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of the scenery, which composed this terrestrial paradise. In another part how elegantly does Adam exhort Eve to awake to the enjoyment of her flowers and shrubs :

Awake! the morning shines, and the fresh field
Calls us: we lose the prime to mark how spring
Our tender plants; how blows the citron grove;
What drops the myrrh; and what the balmy reed;
How nature paints her colours; how the bee

Sits on the bloom, extracting liquid sweet.

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Not without probability, has it been conjectured, that Milton, while writing this invitation, turned his mental eye to that passage, in the Song of Solomon, where the poet imagines his mistress to suppose her lover desiring her to arise and accompany him into the fields.

Another instance of the love of our first mother, for the products of nature, is afforded us in that passage of the eighth book, where, perceiving the angel and Adam about to enter into high and abstruse discourse, Eve is represented, as rising from her seat and going forth among her fruits and flowers. And when she learns, that she must quit that paradise, in which she had tasted so much happiness, how exquisitely beautiful and pathetic is her lamentation 1!

CHAPTER II.

THE subject of paradise seems to have been a great favourite with painters. It adorns the ceiling of the

1 P. L. B. xi. 269.

church Giovanni e Paolo at Venice, by Palma-il-Giovine; that of the Gl'Incurabili, by Francesco Maffei; and the high altar of the church of Ognessanto, by Paul Veronese. Garofalo has a picture on the same subject at Ferrara; Breughel at Rome; Louis Caracche at Bologna; Giulio Cesare Procacino at Genoa; and Jean Breughel at Paris'. You, my Lelius, have yourself had an opportunity of witnessing, how affecting is Raphael's picture of the expulsion from paradise; where Adam is represented with his hands covering his face, like the father of Iphigenia, in the master-piece of Timanthes.

The situation of Paradise has been variously stated. Origen, Jerome, and Philo Judæus3, conceived it to have had no real existence. St. Ambrose took it in a mystical sense; while the Manichees, contrary to the opinion of Georgius 5, esteemed it synonymous with the earth. From the descriptions of Moses and Milton, it appears to have united the several characters of orchard, park, forest, and garden. Tertullian placed it under the Equinoctial; Postellus under the North Pole; and while some refer it to Susiana, and Arabia Petræa, others, with equal probability, place it in Persia, Syria, Tartary, Ethiopia, and China. Hardouin refers it to the Lake

1 One friend speaks highly of a paradise, in alto relievo, in the cathedral of Orvieto; and another in equal terms of a picture by Juan de Joannez, representing the formation of Eve, during the sleep of Adam, in the church of St. Nicholas at Valencia.

Dan. Damas. lib. ii. c. 21.

'Lib. de Alleg. in Leg. i.

* M. Lib. de Paradi. et in Epist. Sabin. 42.

In Hermo. cant. i. Tom. vii. cap. 21.

2

Genesareth; and Huet and Bochart to a spot between the separation and confluences of the Tigris and Euphrates 1. A writer of South America, cited by Humboldt, re cognises, in the climate of the Caraccas, and in the four torrents, near the Anauco, the Garden of Eden; while others, from the beauty of the country 3, endeavour to establish it in Armenia. But all inquiries respecting the site of Eden are useless! The general flood must have washed away all traces; confounded all waters; and levelled all barriers. Venerable Bede says, however, that it was situated on a mountain, surrounded by sea; and so high, that it touched the very circle of the moon; and, therefore, that the flood never reached it.

Most nations have united to make the future abode of good spirits a garden; a name, among the Persians and Assyrians, synonymous with Paradise! The Mahometans

1 It may not be without its use to the theological student to ́enumerate a few more writers on the supposed site of Paradise. Burnet will assist us. Ephrem Syrus: Moses Cepha: Tatian: James of Valencia: Procopius of Gaza: Beda: Strabus Fuldensis: Epiphanius: Severianus.

2

* Jose de Oviedo. The climate is indeed exquisite. In the day the temperature is between 20° and 26° ;* in the night 16o and 18o. Corn grows there, and apples, apricots, plantains, oranges, and coffee.

3 Memoir of a map of the countries between the Black Sea and the Caspian, p. 46, fol.

* For descriptions, see the works of Justin Martyr, Basil, Isidore, Damascen, Bellarmin, and Alcimus Avitus. Burnet justly observes:-" As we should think him a very unskilful pilot, that sought a place in the new world, (America,) that really was in the old; so they commit no less an error, that seek Paradise in the present earth, as now constituted, which could only belong to the former, and to the state of the first world." Theory of the Earth, vol. i. book ii. p. 251. Ed. 1726.

5 Vid. Bris. de Regn. Pers. lib. i. p. 10. Strabo mentions one in the Plain of Jericho, planted with aromatic shrubs, hence called Balsamie Paradisus. Lib. xvi. 763.

call the paradise, to which the faithful will be called, Jannat le Naim, "the garden of pleasure:" Jannat Aden, "the garden of perpetual abode ;" and, not unfrequently, by the simple name of A Jannat, to distinguish it from all others. Before the time of Mahomet, the Arabians imagined that the same events and passions, which governed them during their earthly existence, would accompany them in their future one. They believed, also, like "the untutored Indian,” that even their favourite animals would accompany them'. They believe now in seven heavens. The first of fine silver; the second of gold; the third of precious stones; the fourth of emeralds; the fifth of crystals; the sixth of a colour like fire; the seventh a garden; the soil of which is composed of flour of the finest quality, scented with musk and saffron: the stones consist of pearls, hyacinths, rubies, and other nameless gems: the trees are of gold, loaded with grapes, dates, citrons and pomegranates; with a profusion of other fruits, far superior to those in beauty and flavour, never yet seen by mortal eye. The rivers flow with milk, wine, and honey; and their banks are lined with beds of saffron.

This garden is fabled to be peopled with Houris,

Millii. Dissertat. de Moham i. 14. The Assamese also believe, that they will be attended in the other world by all those persons and animals, that are interred with them. When a prince dies, therefore, they bury with him an elephant, six horses, twelve camels, and as many hounds; his favourite wife, and many of his officers.

2 The Gambodians of India beyond the Ganges believe, that there are twenty-seven heavens; one above another; to which good men are wafted according to their relative merits; and in which they have beautiful women, and all manner of delicious food and liquors.

whose beauty surpasses the most exquisitely lovely of all captivating women; with whom the faithful, when the angel of death, (to pursue the Arabian allegory), has dissolved the union of the body and the soul 1, are to enjoy the most ecstatic raptures; first by a kiss, and afterwards by an immaculate alliance. Each good Mussulman is promised a vast number of servants; dresses of superlative magnificence; a tent of brilliancy; a profusion of pearls and diamonds; viands served in golden dishes; and delicious, though not intoxicating, wines, sparkling in golden goblets;-with seventy houris: uniting the grandeur of earth and Heaven with eternal enjoyment, in the society of their first parents.

Of all the pleasures of this paradise, however, the most surpassing was that arising from the privilege of beholding the face of God, every morning and every evening.

II.

The Christian creed, on the other hand, affords no definite idea of Heaven;-which some writers suppose is situate in some remote part of infinite space. Giving the fullest and most unbounded scope to the most excursive

i Hyde in Notis ad. Bobov. de visit. Ægrot. 19. Vide Virgil, lib. iv.

702.

• Tableau Général de l'Empire Othoman par M. de M*** D'ohson, p. 47. fol.

3 St John promises the same to the Christians, vid. Rev. xxii. v. 4; also St. Matth. v. 8. St. Augustine says, that the angels of the Cælum Empyrium enjoy the sight of God perpetually. In Epist. ad Dardanium. Ep. lvii. The eighth heaven was called the firmament, or eighth sphere; the empyrium the ninth heaven, where the blessed are supposed to enjoy the beatific vision. This existed before the concave, we now see;—having existed from all eternity.

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