tion whether anything was left out of the Mosaic narrative, or whether there were inconsistencies therein which modern ingenuity fails to harmonize, but whether they are perfectly expressed as types and shadows of good things to come in a spiritual way, for men of a later and more spiritual age.
The New Church takes its stand upon this ground: that the Scripture of God is given for purely spiritual purposes; that it is written throughout as a parable of spiritual things and an allegorical code of spiritual instruction, in types, sacred figures, or correspondences; that it is mainly true in its historical details, but that, as it was not given to teach history or science, scientific inaccuracy, or any other objection which may be raised on the purely natural plane, no more mars its perfection as the inspired Word of God, than would it invalidate the spiritual authority of the parable of the Prodigal Son, could it be incontestably proven that no such individual ever lived, behaved riotously, fed swine, repented, or returned.
In this view it is proposed to take up the history of the Garden of Eden. This narrative has been given as a spiritual allegory. Its construction, its peculiarities of diction, and the difficulties which surround the assumption that it is the record of actual facts set down concerning a
