A Treatise of Paradise, Chapter 8
CHAP. VIII.
Whether there was euer any ſuch tree in Paradiſe as the tree of life, or rather that which is written of it in the Scripture is onelyonly to be vnderſtood ſpiritually or figuratiuely.
AS now in this deluge of miſeries, which hauehave ouerflowne the world, there be many which in outward ſhew and words pretend ſo much ſpirit, that they leaue nothing for the inward but acts of carnalitie: ſo there wanted not theſe kindes of monſters in former ages, who though they were neuer ſo farre plunged in the depth of hell, as ours be, yet were they not farre inferiour in the fictitious morallizing of Scripture, or rather wreſting from the true ſenſe the word of God; ſuch were Origines and his fellowes Allegorici, ſo tearmed becauſe they wreſted the Scripture beyond all truth and ſenſe, only to a ſpiritual and allegorical ſenſe, eſpecially thoſe places which ſpeake of Paradiſe and the tree of life: ſome thinking it to bee our Sauiour Chriſt, or word of God incarnate, others the ſole attribute of the eternall wiſdome of God: ſome againe our euerlaſting happineſſe in the kingdome of heauen, according to that of S. Iohn: Reu cha 2. verſ. 2.To him that ouercommeth will I giuegive to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midſt of the Paradiſe of my God: that is, as Eugobinus in his Coſmopoeia holdeth, not our eſſentiall bleſſedneſſe in the ſight of God, as the former opinion is, but a proprietie neceſſarily annexed thereunto, to wit immortalitie, which God had promiſed to Adam and his poſteritie, if they had perſiſted in their firſt ſtate of innocencie wherein Adam was firſt created.
Here be many fictitious propoſitions ill grounded, and which of themſelues are ſufficient to ouerthrow themſelues: the truth and the common opinion, as well of Schoole Diuines, as of Expoſitours of the holy Scriptures and Fathers is, that as the hiſtorie of the tree of life, and the reſt of Paradiſe may well be interpreted in an Allegoricall ſenſe, without any contradiction to the true meaning of the hiſtorie; ſo to vnderſtand it only thus, excluding the hiſtorie, is a manifeſt iniurie done to the Scripture. So S. Auſtine in his 13. booke of the city of God, chap. 21. ſaith, that we may vnderſtand by Paradiſe the bleſſed life of the Saints of God: likewiſe by the foure riuers of Paradiſe the foure cardinall vertues, prudence, fortitude, temperance, & iuſtice: by the trees all profitable Arts and diſciplines; by the fruit of the tree, the good workes of the godly; by the tree of life, wiſdome the mother of all goodneſſe; finally by the tree of knowledge of good and euill, the experience of the commandement tranſgreſſed. Theſe things likewiſe may be vnderſtood of the Church, as propheſies proper vntounto her future eſtate. So that by Paradiſe wee may vnderſtand the Church according to that which wee reade of her in the Canticles. Moreouer, by the foure flouds, the foure Goſpels; by the fruitfull trees, the Saints, whoſe fruits bee their workes; by the tree of life, the Saint of Saints, Chriſt our Sauiour; laſtly, by the tree of the knowledge of good and euill, our owne morall and ciuill actions, not the ſupernaturall, in which wee are more paſſiue then actiue.
Theſe and the like of Origenes and others of the Fathers are queſtionleſſe moſt excellent Allegories, yet not ſuch as may be taken for ſole verities, excluding the plaine hiſtorie of Moſes, and literall ſenſe, which is the ſecond part of my aſſertion, deduced alſo out of S. Auſtine in the place aboue alleaged, where he concludeth thus: Haec & ſiquae alia, Theſe and the like may be ſpiritually applied vntounto Paradiſe, ſo that the truth of the hiſtorie be faithfully kept, and no iniurie offered to the word of God: for if once we giuegive a ſole and generall paſſage to this kinde of Allegoricall expoſition, wee ſhall ſoone bee brought to many fond definitions in matters of faith.