to appear before the king, the Lord of hosts, in the place of his glory in the upper paradise.'* Disembodied spirits appear to be in the habit of revisiting this lower world even after their admission into the upper paradise. 'In like manner as 'souls do, every twelve month after their departure 'from the body, ascend and descend, because they 'cannot be utterly separated from their bodies, the abodes of their glory; so do they sometimes <descend to the lower paradise, on account of the < wonderful pleasure and delight which they enjoyed there and being come to that paradise, they repair to their former palaces or habitations ; like great kings, who, beside the palaces in their "cities of residence, have other royal houses and places, to which they repair for pleasure, or when they are on journeys, in order to magnify the 'idea of their grandeur and magnificence.'† < 'Both in the upper and in the lower paradise there are' asserted to be 'seven apartments or dwellings for the reward of the righteous.' Respecting many of the accounts of paradise, it is difficult to ascertain whether they refer to the upper or lower paradise; or whether some of the writers had any notion of more than one paradise. A certain rabbi is said to have sought all over 'paradise, and he found therein seven houses or dwellings and each house was twelve times ten 'thousand miles long, and twelve times ten thou'sand miles wide.'I * Avodath Hakkodesh, f. 46. c. 1, 2. ibid. p. 20. 23, 24. Nishmath Chajim, Talmud. ibid. p. 8, 9. It is stated, that there are seven parties or ' orders which shall hereafter stand before God,' and that each of these orders or parties has its 'particular abode or dwelling in the upper para'dise.'* The First party or order consists of those who, for the kingdom and honour of God, 'suffered death, by the government under whose authority they were: as the Rabbi Akiba and his disciples were put to death by the government of 'Rome. The Second order consists of those who 'have been drowned in the sea. The Third is the ' rabbi Jochanan Ben Zachai and his disciples. The Fourth order consists of those on whom 'descended a cloud which covered them. The Fifth consists of those who have repented: and in the same place as the penitents, stand the perfectly righteous. The Sixth order consists of 'those who never married, and who in all their ' lives never tasted of sin. The Seventh consists ' of the poor, who exercised themselves in the 'Bible and Mishna, and in an honest vocation.'Observe, then, that to every order is allotted a distinct abode and the highest order, beyond ' which none can go, consists of those who, for the 'kingdom and honour of God, suffered death from the government under which they lived; as the ‹ Rabbi Akiba † and his disciples.' I-Most of the * Midrash Tillim, f. 11. c. 3. ibid. p. 12, 13. + The reader who remembers the filthy anecdote of this rabbi, related in p. 144, and the cause in which he lost his life, p. 67. may reasonably. doubt whether personal purity of manners, virtuous conduct towards men, or piety towards God, form any of the requisites to a canonization among Jewish martyrs. Yet this high eulogium on Rabbi Akiba is pronounced by one who is reputed a man of extreme piety.' See p. 72. Menass. Ben Israel in Nishmath Chajim, f. 27. c. 2. ibid. p. 13, 14. inhabitants of paradise are represented as stationary, but to a select few rabbinical courtesy has allotted the privilege of occasional perambulation to visit their neighbours. In paradise, every one has his particular abode, and is not 'allowed to go out, or ascend to the dwelling of 'his superior neighbour; for if he do, he is presently consumed by his neighbour's great fire. And thus they are called standers, because they 'stand or keep to their posts, or allotted places. 'There are, indeed, some pious ones, but their ' number is small, who, being worthy of cleaving to the holy and blessed God, are suffered to 'ascend or descend, to go into the upper and lower places, and to walk in all the quarters, and about 'all the gates and apartments: and this is a preeminence above which there is none: and these, 'when they walk about in the palaces of the angels, the quarters of paradise, and the dwellings of the other righteous, communicate to them ' of the lustre of that wisdom which God has abundantly vouchsafed to them.'* The dead are represented, by some rabbies, as wearing in another world the clothes in which they are laid in their graves; and by others, as being stripped of those garments, and invested with new and splendid attire. Rabbi Ponim, an 'ancient man, whose business was about the dead, ' in the holy community at Worms,' is asserted to have seen an apparition, who had a garland on 'his head, and who said, Yesterday when thou * Nishmath Adam, c. 10. f. 39. ibid. p. 15, 16. 'didst clothe me in my funeral attire, thou didst 'tear my sleeve. Then asked rabbi Ponim, What ' is the meaning of that garland? The apparition ' answered, I wear it that the wind of the world may not have power over me; for it consists of 'excellent herbs of paradise. Then did Rabbi • Ponim mend the sleeve of the deceased: for the ' deceased had said, that if it was not mended, he 'should be ashamed to be seen among others whose apparel was whole. And then the apparition ' vanished.'*—Another book of high authority gives 'the following very different account. There are ' in paradise two gates of rubies; and over them 'stand sixty times ten thousand ministering spirits; ' and the countenance of every one shines like the 'brightness of the firmament. When one of the righteous arrives there, they take off the clothes ' with which he was laid in the grave, and clothe 'him in eight garments of the clouds of glory. Then they put upon his head two crowns, one 'composed of pearls and jewels, and the other ' of fine gold; and put into his hand eight myrrhplants. Then they praise him and say, Go now, eat thy bread with joy.'+ This part of the chapter shall be concluded with an account of the stratagem by which Jehosha, a cunning rabbi, is represented in the Talmud, as outwitting the angel of death, and getting himself, both soul and body, into paradise without dying. Our rabbies of blessed memory say that rabbi * Maase Book, c. 213. ibid. p. 19, 20. 'Jehosha Ben Levi was a perfectly righteous man. 'Now when the time of his departure from this 'world was at hand, the holy and blessed God 'said to the angel of death, Comply with all that 'he requires of thee. Then said the angel to Jehosha, The time draweth nigh when thou art to depart from this world: I will grant thee all 'that thou requirest. When Rabbi Jehosha heard this, he said to him, My request to thee is, that 'thou wilt shew me my place in paradise. And 'the angel said to him, Come along with me: I 'will shew it thee. Whereupon Rabbi Jehosha 'said, Give me thy sword, that thou mayest not 'therewith surprise me. And immediately the angel of death gave him his sword; and they 'went together, till they came up to the walls of paradise. When they were come up to the walls, 'the angel of death raised Rabbi Jehosha up, and 'set him upon them. Then jumped Rabbi Jehosha 'Ben Levi from the walls, and descended into pa'radise. But the angel of death caught hold of 'the skirts of his cloak, and said to him, Do thou 'come out. But Rabbi Jehosha did swear by the 'name of the eternal God that he would not come ' out from thence: and the angel of death had not " power to enter in. Hereupon the ministering angels presented themselves before God, and said, 'Behold what the son of Levi has done: he has by force taken his part in paradise.' Then follows a conversation which terminates in a decision that 'he shall not go out of paradise. And the angel ' of death, seeing that he could not draw him out, 'said to him, Give me my sword. But Rabbi N |