173. Iesus speaks about paradise
'Consider, then,'
said Iesus,
'the abundance of paradise. For if God hath given to man in this world an ounce of well-being, in paradise he will give him ten hundred thousand loads. Consider the quantity of fruits that are in this world, the quantity of food, the quantity of flowers, and the quantity of things that minister to man. As God liveth, in whose presence my soul standeth, as the sea hath still sand over and above when one receiveth a grain thereof, even so will the quality and quantity of figs {in paradise} excel the sort of figs we eat here. And in like manner every other thing in paradise. But furthermore, I say unto you that verily, as a mountain (of gold and pearls) is more precious than the shadow of an ant, even so are the delights of paradise more precious than all the delights of the princes (of the world) which they have had and shall have even unto the judgment of God when the world shall have an end.'
Peter answered:
'Shall, then, our body which we now have go into paradise?'
Iesus answered:
'Beware, Peter, lest thou become a Sadducee; for the Sadducees say that the flesh shall not rise again, and that there be no angels. Wherefore their body and soul are deprived of entrance into paradise, and they are deprived of all ministry (of angels) in this world. Bast thou perchance forgotten Job (prophet and friend of God) how he saith: "I know that my God liveth; and in the last day I shall rise again in my flesh, and with mine eyes I shall see God my Saviour"?
'But believe me, this flesh (of ours) shall be so purified that it shall not possess a single property of those which now it hath; seeing that it shall be purged of every evil desire, and God shall reduce it to such a condition as was Adam's before he sinned.
'Two men serve one master in one and the same work. The one alone seeth the work, and giveth orders to the second, and the second performeth all that the first commandeth. Seemeth it just to you, I say, that the master should reward only him who seeth and commandeth, and should cast out of his house him who wearied himself in the work? Surely not.
'How then shall the justice of God bear this? The soul and the body with sense of man serve God: the soul only seeth and commandeth the service, because the soul, eating no bread, fasteth not, {the soul} walketh not, feeleth not cold and heat, falleth not sick, and is not slain, because the soul is immortal: it suffereth not any of those corporal pains which the body suffers at the instance of the elements. Is it, then, just, I say, that the soul alone should go into paradise, and not the body, which hath wearied itself so much in serving God?'
Peter answered:
'O master, the body, having caused the soul to sin, ought not to be placed in paradise.'
Iesus answered:
'Now how shall the body sin without the soul? Assuredly it is impossible. Therefore, in taking away God's mercy from the body, thou condemnest the soul to hell.'