lessed, beyond the Pillars of Hercules
in the western main. The Swede, Rudbeck, asserts that Paradise was in
Scandinavia; some Russian writers supposed it to have been in Siberia;
and the German writers, Hasse and Schulz, on the coast of Prussia.
Eastern traditions place it in Ceylon, and regard the mountain of Rahoun
as the spot where Adam was buried. Some old Christian writers hazarded
the theory that Paradise was beyond the earth altogether, on the other
side of the ocean which they conceived to encircle it, and that Noah
was conveyed to our planet by the deluge. Kalisch gives a long list of
ancient and modern authorities on the subject, who differ widely from
each other as to the actual position of Eden, their only point of
agreement being that it was _somewhere_.

The Creation Story of the Bible cannot be considered as anything but a
Hebrew myth. Scholars have abundantly shown the absurdity of supposing
that Moses wrote it. Doubtless, as a piece of traditional mythology, it
is very ancient, but it cannot be traced back in its present literary
form beyond the Babylonish captivity. Men of science without exception
disbelieve it, not only with regard to the world in general, but also
with regard to the human race. In his famous article on "The Method and
Results of Ethnology," Professor Huxley made this declaration:--"There
are those who represent the most numerous, respectable, and would-be
orthodox of the public, and who may be called 'Adamites,' pure and
simple. They believe that Adam was made out of earth somewhere in Asia,
about six thousand years ago; that Eve was modelled from one of his
ribs; and that the progeny of these two having been reduced to the eight
persons who landed on the summit of Mount Ararat after an universal
deluge, all the nations of the earth have proceeded from these last,
have migrated to their present localities, and have become converted
into negroes, Australians, Mongolians, etc., within that time.
Five-sixths of the public are taught this Adamitic Monogenism as if
it were an established truth, and believe it. I do not; and I am not
acquainted with any man of science, or duly instructed person, who
does." The clergy, then, who go on teaching this old Creation Story as
true, are either unduly instructed or dishonest, ignorant or fraudulent,
blind guides or base deceivers. It is not for us to determine to which
class any priest or preacher belongs: let the conscience of each, as
assuredly