DISC." to grow every tree that is pleasant to the

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fight, and good for food. And a river "went out of Eden, to water the Garden; "and from thence it was parted, and be"came into four heads." Thus the great architect of the univerfe, he who, in the language of the apoftle, "built all things," is defcribed as felecting, difpofing, and adorning this wonderful and happy spot, wherein was to be placed the creature made after his own image and likeness, but a little lower than the angels. Does not this circumftance fuggeft to us, that fomething more was intended, than what generally enters into our idea of a Garden ?

Whenever the Garden of Eden is mentioned in the fcriptures, it is called "the "Garden of God," or "the Garden of "the Lord," expreffions which denote fome peculiar defignation of it to facred purposes, fome appropriation to God and his fervice, as is confeffedly the cafe with many fimilar phrafes; fuch as "houfe of "God, altar of God, man of God," and

the

II.

the like; all implying, that the perfons DISC. and things fpoken of were confecrated to him, and fet apart for a religious ufe.

When it is faid, "The Lord God took "the man, and put him into the Garden of "Eden, to DRESS it, and to KEEP it," the words undoubtedly direct us to conceive of it, as a place for the exercise of the body. We readily acquiefce in this, as the truth, but not as the whole truth ; it being difficult to imagine, that so noble a creature, the lord of the world, should have no other, or higher employment. Much more fatisfaction will be found in fuppofing, that our first parents, while thus employed, like the priests under the law, while they miniftered in the temple, were led to contemplations of a more exalted ferving to the example and fha"dow of heavenly things." The powers of the body and the faculties of the mind. might be fet to work at the fame time, by the fame objects. And it is well known, that the words here ufed", do as frequent

nature,

.שמר and עבד m

DISC. ly denote mental as corporeal operations; II. and under the ideas of DRESSING and KEEPING the facred Garden, may fairly imply the CULTIVATION and OBSERVATION of such religious truths as were pointed out by the external figns and facraments which Paradife contained.

That fome of the objects in Eden were of a facramental nature, we can hardly doubt, when we read of "the tree of

knowlege," and "the tree of life." The fruit of a material tree could not, by any virtue inherent in it, convey "the knowlege "of good and evil," or cause that, by eating it, a man fhould "live for ever." But fuch fruit might be ordained as a facrament, upon the participation of which, certain fpiritual effects fhould follow. This is entirely conformable to reason, to the nature of man, and of religion.

It is remarkable, that, in the earliest ages, a custom should be found to prevail, both among the people of God, and idolaters,

of

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of setting apart and confecrating gardens DISC. and groves, for the purpose of religious worship. Thus Abraham, we are told, 'planted a tree, or grove, at Beersheba, " and called on the name of the everlafting God "." The worshippers of false Gods are described, in the writings of the prophets, as "facrificing in gardens," as

purifying themselves in gardens, behind "one tree in the midft;" and it is foretold, that they should be "afhamed for the oaks "which they had defired, and confounded "for the gardens which they had chofen." A surprising uniformity in this point may be traced through all the different periods of idolatry, as fubfifting among the Canaanites, the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans. Groves were dedicated to the Gods, and particular fpecies of trees were facred to particular deities. The fame ufage prevailed among the Druids, in these parts of the world. And to this day, the ailes of our Gothic churches and

n Gen. xxi. 33. • Ifai. lxv. 3. 1xvi. 17.

cathedrals

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DISC. cathedrals are evidently built in imitation of thofe arched groves, which of old fupplied the place of temples. It is not, therefore, without reason, that the author of a learned differtation on the fubject makes the following remark" Thefe were the "hallowed fanes of the ancients, in which they performed divine worship. And in"deed, if we would trace up this rite "to its origin, we must have recourse to "the true God himfelf, who inftituted in "Paradise a facred garden, or grove; or"dained Adam to be the high priest of it, "and confecrated in it two trees, for a public teftimony of religion."

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But upon the fuppofition now made, that the Garden of Eden ferved as a kind of Temple for our first parents, might we not expect to find fome refemblance of it in the tabernacle and temple afterwards erected, by the appointment of God, for his refidence in the midst of his people Ifrael? The question is by no means abfurd, especially if we recollect, that it was the de