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Paradise.

GENESIS ii. 4-25.

The world still beautiful-What God meant and made it to beSadder pictures-Man newly created and in his new homeHis delightful dwelling-place-Paradise and its rivers-The garden as variously imagined-Work for man to do-His instruction by God-How children learn-"Little Susy's six teachers"-How Adam must have learned-The gift of speech-His loving companion-The deep sleep-Eve next his heart-Lessons of obedience and religion-Praises and prayers in Paradise-The Sabbath-A law to keep-The joy soon lost-The tree of life.

THIS passage seems like an explanation of the words which are written over and over again in the first chapter. "God saw what he had made, that it was good." How good and beautiful it was we can but fancy. Sometimes, indeed, we think that the world is very lovely now. Have you never stood in summer-time on some tall cliff beside the sea, and looked upon the waves dancing in the sunlight and the broad blue sky bending over all, until you have been ready to clap your hands and shout for very joy at so glorious a picture? Or, have you spent a long happy holiday in the woods, with dear companions around you, and felt, as

you played upon the mossy grass, or rested under the shadow of the trees, as though you could sing like the birds among the branches because the world was all so bright? At such times we could say, as a little boy I knew once said, that "it is a joy to be alive."

Well, these times of gladness may teach us what God meant and made the world to be. But we know that there are very different sights to be seen. You might have gone down from that tall cliff, or away from those pleasant woods, to narrow wretched streets and miserable cottages. There, instead of the murmur of the sea and the music of the birds, you might have heard words of dreadful wickedness or groans of hopeless sorrow. Go and ask that poor deformed child stretched upon her miserable couch in the corner of a filthy room, where noise and quarrelling all day surround her, if it is "a joy to live." Ah, no! There is sorrow all around usman's work spoiling the work of God. Because of SIN, the very beasts and birds suffer. Dimly, indeed, can we imagine what this earth was like when it was all beautiful, because fresh from the hand of God; and man, his latest work, was holy too.

Now, this chapter shows us man, as first made, placed alone in the new-made world. A little while ago* we saw how all was meant for himthe earth for life, life for man; man's body for * Page 7.

man's soul, and the soul for God.

Well, we read

in these verses how all was arranged so as to be most helpful to him. For the wants of his body the most beautiful part of the world was prepared, with all loveliness to charm his eye, and every kind of fitting food to support his strength. And for the wants of the soul God provided also, by giving him knowledge and speech, by sending to him a loving companion, and by showing them both how to serve him. Let us think of these things in their order.

First, a delightful dwelling-place was provided for him.

The word Eden means delight. No doubt it was the most charming part of all the world; and the garden planted eastward in it was the loveliest spot in Eden.

I will not ask you, as I may do perhaps when writing of some other countries, to take your maps, and to find where the place was. For very wise men have said that they cannot point it out; and we may be quite sure that the world was so much changed by the Flood, that it must be hard to imagine how the countries were divided at first. Perhaps the great waters of some lake or inland sea have blotted out that region for ever. We only know that there was a stream in the garden, which, as it flowed on, became four rivers-the Euphrates, of which we read so much in Scripture; the Hiddekel, or the "arrowy" Tigris, that you can also easily find

on the map; the Pison, or "spreading river;" and the Gihon, or "bursting river;" but where these last two rivers flowed, or what are now their names, no man can tell.* But we need not be anxious to know where the garden was, I picture it as embosomed among the untrodden mountains, from which the cool breezes came softly down in the evening after each sunny happy day. It is said that the Hindoos and Africans in their burning climates are accustomed to think of Eden as a place of coolness and shade, while the Norwegians and Greenlanders in their cold regions imagine it as having been all sunshine and warmth. We know that it was altogether delightful. The Persians called it Paradise, a word which, in their language, means garden; and we have taken that word to

* "The region of Eden must have been somewhere along the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, but its exact situation cannot be defined. Probably the surface of the country has undergone great changes, so that part of the description would not be applicable now. If, in ver. 10, we substitute 'afterwards' for 'from thence' (an alteration which the original will allow), such a change will appear to be referred to; so that what had originally been one vast stream was afterwards divided into the four great Assyrian rivers, here called 'heads' " (Annotated Paragraph Bible). The rivers here referred to are the Euphrates, Tigris, Phasis, and Araxes. Other writers make the Pison to have been the Ganges or the Indus, and Gihon the Nile. The situation of "Cush" and of "Havilah" is

equally undetermined. Cush in Scripture usually means Ethiopia; but if, as is most likely, the four Assyrian rivers were the rivers of Eden, we must suppose another Cush in Asia.

"Paradise" is strictly a Greek adaptation of the Persian word.

express all that is bright and lovely in this world and in the next. We dream of the place as one where flowers of the sweetest fragrance and the fairest beauty always bloomed-where the trees yielded sweetest fruit, and the birds made merry music all day long. Angels, too, on their bright wings came down; and GOD himself "walked in the garden in the cool of the day." But it was not the home of angels. One man dwelt in it alone, the master of the place. But he was not to be idle. I think that this would have taken away even the happiness of Paradise. You may have thought it now and then very pleasant to put away all work, to lie down by the running stream, or to wander at will among the flowers with nothing to do. Ah, it was charming for one day or so, but soon the hours seemed to drag on very heavily. "When will it be dinner-time?" you asked fifty times in one morning; and when afternoon came, "When will it be time to go to bed?" Yes, Eden would have been a weary, weary place without work to do. So God placed Adam there "to dress the garden and to keep it." The toil was pleasant, but still it was work. And young people may learn from Adam in his happy state that INDUSTRY is one thing needful to make a perfect paradise.

Secondly, let us think of the instruction and knowledge given him by God.

We all know that people must learn if they

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