Carver’s work, which was originally composed in about 1640, took issue with the accepted view (as expressed in the work of Franciscus Junius, and followed by Ralegh and others) that paradise had been situated in Mesopotamia. Arguing in part from the works of ancient geographers, Carver suggested instead that the literal sense of the Bible was served better by assuming that Eden had been placed at the sources of the rivers mentioned in Genesis 2. He therefore located paradise in Armenia, close to the landing place of the Ark, which (like Bochart, catalogue no. 83) he identified with Mount Gordiaeus. He hoped that his solution to the geographical problems of Genesis would aid the Christian reader in ‘believing the infallible Veracity of the Holy Scriptures’ (sig.a6verso), and combat the blasphemous doubts of the Ranters and Quakers. Although he was less willing than some to rely on the findings of modern geographers and travellers, Carver was optimistic that the investigation of nature would produce information which complemented the narrative of the Bible and which gave support to orthodox techniques of interpretation.