Sacred Theory of the Earth: Book II: Chapter VII

CHAPTER VII

The place of Paradise cannot be determin’d from the Theory only, nor from Scripture only; what the sence of Antiquity was concerning it, both as to the Jews and Heathens, and especially as to the Christian Fathers; That they generally plac’d it out of this Continent, in the Southern Hemisphere.

WE have now prepar’d our work for the last finishing stroaks; describ’d the first Earth, and compar’d it with the Present; and not only the two Earths, but in a good measure the whole State and Oeconomy of those two Worlds. It remains only to determine the place of Paradise in that Primæval Earth; I say, in that Primæval Earth, for we have driven the point so far already, that the seat of it could not be in the present Earth, whose Form, Site, and Air are so dispos’d, as could not consist with the first and most indispensable properties of Paradise: And accordingly, we see with what ill success our modern Authors have rang’d over the Earth, to find a fit spot of ground to plant Paradise in; some would set it on the top of an high Mountain, that it might have good Air and fair weather, as being above the Clouds, and the middle Region; but then they were at a loss for Water, which made a great part of the pleasure and beauty of that place; Others therefore would seat it in a Plain, or in a River-Island, that they might have Water enough, but then it would be subject to the injuries of the Air, and foul weather at the seasons of the Year, from which, both Reason and all Authority have exempted Paradise. ’Tis like seeking a perfect beauty in a mortal Body, there are so many things requir’d to it, as to complexion, Features, Proportions and Air, that they never meet altogether in one person; neither can all the properties of a Terrestrial Paradise ever meet together in one place, though never so well chosen, in this present Earth.

But in the Primæval Earth, which we have describ’d, ’tis easie to find a Seat that had all those beauties and conveniences; we have every where, through the temperate Climates, a clear and constant Air, a fruitful Soil, pleasant Waters, and all the general characters of Paradise; so that the trouble will be rather, in that competition, what part or Region to pitch upon in particular. But to come as near it as we can, we must remember in the first place, how that Earth was divided into two Hemispheres, distant and separated from one another, not by an imaginary line, but by a real boundary that could not be past; so as the first inquiry will be, in whether of these Hemispheres was the Seat of Paradise. To answer this only according to our Theory, I confess, I see no natural reason or occasion to place it in one Hemisphere more than in another, I see no ground of difference

But as the latter part was their mistake, so the former is acknowledg’d by Christian Authors, as well as others; and particularly St. Clement, in his Epistle to the Corinthians, mentions a World, or Worlds beyond the Ocean, subject to Divine Providence, and the great Lord of Nature, as well as ours. This passage of St. Clement is also cited by St. Jerom, in his Commentary upon Ephes. 2. 2 and by Origen Periarchon, where the Inhabittants of that other World are call’d Antichthones.

I make this remark in the first place, that we may understand the true sence and importance of those phrases and expressions amongst the Ancients, when they say Paradise was in another World. Which are not to be so understood, as if they thought Paradise was in the Moon, or in Jupiter, or hung above like a Cloud or a Meteor, they were not so extravagant; but that Paradise was in another Hemisphere, which was call’d Antichthon, another Earth, or another World from Ours; and justly reputed so, because of an impossibility of commerce or intercourse betwixt their respective Inhabitants. And this remark being premis’d, we will now distribute the Christian Authors and Fathers that have deliver’d their opinion concerning the place of Paradise, into three or four ranks or orders; and though they express themselves differently, you will see, when duly examin’d and expounded, they all conspire and concur in the forementioned conclusion, That the Seat of Paradise was in the other Hemisphere.

In the first rank then we will place and reckon those that have set Paradise in another World, or in another Earth; seeing, according to the foregoing Explication, that is the same thing, as to affirm it seated beyond the Torrid Zone in the other Hemisphere. In this number are Ephrem Syrus, Moses Bar Cepha, Tatianus, and

1 we before explain’d it) is to be understood to be that Antichthon, or Anti-hemisphere which the Ancients oppos’d to ours.

Another sett of Authors, that interpret the Flaming Sword that guarded Paradise to be the Torrid Zone, do plainly intimate, that Paradise in their opinion lay beyond the Torrid Zone, or in the Anti-hemisphere; And thus Tertullian interprets the Flaming Sword, and in such words as fully confirm our sence: Paradise, He says, by the Torrid Zone, as by a wall of Fire, was sever’d from the communication and knowledge of our World. It lay then on the other side of this Zone. And St. Cyprian, or the ancient Author that passeth under his name, in his Comment upon Genesis, expresseth himself to the same effect; so also St. Austin and Isidore Hispalensis are thought to interpret it: And Aquinas, who makes Paradise inaccessible, gives this reason for it, Propter vehementiam æstûs in locis intermediis ex propinquitate Solis, & hoc significatur per Flammeum Gladium: Because of that vehement heat in the parts betwixt us and that, arising from the nearness of the Sun, and this is signified by the Flaming Sword. And this interpretation of the Flaming Sword receives a remarkable force and Emphasis from our Theory and description of the Primæval Earth, for there the Torrid Zone was as a wall of Fire indeed, or a Region of flame which none could pass or subsist in, no more than in a Furnace.

There is another form of expression amongst the Ancients concerning Paradise, which, if deciphered, is of the same force and signification with this we have already instanc’d in; They say sometimes, Paradise was beyond the Ocean, or that the Rivers of Paradise came from beyond the Ocean. This is of the same import with the former Head, and points still at the other Hemisphere; for, as we noted before, some of them fixt their Antichthon and Antichthones beyond the Ocean; that is, since there was an Ocean, Since the form of the Earth was chang’d, and the Torrid Zone become habitable, and consequently could not be a boundary or separation betwixt the two Worlds. Wherefore, as some run still upon the old division by the Torrid Zone, others took the new division by the Ocean. Which Ocean they suppos’d to lie from East to West betwixt the Tropicks; as may be seen in ancient Authors, Geminus, Herodotus, Cicero de Republicâ, and Clemens Romanus, whom we cited before. St. Austin also speaks upon the same supposition, when he would confute the doctrine of the Antipodes, or Antichthones; and Macrobius, I remember, makes it an Argument of Providence, that the Sun and the Planets, in what part of their course soever they are betwixt the two Tropicks, have still the Ocean under them, that they may be cool’d and nourisht by its

ancient Author that I know upon this subject, at least of those that writ of it literally, is Moses Bar Cepha, a Syrian Bishop, who liv’d about seven hundred years since, and his Book is translated into Latin, by that Learned and Judicious man, Andreas Masius. Bar Cepha writes upon the same Views of Paradise that we have here presented, that it was beyond the Ocean, in another tract of Land, or another Continent from that which we inhabit: As appears from the very Titles of his Eighth, Tenth, and Fourteenth Chapters. But we must allow him for his mistaken Notions about the form of the Earth; for he seems to have fansied the Earth plain, (not only as oppos’d to rough and Mountainous, for so it was plain; but as oppos’d to Spherical) and the Ocean to have divided it in two parts, an Interiour, and an Exteriour, and in that Exteriour part was Paradise. Such allowances must often be made for Geographical mistakes, in examining and understanding the writings of the Ancients. The rest of the Syrian Fathers, as well as Ephrem and Bar Cepha, incline to the same doctrine of Paradise, and seem to have retain’d more of the ancient Notions concerning it, than the Greek and Latin Fathers have; and yet there is in all some fragments of this doctrine, and but fragments in the best.

Footnotes

185:1 Οἰχουμένη.