Human flesh

“ The flesh therefore working things divine, is the psaltery: the flesh suffering things human is the harp. Let the psaltery sound, let the blind be enlightened, let the deaf hear, let the paralytics be braced to strength, the lame walk, the sick rise up, the dead rise again ”

“ We must conclude, therefore, that although these super-human children of Nature cannot in the ordinary sense incarnate themselves in flesh and blood they can and do appropriate to themselves out of the surrounding body of the ether, and out of the body of any other living thing they approach, a certain attenuated essence of flesh and blood which, though invisible to us, supplies with them the place of our human body. ”

“ But that it is not natural to mankind to feed on flesh, we first of all demonstrate from the very shape and figure of the body. For a human body no ways resembles those that were born for ravenousness; it hath no hawk's bill, no sharp talon, no roughness of teeth, no such strength of stomach or heat of digestion, as can be sufficient to convert or alter such heavy and fleshy fare. But even from hence, that is, from the smoothness of the tongue, and the slowness of the stomach to digest, Nature seems to disclaim all pretence to fleshy victuals. ”

“ To put Blood of one Animal, into another Animal; as for example, Some Ounces of Blood taken, by some Art, out of a Dogg's Veins, and, by some Art, put into a Man's Veins, may very easily be done by Injection; and certainly, may as readily convert it self to the Nature of Human Blood, as Roots, Herbs, Fruit, and the like Food; and probably, will more aptly be transformed into Human Flesh, than Hogg's Blood, mixt with many Ingredients, and then put into Gutts, and boyled, (an ordinary Food amongst Country People;) ”

“ And this blood, circulating in their veins, which was made up of the fruits of the earth—those things of which they partook—that formed their flesh, and made the deposits that constituted their muscle, and their bones, arteries and nerves, and every part of the body, became mortal and this circulating fluid in their systems produced friction which ultimately wore out the machinery of their organism, and brought it to decay, that it became no longer tenable for their spirits to inhabit, and death ensued ”

“ The more important persons present named in turn the particular piece of flesh they wanted, and the remainder of the body was divided among those of lesser importance. A fire was lighted, over which a certain quantity of flesh was cooked, but a number of the members appeared to have vied with each other in seeing what quantity of raw flesh they could eat. ”

“ Well, I have taken away the excuse of those who allege that they have the authority and sanction of Nature. For that man is not, by nature, carnivorous is proved, in the first place, by the external frame of his body—seeing that to none of the animals designed for living on flesh has the human body any resemblance. He has no curved beak, no sharp talons and claws, no pointed teeth, no intense power of stomach [κοιλίας εὐτονία] or heat of blood which might help him to masticate [Pg 48] and digest the gross and tough flesh-substance. ”

“ That flesh is heir to:” let us suppose him a human being who eats, drinks—yes, drinks!—sleeps, and indulges in other like amusements, and let us suppose him susceptible of suffering, when the means of these enjoyments are, by any chance, temporarily withheld. ”

“ The flesh of animals whose physiological processes are almost identical with our own, containing as it does waste-products that have not yet been excreted, must, when taken into the human body, add extra burdens to our excretory organs which are usually burdened with all they can do. ”

“ Flesh, flesh, n. the soft substance which covers the bones of animals: animal food: the bodies of beasts and birds, not fish: the body, not the soul: animals or animal nature: mankind: kindred: bodily appetites: the present life: the soft substance of fruit: the part of a fruit fit to be eaten: (B.) man's visible nature (as opposed to Pneuma or Spirit) , his human or bodily nature, the seat of sin, but not originally or necessarily evil.—v.t. to train to an appetite for flesh, as dogs for hunting: to accustom: to glut: to use upon flesh, as a sword, esp. ”

“ God has covered your bones with flesh. Your flesh is soft and warm. In your flesh there is blood. God has put skin outside, and it covers your flesh and blood like a coat. Now all these things, the bones, and flesh, and blood, and skin, are called your body. ”

“ Nature has here inverted her own order, and turned the convex inwards, while nobler organs, obedient to her will, maintain life by the gentle exercise of their wonted functions in a lower region. If the integument of the bowels can be called flesh, it is the only flesh on the body ”

“ We are flesh of his flesh, bone of his bone, and the same fluid that circulates in our bodies, called blood, once circulated in his veins as it does in ours. As the seeds of grains, vegetables and fruits produce their kind, so man is in the image of God. ”

“ His "flesh is meat indeed," and His "blood is drink indeed," because all goodness and truth that nourish the soul are from Him alone in whom they are absolute. Essential goodness is His flesh. Essential truth is His blood. ”

“ What are the works of the flesh?
“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like.” Verses 19-21.
Note.—The evils here mentioned are a close parallel to the lists found in Matt. 15:18, 19; Mark 7:20-23; Rom. 1:29-31; and 2 Tim. 3:1-5. 3. How may the works of the flesh be avoided?
“Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” Gal. ”

“ If we have all, men and monkeys, women and baboons, oysters and eagles, all 'developed' from an original monad and germ, then St. Paul's grand deliverance—'All flesh is not the same flesh. There is one kind of flesh of men, another of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. ”

“ Thus you see that "flesh and blood" is not to be taken always for the flesh that is upon our hands, and feet, and other parts of our body; but for that sin, weakness, and infirmity, that cleaveth to our whole man. ”

“ And all the while the burning lime Eats flesh and bone away, It eats the brittle bone by night, And the soft flesh by the day, It eats the flesh and bones by turns, But it eats the heart alway. ”

“ Keep this flesh pure and stainless, that the Spirit which inhabits it may bear witness to it, and your flesh may be justified. See that the thought never arise in your mind that this flesh of yours is corruptible, and you misuse it by any act of defilement. ”

“ And, if you give heed, you will find that those who have set their hearts and affections upon seeking after the perfection of the sciences, have forgotten not only the lust of the flesh, but even the most needful matters, such as food and drink; for so long as the soul is stirred within the body, so long does the flesh continue as though insensible. ”

“ Paul as between the flesh and the spirit. Now the flesh is not equivalent to the body. The works of the flesh are by no means necessarily sensual sins; they include strife and envy. The flesh, the animal within us, is not to be identified with our physical organisation. ”

“ The flesh profiteth nothing, that is, it profiteth nothing, as they understood it; for they understood it to mean flesh as it is in a dead body, or as it is sold in the market, not as animated by life. ”

“ I have thus shown the various classes of bodies as they are diversified by their forms and combinations and changes into one another, and now I must endeavour to set forth their affections and the causes of them. In the first place, the bodies which I have been describing are necessarily objects of sense. But we have not yet considered the origin of flesh, or what belongs to flesh, or of that part of the soul which is mortal. ”

“ Thus, if the intestines of an animal are so organised as to be fitted for the digestion of flesh only, and that flesh recent, it is necessary that its jaws be so constructed as to fit them for devouring live prey ”

“ Thus flesh, or the muscular tissue of animals, contains precisely the elements which are required in our flesh-formers, and, only limited by quantity, our heat-generators also; and life may be maintained for very lengthened periods upon that food and water when eaten in large quantities. ”

“ It is the property of flesh to undergo division, diminution, dissolution; of flesh endowed with soul to feel weariness, pain, hunger, thirst, and to be overcome by sleep; of soul using body to feel grief, heaviness, anxiety, and such like. ”

“ That this body of flesh and blood and bone, this mechanism which, after a few years under ground, falls into dust and is food for worms and dissolution, is animated by some force, spirit, soul—call it what you will—which continues its existence after the earthly envelope is corrupted—that I would not credit. ”

“ For every tree of knowledge is the poison-tree of the body, and every mental refinement a slow-poison chalice. But, on the contrary, want is the iron key of freedom, the stomach is the manure-filled hot-house or manufactory of human blood, and the various animal instincts are but the earthy, soiled steps to the Grecian temple of our spiritual elevation. ”

“ The flesh and the qualms of the flesh she was heir to, but the flesh bore heavily only on the flesh. And she was spirit, first and always spirit, etherealized essence of life, calm as her calm eyes, and sure of permanence in the changing order of the universe. ”

“ For, from the circumstance that it is the diffusion of the blood throughout the whole flesh which produces life in the flesh, they assert that this soul, which is said to be the life of all flesh, is contained in the blood. This statement, moreover, that the flesh struggles against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh ”

“ Deare flesh, while I do pray, learn here thy stemme
And true descent; that when thou shalt grow fat,
And wanton in thy cravings, thou mayst know,
That flesh is but the glasse, which holds the dust
That measures all our time ”

“ Flesh pinched, flesh bit, flesh sucked, flesh girt around,
Flesh crushed and ground,
These things inflame your thoughts and make ye dim
In what ye say or seem!
Rage out in naked glances till ye fright
Your ague of delight,
In glances seeming clothes and thoughts to hate
That fleshes separate!
Stretch out your limbs to the warm day outside,
To feel it while it bide!
For the strong sun, the hot ground, the green grass,
Each far lake's dazzling glass,
And each one's flushed thought of the night to be
Are all one joy-hot unity. ”

“ From whom else, I ask again, can they come? Can they come from our bodies? Our bodies? What are they?—Flesh and bones, made up of air and water and earth,—out of the dead bodies of the animals, the dead roots and fruits of plants which we eat. ”

“ Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. ”

“ You shall not eat the blood of any flesh at all, because the life of the flesh is in the blood, and whosoever eateth it, shall be cut off.
15 The soul that eateth that which died of itself, or has been caught by a beast, whether he be one of your own country or a stranger, shall wash his clothes and himself with water, and shall be defiled until the evening: and in this manner he shall be made clean. ”

“ When therefore thou seest in that Flesh certain things to have sounded from above, certain things from the lower part, one flesh hath risen again, and in one flesh we acknowledge both psaltery and harp. ”

“ Observe the large percentage of human beings that are anemic, sallow, clay-colored, or white—a few obese, but the many spare, lean, gaunt—all of them expressing the disgust of the soul in having such an abiding-place. If all the organs and tissues of the body were kept flushed, what a fresh and inviting spot the soul would have for the cultivation here on earth of the arts of life! ”

“ Scientifically speaking, the flesh was melted off the world. His body was macerated until only the nerve fibres were left. It was spread like a veil upon a rock. ”

“ Now, it is difficult to determine whether the Touch is a manifold or a single sense, and difficult also to say what the organ may be which is percipient of tangible qualities; that is, whether or not it is the flesh, and that which, in other creatures, is analogous to flesh; but yet the flesh is only the medium, and the essential organ, therefore, must be something different from flesh, and situated internally. ”

“ The man who, accustomed to live on roots and vegetables, first devoured the flesh of the smallest mammal, committed a greater violence to his own nature than the most beautiful and delicate woman, accustomed to other animal flesh, would feel in shedding the blood of her own species for sustenance ”

“ In one instance the flesh has crumbled into dust, and the bones protrude; in another, the parchment skin, no longer sustained by the fibres of the cellular tissue, floats round the corpse like a second windingsheet. ”

“ We are compelled to say that as regards the physical life of man—which alone is signified by the original term here—it is certainly true of the blood, as of no other part of the organism, that "the life of all flesh is the blood thereof." ”

“ For, if the Word be really made flesh, and we really receive the Word as flesh, in the food of the Lord, how is He not to be thought to remain in us naturally, since, both in being born a man, He assumed the nature of our flesh, never to be severed from Him, and has joined the nature of His flesh to the eternal nature under the sacrament of the flesh to be communicated to us. ”