Chap. iii, verse 18.]
{p. 326}
Verse 4. "Who cut up mallows by the bushes and juniper-roots for
their food."
Verse 7. "Among the bushes they brayed, under the nettles were they
gathered together."
And God "_drove out the man_" from the fair Edenic world into the
post-glacial desolation; and Paradise was lost, and--
"At the east of the garden of Eden he placed cherubims and _a flaming
sword_, which turned every way, to keep the way to the tree of life."
This is the sword of the comet. The Norse legends say:
"Yet, before all things, there existed what we call Muspelheim. It is
a world luminous, glowing, not to be dwelt in by strangers, and
situate at the end of the earth. Surtur holds his empire there. _In
his hand there shines a flaming sword_."
There was a great conflagration between the by-gone Eden and the
present land of stones and thistles.
Is there any other allusion besides this to the fire which
accompanied the comet in Genesis?
Yes, but it is strangely out of place. It is a distinct description
of the pre-glacial wickedness of the world, the fire falling from
heaven, the cave-life, and the wide-spread destruction of humanity;
but the compiler of these antique legends has located it in a time
long subsequent to the Deluge of Noah, and in the midst of a densely
populated world.
Pages:
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466