with his about this very point of the soules creation I demand of thee O my soul who gave thee thy being since thou hadst it not from eternity thou wast created in time and lately it was that thou hadst not a being certainly it could not be thy parents in the flesh for what is sprung from flesh is flesh but thou art spirit neither did Heaven or Earth or Sun or Stars produce thee for these are corporeal thou incorporeal neither could Angels or Archangels or any other spiritual creature be the authors of thy being for thou of no matter but meerly of nothing wast created and none but a power omnipotent can create a thing out of nothing therefore God onely without any companion or helper with his own hands which are his Wisdom and his Will when it seemed him best did create thee Again a little after Besides the conjunction of soul and body which is a principal part in the making of the humane nature can be made by none but a workman of an infinite power for by what art except divine can the spirit be joyned with the flesh in so close a bond as to become one substance for there is no likeness and proportion 'twixt the flesh and spirit therefore he onely must doe it who onely doth great wonders Consider then O my soul from whence from whom in what manner and into what thou art come First From whence From heaven thou art descended a pilgrim and a stranger here for a time thou art not here to continue and dwell thy country is above thither then aspire from whence thou camest mind not earthly things but seek those things which are above that when this my earthly tabernacle shall be dissolved thou be not pressed down lower with the weight of carnal l sts into the lowermost hell but maist have a building of God a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens Secondly From whom From God thou camest thou art the spirit and breath of God in men O then breath again out of man to God whilst thou art in this prison of flesh send out thy hot breathings to God and draw in those cooler breathings of the Spirit from God thy hot sighs and zealous prayers to God his cool and gentle refreshments of love and pity from God that when I shall have payd all my rights of nature unto death and am gone into my silence though my body lie in the dust for a time my spirit may return to God that gave it Thirdly In what manner Not per media naturalia by any ordinary means but immediately and modo extraordinario without any companion without any helper 1 Learn then this O my soul that as God hath used no naturall meanes or secundary causes in the work of thy Creation so thou relie upon none in the work of thy salvation thou maist safely and boldly approach the Throne of grace without the mediation of Saints or Angels there is but one Mediator unto us who is both God and man Christ Jesus 2 Since God hath put nothing betwixt thee and him beware that thou thy self interpose nothing sever not what God hath not disjoyned let not thy sin be a Wall of separation twixt thee and him nor the mists and foggs of Carnall concupisence eclipss the Sun of righteousness from thee from whom thou borrowest all thy light and without whom thou art but Cimmerian darkness Fourthly consider whither thou art come into a Humane body a Humane nature fitted and prepared to receive thee but how not as a Subject but as a Prince thou to rule as a Queen it to obey as a Subject Therfore know this O my soul by the concurrent opinion of all Philosophers man is of a midle nature twixt mortal and immortal twixt terrestrial and caelestial things and some way resembles both participates of both in that man is indued with Vegetative and Sensitive faculties he is like unto brutes and ignobler creatures but in regard of his Intellectual faculty especially that which consists in speculation he is most like unto God twixt these two the Humane nature is sâ—ated and in a kind participates of both in this nature the soul sits as Emp ess if Sense rules here man lives as a beast degenerates into a brute if Reason and understanding rule especially the speculative Intellectual faculty man lives as God suffer not then O suffer not my soul thy vassals and slaves Sense and Appetite those ignobler faculties of thine to rule and reign over thee and so to transform the whole man into the nature of beasts but rule and govern thou by those more noble and Diviner faculties of thine Reason and understanding by which man resembles his Maker is made like unto him Lâ—stly consider O my soâ—l this mysterious conjunction of soul and body to become one man flesh and spirit one substance which cannot be but by a power Divine and thou wilt cease though not humbly to admire yet curiously to search into that sacred Mystery that Article of Christian faith touching the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ he Hypostaticall Union of the two natures in Christ St. Athanasius proves it and explaines it from this Union of the soul and body in one man saying The right faith is this that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God is God and Man God of the substance of the Father begotten before the World and Man of the substance of his Mother born in the World Perfect God and perfect Man of a Reasonable soul and Humane flesh subsisting Equall to the Father as touching his God-head and inferior to the Father touching his Man-hood Who although he be God man yet he is not two but one Christ One not by conversion of the God-head into Nan but by taking the Man-hood into God One altogether not by confusion of substance but by Unity of person For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man so God and man is one Christ The conjunction of soul and body is a secret and hidden thing but the Incarnation of Christ the Union of the God-head and Manhood far more secret for without doubt great is the mystery of godliness God manifested in the flesh and if it be so difficult a matter for man to find out the hidden things of this visible World that none as Solomon saith can comprehend the works thereof from the beginning to the end no not the workings of God within a mans self how shall man attempt to search out those invisible things of Heaven the hidden mysteries the unsearchable things of God therefore if thou beest wise O my soul seek saving knowledge and embrace the wisdom of the Saints which is to fear God and keep his Commandements delight more in supplication and prayer than in vain janglings and disputations in charity that edifies than knowledge that puffs up for this is the way that leads to life the Kingdom of Heaven where shall be
the dayes of their Pilgrimage upon Earth the flesh lusting against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh she who was earst Rebellious is now Obse quious to the Dictates of the Soul now is she wholly subject to the will of her Lord yielding obeysance and obedience with admirable Agility and Celerity of motion now not the least Ponderosity of a Massie substance or Natural body to foreslow her motion appears any more but the Perpensility of a Caelestial and Spiritual body mounted as it were on the wings and Plumes of a Cherub to expedite the Souls Injunctions such Homage and obedience the Body paies unto its Soul that as St Augustine saith ubi volet spiritus ibi protinus erit corpus nec volet aliquid spiritus quod nec spiritum nec corpus possit decere 1. Hereupon is the body enfranchised of sundry Praerogatives and Immunities which are altogether inconsistent with it in its Natural condition whilst it was Elementary its Natural motion tended downward according to the Nature of the Predominant Element the ascendent motion of a Physical body is Excentrique and Irregular which motion is Concentrique and Consonant to a body glorified solo voluntatis impetu c. at the beck and command of the glorious Soul is the body mounted from Earth to Heaven whose Nature it is to be wholly subject to that glorified Spirit from whose Redundancie the body likewise receives its Glorification 2. The Humane body in the state of Nature in a slow Progress marcheth forward step by step and that not without some Earth or other solid body to tread or go on whereupon the Earth is made a cause of our walking Causa fine qua non but in the state of Glory most swiftly and as it were in an instant it moves from place to place from one part of Heaven to another absque adminiculo without the benefit of Earth or other Element to impress the least Vestigias or footsteps of his treadings 3. In the terrene estate the body is Opaque and Luskie Dark and Purblind Beautified onely by the Additaments of External colour but the Spiritual body is Diaphanous transparent transplendent not like those lesser lights which onely appear in the night but like the Sun at noon day in the Firmament of Heaven Matthew 13.43 Then shall the Righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father The CoÌ„fulgurations of bodies glorifi'd are like the bright shining of the Sun or compare we them to our Saviours glorious Body after his Exaltation which no doubt exceeds all the glory can be expressed or conceived when this transfiguration upon the Mount was so glorious That his face did shine as the Sun Matthew 17.2 and his Raiment was white as the light yet such is the condition and state of these bodies which are fashioned like unto his glorious Body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself Phillip 3.21 Yet doth not this transcendent Glory superadded to the Humane body alter the Nature and Essence of the same the same Humanity is retained as well after as before the Resurrection the same body that is laid in the dust the self same body ariseth and ascends into glory that body is resumed in the Resurrection which was assumed in the Conception onely one to a Mortal the other to an Immortal life alterius gloriae sed ejusdem naturae the glory is different but the bodie 's the same The glorified bodies of Saints and the glorious body of our ever blessed Saviour in Heaven all of them of one Nature and Substance made up of Flesh and Blood and Bone Nerves Sinewes Arteries and what else conduceth to the perfection of a Humane body To deny this is to run into the Heresie of Eutiches condemned in the several Councils of Constantinople and Chalcedon who affirmed that the body of Christ was not of the same Nature with ours and that ours also after the Resurrection were not Palpable or Visible but more subtle and slender than VVind or Air. But as we have said the same body that is laid in the dust the same ariseth and puts on Immortality and glory a body of flesh is sown in dishonor but the same body of flesh is raised in glory Consonant hereto are the words of Job Job 19.25 26 27. I know that thy Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day day upon the Earth And though after my skinne wormes destroy this body yet in my Flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and my eyes shall behold and not another though my Reines be consumed within me thus we read and thus is our Creed so is preached and so is believed for the Resurrection of the flesh is an Article of our Faith a Fundamental point of that Religion the Church Catholick professeth and that our Saviours body is of the same Substance is another Fundamental Athanasius is plain perfect God and perfect Man Of a Reasonable Soul and Humane Flesh subsisting yea Palpable flesh and Visible even after his Resurrection our Saviours words are full for it behold saith he my hands and my feet that it is I my self handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have And therefore those words of the Apostle flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God are to be understood of sinful lusts and corruptions of the flesh 1 Cor. 15.10 and not of the flesh and blood it self dismantled of these And as the substance of a Humane body continues intire so hath she her faculties and qualities perfect though not all for in as much as the body is purged of sin and corruption those qualities which argue corruption and infirmity must needs be perished also absit labes silicet corruptionis assit effigies assit motio absit fatigatio assit vescendi potestas absit esuriendi necessitas c. Soft soft O my Soul dash not thy self on the Rock of Contention be not prolix in Polemick discourses and points Controversal since thou art devoted to thy calmer Theoremes and Diviner Speculations The case standing thus that none have admittance to those glorious Mansions in the new Jerusalem the City of God but bodies purged from their filthy lusts and sinful corrâ—ption bodies morigerous submisse and pliant to Soul and Spirit see then and lament the wretched estate of us Mortals upon Earth An evil it is under the sun an error proceeding from the ruler folly set in great dignity and the rich set in low place servants on horseback and Princes walking as servants upon the Earth Eccles 10.5 6 7. whose lives and conversations Diametrically oppose the glorified Saints in Heaven Apame was but Concubine to the great and mighty King Darius yet was she seen sitting on his right hand and taking the Crown from off his head did set it upon her own she also stroke the King with her
As for the Sense of Touching there is no difference amongst Divines nor indeed can be any doubt but that it hath its Operations in this blissful state since the gloried bodies may be felt and touched as all other true and lively bodies may and as our blessed Saviours was after his Resurrection as well Palpable as Visible not miraculously but according to its own Nature handle me saith he and see for a Spirit hath no flesh and blood as you see me have Thus much of the Senses Corporeal External and those parts of the body which are Instrumental and serviceable in the state of glory to the Humane Nature as they were to her in her Natural condition onely with these exceptions and limitations 1. From hence is banisht all sensual lusts and carnal Concupisence the Eye hath no lascivious looks the Ear 's infected with no blasphemous breath or impious sound nor this Sense deflowred with any adulterous touch here is no lust or desire of generation no respect of blood they neither marry nor are given in marriage this grosser acquaintance and pleasure is for the Paradise of Turks not the Heaven of Christians here is as no mariage save betwixt the Lamb and his Spouse the Church so no Matrimonial affections 2. Banish we likewise from hence all Impatibility of Sense sensus non fallitur nec laeditur circa proprium objectum no vehemencie of Object can destroy the Sense in their Natural estate their objects many times confound and wound them too great a light may make a man blind too great a sound may make him deaf we may not long gaze upon the Sun without blemish to our eyes otherwaies here for the Senses are blessed and glorious and so made Impassible and Immortal he who strengthens the Eyes of the Soul with such a measure of light and glory that they may see God face to face and yet not be dasled and confounded with his glory doth also so confirm and strengthen the Eyes of the body that without any hurt or damage to themselves they may behold not one but infinite Suns and Illuminated bodies though in themselves never so glorious 3. All Acts of Necessity are hence excluded the Soul doth not exercise her Sensitive Faculties Necessarily but freely and rules with the body and bodily Organs when she pleaseth and when she pleaseth the Soul rules alone For she hath other waies of Operation out of the body more Excellent and Noble the Senses are Secundary means for acquiring Knowledge not the Primary only subservient and at command of the Soul In the Natural estate the Sensitive Knowledge precedes the Intellectual nihil est in intellectu quod non prius fuit in sense and without Sense there is no intelligence Not so in the Resurrection the Soul knoweth all things as fully and infallibly by Intuitive Vision and Inate Forms at once unico intuitu by one single aspect as by those various multiplyed Forms imprinted from sensible Objects under so many several notions and conceptions the Understanding stands not need of an Eye or an Ear or other bodily Organ to evidence the truth of what it apprehendeth it is not subject to Sense but Sense to it not the Soul to the Body but the Body to the Soul for the Nature of a glorified body is to be Spiritual that is subject to the Spirit not that it hath no flesh and bones but that it is so subject to the Spirit that at the beck and command thereof without any pains and difficultie it moves most swiftly Ascending Descending Coming Going and through every place penetrating as if it were not a body but a Spirit Ad hoc autem quod sit omnino corpus subjectum spiritui requiritur quod omnis actio corporis subdatur spiritus volunâ—ati saith Aquinas and therefore it is in the Power of the Soul to see or hear or the like to use or not to use these bodily Organs when and as often as she pleaseth without which in her Natural condition she could not Operate or reduce all her Faculties into Act. This is the state of that Church that part of Christs Body triumphant whose Organs and Senses are Spiritualiz'd to whom that part of Christs Church militant here doth hold resemblance the like Analogy and proportion bearing every Member one to another they on Earth to those in Heaven as every one beareth to Christ the H ad as the Spiritual Body in Heaven is Organiz'd so is the Organical Body on Earth Spiritualiz'd and hath five Spiritual Senses Senses refreshed with Spiritual Objects This I can assure thee O my Soul being a Member of that Mystical Body whereof Christ is the Head thou art entitled to yea and refreshed with such Sensitive Objects as the Saints in Heaven are refreshed and delighted with Objects for thy Eye thy Ear thy Nose thy Palat thy Hand as Form Sound Odor Sapor Spissitude but these made Spiritual and are so to be received I speak of Christ in the Eucharist who is made the Object of every Sense that the excellencie of the Knowledge of Christ may more fully be evidenced to us from him of whose fulness we all receive Christ is Visible to the Eye Audible to the Ear Sweet and fragrant to the Smel Savory to the Tast to the Nose Palat Hand sensible he is meat to the hungry and drink to the thirstie Angels food and mans repast Christ in the Sacrament is the Object of our Eyes and as real y present here as in Heaven and is as really exhibited to us who spiritually discern him though under other Forms hic ibi veritas sed hic palliata ibi manifesta he is palliated here but unveiled in Heaven here we see him darkly through the instrument of Faith for we walk by Faith and not by sight his real presence is believed our Corporal Eyes do not behold him otherwaies than veiled under those outward signes of bread and wine the eys of our Body seeth the signes the Eye of our Faith the thing signified aliud latet aliud patet what we see is Bread and Wine what we believe is the Body and Blood of Christ what our Souls cannot reach with Corporal Eyes it may discern by an Eye of Faith Faith is a director of the Soul or prospective to the Eyes to bring to their sight such things as are not discernable without in this Vale of tears through the prospect of Faith is Christ Visible to us though the Saints in Heaven have a cleaâ—er Viâ—ion of him seeing him face to face 〈◊〉 as they are seen This is but a glimpse of that beatifical Vision the glorified bodies have of Christ here per aenigma there facie revelata here veiled there revealed unde preciosior dicitur faciei visio quam speculi frequens imaginatio non enim pari omnino jucunditate sumitur cortex sacramenti medulla frumenti fides species memoria praesentia aeternitas tempus speculum vultus
accidens but the first act of the body not Artificial nor Mathematical but of a Natural body nor of every Natural but that Natural body which is Organical and consists of many parts and members and this body Natural and Organical having life not actu sed potentia this is the Definition given by Aristotle in his book De anima where he also defines the soul to be that beginning by which we have life sense Lib. 2. ca. 1. Another Definition of the soul Lib. 2. c. 2. and understanding chiefly the which as it is a full and perfect definition of the Rational soul so take it disjunctively in it several parts and it will agree with the soul of Plants and of Beasts for the Soul of Plants is principium quo primò vivunt the soul of Beasts quo primò vivunt ac sentiunt the soul of Men quo vivunt sentiunt ac intelligunt primò the Soul is the beginning of life and Vegetation chiefly for when the soul is gone out of the body it ceaseth to live or grow any longer the soul is the beginning of Sense chiefly for the soul being absent the body is altogether insensible and the soul is the beginning of Understanding chiefly for the carcass or cadaver is voyd of understanding when the soul is departed out of the body And it is sayd chiefly because though the body Natural and Organical may be said to be the beginning of life sense and reason yet that is but Organically and Secondarily the Soul is the begining chiefly and primarily TotuÌ„ composituÌ„ dicatur principium ut quod cum sit illud quod agat forma vero principium ut quo cum agat beneficio formae instrumenta denique per quod cum per ipsa operetur Sennert These are the Definitions given by Aristotle the former being drawn from those things which are notiora secundum naturam though nobis ignotiora the latter from those things which are secundum nos notiora though secundum naturam ignotiora and those are the Effects and Faculties of the soul which are called the second act of the soul not the first act and are the companions associates of the soul neither of which do we reject but make use of both since in the subsequent Chapters we shall consider the soul not onely as it is principium corporis animalis tanquam forma or the act and perfection of a Natural Organical body which is according to the former Definition but as it is principium operationum tanquam eftrix as it is considered in the latter so making of two one Definition thus The Soul is the act the perfection and beginning of a Natural Organical body endued with life sense and understanding And now having traced thee O my soul from thy original the place and person à quo to the place and person ad quem from Heaven to Earth from God to Man and find thee clothed in humane nature I shall not raise a consideration from that close conjunction and mysterious union which is betwixt the soul and body flesh and spirit that being formerly couched in the first Chapter of this Book but finding thee seated in humane nature intombed and imprisoned in a body of flesh consider O my soul into what a body thou art come the body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Plato is quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the soul's prison and sepulcher a dungeon foul and noysom in materiâ primâ even in its first and best matter of which it is made slime and mud red earth and clay For God made man saith the Text of the dust of the ground And again Dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return And again Behold I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord which am but dust and ashes And this first matter if we look into its original it was of meer nothing not of any other praeexistent matter for then it would not be materia prima It's true in the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth but as true not out of another Heaven and Earth but of meer nothing and thus much of the first matter of this body of flesh But if we look into the second matter this body of sinful flesh contracted by the fall of our first Parents what is it but sanguis menstruus worse than a menstruous cloth or polluted rag which is a thing so vile and filthy as cannot be expressed the eyes refusing to b hold and the hands to touch it and the mind abhorring to think of it into to such a dungeon art thou cast O my soul fettered and fast bound in the chains of carnal lusts and concupiscence having thy Understanding darkned and thy Will and reason captivated and scarce the essence and definition of a soul remaining in thee thy act being turned into power nay rather impotency and weakness thy perfection into much imperfection thy beginning of life into a beginning of death and misery There was a time when the soul of man enjoyed more immunities and though a prisoner as it were in the body yet as Joseph who was made ruler and overseer of the whole house and had the command of all in the prison and whatsoever was done there that did he The soul was not a captive to the flesh so long as man continued in his innocency but contrariwise had the care and command of all the body was subject to the soul the flesh unto the spirit the inhaerent justice in which man was created subjected the inferior and Sensual parts to the superior Intellectual faculty without the least predominancy at any time so long as the superior continued in obedience and subjection to God the body was obedient to the command of the soul but after that the soul had rebelled against God the body took occasion to rebel against the soul so that to this day there hath bin a continual civil war within us the law of our members warring against the law of our mind and bringing us captive to the law of sin which is in our members this is the miserable estate of mankind by nature that in the deep sense thereof we may all cry with Saint Paul O wretched creature that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death But stand thou still O my soul and see the salvation of our God seest thou thy self in the state of nature dead in trespasses and sinnes an heathen an alien from the Commonwealth of Israel without hope without God in the world There is a law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made thee free from the law of sin and death this Christianity teacheth to this Christian Religion not Heaâ—henish superstition leadeth There is a state of Grace which is Christian as well as a state of Nature corrupt and hea henish Rom. 6.14 they that are under this law sin hath power on but they that are under Grace sin shall have no power over Vnto this state
the body do still remain Organicall after this life so as the Soul may exercise all the Powers of her triple life Vegetative Sensitive and Intellectual as she did in her Natural and Physical state according to those several Organs in which the Faculties were resient and peculiarly seated Nourishment Growth and Generation the proper Effects of the Vegetative life accomplish their ends in this life whereunto when they have obtained those Operations cease and the Organs rest from that labour and imployment but since the Senses are Operative in a glorified body for it 's not deprived of Sense I have no reason to think the Soul hath utterly rejected her manner of Operation by bodily Organs declining those old Servants as useless and inconsistent to such a glorified state Eyes Eares Nose Mouth Palat Hands Feet and all to be quite emancipated freed from the service of the glorified body and Soul in their works of that kind but to believe the Senses External and Senses Internal are Organical in Heaven as they were on Earth and subservient to the Soul in their several stations places of residence as Eye Ear Nose Palate Nerves Brain by which the Soul doth exercise its several faculties of Seeing Hearing Smelling Tasting Touching and the rest The eye the Noblest of the External Corporeal Organs offers it self first to our consideration which is not obscurely proved by holy Writ to be usefull and serviceable to those in the state of glory for this the damned in Hell do so far enjoy though to their torment and woe to see Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven and they themselves thrust out But the Saints to their endless joy and comfort have the use of their eyes and sight to see and behold the Splendor and Beauty of their own bodies being changed from vile to glorious after the fashion of Christs most glorious body which exceedeth the brightness of the Sun as the Apostle witnesseth Acts 26.13 What delight and pleasure must it needs be unto the Saints in Heaven to see every part of their body Hands Feet and all issuing forth such raies and beams of light sufficient to dispel all mists and darkness from them without further assistance of Sun Moon Stars or other Luminaries Nor is this Optick faculty of the Eye limited to it own body so as not to be of use to discern other Objects for all the Saints and Servants of God whose bodies are likewise glorified yea and the glorious body of Christ himself Christ the head with all his members are all of them Visible Objects of this Sense I know saith holy Job That my Redeemer lyveth and that he shall stand at the latter day vpon the Earth whom I shall see for my self and my eyes shall behold and not another It is not enough for the eye to behold its own glorifi'd Body shining as the Sun but it beholdeth an infinite number of Suns together no Parelia nor yet in their Eclipss but the glorious company of the Apostles the goodly fellowship of the Prophets the noble Army of Martyrs and the holy Church throughout all the World whose bodies do not onely send forth a glorious shine but every member part and Organ of those bodies are bespangled with the like raies of glory and splendor to the admiration of the beholder Who doubts saith Bishop Hall that these eyes shall see the glorious manhood of our blessed Saviour advanced above all the Powers of Heaven and if one body why not more if our elder brother why no more of our Spiritual Fraternity Certum est Bellar. in praefatione ad librum de aeterna felicitate beatos homines omnes ab omnibus videri sciri inter se familiariter versari ut amicos proximos saith another Doctor so then there is a Communion of Saints in Heaven as well as on Earth a society of bodies Visible one to another Besides the Vision of new Jerusalem apperteins to the glorious Saints to them it is given to see Jerusalem built up with Saphires and Emeruads and pretious Stones the Walls Towers and Battlements with pure Gold the Streets thereof paved with Beril Carbuncle and stones of Ophir and the Citizens thereof singing Hallelujah and saying Praised be God who hath exalted it for ever which was the Prophecie of Tobias and of Isaaih which also Saint John in his Revelation saw together with a new Heaven and a new Earth to wit the Holy City the new Jerusalem descending from God out of Heaven having the glory of God and her light was like unto a stone most pretious even like a Jasper stone clear as Christal it had no need of the of Sun nor the Moon to shine in it for the glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof and the Nations of them that are saved do walk in the light of it Yea we our selves together with the whole Creation do with earnest expectation wait for a Renovation and Melioration of the state of all things at the coming of the day of God wherein the Heavens that now are being on fire shall be dissolved and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat and wee shall as it is promised see new Heavens and new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness as the Apostle Peter hath it 2 Peter 3. Chapter and verse 10. What neither the eye here can see nor the ear can hear nor the heart of Man conceive in their Natural state shall all be Object and Visible to the eye in the state of glory so saith St. Bernard Erit quando iam non dicetur Audi filia vide inclina aurem tuam sed leva potius oculos tuos contemplare quid plane ea modo quae interim quidem etsi non videre adhuc audire tamen credere potes verum etiam quod sicut non videt oculus sic nec auris aâ—divit nec in cor hominis ascendit quod praeparavit deus diligentibus se nimirum tant a capiet oculus resurrectionis quanta nec auaitus nec animus nunc captat these eyes shall behold them and not anothers therefore in another place he addeth nec novos tibi instaurandos pates sed tuos utique restaurandos not that they shall be of another Nature but of another glorie The Ear also is exercised with Variety of sounds and voices both Articulate and Inarticulate the Organs of speech are as intire and perfect yea more in Heaven than on Earth we may not conceive a deficiency in any part there are Guttur Lingua Palatum Quatuor dentes duo labra simul For the bodies of the glorified Saints are true real and lively bodies and perfect in every member even as our blessed Saviour after his Resurrection was manifested to be both by his Conversation and Confabulation with his Apostles and Disciples speaking of many things perteining to the Kingdom of God and by his hearing and answering of questions and further
imago Dei forma servi My Soul is athirst after Christ my Saviour O when shall I come and appear before him Grant holy Jesu I may so behold thee though veiled here that when this earthly tabernacle shall be dissolved when it shall turn to the Lord and be clothed upon with our horse of immortality and glory which is from heaven the veil which to this day is upon my heart may be taken away and I may with open face behold the glory of my Lord being changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Amen Christ in the blessed Eucharist is the object of our Ears speaking unto our hearts both in secret whisperings and in shriller notes and holds a familiar conference with us he is an audible Voice and a speaking Word the sound whereof is gone to the ends of the world that Word which in the beginning was with God and was God but was made Flesh and dwelt among us God made Man the Son of God the Son of Man unicus patris filius hominis verbum quippe caro factum this Word incarnate is that Bread of God which cometh down from Heaven and giveth life unto the World This Word is not onely audible to the Ear but penetrable to the Heart piercing like a two-edged sword to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the marrow and the joynts Those reverend thoughts and meditations we have of Christ especially in this Sacrament are nothing else but so many words of his spoken to our Soules though all our cogitations are not Christs locutions nor all his communications our meditations cum enim mala in corde versamus nostra cogitatio est si bona Dei sermo est illa cor nostrum dicit haec audit our good thoughts are Christs words our evill thoughts are our own words The fool hath sayd in his heart there is no God there 's our own words The Lord speaketh peace unto his people those are Christ's one is spoke from the heart the other is to the heart Our own words again are twofold or have two wayes of proceeding one from Natures corruption another from Satans suggestion but of all these bitter fruits and sinfull effects proceeding from within us it is a hard matter to assign a proper cause and author to demonstrate which are the works of the Devill and which be the fruites of the Flesh we are not able so exactly to distinguish inter morbum mentis morsum serpentis inter malum innatum malum seminatum inter partum cordis seminarium hostis only we may know they both are evill and proceed from evill both in the heart though not both from the heart this I know most assuredly though which to ascribe to my heart which to Satan I know not But for my good thoughts since all our sufficiency is from God I doe undoubtedly believe they are the very words of that very Word verba verbi Dei written in my heart by the finger of his blessed Spirit This is that Word which is not sonans onely but penetrans non loquax sed efficax non obstrepens auribus sed blandiens affectibus Happy art thou O my Soul if when thy God calleth thou answerest with Samuel Speak Lord for thy servant heareth or with holy David repliest I will hear what the Lord my God will say unto me Christ is the object of our Sense of Olfaction sâ—nding forth most sweet perfumes he is sweet in his Name Christ Jesus Christ i. e. Annâ—inted so much the name imports Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth he is sweet in his name Iesus a Saviour there is no other name given under heaven whereby we shall be saved neither is there any malady of Mind any disease of the Soul which this precious balm and ointment cannot cure Erit tibi sapor odor in medicinam salubrem morbos si qui fuerint repellentem venturosque caventem He is sweet and pleasant to God the Fath r he is his beloved Son in whom he is well pleased and the smell of his Son is like the smell of a field whom the Lord hath blessed he is that Lamb slain from the foundaâ—ions of the world whose bâ—dy and blood being offered as an Holocaust unto God the Father smelleth a sweet smelling sacrifise unto him and from whom issueth unto his Spouse the Church to every particular Member and to every worthy Communicant partaking of his Body and Blood such streams of precious ointment and oyl of the Holy Ghost runing down not onely to the beard of Aaron that is as St Bernard expounds it to the Apostles and Ministers of Christ but unto the very skirts of his clothing that is to the meanest of his Members in infima membra Ecclesiae quae est tanquam Christi vestimentum that even these vile bodies and soules being offered an oblation smell also a sweet-smelling sacrifise to God through Christ holy and acceptable we are anointed with oyl of gladness but Christ with holy oyl and oyl of gladness above all his fellows It falls first upon Christ the Head so runs down to his beard so descends to the skirts of his garments the meanest member in hi Church the smell of Christs garment is like the smel of Lebanon but the smel of his ointments super omnia aromata is better than all spices Christ is the object of our Spiritual Tast and that food of Saints and Angels in Heaven of which it hath pleased God to give a tast to his Saints on earth feeding them with the bread of Heaven the food of life which comes from Heaven that Heavenly Manna and food of Angels the Prophet speaks of more pleasant and sweet to the tast than honney or the honney-comb But that we might eat Angels food Christ was Incarnate the Word was made Flesh so all are partakers of Christ the Saints on Earth as well as Saints and Angels in Heaven onely with this difference Comedunt Angeli verbum de Deo natum comedunt homines verbum faenum factum pane suo vivunt Angeli in caelis beati sunt faeno suo vivunt homines in terris sancti sunt Yet doth not every man tast of the food that partakes of the outward Elements the Natural man hath no sense or tast no fruit and benefit of this Sacrament because it is spiritually discerned it is food eternal not temporal spiritual not corporal for supernatural nourishment unto Eternal life not for physical and natural which accomplisheth its ends in this life pereat hic physicale nutrimentum cibis iste non ventris sed mentis we feed on him in our heart by Faith and Thanksgiving My Body is nourished with the outward Elements of Bread and Wine my Soul is 2nourished with the inward Graces the Body and Blood of Christ not with the Bread of Affliction the corn arising from the earth but