Page:The Garden of Eden (Doughty).djvu/43

Rh we like them, so far as we love the Lord and live in and from Him, shall dwell in Eden too.

And now, ye who honestly doubt the Bible as the Word of God, because this narrative in Genesis is inconsistent as literal history, are you not mistaken in your criticism? Is not this which I have briefly set forth, the real meaning of Eden and its tree, viewed in the light of other portions of the sacred Volume?

But there was another tree which grew in this wonderful garden, and it was called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

There is no mention of this by name in any other portion of the Scripture. But when we come to understand the nature of the tree of life, can we doubt concerning this? Whatever the one is, the other is evidently its opposite. And if we have dwelt long and critically upon the nature of the one, it is not time wasted; for we have but to turn our backs upon the tree of life and look the other way, to behold that of the knowledge of good and evil. To eat of the tree of life, was to live from the Lord and heavenly love. To eat of the forbidden tree, was to live from self-love and the self-intelligence thence derived. The tree of life grew heavenly fruit; the tree of knowledge infernal fruit. The tree of love gave clear perception of what was good and true; the tree of knowledge filled the soul with 4