contained the Tree of Life and immortality, which could suffer no sin unatoned for, to continue in it, which had witnessed the institution of the covenant of grace on the ruins of that of works, and which, lastly, was guarded by the Cherubim themselves, those awful images of the great ones; it is hard, I say, to conceive that all this was swept away in the universal deluge. Inspiration, moreover, which can never fail, appears to have declared that the contrast to such a supposition is the real fact. It speaks of paradise as the abode of departed spirits in their intermediate state of existence; that state of being, where the redeemed enjoy an everlasting bliss, which is for ever and for ever brightening till the day of the consummation of all things, when Hades itself shall be no more; and even the happiness of paradise is to be swallowed up in the overwhelming glories of the beatific vision!

It is time, however, to consider a little the favoured inhabitants of this blissful garden, before the catastrophe of the fall. At the close of the sixth day, "God created man in his "the similitude of the great ones!" For further particulars on this point, the reader may be referred generally to the writings of Hutchinson, Spearman, Bate, Jones, and Parkhurst,,, :

Literally כרבים

“ own image; in the image of God created he "him; male and female created he them."* This description is afterwards given again, though in a form somewhat varied; "And the "Lord God formed man out of the dust of the

ground, and breathed into his nostrils the "breath of life; and man became a living

soul." The tradition of man's being created "in the image of God," was very clearly preserved amongst the heathen. Thus Cicero declares that "He who knows himself, will, in "the first place perceive that he is possessed "of something divine, and will think that the "mind within him was dedicated like a sacred "image." The authors of the Metamorphoses also, in terms equally plain, affirms that "the "divine counsel formed man after the image "of the gods, who govern all things." This divine counsel, the poet personifies as Prometheus, who, as Hyginus|| expressly tells us, "first formed men out of clay," while Vulcan, at the command of Jove, added the woman; to whom "Minerva gave a soul, and the rest of "the gods each conferred some gift; so that "she was called from this, Pandora." Here we

Gen. i. 27. + Gen. ii. 7. § Met. lib. i. ver. 83.

Cic. de Leg. lib. i. cap. 22.

Hyg. Fab. 142.

have the fact clearly recognized in the plainest manner, by the heathens themselves, that "the "first man and the first woman were formed

f

by divine agency, and created after the image "of their makers." A remarkable tradition, moreover, of this is handed down to us by that very ancient writer Sanchoniathon, who says, that two mortals were first formed, who derived their origin" from the wind or breath "of Colpiah, and his consort Baau."* The first of these terms is manifestly a composition of three Hebrew words, p Col-pi-jah, signifying," the voice of the mouth of Jehovah," who breathed into his nostrils the breath of "life, and man became a living soul."+

་

But not only did the heathen possess traditions of the creation of man, but also of that happiness which constituted his paradisaical state; for we find in the mythology of every

Baaú has generally been supposed to be derived from the Bohu, the "void" of Moses, Gen i. 2. Bochart. Can. lib. ii. 2. p. 783.

To these testimonies may be added the opinion of Orpheus, cited by Eusebius ex Tim, Chronog, Tɛρi koσμon. τοδε των ανθρωπων γένος (ειπεν Ορφευς) υπ' αυτό το θεό πλασθεν εκ γης και ψυχην αυτε λαβειν λογικήν. "The human race (says Orpheus) was framed by God himself out of the earth, and received from Him a rational soul.”

66

2

nation whose records are at all accessible, a period called “ the golden age,” when innocence and purity reigned amongst men, and the earth of herself produced all that was necessary for support and comfort, without toil, or any kind of manual labour. The Goths, the Germans, the Druids, the Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, and Hindoos, all had these traces of paradise incorporated in their rites and worship. The beautiful descriptions of this golden period, which have been preserved by classical writers; are so well known, that it may suffice to offer only the account of Hesiod,* the most ancient of them all, to the reader's notice:

Ως ομόθεν γεγάασι θεοι θνητοί τ' ανθρώποι
Χρυσεον μεν πρωτιςα γενος μερόπων ανθρωπων
Αθάνατοι ποιησαν, ολυμπια δωματ' έχοντες
Οι μεν επι κρονο ησαν, ΟΤ ουρανω εμβασίλευεν.
Ως τε θεοι δ' εζωον, εκηδεα θυμον εχόντες,
Νόσφιν ατέρ τε πονων και οίζυος δε τί δειλον
Γηρας έπην, αιεί δε ποδας και χειρας όμοιοι
Τερποντ' εν θαλίησι, κακων εκτοσθεν απάντων.
θνησκον ή ως υπνω δεδμημενοι εσθλα δε παντα
Τοισιν εην. καρπον δ' εφερε ζείδωρος αρουρα
Αυτοματη πολλον τε και αφθονον οι δ' εθελημοι
Ησυχοι εργα νεμοντο, συν εσθλοισιν πολέεσσιν.

Soon as the deathless gods were born, and man,
A mortal race, with voice endow'd, began;

The heavenly powers from high their work behold,

And the first age they style an age of gold.
Men spent a life like gods in Saturn's reign,
Nor felt their mind a care, nor body pain ;
From labour free, they every sense enjoy,
Nor could the ills of time their peace destroy;
In banquets they delight, remov'd from care,
Nor troublesome old age intruded there;
They die, or rather seem to die; they seem
Transported only in a pleasing dream.

:

The fields, as yet untill'd, their fruits afford,
And fill a sumptuous and unenvied board :
Thus, crown'd with happiness, their every day;
Serene and joyful, pass'd their lives away!

Virgil, Ovid, Tibullus, and other writers, have also preserved the same traditions; and the extent to which these prevailed, affords singular evidence of the universal belief they obtained: consequently, therefore, as far as they go, additional proof is drawn from them of the credibility of the account given by Moses. That inspired historian,* moreover, informs us, that they were both naked, the man and his

"

* Gen. ii, 25. The word "naked" is by some authors derived from the Hebrew p Nakee, which signifies " inno"cent." Gurtler's Orig. Mundi. p. 8. See Gale's Court of the Gentiles, &c.