and the evils of disease were unfelt. When the hour of dissolution arrived, death assumed the mild aspect of sleep, and laid aside all his terrors. Every blessing was theirs; the fruits of the earth sprang up spontaneously and abundantly; peace reigned, and her companious were happiness and pleasure. 2. A similar opinion may be distinctly traced in the legends of our Scythian forefathers. According to the usual doctrine of the Gentiles, the first inhabitants of the world were considered by the Gothic mythologists as something more than human. Their abode was a magnificent hall, glittering with burnished gold; the mansion of love, joy, and friendship: the very meanest of their utensils were composed of the same precious materials and the age acquired the denomination of golden. Such was the happiness of the primitive race of mortals; a happiness, which they were destined not long to enjoy. The blissful period of innocence too soon expired: certain women arrived from the country of the giants: and these, by their seductive blandishments, corrupted its pristine integrity and purity." The circumstance, which principally deserves notice in this ancient tradition, is the cause assigned by the Goths for the termination of their golden age. Its integrity was corrupted by female seduction and thus sin and misery were intro duced into the world. Perhaps we cannot positively determine, whether this be an allusion to the fatal transgression of our first parent, or whether it may not rather refer to the intercourse between the sons of Seth and the daughters of Cain which was the principal cause of the universal wickedness of the antediluvians.' In either case, its coincidence with the page of Scripture is not a little remarkable. 3. A similar belief in an original state of purity is strenuously maintained by the inhabitants of Hindostan. There can arise little doubt, to use the words of an elegant modern Historian, but that, by the Satya age or age of perfection, the Brahmens obscurely allude to the state of perfection and happiness enjoyed by man in Paradise. It is impossible to explain what the Indian writers assert, concerning the universal purity of manners and the luxurious and unbounded plenty prevailing in that primitive era, without this supposition. Justice, truth, philanthropy, were then practised among all the orders and classes of mankind; there was then no extortion, no circumvention, no fraud used in their dealings one with another. Perpetual oblations smoked on the altars of the Deity'; every tongue uttered praises, and every heart glowed with gra titude to the supreme Creator. The Gods, in token of their approbation of the conduct of mortals, condescended frequently to become incarnate, Gen. vi. 2, 4. and to hold personal converse with the yet undepraved race of mortals; to instruct them in arts and sciences; to unveil their own sublime functions and pure nature; and make them acquainted with the economy of those celestial regions, into which they were to be immediately translated, when the period of their terrestrial probation expired." Nor is this notion of late origin among the Hindoos; Calanus, according to Strabo, holds much the same language. Formerly, says he, corn of all sorts abounded as plentifully as dust does at present; and the fountains poured forth streams, some of water, some of milk, some of honey, some of wine, and some of oil. Owing to this luxurious abundance, man became corrupt, and fell into all kinds of wickedness; insomuch that Jupiter, disgusted with such a scene, abolished the ancient order of things, and permitted the necessaries of life to be obtained only through the medium of labour.2 4. It is remarkable, that the account, which the Hindoos give of their Paradise, coincides with the Mosaical description of the primeval garden even in particulars altogether arbitrary. The Hebrew lawgiver informs us, that a river went out of Eden to water the garden; that from thence it was divided into four heads or subordinate streams; that, in the midst of the garden, was the tree of knowledge; and that, when man was I Maurice's Anc. Hist. of Hindostan. vol. i. 2 Strab. Geog. lib. xv. p. 715. p. 314-323. p. 371, 372. expelled, a guard of Cherubim was placed at the eastern passes leading to it. In a similar manner, the summit of the holy mount Meru is considered by the Indian divines as a celestial earth, the abode of the immortals. It is said to be of four different colours towards the four cardinal points; and is believed to be propped by four enormous buttresses of gold, iron, silver, and copper. One vast river rises from under the feet of Vishnou: and, after passing through the circle of the moon, it falls upon the top of Meru, where it divides into four streams flowing to the four cardinal points of heaven. These four rivers boil up from the roots of Jambu ; a tree of most extravagant size, which is thought to convey knowledge and to effect the accomplishment of every human wish: and, in the eastern passes leading to this blissful abode, is placed a celestial guard, who, like the Cherubim, unites together the forms of a man and an eagle.' 5. We may equally discover, in the classical story of the garden of the Hesperides, an evident tradition of the Mosaical Paradise and of the promised Saviour who should bruise the head of the infernal dragon. Speaking of the constellation of the serpent, Eratosthenes says, this is the same as that, which guarded the golden apples and was slain by Hercules. For, according to Pherecydes, when all the gods offered presents to Juno on her nuptials with ' Asiat. Res. vol. vi. p. 486–493. vol. viii. Jupiter, the Earth also brought golden apples. Juno, admiring their beauty, commanded them to be planted in the garden of the gods; and, finding that they were continually plucked by the daughters of Atlas, appointed a vast serpent to guard them. Hercules overcame and slew the monster. In this constellation, accordingly, the serpent is depicted rearing aloft its head; while Hercules, placed above it with one knee bent, tramples with his foot upon its head, and brandishes his club in his right hand.' 6. From the holiness of the garden of Eden, the Pagans probably borrowed their ancient custom of consecrating groves to the worship of their various deities. That such was the case with the inhabitants of Canaan, appears abundantly from numerous pas→ sages of Scripture, in which the tendency of the Israelites to this mode of idolatry is severely reprobated. Tacitus mentions a similar custom as being prevalent among the Semnones, a tribe of the Germans, and likewise among several other clans of the same nation. This ancient mode of worship prevailed also among the Celts: and the Druidical rites were solemnized in mystic circles of huge rocks,' concealed from the gaze of profane eyes in the deep gloom of immense forests. In a similar manner, 2 Eratos. Catast. § 3, 4. 361, 369. Lucret. de Nat. Hist. of the World. p. 73. See also Hyg. Poet. Astron. p. 2 Tacit. de Mor. Germ. § 39, 40. 3 See Lucan's very striking description of the Massilian grove. Pharsal. lib. iii. ver. 399–425. |