Glorification

By Nathaniel Dandridge Pendleton
1941

Part II
The Divine Nativity

IV. THE STATE OF THE LORD AT BIRTH

The state of the Lord at birth was most arcane. It was like, and yet unlike, that of another man, and therefore can with difficulty be explained. While born of woman, He was conceived of God. He drew infirmities from His mother, and Divinity from His Father. The infirmities were of the body, the Divinity of the soul; that is, as to the soul He was God, and as to the body infirm man. But these infirmities of the body did not remain. He removed Himself from them by degrees, and at length completely, so that in the end there was established between His soul and body an infinitely perfect correspondence. When this was effected, He became perfect Man, as He was sole God. This was after His glorification. It was not so at the time of His birth. Then He was as yet imperfect man, having a Divine soul. He was imperfect man, not only because He derived from the mother corporeal infirmities, but also because of the undeveloped states of His body and of His mind as well.

Development cannot be predicated of the soul; even with mortal man the soul is as wise in infancy as in old age. Yet, despite the imperfection of His body and the undeveloped state of His mind, the Babe was holy, with a holiness indescribable. "The angel said, . . . That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." That holy thing - The Divine Soul penetrated, and infilled by impletion, the whole and every part of the Infant body. It emanated from that body, profoundly affecting all who could be touched by it. It was even as an infantile Holy Spirit, which increased in power and scope as He increased in wisdom and stature, and which at length filled heaven and earth. But this holiness was present even in the Infant. Wise men, on approaching, fell down and worshipped the Babe. Holiness was there present, despite the infirm body and undeveloped mind. It was there as palpable evidence of His Divinity, and yet not in a way to convince overpoweringly the unbelieving, or compel rejectors to faith. At no time during His life in the world, not even on the cross, was His Divinity manifested to this extent. For then, as always, it was necessary that man should be free to believe or disbelieve. Therefore, at no time did He live in the "splendor of God." On the contrary, the record is that He "lived in so humble a way as scarcely to be distinguished from an ordinary man." He refused to give a sign from heaven, lest He convert those who were better not converted. Therefore He, "the Possessor of all things," was "pleased to seem poor." Having all power, He yet restrained its manifestations; and so, when condemned, He went upon the cross to the suffering of death.

That men might be somewhat constrained to faith, and yet not utterly compelled, He performed miracles. For the most part, they were like the miracles of the men of God, as the miracles of Moses and Elias. And yet with a difference. In their miracles, the prophets of old wielded the power from God by virtue of their office and commission. But He wielded that power as in Himself and as His own. As the Possessor and Giver of all things, He fed the five thousand and the four with miraculous bread. He offered the water as wine at Cana. He paid tribute by a miracle from the mouth of a fish. Doing these things, He, the Possessor of all, "was pleased to seem poor." Such was the apparent contradiction in His life, that men might believe and yet not believe. They might believe if capable of perceiving His Divinity, and this for internal reasons, as the Writings say; but He gave occasion for the unbelievers and rejectors, as when they said, "If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross." (Matt. 27: 40.)

The arcane state of the Lord at birth arose from the two contrasting factors,-His birth from a woman and His Divine conception; the one imparting infirmity, and the other Divinity. The infirmity of the body, however, was only partial, that is, only as to those things which carried the maternal inheritance, the malforms of the ancestral heredity. These fixed in Him a plane of influx of all past human evils, and afforded an opportunity for His overcoming the hells, and thus of redeeming mankind. On the other hand, the Body as organized by His Soul was an ultimate form of the Divine Truth. It was the "Word made flesh." And as such, it was "that holy thing," in appearance born of Mary, but in truth born of God.

The body apart from the constructing soul is one thing, and the body enlivened by the presence of this soul is quite another. It is as the difference between a dead and a living body, and it is a difference so great as to appall one unaccustomed who looks in the face of the dead.

The body of the Infant Lord was living as no other. It was alive from the immanent presence of the Divine-the Divine interpenetrating it organically as to every part and particle, sustaining even the malforms of His maternal heredity, sustaining them even until the time when they were dispersed by eradication. This happened to them all, from the first to the last, from the highest to the lowest, from the inmost vesicles to the outmost cuticles. And this finally and fully when the body taken from the cross was "dissipated" in the tomb.

But death did not come to that living form organized by the Soul, that ultimated form of the Divine Truth, the "Word made flesh." This, by the process of glorification, entered into an absolute union with the soul from which it was derived. This was the Divine Human, of which the Writings so often speak as purely Divine, as a derivation from the Soul, and not in the least a product of the parts and particles' of the material body. With this He ascended even as to the flesh and bones thereof. That this living Body, this ultimated form of the Divine Truth, was by glorification made one with the Divine Soul, implies a distinction between the two-a distinction that was especially marked prior to completed glorification. And such a distinction was a reality. It is involved in the statement of doctrine that He descended as the Divine Truth and that while in the world He was the Divine Truth, becoming at length Divine Good by the union of His Soul and Body. A like distinction is indicated by what is said of His Nativity, in Luke 1: 35: "And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee." The Holy Spirit is the Divine Truth, and the power of the Highest is the Divine Good. The signification is that He was conceived from the power of the Highest through the Holy Spirit, that is, from the Divine Good by or through the Divine Truth. This is the ground for the saying that there were two degrees in the seed of His conception and that He descended as the Divine Truth, but did not separate the Divine Good. Furthermore, that though He did not separate the Divine Good, yet the whole process of glorification consisted in uniting the Divine Truth with the Divine Good, as if in the process of descent it had become separate.

The true explanation of this apparent contradiction is that while there was no interior separation, yet there was a different kind of union after glorification; that is, the union was then outward as well as inward, external as well as internal. The Divine Truth which He was in the world, the Divine Truth forming His Human Body, always had inmostly within it the Divine Good from which it was; but by glorification, or in the degree that glorification was effected, the Divine Good also descended and became ultimate in the Body, even until that Body became the Divine Good itself.

Thus of the two degrees of the Seed of His conception the Truth descended and formed the Body, so that the Body became a form of this Truth. Subsequently the Good also descended by degrees. Thus while in the world He was the Divine Truth, and in so far as He was glorified, He was also the Divine Good; but He was never fully glorified until the final dissipation in the tomb.

In general, this is the key to the arcane state of the Human-a state which persisted with infinite variations from the day of His birth until the third day of His taking down from the cross. It was a state of temporary combination in His Person of finite limitations and infirm mortal derivatives with the Divine Truth of the seed of His conception forming and organizing them. A temporary combination could be struck between these limitations and infirmities, and the Truth, but not with the Good. As the Good descended, and ultimately infilled the Truth, all limitations were cast off, and all infirmities were eradicated. This is what is meant by glorification, and this is why it is said that on the third day He rose with His whole Human thoroughly and clearly glorified. This also is why it is said that He "took to Himself the Human successively while in the world" (Ath. Cr., p. 12); for the Human is the Divine Truth united with the Divine Good in Him, and not that which was cast off or eradicated.

The life-forms then of the body of the Infant were forms of the Divine Truth. In this the Babe lying in the manger at Bethlehem was unlike any other ever born into the world, and doubtless there was at times a radiance from this source perceived, and a potency felt, which in after times gave birth to stories of miracles and wonder lights shining about the Child. Even ancient fables foretell the conspiracy of the forces of evil against the Babe while in the cradle, and of the Divine power latent within Him as the Son of God.

"The angel said. . . . That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." Holiness throughout the Word signifies truth, and the term was therefore used by the angel to signify more than is ordinarily carried in the thought concerning sanctity. The Babe was holy, not only because its soul was Divine, but specifically because the body formed by the soul was Divine Truth in physical form. It was the Divine Truth forthstanding in and by means of a temporary adjunction with particles drawn from the world's materia. In this, therefore, it was Divine from the first. If we may so say, it was Divine though not yet glorified, even as Truth is Divine before it has been infilled with Good. But this may be misunderstood, since the term Divine in this connection is used to describe the state after glorification. That is, the Human made Divine is the glorified Human-is the Divine Truth united with the Divine Good. Yet the Divine Truth prior to such unition is also Divine, and its state, interiorly considered, is a state of Divinity, and this because the Truth descending did not separate (interiorly) from the Good, though there was an apparent or seeming separation. Besides, the state of the Truth's Divinity was as it were compromised by the adjunction of the finite limitations insisted on by the Mary vestment-the parts and particles drawn from the world's materia. This caused Him to appear in all respects as another man, even as every man borne of woman; and indeed, even as every man, He was from without subject to the laws and forces of nature, which He could overrule only as the Divine power within gathered and manifested itself in miracle. This came to pass increasingly until the end.

His Body in the world must therefore be regarded under a dual aspect, namely, as to that of it which was from the mother and that of it which was from the Father. The latter alone was holy with a holiness indescribable. That the Body in the world must be doubly seen is clear from many teachings, as from this, that the body from the mother could not have become invisible. (Ath. Cr., p. 46.) Yet He not only became invisible, but He also reappeared, and this as to the Body which He had in the world; in this, unlike the angels who appeared to men with the bodies belonging to their spirits. (Ath. Cr., p. 50.) In other words, while in the world, the Lord derived from the Father a living Body of Divine Truth which became ever more united with the Divine Good. This Body was in the world and on the ultimate plane of nature, and capable of appearing and disappearing before the eyes of men.

Is it possible that we may have some ground for understanding this great mystery? It is known that He made His Human Divine below the plane of the spirit of man, that is, as to the bodily parts. But how can the body be made Divine, since transmutation is not allowed, and, as a process, is doctrinally forbidden? There is but one He had a natural Body Divine, which, while non-material, was neither the spirit nor yet the soul as such, but was derivative therefrom on the plane of nature.

It is of interest to note that man has something in a finite, mortal way analogous to this; that is, it is now known that man has a body-life as it were independent of his spirit or soul. But as to this, man's is never regenerated, never resurrected. This body-life with man remains long after the separation of his spirit. It departs very slowly, and as it departs, the body disperses. This departure of the body-life, which takes so long a time with man, came to pass with the Lord within three days after His death; for with Him alone of all men it was resurrected, and therefore, in His case, dispersion took place within three days.

It was this, His Body-life, the Divine Truth in Human form and shape, which stood forth from the grave, a Man before the eyes of the disciples, and a Man when He became invisible. It was Man in the ultimates, and the ultimates came into living and perfect correspondence with the Infinite Soul-Man in ultimates as to every part and particle of flesh and bone, that is, the very life thereof, cupped to the likeness of the material parts and particles. Conceive a living Divine Body, flesh and bone, formed not of matter, but of life thereof, not spirit, not soul, but the life of matter as such, and in the plane thereof, below the plane of the soul, below the plane of the spirit or the body of the spirit, on and in the plane of nature itself. This Divine Natural Body-life of our Lord was, with Him alone of all men, resurrected. It is at once above the heavens and also present, competent, everywhere in nature, and is that which is present in the Holy Supper.

When first born, the body of the Christ Child was instinct with life from the Soul by which it was formed and organized. The material was taken from the mother along with the obscure life of the material; but this all gave place more and more, gave place in the Body to another, a Divine presence and power which was destined to rule the world and the heavens from Itself. "That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." "And His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, God the Mighty, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace."