Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/577

 TERRESTRIAL

519

TERRESTRIAL

Oratory he devoted himself to preaching, and winning high reputation was called to fill important pulpits. He preached the Lenten sermons of 1717 before Louis XI\s next at the Court of Lorraine, and later twice in the metropoUtan church of Paris with considerable success; the last of these series broke down his health and led to his death. His eloquent diction, which was enhanced by his outward action, was marked by nobility and simplicity of thought, by forcefulness and absence of artificiality. His good judgment led him to avoid mere brilliancy of expression and clever artifices of speech, but he was sometimes cold, per- haps as a result of his Jansenistic procUvities. About fifty of his discour.ses, mostly delivered as Lenten lectures, are preserved, and were published at Paris (4 vols., 1726, 1736).

Gaspard, brother of the preceding, b. at Lyons, Oct., 1680; d. at Paris, 2 Jan., 1752. He was also a member of the Oratory, teaching humanities and af- terwards philosophy. His oratorical gifts were re- vealed at Troves, 1711, on delivering the funeral oration of the Dauphin, son of Louis XIV; but he did not devote himself to the pulpit till after his brother's death, when he fulfilled several engagements which the latter had made. Soon his reputation increased beyond that of Andr6. For five years he preached at Paris, and finally delivered a Lenten course in the Church of Notre Dame. More stub- bom even than his brother, he appealed time after time against the Bull "Unigenitus"; he even pub- hshed anonymously twelve "Lettres sur la justice chr^tienne" (Paris, 1733), in which, to support the Jansenists whom the bishops deprived of the sacra- ments, he endeavoured to prove the inutihty of sacra- mental confession. This work was condemned by the faculty of theology at Paris (1 Sept., 1734), and by the Archbishops of Sens and Embrun, as contain- ing erroneous, schismatical and heretical assertions. Terrasson had to leave the Oratory and abandon preaching. He withdrew to the Diocese of Auxerre where the bishop, M. de Caylus, a well-known Jan- senist, confided to him the care of Treigni. But he was soon arrested (Oct., 1735) by the order of the king for his Jansenistic activities, and was confined during nine years either at Vincennes or with the Minims of Argenteuil. A belated retractation, the authenticity or sincerity of which has never been well estabhshed, was attributed to him. He was living in retirement with his family when he died. As a preacher his chief characteristics are simplicity and clearness, but at times he carries the subdivision of his matter to excess; his style is somewhat dry and lacks vigour. Like his brother he holds a high place among the orators of second rank. A volume of his dis- courses appeared at Utrecht in 1733, but the first real edition was at Paris in 1744 (4 vols.). The sermons of the two brothers were reprinted by Migne in his "Collection des orateurs sacres", XXIX (Paris, 1849).

CrrRSAT, AUmoirea sur leg savarUs de la famitle de Terraaaon (Tr«voui, 1761): Nouvelles ecdisiaatiques (1736, 1744); Sup- pliment an nirrologe des ptua cHibres difenseura de la z6riU (s. I., 176.1). 120; Candei., Les pri/iicateurs /rani:aia dana la premiere moilii du XVIIU aitde (Paris, 1904); F^bet, La Faculli d» thlologie de Paris, Bpoque moderne, VI (Paris. 1009). 144.

AnTOI.VE DfioERT.

Terrestrial Paradise (CTC, irapdSeio-os, Parndi- sus). The name popularly given in Christian tradi- tion to the scriptural Garden of Eden, the home of our first parents (Gen., ii). The word paradise is probably of Persian origin and signified originally a royal park or pleasure ground. The term does not occur in the Latin of the Classic period nor in the Greek writers prior to the time of Xenophon. In the Old Testament it is found only in the later Hebrew writings in the form Wikisource-bot (talk)C (Pnnlex), having been borrowed doubtless from the Persi.an. An instruc- tive illustration of the origin and primary meaning

of the term appears in II Esdras (ii, 8) where "Asaph the keeper of the king's forest" (D"|1Sn, happerdes] is the custodian of the royal park of the Persian ruler. The association of the term with the abode of our first parents does not occur in the Old-Testament Hebrew. It originated in the fact that the word wapdSeuros was adopted, though not exclusively, by the translators of the Septuagint to render the He- brew '"IP'^J, or Garden of Eden described in the second chapter of Genesis. It is likewise used in divers other passages of the Septuagint where the Hebrew generally has "garden", especially if the idea of wondrous beauty is to be conveyed. Thus in Gen., xiii, 10, the " country about the Jordan" is described as a "paradise of the Lord" (rendering followed by the Vulgate). Cf. Numbers, xxiv, 6 (Greek) where the reference is to the beautiful array of the tents of Israel, also Isaias, i, 30; Ezechiel, xxxi, 8, 9, etc. Those interested in speculation as to the probable location of the Scriptural Garden of Eden, the pri- meval home of mankind, are referred to the scholarly work of Friedrich Delitsch, " Wo lag das Paradies?" (Berlin, ISSl). In the New-Testament period the word paradise appears with a new and more exalted meaning. In the development of Jewish eschatology which marks the post-Exilic epoch the word paradise or "Garden of God", hitherto mainly as.sociated with the original dwelling-place of our first parents, was transferred to signify the futiu-e abode of rest and enjoyment which was to be the reward of the righteous after death. The term occurs only three times in the New Testament, though the idea which it represents is frequently expressed in other terms, V. g. "Abraham's bosom" (Luke, x-vi, 22). The signification of the word in these remarkably few passages can be determined only from the context and by reference to the eschatological notions current among the Jews of that period. These views are gathered chiefly from the Rabbinical literature, the works of Josephus, and from the apocryphal writings, notably the Book of Enoch, the Book of Jubilees, the Apocalypse of Baruch, etc. An inspection of these sources reveals a great confusion of ideas and many contradictions regarding the future paradise as also concerning the original Garden of Eden and the condition of our first parents. The scanty refer- ences to Shcol which embody the vague eschatological beliefs of the Hebrews as expressed in the earlier Old Testament WTitings give place in these later treatises to elaborate theories worked out with detailed de- scriptions and speculations often of a most fanciful character. As a sample of these may be noted the one found in the Talmudic tract "Jalkut Schim., Bereschith, 20 ". According to this descript ion the en- trance to paradise is made through two gates of rubies beside which stand sixty myriads of holy angels with countenances radiant with heavenly splendour. \\'hen a righteous man enters, the vestures of death are removed from him; he is clad in eight robes of the clouds of glory; two crowns are placed upon his head, one of pearls and precious stones, the other of gold; eight myrtles are i)laced in his hands and he is wel- comed with great ajiplause, etc. Some of the Rab- binical authorities appear to identify the paradise of the future with the primeval Garderi of Eden which is supposed to be still in existence and located somewhere in the far-distant East. According to some it W!is an earthly abode, sometimes said to have been created before the rest of the world (IV Esdras iii, 7, cf. viii, .52) ; others make it an adjunct of the subterranean ShenI, while still others place it in or near heaven. It was believed that there are in paradise different degrees of blessedness. Seven ranks or orders of the righteous were s.'iid to exist within it, and definitions were given both of those to whom these difTerent positions belong and of the glories pertaining to each ("Baba bathra", 75 a,