PRINCETON, N. J. 'iam/e//y, /Z. ^C,.^^ (^ Jj^l^^ Division . . . .O .-C). t^^y? -^■ Section ...,/, CZD .^..K.sD.H Shelf. Number.... THE ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY, NARUATIYE OF THE FLOOD; AS SET FORTH IX THE EARLY PORTIONS OF THE BOOK OF GENESIS. CRITICALLY EXAMINED AND EXPLAINED. REV. E. D/RENDELL, OF PRESTON. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." Rev. ii. 29. FROM THE LONDON EDITION BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY OTIS CLAPP, 23 School Street. 1851. CONTENTS. PAGE Pkeface 5 Chapter I, Introduction. — General Structure of the Narrative 15 Chapter II. General Structure of the Narrative — continued 30 Chapter III. Original State of Man — The Successive Development of his Mental and Spiritual Powers — His Duty and Prerogative as an Image of God — The Excellency of Every Thing that was Made 39 Chapter IV. The Seventh Day, a Celestial State of Man 60 Chapter V. Adam a Religious Community — Eden, with its Garden and Eastern Situation — How to be Kept 65 Chapter VI. The Trees of the Garden : specifically the Tree of Life, and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil 79 Chapter VII. The River of Eden, and its being Parted into Four Heads 87 Chapter VIII. Adam Naming the Living Creatures 97 Chapter IX. Its not being Good that Adam should be Alone — His Deep Sleep — The Taking of a Rib from Him and Building it into a Woman. . 106 Chapter X. The Serpent and its Deception 115 4 COA'TENTS. Chapter XI. The Eating of the Forbidden Fruit and Expulsion from Eden 132 Chapter XII. The Curse upon the Serpent — The Sorrows of the Woman — And the Curse upon the Ground for Man's sake 141 Chapter XIII. Cain and Abel, with their Occupations 152 Chapter XIV. The Offerings of Cain and Abel : why the Offering of Abel was Re- spected, and that of Cain Rej ected 167 Chapter XV. The Death of Abel — The Curse on Cain ; His Fugitive and Vaga- bond Condition 176 Chapter XVI. Cain's Complaint and Apprehensions — The Mark set upon Him for his Preservation 189 Chapter XVII. The Land of Nod — Cain's Son — The Building of a City and calling it after the Name of his Son, Enoch 202 Chapter XVIII. The Birth of Seth — The Longevity of His Descendants — And the "Translation" of Enoch 217 Chapter XIX. The Corruptions of the Antediluvian "World — The Sons of God taking to themselves Wives of the Daughters of Men 232 Chapter XX. The Giants that were in the Antediluvian World — and the Repent- ance of the Lord that he had made Man 248 Chapter XXI. The Ark — Noah and his Family Entering into it — The Beasts Preserved therein 261 Chapter XXII. The Deluge, and the Death of all Flesh but those who Entered into the Ark 284 PREFACE A SATISFACTORY explanation of the early chapters of Genesis, has become a desideratum in the church ; for there is no fact in its history better established, than that the Mosaic accounts of the creation and the deluge are no longer considered to express those sentiments, wiiich, for many ages, they have been supposed to do. What used to be regarded as " orthodox " upon those subjects, has been compelled to recede before the light of rational investigation and scientific discovery. This is admitted by men with first-class minds, — minds stored with erudition and piety, — persons whose veneration for, and belief in, revelation are far above suspicion ; — professors in our national universities, and other institutions for the dissemination of religion and learning. A decree, therefore, has gone forth against the old notions upon these subjects : the old vessels have been effectually broken ; and all, who carefully examine the fragments, are convinced that it is impossible to repair them. It is true, that several new ones have been attempted to be made, on some modified ideas of the literal sense of those an- cient writings ; but an intelligent inspection of them has shown that they also are marred and full of flaws, so that there has ceased to be any authorized interpretation of those extraordinary documents. In this dilemma, the old opinions continue to be taught to the rising generations, by which their minds must be prejudiced in favor of a mistaken judgment. This, doubtless, produces no little uneasiness and alarm among those, who know them to be untrue. The influences, which have exposed the errors, have not yet be- come sufficiently powerful to check their progress. This is to be lamented ; but it is one of the consequences of not having sup- plied such new interpretations of the subject, as may be safely adopted in their place. The old errors may as well be tanght as any new one, if teachings must be enforced on the subject, before any more satisfactory views can be established. But why the teaching of demonstrated errors should be persisted in, it is diffi- cult to detennine. It is admitted, that the work of him who would instruct society, is not completed by pulling down the building, 1* b PREFACE. which he has discovered to be dangerous, — he is not to make a ruin, and then to leave it. In the case before us, the materials remain ; and he is required to erect with them another building, which shall be more sound and useful, in every particular. The distinguished men above alluded to have not neglected this duty ; but they have not been successful in its performance. This is evident from the circumstance of their respective views not having satisfied each other or the public. The reason of this failure, it is believed, is traceable to a misunderstanding of the structure and purpose of those remarkable narratives ; i. e., to the supposition that they treat of mundane things. The following work is constructed on an entirely different prin- ciple. It has no pretensions to a complete exposition of the sub- jects. The writer is sensible of many of its deficiencies, both in that and in other respects. His aim has been to indicate a course of thinking, which, if pursued by abler minds, may lead to a more satisfactory treatment. A general outline of the meaning of those remarkable documents is all tliat he has intended to present ; and this, of course, may be filled up with such light, shade, and color- ing, as the intelligence and experience of the reader are capable of supplying. He holds that the real divinity of those extraordinary portions of revelation can be most satisfactorily maintained, without mak- ing any concessions to opinions, which are offensive to judicious and rational thinking. The adoption of new sentiments concern- ing them need not decrease piety, or weaken faith ; if they expel error and destroy superstition, their uses wiU be great. They who abandon a prejudice, which they had thought to be an opin- ion, when some new truth is demonstrated to them, come thereby into greater liberty and pm-er light. The interpretation of the first seven chapters of Genesis, which IS presented in this work, is founded on the following general principle ; namely, that the letter of the Word of God contains within it a spiritual sense, which is as its life and soul. This principle, it is believed, will commend itself to the soundest judg- ment and best feelings of religious and thinking men. Evidences of the existence of this principle can be produced from every page of the sacred volume ; and it is rationally confinned by the cir- cumstance, that, as a work of God, it must, to be in analogy with all other of His works, contain, Avithin it, something more, and something diflferent from that, which appears upon the surface. TKEFACE. 7 It is plain that there must be a connection between the natural and the spiritual worlds, and that all things in the former derive their existence, more or less remotely, from some condition and activity in the latter. Now, as God's primary object in making a revelation to man is to furnish him with the means of knowing something concerning spiritual things, it is conceived, that he has caused to be employed, in the writing of His Word, the visible objects of nature, to express the spiritual things to which they have some relation. Thus, that the earth in general, as the dwell- ing-place for man's body, is the appropriate symbol of that state in general, which is the residence of his soul ; and that all the various productions of the earth, which the Scriptures mention, whether of the animal, the vegetable, or the mineral kingdoms, are the types of some corresponding principle of affection and thought belonging to such state, and, consequently, that they are significant of them. Besides this law of correspondences, according to which it is believed the Scriptures are -RTitten, and from which their character, as a revelation, and their quality, as to inspiration, derive the most ample and satisfactory evidence, there are also employed, in their structure and composition, representatives, which also signify. Among these representative objects, persons are very conspicu- ous ; such, for example, as the sons of Jacob, the Priests, the Kings of Israel and Judah, the Pharaohs of Egypt, the Prophets, and others. All these are considered to be mentioned in the Scrip- tures, and to have their histories therein related, because they were designed to represent something pertaining to the Lord's church and kingdom. This ic^ea is, in some measure, acknowledged in the circumstance of many of these persons being commonly spoken of as types. Every one, for instance, is aware that Joseph, w^ho was sold into Egypt, in consequence of certain remarkable inci- dents in his life, Avas representative of the Lord Jesus Christ, during His manifestation in the world. The law under which those representatives were selected, did not at all regard the qual- ity of the person representing, but solely the thing to be repre- sented by him ; all the objects, therefore, which corresponded to divine and spiritual things, are also representatives of them, and what is represented is likewise signified. The distinction between correspondences and representatives is, tliat correspondence consists in the mutual relation, which prevails between an efficient cause and its orderly effect. Thus, whatso- 8 PREFACE. ever exists and subsists in the natural world from the spiritual, is called correspondence. But representatives are all those external things which exist in the natural mind, and which are the suitable appearances of all such internal subjects as are presented to the spiritual mind. For instance, when the viscera and structure of the face are permitted to act in unity with the affection and senti- ments which exist in the mind, there is a correspondence ; but the aspect of the face, under such circumstances, is the representation. The kings, priests, and prophets, are said to represent divine and holy things, because, in their governmental, priestly, and prophetic characters, they were, to the natural minds of the Israelites, what they conceived of such things. Such are the principles, which are believed to have presided over the construction of the literal sense of God's most holy Word, and of which illustrative examples are presented in the following work. If the things mentioned in the Scriptures were not representative, and thence, significative, of holy and spiritual subjects, it would not be easy to see how a rational idea of their divine character can be formed ; but with such a view of them, man may have some perception of their great sanctity and spirit- ual uses. Indeed, it seems difficult to see how divine ideas could have been enunciated in any other way than by means of those human ideas, worldly objects, and expressions, which are in cor- respondence with, or the representatives of, spiritual and heavenly things. But, while this is regarded as a feature peculiar to God's Reve- lation, and, in our opinion, necessary to the ideas of its divine origin and inspiration, it is to be observed that it is a principle which will admit of a diversity of literal structure ; and conse- quently, that such a structure has always been employed as was in agreement with the characteristics of the people, to whom it was originally vouchsafed. Hence has arisen that variety of style according to which different portions of the Sacred Scriptures are written. This circumstance is more or less conspicuous, in all the different books of the Word. There are, however, four great dis- tinctions of style by which the Scriptures now in our possession are distinguished. These are, — First, that which is intended to express spiritual and celestial things onhj, through the instrumentality of an appropriate selec- tion and arrangement of terrestrial and worldly objects. This we regard as the urimitive divine style, and consider it to have taken PREFACE. 9 its rise with the perceptions of the aborif^ines of our race, during" the periods of their religious integrity. To them, at that tune, it is believed that the objects of the visible world were as an open book, in which they could perceive divine and holy things repre- sented, and who, therefore, when treating of spiritual tilings, would arrange their thoughts concerning them into a kind of his- torical series, in order to render them forcible and vivid. This, doubtless, is. the style of the first eleven chapters of Genesis, or rather up to the fourteenth verse of the eleventh chapter ; and it is in consequence of men, in later ages, not having attended to this most remarkable genius of the most ancient people, that those early portions of the book of Genesis, have been considered so exceedingly difficult to understand. The second style is historical, and treats, in the letter, of such facts and occurrences, as, from the time of Abram, are re- corded in those books commonly called historical. Nevertheless, this style, like the former, is replete with an internal or spiritual sense. Historical circumstances began to be employed for the purpose of representing spiritual things, when mankind, and es- pecially the descendants of Abram, to whom those documents, with the exception of the book of Job, were originally vouch- safed, had sunk into a merely sensual and selfish state. Job is evidently a more ancient book, produced, in all probability, upon the plan of the factitious history of the first style of revelation, though it does not appear to be so complete and regular in its structure. The third style is the prophetical. This, also, appears to have derived its condition from the factitious histories of the prim- itive people : not that it puts on a historical aspect, or that it is, like them, connected in a historical series ; for it is well known to be much broken and interrupted, and likewise to contain many statements in the literal sense which are scarcely intelligible ; still, in their internal sense throughout, there are expressed, in an orderly series, sentiments of a purely spiritual character. The fourth style is the Psalms. These, as may be easily seen, partake of an intermediate form between the prophetical and that of ordinary speech, and they treat of the internal states and religious experience of all those who are within the pale of the Lord's church. That these are just views of the style of the Psalms, with the prophetic and historical portions of the Holy Word, we think can 10 PREFACE. hardly be disputed ; and although what is stated to be the style of those parts of it which precede the time of Abram is equally true, yet, because that may not be so readily perceived, it was deemed requisite to dwell a little on that point, in the introductory chapter of the following w^ork. To what is there stated, we are desirous to add one or two other considerations. It seems evident that the Lord, in causing a revelation to be made to man, of spiritual and heavenly wisdom, has had respect to the genius and disposition of the people, to whom it was vouch- safed. We gather this view from the facts which are apparent in what are emphatically called the Jewish Scriptures. From them it is plain that the letter of the revelation relating to that people, and of which they were made the depositories, was constructed, as we find it to be, in consequence of their remarkable condition. They were a most external and sensual people ; and therefore, the revelation, which, in its external form, is peculiarly theirs, partook of that historical and worldly character by which we see it is distinguished. This was all that they appreciated. Of spiritual things they had but little conception, and scarcely any care. Now, if it be true that the literal structure of revelation has always been in conformity with the genius of the people, to whom it has been made, — if it be true that the most external style of revelation to be found in the Bible was adopted in consequence of the sensual condition of the Jewish people, to whom it was first committed, then it will follow that the revelation granted to a superior people could not have been of so external a character. If the genius of the people, among whom the early portions of the book of Genesis were produced was eminently spiritual, and if the narratives are constructed in conformity with such character, then it is plain that the literal sense of that revelation ought to be differently understood from that which has been vouchsafed to the descendants of Abram. It seems contrary to all just criticism, to suppose that the literal fonn of the revelation which was granted to a people who were acquainted with spiritual things, is the same as that which was given to a community who were utterly ignorant of them. We therefore hold, that their external structure must be differently understood, nor can we perceive the reasonableness of any contrary conclusion. It is admitted, that the first eleven chapters were produced among a people, Avho flourished lonp- anterior to the time of Abram ; and PREFACE. 11 there is much reason to believe, tluit they orifjinatcd in those pe- riods, which poets and })hilosop]iers have spoken of as the silver age, — an age in which an Asiatic peopU} were spiritually intelli- gent, because they studied interior truths, and were acquainted with those outer things in nature, which were the symbols of them ; — an age, tlierefore, in Avliich mankind would speak of spiritual subjects, by means of those things which they knew to be their representatives in the world. Without extending these remarks, it is evident, that the earliest narratives of antiquity were written in a style that was highly figurative ; and this was a peculiarity belonging, not to the history of one nation merely, but to all which have any pretensions to a record of their origin. Upon what principle, then, can this char- acter be denied to that early history in the Bible, which precedes the time of Abram ? It cannot be because the literal sense of those documents is plain and easily to be comprehended : for when viewed as actual history, they are full of great and astound- ing difficulties, which no learning that has hitherto been exercised upon them, has been capable of satisfactorily explaining. If the genius of the people who lived in remote antiquity, was such as we have indicated, and if those narratives Avere produced among them, then they must have partaken of that genius ; if they did not, they could not have been serviceable to them, nor instrumental in transmitting to posterity any just notions of that disposition and general turn of mind, by which they were distinguished. Every one admits, that the minds of mankind during the purity of the Adamic periods, were influenced by very interior and ele- vated sentiments : the affections of their wills were, doubtless, directed towards the Lord, and their understandings were enlight- ened by thoughts concerning Him. In such an intellectual condi- tion, nature must have been a sort of mirror, reflecting internal and spiritual ideas. It is easy to conceive, that such minds would regard the worldly things by which they were surrounded, as the symbol of some internal state, spiritual experience, or heavenly ideas, belonging to the Lord and his kingdom. This, indeed, would enable them " To look through Nature up to Nature's God ; " and behold, in all its objects, the expressive types of spiritual realities. To such minds, creation must have been a rich display of objects, representing interior things pertaining to the Creator. 12 PREF^\CE. When the people, distinguished by such a state, spoke of natural things, their ideas concerning them would, as it were, recede, and give place to spiritual conceptions. When they undertook to describe spiritual and holy subjects, they would select and arrange, for that purpose, such temporal and natural objects, as they knew would accurately represent them. If these views are correct, and we think they are admissive of satisfactory proof, then, it is evi- dent, that the literal sense of documents, constructed on this prin- ciple, was only a kind of vehicle for the signification of something else, and that their genuine meaning must have laid within it, as a jewel within its casket. If such a people undertook to record the moral and spiritual things which they experienced, according to the successive series in which they had transpired, it seems plain, that they would do it by the arrangement of representative objects into a historical form. Such, we conceive, to have been the genius of the people, among whom the first eleven chapters of Genesis were produced, and such the circumstances which influenced their construction ; those documents, therefore, are not to be understood according to their literal sense, they being factitious history, intending to express, by correspondence and representation, only internal and spiritual things. Distinguished authority for these views could.be cited, and much corroborative evidence and reasonings proceeded with ; but it is not convenient to lengthen these remarks. Enough may have been said, to commend the subject to the careful consideration of those who may be interested in such an inquiry. It shows the principles on which the following work has been written, and to that the reader is respectfully referred for additional testimony and illustration. The religious connections of the writer, will know the source whence these opinions have been suggested ; to them, therefore, no explanation on this head is necessary ; and, it is presumed, that those who may be favorably impressed with them, after the perusal of the work, will find no difficulty in going directly to the same spring. It may, perhaps, be necessary to offer some explanation of the circumstances which have led to this publication ; and, also, to apologize for defects, which might not have occurred, if it had been produced independently of them. The materials for this work were, for the most part, originally collected and arranged in the form of eight lectures, which were PREFACE. 13 delivered in Preston, to crowded audiences, with some advantages to the church of which the writer is a member. These circum- stances led to a request for redelivering them in an adjoining town, whicli, on being done, excited there also, favorable atten- tion. Parts of them were afterwards delivered in the metropolis, and in two of the largest provincial towns in the kingdom. In all these cases, intimations of approbation were conveyed to him, and a desire expressed for their publication. But as they were written only for the purpose of oral publicity, and doubtless owed much of the indulgent reception with which they met, to the " living voice," he did not think them adapted for the press, and, on that account, waived the suggestion for printing them. But the request having been renewed on two or three occasions, and urged upon him by several judicious friends, he was induced to entertain the subject ; he was, likewise, encouraged to yield to those solicita- tions from other causes. He knew that they had been instru- mental in rescuing from disbelief, some who had long been doubt- ing the truth of revelation ; • also, that they had afforded others more satisfactory evidence of the divine origin and character of the early chapters of Genesis, than they had previously possessed ; and also, that they had assisted many, in consolidating their faith in the holiness and sanctity of God's Holy Word. As these ad- vantages, under the Divine Providence, had arisen from their oral delivery, he was induced to hope, that their publication might be followed by some further usefulness, and therefore, consented to the suggestion of his friends. He is not aware that there is any similar publication extant ; and this led him to think that such a work might be generally acceptable to his own religious connec- tions, as well as being, in some measure, serviceable to the public at large. Such are the circumstances which have led to the pres- ent publication, and it is hoped, that it may supply, however feebly, something for an unoccupied niche in the edifice of true religious literature. But as to the execution. It was felt that their character, as lectures, and in some cases, their sermon-like structure, would not be so attractive, or so generally acceptable, as some other form that might be adopted. Hence it was determined to avoid, as far as convenient, the preaching portions of the discourses, and re- arrange the matter into the shape in which it now appears. But to do this was not unattended with difficulties. For the sake of the judgments of those, at whose suggestions the publication was 2 14 PREFACE. undertaken, the original features of the work could not be entirely- sacrificed, and yet, with the \dew of providing something that might survive a mere temporary interest, some change was neces- sary. To accomplish both these objects, he has been compelled to admit some blemishes in arrangement, some peculiarities of treatment, and a few repetitions : for these, the indulgence of the reader is requested. The notes are fresh matter, which it is hoped will add to the usefulness of the work. For the general scope and design of this publication, he has no apology to offer, no indulgence to ask, no solicitude to express : feeling assured, that a plain enunciation of spiritual truth has been aimed at, and sincerely believing in the religious soundness of the grounds which have been taken for it, he is content to leave the result in the hands of that wise Providence, which, in superintend- ing the greatest things of the universe, does not overlook the minutest efforts of men. In conclusion, it may be observed, that if this work had been written for his OAvn religious connections merely, the author would, in many instances, have adopted another mode of treatment and expression ; but as it was designed for more general use, he has considered it proper to avoid, so far as convenient, all the appear- ances of technicality, and to present the subjects in as popular a form, as he thought their recondite character would permit. The Postdiluvian History to the call of Abram, is eminently interesting, and should this work prove acceptable, the author will feel encouraged to undertake its elucidation in a similar volume. Preston, November 25, 1850. ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. — GENERAL STRUCTURE OF THE NARRATIVE. " As to the particular form in which the descriptive narrative (of crea- tion) is conveyed, we merely affirm that it camiot be History — it may be Poetry." — Rev. Baden Powell, M.A., F.R.S., F.L.S., F.G.S., Savilian Professor of Geometnj in the University of Oxford. Art. " Creation," in Kitto's Biblical Cyclopcodia. In order correctly to understand the written documents of an- tiquity, it is necessary to know something of the genius of the people, among whom they were produced. Without this informa- tion, we are liable to great mistakes. Very different styles of writing have prevailed among the same nations, at different pe- riods of their existence ; and the deeper we penetrate into their mental history, the less literal and more poetic shall we find their methods of expression to have been. This fact is not to be disre- garded, in prosecuting the inquiry we have now before us. It bears forcibly upon the point. And this leads us to ask. Whether Antediluvian History, as contained irr the Bible, was written in accordance with that historical and grammatical criticism, with which it has been common, in modern times, to interpret it ? We think not. The record of creation has been found to give way before the discoveries and demands of science. The genius of a matter-of-fact people, is not the precise thing, by which to judge of the literary productions of a period essentially interior and poetic. And therefore,' we may again ask. Whether this peculiar condition of mind, which prevailed during the early periods of our race, when these remarkable documents were originally produced, may not have induced them to describe mental existences and moral processes, in a historical form ? May not the rise of the human mind, out of inactivity and darkness, and its successive advancement into a state prolific with intelligence and virtue, have been described by such a people as the creation of a world ? May not the intellectual sentiment and living affection, which are suc- cessively developed during such a process, have been considered by them, as so many days of the Divine Work ? We think it highly 16 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. probable : we can even now perceive a certain general resem- blance between the description, and the process we have indicated and every one is aware that it was usual, in after-times, to speak of the mind of man as a microcosm — a little world, while the Greek fabulists commonly represented his various sentiments, by numerous objects selected from animated nature. This style did not orig-inate with the Greeks, it prevailed long before they existed as a nation, and it can be historically traced among people of much higher antiquity ; — the Egyptians, for instance. If then, the early portions of Genesis should prove, as we be- lieve they will do, not to be a history of physical things, but the history of mental processes and phenomena, expressed in a pe- culiar way, it will follow, that long and large mistakes have been made concerning them, and that most of the valuable information, they were written to convey to posterity, has been entirely over- looked by them. We are aAvare that there are those, who have great hesitation in attaching any other meaning to the words of the Bible, than that which they ordinarily bear. They seem to think, that in giving up their physical sense, or natural application, they must relin- quish their real and solid signification. But, as it is evident, that there are multitudes of instances in the Bible, in which words are employed in a sense widely different from that, in which they are conmionly used, that hesitation cannot be well founded. The fact which it supposes, cannot be maintained. Moreover, those who consider the words to be significant of spiritual things, regard such things to be much more real, solid, and enduring, than any thing which the physical sense attached to them can express ; and therefore, the setting aside then* ordinary signification, does not deprive them of a meaning, having relation to reality. The " bending " of the language of God's Book to any other than its obvious meaning, is said to be an " impiety." * But is it not the circumstance of the meaning not being always obvious, which necessitates the commentary ? That wliich is plain needs no interpretation : the clear signification is brought out by the "bending," i. e. the interpretation, since, without it, there are numerous instances, in which there would be either no sense, or something exceedingly ambiguous. There cannot be any impiety * E. B. Pusey, Regius Professor of Hebrew in Oxford. Letter to Dr. Bucklancl, in his Bridgewater Treatise, Geology and Mineralogy, p. 2-5. INTERPRETATION NECESSARY. 17 in the honest endeavor, to render God's Book intelligible and in- structive to its thinking readers. Impiety lies upon the other side, — in permitting ideas to be cherished, under the supposition that they are contained in God's Book, when in reality, they are not to be found therein, but are crude inductions, arising from erroneous meanings being attached to its language. The very fact, that it is God's Book, implies that it contains more than what immediately appears upon the surface, and thus, that the words are but the outer vehicle of some more interior thought, which interpretation is required to eliminate. The narratives before us are conceded to be a Divine produc- tion ; we believe that they, together with the whole Scriptures, contain within themselves much fuller evidence of this fact, than any which merely verbal or historical criticism can ever reach. Our inquiries then, do not involve any thing touching their authenticity and genuineness as a revelation from God : that to which our in- vestigation relates, is the sense in which the Church should under- stand them. That they do require interpretation seems evident from tiie extensive commentaries, which, from tune to time, have been written for their elucidation. The design of those produc- tions has been, for the most part, to uphold the literal sense of these documents : and yet how very unsatisfactory is much that has been written on this side of the subject, when compared with what a free and philosophical inquiry will demand. When such 'WTiters have reached points, which have come into collision with the suggestions of reason, they have insisted on the necessity of faith, and pleaded the inexplicability of omnipotence. A becom ing piety is always proper in such investigations, but it was never intended to direct us from the path of enlightened investigation. We freely admit the value of faith, and at once concede the in- comprehensibility of the Divine Power. This admission and concession ought to induce us to approach Scripture investigation, with humility and caution, but surely, they do not require us to relinquish the endeavor to rightly understand any thing, that has been delivered to us as a Revelation from God. Reason, consid ered as a faculty of our nature, is as much the production of God, as is the revelation of the Scriptures. They are designed mutu- ally to assist and illustrate each other : and whensoever they are brought into collision, it is the result of some perversity on the part of man. When he is in order, the Scriptures will harmonize with his highest wants and perceptions. 2# 18 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. Most persons are aware, that there are many serious difficulties, in the literal sense of the early portion of the Word, which remain unsolved, and that bright minds and deep learning have been em- ployed upon the inquiry, without a successful issue. There are large numbers in the Professing Christian world, who are not yet convinced, that a right path has been chosen for this pursuit, and many will be glad and free to have the opportunity of considering some new views on the whole subject. These, in the course of this work, it will be our endeavor to provide ; offering, as we pro- ceed, such confirmation from revelation, evidence from history, and responses from the living sentiments of humanity, as our acquaint- ance with them will enable us to supply. To doubt the truth of certain human interpretations of the Scripture, is one of the immunities of Protestant Chiistianity ; and, notwithstanding religious differences have sprung out of this freedom, more generous and enlightened views have been pro- moted by its exercise. We are about to employ this privilege in another department of biblical inquiry ; but for no other purpose, so far as we know our own hearts, than to advance the interest of what we believe to be the general scope, rational meaning, and religious design of the early chapters of the Book of Genesis. We believe, those documents to be descriptions of spiritual phe- nomena only, and think that men did not begin to attach a natural meaning to them, until they had descended from an ancient state of intellectual eminence, and suffered their faith to pass into the obscurities of sensual apprehension. We hold, that it could not have been the intention of the Sacred Writings, to communicate to man instruction concerning physical truths. These were open to the scientific investigation and common understandings of nat- ural men : and the progre-ss of science, in disclosing the monu- ments of the past ages of terrestrial existence, has established facts, which are utterly repugnant to the popular interpretation of the first chapter of the Hebrew Scriptures. The evidences, which geology has brought to light, carries us back into an unutterable period of time. They prove a duration to the earth ; demonstrate the existence of living structures, of great diversity and interest, belonging to both the vegetable and animal kingdoms ; they pro- claim the operation of phenomena, and certify to innumerable events, all of which are plainly inconsistent with the notion, which regards the first chapter of Genesis to be a circumstantial narration of the primordial creation. THE DEMANDS OF GEOLOGY. 19 These facts are now very generally acknowledged by learned men of all parties ; not that they have abandoned the idea of the Mosaic history giving an account of the creation, but that they have relinquished those long-standing opinions, which it was sup- posed circumstantially to indicate. The lapse of immense periods of time, which geology proves to have taken place before the creation of man, also, those evi- dences which show, that before that event, there had come into being successive orders of animal and vegetable life, differing from existing species, and all of which had as gradually become extinct, are discoveries which affect, in their consequences, the entire view to be taken of the Avhole subject. These facts, being inconsistent with what, for centuries, had been considered as the obvious meaning of the Mosaic cosmogony, demand, either that the narrative should no longer be considered as a description of physical creation, or, that it should be so interpreted, as to harmon- ize with the unquestionable discoveries of science. The former course was too serious a matter to be attempted. The notion of this record being a description of creation, in some sense, had become too venerable a prejudice to be suddenly put aside ; the latter, therefore, has been undertaken by learned men. But afler the display of much effort in that direction it has been said, that the object of Genesis " was not to state in what manner^ but by whom the world was made." * This is cutting the difficulty shorter, but it does not explain it. A summary statement of this nature could not have been satisfactory to the authors of it : the details of the narration are too many to have permitted such a result. It certainly does state by ivhom the world was made ; but is there not also a precise description of the order of the process, and are there not some indications of the manner ? Every one knows, that all things are distinctly said to have been spoken into existence : and there are few, who have not noticed the manner in which the making of woman was begun. Into what palpable dilemmas will the adoption of erroneous premises conduct us ! If it is once clearly perceived, that an explanation of physical crea- * Dr. Buckland's Bridgewater Treatise, p. 33. Art. Creation, Kitto's Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature. Eusebius also says, "It was not the intention of Moses to detail a philosophical account of the formation of the world, but to signify only that it did not exist of itself or by chance, but was the production of an all-wise and all-powerful creator." Oracles of Reason, 1. 4, p. 186. Euseh. Prcep. Ev. 2, 7. 20 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. tion does not properly belong to a system of theology, then it will soon be acknowledged, that the Mosaic description, considered as a revelation from God, must refer to other phenomena. The natural explanations which have been offered, are too vague and general to be received as the true meaning of those ancient writings, neither have those views taken any hold upon the public mind. These expositors have not been agreed on any precise theory of the earth's existence and phenomena ; and therefore, they have not succeeded in squaring up the narrative for popular acceptance. Hence, while the old ideas, which used to be re- garded as the obvious sense of the history, are thoroughly exploded by scientific discovery, the new interpretations which have been attempted, are received with distrust, so that popular Christianity is left in complete uncertainty, as to the real meaning of the nar- rative. It may not be unacceptable, to notice what have been the prin- cipal views of the Mosaic record, which those scientific discoveries have led biblical students to adopt. At the very outset, it is de- manded, that the literal interpreter of the Scriptures should make concessions — that he should give up much of the usual and ordi- nary signification attached to the language. The precise amount of yielding is not defined, but it is evident that a considerable quantity is required. It was long a customary thing, to look upon the stratified con- dition of the earth, as the result of the Noetic deluge. But it is now admitted upon all hands, that this could not have been the cause. The vestiges of animals, belonging to extinct genera and distinct periods, with which the strata abound, prove that they had lived at incalculable distances of time ; and also, that the strata, in which they are found, had been very gradually deposited. This, therefore, sufficiently proves, that the few months' continu- ance of the Deluge, could not have been the cause, by which those wrecks were produced. Another hypothesis was, that the earth's strata were formed at the bottom of the sea, during the time which intervened between primordial creation and the flood ; at which period, it is supposed, that the antediluvian continents were submerged, and the bottom of the sea raised to supply their place. This, however, is a mere conjecture, at which there is not the slightest hint in all the narra- tive, and against which there is this scientific fact, — namely, the remains of land animals of distinct geological periods. HYPOTHESES WHICH HAVE BEEN HELD. 21 These two views, in which it has been attempted to maintain the literal sense of the Mosaic cosmogony, by referring geological phenomena to the catastrophe of the deluge, have now no weight witli scientific men. The next opinion which has been offered to the acceptance of the world is, that the " days," in which Moses describes the crea- tion to have been accomplished, are to be understood as great intei-vals of time : and this interpretation, it is asserted, will render his account consistent with the long successive periods which sci- ence demands. It is true, that the term " day " is frequently men- tioned in the Scriptures to denote, not twenty-four hours merely, but an undefined period ; still, this fact does not meet all the con- ditions which the problem before us demands. Moses describes the vegetable kingdom to have been produced before the animal, whereas, geology shows them to have been contemporaneous. This however, cannot well be urged against the view under con- sideration, because the mineral substances, which enter into the composition of the osseous structure of the animal, is less destruc- tible than vegetable fibre. The points fatal to this view of the case are, that those periods of time are not only spoken of as days, but also as the alternation of evening and morning, to which the speculation attaches no significancy. Moreover, those who take this view of the subject, when they come to the seventh day, abandon their own interpretation of that term, and insist upon the ordinary sense of it, on the ground of a statement made in the fourth commandment relating to the sabbath. It is a view, there- fore, which is not consistent with itself: neither does it reconcile the facts of animal deaths and vegetable ruin, which preceded the existence of man, with the scope of the narrative, which is, plainly, a description of the successive bringing into existence, and the merciful preservation of, various orders of life ; and, at the same time, wisely keeping out of sight every thing of a contrary nature. Surely, that can hardly be said to be a circumstantial account of the natural creation, during some periods of which, and long before the completion of the whole, extensive destructions w^ere eifected, and concerning which, not the least intimation has been given in the record, but all of it carefully concealed. The force of such, and kindred objections has been felt, and another conjecture has been ventured. It has been argued, that the first verse of Genesis, or the first and second, should be considered distinctly from what follows, and 22 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORV. that all the physical phenomena of geology should be referred to the period indicated by the " heginning ; " since it was in the beginning that God made the earth ; that not being included in the work of the first day. * It is said that the Divine operations in the oeginning, not being in any way connected with the history of our race, are passed over in silence, because the purpose of Moses is only to inform us of the progress of creation at the last great change which affected the surface of the earth, together with the production of its present races of animal and vegetable inhabitants. Under this view of the case, the narrative of Moses is not con- sidered to be the history of the actual beginning of the universe at all ; but only as a statement of the origination of a certain epoch ; it having been preceded by many others, each of immense duration, and all distinguished by a great abundance of organic life. This, certainly, is a very forced exposition of the subject ; but if it be admitted to settle some of the difficulties which geol- ogy proposes to the more common view of the narration, it leaves others untouched which are equally formidable. Some of these it undertakes to deal with in general terms, and others more circum- stantially, by supposing the existence of phenomena which may come within the meaning of the Mosaic history. For instance, it is there asserted that light prevailed three days before the sun, the moon, and stars, f When, then, it is asked, if those lumina- * See Dr. Buckland's Inaugural Lecture : Oxford edition, pp. 31, 32, and Dr. Chalmers' Evidences of the Christian Revelation, chap. vii. f This objection has been frequently urged : the following is among the most accredited replies of theologians. " A difficulty has arisen in the minds of some critics and commentators, to account for the produc- tion of light, before the creation of the sun, which has been considered as its source ; and they have indulged in various conjectures on the sub- ject. Some have supposed, that it was caused by an imperfect sun, in which the elements of light and fire were not yet collected in sufficient quantities to illuminate the earth. Others have imagined, that though the sun existed, his rays could not penetrate through the dense atmos- phere, so as to render the surface of the terraqueous globe visible. A third conjecture is, that this first-created light was only a lucid cloud, of the same nature as the Shechinah, which guided the Israelites by night in their journeyings through the wilderness. But this difficulty has arisen from adopting, with implicit confidence, a mere hypothesis of modern philosophy ; a hypothesis, which the recent improvements in science serve to render every day more questionable. Instead of the great elementary body of light emanating from the sun, there is reason to be- NO HISTORY OF THE BEGINNING. 23 ries were among the conditions of the " beginning," in the sense which is claimed for that term, how it happens, that they are de- scribed as first coming into being on the fourth day, in the narra- tive which is considered to relate, 7iot to the " beginning," but only to an order of things, which began myriads of years after- wards ? The answer given is founded on a conjecture, namely " that the darkness described on the evening of the first day, was a temporary darkness, produced by the accumulation of dense vapors upon the face of the deep ; " and that " an mcipient disper- sion of these vapors may have readmitted light to the earth upon the first day, whilst the exciting cause of light was still obscured ; and the further purification of the atmosphere, upon the fourtli day, may have caused the sun and moon and stars to reappear in the firmament of heaven." * We can conceive some idea of the phenomena here indicated ; but they are the mere hypotheses of science ; and certainly they do not come within that fair meaning of the narration which they ought to do, if it is to be received as the description of natural creation. We hold, that if it had been designed as a revelation of the process, hy which the present or any other order of physical nature had its commencement, that it would have been written, so as not to have presented the embarrassment which learning encounters and piety experiences, from taking such a view of it. lieve, that light itself is an inconceivably subtle fluid, pervading all space, and wholly independent of the sun, which may be considered as its prin- cipal excitor ; or the great agent in nature which gives it motion, and renders it the medium of vision. The late experiments in chemistry and galvanism have served to render such a fluid more familiar to us. Far- ther, we know that there are many substances capable of emitting light independently of the sun. Among others may be mentioned, besides culinary fire, the different kinds of phosphori, the diamond, the glow- worm, the Bologna Stone, the fire-fly, ignis fatuus, putrescent fish, &c., and frequently the waters of the sea are seen to emit light." — Commen- taries and Annotatio7is on the Holy Scriptures : By the Rev. John Hexclett, B.D. We do not see how these statements meet the difficulty. The theories adverted to can have no w-eight, before they are proved to be truths : this they have not been ; and even if they had, may not the prior existence of the sun have contributed to the result ? Moreover, the facts selected, seem to tell against the argument they were intended to sustain. The light emitted by " culinary fire, the different kinds of phosphori," &c., is not displayed independently of the sources predicated: nor does philosophy know of any light — the light requisite to illuminate the uni- verse — independently of the sun. * Dr. Buckland's Bridgewater Treatise. Second edition, pp. 29, 30. 24 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. Another opinion has been put forth, more recent than those which have been noticed. This, somewhat similar to that which immediately precedes, regards the initial verses of Moses to be an announcement altogether independent of the descriptions which follow. They are considered to " express posteriority, without defining the separating interval ; " and during that interval, those vast changes are considered to have taken place in the structure and productions of the earth, which science so abundantly demon- strates. This, of course, is urged to meet the conditions of geo- logical facts. It is next contended, that the term earth, employed subsequently to the first verse, and throughout the whole descrip- tion of the six days' work, means only a limited portion of the earth's surface, that was to be adapted for the residence of man, and the animals connected with him. This portion is fixed m a certain geographical locality of Asia, which, having been brought into general ruin and disorder by geological causes, was also over- spread with darkness, similar to that which has been known to accompany the disasters of an earthquake. This was the chaos, and that was its locality ! * These speculations being premised, the creation of the existing species of things, the reintroduction of light by the removal of the local darkness, and thereby the manifestation of the heavenly bodies, together with all the other particulars of the description, are said to have taken place literally, according to the Mosaic language, in six natural days. These opinions are elaborately set forth, and their critical defence ably undertaken, f Nevertheless, to me, the argument has failed to be convincing. It would be foreign to our purpose, to discuss any of the details. It is sufficient, for the general design we have in noticing these views, to obser\^e, that they suggest physical senses to the terms, and ideas to the sentiments which they express, which never could have sprung out of the narrative itself; and also, that those senses and sentiments owe their origin to scientific conclusions, and not to the unbiased study and general tenor of the record. We put it to the fair judgment of the reader, and ask. Whether it is not * " There are no traces of any such catastrophe as must be supposed, even over a limited portion of the earth's surface, subsequent to the latest tertiary formation." — Rev. B. Powell, 3I.A., &;c. Art. '^ Croat io?i," Kitto's Biblical Ci/clop(Pdia. t The Relation between the Holy Scriptures, and some Parts of Geo- logical Science. By John Pye Smith, D.D.,F.R.S., and F.G.S. Second edition, p. 268, onward. AIM OF THE HYPOTHESES* 25 SO ? — whctlicr it is rational to suppose, that the Mosaic descrip- tion of creation, refers merely to certain local phenomena which were occurrent in Asia, and that the command for the appearance of light, with tlie declaration of making the sun, the moon, and stars, meant only the causing of those luminaries to reappear upon that locality, by removing the darkness which aqueous vapor, an earthquake, or some other geological causes, might have produced ? We thmk not. We do not understand the authors of the several schemes of interpretation adverted to, as designing to make Moses speak the sentiments of modern philosophy, of which indeed he could have known nothing. This it would be impossible to do, to say nothing of the irreverence of such an attempt. Their principal aim seems to have been to show, that his narrative of the creation is admis- sive of an explanation, not inconsistent with such new discoveries ; and so to maintain its position, as a portion of the Word of God, which it most certainly is. We highly appreciate and most sin- cerely value this excellent motive, though we think the means which have been adopted by it, are unsatisfactory and erroneous. We believe that the whole difficulty, which these several interpre- tations have been invented to remove, lies entirely in mistaking the real design of the early chapters of Genesis ; and specially, in supposing the initial portion of them, to treat of the physical creation at all. The old, and what used to be received as the pure and simple sense of this portion of the Divine Word, has been entirely up- rooted, so that the great mass of the professing Christian church, is, as we have before remarked, actually without any settled or authoritative opinion upon the subject : and enlarged minds have well perceived, that nothing satisfactory can be offered to its in- telligent acceptance, so long as it is considered to speak of mun- dane things. These circumstances have originated the opinion within that church, and which is making favorable advancement among its people, that " it cannot be history — it may be poetry." The facts to which, as " poetry," it may be considered to relate, have yet to be unfolded. We concur with the sentiment that " it cannot be history : " — that is, it cannot be the history of the origination of the outer world with its physical inhabitants : nevertheless we think that it is history, • — the history of certain processes of the human mind (as intimated at the outset) by which it has succes- 3 26 'antediluvian history. sively risen from darkness into light, — by which its feeble begin- nings of intellectual life, were developed into more vigorous ac- tivity and greater excellence — by which a numerous and diversi- fied series of living affections, was brought into active existence ; and that finally, the whole process resulted in the production of that spiritual structure, which is described as having been in the image of God. It is, we most sincerely believe, the particulars of this general process, of which the first chapter of Genesis is the history : — a history of the rise and progress of those spiritual things, connected with the development of man into the Divine Image : but wTitten in a symbolical style, agreeably to the method prevalent among the ancients — a style founded in the relationship, which a high state of human excellence perceived to exist, between spiritual and natural things, and which general style has been adopted by God, as the true vehicle for all his revelations. The communication of spiritual intelligence is the chief end of God's Word. And, although the disclosure of certain infonnation concerning the beginning of mundane things, njay be considered as coming within the province of revelation, because without it, no absolute knowledge of such things can be attained ; yet the main purpose of the revelation vouchsafed to us is, not to teach God's arrangements in the laws and productions of outer nature, but to announce to us the order and operation of an inner life, — to furnish information concerning spiritual things, — to point out the wisdom, show the benignity, and exhibit the love of God for the souls of men. The Bible contains the moral and spiritual his- tory of our race, — that is, the history of the interior and undying things of man, and it speaks of other things in subordination to this object, and uses them solely for that purpose. The natural cosmogony of the universe is not given therein. Although tliis idea may be reluctantly received, science and criticism leave no choice in the matter. How, then, it may be asked, are we to understand the reasons which are given, for the ordination and keeping of the Sabbath ; namely, " In six days, the Lord made the heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day ; wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath-day, and hallowed it ? " (Exodus xx. 11.) This point deserves a moment's attention. The Israelitish people, at the time the commandments were given, had sunk very deeply into a gross and sensual condition. THE SEVKNTH DAY. 27 They had scarcely any conception of spiritual truth, and were withheld from the wickedness and ignorance of open idolatry, more from the fear of consequences, tlian from any real knowl- edge, or love of God. The interior truths, expressed under the symbols of six days' creation, had even then long been mistaken for a matter-of-fact history ; and therefore, a reference to it (for some writing or memorial declaring it, was evidently known to them) as ah apparent, and not as a genuine truth, became service- able and useful to a people circumstanced as they were ; and who clung with such pertinacity, as all their subsequent history proves them to have done, to documentary and traditional sentiments, however erroneous, provided they had some association with their own antiquity. * Besides the reason for alluding to the six days' work in the commandment, founded on an apparent truth, and adopted in ac- commodation to the prejudices of the people, there is another cause founded on genuine truth, and suited to the intellectual dis- cerrraient of studious minds. The Sabbath was instituted for a sacred purpose ; it was to be a day in which spiritual things were to receive special and distin- guished attention on the part of man, because (as all the institu- tions essentially Israelitish were representative) it represented the peace and holiness of the Lord, in having accomplished the work to which the first of Genesis relates, considered in its internal, which is its genuine, sense. When we see, what by and by we shall endeavor to prove, that that work was a spiritual process, by which, through six successive stages, humanity was developed into the image of God ; and when we farther remember, that such development must have been the Lord's own merciful work, then we shall be able to see the force and reasonableness of the argu- ment, which the commandment asserts. It refers to a process, * That the Scriptures contain a great variety of statements, which are mere adaptations to the prevailing ideas of the times in which they were produced, is well known. That this is the case in the matter referred to, seems evident, because it will hardly be pretended, that God had so to work during the six days of creation, as to experience fatigue and require repose upon the seventh. Moreover, in the repetition of the command- ment, given in Deuteronomy v., the above reason for the institution of the Sabbath is altogether omitted, and instead thereof, the sons of Israel were told, that it was to be kept, in remembrance of their having been delivered from servitude in Egypt ; which reason, historically, is a pure accommodation to the ideas of the Israelites in respect to that event. 28 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. through wliich it liad pleased the Lord to raise man into a state of spiritual excellence, and at the same time, regards this process as essential to the security of all the privileges, which the Sabbath not only represented, but which, as a selected portion of time, was to be employed as a means for upholding. The literal structure of the above reason, then, is in conformity with the literal struc- ture of the first of Genesis, because they both relate to the same spiritual fact, and conduce to the internal rest, peace, and sanc- tity of man. The people, at the time of the Exodus, had long mistaken the outer sense of this latter document for its actual meaning ; but the reason adverted to was not written to confirm them in that error ; its true object was to recognize its spiritual design, and therefore, it is referred to in a sunilar style of expres- sion, — a style which inspiration, — considered as the utterance of tliose living sentiments, which were to have responses in per- petuated humanity, — preferred to adopt. These considerations show very satisfactorily, that the Mosaic description is not to be received as a circumstantial history of physical creation. The best minds have been compelled, by irre- sistible evidence, to abandon, as erroneous, the popular and long- standing view which has been cherished concerning it : and al- though great efforts have been made to sustain the idea of its cosmogonal character in some sense, yet it is evident, from the specimens of those efforts which have been adduced, that such senses are not those which Moses intended. But the giving up of such an interpretion of the narrative, by no means involves any impeachment of its Divine authenticity : that fact concerning it stands upon other grounds, and it is indicated, rather by the intel- lectual experiences of mankind, than by any agreement of its statements with mundane phenomena. But rational investigation, and the appliances of science, have not only disturbed the erroneous interpretations, which have so long weighed upon this portion of God's Word ; they, also, bring considerations, which extensively affect the supposed historical character of several succeeding chapters. For instance, how difficult is it to conceive, that Eve was really made from a rib, taken from Adam, during a deep sleep, induced upon him for the purpose ; — that a tree could produce the knowl- edge of good and evil ; — that a serpent was capable of speech, and reasoned so successfully with the woman, as to induce her to violate the command of God ! DIFFICULTIES OF THE LITERAL SENSE. 29 Moreover, in the fourth chapter, there is an indication of the existence of another race of men, besides those described as the descendants of Adam, and who are popularly regarded as the first progenitors of the human race. When Cain went forth from the face of the Lord, it is said that a mark was set upon him, lest any, finding him, should slay him. At that period, Cain was the only surviving descendant of Adam, who, with his mother. Eve, made only three, then in existence. Why then set a mark upon him, to prevent others from slaying him, if there were no other persons than his father and mother to perpetrate the deed ? Surely, the circumstance of imposing a mark for such a purpose, plainly indicates, to historical criticism, the existence of another race besides that of Adam. There is, also, another fact, leading to the same conclusion, related in the same chapter. Cain is de- scribed to have possessed a wife ; but there is no intimation of her origin : he also had a son, and built a city in the land of Nod ; which circumstance plainly indicates, that a number of persons must have been there collected, that some of them must have been acquainted with the arts, and many of them industriously employed in erecting required habitations. Further on, it is related, that the sons of God, Avho are commonly understood to have been angels, or at least, beings of some superior nature, fell in love with the daughters of men, and thereby originated a progeny that was mighty and valiant. We are also informed, that the ordinary pe- riod of human life extended over several hundred years, and that the Lord repented that he had made man upon the earth. These, and many other statements which could be easily selected, forbid both science and criticism to approach them, if they are to be received as real and credible history. This, however, was not its purpose. The meaning of these relations will be discussed in their proper place ; we can here only generally observe, that they, with all the other peculiarities recorded in the first eleven chapters of Genesis, were never in- tended to convey to mankind, any information respecting the nat- ural world, or the earthly history of its inhabitants. We believe that their true intention was to describe the moral and spiritual states, which distinguished the people of primeval times ; and that they are related in a historical form, because that was the method of speaking of such things, common to those early periods of civilized life. 3# 30 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. CHAPTER II. GEXERAL STllUCTURE OF THE NARRATIVE — CONTINUED. " All who have treated of divine subjects, whether Greeks, or Barbarians, industriously involved the beginning of things, and delivered the truth in enigmas, signs, and symbols, in allegories and metaphors, and other such figures." — Clement of Alexandria. Strotn. 1. v, p. 658. Ox. Ed. There are few facts better established by learned criticism, than that the histories, pretending to describe the commencement of the eastern and western nations of antiquity, are of a sin^i- larly allegorical kind, partaking more of the spirit of mythology than history, and leaning rather to the character of l)oetic imagery than historic truth. The flrst written intimations wliich we have of the beginning of society, in India, Persia, and Egypt, are all of a mythological kind. If we examine the documents, which have come down to our own time, relating to the commencement of the Scythian, Celtic, and Scandinavian nations, the same fact is observable. And every one is aware how peculiarly applicable these remarks are, to what is said of the origin of the more recent nations of Greece and Rome. The city of Boetia, in the former, is related to have been built by men grown from dragons' teeth, which Cadmus had sown for the purpose : and Rome is said to have been founded by Romulus, who, with his brother Remus, were rescued, in infancy, from the Tiber, and subsequently, suckled by a wolf. Nor are the statements made in connection with the beginning of our own country entirely freed from mythos : but no one regards them, and the others referred to, to be historically true, and yet every one must admit, that they had a signiiicancy well understood, at the time they were originally conceived. It was evidently the genius of the people, in those times, to express some facts in fable. The fables, however, have remained, from their having acquired a permanency in writing, but their signifi- cance has perished, because tliis was not recorded, and also, be- cause the genius to which it was perceptible, has passed away. Tliese facts are incontestable, and we are led from them to conclude that the documents of Genesis, popularly regarded as a description of the origin of the world, the beginning of humanity, and the first constitution and progress of society, are somewhat of a similar character, and that they describe the moral sentiments and religious conditions of men, through their corresponding images in nature. ANCIENT HISTORY ALLEGORICAL. 31 The peculiar genius of the people, by whom the mythological history of nations was constructed and understood, was but the remains of a very superior condition of human character. Their mythic narratives were, for the most part, expressed through the fanciful selection of arbitrary and conventional unages. But in a more remote antiquity — nearer those times which the poets have described to be the golden age — men lived under the influence of more enlightened perceptions and sounder views. Their supe- rior states must have enabled them to see, in natural objects, the actual symbols of those divine and spiritual sentiments, out of which they had originated : and under the influence of such a fact, it is easy to imagine, that they would be led to express their own thoughts and sensations, by means of appropriate unages drawn from the theatre of nature. And we conceive that it was in such times, and by men of this genius, by whom, under the Divine auspices, the early chapters of Genesis were produced. Even Josephus, Pharisee as he was, informs us that Moses " spoke some things wisely, but enigmatically, and under a decent alle- gory : " and in another place, he asserts, that after the description of the seventh day, " he began to talk philosophically," * that is, to express his history in some symbolical manner. The more deeply we look into ancient history, the more cer- tainly shall we be convinced, that the style of writing which then prevailed, was of an allegorical character, and that the outer things narrated can only be considered as the vehicles, employed for the expression of some inward sentiment and thought. Concerning this, many authorities could be produced from the " Fatliers " and others, if it were needful for so clear a truth. Origen, however, plainly asserts, that the narratives, describing the making of woman and the conversation of the serpent, were allegories ex- pressive of some other facts than what appear, f The period of actual history, apart from that contained in the Bible, cannot be traced, with any certainty, far beyond the period of the first Olympiad. The narratives produced before that time, whatever might have been their precise meaning, are found to be pregnant with marvellous relations. Subsequently, this method of expression fell into disuse. The genius of the people in after-ages, Decame less poetic and more matter-of-fact : and every one now * See Antiquity of the Jews, Preface, sec. 4, chap. 1, sec. 1. T Cont. Cels. 1. iv. p. 187, Ed. Sp. Referred to by the Rev. S. Noble, Flen. Ins. p. 559. 32 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. perceives that the wonders, indicated in the fragmental writings of antiquity which have come down to us, are not to be received in their literal sense. This has been the fate of those profane documents, because, not having been hallowed by the sentiments of religious respect, they have been subjected to other thinking. Yet the statements which are contained in the Bible narrations, before the time of Abram, are not less amazing; and mankind would long ago have ac- knowledged their mythic character, but for the powerful influence of a traditional opinion to the contrary. But this can have but little real weight, w-hen it is remembered, that such traditions were originated by ecclesiastical authority, at a time when the true sig- nification of those writings had long been overlooked. It is well known, that there is a remarkable resemblance in points, between several events mentioned in acknowledged mythol- ogy, and some of the circumstances related in the early portions of Genesis : * as, for instance, between the flood of Deucalion, and that of Noah ; and between the Gigantes and Titanes of the Greeks, and the giants and mighty men spoken of in Genesis, vi. 4. It has been usual to regard such points of Attic and Oriental mythol- ogy as resemble the scripture narrations, to have been derived therefrom, and that the other descriptions, with which we find them associated, are the legendary embellishments of the respec- tive nations where they exist. This might have been the case. But if so, it may be considered as offering some proof, that the people esteemed such narratives (whether derived to them from traditional or documentary sources, matters not) as embodying some other idea than what is literally expressed. They would hardly have chosen what they believed to have been the actual facts, pertaining to a more ancient people, to express the m^tho- logic history of themselves. They must have seen, in some meas- ure, the isoteric meaning of what they so selected, and thence its suitability for being incorporated into their own mystic relations. The extravagances of those relations, of course, render them in- credible as facts : nevertheless, they must have been designed to express some ideas and sentiments, readily understood at the time of their origination. The adoption of points to be found in scrip- ture narratives, into the fabulous relation of later times, evidently suggests that they were considered of a figurative character. * See Analysis of Ancient Mythology, by Jacob Bryant. And the Dis- Bertations of Sir Wm. Jones in the Asiatic Researches. MEMORIALS OF THE DELUGE. 33 It is readily admitted, that mytholog-ical and traditional intima- tions of the delug^o, are to be found among all nations. Sculptures among the Egyptian antiquities, and pictures among the more re- cent nations of Mexico and Peru, have been discovered, which are interpreted to be tlie memorials of that catastrophe. It is also said, that ceremonies and sacrificial rites were instituted for its commemoration among the Egyptians, Chaldeans, Phcenicians, Greeks. Celt^, and Scythians.* Inscriptions are collected, and even an ancient medal and a vase have been produced, having upon them objects allusive to the deluge, f These circumstances are commonly referred to, as affording the most triumphant proofs that the Noetic deluge was a flood of waters, in agreement with the literal sense of the narration. But we contend, that all these facts may be granted, and yet that conclusion be consistently denied. It is evident, that the narrative of the flood, points to a very awful circumstance, brought about by the wickedness of man. But the language, in which it was originally described, may still be figurative, and the evidences referred to, nothing more than the traditional indications of the event so related. All those legends and historical notices must have sprung from one locality and the same description; they, therefore, do not prove that the literal sense of such description is to be received as credible history : they only preserve some general reminiscences of the mode, in which the circumstance v/as originally related ; they do not ex- hibit its signification. That stands upon other ground, and has to be deciphered by other means. There cannot be any reasonable doubt, that the early portions of Genesis were the productions of a period, in which it was cus- tomary for mankind to express their religious states and sentiments in the form of allegory. If, then, those documents really did be- long to such a period, and were the performances of such a genius, it is evident that they must have partaken of such a style ; | and * Dr. Pje Smith, on Scripture and Geology. Second edition, p. 101. See also, Records of Creation. By John Bird Sumner, M. A. Second edition, p. 39. t Dr. Wiseman's Lectures on the Connection between Science and Re- vealed Religion. Second edition, pp. 321, 336, Avhere engravings are inserted. X This argument is very beautifully stated in the following passage : " Let it, for a moment,, be supposed that it had pleased the Divine Majesty, 34 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. therefore, they are not to be understood in the sense which the letter conveys ; that would be a certain distortion of their true meaning. In referring the production of those remarkable documents, to the period in which that peculiar genius prevailed, we do not mean to insinuate that tliey are the mere fanciful results of that genius. We regard them as containing the inspiration of the Almighty, and venerate thern as portions of the pure Word of God. What we intend by this reference is, that God was pleased to adopt, as the vehicle for his communications, the mode and style then prevalent with men, yet so regulating the expressions and mar- shalling the narrative, that it should contain no word, indicate no sentiment, declare no story, but what was the exact counterpart of some spiritual things. This characteristic, indeed, must be acknowledged to pervade the whole Word of God, though the representations that were se- lected, in those remote times, appear to have been more recondite, than those which were adopted at a latter period, in consequence of mankind having began to mistake their sense, or falsify their meaning. The Scriptures, peculiarly Israelitish, commence with the liistory of the house of Abram ; that, indeed, contains real facts as they are described; nevertheless, they are to be considered as the mediums for containing, and representatively expressing, those interior sentiments and spiritual ideas, which are proper to them as a Revelation. The mere literal facts and history can hardly, in themselves, be viewed as revelations : it would be unsatisfactory, to grant an immediate revelation of his authority and his grace to the Athenians, in the age of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and for their use ; we may reverentially believe that, in such a case, the communication would have been expressed in the terms and phrases to which they had habituated themselves, and moulded upon a system of references to the natural scenery around them, to their modes of action in social life, and to their current notions upon all other subjects. Not only would the diction have been pure Greek, but the figures, the allusions, and the il- lustrations, of whatever kind, would also have been Attic. The He- braized style which was adapted to the people of Israel, would have failed to convey just sentiments to the men of Greece ; for though it would not have been absolutely unintelligible, the collateral ideas would have been misapprehended, false bye-notions would have insinuated themselves, and the principal sentiments, to inculcate which was the object of the whole process, would have been grievously distorted." — Dr. Pye Smith. Scrip- ture and Geology, p. 239. THE NARRATIVE INSPIRED. 35 to suppose tliat any other divine interference with their production took place, than what was requisite to determine the particular points, which were to be stated as the true representations of spirit- ual realities, the disclosure of which must been their main object, considered as revelations from God. But the character of the Bible narratives, anterior to the time of Abram, though equally divine, is observed to be very different in their literal structure, and some critics, from an apparent irreg- ularity in the arrangement, have considered them fragmentary selections, and others pronounce them to be distinct composi- tions. * However this may be, they are plainly the productions of another hand, than that which has written the history of the house of Abram ; and there is some reason to believe, that they formed a portion of a more ancient revelation from God, than that which is now extant. Moses himself has intimated, that there were books of divine authority among mankind, antecedent to his time. He has referred to them by name, cited passages from them, and embodied them in his own Pentateuch. Thus, after describ- ing the several journey ings of the sons of Israel, and particularly their removal from Zared to the other side of Arnon, he writes: " Wherefore it is said, in the Book of the wars of Jehovah, what he did in the Red Sea, and in the brooks of Arnon, and the streams of the brook that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar, and lieth upon the border of Moab." f And again, after announcing the conquests of the Israelites over the Ammonites and the villages of Heshbon, he writes, " Wherefore say the Enunciations, [Hammoshelim, i. e., the books of the Enunciations, as we say Prophets, for the books of the Prophets, which idea is obscured by the common translation, " They that speak in proverbs,") " come unto Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and prepared : for there is a fire gone out of Heshbon, and a flame from the city of Sihon ; it hath consumed Ar of Moab, and the lords of the high places of Arnon." (Num- bers xxi. 14, 27.) These passages announce the existence of two * See Vater's Fragment Hypothesis : Eichhorn's Document Hypoth- esis, and Dr. P. Smith's Geology and Scripture, Note, p. 202. t Numbers xxi. 13. As a fact, bearing upon the great antiquity of the Book here cited from, Dr. Lamb, Master of Corpus Christi College, Cam- bridge, has remarked " that in this short passage, we find a verb (vahab) which occurs no where else in the Bible." — Hebrcio Hieroglyphics, p. 9. It is considered to have been a word obsolete in the time of Moses, and thus that the book in which it occurs, must have been a production long anterior to his time. 36 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. books, and that one of them was distinguished by a historical, and the other by a prophetical character. In other portions of the Word, we find citations from another work, called the " Book of Jasher," and the writers apply what they have quoted from it, to events which were then in the course of being accomplished. {Joshua X. 12, 13 ; 2 Sam. i. 17, 18.) That those ancient books were produced under divine superin- tendence, and designed for the spiritual guidance of the people to whom they were originally vouchsafed, seems evident, from the formal manner in which they are referred to, and the authority con- ceded to them. That one of them was constructed on the prin- ciple of expressing mental things in a historical manner, plainly appears from the passage that is quoted from it. As, then, it is certain, that the early portions of Genesis are distinguished by a peculiarity of composition, proving them to be documents of an en- tirely different character from those to which they are prefixed, there can be little doubt of their having originally formed a part of those more ancient divine records, the once-existence of which is certain from the fragments which remain.* But this conclusion does not rest merely upon the probabilities of rational inference : there is some scriptural attestation of the fact. The fifth chapter of Genesis commences w^ith the declara- tion, " This is the Book of the generations of Adam," and there- upon follows, in a style agTeeable to those times, a. record of all his descendants up to Noah and his sons. Doubtless this Book of Generations was a wi-itten document, containing the circumstances which tlie author of the Pentateuch has cited, and acknowledged in this instance, as we have seen he did in others. As, tlien, there is testimony sufficient to show that the Antedilu- vian History in the Bible, was produced among a people whose genius led them to express their perceptions of interior and spirit- ual truth, by means of external and natural symbols, occasionally arranged in the form of historic narrative, we thinlv we may most fairly and reasonably arrive at the general conclusion, that those documents were never intended to record the origin of mundane things, to express the phenomena of matter, or to deliver the social, civil or political history of the first men. Their true purpose is of * "We have no slight reasons for supposing that Moses compiled the chief parts of the Book of Genesis, by arranging and connecting ancient memoranda, under the divine direction." — Dr. Pye Smith. Scrip, and Geo. Second edition, p. 202. ONLY THE COMMON VIEWS OBJECTED TO. 37 a much more sacred and religious character, which we shall en- deavor to show. We shall, also, in addition to the general re- marks which have now heen made, venture to adduce, in their proper places, such other particular reasons for the conclusion ar- rived at, concerning the figurative structure of the Antediluvian History, as the specific points may seem to require. It is, however, always to bo borne in mind, that those reasons are designed to weigh only against the vulgar apprehension of its literal sense ; and also, that in no case, are they to be considered as questioning the divine origination of the documents, or suggesting doubts as to their spiritual value and purpose. We have deemed it requisite to make these statements, because there are some minds, who suppose that the rejection of a long standing interpretation, is the same thing as throwing discredit upon the documents. Against this we solemnly protest We renounce nothing concerning those narratives, but that common opinion concerning them, which every sincere student has found it difiicult to hold. We receive them as a genuine portion of the veritable Word of God, and therefore, we regard them as a Divine Revelation concerning celestial and spiritual things, and look upon every single expression they con- tain, to be significant of some interior affection and thought proper to man, in the process of his religious development, or attendant upon him during the calamity of his fall. The style, in which these documents are composed, is the first of which we have any account, and perhaps it is the best adapted for the embodiment of divine communication ; because it appears to have been a method of expression, which prevailed among an orderly and illuminated people, who enjoyed the advantages of in- terior perception, and displayed an activity of intellectual principle, very superior to any who have lived in subsequent ages. This was plainly referred to by Hannah, when she said, " Speak ye what is high, let what is ancient come forth from your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge ;" (1 Sam. ii. 3 ; Improved Transla- tion :) and also, by the Psalmist, when he said, " Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable ; I will utter dark sayings of old ; which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us." (Psalm Ixxviii. 1, 2, 3.) There are two modes of speaking of the Scriptures, frequently adopted, to which, in concluding these remarks, it will be useful to refer. The first is, that the statements of the Scriptures must be im- 4 38 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. plicitly and reverentially received, whether we understand tliem or not ; and that it is mere presumption for man, with his carnal mind and puny intellect, to attempt to comprehend those wonder- ful things which it has pleased God to deliver, rather for his faith than his knowledge ! This may be a pious submission to divine authority, taking its rise in religious feeling, but it is certainly mistaken in its application. We have no doubt that such obedi- ence is very becoming, provided it be accompanied with intelli- gence ; but in the case before us, it wants the ingredient necessary to enlighten and give it value. Those who can satisfy themselves with such notions, are, therefore, beyond our reasonings. We can render them little service. They have faith for any thing — but that free and sensible inquiry into the legitimate meaning of God's Word, which we regard to be the duty and prerogative of man. The second mode, is that which asserts, that the Scriptures are " very simple in their structure ; " and describes them as being for " simple minds," " plain readers," " the common people," " the un- learned," and so forth : thereby insinuating that those explanations are to be suspected which require labor, research, and intellectual culture for their discovery and comprehension. It is readily granted, that the Scriptures are so written, as to be serviceable even to the lowest states of human apprehension, but we do not believe that such a state apprehends the whole truth, contained in any one passage that may be presented to it.* There is just so much seen as the intellectual condition will admit of, and no more. The highest disclosures of divine wisdom, are not to be discerned by the lowest states of the human mind. The simple may receive the Word in simplicity, but the wise man understands it in wisdom, and the latter makes the nearest approaches to its true meaning. The apostle declared the rule when he said, " When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child ; but when I became a man, I put away childish things." (1 Cor. xiii. 11.) The word is rightly viewed when it is regarded, not only as capable of improvmg the heart, but also of enlightening the un- derstanding : and therefore, its wisdom must be adapted to all the advancing conditions of the human mind. It is the wise and friendly character of revelation, not only to assist man in his in- tellectual elevation, but likewise to accompany him in his progress, * " Of those who actually read the Scriptures, multitudes are very im- perfectly able to understand most of what they read." — Timothy D^vight, LL. D. Sermon 152. MAN IGNORANT BUT INNOCENT. 39 and urge hiin onwards by calling attention to superior heights not yet attained. If we do not regard the Word in this light, we over- look much that is solemn and interesting in its objects: in such a case, its reality vanishes like a meteor, and its spirituality perishes like a dream. CHAPTER III. OKIGINAL STATE OF MAX. — TUE SUCCESSIVE nEVELOPMEXT OE HIS MENTAL AND SPIRITUAL POWEKS. — HIS DUTY AND PREROGATIVE AS AN IMAGE OF GOD. — THE EXCELLENCY OF EVERY THING THAT WAS MADE. " The foundations of religion and virtue being laid in the mind and heart, the secret dispositions and genuine acts of which are invisible, and known only to a man's self; therefore, the powers and operations of the mind can only be e^i-pressed in ^gurative terms a?id external symbols." — Du. John Clark. Folio Collection of Boyle's Lectures. Vol. III. p. 229. From the facts and principles which have been laid down, we are somewhat prepared to consider the evidence for regarding the early portions of Genesis as treating, /rsf, of the original state of the most ancient people ; next, of that progressive development by which they became spiritual, and at length celestial men, when they constituted the most ancient church ; afterwards of their de- clming state and absolute fall ; then of the religious condition of succeeding generations ; and, finally, of the state of wickedness which prevailed among the posterity coeval with the flood, by which catastrophe the celestial dispensation perished. Viewed in this light, assisted by the corroborations of other parts of the Scriptures, and the facts of spiritual experience, we shall be enabled to recognize in those portions of the Word, a meaning beautifully consistent with themselves, and in perfect hannony with all the demands of a true mental philosophy ; and, at the same time, disclosing principles whereby to answer every requirement Avhich the most enlarged idea of revelation can suggest. THE BEGINNING. The narrative opens with this beautifully smiplc declaration, — " In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth." The beginning certainly denotes the remotest time connected with the history of the huma» race ; then was the period for commencing the operations subsequently described. But what phenomenon was about to be operated ? We answer, that it was to be a con- 40 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. dition of humanity, in the highest development of which, the Cre- ator was about to produce the image and likeness of himself. It was necessary, in the first place, to provide the planes, through which this development could be accomplished in an orderly way. These are called " the heaven and the earth : " the heaven bemg that internal constitution of man, which connects him with a spirit- ual destiny ; and the earth, that external condition, by which he is related to a natural world. Hence, heaven, considered as the kingdom of God, is said to be Avithin, (Luke xvii. 21 ;) and the earth, regarded as man's outer nature, is so frequently called upon to hear the Word of the Lord. (See Isaiah xxxiv. 1 ; Jeremiah vi. 9 ; xxii. 29, &c., &c.) Of the existence of the internal and ex- ternal man, popular theology is sufficiently cognizant. The apos- tle speaks of them as the inner and outer man. (Ephesians iii. 6 ; 2 Corinthians iv. 16.) From this we learn, that revelation opens with informing us that man, by original creation, was distinguished by an internal and an external nature ; that the former might be taken as an indication that he had been endowed with immortality, and the latter as the announcement of his responsibility But what were his mental and moral possessions ? Of these, at first, we think he must have been obviously destitute. We can hardly conceive the idea of man being created with the experience and information, which mental exertions and moral qualities would seem to imply. Therefore, his original condition, in these respects, could have differed but little from those states, into which he has since been born. Thus he must have been ignorant, but innocent, still possessing all the capabilities for having developed the high- est perceptions of wisdom and the holiest principles of virtue. The state, which has attended the beginning of man in all ages of his perpetuation, may have been designed to inform us w^hat was his condition when first originated. Of the process, by which this was accomplished, we have no revelation, but we are told some- thing of the mental characteristics that first belonged to him. " The earth," is said to have been " without form and void," to de- note, that, as to his external nature, he was destitute of the order, which arises from enlightened teaching, and void of that living ex- cellency, which springs out of active goodness. And to show the accuracy of this view of the subject, we find that a corresponding state is spoken of in precisely similar langua^. When the Jew- ish church had become a desolation, the Lord thus describes its aspect : " I beheld the earth, and lo, it ivas without form and void ; MAN IGNORANT BUT INNOCENT. 41 and the heavens, and they had no light : " (Jer. iv. 23 :) nor Avas there any " man." (Jer. iv. 25.) " Darkness," also, is said to have been " upon the face of the deep," for the purpose of declaring the ig- norance, Avhicli then prevailed upon the perceptive capabilities of the mind. Perception is the " face," because, as it is well known, all its ideas shine forth therein, and are indicated thereby : the mind is the " deep," and hence recondite thinking is somethnes so expressed. . This seems to inform us very plainly that man, by original crea- tion, did not possess either the knowledge, or the love of divine things. This destitution, however, did not arise from the voluntary rejection of those excellences, as has been the case with men in after-ages, but because, as yet, they had not been conmiunicated. His original state, therefore, must have been one of passive inno- cence and docility. He was gifted with capacities merely, that were afterwards to be developed, and by which it was designed that he should love his God above all things, and his neighbor as himself. He was created perfect in the degree of his primeval ex- istence, but not with the possession of those high things in which his capabilities could result. The degree was a faculty to become great, but not greatness itself It is this which distinguishes humanity from the beast. They were at once endowed with all that they were capable of, to the end that they might obtain no more, and so be beasts; but man was created with capacities only, to the end that, by their use, he might knowingly progress in all things that are wise and good, and so be man. The perfection of the former, therefore, is their imperfection ; while the deficiencies ot the latter became the ground- work of his eminence. How long man continued in this primeval state, there is no his- toric information. It is not necessary to suppose that it was any considerable time. Indeed, it is reasonable to imagine, that it was only of short duration. The orderly condition in which his capaci- ties were created, would qualify him to observe instructively, the objects and circumstances by which he was surrounded, and thence he could acquire certain knowledges and moral impressions, which would constitute the intellectual materials on which the divine in- fluences were afterwards to operate. The divine operation im- plies the possession of something on which to operate, and from which the higher excellences should be eliminated. These had been mercifully provided in the human capacities, and the impres- 4* 42 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. sions, ideas, and sentiments that would be made upon them, dur- ing their original and orderly existence. This, then, we conceive to have been the state of man, up to the period when it is said, that "the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." By the spirit of God moving, is meant the divine influences acting ; and the " waters," on which it is de- scribed to have operated, are significant of those knowledges which had been previously acquired. These, by innumerable acts of the divine mercy, were stored up in the mind, and therein pre- served, until that favorable time should arrive when the divine influences might, as it were, brood over them, and so endow them with spiritual life. Those knowledges are here called " the face of the waters," to distinguish them from that ignorance and ob- scurity of mind, which had been previously denominated " dark- ness upon the face of the deep." The ideas here suggested are admissive of some degree of illus- tration, which may come home to the religious experience of many. When a man remembers the innocence of his childhood with de- light, — when he feels gratitude attending his reflections on the anxiety and care, which his rearing and education must have cost his parents, and when he experiences pleasures arising in his bosom with the recollection of those knowledges and attentions, which friends and others have bestowed upon him : — when he experiences such gratifying sensations accompanying the common knowledges of his nature, then it is, that the spirit of God is moving upon the face of the waters : it is brooding * over those knowledges, and indicating the presence of spiritual life therein, by the orderly sensations of delight, and gratitude, and pleasure that are felt. It is interesting to observe, that there is a remarkable analogy between the process here described, as attending the creation of man, and the process, which, under the Christian dispensation, is spoken of as belonging to his regeneration. They are both treated * The Hebrew verb, merachejieth , rendered moved, also signifies the act of incubation, of gently cherishing, of brooding over so as to evolve a something that may live. . . . This harmonizes very beautifully with the fact declared by the Lord when he said, " How often would I have gath- ered you together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings," (Matt, xxiii. 37.) In both instances, there is included the idea of bring- ing its subject into a condition of superior life. In the former case its evolution out of the unfallen capacities of man ; in the latter, the disen- tanglement of it from the influences of iniquity. CREATION SIMILAR TO REGENERATION. 43 of as the result of the divine influence and operation. In the one case, God is said to move " upon the face of the waters ; " in the other it is written " ye must be born of water and the spirit." (John iii. 5.) It is true, that the regeneration insisted on by Chris- tianity, implies the presence of evil, which, in the first creation of man, could not have existed. Nevertheless, there is a great sim- ilarity in the two processes, for the end contemplated by both is the implanting of the divine image in man. In the one case, it was to be done before his fall, in the other, after it. And in this latter case, it may be more difficult to accomplish, because man, as a co-worker with God, has now to contend against his evils, which throw obstacles in the way, and so retard his progress. With this exception, regeneration, considered as a divine work, is very similar to that which is described as his creation. The end of both is the same ; so, also, are the means viewed in their first principles, they being the divine influences. The intermediates are somewhat different. Man is noiv regenerated by the Lord through the external teachings of his Word ; then^ he was created by the Lord through the internal dictates of his wisdom. This flowed into him by an interior way, there being nothing to oppose its entrance ; and therefore, it successively brought forth those excellences of character, which terminated in the development of the divine image. But now, divine wisdom enters into man by an external way, because now there are evils to be removed, which must be seen and acknowledged in the external mind, before that " image " can be restored which the fall obliterated. When this is effected, he is regenerated, being " a new creature ; " for regen- eration consists in the implantation of new thoughts, affections, and intentions, and thus in the actual creation, in man, of new principles of spiritual life and action. Hence it is sometimes called a creation, as in the case of the Psalmist when he prayed " Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." (Psalm li. 10.) It is, therefore, a term declaratory of the actual creation of the orderly principles and development of religious life. It brings into existence, in the state of him who is its subject, a new intellectual and moral activity, which are not experienced and cannot be imagined by the merely natural man, for he, says the apostle, (1 Cor. ii. 14 ;) " knoweth not the things of God." It is, then, the creation and successive unfolding of states conducive to this elevated condition of humanity before the fall, which we believe to be treated of in the first chapter of Genesis. 44 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. The general similarity between creation and regeneration is evident ; therefore, we may sometimes fairly appeal to the experi- ence of the one, for an occasional illustration of the phenomena indicated in the other. It was observed, that the spirit of God moving upon the face of tlie waters, meant the divine influences operating upon those gen- eral knowledges, which man had been enabled to accumulate during the early stages of his primeval existence. And this was the preparatory state to that in which the Lord said, " Let there be light " — light in the mind ; for truth of a, religious nature could now enter into it, and produce some faint degree of mental illumination. THE FIRST DAY. It is to be remarked, that the phenomena of each day's creation is described as having been spoken into existence.* The view we are taking of this narration affords us a beautiful reason for this circumstance. All the evolutions of spiritual life are the results of the Lord's speaking. It is well known, that all the good things of genuine religion have been derived to us from what God has said. Wheresoever we behold any excellence, God has first spoken of it in his Word, and by that speech it has been brought into existence. The external or written Word is the medium for these productions now. It has spoken Christendom into being with all its influences. God said, let there be Chris- tianity, and there was Christianity. But the full blaze of its in- telligence was not suddenly displayed. We are not informed of the time it would require for realizing all its objects. The begin- ning is not to be mistaken for its maturity. The twilight is dis- played before the sun arises to his zenith. God's Word has spoken its magnificence, and his utterances cannot fail. That is the Word Avhich produces the light, which we are conmianded to let shine. That is the speech which brings into being the blade, the ear, the corn, and fruit that we are directed to exhibit. That is the lan- guage which originates the sheep and the lambs, which Peter was commanded to feed. This being the eflfect of God's Word now, we at once see why, in the case before us, the work of every day is prefaced by the sentence " God said." f The things really * " In the beginning was the word. All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made." — (John i. 1 — 3.) t It may be useful to direct the reader's attention to the frequent oc- currence of this manner of expression, in all the Divine communications CREATION BY THE WORD. 45 treated of, were the actual results of that sacred speech. It was a divine dictate impressing itself upon the internal perceptions of men, and designed to bring into successive existence the higher sentiments of wisdom and faith, with all their charities and uses, which, however, are described in its own symbolic way. The insemination of certain ideas of truth was among its first efforts. What God speaks is light to the subject which receives it, but more or less brilliant according to the state of reception. Without a right knowledge, nothing truly useful can be done, and the attainment of that light is among the first efforts of unsullied love, because tliat love, without intelligence, would be a blind impulse. The Lord, then, imparted light ; this he " called day, and the darkness, he called night." These definitions it is important to observe. As day and night are terms expressive of opposite con- ditions in nature, so they are significant of antagonistic states of mind. Whatsoever proceeds from the Lord admits of comparison with day, because it is accompanied by the light of truth, but every thing arising out of man's ignorance is associated with moral mists and darkness, and therefore, it is forcibly represented by the night. The night here treated of, does not at all enter into the composition of that which is here called day, as is the case with the astronomical definition of that period. It is the light which God called day ; this He is said to have divided (distin- guished, is the more correct word) from the night, to express that eternal separation which must ever exist between the truth, which comes from Him and the ideas which arise with us : hence he has pronounced it good, and declared " the evening and morning " of that light to be " the first day." By a day is spiritually signified a state, during the continuance of which, certain mental and moral perceptions appear in the mind, and from which arise correspond- ing performances of duty. On this account, Jesus said, " I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day ; the night Cometh, when no man c an work:" (John ix. 4:) the day here mentioned in the Scriptures, and especially in the prophetical portions of them. And it may not be impertinent to observe, that it has been usual to infer, from the circumstance of God's speaking the world into being, that it was created out of nothing. But out of nothing, nothing can be made ; and the above mode of announcing the subject is rather a declaration that it was made from the Divine Love by the Divine Wis- dom. Whatever might have been the modus operandi, these must have been the origin of creation. 46 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY, alluded to is, plainly, a favorable state for carrying out the divine purposes. Such also is the day in the subject before us. It is generally admitted that it cannot there mean the ordinary idea, derived from the diurnal motion of the earth ; and some other interpretation of it is usually sought for. Many have thought that it denoted a period of indefinite extent. But that is by no means satisfactory. God does not employ ^vords of definite meaning, to express to men indefinite ideas. A notion like that could hardly be pronounced a revelation. Its true reference is to mental state and not to physical time : for the duration of a state is to the ex- perience of the mind, what the continuation of a day is to the experience of the body : and natural days of clouds and sunshine, of storms and serenity, have their correspondence in states of men- tal vicissitude. The six days' creation, then, are to be understood as so many successive states of religious advancement, in the last of which, humanity became an hnage of the Divine. The insem- ination of tlie light of trutli was among the first contributions to this high result, and it was the evening and the morning of this light, which constituted the first day ; for by the evening, is de- noted that dim aspect, under which truth is at first perceived, but by the morning, is signified the more clear and refreshing under- standing of it. It is remarkable, that each of the six days spoken of in tliis chapter, is described to have been constituted by the " evening and the morning ; " all night is entirely excluded from its compo- sition. But, from this more particular definition of the tenn day, we are not to infer that there is any disparity between it and that more general assertion, which declared it to consist of light, for both the evening and the morning obviously include this idea. The reason why the evening and morning are said to be a day ; and why, also, the evening is put first in the order of the expres- sions, is, because the light of the divine truth, which is proper to every state is, in its beginning, seen only as in the shade of even- ing, but afterwards it is perceived more clear and beautiful, and thus as the brightness of the morning, with all its dewy freshness and fertility. The order of our mental advancement, is from ob- scurity to clearness. We do not pass from the evening to tlie night, and thence on to the morning. That is an order which be- longs to the succession of natural time, but not to the progressions of spiritual state ; and, therefore, the term night, proper to the vicissitudes of time, is carefully excluded from the description. THE FIRMAIMENT, 47 Thus, the very order and peculiarity of the expressions said to conGtitute a day, afford a remarkable evidence that a description of spiritual things is the chief purpose of the narrative. But, let us pass on to THE SECOND DAY. " And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters — and it was so. And God called the firmament, heaven : and the evening and the morning were the Second Day." By a firmament, in a merely literal sense, is meant the sky which is above us : bat that, it is well known, does not constitute a partition for any of the waters of nature. Moreover, this firma- ment, brought into existence on the second day, is called " Heav- en." Was this, then, another heaven, different from that which was originally created, for " in the beginning God created the Heaven ? " These indeed, are difficulties ; but they exist only in the letter ; viewed in a spiritual sense they entirely disappear. By the firmament (more properly, expanse) which is now brought into being, is spii-itually meant the development of some of those interior principles of thought, which belong to the internal man. These constitute a mental expanse, which exists somewhat above the terrestrial things of sense ; and they discriminate between the knowledges which are of God, and the knoAvledges which are of men ; and therefore, it is said to divide (distinguish) the waters from the waters ; the v/aters, as before observed, being significant of knowledges. And this firmament — these interior principles of thought — is now called heaven, not because the internal m.an, thereby signi- fied, did not before exist, but because it was now first perceived. How many things are there belonging to our nature, which actu- ally exist a long time before we become properly aware of them ? The internal man exists, and we may have this fact declared to us by infallible authority, still we have no right perception of its truth, until we begin a course of interior thinking. By this, man attains the evidence of its existence, and then believes, and the evenmg and the morning of this state is the second day, for man IS gradually led into this faith from things external to things inter- nal ; from the knowledges of earth to the intelligences of heaven, and thus as it were from the evening to the morning of every state. 48 antp:diluvian history. THE THIRD DAT. On the third day, " the waters were gathered together unto one place ; the dry land appeared ; and the dry land was called earth, and the gathermg together of the waters, seas ; and the earth brought forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit." That by waters are really denoted knowledges concerning re- ligious things, is certain, from a variety of scriptural considerations. As, for instance, in his conversation with the woman of Samaria the Lord said, " Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst ; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (John iv. 14.) In this passage, it is plain, that by water, is denoted those knowledges of religious truth, which rise up in the mind from the acknowledgment of, and a faith in, the Lord. So, also, the Holy Waters, which were seen by Ezekiel to issue from the Banctuary, were at first up to his ankles, next to his knees, then to his loins, and afterwards they became a river that might be swam in, (Ezekiel xlvii. ; ) plainly denoted the successive increase and deepening of those divine knowledges which proceed from the sanctuary, or true church of God. The Lord is said to " lay the beams of his chambers in the waters ; " (Psalm civ. 3 ;) because his chambers denote the interior principles of his church, while the beams thereof signify their strength ; and these are said to be laid in the waters, because they rest and have their sure founda- tion only in the genuine knowledges of the Word, and therefore it is that the Word itself is described as " a pure river of water of life." (Rev. xxii. 1.) From these considerations, it is evident, that the gathering to- gether of the waters into one place, denotes the collection of all such moral and religious knowledges as had been diffusively im- pressed upon the mind, and the storing of them up in the memory as one place appropriated for their reception ; but then, in conse- quence of their extent and depth, together with the intranquillity arising from apparent disagreements, they are compared to the sea. But now it was that the dry land appeared, tliat denoting the unproductive nature of the merely external man. The external man separate from internal and spiritual influences proceeding from the Lord, is as a dry and barren land : none of the good things of love and truth can spring up and grow therein. It is important that this characteristic of it should be known. The THE DRY LAND. 49 collection of the religious knowledges, above adverted to, confers this information, and thereby the " dry land appears." Still, God called it eartii ; that was the name conferred upon the external man at the beginning. It is now spoken of as land, because in this process of spiritual development, it now first appeared with true distinctness ; nevertheless, in order to prevent any misappre- hension of its quality, we are forcibly reminded that it is " earth." By original creation it is low and natural, nor will genuine knowl- edge concerning it ever cause it to appear in any other quality than that which the name " earth " suggests. From the concentration of the same knowledges — for they had now become a sea — the duty was perceived of rendering this earth productive, to "bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit:" which spiritually signifies the production of those orderly uses by which the moral life is to be sustained. The general idea here indicated is frequently repro- duced in the Word. Thus the Lord described himself to be the sower, his Word the seed, and the diversity of moral results as fruits, according to the quality of the respective minds, into Avhich the seed had been cast. (Matt. xiii. 19 to 23.) He also described the progression of man's growth in spiritual things, as " the earth bringing forth fruit, first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." (Mark iv. 28.) There can be no difference of opinion as to the general facts here referred to, and how beau- tifully do those three expressions coincide with what are described, as the productions of the state now treated of; namely, the " grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit." The good w-hich, when knowledge has been implanted, fii'st springs out of " the earth," is somewhat low and delicate, and hence it is called " grass " (more properly rendered, tender herb), after this succeeds the performances of uses of a more vigorous kind, and these, because they are pregnant with a multiplication of delights, are compared to " the herb yielding seed." Then follows good of a superior kind, because acknowledging a higher origin, and this is pronounced to be the " fruit-tree yielding fruit." * How striking are these correspondences ! from what principle can it be denied that such a mode of explanation is the true one ? It recognizes * It is interesting to observe, that there are only three phases of vege- table production here referred to, and that these, from the circumstance of their general utility' to man, are such as to fit them for being employed in this symbolic manner. This must have been the main object of the 5 59 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. and illustrates the canon, of " scripture interpreting itself." The moral and spiritual affections belonging to man, at this stage of his upward progress, are compared to the growing and fruit-bear- ing things of the vegetable world ; because, as yet, he was some- what insensitive to the great fact of their continued dependence upon the Lord ; and thus, that higher life and animation had not been attained, which the objects of the animal kingdom would more properly represent. The collection of religious knowledges, planting them in the memory as the great storehouse of human information, causing the infertility of the merely external man to appear, together witli the effort for rendering it, in some measure, more fruitful in the w^orks of use, are what constitute the third day of the creation, and this, like all preceding states, advanced from a condition of shade to light, wherefore it is written, that " the evening and the morning were the third day." THE FOURTH DAT. The phenomena brought into existence on the fourth day, are thus described : " And God made two great lights ; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night : he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of heav- en, to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness." These words describe to us what are the gi-eat sources of all spiritual and religious illumination, the order which they establish, and the uses they promote. Light, indeed, had previously prevailed : it is stated to have been brought into existence upon the first day, when, also, it is said that God distinguished the light from the darkness : yet now, we are told that upon the fourth day God made other, but superior lights,* whose office was also " to divide the light from the darkness." These, certainly, are embarrassing state- ments, viewed merely in their literal sense. Science has not seen how light and vegetation could exist before the sun. Ingenuity has ventured to suggest a plan, but philosophy has not been satis- fied with the notion, nor can it ever be so, because the premises statement, for, as the narrative does not contain the slightest intimation concerning that vast variety of genera with which the vegetable kingdom abounds, it cannot justly be regarded as having been designed to express their physical creation. * Though the sun and moon may be implied in this description, it is to be remarked that they are not so expressed. THE TWO GREAT LIGHTS. 51 are wrong. The subject treated of is one of those by which a spiritual man was to be evoked, and during that process, light is experienced under two distinctive aspects. The light which is seen by man, in the early stages of his regenerating progress, is very different in its quality, from that which is experienced in hia more advanced condition ; in the former case, it is external, par- taking somewhat of the world ; in the latter, it is internal, deriving a quality from heaven. Thus the li*ht which is treated of as existing during the first three days, represented that external and scientific trutli which properly belonged to the early stages of spiritual development, and by which preparation is made for the reception of those more interior lights of love and faith : therefore, it is said of those lights, that they were placed in the firmament, which God called Heaven, that is, the internal man. By the sun, is represented the warming, enlightening, and fruc- tifying principle of the Divine Love ; and this is said to rule the day, to inform us that it should be a governing principle, in all states of the truly religious character and conduct. By the moon, is denoted the cooler and less luminous principle of truth, still truth derived from love, (in like manner as the light of the moon, nat- urally, is procured from the sun ;) and this is said to rule the night, to teach us the proper dominion of truth, in all states of mental obscurity and darkness. And by the stars, are signified those numerous and varied intelligences, Avhich distinguish a state so far advanced in religious life and excellence, as that which is denoted by the fourth day. These significations could be extensively proved from the Scrip- tures ; but as the most ordinary mind will perceive those analogies, the citation of a single passage must suffice. The Lord, when foretelling the consummation of the first age of Christianity, said, " The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken." (Matt. xxiv. 29.) By the sun being darkened is meant, that heavenly love would be eclipsed : the moon not giving her light, denotes that spiritual truth would fail to illumi- nate ; and by the stars falling from heaven is signified, that religious intelligence would perish from the internal man : and thus, that the whole spiritual character of the Church would experience a convulsion, signified by the powers of heaven being shaken.* * May not the remarkable condition of the Christian Church at this day, be considered as the fulfilment of the above prediction, so under- stood ? 52 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. Now those luminaries were placed in the firmament of heaven, to give light upon the earth ; or, in other words, spiritual love, truth, and intelligence were now fixed in the affection of the internal man, for the purpose of enlightening his perception, and giving life to the moral fructifications of the external man. One, it is said, was to " rule over the day," and the other " over the night," to inform us that love would reign, when the states of illumination prevailed, and* that truth would govern, during the periods of obscurity. They v/ere also " to divide the light from the darkness ; " that is, they were to distinguish the one from the other. This, in the case of the first day, is said to have been done by God, but now it was to be effected by those two lumina- ries. Here, again, the literal sense evokes a» difficulty which nothing can allay but a perception of the spiritual fact. That fact is this. In the former case, as before observed, God is said to have distinguished the light from the darkness, "to express the eternal separation which must ever exist between the truth which comes from Him, and the ideas which arise Avith us." But this distinction is not observed by man in his lowest states : that is the result of a superior condition, when love, and faith, and diversified intelligence, confer their discriminating powers, and so distinguish that which is of man, from that which is of God. Moreover, they were to "be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years," to signify those delightful variations of state, by which man in this superior condition, was to be distinguished. Without such changes, life would be uniform, and the monotony would destroy its happiness : mutations of state are required to preserve it in activity. A continued sameness would blunt the faculties, and produce a sort of death upon the intellectual powers. Man, by creation, is designed for the appreciation of beautiful variety, and hence the diversified existences of external nature, are mercifully adapted to supply him with such enjoyment. Changes of state, then, are to result from the presence of those two luminaries in the mind. Such fluctuations are to be of a two-fold character : love was to change the state of his delight ; truth was to alter the condition of his knowledge, and the former was to be for a sign and a season of his spiritual life ; a sign to indicate its particular, and a season its general condition : while the latter was to be for the days and the years of his intellectual vigor ; the days denoting its particular, and the years its general, aspect. X SIGNIFICATION OF SUN, MOON, AND STARS. 53 Such, tlion, Avere the productions of the fourth day, together with their purposes. We recognize a spiritual idea, even in the minutest expression, "vvhen we consider the narrative as pointing out the process of human development; but find it exceedingly- difficult to educe one that is natural and consistent, when it is viewed as indicating physical phenomena. THE FIFTH DAY. The succeeding state, spoken of as the fifth day, is described to have consisted in causing the " waters to bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven." Here it is important to remark, that it is the loaters which were conmianded to bring forth the creature that hath life : these waters, it was shown above, denoted the knov/ledges of religious truth ; and now, (the man of whom they were predicated having attained a superior elevation of character,) they were endowed with the high capability of bringing into active, moving existence the living principles of religious virtue. When the sun, the moon, and stars, — love, faith, and intelli- gence, — are set up in the affections of the internal man, and begin to impart their light and warmth to the external, then it is that all the vast variety of religious principles begin to live. Before those spiritual luminaries came into being, the man regarded the knowledges he had acquired, and the good he had done, to have resulted from the simple efforts of hmiself, instead of refer- ring them wholly to the Lord. This was among the ignorances of his inferior condition ; so long as that remained, his knowledge did not bring forth that which is alive ; and therefore, that state is compared to g-rass, the herb yielding seed, and the tree bearing fruit, which, after all, are but things inanimate. But when the man is enlightened by genuine love and faith, then his knowledges become the medium for a development of spiritual life, and he at once perceives that the truth which he had known, and the good which he had done, were operated in him by the Lord. This important knowledge is, therefore, the source through which his thoughts and affections acquire real life and animation ; on which account they are now first compared to living things. It is declared, that " every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights ; " (James i. 17 ;) and, also, that " without Him we can do nothing ; " (John XV. 5 ;) He being " the light of life." (John viii. 12.) It therefore 5* 54 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. follows, that whatsoever proceeds merely from the selfhood of man, can have but little of this living principle within it ; and consequently, it may be aptly signified by the insensible objects of the vegetable world : but when all man's thoughts and affections are derived from the Lord, and humbly acknowledged, then they must needs contain within them the principles of moving and imperishable life ; in this case they may be most appropriately represented to us by the objects which really live : these are the reasons why the preceding inferior states are indicated by tilings of the vegetable kingdom, and the succeeding superior states by the objects of animated nature. By the moving creature which the waters were to bring forth, is meant the living affections which pertain to the scientific truths of religion ; * these were commanded to be brought forth abundantly, to denote the multiplicity of uses of which they are productive. But by the moving fowls, are signified the living affections which belong to the intellectual perceptions of religion ; and these were to fly in the open firmament of heaven, to denote the range and freedom which are proper to tliem in the now exalted condition of the internal man. The Scriptures furnish innumerable instances of animals being mentioned to signify affections ; m^any examples will be adduced as we proceed : we shall here only refer to one, in which the Lord said, " I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground." (Hosea ii. 18.) It is plain that by beasts, fowls, and creeping things, are meant certain classes of affections, because the Lord is said to make a covenant with them, which would be altogether unintelligible if applied to such irrational creatures. The Apostle also said, " All flesh is not the same flesh ; but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds." (1 Cor. xv. 39.) * It is to be observed that fishes are the symbolic objects contemplated. The idea of their having been the production of the waters, is here em- ployed to represent the affections of scientific truth, which belong to the external man. These affections are among the lower orders of religious things, and hence they are represented by fishes, they, belonging to the inferior class of living nature. The reason why fishes signify the afi"ec- tions of scientific truth is, because they are creatures of the sea, the sea de- noting the collected knowledges of the natural man. See page 48. The extinction of this affection in the church is, in the Revelation, described as the death of " the third part of the creatures which were in the sea and had life." viii. 9. THE CONSTITUENT OF MAN. 55 Surely, it did not require an Apostle or a Revelation to tell us such common and ordinary facts as these are in their merely literal sense. We therefore, infer that the principal object of those state- ments was to announce the existence of a variety of good affec- tions and tlioughts, which he considered to be symbolized by those Respective branches of animated nature. THE SIXTH DAY. Such, then, were the phenomena of the fifth day, and we now arrive at tlie creations which transpired upon the sixth. This was begun by " God making the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth, after his kind ; and seeing that it was good." From this description, it will be observed, that the order of cre- ation, or spiritual development, is now changed ; in the preceding case, the waters were conmianded to bring forth the moving crea- tures that had life ; but the mention of all mediate instrumentality is omitted in this instance, and God is said to make them. These distinctions are for the purpose of revealing to us the differ- ent orders, through which different classes of human affections come into being. Man first acts from the living affections of scientific truths and so long as he so acts, it is the waters — the knowledges, which bring forth the moving creatures : but when he afterwards begins to act from the living affections of spiritual goodness, then it is said that God makes them, because all that is genuinely good comes to us directly from Him who alone is good. How bright and beautiful are these distinctions, and how true and consistent are they with religious experience ! In the former case, it was only the fish and the fowl — the affection of scientific and intellectual things — that began to live; but in the latter it is the beast, the cattle, and creeping things — the affections of spir- itual good in different degrees — that began to live. The affec- tions of the former state originated out of the commands of truth, and hence it is said that the waters brought them forth, but the affections of the latter state spring directly out of the influences of good, and therefore, it is ^vritten, that " God made them." Hence we learn, that all the circumstances narrated in the chapter before us, preceding that which announces the making of man, are but particular parts of that general result ; they being descriptive of the successive states, through which the human principles were conmiunicated, enlightened, and made alive, and when so enlightened and made alive, he becomes intelligent and 56 Ar^TEDILUVIAN HISTORY. Avise, and then a man is made. Thus, the statement concerning the making of man, does not, in our judgment, relate to the origi- nation of his physical structure : we look upon it as the description of man in the possession of a high degree of spiritual perfection, to which a precedmg series of mental and moral developments had contributed. The ideas of what constitute a man, will change with the aspect under which he is contemplated. If we take a low and corporeal view of him, we shall be led to think that he is a man by virtue of liis form. If we look at him through military eyes, he Avill be pro- nounced to be a man, in consequence of his prowess. The law says that he is a man, when he has lived so many years : and there are many other points, from which the conventionalities of society have so regarded him. But it is not any such ideas as these, which God attaches to the term, when it is used approvingly in his Word. That which is a man, in the divine estimation, is intellectual and spiritual excellence. Hence the Lord, when speaking of the destitution of heavenly love in the church, said, " I beheld the earth, and lo, there was no man." (Jer. iv. 25.) And again, it is written that Jerusalem would have been pardoned of her sins, if " a man" could have been found therein ; (Jer. v. 1 ;) where, by a man, is plainly meant internal superiority of character. This was induced by the Lord upon those human faculties, which he has created for the reception of himself; and, in the proportion in which man received them, he had life from the Lord, and so became an image and lilveness of him ; an " image," so far as he was in charity and faith, but a " lil^eness," so far as he was in love and wisdom. This is the man, about which the Lord has made a revelation, and it is the things constituent of this man- hood, which required a revelation, in order that a knowledge of them may be perpetuated v/ith our race. " God said. Let us * make man in our image after our likeness : " such was the divine proposition, but it is to be observed that the image only was now produced. (See 27 verse.) Those who have been accustomed to view the statements of the Word in some general external idea only, will not instantly recognise the particular distinction which * This plural pronoun may be interpreted consistently, as, indeed, it ought to be, with the idea of one single divine person in the god-head, if we consider it to refer to what must have been the fact, namely, that a plurality of thf Divine attributes were specially exerted in the produc- tions here treated of. See the Author's Work on " The Deity of Jestcs Christ asserted," pp. 23-27. DISCREPANCIES OF THE LETTER. 57 those two terms are intended to convey, and which indeed they must express, unless we consider the lioly spirit to have selected tautological and redundant words ; which idea need only to be named to be rejected. The nature of the distinction is the same as that which exists between things spiritual and things celestial. It is the spiritual man who is the image of God ; the celestial inan is His likeness : but that was a development that had yet to be educed, and of which we shall by and by have occasion to speak. • But after the general declaration, that God made man in his own image, it is more particularly said, " Male and female created he them." That this cannot, consistently with the literal sense, be interpreted to mean the creation of the physical sexes, seems evident ; for when we carefully consult that sense, it appears, according to the second of Genesis, that she was not created on the sixth day at all ; — that she did not come into being, until after Adam was placed in the garden, and thus, not until after the seventh day ! The criticism, which would have the description of woman's creation, as mentioned in the second chapter, to be re- garded as only the detail of what is generally noticed in the first, does not remove these literal discrepancies. Moreover, such a view of the subject is founded in the erroneous idea of these two records being fragmentary pieces, relating to the same circum- stance ; whereas both ought to be regarded, as we shall endeavor to show, in the progress of our exposition, as the revelation of a series of distinct and progressive facts. By male and female, that were now created, are meant, the complete evolution of the two characteristics of the human mind, namely, its intellect and its affection. These were designed to form one mind, and therefore, it is afterwards said of them, that they should be one, which indeed, was realized, when the celestial condition was developed. The characteristic of the intellect, from the force and vigor of its nature, is contemplated as male, and the affection, from the delicacy, grace, and beauty, for w^hich it is remarkable, is spoken of as female : hence, they are distin- guished as the sexes. These two faculties of the mind exist, indeed, in each of them, but it is plain that they have been differ- ently distributed, and it is the distinctive order in which they exist in each, which constitutes their essential difference. The most conspicuous feature in the female character is that of will and its affections ; her intellect is somewhat interior and perceptive. That 58 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. which is most evident in the male is his understanding and intel- lectual energy ; his will is more interior and subdued. It is those mental differences in the natural constitution of the sexes, which fitted them to denote those two faculties in the human mind, w^hicli their leading characters so much resemble. So that that, which has been popularly understood to describe the creation of the sexes is, when viewed in this light, found to be significant of the orderly development of the human will and understanding, and thus, of the due preparation of those faculties for the reception of the divine love and wisdom, and by which reception they -were after- wards to be merged into " one flesh," — one flesh, denoting their intunacy and union in the pursuit of all that is good and lovely. These faculties being developed, it is now said that God blessed them ; the blessing consisting, not in the utterance of a senthnent, but in the ability to enjoy those excellences which had been com- municated. They were, also, commanded to "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it." Fruitfulness is applied to the affections, and their prolifications m all manner of good works of love and use : But m.ultiplication has reference to the increase of the knowledges of truth and wisdom : hence the apostle, treating of the eflfects of the Divine Word upon the soul, says of the Lord, as the implanter of that " seed," that he will ^^ multiply your seed sow^n, and increase the fruits of your right- eousness. (2 Cor. ix. 10.) By replenishing the earth, is denoted the infilling of the external man with all the holy principles of intelligence and virtue ; and to subdue the earth, means to bring the external man into the order and submissiveness which an en- lightened and spiritual love requires : and hence was to result his " dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fow^l of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth : " that is, in his spiritual character, as an image of God, he was to be capa- ble of bringing into subjection all the inferior things of science and intellect, represented by the " fish " and the " fowl," together with all the loAver affections and appetites belonging to his external man, and denoted by " every living thing that moveth upon the earth." These were to be the prerogatives of the man whose pro- gressive development and elevation we have been tracing : they were to consist in the moral and mental government which the hio"her principles of his superior nature were to exercise over his inferior part. And every herb and fruit are said to have been given to hmi, VALUE OF THE SPIRITUAL SENSE. 59 and every beast for meat ; because the state secured would require to be sustained. By the man, is now properly meant that internal humanity which had been developed, and, by tlie beasts, all the orderly affections thereto belonging. Both of these require to be sustained with appropriate food, and this is described to have con- sisted in herbs and fruits, because they signify the truths and goods by which it is effected ; the truths, or herbs, being for the beasts, or spiritual affections, and the good, or fruits, being for the man, as to his internal human delights. Man being made, and these instructions given, it is then said that " God saw every tiling that he had made, and behold, it was very good ; " a statement beautifully expressing the Divine appro- bation of that high spiritual state which had been evolved, and which was emphatically the work of God, as is the case with all good things. Still this state was not one of perpetual brilliance ; it, like all the days which had preceded, had its shade as well as light, and therefore it is said, " And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." The work of human development, thus far advanced, was not ended till the seventh ; but that is a subject which belongs to the succeeding chapter, and to Avhich we shall presently refer. Thus, the six successive days of creation, with all the circum- stances mentioned to have transpired upon each, are representative of the sLx progressive states of human development, together with all the phenomena that were proper to the process : and conse- quently, the narrative is descriptive of the degrees, through which man passed out of the merest rudiments of humanity, into the attainment of the Divine "image. Such are the subjects which we conceive to be treated of in the internal sense, which is the only sense, of this first portion of the book of Genesis. Viewed as a narrative of physical occurrences, it is inconsistent with the facts and discoveries of science, and altogether unintelligible to the fair and free inquiries of reason. This is proven by the whole history of those interpretations, which have taken that notion for their basis. But, regarded as a de- scription of the mental and spiritual elevation of humanity, de- livered in the form of figurative history, it is found to be in har- mony with the best Christian experience, to agree with the soundest requirements of reason, and to be in beautiful consistency with all the disclosures of true philosophy concerning man's origin and nature. 60 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. CHAPTER IV. THE SEVENTH DAY, A CELESTIAL STATE OF MAN. — Gen. U. 1. " There is one law of criticism, the most important to the thorough understanding of any work. It is that, by which we should be led, by continued habits of mind and action, to approximate to that intellectual and moral condition in which the work originated. — The Bible has mind for its subject, that condition of mind, which is heaven, for its object,and the Father of mind for its Author," — Groiotli of the Mind, by Samson Reed. A KNOWLEDGE of things pertaining to the natural world, is to be procured by the natural powers of men. Supernatural communi- cations are not required to inform us of points in science, philoso- phy, or history. Narratives, literally expressing such things, may be employed as the vehicle for higher information, and thence derive a sanctity ; the parties writing them may, also, have been sensibly directed in the selection of such external vehicles, never- theless, they do not properly come within the idea of having required supernatural discovery. A revelation is necessary to bring us acquainted with spiritual things, because they are beyond the reach of the ordinary efforts of the human mind, nor can such things be expressed, in natural language, in any other way than as types and figures ; and there- fore, what has been said concerning the " creation," is but a brief example of that representative and significant writing, which pre- vails through every document that delivers an actual revelation. It is the spiritual truths contained within the letter of the Word, which properly constitutes a revelation' from God, and the Scrip- tures are said to be inspired, in consequence of the presence of such truths. Thus, the Word itself is an inspired writing, apart from the abnormal or inspired condition of the individual, by whose instrumentality it was produced. The letter is only the natural and symbolical continent, employed for the delivery of spiritual truth to man. We do not suppose, that in the preceding exposition, we have anticipated every objection, that may be raised against the literal sense ; or, that we have so stated its spiritual meaning, as to re- move every difficulty, which may lay in the way of its immediate adoption : to effect these results, a more enlarged and particular treatment of the subject would be required, than we proposed to undertake. What has been set forth are only a few of the gen- DEVELOPMENT OF REGENERATION. 61 eral points contained in the chapter, leaving a very large amount of its particular arcana altogether unreferred to. The object has been to place the subject in such a light, as to enable the ordinary- thinker to see, at least, some general resemblance, between the literal description, and the spiritual process, through which a suc- cessive development of human principles, finally resulted in man becoming an image of the Divine. This process we have spoken of as a development It might have been called regeneration, and we should have adopted that tenn, if we had not contemplated some probable confusion by its use. Regeneration, indeed, considered in an enlarged and proper sense, is a development of all the human excellences ; but then it is commonly used to express man's attainment of those graces after he had fallen, and therefore, in treating of that portion of the Scriptures, which speaks of him before that calamity had taken place, it was felt that the expression, development, would exclude that idea, and so enable us to employ the word regeneration, in its more general acceptation, when we come to consider the events by which that calamity was succeeded. Hitherto we have considered the process, by which man was successively raised, as it were, out of a state of nothingness, as to spiritual life, into its full possession and enjoyment. The spirit- ual life of man is that, in which all his affections and thoughts are regulated and determined into act, by a clear understanding of the laws and rules of religious duty. In other words, man becomes spiritual, when he becomes good, by means of truth teaching him what good is. In this case, he becomes a practical reflector of the Divine wisdom, and thence he is called the image of God. This was his condition upon the sixth day. But a seventh day is next treated of, in which a higher state is contemplated. This was a condition of celestial life, in which there is rest and peace, in consequence of the Lord having become the primary object of human love. He who loves the Lord above all things, and from that love perceives and does what is good and true, in all the. descending varieties of duty, is a celestial man. It is a development of the highest condition of humanity on earth. To accomplish this, was the great design of all God's providential works ; and the realization of it is expressed, as being the attain- ment of the seventh day ; hence the Lord is stated to have ended his work and rested thereon ; also, to have blessed and sanctified it. That the seventh day is expressive of this exalted state of 6 G.2 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. man, and thus a realization of the Divine purpose on earth respect- ing him, must be pretty evident to the reflecting. For God caimot be said to have " ended his work," and " rested," in any ordinary sense of those terms. The perpetuation of nature is as much a Divine work as was that of its origination ; and, therefore, suppos- ing the narration to refer to mundane things, the statement that he ended his work on the seventh day, does not agree with the truth, that he is continually working for its preservation. To this it may be mdeed replied, that the statement ought to be understood, only as expressing the end of the work, by which nature was originated. But if this were granted, the diiSculty is not removed ; for after this, God is described to have caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, to have taken a rib out of his side and built it into a woman. The expression, therefore, will not bear such a construction. Neither can it be supposed that rest could be required, unless we venture to predicate fatigue of the Omnipotent, which will be scarcely attempted. It is easy, then, to see, that by God ending his work, and resting on the seventh day, is a symbolic method of expressing the idea, that the Divine purpose in human development was so far com- pleted, and thus, that the Divine love was satisfied ; the rest, not being a cessation of those active providences, by which it had been brought about, but a holy satisfaction with their result. It is admitted, that the seventh day, in this naiTative, cannot mean the seventh day, in the ordinary sense of that expression, because that which is described as the six preceding days, are not days in the ordinary sense ; and therefore, the seventh day, from the circumstances of man, with which it is connected, must be regarded as the emblem of some exalted state. Cruden observes, that this word seven, is used in the Scriptures as a number of per- fection, and that in the sacred books and religion of the Jews, a great number of events and mysterious circumstances are set forth by it. (Concordance, Art. Seven.) It may be useful to cite an instance or two, in which it is employed, without any reference to its numeral import. Thus Isaiah, speaking of the future glory of the church, says, " In that day, seven women shall take hold of one man ; " (Isaiah iv. 1 ;) where, by seven women, are denoted an exalted state of the affections, and by their taking hold of one man, is signified their attachment to, and acknowledgment of the Lord, as that one Divine Being, whom the prophet beheld as " one man." (Daniel x. 5. Marginal reading.) Again, it is written, HOW THE SABBATH IS HOLY ? 63 "She, that hath borne seven, languisheth ;" (Jeremiah xv. 9;) to signify that the church, in which sanctified affection had been conspicuous, was now declining. The Lamb, which was beheld in the midst of the throne, is said to have " had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God : " (Rev. v. 6 :) to denote the perfection of power and wisdom, by which the Lord is distinguished : and thus it is evident, that the number seven, is used to denote completeness and perfection. The seventh day was afterwards called the sabbath, which word means rest, in the original tongue : it also includes the idea of peace. The rest and peace, which God is said to have had, on the sabbath day, signify that merciful repose and heavenly tran- quillity, which are experienced on the part of man, when he rests in the delights of superior wisdom, and enjoys the peace of exalted virtue ; they are plainly the Divine rest and peace within him, and they are predicated of God, to indicate that their existence in man is from him. Almost every one has some idea, more or less distinct, of the number seven denoting something that is holy. This may have originated in the circumstance of the sabbath being the seventh day ; nevertheless, it cannot be the holiness of the day ; for what distinction, in that respect, can exist among the seven ? There- fore, it must be some presumed states of holiness in man, specially exhibited on this day, which is the ground of this idea. Holiness, indeed, belongeth to the Lord alone, and therefore. He is the essential Sabbath ; (Mark ii. 28 ;) consequently, man, so far as he is receptive of holiness from him, may also be considered as a sabbath, by virtue of that excellence. It is on account of this signification of the seventh or sabbath day, that under the representative economy, it was commanded, that no work should be done thereon. They, who attain the celes- tial state, are not, like the spiritual man, to be engaged in the labor, which attends the learning of spiritual truths and duty by an external way ; because, possessing the love of God above all things, which is the highest sentiment of humanity, they will at once perceive what is wise and good, from an internal dictate. Thus the law, which is prohibitory in the letter, declares a blessing in its spirit : and the prohibition was delivered, in order to provide a means conducive to the blessing. Under the same significant dispensation, there was a laAv, de- claring that the transgressor of the sabbath should be put to death. 64 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. (Exodus XXXV. 2.) This, indeed, appears a fierce and sanguinary enactment, nor Avas its letter ever designed for perpetual obligation. It was written for the sake of representing, and so revealing, a spiritual truth, which every one may see to be rational in its nature and continually in force. The sabbath, in the highest sense, is the Lord himself, because He is himself that essential rest and peace, which the word expresses : to violate the sabbath, in this sense, is to reject the Lord, by sinning against him, and thereby to incur the penalty of spiritual death. Hence, then, it is evident that the seventh day, in the subject before us, is mentioned to express the holiness of man, on his attainment of the celestial state. And thus we learn, that the second chapter of Genesis is designed to treat of man, under an aspect superior to that in which he is spoken of in the first. It was seen, that the divine proposition was to create man in his own image and likeness, but that it was the image only which was then effected : the production of the likeness was to be a subsequent work, and this is distinctly declared to have been accomplished. (Gen. V. 1.) It came into existence with man's sabbatical state. He was an " image," in his spiritual degree of life, because he was good from the teachings of wisdom : but he was a " likeness,'' in his celestial degree of life, because he was good from the im- pulses of love. The first chapter of Genesis treats of the creation of the image, or spiritual state ; the second chapter describes the creation of the likeness, or celestial state. And this at once accounts for the circumstance, of there being two descriptions of the creation, marked by somewhat different and distinctive features. Each treats of its own subject : and therefore, we may observe even a difference of terms applied to both man and God. The Supreme Being, in respect to the spiritual man, is called by the single nam.e God, but in reference to the celestial man, he is called Lord God. Also, man's external nature, in the former case, is denominated earth, but in the latter, it is spoken of as the ground : * and tliis is the man of whom it is said, " the Lord God breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives ; and he became a living soul." f The living soul, here spoken of, does not specifically refer to that * The reader is desired to verify these remarkable facts, by referring to the first chapter throughout, up to the third verse of the second, and from thence to the commencement of the fall. t Gen. ii. 7. " Lives," plural, is the true rendering of the original. THE LIVING SOUL. 65 internal part of man, to which his immortality belongs : * that had been communicated before, and was obvionsly implied in his pos- session of the divine image : what is here more properly meant is, that external part of him, which was now to be infilled with the living principles of heavenly life, which are, the truths of faith in the understanding and the good of love in the will. These are the lives, by which his character was now to be distinguished : they were to belong to him, and to be among the sources of his dignity and blessedness. They are proper to a high state of genuine religion; and Christianity contemplates their existence, for it is written, " that man does not live by bread only, but by every ivord, that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live:" (Deut. viii. 3; Matt. iv. 4:) here, by living, is not meant man's natural animus, but his religious life — the life of love in the will, denoted by the " bread," and the life of wisdom in the understanding, denoted by the " word, that proceedeth out of the mouth of tlie Lord." When the soul lives from these prin- ciples, the seventh day is attained, and a celestial man exists. A wise and amiable love is the ground of his faith and action. He possesses a holy freedom, and the ends which influence him, have all a regard to the Lord, his kingdom, and eternal life. What the Lord teaches him, he perceives to be true and beautiful, because he has made a near approximation to that intellectual eminence, which the divine instructor proposed. CHAPTER V. ADAM A RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY. — EDEN, WITH ITS GARDEN AND EAST- ERN SITUATION — HOW TO BE KEPT. " What if earth Be but the shadow of heav'n ; and things therein Each to other like, more than on earth is thought." Milton's Paradise Lost. Book V. litie 574-6. The points, in that most ancient history in the world, to the elu- cidation of which this and the two succeeding chapters are to be devoted, are thus described. * It is generally allowed, that the import of the original words trans- lated " living soul," is not the immaterial spirit of man, but the organic life of the animal frame; for the same words are rendered "creature that hath life" and "living creature," see Gen. i. 20-24. This is the opinion of Grotius, Hewlett, Dr. Pye Smith, and other eminent scholars: and thus, it very satisfactorily agrees with the spiritual idea advanced above. 6* 66 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. " And tlie Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden ; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 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. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden ; and from thence it was parted into four heads. The name of the first is Pison ; that is it which encompasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good : there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon : the same is it which encompasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. The name of the third river is Hiddekel ; that is it which goeth toward the east of As- syria. And the fourth river is Euplirates." — Gen. ii. 8-14. Here, to all appearances, we have described the first natural garden, which was the result of the divine planting, together with some intimation of its geographical locality and adjacent features. But if these statements be inquired into, with the light and free- dom belonging to a period, when it has become allowable to exam- ine intellectually the things of faith, we shall have the strongest evidence for believing them to treat of the religious states of living men, and not of the vegetable production of insensible earth. The primary object of the Scriptures is, to make a revelation to man ; to show him the things which pertain to his inner character ; to disclose the philosophy and display the principles of spiritual life : to point out the nature of his future existence ; and exhibit to him those causes, which conduce to weal or woe, in that other stage of being, for which this is but the preparatory world : and specially to keep before his mind's eye and inner life, an intel- lectual faith in God, and practical charity towards mankind. These are the leading things of revelation; things which can be known to us by no other means than a revelation. The sciences and philosophies of nature cannot teach them. No acquaintance with physical phenomena, however extensive or profound, can unfold to us any information upon truly spiritual subjects. When they are di\Tilged, natural philosophy may afford us materials for their illustration, but it cannot discover them. The utmost skill in the anatomy of the body, has never enabled its professor either to detect, or determine, any fact about the soul. It is of a different substance, and belongs to another world — a world which God knows, and concerning which man could have known nothing, if God had not condescended to inform him. The means which he FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE NATURAL. 67 has employed to make these communications, is the language of men, so constructed as to embody and convey the mind of God. Nor is tliis all, but even the genius of the language which pre- vailed Avith men, during that particular epoch when revelation was being vouchsafed to them, has been bended into this merciful ser- vice. Figure is the form, in which the primitive genius of lan- guage has displayed itself. Tliis to us, at first sight, may appear somewhat artificial ; but a little reflection must show it to be gen- uinely natural, so much so, that it requires a considerable amount of art, to construct a sentence without having recourse to it. The language of a primitive people must needs have been eminently figurative ; * and therefore, a revelation vouchsafed during its prevalence would, obviously, partake very largely of such a style. The mental genius and modes of expression that were extant, would be made to subserve the purposes of embodying divine ideas. If tlie antediluvian narratives are the most ancient in the world, and really refer to. the aborigines of our race, and if it be true, that the language of figure is the natural and spontaneous utterance of human thought ; then it will follow, that these docu- ments ought to be so regarded. It is not consistent criticism, to judge of the literary production of a remote and highly poetic people, by that matter-of-fact standard of writing, which is required in a prosaic and scientific age. But supposing the occurrences to have been such as they are described ; supposing that we saw no difficulties in tlie way of believing the whole narrations to be literally true ; supposing the circumstances mentioned squared with our knowledge of physics, and that they were in strict agreement with the perceptions or demands of reason ; and supposing the history to express in the letter, all the ideas that were intended : of what spiritual advan- tage would such knowledge be to man ? Would it raise him one step upon the way which leads to heaven? We grant that it would satisfy our natural curiosity, to know something certain about the beginning of things ; we admit that our worldly infor- mation would be extended by it : we concede that, for the learn- ing and scientific condition of the world, it would be useful, but * Dr. Hugh Blair was also of this opinion. His words are, " The style of all the most early languages, among nations who are in the first and rude periods of society, is found, without exception, to be full of figures ; hyperbolical and picturesque in a high degree." — Rhetoric and Belles Lettres. Sec. 6. 68 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. of what real service would such earthly information be to our spir- itual well-being. If we knew that the world was created out of nothing ; if it were certain that the first man was made from red earth ; * if it were physically demonstrable, that the first woman originated from his rib ; if it were credible, that life and knowledge once grew upon a tree ; if it were evident, that a serpent could talk : still, the utmost that could be said of such facts is, that they were extraordinary events peculiar to the natural world in its beginning : yet this would not raise man's thought above terrestrial things, or furnish him with any information concerning his spirituality, his futurity, or duty ;f and when it is seen that all these things are the antagonists of good reason, it is evident, that they can have no relation to man's inner consciousness, his spiritual condition, his religious development, or heavenly hopes. If we confine our ideas to the letter, it is plain that we limit them to the things of this world. We should endeavor to eliminate the spiritual things, which, as a revelation, they are intended to communicate. If vv^e overlook this duty, we shall lose sight of its practical character. The apostle says, " the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life ; " (2 Cor. iii. 6 ;) which plainly means, that the literal sense confines to this world, and that it is the spiritual sense which discloses spiritual life, and so points to its condition in the world which is to come. Moreover, the Lord has told us that " His words are spirit and life," (John vi. 63,) a sentiment applicable to the whole Word, and not merely to the context in which it occurs ; and con- sequently, to the antediluvian narrations. The internal or spiritual sense of those ancient documents is their only sense, — at least, we have not succeeded in discovering any other: that sense agrees with the designs of revelation, to disclose ideas upon spiritual subjects, and its truths are felt to be so, because they reach our human consciousness — they echo to the voice of intuition and express the sensations of experience. We have stated that the development — the spiritual creation * Adam was so called, as critics and commentators suppose, from the red earth of which it is imagined he was formed, — Robertson's Clav. Pent. p. 16. t "Although the light of nature, end the works of creation and prov- idence, do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable ; yet they are not sufficient to give that knowl- edge of God and of his Will, which is necessary unto Salvation." — Westminster Coirfession of Faith, Art. 1. SPIRITUAL SENSE THE ONLY SENSE. 69 of the human principles of religious life and actions, treated of under the figure of a natural creation, was a reality possessed and enjoyed by the man of the most ancient times,* The narrative teaches us not only the order by which, from being " void " and dark, he was filled with spiritual principles and gifted with intel lectual light, but it chronicles a fact which distinguished him as an early inhabitant of our world. It is historically true, understood in reference- to his internal state. He was actually raised into that spiritual and celestial eminence, so forcibly expressed by being in the image and likeness of God. But in what sense are we to view this man ? Is he to be con- sidered merely as an individual, or to be regarded as a community ? We think that the latter and not the former is the true idea con- nected with this subject ; and we believe this idea to be clearly recognized in verbal expressions, as well as in more general state- ments. Although the history is not to be taken in its literal sense, yet its language and intimations are constructed on the idea of extant society, and they may fairly be referred to, as affording evidence upon this question, which must be received as important by those who insist upon the literal sense only. There are several circum- stances so mentioned, as to imply the existence of society apart from that of Adam, or his posterity. When, according to the common reading of these narratives, there were only three inhab- itants upon the earth, we find that Cain, after the fratricide he had committed, said, "My punishment is greater than I can bear — and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me. — A mark also was set upon him, lest any one finding him should kill him." (Gen. iv. 13, 14, 15.) These statements evidently imply the existence of society : why should Cain fear every one that found him, if there had been none to find him but his parents ? and of what use could have been the mark set upon him, if there had been none but Adam and his Avife to see it and be warned by itf They must have known him without such sign. These cir- * "When you talk of a man, I would not have you tack flesh and blood to the notion, no, nor those limbs neither which are made of them ; these are but tools for the soul to work with : and no more a part of the man than an axe or a plane is a piece of a carpenter." — Collier. t This difficulty has long been acknowledged ; but it is usually met by siq}posi7ig that Adam might have had other sons and daughters, before this time, whose births are not mentioned, and from whom such a popu- lation might have descended. — See Docld, Bishop Patrick, Rev. J. Hew- 70 Ai\TEDILUVIAN HISTORY. CLimstances show, not only that society then existed, but also, that it was influenced by a moral sentiment, which could reject and condemn a felon's crime. But there is another fact equally strong, bearing upon this point. When Cain Avent into the land of Nod, he is said to have had a wife and built a city, which he named after his first-born son, Enoch. (Gen. iv. 17.) If there had not been society, where could he have obtained his wife, or procured the workmen necessary for such erections ? Moreover, of w^hat use could have been such a city, if there had been no society to inliabit it ? From these facts, adverted to before, (page 29,) it is fairly to be inferred, that a peo- ple were noAv in existence, for whom no relationship can be traced to Adam, and of whose origin we have no history. The employ- ment of Abel, as a keeper of sheep is, also, favorable to the same conclusion : for what else but the existence of society could have originated such an occupation. Now, if there were such a people, and of this we think there can be no well-founded doubt, why may not Adam mdicate the exist- ence of a community, who had been gradually separated from the general mass, and had induced upon them those excellences of character, to which we have adverted. That which is apparently predicable of. an individual, may with equal propriety, be said of a number of persons: and therefore, the narratives relating to Adam, instead of being the personal history of one man, may be the spiritual history of a highly cultivated people, with whom a church existed ; and, because it is the oldest of which we have any record, may be called the most ancient church. There is surely nothing irrational in this inference. But is there any more direct proof of such an idea ? We think there is, and that it is afforded by the very name. When the Lord said, " Let us make man ; " the proposition could not refer to the individual, but to the lett, 4,c. Dr. A. Clark supposed that Adam at 130 years of age, had 130 children : he next supposed each of these to have had a child at the age of 65, and that they continued to have one every succeeding year, which would, in the 130 years, amount to 1219 persons, whom, he supposed, to have excited Cain's apprehension, and founded the city, which he has called the Tillage of Enoch. — Commentarxj on Gen. iv. 14. We should like to have been favored with data for these suppositions of this pious and excellent man ; they should be contained in the history, and Ave ask the reader carefully to examine it, and see if he can find them : Ave have made the effort but have failed. Had Ave succeeded, it would not at all have affected the general AdeAV Ave are attempting to unfold. THE apostle's REFERENCE TO ADAM. 71 race. Man is put for mankind, and so it is to be taken as express- ing that wider sense : this indeed is evident, for it is immediately- added "and let them have dominion." (Gen. i. 26.) But the original word, translated man, is Adam, and this is distinctly as- serted to have a collective signification, for it is written that the Lord " called their name Adam in the day when they were created ;" (Gen. V. 2 ;) male and female are here, indeed, specifically meant ; but there are abundance of other instances in the Scriptures, where the term is employed in the sense of mankind, or the human race in general. And that this is its true import, seems evident from the circumstance of its never being found in a plural form, though it is acknowledged, that there is no grammatical difficulty in the way of its being declined, by the dual and plural termina- tions, and the prenominal suffixes. (Kitto's Cyclopeedia, Art. " Adam.") Now the term Adam occurs in the second and third chapters of Genesis, no less than nineteen times, and in every case it is put with the definite article : as, then, it is not the actual ap- pellation of an individual, but a nominal expressive of kind, it will follow, that the terms, the Adam, or the man, must describe the people, — the community, — the society, — the church, or what- ever word else may be thought more fitting to express the idea of a human association, possessing the solid acquirements of a genu- inely spiritual religion. It may be supposed that Adam's individuality is asserted by the apostle where he says, " As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (1 Cor. xv. 22.) This statement is both elliptical and symbolic. It is evident, however, that by the dying of Adam is meant the sin which was committed. But as this can be perpetrated by a comnmnity, and be spoken of under a collec- tive name, it does not interpose any real difficulty in tha»way of the conclusion to which we have arrived. The fall of the Adamic church caused sin, the establishment of the Christian church is to promote deliverance. The apostle also says, "The first man, Adam, was made a living soul." (1 Cor. xv. 45.) In this there is nothing inconsistent with our view. " The first man, Adam," is a phrase, as applicable to the first community dignified by religious manhood, as to an individual : and " the living soul " of which he speaks, was the holy genius by which they were distinguished. This is plain from what has already been said of the original pas- sage to which the apostle here refers. The successive developments of character described of the 72 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. Adam, were the progressive advancements of the community so denominated. They consisted of spiritual and celestial excellences, which were actually enjoyed, not by an individual merely, but by a whole people, who lived in some exceedingly remote period of the past, and who, from the superiority of their character, consti- tuted what we prefer to call a church, and consequently, it is the most ancient, because it is the earliest of which we have any re- vealed or authentic records. Understanding, then, that by Adam is meant a highly cultivated and innocent community, we next come to inquire concerning the " garden eastward in Eden," where the Lord was pleased to put them. It is evident, if Adam were a people, among whom a dispensa- tion of divine blessings was received and enjoyed, that they must have occupied some position in the world's geography. But it does not follow that God has made the knowledge of that place a subject of revelation. Nor is any information concerning it de- rivable therefrom. There have been a great variety of positions claimed for it ; these, however, are now reduced to nine theories,* not one of which answers to all the conditions which the problem demands. Travellers have sought for it with much industry and diligence, but no locality has been discovered which responds geographically, to the antediluvian descriptions. It may be said to have had some of its original features so disturbed by the flood, as to alter its identity. This is plausible, supposing the narrative to have been written with a view to geographical definition, and the flood to have been really an inundation of water. These, however, are points which need not detain us. We think that there is good reason for believing it to have been situated in some part of South- ern Asia, but the precise locality is not so easily determined. It might have been in Palestine, as some of the best writers upon this subject have been led to believe. Byt if we were sure of the precise spot, what would be its use, beyond the circumstance of adding another fact to our geographi- cal knowledge ? If we were influenced in our reflections concern- ing it, by the mere letter of the Word, it might be turned to some account. We might say, in this spot, Adam was placed before he was a week old, and, without the least experience, commanded to * Rosenmttller's Biblical Geograph)' of Central Asia, translated by the Rev. N. Morren, pp. 91-98, Edinburgh, 1836. THE USE OF KNOWING WHERE EDEN WAS. 73 dress and keep the garden. It was here, that grew the tree of life, and hard by flourished the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It was here, that the first progenitor of our race lived but one day in the enjoyment of his felicity, he having sinned and was expelled the next. This was the place, where the serpent rea- soned and seduced the first pair, of whose existence and malicious capabilities they were not informed. It was here, that the Lord God walked in the cool of the day and called for Adam. It was here, that the cherubim were placed, and the flaming sword which turned every way. Such, we say, might be the train of our reflec- tions, if we knew the geographical Eden, and were influenced in our meditations by nothing more than the mere letter of a figura- tive narrative. But if we were under the persuasion of those popular theologi- cal speculations, which have been educed out of these remarkable narrations, we might still further say : Here it was, where Adam, our federal head, transgressed the law, and induced the penalty of guilt upon unborn myriads of his race. This was the scene of that occurrence, which aroused the indignation of the Almighty, and caused Him to pronounce a curse upon the whole family of man. Here, was the locality of that event, which led God the Son to take upon himself the penalty of transgressors, and, in after-tunes, to suflfer as the substituted victim for sin. It was here, that the circumstance transpired, by which God the Father was led to accept the sufferings of His innocent Son, in lieu of the punishment of guilty man, and which they are to believe is justice, by the persuasions of the Holy Ghost. These, we say, might be the tenor of our remarks, if we actually knew the Eden of the world, and were influenced in our reflections concerning it, by the mistaken theology of our day. But the place of the natural Eden is an undiscoverable spot, and therefore, any advantages which might accrue from the above train of thoughts, must come, if they come at all, independently of such information. To know it, as a portion of the geography of the earth, would not convey to us any knowledge of the principles of heaven. We could there see but little more of the finger of God, or the footsteps of the Almighty, than we may behold in the broad lands, the fertile fields, and cultivated gardens of our own country. We need not go to Asia, in search of natural evidences of the wisdom and benevolence of our Creator: they are abundant in Europe, and we may discover them at our own door if we are so 7 74 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. disposed. It is the state of our souls wliich the Scriptures con-- template : it is that of which they treat, and places of our bodies are sometimes employed to represent that condition. Such is the case with Eden and its garden on the East. Though we do not laiow their " local habitation," we are acquainted with the signifi- cation of their " names." And we feel assured that the chief object of their being mentioned in the Scriptures, is to express that pleasurable condition of love and light, which was enjoyed by the people of the most ancient church, whose name was Adam. It was when man had attained the seventh day — that state of holiness of which the sabbath was significant — that " the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden." It is commonly sup- posed, that the Lord did no work upon the seventh day, but this is not declared : it is said that he ended his work thereon, which plainly means that some was done. The work of the Lord con- sists of the influence of his grace to make man wise and good. And the state of holiness, represented by the seventh, or sabbath day, was of a celestial quality, and thus somewhat different from that which was signified by the six preceding days. These days denoted states of spiritual labor, in which it was first requisite to acknowledge the movings of the Divine care ; then procure the light necessary to separate him from darkness ; next educe the fruit-bearing principles of morality, afterwards admit the illumina- tion of love and faith, then bring forth the living affections of religious intelligence, and the sixth day he became a spiritual man — an image of God. It was now that the " heavens and the earth were finished," that is, the affections proper to the internal and external of tlie spiritual man were completed. Yet it was not until the seventh day that God ended his work. That was the day which God is said to have sanctified, because it was significant of the celestial man, who performs all the duties of religion from a principle of love ; and none are ever felt as labor. The distinction of these two states, and the circumstance of the former being treated of in the first chapter of Genesis, and the latter in the second, are spoken of above. When Adam, the most ancient people, for God called their name Adam, reached to a celestial state ; — when they became princi- pled in love to God, as the ruling delight of all their affections and thoughts, they were obviously in the possession of a felicity, arising from the tranquillity of purity and peace. This state is EDEN LOVE ; GARDEN INTELLIGENCE. 75 one of surpassing beauty. It is not merely that cessation from labor, which occasionally attends the process of intellectual devel- opment, and which labor may afterwards have to be resumed ; but it is a rest arising from having attained the summit of human ex- cellence below, and which nothing can produce but the interior life of loveliness and wisdom. Now it is the possession and enjoyment of this superior state of heavenly love which is denoted by Eden.* Hence the word, as a Hebrew expression, denotes what is pleasant and delightful ; it also signifies tenderness, loveliness, and beauty. A pure and elevated love is always productive of high and sanctified delights, and it is God alone, who can place man in the full enjoyment of them. When man loves God above all things, and lives in charity with all men, from the influence of His love, he dwells in Eden, for it is then that he dwells amidst delights and pleasantness, loveliness and beauty. This we understand to have been the Eden of which the Scriptures speak, and into Avhich the men of the more ancient church were introduced. This is the Eden which we believe the Lord is desirous avc should again know, and to the discovery of which he is wishful to direct our solicitude and attention. But there was a garden in this Eden. They are two different things. Love is not a solitary principle : it is always attended by its corresponding intelligence, and this is represented by the garden which is said to have been planted eastward in Eden. We grant, indeed, that by God planting a garden may be meant his giving * Dr. Adam Clark observes, that "It would astonish an ordinary reader, who should be obliged to consult different commentators and critics on the situation of the terrestrial Paradise, to see the vast variety of opinions by which they are divided. Some place it in the third heaven, others in the fourth ; some A\-ithin the orbit of the moon, others in the moon itself; some in the middle region of the air, or beyond the earth's attraction : some on the earth, others under the earth, and others within the earth ; some have found it at the north pole, others at the south, some in Tartary, some in China, some in the Island of Ceylon ; some in America, others in Africa, under the Equator ; some in Mesopotamia, others in Syria, Persia, Arabia, Babylon, Assyria, and in Palestine; some have condescended to place it in Eurojje, and others have contended that it either exists not, or is merely of a spiritual nature, and that the whole account is to be spiritually understood." — Com. Ge)i. ii. 10. The Dr. certainly believed that there was such a place, but he was not very certain about its locality. Does not all this show the necessity of seeking for it, only in the state of a wise and happy people ? 76 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. fertility, and causing growth, in some particular situation : and we admit that it is highly probable a superior people would be placed in some position favorable to vegetable luxuriance and beauty, because we think it is a law of mind, to express itself, not only in significant words, but to indicate itself by representative circum- stances : nevertheless, we conceive that the true object of a garden being here mentioned, was to denote the existence of a cultivated intelligence, and that it is said to have been in Eden, to signify that the ground of intelligence was in a purified love. Surely every one may see, that a beautiful garden is the appro- priate symbol of an elegant mind : * what else but such a mind can in reality be the garden of God ? Is not such a mind of his planting ? is not the fruit of such a mind of his groAvth ? and is not the felicity arising from the possession of such a mind among his good and precious gifts. We instantly perceive tlie truth of this : it comes to us at once : the reason is, because, when the mind is enlightened by the suggestion, it passes, as it were sud- denly and spontaneously, from the physical to the mental idea. This general resemblance may be confirmed by more particular analogies. Thus, as the good and beautiful things of a garden spring up to their perfection, only as they are set and taken care of by human industry and skill : so the true and useful things of the mind come forth in their completeness, only as they are planted and preserved by the wisdom and goodness of God. In a garden, there is nothing cultivated but what is useful and delightful for the rational man ; so in the minds of the intelligent, nothing is permitted to grow but what is requisite and necessary to promote some Christian grace. The Lord Jesus Christ most certainly viewed the mind under this aspect, when he taught his beautiful parable of the sower. The "seed," said he, "is the Word of God," and "he that re- ceiveth the seed into good ground, is he that heareth the Word, and understandeth it ; %vhich also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some a hundred fold, some sixty, some thirty." (Matt. xiii. 23.) Every one must see that this description of the mind, as arising * Origen asks, *' Who is so weak as to think that God planted a garden, like a husbandman, and in it a real tree of life, to be tasted by corporeal teeth (tongue ;) or that the knowledge of good and evil was to be acquired by eating the fruit of another tree ? And as to God's walking in the garden, and Adam's hiding himself from him among the trees, no man can doubt that these things are to be taken figuratively and not literally." GARDEN OF EDEN ILLUSTRATED. 77 from the reception and understanding of the Word, is founded in its resemblance to a garden. Moreover, the Scriptures, on several occasions, compare the church to a garden. Thus, of the righteous it is written, that his soul should be as a watered garden \ (Isaiah Iviii. 11 ;) and of the captived Israelites it was predicted, that they should " plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them," (Jer. xxix. 5 ;) which plainly means, that the church in bondage, which they then represented, would ultimately become intelligent and enjoy its advantages. It is because the garden of Eden signifies the intelligence of love, as possessed by the church of those ancient times, that it is written, " The Lord Avill comfort Zion, and he will make her wil- derness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord." (Isaiah li. 3.) Here, by Zion, is meant the church ; the wilderness and desert denote its deficiencies in truth and faith, but which nevertheless, will become like Eden, w^hen it is influenced by love ; and like the garden of the Lord, when distinguished by intelli- gence. They are said to be like the others, because they will, in some measure, be the reproduction of their excellence. But the prophet distinctly refers the wisdom and knoAvledge of the church, to the circumstance of having been in Eden, the garden of God. His words are, " With thy wisdom and thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches ; — thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God." (Ezekiel xxviii. 4 - 13.) Upon this point, then, we need not further dwell : we plainly see that it is employed as a beauti- ful symbol of that fruit-bearing intelligence, which is the proper inheritance of the celestial man. But this garden is said to have been eastward of Eden, to denote that the intelligence of the Adamic Church, derived its illumination and warmth wholly from the Lord. For, as the sun of nature is always ascending in the east, as the earth is perpetually rotating upon its axis towards him ; so the Lord, as the sun of righteous- ness, is represented by the east, eternally rising upon human minds, as men turn themselves to him, to receive the warmth of His love and the light of His wisdom. That the eastern sky, at the time of sun-rising, is, from its splendor and magnificence, a beautiful representation of the Deity in his majesty and glory, may be easily perceived. The Scriptures frequently mention this region in this sense. A strong example is given by the Prophet, where he says, " Behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east." (Ezekiel xliii. 2.) The earliest tradi- 78 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. tions of all knowledge, whether human or divine, are associated with some ideas of the east : and wise men are said to have come therefrom,* to indicate that all genuine wisdom in man is com- municated to him from the Lord. We also read, on several occa- sions, of the children of the east, because they represented all those who are possessed with the knowledges of truth and good from the Lord. (Judges vi. 3 ; viii. 10 : 1 Kings i. 4 - 30.) This idea is the source of that holy custom, which once prevailed, of turning to the east in times of prayer. It is, also, the origin of a similar observance in certain christian churches at this day, on the repetition of their creeds ; a circumstance which shows that a cus- tom may exist long after the reason for its adoption has ceased to be attended to. From these facts and considerations it is evident, that the de- scription of Adam's being placed in the garden eastward in Eden, was intended to signify the state of his intelligence and love, together with his continued acknowledgment, that those blessings came to hun from the divine munificence and care. And this garden is said to have been planted by the Lord, to teach us that the insemination of every spiritual seed, and the growth of all celestial virtue, are derived from Him : they are, as the prophet says, branches of his planting and the works of his hands, that he * Matt. ii. 1, It deserves, also, to be remarked, that those mse men are said to have seen his star in the east, (verse 2.) This is commonly understood to mean, that they beheld the star in the eastern quarter of the sky. But this cannot be the true idea. (See Campbell's Four Gosjiels, translated from the Greek.) The star which they saw must have been really in the west, for they were guided by it out of the east country westward, towards Jerusalem. The meaning, therefore, is, that the wise men were in the east at the time they beheld the star. This agrees Avith the first verse ; and, it is necessary to express the spiritual sense, which is, that a state of illumination from the Lord is necessary to direct us where to find Him. "We may also observe, that commentators have felt great difficulty in discovering what is meant by the word east, as used in several parts of Scripture. Calmet confesses it, on the ground, that He was compelled to admit that it seemed to mean places North of India. {For a sum- mary statemettt, see Crudeti, Art. East. (Others have seen that it is some- times used without any regard to the eastern quarter of the heavens. (See Rev. J. F. Denham, 31. A., F.R.S., Kitto's Bibl. Cyclopcedia^ Art. East.) Of this, there can be no well founded doubt; the reason is, because it refers to the Lord, and the internal sense of the context required that it should be so employed. THE TREES OF THE GARDEN, ETC. 79 may be glorified. (Isaiah Ix. 21.) Such was the garden into which Adam — the most ancient church — was happily introduced, and Avhich he was mercifully required to " dress and to keep: " — to enjoy, but to acknowledge that it was the Lord's, since it was only by such acknowledgment that the blessing could be kept. CHAPTER VI. THE TREES OF THE GARDEN: SPECIFICALLY THE TREE OF LIFE, AND THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL. " Know that in the trees, fountains, and other things, of the garden of Eden, were the figures of the most curious things by which the first Adam saw and understood spiritual things." — Rabbi Simon Bar Abraham, as cited from Hutchenson's Hebreto W7-itmgs, by the Rev. E. Madeley in his " Science of Correspondences Elucidated,'" p. 125, note. The peculiar language applied to the trees of the Garden of Eden, and, specifically, the remarkable names given to two of them, contribute some additional proof of the facts attempted to be established in the preceding chapter. We shall show, that they are intended to represent some of those particular conditions of that intelligence and love, which we have seen to be the general inheritance of a superior people — the most ancient church. It is admitted that "much more seems intended" by those trees, than what appears upon the surface, and although, in some quar- ters, difficulties have been felt in detennining what that is, the cause of them is not so much in the thing itself, as in the predis- position of certain minds, to discover some physical meaning where it is not intended. (Dr. A. Clark's Commentary on Genesis ii. 9.) The Jews interpreted the prophecies, announcing the com- ing of the Messiah, to mean the raising up of an earthly prince, in order to confer glory upon the worldly kingdom of Israel. They made up their minds with this mistaken idea, and thus produced a difficulty in understanding the true meaning of those predictions : so much so, that they were actually fulfilled in the manifestation and mission of Jesus Christ, without its being acknowledged by that obstinate people. The confessed difficulty in comprehending what is meant by the trees of the garden, though different in kind, IS the same in pnnciple. Some physical notion has been con- ceived concerning them, whereas some mental condition is really meant. " Life " and " knowledge " are not vegetable productions, they are spu-itual and intellectual existences : and the attempt to 80 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. find the former, in a narrative constructed only to express tlie latter, must be as fruitless as the endeavor to find " Fire in ice, Or darkness in the blaze of sun-shine." There existed in the garden four sorts of trees, ^r^f, those which were " pleasant to the sight ; " second, those that were " good for food ; " third, " the tree of life which was in the midst of the garden ; " and fourth, " the tree of knowledge of good and evil." (Gen. ii. 9.) They who have viewed those statements in a merely literal sense, suppose the trees " pleasant to the sight," to have consisted in all such as are elegant in their structure, producing a beautiful variety of flowers, and exhibiting to the eye a rich magnificence of color. It has also been thought, that those which were " good for food," meant all such as were productive of luxuriant fruits, suitable for human sustenance and health. There can be no well-founded objection to a belief that gardens did exist among the Adamic people, or that trees of a delightful and exuberant character grew w^ithin them. But still it must be higher facts than these, w-hich were intended by the description. These only contemplate the pleasure of the senses and the nutri- tion of the body. But revelation is grounded in deeper and inner things : it regards the delights of the mind, and the sustenance of the soul ; and therefore, the elegancies of nature are borrowed and employed for their symbolical indication. That this must be the main object, for which those trees are mentioned, seems evi- dent from " the tree of life," and " the tree of knowledge of good and evil," with w^hich they are associated. The very names of these forcibly express spiritual and intellectual things. We are aware, that " the tree of life " has been thought to have been a tree possessing certain medicinal virtues, which were to be a means for the preservation of the body, and to act as an antidote against death. We are likewise aware that '• the tree of knowl- edge " has been considered as a tree distinguished by some pe- culiar property, which, w^hen taken, was capable of increasing knowledge. But these notions appear to us rather as the efforts of a lively imagination, than as the result of a solid judgment. The idea of a medicinal shrub being called the " tree of life," or a stimulating esculent, " the tree of knowledge," may be plausible to some, but Ave do not see how it can be truth to any. The former idea concerning the " tree of life " is founded upon the persuasion, OPINIONS ON THE TWO TREES. 81 that man's natural body was intended for immortality. This is the notion which has suggested that invention ; if that be taken away, and surely science has most effectually done so,* then it is instantly left without a resting place, and so must perish. But the supposed perfection of man necessarily excludes the idea of this tree being a medicinal shrub. The latter notion, relating to the tree of knowledge, may have originated in the circumstance of opium, and other stimulants, having been employed for the purpose of exciting the imagination. I know of no other ground (which indeed is admitted) for such a suggestion ; (Dr. A. Clarke's Com- mentary ;) but there is no analogy between the actual occurrence and the supposed fact. A vegetable stimulant, by which, it is said, man may be induced to display his knowledge, and the pro- duction of a tree, wiiich is supposed to communicate knowledge, are two essentially different things. The one is to induce partial intoxication on the body, the other is to secure intellectual infor- mation to the soul. But, even if any resemblance could be estab- lished between the two ideas, and an argument founded thereon to favor the supposition, then it would remain to be shown, how man could have been in a state of perfection, when he must have been destitute of the knowledge which this tree was adapted to communicate ; and also, how the eating of it should be a sin, which, as we learn from the sequel, it most distinctly was. These queries must remain unanswered. The obscurities, arising from a supposed natural sense, abide in all their force : they do not admit of being removed : examination on such grounds cannot eject them ; and the attempt to do so will rather tend to increase their number, than duninish their force. This, indeed, has long * "We find that all organized matter, that is, every thing that has life, vegetable and animal, is foi-med upon a plan which renders death necessary, or something equivalent to death. The first step to life in the corculum of a vegetable seed, or the atomic rudiment of the animal body, in both cases so minute and recondite as to be inaccessible to human cognizance, commences a course of changes, which imply an inevitable termination. From dead organic matter the living structure derives its necessary supplies. The process of nutrition, assimilation, growth, exhaustion, and reparation hold on their irresistible course, to decay and dissolution ; in another word, to death. Some persons have dreamed of sustaining animal life by exclusively vegetable food, ignorant that in every leaf, or root, or fruit, which they feed upon, they put to death mvriads of living creatures." — Dr. Pye Smith. Scrip. 8^ Geo. Sec. ed. pp. 93, 94. 82 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. been felt by large and pious minds ; and commentators who have been wishful to explain, have been compelled to apologize. It is therefore necessary, to take some other ground — ground that may- be more fertile in spiritual thought and rational satisfaction. Trees are frequently mentioned in the Word, in a purely figura- tive sense. They constantly refer to man, or to the things per- taining to him. It is said of the righteous man, that " he shall be like a ti-ee, planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season ; " (Psalm i. 3 ;) but of the ungodly, that they are as '■'■trees whose fruit withereth." (Jude 12.) Now, a man is either good or bad by virtue of such principles, and it was of the operation of these, and their production in the characters of men, that the Lord said, " Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit ; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." (Matt. vii. 17, 20.) But the principles of good and evil are very various ; and therefore, we find some of them particularized by trees of a specific character. Thus, the Lord said, " All the trees of the field shall know that I, the Lord, have brought down the high tree, have exalted the loiv tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish." (Ezek. xvii. 24.) Here, by the " trees of the field," are denoted all the living perceptions of genuine truth ; hence it is said of them, that they should know such things. To " bring down the high tree," denotes the humiliation of intellectual pride ; to " exalt the low tree," signifies the elevation of unpretending knowledge ; to " dry up the green tree," is to bring desolation upon faith alone ; and "to make the dry tree to flourish," is to render the solid knowledge of truth fruitful in all manner of good works of love and use. It was because the fig-tree was merely green with leaves and destitute of fruit, representing faith without charity, that the Lord said, " Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for- ever. And presently the fig-tree withered away." (Matt. xxi. 19.) And mere truth in the mind is as a dry tree, when it exists only as an intellectuality : without the moisture and flexibility of love, it is severe and hard, nevertheless, it contains withm itself the elemental properties of spiritual fruitfulness ; and thus the capa- bilities of realizing the declaration of the Psalmist, that "tlie trees of the Lord are full of sap" (Psalm civ. 16.) It is because trees in general, signify such mental things as belong to the inte- riors of the mind, and because both the one and the other are so various, that so many species of trees are mentioned in the Word, JOTHAM S PARABLE. 0«5 every species signifying somewhat different. Of this we have a striking and beautiful example in the parable of Jotham, in which tlie trees are described as going forth to anoint a king over them. (Judges ix. 8-15.) The proximate historical sense of that parable relates to the circumstances, in which the people of Israel had then placed them- selves. The trees in search of a king, represented the people in their selection of a ruler. The refusal of the olive, the fig, and the vine-trees, denoted that superior men had declined to accept the government of such a stiff-necked and rebellious people ; while its reception by the bramble, was designed to express the consent of Abimelech, who was a base-born and treacherous man. But this could not be all that was intended to be stated by a parable, which owed its origin to inspiration, and was designed to be a revelation. That sense only connects it with the outer and worldly history of a bygone people. As such it can only be the vehicle for bringing down some more interior truths, which may apply, and be instructive, to all future ages of the church. Viewed under this aspect, the trees which were in search of a king to anoint over them, represented the natural state of man, mentally acknowledging that some principle ought to reign in the mind and rule the conduct. The application made to the olive, the fig, and the vine-trees, denotes its confession of the fitness of celestial, spiritual, and doctrinal truth, to perform this duty : but their refusal of that office, signifies that the natural state of man is such, that however much he may make a mental acknowledg- ment of the fitness of such principles to rule him, he has as yet no spiritual state really capable of submitting to their mild and valuable laws. The only government which can be brought to bear, effectually, upon such a condition, consists in those appear- ances of truth, which the letter of the Word exhibits, and in which God is spoken of as being fierce and angry, forbidding and unlovely : and these appearances of truth are the bramble. God appeared to Moses in a burning bush, (bramble,) to represent those appearances of truth in the letter of the Word, by which natural men were to be led and governed. Thus, we see, that all the trees referred to in the parable, sig- nify different classes of mental perceptions ; and so it is with innumerable other cases, which could be readily cited from the Word. But enough may have been said to prepare us for admit- ting, that the trees of Eden must have been mentioned, to repre- 84 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. sent those varied and beautiful perceptions of truth, which filled with light and loveliness the minds of the people of the most ancient church. By perception is here meant that interior capa- bility by which the men of those times were enabled to acknowl- edge, that truth is truth and good is good, as soon as such things were presented to their thought, and so to dispense with those reasoning processes, which, as it is well known, the men of after- times have been compelled to use, in order to procure such knowl- edge. This perceptive state was that referred to by the Lord, when he said, "Let your communications be, Yea, yea; nay, nay;" the reasoning state, is intimated in that other declaration, " Whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil." (Matt. v. 37.) Reasoning is the result of an obscurity of thought, which is among the evils of the fall ; perception perished in that calamity ; true Christianity is adapted to restore the blessing, and re-plant the trees which were its ancient subjects. The trees of the garden of Eden, then, were the perceptions and principles proper to the high intelligence of those ancient people. The trees " pleasant to the sight," denoted the internal perceptions of heavenly truth ; because all such truth is pleasant to the intellectual eye : and the trees which were " good for food," signify the internal perceptions of heavenly good: because all such good is the food and nutrition of spiritual and celestial life. These were among the distinguished inheritances of those supe- rior men. But their most remarkable perceptions are described to us as " The tree of life in the midst of the garden,* and the tree of knowledge of good and evil." It never would have been said that the Lord planted these two trees in the garden, one of which was to prove a stumbling block to its inhabitants, unless the cir- cumstance had been intended to sustain some spiritual representa- tion, consistent with the true order of divine providence, in respect * At the 3rd verse of the 3rd chapter, the tree of knotcledge is spoken of as being in the midst of the garden. The reason for these different statements is this. So long as Adam continued in his integrity, the tree of life — the perception of love, was his inmost principle ; but when he declined therefrom, as the third chapter describes him to have done, then the tree of knowledge — the perception of truth, — became his inmost principle. The change which had taken place in his state altered the position of the treeS; and so indicates the gradual manner in which he fell. TREES OF LIFE AND KNOWLEDGE. 85 to the interior things of men. It is easy to see that the life," * which is here referred to, must mean the mmost influences of holy men ; and the " knowledge " spoken of, must be that very knowl- edge which had contributed to raise them into that elevated condition. Life is an invisible, intangible possession, evidencing its exist- ence by the production of consequences upon our organization ; it is a growing and fruit-bearing principle in man, in which respect it may be called a tree ; faint, indeed, and feeble in its begin- nings, but successively sending out more vigorous developments and powers. So, the KNOWLEDGE of good and evil is a mental acquisition, gradually putting forth its tender shoots, and stronger limbs, attain- ing greater height, and showing more luxuriance, both in its utter- ances and its acts ; in which respects it, also, is most aptly likened to a tree. Now, those inmost influences, which are here denominated the tree of lives, consist in love, — love to God, and love to man, — loves which derive their essential quality from the Lord, and so induce an intellectual faith concerning Him. Every one, who will seriously reflect upon this subject, must conclude, that such loves are not only the life of a religious man's will ; but also, the life of his understanding. Love is the primary life of such a man ; without this, there could be no living faith ; man could not think, if he were not first influenced by love to do so ; he could not act, if the love of action were removed. What- soever a man thinks, believes, and does, proceeds from love, as its living cause. He is senseless, thoughtless, inanimate, and dead, to every thing he does not love. As his love grows cold, his thoughts wax torpid ; but if his love inflames, his imagination is illuminated, his utterances become forcible, and his action ener- getic. Whatever a man loves pre-eminently, he thinks contin- ually, and it will more or less display itself in every act. The reason for all this is, because human love is the very life of the human character. The love of God, by man, is the first great duty of all religion, and it is plainly intended by Him to be in the midst of every other excellence ; and thus it is a tree of life in the midst of the garden — a free, because of its growing and fruit-bearing * Chaiyim — lives. The plural form is used in the original, because the religious life of the man, here treated of, was displayed under a two- fold aspect, viz.. the life of his affections, and the life of ihoiight. 8 86 AI^TEDILUVIAN HISTORY. qualities, and a tree of life, because it imparts animation to every thought and every duty.* It is reasonable to suppose, that the love of God is the ruling life of angels ; and if so, how proper is it to be spoken of as the central life of celestial men — the life that was in the midst of their intelligence — their intellectual garden. That this is a cor- rect view of the subject is evident, not only from its approving itself satisfactorily to our reason, but from the circumstance of the tree of life being yet extant, and the fruit thereof, conditionally, offered to the acceptance of universal man. In the Revelations it is written, that the Lord said, " To him that overcometh, will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the para- dise of God." (Rev. ii. 7.) To " overcome " means the success- ful resistance of what is evil ; and then, " to eat of the tree of life," plainly denotes, to be filled with the good of love, which is said to be in the midst of the paradise of God, to denote, that it is the inmost principle of all heavenly intelligence and truth. Seeing, then, that the tree of life was significant of the good of love to the Lord, as it existed in the most ancient church, we are the more readily prepared to accept the idea, that the tree of knowledge of good and evil, was representative of all the truth of faith respecting him. The proposition, that the truth of faith is the tree of knowledge of good and evil, at once affects us as a lucid fact, which reasonings could not brighten, but might obscure. The solid knowledge of the pre-eminently religious man is, gen- uine truth, and this is the foundation of his faith ; so, that while his love of God is his " tree of life," his faith in God is his " tree of knowledge." These are the two essential things of true reli- gion with the human race, and thus we learn, as it were in the compass of a nutshell, the bright and practical ideas intended to be represented to man by those two trees. The reason why the eating of one of them was prohibited, we will show in another place. * Philo says, " By the tree of life is metaphorically meant love to God, the greatest of virtues, by which the soul is rendered immortal ; " and by •' the tree of knowledge of good and evil, is signified that prudence which discriminates between things that are by nature opposite and contrary." — De Mundi Opificio. Maimonides calls the law, " a tree of life." — De Pcenitentia, ix. sec. 2. TIIE RIVER OF EDEN, ETC. 8T CHAPTER VII. THE BIVEK OF EDEN, AND ITS BEI>G PARTED INTO FOUR HEADS. " The fairest test of a theory is its application to the solution of a Phe- nomenon." — John Bird Sumner, M. A., Records of Creation. Second Edition, p. 23.3. If Eden and its garden were not intended to express geo- graphical positions of the earth, and if the trees of the garden did not mean productions of the vegetable kingdom, but that all these tilings are mentioned to signify internal states and principles, belonging to a highly cultivated condition of religious humanity ; then, it is easy to infer, that by the river and its partings, are not to be understood natural waters, but the source and order, whence the several degrees of their intelligence were to be preserved in growth and fruitfulness. They, who could compare a highly cultivated mind to a skilfully planted garden, and clearly perceive the general analogy existing between them, could, also, easily describe the more particular con- dition of such a mind, by some other more particular circumstances, which such a garden would require for the maintenance of its fer- tility and beauty. When such a people talked of lands and rivers, in connection with the spiritualities of religion, it was for the pur- pose of giving them a representative significance of internal things. They spoke of the geography of nature to express the conditions of intellect. They knew that the world of nature was in corre- spondence with the world of mind. Nor has this idea entirely vanished from the church. How common it is for Christians to speak of Zion, Canaan, and Jordan, to signify some internal and religious things. In such cases they do not think of the moun- tain, land, or river, but some spiritual state, which they are con- ceived to signify. They to whom the magnificence of nature was as a theatre, representing the gorgeous things of spiritual and heavenly life — they who could " Find tongues in trees, books in running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in every thing," would not ordy speak of the general condition of the mind, by some general resemblance in the world, but they would represent its particular states, by some particular features of physical nature. To such a people, a river, with its streams, would be eminently suggestive. In after-times, the beauty Avhich they confer upon 88 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. the landscape, the fertility which they induce upon their banks, their gentle flow, and sky-reflecting qualities, have originated poetic thought and writing: but the men of the most ancient times, saw in such things something deeper than the modern poet ; they beheld in such objects those interior and spiritual realities, which are the soul and origin of poetry. With them, the thought of a natural river was instantly changed into the idea of wisdom, and the varieties of wisdom they would indicate by giving names to its streams.* We need not descend into secular history for evidence of this fact ; it is plentifully recognized in the Sacred Scriptures, there being numerous passages constructed on the cir- cumstance of such a relationship being perceived. Those who are in the satisfactions arising from divine instruction, are said " to drink of the river of God's pleasures." (Psalm xxxvi. 8.) The waters, also, which the prophet saw issuing from the house which he beheld in vision, are described to have successively deepened, until they became a river that could not be passed, (Ezekiel ] - 5,) to show how the divine truths, which are proper to the Lord's church, are continually heightening, until they attain that eleva- tion of wisdom, which no man can pass. Again, the Psalmist says, " There is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God : " (Psalm xlvi. 4 :) where, by a river, is meant the divine wisdom of the Holy Word, and the " streams whereof," the nu- merous truths which descend therefrom; and these are said to " make glad the city of God," because they are productive of delight and happiness to the church. There is a remarkable similarity, in general idea, between this passage and that which says, " A river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads." (Gen. ii. 10.) "The garden" is as "the city of God;" the "river" and " streams," as the " wisdom and truths " which impart gladness and refreshing. It is likewise written, that " the earth is watered with the river of God," (Psalm Ixv. 9 ;) which spiritually means, that the external man is rendered fertile, in his works of use, through the inflowings of divine wisdom from the Word. John said that he was shown " A pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God." (Rev. xxii. 1.) Here, the * The fables concerning the river Styx, Charon crossing the Stygian Lake, and the consecration of the fountains of Pindus, Helicon, and Parnassus to the Muses, with many other mythological intimations referring to rivers, their sources, and results, all took their rise from this perception. SPIRITUAL MEANING OF A RIVKR. 89 " pure river of water of life," plainly denotes the genuine truths of the Holy Word. It is these which impart spiritual life to man : Hence the Lord said, " The water, i. e., the truth, that I shall give him, (the man who comes to him,) shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (John iv. 14.) Every one may perceive that it can bo nothing else but divine wisdom which proceeds as a river from the throne of God, and also, that its pur- poses must be to secure salvation and eternal life to all who will receive it. It is said to be clear as crystal, to denote that it is as pure as spiritual illumination can perceive it. Now, it will be observed, that the river of Eden is without a name : yet, as its uses were to water the garden and keep it in fertility, it may reasonably be considered as the river of life, which was the inflowing of wisdom from the Lord, in order to maintain, among the most ancient people, their state of religious eminence in its integrity and greatness. The reason why this river is spoken of without a name is, probably, because it repre- sented the divine Avisdom, as it is in itself, and which, as such, is inexpressible to finite thought. It is only when this river of wis- dom becomes parted, by entering into the human mind, and there presenting itself to the distinct faculties by which it is distinguished, that it will admit of nominal description, because it is only then that we obtain distinct perceptions of it. Hence, it was only when the river entered the garden that it was " parted," it was then that it " became into four heads," which were respectively called, Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Phrat. It must be admitted, that divine wisdom, as it is in itself, cannot fall into finite apprehension ; and every one must see, that, in order to its being understood at all by man, it must enter into some degree of his mind. These degrees are several ; and divine wis- dom is designed for all these, and to affect them all in the way of rendering them fertile in the things of use. These degrees, in general, are spoken of as three, and they consist of celestial, spir- itual, and natural ; but, there is also the rational degree, which exists between the spiritual and natural : this is a medium princi- ple, which communicates between the scientific things which act upon the mind from without, and the intellectual perceptions Avhich operate from within ; and thus, in some measure, it belongs to both. The celestial, pertains to the loill and its aflfections ; the spiritual, to the understanding and its thoughts ; the natural, to scientifics and such common knowledges as are observable from 90 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. the light of the world. The rational belongs to each of the latter two, and its office, in religious things, is, as it were, to open a door to let in spiritual influence upon the natural mind. These, then, are the degrees or principles of mind, which the river of divine wisdom is intended to aflTect with its fertilizing power. The luill, so as to preserve in it the orderly affections of love ; the understanding, with the view of keeping in it the il- luminated intelligence of truth ; the reason, for the purpose of keeping it pure and open for the descent of interior thought into exterior cognizance ; and the scientific, in order to exalt its purposes of use. This, also, is the order in which divine wisdom descends into celestial men, and so exercises its benign purpose upon their whole character ; and these are the things signified by the river after it entered the garden, and then became parted into four heads, the streams from which are called Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Phrat.* These names, as Hebrew expressions, are, in their literal sense, significant of ideas which bear very closely upon the spirit- ual meaning they were intended to sustain. Thus, by Pison is literally meant a changing or extending stream ; but spiritually, it denotes the influence of divine wisdom upon the will and its affections : through this the will is continu- * Pison and Gihon are utterly unknown to geography, and the best scholars, in oriental languages, now consider them only as appellations signifying a stream in general : in this sense they may easily be seen as a beautiful figure of the inflo^ving of different graces into the human mind. Hiddekel, is commonly believed to be the Tigris, But about this there is no certainty. Scientific geography cannot reconcile the features of that river with the scriptural account of Hiddekel. Etymological resemblances, rather than geographical features, have led to that opinion. It is thought to be the Tigris, because this river in Aramaean is called Digla, in Ara- bic Diglat, in Zend Teger, in Pelvi Tegera, whence it is said have arisen both the Aramaean and Arabic form to which is to be traced the Hebrew Dekel, divested of its prefix Hid, which means rapid, so that Hid-dekel signifies the rapid Tigris. Phrat is said to be the Euphrates, for similar reasons among others, into which we need not enter. The scriptural ac- count however of Hiddekel and Phrat is, that they were but branches of another river that flowed in Eden, and which was divided in the garden. The geographical facts concerning the Tigris and Euphrates, are that they take their rise in the mountains of Armenia, fifteen miles apart, and so do not answer to the sacred description. The reason is, because the scriptural account is not given for geographical purposes. It was written among a very ancient people, with whom, there is much evidence to prove, it was customary to compare wisdom to a river, and to represent its par- ticular influences upon the mind by streams with descriptive appellations. PISON, HAVILAH AND ITS RICHES. 91 ally cha7igini2; its quality by an upward ascent in holy things, and so directing- its aifections in the way of performing more extended uses. Every one sees that these must be the results of such an influence, and also, that information concerning it, comes within the scope and purpose of revelation to disclose. The will is the inmost of the human faculties, and it was created for the reception and throne of love or goodness. But love or goodness requires illumination from a stream of wisdom, in order to direct its im- pulse, regulate its attachment, and disclose its duties. Love with- out wisdom would be a blind feeling. It is by truth that good is taught and led into its activity. Good could not be developed, if truth did not teach us what it was. We learn what is virtuous by the precepts which inform us ; but truth completes its work, only when it fixes the good which it inculcates, as an enlightened af- fection in the will. This, then, is what is meant by the influence of divine wisdom upon the will and its affections, of which Pison is significant. Hence it is said to have encompassed the w^hole land of Havilah,* where there is gold, to inform us that it includes all the characteristics of the will that are genuinely good. Every excellence of the human character arises out of the divine influ- ences upon the human will, when disposed to love, and love is spiritual gold, more or less pure, according to the exalted nature of the objects towards which it is directed ; in this case, the gold is said to have been good, to express that its direction was towards the Lord ; it, therefore, may be taken as a precise definition of its meaning. But, besides gold, there were also "bdellium and the onyx-stone," f to represent the truth and the faith that were in cor- respondence with that love. Every one must have noticed that gold and precious stones are frequently mentioned in the Word, to represent the spiritual riches of goodness and truth. There is a perceptible analogy between such natural and spiritual things. Pure gold is among the most valuable of worldly possessions, and so it is a fit representative of that genuine good, which is the most precious of all heavenly gifts. * There is nothing known of this land beyond conjecture. The word Havilah means to bring forth ; this is what the divine wisdom is intended to accomplish : — to bring forth whatever is good and lovely. t Dr. A. Clarke says, " That it is impossible to say what is the precise meaning of the original words ; and at this distance of time and place, it is of little consequence "(! !) — of little consequence to know the precise meaning of what God has caused to be written in his Word for our in- struction ! \)2 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. It is on this accoimt that the Lord said, " I council thee to buy of me, gold tried in the fire, that thou mayst be rich." (Rev. iii. 18.) And the Prophet, when describing the decline of good among the people, said : " Hoav is the gold become dim ! how is the most fine gold changed!" (Lam. iv. 1.) The genuine church, the New Jerusalem, is described to be a City of Pure Gold, for no other reason than to represent the genuine good, by which it will be in- fluenced, and of which its establishment will be productive. So, likewise, precious stones, because of the difference in their resplendence, are significant of truths in their diversified brilliancy. The twelve precious stones, which were the urim and thummnn on Aaron's ephod, represented the divine truth in all its vast and magnificent variety, and they were set in gold, and worn upon the breast, to signify that they originated in love. (Exodus xxviii.) The foundations of the New Jerusalem were " garnished with all manner of precious stones," (Rev. xxi. 19 ;) to signify that the real Church of God is grounded upon every pure and genuine truth. So that, by the gold and precious stones, which were in the land of HavHah, are denoted, the affection of love with its correspond- ing truths, implanted in the interiors of the mind. This is particu- larly confirmed by the statement of the Prophet, who, when treating of man in the possession of heavenly riches, says, " Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God ; every precious stone was thy covering ; " (Ezekiel xxviii. 12, 13 ;) such, then, is the condition of the will of the celestial man or church, treated of under the generic name of Adam. Again, by Gihon is literally meant a stream or valley of grace ; but it spiritually signifies the influence of divine wisdom upon the understanding, and through which it attains intellectual perception as heavenly graces. But what is the purpose of this influential grace ? Certainly, it is the purification and enlargement of human thought. It is when a stream of divine wisdom descends into our understanding, that we are enabled to think with clearness and perspicuity upon things of a spiritual and heavenly nature. In this, we are at once enabled to perceive that truth is truth and good is good, when they are presented to our consideration and accept- ance : and when this is effected, Gihon is said to compass the whole land of Cush,* to inform us that it includes all the characteristics of * Omh, the Hebrew. Our translation has it Ethiopia, because the Sep- tuagint rendered it by AWioirta, and the Vulgate by Ethiopia, which has been followed by most all succeeding versions. But there is no satisfac- HIDDEKEL AND ITS INFLUENCES. yd the understanding, and renders it fertile in thought and knowledge. The land of Cush is here mentioned, to signify the faculty of un- derstanding, much in the same way that Zion and Canaan are sometimes referred to, in the sense of holy and spiritual things. This faculty, before it comes under the influence of the divine wisdom, is dark ; and Cush, by which it is here represented, literal- ly signifies what is black ; it is, therefore, an appropriate symbol of that faculty, requiring to be surrounded with a stream of spirit- ual light, and which is described to have taken place. But thirdly, by Hiddekel is literally meant a sharp voice, and thus it becomes an apt representative of that stream of divine wis- dom which illuminates the reason. Reason, considered in itself, is an obscure principle, Avhich requires to be sharpened by the light of revelation before it can know any thing of spiritual things. The Sages of Greece and Rome never discovered by it, any of the genuine truths of religion, immortality, or heaven ; it attains such knowledges only so far as it is illustrated by revelation. The very process of reasoning implies, that the objects we would discover by its means, are not self-evident and clear to the more inward perceptions of the understanding. Doubts and difficulties stand in the way of every thing which is to be reached, only by an effort of reasoning, and even when it has done its utmost, the result is, not unfrequently, far from being either satisfactory or convincing. What one man pronounces to be reasonable and believes to be so, is, by another, denounced as a tissue of mistakes. This is the ground on which has arisen such varieties of religious sentiment and faith. Doubtless, every one believes his views on such mat- ters to be reasonable, and that they have been set forth and de- tory evidence to show, and, consequently, some reason to doubt, Avhether the ancient Cush is really the Ethiopia of modern times. Great disputes exist among scripture geographers, upon this subject. Bochart places it in Arabia, Gesenius in Africa, Michaelis and Rosenmuller, have supposed it in both places. Others have sought for it in more northerly regions of Asia, as in the Persian pro\dnces of Susiana, in Cuthah, and a district of Babylonia. Indeed, this inquiry is interminable, just because the name, in those ancient writings is used in a figurative sense, and not to express a geographical locality. Ethiopia, so far as it expresses the idea of a country inhabited by the sable portion of our race, is the appropriate rendering of the Hebrew word Cush, as denoting blackness, and, on this account, Ethiopia is afterwards employed in the Scriptures, with the same spiritual signification. Cush, is the same with Ethiopia, only in the way of symbol ; they cannot be shown to be the same geographical locality. 94 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. fended with what are considered to be reasonable arguments, and yet, after all, it is evident, from the opposite conclusions which have been arrived at, that the reason has been defective somewhere. This brief intimation of a common fact, which may be easily ex- tended by the thoughtful, at once shows to us how necessary it is, that reason should be illustrated with revelation, which is one of the streams of divine wisdom : we cannot attain the knowledge of any spiritual things without it. Heaven, with the internal things of the church and spiritual futurity, are beyond its reach, and all that the truly rational mind knows about them is derived from the divine wisdom affording it illustration. The stream, Hiddekel, is said " to go towards the east of Assyria," to denote the progression of divine wisdom, in the way of enlightening the rational mind. The enlightening is the east, whence all illumination comes ; and the rational mind is here Assyria, as the understanding was Cush, and the will Havilah, as explained above. Assyria derived its name from Asshur, the son of Shem, and not from the son of Hezron ; and the word properly means beholding, which circum- stance well fitted the land so called, to be employed as the repre- sentative of such a seeing principle as that of the rational mind. It is on account of this signification, that Assyria, like Israel and Egypt, is sometimes mentioned in the Scriptures without any nat- ural application. One instance will be sufficient to produce. The prophet says, " In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of tlie land, whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying. Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance." (Isaiah xix. 25.) This is plainly a prediction concerning a state of the church, in which its natural, (Egypt,) rational, (Assyria,) and spiritual (Israel,) principles, should exist in their proper order, and each be open to the divine blessing. But the fourtli river was Phrat, which literally means to make fruitful ; and this represents the influence of divine wisdom upon the scientific principle of the mind, so as to render it prolific in the works of benevolence and use. The knowledges which exist in the natural mind are merely of an external and scientific kind. The natural mind is scientific, and adapted for scientific things merely. By these are not meant philosophical scientifics, but the external knowledge of religious things. Thus the doctrinals of tlie church, its rituals, and their modes of administration ; indeed, all things which are expressed SUMMARY OF THE MEANING OF THE RIVERS. 95 in the letter of the Word, are mere scientilic tilings, adapted to the natural mind, and as such they will remain, until, from some more interior light, man begins to see their spnitual origin and use. Most professing christians know many things about the literal histories in the Word. They know something of the Histories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; also, about the House of Israel, in Egyptian bondage, their deliverance thence, and their subsequent establishment in Canaan; likewise, of the Government of the Judges, the rule of the kings, the denunciations of the prophets, and many other facts which the Word contains. But how few are they, who can see from any interior ground, that all these things are but external scientilics, which, nevertheless, include within them celestial and spiritual fh-inciples, wliich proves the letter to be divine. This is a desideratum in the church. We may believe these scientilics to be divine, because we have been taught that they are so, either by tradition or authority : but it is important we should see its truth from some interior conviction of our ovv'n ; yet, this is accomplished only so far as our natural mind is influenced and illuminated by that stream of divine wisdom denominated Phrat. This may serve to show the meaning of that river, as mentioned in connection with the most ancient church. From these considerations, we learn that the river of Eden denoted the divine wisdom proceeding from the divine love, and that its division into four heads, upon entering the garden, was signified its different influences upon the celestial, spiritual, ra- tional, and scientific principles of holy and intelligent men. That nothing natural could have been intended by those de- scriptions, must be evident to every one, who will venture to think above a common prejudice. Viewed in that light, it is full of dif- ficulties, which neither ingenuity nor learning can remove. For instance, who does not know, that it is physically impossible a river should divide itself into four heads or sources of rivers. For if two or more channels are presented to a running stream, it will not divide itself distributively, but pour its whole mass into the deepest furrow — it will naturally take the lowest level : and, moreover, there is no position known to scientific geography which at all answers to the Scripture narrative. Those which are sup- posed to come nearest to the description, and which indeed are very distant, necessarily place the locality of Eden in Armenia, which is not mentioned in the Scripture at all. A garden into 96 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. which one river ran, and Avhich was then to be distributed into four other rivers, necessarily suggests the idea of a large tract of country, which we cannot rationally suppose the Lord would have required to have been " dressed and kept " by an individual, Adam. We conclude, then, that these things were Avritten, not to point out a geographical locality, but to represent the streams of divine wisdom entering into the minds of a wise and happy people, to irrigate their mental soil, and render it prolific in all that is good and estimable in his divine sight. By the divine wisdom of which we have been speaking, is meant, that interior dictate which we believe can and does flow from the Lord, into the will and perceptions of highly cultivated humanity. This, indeed, waS the state of the most ancient people during the time of their integrity. They thought of nothing but what they loved, so that their intellectual and voluntary principles must have been in the closest connection, and, as it were, one in every thought and act. This is one of the reasons why that peo- ple were called Man, a dignity which does not appear to have been attained by any other community mentioned in the Scrip- tures ! Some remains of this primeval excellence seem to have been recognized by the apostle, who, when speaking of the Gen- tiles, said, they " do by nature the things contained in the law — which shows the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness." (Romans ii. 14, 15.) It is also declared that the " Lord would put his law in the inward parts of men, and write it upon their hearts, so that he will be their God, and they shall be his people." (Jer. xxxi. 33.) It is therefore evident, that there can be such an influx of intelligence from the Lord as is mentioned above. The means, however, which are to be employed for its communication, in the case referred to, are the written Word. But such a medium does not appear to have existed among the Adamic people, nor could it have been neces- sary, so long as they remained in love to God above all things. The law and the prophets were given after this love was lost, with the view of assisting in its restoration : they " hang upon it." (Matt. xxii. 37 - 40.) In such a state they would receive instruc- tion, in the way of internal dictate, immediately from the Lord. This would be inscribed upon their hearts, and from thence there would be an influx of truth into their spiritual minds, next into their rational, and finally, into their natural minds, and consequent- ly, into the natural scientifics which there existed ; this would ADAM NAMING THE LIVING CREATURES. 97 enable them to see the absolute distmction between spiritual and natural things, and also, to perceive the correspondence which subsisted between them. Hence may be seen what is meant by the divine wisdom, spoken of above, and its respective inflowings into the several orderly principles of human character which then existed. With such a people, internal and heavenly things would be perceived in purer light, than those which were external and worldly, because such things would occupy their chief attention. If such a people had read the Word which we possess, the internal sense of it would, doubtless, have been presented to their minds with greater clearness than the letter, because their states, as it were, lay entirely upon the heavenly side of this revelation. But in after-times this condition became reversed. Man, having descended from this elevation into external and terrestrial loves, can now see internal and spiritual things only in obscurity and shadow ; and so the external sense of the Word appears to him in better light than its spiritual meaning : he has passed to the worldly side of revelation. This side of it has been mercifully provided for his state, and designed, by its peculiar construction, to raise and conduct him into the light and enjoyment of the other. CHAPTER Vni. ADAM NAMING THE LIVING CREATURES. " Any theory, on whatever subject, that is really sound, can never be inimical to a religion founded on truth ; and the part of a lover of truth is, to follow her, at all seeming hazards, after the example of Him, who came into the world, that He might bear witness to the truth." — Richard Whateley, D.D., Archbishop of Dublin. The cu-cumstance of naming the living creatures is one of religious importance, and it involves matter of peculiar interest. It is thus related : — " Out of the ground, the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam, to see what he would call them ; and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof." (Gen. ii. 19.) The careful reader Avill observe it is here stated, that " out of iM ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air ;" but if he will turn to the 20th verse of the first chapter, he will there find it written, " And God said, Let the 9 98 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY, ivaters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth, in the open firmament of heaven." Thus, in the one case the ground is said to have been their source, and in the other, the ivater. Whence arises this dis- crepancy ? It may be admitted, that the command for the waters " to bring forth the moving creature that hath life," ought to be understood as referring only to the piscatory tribes, for we find that purely land animals are spoken of as having been created on the following day. The difficulty more particularly adverted to is this, that m the fii-st statement the waters are distinctly said to have brought forth every loinged fowl, whereas in the second it is as plainly written, that " Out of the ground the Lord God formed every fowl of the air." Now, what can be the reason of those apparently hostile statements, occurring as they do, so exceedingly close upon each other ; and upon what principle are they to be reconciled ? There is plainly a disagreement in the letter, which requires to be removed. The " Fragmental Hypothesis " would, perhaps, attempt it by supposing that they are merely the records of two different traditions of the same general circumstances, in which we are not to look for particular niceties of expression. But surely, this cannot be satisfactory ; under such a view of the case, what is to become of the fact of both being equally a reve- lation, and consequently a divine composition ? Some higher ground than the literal sense must be taken, because some supe- rior truth is meant to be expressed, and we have mentioned the circumstance, not because we think it a difficulty, but cliiefly, to draw attention to the trutlis intended to be stated. It was obsei-ved above, that the first chapter of Genesis treated of the creation, or development, of the spiritual nmn, and all the living affections and thoughts w^hich are proper to his condition ; and also, that the second chapter treated of the celestial man, and all the living affections and thoughts which are proper to him. Some reasons for those distinctions were likewise given ; among others, that the man, in the second chapter, was no longer spoken of as " earth," but as " ground," and that the name of the Supreme Being was extended from " God " to " Lord God." Thus, the two chapters treat of two different states, which distinguished the most ancient people. To both of those states, there belonged an affec- tion for the intellectual things of an exalted religion, but they took their rise in different sources, and therefore, their origination is differently described. In the first case, the affection for Intel- A DISCREPANCY RECONCILED. 99 lectuarthings (which are the winged fowls) arose out of the general knowledge of religion, and therefore, it was commanded that " the waters " should bring them forth ; (see page 53;) but in the second case, the affections for intellectual things (now called fowl of the air) sprung out of the prolifications of love, and hence they are described to have been made by the Lord God, out of " the ground." Every one must know, that differences of religious character exist, and that they arise from different sources. It would not indicate the distinction to say, that the inferior state sprang from the same source as the superior ; to describe them accurately, we must employ distinctive terms, and this is precisely what revela- tion has done, in declaring the intellectual things of the spiritual man, to have been created by God out of the water, and those of the celestial man out of the ground. There is, then, no actual discrepancy between the two statements, because they do not relate to the same, but to different circumstances. In speaking of the fifth day's creation, it was observed, that the objects of animated nature were chosen, and frequently employed in the Word, to represent the living affections of men ; further evidences of that fact w^ere likewise promised : an occasion is here presented for this purpose. It is evident, that some idea of the spiritual representation of animals must have been the reason, why they were so extensively employed in the sacrificial w-orship, which, independently of that established among the Jews, was spread throughout the continent of Asia. This, also, must have been the source, whence the Greeks and Romans adopted certain animals for sacrifices, during some of their public festivities. We do not suppose these people to have attached any spiritual notion to such sacrifices ; what we mean is, that if they are traced through the sources whence they were derived, that will be found to have been their origin. Sacri- fices, considered in themselves, are most irrational modes of wor- ship,* nor could they have been adopted, until men had sunk so low^ in the scale of religious intelligence, as, to suppose that the offering up of an animal to the Lord, w^as the same thing as the dedication of that principle to His service, which it was originally understood to signify. The animal was mistaken for the principle which it represented, and the dedication of the principle to spirit- ual use was corrupted into a sacrifice. Their origin cannot be * See Archbisliop Magee on the Sacrifices and Atonement. 100 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. reasonably accounted for upon any other ground. This, also, explains why it was, that several animals among some of the older nations, became objects of such peculiar attention and respect. This circumstance Avas very remarkable among the ancient Egyp- tians. Herodotus says, (Euterpe, Ixv ;) "both those Avhich are wild and those which are domestic are regarded as sacred. If I were to explain the reason of this prejudice, 1 should be led to the discussion of those sacred subjects, Avhich I particularly wish to avoid." Here, the historian distinctly connects their reverence of animals, with some isoteric and religious views ; and, although he does not inform us what these were, there can be no reasonable doubt, that at some period of Egyptian history, the animals had been understood as the representatives of certain moral qualities, and that it was not until after a succession of corruptions, and when their proper signification was lost, that veneration began to be attached to them. The worship of certain animals was a per- version of the respect, once paid to the human principles of which they were significant. It is impossible to read with care, those portions of the Scrip- tures in which beasts and animals are mentioned, and not perceive that they have a symbolical meaning ; they are spoken of both generically and specifically, under circumstances in which it is evident spiritual things, and not natural existences, are implied. For example, the Prophet, treating of the peaceable character of the Lord's kingdom, says, " The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid ; and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together ; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed ; their young ones shall lie down together ; and the lion shall eat straw like an ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain." (Isaiah xi. 6-9.) Here we have no less than fourteen different animals, besides children, referred to, every one of which is certainly intended to represent some internal affection. There are, how- ever, two classes of them, one tame and harmless, the other fierce and dangerous ; the former plainly denote the affections which are good and innocent, and the latter those which are wicked and dostructive ; and by their all dwelling together, must be meant a state, in which the influences of the good, will have subdued the pernicious tendencies of the evil, and kept them in subjection to THE SIGNIFICATIOM OF ANIMALS. 101 its superior sentiments. It is also written, that the Lord would " make a covenant with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven." (Hosea ii. 18.) That " the beasts of the field would cry unto Him ; " (Joel i. 20 ;) they are also exhorted not to be afraid ; (Joel ii. 22 ;) in which passages, by beasts cannot be meant beasts, but certain human affections, which they are mentioned to represent. These are the things with which the Lord effects his covenants ; these are the principles which can cry unto Hun, and may be benefited by His merciful persuasions. Ezekiel was com- manded to " say unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come : gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice, that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel." (Ezek. xxxix. 17.) Here, likewise, it is evident that natural beasts and fowl are not meant, but, instead thereof, the affections of religious life, and the senti- ments of religious thought, since it is these alone which can attend the invitations to a religious act. So, in the Psalms, it is written, "Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps. Beasts and all cattle ; creeping things, and flying fowl." (Psalm cxl\dii. 7 - 10. ) It is plain that we are not here to under- stand the irrational animals which are mentioned, but certain liv- ing affections and thoughts of men, to which they correspond ; for every one must have observed, that there is a conspicuous analogy between the natural qualities of some animals, and some of the moral sentiments of the human character.* Evidences of this kind could be extended to a considerable length, but these are sufficient ; they suggest, somewhat impres- sively, that to maintain the statement, that " Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and every beast of the field," (Gen. ii. 20,) in a literal sense, is to mistake its meaning. There are certain facts and considerations, in relation with such an idea, which are exceedingly embarrassing to those who will hazard an independent reflection upon the subject ; and we conceive the real meaning of the apparent history is to be sought for in its spiritual sense. If we look upon the statement of Adam naming the creatures, to signify the high character of that ancient people, impressing a peculiar quality upon those internal affections and sentiments, to which the objects of animated nature correspond, * Clement of Alexandria, quotes verses from Xenophanes, the Colo- phonean, which state that every species of animal supplies metaphor to aid the imagination in its ideas of superior things. 9# 102 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. we have at once presented to us both an intelligible and religious idea ; and this can hardly be said of the notion, which contem- plates him as a zoologist. It is said that all cattle and fowls, and every beast, were named by Adam. If the merely literal sense be insisted on, to be the true and only design of this statement, then we are, at the very outset, compelled, by science, to curtail the signification of words, Avhich are employed with an unlimited meaning. For, it is plain, from the discoveries which geology has made, that there were whole classes of animals which had existed at immense intervals of time, and successively became extinct, long before there were any traces of humanity discernible. It is therefore demonstrable, that Adam could not have named all and eveiy creature. To this it may be replied, that we ought not to interpret all and every beast to mean any more than those which were contemporary with him ; but if so, at what point are we stop, in putting a limited meaning on terms of unlimited signijfication. Such a view, if pressed with difficulties, may refuse to admit their application to the whole ani- mal world then extant, and successively shrink them up to mean only those that were in Palestine, or Eden, or perhaps the garden only. It may be said, that we should receive those documents as popular statements, and not expect to find them couched in lan- guage technically correct. To this we wish only to observe, that we do not believe them to have been loosely written, as the word popular would seem to imply ; we regard the language of revela- tion to have been chosen with a care and deliberation, over the preservation of which the Divine Providence has been peculiarly watchful. If we take a religious view of the intentions of God's Word, we must be led to see that this narrative, concerning naming the creatures, was intended for some spiritual instruction, altogether apart from the statement of the letter. For surely, it is difficult to see what religious act could be involved in calling a lion, a lion ; a bear, a bear ; a sheep, a sheep ; or a lamb, a lamb ; nor is it easy to perceive how such an employment consisted with a religious state of mind, so extensively cultivated, and highly developed, as was that of Adam's. If we suppose it to have been given him as an intellectual exercise, which is among the highest grounds that can be pretended for it, still we must inquire, what possible relation could it have to spiritual and heavenly uses ? To give a name to a thing that is without one in the world, may be ANIMALS WHICH ADAM DID NOT NAME. 103 useful to distinguish it, and thereby to provide a verbal means for suggesting tlie idea of it to the mind ; but it has very little con- nection with uses that are essentially religious. This is evident from experience, for it has happened that in these days of discov- ery, men have not unfrequently been required to give names to extinct species of animals, which it is certain Adam never saw, and yet in giving those names they have neither felt, or intended, more than is included in the common sentiment attending the selection of an appropriate appellation. It will hardly be pretended that the names, whether popular or scientific, of the animals which are now extant, are those which were pronounced by Adam. There is not the least evidence to show, tliat society at any time, or among any people, adopted his supposed zoological vocabulary. To what purpose then was it given, if it did not come into use and obtain a currency ? Ac- cording to the common view, there was no co-eval society, and therefore, it could not have been for their use and information ; nor is there the slightest intimation of his having instructed pos- terity in the names, which a mistaken view of this narration has led men to suppose, he gave to the creatures. But supposing it could be satisfactorily proved, that the Hebrew names of the various beasts mentioned in the Scripture, were really those which had been given to them by Adam ; and supposing that we conceded, which indeed we do, that those names, were founded on a knowledge of some prominent feature, or remark- able characteristic of the creatures to which they are applied, then we should possess some evidence of the man, having been distinguished by a superior genius in respect to this particular department of nature. But why in this department only ? if the circumstance of giving names to all cattle, fowl, and beasts were a display of intellectual pre-eminence, why was it not also exhib- ited in respect to the fish ? If all the creatures of the earth could have been collected in the garden, with the view of receiving their names, why might not all the fishes of the sea have been gathered in the river of that garden, for the same purpose ? What was possible in the one case, could not have been impossible in the other. But why were the objects of vegetable nature omitted to be named ? Surely, a knowledge of the distinction between different plants and trees, must have been a subject of much concern to Adam, particularly as his attention had been distinctly drawn to the subject, through the naming of two trees by the Lord himself: also, by his having been commanded to dress and 104 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. keep the garden, and told that he might freely eat of every tree but one. Certainly, if names for any objects were of importance to distinguish them, they must have been so in the vegetable depart- ment of nature. But to these, we do not read of any names being given by Adam. If the giving of names to animals was an intel- lectual exercise, the giving of names to vegetables could not have been otherwise. There must have been some reason for this omission, and what other reason can be offered besides this, — That they were not suited to the representative purpose of the narra- tive, ivhich treats of a higher state of interior and intellectual life^ than ivhat the fishes or the objects of the vegetable kingdom, were adapted to represent ? We see that the whole subject, viewed from a literal aspect, is full of difficulties, — difficulties of a religious, moral, and scien- tific nature, — difficulties not of that class which industry and research are capable of removing, but of a character which nei- ther learning nor ingenuity can surmount. The source of them is, that erroneous ground of interpretation, which consists in mistak- ing the descriptions of a figurative narrative for their literal sense. The creatures, agreeably to a style of expression which pre- vailed among the ancients, and which originated in a perception of the correspondences which exist between natural and spiritual things, are significant of certain classes of affection and thought which distinguished celestial men. Of this, some examples and expositions have been given from the prophetical writings, the style of which took its rise from that which existed with a more remote and superior people. The order in which the creatures are mentioned is, cattle, fowl, and beasts. The word rendered "cattle," should have been heasts, implying, indeed, those of a peaceful nature, and that which is translated beast," should have been wild heasts, to indi- cate such as were of a less pacific character. These creatures are frequently spoken of in the prophetical Word, and they are, in all cases, most carefully distinguished. Now, by beasts, — the tame, the peaceful, and pacific, — are represented the good affec- tions of the will, or celestial man ; by the fowls of the air, are denoted the true perceptions of the understanding, or spiritual man ; and by the wild beasts, are signified the general affections of the natural man, which, from their greater remoteness from the Lord and closer adjacency to the world, always require the influ- ence of superior principles to preserve them innocent and harm- less. These particulars could be proved by numerous citations NAMES EXPRESSIVE OF QUALITIES. 105 from the Word ; we, however, will only adduce, for each, one confirmatory instance. That beasts represented the good affections of the celestial man, is evident from its being said, that " beasts were in heaven," and that " four beasts fell down and worshipped God, saying, Amen ; Alleluia." (Rev. xix. 4, and vii. 11.) These circumstances cannot be predicated of natural beasts, but only of the good affections of celestial men which they represent. That fowls denote the true perception of the spiritual man, is plain, for similar reasons. An " angel cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven. Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the Great God." (Rev. xix. 17.) This invitation was not delivered to irrational, irresponsible birds, but to the intellectual perceptions of the spir- itual man, of which they are significant. And that by the unld beasts are signified the general affections of the natural man, which are preserved in order by the influence of superior examples, ap- pears from this declaration ; " The wild beasts of the field shall honor me, because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people." * Wild beasts give no honor to God on account of the blessings which he bestows upon mankind ; but they are said to do so, on account of the represen- tation liiey are selected to sustain. Now the living creatures which were brought to Adam, were of three descriptions : they consisted of celestial affections, spir- itual perceptions, and natural delights ; and the Lord is said to have formed, and brought them unto him, to reveal that he is the author of their existence, and the giver of them to men. But they were brought to Adam for a particular purpose, — to see what he would call them ; that is, to observ^e the quality which he, in the exercise of his freedom and responsibility, would impress upon them. To call by a name, and to give a name, are forms of expression which frequently occur in the Scriptures, but they do not always mean to pronounce a vocable ; their design is to indi- cate a quality. Thus the angel who wrestled with Jacob, said unto him, " Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel." (Gen. xxxii. 28.) This change of name was intended to express a change which had taken place in the quality of his character, hence * Isaiah xliii. 20. This passage, in the authorized version, has simply beasts ; but the original word here, and in several other places where it is translated beasts only, properly means wild beasts, as, indeed, the context commonly shows. 106 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. it is immediately added, " for as a prince thou hast power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." So, again, when the Lord said of the church, " I have called thee by thy name, I have sur- named thee, though thou hast not known me," (Isaiah xlv. 4 ;) the meaning is, that a new quality had been imparted, and yet its ad- vantages had not been appreciated. The Lord said he would vrrite his new name upon him who overcometh, (Rev. iii. 12 ;) to show that a nevv^ quality will be given to the spiritual character of those who conquer in temptations. And those " whose names are not written in the book of life," (Rev. xiii. 8;) are plainly those whose internal qualities are such as to exclude them from the heav- enly kingdom. Hence, it is evident, that to give a name, denotes to impress a quality upon the object of which it is predicated ; and this, also, is its meaning in the case of Adam naming the creation. The circumstance will admit of illustration from experience. It frequently happens that some good affections and true ideas are suddenly introduced into the human mind. They come under cir- cumstances in which we did not expect them, and we are enabled to perceive their excellence. Doubtless, these spiritual beasts and fowl, are of divine origination, and surely they are brought to us 6y infinite wisdom to see what we will call them, that is, to give us the opportunity of receiving, and impressing upon them, such a quality as we, in the exercise of our freedom, may choose to adopt, and which quality, when so impressed, remains upon them so far as our own individuality is concerned ; a circiunstance which the representative history thus expresses, " whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof." Such, we conceive to have been the meaning of the narrative of Adam, naming the living creatures. Under this view, it is brought home to the business and bosoms of religious men. It is beauti- fully consistent with the Word of God, and eminently practical. The experience of men presents a counterpart of it, and so a ra- tional interpretation. CHAPTER IX. ITS NOT BEING GOOD THAT ADAM SHOULD BE ALONE : — HIS DEEP SLEEP : — THE TAKING OF A RIB FROM HIM AND BUILDING IT INTO A WOMAN. " It requires but little attention in any one, to discern that woman was not formed out of the rib of a man ; and that deeper arcana are here implied." — Swedenborg. Arca7ia Ccelestia, n. 152. It is written, that " The Lord God said. It is not good that man should be alone ; I will make him an help, meet for him. And the CREATION OF THE WOMAN. 107 Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam ; and he slept : and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from the man, builded he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh : she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man." (Gen. ii. 18, 21, 22, 23.) These statements are remarkable, not only on account of their apparent singularity, but for other circumstances, when considered as a literal histoiy. In that point of view, there are several difii- cnlties which could not have existed, if the narrative had not been constructed with some more recondite design than what appears upon the surface. As already remarked, the first chapter of Genesis informs us, that the female was created upon the sixth day, and at the conclu- sion of that day's work it is said, that " God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good." But in the second chapter we find, that after the seventh day, when Adam had been placed in the garden, it was discovered " not to be good that he should be alone," and that this circumstance originated the woman. For the solution of these discrepancies, it is requisite to admit that the two chapters treat of two different conditions of the man of the church in these early times. Of this we have already spoken. But these different descriptions have led to curious re- sults. Some have considered what is said of the creation of man, namely, " male and female created he them," to mean that Adam was originally distinguished by both sexes ; and this was thought to derive confinnation from the peculiar circumstance of Eve's creation, afterwards related. Others have conjectured, that man and woman were, indeed, created upon the sixth day, but by some means fastened sideways to each other, so that she was as a rib to him ; and that her separation from him during a deep sleep, with her subsequent presentation to him as a separate individual, are what are meant by taking from him a rib, and making it into a woman. (Cruden, Art. Woman.) All this is curious enough, and doubtless, the literal sense will admit of these and other equally ridiculous conjectures, Avhicli, surely, are sufficient to suggest the duty of taking other grounds from which to view these narratives. It is indeed popular to consider the statement as " wise, benign, and simple ; " and with a view to the maintenance of its literal character, it is asked whether the " imagination can frame a mode 108 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. of origin, so well adapted to endear her to her conjugate, as that the creative power should form her out of his actual bodily sub- stance." (Dr. Pye Smith, Scrip. Geo., Sec. Ed. p. 285.) We could have understood this argument, whatever we might have thought of it, if it had been employed in reference to the first child, but what it has to do with the first conjugate, it is difficult to con- jecture. Such a method of defending the history, suggests the idea of Adam being the mother of Eve rather than her husband ! But if this mode of origination were really intended to supply the motive for endearment, which is assumed, what has become of it ? When was it lost ? Why has it not been perpetuated ? How has it happened that such myriads of attachments are formed and con- tinued, irrespective of such a motive to their existence? It is gone, and whensoever the statement is adverted to, there is felt more of the buoyancy of a smile, than the solemnity of belief. The supposed argument has no foundation in truth. The question, however, is not whether the imagination can form a more suitable idea of the origination of woman, but whether that which is com- monly understood to be the description of it, is really so. We may fail in a conjecture of this sort, but that would not prove the literal sense of such a description true, and therefore, the narrative re- mains just where it was. It must be judged of from other grounds. We have traced the rise and progress of the Adamic church, into the full enjoyment of Eden, with all its blessings. We have seen that that garden, and those felicities, consisted in the religious intelligence, high principles, sound virtue, and distinguished char- acter of that people. We have ascertained that they received in- strnctions in duty from their Maker, and there can be no reason- able doubt but what they were, for a time, carefully and happily obeyed. How long the people continued in their integrity there is no record. We are only informed of the fact and not of its dura- tion. It is highly probable that it might have been maintained for several generations : but tliis is a matter with which we have not to deal : we find that in process of time, while they were yet in the garden, the discovery was made that it was not good for the man to be alone. Now, we hold that this cannot be reasonably construed to mean, that he was the only existing human individual. If the literal sense is to be received as evidence, the male and female are of the same age, and Adam is their generic name. (Gen. v. 2.) The woman is distinctly declared to have been created in the same day THE GERM OF THE FALL. 109 as the man, (Gen. i. 27 ;) nor is there any thing in the statement to preclude the idea, that it was at the same moment. Moreover, a command was given to them to " be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the eartli, before they were placed in the garden ; " (Gen. i. 28 ;) it is therefore plain, that Adam could not have been there alone, in the sense commonly understood by that term. Besides, she knew the command of God concerning the forbidden tree ; (Gen. iii. 2, 3 ;) there is no intimation of Adam having communi- cated it to her ; and therefore, it is to be infen-ed, that she was present at its delivery, which was before the time he is stated to have been alone : and which, therefore, requires that this expres- sion should not be understood to mean, that there was no woman then in existence. That statement is intended to furnish us with information, relating to the internal condition of a posterity of the most ancient church. It is an intimation concerning their decline from innocence and purity ; in the record, that a period had arrived in that remote dispensation, when it was not good for man to be alone, we have presented to us the germ of that catastrophe, called the Fall. That circumstance was not a sudden calamity, it was the result of successive downward steps. They who had been gradually raised into the possession of every blessing, and so gifted with experimental evidences of their value, would not be instantaneously precipitated into flagrant guilt : that catastrophe was small in its beginning, and therefore, it is delicately spoken of, as not being good to be alone. It is expressive of an incipient disinclination to remain under the exclusive guidance of God. That is what the Scriptures treat of, when they speak of man being alone. They who submit themselves wholly to the divine guidance are said to be alone, because they are governed solely by the Lord. Hence Balaam's prediction concerning some future happy state of Israel was, " Lo, the people shall dwell alone." (Num. xxiii. 9.) Moses, also, in speaking of a similar circum- stance, said, " Israel shall dwell in safety alone." (Deut. xxxiii. 28.) The prophet likewise said, " Arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation, that dwelleth without care, saith the Lord which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone." (Jer. xlix. 3L) Now the Adamic people, during the period of their integrity, had dwelt in "safety alone." They had been led, and influenced solely by the Lord : but with some of their posterity there arose an inclination to selfhood — a desire to possess an individuality apart from the Lord. This was necessarily attended by the expe- 10 110 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. rience of influences from two different sources ; those which come from the Lord, and those which spring from the selfhood of man : and so they clearly prove that a cessation had been put to the single leading^ of the Lord. This was the state which he beheld, and said of it, " It is not good that man should be alone." It is not a sentence expressing deficiency in God's creation, but a reve- lation to us, that men had then began to pervert its excellence. They desired not to be alone, and it was permitted, because, to have prevented it, would have required an interference with that liberty of man, which God holds inviolable in order to preserve him responsible. But although, for this reason, God allowed them to descend into such a state, he did not abandon them. He is ever merciful, and always grants what the state requires. Hence, when Adam ceased to be content under his exclusive influence, he said, " I will make a help, meet for him," which is afterv/ards described to have been " a woman : " because she represented the selfhood to which he had inclined, and which had now become dear to him. This selfhood may be described as that individuality, or proper- self,* which man as a finite creature, necessarily possesses. It belongs to his highest nature, and is inseparable from every other condition of his existence ; it will be good or evil, according to the quality of his character. By the most ancient people, during the period of their integrity, it was inherited as a genuine good : but it was not intended that they should love it ; this, however, they began to do, when they were not content to be alone. This new circumstance of man, brought into activity neAv mercies on the part of the Lord. As the selfhood of the man at this time was of such a quality, it was not only permitted him to love it, but it was afterwards provided, that it should be agreeable to order, for him to do so. The statement, "I will make a help meet for him," t was a promise to render the selfhood a resemblance of all his other excellences, so that it might be proper for his attach- ment. Hence this suitable help was subsequently represented by a woman. It is to be observed, that betAveen the time of this promise and * The Latin word p7'02)i'ium, or the French le propre, but especially the former, best expresses the idea here intended to be conveyed. The above definition is adopted, that the general reader may not be embarrassed by the use of a word not yet Anglicised. t The original, ezer kenegdo, strictly means a help as with him ; and this, with the context, implies a new assistance from within him. THE HELP MEET FOR ADAM. Ill the period of its fulfilment, there are related three remarkable circumstances, — the naming of the creatures, the sleep of Adam, and the taking from him a rib and building it into a woman. The creatures were brought to Adam to be named, when he began to incline towards himself, that he migiit review the quality of all his interior affections and thoughts, and so remember their origin and value. They were all pure graces communicated from the Lord, and therefore, the man could not find among them that which is spoken of as the help, meet for him. Nothing of the selfhood was discoverable ; his inclination led him to look for it among them, but it was not found. And this circumstance beautifully reveals to us, that all the virtues and graces of a genuine religion acknowl- edge God to be their exclusive author, and eschew every thing of man. But the disposition not to be alone, and the inclination to con- sider that self had something to do with the production of those excellences, had made some inroad upon men's character, and the result, in process of time, was, that they were led into great ob- scurity and darkness of thought concerning it. This state was represented by the deep sleep that fell upon Adam. And now the time had come for the Lord to realize his promise. The manner of it is thus described. " The Lord God took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, he built into a woman and brought her unto the man." * Now, if we remember that it is the religious, and not the physical condition of the man, which is here treated of, the difficulty in perceiving the true meaning of these state- ments will be considerably lessened. The leading ideas so ex- pressed, are, that something was taken from the man, raised into a new condition, gifted with new life, and then presented to him, as an object that might help him, and to which he might be affection- ately attached. That which was taken from him, is called a rib, because it represented selfhood, without spiritual life ; this is said to have been built into a woman, to denote, that it was afterwards raised into the condition of such a life ; it is then declared, that she was * Gen. ii. 21, 22. The common version is, " made he a woman," but "built into a woman " is the more correct rendering of the original, and indeed recognized in the marginal readings. It is used in contradistinc- tion to the terms, creathig and making, as previously employed in refer- ence to the development of man, in order to indicate the idea of raising up something that had fallen. 112 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. brought unto the man, to signify, that selfhood thus vivified and introduced to his affections, would help to sustain his character and maintain his happiness. In other words, this significant his- tory means, that when this posterity of the most ancient church, began to think holy things might have arisen with themselves, and thus fell into states of obscurity (deep sleep) about their genuine origin, the Lord, during its continuance, mercifully effected the removal of that unspiritual selfhood (rib), and endowed it with a new capacity, by which it was enabled to know truth, and do good, as from self, still always preserving the acknowledgment and belief that they are from the Lord : under this aspect, selfhood became an object that might be loved and cherished ; and there- fore, it is represented by the woman brought unto the man ; whereas, under its condition as a rib, it was separated and taken away from him.* These facts will admit of some degree of illustration from the state of human selfhood now. This, with merely natural men, is such, that they regard it to be the chief thing of their existence.f They think that all they know of truth, or feel of good, has come from self, and thus they are in a deep sleep as to the real truth, that all such blessings descend from the Lord. This selfhood, like the hard and bony structure of man, is scarcely possessed of any spiritual life ; it, as it were, surrounds his heart, and so it is repre- sented by the rib which is adjacent thereto. Before his elevation can be effected, this rib must be taken away. It must be raised into a new condition, and be animated by another life ; it must come to see that truth and good are to be believed and done by man as of himself, yet always under the acknowledgment that they are from the Lord. When this takes place, it is soft and yielding, fair and lovable, and hence compared to a woman, beau- tiful and innocent. That hone, wliich the rib is afterwards called, denotes the self- hood of man, may be made evident from many passages of the Scriptures. The Psalmist says, " Make me to have joy and glad- * " This part of the history, where Eve is said to have been made from the rib of Adam, might have been a hieroglyphical design of the Egyptian Philosophers." — Dr. Darwin's Temple of Nature. Additional Notes, 10. t Rochefoucault, Esprit, and their disciple, Mandeville, have con- tended, that self-love was the origin of all those virtues mankind most admire ; and teach, that the highest pretensions to disinterestedness, are only the more artful disguises of self-love ! SIGNIFICATION OF BONES ILLUSTRATED. 113 ness, tliat the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice ; " (Psahn 11. 8 ;) where, the bones which are broken, denote the selfhood dejected, wlien spiritual happiness may be obtained. It is to be observed, that the breaking of the bones is here somewhat analo- gous to the removal of the rib — that separation implying the idea of a breaking — a breakmg, however, only in the sense of humil- iation and dejection, with a view to subsequent exaltation. Again, it is written ; " Hear me, O Lord, for my bones are vexed ; " (Psalm vi. 2;) "all my bodies are out of joint;" (Psalm xxii. 14;) "my bones are consumed ; " (Psahii xxxi. 10 ;) " neither is there any rest in my bones ; " (Psalm xxxviii. 3 ;) all of which sentences imply states of anxiety and trial, which the selfhood was under- going. -But when this selfhood is made somewhat alive, by an infusion of the Divine spirit, it is said, " all my bones shall say. Lord, wlio is like unto thee ; " (Psalm xxxv. 10 ;) and, for a similar reason, it is promised that " your bones shall flourish like an herb." (Isaiah Lxvi. 14.) Passages of this nature could be extensively increased ; they not only show that the term bones, was employed by the ancients in a figurative sense, but they also show that figure to be the selfhood of man, from the intelligibility which the sen- tences acquire on the application of that idea to the word. The vivified bones, spoken of in the two passages last ad- duced, are not called woman, as in the case of the animation given to Adam's rib, because tlie quality of both the selfhood and vivification treated of, is of a different nature : they relate to what is spiritual, that of Adam's to what is celestial. Never- theless, the prophetical Word does furnish some approximation even to that idea. Ezekiel, relating his vision of the valley of bones, teaches that the bones heard the Word of the Lord, received his breath, and became alive, and thereupon they are declared to be the whole house of Israel. (Ezekiel xxxvii. 4, 5, 11.) Thus bones are distinctly said to have been raised into a whole people, consequently some of them into women. Of course, this inference from the vision, like the vision itself, will not be understood in a natural sense ; the vision was designed to repre- sent the impartation of a new principle and character to the self- hood of a degenerated people. Viewed under that aspect, it is somewhat parallel to the narrative of Moses : lie is treating of a people who were not content to be alone, and upon whom a deep sleep had fallen ; and therefore, it was mercifully provided to remove the selfhood, which liad attended this condition, to infuse into it a 10* 114 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. new life, and give it a new form, which is described as taking a rib from the man and building it into a woman. This is perfectly- consistent with the circumstance of Adam's stating, that it was bone of his bone ; it was a new selfhood in the external man, raised out of tliat wliich the internal man had furnished as the basis. Hence, it is said to have been taken out of man, and then called Avoman, because she represented its weaker character, but still displaying a lovely aspect. In consequence of the change of state, that was now induced upon this posterity of the Adamic church, it was permitted them to recede from internal things, and attach themselves to what was pure and good in external. This is what is meant by man " leaving father and mother and cleavmg to his wife." The father and mother who might be left, were those internal things from which they had receded ; and the wife that might be cleaved to, was the selfhood to which celestial and spiritual injfluences were now adjoined. It is then said, that they were both naked and not ashamed, to teach, that the ivisdom which constituted the man, and the selfhood, represented by the woman, were still in innocence and free from blame. Thus it is a figurative, and not a literal history : it proceeded from a peculiarity of intellectual genius, some remains of which are traceable in the mythology of after-times, and in which there are some apparent histories of a similar kind. Thus, Venus is said to have risen from the froth of the sea; Gigantes to have sprung out of the blood, which issued from the wound of Coelus their father ; and Minerva from the brain of Jupiter, whose head was opened by the axe of Saturn. Surely every one may see, that it is no less diffi- cult to receive these relations as literally true, than that which states a woman to have been built up from the rib of a man. Those Greek fables were framed by men, who possessed merely the wreck of that exalted genius, which had been employed in the construction of the divine narrative ; nevertheless, a sufficient amount of the original remained, to assure us that its written utterances are singularly figurative. It is plain, that the ideas and circumstances of primeval man, were very different from those which subsequently existed ; and also, that their method of ex- pressing them, must have been less literal than that which was afterwards adopted. It is therefore evident, that we cannot arrive at correct notions concerning the written sentiments of the former, by the same kind of judgment, as that which we bring to decipher the productions of the latter. What they wrote was from internal THE SERPENT AND ITS DECEPTION. 115 perception; what has subsequently been written has been from external observation. The one relates to internal things figura- tively expressed, the other to external things literally described. By overlooking this distinction, and judging of the documents of the former, by a standard proper to be applied only to the writings of the latter, a meaning has been claimed for them, which they never could have been intended to express. We are aware, that the long standing of such a meaning may raise a difficulty in the way of its being relinquished. The mind, when once familiarized with an inconsistent notion, does not readily fasten upon its per- plexities. It is like a vicious habit, the disorder of which is hid from the perpetrator by long continuance. But the question is not, whether the literal interpretation of the narratives is of long standing, but whether it is true : if it is not true, its antiquity can have no claims upon our respect, and the sooner it is abandoned, the better will it be for the interest of an enlightened and spiritual religion. The narrative is commonly spoken of as an artless statement : this we believe to be a mistaken idea. As a divine composition, it must be looked upon as a work of God ; it cannot, therefore, be an artless production : it must be the result of the most consummate skill, and so correspond with every other work that is divine. CHAPTER X. THE SERPENT AND ITS DECEPTION. " Inquire no longer, man ! who is the author of evil ; behold him. in yourself, — Take away every thing that is the work of man; and all the rest is good." — Rousseau. The subjects treated of, under the representation of a serpent and its deception, are of deep and melancholy interest to human- ity. Great difficulties have always been experienced in the way of a satisfactory understanding of them. The letter has been contemplated, and the spirit overlooked. We shall endeavor to avoid tliat course, and present the truth which lies beyond it. The meaning is not that which at first appears. We cannot believe in the existence of a talking serpent ; we do not think that God ever endowed a reptile with the capability of reasoning ; nor can we conceive that mankind were seduced from their propriety by the utterances of a snake. At these views, prejudices may be shocked ; we cannot help it ; reason will rejoice ; error may be alarmed, but truth will be strengthened and advanced. Truth will find her responses in the inner sensations of humanity, if they 116 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. are fairly permitted to unfold themselves. We appeal, with our interpretation of the Word, to the consciousness and intuition of rational nature, as to the very counterpart of revealed and spiritual wisdom. There is such a phenomenon as feeling- a thing to be true, even though there may be difficulties in the way of its clear utterance and demonstration. This we call perception, — a faculty superior to reason, for it is the response of nature and not the cogitations of art ; and there is a harmony existing between those responses in man, and a right exposition of God's Word. It requires care and erudition to comprehend and grasp an argument intended to elaborate a truth, for those who are not disposed for its acceptance ; but the honest and good heart, which loves truth for its own sake, will perceive it more clearly in the proposition than the argument. If men would only give their hearts and consciences fair play, they would soon be delivered from many of those fetters which have so long bound them to a misunder- standing, both of revelation and themselves. Let us then, attend to those approving impulses which arise, and strive to retain the impressions which they make upon our minds, as we proceed in the examination of the subjects before us. In preceding chapters, we have traced the progressive develop- ment of human excellence, and ultimately found mankind raised to the very pinnacle of religious greatness. It was from thence they fell. The manner of this calamity, together with its imme- diate consequences, are thus detailed. "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman. Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden ? And the woman said unto the serpent. We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman. Ye shall not surely die : for God doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also to her husband, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. — Therefore, the Lord God sent liim forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken." * * Gen. iii. 1-7, 23. Dr. Adam Clarke remarks on this narrative, " That VARIOUS PRINCIPLES IN MAN. 117 To understand this account of man's iall, we must remember, that the eminent condition from which he descended, had been successively procured. His primeval state is declared to have been as of the earth, and without form and void ; and also, as of darkness being upon the face of the deep : thus, that his original condition was the lowest degree of human life, and that it was from thence he was gradually elevated into the highest degree of human excellence. That low degree of life, in which he origi- nally stood, was doubtless of a sensual nature, but not of an evil quality : for evil had not yet come into existence. It was an orderly degree of life proper to man, it had tlie capacity of eleva- tion latent in it, and it is this, upon which the higher degrees of life had a foundation. This is the life into which man now first comes, though its quality, in consequence of the fall, is more or less tainted with hereditary evil. Nevertheless, man, as an infant, is the mere creature of sensation, and the life of the senses is first developed, and must be so, before the higher degrees of intel- lectual and moral life can be unfolded. Thus Adam was not constituted by one principle merely, but by several.* His highest or inmost was celestial, the next was spiritual, and after these man is in a fallen state, the history of the world, with that of the Ufe and miseries of every human being, establishes beyond successful contradic- tion. But hoio, and by what agency, was this brought about ? Here is a great mystery ; and I may appeal to all persons who have read the vari- ous comments that have been written on the Mosaic account, whether they have ever yet been satisfied on this part of the subject, though con- vinced of the fact itself. Who was the serpent f of what kindf In what way did he seduce the first happy pair ? These are questions which refnain yet to he ajisicered. The whole account is either a simple narrative of facts, or it is an allegory." With this opinion we readily concur. The Doctor, however, considered it as a "narrative of facts," and, after the use of much Hebrew and Arabic learning, arrived at the conclusion, that the serpent was an ourang-outang, and that the chattering and babbling, of which it is now capable, are the remains of the speech with which it was once endowed, and of course the evidences of the curse. From this we dissent. He, however, was not quite certain that this opinion was correct, nor do we wonder at his doubt. Speech is the exclusive endow- ment of humanity, and it is attributed to the serpent only in the way of figure. But the Doctor further says, " if it is an allegory, no attempt should be made to explain it." Indeed ! no attempt to be made to explain what God has allegorically revealed ! what a commentary on commen- tators and himself. * " It cannot be doubted that the first man was created with a great variety of instinctive or inspired knowledges." — Sir H. Davy. 118 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. . came the natural and sensual. The existence of these several principles in him, is proven by the fact that they are all, in some measure, capable of being re-developed in us ; and also, in the circumstance, that they are more or less in activity in every mind, ■which cherishes respect for truth and virtue. The internal princi- ples of human life called celestial and spiritual, are superior to those more external principles denominated natural and sensual ; the former belong more to the things of heaven, the latter relate more to the things of the world : and this is as true of man in his primeval state as it is of his condition now : though then the exer- cise of his lower principles was only instrumental to the purpose of his higher ones ; but in after-times this instrumental purpose became perverted ; the delights of the sensual principle began to be cultivated, irrespective of superior ends, and their perceptions of spiritual and heavenly things were successively closed. This distinction of principle in man, is of the utmost unportance to be known, if we would attain to any clear comprehension of the subject before us. The men of the most ancient dispensation, had not only the higher principles of celestial and spiritual life, but they had also the lower principles of natural and sensual life. So long as the people continued in their integrity, and maintained their innocence, so long all those principles existed in their proper order, the lower contributing to the purposes of the higher ; but when man fell into disobedience and guilt, a disruption took place among them, and the lower principles began to usurp the places of the higher, and thereby to paralyze their functions. Hence it is very easy to see, that the quality of man's sensual nature before his fall, was very different from that which it became after it. Before the fall, it was such that it yielded willing obedience to the dictate and impulse of the higher principles of his inner life. It was as a servant, ministering to the attainment of superior ends, always acknowledging its subordinate position ; but after that catastrophe, men began to prefer the sensual things of the body, to the intellectual and spiritual things of the mind, and thus the instrumental became the principal, so that the whole order and series of life, which had been successively developed, were changed. This is the state of man now ; sensual things are uppermost with him, and the design of religion, its influences, and leadings, is to regain the order which has been lost. The senses are but inlets for certain knowledges — doors, through which information concerning the outer tilings of the SENSUAL PRINCIPLE BEFORE AND AFTER THE FALL. 119 world pass into the mind. The elevation and enlargement of the mind, are ends, for the accomplishment of which, the senses are among the appointed means. Some persons hear, see, and taste, merely for the sake of hearing, seeing, and tasting ; they live a long life, with a very limited extent of intellectual acquirements, because they have scarcely proposed to themselves any higher object than the gratification of their senses. Whereas, they who have em- ployed their sensual powers as the ministers to higher uses, and with a view to produce superior ends, are found to possess enlarged and comprehensive knowledges of men and things. These circum- stances may, in some faint degree, enable us to form an idea of the difference, between the quality of the sensual principle of man before, and after his fall. But the distinction is admissive of illus- tration and explanation by other facts known to general experience. For instance, when we are earnestly endeavoring to understand the meaning of a speaker, the words give us but little concern : we hear the words, indeed, and yet they affect the sense of hear- ing very little, because of the interest we are taking to collect the sense : nor is this all, for if we think a little more interiorly, and pay attention to what is really transpiring in our mind, it will occasionally be found, that we do not always gather the meaning as intellectual sentiments, in consequence of our chief aim being to catch and comprehend the feeling which urges the discourse. Some persons hear the words, but do not grasp the sentiment, they say the language was good and the discourse powerful, but can scarcely give an idea of what it was about ; with such, the sensu- ality of hearing is the chief. Others hear the words, but listen to them only as the instruments for communicating the ideas of the speaker; with them the activity of the sensual principle is directed to a higher use : but with others, the sense is but imperfectly col- lected, in consequence of tlie attention being so deeply engaged to comprehend the feeling of the utterer : with such the sensual principle is directed to a nobler end. This was a use, which the men of the purest times made of their sensual principle, while the former are characteristics which it has engendered in later periods. We call attention to these distinctions, because the Scriptures have presented both conditions of the sensual principle to us, under the emblem of a serpent. When the sensual principle is circum- spect, and employed as a means for tlie acquisition of useful Icnowledge, then is fulfilled the divine injunction, " be ye wise as serpents, (Matt x. 16 ;) but when it is used merely for the purpose 120 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. of securing sensual gratification, then it is declared to be the " ser- pent more subtle than any beast of the field." (Gen. iii. 1.) There are few facts better attested by historical evidence, than that the serpent has, by all the nations of antiquity, been regarded and employed symbolically. It is conspicuous in their history, it stands out in their fables, and it is visible in their religion. Herod- otus informs us that it was sacred at Thebes ; (Euterpe. Ixxiv ;) and the hieroglyphics which have been brought to light in our own times, abundantly show that it must have been used in an emble- matical way, among the ancient Egyptians. Bryant, also, asserts, that in the first ages, the serpent was extensively introduced into all the mysteries that were celebrated ; and that, wheresoever the Ammonians founded any places of worship, there was generally some story of a serpent. There was a legend about it at Thebes, at Colchis, and Delphi. Even the Athenians had a tradition that the chief guardian of their Acropolis was a serpent.* It is some- times presented under a variety of ideal forms,' nor is it uncommon to find it represented with a human head.f It is impossible, ration- ally to contemplate these circumstances, and doubt that the ser- pent sustained some symbolical character. The facts at once sug- gest, that such must have been the design of the serpent, said to have been more subtle than any beast of the field : and here we raise the question, of what was it significant ? The various nations, by whom it was symbolically used, do not appear to have viewed it under the same aspect. Uniformity of idea in this respect, would not long continue, after that knoAvledge had perished, which originally directed its selection for a symboli- cal purpose, and when men were left, with no other guide than a fallen fancy, and no sounder principle than caprice, to conduct them in the profound matters of religion and its objects. The ser- pent is said to have been worshipped, from, the circumstance of its having been mentioned and set apart, as one of the objects asso- ciated with the religion of Egypt. This was the opinion of Euse- bius and others ; and it might have been the case in the most cor- rupted periods of Egyptian learning. That is, it might then have become the symbol of something to be worshipped ; but, although it was always a symbol, that was not always the object of it. The serpent came to be spoken of as sacred, only from the circumstance * Bryant on Serpent Worship. Vol. 1. p. 476, &c. t See Montfaucon's Antiq. by Humphreys. Chimsera is said to have been a black-eyed nymph in her upper part, but downwards a frightful serpent. — Hesiod's Theogmiy. THE SERPENT AS A SYIMBOL. 121 of its having been associated with religious sentiments ; it was not at first set apart to be worshipped, nor for any good it could be- stow, but rather to be dreaded for the mischiefs it might originate. It was the symbol of something that might, if not guarded against, be disastrous to mankind. Hence we find it so frequently referred to in the legends of remote antiquity, as having exercised an un- favorable influence upon the destinies of the people. Every one knows that the figure of a serpent biting its tail is very ancient ; it is commonly regarded as the emblem of eternity : but is it not rather a representative of evil punishing itself? In Phoenician Mythology, we read of a serpent surrounding an egg, plainly im- plying the danger of sensuality, with which life is beset from its very beginning. Among that of the Greeks, we are informed of the hair of Medusa being transformed into serpents, because she had violated the sanctity of the Temple of Minerva. The serpents are evidently employed to represent the evil she had perpetrated. The serpent, Python, which is fabled to have sprung out of the mud left by the deluge of Deucalion, was an emblem of the evil occasioned to Greece by the overwhelmning of Thessaly. The serpents which the infant Hercules strangled in his cradle, were, unquestionably, a representation of innocence conquering the blandishments of sensuality ; and the Hydra, which he afterwards overthreAv, was a representation of those evils which the labors of energy and fortitude may overcome. So also, the Caducous, which was a rod entwined by serpents, and with which Mercury is said to have conducted souls to the infernal regions, plainly symbolized the evils which cling to power and so conduce to misery. Escula- pius, the medical attendant on the Argonauts, is always represented with a serpent entwined about his staff, to denote, the power of the physician over the diseases of humanity. Many other instances of the emblematical use of the serpent, could be easily collected from the writings of the ancients, but these are sufficient for our pur- pose : they plainly show, that the emblem of that, whereby man fell, was preserved among mankind, for a long time after the reminiscence of its definite signification had passed away. They retained the emblem, with some general idea of its meaning, but had lost sight of its precise signification. For this we must go to analogy and the Scriptures. These are the only sources, whence satisfactory information can be drawn, and these will show us that the serpent was the sensual principle of man.* ♦ The Rev. J. Hewlett, B. D., in his " Annotations," observes : " St. 11 122 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. "Of all the objects of the animal kingdom, the reptile tribe is the lowest, of which serpents of various kinds and species are the most conspicuous. Of all the degrees of man's life, the sensual and corporeal are the lowest ; because they are nearest to the earth and are actuated by merely earthly appetites, influences, and causes. These lowest degrees in man's nature partake the least of what is truly human in man, and the serpent, their corresponding emblem, is of all animals the most remote from the human form. As the serpent crawls upon the earth, so the sensual principle in man is nearest akin to the earth, which, if not elevated by the rational and spiritual principles of his nature, may be said to crawl upon the earth in like manner. As sensual things have a tendency to fasci- nate and charm the mind, because sensual delights are more vividly experienced than any others, so certain kinds of serpents, espe- cially the more malignant, are said, by naturalists, to fascinate and charm their prey before they devour it." * The general analogies, so satisfactorily presented in this extract, assist us in perceiving certain general resemblances between the serpent and the sensual principle of man. Now the serpent f which was in Eden, we believe to have been the sensual principle, that was connected Avith Adam's character. For a time, there was with him a realization of the Lord's injunc- tion, to be "wise as serpents." The sensual principle, at first, was right and orderly, because it stood in its proper relation to the Paul, in addressing himself to the Corinthians, says, ' I fear, lest, as the serpent beguiled Eve, through his svibtletj', so your minds should be cor- rupted from the simplicity which is in Christ.' Now the city of Corinth was notorious, even to a proverb, for its devotion to pleasure, for the grossest sensuality and voluptuousness ; and as the holy apostle draws a parallel between them and the temptation which seduced Eve, it may be supposed that he favors the allegorical interpretation of those who consider the serpent as the well-known emblem, or symbol, of sensual pleasure." * A waiter under the signature of "Minus," in the "Intellectual Re- pository," for 1843, p. 53. f The Hebrew word here translated serpent, is Nachash. Much learn- ing has been bestowed upon this term, with the purpose of determining who or what the serpent was, but without any very satisfactory results. The principal reason is, because a sense has been sought for it which it was never intended to express. Forbes, in his " Oriental Memoirs," says, " A great nuisance at Benares is, the number of Yogees, Senassees, and Nanghas, or religious mendicants, who go about entirely naked : we oc- casionally meet with a few of these people at other places, but here they abound." (Vol, iv. p. 86.) THE WISDOM AND SUBTLETY OF THE SEKPENT. 123 dictates of his higher nature. It was among the objocts, upon which the Divine approbation had been pronounced : for the Lord declared the creeping things to be "good," yea, "very good.'* This then, was a characteristic of the serpent, or, more literally, of the sensual principle of Adam, as declared of it by the Lord himself. So long as it Avas employed {nstrumentallij, to promote the ends of spiritual use and order, so long it was wise, but when it Avas directed principally, to secure the gratifications of corporeal nature, it became most subtle. The ivisdom of the serpent is the circum- spection and prudence of the sensual principle of man ; the subtlety of the serpent is its artifice and deception. Li neither case was a literal serpent meant. The very circumstances of tlic narrative having given to it speaking and reasoning powers, ought to have preserved mankind from the belief of such a crudity. If it once could speak, when and how did it lose the power ? The Scriptures furnish no answer. Theology has suggested, that it v/as the devil and not the serpent who spoke. But the Scriptures do not say so. They express no idea about the then existence of the devil : * how could he have come into being before evil had been perpetrated? The Scriptures most distinctly assert that it Avas the serpent Avhich sgoke : nor is there, throughout the Avhole narrative, the slightest intimation that it was any other being. The faculty of speech is attributed to it, because it is significant of the sensual principle of man ; which is, indeed, a speaking principle, uttering wisdom when it is used as the instrument of spiritual order, but discours- ing artifice Avhen separated therefrom and directed to the Avorld. Man is formed, not by one principle only, but by many ; he has not lost any of them by the fall : that calamity destroyed their * " This question may be asked : If such be the case, how came the opinion so general respecting fallen angels, and whence was it derived ? There can be no doubt respecting the source whence it was obtained. The first notion of the existence of a fallen angel is found in the Zendavesta. The later Jews became conversant with the Persian mythology, and in- troduced this, with various other notions, into their writings, and it seems to have been adopted by the early Christians, without any inquiry into the scriptural authority upon which it rested. Our immortal country- man, Milton, by clothing this fiction of the Persian mythology, in all the beauty and attractions of poetry, has so recommended it to our imagina- tion, that we almost receive it as of divine authority ; and we feel a reluctance to be convinced that all his splendid fabric is based on false- hood." — John Lamb, D. D. Hebreto Characters derived from Hiero- glyphics. Pp. 118, 119. Sec. ed. 124 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. quality, and perverted the order of their existence, but it obliterated none. Hence humanity, in its primitive perfection, must have had principles distinguished by higher and lower degrees of excellence, the interior being allied to the things of spirituality and heaven, and the exterior to the objects of corporiety and earth. Now, one of the distinguished characteristics of the Adamic people was, their freedom. When placed in the garden, they had a choice given to them, to obey, or transgress, the divine com- mands. It was said to them, " Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it." This freedom must have been very perfect, because their condition is pronounced to have been very good. From this state they must have known the truth, and it is a law, that they who know the truth, " the truth shall make them free." (John viii. 32.) Moreover, the spirit of God was present with them, and the apostle has declared, that " where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." (2 Cor. iii. 17.) They had been raised to the summit of their excellence, by the use of freedom in that direction. But this did not compel them to remain there. They did not forfeit their freedom by the attainment of their superiority : it was enlarged and perfected as they ascended. While the men of the most ancient times, employed this free- dom in co-operating with the Lord to develop the interior re- sources of their orderly humanity, it was exercised in a wise and right direction ; but by that very freedom they could again descend the mountain they had climbed : yet to do so would necessarily be attended by a curtailment of their freedom. " He who doeth sin is the servant of sin." (John viii. 34.) Freedom is rightly used, when it causes all the principles of men to look inwards and on- wards to the attainment of superior states : but it is abused, when it permits them to look outwards and backwards to the delights supplied b}^ inferior things. Now the tendency of man's lower sentiments and disposition is toAvards the world, while the impulses of his spiritual nature and inclination are towards heaven : and, so long as the former remain under the influences of the latter, so long order is preserved, and all their respective relationships are good : but who does not know, that the inferior principles strive to relax the vigilance of the supe- rior ? Who has not occasionally experienced the lower principles of their nature, proposmg doubts, as to the reality of those objects, which the higher principles believed and sought after ? Who has THE SENSUAL PRINCIPLE. 125 not soraetiiiies permitted their judgment to be formed only by the testimony of the eye, or the evidence of some other sense, and yielded belief only to those things which they could see and touch, and cherished doubts about those interior subjects which are to be known only to the inner convictions, by means of the mental sight and higher feelings of our nature ? These are no uncommon cir- cumstances. They come home to the general experiences of men : and surely, it is easy to see, when our sensual nature is endeavor- ing to separate itself from the light and guidance of our spiritual nature, that the serpent is attempting to deceive us. The sensual principle endeavors to persuade us, that the objects of the outer senses are more real than the things of intellectual perception ; and thus, it would induce us to prefer the pleasures of the world to the excellences of heaven. And do we not, in this fact, even now, experience the temptation of the serpent ? Does it not make an effort to weaken our regard for God's commandments, and is it not frequently insinuating, that the gratification of the passions of our lower nature is preferable to the delights anticipated by our higher principles ? Is not this fact the common experience of men, and does it not suggest a reasonable exposition of the serpent, saying " Ye shall not surely die ? " The serpent of natural his-* tory cannot say this, but the sensual principle of man practically does so, whenever it begins to act independently of higher pow- ers ; and this, we conceive to have been the very serpent, by which Adam was seduced from his propriety, and the circumstances under which he was led into transgression ! The serpent is said to have been " more subtle than any beast of the field," not to teach that it has any remarkable sagacity beyond what is common to the instinct of animated nature, for no such fact is known to naturalists ; but this is said of it, to inform us, that the sensual principle is the lowest, and the least to be depended on, of all the other affections belonging to our external man : it is requisite to watch over it by the higher powers of our minds, and to direct it by superior principles, or it will be sure to lead us into a forgetfulness of our highest duty, and finally plunge us into disobedience. The reason is, because it dwells as it were upon the outer extremes of human life. It thus readily receives impressions from the external world, by which the memory is fur- nished Avith information, which it C^n wield with a persuasive art in favor of the delights and pursuits of worldly things. It reasons with shrewdness and dexterity, because its thoughts are so near the 11* 126 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. tongue : it thinks that intelligence consists in speaking from the memory, concerning things collected from without, and views the understanding of things, implanted by the Lord, with doubt and disrespect. There is nothing so deceptive as the senses. If we trust to them only for information, our judgment and conclusions must be full of error. There is a proverb, that " seeing is believing ; " but it is not always so. We have to correct the impression which we receive from without, by the higher faculties of our minds, in order to reach the truth. How various are the fallacies of vision ! The sun appears but a small body, to rise and set upon the earth, which seems immovable. The stars, also, appear to be fixed in the same extended plane, and moving from east to west in the vast expanse ; but these things are not really so ; they are mere falla- cies of the sight, which we correct by another and superior power ! If the sensual principle is not so corrected, it remains in fallacies, and it will be found to appeal to the testimony of the senses for evidences, that the appearance is the reality. The subtlety of the serpent consists in the fallacies, which sensuality induces. All its reasonings are grounded in worldly things : and by these, it •would lead us to believe, that there is nothing worthy our attention or attachment, but what we can see and feel, or taste : and there is a force and plausibility about such reasonings, which fit them for the purposes of seduction. Any one, capable of seeing how the higher powers of the mind correct the fallacious impressions, which outward and worldly things make upon the lower senses, will readily perceive how it was, that all the faculties and powers of Adam, during his integ- rity, existed in harmony and order. For a time, his sensual princi- ple was as wise as a serpent, because it admitted into it the cor- recting light of spirituality and intelligence. Still it was not removed from the influences of the world ; and he possessed both the power and freedom, if he chose to incur the responsibility, of listening to its suggestions. This, according to the history of the temptation, was actually done ; thereby the light, by which his sensual natura had been previously illuminated, began to be dimin- ished in its force, and the consequence was, that fallacies were received and believed as truths, and thus the way was opened for evil to begin its deadly work. • The fall of man, as thus effected, was a gradual event. It began by his commencing to love the good of his inferior princi- FALL COMPLETED WHEN JESUS WAS MANIFESTED. 127 pies, in preference to the good of his superior ones ; successively- descending, until he finally sunk into the persuasions and delu- sions of his sensual nature. This was the circumstance in which evil had its origin, and men will obtain a tolerably correct idea of that disastrous event, if they will but carefully attend to the begin- ning of their own actual guilt. Every one knows, that this had its commencement in freely yielding to the suggestion of his sen- sual nature, to gratify some selfish love. It was near to them, and promised immediate satisfaction, whereas, those which were of a superior nature, seemed to be at a greater distance, and to exert a feebler influence. The serpent which seduced the inliabitants of Eden from their innocence and wisdom, is the same as that by which transgression and guilt have been perpetuated. Man is its exclusive author, and not any thing extrinsic to him. The attempt to charge it upon some other being, is only another act of self- delusion. It is an endeavor to excuse his own misconduct, by- heightening the criminality of another, which other could not have existed until aftei the perpetration of his own guilt. But Adam did not sink into every evil : his, like the guilt of men in subsequent ages, was a progressive work. The first intimation of it is given in the preceding chapter, where it is said, that " it was not good for man to be alone," of which we have already- spoken. At first, he only inclined towards the impulses of his sensual nature ; he afterwards began to inquire, whether it was not lawful to prefer its desires and suggestions, and at length, he yielded to its solicitations. Nevertheless, the evils into which he fell were mild and few, compared with those which were perpe- trated in after-times. His transgression was only the beginning of that catastrophe, by which the fall of man was made complete. Successive ages added to the enormities which he began, but the atrocity of the fall could not have reached its depth, until the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world,* in order to bruise the * It may be a matter of surprise to some, to hear that the fall of man was not completed, before the time of the Lord's manifestation. This, however, we think is very plain, from a careful consideration of the Scriptural History of man. Still, the state of Rome in respect to its refinements in literature, the arts, and general civilization ; its successful and extensive conquests, together with the circumstance i)f its having been the Augustine age, when peace was so settled with all the world, that the temple of Janus, (Patulcius,) was shut up, may be urged as facts difficult to reconcile with the above statement. But no condition of merely natural civilization, however eminent, if it be destitute of true 12S ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. head of the serpent which had occasioned that calamity. In the acts attendant upon that coming, he fulfilled that prediction which was delivered immediately after the temptation became successful. But how did he fulfil it ? Was it by bruising any natural serpent's head ? Certainly not. As the prediction was not fulfilled by the bruising of any natural serpent's head, is it not evident that it could not have been any natural serpent which caused the tempta- tion ? The serpents of that time were the sensualities of fallen humanity, for the Lord distinctly asserted the Jews to be " serpents, and a generation of vipers." (Matt, xxiii. 33.) The Lord's bruis- ing the serpent's head, then, consisted in his subduing the power and ascendancy, which the sensual principle had obtained with men. He did this by opening out fresh influences from Himself, which are called " a new and living way," (Heb. x. 20 ;) and from that time, men have been capable, as all history attests, of thinking and acting from higher grounds than they had previously done, and thereby of discovering and exposing the frauds and deception, which the merely sensual nature would impose upon us. This is what is implied in the promise made unto believers, namely, " I will give you power to tread on serpents," (Luke x. 19 ;) " they shall take up serpents." (Mark xvi. 18.) Power over these things naturally, was originally vouchsafed ; nor is there any intimation religious grounds, can be of any weight in an argument of this kind. That the civilization of Rome, or any other of the nations, had no ground in genuine religion, is the uniform testimony of all history. The fall of man was complete when lie was separated by pride, ambition, selfishness, and all their attendant evils, from Divine and heavenly influences : and there is evidence to prove, that these features distinguished the nations, at the period of our Lord's manifestation, more than at any other time in the history of our race. The awful character which Jesus draws of the Jewish nation, is a representation of the church as it then existed with mankind at large. Sisraondi, in his history of the " Fall of the Roman Empire," speaking of the Julian family, says, " it is that of ' the dictator Caesar ; ' his name was transmitted, by adoption out of the direct line, but always within the circle of his kindred, to the five first heads of the Roman Empire ; Augustus reigned from the year 30, B. C. to the year 14 of our era ; Tiberius from 14 to 37, A. D. ; Caligula from 37 to 41 ; Claudius from 41 to 54 ; Nero from 54 to 68. Their names alone, with the exception of the first, concerning whom there still exists some diver- sity of opinion, recall every thing that is shameful and perfidious in man, — every thing that is atrocious in the abuse of absolute power. Never had the world been astounded with such a variety and enormity of crime ; never had so fatal an attack been made on every virtue, which men had been accustomed to hold in reverence." — Cabinet Cycloptxdia. Vol. 1, p. 28. POAVER TO TREAD ON SERPENTS, ETC. 129 of its having been lost by man's transgression : on the contrary, we find savage nations to display it with tlie greatest energy. The Lord did not come into the world for such a purpose. The power to tread on serpents, which he then conferred, was a power to subdue our sensual nature :' and the power to take up serpents, was the ability to elevate our sensual nature, by placing it under the purifying influences and directing energies, of the loftier prin- ciples of spirituality and religion. There are several historical narratives, in which serpents are mentioned in a truly literal sense. In those cases, however, their representation is the same as that which they sustain in the history which is factitious, and, consequently, they may be cited as afford- ing confirmatory evidence of it. For instance, the rod of Aaron, on the occasion of his interview with Pharaoh, is stated to have been cast down, and it became a serpent. (Exod. vii. 10 - 12.) Because the rod of Aaron denoted the power of spiritual good, by casting it down, was signified its presentation, and by its becoming a serpent, was represented, that such power, with the Egyptians, was become altogether sensual. The circumstance of the rods of the magicians also becoming serpents, was a confirmation of that truth, which the transaction of Aaron had representatively re- vealed : and the rod of Aaron, swallowing up those of the magi- cians, was a further representative revelation, that such disorderly power would be taken away from them. When the people of Israel "spake against God and against Moses, fiery serpents were sent among them, so that much people of Israel died." This was done to represent the sensual loves with which they were beset, and through the influences of which many of mankind spiritually perished. Moses, complying with a Divine command, " made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole : and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass he lived." (Numb. xxi. 5-9.) Every one must perceive that this was done for a representative purpose. It is evident from the circumstance of the Lord having said, concerning it, " as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilder- ness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." * * John iii. 14, 15. This passage is commonly regarded as a pre-figura- tion of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, which men are to believe was a suffering, substituted for that which is due to their own guilt ! But the student, whose mind has not been pre-occupied with that idea, will find 130 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. The Lord Jesus Christ, as to the good of his sensual nature, was signified by the brazen serpent. He was so represented before the Israelites, because they were merely in a sensual state, and did not elevate their thoughts concerning God above that low condition. Its being lifted upon a pole, signified the glorification of the Lord's sensual nature. And for those who were bitten by the serpent, to look upon that which was of brass, and receive a cure, denoted, that those who feel the stings and wounds inflicted by sensual loves, and look up to the Lord for deliverance, will be sure to receive the communication of spiritual life for effecting it. Other cases could be easily adduced, and, like the above, sum- marily explained ; but what has been obseiTed, must make it evident, that the serpent of Eden was the sensual principle of the Adamic people, and that its temptations consisted in presenting before their higher faculties, the fascinations of worldly objects and delights ; so that, in process of time, their higher principles and powers were seduced to favor them, and, being lulled into a for- getfulness of superior duties, they gradually sunk into the gratifi- cations of their lower principles, irrespective of a higher guidance, and therefore, lost possession of their intelligence, which was their expulsion from the garden. This view of the subject presents the narrative to us in an intelligible form. It comes home, in a considerable measure, to our experience : we see its reasonableness ; and at once recognize the subtlety * of the serpent in the occasional experience of its suggestions, and the fallacious aspect under which it presents worldly and selfish loves. We perceive that its influence must be attended with a fatal withdrawing from all spiritual good, unless it be vigilantly watched and carefully resisted. It reasons falla- ciously, because the materials of its argument are drawn from the it difficult to establish any analogy between such a supposed type and antetype. -Surely there is no correspondence between Moses, who lifted up the serpent, and the wicked authorities who crucified Jesus ! nor can any thing but fancy find any resemblance between the pole and the cross. There is nothing answering to the crown of thorns, the nails, the spear, &c. &c. The reason is, that it was not such a type. The raising of the brazen serpent related to the glorification of the Lord, but the crucifixion, to the humiliation of the Lord : these were two distinct acts connected with his manifestation in the world, for the redemption of mankind. * The original word translated " subtle," though it may denote insid- iousness and craft, yet here it rather means the power to insinuate and ingratiate. EXAMPLES OF SENSUAL REASONINGS. 131 things of time and sense. It does not consult the inner dictate and superior suggestions of the mind. The sensual man says, " This is my nature, why should I resist its propensities, and not enjoy the pleasures which they promise ? God, if there be such a being, must have given them to me, and certainly I cannot sin against him when I use them." These deceptive reasonings, illustrate the serpent saying, " Ye shall not surely die." But how transparent is the subtlety of such suggestions. Although God has given to man a sensual nature, because he was to be a resident in a physical world, yet it was given in connection with superior powers, and was intended to be employed under the direction of a higher impulse than itself. Again, the serpent is reported to have said, " In the day that ye eat of the forbidden fruit, your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." To eat of the forbidden fruit is plainly to transgress a given law. The tree of knowledge is a divine gift, by which men are enabled to perceive the truths of fiiith : the fruit of this tree is the good of life. When men, from sensual persuasions, are led to think that any virtues they may possess are self-derived, they eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge : they believe their eyes are open, because they can see with approbation the delights of the world ; and they conceive that they are as gods, knowing good and evil, because they think they guide themselves in the prudences of life: but these are fallacies, utterly destructive of all genuine faith in spiritual and celestial things ! Look at the effects of such reasonings, as they are exhibited in merely worldly and sensually guided men. Who are so strongly persuaded as these, that their eyes have been opened by having abandoned the teachings of religion, and plunged into the fascina- tions of the w^orld ? " They think that as gods they are wise, Imowing good and evil, because they may be capable of distin- guishing between the pains and pleasures of sense ; and yet who, in reality, are as blind as they, to all the knowledges which relate to spirituality, futurity, and heaven ? They do not acknowledge an eternal life, for they believe that when they die, they end: neither do they acknowledge the Lord, but worship only them- selves and nature. Those amongst them who wish to be guarded in their expressions, say that there is a Supreme Being, of whose nature they are ignorant, and who rules over all. These are the principles, in which they confirm themselves, by numerous sensual and scientific arguments, and if they dared, they would openly 132 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. proclaim these views before all mankind. Sucli persons, although they desire to be regarded as gods, or as the Avisest of beings, would, if they were asked what it was not to love themselves, reply that it was the same thing as to have no existence. The idea of living from the Lord, they conceive to be a mere phantasy ; and if inter- rogated as to their knowledge of conscience, they would say, it is a mere creation of the imagination, which may be serviceable in keeping the vulgar under restraint: if interrogated as to their knowledges of perception, they would laugh at your question, and call it enthusiastic. Such is their wisdom, such open eyes they have, and such gods they are : on these principles, which they imagine clearer than the day, they ground all their reasonings and conclusions concerning the mysteries of faitli, and what can be the result but an abyss of darkness ! These are the serpents, above all others, who seduced the world." (Arcana Coelestia, 206.) And this principle, having gained successive dominion over Adam, caused his fall. It may be questioned, whether that generation of the Adamic people, with whom it commenced operations, descended into all the enormities contemplated in the above extract, though there can be no doubt of its having been fearfully realized in their posterity before the flood. CHAPTER XL THE EATIXG OF THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT AND EXPULSION FROM EDEN. " 'Twas man himself Brought Death into the world : and man himself Gave keenness to his darts, quickened his pace, And multiplied destruction on mankind." Dr. PoRTEUS, Bishop of London. From the considerations which have been adduced, we learn that the people, treated of under the collective name of Adam, were distinguished by a variety of principles, the whole of which, during their integrity, existed in order and operated for happiness. The sensual principle was among the lowest of this variety ; the circumstance of its existing upon the outermost range of the mind, and, as it were, dwelling so close upon the world, is the reason why it is described as being more subtle than any beast of the field. Hence it was seen, that the tendency of this principle was outwards and downwards, in like manner as the desires of the higher principles were inwards and upwards, and that man, by the THE EATING OF THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT, ETC. 133 freedom of his nature, was capable of giving ascendancy to either, by cultivating one in preference to the other ; and that the success of the serpent's temptation, consisted in man's sensual nature favoring tlie excitement induced upon it from without. It has, also, been intimated that this catastrophe was not a sudden, but successive work ; that it began by inducing inclination to prefer the outer pleasures of the world, to the inward delights of heav- enly things ; then by insinuating doubts as to the existence of things spiritual, because they could not be seen or handled by the physical senses : next, by suggesting that natural things might be the only realities, because they only came under the cognizance of the eye and touch ; and, at length, by producing the consent of the inner powers to the indulgences of sensual love. Such, we conceive, to have been the general process of the temptation and the transgression finally induced. The period which was occu- pied in this decline and fall, is not announced. Still there can be no reasonable doubt that it was the work of several generations. It is the existence of the fact, rather than the period occupied in its production, which it is of importance to know. Having these general views of the superior state of man, and the way of his decline and fall, before us ; we can now proceed to investigate the nature of the law, he is stated to have broken by that transaction. It is thus written : " Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Gen. ii. 16, 17.) The manner in which it was transgressed, though cited in the preceding chapter, for the sake of having the whole transaction then before us, was not there explained : for this purpose it is now again produced. " When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. — Therefore the Lord sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground, from whence he was taken." (Gen. iii. 6,7- 23.) Eating is the act forbidden, and we think it much more natural to regard it, as the interdiction of some irregular process of the mind, than as the prohibition of a particular act of the body. If a physical act were intended by the prescription, surely, we may fairly ask why the tree was placed in the garden ? Why it should have appeared so good for food, 12 134 ANTEDILUVIA^' HISTORY. pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desn-ed to make one wise ; if, after all, it was not to be tasted ? The common answer to these inquiries is, that it was planted in the garden with a prohibitory- law, to test the fidelity of the parties who beheld it. But who does not perceive, that this idea makes the tree a stumbling-block, and God the tempter, for having put it there.* It plainly repre- sents the tree as a temptation, and supposes God not to have fore- seen its consequences. Surely, the Lord does not try the con- stancy of his people, by giving them a law to observe upon the one hand, and then, upon the other, to place in their way a temp- tation to transgress it. The supposition is shocking, and should be avoided. The whole notion about God trying the fidelity of his people, by placing them in difficult circumstances, requires revision. It is an apparent, and not a genuine truth. God is essential goodness, and he has always watched over the welfare and happiness of men, with the utmost care : he would have removed the fruit out of Adam's reach, and hindered the serpent from persuading him to eat it, if they had been things extraneous to his nature. But they were not : they were things which belonged to him as a man, and to have removed them, would have been to have taken away his manhood. This sensual princi- ple was necessary to complete his nature, and fit him for residing in the world : the knowledge of good and evil, was necessary to encourage him in the way of obedience, and to act as a hindrance to his transgression. Freedom was indispensable to employ those knowledges agreeably to his own choice. How could a man be man, without a sensual principle ! How little would man have been distinguished from the brute, if he had been deprived of the knowledge of good and evil ! and without freedom, he would have been a mere creature of impulsive instinct. But Adam was endowed with all those excellences. He pos- sessed knowledge of the highest kind. He was in the life of obedience, and so in the knowledge of good ; thence, he would have a perception of its opposite, and so acquire the knowledge of evil. This was a tree distinguished among the other intelligences * Byron, in his terrible poem, " Cain," makes him say, in reference to the temptation of Adam : — " The tree was planted, and not for him ? If not, why place him near it, where it grew, The fairest in the centre ? They have but One answer to all questions, ' 'twas his will, And he is good.' " SIGNIFICATION OF EATING. 135 of his intellectual garden. It was an enlarged possession of gen- uine knowledge, proper to his high condition. But he was not to eat thereof. Eating was the prohibited act. Why was this, when he was so freely permitted to eat of every other tree ? We shall find the answer to this interrogatory, if we consider the significa- tion of the term. That it does not mean natural eating is evident, because taste is the chief species of knowledge which it is capable of inducing, and that is among the lowest class. The notion of the fruit hav- ing possessed some property, that was capable of exciting the mind to greater action, and so to procure additional knowledge, we think to be unworthy of a serious thought. Stimulants will inflame the imagination, but they do not increase the knowledge ! They may excite and disorder it, but they cannot increase and strengthen it. Surely, knowledges, superior to those Avhich Adam in his integrity possessed, were not to be procured by the eating of some peculiar fruit ! If so, Adam could not have been so wise as is supposed, because there were certain knowledges withheld from him, and which the fruit of some remarkable tree was capa- ble of furnishing. But what dreams are these ! (See pp. 80, 81.) Eating is a term of frequent occurrence in the Scriptures, and, in the really historical portion of them, it literally denotes what it expresses ; but there are many occasions on which the word is used without such meaning ; yet in every instance it has an inter- nal sense. We select the following examples. The Lord said, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread he shall live forever." " Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you." " He that eateth me, even he shall live by me." (John vi. 51, 54, 57.) In these sentences, it is plain, that by eating is not meant eating, but that internal act of the mind, by which it appropriates, in an orderly way, the good things of religion, and thereby acquires spiritual nutrition for the sustenance of the soul. It was for the same reason that the Lord said by the prophet, " Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness." (Isaiah Iv. 2.) The Lord also said, " to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God:" (Rev. ii. 7:) where, by the tree of life, is meant the perception of love ; for love is a fruit-bearing principle with men ; and this is said to be in the midst of the paradise of God, when it is made the centre of 136 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. all the religious duties of the church ; while to eat of the tree, clearly means to appropriate the perception of love to our spiritual use and benefit. The act of eating, as of natural food for the nutrition of the body, is named, — because it corresponds to the act of appropriating spiritual good for the sustenance of the soul. There is a food for the mind, as well as for the body. The soul must be fed with the good of love, in order that it may live in spiritual health, in like manner as the body must be supported with the bread of nature, in order to maintain its physical vigor. The love of what is good, and the perceptions thence arising, were the food by which Adam was instructed to sustain his emi- nent condition : this is what is meant by that portion of the law which says, " of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat : " the reason for the exception will presently appear. Every one is, as to his internal quality, precisely what his love is : it is this, with its consequent perception, which constitutes the individuality of every one. Man's character springs from his love, and he is judged and estimated according to the nature of its quality and developments. This love and perception, as to the individuality which they form, are man's own : they distinguish every man from every man. In this respect each one is himself alone. He has a distinctiveness of nature which belongs to no one else, and this is acquired by his having appropriated, incorpo- rated, cherished, or spiritually eaten of some peculiar love. If it were not so appropriated, it would pass away and vanish. It is only by such appropriation that his individuality remains. As he appropriates good in any of its varieties, the distinctiveness of character thereby imparted, cannot perish. So that he may " eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he must not eat of it ; " this is forbidden, for reasons which regard his truest welfare. The knowledge of the spiritual things of faith, duty, and heaven, is not of man ; it is the Lord's. It is communicated to the world by revelation, either through an internal dictate to its immediate subjects, or by means of a written Word. Without such revela- tion, man must have been utterly ignorant of such knowledge. Every one may be sure, if he is so disposed, that all his knowledge of such things has come to him from a source superior to himself. He feels that he is incompetent for such discoveries, and therefore, that he ought to live under the^ continual acknowledgment, that his knowledge of holy and religious things is not from himself, but from the Lord. CAUSE OF THE PROHIBITION. 137 Now, as eating is significant of mental appropriation, to eat of the tree of knowledge, denoted that mental appropriation of it, by which men were led to believe that it was the result of their own self-derived intelligence. Adam was forbidden to eat of it, in order to guard against this consequence. We, therefore, cease to wonder at the prohibition. We see that it was done for a wise and merciful purpose, and designed as a medium for preserving man in the humble acknowledgment of the Lord, as the source and giver of all intelligence and truth ; and also, to teach him, that if he ceased from such acknowledgment, he would necessarily fall into transgression. And is it not so ? Do not those who arc wise in their own conceits, who pride themselves upon their pre- sumed intelligence, and consider it as a meritorious acquisition of their own, reject the Lord, and so transgress his law ? But there is another important reason, why the eating of the tree of knowledge was prohibited. Knowledge is a means to an end. It is given for the improvement and formation of character^ The more eminent the knowledge is, if applied to life, the more exalted is the man. All knowledge has respect to life, and it is mtended for the promotion and establishment of good. But to eat of the tree of knoAvledge, is to appropriate information for the enlargement of the understanding merely, without due regard to its holier uses. How frequently is that which is denominated genius, found to be disorderly ? How often are clever men dis- covered to be crafty ? Does it not sometimes happen that men, with enlarged understandings, have narrow souls and selfish hearts ? Is it not a fact that wise men are sometimes wicked : — that they perpetrate their ills with sagacity — " plate their sins with gold ? " Every one knows these truths : but why are they so ? simply because they have eaten of the tree of knowledge : they have devoured information with a greedy appetite, regarding knowledge as the end, desiring to be clever rather than to be good. The mischievous tendency of such a course is evident. It places the perpetrator in the position of "that servant which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did accord- ing to his will ; (and who therefore) shall be beaten with many stripes." (Luke xii. 47.) How wise, then, is the command, "ye shall not eat of it ; " and if men do so, how certain is their fall — a fall into a criminal neglect of the laws of order, propriety, integrity, and virtue. Does not experience prove, that this is just the course which 12* 138 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. the sensual appetites of men suggest ? It desires to separate itself from superior guidance, and to be left to its own control. It strives to prevent knowledge from exercising its salutary influences upon the lower affections : it would persuade us, that its only- province is the head ; that men are wise in many things, because they may happen to know something of a few, and so leave the heart untouched to mistake its way. Thus, we conclude, that the prohibition was founded in such good reasons as men may see the value of. The prohibition is as binding upon us as it was upon Adam ; and a violation of the command will also be attended with fatal consequences. It is lawful to see the tree of knowledge — to comprehend what is wise — God planted it for this purpose, but to EAT of it was forbidden, because to do so, would be to regard intellectual sustenance as the end of it, and so induce a falling that would permit the heart to grow corrupt. But the tree was eaten of, and this consequence resulted : still, as it has been said, it was not accomplished by the first sallies of the tempter. Men who have attained to any eminence in virtue, do not fall into evil on the first excitement. They think upon the subject, revolve it in their minds, and for a period they, to some extent, resist it : but, bye and bye, they incline towards, and after- wards look at it with desire, whereupon the suggestions of the higher sense are weakened. Then they experience a struggle between desire and duty, and give way, only when the exciting object appears to the affection, as the tree of knowledge did to the woman, namely, " as good for food, pleasant to the sight, and to be desired to make one wise." Men do not partake of that which is forbidden, until they have been persuaded it is good : they do not plunge into transgression, until the delights thereby pro- posed to be obtained, appear somew hat pleasant to the eye — that is, agreeable to the illusion under which they labor : neither do they enter upon a career of guilt, until they have begun to cherish it as a means to something that is ivise ! These are the circumstances, under which men in general pass into the perpetration of crime in these our days, and they serve forcibly to illustrate the narrative which describes the process of Adam's guilt. His fall was, in its general nature, somewhat sim- ilar to that of ours, when we are tempted into transgression. The principal differences lie in the degrees of its enormity. He fell into evils with a larger amount of knowledge than it is our lot to possess : he began to decline with a purity of character which PROGRESS OF GUILT ILLUSTRATED. 139 does not belong to us. He transgressed with more open eyes, and sunk into an abyss from a loftier summit than we have ever gained. Hence his posterity, in a few generations, perished in that terrible calamity described as a flood. Having descended into evil by the process we have indicated, he must needs have begun to view all moral things under a per\'erted aspect : and finally, he would have misgivings as to the existence of spiritual and heavenly things, because they could not be con- ceived of sensually and scientifically : the result of this incredulity was the inversion and overthrow of all his excellence. Evil was thought to be good, and falsehood truth, to describe which the for- bidden fruit is, under the influence of the temptation, said to have appeared " as good for food, pleasant to the eye, and to be desired to make one wise," The consideration of these facts aid us in seeing the rationale^ and tracing the process of Adam's fall. We at once see that it was not accomplished by a talking reptile that was out of man, but that it resulted from the fallacious reasonings of the sensual prin- ciple, the existence of which was proper and necessary to his being. These fallacious reasonings consisted in confirming ap- pearances to be realities. They were small in their beginnings but fatal in their consequences. It was like a particle of dust falling upon the pupil of the eye, and preventing it from seeing the things of nature with certainty and clearness : self-guidance was preferred to a dependence on the Lord, concerning which the prophet says, " Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil ; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness ; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter ! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight." (Isaiah v. 20, 21.) Such was the state brought about by a series of perverse sen- sual reasonings. We do not consider it to have been the work of one man, or of the first generation, but as a result consummated by some of their posterity during the age of the Adamic people. But this state led to other consequences, the painful nature of which may be illustrated by the common experience of mankind. All know that there was a period, in their personal history, when they had not fallen into the actual perpetration of those sins, which now so easily beset them, and that the first effect of having done so, was to awaken them to a sense of the danger they had incurred. The act, which first succeeds a deed of guilt, is timidly to look about to ascertain whether it has been watched by others. 140 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. Conscience, also, by its pangs in after-times, effectually proves to them that their innocence is gone. These experiences, like that of Adam's, open their eyes and let them know that they are naked. To open their eyes meant, that they now saw their guilt ; and to knoAv that they were naked, denoted a consciousness that their innocence was departed. It is well known that the Scriptures speak of " nakedness " in the sense of degradation. (Rev. iii. 17.) It was said of them before they fell, that " they were naked and not ashamed," to teach, that they were innocent and felt no guilt : but after their transgression, they saw the disaster they had in- curred and became ashamed. Where there is no innocence, nakedness is a scandal and disgrace : but it is not so where inno- cence exists, as in the case of infants ; hence it is the symbol of innocence. But to know it shamefully, as in the case of Adam, implies the presence of a sense of guilt ; and therefore, he was sent "forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken." To be sent forth from Eden, was not an arbitrary act of the Almighty : he does not deprive man of any felicity which he is qualified to enjoy ; and therefore, his expulsion from paradise was a natural consequence, arising from the unfavorable change which had now taken place in his character. His position in Eden, as shown in the preceding chapter, denoted the pleasure and delight which arose from an orderly love ; but of these, his transgression, necessarily deprived him. It was his own act. By listening to the suggestions of his sensual nature, and misusing his freedom, he withdrew himself from the sacred influences of genuine good- ness : in like manner as the vicious are still known to keep aloof from virtuous society. But although Eden is necessarily lost to every man, who transgresses the rules and discipline of virtue, yet he is watched over with unabating diligence by the divine mercy of the Lord. "Though a good man fall," says the Psalmist, "he shall not be utterly cast down : " (Psalm xxxvii. 23, 24 :) he was preserved in a condition to " till the ground from whence he was taken." Prov- idence does not abandon the sinner : it is always wisely kind and merciful : it reminds him that all the virtues which he might have possessed, were communicated graces, and that they were sown into his nature, specially created for their reception, by teaching and training. Man is lifted into spiritual eminence, by cultivating the moral ground in which he may be placed : if he fall from such THE CURSE UPON THE SERPENT. 141 elevation, that is the ground to which he descends. This was the ground from whence Adam had risen into the distinction he at- tained : he fell, and so passed into it again : but he was not then forgotten; he was taught a duty — he was "to till the ground from whence he was taken." In other words, he Avas to cultivate the ground from which he had risen, and to which he had de- scended, by inseminating into it the seeds of truth, to watch over their gi-owth with solicitude and care, to be attentive to the fruits they were intended to produce, and thus strive to regain the emi- nence he had lost. The capacity to do these things was still pre- served to him, and perpetuated to his whole posterity. CHAPTER XII. THE CURSE UPON THE SERPENT — THE SORROWS OF THE WOMAN — AND THE CURSE UPON THE GROUND FOR MAN'S SAKE. " God made not death : neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living. For he created all things that they might have their being : and the generations of the world \vere healthful ; and there was no poison of destruction in them, nor the kingdom of death upon them. But un- godly men with their works and words called it to them." — Wisdom of Solomon. Chap. i. 13 — 16. The circumstances of the fall of Adam and his expulsion from Eden, were attended by other calamities, to which it is requisite to refer. A curse was pronounced upon the serpent, the sorrows of the woman, in conception and parturition, were to be multiplied, and the ground was cursed that man might eat of it, in toil and sorrow all the days of his life. These subjects are thus set forth in the sacred narrative : — " And the Lord God said unto the serpent. Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field: and upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed : it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception : in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children : and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said. Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which t commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it : cursed is the ground for thy sake ; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it 142 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. bring forth to thee ; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground." (Gen. iii. 14-19.) The leading idea presented in this narrative, is the curse. In what sense is this to be understood ? That disastrous consequences followed the transgression, cannot be doubted : but were they the natural result of disobedience, or the specific infliction of the Al- mighty ? The latter is the common idea, though the history does not say so. To the serpent God said, " Thou art cursed above all cattle," and to the man he said, " Cursed is the ground for thy sake : " thus it simply represents God as declaring its existence, and not as producing it. He mercifully revealed the state, but did not inflict it. Calamity follows sin, as death does poison, but as God does not originate the sin, or administer the poison, he cannot be chargeable with the calamity or the death. And although he is described as saying to the woman, " I will greatly multiply thy sorrows," under certain events ; yet, it was not the sorrow, con- sidered in itself, but the multiplication of it, which was the evil an- nounced. Sorrow, it would appear, attended these events under the best condition of humanity, but it was now to be increased ; and God is represented as its author : but, under the circumstances, may not this have been a blessing ? We can easily conceive a wise Providence placing difficulties in the way of attaining, what a degenerate mind thinks to be desirable, in order to promote some genuine good. Pains and trials are no proofs of God's displeasure ; we know that they tend to soften and humiliate, and so to bless ; and, therefore, the multiplying of the woman's sorrows may come within the scope of mercy rather than malediction. An idea that God became angry with the human race, when the first man transgressed, very extensively prevails. The above pas- sages are considered to declare it. But this cannot be correct. Anger is no attribute of God ; it must be as foreign to the Divine Nature as sin itself; and therefore, those passages of Scripture in which it is predicated of him, are designed, rather to express the aspect, under which he appears to perverted minds, than to declare a genuine truth. To the jaundiced eye, all things are yellow ; but they are not really so, it is only an appearance, arising from the action of physical disease. The moral disorders of men cause them to view the character and providences of God, under an air con- trary to their reality. We never read of God being angry, or de- claring a curse, but in connection with something disobedient on ANGER NO ATTRIBUTE OF GOD. 143 the part of man. Under such circumstances, it is true, that he ap- pears angry, but it cannot be true that he is so. If we desire sen- sible information concerning the felicities of heaven, the reasona- ble course is, to consult those who have experienced some antepast of its happiness, through an obedience to its laws. How unwise then is it to seek, in those passages of the Word, which are ad- dressed to the wicked, only in accommodation to their perverted views, real truths concerning the Divine, character. The fire by which Sodom was destroyed, is said to have come down from heav- en ; (Gen. xix. 24 ;) but heaven is not really the reservoir of that fire, which punishes and destroys the wicked ; nevertheless it is so said, because it so appeared to that abandoned people. In him there is no fury : (Isaiah xxvii. 4:) and the Psalmist says of him, "With the upright man, thou wilt show thyself upright ; with the pure, thou wilt show thyself pure ; and with the fro ward, thou wilt show thyself fro ward." (Psalm xviii. 25, 26.) If God were angry at any time, he would be imperfect, for anger is an infirmity in man. If he were once angry, he must be always angry, because he is unchangeable. If he be at all angry, he must be infinitely so, because all in him is infinite. How are the ideas that he is infinitely angry and infinitely loving to be recon- ciled ? It cannot be done so long as both are considered to be realities. To imagine that God can become angry, is to suppose him liable to disappointment, and consequently, that man can do something which He had not foreseen. But how impossible is this ! The whole Scripture is constructed on the principle that " God is love : " this attribute is infinite in hun, and so necessarily excludes every opposite sentiment. He has declared that he loveth man with an " everlasting love." (Jerem. xxxi. 3.) How, then, can he be angry, and curse both him, and the circumstances in which he is placed ? He has told us to " love our enemies, to bless them that curse us, and do good to them that hate us." (Matt. v. 44.) Can we doubt that he will do to us, that which he has commanded us to do to one another ? If he only loved those who loved him, he would resemble " sinners, for tliey also love those that love them." (Luke vi. 32.) The excellence and beauty of the human character consists in its resemblance of the divine perfections. " Be ye perfect as your father in heaven is perfect ; " (Matt. v. 48.) " Be ye merciful as your father in heaven is merciful." (Luke vi. 36.) Still, man's 144 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. highest attainments in these imperishable virtues, are hut famt shadows and images of the divine purity. In him, every excellence is infinite : nor are their sweetness and placidity to be disturbed ; their immutability are not to be changed by human disobedience. God "knoweth our frame and remembereth that we are dust," (Psalm ciii. 14 ;) and, with this knowledge and remembrance, " his mercy endureth forever." The good man realizes the evidences of this fact in his own experience ; the bad man does not, because of his perverted nature. All the displays of divine love are to induce men to become wise and happy. The wicked are made to feel the influence of this love, in the restraints which it mercifully imposes upon their vicious pursuits, and so the very goodness which God would promote, is felt by them, in those restraints, as if he were unfolding his anger. An enlightened survey of nature presents no intimation of the anger of God : the reason is, because there is no such principle in his character.* The universe furnishes no analogy suggestive of such a thought. The sun is acknowledged to be the nearest emblem of his Deity: hence he is called "a sun." (Psalm Ixxxiv. 11.) But there is nothing observable in that glorious luminary, which can be said to answer to the notion of the divine anger. Lowering and darkness are not in him : such phenomena are occasioned by the interposition of clouds, and the diurnal motion of the earth. The sun forever shines in brightness and in beauty. He never frowns, even upon the wicked : he shines upon the evil and the good : and so it is with the divine character : anger is opposed to all that is divine, but it is predicated of God, because man, in an inverted state, sees him so. The wicked man thinks that God must be angry with the transgressors of his law, because he believes that if he were in God's place, he should be so ; and so, as an evil being, he certainly would, but this is not the character of God. In a perverted state, spiritual and holy things appear contrary to their reality, as the sun seems red and fiery, when beheld through a murky atmosphere. This is a principle which should not be overlooked, in consider- ing those passages of revelation, in which God is spoken of as being angry, sending forth his wrath, and executing vengeance. * It is sometimes said, " A God all mercy, is a God unjust ; " but this is an unreasonable and perverse assertion : the truth is, that if he were act all mercy, he would be unjust. THE CONDEMNATION OF THE SERPENT, ETC. 145 God is the author of the laws of order ; if man transgress them, disastrous consequences follow, but of these, man, and not God, is the author. The serpent was told that it was cursed, because it had transgressed. The ground was pronounced to be cursed for man's sake, because the man, now fallen, may be presumed to have withheld from it those orderly labors which are necessary to main- tain its fertility. The sorrows of the woman were, under certain circumstances, to be multiplied, because, by a withdrawing of the mind from the divine guidance, some natural law of the body might have been infringed. There is, then, no necessity for fixing the authorship of such calamities on God, in any other way, than as an appearance, even if the statements of them were to be regarded in a literal sense : so far as they are evils, they are fairly and rationally chargeable on transgressors only. But let us examine some of the particulars, in which these curses are said to have consisted. Of the serpent it is written, " Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life, and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed." It is true, that some serpents of natural history may be said to go upon their belly ; and, also that all civilized society, usually asso- ciate with the idea of them a sentiment of disgust. But it is not true, that any eat dust all the days of their life ; or indeed, eat dust at all : the food of serpents consists of young birds, mice, frogs, and fruit. Nor is there any evidence to show that the form, habits, and instinct, by which they are now distinguished, were not those with which they were originally endowed.* No con- dition, into which an animal is created, really comes within the idea of an almighty curse. All are as happy as their organization will admit of, nor are any of them sensible of any deficiency, arising from an inelegance of form or filthiness of habit. Serpents which crawl without legs, have no sense of inferiority to the saurians which have them ; and commentators are not agreed as to which kind it was, which received the curse : nor can they ever be so : there is no data for determining the problem. The difii- * Many things have been related to set forth the subtlety of the serpent (see Cruden, Art. Ser.), but some are mere puerilities, — and others are evidently false, nor is there any fact established to show that they possess any remarkable sagacity. Their character for cunning and deceit, has been derived from its description in the temptation, and not from natural history. It was the serpent that was subtle, not the whole species so denominated, 13 146 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORV. culty is considerably increased, when it is asked, Why the serpent should have been cursed at all, when it did not really effect the seduction, but the devil who had either entered into it, or assumed its shape ? The only way of avoiding the embarrassments which attend such considerations, is, at once to concede its allegorical signification. The circumstance of the Lord having spoken to the serj>ent, most certainly shows such to be the case. Man cannot conceive the idea, which the literal statement expresses. But, taking the serpent to be a representative of the sensual principle of man, we can understand the fact intended to be revealed. Under such a view of it, we see, that by the Lord speaking to the serpent was denoted, that the man was now instructed by the Lord that his sensual principle had produced the fall ; and therefore, it is said to have been cursed above all beasts ; thus that all the affections, by which man had been happily distinguished, Avere now become partakers of a common corruption, but that the serpent was sunk into deeper degradation than the rest. It is now first described as going upon its belly, because it had now first ceased to look up- wards to heavenly things ; it no longer walked uprightly, but crawled close to worldly and terrestrial objects, when dust became its meat, because it now began to live on earthly and corporeal loves. The emnity between it * and the woman with her seed, denoted the separation then effected, between the sensual princi- ple, and the heavenly selfhood which the Lord created, with all the things of faith thereto belonging. Every one knows that such separation exists. The apostle referred to it when he said, " The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh : and these are contrary one to the other : " (Gal. v. 17 :) and also in the declaration, " When I would do good, evil is present with me." (Rom. vii. 21.) These are the common experiences of religious men, which practically show the enmity between the serpent and the woman with her seed. But to the woman it was said, " I will greatly multiply thy con- ception ; in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children : and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." This, like the malediction on the serpent, can only be satisfactorily under- * Dr. A. Clarke, says, " It is yet to be discovered that the serpentine race have any peculiar enmity against mankind, nor is there any proof that men hate serpents more than they do other noxious animals. But we are not to look for merely literal meanings here." SCIENCE AVERTS A SUPPOSED CURSE. 147 Stood in a spiritual sense. Inquiry has resulted, in showing that the former part of this announcement does not universally apply : and it would be somewhat difficult to prove how the latter part of it comes within the meaning of a curse. Although it may be admitted, that the fall infringed certain laws, which so affected the female constitution, as to increase the natural sufferings attending parturition, yet, it is well known, that they are very unequal in their severity, which they should not be on the supposition of their being a divine infliction, and, if God be impartial in its distribu- tion. Montaigne says, " This curse, as it is called, applies only to a certain species of females ; whole nations of females being entirely free from it." (Essays, i. c. 14.) Another writer observes, " Whatever may be the cause or causes, the fact seems to be, that women of color have easier parturition, in general, than white Europeans." * Travellers assert that it is comparatively easy among the Indians, under the equator, and particularly in Tartary.f Goldsmith states, " The women of Africa always deliver them- selves, and are well in a few hours after." X Thus it is evident that climate and physical constitution have very much to do with this matter ; and the discoveries of science § have made great progress towards affording entire relief, under what is usually found to be so painful in the northern regions of the world. Sup- posing the application of such discoveries to become general, which is by no means unreasonable, since a great number of par- ticular cases have already occurred, then, what is to become of the idea that the sufferings Avere the result of execration ? Must v/e believe that it was inflicted for a time only, and, that God has at last mercifully enabled men to discover a physical means, which, by putting a stop to its existence, enabled them to determine the period of its duration ? This would hardly be satisfactory ; nor, indeed, can any other view of the subject, besides that which brings us back to the acknoAvledgment of its symbolic character. * White's Regular Gradations in Man, p. 73. t Terry's Voyage to India, sect. xvii. p. 430 ; and Thevenot, part iii. ch. 24, p. 47. + History of the Earth, &c. vol. ii. p. 47. § The use of chloroform is here referred to. "When first introduced into the practice of the accoucheur, it was vehemently objected to on the part of some of the clergy of Scotland and others, on the ground that it was unlawful to prevent the due course of that which God had pro- nounced to be a curse. Many pamphlets were written in defence of this absurd opinion. 148 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. The declaration that the woman's desire should be towards her nusband. * will hardly be construed by the chaste into a melan- choly consequence. Such will consider a steady and undivided affection to be among their best enjoyments ; and are there not multitudes of instances in which it would have been a solid bless- ing ? If the circumstance of the woman's desire being towards her husband, were a portion of a curse, then the existence of an opposite aifection may be inferred to have been a felicity, and, in that case, how came the enactment, " Thou shalt not commit adultery ? " To interpret it as a curse, takes reason far beyond its depth and quite submerges it. But what is to be said of the asser- tion, " He shall rule over thee ? " As Christianity is true, that statement, even supposing it to treat of the relative position of the sexes, cannot mean to declare the dominion of a master, but the guidance of a protector. Where, then, is the malediction ? If these things are calamities to the woman, how were they to affect the man ? He can hardly regard the information by which he learns the intense attachment of his wife, and the dignity of his own position in respect to her, as indications of anathema. It never once occurs to him that woman's undivided love, or that the protection which he extends to her, are the results of an almighty curse ! They cannot be so. It is plain that to view the history in such a light, is to mistake its purpose : and even if this were less obvious than it is, intelligent piety would be compelled to acknowledge, that human degradation and its painful consequence were not of God, but from man, by his perversion of God's good things. The narrative is intelligible and satisfactory, only when viewed in a spiritual sense. The circumstances related in it, represent those spiritual consequences, which the fall induced upon the peo- ple of the church of those most ancient times. It has been shown, that the woman, who was given to the man, when it was discovered not to be good that he should be alone, was the symbol of that selfhood which the Lord mercifully granted, * This is sometimes construed to mean, " thy desires shall be thy hus- band's," a dative for a genitive case. But, admitting this, which never- theless is not the true idea of the original, an affectionate wife would rarely consider her reception of the orderly desires of her husband any very deplorable circumstance. She would, most likely, regard it as a means of binding herself more closely to his love. But are not the thou- sands of instances which exist, in which his desires are not so received, proofs that such is not the meaning of the sentence ? THE SORROWS OF THE WOMAN. 149- when discontent under the divine guidance began to appear. (See page 111.) This selfhood, like a pure and lovely woman, was then good and innocent, being vivified by the Lord. But it consented to the persuasion of the serpent, and, consequently, fell. Hereby, that selfhood, which had primarily directed itself to the Lord, and was filled with the delight of heavenly things, was turned towards tlie world, and became enamored of its pleasures. Its character was changed, and sensual influences were so brought to bear upon it, as to endanger the ease and freedom with which spiritual things had previously been conceived in the mind, and brought forth in the conduct. Her sorrows were to be multiplied * in conception and bringing forth : the sorrows in conception,! were the difficul- ties that were now to be experienced in the apprehending of inte- rior truth ; and the sorrows in bringing forth, were the pains and temptations that were to be endured in mtroducing them to life ; the Lord is said to be the author of them, because they become perceptible, through his pressing, as it were, to be received and loved. Every one knows these sorrows to exist, and that they are the peculiar inheritances of the fallen selfhood of humanity. In this sense, the statements are of universal application, and experi- ence furnishes the interpretation. The same is true of the asser- tion, " thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." Before the fall, man had wisdom and intelligence, and these are then denominated man ; but by that event, those blessings were corrupted, and reason, another principle, took their place. Hence, it was called, husband, and not man. The change of terms de- notes an alteration in condition. Every expression in God's Word is peculiarly significant. That which had been man, was now husband : — that which had been wisdom, now was reason. Hence, by her desire being towards her husband, is denoted, the continual inclinations of the selfhood toward the reason with * It deserves to be remarked, that the sorrows were now to be multi- plied ; thus implying that they had, to some extent, previously existed. The reason is, because the fall was not a sudden but gradual decline, and now the severity of the consequences were in the process of being increased. t " Conception." The septuagint version omits this clause altogether ; perhaps, because the translators inaccurately supposed it was sufficiently comprehended in what follows. This, however, neither the original, nor the spiritual sense allows. 13* 150 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. which it is conjoined; and, by his having "rule over her," is signified, the dominion which that reason ought to exercise. In reference to the man, it is said, " Cursed is the ground for thy sake, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth ; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." This is usually interpreted to mean, that the fertility of the soil was impaired, so that, from henceforth, man should not derive his natural subsistence from it without laborious cultivation : and also, that during the raising of the crops, he should be inflicted with anxieties, arising from the fear of mildew, insects, unfavorable seasons, and other causes by which their safety may be endangered. Now, it is true, that such labor is required, and that such anxieties exist, but we cannot conceive them to have sprung out of divine anathema ! They are not universally felt. They pertain, directly, only to that portion of mankind whose employment is agriculture. There are whole classes of society entirely exempt from them. Moreover, the inflictions are very unequal on those by whom they are experienced ; they are found to vary very much with latitude, locality, and other physical causes. With how little labor, and with what an absence of solicitude, is abundance of corn produced upon the banks of the Nile ! That river does for Egypt, much of that which manual labor is obliged to supply in other countries. It has always been celebrated for its fertility. " Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering ; for it was without number." (Gen. xli. 49.) Pocock informs us, that it is sometunes necessary to temper the richness of the soil by bringing sand to it. And Herodotus, speaking of Babylonia, says, " Of all the countries which have come within my observa- tion, this is far the most fruitful in corn. The soil is so particu- larly well adapted for it, that it never produces less than two hun- dred fold ; in seasons which are remarkably favorable, it will sometimes rise to three hundred." (Clio, cxciii.) Norway is the reverse of this fertility, its inhabitants, therefore, raise scarcely any grain or vegetables : they import most of what they use, and in seasons of scarcity, are obliged to mix the ground bark of trees with their bread. (Goldsmith's Geography.) These facts show, that the differing conditions of the land render manual labor, for the production of food, very unequal in its amount : which is very difficult to understand, if the universal ground were cursed, in order to exact a laborious toil from man, to render it productive. THORNS AND THISTLES. 151 Why should it not have been uniform in its action ? There is no hint given, that it was to be partial in its operation ; which we think would have been the case, if the literal sense had been intended for our faith. Moreover, these dijfferences are traceable to natural causes,* and the labor which an inferior soil requires, may be considerably reduced by the appliances of art.f But the ground waa to bring forth " thorns and thistles," and it does so. But when was it otherwise ? It cannot mean, tliat it was then, for the first time, to do so. The species are not named : but geology shows us the existence of some that must have flourished long anterior to the creation of man. We feel it difficult to reconcile these facts with the common notion of God having, six thousand years ago, pronounced a curse upon the ground, for the punish- ment of his people. It is a shallow inference, and not a divine trutli. The idea of God having, upon the one hand, taken from the ground that which had rendered it luxuriant in the production of human food ; and, upon the other, to have imparted that Avhich was to make it fertile in ivhins and briars, cannot be rationally sustained : nor is it requisite to uphold the character of God's justice, or to maintain the divine purpose of the narrative. It was written with an entirely different design, \ which we will endeavor briefly to explain. By the ground is denoted, that orderly external of man, by which he was distinguished, when the development of his religious character became complete. (See page 65.) By the fall, its ex- cellence was necessarily impaired, and so it became less prolific in the good things of use. " To eat of it in sorrow," denotes, to live from it unliappily ; "to eat," is to partake of, and so to live ; and every one may see, that to appropriate the false sentiments and evil affections, which had now taken hold of the external man, must needs have been attended with anxiety and sorrow. Expe- rience shows that it is so, and satisfactorily explains the passage. The ground was now to bring forth "thorns and thistles," to denote, that the external man would now engender evil and false * It may be said that God is the author of those natural causes : so far as this is the case, he operates in the way of general blessing, and never in the way of partial curse. t Consult Professor Johnson's Work on Agricultural Chemistry ; also Liebeg's. X St. Austin says, " No Christian will venture to affirm that these things are not to be taken in a figurative sense." — Preface to his Twelve Books on thejirst three chapters of Genesis. 152 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORV. principles. Evils are the thorns, and falses are the thistles. Hence the Lord, when treating of the distinction between the good and the evil, and the faithful and disbelievers, said, "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ? " (Matt. vii. 16.) To " eat the herb of the field," signified, that he would live low and vilely ; and " to eat bread in the sweat of the face," was to partake of celestial things, only through toil and exertion. These ideas could be easily proved by citations from the Word, but we cannot dwell on the detail. The reasonableness of these views, brief as they are, will commend themselves to the thinker ; they who will not think need not expect to know. From what has now been stated, it will be seen, that by the condemnation of the serpent, is denoted, the evils which the sen- sual principle had brought upon itself: by the sentence upon the woman, was signified, the evils to which the voluntary selfhood had become attached ; and by the anathema upon the man, was represented, the evils to which his intellectual part had consented ; these respective evils were the curses ; and, as man brought the evils, so he must have been the author of the malediction ; and hence his sufferings therefrom. CHAPTER Xm. CAIN AND ABEL, WITH THEIR OCCUPATIONS. " It is consonant to the history of Moses to suppose, that God wished him to give mystical representations of the more subhme subjects of theology ; because that style of writing was suited to the hieroglyphical learning in which he had been instructed." — Dr. Spencer, De Legibus Hebrceorum. The history by which we are informed of the births of Cain and Abel, with their occupations, is exceedingly simple and com- pendious. " Adam knew Eve his wife ; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother, Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground." (Gen. iv. 1, 2.) If we were to regard this as literal history, it would, nevertheless, be reason- able to think, that, as a revelation, something more was designed by it than what first meets the eye ; and this it Avould be our duty to inve«5tigate and endeavor to learn. Although there might have been, in early society, such individuals as Cain and Abel, engaged in agricultural and pastoral pursuits, yet it is difficult to suppose them to be referred to, any otherwise, than as affording ground for CAIN AND ABEL. 153 the construction of a symbolic history, relating to matters of a much more extensive and serious nature than the mere letter can possibly express. As the history, which precedes that of Cain and Abel, is only representative, we think that their history is of a similar character. The manner in which those histories are con- nected, seems to us to establish this opinion. As Adam is a generic name, expressing the idea of a community, then the names of Cain and Abel, who are described to have descended from them, must be similarly construed ; for a community of persons cannot be said to give birth to individuals, in their general ca- pacity. The people of one generation originate the people who succeed them ; but each individual springs from his own partic- ular parents. It would be absurd to say, that all the inhabitants of Rome were the father and mother of Julius Caesar ; and yet this is very like supposing the societies, called Adam and Eve, to have been the personal parents of Cain and Abel, considered as individuals. One generation, called Adam, gave birth to other generations, called Cain and Abel ; but, as the former were a collection of men, so were the latter : as the former constituted a church, which afterwards fell, so the latter constituted separate communities, which distinguished themselves by different religious sentiments and life. It is no uncommon thing for a single name to be employed, to express the idea of a Avhole people. It was customary among the ancients, it is found in the Scriptures, and occasionally, it is had recourse to in modern times. Thus, in countries, whether mo- narchical or republican, the king, or president, is named to express the acts and opinions of a whole cabinet. France, England, and other countries, are sometimes mentioned, not to signify their geographical existence, but to denote their living populations. In the Scriptures, Egypt, Judea, Philistea, Sidon, Jerusalem, and many other places, are mentioned, not to indicate locality, but their inhabitants. Every one knows that the single names of Jacob, Esau, Joseph, Benjamin, and other descendants of Abra- ham, are frequently employed, not to express individuals, but a whole people, who were influenced and directed by certain views of a religious or economical character. The following instances will suffice. " I will visit Jacob according to his ways ; " " Jacob shall rejoice and Israel be glad;" "He leadeth Joseph like a flock." Multitudes of cases of this kind may be found in the Scriptures : and those of Cain and Abel are to be classed among 154 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORV. them. They do not signify individuals, but communities, in whom were developed certain features of religious sentiment and feeling. They descended from the people called Adam, and the principles by which they were morally influenced, were derived from the same source. These statements will appear remarkable to all, who have been accustomed to regard those names as significant of individuals only. Nevertheless, it is evident, that at this time, more than four persons were in existence. Indeed, it is usual to concede this fact, by supposing that there might have been other descend- ants of Adam, whose births are not recorded. But apart from this idea, society must have been considerable. Some reasons for this opinion have been adduced above ; others may now be added. The occupations assigned to Cain and Abel, if understood in a literal sense, require the admission of this idea. Tilling the ground, and keeping sheep, were distinctive employments that must have sprung out of the requirements of society. Although the cultivation of a little land might have been required for the maintenance of four individuals, yet it is difficult to see why the keeping of sheep should have been requisite for so limited a number. Such dis- tinction of employments would scarcely have been recorded, if there had not been society sufficiently extensive to require their uses. But Cain's attention was not wholly directed to agriculture. We find that he had acquired some knowledge of the art of build- ing ; for he is afterwards described to have erected a city in the land of Nod : both this knoAvledge and the citJJ^, must have been called into existence by the requirements of society. It must have been such society that provided him with his wife ; for there is no account of her origination. But, for what purpose were the sheep to be kept ? it does not appear that they were used as food. To suppose that they were kept for the sake of their wool, implies the existence of much larger society, than that with which the letter of the history brings us acquainted, and to which its uses, in the way of being converted into articles of clothing, must have been well known. If we con- jecture that it was for sacrificial purposes only, that, obviously im- plies the prevalence of a religious community for whose offerings they were preserved. The offering of Cain, was of the fruit of the ground. What was this ? was it brought in a natural or prepared state ? The original word, minchah, is thought to be explained in Leviticus, to be an offering of fine four, with oil and frankincense. THE OCCUPATION OF CAIN AND ABEL, RELIGIOUS. 155 (Lev. ii. 1. See Dr. A. Clarke.) If Cain's offering were really of this description, how can we reasonably account for the existence of those arts, by which fine flour and oil were prepared, but on the sup- position of society being more numerous than is usually thought of? Tlie very circumstance of offerings being spoken of, unaccom- panied by any command enjoining them, is presumptive evidence, that the idea of such a practice had been derived to these brothers, from a church or people, previously extant. Sacrificial worship was not commanded by God, nor is it any spontaneous offspring of the human mind. It must have originated out of the perver- sion of some divine law or institution, for it is most unreasonable, considered in itself; * and therefore, granting the offering of Abel to have been a natural sacrifice, that fact implies the perversion of some holier things that had been known to his predecessors, of whom the letter furnishes no information. Both Cain and Abel brought offerings unto the Lord : this in- dicates a publicity in their worship, which idea, the notion of the presence only of the two parents and two sons, is not sufficient to supply. " The Hebrew word rendered brought, is never used with respect to domestic or private oblations; but always for public sacrifices." (Bishop Patrick.) The circumstance then, of their having brought offerings, obviously denotes the existence of society, and consequently, that there were two classes of them, each of which was most attentive to its own views concerning them. But the unquestionable fact, that Adam was a people, and not a single person, renders it unnecessary to dwell upon merely collateral cir- cumstances, to prove that it is the religious state of society, and not the worldly vocation of individuals, which is represented by the occupations of Cain and Abel. The Adamic church having fallen, in the transgression of its members, different views of faith and duty would, in the process of time, obviously arise among them. Having eaten of the tree of knowledge, they would begin to think and act from self. Self is not a uniting, but a dividing principle. Under such circumstances, sectarianism would break out among them ; these, with their dif- ferent branches, would, for a considerable period, be capable of being traced to the original stock. The fallen Adamic church was * See Dr. Magee on the Atonement. Bishop Patrick says, "It is not probable that Adam would have presumed to invent a way of worship, by killing beasts and burning their fat ; especially as we cannot perceive any inclination to it in nature." 156 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. the parent whence they all descended. It was customary, in an- cient times, to speak of one event of the church as being conceived and bom of another, and so to form a sort of genealogy concern- ing its successive states, and to give them names accordingly. This is the principle involved in the description of Adam's descend- ants. There is the conception and birth of religious opinion, as well as of persons. Every one who is at all acquainted with the history of the Christian church, knows when the principles of Prot- estantism were born, and who were their parents : and we have now only to look abroad into society, and we shall behold their progeny in a hundred sects. In the church, one thing is, as it were, conceived and born of another in the way of spiritual generation. The apostle says, " Now abideth faith, hope, and charity ; but the greatest of these is charity." (1 Cor. xiii. 13.) Charity, then, ac- cording to this authority, is the first-born principle of the Christian life, faith is next, and hope succeeds. If charity become extinct among a people, the life of faith is necessarily endangered ; and then, how feeble and precarious must be their hopes. It is easy to see how one imperfect state of the church may, as a parent, beget another : the idea is distinctly expressed in the Revelation, which describes a woman as the mother of harlots : (Rev. xvii. 5 :) it plainly means a false religion, originating abandoned principles. Now, if the narrative of Cain and Abel is viewed under this as- pect, we shall perceive, that they are names expressive of two dif- ferent classes of religious principles, which descended from the Adamic people, after they had partaken of the forbidden tree. The like view is to be taken of their other descendants.* This is some- what evident from what is stated of the age of Adam. He is said to have lived eight hundred years after he begat Seth ; a circum- stance that may be doubted, when interpreted of an individual man, but which is very rational when it is supposed to treat of the con- tinuance of a religious dispensation. Considered in this light, parallel cases can be adduced from religious history. The Jewish economy has lasted for nearly three thousand years ; and Abraham may, in a certain sense, be said to have lived all this time, in the religious principles and physiognomy which have been perpetuated to his descendants. But we must not here anticipate what we have to say on the longevity of the Antediluvian patriarchs. It * '■' All the personages whose histories are so earnestly related in East- ern Countries, never existed, and are nothing more than the ancient sym» bols personified." — Abbe Plucfte's History of the Heavens, vol. 1, p. 142. REPRESENTATIVE CHARACTERS OF CAIxN AND ABEL. 157 is sufficient now to observ^e, that the nine hundred and thirty years recorded as the duration of Adam's life, were significant of the states and periods of the dispensation so denominated ; but that it, like the Protestant religion during the three hundred years of its existence,* was broken into a variety of sects, among whom Cain and Abel were the first and most distinguished. So long as the Adamic dispensation continued in its integrity, all the faculties of its people acted as one. The will loved what the understanding perceived to be true, and they worked harmoni- ously in promoting the virtues of a holy life. But when the people lell, those two faculties ceased to be united. This condition of them is one of the legacies which that event has bequeathed to pos- terity ; and experience proves it to have been faithfully transmitted. We have a distinct consciousness that the will and the understand- ing act separately from each other. We think one thing which may be true, that is of the understanding; we love another, which may be opposite thereto, that is of the will. These two faculties, in our unregenerated state, do not act in unison: they, so to speak, turn their backs upon each other and look in opposite directions. This fact is a proof that man has broken in upon the harmony of his moral creation, and destroyed the unanimity which it originally possessed. Every one is aware that in religious things there are some persons Avho know truth much better than they do it; and also, that there are others who feel truth, much more correctly than they knoAV it. The understanding of the former are always on the alert to seize on any information, which is likely to increase their power. The will of the latter will be found docile, and responsive to certain qualities of good. These distinctive classes are among the results of that separation, which has taken place in those two faculties of humanity, and they were first displayed under the rep- resentative characters of Cain and Abel. By Cain Avas represent- ed those who intellectually knew their master's will bat did it not: by Abel was denoted, those who felt goodness to be superior to knowledge, and so cultivated it with the greatest ardor. Such classes have always prevailed witliin the pale of a declining church. The Lord informed us of their existence among the Jews, by the * Protestantism is referred to for illustration, because the facts con- cerning it are better known in this country. History shows the Roman Catholic religion not to have been exempt from similar divisions. What is called the Eastern Church is separated into three great parts, the Greek, the Roman, and those who differ from both.— Mosheim, Cmt. xvi. chap. 11. ' 14 158 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. cases of the pharisee and the pubhcan. (Luke xviii. 10 - 14.) They both went up to pray, but the pharisee, in the pride of his intellect, thanked God that he was not as other men are ; while the publican, in the humility of his heart, said. Lord be merciful to me a sinner ; and this man was justified rather than the other. Traces of similar characters are to be found in Christendom. It is well known to observers that there are those who are self- satisfied with their intellectual possessions ; who can converse with fluency about the things of religion; who can argue its positions with acuteness, and defend them with sagacity and power ; but who, nevertheless, show, by their conduct and beha- vior, that they have hard hearts and questionable morals. And who is not aware that there are others, who are but slightly acquainted with the doctrinal sentiments of religion ; and who can only converse imperfectly about the spiritual truth of revelation, but who, nevertheless, have about them that simplicity of char- acter, which assures the observer, that they love and cherish what is good ? The former strive to conceal the deformity of their character by the brilliancy of their intellect ; the latter, possessing no such talents, at once let you behold their hearts, and you see that they have respect for order and for virtue. Now it was two classes of sentiments of this description, and consequently, of persons by whom they were respectively held, who came into existence in the Adamic church under the two names of Cain and Abel. They both professed to serve the Lord, but each from a different principle, and therefore, with different results. But we will endeavor to investigate the character of each, under the light of true Christian teaching. And first of Cain. As the Adamic people, by eating of the forbidden tree, chose knowledge in preference to obedience, and so placed the cultiva- tion of intellect above the purification of the heart, it is easy to see, that the first results of such a course, must have been the conception and birth of faith, — yea, faith only, as a means of acceptance with God. Cain was the representative of this princi- ple ; and consequently, of all those persons who acquired and possessed it. The name, as a Hebrew word, denotes acquisition or possession. They believed that the possession of religious knowledge, was more necessary to secure the divine favor, than the excellency of virtuous life. They knew much, for they were tillers of the ground, — the planters of knowledge in the intellect : THE ERROR OF FAITH ONLY. 159 but they went to the Lord with their understanding chiefly, and so attempted to serve him with only one half of their minds. They neglected the duty required by the invitation, " My son, give me thy heart." (Proverbs xxiii. 6.) They overlooked the important circumstance of knowledge being only a means to virtue as an end, and thus they rested their salvation upon the faith of thought, rather than upon the purity of life. They did not suflSciently attend to the fact, that, as light without heat produces no fruit, so faith, without charity, can effect no acceptance. A doctrine, somewhat of this character, was propounded in the Christian church, at the time of what has been called the Refor- mation. It is thus expressed: "We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merits of our Savior Jesus Christ, by faith, and not by works and deservings ; wherefore, that we are justified by faith only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort : " * but there is no such doctrine as this taught in the Sacred Scriptures. They, indeed, inculcate the necessity of faith, as one of the ingredients of the Christian character ; but they never, like the above Article, represent it as the exclusive virtue: and herein lies its error; which the apostle sufficiently exposes, when he says, " What does it profit, my brethren, if a man say he has faith. Can faith save hun ? Faith, if it has not works, is dead, being alone. Ye see how that by works is a man justified, and not by faith only. The Devils believe and tremble." (James ii. 14-19.) The doctrine of faith only has been very dis- astrous to the church, and contributed very extensively to the dangers by which she has been assailed. Although it is now, happily, becoming a mere theory, which most sensible persons are abandoning, yet it was not always so. Luther said, " The ten commandments do not belong to us. Christians, but only to the Jews : we will not admit that any the least precept of Moses be imposed on us. Therefore, look that Moses, with all his law, be sent a packing, in malam rem — with a mischief : "f and the * Book of Common Prayer, Eleventh "Article of Religion." The plain meaning of this article is felt by the learned to be opposed to the plain teachings of the Scriptures ; and therefore, Dr. Burnet, says of it: "By faith only, is not to be meant faith as separated from the other evangelical virtues ; but faith as opposite to the rites of the Mosaical \a.vf."— Exposition of the xxxix. Articles. This, though not very clear as an explanation of the article, is satisfactory as a renunciation of the wicked doctrine which it expresses. t Luther's Works, vol. 1. published at AVirtemburg, p. 117, cited in the 160 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. church sometimes acts as though it still believed this abomination: it is conspicuous in the case of great criminals, who, liaving for- feited their lives by a transgression of those commandments, are told to have faith, and expect salvation. A regard to faith, as the chief thing of the church, was the first heresy of the Adamic people. It was conceived when the woman ate of the tree of knowledge, and born when Eve said, " I have gotten a man, Jehovah." There are two things which belong to a church, its wisdom and its love. With the good, wisdom is as a husband, and love as a wife. The church, at the time here treated of, was, as to its wis- dom, represented by Adam, and, as to its love, by his wife. But we are informed, that " Adam called his wife's name Eve," that is " life." (Gen. iii. 20.) The word Eve is a contraction of the Hebrew chavah, (see Marginal Reading,) and answers very closely to the word Zoe, by which it is rendered in the Septuagint, both of which signify " life." Now, why was she so called ? It will be replied, " Because she was the mother of all living : " but surely something more is meant by this than what is so expressed. There is only one fountain of life, who is the Lord : it is because He lives, that we live : (John xiv. 19.) it is in Him that we live, and move, and have our being. (Acts xvii. 28.) In a merely lit- eral sense, there is no more reason why she should be called life, from the circumstance of being the first mother, than that Adam should have been so called on the ground of his having been the first father, and, for other reasons, if the literal sense had been meant, it might have been equally appropriate.* The fact of this name having been given to her, shows that something more recondite is intended. Adam called his wife's name life, because the church as to wisdom, knows that the church as to love or affection, is life ; it is a living thing with men, and so the spiritual mother of all its living excellence. It is well known that the Scriptures speak of the church as a mother : the apostle distinctly asserts, that it is " the Mother of us all : " (Gal. iv. 26 :) so that the "Intellectual Repository," of 1S28, p. 80. And in continuing the para- graph, he says, that Moses " should be held suspected for a heretic, cursed and damned, and worse than the Pope or the Devil." * Swedenborg states, " that the soul is from the father, and the body from the mother ; for the soul is in the seed of the father, and is clothed with a body in the womb of the mother ; or, what amounts to the same, all the spiritual part of man is from the father, and all the material part from the mother." — True Christian Religion, No. 92. WHAT IS UNDERSTOOD BY CAIN. 161 idea which Moses, in respect to Eve, has symbolically indicated, tlie apostle has literally expressed. Now, a church can give birth to nothing but such things as per- tain to faith and charity, but the quality of those descendants will depend upon the character of the parent. A corrupted fountain must send forth a turbid stream. Grapes do not grow on thorns, nor figs on .thistles. Eve had fallen, and her first offspring was Cain, or faith, concerning which she said, " I have gotten a man, Jehovah," to express the idea, that faith, without charity, was now considered to be sufficient for the purposes of the church. Before this time, faith had not become a separate object of thought ; it was united with love and formed one with it. But now it began to exist as a distinct principle in the mind, and also, to be espoused by a people as the essential thing for their salvation. The church, having acquired the doctrine of faith, is described as " getting a man," and to indicate its relation to the Lord, the term " Jehovah " is appended thereto.* , By Cain, then, is to be understood, the doctrine of faith sepa- rate from charity, and consequently, a people by whom this tenet was held as being sufficient for eternal life. In this we discover what was the first heresy, and who were the first heretics. This doctrine was an enormity, and therefore, God is recorded to have had no respect to its offerings. That which constituted their faith * The authorized version represents Eve as saying, upon the birth of Cain, " I have gotten a man from the Lord." The original does not ex- press the idea " from the Lord : " there is nothing answering to the word from. It is eth Jehovah, i. e. the Jehovah : and not meeth Jehovah, i. e. from the Jehovah. The passage is considered to be one of great difficulty. The former sentence is thought to have been an elliptical mode of ex- pressing the latter idea, so that the whole is interpreted to mean, that Eve had gotten a man through the blessing of the Lord. The septuagint and vulgate so render the original. This construction might be satis- factory, if the premises on which it rested, were not suppositious ; but, that being the case, we are at liberty to doubt. Besides this conjecture, it has been said, because the name Jehovah is sometimes applied to places, (see Gen. xxii. 14; Exodus xvii. 15; Judges vi. 24, &c.) and is also admissive of being represented by the term Lord, which is frequently applied to men; that Eve's statement, " I have gotten a man from the Lord," is a mere acknowledgment to her husband of Cain's paternity: but this notion has no foundation in true criticism. The correct trans- lation is, "I have gotten a man, Jehovah ; " in this sense it might indi- cate an acknowledgment in the form of, " Jehovah, I have gotten a man." Under this view it agrees with the spiritual sense given above. 14^ 162 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. was actual knowledge. They saw the objects, in which it was necessary to believe, with certainty and clearness, but they rested in their knowledge as an intellectual possession, considering it the all of religion, and so allowed the affections to go astray and revel in their lusts. But the doctrine of faith only, which has sprung up in the Christian church, is not precisely of this character. Its members do not see, that the objects in which they are taught to believe, are really true. Indeed, it is openly stated, that they are myste- ries for faith, and not matters for comprehension : thus it is the dictate of authority, and not the result of knoAvledge. If it be not understood, how is it known to be true ? What assurance is there that it is not false ? To say that God has said so, and that, therefore, it is to be believed, is assuming the very point in ques- tion. Has God really said what is generally required to be be- lieved ? Has He declared unintelligibilities for the faith of man ? That which is not rationally seen to be true, does not contribute any thing to the development of affection or enlargement of thought : and hence, we find religious society at ^a stand-still, in every situation where it has been touched with the paralyzing wand of faith only. But though this doctrine in the Christian church (because arising from an obscurity, under which the things of faith are contemplated,) is less malignant in its nature, than that which was represented by Cain, still it is the same in kind, and must be fatal in its results. Much ingenuity has been exercised in the defence of this extra- ordinary tenet. But the inventions of talent cannot successfully maintam what is essentially false. It is possible, by avoiding some main point of an inquiry, to make a show of argument in favor of any falsehood, and so, for the moment, to embarrass even truth itself. Men who are disposed to believe the worse to be the better cause, will find assertions to defend their notions. It is possible to make black appear white, by looking at the feathers of a raven in a certain angle with the sun. But all such courses are delusive, and they will terminate, like the offering of faith alone, in disappointment and rejection. That doctrine is similar to the light of the sun without its heat ; like summer without its fruits : like winter, cold, and fierce, and chilling. And here, by faith alone, we do not merely mean the tenet as it is propounded by certain branches of the professing Christian world ; because we can see that it may practically exist within TRUTH ALONE NOT AN ACCEPTABLE OFFERING. 163 the pale of a genuine church. Persons may join her community, and learn her truths so as to know them with a rational persuasion, and yet they may not love them so as to realize the virtues to which they point. It is this practical view of the case, rather than the mental postulatum, which is the real antitype of Cain. Faith cannot bring an acceptable offering to God, unless it be conjoined with charity ; and charity is not a theory, but an act. Faith is the knowledge and consciousness that certain things of religion are true ; for if they are not true, they are not worth believing. If men believe, without a persuasion from such sources, their faith is blind : and if, in such a state, they should happen to rely upon something that is false, it must, necessarily, exercise an injurious influence upon their intellectual life. Faith, then, considered in its solitary character, is the mere knowledge of truth ; and this faith is more or less expansive and enlightened, as the trutlis which form it are more and more abundantly in- creased. Here it may be inquired. If the knowledge of truth is one of the constituents of faith, why are its oflferings not acceptable to God, seeing that, as truth, it must have originated in him ? The answer is, that although truth does originate in God, yet it does not descend from him as a solitary principle. In him it is eternally associated with good, and with this it comes from Him to man ; man has separated them. He has put asunder what God has joined together, and, in rejecting the principle of good, on which the quality of truth depended for its excellence, it can form only a dead, and not a living faith. Moreover, the truth which is necessary to the formation of faith, is only a means to an end, and the end cannot be secured by a mere belief in the means. All believe that a good day's work may be done by industry and dili- gence : this is believed because experience has proved it true ; yet it is certain that mere belief will not do the work. And the case is similar in religious things. We must employ the truths we know, to obtain the goods they teach, before they can become an acceptable offering to God. A further reason why mere faith cannot present an acceptable offering to Him, is, because it is not morally beneficial to us. Nevertheless, faith is the first principle to which the church gives birth — like Cam, it is first-born : — man must first learn to speak and think, then to investigate and know the things of religion ; but to stop at this point is to consider tliat religious principles are formed, when, in fact, they are only 164 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. known ; and this is to resuscitate the character of Cain. Faith, without charity, is nothing ; for the apostle has most eloquently said, " Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing." (1 Cor. xiii. 2.) Much difficulty has been experienced by the church, in deter- mining whether faith or charity Avas the primary principle. This is a consequence of not distinguishing between faith as being the first in respect to time, and charity as being chief in respect to end. It may now be easily removed, and the facts familiarly illustrated. For example : in building a temple, the first thing, in respect to time, is to lay the foundation, erect the walls, cover them with a roof, and afterwards provide the altar and raise the pulpit ; but the chief thing in respect to end is, that God may be worshiped therein. So, again, with regard to the building of a house : the first thing in regard to time is to build the external parts of it, and then to provide the requisite conveniences within ; but the first thing in regard to end, is a commodious dwelling for the master and his family. Illustrations of this kind are abundant. They show, most conclusively, that faith is first with respect to time, because it is a means to charity as an end : and hence Cain, by whom this faith is represented, is described to have been first-born. This representation of Cain is further sustained by the occupa- tion he is said to have been engaged in. He was a tiller of the ground ; and by this is spiritually signified a planter of knowl- edges in the understanding merely. That this was the character of Cain — that is, of all those people of that most ancient time who received the heresy of faith separate from charity — appears from all the circumstances which are related of him, and espe- cially from these, that his offering was rejected, and that he slew his brother. And this brings us to inquire concerning Abel. Ancient writ- ers abound in observations on his mystical character,* and he has very commonly been regarded as the representative of the pastoral * Chrysostom, Horn, in Gen. xviii. 5. Augustin, De Civitate Dei, xv. 1, and Irenaeus, Contra Hcores. iii. 23, so speak of hira. Dr. Darwin, hi his Botanical Garden, Art. Portla^id Vase, speaking of the opinions which have been held concerning the early personages of the Bible, says, "Abel was the name of an hieroglyphical figure representing the age of Pas- turage, and Cain the name of another hieroglyphical S}Tnbol representing the age of Agriculture." ABEL THK TYPE OF CHAIUTV. 165 tribes, in like manner, as Cain has been considered the author of the nomadic life. Thus, his representative character seems to be admitted, thoug-h some obscurity may be felt as to what he signi- fied. From ^\'hat is written concerning him in the Word, we think it is evident that he was tlie representative of cliarity. Abel, as a Hebrew term, denotes humility, and also, weakness : humility, to denote a characteristic of charity, and weakness, to express its modesty and sweetness ; as Avell, perhaps, as to indicate the lim- ited number of society by whom it was loved and practised. Abel is said to have been the brother of Cain, to inform us that charity is a near relative to faith. The Scriptures continually speak of the intimate connection between these two principles of the church, and man has been mercifully gifted with two faculties for their reception : the will for charity, the understanding for faith. But, although there is a spiritual brotherhood subsisting between these two principles, the universal experience of mankind is, that the things of faith are more forward and uppermost than the affec- tions of charity. Charity, though the sweeter and more gentle excellence of the church, is too frequently lorded over by the more daring and presumptuous influence of faith. The affections of good are well knoAvn to be more feeble than the perceptions of truth. Abel is modest and retiring, Cain is bold and confident. Faith struggles for command and mastery, and it is too frequently inattentive to the weaker but inner sensations of charity. Most persons have felt a desire to do good when a suitable opportunity has been presented, but how many have had it set aside by the influence of some selfish persuasion ? How frequently does tal- ent endeavor to place itself as a substitute for virtue ? Cleverness has sometimes been mistaken for goodness. These facts are too common to have escaped the attention of those, who observe what is taking place around them. But, it may not have occurred to them, that in these phenomena, they were beholding the struggles of two spiritual brothers : the efforts of faith to secure an ascen- dency over charity : the sternness of Cain displaying its proAvess to subdue the modesty of Abel : and Avhich circumstance, in after- times, was also represented by Jacob taking away the birthright and blessing of his brother, Esau. (Gen. xxvii. 36.) By Fharez gaining the primogeniture from his brother, Zarah, (Gen. xxxviii. 27 to the end,) and by Ephraim obtaining the position which be- longed to his brother, Manasseh. (Gen. xlviii. 18 to the end.) It is because Abel represented charity, and consequently, those 166 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. ^ who were principled in it, that the Lord called him " the righteous Abel," (Matt, xxiii. 35 :) and that the apostle spoke of his offering as being the "more excellent sacrifice." (Heb. xi. 4.) His occu- pation, as a " keeper of sheep," will further exemplify this fact. The Scriptures very frequently employ the idea, as well as the expression, shepherd, to denote one who exercises the good of charity. It is on this account that the Psalmist said, " The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." (Psalm xxiii. 1.) He is essen- tial charity ; and from this principle he is perpetually engaged in watching over the welfare, and providing for the M-ants of man- kind : hence, also, it is written of Him, " He shall feed his flock like a shepherd : he shall gather the lambs into his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead them that are with young ;" (Isaiah xl. 11 ;) a passage beautifully expressive of the Lord's affectionate tenderness for the people of his pasture, and his charitable solici- tude for the sheep of his hands. Peter was contemplated as a shepherd, when the Lord directed him to feed his sheep : (John xxi. 16 :) he was expected to exercise an enlightened charity in the apostolic office to which he was appointed. Ministers of the Gos- pel are sometimes called pastors, that is, shepherds, for the same reason. He who leadeth and teacheth what is good is called a shepherd, and they who are led and taught, are called the flock. The Scriptures represent the good shepherd to love his sheep, and to care for the safety and unity of the flock ; but the hireling shep- herd is described as one who leaveth them, and in times of danger fleeth, so as to allow them to be scattered. The Lord Jesus Christ said, " I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine : " (John x. 14 :) and the church he called a sheepfold. (John X. 1.) The reason for these descriptions is, because a shep- herd is an emblem of that charity, which carefully watches over the things of innocence, gentleness, and purity, in the human mind : and this is said to have been the occupation of Abel, because he was a representative of this excellence. Thus we learn, that by Cain, as a tiller of the ground, was denoted faith, engaged in planting knowledge in the intellect merely; and that by Abel, as a keeper of sheep, was signified charity, chiefly employed in promoting the good things of use : and consequently, that they represented two classes of persons, in the most ancient church, to whom those principles respectively belonged. These conclusions will be corroborated by other evi- dences to be adduced in the succeeding chapter. THE OFFERINGS OF CAIN AND ABEL. 167 CHAPTER XIV. THE OFFERINGS OF CAIN AND ABEL : WHY THE OFFERING OF ABEL WAS RESPECTED, AND THAT OF CAIN REJECTED. '' Truth is like the dew of heaven ; in order to preserve it pure, it must be collected in a pure vessel." — St. Pierre. The offerings of Cain and Abel are the first intimations of divine worship that are recorded. The subject is thus related : " In process of time, it came to pass, that Cain brought, of the fruit of the ground, an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of tlie firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering. But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect." (Gen. iv. 4, 5.) Now, whence could the idea of divine worship have originated .^ It can be only satisfactorily accounted for by admitting, that a church existed to which a knowledge of that duty had been communicated. It is true, we do not read of any command having been given upon this subject ; this was not requisite, because we think it was neces- sarily included in the process by which the church was developed, and of which we have previously treated. The worship of the Lord must have been one of its conspicuous features ; it naturally belonged to the Paradisiacal state of the Adamic people. Their fall would induce a neglect of the essential things of this duty, but not a complete forgetfulness of it : that calamity would, also, lead to a difference in the quality of the worship, but not to its entire abandonment. Cain and Abel, therefore, must have learnt the duty of divine worship from the church that was extant, and the difference in these offerings, must have originated in the dif- ferent perceptions of that duty, then in the process of being manifested. But how are we to understand their offerings ? Are they to be interpreted as meaning the physical things described, as was after- wards the case in the Jewish church, or are they mentioned, only because they are the symbol of certain things of the mind, by which all worship must be performed ? We think the latter, and not the former, is the view which ought to be taken of the CEise. Although men had fallen, they had not forgotten, that natural things were the emblems of spiritual sentiments and love : nor had they yet ceased to speak of them as such ; these were subse- quent occurrences. A really ceremonious worship did not come 168 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. into existence, until men had lost all spiritual ideas of it : when this took place, they began to worship the Lord with those objects, which their ancestors had only spoken of, as the symbols of those mental affections and thoughts, with which they worshiped. Hav- ing lost sight of the spiritual reality, they began to worship with the natural representation ; and this was the origin of that cere- monial worship, subsequently arranged among the descendants of Abram. It was then instituted, not only as the shadow of better things to come, but also, as tlie types of those precious things which had perished. At the time of Cain and Abel, the people had not sunk into so low a condition, as that which afterwards required the establish- ment of a ceremonial religion : worship of the Lord, from some interior principle, still prevailed among them ; and as all such prin- ciples were known to them, to have their correspondence in natural objects, such objects Avould be mentioned in connection with their worship, to signify spiritual things only. If they spoke of the first- fruits, or of a lamb, as offerings to the Lord, it would not be to indicate those natural things, but symbolically to express some internal sentiment of truth and love : this we conceive must have been the case with the offerings of Cain and Abel. It is well known that offerings, under the ceremonial law, were acts of worship, that is, not worship in themselves, but types of those spiritual and heavenly principles from which it must arise. This must be obvious to every one who will reflect. The offering, apart from the sentiment which it represented, could be of no religious value. In such a case, it would be an external without a corresponding internal, like a soul without a body, or a dumb idol. External acts of worship are mere ceremonies, unless they are sanctified with the adoration of the heart. What are the prayers of the lips but mere babbling, unless the affection of the mind is in them : all such acts are valuable only so far as there is a corresponding intention in them : they must be attended with an internal love, to give them sanctity and render them acceptable. The offerings, then, as forms of worship, were significant of mental and spiritual things, in which the real virtue and efficacy of the worship consists. Offerings are presents : this is the idea which the word literally expresses ; and the original may with propriety be so translated. But presents, in general, are intended to testify the esteem, which we entertain for those to whom we give them ; and the will, or THE REPRESENTATION OF OFFERINGS. 169 intention, is regarded by him who receives tliem, as of greater value than the thing presented. If tliis be true, then the things which are presented to God, must be tokens expressive of such sentiments of gratitude and love, as are cherished by the offerer ; and God must be considered to receive them, not for the value of the things themselves, "for the world is his, and the fulness tliereof," (Psalm 1. 12 ;) but wholly for the sake of the affections, by which they are accompanied. It is upon this principle that the Lord said, " If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there remem- berest that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way : first be reconciled to thy brotlier, and tiien come and offer thy gift." (Matt. v. 23, 24.) Here, it is plain, that the offering was considered as the symbol of an inward sentiment of love and charity, because reconciliation with a brother was necessary to render it acceptable. Seeing, then, what an offering to the Lord involves, we may readily perceive, that the things which were arranged for this pur- pose, under the representative law, were intended to signify par- ticular states of the affection and thought of those who worshiped. We find that lambs and rams, sheep and oxen, goats and calves, doves and pigeons, and flour and oil, were directed to be presented to the Lord. Moreover, some of them were to be offered under special circumstances. There were sin-offerings, meat-offerings, drinli-offerings, heave-offerings, wave-offerings, peace-offerings, and trespass-offerings, to each of which, specific ceremonies were at- tached. These various offerings were evidently intended (or v/hy else v/ere they so many, and one thing selected for their celebration in preference to another ?) to «how foith, in a representative man- ner, the several states of affection and thought, which, under various circumstances, become characteristics of the worshiper. The offerings under the Levitical law, seem, generally, to include the ideas of death and consumption by fire. These, however, were the results which attended the introduction of sacrificial worship, rather than the natural concomitants of the primitive offerings ; they did not involve those circumstances, and therefore, they are not mentioned in connection with those of Cain and Abel ; this may be taken as evidence, that they are stated only for the sake of the symbol which they afforded. We are merely informed of what they consisted, but not of the manner in which they were presented : it is, then simply the meaning of those offer- inffs, into which we have to inquire. And first, of Cain's. 15 170 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. Cain, or the religion of faith without charity, has its offerings, that is to say, its modes and principles of worship. It was in the process of time " that Cain brought, of the fruit of the ground, an offering unto the Lord." From this it would appear, that the characteristics of the worship which now distinguished Cain, were not developed all at once : they were results brought about in the process of time. Thus it was not so far separated from charity, in the beginning, as it afterwards became. The last state was worse than the first : it was about this period, when " Cain brought of the fruit of the ground, an offering unto the Lord." What, then, is meant by the fruit of the ground ? It will be remembered that Adam, when sent forth from the Garden of Eden, was to till the ground, whence he was taken; and, in treating of that circum- stance, in a preceding chapter, it was shown that the ground was significant of the external man. That, is the ground on which the spiritual and celestial things of the internal man rest, as a house upon its foundation. It is compared to the ground, because it is, to the things of the mind, what the earth is to the body. The apostle says, "That which is first, is not spiritual but natural;" and then of this first, he says, it is "of the earth, earthy." (1 Cor. XV. 46 - 49.) The Lord said, " The kingdom of heaven is as if a man should cast seed into his ground ; " (Mark iv. 26 ;) and, also, in ex- planation of the parable of the sower, he said, " He that receiveth seed into good ground, is he that heareth the Avord, and under- standeth it ; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth some a hundred fold." (Matt. xiii. 23.) In these instances it is plain, that by the ground is meant the external man, and to sow seed therein, denotes, to implant truths that they may grow up and produce the leaves of faith and fruits of love. Now, it is to be remarked, that Cain did not bring for an offer- ing, the fruit of those seeds. Although he was a tiller of the ground, yet he only brought of the fruit of the ground, and not of the fruit of the seeds, which, as a tiller of it, he had sown there. This is a distinction of the highest consequence, to be carefully observ-ed, in order rightly to understand the subject. The senti- ments of revelation are couched in choice expressions ; and the fruit of the ground is spoken of, as the offering of Cain, because it denoted the works of the merely external man. But what is the external man ? It is not the physical structure, but all those knowledges and affections which are gathered thereby from tlie outer world, and which then form, as it were, the ex- WHAT THE FRUIT OF THE GROUND DENOTED. 171 ternal of his spirit. The natural body is only the outermost cover- ing, within which, the external of which we are speaking, and the spiritual man, reside, during its locality in the world. The internal man is so constituted that it can perceive and love the things of heaven, and the external is such that it can learn and delight in the things of the world. With the good, these two act as one, the internal illuminating and guiding the external, as the efficient cause of all its works of use and order. But with those who are not good, it is not so. In that case, the internal is more or less closed, according to the quality and extent of the evil that is loved, and the external man only remains in activity, and this it derives from the love of self and the love of the world. A man, in such a state, is not necessarily deprived of religious infor- mation : he may store his memory with its doctrines, become ac- quainted with its duties, and acquire the ability of speaking of them with fluency and force, but his motives in doing these things, will wholly arise from the loves of self and the world. The quality of the external man, when separated from the internal, is neces- sarily worldly, and all that it produces is with a view to selfish ends. Such, then, is the ground, and such is the fruit thereof. The religion of such a man is, obviously, nothing more than its knowl- edge and its forms : it has no soul from above, its life is from be- low. Ho-u' can the fruits of this ground be acceptable to God ? We see at once, that it cannot be respected. It rejects the great principle involved in the invitations, " My son, give me thy heart ; " *' Let thy heart keep my commandments." (Proverbs xxiii. 26 ; iii. J.) These circumstances, then, fully explain the case of Cain's offering not being respected. But it may be asked, what evidence there is to prove that Cain was merely an external man ? The apostle says, he was of the wicked one. (1 John iii. 12.) It is also presented, in all the cir- cumstances which are related of his character, and from which it has been seen that he represented faith only. The tendency of that doctrine is, to produce such a result upon the human charac- ter. When a man believes faith to be the principal thing of the church, he will gradually recede from charity, which, in the pro- cess of time, will perish ; in this case he will, as it were, have lost the kernel and merely retained the husk, Avhich also is endangered. Faith is an external principle, of which charity is the internal, and therefore, it is plain, that they who are in faith only, must be external men only, whose faith is not even faith, but mere science 172 AXTEDILUVIAIS- HISTORY, and persuasion. Confidence, which may be called faith in an em- inent degree, cannot be given to those who are not in charity. How can they have genuine confidence, who have lost the good, by which it is inspired and made alive ? Charity is as a flame, and faith the light which it emits : when the flame expires the light perishes, or, if any remains, it is dim and doubtful. These, then, are the reasons why the Lord had not respect to Cain, or to his ofiTering. Faith only is no object of the divine regard, neither are its ofiferings, they being nothing else than the self-derived intelli- gence of the external man. By these representative descriptions, we are informed of the moral state and spiritual danger, of all those persons, among whom the heresy of Cain prevails ; which is confirmed by the divine declaration made to him, namely, " If thou doest well shalt thou not be accepted ? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door." It is plain that he did not do well, and that therefore, both he and his offering were rejected. But why had the Lord respect to Abel, and to his offering ? To Abel, because he was the representative of charity, which pre- va,iled with another community, and which is an internal and sancti- fied principle, inducing all that is good and lovely in the human character. This view is recognized by the apostle, who, speaking of Abel's works, says they were righteous. (1 John iii. 12.) But of what were his offerings significant? Under the ceremonial law, the sacrifices were supplied from two sources, the fiocks and the herds. Those of the flock consisted of lambs, sheep, rams, and goats ; and those of the herd, of oxen, heifers, and calves. By those of the flock, were represented the good aff*ections of the in- ternal man, and by those of the herd, were denoted the good affections of the external man : or, in other words, by the former were denoted the good things of love and charity, and by the lat- ter, the good things of truth and faith. Hence arose the proverb, " Know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thine herds ; " (Proverbs xxvii. 23 ;) and also, the declaration concerning back- sliding Israel, namely, " Shame hath devoured their flocks and herds." (Jer. iii. 24.) The Lord, likewise, called those Avho af- fectionately followed him, a " little flock," and said unto them, "It is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." (Luke xii. 32.) Now Abel's offerings were of the firstlings of his flock, and the fat thereof; which may be taken, in the representa- tive sense, to mean a lamb, and the fattest thereof. A LAMB THE EMBLEM OF INNOCEx\CE. 173 The significant character of a lamb is abundantly shown to us in the Scriptures. The Lord's command to feed His lambs ; (John xxi. 15 ;) His sending forth the disciples as lambs among wolves ; (Luke X. 3 ;) and the circumstance of His Humanity being called the " Lamb of God ; " (John i. 29 ;) sufficiently prove that they are used in a symbolical sense ; and the same facts clearly intimate, that they are employed as the representatives of innocence. The truth of this idea is perceived, almost by intuition ; and from this circum- stance, has grown up the affectionate custom of speaking of chil- dren as lambs, and declaring their innocence to be like them. Innocence is of two kinds : the innocence of infancy, and the innocence of manhood. By manhood, we mean that sound condi- tion of humanity, which is induced by religious influences and teachings. The innocence of the infant is the innocence of ignorance ; it is of a mere negative quality, arising from the unconscious presence of any guilt, and thus it is merely the ground, on which all the future states of religious life are raised. It is not a possession which the infant can appreciate : it is a necessary result of his condition, and towards which, neither his intellectual nor his voluntary powers have at all contributed. But the innocence of the man is the innocence of wisdom : it is, as it were, the innocence of the infant grown into a man, developed, and made alive by the instructions of truth and good. In this case, it becomes an appreciable possession ; so that the distinction between the quality of the innocence with the infant and the man, is, that with the former, it is an inheritance of which he is uncon- scious, but with the latter, it is an enlightened and sensible pos- session. Thus, the state of infancy, is not a state of religious innocence, because, with the infant, it does not exist as a spiritual quality, perceptible to the subject : but the innocence of the man, is a religious principle, implanted as he receives good and becomes wise. Goodness and wisdom are essential innocence. It was on this account, that the Lord Jesus Christ, as to His Humanity, was called the " Lamb of God," and described to have " grown in wis- dom and favor with God." The disciples are called lambs, for a similar reason. Such, then, being the signification of a lamb, it is easy to see, that the offering of it to the Lord, meant the worship of him from the good of innocence, and a consequent acknowl- edgment that it had come from him and was properly his. Every one must perceive, that in all good, there must be inno- cence ; it is that which makes it good, for if uinocence be removed, 15* 174 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTOKY. then, in comes guilt. Charity without innocence, cannot be char- ity : as, then, Abel was the representative of charity, and conse- quently, of all those in whom it exists, it is plain, that innocence must have been a quality essential to its existence. If, then, a lamb really denoted the quality of religious innocence ; and, if by the firstling of the flock is meant a lamb, then it follows, as an irresistible consequence, that the offering of Abel was designed to signify the vv-orship of the Lord by, and from, that innocence. It is called the firstling of the flock, because innocence is among the first things of man, which is afterwards made alive by the insemination of religious good ; and the fat thereof, is intended to express the superiority of its quality, and the beauty of its developments. The fat of the lamb, represented the essential things of innocence, which is the principle of celestial good itself. Hence, the Lord said, " Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, that your soul may delight itself in fatness ; " (Isaiah Iv. 2 ;) and, again, " I will fill the soul of the priest with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness." (Jer. xxxi. 14.) It is plain, that in these passages, fat does not mean material fat, but that which is essentially good from the Lord. With tliese views before us, we can be at no loss to discover why it was, that the Lord had respect to Abel and to his oifering. Charity, and the good of innocence with which those who are principled in it, worship the Lord, are acceptable things to him. They involve a faithful obedience to the laws and duties of revela- tion, and whosoever cherishes and observes them will be sure to obtain admission into the heavenly kingdom, and so realize those blessings which are associated with the divine respect for them. But, by what evidences were Cain and x\bel made acquainted with the results of their respective offerings ? There is no state- ment given, by which they were to be guided into such knowledge. It has been conjectured that fire came down from heaven and con- sumed Abel's offering, but passed by that of Cain's, in like manner as it is recorded to have done on two or three other occasions, after the establishment of the Levitical law.* This supposes the offerings of Cain and Abel to have been identically similar with the Jewish sacrifices. Whereas, in their oflTerings there is no * See Lev. ix. 24. 1 Kings xviii. o8. Also, Judges vi. 21. To support this idea, Theodotian has translated the Hebrew shoah (have respect) into Greek, by the word, enejnirisen, he set on fire. — Bayle's Diet. Hist., Art. Ef/nafia. THK RECLPTJON AND REJECTION OF WORSHIP. 175 intimation of sacrifice, in the way of killing an animal, and pre- senting it upon an altar. But, if any weight were attached to this notion, we should still have to inquire, how they knew that burning of the victim was a sign of the divine approbation ? Had they learnt it by experience, or were they taught it by revelation ? There is no written information by which these questions can, sat- isfactorily, be replied to ; nor need they be urged, when it is known that their offerings are not mentioned to be understood in a physical sense : the whole difficulty arises from that view of the case, and it can only be removed by other considerations. It is plain, that both Cain and Abel must have known, by some means, the divine estimate of their respective offerings ; as there is no information of any external token being given of the circum- stance, it seems certain that it must have been afforded them, by means of some internal evidence. And is not that the only real evidence which a man can have of his position in the church of God ? The divine acceptance or rejection of human worship, is made to the internal sensations of the worshiper, rather than by any external signs. Those people must have known, from the satisfactions and delights which attended their worship, whether it was acceptable or otherwise. So far as it was genuine, it must have been admissive of a holy influence Crom the Lord, and so, of an indication of his respect : but when it was not genuine, that influence could not enter into it, and surely that would evidence its rejection. The worshiper is still gifted with some tokens of this description, which testify the sincerity or imperfection of his love ; and his experiences, in these respects, will serve to show how Cain and Abel must have knowm the estimation, in which their offerings were held. If a man's heart be not set right towards God, he is made to know, by his consciousness of that fact, that his offerings cannot be regarded. He feels his affections tending outwards rather than upwards : he knows that his thoughts wander in the world, while his words may be expressing the sen- timents of holiness : he is fully aware that he dwells in nature only, and offers nothing but the fruit of the ground. And the experience of this consciousness, on the part of Cain, is thus described: "He was very wroth, and his countenance fell." This circumstance unfolds his character: it shows that charity was gone, anger could not otherwise have possessed him. It proves that a gloomy state was induced upon his mind, or his countenance could not have fallen. The feeling of wrath is 176 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. opposed to the sentiment of charity, and a falling of the counte- nance only takes place, when some unfavorable change affects the interiors of its subject. Anger is aroused when self-love is op- posed, and that love is contrary to the love of God. The existence of the former proves the absence of the latter : so also, the coun- tenance, which is bright and pleasing, when enlightened and influenced by a benignity within, becomes sad and falls, when the consciousness of impurity is felt. Such was the character of Cain ; and by his history we are informed of the internal state and spiritual danger, of all those people among whom the heresy of his religion prevails. That his state was of such a quality is fur- ther confirmed, by its being said to him, "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted ? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door : " he did not do well, therefore, he was not accepted ; his offering was the form of worship without the essence : and similar disappointment and rejection await all those, who, like him, know their master's will but do it not ; who know the way, but walk not in it ; who think they shall be heard well, because they speak much ; who have enlarged minds, but guilty hearts ; who have the faith of knowledge, but not the charity of love. CHAPTER XV. THE DEATH OF ABEL — THE CVRSE ON CAIN; HIS FUGITIVE AND VAGABOND CONDITION. •• During the first eight centuries the Greek and Roman churches were in communion with each other ; but, in the ninth century, their dis- putes became so violent, that a final separation took place between them. A Patriarch was elected for Constantinople, as the head of the Greek church ; he was soon excommunicated by the Pope, as the Ixead of the Romish church ; the Pope in return was excommunicated by the Patriarch." — Jones' Dictiotiary of Religious Opinions, p. 76. The circumstances recorded to have constituted the successive decline of the Adamic, or most ancient church, are, as to kind, very similar to those which have produced the corruptions of other religious dispensations mentioned in the Scriptures. They are, also, illustrated by facts, which history assures us, have brought about the extinction of various institutions of a religious charac- ter, and which, at the time of their origination, were intended to promote some general good. For a period, they have satisfacto- rily flourished in the accomplishment of the purposes for which they were established ; but, by and by, their quietude has been THE WOFxD OF GOD FOR ALL TIME. 177 disturbed : some persons, influenced by the love of pre-eminence, have sought to rule, and they have rudely broken in upon the order and the happiness which previously existed with such institutions. Having partaken more largely of knowledge than humility, they sought to be as gods, and in the prosecution of their designs, they have originated dissensions and divisions : one party has obtained ascendency over another : temporary success has stimulated the arrogance of selfishness, until it has wickedly attempted to crush the modesty of right and justice, in whicli it has too frequently been successful. In such historical facts, we have the general counterpart of those events, which brought about the catastrophe of Abel's death ; and, viewed under this aspect, we perceive, in the antedi- luvian narrative, a history of the development of human passions, when once evil had introduced its unhallowed presence among them. The narrative, in having responses in after-history, not only treats of the lawless activity of man's fallen nature among an ancient people, but it may also be regarded as describing cir- cumstances, which have been enacted over and over again, in the wide domain of religious society : it is not only the written picture of events which have frequently distinguished society, but it is, also, a caligraphic portrait of the states of individual men. Do we not find them abusing the privileges they are permitted to enjoy, and so preferring personal gratification to religious obedi- ence ? Do not our experiences assure us, that we have produced a separation between our knowledge and our duty ? and have we not acted, as though we considered them to be distinct things, instead of regarding them as one ? Religious knowledge exists for the purpose of conducting men to spiritual obedience: but every one knows that he has permitted the love of information to acquire an ascendency over the love of duty ; and it is no uncom- mon case to find, that the desire of duty has been extinguished in the pursuit of knowledge : and thus, that Cain has slain his brother Abel. It is only when v/e can see the Word of God to have a uni- versal, continual, and particular application to the moral experi- ences of men, both in their collective and individual conditions, that we possess the genuine evidence necessary to convince us that it is what it professes to be — a revelation from God. It must have been the Divine Mind which caused the construction of the narra- tive we are considering, because it describes, in a consecutive 178 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. series, facts, which, when viewed in their internal sense, have their counterparts in the experiences of religious men. None but God knoweth Avhat is in man : none but He could have looked into futurity, so as to have beheld the workings and displays of dis- ordered humanity, and thereupon, have caused the production of a work, which should describe them with the minutise and accuracy which His book can be proved to do. His Word is for all time and for all men. To suppose that it was merely the history of a particular period and of a peculiar people, is to take away from it the majesty and eternity of its purpose, as well as to overlook the infinity and spirituality of its origin. It is written of God, that without a parable spake he not ; (Matt. xiii. 34 ;) the most marvel- lous and accomplished parable of revelation, is that which is called the Antediluvian History : and we now come to that point of it, which informs us of the death of Abel, by the hand of Cain. The catastrophe is thus related : — " And Cain talked with Abel his brother, and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him." (Gen. iv. 8.) This result sufficiently indicates, that their talking together is to be understood as expressing the idea of angry disputation. This was the natural consequence of tivo diflferent sects, which had branched off from the most ancient church, one of whom was seeking an ascendency over the other. It is no uncommon circumstance for rival parties in religion to be found in the bitterness of controversy. Although they may be in the same field together ; or, what is thereby signified, — although they may profess to belong to the same general religious dispensa- tion, yet the particular views, which each has taken of some of its doctrines and discipline, have brought them into collision, and they have not unfrequently conducted their controversies, more in the spirit of conquest and the world, than under the influence of truth and heaven. The history of the Lutheran, Calvinistic, and Armin- ian parties in the Christian church, displays these facts with sufficient clearness. They have talked together, but they have talked vehemently. Luther denounced Erasmus as a vain, inglo- rious animal, because he exposed some of the religious crudities which " the reformer " had published : * Calvin caused Servetus to be put to death, because he dared to differ from him in religious * His words are, "That exasperated viper, Erasmus, has again attacked me ; what eloquence will the vain inglorious animal display in the over- throw of Luther." RELIGIOUS DISPUTES. 179 opinion.* The controversies founded on the doctrines of Armin- ius, involved Switzerland in years of discord : and other branches of the professing Christian church, which have had greater power and more audacity, have not scrupled at any means, by which they could subdue their antagonists in religious things. Sometimes they have had recourse to violence and blood, rather than not attain the supremacy to which they aspired. This has been the case, not merely with individuals, of which the martyrdoms are a sufficient evidence, but it is true of whole parties. History most distinctly informs us of several instances, in which one sect has wickedly attempted to exterminate another, not by the persuasions of truth and reason, but by the weapons of cruelty and murder. The Albigenses were a people, who, in the eleventh century, attempted to effect some reform in the church, as it then existed ; their views, however, were condemned in council by the ecclesi- astics of the time, and an effort was thereupon made to extermi- nate them by the most violent persecutions.! Another instance of a similar kind is presented to us in the history of the Waldenses ; ^ * " When Servetus had escaped from his prison, at Vienna, and was passing through Switzerland, in order to seek refuge in Italy, Calvin caused him to be apprehended at Geneva, in the year 1553, and had an accusation of blasphemy brought against him before the council. The issue of this accusation was fatal to Servetus, who, adhering resolutely to the opinions he had embraced, was, by a public sentence of the Court, declared an obstinate heretic, and in consequence thereof, condemned to the Qames." — Mosheim, Eccl. Hist. cent, xvi., par. iv. Dr. A. Maclaine, the translator, observes, that " It is impossible to justify the conduct of Calvin in the case of Servetus, whose death will be an indelible reproach upon the character of that great and eminent reformer. The only thing that can be alleged, not to efface, but to diminish his crime, is, that it was no easy matter for him to divest himself at once of that persecuting spirit, which had been so long nourished and strengthened by the popish religion, in which he had been educated. It was a remaining portion of the spirit of Popery in the breast of Calvin, that kindled his unchristian zeal against the wretched Servetus." t Limborch's History of the Inquisition, translated by Chandler, vol. i. p. 42-70. + " The injuries and insults they suflFered at the hands of many orders of men, and more especially of the Jesuits, are not to be numbered. In Poland, all those who ventured to differ from the Pope, found, by bitter experience, during the whole of this (17th) century, that no treaty or convention that tended to set bounds to the authority or rapacity of the church, was held sacred, or even regarded, at Rome. For many of these were ejected out of their schools, deprived of theii- churches, robbed of 180 AiNiTEDILUVIAlS HISTORY. " and that of the Huguenots, in the seventeenth century, discloses unparalleled atrocities. They were a sect of Protestants v/ho rose up in France, and, for having separated from the dominant party of the Romish church at that tune, were denounced as objects of hatred. Mosheim informs us that, " After having groaned for a long space of time, under various forms of cruelty and oppression, and seen multitudes of their brethren put to death by secret con- spiracies, or open tyranny and violence, were, at length, obliged either to save themselves by clandestine flight, or to profess, against their consciences, the Romish religion." * With such facts of history before us, it is no difficult thing to conceive that the dispute of Cain with Abel, when they are viewed as religious parties in the most ancient church, should have termi- nated in the more bold and daring, effecting the destruction of the more modest and unresisting. It is one of the unhappy conse- quences, which attends a church, during the process of its decline from wisdom and purity ; it is then tliat evil and false principles effect an entrance and perpetrate their mischiefs. The sweetness of charity is sacrificed to the austerity of faith. Creeds have tri- umphed over virtue. Innocence has suffered in the struggle to establish an opinion. Guilt has flourished for a time, and, under the injured name of truth, has perpetrated murder. This we con- ceive to be the general idea which the history of Abel's death by the hands of Cain, was intended to convey to posterity. How many disasters would have been prevented in society, if the moral of it had been practically learnt ? But alas ! it has not been so. The narrative describes a calamity, which must attend the pres- ence of false principles in the church, during the process of its decline and fall : it is also a revelation of their consequences, which have been verified in after-ages by a hundred facts. While we can see the general principle, involved in the decla- their goods and possessions, under a variety of perfidious pretexts ; nay, frequently condemned to the most severe and cruel punishments, without having been even chargeable with the appearance of crime. The remains of the Waldenses, that lived in the valleys of Piedmont, were persecuted often with the most inhuman cruelty (and more especially in the years 1632, 16o5, and 1685,) on account of their magnanimous and steadfast attachment to the religion of their ancestors; and this persecution was carried on with all the horrors of fire and sword, by the Dukes of Sivoy." — Mosheim, cent. Tivn.,pa')'t I, par. viii. * Eccl. Hist. cent, xvii., part 1, par. ix. See also, the second chapter of the second part throughout. CHARACTERISTICS OF ABEL. 181 ration of Cain, talking with his brother Abel, and subsequently- slaying him, let us endeavor to examine the subject a little farther, in order to comprehend the statements in their more particular form. Their talking, as it was said, plainly indicates an angry disputa- tion : the result proves the truth of this induction. Divisions having broken in upon the unity of the most ancient church, doctrinal dis-agreements would, in the process of time, manifest themselves in various forms, more or less milignmt. Ciin, or, what is the same thing, those who maintained, th it faith grounded in the knowledge of truth, constituted the excellency of religion, would talk authoritatively, and wield an intellectuil power over Abel, or, what is the same thing, those who were influenced by the docility and gentleness of charity. Those who love charity, love peace. They prefer to let their lives, rather than their words, speak of the uprightness of their heart and the integrity of their character. The intelligence of their fiith shows itself in the purity of their works : what they know of truth fixes itself in amiability and loveliness of conduct. They are actuated by an affirmative principle, and, in their communications on points of difference, will say little more than " Yea, yea : Nay, nay," be- cause they are well assured that whatsoever is more than these has come of evil. Their religion is exhibited in the meekness and moderation of their deportment. They will give to every one that asketh them, a reason for the hope that is in them, but they cannot enforce their views by contention and the strife of words. They cannot talk rudely, and so irreverently, about heavenly things. They remember the sanctity of good, and endeavor to preserve it with every care. If opposed by those who are in the pride of mtellect. they will state their views of truth with lucidity and clearness, but they will carefully eschew the risings of an angry disputation. They fear lest they should imbibe an ungenerous spirit, and prefer that their opponent should acquire the reputation of a conqueror, rather than endinger the good they may possess, by entering into the heat and virulence of controversy. "Chirity suffereth long, and is kind ; charity envieth not ; charity viunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seek- eth not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil ; rejoiceth not m iniquity, but rejoicetli in the truth ; beareth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity nDver fiileth." (1 Cor. xiii. 4-8.) They who are led by this holy principle, care not so much about the talking part of religion : they regard the doing of 16 182 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. their duty in all the relationships of life, to be of the first import- ance. They are ever attentive to acts of benevolence and use, and experience happiness in the diligent performance of them : and they will be found to submit to sufferings and persecution for righteousness' sake, rather than be driven into resistance by violence and oppression. Such were the characteristics of the people called Abel. But Cain, or those who believe that the knowledges of faith are the principal things of religion, are not satisfied with so mild and amiable a course. They cannot endure that any should hold sentiments different from their own, and every one whose views do not harmonize with their ideas of faith, is construed into an ad- versary, and regarded with disdain. They dispute with vehemence, and break into anger in the midst of argumentation, because they are destitute of the charity that would keep them placid. They pretend that charity is only the ornament of religion, and not necessary to the salvation of the believer. With them, faith, and not virtue, is the essential thing. This has been the ground of tliose supposed conversions which certain wicked persons are said to have experienced, when under the influence of affliction, or the fear of death. Such persons, because they could serve them- selves no longer, are then persuaded to have faith in God, and that that will save them. But of such the Lord has said, " Depart from me, I never knew you." From the same pestilential source, some criminals, who have forfeited their lives by the atrocity of their conduct, have been said to have become religious, and to have died in penitence and hope ; so that the scaffold has not unfrequently been exhibited as no obstacle in the way to heaven. Merciful God ! to what detestable results have men been led, through the adoption of false principles in religion, and which, in their audacity, they have said were thine ! Those who suppose that faith only, and thus faith separate from charity, is the essential thing of the church, and so the principal thing in man's salvation, overlook this circumstance, that no one can procure genuine faith who is not first in the love of something that is good ; also, that good cannot be obtained but in a state of liberty, nor fixed in the life until it is practised. Faith, then, is the offspring of charity, for charity is good, and thus the living and essential thing of religion and salvation. But the belief of these truths is no part of the Solifidian's faith. His great effort is to set the speculations of faith above the excellences of virtue. THE INQUIRY' AFTER ABEL. 183 He struggles incessantly to obtain pre-eminence for faith. He entertains no kindly sentiments for those who differ from him. He cherishes no affectionate regard for spiritual good : he asserts that it is impossible to obtain it, and so he does not look upon charity as his spiritual brother, but disputes with those who think it is so, rejects their arguments, and neglects their virtues. The non-resisting character of those who are in charity, is construed by Iiim into a want of confidence in its superiority. He treats the humility of charity as the docility of ignorance ; its submissiveness is pronounced to be cowardice, and then it is destroyed. It is thus that Cain rises against his brother, and Abel perishes ! When Abel is slain, — when men destroy the life of charity in themselves, by rejecting it as no essential thing of religion or sal- vation, — when they think works of virtue will not aid their upward progress, they are not far from believing that acts of vice will not prevent it ; and so the doctrine of ^^ faith only,''^ is no safeguard against the perpetration of any enormity which their lusts may prompt. Hence it was, that Cain, by whom this doctrine was represented and sustained, is recorded to have committed the highest crime. Men do not fall into guilty practices toward their fellow-men, until they have wounded charity in themselves. The inquisition, the rack, and the fagot, were the inventions of those in whom the sentiment of genuine charity had perished. In having recourse to these enormities, they professed, indeed, to be actuated by a principle of religion, but then, it was only in the shape of a creed, and not in the form of love. It was something which they regarded as faith, without its amiable and forbearing brother, and hence, they persecuted and destroyed their neighbor, under the horrid persuasion, that by so acting, they were doing God service. These considerations help us to see, that by Cain's slaying his brother Abel, is denoted, that those who were in the mere doctri- nals of faith, rejected the life of charity, and thus became admis- sive of all those evil influences, implied in the curse which was pronounced upon him. We now come to notice some other circumstances, Avhich the narrative reveals, concerning Cain. And, first, the Lord said unto him, " Where is Abel, thy brother ? " (Gen. iv. 9.) The Lord is frequently treated of in the Scriptures, as speaking to various persons : but by this we are not to understand oral com- munication, like that which takes place between man and man, in the expression of his thoughts. The Lord does not so effect his 184 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. intercourse with men. By his speaking, especially to the guilty, IS meant, in general, an internal dictate, produced either through the huaian perceptions or conscience. Conscience is the peculiar inheritance of man : it is one of the evidences of his spirituality, and by which he is distinguished from the brutes, who have it not. It 13 formed in man during the early years of his existence, by means of the affections, attentions, and moral instructions of his parents and friends ; but more particularly, by the teachings of v.'hit are good and true : and all good and truth are the Lord's, communicated to man through such mediums as his state requires : that medium is now the Word. When man, at any time, trans- gresses those principles in which he has been trained, he is made to feel internal pain an J reproof. The pain arises from a mental sense of the violence, which has been done to something that is good ; and the reproof, from a perception of the injury which has been indicted on soaiething that is true : and this mental sense is the Divine voice, uttering its complaints within. It speaks a sen- sible and a nervous language, and leaves impressions not readily forgotten. We know that such experiences do not come to us from without : we feel that they originate in a dictate from within, and thus, that they come from a higher and a holier source than ourselves. It is easy, then, to see that the Lord speaks with men in the dictate of some internal principle, formed and disciplined by means of the Divine teachings. This dictate to Cain, in the instance before us, was made upon his perception, and it concerned the violence which he had done -to charity. It is thus expressed : " Where is Abel, thy brother ? " It was an internal impression, inquiring what was become of the innocence, the peace, and tranquility, that were enjoyed before charity was slain ; it was a spiritual investigation, giving the as- surance of guilt, by the sensations of pain. The fact, with Cain, was similar to thit Avhich the guilty have experienced in after-ages. They know that this description of their state is true : but what is their practical answer to such an inquiry ? It partakes of the false position in which their guilt has placed them ; and it is forcibly expressed in the reply which Cain is declared to have made, name- ly, " I know not ; am I my brother's keeper ? " They who are not willing to be connected with, or influenced by, charity, strive to make light of the guilt that has extinguished it. They who pro- duce the death of Abel, are thereby brought into a state, which, in some measure, prevents them from seeing the enormity of their gain's reasonings. 185 crime. The criminal does not see his wickedness in so hideous a form, as society who has suffered from its malignity. They who cherish ill-will and hatred towards their neighbor, think very lightly of the enormity they are committing : such persons see in their neighbor nothing but inferiority and fault : They know him not, nor do they conceive why they should be regarded as his keeper. They, practically, reason with themselves, and say. Why should they serve him ? Why should they be inquired of concerning him ? Why should he stand in the way of their success ? Such base reasonings as these, express the depraved conditions of their hearts, from which they strive to remove every obstacle to the foul domin- ion which they seek, so far as they can command the power, and use it with safety to themselves. Thus it is, that those who are principled in the doctrine which Cain represented, like him, make light of charity, even when it is inquired after : and that they entirely reject it, is signified by his contemptuous inquiry, " Am I my brother's keeper ? " — in other words, What have I to do Avith him ? Nevertheless, this daring on the part of Cain, did not suppress the urgency of the inner dictate : it forcibly accused him of having offered violence to charity, and strongly convicted him of the crime, by making him conscious of his guilt ; which circumstances are described, by the Lord saying to Cain, " The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." " The voice of thy broth- er," denotes the accusation of charity ; his " blood," is intended to express the idea of its rejection and death : and this is said to have " cried from the ground," to inform us, that the destruction of charity arose from the heresy, into which the people, called Cain, had fallen: and therefore, they are pronounced to have been cursed. Now, all cursing comes from evil : God is not, cannot be, the source of it. Man produces it, by turning himself away from God ; and he does this, whensoever he prefers his own will to God's teachings. The sun is not the author of darkness; he is ever shining: but darkness comes by the earth's rotating from him. They who, like Cain, know truth, and do it not, turn themselves away from God, .and so become averse to what is good. All bless- ing comes to men as they love the good of charity : all cursing overtakes them as they banish and extinguish this : for, in this case, cruelty, unmercifulness, and hatred enter in ; and thereupon, the bond is broken between man and God ; consequently, the means 16* 186 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. of blessing is dissolved, and the opposite state, is that of being cursed : for, as it was said, all cursing comes to men through the entering in of evil, which faith alone cannot prevent. That man may be in such a fiith, and yet in a state of condemnation, is plain, from its being written, "•' The devils believe, and tremble." (James ii. 19.) It is a fearful state, to know what is right, and do it not. The Lord has thus described it : " Every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a fool- ish man, which built his house upon the sand; and the rain de- scended, and the floods came, and the winds bleAv, and beat upon that house, and it fell ; and great was the fall of it." (Matt. vii. 26, 27.) But the nature of the curse which befel Cain, is more particular- ly described, by its being said to him, " When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength: a fugitive and a vagabond shilt thou be in the earth." (Gen. iv. 12.) Adam was told tint the ground was cursed, and would bring forth thorns and thistles : and now, Cain Avas informed, that it should not yield her strength. Every one who will reflect, must see that the statement is not intended to express any hindrance to the natural prolification of the land ; and also, that something of a spir- itual character must be meant. Natural laws and spiritual laws operate distinctly from each other. The spiritual laAvs by which a man becomes good, and the natural laws by which his land be- comes productive, are of two different kinds. There may be an analogy between them, but they are not dependent on each other for their effects. It is a natural law, that if the earth be tilled, it will produce its increase, whether the man who tilled it be good or bad. The good man's garden will not grow him fruits, if he be inattentive to the natural laws of production. The bad man's ground is not barren, if he duly attend to the requirements of the soil. It is plain, then, the statement made to Cain, namely, " When thou tillest the ground it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength," is designed to announce, not a physical result, but a con- sequence of the action of some spiritual law. What this is, will presently appear. It will be remembered, that in a former chapter, it was shown that the ground was an emblem of the natural state, or mind, of the celestial man ; and also, that his fall consisted in his descent from his celestial condition into that natural state, or mind, again ; and thereby, carrying into it the seeds of transgression. It then CAIN TILLING THE GROUND. 187 became his work to till this ground, which denoted, the rooting up, by means of repentance, the weeds and briers, the thorns and this- tles, of transgressive life, and the cultivation of the natural mind, for the reception of the seeds of truth and goodness. But this im- portant duty, by which it was intended to raise him out of his cor- ruptions, had not been properly attended to. The people, it was seen, became divided into sects, and that of Cain cultivated the ground of the natural mind, so as to produce the erroneous persua- sion, that faith was all that was necessary to form the religious character, and to realize religious hopes. By this, they fell into the deeper wickedness of extinguishing all spiritual good, — they rose against Abel and slew him. Hence their faith became a heresy ; for the faith that rejects charity, as a means of acceptance with the Lord, is not from heaven, but from fallen man. The ground of Cain was still the natural mind of the people so called ; but, by the destruction of charity, it became infested with false no- tions, both of religion and themselves. The will having become corrupt, the understanding partook of the depravity. When men commence to love what is evil, they soon begin to think what is false. The head is soon seduced, when the heart is foul ; so that heresies arise among mankind from the prevalence of evil. Men are expert in reasoning in favor of the things they love, — they strive to believe what they desire. Cain's love had now become the love of self, for he had hated and destroyed his brother, and all his notions and opinions acquired a tincture from this iniquity, and thus his faith became a heresy. It was the heresy of believing, that mere knowledge and persuasion would save, which now constituted the ground of his natural mind. To till this ground, was, to cul- tivate this heresy : but he was told, that it would not yield its strength. Providence mercifully interrupts the course of the wicked ; and God designs that interruption to be a blessing, but they receive it otherwise. It disturbs their loves, — it hinders their pursuits, — and so retards the progress of malignity. And is not this an actual blessing ? Most certainly it is ! Still, it is re- garded as a misfortune and a curse, by those who are its sub- jects. The people, called Cain, tilled their ground, — they cul- tivated the heresy into which they had fallen : they were informed, that it should not yield her strength, — that it could not bring forth acceptable fruits. In other words, they were told, that the good and excellent things of heaven could not grow out of a perverted mind. We carmot gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles. 188 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. Religious heresies have never been productive of any good to so- ciety : it is impossible, in the nature of things, that they should ; because, in such case, the ground of the natural mind, is not tilled to bring forth virtue, but to grow arguments and opinions for the maintenance of the schism. How many have quarrelled, and fought, and died, in the defence of an opinion, which time, and the advancement of knowledge, have proved to be false ! How many heresies have arisen in the church, which have successively perished, with the sole exception of a name in history ! Their professors tilled this heretical ground, with assiduity and zeal, but it did not improve the condition or enlarge the virtues of society : it served rather to increase their subtlety, and impart severity to their characters, and hence the heresies have passed away. This result is in agreement with the apostolic statement, " If this coun- cil, or this work, be of men, it will come to nought : but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it ; lest, haply, ye be found to fight against God." (Acts v. 38, 39.) The natural mind, infested with schismatical notions about re- ligious things, howsoever it may be cultivated, does not yield its strength : falsehood and fallacy weaken its powers, and prevent it from going to those sources Avhich furnish information. The cul- tivation of error, instead of yielding the intellectual strength of the mind, develops its weakness ; and this, together with its non- production of benefits and use, brings it into merited disgrace and ruin : and in these facts, Ave learn in what the curse of Cain con- sisted. When the heresy which destroyed charity in the church began to be cultivated by itself, it was found to produce no fruits of moral and spiritual use, and to yield no strength of intellectual knowledge. Cain's water was nought and his ground was barren, so that he became " a fugitive and vagabond in the earth," * These things are predicated of the religious state of Cain, rather than of their physical and outer condition. A fugitive is one who runs away from the demands of duty, and a vagabond is a wanderer who has no settled habitation. The people called Cain had these two epithets applied to them, with the view of ex- pressing the idea that they had, as to their will, ran away from the love of goodness, and that, as to their understanding, they had no settled conception of truth. The same words are applied in the * Septuagint renders this passage, " groaning and trembling on the earth." The above, however, is the more correct expression of the origi- nal Hebrew. Cain's fear. 189 historical portion of the Scriptures to other parties, with a like signification. The terms Jled and ivander, also denote the same ideas ; which an instance will sufficiently illustrate. The prophet Isaiah, speaking " of the valley of vision," says, " All thy rulers WA>'DER together, they are bound by the archers : all that are found in thee are bound together which have fled from far." (Isaiah xxii. 3.) Where, by the valley of vision, is represented the phantasy of a religion of faith without charity : the wandering of its rulers denotes the unsteady condition of its knowledges : all that were found in it, under such circumstances, are mere per- versions of good, and hence they are said to have " fled from far." The Lord, and all genuine goodness, are far away from such a state. Thus Cain was called a fugitive, to denote that his affec- tions had run away from good ; and he is pronounced to be a vag- abond, to signify the^wandering character of his understanding in respect to truth ; whence we learn, that all those who, like him, profess and cherish a religion of faith which is not grounded in chirity, are pronounced to be fugitives and vagabonds in the church. CHAPTER XVI. gain's complaint and apprehensions: — THE MARK SET UPON HIM FOR HIS PRESERVATION. " The goodness and love of God have no limits or bounds, but such as his omnipotence hath : and every thing that hath a possibility of par- taking of the kingdom of heaven, will infallibly find a place in it." — Law''s Appeal, p. 88. When the affections of men fly away from what is good, and their thoughts are turned away from what is true, they are neces- sarily brought into a state in which pain must be experienced and danger apprehended. We say, this is the necessary consequence of such a procedure, because, it is a Divine law, that a sense of happiness and security springs out of the love and practice of what is wise and virtuous ; and consequently, that a departure from that law, must be attended with opposite results. This was a con- dition, of which Cain had now become sensible, and to record it, he is said to have exclaimed, " My punishment is greater than I can bear." (Gen. iv. L3.) Perception, which then stood in the place of that which was conscience in after-ages, was not entirely destroyed; there yet 190 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. remained some of its corrective impulses and suggestions, and tliese gave rise to those utterances of deep despair. Nor ^vas the painful sensations of their present state the sole cause of their hopelessness : they had a foresight of calamity in the future, and hence Cain is described to have said unto the Lord, " I shall be driven from thy face, and it shall come to pass that every one that findeth rae shall slay me." (Gen. iv. 14.) Such were the natural anticipations of a religious community, who were in the process of being convinced that they had extinguished the good and falsi- fied the truth, which God had mercifully entrusted to their care and observance. It is plain, that the dread which is declared, does not relate to the fear of natural life being destroyed, but to the alarm occasioned by a perception of the danger to which spiritual life was exposed. According to the literal sense, there was only himself, with Adam, and his mother, then in existence. Who, then, was he to fear ? By whom could such a deed of death be done ? * But, on the admission that there were other persons, of whose origination and existence the history does not speak, we can hardly suppose that every one of them would have been so exasperated by his iniquity, as to be ready to take upon himself the power of inflicting judicial vengeance. In our own time, the great mass of mankind shrink in dismay from such an idea. An execu- tioner is instinctively felt to be a horrid character. This, however, is not the subject treated of: this will be very apparent after a moment's attention to the peculiar structure of the sentence which expresses the fear, namely, " Every one that findeth me, shall slay me." Now " every one " that found him could not do it ; f he had but one life to lose, and this could not have been taken by every one with whom he came in contact. It is therefore evident, that the statement does not relate to the infliction of natural death, and * In the note at page 69, is' cited, the supposition on which a large number of persons may be considered as existing in tlie time of Cain. Those who have adopted that view, to avoid the difficulty which the literal sense of this portion of the history suggests, seem not to have observed that by such an opinion they are in collision with the apostle, who as- serts, that Enoch was the seventh from Adam. Jude 13. t Cain's words may be thought to be only a general, and loose expres- sion of his fears that some one would avenge themselves upon him : but no one who considers that revelation is verbally accurate, and that every expression is significant of an appropriate idea, can reasonably adhere to such a notion. FEAR, THE RESULT OF WRONG-DOING. 191 that we must refer for its true meaning, to the phenomena which take place with the inner life of fallen man. It is there alone that we can lind the realization of those sensations, of which Cain's language is expressive. They who are principled in evils of any kind, thereby expose their spiritual life to spiritual assailants. In- fernal influences and thoughts rush into every avenue, which is opened in the mind by human wickedness, so that they will soon become a legion. It is the evils, which pass into the hearts of guilty men, which make them fear. There is a well-known prov- erb in the church, Avhich says, " Be sure your sins will find you out." It is these which infest the guilty with trepidation and alarm, because they threaten the entire extinction of all spiritual life. The language of Cain's fear of every one, then, expresses the internal consternation which was experienced by that people, upon the entrance of every evil influence, to which they had ex- posed themselves. Having perverted the truth of faith, and de- stroyed charity, as their spiritual brother, they were brought Avithin the sphere of terrible temptations. These met them upon every side, and, entering into them, effected their distresses. Their fears, for the dangerous condition of their spiritual life, sprung out of the severity of their temptation. Their power over the means for the preservation of spiritual good, had become exceed- ingly weak. They felt that every means of happiness was fast de- parting ; for, having destroyed charity, they possessed no power for its retention. Thus they were reduced into a state of the most painful anxiety and deep disquiet. And these ancient experiences have had their counterpart among transgressors in after-times. Do we not know, that every violation of the laws of good, 1ms been attended with fears, both external and internal : external fear, lest we should be discovered and ex- posed ; and internal fear, lest our spiritual disquiet should result in the destruction of that happiness, which man regards to be his inner life ? Thus, if we fall into the guilt of rejecting charity from our affections, we open out the way for a multitude of evil delights and false persuasions to enter in, every one of which brings its poison, and threatens us with death. The experiences of the men of the church in our own times, satisfactorily explain the statement of Cain's fears. Evil is alike in its consequences at all periods, and it only differs in the degree of its enormity. It produces similar results among all men ; more or less severe, as the conscience may have been more or less accurately formed. 192 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. The punishment of which Cain complained, was a condition of moral agony, produced by the presence of evil, admitted through the destruction of charity ; and his fear, lest every one finding him should slay him, denoted the distress that was occasioned, by every temptation that found in hhn a plane on which to operate its ma- lignity. It is evil and falsehood which slay the spiritual life of religion in the souls of its professors, and cause them to have nothing of genuine happiness, or heaven, within them. And the fear of this had now produced a miserable influence upon that branch of the most ancient church, called Cain. The Scriptures speak of similar states having come into exist- ence under the Jewish dispensation ; and they who were their sub- jects, are described as fearing and flying from the sword. Thus, Moses, speaking of those who persisted in their transgression, says, " Upon them that are left alive of you, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies ; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them : and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword ; and they shall fall, when none pursueth." (Lev. xxvi. 36.) Here, it is evident, that the pain of evil, and the fear of spir- itual death thereby occasioned, are the subjects treated of. So, again, Jeremiah, speaking of the judgments of the Ammonites, says, " Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord God of hosts, from all those that be about thee : and ye shall be driven out every man right forth ; and none shall gather him up that wan- dereth." (Jer. xlix. 5.) This denouncement is nearly parallel, both in sentiment and expression, to that recorded of Cain : he feared all those that were about him, and was driven out from the face of the Lord. The wicked cannot do otherwise than fear : the loss of innocence, with the consciousness of guilt, afflicts them with it. They can have but little hopes of spiritual life hereafter, when they reflect that the doors of heaven are shut against iniquity. It is written, that "Without, are dogs, and sorcerers, and whore- mongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whatsoever loveth and maketh a lie." (Rev. xxii. 15.) This is a law which must re- main perpetual in the church. Men may try to reason away its force, by supposing that the Divine justice will be satisfied through the sufferings of a victim substituted for the sinner, and so ab- stract from it its practical importance. Still they will have the evidences of intuition, that heaven is only for the good, and that none are faithful but those who are obedient. The faith that does not remove the mountains of evil vrhich afflict humanity is of little FAITH IS TRUTH LEADING TO GOOD. 193 worth.* Faith, to be of real value, must have its ground in truth, and thus possess the power of making men good. If it has not these properties, it has no pedigree in heaven, because all that proceeds from thence is intended to make men wise and happy. It is easy to understand, as a general principle, that the state of a people who had destroyed within themselves the life of charity, must have been fearful and distressing ; nor is it difficult to per- ceive that their anguish was much greater than it would have been, had they been an ignorant people. This they were not. There are certain sensibilities which attend the possession of knowledge which are exceedingly acute : they are blunted and deprived of much of their poignancy by ignorance. Cain was an enlightened but an umcharitable people. The wicked can be clever : but the circum- stance of knowing Avhat is right and doing what is wrong, augments the severity of the punishment which ensues : the sin of ignorance is less enormous in its consequences than the sin of knowledge. The Lord said, " He that knew not, and did commit things Avorthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required." (Luke xii. 48.) This latter state was that of Cain ; they transgressed the laws of good, and knew it ; they pursued their own uncharitable course with open eyes. They were not ignorant of their duty to man, but thought that a certain faith in God would be accepted in its stead. They instituted knowledge for virtue ; they extinguished charity, and trusted to solitary faith to gain for them admission into heaven. * Jenyn sensibly observes, that, "The true scriptural meaning of the word faith, seems nothing more than a docility or promptitude to receive truth ; and the Christian faith, to believe the divine authority of that re- ligion, and to obey its precepts ; in this sense surely too much merit can never be imputed to it : but since this denomination has been so under- mined, that no two ages, nations, or sects, have affixed to it the same ideas ; and so absurd, that under it every absurdity that knavery could cram down, or ignorance swallow, has been comprehended ; since it is still ca- pable of being so explained as to mean any thing that an artful preacher pleases to impose on an illiterate audience ; the laying too great stress upon it, must be highly dangerous to the religion and liberties of man- kind : but the proposing it as a composition for moral duties, is, of all others, the most mischievous doctrine ; as it unhinges all our notions of divine justice, and establishes wickedness upon a principle j and it is the more mischievous, as it cannot fail of being popular, because, as is usually intended, it is, in fact, nothing more than offering to the people a license to be profligate, at the easy price of being absurd ; a bargain, which they will ever readilv agree to." — Jenyn's Works, vol. I, p. 219. 17 194 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. Hence came that particular condition, which the trepidation and alarm of Cain was intended to teach us. He had the faith of knowledge, but not the practice. This is the trait of character which, in all our consideration of Cain, we have endeavored to keep in sight, as being that which was both possessed and repre- sented by him. But Avho does not see, that the existence of religious knowledge is endangered by the life of evil ? The faith of knowledge in re- ligious things, is placed in jeopardy by the rejection of charity. By the faith of knowledge, we mean a belief in what is understood to be true : but if men destroy in themselves the practice of re- ligious good, their belief in religious truth is rendered perilous. The truths of religion live and acquire their perpetuity, by being embodied in acts of usefulness to society. Truth becomes good by use. The truths of religion are to teach men how to live ; if this purpose of them is extinguished, they become mere intellectual things, and, as such, they are like the faith of Cain, exposed to death. The machine rusts when it is tlu^own out of employ ; to preserve the mechanism bright and sweet, it must be kept in use. The religious knowledge which exists merely in the head, will soon expire ; and so the death of truth is to be feared when the life of charity has been destroyed. And this is the particular idea which the recorded dread of Cain is intended to inform us of. Charity having perished, faith was placed in great danger. Cain, having slain his brother Abel, now began to fear a similar calamity. How can they preserve their faith who have abandoned virtue ? Men do not long remember what they cease to practise. Cain's fear of death was intended to shadow forth to us the danger, in which truth is placed, when good is gone. The orderly and affectionate course of a good man, preserves his faith in health and vigor : the vices and immoralities of the wicked endanger its existence. Every evil to which they are tempted, inflicts a new blow, and threatens to destroy it : tlie reason is, because they do not resist these evils, but fall therein, whensoever they are assailed. These are truths of experience, and how closely do they resemble the state indi- cated by Cain's expressions. They present the history to us un- der a practical aspect. It comes home to what is very generally known and felt to be the case. It is not merely a fact, which dis- tinguished an ancient sect, but it is a revelation of certain religious experiences in after-tmies. Every man knows that the retention of his belief is endangered when he does not practise its instruc- WHY CAIN WAS NOT TO BE SLAIN. 195 tions : we cannot long believe after we have ceased to do : and the apostle has most emphatically informed us "that faith without works is dead." (James ii. 20.) From these considerations we see, Avith remarkable accuracy, that the agony of Cain and his fear of death, represented the dan- ger to which truth among that people was now exposed, in conse- quence of hot being reduced to life. And this brings us to an- other point in this investigation, which is thus expressed : " Who- soever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him seven-fold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him." (Gen. iv. 15.) The first general remark, Avhich these statements educe, in con- nection with what has been previously explained, is, that faith, even though it be in a state of separation from charity, is to be held as a sacred and inviolable principle of the church. For, if Cain really represented a state of faith, which, at this time, had dissolved its brotherhood with charity, then, it follows, as an ir- resistible consequence, that the strong prohibition of his death, was intended to express the necessity for its preservation. The faith founded on truth, was not to be destroyed. We have all along insisted that the faith of those people, was of this character : it was derived to them by instruction, from their immediate prede- cessors, who had enjoyed the intelligence of Eden. Their faith was founded on truth, and therefore, it was to be preserved. The existence of Cain was to be maintained. The knowledge of spiritual truth, and faith therein, is of the utmost importance to the church. It is a sacred and holy principle, and, as such, it must be preserved to men. Woe to those, by whom it is destroyed. The reason is, because faith in truth is a means to good, and, indeed, the proper source through which it is to be obtained. Before men can do good, they must learn the laws of truth which teach it : before they can live in charity with all men, from a re- ligious principle, they must have learned the law which says, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Faith precedes char- ity, as the means to an end. To erect the temple, we must first lay the foundation : we must know the way to virtue before we can walk in it ; and this, it is the office of faith to teach. Faith does not save, but it points out the way to that which does : it is this which constitutes its value and importance, and this is the end for which it was to be protected and preserved. " Ho that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them 196 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. that dilicrently seek Him." (Heb. xi. 6.) Thus, faith in the Di- vine existence, protection, and truth, are essential ingredients in tlie formation of the religious character. It is a valuable principle in God's church, and required to be held in high esteem by men, because it is the appointed means to every good ; and these are the reasons why it is said, that Cain should not be slain. Of course, it was possible to effect this. God does not take away the liberty of men. Those who had destroyed charity, were not deprived of the power to extinguish faith ; but, if they did so, vengeance seven-fold was to be taken on them ; which plainly denotes, that a full and complete punishment would result. And can we not see the rationale of this announcement ? The punish- ment was not the arbitrary infliction of God, but he has revealed it as the necessary consequence of a certain extremity of wicked- ness on the part of man. Do we not perceive, that if men destroy the knowledges of faith, they thereby, entirely separate themselves from truth, and consequently, abandon both its illumination and guidance ? What must be the condition of such persons ? Do they not, thereby, fill up the measure of their iniquity ? The man who destroys within himself the faith of truth, deprives himself of the means of learning what is good, and thus, intelligence, as well as virtue, perishes. Truth and good are human principles, and men are more and more human, as they receive and cherish them ; but if they reject them, they slay the essential things of man, and thereby, rush into the characteristics of a devil : and this is what is meant by the seven-fold vengeance, that was to be taken of those who extinguished the truth of faith, which Avould have been represented by the slaying of Cain. The Lord revealed the consequence, that men might eschew the cause. And here, again, we recognize the instructive character and moral bearing of this narrative. We see that it is founded on the very nature of moral delinquency, and perceive the equity of the declaration, " If thou doest well, shalt thou not be exalted ? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door." (Gen. iv. 7.) But to prevent this disastrous consequence, so far as it could be done without hindering the activity of human freedom, we are informed, that, " the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest any finding him, should slay him." Of course, this mark was intended to make him known ; to testify who he was, and to operate as a pre- ventive against any attempt at his destruction. But what was the nature of it ? Those who contemplate the narrative in a literal WHAT THE MARK IS THOUGHT TO HAVE BEEN. 197 eense merely, consider it to have been some physical distinction : but that idea, we conceive, there is every reasonable ground for rejecting. Such a mark could not have been necessary for point- ing him out to those of whom the history informs us ; they must have known him without it, and, if there had been no other per- sons in the world, the safest way for him to have avoided their revenge, would have been to have absented hnnself from the family. But that opinion of the narrative, plainly includes the idea of there being other persons who might have heard of his crime, but to whom he was not known ; also, that his wandering or vagabond condition would bring him into contact with them, and that they were to be warned against offering violence to him. The fact of a larger community existing, than what the letter of tlie history expresses, must be conceded. The setting of the mark might have deterred men from slaying him, if they had been in- formed that it was set with the view of preventing such a crime ; still it may be asked, whether it was not the most likely way to have called attention to his character, and thus, to have rendered him a subject of general abhorrence. While, therefore, it may be said to have been the means for the preservation of his life, it must, likewise, be said to have been the cause of giving publicity to his crime, and so to have realized some of those distresses, which he is considered to have apprehended. This point of view takes away that idea of mercy and forbearance, which the affixing of the mark at first sight supposes ; and other difficulties may be raised against the physical sense of it ; on which however, we need not dwell. The many curious conjectures which have been seriously ex- pressed concerning what this mark was, will show the necessity for having recourse to a different view of the subject. Some have imagined that he was rendered paralytic ; * and others have sup- posed that God impressed some letter upon Cain's forehead, taken either from the name of Abel or Jehovah. (The Targum of Jona- than ben Uzziel.) Others say, that it consisted of three letters, which composed the name of the sabbath : and a few assert that It was the sign of the cross. Some have thought that it consisted in a wild aspect, with blood-shot eyes rolling in a horrid manner ; * This idea seems founded on the Septuagint version, which has rendered, what the English translation called a fugitive and vagabond, by words which signify, groaning and trembling. We have remarked on this version of the original in a preceding note. See page 188. 17* 198 ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY. (see Bayle's Diet., Art. Cain ;) and others assert, that it was the Hebrew letter tau, marked on his forehead, and that it was to signify his contrition, because it i^ the first letter in the Hebrew word teshubah, which denotes repentance. There are those who have thought that it was AbeVs sheep dog, given to him for a trav- elling companion ; (Abravenel :) and others have maintained that it was a horn, which grew out of his forehead. (Rabbi Joseph.) It has been said, that the mark was a circle of the sun rising upon him ; (the author of Bereshith Rabba, a comment on Gen. ;) and, also, that it meant that " a sword could not pierce him ; fire could not burn him ; water could not drown him ; the air could not blast Mm ; nor could thunder or lightning strike him."* It is useless to increase these " curiosities of literature " on the subject, or to offer any comment. It is enough to say, that not one of these speculations has fastened itself upon the credibility of the church : nor will any other, which is founded on the idea of physi- cal distinction, be more successful. For a more prosperous issue in this inquiry, other ground must be taken. The Hebrew word oth, which, in our version, is translated a mark, also signifies a sign, or token. The bow was to be leoth,for a sign, or token, between the Lord and the earth : (Gen. ix. 13 :) and, therefore, the original, rendered " And the Lord set a mark upon Cain," might have been translated. And the Lord appointed to Cain a token, or a sign, by which he was to know that a special providence protected his life. Although this version may not be free from every objection, yet it sets the inquirer upon the right path : it contemplates the mark to have been of a mental or moral kind ; and, if we view the subject from this aspect, we shall be able to see both its utility and its nature. The setting a mark upon Cain, is not the only instance of such a circumstance being mentioned in the Scriptures. The prophet * The Author of an Arabic Catena, in the Bodleian library, cited by Dr. A. Clarke. See, also, Dr. Shuckford, on the general subject of Cain's mark. Dr. Thos. Brown's " Vulgar Errors," may also be consulted. Matthew Poole remarks, " what this visible token of the Divine displeas- ure was, God hath not revealed to us, nor doth it concern us to know." Here, the mark is called, a mark of " Divine displeasure," whereas the whole history of the circumstance, shows it to have been the means of protection, and so of blessing ! The writer says, it does not concern us to know what it was ! we do not believe there is any thing mentioned in God's Word, which it does not very deeply concern us to know the mean- ing of, and which it is not our duty to endeavor to learn. THE MARK ON CAIN ILLUSTJlATED. 199 was commanded to " Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men, that sigh and cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof," (Ezekiel ix. 4.) Here, the marking is not men- tioned to express the idea of fixing upon them any physical im- pression, but rather, a notice of the sorrowful condition of those, who saw an