The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-12-16
last repulsed, and for thIrty-six years the
saint told the story of Paradise.

ooA1e tCA0 tAAT SUI VI
The various ap~ocalypses. both Jewish and
Christian. contain numerous descriptions
Of Paradise. generally, however. OF the
heavenly one. 1 transcribe here as a speci-
men Of this kind of literature a brief de-
s~cription taken from the lately discovered
Apocalypse of Peter, certainly the oldest
Christian document of this kind. and dating
probably from early in the second century:
And the Lord showed me a very great
country outside of this world, exceeding
bright with light. and the air there light
ed with rays Of the sun. and the earth it
self blooming with unfading flowers and
full of spices and plants. fair towering and
i~ncorruptible. and bearing blessed fruit.
And so great was the perfume that it was
borne thence even unto US. And the dwell
lers in that place were clad i'm the raj
ment of shining angels, and their raiment
was like unto their country; and angels
lowered about them there. And as we
looked upon them. we were astounded. for
their bodies were whittier than any snow
and ruddier than any rose; and the red
thereof was mingled with the white, and
L am utterly unable to express their
beauty, for their hair was curly and bright
and seemly both on their face and shout
ders, as il were a wreath woven of spike
nard and divers-colored flowers, or like a
rainbow in the sky, such was their SEEM
Iiness."
The ideas here embodied seem to be
drawn rather from classical than from
Jewish sources, and there is little refer
ence to the imagery of the canonical
Apocalypse of st. John. A passage from
4 fho GrooIr n0at D;plor .oooIr;nor 1f +t,a
dwelling place of the gods, affords a
striking parallel: For them shineth be-
low the strength of the sun, while in our
world it is night. and the space of crimson
Powered meadow before their city is full of
the shade of frankincense trees, and Of
fruits of gold. And some in horses, and
in bodily feats, and some in dice, and some
IN harp playing nave delight, and among
them thriveth all f-air-howering bliss, and
fragrance streameth ever through that
lovely land. as they mingle incense of
every kind upon the affairs of the gods"
A COPTIC DOCUMENT.
Still another type of early Christian ideas
of Paradise, this time a terrestrial one, is
presented in the Coptic Acts of st. Matthew
in Kahauat, an early document OF probably
Gnostic origin. 1t represents this apostle
as having reached, on one of his missionary
journeys. a city called Prokumenos, or
Gladpess. AS he entered there 10 preach
the people told him that the name of the
Lord was well known to them, and that
He personally dwelt among them. And
whilst the apostle was still there the Lord
descended, and at midday the angel Ga
briel also came with $4,000 children, who
were those slain at Bethlehem by Herod.
In this land one needs neither gold nor
silver, they eat not flesh and drink no wine,
for honey is their food and dew their drink.
All the first born of children are devoted
to serve before the Lord for three years.
They wear no clothes of human fabrication,
and no untrue word is heard in the land.
No man has two wives and no son dies be-
fore his father. The young speak not be-
fore the old. If the wind blows it bears to
them the fragrance of the garden. In this
land is neither summer nor winter, neither
cold nor frost, but the breath of life.
The city of Christ, which is described nj
length in the apocryphal Apocalypse OF
st. Paul gives still another conception OF
a Paradise which is not heaven proper
but it adds nothing to the imagery of tn,
others, is in fact mainly Jewish in concep.
ton.
The middle ages were prolific in specu
lations as to the site of the original terres
trial Paradise. Many maps gave 1t a geo
graphical location.
Good st. Brendan, the Irish monk of thu
sixth century, whose voyages are so fam
Gus. was responsible for one Of the mos
persistent of these locations. He elaine
to have found Paradise on an isle in tn,
Western ocean, and as Ursula Pardita, tn
Lost island. it was long marked on tn
maps. The idea, no doubt, had much L
do with stimulating the voyages for dis
covery that finally revealed the western
world. He found the island, only afte
seven years of voyaging. 1t was so larg
: that he walked through it for fifteen day
: without finding the end. There all plant
[ had flowers. all trees fruits and all tn
stones were precious gems.
2 BEYOND THE OCEAN"
l Cosmas, who wrote in the seventh cen
tury, placed Paradise to the east of tn
e earth, in a continent beyond the ocean
The four rivers that watered Eden cam
. by subterranean channels to burst fort
in this land. The legend that puts it i
Ceylon is well known. 1t was located i
{ an island near Asia by Lambertus Floridu
: in the twelfth century, by the famou
Hereford map of the next century, by Ra
D banus Maurus, by James de Vitry and b
Z the Icelandic Saga of Erik, the son @
6 Thrand.
This remarkable poem of the fourteent
4 century gives at great length the adven
lures of it's hero, who, having learned fror
the Greek Emperor at C~onstantinople tn
location of Paradise, went in search of
and found 1t. 1t is thus described: I'll
land was most beautiful, and the grass a
gorgeous as purple; it was studded wit
flowers and was traversed by honey rill'
The land was extensive and level, so tha
there was not TO be seen mountain or hill
: and the sun shone ~cloudless, without nigf
or darkness; the calm of the air was grea
and that which there was 'breathed redo
lent with the odor of blossoms
Other men located Paradise on the cor
tinent of Asia. The famous apocryph;
letter of Prester John, which was believe
in the middle ages. says it was near HI
own dominions, wherever that was. Cor
zales says that it was at the source of til
~