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might naturally expect fome Light into Matters that concern their own Antiquities, they are utterly ignorant of the Geography of their Bible, and have run aftray as much as other Nations in their Defcriptions of Paradife; Jofephus, and all the reft of their Authors, fuppofing the Ganges and the Nile to be two of its four Rivers, in which they have been follow'd almost unanimously by the Chriftian Fathers.

There are feveral Places which bear the Name of Eden, two whereof we find mention'd in Scripture, befides that in the Mofaical Defcription, viz. one in Syria*, and the other in Chaldea about Telaffar †, which perhaps may be the fame with that of Mofes. I have already mention'd an Eden near Tripoli; and we are told of an Island in the Tigris fo call'd by the People of the Country. There is a City near Tarfus in Cilicia ftill call'd Adena, and Aden is a noted one on the Coast of Arabia Felix; for Eden or Aden fignifying Pleasure, that Name was given to Places remarkable for the Delightfulness of their Situation, confider'd either in themfelves, or comparatively with the adjacent Country; which laft seems to be the Cafe of Aden in Arabia.

BUT let us confider the Defcription of Eden given us by Mofes, which is as follows: And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden: ---And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four Heads. The name of the firft is Pifon; that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx-ftone. And the name of the fecond river is Gibon: the fame is it that compaffeth the whole land of Ethiopia [or Cufh]. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it

• Amos i, 5.

+ 2 Kings xix. 12. Isaiah xxxvii. 12.

which goeth toward the east of [or eastward to] Afy ria. And the fourth river is Euphrates 1.

To me it appears evident from this Account, that Mofes had no imaginary Paradife in View, but a Portion of this habitable Earth, bounded by Countries and Rivers, very well known in his Time by the Names he gives them, and, as appears from Scripture, for many Ages after. Can we doubt that Eden is a real Country, any more than Araret where the Ark rested; and Shinar whither the Sons of Noch removed after the Flood? We find it mention'd as fuch in Scripture, as often as the other two; and there is the more Reason to believe it, becaufe the Scenes of these three remarkable Events are laid in the Neighbourhood of one another by the facred Hiftorian.

As to the Suppofition, that a very great Change was made in the Face of Countries, and the Courfe of Rivers by the Violence of the Deluge, it feems to be no juft Difcouragement to an Enquiry after the Place of the terreftrial Paradife; for it cannot be thought, that Mofes, who wrote 850 Years after the Flood, would have given us fuch a particular Defcription of the Garden of Eden, if there had been no Marks or Indications of it then remaining, Befides, he does not make ufe of antediluvian Names in his Account of Paradife; for the Names of the Rivers, and the Countries adjacent, Cuf*, Havilah, &c. are of a later Date than the Flood: So that it appears ral others into a Miftake, that the River Gihon was the Nile in Egypt; and fuppofing withal, that the Country of Havilah was fome Part of the Eaft-Indies, they have run into another Error; and taken Pifon for the Ganges; whereby they make the Garden of Eden contain the greatest Part of Afia, and fome Part of Africa likewife, which is a Suppofition quite incredible, B

Gen. ii. 8, to, 11, 12, 13,

14. Our Tranflators have often fwerved from the original Hebrew to follow the Septuagint, and here in particular have render'd the Word Ch (which Country was fo call'd from Cush the Father of Nimrod,, first Founder of the Affyrian Monarthy) by the Name of Ethiopia; which has led Jofephus and feve Vot: III:

to

to have been the Intention of Mofes, to give us, according to the Geography of his Times, fome Hints of the Place where Eden and the Garden of Paradife were fituated in the former World; and which, I doubt not, may still be discover'd by carefully attending to his Defcription.

SOME eminent modern Writers, deceiv'd by the Affinity of Names, have fuppofed they found the Name of the Pifon preferv'd in the Pafi-Tigris, or rather (as they would have it, to favour their Hypothefis) the Pifo-Tigris, whilft others take for granted thet it is the Phafis, as they conclude the Aras to be the Gibon, from the Conformity of the Signification; both those Terms being used by the Perfians to fignify any great River in general. But if fuch Conjectures as these were to be taken for folid Arguments, Eden might be discover'd any where, and every where, fince a Conformity of Names, either in Sound or Signification, may be found in all Countries; and if thaɛ Sort of Proof be admitted, unlefs under proper Reftrictions, it will be no difficult Matter to prove that America was peopled by the immediate Defcendants of Noah, as fome have ventur'd to affirm.

THE Words Bdolab and Shobam, in the Mofaical Defcription of Eden, which our Tranflator, have render'd Bdellium and Onyx-ftone, afford us but little Light in our Enquiry; for being unknown Names, as well as Havilab, the Country which is faid to produce them, they are interpreted by every one fo as to favour the particular Scheme he efpouses. Thus Bdolab by fome has been render'd Bdellium; by others the Carbuncle, the Loadstone, the Oleafter; and those who place Paradife in Armenia will have it to be Crystal, in which Country that Stone is to be found. Others, who fix it in Chaldea, infift that it fignifies Pearl, which is fish'd in great Quantities about Babaren or Babrein,

and on the Arabian Coaft in the Perfian Gulph; which Coaft, according to this Hypothefis, we

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