Pure was the river once that flow’d,
Through Eden’s calm retreat;
For sin and death were then unknown,
And naught the eye could meet
But tokens of God’s bounteous hand,
Whose mercies, full and free,
Surrounded man on every side;
A happy creature he.
But lo! the serpent’s voice was heard
Within that garden fair;
The woman listen’d, and she fell
Beneath the tempter’s snare.
Then all was in a moment gone,
And evil reigned around;
The day of innocence was o’er,
And cursed was the ground.
The river parted into four,
Each with a different name;
And, as their streams ran far and wide,
Strange news did they proclaim;
And yet not strange, for sin had come,
Hence “grace” must be display’d.
Or man eternally be lost,
Though in God’s image made.
Then mark the “change,” which “Pison” means,
For, as that river ran,
It compass’d all “Havilah’s” coast,
With “suffering” deep for man;
Yet, spite of suffering, curse, and death.
God’s matchless “grace” forbore;
This, “Gihon’s” healing streams proclaim’d
Round “Ethiopia’s” shore.
But grace despised must end in woe,
So “Hiddekel” declares
God’s judgment soon will o’vertake
The one who mercy dares;
Yes, in its own appointed sphere,
That judgment swift will fall
On dwellers in “Assyria,” as
God’s word doth here recall.
Then hearken to the Spirit’s voice,
Ye, who this record scan,
The last-named river hath no shore,
Grave warning this to man;
Its meaning all can tell;
Then whither, reader, art thou bound:
For heaven, or for hell?
NOTE. ―The following are the meaning of the name of the various rivers and lands, mentioned in Genesis (ch. 2, vers. 8-14): —
Rivers and Lands with Meanings
Pison, i.e., Change; Havilah, i.e., Suffering; Gihon, i.e., Grace; Ethiopia. i.e., The place of the curse; Hiddekel, i.e., Judgment; Assyria, i.e., Place where judgment is poured out. Euphrates indicates Eternity, no limits, or land, being mentioned in connection therewith.
S.T.