[7341] Instaurat.
[7342] Una notitia ejus = monogamia.
Chapter IX.--God's Love for the Flesh of Man, as Developed in the Grace of Christ Towards It. The Flesh the Best Means of Displaying the Bounty and Power of God.
To recapitulate, then: Shall that very flesh, which the Divine Creator formed with His own hands in the image of God; which He animated with His own afflatus, after the likeness of His own vital vigour; which He set over all the works of His hand, to dwell amongst, to enjoy, and to rule them; which He clothed with His sacraments and His instructions; whose purity He loves, whose mortifications He approves; whose sufferings for Himself He deems precious;--(shall that flesh, I say), so often brought near to God, not rise again? God forbid, God forbid, (I repeat), that He should abandon to everlasting destruction the labour of His own hands, the care of His own thoughts, the receptacle of His own Spirit, [7343] the queen of His creation, the inheritor of His own liberality, the priestess of His religion, the champion of His testimony, the sister of His Christ! We know by experience the goodness of God; from His Christ we learn that He is the only God, and the very good. Now, as He requires from us love to our neighbour after love to Himself, [7344] so He will Himself do that which He has commanded. He will love the flesh which is, so very closely and in so many ways, His neighbour--(He will love it), although infirm, since His strength is made perfect in weakness; [7345] although disordered, since "they that are whole need not the physician, but they that are sick;" [7346] although not honourable, since "we bestow more abundant honour upon the less honourable members;" [7347] although ruined, since He says, "I am come to save that which was lost;" [7348] although sinful, since He says, "I desire rather the salvation of the sinner than his death;" [7349] although condemned, for says He, "I shall wound, and also heal." [7350] Why reproach the flesh with those conditions which wait for God, which hope in God, which receive honour from God, which He succours? I venture to declare, that if such casualties as these had never befallen the flesh, the bounty, the grace, the mercy, (and indeed) all the beneficent power of God, would have had no opportunity to work. [7351]
[7343] Afflatus.
[7344] Matt. xxii. 37-40.
[7345] 2 Cor. xii. 9.
[7346] Luke v. 31.
[7347] 1 Cor. xii. 23.
[7348] Luke xix. 10.
[7349] Ezek. xviii. 23.
[7350] Deut. xxxii. 39.
[7351] Vacuisset.
Chapter X.--Holy Scripture Magnifies the Flesh, as to Its Nature and Its Prospects.
You hold to the scriptures in which the flesh is disparaged; receive also those in which it is ennobled. You read whatever passage abases it; direct your eyes also to that which elevates it. "All flesh is grass." [7352] Well, but Isaiah was not content to say only this; but he also declared, "All flesh shall see the salvation of God." [7353] They notice God when He says in Genesis, "My Spirit shall not remain among these men, because they are flesh;" [7354] but then He is also heard saying by Joel, "I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh." [7355] Even the apostle ought not to be known for any one statement in which he is wont to reproach the flesh. For although he says that "in his flesh dwelleth no good thing;" [7356] although he affirms that "they who are in the flesh cannot please God," [7357] because "the flesh lusteth against the Spirit;" [7358] yet in these and similar assertions which he makes, it is not the substance of the flesh, but its actions, which are censured. Moreover, we shall elsewhere [7359] take occasion to remark, that no reproaches can fairly be cast upon the flesh, without tending also to the castigation of the soul, which compels the flesh to do its bidding. However, let me meanwhile add that in the same passage Paul "carries about in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus;" [7360] he also forbids our body to be profaned, as being "the temple of God;" [7361] he makes our bodies "the members of Christ;" [7362] and he exhorts us to exalt and "glorify God in our body." [7363] If, therefore, the humiliations of the flesh thrust off its resurrection, why shall not its high prerogatives rather avail to bring it about?--since it better suits the character of God to restore to salvation what for a while He rejected, than to surrender to perdition what He once approved.
[7352] Isa. xl. 7.
[7353] Isa. xl. 5.
[7354] Gen. vi. 3, Sept.
[7355] Joel iii. 1.
[7356] Rom. viii. 18.
[7357] Rom. viii. 8.
[7358] Gal. v. 17.
[7359] Below, in ch. xvi.
[7360] Gal. vi. 17.
[7361] 1 Cor. iii. 16.
[7362] 1 Cor. vi. 15.
[7363] Ver. 20.