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Objection 1: It would seem that paradise was not a place adapted to
be the abode of man. For man and angels are similarly ordered to
beatitude. But the angels from the very beginning of their existence
were made to dwell in the abode of the blessed---that is, the
empyrean heaven. Therefore the place of man's habitation should have
been there also.
Objection 2: Further, if some definite place were required for
man's abode, this would be required on the part either of the soul or
of the body. If on the part of the soul, the place would be in
heaven, which is adapted to the nature of the soul; since the desire
of heaven is implanted in all. On the part of the body, there was no
need for any other place than the one provided for other animals.
Therefore paradise was not at all adapted to be the abode of man.
Objection 3: Further, a place which contains nothing is useless.
But after sin, paradise was not occupied by man. Therefore if it
were adapted as a dwelling-place for man, it seems that God made
paradise to no purpose.
Objection 4: Further, since man is of an even temperament, a
fitting place for him should be of even temperature. But paradise was
not of an even temperature; for it is said to have been on the
equator---a situation of extreme heat, since twice in the year the
sun passes vertically over the heads of its inhabitants. Therefore
paradise was not a fit dwelling-place for man.
On the contrary, Damascene says (De Fide Orth. ii, 11):
"Paradise was a divinely ordered region, and worthy of him who was
made to God's image."
I answer that, As above stated (Question 97, Article 1),
Man was incorruptible and immortal, not because his body had a
disposition to incorruptibility, but because in his soul there was a
power preserving the body from corruption. Now the human body may be
corrupted from within or from without. From within, the body is
corrupted by the consumption of the humors, and by old age, as above
explained (Question 97, Article 4), and man was able to ward
off such corruption by food. Among those things which corrupt the body
from without, the chief seems to be an atmosphere of unequal
temperature; and to such corruption a remedy is found in an atmosphere
of equable nature. In paradise both conditions were found; because,
as Damascene says (De Fide Orth. ii, 11): "Paradise was
permeated with the all pervading brightness of a temperate, pure, and
exquisite atmosphere, and decked with ever-flowering plants."
Whence it is clear that paradise was most fit to be a dwelling-place
for man, and in keeping with his original state of immortality.
Reply to Objection 1: The empyrean heaven is the highest of
corporeal places, and is outside the region of change. By the first
of these two conditions, it is a fitting abode for the angelic nature:
for, as Augustine says (De Trin. ii), "God rules corporeal
creatures through spiritual creatures." Hence it is fitting that the
spiritual nature should be established above the entire corporeal
nature, as presiding over it. By the second condition, it is a
fitting abode for the state of beatitude, which is endowed with the
highest degree of stability. Thus the abode of beatitude was suited to
the very nature of the angel; therefore he was created there. But it
is not suited to man's nature, since man is not set as a ruler over
the entire corporeal creation: it is a fitting abode for man in regard
only to his beatitude. Wherefore he was not placed from the beginning
in the empyrean heaven, but was destined to be transferred thither in
the state of his final beatitude.
Reply to Objection 2: It is ridiculous to assert that any
particular place is natural to the soul or to any spiritual substances,
though some particular place may have a certain fitness in regard to
spiritual substances. For the earthly paradise was a place adapted to
man, as regards both his body and his soul---that is, inasmuch as
in his soul was the force which preserved the human body from
corruption. This could not be said of the other animals. Therefore,
as Damascene says (De Fide Orth. ii, 11): "No irrational
animal inhabited paradise"; although, by a certain dispensation, the
animals were brought thither by God to Adam; and the serpent was able
to trespass therein by the complicity of the devil.
Reply to Objection 3: Paradise did not become useless through being
unoccupied by man after sin, just as immortality was not conferred on
man in vain, though he was to lose it. For thereby we learn God's
kindness to man, and what man lost by sin. Moreover, some say that
Enoch and Elias still dwell in that paradise.
Reply to Objection 4: Those who say that paradise was on the
equinoctial line are of opinion that such a situation is most
temperate, on account of the unvarying equality of day and night; that
it is never too cold there, because the sun is never too far off; and
never too hot, because, although the sun passes over the heads of the
inhabitants, it does not remain long in that position. However,
Aristotle distinctly says (Meteor. ii, 5) that such a region is
uninhabitable on account of the heat. This seems to be more probable;
because, even those regions where the sun does not pass vertically
overhead, are extremely hot on account of the mere proximity of the
sun. But whatever be the truth of the matter, we must hold that
paradise was situated in a most temperate situation, whether on the
equator or elsewhere.
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