Two particulars, connected with punishment, are here stated. One is, that punishment is immediate; and another, that it is certain. "In the day" conveys the one idea; and "surely" the other. Instances to confirm the doctrine may be taken from the history of those early times. Cain slew his brother, and was punished with a present punishment that he thought was greater than he could bear. The antediluvians became corrupt; and it is presumed that they, like Adam, suffered for their sins a present retribution, as well as an ultimate destruction. So of the Sodomites; so of Joseph's brethren; so of all others that sinned. None committed a more heinous sin than Cain; and it is presumed that none were punished with a severer infliction; and his punishment we know was temporal.

371. There is no more instructive narrative, showing the nature of punishment, than that relating to Joseph's brethren. They committed a great sin; and they suffered greatly on account of it. They not only suffered what appears on the face of the narrative; but they must, from the nature of the case, have suffered much more than this. But when their punishment had properly humbled them, and had accomplished the purpose originally intended, it came to an end; and this brings to view another feature of punishment, as administered by the divine Being, viz., its salutary tendency, implying its ultimate termination.

SECTION V. - FINAL TRIUMPH OF GOOD.

372. There are, in the book of Genesis, some great and precious promises, that must not be overlooked, in treating the doctrines revealed therein. One of these is spoken of in connection with the sin of our first parents. “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." To bruise the heel, is a small evil; but to bruise the head, denotes absolute destruction. The language is obviously figurative; but its meaning will not be mistaken. It denotes the utter extinction of moral evil; and when the promise is fulfilled, there will be no more sin nor suffering in the universe.

I am unable to see what other meaning can be attached to this passage; and I am convinced, that, if it had received the attention it deserves, we should not now be called upon to expose the teachings of that gloomy system which announces the endless perpetuity of evil.

373. Another promise, worthy of being placed by the side of this, was addressed to Abraham, and repeated to Isaac and Jacob, that in their seed all the families and nations of the earth should be blessed. We know not how this promise can be understood in any limited sense; and there are no conditions associated with it, that can occasion a failure. Indeed, the promise is obviously being fulfilled at the present time. The world is being blessed in the seed of Abraham. The work is now going on; and it gives joyful assurance that it will be gloriously accomplished, according to the spirit and letter of the original declaration.

The whole subject of the divine government is beautifully illustrated in the allegory of the Garden of Eden, to which the reader's attention is now directed.

SECTION VI.- GARDEN OF EDEN.

CHAP. II.

8. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

9. 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.

10. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.

11. The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

12. And the gold of that land is good there is bdellium and the

onyx stone.

13. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.

14. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

15. And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it, and to keep it.

16. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayst freely eat:

17. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

CHAP. III.

24. So he drove out the man; and, sword which turned every way, to he placed at the east of the garden keep the way of the tree of life. of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming

374. Various opinions have been entertained concerning the Garden of Eden; nor is there any settled theory at the present time, more than there has been in past ages. The account we have in the Bible is generally regarded as literal; and a theory of the trial, temptation, and fall of our first parents, has been based upon this interpretation, and made to assume a corresponding shape and form. That the account is literal, however, seems to us quite improbable. The balance of evidence is decidedly against that interpretation. We will give some of the reasons for differing from the generally received theory.

375. First, no such place as corresponds, in any proximate form, to the Garden of Eden, has ever been found, on the face of the earth. Men have thought they had found it; and their several opinions would locate it in every part of the earth. Asia, Africa, Europe and America, have their respective claims, sustained by men of genius and education. The opinions that have been put forth, and the arguments in their defense, would fill volumes; and yet the world is quite as much in the dark now, as it ever has been, as to the solution of this question. Did we believe in a literal interpretation, it would be well to state the various opinions of men, and to make a selection of the best one; but, believing we have found a more excellent way, we do not think best to employ time in discussing theories, and deciding between them, when they are all and equally false. We repeat that no such place as the Garden of Eden has ever been found. If it be replied that time would obliterate many of the features of the garden; so that an approximation to the Bible description, is all that we could expect, and that such approximation has been arrived at; we reply, that no such thing can be claimed for any theory with which we are acquainted. This will be made the more evident as we advance.

376. In the second place, there have never been such rivers as are spoken of in connexion with the Garden of

Eden. One of the rivers was Pison that encompassed the whole land of Havilah. Another was Gihon that encompassed the whole land of Ethiopia. The third river was Hiddekel which goeth toward the east of Assyria; and the fourth was Euphrates. There was a place in Palestine, or near that country, by the name of Havilah ; but we know of no river Pison with which it was encompassed. Ethiopia was in Africa, and Assyria was in Asia; and we all know that no two rivers, arising near the same source, could have encompassed the one of these countries, and gone to the east of the other. There is a river Euphrates; but there are no rivers connected with it, that answer the description of the others mentioned in this account. But if it could be shown that somewhere near the Euphrates, four rivers are found, that may have been the ones mentioned by Moses, that would not locate the Garden of Eden there; for we know that a thousand similar instances can be adduced from all parts of the world. It is quite common for elevated regions of country to send forth, not four only, but many, streams of water, that go off into different and distant lands.

Let another thing be observed in connection with these rivers. They were at first but one river, which afterwards separated and became four. This at least is the common view of the account; and it involves a thing that is quite unnatural. That several streams should meet and form one, is natural, and what we all know to be the usual arrangement; but that one stream should part into four streams, is unnatural, and not to be believed on any slight evidence. It is still more unnatural, if possible, for a river to encompass a land. It may pass through it, but it cannot encompass or surround it.

377. In the next place, there never were such literal trees as are mentioned in connection with the Garden. Indeed, the names given to two of the trees of the Gar'den, the one being called "the tree of life," and the other "the tree of knowledge of good and evil," make it as obvious as the light of day, that a moral and not a literal interpretation was intended. We marvel that this circumstance has not attracted attention before, and more generally, and saved interpreters from many absurdities