OF BENEDICT PERERIUS, OF THE COMMENTARIES ON GENESIS, BOOK FIVE. Which is concerning the happy state of the first men before sin, or concerning the state of innocence. PREFACE.¹

BENEDICTI PERERII, COMMENTARIORVM IN GENESIM, LIBER QVINTVS. Qui est de foelici primorum hominum statu ante peccatum, seu de statu innocentiae. PRAEFATIO.

“Although the first men were not going to die unless they had sinned, they nevertheless used nourishments, as men, bearing not yet spiritual but still animal, earthly bodies. Which bodies, although they would not grow old by age so as to be brought of necessity to death — a state which was furnished to them by the tree of life, which was in the midst of Paradise together with the forbidden tree, by the wonderful grace of God — yet they also took other foods, lest their animal bodies should feel any trouble by hungering and thirsting. But the tree of life was tasted for this reason, lest death should creep upon them from anywhere, or, worn out by old age, the spaces of time being run through, they should perish.”⁹

Licèt primi homines morituri non essent nisi peccassent, alimétis tamen, vt homines, vtebantur, nondum spiritalia sed adhuc animalia corpora terrena gestantes. Quae licèt senio non veterascerét, vt necessitate perducerentur ad mortem — qui status eis de ligno vitae quod in medio Paradisi cum arbore vetita simul erat, mirabili Dei gratia praestabatur — tamé & alios sumebát cibos, ne animalia corpora molestiae aliquid esuriendo ac sitiédo sentirent. De ligno autem vitae propterea gustabatur, ne mors eis vndecumque subreperet, vel senectute confecti decursis temporum spatijs interirent.

The same Augustine, in book 14 of the same work, chapter 10, writes thus: “But whether the first men had those affections in the animal body before sin, such as we shall not have in the spiritual body when all sin is purged and ended, is not unreasonably asked. For if they had them, how were they blessed in that memorable place of blessedness, that is, in Paradise? For who, at last, can be called absolutely blessed who is affected by fear or grief? But what could those men fear or grieve at, in so great an affluence of so great goods, where neither was death feared, nor any ill health of body, nor was anything lacking which a good will would attain, nor was there anything which would offend the flesh or mind of the man living happily? Love toward God was undisturbed, and [the love] of the spouses living among themselves in faithful and sincere society; and from this love a great joy, that which was loved not ceasing to be enjoyed. There was a tranquil avoidance of sin, which remaining, no evil at all from elsewhere that would sadden rushed in. How happy, then, were the first men, and were agitated by no perturbations of mind, injured by no inconveniences of body! So happy would the whole human society be, if neither they would transmit to posterity the evil [they incurred], nor would anyone of their stock commit iniquity which would receive damnation. And this felicity persisting, until through that blessing by which it was said, ‘Increase and multiply,’ the number of the predestined Saints was completed, another greater [felicity] would be given, which was given to the most blessed Angels, where there would now be a certain security that none would sin and none would die; and such would be the life of the Saints, after no experience of labor, grief, death, as it will be after all these things, in the incorruption of bodies restored by the resurrection of the dead.”¹⁰

Idem Augustinus in eiusdem operis lib. 14. cap. 10. ita scribit: Sed vtrum primi homines habebant istos affectus in corpore animali ante peccatum, quales in corpore spiritali non habebimus omni purgato finitóque peccato, non immerito quaeritur. Si enim habebant, quomodo erant beati in illo memorabili beatitudinis loco, id est, in Paradiso? Quis tandem absolutè dici beatus potest, qui timore afficitur vel dolore? Quid autem timere vel dolere poterant illi homines in tantorum tanta affluentia bonorum, vbi nec mors metuebatur, nec ulla corporis mala valetudo, nec aberat quicquá quod bona voluntas adipisceretur, nec inerat quod carnem animúmve hominis foeliciter viuétis offenderet? Amor erat imperturbatus in Deum, atque inter se coniugum fida & syncera societate viuentium, & ex hoc amore grande gaudium, non desisténte quod amabatur ad fruendum. Erat deuitatio tranquilla peccati, qua manéte nullum omnino aliundè malú quod contristaret irruebat. Quàm igitur foelices erant primi homines, & nullis agitabantur perturbationibus animorum, nullis corporum laedebátur incommodis: tam foelix vniuersa societas esset humana, si nec illi malú quod etiam in posteros traycerent, nec quisquam ex eorum stirpe iniquitatem committeret quae damnationé reciperet. Atque ista permanente foelicitate, donec per illam benedictionem qua dictum est, Crescite & multiplicamini, praedestinatorum Sanctorum numerus compleretur, alia maior daretur, quae beatissimis Angelis data est, vbi iam esset certa securitas peccaturum neminé moriturúmque neminé: & talis esset vita Sanctorum, post nullum laboris, doloris, mortis experimentum, qualis erit post haec omnia in incorruptione corporum reddita resurrectione mortuorum.

Finally, in chapter 26 of the same book, Augustine disputes concerning the same state in this manner: “Man lived in Paradise as he wished, as long as he wished, [doing] that which God had commanded: he lived enjoying God, from which Good he was good; he lived without any want, having it in his power thus always to live. Food was at hand lest he hunger, drink lest he thirst, the tree of life lest old age dissolve him: nothing of corruption in the body, or from the body, brought any troubles to any of his senses. No internal [disease...] [continues]¹¹

Denique in eiusdem lib. c. 26. de eodem statu hunc in modum disputat Augustinus: Viuebat homo in Paradiso sicut volebat, quandiu volebat, quod Deus iusserat: viuebat fruens Deo, ex quo bono erat bonus: viuebat sine vlla egestate, ita semper viuere habens in potestate. Cibus aderat ne esuriret, potus ne sitiret, lignum vitae ne illum senecta dissolueret: nihil corruptionis in corpore, vel ex corpore, vllas molestias vllis eius sensibus ingerebat. Nullus intrin-[secus...]

[...No internal] disease, no blow from without was feared. The highest health in the flesh, in the soul all tranquillity. As in Paradise there was no heat or cold, so in its inhabitant no offense to good will came from desire or fear. Nothing at all sad, nothing was emptily glad: a true joy was perpetuated from God, toward whom charity burned from a pure heart and a good conscience and unfeigned faith; and among the spouses a faithful society from honest love, a concordant watchfulness of mind and body, and a keeping of the commandment without labor. No weariness wearied the idle, no sleep oppressed the unwilling. In so great a facility of things and felicity of men, far be it that we should suspect that offspring could not be sown without the disease of lust — but that those members would be moved by the same nod of the will as the others, and without the enticing goad of ardor, with tranquillity of mind, and with no corruption of the body's integrity, the husband would be poured into the lap of the wife. For it is not, because it cannot be proved by experience, therefore not to be believed; since a turbid heat would not move those parts of the body, but a spontaneous power would apply them as need required: so that now the virile seed could be sent into the spouse's womb, the integrity of the female genital being safe, just as now, that same integrity being safe, the flux of menstrual blood can be emitted from a virgin's womb. For by the same way it could be injected, by which this can be ejected. For as, for giving birth, not a groan of pain but the impulse of maturity would relax the female viscera, so, for impregnating and conceiving, not the appetite of lust but a voluntary use would join the two natures.” And these things, truly splendid, excellent, and admirable, concerning that state, Augustine left in his writings.¹²

[...Nullus intrin]secus morbus, nullus ictus metuebatur extrinsecus. Summa in carne sanitas, in anima tota tranquillitas. Sicut in Paradiso nullus erat aestus aut frigus, sic in eius habitatore nulla ex cupiditate vel timore accedebat bonae voluntatis offensio. Nihil omnino triste, nihil erat inaniter laetum: gaudium verum perpetuabatur ex Deo, in quem flagrabat charitas ex corde puro & conscientia bona & fide non ficta: atque inter se coniugum fida ex honesto amore societas, concors mentis corporisque vigilia, & mandati sine labore custodia. Non lassitudo fatigabat ociosum, non somnus premebat inuitum. In tanta facilitate rerum & foelicitate hominum, absit vt suspicemur non potuisse prolem seri sine libidinis morbo, sed eo voluntatis nutu moueretur illa membra quo caetera, & sine ardoris illecebroso stimulo cum tranquillitate animi, & corporis nulla corruptione integritatis infunderetur gremio maritus vxoris. Neque enim quia experiétia probari non potest, ideò credendum non est: quando illas corporis partes non ageret turbidus calor, sed spontanea potestas sicut opus esset adhiberet: ita nunc potuisse vtero coniugis salua integritate foeminei genitalis virile semé immitti, sicut nunc potest eadem integritate salua ex vtero virginis fluxus menstrui cruoris emitti. Eadem quippe via posset illud iniyci, qua hoc potest eyci. Vt enim ad pariendum non doloris gemitus sed maturitatis impulsus foeminea viscera relaxaret, sic ad foetandum & cócipiendum non libidinis appetitus sed voluntarius vsus naturam vtramque coniungeret. Atque haec quidé de illo statu praeclara sanè, eximia, & admiranda in scriptis réliquit Augustinus.

But what of Gregory? truly things not unlike Augustine, for in the Prologue of the third penitential Psalm he writes in this manner: “The Sabbath is interpreted ‘rest’: the human race had a sabbath in the first parent, who, as long as he stood firm in obedience to his Creator, rested on the most sweet bed of divine contemplation. For in Paradise the first man, possessed of delights, just as he could feel no hunger in his soul, so also was ignorant of every passion which is born from the flesh. But after, by sinning, he lost the familiarity of divine converse, succumbing to the laws of death, he lost the rest of eternal felicity, and fell into the stormy waves of worldly instability, because he scorned to keep the state of rectitude. The faithful soul, therefore, recalling to memory the rest lost in the first man, and nonetheless contemplating, by the agility of the spirit, the future sabbath of eternal life, desires to be snatched from all corruption of spirit and flesh, and prays that, the term of this life being completed, it may be led without delay to the future rest of unfailing beatitude.” Thus Gregory.¹³

QVID verò Gregorius? sanè non dissimilia Augustino, namque in Prologo tertij Psalmi poenitentialis hoc modo scribit: Sabbathum, requies interpretatur: sabbathum habuit genus humanum in primo parente, qui quandiu in conditoris sui obedientia perstitit, in suauissimo contemplationis diuinae lecto requieuit. In Paradiso namque primus homo delicijs potitus, sicut nullam in anima poterat sentire esuriem, ita etiam omnem quae ex carne nascitur ignorabat passionem. At postquam diuini colloquij peccando familiaritatem perdidit, mortis legibus succúbens, requiem foelicitatis aeternae amisit, & in procellosos mundanae instabilitatis corruit fluctus, quia statum rectitudinis seruare contempsit. Fidelis ergo anima requiem in primo homine perditam ad memoriam reuocans, & futurum nihilominus vitae aeternae sabbathum spiritus agilitate contemplans, ab omni spiritus & carnis optat corruptione eripi, & ad futuram indeficientis beatitudinis requiem, consummato huius vitae termino, orat sine cunctatione perduci. Sic Gregorius.

Damascene also thought so magnificently, so splendidly and sublimely about that state, that nothing [could be] beyond it. For, disputing about Paradise in book 2 On the Orthodox Faith, chapter 11: “Since,” he says, “God was about to form man, from the visible creation, to His own image and likeness, as a kind of King and Prince of the whole earth and of those which are in it, He built beforehand for him, as it were, a Royal palace, in which, dwelling, he might lead a blessed and in every part happy life. And this is the divine Paradise, planted by the hands of God in Eden, the storehouse of all gladness and pleasure, higher than all the earth, of the best temperature, and splendid with the most subtle and purest air, distinguished by ever-flourishing plants, filled with sweetness of fragrance, and full of light, surpassing all sensible [loveliness...] [continues]¹⁴

DAMASCENVS quoque tam magnificè, tam splendidè ac sublimiter eo de statu sensit, vt nihil suprà. De Paradiso enim disputans in lib. 2. de Fide orthod. cap. 11. Quia, inquit, Deus ex visibili creatura plasmaturus erat hominem ad suam imaginem & similitudinem, tanquam quendam Regem & Principem vniuersa terrae & eorum qui in ea sunt, praestruxit ei quádam veluti Regiam, in qua diuersans beatam & omni ex parte foelicem duceret vitam. Et ipse est diuinus Paradisus, Dei manibus in Eden plantatus, laetitiae & voluptatis omnis promptuarium, excelsior omni terra, optima temperie, & aëre subtilissimo atque purissimo splendidus, plantis semper virentibus insignis, odoris suauitate refertus, plenúsque lumine, vniuersa sensibilis [venustatis...]

[...surpassing all sensible] loveliness and beauty beyond understanding. A divine place, indeed, and worthy of the habitation of him who had been created to the image of God: in which no irrational creature dwelt, but only man, the work of divine hands. And before Adam had tasted the forbidden food, he himself and Eve were naked, and they were not ashamed: for thus God wished us to be impassible. Without care also and solicitude we should have had but one work, which is the Angels' — to praise the Creator unwearyingly and assiduously, and to be delighted by His contemplation. But Adam, remaining with his body in this divine and more-than-beautiful place, his soul dwelt in a place incomparably higher and more beautiful, having God as His domestic guest and indweller — who was also a glorious garment to him, and who had clothed him round about with grace, [Adam] being delighted by the one sweetest fruit of His contemplation; and he was, as it were, another Angel, nourished by heavenly food.” Thus far from Damascene.¹⁵

[...vniuersa sensibilis] venustatis & pulchritudinis superexcellens intelligentiam. Diuinus profectò locus, ac dignus eius qui ad imaginem Dei creatus fuerat incolatu: in quo nullum irrationalium habitabat, sed solus homo diuinarum manuum factura. Et priusquam vetitum cibum gustasset Adam, nudus erat ipse & Eua, nec erubescebant: sic enim impassibiles volebat nos esse Deus. Sine cura etiam & solicitudine vnum duntaxat opus habuissemus, quod Angelorum est, laudare indefessè & assiduè Creatorem, & ipsius contemplatione delectari. Corpore autem in hoc diuino & plusquàm pulchro loco manens Adam, anima eius in loco incomparabiliter superiori & pulchriori conuersabatur, Deum habens domesticum & inhabitantem. Qui & gloriosum illi erat indumentum, quique illi circum amicierat gratiam, solo sua dulcissimo contemplationis fructu delectato: eratque veluti quidam alter Angelus coelesti enutritus cibo. Hactenus ex Damasceno.