the Jews, spiritually unfertile and dry as their religious state was, "Ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water " (Isa. i. 8)?—that is, as an intelligent mind not fertilized by any conception of spiritual truth? And when the restoration of the Church was foretold, and its promised fertile and fruitful condition set forth in glowing figures, was it not said by the Lord, "Thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not " (Isa. lviii. 11)?
Eden is also mentioned in other parts of Scripture. It is generally used, however, in reference to a spiritual condition, and not as a place. Thus the Lord, through Ezekiel, rebukes the prince of Tyre for his arrogance, and for his assumption of the honors of divine worship. He holds up before him the perfectness of his walk with God until iniquity lay hold upon him; and how much lower would be his fall, because, having been once perfect, he has now, in his pride, proclaimed himself a god. In reference to his first state the Lord says, "Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God" (Ez. xxviii. 13). Now the prince of Tyre had never been in any literal garden called Eden. But he had followed the Lord; he had loved and worshiped Him; he had feasted on spiritual intelligence; he had been, spiritually speaking, in Eden, the garden of God. Eden was his religious
