Cornelius a Lapide

But, as it is written , eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him . After “ but ” there is an ecthlipsis, and we must supply, “this wisdom and the glory which was its end were hidden from them,” as it is written, &c. He then quotes Isaiah Ixiv. 4. 1. Isaiah, in the passage quoted, is speaking of the Incarnation of Christ and of this present life. And hence Chrysostom, Ambrose, Theophylact, CEcumenius take this verse of the miracles of Christ, and of the wisdom, virtues, and grace which Christ by living here on earth has imparted to us. 2. It is more agreeable to the context to say that Isaiah seems to fly away in admiration from the Incarnation and manhood of Christ to the celestial glory, which is the fruit and end of the Incarnation THE BLISS OF HEAVEN 35 of Christ; for such flights and sudden changes are common with the Prophets, because of the sublime and ample light of prophecy which they enjoyed. This appears from the words used ; as, e.g., “ Him that waiteth for him,” and “ Thou meetest him that worketh righteousness .” He is speaking then of the fruit of the works of the just, viz., the eternal life which we wait for; for the fruit of the Incarnation and faith does not meet them that work righteousness, but those that are sitting in darkness and sin. So says S. Jerome (in Isa. lxiv.), S. Dionysius (He Ccelest Hierarch. 12), and Vasquez, in the passage above quoted. Hence S. Bernard ( Serm . 4 on the Vigil of the Nativity) says : “ Eye hath not seen that unapproachable light ear hath not heard that incomprehensible peace . ... And why is it that it Teas not ascended into the heart of man f Surely because it is a spring and cannot ascend. For we know that the nature of springs is to seek the rivers in the valleys , and to shun the tops of the mountains ; for God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble .” S. Augustine, inhis “Meditations,” ch. 22 etseqq., and “Soliloquies,” ch. 35 and 36, discourses most beautifully about the greatness of this bliss. The author too of the book on “The Spirit and the Soul” (which is found in vol. iii. ch. 36 of S. Augustine’s works), very appropriately says on this passage of the Apostle: “As the outward man is affected by temporal things through his five senses , so the inward man , in the life of bliss , is affected by the five ineffable attributes of God through his ineffable love for Him. For when he shall love his God He will know him as a certain light a voice , a sweet odour , a food and an inward embrace. For there shines the light which no place can contain ; there sounds the music which no time steals away ; there is the sweet odour which no wind can scatter; there is the food which is eaten and yet undiminished ; there clings to us the good which knows no satiety ; there is God seen without intermission^ known without error , loved without disgust , and praised without wearying .” These words of the Apostle were once the occasion of the conversion of S. Adrian, and made him a martyr. He was a soldier 36 iFIRST EPISTLE TO THE and in the flower of his age, viz., twenty eight years old, and when he beheld the constancy of the Christian martyrs in the tortures that they had to endure for the faith of Christ, he asked them what they expected in return for such sufferings, what enabled them to overcome such tortures. They replied, “ We hope for those good things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, which God hath prepared for them that love Him. 1 By these words Adrian was touched and converted, and he hastened to get himself enrolled in the list of martyrs, and eagerly bore a cruel death at Nicomedia, with his wife Natalia looking on and encouraging him. This was a.d. 306, under Diocletian. 3. The meaning of this passage will be complete if you combine the two interpretations given above thus : Those good things which Thou, God, through Christ, hast prepared for them that wait for Thee, surpass all our senses, experience, natural understanding, and all human desire, not only in this life in the case of those who have already caught some sounds of Thee, but also chiefly and most properly in future glory. There will God, who is Himself all that good is, give Himself to the blessed, and will be as all in all, a a Anselm says. For by these words of Isaiah, the Apostle proves what he had said, viz., that the wisdom as well as the glory of Christ was secret and hidden, as we saw above. Neither have entered into the heart qf masK Has not come into the mind of man : no man can by nature think of or understand them. The heart with the Hebrews stands for the mind For what the heart fa to the body — its chief and noblest part, the source and principle of life — that fa the mind to the souL Moreover, the heart supplies the brain with its vigour, and so fa a kind of handmaid to the imagination and consequently the understanding. Hence Aristotle, though against Galen and all other physicians* placed the apprehension of external objects not in the brain but in the heart He distinguished the vital organs of man by their functions in these verses : “ The heart gives wisdom, the lung speech, and anger comes from the bile. The spleen is the cause of laughter, and love comes from the liver.' 9 THE DEEP THINGS OF COD 37 Where Isaiah has “them that wait for Thee,” S Paul has "them that love thee* The sense is the same, for love is one cause of expectation. Ver. ia — But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. S. Paul here anticipates an objection. It might be said," If eye hath not seen, neither have entered into the heart of man, the wisdom and the glory that Christ has prepared for His friends, how is it that yon boast yourself of its possession ? 99 Paul replies that he knows them not by sight, sensation, or by the understanding, but by the inspiration and revelation of God. Hence, Clement of Alexandria ( Peedag . lib. Lc.6) interprets the phrase, " ear hath not heard, * by adding, “except that ear which was taken up into the third heaven,* vis., Paul’s, who heard with the ear in Paradise mystic words which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Paul means, then, that God has revealed these things to us His Apostles and Prophets filled with His Spirit, in order that we may teach you and others. It appears from this that not only is our longing for bliss and glory supernatural, but that our knowledge of them is also, whether that knowledge be of them in their essence, or merely the obscure and fragmentary knowledge of the Apostles and of all others who are still "in the way.* Consequently there is not naturally in man any perfect and effectual desire, or appetite, for this bliss. The Spirit searcheth all things , yea, the deep things of God. That is, penetrates into and perceives everything. For when men want to learn something of which they are ignorant, they are wont to search and inquire about it But God, without any such searching, knows everything at a glance, and as it were by a single application of Hit mind. (S. Thomas, Theodoret, Theophylact.) The deep things of God are all the most secret and inward counsels of God. Amongst them the chiefest is this mystery of man’s glory and redemption by Christ. All these the Holy Spirit penetrates into and clearly views, because He is of one essence and knowledge with God, and therefore He so "searches the deep things of God,* that nothing in God remains unknown to Him. His knowledge and sight equal their object, and He knows God as He 38 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE can be known ; the Holy Spirit, because He is God, comprehends God and His Divinity as completely as He comprehends Himself. (Molina part i. qu. 14, a. 3, Theodoret, S. Thomas.) From this passage Ambrose and other Fathers prove the Godhead of the Holy Ghost against the Macedonians. To sura up S. Paul’s meaning : The Holy Spirit has revealed to us these mysteries and secrets of God : He knows all the secrets of God, and therefore He searches and clearly views the deep things of God