Other peoples of antiquity define the
situation of their holy land in a similar manner; the streams
have different names, but the thing is the same. The wonderful
trees also in the garden of Eden have many analogies even in the
Germanic mythology. The belief in the cherubs which guard
Paradise is also widely diffused. _Krub_ is perhaps the same name,
and certainly represents the same idea, as _Gryp_ in Greek, and
_Grei_f in German. We find everywhere these beings wonderfully
compounded out of lion, eagle, and man. They are everywhere
guardians of the divine and sacred, and then also of gold and of
treasures. The ingredients of the story seem certainly to have
parted with some of their original colour under the influence of
monotheism. The Hebrew people no doubt had something more to tell
about the tree of life than now appears. It is said to have been
in the midst of the garden, and so it seems to have stood at the
point whence the four streams issued, at the fountain of life,
which was so important to the faith of the East, and which
Alexander marched out to discover. Paradise, moreover, was
certainly not planted originally for man, it was the dwelling of
the Deity Himself.
Pages:
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687