But as in this instance the word w

kavash has been translated bondage, it may be well to give a few examples of its use in the holy books, that all may see and know that its meaning is totally distinct from that of slavery. Gen. i. 28: "Multiply and replenish the earth and subdue . Num. xxxii. 22: "And the land be subdued the land shall be subdued "And the land was subdued

it,"

before the Lord." 29: “And

before you." Josh. xviii. 1:

before them."

2 Sam.

viii. 1: "Which he subdued," . 2 Chron. ix. 18: "With a footstool," 1, because a footstool was in the place of subjection. Zech. ix. 15: "And subdue 1 with sling-stones.” Micah vii. 19: "He will subdue in our iniquities." The ad? foregoing examples, we trust, are sufficient to disabuse the mind of the idea of any synonyme of meaning of these two words.

LESSON IX.

WE propose to examine the Hebrew use of the word ebed in the 5th and 15th of the second chapter of Genesis: "In that day the Lord God made the earth, and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it grew; for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground." To till is here translated from this word ebed, with the affix of the preposition. This is the first instance in which the word is used in the holy book; and it may seem extremely strange that the writers of these books found its use necessary in their description of events even before the creation of man. It is not our business to draw out theological doctrine unconnected with the subject of our present inquiry; but we suppose it will not be disputed that the great Jehovah as well knew, before he created the heavens and the earth, and man upon the earth, all and every particular of what would happen, as at any subsequent time: with him, a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. We may behold the birth, maturity, and death of some animalcula, in a day or in an hour. But, with him the succession. of generations, of the animal life of a thousand years, pass in in

that he may bring forth food

The second instance in which "And the Lord God took the

stantaneous and present view. Time appertains alone to mortals. He saw the most ultimate condition of man; and the earth and the herb were made to suit it. But from the manner of the expression of the text, may we not conclude that the herb, although made, would not grow until man was created, and in the condition to till (to slave) the ground? The support of the animal world, independent of man, is spontaneously presented before them not so with man in his fallen state. "He sendeth the springs into the valley, which run among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst. By them shall the fowls of heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches. He watereth the hills from his chambers; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service (for the slavery) of man: out of the earth," Ps. civ. 10-14. this word is used is in Gen. ii. 15: man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it, and to keep it." To dress it is translated from this word. There is certainly much obscurity in the use of the word in this instance. Professor Stuart, of Andover, supposes that it inculcates the doctrine that labour was imposed on man in the paradisiacal state; consequently, that labour was no part of the curse which followed the apostacy. (See his Chreestomathy, page 105.) This view excludes the idea that the word, as here used, is associated with the idea of slavery, and that, if, in the interchange of language, although the idea of labour may predominate, nevertheless, it must be slave labour. Our mind does not yield its assent to his position. We had associated with our idea of this paradise the most perfect heaven, the dwelling-place of Jehovah!! and that the generations of man, when guided and governed by Divine mercy in such a manner that we could be happy therein, that it would yet become our ultimate home,-("He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God," Rev. ii. 7,)—and that the humble worshipper of Jehovah while in a state of progressive preparedness, would therefore cry out with the Psalmist, "Unto thee I lift mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens! Behold, as the eyes

of servants (□y male slaves) look unto the hand of their master; and as the eyes of a maiden ( shiphhah, female slave) unto the hand of her mistress, so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until he have mercy upon us." Ps. cxxiii. 1, 2. If then the paradise of old was the type of the paradise eternal, it would seem that the labour of the ebed was excluded therefrom: "Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage (dovλɛias, slavery) of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God." Rom. viii. 21. And for this very good reason, that slavery, the consequent of sin, could never find entrance there regeneration is therefore indispensable.

"It strikes me that the use of the verb (T abad, Gen. ii. 5) presents no difficulty that calls for explanation. The language of inspiration is man's language, though employed by God. The events, facts, things, acts, that preceded man's creation, must still be described by language and terms that had come into use after man's creation. Man must first exist before there could be words

to be used in conveying knowledge to man. A word implying slavery might therefore most reasonably be found in a description of things prior to the existence of man, or of slavery, which description was written long afterwards by Moses, and in language which was in use amongst the men for whom he wrote. When Moses wrote, when God inspired him, Ty ebed was a familiar word." Extract from manuscript letter of the Rev. J. B. Stratton to the author.

But in the pursuance of the chain of thought that first was impressed on our mind, we have to remark that the word Eden meant pleasure, happiness. It seems to have been derived from or cognate with the Arabic words aden, and means softness, gentleness, mildness, tenderness, and daintiness, in that language. The Hebrews had also another word from this same root, 'yadi, to mean ornaments, &c., and adain, to mean luxuriousness and delicate. The word, as used in the text before, is applied to a district of country, and confers the adjective qualities to said district, i. e. a district of country of great pleasure and delight. The general boundaries are given and described by the naming of its rivers. It was of considerable extent, embracing, perhaps, more than the whole of the ancient Armenia.

"And a garden was planted eastward in Eden." Garden is translated from gan. The word is derived from 1 ganan. The

word means, to protect, protection, a thing protected. The idea. expressed by it is not confined to a single walled area; but the two words are often used together, as if it was intended to convey the idea of the fact that the protection extended to the whole of Eden. And it may be well conceived that innocency was its protection. Here cunning art never wove its web for the entanglement of its victim. Here no crocodile tears enticed sympathy within the reach of harm. Here no vile wretch ever betrayed a brother's confidence. Here the lion and the lamb might have couched together, and the infant have played with the tiger's paw. We are aware that some modern scholars consider the description of the garden of Eden by Moses a mere picture of the mind. Rosenmaeler says that it is on a par with Virgil's description of the Elysian fields. This class of philosophers consider the whole as a fiction: but man had his commencement somewhere, and it is a fact that four large rivers, answering to the outlines of the general description of Moses, do flow from fountain-heads not more than thirty or forty miles apart, in the central and most elevated region of Armenia. These streams meander through the same countries described by him, and exhibit the same mineral productions: nor would it be any thing remarkable, if investigation should yet prove that they were all indebted to one and the same source. Let us consider then, whether it was not a fact that the garden of Eden was not confined to a little plat of ground, but included a whole district of country, embracing the visible sources of the rivers named: a district of country, from the mildness of its climate, fruitfulness, and other causes of pleasure and delight, exceedingly well adapted to the early residence of man. We have therefore no well founded reason to believe that the account given by Moses of the garden of Eden was a fiction, independent of Divine authority. But his account must be understood so as to be consistent with itself, and with the facts now existing of which it speaks. We are not under the necessity of supposing that the felicity of our first parents was confined to the locality named: a paradise was to them anywhere. It was their innocence, not the location, that made it so; and thus they were driven out of paradise, perhaps, without a change of location. The use of the word ebed Ty, in ii. 15 of Genesis, might then well be of the same foreshadowing import as in the first instance of its use, even before the creation of man. For, who must not conclude, when man was first placed in paradise, that God did not as clearly see his apostasy

then, as now? By his wisdom, power, and mercy, all nature was ready-prepared for the change, and poor fallen man, without change of habitation, found that habitation no longer heaven, and commenced his first act of slavery by the vain attempt to hide himself from God and his own contempt. And here, let us remark, we find the true commencement of slavery. "And Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant (dov2o5, slave) of sin." John viii. 34. Force, disease, ruin, and death were now introduced to man. For, "A servant ( slave) will not be corrected by words." Prov. xxix. 19. God had mercifully contrived that he should be forced to action. “He that tilleth (y slaveth) his land shall have plenty of bread; but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough." Prov. xxviii. 19. When God made "every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew," foreseeing the apostasy of man-its poisonous effect upon his moral and physical condition-its direct. influence to produce immediate ruin and death, he also provided, ordained, and decreed a relation, a law between man and his mental and physical wants, which must cleave unto him, upon his apostasy, and be of the utmost value and efficacy in alleviating, removing, and preventing the final evils incident to his poisoned condition. This relation, law, institution, was the ebeduth, the institution of slavery, as expressed in Ezra ix. 8, 9: "And give us a little reviving in our bondage (yebeduthenu, slavery). For we were bond-men ('y abedim, slaves), and yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage," y. So in 2 Chron. xii. 8: "Nevertheless, ye shall be his servants ('le-obedim, his slaves), that they may know my service (y slavery), and the service (y) and the slavery) of the kingdoms of the countries." So in Esther vii. 4: "For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bond-men (ing) and bond-women, I had held my tongue."