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are to place the Land of Havilab: And indeed this Conjecture feems to come nearest the Truth, fince Manna is compared in Scripture to the Bdolab for Colour*, and the Talmudists defcribe Manna to be round as Coriander-Seed, and white as Pearls. In like manner the Word Shoham is made by fome Authors to fignify the Beryl, and the Emerald; perhaps with as little Propriery as it is render'd in our Bibles the Onyx-ftone, which Translation is condemned by feveral learned Men, and particularly the famous Bochart, whofe Skill in the Oriental Languages is univerfally acknow ledged.

Or the various Opinions concerning the Situation of Paradise, there are three which principally obtain amongst the Learned, and which are the only ones that deferve our Attention. The firft, which places Paradife near Damafcus in Syria, though patronized by great Namest, feems to have the leaft Foundation; for the Garden of Eden is to be fought for Eaftward from the Place where Mofes wrote his Hiftory, which was probably in Arabia Petræa, whereas Spria lies North of that Country. But we need no other Reafon for rejecting this Scheme, but its being deftitute, as it really is, of all the Marks fpecified in the Mofaical Defcription, which ought always to be the principal Teft in this Enquiry.

THE fecond Hypothefis places Eden in Armenia, between the Sources of the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Araxes, and the Phafis; but is not much better fupported than the firft, though efpoufed by Men eminent for their Skill in Geography : For, according to modern Discoveries, the Phafis does not rife in the * Numb. xi. 7.

+ Its chief Patrons are Heidegger in his Hiftor. Patriarch. P. 94. Le Clerc on Gen. ii. 8. Pere Abram in his Pharus Vet. Teft. L. 2. and Pere Hardouin in his Edition of Pliny.

The greatest Abettors of this Scheme are Sanfon in his Atlas, Reland in his Differtat. de Situ Paradifi, and Calmet in his Dictionary and his Commentary on Gen. ii. 8.

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Mountains of Armenia, near the Springs of the Eu phrates, the Araxes, and the Tigris, (as Strabo and other ancient Geographers have wrongly inform'd us) but has its Source in Mount Caucafus, and does not flow from South to North, but from North to South: So that, according to this Scheme, we want a whole River, except, inftead of the Phafis, we fubftitute the Kur, which joins the Araxes before it falls into the Cafpian Sea. But to do Juftice to the Hypothefis under Examination, I find it efpoufed by an ingenious modern Traveller, I mean M. Tournefort, who alfo takes the Phafis for Pifon, though he has not told us where that River rifes, or which way it fhapes its Course. After this Gentleman has rejected the Scheme of his Countryman Bishop Huet, he lays down his own in the following Manner.

"The Commentators upon Genefis, fays he, even "thofe who keep moft clofely to the Letter, do not "think it neceffary, in order to affign the Place of "Paradife, to find a River which divides itself into "four Branches, becaufe of the great Alteration the "Deluge may have occafion'd; but think it fufficient "to fhew the Heads of the Rivers mention'd by "Mofes, namely, the Euphrates, Tigris, Pifon, and "Gibon. It cannot therefore be doubted, but that "Paradife muft have been in the Way between Er"zerum and Teflis, if it be allow'd to take the Pha

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fis for Pifon, and the Araxes for Gibon. And then, 66 not to remove Paradife too far from the Sources of "these Rivers, it must of neceffity be placed in the "beautiful Vales of Georgia, which furnish Erzerum

with all Kinds of Fruits. If we may fuppofe it to "have been a Place of confiderable Extent, and to "have retain'd fome of its Beauties, notwithstanding "the Alterations made in the Earth at the Flood,

and fince that Time, I do not know a finer Spot to "which I can affign it, than the Country of the Three "Churches, a Town about twenty French Leagues di

ftant

"ftant from the Heads of the Euphrates and Araxes, " and almost as many from the Phafis. The Extent "of Paradife muft at least reach to the Heads of these "Rivers; and fo it will comprehend the ancient Me

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dia, and Part of Armenia and Iberia: Or, if this be "thought too large a Compafs, it may be confin'd 66 only to Part of Iberia and Armenia, that is, from "Erzerum to Teflis; for undoubtedly the Plain of "Erzerum ought to be taken in, which is at the Head "of the Euphrates and Araxes. ---- Our learned Men may judge as they pleafe; but as I have never feen a more beautiful Country than the Neighbourhood "of the Three Churches, I am ftrongly perfuaded it "is the Place where Adam and Eve were created." These are M. Tournefort's Sentiments concerning the Situation of the Terreftrial Paradife; but as they feem chiefly grounded upon the Beauty of the Country, which in other refpects is far from anfwering the Mofaical Description of Eden, they give us but little Satisfaction.

THE third Hypothefis, which appears the most probable, places Eden upon the united Stream of the Tigris and Euphrates, call'd by the Arabs, Shat al Arab, that is, the River of the Arabs; which begins two Days Journey above Baffora, and about five Leagues below divides again into two Channels, that empty themselves into the Perfian Gulph*. Thus the Shat al Arab is the River going out of Eden, which River, confider'd according to the Difpofition of its Channel, and not according to the Courfe of its Stream, divides into four Heads or different Branches, which makes the four Rivers mention'd by Mofes; two below, viz. the two Branches of the Shat, which ferve for the Pifon and Gibon; and two above, viz. the

* This Opinion was firft farted by Calvin, and has been follow'd, with fome little Va

riation, by Stephanus Morinus, Bochart, Huet Bishop of Auranches, and divers others.

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Euphrates

Euphrates and Tigris, the latter whereof is now call'd Dijlat by the Arabs, and is allow'd to be the Hid dekel of Mofes. By this Difpofition the Western Branch of the Shat will be Pifon, and the adjoining Part of Arabia, bordering on the Perfian Gulph, will be Havilah; and the Eastern Branch will be Gibon, encompaffing the Country of Cub, or Chuzestan, as it is ftill call'd by the Perfians.

THIS laft Opinion agrees very well with the facred Text, which informs us, that a River went out of Eden to water the Garden, and from thence it was parted, and became into four Heads; which Words manifeftly imply, that in Eden the River was but one, or one fingle Channel; but from thence, that is, when

*This is granted by all In terpreters, as well as the LXX; and though it may be difficult to fhew any juft Analogy between the Names of Hiddekel and Tigris, yet, if we either obferve Mofer's Method of reckoning up the four Rivers, or confider the true Geography of the Country, we fhall eafily perceive that the River Hiddekel could properly be no other. For as, in refpect to the Place where Mofes wrote, Pifon lay nearest to him, and fo, in a natural Order, was nam'd firft; and the Gihon, lying near to that, was accordingly rec kon'd fecond; fo, having pafs'd over that Stream, and turning to the Left, in order to come back again to Arabia Petraa, (where Mofes was) we meet, in our Paffage, with Tigris in the third Place; and fo, proceeding Weftward through the lower Part of Mefopotamia, come at aft to Pherath or Euphrates: For it is to be remember'd, that

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the Tigris parts Affyria from Me-
fopotamia, and meeting with the
Euphrates a little below Babylon,
runs along with it in one com-
mon Channel, until they fepa-
rate again, and make the two
Streams Pifon and Gibon, which
empty themselves into the Per-
fian Gulph. As to Euphrates,
the Name is analogous enough
to the Hebrew Word Pherath;
but yet we must acknowledge it
is one of thofe corrupt Names
which our Tranflators have bor-
rowed from the Septuagint Ver-
fion, and which probably the
Greeks (as has been judicioufly
obferv'd by Reland) took from
the Perfians, who often fet the
Word Ab or Au, which fignifies
Water, before the Names of
Rivers; of which Word, and
Frat, (as the River is still call'd
by the neighbouring People) the
Name Euphrates is apparently
compounded. See Stackhoufe,
-See
and Univerfal Hiftory..

it was gone out of Eden, it was parted, and became four Streams or Openings, (as the Hebrew Word may be translated) two upwards, and two downwards: For fuppofing the united Channel, or Shat al Arab, to be our common Center, we may, if we look one way, i.e. up towards Babylon, fee the Tigris and Euphrates coming into it; and, if we look another way, i. e. down towards the Perfian Gulph, fee the Pifon and the Gibon running out of it.

BUT though this Hypothefis feems the best of any that hath been yet advanced, and to account tolerably well for the Mofaical Defcription, it is liable to Some Exception; for the two Branches of the Shat al Arab, fuppofed to be the Pifon and Gibon of the Scripture, do not feem confiderable enough to deferve the Name of Rivers, nor of fufficient Length to encompafs Countries of any Extent, it being not a great many Leagues from their Divifion below Baffora to the Places where they fall into the Perfian Gulph. Indeed, if we could be fure there were a third Branch, as fome Accounts and Maps would induce us to believe, parting from the Shat about Baffora, and falling into the Sea at Catif, it would be more agreeable to fuppofe that to be the Pifon; and for the Gibon, we might naturally fubftitute either the Koran or the Karba, the first of which falls into the Shat, the other into the Tigris, and may with greater Propriety be faid to encompass the whole Land of Cufb, as running thro' Chuzestan; whereas the Eastern Branch of the Shat washes only a Corner of that Country, or rather one Side of an Island form'd by it and the Koran.

UPON the whole, notwithstanding the above Ob jection, I know of no Scheme fo reafonable, fo agreeable to the Defcription given us by the facred Hiftorian, as that which places Eden upon the great Channel, form'd by the united Rivers Tigris and Euphrates; and, the extraordinary Goodness and Fertility of the neighbouring Soil may help to confirm us in this Opinion:

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