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I. THE TOPOGRAPHICAL PROBLEM. All that we can determine at present is this: Eden lay to the east of the venerable witness of creation's panorama, somewhere in the neighbourhood of the Tigris and the Euphrates. And history strikingly confirms the chronicle of the hoary witness. Those confessedly competent to discuss such questions agree that the cradle of mankind is to be looked for somewhere in the country of the Euphrates. Civilization has generally, with comparatively unimportant exceptions, moved from east to west. Who knows but that we, the latest born of the nations, with the Continental railways and Pacific steamships in our grasp, are God's chosen instruments in carrying the glad tidings ever and ever westward, till, having crossed China, we reach again the cradle of humanity, and reinaugurate the lost paradise on the very spot where our inspired Seer caught glimpse of the tree of life? The truth, however, is, the exact site of Eden will probably never be discovered — at least, till the day when the voice of Him who was wont to walk in the garden in the evening breeze (Genesis 3:8) is again heard on earth.

II. And now let us attend to some of THE LESSONS OF THE STORY.

1. And, first, the birth of industry. Jehovah God took the man He had formed, and put him in the Garden of Eden, to till it, and to keep it.

(1)  Work is man's normal condition. Man must work for

(a)  the soul's sake;

(b)  his own sake;

(c)  God's sake.

(2)  Pursue your calling with enthusiasm.

2. The birth of language.

(1)  Wonderfulness of language.

(2)  The first words nouns.

(3)  Our words are judges.

3. The birth of immortality. "The tree of life."

4. The birth of probation.

5. The Eden of the soul.

6. The heavenly Eden.

(G. D. Boardman.)

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KJV: And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

WEB: Yahweh God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed.