there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." Acts iv. The life," then, which " the tree of life"

had the power of imparting, was that gift of eternal life which is obtained through Christ. The "tree of life," then, represents Christ's covenant of salvation, through which man is man is made an inheritor of eternal life.

The "paradise," in the midst of which St. John speaks of the "tree of life" as being situated, denotes that place which he also calls"the holy city, the new Jerusalem," "in the midst of the street" whereof he also places "the tree of life.” "the tree of life." The terms " paradise," 'city," "new Jerusalem," are used, figuratively, to denote that place in which is the throne of the Lord God Almighty and the

i

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12.

Rev. xxi.

22, xxii. 1.

Lamb, and which is the dwelling-place of "the nations of them that are saved," of * xxi. 24.

"the spirits of just men made perfect."

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k

As the terms " paradise," "city," new Jerusalem," are employed by St. John in a sense altogether figurative, so, also, is the word tree, in the expression "tree of life," used in a figurative sense also. It does not denote a vegetable tree, but it is a term altogether figurative; the "tree of life," denoting Christ's covenant of salvation.

1 Heb. xii.

23.

As the garden of Eden, spoken of in Genesis, appears to refer to the same place as that spoken of in the Apocalypse under the terms "paradise of God," "the holy city new Jerusalem," which place is the peculiar residence of GOD and the Lamb, or heaven; and, as "the tree of life," spoken of in the Apocalypse, appears to be the same "tree of life" as that mentioned in Genesis; as "the tree of life," mentioned by St. John, represents that eternal life which is obtained

through Christ; the terms " paradise," and "city, and "tree," being used by St. John in a sense, altogether figurative; so may we infer, that the garden of Eden, mentioned in Genesis, represented heaven; and, that "the tree of life," there spoken of also, denoted Christ's covenant of salvation; the terms garden," and tree," being altogether figurative; or, that, if the seat of the tree of life mentioned in Genesis, were actually a

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garden," such a garden must have afforded, in some way or other, a representation, or figure, of heaven; and that what is called "the tree of life in the midst of that

garden," if, indeed, it was really a tree, was some visible and tangible symbol, or figure, of Christ's covenant of salvation.

The words "tree of life," as used both in Genesis and in the Apocalypse, betoken the source of eternal life. The acquisition of eternal life, is, by St. John, expressed figuratively, by the word-"eat of the tree of life." It is spoken of in Genesis, in the same terms: "Lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever." In the latter passage, then, to "eat" of the tree of life is, either altogether a figure of speech, as is the same expression as used by St. John; or, if " the tree of life," mentioned in Genesis, can be supposed to have been actually a vegetable tree, which was the symbol of Christ's covenant; and if the bodily act of eating thereof had, really, the power of communicating to the eater eternal life, then must that bodily act have been a figurative act. The word eat, as applied in Genesis, to "the tree of life," is either altogether a figure of speech, as is the same word as similarly applied in the Apocalypse; or, it denotes a figurative act; in whichsoever of these two ways it be applied, it denotes the acquisition of eternal life through Jesus Christ.

But, we read in this record of Genesis, of another tree, as being also "in the midst of

the garden," namely, "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." No mention is made of this "tree" in the Apocalypse. The "tree of life" maintains its original position; but "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" is, no where, spoken of by St. John.

As the word " life," as connected with the word "tree" in the expression, "tree of life," both as used in the Apocalypse and in Genesis, is used in its fullest and most extended literal sense, to denote eternal life, the term "tree," denoting the medium, by and through, which that "life" is imparted; so, may we infer, that the words "knowledge of good and evil," as also connected with the term "tree," are also used in the fullest literal sense; while the term "tree" is used to denote the medium, by and through which that knowledge was communicated.

The man, or Adam, then, whom God had

formed (the " л in a wμ xo, made

; was placed in the garden of Eden (לנפש חיה

in a place, which, from what we have seen, must be regarded as having been, either heaven itself; or, a figurative representation, or type, or symbolical image, of heaven. And, in this place (whatever may have been its actual nature) were present, two symbols;

one of which was the symbol of Christ's everlasting covenant of salvation.

"And Jehovah Aleim commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it; for, in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." m

"The tree of the knowledge of good and evil," then, was to impart to him that ate thereof, death; whereas, "the tree of life" could impart to him that ate thereof eternal life. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil," then, might justly have been styled "the tree of death." And, as the "life" connected with "the tree of life was, not mere animal life, but was that spiritual and immortal life which is given to man through Christ; so, the death, which was connected with "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil," was not mere animal death, not the mere dissolution of that owμa xikoy, which, having its origin in dust, was doomed to return to its parent earth; but, it was the loss, or the non-attainment, of that eternal life which "the tree of life" was capable of imparting. The tree of life was a sure and effectual antidote to the tree of death; for, if he that had

m Gen. ii.

16, 17.