work, as the terms bless and sanctify usually imply. And to this first original consecration in Paradise, or perhaps before Paradise, God seems to point at the delivery of the fourth commandment from Mount Sinai, where the expression, Remember the Sab'bath-day,' implies a previous knowledge and observance of such a day; as we may be naturally called to remember, not a new or a strange thing, but something which we had known or heard of before. And, if our first parents were for one or more Sabbaths in Paradise, (as, notwithstanding all that has been alleged to the contrary, they may be thought to have been), it is not to be doubted but on that holy day they would more particularly pay their tribute of devotion and worship to God. What the several parts of this worship were, or what particular acts they performed, the scripture does not expressly affirm. It may however be presumed, that a particular place was appointed for that purpose; and that it was towards the tree of life that our first parents directed their worship. It is said that, after their eyes were opened upon eating the forbidden fruit, they hid themselves from the pre'sence of the Lord'. Can we however imagine, that they were so sunk in unbelief, as to expect to conceal themselves from God? They who, having so lately witnessed his wonderful power in the creation, could not but know and feel the universal penetration of his all-seeing eye. ! The psalmist VOL. II, long

E

* Gen. iii. 8.

long after could say ', Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or Whither shall I flee from thy presence?' No-whither, to be sure; nor did our first parents so soon lose their acquaintance with the divine nature, as to believe that any place could screen or hide them from God. The presence of the Lord, here spoken of, is to be understood of some special particular place, in which, though the Lord was present everywhere, he vouchsafed to display or manifest himself more eminently; the presencechamber, as we would say, of the Most High; the holy of holies in Paradise; the peculiar place, where communion was to be had with God, to which Adam had been wont to resort for the more solemn and intimate acts of worship. And that this divine presence was exhibited under or near to the tree of life, may be inferred from what is said of our first parents hiding themselves from the presence of the Lord, in the midst of the tree of the garden.' We are apt to misconstrue this passage, by inverting the order of the words, and by this means are led to think, that it was among the trees of the garden,' that Adam hid himself from God: whereas both the Hebrew text, and Septuagint translation have it, in the midst of the tree of the garden,' (not trees in the plural number); and by this addition, which forms part of the description of the tree of life, and which is both most naturally and most

I Psal. lxxxix. 7.

2 Gen. iii. 8.

rea

3 The tree of life also in the midst of the garden.'-Gen. ii. 9. as it is also called Rev. ii. 7. and xxii. 2.

reasonably connected with the presence of the Lord, (not with Adam's hiding himself), we have ground to conclude, that the tree of life was what we might call the altar of the tabernacle of Paradise, where the presence of the Lord (the face or faces,

in

Hebrew, προσωπον in Greek, of Jehovah) was to be seen while Adam's going off from this presence was a kind of self-excommunication, or, as we say, a taking guilt to himself; and that so feelingly, as not to dare to approach that sacred place, where he had been formerly blessed with divine communion; like the publican in our Saviour's parable', who, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as ' his eyes unto heaven.'

16

From all these things put together, it appears that Paradise was the temple of God, that the river and trees in it had a symbolical signification; and, that particularly the tree of life was a peculiar emblem of the divine presence: and consequently Adam's employment in it was of a sacred nature, to perform acts of worship, in its several parts, to the Jehovah Aleim; and not to spend his time while there, in manual labour: since it is plainly told, that bodily labour was a part of the sentence or curse pronounced after the fall. So that upon the whole, it will be allowed that the scripture, tho' short and concise in its narration, has yet told us enough to give us some dark idea, at least, of the

E 2

nature

1St Luke xviii. 13.

2 Gen. iii. 19. 23.

nature and constitution of Paradise; that it was something more than merely a garden, however delicious and pleasant; an opinion which, though received by too many christians, may truly be said to have given birth to all those gross notions and carnal descriptions, entertained by Mahometans and others, with regard to their Paradise after death; where they are to be regaled with the finest of fruits and flowers, shady arbours, delightful walks, singing of birds, and the like, exactly similar to what Adam is supposed to have enjoyed in his Paradise,

Not less foolish, or even presumptuous, is the attempt to fix the limits or extent of Paradise, and to seek for it on the surface of this present earthly globe; some placing it in Arabia, some in Mesopotamia, some in one latitude, some in another; altho' all the while, if it should be said, that God dissolved it after the fall, as there was then no further use for it, according to the ends of its original institution; and that it has no longer any existence, as it had in Adam's time; such a conjecture, I believe, would come as near the truth, and might even be supported by as strong arguments as those persons can adduce, who rack their brains and stretch their invention to the utmost, to tell us where, or how large it was. Nay, were we even to affirm, that it still continues, as at first planted, disjoined from the rest of the earth, and destined to be the receptacle of the souls of the blessed, till their re-union

with their bodies, such a notion cannot, I presume, be contradicted from scripture-testimonies, or rejected as being either heretical or superstitious. But leaving this to form subject of inquiry for others who may think it worth their while, I shall return, whence I digressed, to the expulsion of Adam, for his disobedience, out of this paradisaical tabernacle, this sacred grove, which was done in a solemn manner, and attended with circumstances that call for, and well deserve, our most serious attention' So he drove out the man, and he plac'ed, at the east of the garden of Eden, CHERUBIM', &c.

This at last brings me to the principal point in hand, as it is the first time that any mention is made of this mysterious and hieroglyphical representation, the cherubim. Whether this cherubic exhibition had been set up by God, and seen by Adam in Paradise, is not expressly said; tho', from the manner of the historian's relation of its being set up afterwards, this might perhaps be inferred. The Hebrew is,

Jashachen ath Echerbim, which the,ישכך את הכרבים

τα

Septuagint have rendered, with the article, erače ra Xa, etaxe ta cherubim, he set up THE cherubim. Those, who are acquainted with the idiom of both Hebrew and Greek, will perceive the force and emphasis of the Hebrew article, ath, he, and its correspondent Greek To, which in English we

call

1 Gen. iii. 24.