The Garden of Eden (Doughty)/Chapter 8

by John Doughty

 

 

VIII.

THE FLAMING SWORD.

And he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.— Gen. iii. 24.

HERE is no grander subject of contemplation than that of the providence of God. People are not indisposed, on great and extraordinary occasions, especially when they have been mysteriously saved from sudden disaster, to admit the existence of a supreme Power turning away evil from their path. But that is a very limited view of an illimitable subject. The grandeur of the Lord's providence lies in its universality. When we think of it as special in the sense of being uncommon, we limit its operations. Under such circumstances there is always mingled with our acknowledgment of the Lord's goodness, too much of the feeling that we have been singled out to receive a peculiar token of his favor. Awe and egoism are mingled in proportions too nearly equal, to render the sentiment one of the highest type of spirituality. It is not always easy to separate the feeling of pride in being specially favored of God, from that resulting from a humble recognition of his protecting hand. That we believe ourselves to be humble does not alter the case. The mind under the control of human weakness, may deem itself humble when the Lord knows it is proud; and this, because of the fact which too few recognize, that the heart may be proud of its own humility. Herein lies the danger of a belief in special providences of which we imagine that we have been the favored recipients more than others.

But when we contemplate the Lord's providence as universal in its character, this danger ceases. The first view is narrow; this is as broad as the universe itself. The first brings within its purview the self-conscious principle; this loses sight of one's self, except as a mere drop in the ocean of humanity. Under its influence the mind says: The infinite Father loves the whole universe of men as well as He does me. The care that I receive, every one receives. The eye that was watching my way in saving me from disaster, is no less watchful over the goings of each individual among the countless myriads of the universe. The mercy which hovers over me, is immanent in all the wide domain of human life, everywhere operative, everywhere alike tender and loving.

In this thought there is genuine humility. I thus become only one of a vast brotherhood. No matter what happens to me, I am neither a peculiary favored nor neglected one. Therefore, whether we live on this side of the great ocean or the other, whether on the earth or on one of the other planets, whether in this solar system or in any other of the myriads which dot the starry heavens, we are all momentarily watched over, guided and guarded by the omnipresent All-Father.

True, we cannot comprehend infinity; that is, we cannot fully comprehend how the knowledge of the Lord can embrace things so minute, or his presence extend so far. This is one of the subjects which is beyond our mental grasp. The child fails to comprehend many things which, as a man, he sees quickly and clearly. We are unable while in the flesh, to see the why of many things which, in the other world, will be simple and plain to us. One of the great delights of men who become angels, will be the constant broadening of their mental horizon, and the ever-enlarging power of their mental grasp.

We shall get nearer to this question of how the Lord can supervise the most minute affairs, only as our spiritual understanding develops and our experiences multiply. If we never come into it fully, it will be because we are not gods, and none but the Divine can fully comprehend the infinite operations of the Supreme Mind. Yet we can feel its influence; we can know its truth; we can recognize the laws of Providence; and we can grow beneath their invigorating presence. The sun shines upon us and warms and enlightens us none the less, although we may not be able to analyze his substance, and have no knowledge of how his beams are conveyed to us through such immense space. So the Lord loves us all, sees us all, and is present in every least act of our lives, although we cannot, with our finite minds, fully grasp the idea of the possibility of the infinite operations of his providence.

Little as is the universality of the Lord's presence and providence recognized among men, it is one of the most positively announced teachings of Scripture. The Psalmist declares it in the words, "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me" (Ps. vii. 7, 8, 9). Jeremiah proclaims it in the divine interrogation, "Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord" (xxiii. 24). And our Lord, when on earth, reiterated the same truth in the declaration: "Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of our head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows" (Luke xii. 6, 7). The five sparrows worth only two farthings, are very small things for the Lord to remember. The hairs of the head are very small things to be counted by God. But if even these are under his immediate observation, surely man must be. This was a doctrine that no follower of Christ must deny. So He referred them to the birds of the air, which sow not, neither reap nor gather into barns. He pointed to the lilies of the field, which neither toil nor spin. Yet the birds are bountifully fed, and the lilies are beautifully clothed, by Him who is the Father of all. Since each lily and bird, in each moment of its little life, is watched so carefully by the Lord's providence, who shall say that the least of men, in the least act or event of his life, is forgotten by Him?

Such is the divine truth. And the Christian who does not recognize this divine care in each and every least affair of each and every human life, is not penetrated by the philosophy of Jesus. And the Christian who does not know that this doctrine is universally recognized in Scripture as a central truth, has scarcely taken his first lesson in the teachings of Christ or his religion.

Now when the early race of mankind, called Adam, had departed from the state of purity, love, intelligence and happiness, denominated the Garden of Eden; when, by becoming sensual and selfish they had lost or been driven out of that glorious state of which Eden was the symbol and synonym; then the providence of God, ever merciful and loving—the same providence which maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good alike, and sendeth his rain equally on the just and on the unjust, followed them out of Eden and into banishment.

Providence is not only in heaven; it is also in hell. It not only gives good to the good, but it restrains the evil from evil. It has no resentments, no wounded pride, no human passion. It works for all men, and for their greatest good and happiness. In Eden or out, it will do for each one that which will make him the best and happiest man it is possible for him to be on his own chosen plane. In Eden its ministries are ineffably tender and sweet. Out of Eden they do not seem so, only because they flow into perverted hearts and minds. Yet, even there, it will so modify and control circumstances, not infringing human freedom, as to lead man to be as good as he is willing to be, and to withhold him as far as possible from sinking into lower depths of iniquity.

This providence of the Lord is represented by the cherubim. The cherubim, as known in ancient symbolism, were figures with human faces, outspread wings, and bodies either animal or human. They are nowhere specifically described in Scripture, so that their exact form is matter of speculation. But the figures exhibited for cherubim in the pictures of the old masters—infant faces with wings attached—find no warrant in the Bible. From what is there said, we know, at least, that they were perfect though mingled figures; and that so far from being ludicrous, as tradition would make them, they were sublime in conception and beautiful in form. The cherubim are frequently mentioned in holy Writ, never, however, as a race of supernatural beings, as has sometimes been imagined, but always as symbols.

To mention but a single instance. It was commanded that cherubim should be placed on the mercy seat over the ark, over the curtains of the tabernacle, over the vail and also in the temple, to signify that the Lord had them all in his keeping; that He watched over them continually; that in all the wanderings and wars of Israel, wherever they went and wherever they stayed, his unwearied charge over them never relaxed.

But all these things—the ark which contained the Ten Commandments, the mercy seat upon which the cherubim stood, the curtains, the vail, the tabernacle and temple themselves, mere forms and containants, as they were, of outward worship—were symbolic of the various things of internal and spiritual worship yet to be developed in the Christian Church.

But Christian worship in its highest sense is Christian life. Thus the sublime truth was figured forth in these as representatives, that the providence of the Lord broods, as it were, with beaming countenance and watchful eyes and outstretched wings, over every human life and heart, in all its worship, ways and wanderings. The face of the cherub was representative of the Lord's love and circumspection; the body, of his power and presence; the outstretched wings, of his having them, after the beautiful similitude of the birds with their young, under his overshadowing and tender care; its standing on the mercy seat, the constant presence of the Lord in all human affairs with infinite compassion, gentleness and love.

As, therefore, the cherubim are referred to in all other portions of the Word as symbolic forms only, and not as supernatural beings, so must it have been in Genesis. In the description of the tabernacle and temple with their furniture and worship, we have an account of things actually made and once historically existent. The cherubim were beautifully carved figures placed in the positions to which they were assigned by divine command as representative of spiritual things. But in the narrative of Eden we have pure allegory, with little if any historical basis of literal fact. Yet the cherubim here have the same meaning. Their insertion into the divine allegory was for the purpose of shadowing forth the doctrine of an immediate and universal Providence. It was not intended to indicate that any particular race of supernatural beings were detailed, like the picket guards of an army, to protect the natural spot where stood the sacred tree of life. But it was designed to convey the lesson of an ever-watchful Providence. It teaches it on the same principle and after the same manner as did the outspread wings and heavenly countenance which covered over and looked down upon the ark of the covenant. It kept the way of the tree of life by preventing the vicious, the sensual, and the selfish from understanding the doctrine of love, from appreciating the wisdom of a holy life, and from knowing the exquisite nature of Eden's happiness; lest, understanding, appreciating and knowing, they should profane them, and thereby seal for themselves a yet more bitter doom.

And the cherubim still guard the tree of life. It is the same to-day, and so will always be. The profane cannot see God; the earthly have no relish for heavenly joy; the intensely selfish do not believe in disinterestedness; the grossly impure contend that purity of heart does not exist; the sensual admit not for a moment any wisdom that lifts one's view above the senses. The materialist is chained to matter; the heathen acknowledges no Christ; the idolater is joined to his idols. Brutalism and barbarism have no idea what spirituality means; if they make pretence of being converted, they accept the name of Christianity only, but do not get the real thing. The Lord's providence allows no man to receive more or higher truth than he is prepared to live. We wonder at the slow progress of the nations from heathenism to Christianity; it is the cherubim guarding the way of the tree of life. We Wonder that so few accept the higher views of Christianity revealed by the Lord through Swedenborg; again it is the cherubim guarding the way of the tree of life. The heathen will be converted to Christianity, and Christians will accept more spiritual views of our religion, as they are seen in the Lord's providence to be ready, at least, to try to enter into its spirit and life.

But the cherubim, or Providence and its ministries, will hasten slowly in spite of the unrest of man. The tree of life will be guarded from profanation for men's own benefit, until they can safely take of it, and eat of its fruit without danger of profanation. And though we may be nominal Christians, or nominal receivers of the higher views of Christian truth, lip-service is not necessarily heart-service, nor is outward profession always accompanied by inward perception. And with lips overflowing with creeds, and memories stored with formulated statements of the highest truths, men may still imagine themselves to be eating of the tree of life, while the cherubim stand, with mercy and love, between them and this sacred tree, lest really partaking of its fruit. they should profane.

For the purpose of the allegory, a more strictly literal rendering of the Hebrew text is preferable to that of the authorized version. A high authority renders it thus: "And he [the Lord] made cherubim from the east to dwell at the Garden of Eden, and the flame of a sword turning itself to keep the way of the tree of life." The east is the symbol of the peculiar dwelling-place of the Lord, thus of the Lord himself. What is from the east is from the Lord; what is in the east is spiritually near to the Lord. He who faces the east, faces the Lord; that is, in his heart he looks to the Lord. So the Lord made cherubim from the east, that is, a providence which is peculiarly his own or from Himself, to dwell, or be perpetually operative, at the entrance of the Eden of the heart, to keep the way of the tree of life, and preserve it from profanation.

But there was another provision of Providence to this end, expressed in the correspondential language of the text. There was, to use the more exact version above given, "the flame of a sword turning itself, to keep the way of the tree of life." Had this been a literal garden and its sacred tree a literal tree, one would imagine that its obliteration from the earth were sufficient without literal guards or the flame of a literal sword. But as Eden is the state of celestial love and intelligence, and the tree of life, the Lord as their source and supply, spiritual provision is needed to keep from its sacred precincts the sensual and profane until they are prepared to partake of its fruit without profaning. Everywhere in the Word of the Lord, the burning lusts of unregenerate hearts are likened to fire and flame. The flames of hell are but the blazing fires of self-love, of passion and pride, enmity and envy, gluttony and debauchery, whatever burns in infernal breasts. Whatever is of self or self-derived intelligence, flames up as from a furnace of lust within the heart, whenever it is stirred into activity.

The sword, in the symbolism of the Word, is used to denote the divine truth, which, keen-edged and polished in the hands of him who knows how to wield it, cuts its way through error and delusion, and destroys, in its victorious progress, the sophistries of sensuous reason and the armies of infernal persuasions. But in its opposite sense it is the symbol of falsity warring against truth and good. This is its meaning here. The flame of a sword turning itself, is self-love blazing forth with its false persuasions, and turning every way for strength and confirmation. For when self-love with its attending satellites, evils of every kind, once finds permanent lodging within the heart, it soon persuades that heart that all is right. It turns in every direction or to every method of reasoning, to confirm the man in his chosen position. No falsity is too false for its purpose; no turning from truth can turn too far to accomplish its end; and no rankling lust of self-love can flame too high or burn too brightly to gratify its passion.

Now self-love flaming with false persuasions, is used by Providence as one of the most efficient guards to keep the way of the tree of life. The object sought is, that wicked minds shall not interiorly comprehend the life and love of God. This is for two reasons: One, as we have shown, is, that to interiorly comprehend and yet to live in willful disobedience, is profanation—the one unpardonable sin. The sin is unpardonable, however, not through lack of mercy in the Lord, but through its so searing the soul as to leave it in spiritual ruin. The other is, that a confirmed love of evil, with a knowledge of the full measure of happiness lost, would, to the spirit who has sunk beyond recovery, be everlasting misery.

Now hell exists because men have chosen wickedness; yet there is mercy there. God is mercy itself, and He descends not into hell with inverted nature. Where there is no reform there is no endless torture. But an appreciation of heavenly joy and an eternal knowledge of an everlasting loss of bliss like this, would be unceasing pain. A conscience forever torturing itself over what might have been, having a constant and realizing conviction of its loss, would be unremitting agony. A devil is a devil because he has lost his appreciation of love, of heaven and of heavenly bliss;—because his conscience is blasted through willful and continual sin.

So the flame of the sword turning itself in the heart, self-love and sensualism flaming with false persuasions, keeps man back from reaching for the tree of life and profaning its fruit; and this, because self-love does not appreciate the tree of life, deeming the fruit of the forbidden tree in all respects infinitely superior to it. It is only as self-love ceases to be itself, and that the love of God and good takes its place, that the joy of Eden and heaven is seen and sought. But after death, when conscience is lost and evil is become the rooted love of the soul, the happiness of heaven is a thing impossible to be known; and if approached it is felt as something repulsive and painful.

So no devil could seek to enter the Eden of the other world either to disturb its inhabitants or profane its life, because self-love turns him instinctively away. He is happier elsewhere. It is, from a heavenly point of view, a wretched kind of happiness; nevertheless it is his, and the merciful Lord would keep all as happy as He can. So the flame of the sword which turns itself, is made to keep the way of the tree of life. So Providence protects man's Eden everywhere, and the very best is done for all.

Such is the lesson of the text. It teaches a doctrine that justifies the ways of God with man. He is infinite mercy and love in all his appointments and doings. He is tender with the meanest human being that forfeits the sublime destiny for which he was created. He is always with us all. He goes with us everywhere. He sympathizes with every noble aspiration and heroic struggle. He tries to turn our errors into wise and useful lessons. If we sink into self, He follows us with healing balms for every wound. If we sink beyond recall. He softens even the saddest fall. If we rise toward heaven. He bears us up with tender hands. If we throw ourselves into his loving arms, He will hold us there forever. The cherubim spread their broad protecting wings over all, and even the flame of the turning sword has its lesson of love.