"O infinite liberality of God the Father! O admirable and supreme Felicity of Man! to whom it is given to have what he desires, and to be what he wishes. The brutes when they are brought forth bring into the world with them what they are to possess continually. The spirits that are above were, either from the beginning or a little after, that which they are about to be to all Eternities. Nascenti Homini omnigena vitae germina indidit Pater; God infused the seeds of every kind of life into man: whatever seeds every one chooseth those spring up with him, and the fruits of those shall he bear and enjoy. If sensual things are chosen by him, he shall become a beast; if reasonable a celestial creature; if intellectual an Angel and a Son of God; and if being content with the lot of no creatures, he withdraws himself into the centre of his own unity, he shall be one Spirit with God, and dwell above all in the solitary darkness of His Eternal Father." |