of the most curious and interesting pages in the history of science, and will well repay the attention of the theologian as well as the philosopher. One of the students of that school, Elias Ashmole, wise in his simplicity, expresses himself to the following effect: "I do not so much wonder at the marvels that such men can see and do, as that any who were so favored should wish to prolong their life here below beyond the span allotted to mankind, and should not rather, after seeing so much of the wonders of God, 'desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better."" If we look at the book of Revelation, we shall find something told us concerning "the tree of life," which not only throws a strong light upon what we have already observed, but also reveals to us its origin and present existence. It is there represented as standing by the "river of water of life," and bringing forth "twelve manner of fruits," each fruit in its season, and "the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations." This is a very remarkable passage; and taken in connection with the ancient traditions already alluded to, it will lead us to suppose that this paradisaical life is that which man shall enjoy in another state of existence-that although it shall be far brighter and more glorious than that from which Adam fell, yet it shall be a life subject to similar conditions and maintained by similar means; that "the tree of life," therefore, growing "in the midst of the city," by the "river of water of life," which "proceedeth from the throne of God," is a tree of similar character, if not the same tree-not to be understood merely in a figurative sense, but in the same way as "the tree of life" which is spoken of as "growing in the midst of the garden." Nor is it altogether foreign to the subject to note the plural form in the original. It is in the Hebrew Etz Hachayim, "the tree of lives." And we may well believe, that this refers to the future as well as to the present life; to that not of Adam and Eve only, but also of their descendants, so long as this period of probation might have been permitted to last. There are some, however, who hold that "the tree of life" as well as "the tree of knowledge" are to be spiritually and allegorically understood; that they were not actual trees planted for special purposes, but figures of speech given to us that we may understand something else. But it appears difficult to find what else they can mean than that which they are plainly stated to signify; of what "the tree of life" could be typical save the life thereby imparted, and "the tree of knowledge" but the knowledge which man was thereby to acquire.1 One class of writers will have the tree of life to be merely a great tree, under which worship was performed in the paradisaic state; that the taking of the fruit of the tree was either an act of worship, or that the act of worship was symbolized by the eating of the fruit. An able divine goes so far as to confer a sacramental character upon it; but the narrative of the fall utterly overthrows this argument, for man was permitted, nay, even commanded to sacrifice to the Lord and to worship him, after the fall. No cherubim with flaming swords prevented his approach to a merciful, though offended Deity: and as for the sacraments, they were symbolized under the patriarchal and Mosaic, and divinely instituted under the Christian dispensation. Having called attention to "the tree of life," we must direct it to "the tree of knowledge of good and evil"-one a tree, planted in order that man's existence in life and glory might be perpetuated —the other, as a trial or test of his obedience. It may be said, Wherefore did God plant a tree in the garden which was "pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise," and, having thus given to man the strongest inducement to eat thereof, place a prohibition in his way, and enforce that prohibition by a threat so tremendous as that "in the day that he should eat thereof he should surely die”—that is, that a process should then commence which must terminate in death? Let us consider the position in which he was placed. If he were to have any law at all—(and a law is necessary in order that any state should be a state of probation)—if Adam were placed in such a state, and in a state from which he hoped and had reason to believe that he would be removed to a still 1 In Appendix I. will be found the article from Calmet's Dictionary on the Tree of Life, and on that of the Knowledge of Good and Evil; and the reader is referred there for an account of many theories anciently held concerning them. brighter and more glorious one, then that law must have been one whereby his obedience could be tested. And if we look over the circumstances of the moral law, we shall find that such a law would have been both useless and needless; useless, because it would not have been at all required by one situated as he was—and needless, because its provisions neither would nor could have been violated. But here is a condition which is a simple test of obedience, and nothing more: "Eat of the fruit of the tree, and thou shalt die; continue to abstain therefrom, and thou shalt live." There were all the trees of the garden besides; there was "the tree of life,” whereby his existence in that garden could, and would, be perpetuated; and moreover, if knowledge were that after which he sought, God himself walked and talked with man, as a man walketh and talketh with his friend. Angels' visits, doubtless, gladdened that bright spot;1 neither can we conceive any kind of valuable and useful and sublime instruction which Adam could possibly have desired, that would not have been given to him by his Almighty Creator. But still there was this tree-"the tree of knowledge of good and evil." How emphatic is the name! How much do we learn even from the very title bestowed upon the tree! It was the "knowledge of good" alone, that God intended for man; but here was "the tree of knowledge of good and evil." Alas! there was evil then existing! There had been spirits created in brightness and glory, but who had forsworn their allegiance, and who were in warfare against their Creator; death had reveled among the colossal inhabitants of an earlier world; war and rebellion had broken out even among the cherubim and seraphim. There were those already who were laboring to destroy this happy and beautiful creation-who were seeking to plant thorns where God had planted but roses-who sought to 1 In the Talmud there is a special account of the angelic visits by which Adam became acquainted with all the secrets of creation. "God sent him," says one writer, "by the angel Rasiel, while he was yet in Paradise, a book, containing all the wisdom of the highest angels; but when he fell, this book was taken away; yet, on his repentance, it was restored and descended to Abraham. Afterwards, Solomon was permitted to see it."-Cephes Zohar. Chap. on Creation. introduce the knowledge of evil where God had but introduced the knowledge of good. "Thus man Was made upright-immortal made, and crown'd As God is wont, in terms of plainest truth." POLLOK, Book II. Into the nature of the forbidden tree it is, perhaps, impossible for us to examine with the same degree of probability which is thrown over our researches into the history of "the tree of life." There is nothing more said about it. There are no other parts of the Scriptures in which it is mentioned. But there are traditions, which have their value, and to which we will just allude; not because we conceive them to be of authority, but because they enable us to look, peradventure, with a still greater degree of interest upon this awful part of human history. Among, then, the most interesting traditions which are preserved concerning "the tree of knowledge of good and evil," are those which tell us that by means of eating of this tree, and thereby cutting himself off from that close connection with his Maker which he had previously enjoyed, Adam at once received the consciousness of evil into himself; and thus knowing what it was to be separated from the source of all light and truth, he began that dark and devious way which led him to so much misery, and has conducted so many of his descendants to eternal death. They tell us, that, having done this, and cut himself off from close communion with the Lord, he was permitted to hold close communion no longer alone with the bright and glorious spirits who had "kept their first estate," but with those fallen angels who were prowling about creation for the purposes of evil, and with hostile designs against God's creatures; that the dark secrets of the Satanic mind began to be revealed to him; that he was taught in what manner they had rebelled against God-what arts they had used among themselves—what means they had of acquiring knowledge and what kind of knowledge it was which they had acquired; that these terrible secrets, which the mercy of God had intended to keep for ever hidden from him, were thus revealed to the fallen man. They tell us, too, that these fearful arcana, this forbidden knowledge, was not permitted to remain among mankind; that after the flood there were none who retained it; for that God, out of mercy, when he swept away by the waters of the flood those rebellious ones, did no longer allow any of those who succeeded in another age to retain the tremendous secrets which had been productive of such vast mischief in the earlier world. Whatever may have been the nature of the tree, and whatever kind of knowledge Adam acquired by the eating thereof, one thing is certain, that it was the means of his losing the favor of his Maker -that by having thus broken the law, the only law given to him, he became, as it were, an outlaw from creation. The sentence of death, which had been already pronounced, was at once so far carried into execution, that the process of decay, no longer remediable, began to take effect; and when the powers of life were exhausted, though at the distance of nearly a thousand years, it was virtually and completely fulfilled.1 The mode in which this temptation was accomplished, and whereby Adam was induced to take of the fruit of “the tree of knowledge of good and evil," and the consequence of which was the preventing him from obtaining the fruit of "the tree of life," or from retaining access thereto, is given to us in a very simple form, and in very few words. "Now the serpent was more subtle A singular Jewish tradition (given in the Talmud treatise Emek Ham melech) states that Eve gave of the fruit of the forbidden tree to all the ani mals, and that all of them ate save the bird chol (the phoenix); so death passed upon all animals as well as on man, because all had been partakers with man in his transgression. The same treatise interprets the 18th verse of the 29th chapter of Job, "And I will increase his days like unto those of the phoenix;" adding, that when this bird attains the age of a thousand years, her feathers drop off, and she is reduced to the size of an egg; then her youth is restored, and she begins to grow again.-See the Emech Hammelech, cap. 43. |