Chapter 29.—Of the Beatific Vision.

And now let us consider, with such ability as God may vouchsafe, how the saints shall be employed when they are clothed in immortal and spiritual bodies, and when the flesh shall live no longer in a fleshly but a spiritual fashion.  And indeed, to tell the truth, I am at a loss to understand the nature of that employment, or, shall I rather say, repose and ease, for it has never come within the range of my bodily senses.  And if I should speak of my mind or understanding, what is our understanding in comparison of its excellence?  For then shall be that “peace of God which,” as the apostle says, “passeth all understanding,”1642    Phil. iv. 7.—that is to say, all human, and perhaps all angelic understanding, but certainly not the divine.  That it passeth ours there is no doubt; but if it passeth that of the angels,—and he who says “all understanding” seems to make no exception in their favor,—then we must understand him to mean that neither we nor the angels can understand, as God understands, the peace which God Himself enjoys.  Doubtless this passeth all understanding but His own.  But as we shall one day be made to participate, according to our slender capacity, in His peace, both in ourselves, and with our neighbor, and with God our chief good, in this respect the angels understand the peace of God in their own measure, and men too, though now far behind them, whatever spiritual advance they have made.  For we must remember how great a man he was who said, “We know in part, and we prophesy in part, until that which is perfect is come;”1643    1 Cor. xiii. 9, 10. and “Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face.”1644    1 Cor. xiii. 12.  Such also is now the vision of the holy angels, who are also called our angels, because we, being rescued out of the power of darkness, and receiving the earnest of the Spirit, are translated into the kingdom of Christ, and already begin to belong to those angels with whom we shall enjoy that holy and most delightful city of God of which we have now written so much.  Thus, then, the angels of God are our angels, as Christ is God’s and also ours.  They are God’s, because they have not abandoned Him; they are ours, because we are their fellow-citizens.  The Lord Jesus also said, “See that ye despise not one of these little ones:  for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always see the face of my Father which is in heaven.”1645    Matt. xviii. 10.  As, then, they see, so shall we also see; but not yet do we thus see.  Wherefore the apostle uses the words cited a little ago, “Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face.”  This vision is reserved as the reward of our faith; and of it the Apostle John also says, “When He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”1646    1 John iii. 2.  By “the face” of God we are to understand His manifestation, and not a part of the body similar to that which in our bodies we call by that name.

And so, when I am asked how the saints shall be employed in that spiritual body, I do not say what I see, but I say what I believe, according to that which I read in the psalm, “I believed, therefore have I spoken.”1647    Ps. cxvi. 10.  I say, then, they shall in the body see God; but whether they shall see Him by means of the body, as now we see the sun, moon, stars, sea, earth, and all that is in it, that is a difficult question.  For it is hard to say that the saints shall then have such bodies that they shall not be able to shut and open their eyes as they please; while it is harder still to say that every one who shuts his eyes shall lose the vision of God.  For if the prophet Elisha, though at a distance, saw his servant Gehazi, who thought that his wickedness would escape his master’s observation and accepted gifts from Naaman the Syrian, whom the prophet had cleansed from his foul leprosy, how much more shall the saints in the spiritual body see all things, not only though their eyes be shut, but though they themselves be at a great distance?  For then shall be “that which is perfect,” of which the apostle says, “We know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.”  Then, that he may illustrate as well as possible, by a simile, how superior the future life is to the life now lived, not only by ordinary men, but even by the foremost of the saints, he says, “When I was a child, I understood as a child, I spake as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.  Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face:  now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”1648    1 Cor. xiii. 11, 12.  If, then, even in this life, in which the prophetic power of remarkable men is no more worthy to be compared to the vision of the future life than childhood is to manhood, Elisha, though distant from his servant, saw him accepting gifts, shall we say that when that which is perfect is come, and the corruptible body no longer oppresses the soul, but is incorruptible and offers no impediment to it, the saints shall need bodily eyes to see, though Elisha had no need of them to see his servant?  For, following the Septuagint version, these are the prophet’s words:  “Did not my heart go with thee, when the man came out of his chariot to meet thee, and thou tookedst his gifts?”1649    2 Kings v. 26.  Or, as the presbyter Jerome rendered it from the Hebrew, “Was not my heart present when the man turned from his chariot to meet thee?”  The prophet said that he saw this with his heart, miraculously aided by God, as no one can doubt.  But how much more abundantly shall the saints enjoy this gift when God shall be all in all?  Nevertheless the bodily eyes also shall have their office and their place, and shall be used by the spirit through the spiritual body.  For the prophet did not forego the use of his eyes for seeing what was before them, though he did not need them to see his absent servant, and though he could have seen these present objects in spirit, and with his eyes shut, as he saw things far distant in a place where he himself was not.  Far be it, then, from us to say that in the life to come the saints shall not see God when their eyes are shut, since they shall always see Him with the spirit.

But the question arises, whether, when their eyes are open, they shall see Him with the bodily eye?  If the eyes of the spiritual body have no more power than the eyes which we now possess, manifestly God cannot be seen with them.  They must be of a very different power if they can look upon that incorporeal nature which is not contained in any place, but is all in every place.  For though we say that God is in heaven and on earth, as He, Himself says by the prophet, “I fill heaven and earth,”1650    Jer. xxiii. 24. we do not mean that there is one part of God in heaven and another part on earth; but He is all in heaven and all on earth, not at alternate intervals of time, but both at once, as no bodily nature can be.  The eye, then, shall have a vastly superior power,—the power not of keen sight, such as is ascribed to serpents or eagles, for however keenly these animals see, they can discern nothing but bodily substances,—but the power of seeing things incorporeal.  Possibly it was this great power of vision which was temporarily communicated to the eyes of the holy Job while yet in this mortal body, when he says to God, “I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth Thee:  wherefore I abhor myself, and melt away, and count myself dust and ashes;”1651    Job xlii. 5, 6. although there is no reason why we should not understand this of the eye of the heart, of which the apostle says, “Having the eyes of your heart illuminated.”1652    Eph. i. 18.  But that God shall be seen with these eyes no Christian doubts who believingly accepts what our God and Master says, “Blessed are the pure in heart:  for they shall see God.”1653    Matt. v. 8.  But whether in the future life God shall also be seen with the bodily eye, this is now our question.

The expression of Scripture, “And all flesh shall see the salvation of God,”1654    Luke iii. 6. may without difficulty be understood as if it were said, “And every man shall see the Christ of God.”  And He certainly was seen in the body, and shall be seen in the body when He judges quick and dead.  And that Christ is the salvation of God, many other passages of Scripture witness, but especially the words of the venerable Simeon, who, when he had received into his hands the infant Christ, said, “Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word:  for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.”1655    Luke ii. 29, 30.  As for the words of the above-mentioned Job, as they are found in the Hebrew manuscripts, “And in my flesh I shall see God,”1656    Job xix. 26.  [Rev. Vers.; “from my flesh,” with the margin:  “without my flesh.”—P.S.] no doubt they were a prophecy of the resurrection of the flesh; yet he does not say “by the flesh.”  And indeed, if he had said this, it would still be possible that Christ was meant by “God;” for Christ shall be seen by the flesh in the flesh.  But even understanding it of God, it is only equivalent to saying, I shall be in the flesh when I see God.  Then the apostle’s expression, “face to face,”1657    1 Cor. xiii. 12. does not oblige us to believe that we shall see God by the bodily face in which are the eyes of the body, for we shall see Him without intermission in spirit.  And if the apostle had not referred to the face of the inner man, he would not have said, “But we, with unveiled face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the spirit of the Lord.”1658    2 Cor. iii. 18.  In the same sense we understand what the Psalmist sings, “Draw near unto Him, and be enlightened; and your faces shall not be ashamed.”1659    Ps. xxxiv. 5.  For it is by faith we draw near to God, and faith is an act of the spirit, not of the body.  But as we do not know what degree of perfection the spiritual body shall attain,—for here we speak of a matter of which we have no experience, and upon which the authority of Scripture does not definitely pronounce,—it is necessary that the words of the Book of Wisdom be illustrated in us:  “The thoughts of mortal men are timid, and our fore-castings uncertain.”1660    Wisd. ix. 14.

For if that reasoning of the philosophers, by which they attempt to make out that intelligible or mental objects are so seen by the mind, and sensible or bodily objects so seen by the body, that the former cannot be discerned by the mind through the body, nor the latter by the mind itself without the body,—if this reasoning were trustworthy, then it would certainly follow that God could not be seen by the eye even of a spiritual body.  But this reasoning is exploded both by true reason and by prophetic authority.  For who is so little acquainted with the truth as to say that God has no cognisance of sensible objects?  Has He therefore a body, the eyes of which give Him this knowledge?  Moreover, what we have just been relating of the prophet Elisha, does this not sufficiently show that bodily things can be discerned by the spirit without the help of the body?  For when that servant received the gifts, certainly this was a bodily or material transaction, yet the prophet saw it not by the body, but by the spirit.  As, therefore, it is agreed that bodies are seen by the spirit, what if the power of the spiritual body shall be so great that spirit also is seen by the body?  For God is a spirit.  Besides, each man recognizes his own life—that life by which he now lives in the body, and which vivifies these earthly members and causes them to grow—by an interior sense, and not by his bodily eye; but the life of other men, though it is invisible, he sees with the bodily eye.  For how do we distinguish between living and dead bodies, except by seeing at once both the body and the life which we cannot see save by the eye?  But a life without a body we cannot see thus.

Wherefore it may very well be, and it is thoroughly credible, that we shall in the future world see the material forms of the new heavens and the new earth in such a way that we shall most distinctly recognize God everywhere present and governing all things, material as well as spiritual, and shall see Him, not as now we understand the invisible things of God, by the things which are made,1661    Rom. i. 20. and see Him darkly, as in a mirror, and in part, and rather by faith than by bodily vision of material appearances, but by means of the bodies we shall wear and which we shall see wherever we turn our eyes.  As we do not believe, but see that the living men around us who are exercising vital functions are alive, though we cannot see their life without their bodies, but see it most distinctly by means of their bodies, so, wherever we shall look with those spiritual eyes of our future bodies, we shall then, too, by means of bodily substances behold God, though a spirit, ruling all things.  Either, therefore, the eyes shall possess some quality similar to that of the mind, by which they may be able to discern spiritual things, and among these God,—a supposition for which it is difficult or even impossible to find any support in Scripture,—or, which is more easy to comprehend, God will be so known by us, and shall be so much before us, that we shall see Him by the spirit in ourselves, in one another, in Himself, in the new heavens and the new earth, in every created thing which shall then exist; and also by the body we shall see Him in every body which the keen vision of the eye of the spiritual body shall reach.  Our thoughts also shall be visible to all, for then shall be fulfilled the words of the apostle, “Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the thoughts of the heart, and then shall every one have praise of God.”1662    1 Cor. iv. 5.

CAPUT XXIX. De qualitate visionis, qua in futuro saeculo sancti Deum videbunt.

1. Nunc jam quid acturi sint in corporibus immortalibus atque spiritualibus sancti, non adhuc eorum carne carnaliter, sed spiritualiter jam vivente, quantum Dominus dignatur adjuvare, videamus. Et illa quidem actio, vel potius quies atque otium quale futurum sit, si verum velim dicere, nescio. Non enim hoc unquam per sensus corporis vidi. Si autem mente, id est intelligentia, vidisse me dicam, quantum est, aut quid est nostra intelligentia ad illam excellentiam? Ibi est enim pax Dei, quae, sicut ait Apostolus, superat omnem intellectum (Philipp. IV, 7): quem nisi nostrum, aut fortasse etiam sanctorum Angelorum? non enim et Dei. Si ergo sancti in Dei pace victuri sunt, profecto in ea pace victuri sunt, quae superat omnem intellectum. Quoniam nostrum quidem superat, 0797 non est dubium: si autem superat et Angelorum, ut nec ipsos excepisse videatur, qui ait, omnem intellectum; secundum hoc dictum esse debemus accipere, quia pacem Dei, qua ipse Deus pacatus est, sicut novit Deus, non eam nos sic possumus nosse, nec ulli Angeli. Superat itaque omnem intellectum, non dubium quod praeter suum. Sed quia et nos pro modo nostro pacis ejus participes facti summam in nobis atque inter nos et cum ipso pacem, quantum nostrum summum est, obtinebimus: isto modo pro suo modo sciunt eam sancti Angeli, homines autem nunc longe infra, quantumlibet provectu mentis excellant. Considerandum est enim quantus vir dicebat, Ex parte scimus, et ex parte prophetamus, donec veniat quod perfectum est (I Cor. XIII, 9, 10); et, Videmus nunc per speculum in aenigmate, tunc autem facie ad faciem (Ibid. 12). Sic jam vident sancti Angeli, qui etiam nostri Angeli dicti sunt, quia eruti de potestate tenebrarum, et accepto Spiritus pignore translati ad regnum Christi, ad eos Angelos jam coepimus pertinere, cum quibus nobis erit sancta atque dulcissima, de qua jam tot libros scripsimus, Dei civitas ipsa communis. Sic sunt ergo Angeli nostri, qui sunt Angeli Dei, quemadmodum Christus Dei, Christus est noster. Dei sunt, quia Deum non reliquerunt: nostri sunt, quia suos cives nos habere coeperunt. Dixit autem Dominus Jesus, Videte ne contemnatis unum de pusillis istis. Dico enim vobis, quia Angeli eorum in coelis semper vident faciem Patris mei, qui in coelis est (Matth. XVIII, 10). Sicut ergo illi vident, ita et nos visuri sumus: sed nondum ita videmus. Propter quod ait Apostolus, quod paulo ante dixi, Videmus nunc per speculum in aenigmate, tunc autem facie ad faciem. Praemium itaque fidei nobis visio ista servatur, de qua et Joannes apostolus loquens, Cum apparuerit, inquit, similes ei erimus, quoniam videbimus eum sicuti est (I Joan. III, 2). Facies autem Dei manifestatio ejus intelligenda est, non aliquod tale membrum, quale nos habemus in corpore, atque isto nomine nuncupamus .

2. Quapropter cum ex me quaeritur, quid acturi sint sancti in illo corpore spirituali, non dico quod jam video, sed dico quod credo: secundum illud quod in Psalmo lego, Credidi, propter quod locutus sum (Psal. CXV, 10). Dico itaque, Visuri sunt Deum in ipso corpore: sed utrum per ipsum, sicut per corpus nunc videmus solem, lunam, stellas, mare, ac terram, et quae sunt in ea, non parva quaestio est. Durum est enim dicere quod sancti talia corpora tunc habebunt, ut non possint oculos claudere atque aperire cum volent. Durius autem, quod ibi Deum, quisquis oculos clauserit, non videbit. Si enim propheta Elisaeus puerum suum Giezi absens corpore vidit accipientem munera, quae dedit ei Naaman Syrus, quem propheta memoratus a leprae deformitate mundaverat, quod servus nequam domino suo non vidente, latenter Se fecisse putaverat (IV Reg. V, 8-27); quanto magis in 0798 illo corpore spirituali videbunt sancti omnia, non solum si oculos claudant, verum etiam unde sunt corpore absentes? Tunc enim erit perfectum illud, de quo loquens Apostolus, Ex parte, inquit, scimus, et ex parte prophetamus; cum autem venerit quod perfectum est, quod ex parte est evacuabitur. Deinde ut, quomodo posset, aliqua similitudine ostenderet, quantum ab illa quae futura est distet haec vita, non qualiumcumque hominum, verum etiam qui praecipua hic sanctitate sunt praediti: Cum essem, inquit, parvulus, quasi parvulus sapiebam, quasi parvulus loquebar, quasi parvulus cogitabam; cum autem factus sum vir, evacuavi ea quae parvuli erant. Videmus nunc per speculum in aenigmate, tunc autem facie ad faciem. Nunc scio ex parte, tunc autem cognoscam sicut et cognitus sum (I Cor. XIII, 11, 12). Si ergo in hac vita, ubi hominum mirabilium prophetia ita comparanda est illi vitae quasi parvuli ad juvenem, vidit tamen Elisaeus accipientem munera servum suum, ubi ipse non erat; itane cum venerit quod perfectum est, nec jam corpus corruptibile aggravabit animam, sed incorruptibile nihil impediet, illi sancti ad ea quae videnda sunt oculis corporeis, quibus Elisaeus absens ad servum suum videndum non indiguit, indigebunt? Nam secundum interpretes Septuaginta, ista sunt ad Giezi verba Prophetae: Nonne cor meum iit tecum, quando conversus est vir de curru suo in obviam tibi, et accepisti pecuniam (IV Reg. V, 26)? et caetera. Sicut autem ex Hebraeo interpretatus est presbyter Hieronymus, Nonne cor meum, inquit, in praesenti erat, quando reversus est homo de curru suo in occursum tui? Corde suo se dixit hoc vidisse Propheta, adjuto quidem mirabiliter, nullo dubitante, divinitus. Sed quanto amplius tunc omnes munere isto abundabunt, cum Deus erit omnia in omnibus (I Cor. XV, 28)? Habebunt tamen etiam illi oculi corporei officium suum, et in loco suo erunt, uteturque illis spiritus per spirituale corpus. Neque enim et ille Propheta, quia non eis indiguit ut videret absentem, non eis usus est ad videnda praesentia; quae tamen spiritu videre posset, etiamsi illos clauderet, sicut vidit absentia, ubi cum eis ipse non erat. Absit ergo, ut dicamus illos sanctos in illa vita Deum clausis oculis non visuros, quem spiritu semper videbunt.

3. Sed utrum videbunt et per oculos corporis, cum eos apertos habebunt, inde quaestio est. Si enim tantum poterunt in corpore spirituali eo modo utique etiam ipsi oculi spirituales, quantum possunt isti quales nunc habemus; procul dubio per eos Deus videri non poterit. Longe itaque alterius erunt potentiae, si per eos videbitur incorporea illa natura, quae non continetur loco, sed ubique tota est. Non enim quia dicimus Deum et in coelo esse, et in terra (ipse quippe ait per Prophetam, Coelum et terram ego impleo [Jerem. XXIII, 24]), aliam partem dicturi sumus eum in coelo habere, et in terra aliam: sed totus in coelo est, 0799 totus in terra; non alternis temporibus, sed utrumque simul, quod nulla natura corporalis potest. Vis itaque praepollentior oculorum erit illorum, non ut acrius videant, quam quidam perhibentur videre serpentes vel aquilae (quantalibet enim acrimonia cernendi eadem quoque animalia nihil aliud possunt videre quam corpora): sed ut videant et incorporalia. Et fortasse ista virtus magna cernendi data fuerit ad horam etiam in isto mortali corpore oculis sancti viri Job, quando ait ad Deum, In obauditu auris audiebam te prius, nunc autem oculus meus videt te; proptera despexi memetipsum, et distabui, et existimavi me terram etcinerem (Job XLII, 5 et 6, sec. LXX). Quamvis hic nihil prohibeat oculum cordis intelligi, de quibus oculis ait Apostolus: Illuminatos oculos habere cordis vestri (Ephes. I, 18). Ipsis autem videri Deum, cum videbitur, Christianus ambigit nemo, qui fideliter accipit, quod ait Deus ille magister: Beati mundi corde, quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt (Matth. V, 8). Sed utrum etiam corporalibus oculis ibi videatur, hoc in ista quaestione versamus.

4. Illud enim quod scriptum est, Et videbit omnis caro salutare Dei (Luc. III 6), sine ullius nodo difficultatis sic intelligi potest, ac si dictum fuerit, Et videbit omnis homo Christum Dei: qui utique in corpore visus est, et in corpore videbitur, quando vivos et mortuos judicabit. Quod autem ipse sit salutare Dei, multa sunt et alia testimonia Scripturarum: sed evidentius venerandi illius senis Simeonis verba declarant, qui cum infantem Christum accepisset in manus suas, Nunc, inquit, dimittis servum tuum, Domine, secundum verbum tuum, in pace; quoniam viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum. (Id. II, 29, 30). Illud etiam quod ait supra memoratus Job, sicut in exemplaribus quae ex Hebraeo sunt invenitur, Et in carne mea videbo Deum (Job XIX, 26, sec. Vulgatam): resurrectionem quidem carnis sine dubio prophetavit ; non tamen dixit, Per carnem meam. Quod quidem si dixisset, posset Deus Christus intelligi, qui per carnem in carne videbitur: nunc vero potest et sic accipi. In carne mea videbo Deum ; ac si dixisset, In carne mea ero, cum videbo Deum. Et illud quod ait Apostolus, Facie ad faciem (I Cor. XIII, 12), non cogit ut Deum per hanc faciem corporalem, ubi sunt oculi corporales, nos visuros esse credamus, quem spiritu sine intermissione videbimus. Nisi enim esset etiam interioris hominis facies, non diceret idem apostolus, Nos autem revelata facie gloriam Domini speculantes, in eamdem imaginem transformamur de gloria in gloriam, tanquam a Domini spiritu (II Cor. III, 18). Nec aliter intelligimus quod in Psalmo canitur, Accedite ad eum, et illuminamini, et facies vestrae 0800 non erubescent (Psal. XXXIII, 6). Fide quippe acceditur ad Deum, quam cordis constat esse, non corporis. Sed quia spirituale corpus nescimus quantos habebit accessus (de re quippe inexperta loquimur); ubi aliqua, quae aliter intelligi nequeat , divinarum Scripturarum non occurrit et succurrit auctoritas, necesse est ut contingat in nobis quod legitur in libro Sapientiae: Cogitationes mortalium timidae, et incertae providentiae nostrae (Sap. IX, 14).

5. Ratiocinatio quippe illa philosophorum, qua disputant ita mentis aspectu intelligibilia videri, et sensu corporis sensibilia, id est, corporalia, ut nec intelligibilia per corpus, nec corporalia per se ipsam mens valeat intueri, si posset nobis esse certissima, profecto certum esset per oculos corporis etiam spiritualis nullo modo posse videri Deum. Sed istam ratiocinationem et vera ratio et prophetica irridet auctoritas. Quis enim ita sit aversus a vero, ut dicere audeat Deum corporalia ista nescire? Numquid ergo corpus habet, per cujus oculos ea possit addiscere? Deinde quod de propheta Elisaeo paulo ante diximus, nonne satis indicat etiam spiritu, non per corpus, corporalia posse cerni? Quando enim servus ille munera accepit, utique corporaliter gestum est; quod tamen Propheta non per corpus, sed per spiritum vidit. Sicut ergo constat videri corpora spiritu; quid si tanta erit potentia spiritualis corporis, ut corpore videatur et spiritus? Spiritus enim est Deus. Deinde vitam quidem suam, qua nunc vivit in corpore, et haec terrena membra vegetat facitque viventia, interiore sensu quisque, non per corporeos oculos, novit: aliorum vero vitas, cum sint invisibiles, per corpus videt. Nam unde viventia discernimus a non viventibus corpora, nisi corpora simul vitasque videamus, quas nisi per corpus videre non possumus? Vitas autem sine corporibus corporeis oculis non videmus.

6. Quamobrem fieri potest, valdeque credibile est, sic nos esse visuros mundana tunc corpora coeli novi et terrae novae, ut Deum ubique praesentem et universa etiam corporalia gubernantem, per corpora quae gestabimus, et quae conspiciemus quaquaversum oculos duxerimus, clarissima perspicuitate videamus: non sicut nunc invisibilia Dei, per ea quae facta sunt, intellecta conspiciuntur (Rom. I, 20) per speculum in aenigmate, et ex parte (I Cor. XIII, 12), ubi plus in nobis valet fides qua credimus, quam rerum corporalium species quam per oculos cernimus corporales. Sed sicut homines, inter quos viventes motusque vitales exserentes vivimus, mox ut aspicimus, non credimus vivere, sed videmus; cum eorum vitam sine corporibus videre nequeamus, quam tamen in eis per corpora remota omni ambiguitate conspicimus: ita quacumque spiritualia illa lumina corporum nostrorum circumferemus, incorporeum Deum omnia regentem, etiam per corpora contuebimur. Aut ergo 0801 per illos oculos sic videbitur Deus, ut aliquid habeant in tanta excellentia menti simile, quo et incorporea natura cernatur, quod ullis exemplis sive Scripturarum testimoniis divinarum vel difficile vel impossibile est ostendere: aut quod est ad intelligendum facilius, ita Deus nobis erit notus atque conspicuus, ut videatur spiritu a singulis nobis in singulis nobis, videatur ab altero in altero, videatur in se ipso, videatur in coelo novo et in terra nova, atque in omni quae tunc fuerit creatura; videatur et per corpora in omni corpore quocumque fuerint spiritualis corporis oculi acie perveniente directi. Patebunt etiam cogitationes nostrae invicem nobis. Tunc enim implebitur quod Apostolus cum dixisset, Nolite ante tempus judicare quidquam; mox addidit, donec veniat Dominus, et illuminet abscondita tenebrarum, et manifestabit cogitationes cordis, et tunc laus erit unicuique a Deo (I Cor. IV, 5).