|
But it is necessary, they say, that the natural weight of earthly
bodies either keeps them on earth or draws them to it; and therefore
they cannot be in heaven. Our first parents were indeed on earth, in
a well-wooded and fruitful spot, which has been named Paradise. But
let our adversaries a little more carefully consider this subject of
earthly weight, because it has important bearings, both on the
ascension of the body of Christ, and also on the resurrection body of
the saints. If human skill can by some contrivance fabricate vessels
that float, out of metals which sink as soon as they are placed on the
water, how much more credible is it that God, by some occult mode of
operation, should even more certainly effect that these earthy masses
be emancipated from the downward pressure of their weight? This cannot
be impossible to that God by whose almighty will, according to
Plato, neither things born perish, nor things composed dissolve,
especially since it is much more wonderful that spiritual and bodily
essences be conjoined than that bodies be adjusted to other material
substances. Can we not also easily believe that souls, being made
perfectly blessed, should be endowed with the power of moving their
earthy but incorruptible bodies as they please, with almost spontaneous
movement, and of placing them where they please with the readiest
action? If the angels transport whatever terrestrial creatures they
please from any place they please, and convey them whither they
please, is it to be believed that they cannot do so without toil and
the feeling of burden? Why, then, may we not believe that the
spirits of the saints, made perfect and blessed by divine grace, can
carry their own bodies where they please, and set them where they
will? For, though we have been accustomed to notice, in bearing
weights, that the larger the quantity the greater the weight of earthy
bodies is, and that the greater the weight the more burdensome it is,
yet the soul carries the members of its own flesh with less difficulty
when they are massive with health, than in sickness when they are
wasted. And though the hale and strong man feels heavier to other men
carrying him than the lank and sickly, yet the man himself moves and
carries his own body with less feeling of burden when he has the greater
bulk of vigorous health, than when his frame is reduced to a minimum by
hunger or disease. Of such consequence, in estimating the weight of
earthly bodies, even while yet corruptible and mortal, is the
consideration not of dead weight, but of the healthy equilibrium of the
parts. And what words can tell the difference between what we now call
health and future immortality? Let not the philosophers, then, think
to upset our faith with arguments from the weight of bodies; for I
don't care to inquire why they cannot believe an earthly body can be in
heaven, while the whole earth is suspended on nothing. For perhaps
the world keeps its central place by the same law that attracts to its
centre all heavy bodies. But this I say, if the lesser gods, to
whom Plato committed the creation of man and the other terrestrial
creatures, were able, as he affirms, to withdraw from the fire its
quality of burning, while they left it that of lighting, so that it
should shine through the eyes; and if to the supreme God Plato also
concedes the power of preserving from death things that have been born,
and of preserving from dissolution things that are composed of parts so
different as body and spirit;, are we to hesitate to concede to this
same God the power to operate on the flesh of him whom He has endowed
with immortality, so as to withdraw its corruption but leave its
nature, remove its burdensome weight but retain its seemly form and
members? But concerning our belief in the resurrection of the dead,
and concerning their immortal bodies, we shall speak more at large,
God willing, in the end of this work.
|
|