DISCOURSE II. THE GARDEN OF EDEN. GENESIS II. 8. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. IN II. Na preceding difcourfe fome confi- DISC. derations were offered, tending to elucidate the particulars related by Mofes concerning the origination of man; namely, the time of his formation; the refolution taken by the Deity on the occafion the materials of which he was composed; the divine image in which he was created; and the dominion over the creatures with which he was invested. ; The words now read mark out the hiftory of that habitation in which it pleased DISC. the Almighty to place him at the beginII. ning, for the fubject of our prefent enquiries—a subject not only curious, but highly interefting. For if Levi be faid to have paid tithes to Melchizedek, as being in the loins of Abraham, at the time of that tranfaction; we may, in like manner, regard ourfelves, as having taken poffeffion of Eden; being in the loins of our ancestor, when he did fo. And though it can afford but fmall comfort, to reflect upon the excellence of an inheritance which we have loft, it may inspire into us due fentiments of gratitude and love towards that bleffed person who hath recovered it for us. And thus every confideration which enhances the value of the poffeffion, will proportionably magnify the goodness of our great. benefactor. For thefe reafons, we fometimes, perhaps, find ourselves difpofed to lament the concifenefs and obfcurity of that account, which Mofes hath left us of man's primeval estate in paradife. But when we recollect, that to this account we owe all the information information we have, upon fo important a point, it will become us to be thankful that we have been told fo much, rather than to murmur because we have been told no more; and, inftead of lamenting the obscurity of the Mofaic account, to try whether, by diligence and attention, that obscurity may not be, in part, difpelled. For though Mofes hath only given us a compendious relation of facts (and facts of the utmost importance may be related in very few words), that relation is ratified and confirmed in the Scriptures of both Testaments, in which are found many references and allufions to it. By bringing these forth to view, and comparing them together, we may poffibly be led to fome agreeable fpeculations concerning the fituation of Adam in the Garden of Eden, the nature of his employment, and the felicity he there experienced. On a subject so remote, and confeffedly difficult, demonstration will not be expected. Much of what is advanced, must be advanced rather as probable, than certain; DISC. II. DISC. and where there is little pofitive informaII. tion, the candour fo often experienced will accept of fuch notices, as can be obtained by inference and deduction. When we think of Paradife, we think of it as the feat of delight. The name EDEN authorizes us fo to do. It fignifies PLEASURE; and the idea of pleasure is infeparable from that of a Garden, where man ftill feeks after loft happiness, and where, perhaps, a good man finds the nearest resemblance of it, which this world affords. "What is requifite," exclaims a great and original genius, "to make a wife and a 66 happy man, but reflection and peace? "And both are the natural growth of a "Garden. A Garden to the virtuous is a "Paradise still extant; a Paradife unloft." The culture of a Garden, as it was the firft employment of man, so it is that, to which the most eminent perfons in different ages have retired, from the camp and the cabinet, to pass the interval between a life of action, and a removal hence. When old * Dr. YOUNG-Centaur not fabulous, p. 61. Dioclefian II. Dioclefian was invited from his retreat, to DISC. "" you but fee thofe fruits and herbs of 66 ing; but, above all, the exemption from "care and folicitude, feem equally to fa"vour and improve both contemplation "and health, the enjoyment of fenfe and 66 imagination, and thereby the quiet and "ease both of body and mind. A Garden "has been the inclination of kings, and "the |