(2) "Henceforth, O Shem, go in grace and continue in faith upon the earth. For every power of light and fire will be completed by me because of you. For without you they will not be revealed until you speak of them openly. When you cease to be upon the earth, they will be given to the worthy ones. And apart from this proclamation, let them speak about you upon the earth, since they will take the carefree and agreeable land.

(1) "You are blessed, Shem, for your race has been protected from the dark wind, which is many-faced. And they will bear witness to the universal testimony and to the impure rubbing of nature. And they will become higher of mind by remembering the light.

(30) 1 .And beyond these, I went afar to the east, and I saw another place, a valley (full) of water. 2. And ⌈therein there was⌉ a tree, the colour (?) of fragrant trees such as the mastic. 3. And on the sides of those valleys I saw fragrant cinnamon. And beyond these I proceeded to the east.

(3) "Return henceforth, O Shem, and rejoice greatly over your race and faith, for without body and necessity it is protected from every body of darkness, bearing witness to the holy things of the greatness that were revealed to them in their thought by my will. And they shall rest in the unconceived spirit without grief. But you, Shem, because of this, you remained in the body outside the cloud of light, that you might remain with faith. And faith will come to you. Her thought will be taken and given to you with a consciousness of light. I told you these things for the benefit of your race from the cloud of light. And likewise, what I shall say to you concerning everything, I shall reveal to you completely, that you may reveal it to those who will be upon the earth the second time.

(6) Then Noah divides the whole earth among his sons, Ham and Japheth and Shem. He says to them, "My sons, hear me. Look, I have divided the earth among you. But serve him in fear and slavery all the days of your life. You children must not go away from the face of god almighty. . . ."

(7) Rabbi Amorai sat and expounded: What is the meaning of the verse (Deuteronomy 33:23), "The filling is God's blessing, possessing the Sea and the South"? Moses was saying, "If you follow my decrees, you will inherit both this world and the next." The World to Come is likened to the sea, as it is written (Job 11:9), "It is wider than the sea." The present world is referred to as the South. It is thus written (Joshua 15:19), "...for you have set me in the land of the south..." The Targum translates this, "behold the earth is the south."

(23) The followers of Mohammed apparently sensed more accurately than the uninitiated of other sects the true mystic import of Paradise, for they realized that prior to his fall the dwelling place of man was not in a physical garden in any particular part of the earth but rather in a higher sphere (the angelic world) watered by four mystical streams of life. After his banishment from Paradise, Adam alighted on the Island of Ceylon, and this spot is sacred to certain Hindu sects who recognize the old Island of Lanka--once presumably connected with the mainland by a bridge--as the actual site of the Garden of Eden from which the human race migrated. According to the Arabian Nights (Sir Richard Burton's translation), Adam's footprint may still be seen on the top of a Ceylonese mountain. In the Islamic legends, Adam was later reunited with his wife and after his death his body was brought to Jerusalem subsequent to the Flood for burial by Melchizedek. (See the Koran.)