The Heavenly Academy, Chapter 2
CHAP. II.
The necessitie and eminence of the Heavenly Academie. And first, in point of knowledge.
THe learned Scribe being thus furnished with old things in the lower Academie, it remaines that he addeaDocens omnem hominem in omni sapientia, tam externa, quam divina: veluti vir quidam fortis & strenuus bellator ambidexter, per utramque eruditionem in adversarios sese armans, per utramque disciplinam vincit reluctantes. Greg. Nyss. in Basil. fratris laudem. new things to the old, so to be perfectly instructed according to the character stamped by our Saviour. To get these new things hee must ascend up, and get him into a new Academie; even to that Teacher of soules, whose chaire is in Heaven: for this highest Teacher both sheweth and giveth us many new things in this highest Academie. Among them wee will first take notice of a new knowledge, given by a new light and sight, created in the soule. For certainly, whatsoever wee may thinke of our skill and knowledge in other arts, gotten by the old and naturall understanding; yet if wee rest in this old and naturall understanding, wee are still short of the true and kindlybUnaquaeque forma indita rebus creatis à Deo, habet efficaciam, respectu alicujus actus determinati, in quem potest secundùm suam proprietatem, ultra autem non potest nisi per aliquam formam superadditam, sicut aqua non potest calefacere nisi calefacta ab igne. Sic igitur intellectus humanus habet aliquam formam, scilicet ipsum intelligibile lumen, quod est de se sufficiens ad quaedā intelligibilia cognoscenda, ad ea scilicet, ad quorum noticiam per sensibilia possumus devenire. Altiora verò intelligibilia intellectus humanus cognoscere non potest, nisi sortiori lumine perficiatur (sicut lumine gratiae vel prophetiae) quod dicitur lumen Gratiae, in quantum est Naturae superadditum. Aquin. 1. 2. ae. quaest. 109. A. 1. Qui sine lumine supernaturali Scripturas se intelligere arbitratur, sine alis & pennis volare contendit. Savanarola de Simplic. Vit. lib. 5. Qui ad lectionem sacrarum Scripturarū accedit sine lumine supernaturali, seipsum impediat, & irrideat; quia leget, & non intelliget, quod est frustra terere tempus. Naturales enim scientiae, per lumen naturale rationis, quod omnibus …est, intelligi possunt: At scientia divinitus inspirata, non nisi divino lumine poterit apprehendi. Id. pr…em. Expos. 1. in Orat. Dominica. Docet Spiritus Sanctus, non externo clamore vocis, sed interna inspiratione & illuminatione cordis; scribit enim Legem in corda nostra. Igitur cum non alius Doctor & Rector Ecclesiae à Christo datus sit quam Spiritus Sanctus, consequitur, quod hi soli vere docti sunt, qui Spiritum sanctum habent. F…rus in Ioan. 14. Mentem Sancto Spiritu non repletam Deum videre non posse: nisi quis cum prolixa Dei gratia intellige…e coeperit dicta & facta Prophetarum, nihil ei proderit, quod videatur voces eorum & opera proferre. Iust. Mart. Dial. cum Tryph. Acutum ingenium non conducit ad melius & facilius credendum fide divina—Nam actus ejusmodi fidei est supernaturalis etiam quoad substantiam—Noster intellectus non elicit ejusmodi actū, nisi juxta quantitatē & proportionem luminis infusi, Gonz. in 1. DIsp. 72. n. 12. knowledge of Divinitie. Divinitie is a supernaturall science, and therefore a supernaturall light is needfull to the right discerning of it. He that seeth the things of Divinitie onelyonly with a naturall light, doth not see divine things in the true, but false shapes: for these things have one shape in themselves, and another in him that thus doth see them. The facultie by which wee will truly and kindly behold an obj…ct, must have a fitnesse and capacitie proper and agreeable to that object. There must be some kindred and proportion betweene them; and that which seeth, and that which is seene must be connaturall. Accordingly if we will discern colours, we use sight; if savours, smelling; if sounds, hearing. And for things of the second intention, to discerne them, we ascend above Sense unto Reason, and see them with our Understandings. And now proportionably if wee ascend higher to divine, heavenly, and spirituall mysteries, wee must have a divine, spirituall, and heavenly knowledge, whereby to discern them. For thecQuando anima nostra intellectualibus operationibus ad intelligibilia movetur, superflui quidem sunt sensibilium sensus; sicut & intellectuales virtutes quando anima Deiformis facta, per unctionem ignoti, inaccessibilis lucis lumini se immittit. Dionys. Areop. de divin. nom. Lect. 9. Intelligibiles virtutes nstrae naturalis rationis superfluunt, quando anima nostra Deo conformata immittit se rebus divinis, non immissione oculorum corporalium, sed immissione fidei; scilicet per hoc, quod divinum lumen ignotum & inaccessibile seipsum nobis unit & communicat. Aquin. in Areop. locum. Omnis virtus creatae naturae habet terminos suos. Non enim potentia visiva potest aliud cognoscere quam lucem & colores; nec auditiva praeter sonos; nec intellectus noster potest naturaliter aliud intelligere quam naturalia, & ea quae per naturalia quoquo modo cognosci possunt. Sicut ergo potentia visiva, de sonis nullum potest dare judicium, nec auditiva de coloribus, ita nec homo animalis, nec carnalis, qui caret lumine supernaturali, potest de spiritualibus certū judicium dare—Quia autem spiritualis habet lumen, quo supernaturalia cognoscuntur, potest de eis rectè judicare. Savanar. de simpl. vit. lib. 3. con. 6. naturall understanding doth perceive them no better than the eare doth the reason of sounds, or the nose the reason of smels; and summarily, than the senses do the things of the second intention.1 Cor. 2. 9. Surely the eye hath not seene, nor hath the eare heard these heavenly things: that is, neither meere naturall seeing, nor meere naturall hearing, can give us the true knowledge of them. Yea,Vers. 14. the heart of man, that is, the naturall reason of a naturall man, doth not rightly discern them. But to know the things of God, there must bee a mind given from God; even a spirituall mind to discerne spirituall things. If a learned Mathematician will teach a child the secrets of his skill, hee must not onelyonly give him his rules, but his understanding. Now there is infinitely more odds between the great Teacher of Heaven and the most rationall man on earth, than betweene the most learned teacher on earth and the lowest learner. Neither in this heavenly schoole, between the supreme Teacher and his earthly sehollers, is onelyonly a difference of degrees, which I call a difference of quantitie, but also a difference of qualitie. For sithence the fall of man, the knowledge of man is growne carnall: his wisdome is a fleshly wisdome, and his understanding is growne heterogeneall, and of a different nature and temper; yea; not onelyonly different and strange, but crosse to the divine wisedome and the mysteries thereof. Therefore the great Teacher of soules, seeing our need, according to that need, gives his Learners and Disciples adNovo oculo, nova aure, novo corde, quaecunque videri, & audiri possunt, sunt per fidem & intelligentiam comprehendenda, spitualiter dicentibus, audientibus, agentibus, Domini discipulis. Clem. Alex. Strom. lib. 2. Caput Christus est; per illum enim videmus, audimus, & loquimur. Iren. lib. 5. cap. 17. new and heavenly understanding, to discerne; and discerning to approve as most true and reall, divine and heavenly objects. With giving us the things of God, hee gives a spirit to discerne and savour the things given us of God: with the things of Christ, hee gives us the mindeNos spirituales sensum Christi habemus, id est, participes facti sumus scientiae Christi, per acceptionem Spiritus sancti; & ideo animales homines, vel Pseudo-Apostoli, nos judicare non possunt, qui sensum Domini habemus, quem illi ignorant. Anselm. in 1 Cor. 2. A sancto Spiritu procedens illuminatio, quem qui possident, possunt cum Paulo dicere, nos mentem Christi habemus. Basil. in Psal 48. of Christ. And now having gotten spirituall understandings, spirituall things appeare to us in their right shapes, & seeme such as they are. And while to those whose teaching doth not ascend above the earthly Academie, spirituall things are things not scene, their inward as well as their outward eye not discerning them; to the spirituall man taught of God in the higher Academie, they are seene spiritually; and hee seeth not onelyonly that they are, but what they are, and they are truly that which he seeth them to be.