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                   THE BOOK
                      OF
                   GENESIS.

                      BY
              MARCUS DODS, D.D.,

        AUTHOR OF "ISRAEL'S IRON AGE,"
         "THE PARABLES OF OUR LORD,"
    "THE PRAYER THAT TEACHES TO PRAY," ETC.

                  NEW YORK:
           A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SON
               714, BROADWAY.




CONTENTS.


                                                PAGE
    CHAPTER I.
    THE CREATION                                   1

    CHAPTER II.
    THE FALL                                      15

    CHAPTER III.
    CAIN AND ABEL                                 28

    CHAPTER IV.
    CAIN'S LINE, AND ENOCH                        42

    CHAPTER V.
    THE FLOOD                                     55

    CHAPTER VI.
    NOAH'S FALL                                   68

    CHAPTER VII.
    THE CALL OF ABRAHAM                           81

    CHAPTER VIII.
    ABRAM IN EGYPT                                96

    CHAPTER IX.
    LOT'S SEPARATION FROM ABRAM                  108

    CHAPTER X.
    ABRAM'S RESCUE OF LOT                        121

    CHAPTER XI.
    COVENANT WITH ABRAM                          134

    CHAPTER XII.
    BIRTH OF ISHMAEL                             147

    CHAPTER XIII.
    THE COVENANT SEALED                          159

    CHAPTER XIV.
    ABRAHAM'S INTERCESSION FOR SODOM             172

    CHAPTER XV.
    DESTRUCTION OF THE CITIES OF THE PLAIN       186

    CHAPTER XVI.
    SACRIFICE OF ISAAC                           198

    CHAPTER XVII.
    ISHMAEL AND ISAAC                            212

    CHAPTER XVIII.
    PURCHASE OF MACHPELAH                        226

    CHAPTER XIX.
    ISAAC'S MARRIAGE                             240

    CHAPTER XX.
    ESAU AND JACOB                               254

    CHAPTER XXI.
    JACOB'S FRAUD                                267

    CHAPTER XXII.
    JACOB'S FLIGHT AND DREAM                     279

    CHAPTER XXIII.
    JACOB AT PENIEL                              293

    CHAPTER XXIV.
    JACOB'S RETURN                               307

    CHAPTER XXV.
    JOSEPH'S DREAMS                              321

    CHAPTER XXVI.
    JOSEPH IN PRISON                             339

    CHAPTER XXVII.
    PHARAOH'S DREAMS                             355

    CHAPTER XXVIII.
    JOSEPH'S ADMINISTRATION                      369

    CHAPTER XXIX.
    VISITS OF JOSEPH'S BRETHREN                  383

    CHAPTER XXX.
    THE RECONCILIATION                           396

    CHAPTER XXXI.
    THE BLESSINGS OF THE TRIBES                  415




I.

_THE CREATION._

GENESIS i. and ii.


If any one is in search of accurate information regarding the age of
this earth, or its relation to the sun, moon, and stars, or regarding
the order in which plants and animals have appeared upon it, he is
referred to recent text-books in astronomy, geology, and palaeontology.
No one for a moment dreams of referring a serious student of these
subjects to the Bible as a source of information. It is not the object
of the writers of Scripture to impart physical instruction or to enlarge
the bounds of scientific knowledge. But if any one wishes to know what
connection the world has with God, if he seeks to trace back all that
now is to the very fountain-head of life, if he desires to discover some
unifying principle, some illuminating purpose in the history of this
earth, then we confidently refer him to these and the subsequent
chapters of Scripture as his safest, and indeed his only, guide to the
information he seeks. Every writing must be judged by the object the
writer has in view. If the object of the writer of these chapters was to
convey physical information, then certainly it is imperfectly fulfilled.
But if his object was to give an intelligible account of God's relation
to the world and to man, then it must be owned that he has been
successful in the highest degree.

It is therefore unreasonable to allow our reverence for this writing to
be lessened because it does not anticipate the discoveries of physical
science; or to repudiate its authority in its own department of truth
because it does not give us information which it formed no part of the
writer's object to give. As well might we deny to Shakespeare a masterly
knowledge of human life, because his dramas are blotted by historical
anachronisms. That the compiler of this book of Genesis did not aim at
scientific accuracy in speaking of physical details is obvious, not
merely from the general scope and purpose of the Biblical writers, but
especially from this, that in these first two chapters of his book he
lays side by side two accounts of man's creation which no ingenuity can
reconcile. These two accounts, glaringly incompatible in details, but
absolutely harmonious in their leading ideas, at once warn the reader
that the writer's aim is rather to convey certain ideas regarding man's
spiritual history and his connection with God, than to describe the
process of creation. He does describe the process of creation, but he
describes it only for the sake of the ideas regarding man's relation to
God and God's relation to the world which he can thereby convey. Indeed
what we mean by scientific knowledge was not in all the thoughts of the
people for whom this book was written. The subject of creation, of the
beginning of man upon earth, was not approached from that side at all;
and if we are to understand what is here written we must burst the
trammels of our own modes of thought and read these chapters not as a
chronological, astronomical, geological, biological statement, but as a
moral or spiritual conception.

It will, however, be said, and with much appearance of justice, that
although the first object of the writer was not to convey scientific
information, yet he might have been expected to be accurate in the
information he did advance regarding the physical universe. This is an
enormous assumption to make on _a priori_ grounds, but it is an
assumption worth seriously considering because it brings into view a
real and important difficulty which every reader of Genesis must face.
It brings into view the twofold character of this account of creation.
On the one hand it is irreconcilable with the teachings of science. On
the other hand it is in striking contrast to the other cosmogonies which
have been handed down from pre-scientific ages. These are the two patent
features of this record of creation and both require to be accounted
for. Either feature alone would be easily accounted for; but the two
co-existing in the same document are more baffling. We have to account
at once for a want of perfect coincidence with the teachings of science,
and for a singular freedom from those errors which disfigure all other
primitive accounts of the creation of the world. The one feature of the
document is as patent as the other and presses equally for explanation.

Now many persons cut the knot by simply denying that both these features
exist. There is no disagreement with science, they say. I speak for many
careful enquirers when I say that this cannot serve as a solution of the
difficulty. I think it is to be freely admitted that, from whatever
cause and however justifiably, the account of creation here given is not
in strict and detailed accordance with the teaching of science. All
attempts to force its statements into such accord are futile and
mischievous. They are futile because they do not convince independent
enquirers, but only those who are unduly anxious to be convinced. And
they are mischievous because they unduly prolong the strife between
Scripture and science, putting the question on a false issue. And above
all, they are to be condemned because they do violence to Scripture,
foster a style of interpretation by which the text is forced to say
whatever the interpreter desires, and prevent us from recognising the
real nature of these sacred writings. The Bible needs no defence such as
false constructions of its language bring to its aid. They are its worst
friends who distort its words that they may yield a meaning more in
accordance with scientific truth. If, for example, the word 'day' in
these chapters, does not mean a period of twenty-four hours, the
interpretation of Scripture is hopeless. Indeed if we are to bring these
chapters into any comparison at all with science, we find at once
various discrepancies. Of a creation of sun, moon, and stars, subsequent
to the creation of this earth, science can have but one thing to say. Of
the existence of fruit trees prior to the existence of the sun, science
knows nothing. But for a candid and unsophisticated reader without a
special theory to maintain, details are needless.

Accepting this chapter then as it stands, and believing that only by
looking at the Bible as it actually is can we hope to understand God's
method of revealing Himself, we at once perceive that ignorance of some
departments of truth does not disqualify a man for knowing and imparting
truth about God. In order to be a medium of revelation a man does not
need to be in advance of his age in secular learning. Intimate
communion with God, a spirit trained to discern spiritual things, a
perfect understanding of and zeal for God's purpose, these are qualities
quite independent of a knowledge of the discoveries of science. The
enlightenment which enables men to apprehend God and spiritual truth,
has no necessary connection with scientific attainments. David's
confidence in God and his declarations of His faithfulness are none the
less valuable, because he was ignorant of a very great deal which every
school-boy now knows. Had inspired men introduced into their writings
information which anticipated the discoveries of science, their state of
mind would be inconceivable, and revelation would be a source of
confusion. God's methods are harmonious with one another, and as He has
given men natural faculties to acquire scientific knowledge and
historical information, He did not stultify this gift by imparting such
knowledge in a miraculous and unintelligible manner. There is no
evidence that inspired men were in advance of their age in the knowledge
of physical facts and laws. And plainly, had they been supernaturally
instructed in physical knowledge they would so far have been
unintelligible to those to whom they spoke. Had the writer of this book
mingled with his teaching regarding God, an explicit and exact account
of how this world came into existence--had he spoken of millions of
years instead of speaking of days--in all probability he would have been
discredited, and what he had to say about God would have been rejected
along with his premature science. But speaking from the point of view of
his contemporaries, and accepting the current ideas regarding the
formation of the world, he attached to these the views regarding God's
connection with the world which are most necessary to be believed. What
he had learned of God's unity and creative power and connection with
man, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, he imparts to his
contemporaries through the vehicle of an account of creation they could
all understand. It is not in his knowledge of physical facts that he is
elevated above his contemporaries, but in his knowledge of God's
connection with all physical facts. No doubt, on the other hand, his
knowledge of God reacts upon the entire contents of his mind and saves
him from presenting such accounts of creation as have been common among
polytheists. He presents an account purified by his conception of what
was worthy of the supreme God he worshipped. His idea of God has given
dignity and simplicity to all he says about creation, and there is an
elevation and majesty about the whole conception, which we recognise as
the reflex of his conception of God.

Here then instead of anything to discompose us or to excite unbelief, we
recognise one great law or principle on which God proceeds in making
Himself known to men. This has been called the Law of Accommodation. It
is the law which requires that the condition and capacity of those to
whom the revelation is made must be considered. If you wish to instruct
a child, you must speak in language the child can understand. If you
wish to elevate a savage, you must do it by degrees, accommodating
yourself to his condition, and winking at much ignorance while you
instil elementary knowledge. You must found all you teach on what is
already understood by your pupil, and through that you must convey
further knowledge and train his faculties to higher capacity. So was it
with God's revelation. The Jews were children who had to be trained
with what Paul somewhat contemptuously calls "weak and beggarly
elements," the A B C of morals and religion. Not even in morals could
the absolute truth be enforced. Accommodation had to be practised even
here. Polygamy was allowed as a concession to their immature stage of
development: and practices in war and in domestic law were permitted or
enjoined which were inconsistent with absolute morality. Indeed the
whole Jewish system was an adaptation to an immature state. The dwelling
of God in the Temple as a man in his house, the propitiating of God with
sacrifice as of an Eastern king with gifts; this was a teaching by
picture, a teaching which had as much resemblance to the truth and as
much mixture of truth as they were able then to receive. No doubt this
teaching did actually mislead them in some of their ideas; but it kept
them on the whole in a right attitude towards God, and prepared them for
growing up to a fuller discernment of the truth.

Much more was this law observed in regard to such matters as are dealt
with in these chapters. It was impossible that in their ignorance of the
rudiments of scientific knowledge, the early Hebrews should understand
an absolutely accurate account of how the world came into being; and if
they could have understood it, it would have been useless, dissevered as
it must have been from the steps of knowledge by which men have since
arrived at it. Children ask us questions in answer to which we do not
tell them the exact full truth, because we know they cannot possibly
understand it. All that we can do is to give them some provisional
answer which conveys to them some information they can understand, and
which keeps them in a right state of mind, although this information
often seems absurd enough when compared with the actual facts and truth
of the matter. And if some solemn pedant accused us of supplying the
child with false information, we would simply tell him he knew nothing
about children. Accurate information on these matters will infallibly
come to the child when he grows up; what is wanted meanwhile is to give
him information which will help to form his conduct without gravely
misleading him as to facts. Similarly, if any one tells me he cannot
accept these chapters as inspired by God, because they do not convey
scientifically accurate information regarding this earth, I can only say
that he has yet to learn the first principles of revelation, and that he
misunderstands the conditions on which all instruction must be given.

My belief then is, that in these chapters we have the ideas regarding
the origin of the world and of man which were naturally attainable in
the country where they were first composed, but with those important
modifications which a monotheistic belief necessarily suggested. So far
as merely physical knowledge went, there is probably little here that
was new to the contemporaries of the writer; but this already familiar
knowledge was used by him as the vehicle for conveying his faith in the
unity, love and wisdom of God the creator. He laid a firm foundation for
the history of God's relation to man. This was his object, and this he
accomplished. The Bible is the book to which we turn for information
regarding the history of God's revelation of Himself, and of His will
towards men; and in these chapters we have the suitable introduction to
this history. No changes in our knowledge of physical truth can at all
affect the teaching of these chapters. What they teach regarding the
relation of man to God is independent of the physical details in which
this teaching is embodied, and can as easily be attached to the most
modern statement of the physical origin of the world and of man.

What then are the truths taught us in these chapters? The first is that
there has been a creation, that things now existing have not just grown
of themselves, but have been called into being by a presiding
intelligence and an originating will. No attempt to account for the
existence of the world in any other way has been successful. A great
deal has in this generation been added to our knowledge of the
efficiency of material causes to produce what we see around us; but when
we ask what gives harmony to these material causes, and what guides them
to the production of certain ends, and what originally produced them,
the answer must still be, not matter but intelligence and purpose. The
best informed and most penetrating minds of our time affirm this. John
Stuart Mill says: "It must be allowed that in the present state of our
knowledge the adaptations in nature afford a large balance of
probability in favour of creation by intelligence." Professor Tyndall
adds his testimony and says: "I have noticed during years of
self-observation that it is not in hours of clearness and vigour that
[the doctrine of material atheism] commends itself to my mind--that in
the hours of stronger and healthier thought it ever dissolves and
disappears, as offering no solution of the mystery in which we dwell and
of which we form a part."

There is indeed a prevalent suspicion, that in presence of the
discoveries made by evolutionists the argument from design is no longer
tenable. Evolution shows us that the correspondence of the structure of
animals, with their modes of life, has been generated by the nature of
the case; and it is concluded that a blind mechanical necessity and not
an intelligent design rules all. But the discovery of the process by
which the presently existing living forms have been evolved, and the
perception that this process is governed by laws which have always been
operating, do not make intelligence and design at all less necessary,
but rather more so. As Professor Huxley himself says: "The teleological
and mechanical views of nature are not necessarily exclusive. The
teleologist can always defy the evolutionist to disprove that the
primordial molecular arrangement was not intended to evolve the
phenomena of the universe." Evolution, in short, by disclosing to us the
marvellous power and accuracy of natural law, compels us more
emphatically than ever to refer all law to a supreme, originating
intelligence.

This then is the first lesson of the Bible; that at the root and origin
of all this vast material universe, before whose laws we are crushed as
the moth, there abides a living conscious Spirit, who wills and knows
and fashions all things. The belief of this changes for us the whole
face of nature, and instead of a chill, impersonal world of forces to
which no appeal can be made, and in which matter is supreme, gives us
the home of a Father. If you are yourself but a particle of a huge and
unconscious universe--a particle which, like a flake of foam, or a drop
of rain, or a gnat, or a beetle, lasts its brief space and then yields
up its substance to be moulded into some new creature; if there is no
power that understands you and sympathizes with you and makes provision
for your instincts, your aspirations, your capabilities; if man is
himself the highest intelligence, and if all things are the purposeless
result of physical forces; if, in short, there is no God, no
consciousness at the beginning as at the end of all things, then nothing
can be more melancholy than our position. Our higher desires which seem
to separate us so immeasurably from the brutes, we have, only that they
may be cut down by the keen edge of time, and wither in barren
disappointment; our reason we have, only to enable us to see and measure
the brevity of our span, and so live our little day, not joyously as the
unforeseeing beasts, but shadowed by the hastening gloom of anticipated,
inevitable and everlasting night; our faculty for worshipping and for
striving to serve and to resemble the perfect living One, that faculty
which seems to be the thing of greatest promise and of finest quality in
us, and to which is certainly due the largest part of what is admirable
and profitable in human history, is the most mocking and foolishest of
all our parts. But, God be thanked, He has revealed himself to us; has
given us in the harmonious and progressive movement of all around us,
sufficient indication that, even in the material world, intelligence and
purpose reign; an indication which becomes immensely clearer as we pass
into the world of man; and which, in presence of the person and life of
Christ attains the brightness of a conviction which illuminates all
besides.

The other great truth which this writer teaches is, that man was the
chief work of God, for whose sake all else was brought into being. The
work of creation was not finished till he appeared: all else was
preparatory to this final product. That man is the crown and lord of
this earth is obvious. Man instinctively assumes that all else has been
made for him, and freely acts upon this assumption. But when our eyes
are lifted from this little ball on which we are set and to which we
are confined, and when we scan such other parts of the universe as are
within our ken, a keen sense of littleness oppresses us; our earth is
after all so minute and apparently inconsiderable a point when compared
with the vast suns and planets that stretch system on system into
illimitable space. When we read even the rudiments of what astronomers
have discovered regarding the inconceivable vastness of the universe,
the huge dimensions of the heavenly bodies, and the grand scale on which
everything is framed, we find rising to our lips, and with tenfold
reason, the words of David: "When I consider Thy heavens, the work of
Thy fingers; the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained; what is
man that Thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that Thou visitest
him?" Is it conceivable that on this scarcely discernible speck in the
vastness of the universe, should be played out the chiefest act in the
history of God? Is it credible that He whose care it is to uphold this
illimitable universe, should be free to think of the wants and woes of
the insignificant creatures who quickly spend their little lives in this
inconsiderable earth?

But reason seems all on the side of Genesis. God must not be considered
as sitting apart in a remote position of general superintendence, but as
present with all that is. And to Him who maintains these systems in
their respective relations and orbits, it can be no burden to relieve
the needs of individuals. To think of ourselves as too insignificant to
be attended to is to derogate from God's true majesty and to
misunderstand His relation to the world. But it is also to misapprehend
the real value of spirit as compared with matter. Man is dear to God
because he is like Him. Vast and glorious as it is, the sun cannot think
God's thoughts; can fulfil but cannot intelligently sympathize with
God's purpose. Man, alone among God's works, can enter into and approve
of God's purpose in the world and can intelligently fulfil it. Without
man the whole material universe would have been dark and unintelligible,
mechanical and apparently without any sufficient purpose. Matter,
however fearfully and wonderfully wrought, is but the platform and
material in which spirit, intelligence and will, may fulfil themselves
and find development. Man is incommensurable with the rest of the
universe. He is of a different kind and by his moral nature is more akin
to God than to His works.

Here the beginning and the end of God's revelation join hands and throw
light on one another. The nature of man was that in which God was at
last to give His crowning revelation, and for that no preparation could
seem extravagant. Fascinating and full of marvel as is the history of
the past which science discloses to us; full as these slow-moving
millions of years are in evidences of the exhaustless wealth of nature,
and mysterious as the delay appears, all that expenditure of resources
is eclipsed and all the delay justified when the whole work is crowned
by the Incarnation, for in it we see that all that slow process was the
preparation of a nature in which God could manifest Himself as a Person
to persons. This is seen to be an end worthy of all that is contained in
the physical history of the world: this gives completeness to the whole
and makes it a unity. No higher, other end need be sought, none could be
conceived. It is this which seems worthy of those tremendous and subtle
forces which have been set at work in the physical world, this which
justifies the long lapse of ages filled with wonders unobserved, and
teeming with ever new life; this above all which justifies these latter
ages in which all physical marvels have been outdone by the tragical
history of man upon earth. Remove the Incarnation and all remains dark,
purposeless, unintelligible: grant the Incarnation, believe that in
Jesus Christ the Supreme manifested Himself personally, and light is
shed upon all that has been and is.

Light is shed on the individual life. Are you living as if you were the
product of blind mechanical laws, and as if there were no object worthy
of your life and of all the force you can throw into your life? Consider
the Incarnation of the Creator, and ask yourself if sufficient object is
not given to you in His call that you be conformed to His image and
become the intelligent executor of His purposes? Is life not worth
having even on these terms? The man that can still sit down and bemoan
himself as if there were no meaning in existence, or lounge languidly
through life as if there were no zest or urgency in living, or try to
satisfy himself with fleshly comforts, has surely need to turn to the
opening page of Revelation and learn that God saw sufficient object in
the life of man, enough to compensate for millions of ages of
preparation. If it is possible that you should share in the character
and destiny of Christ, can a healthy ambition crave anything more or
higher? If the future is to be as momentous in results as the past has
certainly been filled with preparation, have you no caring to share in
these results? Believe that there is a purpose in things; that in
Christ, the revelation of God, you can see what that purpose is, and
that by wholly uniting yourself to Him and allowing yourself to be
penetrated by His Spirit you can participate with Him in the working out
of that purpose.




II.

_THE FALL._

GENESIS iii.


Profound as the teaching of this narrative is, its meaning does not lie
on the surface. Literal interpretation will reach a measure of its
significance, but plainly there is more here than appears in the letter.
When we read that the serpent was more subtile than any beast of the
field which the Lord God had made, and that he tempted the woman, we at
once perceive that it is not with the outer husk of the story we are to
concern ourselves, but with the kernel. The narrative throughout speaks
of nothing but the brute serpent; not a word is said of the devil, not
the slightest hint is given that the machinations of a fallen angel are
signified. The serpent is compared to the other beasts of the field,
showing that it is the brute serpent that is spoken of. The curse is
pronounced on the beast, not on a fallen spirit summoned for the purpose
before the Supreme; and not in terms which could apply to a fallen
spirit, but in terms that are applicable only to the serpent that
crawls. Yet every reader feels that this is not the whole mystery of the
fall of man: moral evil cannot be accounted for by referring it to a
brute source. No one, I suppose, believes that the whole tribe of
serpents crawl as a punishment of an offence committed by one of their
number, or that the whole iniquity and sorrow of the world are due to an
actual serpent. Plainly this is merely a pictorial representation
intended to convey some general impressions and ideas. Vitally important
truths underlie the narrative and are bodied forth by it; but the way to
reach these truths is not to adhere too rigidly to the literal meaning,
but to catch the general impression which it seems fitted to make.

No doubt this opens the door to a great variety of interpretation. No
two men will attach to it precisely the same meaning. One says, the
serpent is a symbol for Satan, but Adam and Eve are historical persons.
Another says, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a figure,
but the driving out from the garden is real. Another maintains that the
whole is a picture, putting in a visible, intelligible shape certain
vitally important truths regarding the history of our race. So that
every man is left very much to his own judgment, to read the narrative
candidly and in such light from other sources as he has, and let it make
its own impression upon him. This would be a sad result if the object of
the Bible were to bring us all to a rigid uniformity of belief in all
matters; but the object of the Bible is not that, but the far higher
object of furnishing all varieties of men with sufficient light to lead
them to God. And this being so, variety of interpretation in details is
not to be lamented. The very purpose of such representations as are here
given is to suit all stages of mental and spiritual advancement. Let the
child read it and he will learn what will live in his mind and influence
him all his life. Let the devout man who has ranged through all science
and history and philosophy come back to this narrative, and he feels
that he has here the essential truth regarding the beginnings of man's
tragical career upon earth.

We should, in my opinion, be labouring under a misapprehension if we
supposed that none even of the earliest readers of this account saw the
deeper meaning of it. When men who felt the misery of sin and lifted up
their hearts to God for deliverance, read the words addressed to the
serpent, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy
seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his
heel"--is it reasonable to suppose that such men would take these words
in their literal sense, and satisfy themselves with the assurance that
serpents, though dangerous, would be kept under, and would find in the
words no assurance of that very thing they themselves were all their
lifetime striving after, deliverance from the evil thing which lay at
the root of all sin? No doubt some would accept the story in its literal
meaning,--shallow and careless men whose own spiritual experience never
urged them to see any spiritual significance in the words would do so;
but even those who saw least in the story, and put a very shallow
interpretation on its details, could scarcely fail to see its main
teaching.

The reader of this perennially fresh story is first of all struck with
the account given of man's primitive condition. Coming to this narrative
with our minds  by the fancies of poets and philosophers, we are
almost startled by the check which the plain and sober statements of
this account give to an unpruned fancy. We have to read the words again
and again to make sure we have not omitted something which gives support
to those glowing descriptions of man's primitive condition. Certainly he
is described as innocent and at peace with God, and in this respect no
terms can exaggerate his happiness. But in other respects the language
of the Bible is surprisingly moderate. Man is represented as living on
fruit, and as going unclothed, and, so far as appears, without any
artificial shelter either from the heat of the sun or the cold of night.
None of the arts were as yet known. All working of metals had yet to be
discovered, so that his tools must have been of the rudest possible
description; and the arts, such as music, which adorn life and make
leisure enjoyable, were also still in the future.

But the most significant elements in man's primitive condition are
represented by the two trees of the garden; by trees, because with
plants alone he had to do. In the centre of the garden stood the tree of
life, the fruit of which bestowed immortality. Man was therefore
naturally mortal, though apparently with a capacity for immortality. How
this capacity would have actually carried man on to immortality had he
not sinned, it is vain to conjecture. The mystical nature of the tree of
life is fully recognised in the New Testament, by our Lord, when He
says: "To him