Belly, bones, and the saw

Origen went on: My belly, my belly I ache, said Jeremiah. What belly does he ache with? The one we too ache with — the belly with which, since he was in labor for the people, I ache in my belly, and the senses, not these but of my heart.

If I come even to the fine parts of the body, I see them without flesh upon the soul. Lord, do not rebuke me in your wrath, nor discipline me in your anger. Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am weak; heal me, Lord, for my bones were troubled. What bones of the prophet were troubled? The harmony of his soul and the firmness of his mind were troubled, and he asks for the restoration of those bones.

Our bones were scattered beside Hades. What bones of the speaker were scattered beside Hades? If you see for me the one who has sinned, and you see his harmonies in the region of sin, in the region of the dead, in the region of vice, you will say of such a one that his bones were scattered. All my bones will say: Lord, who is like you? These bones speak, converse, say, perceive God — and these [bodily bones] are without sensation, as physicians' pupils show when they saw bones of one who does not perceive in the sawing. All my bones, then, will say: Lord, who is like you? Bones the inner man has, all of them.