to be the Anime. Some think that it is Ebeny, or the Pepper tree, or the Clove-tree. The Persian Translator will have it to be the Beryl. The Arabian Translators, and the Syriack, some Rabbins, and Saadias' Gaon at the head of them, followed by a great number of learned Men, maintain it to be Pearls. Other Rabbins will have it to be the Crystal; some the Diamond; others the Jasper; others the Emerald, or some other precious Stone.  
II. Of all these opinions, the two 
The two most probable opinions are, that it signifies an Aromatical Gum, or Pearls.  most probable, and which most divided the Learned, are, that which takes Bedolach for an Aromatical Gum, and that which takes it for Pearls. The place of the Book of 
* Num. 11. 7.  Numbers, which they quote in defence of this last opinion, seemeth to be so plain and decisive, that I cannot see what exception can be made against it, for Moses intending to describe the Manna, says, that it was like the Seed of Coriander, and of the colour of Bedolach. Now it is evident by another description of the same Manna, which is to be found in Exodus, that it was white, according 
Exod. 16. 14.  to the Translation of the Seventy Interpreters, which is proper to Pearls, as also is the roundness of Manna, and in no wise to the Bdellium. Hence it is, that the Talmudists, as Mr. Bochart 
Talm: Joma, c. 8. Boch. Hieroz. part. 2. l. 5. c. 5.  learnedly observed, mentioning this description of Manna, as it is in the Book of Numbers, instead of saying, that it was of the colour of Bdellium, said, that it was of the colour of Pearls. I shall take no part in this dispute: It will be enough for my purpose, to show, that whether the Hebrew word Bedolach be taken for Pearls, or for Bdellium, both are proper to the Land of Chavilah.  
III. For, as for Pearls, it is most certain, 
The most famous fishing of Pearls is near Chavilah.  that there is no place in the World, that produceth so fine ones, and in so great a quantity, as the Sea about Baharen, an Island in the Persian Gulf, ten Leagues off from Catif; that is to say, the Sea that waters the Coasts of Chavilah, and into which the mouth of the Phison emptieth itself. I shall not load this Treatise with a vast number of Citations, to show how great a quantity of Pearls there is in the Persian Gulf, and how much they are valued both by ancient and modern Authors. I have formerly writ on this subject at large enough in my Observations on Origen, and produced the Testimonies of Antiquity. Nevertheless that the Reader may not think I desire to be trusted, for want of Money to pay him, I will name some few of those, whose Authority cannot be excepted against. Nearchus; one of Alexander's Captains, that conducted his Fleet from the Indies, as far as the Persian Gulf, speaketh of an Island in that Gulf, abounding in Pearls of great value. Isidorus of Charax, who lived 
Isidor. Charac. apud Athen. l. 3. Plin. l. 6. c. 28. & l. 9 c. 35.  a little after, says the same thing. Pliny, having commended the Pearls of the Indian Seas, adds, that such as are fished towards Arabia, in the Persian Gulf, deserve most to be praised: And in another place he takes notice of the Island of Tylos, as being the place of that fishing, which many suppose to be the Island of Baharen. Arrian, the Author of the Periplus of the Red Sea, sets a greater value upon the Pearls of Arabia, than upon those of the Indies. Aelian describes exactly enough how 
Aelian. de anim. l. 10. c. 13. & l. 15. c. 8. Origen. in Mar. 13. 45.  they were fished, and how much they were valued. Origen affirms, that Indian Pearls far exceed all others in value, and that amongst all Indian Pearls, those of the Red Sea are of the greatest value. We may see by these words, that he made the Persian 
Plin. l. 9 c. 35.  Sea a part of that of the Indies. Pliny doth the same. And indeed they divided all that great Sea, that incompasseth the southerly Coast of Asia and Africa, into two Seas; the Indian and Aethiopian Sea; and the Indian Sea, even near the Indies, was called also Red or Erythraean Sea: From thence we may infer, that the Praises given by the Ancients to the Indian Pearls, might be given to those of Arabia; but what hath been said of the Pearls of Arabia could by no means be attributed to those of the Indies; because what belongs to the whole, belongeth to every part proportionably; but what belongs to every part, doth not belong to the whole. The Rabbi Benjamin, a Navarrer, who lived five hundred and fifty years ago, being at Catif, informed himself about the fishing of Pearls, that is made there every year, and about the manner observed in making of it, and inserted it in the History of his Travels, which he hath left us. Teixeira a Portugese another Traveller 
Teix. hist. d'Ormuz, chap. 19  hath yet more exactly described this fishing: He says the Pearls of that Sea are finer and weightier than those of other places, and that there is yearly sold of them in the Island of Ormuz, for above five hundred thousand Ducats: 
Balby, Tom. 2. ind. orient. De Bry, part. 7. chap. 15. Linscot. chap. 5. Vincent le Blanc, part 1. c. 20 Tavern. Tom. 1. l. 2. c. 9 l. 4. c. 2. Tom. 2. l. 2. ch. 20. Theven. Tom. 2. l. 3. c. 11. & Tom. 3. c. 11.  Add to it the Testimony of the other modern Travellers Balby, Linscot, Vincent le Blanc, of the famous Tavernier and of Mr. Thevenot, who by his Travels and Writings showed himself so worthy of the name he beareth. Besides the fishing of Baharen, he also hath described that of Car●k, another Island in the same Gulf, nearer the mouth of the Phison. Many other places of this Sea afford Pearls; as doth the whole Coast of Arabia, from Maseate, to Catif. This last place did belong to an Arabian Emir: The Bassi of Bassora possessed himself of it. Ba●aren belongs to the King of Persia.  
IV. Those that maintain 
There was also found in the same Country abundance of Bdellium.  that Bedolach is the Bdellium a Gum, may also find some in Arabia. 
* Dioscor. l. 1. c. 87.  Dioscorides expressly testifies it; and he sets a greater value upon the Bdellium of the Saracens, than upon that of the Indies. 
† Isidor. Etym. l. 17. c. 8.  Isidorus and 
* Sylvat. Pandect. in Bdellium.  Sylvaticus are of the same opinion. And 
† Galen. de Simplic. Medic. fac. l. 6.  Galen comparing the Bdellium of Arabia with that of Scythia, that is to say, with the Bdellium of the Indies (for a part of the Meridional Indies, is called Scythia, and Indoscythia) gives some advantages to the first, which he denies to the second. Pliny prefers the Bdellium of 
Plin. l. 12. c. 9  the Bactriana to that of Arabia, but he values that of Arabia above all the rest. He will have that Tree to grow in the Sands of the Persian Gulf, which the slux of the Sea covereth with its Tides; and I do not know whether it be not the same which Strabo describes without 
Strab. l. 16.  naming it, upon Nearchus' information, when he says, that it grows in the Islands that are before the Euphrates, that it smells as Frankincense, and that out of its broken Roots drops this sweet-smelling Juice. Now let the place of Arabia, from which it came, be which it will, all that which was to be transported into the Countries situated along the Tigris and Euphrates, and into the rest of the Northerly Asia, must needs have been carried into the Land of Chavilah. And upon that account Arrian says, 
Arrian Indic.  there was made a great Sale of Spices, and all Arabian Drugs in the City of Diridotis, which is the same with Teredon, the Ruins whereof are yet now to be seen near the mouth of the Phison.   

CHAP. XI. A Continuation of the Exposition of the Twelfth Verse.  
I. Divers Opinions about the signification of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schoham. II. Arabia was formerly the most abounding Land in the World in precious Stones. III. The Ancients believed the Onyx-stone was no where else to be found, but in Arabia.  
I. I Followed the vulgar Translation, and rendered the Hebrew word 
Divers opinions about the signification of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schoham.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schoham by that of Onyx-stone; although perhaps it is not the best, and could be better translated by the word Beryl. All agree that the true signification of the Hebrew names of precious Stones is unknown, and it hath been observed, that amongst the twelve Stones that were in the High-Priest's Breastplate, none but the Sapphire and Jasper kept their names. I could add that no body is well assured, that the Stones called in the Hebrew Saphires and jasper's, be the same that we call now so; for if the Greek names of Plants have been subject to so many Equivocations, the Hebrew names of precious Stones have been yet much more subject to them. The word Schoham now in question, may be a good instance of it. The Septuagint 
Job 28. 16. Exod. 28. 9 & 35. 25. & 39 5. Ex. 28. 20. & 39 11. Ezek. 28. 13.  Interpreters who translated it here the Prasin-stone, render it elsewhere the Onyx; sometimes Emerald; now and then Beryl; and now and then Sapphire; and sometimes the Sardian-stone. The three other Grecian Translators, Aquila, Theodotion, and Symmachus, will have it to be the Onyx stone; Philo, the Emerald, following in this 
Phil. de Monar. l. ●. Exo. 28. 9 Joseph. Ant. l. 3. c. ● & 9 & de bell. Jud. l. 6. c. 15. Hier. Epist. 12●. ad Fabiolam, De veste Sacerdotali.  place the Seventy Interpreters, and Josephus the Sardonyx-stone. St. Jerom producing this Translation of Josephus, says, that it agrees with that o● Aquila, and with the Hebrew itself. Whence it follows, that St. Jerom believed that the Hebrew word Schoham doth signify the Onyx stone, and that the Onyx and Sardonyx-stone are one and the same thing. And having translated it here in the vulgar Translation Onyx stone, he rendered it Sardonyx stone, in the Book of Job. Saadias' seems to be of the same 
Job 28. 16.  mind, when he says that it is a white and neat precious Stone. Aben-Ezra, 
Aben-Ezr. in Gen. 2. 12.  who quotes him, acknowledges his Ignorance therein. David de Pomis, and almost all makers of Hebrew-Dictionaries, are also for the Onyx. But the Chaldaean Paraphrasts, Onkelos, and Jonathan, the Arabian Interpreter, and the Syrian, Moses Barcepha, who 
Mos. Barc. c. 21, & 28.  followed him, as being a Syrian himself, take Schoham for the Beryl. Arias 
Aria's Mont. in lib. Aaron. Ital. Verse. apud Hieron. quaest. Hebr. in Gen. Euseb. de loci● Hebr. Severin. Hom. 5. in Hexaem. Ambros. de Parad. c. 3. Aug. de Gen. ad litor. l. 8. c. 7 Epiph. de 12. gemm.  Montanus having a mind to reconcile these different Opinions, said, That the Beryl was a kind of Onyx. The ancient Italic Version, Eusebius, Severinus, St. Ambrose, St. Austin, and many other Fathers of the Church follow the Seventy Interpreters in this place, and render it the Prasin-stone, and St. Epiphanius translated it Beryl, as well as the Chaldaean Paraphrast.  
II. I produce this variety of Opinions, 
Arabia was formerly the most abounding Land in the world in precious Stones.  to show that nothing certain can be said of the Stone Schoham; and so it will be enough to make it evident, that Arabia was formerly very abounding in precious Stones. I say formerly, for now it is no more so, and the greatest Trade of them is in the Levant. My first proof shall be taken from the already quoted place of Ezekiel; where the Prophet amongst the chiefest Commodities that came from Saba and Rhegma, places in Arabia-Foelix, situated on the easterly Coast, not far from Chavilah, and whose Inhabitants dealt with the Tyrians, reckoneth the most precious Spices, precious Stones and Gold▪ Nearchus who had navigated in the Persian Gulf, affirmed, as Strabo tells us, that there were many Islands in that Gulf, in which there were extraordinary fine precious Stones. The 
Strab. l. 16.  same Strabo says, that the Riches of Arabia, which did consist in precious Stones, and excellent Perfumes, the Trade whereof brought them a great deal of Gold and Silver, besides the natural Gold of the Country, made Augustus to send Aelius Gallus thither in order to make those Nations his Friends, and draw to himself their Riches, or to subdue them. Diodorus describes at 
Diod. l. 2.  large the Advantages of Arabia, and especially its precious Stones. He says that that Region affords some of all kinds, that they are very much to be valued by reason of the variety and brightness of their colours, and he inquires into the natural causes of it. Pliny, who employed all his last Book in clearing this subject, and pretty curiously marketh the Countries of precious Stones, assures us, that those that are most valued come out of Arabia. Though now they are more scarce there, than they were then, (for Mines of precious Stones, as well as those of Metals, are exhausted by length of time.) The Travellers, the Naturalists and Lapidaries do yet find some there. Giulful and Baharen do afford some, and the Continent of Arabia a great many more.  
III. But if nevertheless one will restrain 
The Ancients believed the Onyx-stone was no where else to be found but in Arabia.  this place of Moses to the Onyx-stone, he shall have Pliny on his side, who says, that the Ancients were persuaded that the Onyx-stone was no where else to be found but in the Mountains of Arabia.   

CHAP. XII. Explanation of the Thirteenth Verse.  
I. The two most common Opinions concerning the Gehon are, that it is either the Nile, or the westerly Channel of the two, into which the Tigris and Euphrates after their being joined together are divided. II. The grounds of the Opinion which will have the Gehon to be the Nile. III. Of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schichor, which Jeremiah giveth to the Nile, and the Seventy Interpreters rendered by that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. IV. Why it was thought that the Nile and some other Rivers came from Heaven. V. They confounded the Oxus with the Nile. VI The grounds of the Opinion that will have the Gehon to be the most westerly Channel of the two which divide the Tigris and Euphrates after their being joined. VII. The Gehon is the easterly Channel of the two which divide the Waters of the Euphrates and Tigris after joining. VIII. The Origin of the word Gehon serves to prove it. IX. Why Moses hath not affixed so many marks on the Gehon as on the Phison, and why it hath been thought that the Nile came out of the Euphrates.  
I. VErse 13. And the name 
The two most common Opinions concerning the Gehon are, that it is either the Nile, or the westerly Channel of the two, into which the Tigris and Euphrates after their being joined together are divided.  of the second River is Gehon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Chus. There has been as many different opinions about the Gehon, as about the Phison. Some took it for the Ganges; others and especially the Arabians, for the Oxus. Some thought it was the Araxus; some the Naharmalca, which is one of the Canals made by hand, that join the Euphrates with the Tigris; others took it for the Naharfares, which is the most westerly of those Canals; and some for the Torrent that hath the same name of Gehon near Jerusalem. I pass over many other opinions about it, in order to consider two of them, that have most Followers; I mean that which holds Gehon to be the Nile, and that which will have it to be the most westerly Canal of them two, into which the Tigris and Euphrates are divided after they have been joined together, which I showed before to be the Phison.  
II. The first of these opinions, viz. 
The grounds of the opinion that will have the Gehon to be the Nile.  That the Gehon is the Nile, is that of 
* Joseph. Ant. l 1. c. 2  Josephus, of most of the Fathers, and of a great many Interpreters of Scripture. The Abyssins' themselves pretend to it, and do not know now a-days the Nile under any other name than that of Gichon, by an Error like to that as brought them to say, that the Queen of Saba had reigned in their Country; and that their Kings came from Solomon and Her; and that Memnon was their Country man. That opinion was first grounded upon the place of Ecclesiasticus, which I quoted 
Eccl. 24. 35. & seq.  before; for as it was supposed, that in the enumeration of the five Rivers, Phison, Tigris, Euphrates, Jordan, and Gehon, the Author having begun with the East, it followed that the Phison was the Ganges; it was also thought that he finished with the West, and by consequence that the Gehon was the Nile. Besides, they persuaded themselves, that this was the opinion of the Seventy Interpreters, because in the second Chapter of Jeremiah they rendered 
Jer. 2. 18.  the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schichor, by that of Gehon.  
III. This place is worth considering. God upbraideth 
Of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schichor, which Jeremiah giveth to the Nile, and the Seventy Interpreters rendered by that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  the Israelites, that they forgot to trust upon him, and did fly for help to the Egyptians and Assyrians. And now, says God unto them, What hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of the Nile? The Seventy Interpreters translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The Water of Gehon: And St. Jerom, Troubled Water. Schichor 
Hieron. in Jer. 2. 18, & Epist. 27. c. 6.  doth not properly signify troubled; but it signifies black; and the Nile was called so, by reason of the blackness of its Waters. The Egyptians did upon that account draw its Picture in black under the Person of Osiris, and the Grecians called it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, black; and the Latin Melo, from whence some derive the word Nilus. But they are mistaken, for it cometh from the word Nuchul, which was the name given to it by those that dwelled on the sides of it, as Aethicus the Geographer informs us▪ Nuchul is the same with the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nachal, which signifies a Torrent, as the sacred Authors often call it, by reason of its frequent Overflowings occasioned by the Rains. As from Nachal, or N●chul, came the word Nilus; so from Schichor came Siris and Sirius, which are both of them names of the Nile; and the last hath been given to the Dog-star, because the overflowing of the Nile begins in the Dog days. Yet as the Water of that River is black only because it is full of the Mud of Egypt, the Soil whereof is black, for which reason it received the Epithet of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, St. Jerom's Translation, who rendereth it troubled, may take place, taking the Effect for the Cause. Perhaps the Seventy Interpreters upon the same account had writ, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, earthy or muddy Water; which 〈…〉 hath been changed into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Yet I do not affirm it, because some ancient Interpreters of the Translation of the Seventy Interpreters and the Fathers of the Church, who cite that place, constantly read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
IV. Since the Nile was taken for 
Why it was thought that the Nile and some other Rivers came from Heaven.  the Gehon, the Egyptians a very Superstitious Nation, and the Gymnosophists themselves Philosophers of great repute, set no bounds to the Worship they presented it. They not only believed its Spring to be Sacred; they not only adored and invoked it as the greatest of Gods, under the name of Osiris, (which name, as I said, is derived from Schichor) under the name of Orus and of Jupiter; they not only instituted in its Honour the most solemn of their Feasts, and consecrated to it some Priests; but they also said that it descended from Heaven. The Turks and Jews, without a further inquiry, believed them on their word, and suffered themselves to be persuaded, that this Water was Holy, so much the easier, because the Spring of it was unknown to them. Homer who 
Homer. Odyss. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  had traveled and studied in Egypt, learned that Doctrine there; for he calls the Nile 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is to say, Come from Jupiter. And that is true in one respect, as Strabo and Eustathius 
Strab. l. 1. Eustath. in Hom. Odyss. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  observed it, for its overflowing is merely caused by Rains, which Jupiter is the dispenser of according to the Poets, and this the Ancients were not ignorant of; so that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Homer properly signifies in that sense, 
Plaut. trin. Act. 4. Sc. 2  fallen from the Clouds. Plautus' speaking of a River which he doth not name, had probably in his mind that Epithet of Homer, and intended to describe the Nile, when he said, that its Spring is in Heaven, under the Throne of Jupiter. The Aethiopians in like manner called the Nile Astapus, which in their own Language signifies, Water come out of darkness; but upon another account, either because they did not know its Spring, or because it hid itself under the Earth in some places. Although the Egyptians saying that the Nile came from Heaven, may have spoken as natural Philosophers to express its nature, yet they have also spoken as Divines, meaning that the Nile came from Paradise which is in Heaven, not distinguishing it from the Earthly one. The brahmin's say the same of the Ganges, and they call it Celestial River, as the Nile was called a River come from Jupiter. And the Mahometans upon the same account give the same origin to the Oxus which they call G●●on, to the Tigris and to the Euphrates. They give it also to the Taxart, which they call Sichom; for which I see no other reason, than the nearness of those Rivers and of their Branches, which made those People believe, that they had the same Spring, and consequently that not one could come from Heaven, but all must also necessarily come from thence. They confounded perhaps this Sichom with another River of the same name in Cilicia. It is that which the ancient Grecian Geographers call Cydnus. Another River in the same Province called Gehon, occasioned their mistake. It is the Pyramus of the Ancients. It runneth through the City of Adana, of which I had occasion to speak before. The name Adana is the same with Eden. This was sufficient to make that Nation believe, that this Eden was the place where Paradise was situated, and that those Rivers came from thence. Abul●●da an Arabian Geographer falsely imagined that those two Rivers came together near Adana, and jointly entered into the Sea. They heard besides of another River in the same Province, called Paradise. Pliny marked it, and some others also. All these obscure Ideas joined with the gross and rustical Ignorance of the Mahometans, made them fancy, that the River Sichom came from Heaven.  
V. The want of knowing the truth 
They confounded the Oxus with the Nile.  hath not only made the name of Gehon to be common to the Nile and Oxus, but it also hath applied to those Rivers one of the most remarkable accidents that ever happened upon the Nile, I mean, that of Moses, when he was exposed upon it. Teixeira tells us of one like this concerning Darab King of Persia. He says, the Queen his Mother was forced to expose him in a Cradle on the Oxus; that he was saved, by a Man, who being surprised at his Beauty, and pitying his Misfortune, had him brought up by his Wife, and that at last he came to the Crown by his own Merit.  
VI I come now to the other opinion, which comes 
The grounds of the opinion that will have the Gehon to be the most westerly Channel of the two, which divide the Tigris and Euphrates.  nearer the truth, and supposes the Gehon to be the most westerly Channel of the two into which the Tigris and Euphrates, joined together, are divided, when they separate again to enter into the Sea. It is the opinion of the Doctors of Louvain, 
Lovan i● Gen. 2 13. Scal. de emend. temp. l. 5.  of Scaliger, and of most of the Modern Interpreters, who in this all followed Calvin. Their chiefest reason is the same, which induced them to take the easterly Channel for the Phison; for that being laid, it was a consequence▪ of their opinion, to say, that the Gehon was the westerly Channel. They had another peculiar reason for it, because they took the Province of Chus, watered by that River, for Arabia, and knew none other of that name but Arabia and Aethiopia. But I shall make it appear how much they were mistaken in that particular, which would be enough to overthrow their opinion.  
VII. But it will be a more 
The Gehon is the easterly Channel of the two which divide the mixed Waters of the Euphrates and Tigris.  sure means to do it, if we show, that the Gehon is the easterly Channel of the two which divide the Euphrates and Tigris after their coming together. Now as from the opinion of those who take the Phison for the easterly Channel, it follows, that the Gehon is the westerly one; it follows also from ours, according to which the Phison is the westerly Channel, and Chavilah watered by the Phison (the first Province that one meets on the West of the mouth of the Euphrates:) It follows, I say, from that System, that the Gehon is the easterly Channel, and that the Province of Chus which the Gehon runneth through, is the first Province that one meets at the East of the mouth of the Euphrates.  
VIII. That Channel coming from 
The origin of the word Gehon serves to prove it.  the Euphrates, as the Phison, and falling into the same Sea, is subject to the same Increases and Overflowings, but yet not so great, because its Banks are not so low. By reason of those Overflowings it got the name of Gehon, or, as the Hebrews write and pronounce it, Gichon, from the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Guach, which signifieth, to slip away. That little Brook near Jerusalem had the same name for the same reason, because it watered the neighbouring Gardens. It was called otherwise Siloë 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. That word in 
John 9 7.  the Gospel is rendered by that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schaluach, that is to say, sent, slipped away, diverted, led to water the Soils. That is the reason why the Paraphrast Jonathan having found the word Gehon in the Hebrew Text of the first Book of Kings, he 
1 Reg. 1. 33  rendered it by the word Siloa. I shall not lose time in producing all the other Etymologies of that word, which the Fathers, the Interpreters, and the Rabbins contrived. I will only insist on that which Josephus mentions. He 
Joseph. Ant. l. 1. c. 2  expounds Gehon, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which is produced, which runneth out of the East. He adds, that it is the Nile, according to the Error of the Ancients, who confounded the Indies and Aethiopia, and supposed them to be, as well as the Spring of the Nile, at the East of Egypt. He showed in this place, as in many others, that though he was a Jew, he was never the more skilled for that in the Hebrew Tongue; for he derives the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, from the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nagah, which signifies to shine, to glitter; whence comes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nogah, Lucifer, the Morning Star, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Noghi, the day light; and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Giah, brightness, splendour; and the Syriack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magaha, the Aurora, the Morning. And from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Giah, Josephus supposed that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gehon, was derived, not knowing that the Hebrew word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gichon, and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gihen; or if he knew it, yet he was ignorant that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gichon had a more natural, and not so far fetched derivation. However if this derivation takes place, it will confirm my opinion, and mark the Situation of that Channel towards the East, in respect to the Phison, which is towards the West.  
IX. I have already said, that Moses hath not affixed 
Why Moses affixed not as many marks on the Gehon, as on the Phison, and why it hath been thought that the Nile came out of the Euphrates.  so many marks on the Gehon, as on the Phison, because this last being known, the Situation of the others would be sufficient to make them known; for the Phison being the first in respect to Arabia Petraea, where Moses was writing; the second, which was the Gehon, was necessarily the next to it, viz. the easterly Channel of the two into which the Euphrates is divided; for it could not be looked for farther, without contravening the words of Moses, which do expressly declare, that this River was joined with the three others in Paradise. They were so persuaded of it, that as I think, nothing more induced Men to believe, that the Nile came out of the Euphrates, as 
Pausan. Corinth. Philost▪ vit. Apoll. l. 1. c. 14.  Pausanias and Philostratus do assure us it was believed, than the opinion which they held, that the Gehon was the Nile, and that besides, it went for certain, that the Gehon was a branch of the Euphrates. The Gehon had perhaps been more easily known by the traces of its name, if Posterity had kept them; but it hath been hidden under the names of Phison and Pasitigris, which spread themselves, and covered it, as I showed before.   

CHAP. XIII. Continuation of the Explanation of the Thirteenth Verse.  
I. The name of Chus is given to Aethiopia, Arabia, and Susiana. Here is meant the last. II. Which in Scripture is styled Cutha, and nowadays, Chuzestan. III. We find some footsteps of the word Chus in the names of the Cosseans and Cissians, Inhabitants of Susiana. IV. Why it was said that Memnon was an Aethiopian. V. Of Memnon's Statue, which they said spoke, when the rising Sun shined upon it. VI The truth of Memnon's History. VII. Confirmed by the Testimony of some Ancients.  
I. VErse 13. The same is it that compasseth 
The name of Chus is given to Aethiopia, Arabia, and Susiana. The last is meant here.  the whole land of Chus. This is the chiefest mark that Moses gave us to know the Gehon; but this mark being peculiar, it will be as good as a thousand more. That we may show it, we must explain what is the meaning of Chus. I find three Provinces of that name, Aethiopia, Arabia, and Susiana. These two first divided the name of Chus, which is a general word, comprehending the Countries that are on both sides of the Arabian Gulf, commonly called the Red Sea. M. Bochart pretended in his Phaleg, that Aethiopia 
Boch. Phal. l. 4. c. 2.  is no where in Scripture called Chus; but I think I made good the contrary in my Observations on Origen. This Region of Chus or Aethiopia, was then divided into two parts, along both the sides of the Arabian Gulf, and even beyond its mouth, called at present Babelmand●l; the easterly one, which made a part of the great Peninsula of Arabia; and the westerly, which is between that Gulf and the Nile. Homer, Herodotus, and some 
Homer. Odyss. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Herod. Polymn. cap. 89. 70.  others divided in this manner the Aethiopians (who inhabited that Country, and were neighbours to Egypt) into easterly and westerly: And Eustathius tells us, the Ancients so understood the words of Homer. This is the reason why the Homerites, a People in Arabia, situated on the southerly Coast, are called Aethiopians by Stephanus the Geographer. 
Steph. in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  And Holstenius, tho' he was a very learned Man, yet because he knew not this, was grossly mistaken, ●hen he changed the words of Stephanus and put 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: according to that commendable Custom of the Critics, to alter in the Works of the Ancients, all what they do not understand. That part of the Province of Chus, that lies towards Arabia, did not extend itself much from the Gulf, and from the Sea which is beyond the mouth of the Gulf, and was really a border; and there would be no reason to extend it to the easterly side of Arabia, and to the westerly mouth of the Euphrates, in order to countenance the opinion that taketh that mouth for the Gehon. The Limits of the Arabian Chus were never extended so far, and it is a decisive proof against that opinion concerning the Gehon; as on the contrary, if I make good that Susiana had that name, and hath it still at present, it will be a most evident proof that the Gehon is the easterly mouth of the Euphrates.  
II. All the Journals of Travellers do 
Which is called Cutha in Scripture, and now Chuzestan.  inform us, that Susiana is now called Chuzestan, a name made up of the word Chuz and the Persical Termination. Benjamin of Navarre says, that the great Province of Elam, whereof Susa is the Metropolis▪ and which the Tigris waters, is called so. That Province of Elam is Elymais, which extendeth itself as far as the Coast of the Persian Gulf, at the East of the mouth of the Euphrates. The Nubian Geographer, and some other Arabians call it Churestan; but it is probably an oversight of the Copiers who did not distinguish the letter r from z of the Arabians, which only differ by one point. The Inhabitants of the Land call it absolutely Chus, if we will believe Marius Niger. The same Region is called 
Mar. Nig. Comm. 5. 4. Reg. 17. 24.  Cutha in the Book of Kings, according to the variety of Dialects; and it is partly from thence that Salmanasar transported a Colony into Samaria, to fill the room of its Inhabitants and of the Ten Tribes, which he had turned out and sent into another place. This new Colony, which was afterwards known under the name of Samaritans, kept also the name of its origin, and was called the Cutheans. Scaliger with all his 
Scalig. in Propert. l. 1. Eleg. 1.  great Learning was grossly mistaken when he said that the Samaritans were called Cutheans from a City in Colchis, called Cytaea, whither Salmanasar transported the Ten Tribes. The Samaritans were called Cutheans, from the Province Cutha, whence they came; and the Ten Tribes were not transported into Colchis, but into Assyria; and tho' they had been transported into Colchis, it would be ridiculous to think that the Samaritans have taken their name from a City whence they did not come, and where they did not live; but merely because the Ten Tribes, whose Country they possessed, went to live there. I know not where Josephus found that River Cuthus, 
Joseph. Ant. l. 9 c. 14.  which he says, is the original of Cutha, a name given to that Province of Persia. The word Cutha or Cuth, came from the word Chus, the last letter whereof is often changed by the Chaldaeans into a t or th', giving it a harder and less whistling sound, as Dion hath 
Dion. Xiphil. Traj.  observed. So they said Thor for For; Attyria for Assyria. Yet we must not give credit to what some Men imagined, that the name of the City of Susa, which was the Metropolis of that Land, comes from Chus. It took its name from the Lilies whereof there is a great plenty in that Soil; and the Lily is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Susan in the Hebrew Tongue. The Grecians were not ignorant of that Etymology, and many amongst them observed it.  
III. There are yet many 
We find some footsteps of the word Chus in the names of the Cosseans and Cisseans Inhabitants of Susiana.  other marks of the word Chus found in Susiana. We find there the Cosseans, neighbours to the Uxians, according to the Position of Pliny, Ptolemy, and Arrian. 
Plin. l. 6. c. 27. P●●●. l. ●. c. 3 Tabul. 5. As●●. Arrian. Exped. Alex. l. ●. Schickard. in Tarich. Reg. Pers.  Schickard was under a mistake, when he supposed, that those Cosseans had given their name to the Province of Chuzestan. The name of Chuzestan, and that of the Cosseans come from the same root, to wit, from Chus, and not one from the other. The name of Cissia and of the Cissians come also from thence. It was a little Province of Susiana, which gave its name to all the Susians. The Poet Aeschylus 
Aeschyl. Pers. & Choëph. & apud ●trab. l. 15.  taketh also notice of a City of that name situated in the same Land; and which is remarkable, he doth distinguish it by its Antiquity. He calls also the Mother of Memnon Cissia, that is to say, Aurora. Memnon was the Son of Tithonus and Aurora. Tit●onus was a Brother to Priam's King of Troy, and he was thought to have founded the City of Susa, Metropolis of Susiana. From the name of Memnon his Son, the Citadel was called Memnonium, the Palace and Walls Memnonians; and Susa itself, the City of Memnon, by reason of the great esteem they had for him. It is that Memnon who came to succour the Trojans, from whom he descended, and was slain by Achilles. When the Grecians feigned that he was Son of Aurora, they meant that he came from the East; according to a common expression of the Hebrew Tongue, and very familiar to the Prophets, who call the People of the East, Sons of the East; for those Countries which the Euphrates run through, towards its mouth were properly called the East. Many Interpreters think that in the same sense Isaiah called Nabuchodonozor, or Balthasar, Luciser, Son of Aurora.  
IV. I know very well that most of 
Why it was said that Memnon was an Aethiopian.  the ancient Authors said, that Memnon was an Aethiopian. Their mistake is a consequence of that, by which Chus, that signifieth Susiana, hath been confounded with Chus, that signifies the Countries situated on the shores of the Arabian Gulf, I mean Aethiopia and Arabia; and the Gehon with the Nile; thus one mistake draws another after it, and when we once miss the right way, all the following steps are but so many wander. The Egyptians and Aethiopians adopted very willingly that Hero, and thought it would be a great Honour to them, to have for their Countryman such an illustrious Person. But finding nothing of it in their Archives, nor in their Histories, they put his Person, Name and Deeds, upon such of their Kings, whose Life was most like to his. Amenophis seemed to them very proper to serve their turn, tho' he lived long before the War of Troy. He had been warring in Asia, he had been in Phrygia, and had lived at Susa. This agreeableness and likeness of names betwixt Memnon, and Amenophis, seemed to them a sufficient ground to say, that they were one and the same. They built him Temples in many places, and especially in the great City Thebes; they offered him Sacrifices, and worshipped him as a God. They showed in that City and other places, some Palaces which they called Memnonians, as were those of Susa. And there they set up to him that marvellous Statue, which made a merry and loud noise, when the Sunrising shined upon it; and seemed to groan and shed Tears, when the night drew near. Many supposed it had been erected to Amenophis, or Sesostris. The Rabbi Benjamin tells a thing in the Journal of his Voyage, which persuades me, that the Aethiopians set up that Statue to imitate the Susians. He says that he went from Catif, and came in seven days to Haeula. Some learned Men hold that Haoula is the Isle of Ceilan, contrary to all probability, since he could not have gone thither in seven days. He adds that it is situated on the entrance of that Country, where the Posterity of Chus worship the Sun; that they have upon their Altars some Circles or Globes like to that of the Sun, and that at the rising of the Sun those Globes turn with a great noise. I judge by that account, that those Nations were Susians', or their Offspring, and that they learned of them the Art to make such Solar-Statues, which were a kind of Talismans', which some persuade themselves to be what the Scripture calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chammanim; and there is no doubt but that of Memnon was of that kind.  
V. No body is ignorant in what 
Of the Statue of Memnon which they said spoke when the Sunrising shined upon it.  Honour and Veneration the Sun was amongst the Persians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and especially the Sabians, of whom I have spoken before. This People used to set up Statues to the Sun, and to the other Planets. They imagined the Stars did impart to them by their Influences the Faculty of Hearing, Speaking, and declaring to Men things to come. Their name Sabians signifies in the Arabian Tongue, easterly. The proof hereof is this. Their Book concerning Husbandry, (which the Rabbins quote under the name of the easterly Book) was entitled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hahaboda Hannabathiia, the Nabathean Husbandry, that is to say easterly, witness this Verse of Ovid's:  

Eurus ad Auroram, Nabathaeáque Reg●a recessit.  
Eurus [the East Wind] went toward Aurora and the Nabathéan Kingdoms.   
The Sabians were called easterly, because all that Land which lieth betwixt the Persian Gulf and Judaea was called the East, as I already said. They dwelled at first Chaldaea, and their Books say, that Abraham a Chaldaean by Birth, was persecuted by one of their Kings, for not complying with the Religion that was in use in that Country, and refusing to worship the Sun. They dwelled also farther below along the Euphrates, where they left some marks of their name behind them; for they call at present Sabbi the Christians of St. John, that dwell about the City of Bassora, which was built in the second year of the Hegira, by Omar the second Caliph, and is about two days Journey from the joining of the Tigris and Euphrates, at the same distance from the Sea, and betwixt the 30 and 31 degree. These Sabians spread themselves afterwards through all the East, and their name became at last the name of a Sect rather than of a Nation; and that Sect was still the same with that of the ancient Chaldaeans. The learned Rabbi Moses Son of Maimon, meaning that Abraham had been bred up in the Land of the Sabians, says, that he had been bred up in the Land of Cutha, that is to say, in the Land of Chus, which is Susiana. And if, because the Aethiopians worshipped also the Sun, one should apply to them Benjamin's words, the distance of the places would not suffer it; for how could he have gone in seven days from Catif into Aethiopia? But besides that, the Series of his Narrative showeth that he went towards the East, and Aethiopia lies on the West. Strabo, a Man of good Sense and very 
Strab. l. 17.  honest, having followed Aelius Gallus as far as Thebes in Egypt, saw and heard that Statue at the rising of the Sun. Yet he dares not affirm, that none of those that were present did imitate that noise, for the honour of their Country. Germanicus saw it also. Pliny says it was made out of 
Plin. l. 3. c. 7.  a stone called Basalta by the Egyptians, because it hath the colour and hardness of Iron. That word is without question derived from the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Barzel, which signifies Iron; for the Egyptian Tongue had some affinity with the Hebrew.  
VI What we may most probably 
The truth of Memnon's History.  suppose concerning Memnon's Expedition, may be taken out of 
* Diodor. l. 2, & 4.  Diodorus and some others. The Kingdom of Troy was subject to the Empire of Assyria Tithonus a Brother to Priam who possessed that Kingdom, went to the Court of the King of Assyria, who gave him the Government of Susiana. He married there, being already old; and because his Wife was of a Country situated on the East of Graecia and Troy, the Grecians, who used to turn all Histories into Fictions, said, that he had married Aurora. From that Marriage came Memnon and Emathion. The War of Troy coming afterwards, Priam begged some Succour of Teutamus King of Assyria. He granted him twenty thousand Men, and two hundred Chariots of War. Diodorus says that that Succour consisted of ten thousand Aethiopians and ten thousand Susians, falling into the common Error again, and confounding Chus of Aethiopia, with that of Susiana. In order to make this Succour more useful, Teutamus gave the command of it to Memnon, a young Prince of a Trojan Family, and therefore concerned in the Preservation of Troy. He kept Tithonus by him, by reason of his Wisdom, which made him very necessary in his Counsels, and by reason of his old Age unfit for that Expedition. Memnon found some resistance in his way. The Solymi, amongst others, who since were called Pisidians, would needs dispute his passage, but he routed them, and all that opposed him. He made all passages clean, he repaired the ways, and deserved by that long and dangerous march, that that highway should have his name, and be called Memnonian. He very valiantly fought against the Grecians before Troy; but he was at last slain by Achilles. They talk very variously of the place of his burying; for without taking notice of Philostratus, who says he 
Phil. imag. lib. 1.  had no Grave, and was changed into that miraculous stone; Troas, Phoenicia, and Susiana contend for it amongst themselves; and above all Aethiopia; although it hath no other claim to his burying, nor to his Birth, than that given it by the equivocation of the word Chus.  
VII. But notwithstanding 
Confirmed by the Testimony of some Ancients.  the Obscurity that equivocation brought into this History, 
* Philostr. vit. Apoll. l. 6. c. 3. & Heroic.  Philostratus, 
† Georg Syncell. p. 72. 151, 155, 166.  George Syncellus, that is to say, Coadjutor of the Church of Constantinople, and 
* Suid. in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  Suidas, who had read and copied good Authors, tho' he often did it not very judiciously, give yet Testimony to truth; the first by saying that Memnon the Aethiopian, that is to say, Amenophis, never came to Troy, and was without ground confounded with Memnon the Trojan. And could not imagine how Memnon could have brought a Succour from so remote a Country to the Trojans, nor also by what chance Tithonus could have settled himself in Aethiopia, and become King of it. The second by exactly distinguishing Amenophis King of Thebes in Egypt, (who is also called Memnon, and the speaking stone) from Memnon Son of Tithonus, whom he places amongst the Kings of Assyria; and Suidas, affirming that Memnon was 
Pausan. Phoci●.  no Aethiopian, but Susian. Pausanias, though he was a Man of a very sharp Wit, hath but partly solved that difficulty, saying, that Memnon the Aethiopian did not come from Aethiopia to Troy, but from 
Eustath i● Diony●●eri●g. ver. 248. Scholar Triclin. adseri. in Pind. Olymp. Od. 2 Virgil Aeneid. l. ●.  Susa. Eustathius and the Scholiast of Pindarus, who is called Triclinius, write, that Memnon and Emathion his Brother, were the only white Men amongst the Aethiopians, tho' Virgil and the others say, that Memnon was black. This Observation confirms my opinion, for altho' the Poets and makers of Romances have made bold to feign that Andromeda and Chariclaea were born White amongst the Blacks, yet that is so singular and rare a thing in the ordinary course of Nature, that it is more reasonable to think, that Memnon was White, because he was really no Aethiopian.   

CHAP. XIV. Explanation of the Fourteenth Verse.  
I. Chiddekel, Diglath, and Tigris, are the same name, and the same River. II. Frivolous Conjectures of the Ancients about the Etymology of the name of the River Tigris. III. The true Etymology of that name. IV. The Chiddekel is not the Naharmalca.  
I. THis River is the third in the order 
Chiddekel, Diglath, and Tigris, are the same name and the same River.  followed by Moses, and suitable to its Situation when he made this description. That order, and the name which the River beareth yet at present, make it pretty well known; for the name of Chiddekel which Moses gives it, that of Tigris which the Europeans give it, and that of Diglath which they give it in the Levant, are one and the same thing. This will surprise those who are ignorant of the Art of Etymologies, which is absolutely necessary in the use of good Literature, requireth great Learning, and the study whereof, 
Quintil. l. 1 c. 4 & 6.  Quintilian expressly recommends. I say then that from the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chiddekel came the word Tigris after this manner. The first letter, which is a hard Aspiration, is taken off, as in the word Chaboras, the name of a River in 
Ptolom. l. 5. c. 18. Strab. l. 16.  Mesopotamia mentioned by Ptolemy, which Strabo calleth Aborras; as in the word Cham, the name of Noah's youngest Son, from whence came the Egyptian name Ammun, and the Greek Ammon, which was given to Jupiter; and as in the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, out of which the Latins made that of Laena. This Aspiration being then taken off from the word Chiddekel, it remains Dekel, the D whereof has been changed into a T, which often happeneth amongst letters of the same organ. So out of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Asdod, has been made Azotus; jota out of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 jod; Artaba, out of the Syriack word Ardab; Atergatis out of Derceto; Tenebrae out of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The k of Dekel hath been changed into a g; as out of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acbar, has been made Agbarus; out of Derceto, Atergatis, which I just now mentioned; out of Acragas, Agrigentum; out of Caius and Cneïus, Gaïus and Cneius; out of Curculio, Gurgulio. The last letter of Dekel hath been changed into an r; as out of the Hebrew word Belial, the Grecians made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; as out of the Chaldaean word Sarbal, they made Sarabara; as the Borax hath been indifferently called Tincal and Tincar. And this old Verse of the Greek Comedy, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
Aristoph. Vesp.  showeth enough the affinity of l and ●. By these Permutations of letters the original and derived words hold their mutual Correspondencies. Taking then away the Aspiration of the word Chiddekel, the word Dekel remained, which the Syrians disguised, and made Diklat out of it; Josephus and the Chaldaean Paraphrasts, the Arabians and the Persians turned it into Diglath; other modern Orientals into Degil and Degela; Pliny, or those who informed him, into Diglito; and the Grecians who gave to all strange words the turn and manner of their Tongue, into Tigris.  
II. This evidently showeth 
Vain Conjectures of the Ancients about the Etymology of the name of the River Tigris.  how frivolous are the Conjectures of the Ancients about the Etymology of the word Tigris. Some believed that this River was so called by reason of the swiftness of its Stream, like to that of the Beast of the same name; others derive the name of the River and of the Beast from that of the Arrow, which they say, is called Tigris, by the Armenians, Medians, and Persians. We might confidently speak of that Etymology, if the knowledge of the old Persian Language was come unto us. Many words of it are passed into that which is now in use, and perhaps the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tojor is of that number. It signifies an Arrow. That Etymology is not unlikely, for the Tiger which is the most nimble of all Beasts, and the Tigris the swiftest of all Rivers, could not be better compared than to an Arrow. It seems the Ancients have affected to express the rapidity of that River, by the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which signify sharp pointed and swift; as having hereby a mind to mark the Etymology of the word Tigris, from the Arrow, which is swift and sharp pointed. Upon the same account Diodorus compared the Nile to 
Diod. l. 1.  an Arrow, by reason of its swiftness. So the River Acis in Sicily got that name, which signifieth the point of an Arrow, by reason of the swiftness of its Stream. It seems also that for the same reason the Tigris was called Sollax, or Sulax, which some Authors take notice of, and render by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is to say, that violently runneth down. That word, as I guess, comes from the same Etymology as that of the Torrent Siloë; I mean from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say, driven away, sent, shot as an Arrow; for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which comes from the same origin, signifies a Dart. The Arabian word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Taijaron, which has some affinity with the Persian Tojor, a little afore mentioned, hath a signification which is suitable, to our subject. It signifies a Stream; it signifies also, that which runneth with rapidity; which is agreeable enough with the nature of the Tigris. The mistake of Pliny and of Solinus 
Plin. l. 6. c. 27. Solin c. 37.  who made an abstract out of him, is very remarkable above all others, when they say, that the Tigris is called Diglito at the beginning of its Stream, when it runs slowly, but is called Tigris when it is become swifter. It is called Tigris at the very head, as Strabo assures us, and the names of Tigris 
Strab. l. 11.  and Diglito are but one and the same thing.  
III. I say besides that all those Conjectures 
The true Etymology of that name.  are vain. We must look for the true root of the word Tigris in the Hebrew word Chiddekel; and that word is made up of two Hebrew words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chadda, sharp pointed, derived from the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chadad, to be sharp pointed; and of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. swift, light, derived from the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kalal, to be swift and light. And it seems the Grecians had more respect to this Etymology than to any other, when they expressed the swiftness of that River by the word 
Joseph. Ant. l. 1. c. 2  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Josephus hath in a manner acknowledged it, when he said, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. This place must be corrected and read thus, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is to say, Diglath, which is expounded, narrow and nimble. But we must not look upon Josephus as a great Master of the Hebrew Tongue. The Rabbins have spoken more exactly than Josephus, and deduced that word from its true origin. That which Moses Barcepha proposes is not to be rejected; 
Mos. Barc. De Parad. c. 18.  he derives Chiddekel from the Chaldaean, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Dekal, which signifies to boil, and perhaps the place of Hesychius must be referred to it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is to say, that the word Tigris signifies the noise made by the impetuosity of a River. Other Rivers besides this have been called Tigris, and probably for the same reason.  
IV. It is in vain then, that some 
Chiddekel is not the Naharmalca.  learned Men, but withal conceited, being not able to fit their Preconceptions to things, endeavour to fit things to their Preconceptions. They fancied that what Moses calls here Chiddekel, is the Naharmalca, one of the Canals through which the Euphrates runneth into the Tigris; and which was made long after Moses by hands. Besides that the Waters of the Euphrates, being much above the Waters of the Tigris, as I have showed, makes it evident that those natural or artificial Channels, being but parts of the Euphrates, cannot have been taken for the Tigris; and that one cannot pretend to persuade us without proofs, that the Tigris is not the Tigris.   

CHAP. XV. Continuation of the Explanation of the fourteenth Verse.  
I. The Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Kidmath cannot signify in this place, on the East. II. In what sense it ought to be taken, that the Tigris goeth towards Assyria.  
I. VErse 14. That is it which goeth towards Assyria. There are two opinions upon this place. The 
The Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Kidmath cannot signify in this place on the East.  word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Kidmath is the occasion thereof. Some will have it to be a Preposition, which signifies towards, on the side of; others an Adverb of place, which signifies on the East. The Seventy Interpreters; almost all those who followed their Translation, and St. Jerom in the vulgar Translation, are for the first opinion. The Chaldaean Paraphrasts; most of the Rabbins and Hebricians are for the second. The modern Commentators have taken part suitable to their opinions. I am surprised at this difference of opinions; for if they had considered the situation of Assyria and the running of the Tigris, the difficulty would be easily assoiled. The word Assyria, may be taken either in a narrow, or in a more large sense. In the narrow sense Assyria was a small Province, whereof Ninive was the chief Town; and it is that Province which hath since been called Adiabene. In the more large sense, Assyria did comprehend many great Provinces belonging to the Kings of Assyria, and which made up their Empire. It happened to this State, as to France, that the most ancient part of the Empire gave its name to the others, which afterwards were joined to it. In what sense soever you take Assyria, it is certain the Tigris was not on the East in respect to it. Except you take it for Syria, as some Grecian Authors have done; but one must be very ignorant of ancient History, to think that Moses had taken it in that sense; since the name of Syria is but modern, and came from the Hebrew name of Tyre, which was the chief Town of it, and best known to the Grecians: And on the contrary the name of Assyria comes from the Hebrew word Assur. We may truly say that the Tigris runneth through Assyria, when under the name of Assyria, we comprehend Mesopotamia, Syria, and a part of Arabia. But that word was not taken in so large a sense, but long after Moses, who could not have understood by the name of Assyria, only a very small parcel of Land about Ninive. And this we may suppose, the Arabian Interpreter meant, when he said, the Tigris runneth to the East of Mausal. Mausal is a City in Mesopotamia situated on the sides of the Tigris, over against the place, where the ancient Ninive stood; and it is true that the Tigris ●uns on the East of that City. But he mis●ook, when he took Mausal for Ninive, for though they be almost always taken one for the other, nevertheless the one lies on the East of the River, and the other on the West. I cannot then see upon what ground it may be said, that the Tigris goeth towards the East of Assyria.  
II. Calvin was sensible of the weight 
In what sense it ought to be taken, that the Tigris goeth towards Assyria.  of this Objection, and in order to shun it, he translated, C'estuy lá verse l'orient▪ & Assyrie, that (goeth) toward the E●… and Assyria, which is contrary to the Hebrew Text, where this conjunction is not found; nor the Prepositions neither, which some inserted, translating thus; On the East, towards Assyria. We must then return to the Translation of the Seventy Interpreters, and translate thus, which goeth toward Assyria. And we must not think that Moses said the Tigris goeth toward Assyria in respect to the Spring of that River, or to the running of its Waters, but in regard to the Situation of the Earthly Paradise, and to the disposition of the Channel of the Tigris: As when he said, That a River went out of Eden to water the Garden, and from thence it was parted and became into four heads, he had the same regard, both to the Situation of Paradise, and to the disposition of the Channel of the Tigris.   

CHAP. XVI. Continuation of the Explanation of the fourteenth Verse.  
I. False Etymologies of the name of the Euphrates. II. The true Etymology of that name. III. Virtue attributed to the Waters of the Euphtates.  
I. VErse 14. And the fourth River is 
False Etymologies of the name of the Euphrates.  Euphrates. Moses affixed no mark of distinction on that River, because it could not be confounded with the others, which he had already made known; and its largeness and neighbourhood rendered it known enough in the places and amongst the Nations to whom he did write; that River kept its name better than the others. 'Tis a mistake to think that the name of the Euphrates is made up of its Hebrew name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Perath, and of the Pronoun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hu, which are put together in this place: Yet it hath been thought so by many learned Men. The Grecians changed Perath into Euphrates, adjusting that word as well, as all other strange words, to the genius of their Tongue, as if it was derived from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which signifies to rejoice, by reason of the pleasantness the Euphrates bringeth into all the places through which it runneth. This Etymology hath been accepted by many, as St. Ambrose observed. It may be 
Ambros. De Parad. c. 3.  also, that having read that this River was called so, by reason of its Fertility, they derived it from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, fertile, fruitful, and adjusted its name to it. They perhaps minding none of these Etymologies, made Euphrates out of Perath; as out of Tabor they made Atabyrius; out of Derceto, Atergatis. After the same manner the French Tongue, as well as the Aeolic Dialect loves to begin many words with E, which is not found in their root; out of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we make étage; out of Spiritus, Esprit. The Hebrews themselves have added one ● to the word Paz, which is the name of the Land of Ophir, and called it Uphaz.  
II. The true root of the word Euphrates 
The true Etymology of that word.  is the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Parah, which signifies to increase; and in the conjugation Hiphil, to make fruitful, because that River by its swellings and overflowings bringeth Fertility into all the places through which it runs. This is the opinion of St. Jerom, of most of 
Hieron. De nomin. Hebr.  the Fathers, of the Interpreters of Scripture, and of the Rabbins. I pass over many other Etymologies of this word, which Authors do propose▪ to consider that of Josephus. He writes the Hebrew 
Joseph. Ant. l. 2. c. 2  name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉▪ pronouncing it after the Arabian ●…er, and ●…e expoundeth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a dispersing or a flower, deriving it from the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pur, which signifies amongst other things, to dissipate, ●by reason of the draining, and as it were, of the dissipating of the Waters of the Euphrates, or from the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P●rach, to flourish, to grow out, because its Waters make▪ every thing to flourish and grow out in the Soils through which they run. One should wonder that a Jew could make use of so farfetched Etymologies, since there was one so near, and so natural, I mean that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Parah, if we did not know, that he had no great skill in the Hebrew Tongue.  
III. As for the rest, as the People 
Virtue attributed to the Waters of the Euphrates.  attributed to the Ganges and Nile the virtue of Sanctifying the Souls, they also attributed to the Euphrates that of restoring Health to the Bodies. The Arabians value so much the Waters of that River, that they drink them for all kinds of Sicknesses, and they think it even to be an infallible Remedy against the Plague, a Virtue which they got in the Earthly Paradise. And because the same Effect is attributed to the River Hyphasis, Philostorgius took 
Philostorg. l. 3. c. 10.  that effect for a proof that it was the Phison, and came also out of Paradise.   

CHAP. XVII. Some other Proofs to confirm my Opinion about the Situation of the Earthly Paradise.  
I. Another Proof, that the Earthly Paradise was situated on the place that I marked, taken from the Plentifulness and Beauty of that Land. II. And because it hath been the first Land inhabited. III. True signification of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nod. IU. What were the Columns of the Posterity of Seth. V. We may also conjecture where Paradise was situated from the place where the Ark of Noah rested.  
I. HAving hitherto endeavoured to 
Another proof, that the Earthly Paradise was situated on the place that I marked, taken from the Plentifulness and Beauty of that Land.  discover the Situation of the Earthly Paradise, from the Description that Moses left us of it, we may yet find some other Signs, which will help us to know it. Such is the Fruitfulness of the Country, and the Goodness of its Soil, which seemeth still to keep some Remainders of that Blessing God poured upon it. For, that Plentifulness was partly Supernatural, and partly Natural. Moses informs us, that God in order to 
Gen. 2. 9  make Paradise, caused to grow out of the Ground every Tree that is pleasant to the 
Gen. 13. 10  sight and good for Food. And in another place, having a mind to express the Pleasantness and Fertility of the Soil of Sodom before its Desolation, he compareth it to the Paradise of God: Whether he only meant a Garden of an extraordinary Beauty, according to an Hebraism very ordinary in the Sacred Writ, as some think; or the Earthly Paradise, according to the most common opinion. And there is no doubt to be made, but that place, framed by the hands of God in a supernatural manner, hath been the pattern, out of which the profane ●oets form their Pertunate Islands, the Elysian Fields, the Meadows of Plato, the Gardens of the Hesperides, of Adonis, Jupiter, and Alcinous. And when X●●●phon described those fair Gardens, which were called Paradises, he made use of the same words, that Moses employed to describe the Earthly Paradise. But besides the Ornaments wherewith the hand of God did adorn it in an extraordinary manner, we cannot reasonably think, that God having resolved to set the 〈…〉 Man in a delicious place, had made choice of a barren and unfruitful Soil, or of some horrid Wilderness, rather than of a plentiful Country, and already beautified and enriched, since the beginning of the World. Now not only Mesopotamia and Coelesyria, but also Babylonia, which extended itself to the Persian Gulf, and a good part of Syria, were then the pleasantest and richest Countries in the World. So that the Fruitfulness of the Gardens of Syria, the great care that People took for their Culture, and the great Plenty of their Pulse and Potherbs, are grown into a Proverb. And that I may not go far from the Region where I placed Paradise, beginning at the Confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates (which happened near the City of Apamea, according to Ptolemy) unto their mouth, their sides, (as well towards Susiana, as towards Arabia) are every way as Beautiful and Fertile as any other Country in Asia. I do not mean that those Delights are found there, which the hand of God did spread to form Paradise; nor all those that the labour of Men can procure: I only mean that the Ground is extraordinary good, and that Nature made it capable of all kind of Culture; though it be true that it very seldom Rains there, and that its Plentifulness is merely owing to the Goodness of its Soil, and to the Rivers that water it. This we learn from the old and new Historians and Geographers; and without producing here a long Series of Quotations, it will suffice to say, that by reason of those Delights and Beauties, the Province where Paradise stood was called Eden, that is to say, Pleasure; the name of the Island Chader, form by the Phison and Gehon, declareth its beauty; Chadaron 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chad●r●n, in the Arabian Tongue signifies, green, pleasant to the sight. The other Island called Gezair, that is to say, the Island, by way of excellency, which lies immediately above the coming together of the Tigris and Euphrates, is in no wife less beautiful than Chader. The Nestorians gave it the name of Eden; whether they did so by reason of its pleasantness, or because they knew that the Province of Eden was there, and extended itself as far as that Island. I find yet a third Island in those parts, renowned for its pleasantness. It is the Soil about Pass●ra, which is enclosed between two little Rivers made by the Industry of Men. One is called the River of Abulla, and the other the River of Mocali. There are four places in Asia, which for their pleasantness▪ sake the Inhabitants call, the Gardens of the World, and are in the same repute amongst them, as the Tempe of Thessaly were amongst the Grecians. One is in Persia, and its name is, the River of Bavan; the other is in Bactriana, near Samarkand; the third is, the Orchard of Damascus; and the fourth is, the Territory of Bassora, which they call, the River of Abulla. It is assuredly that Island which the Indian Pilpay in his Book of Lights, describes and represents about Bassora, so delightful, covered with a very pleasant. Wood, enjoying an extraordinary good and sweet Air, and watered by many Springs, the Rills whereof make many turnings. All the Country that lies between the Islands of Chader and Gezair, which is the Land of the Earthly Paradise, is as pleasant and beautiful as those Islands themselves. For Travellers assure us, that the Grand Signior hath no better Countries, than those that lie betwixt Bagdad and Bassora. And if there remain some untilled and barren, that must be imputed to the solitude of the Land, or to the Idleness of the Inhabitants.  
II. My opinion about the Situation 
And because it hath been the first Land inhabited.  of the Earthly Paradise, may yet be solidly proved from this, because it was the first Land inhabited. We have very few marks of it left, but those that are left, sufficiently agree to make it good. The first is that City built by 
Gen. ch. 2. v. 16, 17.  Cain on the East of Eden. and to which he gave the name of his Son E●●ch. Ptolemy in the description of Susiana, 
Ptol l 6. c 3 & Tab. 5. Asiae.  places a City called Anuchtha, exactly on the East of the place where I set Paradise. It is known that the Syllable that, which endeth that word, is a Termination pretty ordinary to the Feminine Nouns in the chaldaic Tongue, and is no part of the names themselves. It then only remains Anuch, which is without difficulty the same thing as Enoch. And so here is certainly the most ancient City in the World.  
III. There is no remains left of the 
The true meaning of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nod.  word Nod, which is thought to have been the name of the Land where Cain retired, and where he built that City of Anuchtha, and it is not certain that the words of the Hebrew Text ought to be translated thus, and he lived in the Land of Nod, or according to the Seventy Interpreters, in the Land of Naid; and that from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nad, which is translated Vagabond, such as was Cain, the Land where he retired took its name; as it was fancied that Latium was called so from the word Lateo, I am hidden, because Saturn did hide himself there, when he was turned out of Heaven. I had rather follow St. Jerom's opinion, who rejects that 
Hieron. Quaest. Hebr. in Gen.  Translation, and I am apt to believe that Nod in this place doth only signify a Eugitive, one that is banished, which expresseth the condition wherein Cain was. I would not add to that Exposition, as St. Jerom doth, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Vagabond, for this does not agree with a Man that fixes his dwelling by building a City to inhabit it, and the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nah, which 
Gen. 14. 12, 14.  Moses adds to that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and is rendered Vagus in the vulgar Translation, may signify, inwardly moved and agitated. The Seventy Interpreters understood it so, translating, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, sighing and trembling. And it may be also that St. Jerom meant nothing else by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
IV. 
* Joseph. Ant. l. 1. c. 3  Josephus doth relate that the 
What were the C●l●●●s of the Posterity of Seth.  Posterity of Seth, knowing by Adam's Predictions, that the World should first perish by Water, and then by Fire, and being desirous that After▪ ages should know the Discoveries they had made in Astronomy, they ingraved them upon two Columns, one of Stone to resist the Water, the other of Brick to resist the Fire; and that they placed those Columns in Syrias, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. I formerly very much troubled myself, to discover what was that Syrias, and to find the two Columns there. M. Vossius was more lucky than I, and 
Voss. de aetate Mundi. c. 10.  he showed that Josephus calleth Syrias, the place which is called Sehirath in the Book of Judges. That place was 
Jud. 3. 27, 19  in Gilgal in the Territory of Jericho, and there was some ingraved Figures to be seen there. Those Figures are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Happesilim, in the Hebrew Text; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, by the Seventy Interpreters. It is very likely, that those Ingraving were the Astronomical Tables, which were said to have been ingraved upon Stones by the Posterity of Seth. And from thence one might infer that Adam and his Posterity had dwelled in Judaea, as many Fathers of the Church believed, which would not agree with our System. But it is a mere Fable to ascribe the Fabric of those Columns to the Posterity of Seth, and to think them even older than the Deluge. It was rather a work of the ancient Inhabitants of the Land of Canaan, who had a great Skill in Astronomy, following in this the Example and Instructions of the Egyptians and Chaldaeans their Neighbours, Nations whom the nature of their flat and open Country had invited to the Contemplation of Stars, and which a very long use had rendered very learned in it. They also after the Egyptians example ingraved their Science upon Stones, that the Memory and Profit of it might be communicated to Posterity; and those Inscriptions both of the Cananaeans and Egyptians gave occasion to many Fables. Nothing then can be concluded from those Columns, whereby the dwelling place of the first Men might be known.  
V. But one may at least guests at it, 
We may also conjecture where Paradise was situated, from the place where the Ark of Noah rested.  from the place where the Ark rested after the Deluge. Moses says that it rested on the Mountains of Ararat, that is to say, according to the best Interpreters, on the Gordiaean Mountains, which lie near the Spring of the Tigris, and great Armenia; and extended pretty far to the East, and to the South towards Assyria. Now since the Deluge was not only caused by Rains, but also by the Overflowings of the Ocean, as the Scripture tells us, saying, that 
Gen. 7. 11.  all the Fountains of the great deep were broken up; this overflowing which came from the Persian Sea commonly very boisterous in that Gulf, running from the South and meeting the Ark about the place where I set Paradise, carried it away to the North towards the Gordiaean Mountains, whose Meridian is not far from that of Paradise. To which if you add the Violence of the rainy Winds of the South, which probably blew then, and contributed to the moving of the Waters, it will be very easy to conceive, that the Ark, by reason of its Figure, not fit for Navigation, and of its heaviness which made it to draw much Water, went but one League and a half a day towards the North. For if it be so, we shall find that going from the place where Ptolemy sets the City of Aracca, which is near upon the place, where I think Paradise was situated, it must have advanced as far as the Gordiaean Mounts, within a hundred and fifty days, which is the time the Deluge lasted.   

CHAP. XVIII. The Objections are answered.  
I. First Objection. II. Second Objection. III. Third Objection. IU. Fourth Objection.  
I. WE are now to answer the Objections 
First Objection.  which have been made against Calvin and Scaliger's opinion, in what they agree with ours, and those that can be made against us. It hath first been objected that that River form by the coming together of the Tigris and Euphrates, called at present the River of the Arabians, entereth into the Persian Gulf only through one mouth; from whence it follows, that the two Channels of its division, which I would have to be the Phison and the Gehon, are two imaginary Channels. I already showed, by the Authority of ancient Writers and modern Travellers, the Falseness of that Objection. The occasion of this Error was, because that River in dividing itself, encloseth a pretty large extent of Land, called formerly Messene, and now Chader. If we look upon that Land only as upon an Island situated in the midst of the mouth of the River, one may truly say, that the River hath but one mouth; but it will be yet more true to say, that this mouth being divided by a great Island above fourscore Leagues long, as Teixeira who was an Eye-witness assures it, and above one degree wide, according to the Delineation of Ptolomy's Maps, is made up of two Branches very distant from one another, having each of them their particular mouth. So that that River hath one or two mouths, according to the divers manners of considering them. It hath but one mouth, separated by a very great Island; or it hath two mouths, viz. those of the two branches, into which it is divided.  
II. They object in the second place, 
Second Objection.  that those two Branches are no different Rivers from the Tigris and Euphrates, since they come out of them, and by consequence that we do not set forth the four Rivers which came out of Paradise, as the words of Moses seem to require. But it is plain that this is but a question of names only, it is no new thing that a River changeth its name in dividing itself. One might very well say of the City of Cologne, that it is watered by a River, which divides itself into four Heads, viz. the Mosel, the Rhine, the Yssel and the Vahal.  
III. The third Objection is yet more 
Third Objection.  Frivolous than the former. What Moses calls Heads, must be understood, say they, of the Springs of the four Rivers, and not of their Extremities on the places of their joining and parting. They do not allow that the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Raschim, which Moses makes use of, that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in the Seventy Interpreters, and that of Capita in the vulgar Translation, doth signify Fountains. There are in those Tongues proper words to signify Fountains, and there is no reason to think that Moses and his Translators should not have made use of those proper words, instead of ambiguous ones. Those they made use of signify new entrances into divers Channels of Rivers, in regard to the Situation of the Earthly Paradise. But this hath been already said.  
IV. Let us come to the last Objection 
Fourth Objection.  that can be made against our Opinion, and is the most rational. Many ancient Author's witness that the Euphrates entered formerly into the Sea by a peculiar mouth; but that the Arabians called Scenites, and many other Nations that dwell along that River, having by a great many cuttings diverted it into their dry Soils, have at last weakened it so much, that it was not able to get into the Sea, but lost itself in Meers. It ran towards the West, and Arabia, between the place where Moses was writing his Pentateuch, and the Channel which I call Phison. From whence it follows, that when Moses mentioned the Euphrates, he could mean nothing else than that Channel, which then was the true Euphrates, and had not yet been exhausted by cuttings, and which could not be taken for one of the four Heads, that I suppose he hath spoken of. And it also follows, that in the Enumeration he made of the four Rivers, and which I suppose he begun with the nearest to him, he ought to have begun with the Euphrates. I already obviated this objection, when I said it was most probable that that Channel of the Euphrates, which fell into the Sea by a peculiar mouth, was nothing but a turned part of the body of those Waters, which the Arabians stole from that River to water their Soils, and that those People at last dried up that Channel by their continual diverting of its Waters. Art having been thus destroyed by Art, things have been restored to the State in which they were in Moses' time. It is also perhaps nothing else but a Torrent caused by the Overflowings of the Euphrates, which sometimes went as far as the Sea, and sometimes stayed by the way. It went as far as the Sea, when those Overflowings filled the Cuttings and the Meers made by the coming together of the Waters of those Cuttings; and it stayed by the way, when the Overflowing of Euphrates had ceased. But though this Canal should be as old as the Earthly Paradise, our opinion would subsist, provided we be sure, as we most certainly are upon the Testimony of Antiquity, and by the natural disposition of places, that the Euphrates was joined with the Tigris. For although that branch of the Euphrates were situated between Arabia Petraea, where Moses was writing, and the Channel which I suppose to be the Phison, it was possible that Moses had no regard to it, and only considered the four Rivers that did belong to his description.   

CHAP. XIX. Recapitulation of all this Treatise.  
I. God planted a Garden in Eden Eastward. II. A River went out of Eden, to water the Garden. III. It divided itself and became into four heads. IV. The first is the Phison. V. That watereth the Land of Chavilah, fertile in Gold; VI In Pearls, and Bdellium; in Onyx, and in all sorts of precious Stones. VII. The second River is the Gehon, which waters the Country of Chus. VIII. The third is the Tigris, which goeth towards Assyria. And the fourth is the Euphrates. IX. All the tokens whereby Moses marked the Situation of Paradise, can be applied to none but to that which I proposed. X. The question about the Situation of the Earthly Paradise doth not concern Faith.  
I. I Think I have done what I proposed 
God planted a Garden in Eden Eastward.  to myself, and have so lidly made good that the Earthly Paradise was situated on the River made by the coming together of the Tigris and Euphrates, and now called the River of the Arabians, between that coming together, and the dividing of the same River, before its entering into the Persian Sea. But because the proofs I produced, being scattered, may perhaps make the lesser impression upon the Reader's mind, they will persuade him better, if they are joined, and show themselves altogether to him. Moses then says, That God planted a Garden in Eden. We find a Province of that name along that River, and towards the place that I marked. That Province deserved the name of Eden, which signifies Pleasure, by reason of its Pleasantness and Fertility. Although most part of it is not cultivated nowadays, it nevertheless seems to retain yet some marks of the bountiful hand of God in the goodness of its Soil. That Garden was situated Eastward, that is to say, in the easterly part of the Land of Eden, on both sides of the River. This may also signify that easterly side, which in the whole extent of the running of the Tigris, had the name of Kedem, that is to say East, as a Proper, and not as an Appellative name. Even as the Lands situated on the westerly side, had the proper name of Ereb, that is to say West, from whence Arabia took its name. So that Moses would give us to understand, that Paradise, at least its greatest and chiefest part, was placed on the easterly side of the River. Besides the natural goodness of that Country, God beautified it in an extraordinary manner, to make Paradise out of it, in making grow out of the ground every Tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.  
II. That River went out of Eden to 
A River went out of Eden to water the Garden.  water the Garden; that is to say, that having ran through that Province, it entered into the Garden; which being at the East of Eden, the River at the place where it entered into the Garden, must have run from the West to the East; and by consequence it must have been situated upon one of the turnings of the River, which runs that way. And since it makes no turning more considerable, between its joining, and dividing, than that great one which is to be seen in Ptolomy's Maps, it is the most likely thing in the World, that Paradise was placed on the easterly end of the southerly branch of that turning. The modern Maps do not represent it; but we must not forget that the Art and Industry of Men brought considerable Alterations to the running of those Rivers. They mark this drawing a little from the West to the East, between the coming together of the Tigris and Euphrates, and the City of Bassora. Though the running of the Waters had been disposed so since the time of the Earthly Paradise, and not according to the ancient Maps, it would yet agree with Moses' description.  
III. This River being considered 
It divided itself and became into four heads.  in respect to the Garden, according to the disposition of its Channel, and not according to the running of its Waters, divided itself and was parted, not into four Springs, as some Interpreters believed, but into four heads, that is to say, into four entries or apartures of four different branches. These four branches were four Rivers; two above in regard to the running of the Water, viz. the Euphrates and the Tigris; two below, viz. the Phison and the Gehon.  
IV. Moses who was writing these 
The first was the Phison.  things in Arabia Petraea, intending to make an enumeration of those Rivers, in order to declare the Situation of the Earthly Paradise, hath begun it with the Phison, which I say is the more westerly Channel of the two into which the River is divided, before its entering into the Sea; because it was the very next to the place where he was writing, and presented itself first to his Mind, as it had presented itself first to his Eyes and Feet, if he had gone that way. And seeing that first River being once known, the others would be easily known, he affixed more marks upon it; and those marks are peculiar to it, and can fit no other.  
V. The first mark is, that that River 
That watereth the Land of Chavilah fertile in Gold.  is it which compasseth the whole Land of Chavilah: From the knowing of that Land depends the knowledge of the Phison, and there can be no question, but it is that which lies on the northern end of the easterly Coast of Arabia, that is on the westerly side of the mouth of the Euphrates and Tigris. The Scripture exactly marks the Situation of it, when it mentions Chavilah and Sur, as the two Extremities of Arabia adjacent to the Holy Land. For Sur lying at the entrance of Egypt, toward the extremity of the Arabian Gulf, it follows that Chavilah was on the other side of Arabia, at the extremity of the Persian Gulf. Add to that the Testimony of the Heathen Authors, who set in the same place the People called Chaulasians, and Chaulotheans, (names undoubtedly derived from Chavilah.) All the marks given us by Moses, that we might know Chavilah, do exactly fit the Land I speak of. There is gold there, and the gold of that Land is good, as 
Psal. 72. 10, 15. Ezek. 27. 20, & seq.  David and Ezekiel do testify, and as it may be concluded from the Gifts the Wise men brought to our Saviour.  
VI There is Bdellium; whether be 
In Pearls and Bdellium, in Onyx, and in all sorts of precious Stones.  meant Pearls by that word, as it is in the Hebrew, or an Aromatical Gum. The greatest fishing of Pearls that is in the World, is made near the Island of Baharen, which lies in the Persian Gulf, near the Coast of Chavilah, and to which the Phison leadeth. The ancient and modern Authors speak of those Pearls, as going beyond all the Pearls in the World; and even all that Coast, from Mascate to Catif, is abounding in Pearls. Arabia was no less abounding in Bdellium, a sort of precious Gum, called now Anime; and in Onyx stones, which as Pliny says, were only found in 
Plin. l. 36. c. 7.  the Mountains of Arabia. Besides the Countries about the Tigris and Euphrates, being then the richest and most populous in the World; and Commodities being brought thither from all parts, those of Arabia so necessary for Luxury and Pleasures were not left out, and the Province of Chavilah lying on the way, and being a necessary passage, there must have been there also abundance of all precious Stones and Spices of Arabia.  
VII. In following Moses' order, 
The second River is the Gehon, which waters the Land of Chus.  after having gone over the westerly Channel, through which the Tigris and Euphrates joined together run into the Sea, one meets with the easterly-Chanel, which must needs be the Gehon, The same is it that compasseth the whole Land of Chus, that is to say, Susiana, which still retains that old name, and is called now a days Chuzestan, being the same that the Scripture calls elsewhere Cutha, according to the variety of 
4 Reg. 17. 24.  Dialects. From that name Chus have been derived the names of the Cosseans, and Cissians, Inhabitants of Susiana, mentioned by profane Authors. And this gave them occasion to say, that the Mother of Memnon, a Prince of Susiana, was a Cissian.  
VIII. The name of the third River 
The third is the Tigris which goeth towards Assyria.  Chiddekel, which goeth towards Assyria, is the Tigris. The name itself showeth it, for taking away the first letter of Chiddekel, which is but an Aspiration, it remains Dekel, out of which have been form the names of Diklat, Diglath, Degil, Degela, Diglito, and Tigris. If from the place where I set the Earthly Paradise, one might see the disposition of the Channel of that River, it might be observed, that it really runneth towards the old Assyria, whereof the chief Town was Ninive. And in fine the fourth River is the Euphrates, which kept its name till now.  
IX If we examine without prejudice all those Characters, 
All the tokens whereby Moses marked the Situation of Paradise, can be applied to none, but to that which I proposed.  wherewith Moses marked the Situation of the Earthly Paradise, we shall not only find that they exactly agree with that which I do propose, but also that they can fit no other, neither those that have been imagined hitherto in a very great number, nor those that can be hereafter imagined. For there are no other Provinces of Chavilah and Chus besides those that I marked, where a Phison and Gehon can be found: There is no other Tigris that goeth towards Assyria: There is no other Euphrates, which may be said to be one of the four heads into which was divided the River that watered the Earthly Paradise: And finally there is no other place besides that in which I set Paradise, that is watered by a River divided into these four Rivers just now mentioned.  
X. It remains that pious Souls ought not to be offended 
The question about the Situation of the Earthly Paradise doth not concern Faith.  at the Novelty of this opinion, so different from what the Fathers believed. I showed from the very beginning of this Treatise, that they themselves are divided into a great many divers opinions, and that there is neither amongst them, nor in the Church any Uniformity of Doctrine or Tradition upon this Subject. And after all 
* August. de peccat. Orig. contra Pelag. & Coelest. l. 2. c. 23.  St. Austin declares, that the question concerning the Situation of the Earthly Paradise, belongeth not at all to the Faith by which we are made Christians, and the true or false side may be held thereupon, without any danger of Heresy.    

A TABLE OF Things Remarkable.  

A  
ABraham brought up amongst the Sabians 126  
— Persecuted by the King of the Sabians 125  
Abulla, a River 148  
Acis, a River of Sicily 133  
Adana, a City of Cilicia 21, 110  
Adana, a City of Arabia 22  
Aden or Adana ibid.  
Adonis' Garden 145  
Adiabene, a Country of Assyria 138  
Aelius Gallus 101  
Alcinous's Garden 145  
Alexander changed the true Channel. of Phison 80  
— took away the Leaps and Cataracts of the Euphrates and Tigris ●2  
— restored the Euphrates to its ancient Channel. 60, 61  
Alileans 88  
Amenophis confounded with Memnon 123, 129  
— King of Egypt 129  
Andromeda 130  
Anime Bdellium.  
Anuchtha built by Cain. 149  
Arraca or Erec. 13, 24, 25  
Arabia, why so named? 28  
Arabia. 88, 96, 100  
Arabia Felix. 22  
Arabia only affordeth the Onyx. 102  
Araxus, Gehon. 6, or 104  
The Ark of Noah rested upon the Gordiaean Mountains. 152  
Assyria confounded with Syria. 138  
— composed of many Provinces. 138  
Assyria, Adiabene. 138, 139  
Astapus, what it signifieth. 109  
Atergatis, Derceto. 131  
Atyria for Assyria. 120  
Aurora, why named Cissiana. 121   

B  
BAbylonia and its Territories. 24  
Baharen. 8, 79, 94, 96  
— affordeth precious Stones. 94  
Bassalta hath the colour and the hardness of Iron. 126  
Bassora, by whom built. 125  
— situated in a very pleasant Country. 147  
Bavan, a River. 148  
Bdellium, Anime. 5, 92, 96  
Bdellium of Arabia. 96, 97  
— of Bactriana: 97  
— of Scythia. 96  
— diversely interpreted. 5  
Bedolach, and its signification. 91  
Beryl, a kind of Onyx. 100  
Beth eden, a Valley of Syria. 2●  
Mr. Bochart contradicts himself about the Situation of Paradise. 8   

C  
CAlvin's Opinion about the Situation of Paradise. 8, 12  
Calthua, a City of Arabia. 87  
Caput, and its signification. 51, 52  
Catif, a City of Arabia. 96  
Carik, an Island in the Persian Gulf. 96  
Cassanites, a People of Arabia. 88  
Changed, Aspiration. 131  
Chablasians, Inhabitants of Chavilah. 86  
Chader, an Island, vide Messene, 56, 64, 80  
— an Island whence named. 147  
Chammanim. 124  
The Cananaeans left their Astronomick Learning written upon Stones. 151  
Chariclaea an Aethiopian. 130  
Chavelaeans, Inhabitants of Chavilah. 86  
Chavilah, two divers Provinces of Arabia. 84  
Chavilah or Chaulan. 85  
— where situated. 5, 87  
— so named of Chavilah Son of Chus. 85  
— part of the Indies through which the Ganges runs. 5, 84  
Chavilah, Getulia. 84  
Chavilah, Susiana. 5, 84  
Chaulasians, Inhabitants of Chavilah. 86  
Chaulothaeans, Inhabitants of Chavilah. 86  
Chiddekel, Tigris, Diglath. 130  
Chiddekel is not Naharmalca. 136  
Chus signifieth Aethiopia and Arabia. 6, 17, 112  
The Arabian Chus was not far distant from the Arabian Gulf. 118  
Chus signifieth Susiana. 117  
Chuzestan, otherwise Churestan. 113, 119  
Cissia, a Province of Susiana. 121  
— a City of Susiana. ibid.  
Cissians, a People of Susiana. ibid.  
Clove-tree, a Tree of Paradise. 72  
Columns, of the Posterity of Seth. 151  
Cossians, a People of Susiana. 121  
Cutha, Susiana 119, 120  
Cuthians. 120  
Cuthus, a River. ibid.  
Cydnus, a River of Cilicia now Sichon. 110  
Cyrus, the River Phison. 5   

D  
THE Meadow of Damascus. 148  
Danow, Phison. 5, 73  
Danow, supposed one of the Rivers which have Gold and precious Stones. 5, 73  
Darab King of Persia cast out into the River Oxus. 111  
Degela, Tigris. 132  
Degil, Tigris. ibid.  
Derceto, Atergatis. 131  
Dikes upon the Coast of the Persian Gulf. 77  
Diglath, Tigris. 132  
Diglito, Tigris. 132, 134  
Diklat, Tigris. 132  
Diridotis, see Teredon. 65, 97  
The Dog's Star, Sirius. 107   

E  
EAst in the Scripture signifieth the Countries situated between the Persian Gulf and Judaea. 125  
East, a name given to the Eastern Bank of Tigris. 28  
The East is respected by the Hebrews in their Geographical Descriptions. 70  
The Eastern People Sons of the East. 122  
Eden, whether a Proper name or an Appellative. 16  
— a name of divers places. 21  
— a Province of Babylonia. 24  
— a Region joined to Saba. 89  
— with five Points, and with six, is the same thing. 23, 24  
— why so called. 147  
— its name given to the Island Gezair. ibid.  
— a Valley of Syria. 21  
Eden, a Village of Tripoli 22  
Christian Churches, why turned Eastward. 32  
Egypt, why called black. 107  
The Egyptian Tongue is not very different from the Hebrew Tongue. 12●  
Eldiris, Nubian Geographer. 40  
Emathion, Memnon's Brother. 127  
The Channels of Euphrates. 15●  
Ereb, the Western shore of Tigris. 2●  
Ere●. 2●  
Aethiopia believed to be near the Indies. 4●  
Aethiopians, Eastern and Western. 11●  
Etymologies necessary. 13●  
Eulaeus, Pasitigris, Tigris and Euphrates. 82  
Euphrates its divers Channels. 5●  
— why so called.  
— full of Mud. ●●  
— is very high. 50  
— higher than Tigris. 136  
— weakened by the Arabian Channels. 60  
— cometh from Heaven. 109  
— joined to Tigris by one Channel. 57  
Euphrates, Nilus. 42, 115  
— hath the same Spring as Tigris. 42  
— overfloweth the Country. 59  
— its Banks most Peopled in Moses his time. 90  
Elysian Fields. 145   

G  
GAnges, Gehon, Phison▪ 12, 104  
Ganges and Nilus rise out from the same Spring. 41  
Ganges, Holy. 68  
— a heavenly River. 109  
— affordeth Gold and precious Stones. 69  
— hath Crocodiles and Hippopotames. 41  
— its Overflowings. ibid.  
Gehon, the Eastern Channel of Euphrates and Tigris, 14, 75, 112  
Gehon, Araxes. 6, 104  
Ganges. 104  
— Naharmalca. ibid.  
— Naharseres. ibid.  
— Nilus▪ 69, 105  
— Oxus. 109  
Gehon, a River of Cilicia, is the same as Pyramus. 110  
Gehon near Jerusalem, called Siloe. 10●  
The old Geography is not very certain. 41, 74  
Getulia, Chavilath. 84  
Gezair, why so called. 147  
Gichon, a name of Nilus. 105  
Giulfal, affordeth precious Stones▪ 102  
The Persian Gulf hath a great many Meers. 77  
Gordiaean Mountains. 152  
Adonis Gardens, their origin. 17  
Alcinous's Gardens, their origin. 145  
Hesperideses Gardens, their origin. ibid.  
Jupiter's Gardens, their origin. ibid.  
Golden Garden given to Pompey by Aristobulus. 17  
Gardens of Syria. 146  
Gardens of the World, four famous places of Asia. 148  
Gardens of Eastern Princes and their origin. 17   

H  
HAoula, Ceilan. 124  
Hippopotames of Ganges. 41  
Hippopotames of the River Petzora. ibid.  
Hydaspes, Phison. 72  
Hyphasis, Phison. ibid.  
— cureth Fevers. ibid.  
— bringeth forth the Clove-tree. ibid.  
The Hebrew names of precious Stones are not understood.   

I  
JAtsa, in Hebrew signifieth a course of Waters. 43  
Jaxartes called Sichon. 109  
The Indies and Aethiopia confounded by the Ancients. 114  
The name of the Indies from Eden.  
Indus, Phison. 72  
Indoscythia. 97  
Josephus corrected. 114, 135  
Jraqua, a Province, its Territories. ●●  
Happy Islands, and their origin. 145  
Jupiter is Nilus, according to the Egyptians. 108   

K  
KEdem, or East Countries, situated near the Eastern Bank of the Tigris. 28, 29  
Kidmath, and its signification. 137   

L  
LOvain Divines, their opinion of Paradise. 14   

M  
MAhomet's opinion concerning the Rivers of the Earthly Paradise. 49  
Manna had the colour of Bedolach. 92  
Mausal confounded with Ninive. 139  
Melas and Melo names of the Nilus. 106  
Memnon born in Susiana. 28▪ 121, 12●  
The truth of the History of Memnon. 127  
Memnonian Walls of Sufa. 121  
— Palaces of Susa. ibid.  
— way. 128  
— Citadel of Susa. 124  
The Sea of the Indies. 95  
The Sea of Persia. ibid.  
The Sea of Aethiopia. ibid.  
Messene, Island. 56, 64  
Mocali, a River.   

N  
NAbathean, Eastern. 125  
Nichal, name of Nilus. 106  
Naharmalca, a Channel or Cut. 136  
Naharfares, Gehon. 104  
Naid. See Nod.  
Nebuchadonozor did turn the Waters of Euphrates by many Channels. 58  
Nebuchadonozor mastered the Violence of the Persian Sea. 62  
Nebuchadonozor, or Baltasar, named Lucifer, Son of Aurora. 122  
Nilus, why so named. 105, 106  
— hath its Spring in the Indies. 2  
— cometh from Euphrates. 42  
Nilus, Gehon. 5, 12, 105  
— why said to fall from Jupiter. 108  
— one of the Gods. ibid.  
— esteemed Holy. ibid.  
Nilus, black. 107  
— compared to an Arrow.  
— its Overflowings. 108  
Ninive confounded with Mausal. 139  
Nod and Naid, and its signification. 149  
Nozelim, and its signification. 52  
Nuchul, name of Nilus. 107   

O  
ONyx is the Sardonyx-stone. 99  
— was only found in Arabia. 102  
Oroatis, a River named Pasitigris by the Soldiers of Alexander. 81  
O●●s, Nilus. 108  
Osiris, Nilus. ibid.  
Oxus, Gehon. 109   

P  
PAllacopa, a Channel of Euphrates. 61  
The Terrestrial Paradise, where situated. 12  
— its Rivers supposed to run under ground.  
Paradise of God what it is in the Scripture. 145  
— a River of Cilicia. 110  
— a City of Syria. 21  
Pasitigris. 81  
Pearls of the Persian Gulf. 93  
Pontus Euxinus.  
The Persians ignorant in Navigation. 61  
Persian words many in modern Languages. 133  
Pesilim stones in Syrias. 144  
Phasis, Phison. 73  
Phison is the Western Channel of Tigris and Euphrates. 13, 75  
Phison, why so named. 76  
— hath given its name to other Rivers. 81  
Precious Stones in the Persian Gulf. 101  
Two only in the Breastplate of the Jewish Highpriest have kept their names. 98  
Pliny corrected. ibid.  
Pluto's Meadows. 145  
Pyramus, Gehon. 101   

R  
REgma, City of Arabia. 90  
Rosch, and its signification. 51   

S  
SChanged into 't, and th'. 120  
Saba, near Chavilah. 101  
Sabbi, the Christians of St. John. 125  
Sabéans, rich People. 88  
Sabéans, a name common to many People. 89  
Sabéans, People. 88  
Sabians, Eastern People. 124  
Scaliger corrected. 119  
Schat el▪ Arab, a River. 45, 81  
Schichor, Nilus. 106  
Schoham, what it signifieth. 98  
Scythia and Indoscythia, part of the Southern Indies. 97  
Schirath is Syrias in Josephus. 151  
Sichon, Cydnus. 110  
Silo●, a Torrent, why so named. 113, 114  
Siris and Sirius, names of Nilus. 107  
Solinus corrected. 134  
Sollax or Sulax, Tigris and its origin. 134  
Solymi Pisidians. 128  
The Sun worshipped by many People. 124  
Sur, a Mountain in the Western part of Arabia, near the Holy Land. 86, 163  
Susa, why so named. 120  
Syrias, and its Situation. 144  
Syria, why so called. 138  
The Syrians Love Gardens. 146  
Schat-el-Arab, a River of the Arabians. 81  
The Fortress of Spasines. 63  
The Sabians Book. 124  
The Wise Men c●me from Saba to worship our Lord. 90   

T  
THE Astronomical Tables of the Cananaeans. 151  
Taijaron, and its signification. 134  
Talatha. See Thelassar. 23  
Talisman's Images of the Sun. 124  
The Temple of Solomon, why turned Westward. 32  
The Temples of the Romans set Westward, and after Eastward. ibid.  
Teredon, a City near the Channel of Phison. 65, 97  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Golden Garden of Aristobulus. 17  
Thelassar or Talatha, a City of Babylonia. 23  
Thor for Sor. 120  
Tigris, its Spring, course, and its divers Chanals. 56  
— thought to have the same Spring as Euphrates. 42  
The Channel of Tigris is very low. 59  
Tigris, why so named. 135  
Tigris' false Origins, Tigris a River, and Tiger an Animal. 133  
Tigris, Sollax and Sùlax. 134  
Tigris, a common name to many Rivers. 136  
Tigris, signifieth an Arrow in the Persian Tongue. 133  
Tithonus. 127  
Tojor, an Arrow in the Persian Tongue. 133  
Trajan in danger, in the Island which separateth the Tigris and Euphrates. 62, 65  
Tylos Island, now called Baharen. 94   

V  
A Good Version ought to represent all the Ambiguities of the original Hebrew. 16    

BOOKS Sold by James Knapton at the Crown in St. Paul's Churchyard.  
THE Memoirs of Monsieur de Pontis, who served in the French Army 56 Years, under Henry IU. Lewis XIII. and Lewis XIV. Kings of France, containing many remarkable Passages relating to the War, the Court, and the Government of those Princes. Faithfully Englished at the Request of his Grace the late Duke of Ormond. By Charles Cotton Esq Folio.  
Lord Bacon's Essays. Octavo.  
Scrivener's Directions to a Holy Life. Octavo.  
Dr. Barrow of Contentment, etc. Octavo.  
Sir William Temple's Memoirs of what passed in Christendom from the War in 1672. to the Peace concluded 1679. Octavo, Second Edition.  
Sir William Temple's Observations upon Holland.  
— His Miscellanies. Two Parts.  
Dr. Tillotson's Sermons. Three Vol.  
— Four Sermons against the Socinians.  
The Unreasonableness of men's Contentions for the present Enjoyments, in a Poem on Ecclesiastes.  
The History of the Inquisition, as it is exercised at Goa. Written by Mr. Dellon, who laboured five Years under its Severities, with an account of his Deliverance.  
Quadraennium Jacobi, or the History of the Reign of King James II. from his coming to the Crown, to his Desertion. The Second Edition. Twelve.  
Plutarch's Lives. Translated by several Hands. 5 Vol.  
— His Morals. 5 Vol.  
The Life of the Emperor Theodosius, Done into English, from the French of Monsieur Flechier, by Fr. Manning. Octavo.  
Kilburn's Precedents. Twelve.  
Seneca's Morals. By Sir R. L'Estrange.  
Norris' Discourses. 3 Vol.  
Reformed Devotions.  
Caesar in usum Delphini.  
Processus integri in Morbis ferè omnibus curandis à Dᵒ. Tho. Sydenham conscripti.  
A learned Treatise of the Situation of the Terrestrial Paradise. Written in French by Huetius, and translated into English.  
Cole's English and Latin Dictionary.  
Robertson's, or the Cambridge Phrase, being the best and largest Phrase-Book extant.  
Scarron's Novels.  
The Governor of Cyprus.  
The wanton Friar. Two Parts.  
Victoriae Anglicanae, or an Account of several▪ Victories obtained by the English against the French.  

POETRY and PLAYS.  
BEN Johnson's Works newly reprinted.  
Sir Robert Howard's Plays.  
Milton's Paradise lost, with Cuts.  
Dryden's Juvenal.  
— Miscellany Poems. Three Parts.  
Ovid's Epistles. By several Hands.  
Waller's Poems. Oldham's Poems.  
Cleveland's Poems. Dennis' Poems.  
Hudibras, Three Parts, complete.  

Mr. Dryden's Plays, bound or single, viz.  
1 Dramatic Essay.  
2 Wild Gallant.  
3 Rival Ladies.  
4 Indian Emperor.  
5 Maiden Queen.  
6 Sir Martin Marr all.  
7 Tempest.  
8 Mock ginger.  
9 Tyrannic Love.  
10 Conquest of Granada.  
11 Marriage Alamode.  
12 Love in a Nunnery.  
13 Amboyna.  
14 State of Innocence.  
15 Aurang-Zebe.  
16 All for Love.  
17 Limberham.  
18 Oedipus.  
19 Troilus and Cressida,  
20 Spanish Friar.  
21 Duke of Guise.  
22 Albion and Albanius.  
23 Don Sebastian.  
24 Amphytrion.  
25 King Arthur.  
26 Cleomenes.   

Mr. Shadwell's Plays bound or single, viz.  
1 Sullen Lovers.  
2 Humourist.  
3 Royal Shepherdess.  
4 Virtuoso.  
5 Psyche.  
6 Libertine.  
7 Epsom Wells.  
8 Timon of Athens.  
9 Miser.  
10 True Widow.  
11 Lancashire Witches.  
12 Woman Captain.  
13 Squire of Alsatia.  
14 Bury Fair.  
15 Amorous Biggot.  
16 Scowrer.  
17 Volunteers.  
Also his Odes to the King and Queen.   

Mr. Lee's Tragedies bound or single, viz.  
1 Sophonisba.  
2 Nero.  
3 Gloriana.  
4 Alexander the Great.  
5 Mithridates.  
6 Theodosius.  
7 Caesar Borgia.  
8 Lucius Junius Brutus.  
9 Constantine.  
10 Oedipus.  
11 Duke of Guise.  
12 Massacre of Paris.  
13 Princess of Cleve.   

Mr. Otway's Plays bound or single, viz.  
1 Alcibiades.  
2 Friendship in Fashion.  
3 Orphan.  
4 Soldiers Fortune.  
5 Second Part of the Soldier's Fortune.  
6 Titus and Berenice.  
7 Venice preserved.  
8 Don Carlos.  
9 Caius Marius.  
10 Windsor Castle, a Poem.   

Also these, and most other Modern Plays.  
Mr. Anthony.  
Abdelazer.  
Bellamira.  
Country Wit.  
Circe.  
Chances.  
Cambyses.  
Country Wife.  
Cheats.  
City Politics.  
Double Dealer.  
Destruction of Jerusalem.  
Duke and No Duke.  
Devil of a Wife.  
Distressed Innocence.  
Empress of Morocco.  
Earl of Essex.  
English Monarch.  
English Friar.  
Edward the Third.  
Emperor of the Moon.  
Fond Husband.  
Feigned Courtesans.  
forced Marriage.  
Female Virtuoso.  
Gentleman Dancing Master.  
Henry V. and Mustapha.  
Heir of Morocco.  
Fortune Hunters.  
Ibrahim.  
Island Princess.  
Ingratitude of a Commonwealth.  
Julius Caesar.  
Injured Lovers.  
Innocent Impostor.  
Innocent Usurper.  
King and No King.  
King Lear.  
Love in a Tub.  
London Cuckolds.  
Love for Money.  
Man of Mode.  
Mulberry Garden.  
Macbeth.  
Madam Fickle.  
Maid's Tragedy.  
Marriage-Hater.  
Maid's last Prayer.  
Othello.  
Old Bachelor.  
Plain-Dealer.  
Philaster.  
Pope Joan.  
Regulus,  
Rehearsal.  
Richmond Heiress.  
Scornful Lady.  
She would if she could.  
Siege of Babylon.  
Sir Solomon.  
Squire Oldsap.  
Successful Strangers.  
Sir Courtly Nice.  
Sir Patient Fancy.  
Triumphant Widow.  
Titus Andronicus.  
Treacherous Brothers.  
Traitor.  
Virtuous Wife.  
Very good Wife.  
Widow Ranter.  
Woman's Conquest.  
Woman Bully.  
Wife's Excuse.    
FINIS.