Spiritual body

“ As a draught diffuses itself through all the members and veins of the body, so this communication of God diffuses itself substantially in the whole soul, or rather, the soul is transformed in God. In this transformation the soul drinks of God in its very substance and its spiritual powers. In the understanding it drinks wisdom and knowledge, in the will the sweetest love, in the memory refreshment and delight in the thought and sense of its bliss. ”

“ The purpose of these outlines, suggestions, analogies, and inferences, is to show that this life is a period of gestation, in close analogy and comparable with that of the child in utero; that with the web and woof of character, organ and function, impulse and use, opportunity and destiny, we are building a spiritual body, the immediate vehicle of the soul, as literally as is the physical body on the outer material plane; that the laws of Spiritual health and vitality are as concrete, apprehensible, and demonstrable as those of physiology. ”

“ But before we can intelligently follow that story, we must master the outlines of the human constitution, and understand the natural and spiritual bodies of man. "There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." ”

“ But though on this plane of existence the body does but clothe a spirit which was before, and will be after, how can mortal sense make us aware of spiritual beings, or these have knowledge of us? To each, its own! ”

“ They pertain rather to the spiritual than the material department of this being; so that when my body is brought to a certain condition of development, it becomes receptive by a sort of induction of new conditions. Certain relations are established between my body and spirit. My body depends upon certain things for nourishment, and my spirit depends upon my body for certain assistance. These relations make my body subject to a law of consciousness ”

“ It is a solemn and impressive fact, that within each of our material frames is a spiritual and immortal body, receiving its daily and hourly sustenance from the spiritual world; a body which lives and grows upon the food of angels, or the food of devils. ”

“ Now the apostle shows that man, while he may become a spiritual being, is now a natural being. Can there be anything plainer than his statement?--"There is a natural body (which, as we have seen, is the man, the living soul, of the earth, earthy) , and there is a spiritual body. ”

“ We are, therefore, living all the time in our spiritual bodies. Every thought, emotion and sensation is a condition or state of that spiritual body although we now refer them to the natural. It is through our spiritual bodies that we are brought into contact with spirits, with heavenly or infernal powers. ”

“ By this incoming spiritual power and life-substance the entire personality of the recipient is affected. The {72} recreative energy which pours in transforms both soul and body. The inner eternal Word of God, who became flesh, acts upon the inner nature of man, so that the believing man is changed into something spiritual, divine and heavenly, and like Jesus Christ, the incarnated Word of God. ”

“ For no less certainly does the mind see in spiritual light than does the body in natural light. The spirit sees, feels, tastes, perceives, and hears spiritual forces, as surely as the senses of the body cognize natural things. The inner eye sees truth, an inner sense feels kindness, an inner sense tastes love, an inner sense perceives a Divine Providence, an inner sense hears the voice of righteousness. ”

“ What is true of the body will be found true of the mind. Bodily form and sense are but the manifestation, in this outer world, of the body and senses that exist in the inner world. And if around the natural body there exist a sphere by which the natural senses may determine its quality of health or impurity, in like manner is there around the spiritual body a sphere of its quality, that may be discerned by the spiritual senses. ”

“ As to the body, that is now ordered according to God in all its interior and exterior senses, all the acts of which are directed to God; the four passions of the soul are also under control in Him; for the soul's joy, hope, fear, and grief are conversant with God only ”

“ I am not yet ready for vision. But it will come, for we have a natural body, and we have a spiritual body—not we are going to have—we already possess it, and as we develop our spiritual faculties, they will be ours. ”

“ The spiritual body while yet in the flesh, grows with the material,—indeed it is the growth of the spiritual which causes that of the material; what then is to hinder its continued growth after it leaves the flesh? It is not natural but spiritual substance that feeds the soul while in the natural body ”

“ But I say the following in regard to this dogma of the soul: What we call the soul, is the [189] divine, spiritual, limited in us in our bodies. Only the body limits this divine, this spiritual. And it is this limiting which gives it a form like a vessel gives form to a liquid or a gas which is enclosed in it. ”

“ There is one great lesson conveyed through this, namely,—- that the body is divine in its every aspect; parts which have been supposed to serve ends only of a comparatively low order participating in the highest spiritual functions. ”

“ But this wonderful process of coming up into newness of life, issuing in a physical transformation from a natural to a spiritual body, is effected by the action of power. 'For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself' (Phil. iii. 20, 21) . ”

“ By thinking upon the things that pertain to the spiritual selfhood, and consciously ruling and harmonizing the bodily instrument. The body is a living epistle, setting forth the quality of the life, mind, and soul, of which it is the visible result and correspondence. ”

“ It is raised a spiritual body - One perfect in all its parts; no longer dependent on natural productions for its support; being built up on indestructible principles, and existing in a region where there shall be no more death; no more causes of decay leading to dissolution; and consequently, no more necessity for food, nutrition, etc. The body is spiritual, and has a spiritual existence and spiritual support. ”

“ Let us, then, now treat of the visions of corporeal substances, received spiritually in the soul, which come after the manner of bodily visions. For, just as the eyes see bodily visions by means of natural light, even so does the soul, through the understanding, by means of supernaturally derived light, as we have said, see those same natural things inwardly, together with others, as God wills; the difference between the two kinds of vision is only in the mode and manner of them. For spiritual and intellectual visions are much clearer and subtler than those which pertain to the body. ”

“ The physical life always should be subordinated to the mental and the spiritual life, yet the body must command our respect because it is the house in which the spirit dwells. “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you?” One of your first duties, then, is to take care of your health and to make your body the efficient, ready instrument of your will. ”

“ Or, in other words, the highest aim of the divine love in all its dealings with us Christian men, is not merely a blessed spiritual life, but the completion of our humanity in a perfect spirit dwelling in a glorified body. Corporeity—the dwelling in a body by which the pure spirit moves amidst pure universes—is the highest end of God's will concerning us. ”

“ The action of the body corresponds to the will, the action of the heart corresponds to the life of the love, the action of the lungs, which is called respiration, corresponds to the life of the faith, and the whole body in respect to all its members, viscera, and organs, corresponds to the soul in respect to all the functions and powers of its life. ”

“ To be sure, this is and ought to be secondary with us; for as the life we possess and enjoy is more than meat and the body more than drink, so is the spirit being first created, of paramount im-portance, and consequently the body is secondary. ”

“ Let excellence be reckoned by thee as the body, contemplation as the soul. The two [form] one complete spiritual man, composed of sensible and intelligible parts. And as it is not possible that the soul reach existence and birth without the accomplished formation of the body, so it is not possible that contemplation, the second soul, the spirit of revelations, be formed in the womb of the intellect which receives the fulness of spiritual seed, without the corporeal performance of excellence, the dwellingplace of the knowledge which receives revelations. ”

“ In speaking of spirit we have purposely thus far included mind with spirit, for the mind is also spiritual, but it will be more illuminating if we distinguish between them, and call all that is spiritual back of the material body by the word soul, referring in this way to the body's interior life. ”

“ Should it be said that these spiritual forces do exist, but that they are predicated of the mind, let it be remembered that they do not originate in physical sensations, but are purely mental in their primary action, which shows that the mind is not an organ of the body, but of the spirit wherein spiritual forces act; and that the body is simply the mind's instrument of consciousness and action in the natural world. ”

“ Let us consider the third part of Natural & Supernatural things in Physick, the Virtues and Powers of each; this Medicine of every thing must first be driven out of a visible, tangible, natural Body, and be brought into a spiritual, meliorated, supernatural operation, that the Spirit which at the first was infused and given to the Body to live, might be released, that it should operate and penetrate as a Spiritual Essence, and Fire, having its Vent-holes left that it might burn and have no opposition, which might suffocate, suppress, or hinder the burning Life ”

“ By substance here is meant all that relates to the sensual part of the soul, which includes the body, with all its powers, interior and exterior, together with all its natural capacities — that is, the four passions, the natural desires, and the whole substance of the soul, all of which is employed in the service of the Beloved, as well as the rational and spiritual part, as I explained in the previous section. ”

“ It is manifest then from the above remarks on bodily health, that the mind, or spirit, of man has its health as well as the body, and that mental or spiritual health consists in the mind, or spirit, being in a proper state of mediation between the DIVINE PHYSICIAN and the human body ”

“ It can foretell the greater part of the phenomena which occur in that soul which the Lord intends for a perfect life; it follows also spiritual operations with the same clearness as physiology observes the different states of the body. ”

“ The above healing principle therefore, in respect to the body, may be considered as life in respect to the soul, since, as the soul is a spiritual form and substance, created to receive life from GOD, in like manner the body is a form and substance created to receive a principle of health from the same DIVINE SOURCE. As the soul, again, is perfectly distinct from the life which it receives, in like manner the body is perfectly distinct from the healing principle which it receives. ”

“ If the train of reflexion thus suggested is followed up, some of us will find ourselves compelled to readjust certain beliefs in regard to spiritual life as related to the life of the body, and in regard also to bodily life as related to the life of the spirit. ”

“ Most people, following in part early instruction, in part revelation, in part spiritual manifestations, and in part trusting to their own consciousness, hold that the human mind is a spiritual substance which is associated with the body during the life of the latter in this world, and which remains in existence after the death of the body, and forms the spiritual clothing or embodiment of the immortal soul ”

“ The spirit, like the body, can be strengthened and developed by frequent exercise. Just as the body, if neglected, grows weaker and finally impotent, so the spirit perishes if untended. ”

“ Let the spirit reign predominant over the flesh, and bring into subjection the whole man, every feeling and every desire of his heart, and let him be devoted wholly, body and spirit, to the end for which he has been created. ”

“ The interblending of spirit and matter, is accomplished. The mystery of the dual existence of soul and body, is explained. The soul in the body, yet, not of the body! The permanent and the enduring, mated with the changing and the ephemeral! ”

“ Concentrate your mind on the one whom you wish to heal, then build a mental vision of him; see him in consciousness just as whole and perfect as if he was really radiant with health. Make believe that he is standing before you a perfect picture of physical perfection, work on your vision until you can produce and hold the most beautiful idealized picture of human beauty of flesh, form and character. Never forget to illumine your perfect thought-patient with a divine light of spiritual radiance. ”

“ The problem of the soul appears in the expressions 'I say,' 'I know and perceive.' 'I come,' and 'I go' or 'I will stay here.' Thy soul is not thy body; it is not thy eye, not thy ear, not thy nose, not thy tongue, nor is it thy mind. The I is the one who feels the touch in thy body. ”

“ If only we thus address our-selves in the proper spirit, according to the right method, to this ceaseless quest of the Eternal One, how in a single moment we feel we are transformed! This so-called fleshly body, with its encumbrance of bone and muscle and skin and what not, becomes the holy temple in which the Spirit is enshrined; and, as one keen-sighted thinker suggests, when we touch the human body with the right sentiment, we really touch the hem of His garment, the sacred garb of the Divine. ”