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Now this light of glory, Theotimus, shall be the
measure of the sight and contemplation of the
Blessed; and according as we shall have less or more
of this holy splendour, we shall see more or less
clearly, and consequently with more or less
happiness, the most holy Divinity, which as it is
beholden diversely so it will make us diversely
glorious.All the spirits indeed in this heavenly
Paradise see all the divine essence, yet it is not
seen and cannot be seen entirely by any one of them
or by all of them together. No, Theotimus, for God
being most singularly one, and most simply
indivisible, we cannot see Him without seeing Him
all: but being infinite, without limit, without
bounds or measure at all in His perfection, there
neither is, nor can be, any capacity out of Himself
which can ever totally comprehend or penetrate the
infinity of His goodness, infinitely essential and
essentially infinite.
This created light of the visible sun, which is
limited and finite, is in such sort all seen by those
that behold it that it is never totally seen by any
one of them nor by all together. It is in a manner so
with all our senses. Amongst many that hear excellent
music, though all of them hear it all, yet same hear
it not so well, nor with so much delight as others,
according as their ears are more or less delicate.
The manna was all tasted by each one that ate it,
yet differently, according to the different appetites
of those who ate it, and was never wholly tasted, for
it had more tastes of different kinds than the
Israelites had varieties of tasting power.
Theotimus, we shall see and taste in heaven all
the Divinity, but no one of the Blessed nor all
together shall ever see or taste it totally. This
infinite Divinity shall still have infinitely more
excellences than we sufficiency and capacity; and we
shall have an unspeakable content to know that after
we have satiated all the desires of our heart, and
fully replenished its capacity in the fruition of the
infinite good which is God, nevertheless there will
remain in this infinity, infinite perfections to be
seen, enjoyed and possessed which His divine Majesty
knows and sees, it alone comprehending itself.
So fishes enjoy the incredible vastness of the ocean;
but not any fish, nor yet all the multitude of
fishes, ever saw all the shores of the sea or wetted
their fins in all its waters. Birds sport in the open
air at their pleasure, but not any bird, nor yet all
the flocks of birds together, did ever beat with
their wings all the regions of the air, or arrive at
the supreme region of the same.
Ah! Theotimus, our souls shall freely and
according to the full extent of their wishes swim in
the ocean and soar in the air of the Divinity,
rejoicing eternally to see that this air is so
infinite, this ocean so vast, that it cannot be
measured by their wings, and that enjoying without
reserve or exception all this infinite abyss of the
Divinity, yet shall they never be able to equalize
their fruition to this infinity, which remains still
infinitely infinite beyond their capacity.
And at this the Blessed Spirits are ravished with
two admirations, first for the infinite beauty which
they contemplate, secondly for the abyss of the
infinity which remains to be seen in this same
beauty. O God! how admirable is that which they see!
But, O God! how much more admirable is that which
they see not!
And yet, Theotimus, since the most sacred beauty
which they see is infinite, it entirely satisfies and
satiates them, and being content to enjoy it
according to the rank which they hold in heaven,
because God's most amiable providence has so
determined, they convert the knowledge they have of
not possessing and of not being able totally to
possess their object, into a simple complacency of
admiration, in which they have a sovereign joy to see
that the beauty they love is so infinite that it
cannot be totally known but by itself. For in this
consists the Divinity of this infinite beauty or the
beauty of this infinite Divinity.
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