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
Essence or yet of the Operations of these Angels and Spirits Intellectual as a Doctrine less useful and necessary for Mans salvation than of the Nature of Man or God yet so much hath it imparted to her Disciples as may evidence by necessary consequence the truth of this Metaphysical Science of Natures Angelical the Fathers and Doctors of the Church having little varied in judgement from the Curiousest Naturalist and Philosopher in this point all concurring in this particular the School of Christ and School of Nature teaching one and the same thing without any grand Variation and dissenting The Creation of Angels though holy-Churches-creed is no where plainly pointed out in holy Writ otherwise than in the first daies Creation under that General notion of Heaven and Earth which may contain the whole host of Heaven so those words Genesis 1.1 In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth are by most understood viz. by Heaven not onely it but all things therein contained as Angels and the like whose proper seat is Heaven which may seem to be thus also explicated by St. Paul Col. 1.16 For by him are all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth Visible and Invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions Principalities or Powers viz. four of the Orders of Angels further also by God himself in the 38 Chapter of Job saying where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the Earth when the morning Stars sang together and the Sons of God shouted for joy that is to say the holy Angels who were created together with Heaven and Earth even in the beginning or morning of that first day as some have hence gathered Of all created substances some were created Visible Material Corporeal others were created Invisible Incorporeal Spiritual of their own Nature that the Angels are such created Invisible Incorporeal and Spiritual substances may be gathered out of the word of God David and Paul Prophet and Appostle both terming them Spirits and if Spirits then Invisible by Mortal eye and then Incorporeal at least as unto Humane or other natural body of their own Nature for so our Saviour hath resolved it saying a Spirit hath not flesh and bone as I have And the Schoolmen have decreed and concluded that Angels are meerly Spiritual and Incorporeal substances and no bodies or Corporeal Natures and with them agree the Fathers not a few though Origen and after him Saint Jerome would seem to maintain that Angels as oft as they sinned and fell away were thrust into bodies and there remained as a punishment unto them which opinion is exploded by all both Antient and Modern as savouring of Platonism more than Christianity Yet may we not deny but that Angels have been in bodily shapes and so seen and appeared unto our Fathers of old wherefore we must either grant unto them real bodies or that they did delude and deceive the Patriarches with Phantasms and meer Apparations which is not to be conceived of the holy Angels and therefore St. Bernard put a kind of necessity in it that Angels should have bodies otherwise how could they be ministring Spirits sent out to minister unto them who shall be Heirs of Salvation to men who yet live in the body how shall they perform this Ministerial Function of discoursing of walking and talking of eating and drinking and the like without a body all which notwithstanding Angels have done as sacred Writ accordeth But it may be objected if we do grant unto them true real Visible bodies then must we also grant them all motions and mutations incident to such Bodies to wit of Generation Corruption Augmentation Diminution Altricion alteration then such as may be borne fed and nourished may die may suffer and the like as other corporeall Creatures doe how then are they meerly Spirituall and of an Incorporeall nature To which may be answered First 1 Negatively negatively True humane bodies Angels have not humane nature no spirituall substance ever assumed except the Son of God the second Person in the ever blessed Trinity of whom it is said He took not upon him the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham and by whom it is verified A spirit hath no flesh and bone so no humane or fleshly Bodies are ascribed to Angels 2 Affirmatively Secondly affirmatively True reall bodies they have not newly generate created or begotten but assumed of Air and other Elements so condensate consolidate and contract together as that it may be seen felt touched c. Beyond the very nature of Air such a Body as is not essentiall but accidentall taken up for a time as we do put on our Cloathes and may be dissolved again at pleasure as soon as their Ministery is accomplish'd now such a Body is not subject to those Mutations of Generation Corruption and the like nor may it be said to die to suffer to feel o feed or the like as a humane Body may Thus is the nature of Angels Spirituall not carnall Incorporeall not corporeall and surpasseth the humane Nature in Understanding freedom of Will and externall Operations First in Understanding in regard of that Intuitive Vision they have of God per lumen Gloriae besidâ—s those superexcellent naturall Endowments Intellectual of seeing God per lumen naturae alwayes beholding his Face Vid. Hockers Eccles pol. 1. Sect. 4. fol. 53. as the Text expresseth they are so acquainted with the Mind and Will of God that Irrepercussa mentis acie divinorum judiciorum abyssum intuentur as St. Bernard hath it in comparison of which knowledge Angelicall all ours is but as that of Babes and Sucklings Out of whose Mouth notwithstanding God hath perfected his praise See Mr. Hooker his first book of Eccles pol. Sect. 6. fol. 56. or ordained strength as the Psalmist hath it here on Earth till such time as we grow up to perfect Man-hood to the measure of the fulness of the stature of Christ where shall be given to us little ones an equality of knowledge with the Angels to be like unto them who alwayes behold the Face of their Heavenly Father As touching their Freedom of Will and Power of working the Angelical far surpasseth the Humane Nature Bellarmine puts these differences betwixt them First in the Power and Rule over Bodies The humane Soul can onely move his own Body at his pleasure it cannot move others after the same sort Again the humane Soul moves its own Body upon the Earth in a slow motion step by step it hath not power to bear it upon the Water or elevate it above the Air or carry it whither it pleaseth but the Angels by the Power and Freedom of Will by the meer force of their spirit can lift up mighty Bodies and carry them whither they please Thus did an Angel take up Habacuc and in a short space brought him to Babylon with a Dinner for Daniel and carried him back again into the Land of Palestine Again
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
with Consolatory bread and Angels food that true Bread descending from Heaven nor with the Wine of the Grapes of Gomorrha but of the true Vine Christ Iesus the Lamb the Head and Husband of the Church which at the heavenly Mariage shall be drunk new in the kingdome of Heaven There we drink not of this Wine made of water as at the Mariage in Cana but ex botro illo magno terrae promissionis qui interim in vecte portatur dum secundùm carnem novimus ChristuÌ„ hunc crucifixum which we drink at the Lords table in types signs here which are mortal and perishing but in Heaven at that great Supper of the Lord really and truly immortal and incorruptible enduring to eternal life For in Heaven is no labouring for the meat which perisheth the Saints glorified use not corruptible food their food is spiritual and immortal fitting and suitable to that state of glory and their tast is accordingly no carnal rellish no earthly savour nil quippe in his carnale sapit nil seculare nil vanum sed spiritus veritatis caelestis sapientia est cujus in utraque suavitas praelibatur He that cometh to the Lords Supper in his old garments hath not this spiritual relish nor shall he be thought worthy to be partaker of that great Banquet the Supper of the Lamb in Heaven or tast of that food as wel those that come here unworthily as those that refuse to come though invited shall all be excluded hereafter so saith the Lord of the Feast I say unto you none of those men who were called shall tast of my supper And to the unworthy person it is sayd also Friend how camest thou hither not having thy Wedding-garment take him c. And lastly Christ is the object of our sense of Touching we receive him into our hands we take him into our mouthes we feed on him in our hearts we dwell in him and he in us so to every sense is Christ spiritually sensible tangible by the hand as visible to the eye prae manibus as he is prae oculis CHAP. III. Of the Knowledge of the Soul by Intuitive Intellection or Beatifical Vision Chap. 3. Book 3. HItherto of the knowledge fetcht from External objects by the means of outward senses the Internall are not without their use viz. Phantasie and Memory but of these sufficient hath been said already Nor yet shall we further treat of that Internall intellectuall knowledge which the humane soul in its Glorified estate hath of all Material Immaterial created substances viz. of Angels and abstracted Forms other inferior creatures which are represented to its knowledge per speciem by an innate form and similitude chiefly and primarily in their universal natures secundarily in their individuals in one single aspect and intuition which manner of knowledge is natural and essential to Spirits and Essences intellectual for this hath also been elswhere handled But here we shall principally insist upon that Science of the Soul or rather Sapience which consists in the sole intuitive Intellection or Beatifical Vision of the divine Essence and Nature of God himself which is not per aenigma as in this life but facie revelata not in his back parts onely but the infinite Essence and Majesty the very quiddity and being of the great Iehovah as he is in himself so St. Iohn expresseth it fully and clearly manifested And the divine Sapience which comes by this Intuition or Intuitive Intellection surpasseth all other manner of knowledge whatsoever this is not natural to any created Angelical Intellect comes not by any strength of nature created by God into any finite being nor can it stand with natural reason how a finite capacity for so are all created intelligences should perfectly and distinctly clarè perspicuè cognitione perfecta non confusa apprehend see and know an infinite Essence as intensively Infinite this is supra captum humanum and exceeds all natural power Yet above reason is beleeved for so is the Faith of holy Church that the blessed Saints and Angels in Heaven do clearly and fully see and know God do behold him as he is in himself The Mind and Intellect glorified sees the Will enjoyes God its chiefest and most desirable good more fully and more certainly than any man here enjoyes any temporal estate In this Intuitive Vision and Fruition of God is Mans eternal felicity his beatitude his summum bonum seated here comes in the fulness of the Promises here 's the consummation of our Hopes this is the final intrinsical end of Mans Creation to see God clearly and to enjoy him fully our Beatitude consists in this and is the same beatitude wherewith God himself is blessed God is most blessed and therefore most blessed because he alwayes beholds himself as he is and eternally enjoys himself he hath made us partakers in hope of the same chiefest good to be like him in the same felicity together with all the glorious Saints and Angels so saith the Apostle We shall be like him for we shall see him as he is There were certain Hereticks Armenians and others but condemned of old by several Decrees and Councils who held it imposible for any created Intellect by any power whatsoever clearly to see God and therefore they held further the Beatitude which is promised by God and waited for by us to consist non in familiari illo quem speramus divine naturae intuitu sed cujusdam creati fulgoris ab ea manantis And indeed in the eye of Reason it is impossible unto Nature altogether repugnant that any created Intellect by any strength of it own should perfectly know the infinite Godhead but what is impossible with men is notwithstanding possible with God Multa fieâ—i possunt virtute divina quae naturae creatae viribus fieri non possunt saith Suarez nam etsi Deus à nullo intellectu creato clarè cognosci potest viribus naturae videri tamen clarè perspicuè poâ—est ab iis quorum mentes divina bonitas supra naturae modum illustraverit ad quandam divinae naturâ—e participationem evexerit saith Fonseca This is done by a supernatural power fide tenemus quod ratione improbamus Though all power is not excluded from the nature of created Intellection for an Obediential power is founded in the nature of the Reasonable Soul even unto acts of divine and supernatural quality to those supernatural habits of Faith Hope Charity c. not Acquisite by any intrinsical power of it own but infused by God drawn out of the power of the Soul eductione supernaturali ad quam non requiritur ex parte subjecti potentia naturalis receptiva sed obedientialis sufficit which obediential power is founded in the nature of the Soul Suarez tom 1 disp 15. sect 2.9 and in that respect is natural and essential to it In which sense Aquinas is to be understood saying * 1.2 q. 113.