The Thirteenth Book

THE THIRTEENTH BOOK.

CONTINUATION OF THE EXPOSITION OF GENESIS I. — IT CONTAINS THE MYSTERY OF THE TRINITY, AND A TYPE OF THE FORMATION, EXTENSION, AND SUPPORT OF THE CHURCH.

I. 1. I call upon Thee, O my God, my Mercy, Who didst create me, and forgat not me who forgat Thee. I call Thee into my soul, which, by the longing Thyself inspirest into it, Thou preparest for Thee. Forsake me not now, as I call unto Thee, whom Thou didst prevent before I called, and urged me with much variety of repeated calls, that I would hear Thee from afar, and be converted, and call upon Thee, who didst call after me. For Thou, Lord, didst blot out all my evil deservings, so as not to recompense into my hands wherewith I fell from Thee; and Thou hast prevented all my well deservings, so as to recompense the work of Thy hands wherewith Thou madest me. Because, before I was, Thou wert; nor was I anything, to which Thou mightest grant to be. And yet behold, I am, out of Thy goodness preventing all this which Thou hast made me, and whereof Thou hast made me. For neither hadst Thou need of me, nor am I any such good as to be helpful unto Thee, my Lord and God: not in serving All creatures subsist by divine goodness. 373

Thee, as though Thou wouldest tire in working, or lest Thy power might be less, if lacking my service, nor cultivating as a land, Thy service, which must remain uncultivated, unless I cultivate Thee j¹ but serving and worshipping Thee, that I might receive well-being from Thee from whom it comes that I have a being capable of well-being.

II. 2. For of the fulness of Thy goodness doth Thy creature subsist, that so a good, which could no ways profit Thee, nor was of Thy substance (lest so it should be equal to Thee), might yet exist, since it could be made by Thy power. For what did heaven and earth, which Thou madest in the Beginning, deserve of Thee? Let those spiritual and corporeal natures, which Thou madest in Thy Wisdom, say wherein they deserved of Thee to depend upon Thy Word, in their inchoate and formless state, whether spiritual or corporeal, and liable to fall away into an immoderate liberty and far-distant unlikeness to Thee (the spiritual, though without form, superior to the corporeal though formed, and the corporeal without form, better than were it altogether nothing), unless by the same Word they were brought back to Thy Unity, indued with form, and from Thee the One Sovereign Good were made all very good. How did they deserve of Thee, to be even without form, since they had not been even this but from Thee?

3. How did corporeal matter deserve of Thee to be even invisible and without form f It had not been 374 Interpretation of Gen. i. 3.

1 "Neque tit Bio te colam, quasi terratn, ut sis incultus, si non te colam."

even this, but that Thou madest it; and, therefore, not being, it could not deserve of Thee to be made. Or how could the inchoate spiritual creature deserve of Thee even to ebb and flow darksotnely like the deep, unlike Thee, unless it had been by the same Word turned to Him by Whom it was created, and by Him so enlightened, become light; though not equally, yet conformably to that Form which is equal unto Thee? For as in a body, to be, is not one with being beautiful, else could a body not be deformed; so likewise to a created spirit to live, is not one with living wisely, else should it be wise unchangeably. But it is good for it always to hold fast to Thee; lest what light it hath obtained by turning to Thee, it lose by turning from Thee, and relapse into a life resembling the darksome deep. For I, myself, who as to the soul am a spiritual creature, but turned away from Thee, the Light, was in that life sometimes darkness; and still I labor amidst the relics of darkness, until, in Thy Only One, I become TJty righteousness., like the mountains of God; even as I have been Thy judgments, which are like the great deep^}

III. 4. That which Thou saidst in the beginning of the creation, Let there be light, and there was light, I understand of the spiritual creature; because there was already a sort of life, which Thou mightest illuminate. But as it had no claim on Thee for a life which could be enlightened, so neither now, that it was alone, had it any claim to be enlightened. For its formless estate could not be pleasing unto Thee, The creator does not need the creature. 375

1 Ps. xxxv 7, Septuagint ver.

unless it became light; and that not by existing simply, but by beholding the illuminating light, and cleaving to it, so that its living and living happily it owes to nothing but Thy grace; being by a better change turned unto That which cannot be changed into worse or better; which Thou alone art, because Thou alone simply art: unto Thee it being not one thing to live, another to live blessedly, seeing Thyself art Thine own Blessedness.

IV. 5. What would be wanting unto Thy good, which Thou Thyself art, even had these things never been at all, or had they remained without form? Thou madest them, not out of any want, but out of the fulness of Thy goodness, restraining and converting them to form, as though Thy joy were fulfilled by them. For to Thee, being perfect, their imperfections were displeasing, and hence were they perfected by Thee, and pleased Thee. Not that Thou wert imperfect, and by their perfecting wert to be perfected. For Thy good Spirit, indeed, was borne over the waters, not borne up by them, as if He rested upon them. For those on whom Thy good Spirit is said to rest, He causes to rest in Himself. But Thy incorruptible and unchangeable will, in itself all-sufficient for itself, was borne upon that life which Thou hadst created; to which, living is not one with happy living, seeing it liveth, ebbing and flowing in its own darkness; wherefore it remaineth to be converted unto Him by Whom it was made, and to live more and more at the fountain of life, and in His light to see. light, and to be perfected, and enlightened, and beautified.

376 Tke doctrine of the Trinity

V. 6. Lo, now the Trinity appears unto me in a glass darkly, which is Thou, my God; because Thou,

0 Father, didst create heaven and earth in Him Who is the Beginning of our wisdom, Which is Thy Wisdom, of Thyself, equal unto Thee and coeternal, that is, Thy Son. Much now have we said of the heaven of heavens, and of the earth invisible and without form, and of the darksome deep, in reference to the wandering instability of its spiritual deformity; which, converted unto Him from Whom it had its first degree of life, and enlightened by Him, became a beauteous life, and the heaven set between water and water. And under the name of God, I now held the Father, Who made these things, and under the name of Beginning,¹ the Son, in whom He made these things; and believing, as I did, my God as the Trinity, I searched further in His holy words, and lo, Thy Spirit moved upon the waters. Behold the Trinity, my God, Father and Son and Holy Ghost, Creator of all creation.

VI. 7. But what was the cause, O true-speaking Light (unto Thee I lift up my heart, let it not teach me vanities, dispel its darkness, and tell me), I beseech Thee by our mother charity, tell me the reason,

I beseech Thee, why after the mention of heaven, and of the earth invisible and without form, and darkness upon the deep, Thy Scripture should then at length

1 " Under the name The Beginning, we understand the Son, who is a Beginning not to the Father, but to the creature, created by Himself." Augustine, De Genesi ad literam I. vi. Opera, Tom. III. p. 503. Ed. Bas. 1569.

taught in Genesis I. 377

mention Thy Spirit? Was it because it was meet that the knowledge of Him should be conveyed, as being "borne above ;" and this could not be said, unless that were first mentioned, over which Thy Spirit may be understood to have been borne? For neither was He borne above the Father, nor the Son, nor could He rightly be said to be borne above, if He were borne over nothing. First, then, was that to be spoken of, over which He might be borne; and then He, whom it was meet not otherwise to be spoken of than as being borne. But wherefore was it not meet that the knowledge of Him should be conveyed otherwise, than as being borne above?

VII. 8. Hence let him that is able, follow with his understanding Thy Apostle, where he thus speaks, Because Thy love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us;¹ and where, concerning spiritual gifts, he teacheth, and showeth unto us a more excellent way of charity ;² and where he bows his knee unto Thee for us, that we may know the supereminent knowledge of the love of Christ? And therefore from the beginning, was He borne supereminent above the waters. To whom shall I speak this? how speak of the weight of evil desires, downwards to the steep abyss, and how charity rises up again by Thy Spirit which was borne above the waters? To whom shall I speak it? How shall I speak it? Are we submerged, and do we emerge? Certainly, it is not in space that we are submerged and emergent. What can be more like, and yet what less like? They 378 The elect angels kept from apostasy.

1 Rom. v. 5 2 1 Cor. xii. 31. 3 Eph. iii. 14,19

are affections, they are loves; the uncleanness of our spirit flowing downwards with the love of cares, and the holiness of Thy Spirit raising us upward by love of unanxious repose, that we may lift our hearts unto Thee, where Thy Spirit is borne above the waters, and come to that supereminent repose, when our soul shall have passed through the waters which yield no support. VII. 9. Angels fell away, man's soul fell away, and thereby pointed out the abyss in that dark depth, ready for the whole spiritual creation, hadst not Thou said from the beginning, Let there be light, and there had been light, and every obedient intelligence of Thy heavenly city had cleaved to Thee, and rested in Thy Spirit, 'Which is borne unchangeably over every thing changeable. Otherwise, even the heaven of heavenshud been in itself a darksome deep; but now it is light in the Lord. For even in that miserable restlessness of the spirits who fell away, and discovered their own darkness when bared of the clothing of Thy light, dost thou sufficiently reveal how noble Thou madest the reasonable creature; to which nothing will suffice to yield a happy rest, less than Thee, and so not even herself. For Thou O our God, shalt lighten our darkness; from Thee cometh our garment of light, and our darkness shall be as the noonday. Give Thyself unto me, O my God, restore Thyself unto me; behold I love, and if it be too little, I would love more strongly. I cannot measure so as to know, how much love there yet lacketh to me, ere my life may run into Thy embracements, nor turn away until it be hidden in the hidden place of God, the soul's rest. 379

Thy presence. This only I know, that woe is me, except in Thee, not only without but within myself also; and all abundance which is not my God, is emptiness to me.

IX. 10. But was not either the Father or the Son borne above the waters? If this means, in space, like a body, then neither was the Holy Spirit; but if it means the unchangeable supereminence of Divinity above all things changeable, then were both Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost, borne upon the waters. Why then is this said of Thy Spirit only'? Why is it said only of Him, as if He had been in space, who is not in space; of whom only it is written, that He is Thy Gift? In Thy Gift we rest; there we enjoy Thee. Our rest is our space. Love lifts us up thither, and Thy Good Spirit lifts up our lowliness from the gates of death. In Thy good pleasure is our peace. The body by its own weight strives towards its own place. Weight tends not downward only, but to its own proper place. Fire tends upward, a stone downward. They are urged by their own weight, they seek their own places. Oil poured below water, is raised above the water; wa'ter poured upon oil, sinks below the oil. They are urged by their own weights to seek their own places. When out of their order, they are restless; restored to order, they are at rest. My weight is my love; thereby am I borne whithersoever I am borne. We are inflamed by Thy Gift, Thy Spirit, and are carried upwards; we glow inwardly, and go forwards. We ascend Thy ascents that be in our heart, 880 existence, cognition, and will are

and sing a song of degrees. We glow inwardly with Thy fire, with Thy good fire, and we go, because we go upwards to the peace of Jerusalem; for gladdened was l in those who said unto me, We will go up to the house of the Lord} There hath Thy good pleasure placed us, that we may desire nothing else, but to abide there forever.

x. 11. Blessed creature, which, being itself other than Thou, has known no other condition, than that, so soon as it wag made, it was, without any interval, by Thy Gift, Which is borne above every thing changeable, borne aloft by that calling whereby Thou saidst, Let there be light, and there was light/ Whereas, in us men, this took place at different times, in that we were darkness, and are made light. But of that unfallen creature, is only said what it would have been, had it not been enlightened; and it is so said, as if it had been unsettled and darksome before; that so the cause whereby it was made otherwise, might appear, namely, that, being turned to the Light unfailing, it became light. Whoso can, let him understand this; and whoso cannot, let him ask of Thee. Why should he trouble me, as if I could enlighten any man that cometh into this world? •

XI. 12. Who of us comprehends the Almighty Trinity? And yet who of us speaks not of it, if indeed it be an it? Rare is the soul, which, while it speaks of it, knows what it speaks of. Men contend and strive, yet, without peace; no man sees that vision. I would that men would consider these three inscrutable symbols of the Trinity. 881

1 Psalm cxxii. 1.

things, that are in themselves. These three are indeed far other than the Trinity; I do but tell, where men may search themselves, and prove, and feel how far they are from it. Now the three things I spake of, are, To Be, to Know, and to Will. For I Am, and Know, and Will; I Am Knowing and Willing; and I Know myself to Be, and to Will; and I Will to Be, and to Know. In these three, then, let him discern how inseparable a life there is, yea, one life, one mind, and one essence; yea, lastly, how inseparable a distinction there is, and yet a distinction. Surely a man hath it before him; let him look into himself, and see, and tell me. But when he discovers and can say anything of these, let him not therefore think that he has found that which is above these Unchangeable; which Is unchangeably, and Knows unchangeably, and Wills unchangeably. And whether, because of these three, there is in God also a Trinity, or whether all three be in Each, so that the three belong to Each; or whether (both ways at once) wondrously, simply, and yet manifoldly, the Essence itself is a bound unto itself within itself, yet unbounded, whereby it Is, and is Known unto itself, and sufficeth to itself, unchangeably the Self-same by the abundant greatness of its Unity, — who can readily conceive this? Who could, any ways express it? Who would, any way, pronounce thereon rashly?

XII. 13. proceed in thy confession; say, O my faith, to the Lord thy God, Holy, Holy, Holy, 0 Lord my God, in Thy name have we been baptized, 382 Allegorical interpretations of

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; in Thy Name do we baptize, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; because among us, also, in His Christ did God make heaven and earth, namely, the spiritual and carnal people of His Church. Yea, and our earth, before it received the form of doctrine, was invisible and without form; and we were covered with the darkness of ignorance. For Thou chastenedst man for iniquity, and Thy judgments were like the great deep unto him. But because Thy Spirit was borne above the waters, Thy mercy forsook not our misery, and Thou saidst, Let there be light, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent ye, let there be light. And because our soul was troubled within us, we remembered Thee, O Lord, from the land of Jordan, and that mountain equal unto Thyself, but little for our sakes; and our darkness displeased us, we turned unto Thee, and there was light. And, behold, we were sometimes darkness, but now light in the Lord. XIII. 14. But, as yet we are such by faith and not by sight; for by hope we are saved, but hope that is seen, is not hope. As yet doth deep call unto deep, but now in the voice of Thy water-spouts. As yet doth he that saith, I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even he as yet doth not think himself to have apprehended, and forgetteth those things which are behind, and reacheth forth to those which are before, and groaneth, being burdened, and his soul thirsteth after the living God, as the hart after the water-brooks, and saith, When shall I come f desiring to be clothed upon various portions of Scripture. 383

with his house which is from heaven, and calleth upon this lower deep, saying, "Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, and, be not children in understanding, but in malice be ye children, that in understanding ye may be perfect, and, O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you? But now no longer does he speak in his own voice, but in Thine, Who sentest Thy Spirit from above, through Him who ascended up on high, and set open the flood-gates of his gifts, that the force of His streams might make glad the city of God, Him doth this friend of the bridegroom sigh after, having now the first-fruits of the Spirit laid up with Him, yet still groaning within himself, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of his body; to Him he sighs, a member of the bride ; for Him he is jealous, as being a friend of the Bridegroom; for Him he is jealous, not for himself; because in the voice of Thy water-spouts, not in his own voice, doth he call to that other depth, over whom being jealous, he feareth, lest as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so their minds should be corrupted from the purity that is in our Bridegroom, Thy Only Son. O what a light cf beauty will that be, when we shall see Him as He is, and those tears be passed away, which have been my meat day and night, whilst they daily say unto me, Where is now thy God?

XIV. 15. And I, too, say: O my God, where art Thou? Behold where Thou art. In Thee I breathe a little, when I pour out my soul by myself in the 384 Allegorical interpretations of

voice of joy and praise, the voice of him that keeps holy-day. And yet again, the soul is sad, because it relapses, and becomes a deep, or rather perceives itself still to be a deep. Unto it speaks my faith, which Thou hast kindled to enlighten my feet in the night, Why art thou sad, O my soul, and why dost thou trouble me? Hope in the Lord. His word is a lantern unto thy feet. Hope and endure, until the night, the mother of the wicked, until the wrath of the Lord, be overpast, whereof we also were once children, who were sometimes darkness, relics whereof we bear about us in our body, dead because of sin, until the day break, and the shadows fly away. Hope thou in the Lord. In the morning I shall stand in Thy presence, and contemplate Thee; I shall for ever confess unto Thee. In the morning I shall stand in Thy presence, and shall see the health of my countenance, my God; Who also shall quicken our mortal bodies, by the Spirit that dwelleth in us, because He hath in mercy been borne over our inner darksome and floating deep; from Whom we have in this pilgrimage received an earnest, that we should now be light, whilst we are saved by hope, and are the children of light, and the children of the day, not the children of the night, nor of the darkness, which yet sometimes we were. Betwixt whom and us, in this uncertainty of human knowledge, Thou only dividest; Thou, who provest our hearts, and callest the light day, and the darkness night. For who discerneth us, but Thou? And what have we, that we have not received of Thee? out of the same lump vessels various portions of Scripture. 385

unto honor, whereof others also are made unto dishonor.

XV. 16. Or who, except Thou, our God, made for us that firmament of authority over us in Thy divine Scripture? For it is said, the heaven shall be folded up like a scroll {liber); and now is it stretched over us like a skin. For Thy Divine Scripture is of more eminent authority, since those mortals by whom Thou dispensest it unto us, underwent mortality. And Thou knowest, Lord, Thou knowest, how Thou with skins didst clothe men, when they by sin became mortal. Hence Thou hast like a skin stretched out the firmament of Thy book (liber), that is, Thy harmonizing words, which by the ministry of mortal men Thou spreadest over us. For, by their very death, was that solid firmament of authority, which was in Thy discourses set forth by them, more eminently extended over all that be under it; which, whilst they lived here, was not so eminently extended. Thou hadst not as yet spread abroad the heaven like a skin; Thou hadst not as yet enlarged in all directions the glory of their deaths.

17. Let us look, O Lord, upon the heavens, the work of Thy fingers; clear from our eyes that cloud which Thou hast spread under them. There is Thy testimony, which giveth wisdom unto the little ones. Perfect, O my God, Thy praise out of the mouth of babes and sucklings. For we know no other books, which so destroy pride, which so destroy the enemy and the defender, who resists Thy reconciliation by defending his own sins. I know not, Lord, I know 386 Allegorical explanation of the

not any other such pure words, which so persuade me to confess, and make my neck pliant to Thy yoke, and invite me to serve Thee for nought. Let me understand them, good Father; grant this to me, who am placed under them, because for those placed under them, hast Thou established them.

18. Other waters there be above this firmament, I believe immortal and separated from earthly corruption. Let them praise Thy name, let them praise Thee, the super-celestial people, Thine angels, who have no need to gaze up at this firmament, or by reading to know of Thy Word. For they always behold Thy face, and there read without any syllables in time, what willeth Thy eternal Will. They read, they choose, they love; they are ever reading, and that never passes away which they read. For by choosing, and by loving, they read the very unchangeableness of Thy counsel. Their book is never closed, nor their scroll folded up; seeing Thou Thyself art this to them, and art eternally, because Thou hast ordained them above this firmament, which Thou hast firmly settled over the infirmity of the lower people, where they might gaze up and learn Thy merey, announcing in time Thee who madest times. For Thy mercy, Lord, is in the heavens, and Thy truth reached unto the clouds The clouds pass away, but the heaven abideth. The preachers of Thy word pass out of this life into another; but Thy Scripture is spread abroad over the people, even unto the end of the world. Yet heaven and earth also shall pass away, but Thy words shall not pass away. Because the firmament and the waters above it. 387

scroll shall be rolled together, and the grass over which it was spread, shall with the goodliness of it pass away; but Thy word remaineth forever, which now appeareth unto us under the dark image of the clouds, and through the glass of the heavens, not as it is,' because though we also are the well-beloved of Thy Son, yet it hath not yet appeared what we shall be. He looked through the lattice of our flesh, and He spake us tenderly, and kindled us, and we ran after his odors. But when He shall appear, then shall we be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. As He is, Lord, so will our sight be.

XVI. 19. For, altogether and wholly what Thou art, Thou only knowest, Who art unchangeably, and knowest unchangeably, and wiliest unchangeably. And Thy Essence Knows, and Wills unchangeably; and Thy Knowledge Is, and Wills unchangeably; and Thy Will Is, and Knows unchangeably. Nor seems it fitting in Thine eyes, that as the Unchangeable Light knows itself, so should it be known by the thing enlightened and changeable. Therefore is my soul like a land where no water is, because, as it cannot of itself enlighten itself, so can it not of itself satisfy itself. For the fountain of life is with Thee, in such a way that in Thy light we shall see light.

XVII. 20. Who gathered the embittered children of men together into one society? (For they have all one end, a temporal and earthly felicity, for attaining whereof they do all things, though they waver up and down with an innumerable variety of cares.) 388 Allegorical explanation of the

Who, Lord, but Thou, Who saidst, Let the waters be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear, which thirsteth after Thee f because the sea also is Thine, and Thou hast made it, and Thy hands prepared the dry land. Nor is the bitterness of men's wills, but the gathering together of the waters, called sea. For Thou restrainest the wicked desires of men's souls, and settest them their bounds, how far they may be allowed to pass, that their waves may break one against another; and thus makest Thou it a sea, by the order of Thy dominion over all things.

21. But the souls that thirst after Thee, and that appear before Thee (being by other bounds divided from the society of the sea), Thou waterest by a sweet spring, that the earth may bring forth her fruit, and, Thou Lord God so commanding, our soul may bud forth works of mercy according to their kind, loving our neighbor in the relief of his bodily necessities, having seed in itself according to its likeness; since, from feeling of our infirmity, we compassionate so as to relieve the needy, helping them, as we would be helped, if we were in like need; and this, too, not only in things easy, as in herb yielding seed, but also in the protection of our assistance with our best strength, like the tree yielding fruit: that is, well-doing in rescuing him that suffers wrong, from the hand of the powerful, and giving him the shelter of protection, by the mighty strength of just judgment.

XVIII. 22. So Lord, so, I beseech Thee, let there spring up, as Thou workest, as Thou givest cheerfullights ruling the day and night. 389

ness and ability, let truth spring out of the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven, and let there be lights in the firmament. Let us break our bread to the hungry, and bring the houseless poor to our house. Let us clothe the naked, and despise not those of our own flesh. Which fruits having sprung out of the earth, behold it is good. And let our temporary light break forth; and ourselves, from this lower fruitfulness of action, arriving at the delightfulness of contemplation, obtaining the Word of Life above, appear like lights in the world, cleaving to the firmament of Thy Scripture. For there Thou instructest us, to divide between the things intellectual, and things of sense, as betwixt the day and the night; or between souls, given either to things intellectual, or to things of sense; so that now, not Thou only, in the secret of Thy judgment, as before the firmament was made, divide between the light and the darkness, but Thy spiritual children also, set and ranked in the same firmament (now that Thy grace is manifested throughout the world), may give light upon the earth, and divide betwixt the day and the night, and be for signs of times; because old things are passed away, and, behold, all things are become new, and because our salvation is nearer than when we believed, and because the night is far spent, and the day is at hand, and because Thou wilt crown Thy year with blessing, sending laborers into Thy harvest, in sowing whereof others have labored, sending also into another field, whose harvest shall be in the end} Thus grantest 390 Allegorical explanation of the

1 Matt. ix. 38; John iv. 37 seq.

Thou the prayers of him that asketh, and blessest the years of tfiejust; but Thou art the same, and in Thy years which fail not, Thou prcparest a garner for our passing years. For Thou, by an eternal counsel, dost in their proper seasons bestow heavenly blessings upon the earth. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, as it were the greater light, for their sakes who are delighted with the light of perspicuous truth, as it were for the rule of the day. To another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, as it were the lesser light; to another faith; to another the gift of healing; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues. And all these are as it were stars. For all these worketh the one and self-same Spirit, dividing to every man his own as He will; and causing stars to appear manifestly, to profit withal. But the word of knowledge, wherein are contained all Sacraments, which are varied in their seasons, as it were the moon, and those other denominations of gifts, which are reckoned up in order, as it were stars, inasmuch as they come short of that brightness of wisdom which gladdens the forementioned day, are only for the rule of the night. For they are necessary to such as those to whom Thy most prudent servant could not speak as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal; even he who speaketh wisdom among those that are perfect, But the natural man, as it were a babe in Christ and/ettf on milk, until he be strengthened for solid meat, and his eye be enabled to behold the Sun, let him not lights ruling the day and night. 391

dwell in a night forsaken of all light, but be content with the light of the moon and the stars. So dost Thou speak to us, our All-wise God, in Thy Book, Thy firmament; that we may discern all things, in an admirable contemplation; though as yet in signs, and in times, and in days, and in years.

XIX. 24. But first, wash you, be ye clean • put away evil from your souls, and from before mine eyes, that the dry land may appear. Learn to do good, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow, that the earth may bring forth the green herb for meat, and the tree bearing fruit / and come, let us reason together, saith the Lord, that there may be lights in the firmament of the heaven, and they may shine upon the earth. That rich man asked of the good Master, what he should do to attain everlasting life. Let the good Master tell him (whom he thought no more than man; but he is good because he is God), let Him tell him, if he would enter into life, he must keep the commandments; let him put away from him the bitterness of malice and wickedness, not kill, not commit adultery, not steal, not bear false witness, that the dry land may appear, and bring forth the honoring of father and mother, and the love of our neighbor. All these (saith he) have I kept. Whence then so many thorns, if the earth be fruitful? Go, root up the spreading thickets of covetousness; sell that thou hast, and be filled with fruit, by giving to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven / and follow the Lord, if thou wilt be perfect, associated with them among whom He speaketh wisdom, Who 392 Allegorical explanation of

knoweth what to distribute to the day and to the night, that thou mayest also know it, and that for thee there may be lights in the firmament of heaven; which will not be, unless thy heart be there; nor will that either be there, unless there thy treasure be; as thou hast heard of the good Master. But that barren earth was grieved;¹ and the thorns choked the word.

25. But you, chosen generation, you weak things of the world, who have forsaken all, that ye may follow the Lord, go after Him, and confound the mighty; go after Him, ye beautiful feet, and shine ye in the firmament, that the heavens may declare His glory, dividing between the light of the perfect, though not as the angels, and the darkness of the little ones, though not despised. Shine over the earth; and let the day, lightened by the sun, utter unto day, speech of wisdom; and night, shining with the moon, show unto night, the word of knowledge. The moon and stars shine for the night; yet doth the night obscure them, seeing they give it light in its degree. For behold God saying as it were, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven; there came suddenly a sound from heaven, as it had been the rushing of a mighty wind, and there appeared cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them, and there were made lights in the firmament of heaven, having the word of life. Run ye to and fro everywhere, ye holy fires, ye beauteous fires: for ye are the light of the world, nor are ye put under a bushel. He whom the reptiles and birds. 393

1 Matt. xix. 22.

you cleave unto, is exalted, and hath exalted you. Run ye to and fro, and be known unto all nations.

XX. 26. Let the sea also conceive and bring forth your works; and let the waters bring forth the moving creature that hath life. For ye, separating the precious from the vile, are made the mouth of God, by whom lie saith, Let the waters bring forth, not the living creatures which the earth brings forth, but the moving creature having life, and the fowls that fly above the earth. For Thy Sacraments, O God, by the ministry of Thy Holy Ones, have moved amid the waves of the temptations of the world, to consecrate the nations in Thy name, by Thy Baptism. And amid these things, many great wonders were wrought, as it were, great whales/ and the voices were heard of Thy messengers flying above the earth, in the open firmament of Thy Book, which was set over them, as their authority, under which they were to fly, whithersoever they went. For there is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard; seeing their sound is gone through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world, because Thou, Lord, multipliedst them by blessing.

27. Speak I untruly, or do I mingle and confound, and not distinguish between the lucid knowledge of these things in the firmament of heaven, and the material works in the wavy sea, and under the firmment of heaven? For of those things whereof the knowledge is substantial and defined, without any increase by generation, as it were lights of wisdom and knowledge, yet even of them, the material opera394 Allegorical explanation of the

tions are many and divers, and one thing growing out of another, they are multiplied by Thy blessing, O God, who hast refreshed the fastidiousness of mortal senses, so that one thing in the understanding of our mind may, by the motions of the body, be many ways set out and expressed. These Sacraments have the waters brought forth; but in Thy Word. The necessities of the people estranged from the eternity of Thy truth have brought them forth; but in Thy Gospel. Because the waters themselves cast them forth, the diseased bitterness whereof was the cause why they were sent forth in Thy Word.

28. Now are all things fair that Thou hast made, but Thou Thyself art unutterably fairer, that madest all; from Whom had not Adam fallen, the brackishness of the sea had never flowed ,ont of him, that is, the human race so profoundly curious, and tempestuously swelling, and restlessly tumbling up and down; and then had there been no need of Thy dispensers to work, in many waters, after a corporeal and sensible manner, mysterious doings and sayings. For such dispensers those moving and flying creatures now seem to me to mean, whereby men, being initiated and consecrated by corporeal Sacraments, should not further profit, unless their soul had a spiritual life, and unless after the word of admission it looked forwards to perfection.

XXI. 29. And hereby, in Thy Word, not the deepness of the sea, but the earth separated from the bitterness of the waters, brings forth, not the moving creature that hath life, but the living soul. For now living soul, fishes, and fowls. 395 396 Exhortation to God's ministers.

hath it no more need of baptism, as the heathen have, and as itself had when it was covered with the waters. For no other entrance is there into the kingdom of heaven, since Thou hast appointed that this should be the entrance; nor does it seek after wonderfulness of miracles to work belief. For it is not such, that unless it sees signs and wonders, it will not believe, now that the faithful earth is separated from the waters that were bitter with infidelity, and tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not. Neither, therefore, does the earth which Thou hast founded upon the waters, need that flying kind which at Thy Word the waters brought forth. Send Thou Thy Word into it by Thy messengers. For we speak of their working, yet it is Thou that workest in them that they may work out a living soul. The earth brings the living soul forth, because the earth is the cause that they work this in it, as the sea was the cause that they wrought upon the moving creatures that have life, and the fowls that fly under the firmament of heaven, of whom the earth hath no need; although it feeds upon that fish which was taken out of the deep, upon that table which Thou hast prepared in the presence of them that believe. For therefore was the fish taken out of the deep, that it might feed the dry land; and the fowl, though bred in the sea, is yet multiplied upon the earth. For of the first preachings of the Evangelists, man's infidelity was the cause; yet are the faithful also exhorted and blessed by them manifoldly, from day to day. But the living soul takes its beginning from the earth; for it profits only

those already among the Faithful to contain themselves from the love of this world, that so their soul may live unto Thee, which was dead while it lived in pleasures, — in death-bringing pleasures, Lord, for Thou, Lord, art the life-giving delight of the pure heart.

30. Now then let Thy ministers work upon the earth, not as upon the waters of infidelity, by preaching and speaking, by miracles and sacraments and mystic words, wherein ignorance, the mother of admiration, might be intent upon them, out of a reverence towards those secret signs. For such is the entrance unto the Faith, for the sons of Adam forgetful of Thee, while they hide themselves from Thy face, and become a darksome deep. But let Thy ministers work now as on the dry land, separated from the whirlpools of the great deep; and let them be a pattern unto the Faithful, by living before them, and stirring them up to imitation. For thus do men hear, so as not to hear only, but to do also. Seek the Lord, and your soul shall live, that the earth may bring forth the living soul. Be not conformed to the world. Contain yourselves from it. The soul lives by avoiding what it dies by loving. Contain yourselves from the ungoverned wildness of pride, the sluggish voluptuousness of luxury, and the false name of knowledge; that so the wild beasts may be tamed, the cattle broken to the yoke, the serpents harmless. For these are the motions of our mind under an allegory; that is to say, the haughtiness of pride, the delight of lust, and the poison of curiosity, are the motions of a dead Restraining power of divine truth. 397

soul; for the soul dies not so as to lose all motion; because it dies by forsaking the fountain of life, and so is taken up by this transitory world, and is conformed unto it.

31. But Thy word, O God, is the fountain of life eternal, and passeth not away; wherefore this departure of the soul is restrained by Thy word, when it is said unto us, Be not con formed unto this world; that so the earth may in the fountain of life bring forth a living soul; that is, a soul made continent in Thy Word, by Thy Evangelists, by following the followers of Thy Christ. For this is after his kind; because a man is wont to imitate his friend. Be ye (saith he) as I am, for I also am as you are. Thus in this living soul shall there be good beasts, in meekness of action ( for Thou hast commanded, Go on with Thy business in meekness, so shalt thou be beloved by all men);¹ and good cattle, which neither if they eat shall they overabound, nor, if they eat not, have any lack; and good serpents, not dangerous to do hurt, but wise to take heed, and only making so much research into this temporal nature, as may suffice that eternity be clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. For these creatures are obedient unto reason, when, being restrained from deadly attack upon us, they live, and are good.

XXII. 32. For behold, O Lord our God, our Creator, when our affections have been restrained from the love of the world, by which we died through evil

1 Sirach iii. 19.

398 Explanation of the divine image.

living, and have begun to be a living soul, through good living, and Thy word which Thou spakest by Thy apostle, is made good in us, Be not conformed to this world, there follows that also which Thou presently subjoinedst, saying, But be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, not now after your kind, as though following your neighbor who went before you, nor as living after the example of some better man. For Thou saidst not, "Let man be made after his kind," but, Let us make man after our own image and similitude, that we might prove wAotfThy will is. For to this purpose, said that dispenser of Thine, who begat children by the Gospel, that he might not forever have them babes, whom he must be fain to feed with milk, and cherish as a nurse: Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Wherefore Thou sayest not, "Let man be made," but "let us make man." Nor saidst Thou, "according to his kind," but, "after our image and likeness.'''' For man being renewed in his mind, and beholding and understanding Thy truth, needs not man as his director, so as to follow after his kind; but by Thy direction proveth what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of Thine; and Thou teachest him, now made capable, to discern the Trinity of the Unity, and the Unity of the Trinity. Wherefore to that said in the plural, Let us make man, is yet subjoined in the singular, And God made man; and to that said in the plural, After our likeness, is subjoined in the singular, after the image of God. Thus The judgment of the spiritual man. 399

is man renewed in the knowledge of God, after the image of Him that created him; and being made spiritual, hejudgeth all things (all things which are to be judged), yet himself is judged of no man.

XVIII. 33. But that hejudgeth all things, this answers to his having dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowls of the air, and over all cattle and wild beasts, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. For this he doth by the understanding of his mind, whereby heperceiveth the things of the Spirit of God; whereas otherwise, man, being placed in honor, had no under. standing, and is compared unto the brute beasts, and is become like unto them. In Thy Church, therefore, O our God, according to Thy grace which Thou hast bestowed upon it (for we are Thy workmanship created unto good works), not those only who are spiritually set over, but they also who spiritually are subject to those that are set over them (for in this way didst Thou make man male and female, in Thy spiritual grace, where according to the sex of body there is neither male nor female, because neither Jew nor Grecian, neither bond nor free), — all spiritual persons, in Thy Church, whether such as are set over, or such as obey, Ho judge spiritually. Not, indeed, of that spiritual knowledge which shines in the firmament, for they ought not to judge as to so supreme authority; normay they judge of Thy Book itself, even though something there shineth not clearly, for we submit our understanding unto it, and hold for certain, that even what is closed to our sight, is yet rightly and 400 The judgment of

truly spoken. For man, though now spiritual, and renewed in the knowledge of God after His image that created him, ought to be a doer of the law, not a judge. Neither doth he judge of that distinction of spiritual and carnal men, who are known unto Thine eyes, O our God, and have not as yet discovered themselves unto us by works, that by their fruits we might know them; but Thou, Lord, dost even now know them, and hast divided and called them in secret, before ever the firmament was made. Nor doth he, though spiritual, judge the unquiet people of this world; for what hath he to do, to judge them that are without, knowing not which of them shall hereafter come into the sweetness of Thy grace, and which continue in the perpetual bitterness of ungodliness.

34. Man, therefore, whom Thou hast made after Thine own image, received not dominion over the lights of heaven, nor over that hidden heaven itself, nor over the day and the night, which Thou calledst before the foundation of the heaven, nor over the gathering together of the waters, which is the sea; but he received dominion over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and over all cattle, and over all the earth, and over all creeping things which creep upon the earth. For he judgeth and approveth what he findeth right, and he disalloweth what he findeth amiss; whether in the celebration of that sacrament by which such are initiated as Thy mercy searches out in many waters; or in that, in which that fish¹ is set the spiritual man. 401

1 There is, probably, an allusion here to the early Christian monogram iX^us, i- '-, 'I-))<roOj X'-pttrrbs @-(or T-5foj 2u-r^p. — Ed.

forth, which, taken out of the deep, the devout earth feed upon; or in the expressions and signs of words, subject to the authority of Thy Book, — such signs, as proceed out of the mouth, and sound forth, flying as it were under the firmament, by interpreting, expounding, discoursing, disputing, consecrating, or praying unto Thee, so that the people may answer, Amen. The vocal pronouncing of all which words, is occasioned by the deep of this world, and the blindness of the flesh, which cannot see thoughts, so that there is need to speak aloud in the ears. Thus, although flying fowls be multiplied upon the earth, yet they derive their beginning from the waters. The spiritual manjudgeth also by allowing of what is right, and disallowing what he finds amiss, in the works and lives of the faithful, — in their alms, as it were the earth bringing forth fruit; in the living soul, living by the taming of the affections; in chastity; in fasting; in holy meditations concerning those things which are perceived by the senses of the body. Upon all these is he now said to judge, wherein he hath also power of correction.

XXIV. 35. But what is this, and what kind of mystery? Behold, Thou blessest mankind, O Lord, that they may increase and multiply, and replenish the earth. Dost Thou not thereby give us a hint to understand something? Why didst thou not as well bless the light, which Thou calledst day; and the firmament of heaven, and the lights, and the stars, and the sea? I might say that Thou, O God, who created us after Thine Image, I might say that it had been 402 Why God blessed man, fishes, and fowls

Thy good pleasure to bestow this blessing peculiarly upon man, hadst Thou not in like manner blessed the fishes and the whales, that they should increase and multiply, and replenish the waters of the sea, and that the fowls should be multiplied upon the earth. I might say, likewise, that this blessing pertained properly unto such creatures as are bred of their own kind, had I found it given to the fruit-trees, and plants, and beasts of the earth. But now neither unto the herbs, nor the trees, nor the beasts, nor serpents is it said, Increase and multiply; notwithstanding all these as well as the fishes, fowls, or men, do by generation increase and continue their kind.

36. What then shall I say, O Truth my Light? "that it was idly said, and without meaning?" Not so, O Father of piety, far be it from a minister of Thy word to say so. And if I understand not what Thou meanest by that phrase, let my betters, that is, those of more understanding than myself, make better use of it, according as Thou, my God, hast given to each man to understand. But let my confession also be pleasing in Thine eyes, wherein I confess unto Thee, that I believe, O Lord, that Thou spakest not so in vain; nor will I suppress what this lesson suggests to me. For it is truth; nor do I see what should hinder me from thus understanding the figurative sayings of Thy Bible. For I know a thing to be manifoldly signified by corporeal expressions, which is understood one way by the mind; and that understood many ways in the mind, which is signified one way by corporeal expression. Behold, the single love of God and our and not herbs, and other animals. 403

neighbor, by what manifold sacraments, and innumerable languages, and in each several language in how innumerable modes of speaking, it is corporeally expressed. Thus do the offsprings of the waters increase and multiply. Observe again, whosoever thou art that readest this. Behold what Scripture delivers, and the voice pronounces in only one way: In the Beginning God created heaven and earth; is it not understood manifoldly, not through any deceit of error, but by various kinds of true senses? Thus do man's offspring increase and multiply.

36. If, therefore, we conceive of the natures of the things themselves, not allegorically, but properly, then does the phrase increase and multiply agree unto all things, that come of seed. But if we treat of the words as figuratively spoken (which I rather suppose to be the purpose of the Scripture, which doth not, surely, superfluously ascribe this benediction to the offspring of aquatic animals and man only), then do we find "multitude" to belong to creatures spiritual as well as corporeal, as in heaven and earth; and to souls both righteous and unrighteous, as in light and darkness; and to holy authors who have been the ministers of the Law unto us, as in the firmament which is settled betwixt the waters and the waters; and to the society of people yet in the bitterness of infidelity, as in the sea; and to the zeal of holy souls, as in the dry land; and to works of mercy belonging to this present life, as in the herbs bearing seed, and in trees bearing fruit; and to spiritual gifts set forth for edification, as in the lights of heaven; and to affec404 The fruits of the earth signify

tions formed unto temperance, as in the living soul. In all these instances we meet with multitudes, abundance, and increase; but what shall in such wise increase and multiply, that one thing may be expressed many ways, and one expression be understood many ways, we find not, except in signs corporeally expressed, and in things mentally conceived. By signs corporeally pronounced, we understand the generations of the waters, necessarily occasioned by the fertility of the flesh; by things mentally conceived, human generations, on account of the fruitfulness of reason. And for this end do we believe Thee, Lord, to have said to these kinds, Increase and multiply. For in this blessing, I conceive Thee to have granted us a power and a faculty, both to express several ways what we understand but one; and to understand several ways, what we read to be obscurely delivered but in one. Thus are the waters of the sea replenished, which are not moved but by several significations; thus with human increase is the earth also replenished, whose dryness appeareth in its longing, and reason ruleth over it.

XXV. 38. I would also say, O Lord my God, what the following Scripture minds me of; yea, I will say, and not fear. For I will say the truth, Thyself inspiring me with what Thou willest me to deliver out of those words. But by no other inspiration than Thine, do I believe myself to speak truth, seeing Thou art the Truth, and every man a liar. He, therefore, that speaketh a lie, speaketh of his own; that therefore I may speak truth, I will speak of Thine. Behold, works of benevolence. 405

Thou hast given unto us for food, every herb bearing seed which is upon all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; and not to us alone, but also to all the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the earth, and to all creeping things / but unto the fishes, and to the great whales, hast Thou not given them. Now, we said that by these fruits of the earth were signified, and figured in an allegory, the works of mercy which are provided for the necessities of this life out of the fruitful earth. Such an earth was the devout Onesiphorus, unto whose house Thou gavest mercy, because he often refreshed Thy Paul, and was not ashamed of his chain. Thus did also the brethren, and such fruit did they bear, who out of Macedonia supplied what was lacking to him. But how grieved he for some trees, which did not afford him the fruit due unto him, where he saith, At my first answer no man stood by me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. For these fruits are due to such as minister the spiritual doctrine unto us out of their understanding of the divine mysteries; and they are due to them, as men; yea and due to them, also, as the living soul, which giveth itself as an example, in all continency; and due unto them, also, as flying creatures, for their blessings which are multiplied upon the earth, because their sound went out into all lands.

XXYI. 39. But they are fed by these fruits, that are delighted with them; nor are they delighted with them, whose God is their belly. For neither in them

r

406 The worth of a gift

that yield them, are the mere things yielded the fruit, but with what mind they yield them. He therefore that served God, and not his own belly, I plainly see why he rejoiced ; I see it, and I rejoice with him. For he had received from the Philippians, what they had sent by Epaphroditus unto him. And I also perceive why he rejoiced so specially at that whereon he fed. For, speaking in truth, he saith, I rejoiced greatly in the Lord, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again, wherein ye were also careful, but it had become wearisome unto you. These Philippians, then, had dried up, with a long weariness, and withered, as it were, as to bearing this fruit of a good work; and he rejoiceth for them, that they flourished again, and not merely for himself, that they supplied his wants. Therefore subjoins he, Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound; everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full, and to be hungry; both to abound, and to suffer need. I can do all things through him which strengthened me.

40. Whereat then rejoicest thou, O great Paul? whereat rejoicest thou? whereon feedest thou, O man, renewed in the knowledge of God, after the image of Him that created thee, thou living soul, of so much continency, thou tongue like flying fowls, speaking mysteries (for to such creatures is this food due); what is it that feeds thee? Joy. Hear what follows: notwithstanding, ye have well done, that ye did comlies in the intention. 407

municate with my affliction. Hereat he rejoiceth, hereon feedeth; because they had well done, not because his strait was eased who saith unto Thee, Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; for he knew how to abound, and to suffer want, in Thee, Who strengthenest him. For ye Philippians also know, (saith he) that in the beginning of the Gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me, as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. Unto these good works, he now rejoiceth that they are returned; and is gladdened that they flourished again, as when a fruitful field resumes its green.

41. Was it because of his own necessities, that he said, Ye sent unto my necessity? Rejoiceth he for that? Verily not for that. But how know this? Because himself says immediately, not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit. I have learned of Thee, my God, to distinguish betwixt a gift, and fruit. A gift, is the thing itself which he gives that imparts these necessaries unto us, as money, meat, drink, clothing, shelter, help; but the fruit, is the good and right will of the giver. For the Good Master said not only, He that receiveth a prophet, but added, in the name of a prophet; nor did He only say, He that receiveth a righteous man, but added, in the name of a righteous man. So, verily, shall the one receive the reward of a prophet, the other, the reward of a righteous man. Nor saith He, only, He that shall give to drink a cup of cold water to one of my little ones, 408 The fishes and whales.

but added, in the name of a disciple; and so concludeth, 'Verily I say unto you he shall not lose his reward. The gift is, to receive aprophet, to receive a righteous man, to give a cup of cold water to a disciple; but the fruit is, to do this in the name of a prophet, in the name of a righteous man, in the name of a disciple.

With fruit was Elijah fed by the widow that knew she fed a man of God, and therefore fed him; but by the raven was he fed with a gift. Nor was the inner man of Elijah so fed, but the outer only; which might also for want of that food have perished.

XXVII. 42. I will then speak what is true in Thy sight, O Lord : namely, that when carnal men and infidels, whom we suppose to be signified by the name of fishes and whales (for the gaining and initiating whom, the initiatory sacraments and the mighty workings of miracles are necessary), undertake the bodily refreshment, or otherwise succor Thy servants with something useful for this present life, inasmuch as they are ignorant, why this is to be done, and to what end, they do not really feed these, nor are these really fed by them ; because neither do the former do it out of an holy and right intent, nor do the latter rejoice at their gifts, whose fruit they as yet behold not. For upon that is the mind fed, of which it is glad. And therefore do not the fishes and whales feed upon such meats as the earth brings not forth until after it was separated, and divided, from the bitterness of the waves of the sea.

XXVIII. 43. And Thou, O God, sawest everyGod not conditioned by time. 409

thing that Thou hadst made, and behold, it was very good. Yea we also see the same, and behold, all things are very good. Of the several kinds of Thy works, when Thou hadst said " let them be," and they were, Thou sawest each that it was good. Seven times have I counted it to be written, that Thou sawest that that which Thou modest was good; and this is the eighth, that Thou sawest every thing that Thou hadst made, and behold it was not only good, but also very good, as being now one, and altogether. For severally they were only good; but altogether, both good, and very good. All beautiful bodies express the same; because a body consisting of members all beautiful, is far more beautiful than the same members by themselves are, by whose well-ordered blending the whole is perfected, although the members, severally, be also beautiful.

XXIX. 44. And I looked narrowly to find, whether seven, or eight times, Thou sawest that Thy works were good, when they pleased Thee; but in Thy seeing I found no times, whereby I might understand that thou sawest so often, what Thou madest. And I said, " Lord, is not this Thy Scripture true, since Thou art true, and being Truth, hast set it forth? Why dost Thou say unto me, 'that in Thy seeing there be no times;' whereas this Thy Scripture tells me, that what Thou madest each day, Thou sawest that it was good; and when I counted them, I found how often." Unto this Thou answerest me, for Thou art my God, and with a strong voice tellest Thy servant in his inner ear, breaking through my 410 Gnostic and Manichaean cosmogonies.

deafness and crying, " O man, that which my Scripture saith, I say. And yet doth that speak in time; but time has no relation to My Word, because My Word exists in equal eternity with Myself. So, the things which ye see through My Spirit, I see; and what things ye speak by My Spirit, I speak. And yet when ye see those things in time, I see them not in time; and when ye speak them in time, I speak them not in time."

XXX. 45. And I heard, O Lord my God, and drank up a drop of sweetness out of Thy truth, and understood. For there are certain men who dislike Thy works; and say that many of them Thou madest because compelled by necessity; such as the fabric of the heavens, and harmony of the stars; and that Thou madest them not of what was Thine, but that they were otherwhere and from other sources created, for Thee to bring together and compact and combine, when out of Thy conquered enemies Thou raised st up the walls of the universe; that they, bound down by this structure, might not again be able to rebel against Thee. And there are still other things, they say, which Thou neither madest, nor even compactedst, such as all fleshly creatures, and all very minute creatures, and whatsoever hath its root in the earth; but that a mind at enmity with Thee, and another nature, not created by Thee, and contrary unto Thee, did, in these lower stages of the world, beget and frame these things. Frenzied are they who say thus, because they see not Thy works by Thy Spirit, nor recognize Thee in them.

Man's need of illumination. 411

XXXI. 46. But they who, by Thy Spirit, see these things, Thou seest in them. Therefore, when they see that these things are good, Thou seest that they are good; and whatsoever things for Thy sake please, Thou pleasest in them; and what through Thy Spirit please us, they please Thee in us. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of a man, which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no one, but the Spirit of God. Now we (saith he) have received, not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given us of God. The objection occurs to me: "Certainly the things of God knoweth no one, but the Spirit of God; how then do we also know, what things are given us of God?" Answer is made me: "Because the things which we know by His Spirit, even these no one knoweth, but the Spirit of God. For as it is rightly said unto those that were to speak by the Spirit of God, It is not ye that speak; so is it rightly said to them that know through the Spirit of God, 'It is not ye that know.' And no less, then, is it rightly said to those that see through the Spirit of God,'It is not ye that see," so whatsoever through the Spirit of God they see to be good, it is not they, but God that sees that it is good." It is one thing, then, for a man to think that to be evil which is good, as the forenamed do; another thing that a man should see that that which is good is good (for Thy creatures are pleasing unto many because they are good, whom yet Thou pleasest not in them, because they prefer 412 Summary of the

to enjoy them to Thee); and another thing that when a man sees that a thing is good, God should in him see that is good, so, namely, that He should be loved in that which He made, Who cannot be loved, but by the Holy Ghost which he hath given. Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, Which is given unto us; by Whom we see that whatsoever in any degree truly is, is good. For from Him it truly is, Who Himself is not in degree, but what He Is, Is.

XXXII. 47. Thanks to Thee, O Lord, we behold the heaven and earth, both the corporeal part, superior and inferior, and the spiritual and corporeal creature; and in the adorning of these parts, whereof the universal pile of the world, or rather the universal creation, doth consist, we see light made, and divided from the darkness. We see the firmament of heaven, both that primary body of the world, between the spiritual upper waters and the inferior corporeal waters,¹ and (since this also is called heaven) this space of air through which wander the fowls of heaven, betwixt those waters which are in vapors borne above them, and in clear nights distil down in dew, and those heavier waters which flow along the earth. We behold a surface of waters gathered together in the fields of the sea; and the dry land both void and formed so as to be visible and harmonized, yea, and the matter of herbs and trees. We behold works of the Creator. 413

1 Augustine, in his Retractationes (Lib. II. Cap. 6) remarks: Quod dixi firmamentum faetum inter spiritales aquas superiors et corporates inferiores, non satis considerate dictum est; res autem in abdito est valde. — Ed.

the lights, shining from above; the sun, to suffice for the day, the moon and the stars to cheer the night; and that, by all these, times should be marked and signified. We behold on all sides a moist element replenished with fishes, beasts, and birds; because the grossness of the air, which bears up the flights of birds, thickeneth itself by the exhalation of the waters. We behold the face of the earth decked out with earthly creatures; and man, created after Thy image and likeness, even through Thy very image and likeness, that is the power of reason and understanding, set over all irrational creatures. And as in his soul there is one power which has dominion by directing, another made subject, that it might obey; so was there for the man, corporeally also made a woman, who, in the mind of her reasonable understanding, should have a parity of nature, but in the sex of her body, should be in like manner subject to the sex of her husband, as the appetite of doing is fain to obtain the skill of right-doing, from the reason of the mind. These things we behold, and they are severally good, and taken altogether very good.

XXXIII. 48. Let Thy works praise Thee, that we may love Thee; and let us love Thee, that Thy works may praise Thee, which from time have beginning and ending, rising and setting, growth and decay, form and privation. They have then their succession of morning and evening, part secretly, part apparently. For they were made of nothing by Thee, not of Thee; not of any matter not Thine, or that 414 Creation is de nihilo.

was before Thy creative act, but of matter concreated (that is, a matter in which the matter and form were simultaneously created by Thee), because to its state without form, Thou without any interval of time didst give form. For seeing the matter of heaven and earth is one thing, and the form another, Thou madest the matter of merely nothing, but the form of the world out of the matter without form: yet both together, so that the form should follow the matter, without any interval of delay.¹

XXXIV. 49. We have also examined what Thou willedst to be shadowed forth, whether by the creation, or the relation of things in such an order; and we have seen, that things singly are good, and together very good, in Thy Word, in Thy OnlyBegotten, both heaven and earth, the head and the body of the church, in Thy predestination before all times, without morning and evening. But when Thou begannest to execute in time the things predestinated, to the end Thou mightest reveal hidden things, and rectify our disorders (for our sins hung over us, and we had sunk into the dark deep, and Thy good Spirit was borne over us, to help us in due season), Thou didstjustify the ungodly, and divided them from the wicked; and Thou madest the firmament of authority of Thy book between those placed above, who were to be docile unto Thee, and those Recapitulatory statement. 415

1 Augustine here precludes that theory of creation which regards the Deity as conditioned by an eternally existent 8A)j, — an error in which some of the early Christian Fathers, e. g., Justin Martyr, were involved. Compare Guericke's Church History, $ 53. —Ed.

placed under, who were to be subject to them; and thou gatheredest together the society of unbelievers into one conspiracy, that the zeal of the faithful might appear, and they might bring forth works of mercy, even distributing to the poor their earthly riches, to obtain heavenly. And after this, didst Thou kindle certain lights in the firmament, Thy Holy ones having the word of life, and shining with an eminent authority set on high through spiritual gifts. After this, again, for the initiation of the unbelieving Gentiles, didst Thou, out of corporeal matter, produce the Sacraments, and visible miracles, and forms of words, according to the firmament of Thy Book, by which the faithful should be blessed and multiplied. Next, didst Thou form the living soul of the faithful, through affections well ordered by the vigor of continency. After that hast thou renewed the mind, subjected to Thee alone and needing to imitate no human authority, after Thy image and likeness, and didst subject its rational actions to the excellency of the understanding, as the woman to the man; and, to all offices of Thy Ministry, necessary for the perfecting of the faithful in this life, Thou willedst, that, for their temporal uses, good things, fruitful to themselves in time to come, be given by the same faithful. All these we see, and they are very good, because Thou seest them in us, who hast given unto us Thy Spirit, by which we might see them, and in them love Thee.

XXXV. 50. O Lord God, give peace unto us (for Thou hast given us all things), the peace of rest, the 416 Augustine sighs for

peace of the Sabbath which hath no evening. For all this most goodly array of things very good, having finished their courses, is to pass away, for in them there was morning and evening.

XXXVI. 51. But the seventh day hath no evening, nor hath it setting, because Thou hast sanctified it to an everlasting continuance; that that which Thou didst after Thy works which were very good, namely, resting the seventh day (although Thou madest them in unbroken rest), we, too, may do, — Thy Book announcing beforehand unto us, that we also, after our works (very good, because Thou hast given them to us), shall rest in Thee also, in the Sabbath of eternal life.

XXXVII. 52. For Thou shalt rest in us, as now Thou workest in us; and Thy rest shall be through us, as Thy works are through us. But Thou, Lord, ever workest, and art ever at rest. Nor dost Thou see in time, nor art moved in time, nor rested in time; and yet Thou makest things seen in time, yea the times themselves, and the rest which results from time.

XXXVIII. 53. We therefore see these things which Thou madest, because they are; but they are because Thou seest them. And we see without, that they are, and within, that they are good ; but Thou sawest them when made, as Thou sawest them before they were made. And we were at a later time moved to do well, after our hearts had conceived of Thy Spirit; but in the former time we were moved to do evil, forsaking Thee. But Thou, the One, the Good the everlasting rest. 417WARREN F. DRAPER, /

God, didst never cease doing good. And we also have some good works, of Thy gift, but not eternal; after them we trust to rest in Thy great hallowing. But Thou, being the Good which needeth no good, art ever at rest, because Thy rest is Thyself. And what man can teach man to understand this? or what angel an angel? or what angel a man? Let it be asked of Thee, sought of Thee, knocked for at Thee: so, so shall it be received, so shall it be found, so shall it be opened. Amen.

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