The Garden Era of Man's Existence

Guided by geological laws we can, therefore, assign the Garden era of the Edenic period of Man's existence to the close of the pre-Tertiary. We have an indication of the duration of the Garden period, in the climatic conditions under which Man is described as there existing during a period of indefinite length; before the close of which those conditions were essentially changed. A period of cold came on which necessitated the wearing of fur clothing. It is a curious circumstance how perfectly this agrees with the climatic changes which introduced the Tertiary period, as laid down by modern geologists. The Garden period, then, closed with the coming on of the cold of the Tertiary; during which era, however, the climate and all other conditions were favourable for the distribution of Man over the globe.

It will be noted that in the Eden [1] narrative the driving from the Garden took place gradually: Man is first sent forth; is then clothed in fur; is then driven out, excluding him for ever from a return to his primitive home. The Garden spot was left behind, and Man went forth to till the ground whence he was taken, and to which he must return.

At the close of the Tertiary era occurred the Deluge, which, in the period of Mammal life, was the first continental convulsion of a universal character which changed the face of the inhabited world. That convulsion introduced the Quaternary (Glacial or Drift) period, which answers the conditions of the Genesis account as to the era of Noah's Flood.

Notes

[1] Eden: The first migration from Eden mentioned in the Genesis accounts, is that of the Cainites, eastward. The northern portions of the Asiatic, European, and American continents would seem to have been the area of the first dispersion of mankind; which, going on through the Tertiary period, we may suppose, gradually overspread the then habitable portions of the globe. Remains of the human race belonging to the Tertiary period have been discovered in North America and in Europe: and announced as the latest result of modern geological science in respect to the age of Man upon the earth. Although it is stated that in this period the arts of metallurgy and music were well advanced at the civilized centre of Eden, it is not to be supposed that the migratory nomads of the Cainite dispersion would have made use of any other than the rudest implements of stone and flint in their wanderings to the uttermost parts of the then habitable globe—MacWhorter.