St. Augustine, Of the citie of God vvith the learned comments of Io. Lod. Viues. Englished by I.H.

That euery mans body, how euer dispersed here, shall bee restored him, perfect, at the Resurrection. CHAP. 20.

OVr loue vnto the Martyrs is of that nature that wee desire to behold the scarres of their wounds (borne for the name of Christ) euen in their glori∣fication, and perhaps so wee shall. For they will not deforme, but grace them as then, and giue out a lustre of their vertue, not bodily, albeit in the body. But if any of them lost any member for his Sauiour, surely hee shall not want that in the resurrection, for vnto such was it sayd, not an haire of your heads shall * 1.1 perish.

But if CHRISTS pleasure bee to make their scarres apparant in the world to come, then shall those members also that were cut off haue visible markes in the place whence they were cut, and where they are reioyned, for al∣though all their miserable hurts shall not bee their visible, yet their shalbe some, which neuerthelesse shalbe no more called hurts, but honours. And farre bee it from vs to thinke (a) GODS power insufficient to recollect and vnite e∣uery atome of the bodie, were it burnt, or torne by beasts, or fallen to dust, or dissolued into moysture, or exhaled into ayre. GOD forbid that any corner of nature (though it may bee vnknowne to vs) should lie hid from the eye and power of the almighty. (b) Tully (their great author) going about to define GOD, as well as hee could; affirmed him to bee. Mens soluta & libera, secreta ab omni concretione mortali, omnia sentiens & mouens ispa{que} motu predita sempiterno. A free and vnbounded intellect, separate from all mortall composition, moo∣uing and knowing althings and moouing eternally in himselfe. This hee found in the great Philosophers. Now then to come vp to them, what can lie hid from him that knoweth all? what can avoide his power that mooueth all? And now may wee answere the doubt that seemeth most difficult: that is, whose flesh shall that mans bee at the resurrection, which another man eateth? •…•…c) Anci∣ent stories, and late experience haue lamentably enformed vs, that this hath often come to passe that one man hath eaten another: in which case none will say that all the flesh went quite through the body, and none was turned into nutriment: the meager places becomming by this onely meate, more full and fleshy doe prooue the contarry. Now then my premises shall serue to resolue this Ambiguity.

The flesh of the famished man that hunger consumed, is exhaled into ayre, and thence (as wee sayd before) the Creator can fetch it againe. This flesh therefore of the man that was eaten, shall returne to the first owner, of whome the famished man doth but as it were borrow it, and so must repay it againe. And that of his owne which famine dried vppe into ayre, shalbe recollected, and restored into some conuenient place of his body, which were it so consu∣med that no part thereof remained in nature, yet GOD could fetch it a∣gaine at an instant, and when hee would himselfe. But seeing that the ve∣rie heires of our head are secured vs, it were absurd to imagine that famine shold haue the power to depriue vs of so much of our flesh.

These things beeing duely considered, this is the summe of all, that in the Resurrection euery man shall arise with the same bodie that hee had, or should

haue had in his fullest growth, in all comelinesse, and without deformity of any the least member. To preserue with comelinesse, if some what bee taken from any vnshapely part, and decently disposed of amongst the rest (that it bee not lost, and withall, that the congruence bee obserued) wee may without absurdity beleeue that there may be some addition vnto the stature of the bodie; the incon∣uenience that was visible in one part, beeing inuisibly distributed (and so annihi∣lated) amongst the rest. If any one avow precisely that euery man shall a∣rise in the proper stature of his growth which hee had when hee died, wee doe not oppose it, so that hee grant vnto an vtter abolishing of all deformity, dulnesse and corruptibility of the sayd forme and stature, as things that bee∣•…•…it not that Kingdome, wherein the sonnes of promise shalbe •…•…uall to the An∣gells of GOD, if not in their bodies, nor ages, yet in absolut•…•… perfection and beatitude.

L. VIVES.

TO thinke (a) Gods power] The Gouernor of a family (if hee bee wise and diligent) knowes at an instant where to fetch any thinke in his house, be his roomes neuer so large, and ma∣ny; and shall we thinke that GOD cannot doe the like in the world, vnto whose wisdome it is but a very casket? (b) Tully] Tusc. quaest. lib. 1. (c) Ancient stories] Many Cities in straite sieges haue beene driuen to this. There is also a people, called Anthropophagi, or Caniballs, that liue vpon mans flesh.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Luck. 21