Chapter 1.—What is to Be Said Thereupon.

4. Let us, then, continue our inquiry now in order. For under the second head in that division the question occurred, whether the creature was formed for that work only, wherein God, in such way as He then judged it to be fitting, might be manifested to human sight; or whether angels, who already existed, were so sent as to speak in the person of God, assuming a corporeal appearance from the corporeal creature for the purpose of their ministry; or else changing and turning their own body itself, to which they are not subject, but govern it as subject to themselves, into whatever forms they would, that were appropriate and fit for their actions, according to the power given to them by the Creator. And when this part of the question shall have been investigated, so far as God permit, then, lastly, we shall have to see to that question with which we started, viz., whether the Son and the Holy Spirit were also “sent” before; and if it be so, then what difference there is between that sending and the one of which we read in the Gospel; or whether neither of them were sent, except when either the Son was made of the Virgin Mary, or when the Holy Spirit appeared in a visible form, whether as a dove or in tongues of fire.351    See above, Book ii. chap. vii. n. 13.    1 Cor. viii. 1

5. I confess, however, that it reaches further than my purpose can carry me to inquire whether the angels, secretly working by the spiritual quality of their body abiding still in them, assume somewhat from the inferior and more bodily elements, which, being fitted to themselves, they may change and turn like a garment into any corporeal appearances they will, and those appearances themselves also real, as real water was changed by our Lord into real wine;352    John ii. 9    Eccles. i. 18 or whether they transform their own bodies themselves into that which they would, suitably to the particular act. But it does not signify to the present question which of these it is. And although I be not able to understand these things by actual experience, seeing that I am a man, as the angels do who do these things, and know them better than I know them, viz., how far my body is changeable by the operation of my will; whether it be by my own experience of myself, or by that which I have gathered from others; yet it is not necessary here to say which of these alternatives I am to believe upon the authority of the divine Scriptures, lest I be compelled to prove it, and so my discourse become too long upon a subject which does not concern the present question.

6. Our present inquiry then is, whether the angels were then the agents both in showing those bodily appearances to the eyes of men and in sounding those words in their ears when the sensible creature itself, serving the Creator at His beck, was turned for the time into whatever was needful; as it is written in the book of Wisdom, “For the creature serveth Thee, who art the Maker, increaseth his strength against the unrighteous for their punishment, and abateth his strength for the benefit of such as put their trust in Thee. Therefore, even then was it altered into all fashions, and was obedient to Thy grace, that nourisheth all things according to the desire of them that longed for Thee.”353    Wisd. xvi. 24, 25    Matt. v. 6 For the power of the will of God reaches through the spiritual creature even to visible and sensible effects of the corporeal creature. For where does not the wisdom of the omnipotent God work that which He wills, which “reacheth from one end to another mightily, and sweetly doth order all things”?354    Wisd. viii. 1    Ps. xxxi. 22

CAPUT PRIMUM.

4. Quid deinceps dicendum. Nunc ergo primum quaeramus quod sequitur. Nam secundo loco in illa distributione positum est, utrum ad hoc opus tantummodo creatura formata sit, in qua Deus, sicut tunc oportuisse judicavit, humanis ostenderetur aspectibus: an Angeli, qui jam erant, ita mittebantur, ut ex persona Dei loquerentur, assumentes corporalem speciem de creatura corporea in usum ministerii sui; aut ipsum corpus suum, cui non subduntur, sed subditum regunt , mutantes atque vertentes in species quas vellent, accommodatas atque aptas actionibus suis, secundum attributam sibi a Creatore potentiam. Qua quaestionis parte, quantum Dominus dederit, pertractata, postremo videndum erit id quod institueramus inquirere, utrum Filius et Spiritus sanctus et antea mittebantur; et si ita est, quid inter illam missionem et eam quam in Evangelio legimus distet: an missus non sit aliquis eorum, nisi cum vel Filius factus est ex Maria virgine, vel cum Spiritus sanctus visibili specie, sive in columba, sive in igneis linguis apparuit (Supra, lib. 2, cap. 7, n. 13).

5. Sed fateor excedere vires intentionis meae, utrum Angeli manente spirituali sui corporis qualitate per hanc occultius operantes, assumant ex inferioribus elementis corpulentioribus, quod sibi coaptatum, quasi aliquam vestem mutent et vertant in quaslibet species corporales, etiam ipsas veras, sicut aqua vera in verum vinum conversa est a Domino (Joan. II, 9): an ipsa propria corpora sua transforment in quod voluerint, accommodate ad id quod agunt. Sed quodlibet horum sit, ad praesentem quaestionem non pertinet. Et quamvis haec, quoniam homo sum, nullo 0871 experimento possim comprehendere, sicut Angeli qui haec agunt, et magis ea norunt quam ego novi, quatenus mutetur corpus meum in affectu voluntatis meae, sive quod in me, sive quod ex aliis expertus sum: quid horum tamen ex divinarum Scripturarum auctoritatibus credam, nunc non opus est dicere, ne cogar probare, et fiat sermo longior de re qua non indiget praesens quaestio.

6. Illud nunc videndum est, utrum Angeli tunc agebant et illas corporum species apparentes oculis hominum, et illas voces insonantes auribus, cum ipsa sensibilis creatura ad nutum serviens Conditori , in quod opus erat pro tempore vertebatur, sicut in libro Sapientiae scriptum est: Creatura enim tibi factori deserviens, extenditur in tormentum adversum injustos, et lenior fit ad benefaciendum iis qui in te confidunt. Propter hoc et tunc in omnia se transfigurans, omnium nutrici gratiae tuae deserviebat ad voluntatem horum qui te desiderabant (Sap. XVI, 24, 25). Pervenit enim potentia voluntatis Dei per creaturam spiritualem usque ad effectus visibiles atque sensibiles creaturae corporalis. Ubi enim non operatur quod vult Dei omnipotentis sapientia, quae pertendit a fine usque ad finem fortiter, et disponit omnia suaviter (Id. VIII, 1)?