The Learning Curve/The Learning Curve (Weird Science, 1996).iso/religion/augustine/book13

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     BOOK XIII

     I call upon Thee, O my God, my mercy, Who createdst me, and
   forgottest not me, forgetting Thee. I call Thee into my soul which, by
   the longing Thyself inspirest into her, Thou preparest for Thee.
   Forsake me not now calling upon Thee, whom Thou preventedst before I
   called, and urgedst me with much variety of repeated calls, that I
   would hear Thee from afar, and be converted, and call upon Thee,
   that calledst after me; for Thou, Lord, blottedst out all my evil
   deservings, so as not to repay into my hands, wherewith I fell from
   Thee; and Thou hast prevented all my well deservings, so as to repay
   the work of Thy hands wherewith Thou madest me; because before I
   was, Thou wert; nor was I any thing, 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 Thee, as though Thou wouldest
   tire in working; or lest Thy power might be less, if lacking my
   service: nor cultivating Thy service, as a land, that must remain
   uncultivated, unless I cultivated Thee: but serving and worshipping
   Thee, that I might receive a well-being from Thee, from whom it comes,
   that I have a being capable of well-being.
     For of the fulness of Thy goodness, doth Thy creature subsist,
   that so a good, which could no ways profit Thee, nor was of Thee (lest
   so it should be equal to Thee), might yet be since it could be made of
   Thee. 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 thereon (even in that their several inchoate and
   formless state, whether spiritual or corporeal, ready to fall away
   into an immoderate liberty and far-distant unlikeliness unto Thee;
   -the spiritual, though without form, superior to the corporeal
   though formed, and the corporeal though without form, better than were
   it altogether nothing), and so to depend upon Thy Word, as formless,
   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?
     How did corporeal matter deserve of Thee, to be even invisible and
   without form? seeing it were not even this, but that Thou madest it,
   and therefore because it was not, could not deserve of Thee to be
   made. Or how could the inchoate spiritual creature deserve of Thee,
   even to ebb and flow darksomely like the deep, -unlike Thee, unless it
   had been by the same Word turned to that, 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 it not be deformed;
   so likewise to a created spirit to live, is not one with living
   wisely; else should it be wise unchangeably. But good it is 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 life
   resembling the darksome deep. For we ourselves also, who as to the
   soul are a spiritual creature, turned away from Thee our light, were
   in that life sometimes darkness; and still labour amidst the relics of
   our darkness, until in Thy Only One we become Thy righteousness,
   like the mountains of God. For we have been Thy judgments, which are
   like the great deep.
     That which Thou saidst in the beginning of the creation, Let there
   be light, and there was light; I do, not unsuitably, 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, had it any, to
   be enlightened. For neither could its formless estate be pleasing unto
   Thee, unless it became light, and that not by existing simply, but
   by beholding the illuminating light, and cleaving to it; so that, that
   it lived, and lived happily, it owes to nothing but Thy grace, being
   turned by a better change 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.
     What then could he wanting unto Thy good, which Thou Thyself art,
   although these things had either never been, or remained without form;
   which thou madest, not out of any want, but out of the fulness of
   Thy goodness, restraining them and converting them to form, not as
   though Thy joy were fulfilled by them? For to Thee being perfect, is
   their imperfection displeasing, and hence were they perfected by Thee,
   and please Thee; not as wert Thou imperfect, and by their perfecting
   wert also 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 also, ebbing and flowing in its own darkness: for which it
   remaineth to be converted unto Him, by Whom it was made, and to live
   more and more by the fountain of life, and in His light to see
   light, and to be perfected, and enlightened, and beautified.
     Lo, now the Trinity appears unto me in a glass darkly, which is Thou
   my God, because Thou, O Father, in Him Who is the Beginning of our
   wisdom, Which is Thy Wisdom, born of Thyself, equal unto Thee and
   coeternal, that is, in Thy Son, createdst heaven and earth. 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, unless it had been
   converted unto Him, from Whom it had its then degree of life, and by
   His enlightening became a beauteous life, and the heaven of that
   heaven, which was afterwards 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, 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 to, Thy Spirit moved upon the waters. Behold
   the Trinity, my God, Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost, Creator of all
   creation.
     But what was the cause, O true-speaking Light? -unto Thee lift I
   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 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?
     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: and where
   concerning spiritual gifts, he teacheth and showeth unto us a more
   excellent way of charity; 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 raises up again
   by Thy Spirit which was borne above the waters? to whom shall I
   speak it? how speak it? For it is not in space that we are merged
   and emerge. What can be more, and yet what less like? They be
   affections, they be loves; the uncleanness of our spirit flowing
   away downwards with the love of cares, and the holiness of Thine
   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.
     Angels fell away, man's soul fell away, and thereby pointed 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, had even
   the heaven of heavens 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
   riseth our garment of light; and then shall our darkness be as the
   noon day. 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 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.
     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 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 place, Who is not in
   place, of Whom only it is written, that He is Thy gift? In Thy Gift we
   rest; there we enjoy Thee. Our rest is our place. 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 makes not downward
   only, but to his own 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; water 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 we are
   kindled; and are carried upwards; we glow inwardly, and go forwards.
   We ascend Thy ways that be in our heart, 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 I 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 for ever.
     Blessed creature, which being itself other than Thou, has known no
   other condition, than that, so soon as it was 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 this took place at
   different times, in that we were darkness, and are made light: but
   of that is only said, what it would have been, had it not been
   enlightened. And, this is so spoken, 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; let him ask of Thee.
   Why should he trouble me, as if I could enlighten any man that
   cometh into this world?
     Which of us comprehendeth the Almighty Trinity? and yet which speaks
   not of It, if indeed it be It? Rare is the soul, which while it speaks
   of It, knows what it speaks of. And they contend and strive, yet,
   without peace, no man sees that vision. I would that men would
   consider these three, that are in themselves. These three be indeed
   far other than the Trinity: I do but tell, where they may practise
   themselves, and there prove and feel how far they be. Now the three
   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 that can, how inseparable a life there is, yea one life, 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 any thing 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, Itself 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?
     Proceed in thy confession, say to the Lord thy God, O my faith,
   Holy, Holy, Holy, O Lord my God, in Thy Name have we been baptised,
   Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; in Thy Name do we baptise, 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.
     But as yet 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 burthened, and his soul
   thirsteth after the Living God, as the hart after the water-brooks,
   and saith, When shall I come? desiring to be clothed upon 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 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 of 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?
     Behold, I too say, O my God, Where art Thou? see, where Thou art! in
   Thee I breathe a little, when I pour out my soul by myself in the
   voice of joy and praise, the sound of him that keeps holy-day. And yet
   again it is sad, because it relapseth, 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 lanthorn 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 are made unto honour, whereof others also are
   made unto dishonour.
     Or who, except Thou, our God, made for us that firmament of
   authority over us in Thy Divine Scripture? as it is said, For heaven
   shall be folded up like a scroll; 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. Whence Thou hast like a skin
   stretched out the firmament of Thy book, 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, 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.
     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 resisteth Thy reconciliation by
   defending his own sins. I know not, Lord, I know 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.
     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 supercelestial 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 mercy, announcing in time Thee Who
   madest times. For Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens, and Thy
   truth reacheth 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 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 for ever, which now
   appeareth unto us under the dark image of the clouds, and through
   the glass of the heavens, not as it is: because we also, though the
   well-beloved of Thy Son, yet it hath not yet appeared what we shall
   be. He looketh through the lattice of our flesh, and He spake us
   tenderly, and kindled us, and we ran after His odours. But when He
   shall appear, then shall we be like Him, for we shall see Him as He
   is. As He is, Lord, will our sight be.
     For altogether, as Thou art, Thou only knowest; Who art
   unchangeably, and knowest unchangeably, and willest unchangeably.
   And Thy Essence Knoweth, and Willeth unchangeably; and Thy Knowledge
   Is, and Willeth unchangeably; and Thy Will Is, and Knoweth
   unchangeably. Nor seemeth it right in Thine eyes, that as the
   Unchangeable Light knoweth 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 so is the fountain of life
   with Thee, like as in Thy light we shall see light.
     Who gathered the embittered 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. Who, Lord, but Thou, saidst, Let the
   waters be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land
   appear, which thirsteth after Thee? For 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.
     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 neighbour in the relief
   of his bodily necessities, having seed in itself according to its
   likeness, when 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; 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.
     So, Lord, so, I beseech Thee, let there spring up, as Thou doest, as
   Thou givest cheerfulness and ability, let truth spring out of the
   earth, and righteousness look 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, see 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 things of
   sense, so that now not Thou only in the secret of Thy judgment, as
   before the firmament was made, dividest between the light and the
   darkness, but Thy spiritual children also set and ranked in the same
   firmament (now that Thy grace is laid open throughout the world),
   may give light upon the earth, and divide betwixt the day and the
   night, and be for signs of times, that old things are passed away,
   and, behold, all things are become new; and that our salvation is
   nearer than when we believed: and that the night is far spent, and the
   day is at hand: and that Thou wilt crown Thy year with blessing,
   sending the labourers of Thy goodness into Thy harvest, in sowing
   whereof, others have laboured, sending also into another field,
   whose harvest shall be in the end. Thus grantest Thou the prayers of
   him that asketh, and blessest the years of the just; but Thou art
   the same, and in Thy years which fail not, Thou preparest 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 lesser light:
   to another faith; to another the gift 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 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 notices 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 that Thy most prudent servant could not speak unto 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 fed on milk, until he be strengthened for solid meat and
   his eye be enabled to behold the Sun, let him not 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.
     But first, wash you, be 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 eternal
   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 honouring of father and mother, and the
   love of our neighbour. 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 knoweth what to distribute to
   the day, and to the night, that thou also mayest know it, and 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, unless there thy
   treasure be; as thou hast heard of the good Master. But that barren
   earth was grieved; and the thorns choked the word.
     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 not 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
   every where, ye holy fires, ye beauteous fires; for ye are the light
   of the world, nor are ye put under a bushel; He whom you cleave
   unto, is exalted, and hath exalted you. Run ye to and fro, and be
   known unto all nations.
     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 He saith, Let the waters bring forth, not the living creature
   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
   temptations of the world, to hallow the Gentiles in Thy Name, in Thy
   Baptism. And amid these things, many great wonders were wrought, as it
   were great whales: and the voices of Thy messengers flying above the
   earth, in the open firmament of Thy Book; that being 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.
     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
   firmament 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
   operations 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; that so 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.
     Now are all things fair that Thou hast made; but behold, Thyself art
   unutterably fairer, that madest all; from whom had not Adam fallen,
   the brackishness of the sea had never flowed out 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 those
   moving and flying creatures now seem to me to mean, whereby people
   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.
     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
   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 then does that 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 in it. The earth brings it forth,
   because the earth is the cause that they work this in the soul; 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 He taken out of
   the deep, that He 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 his 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.
     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 affecting. 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 be 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 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.
     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 conformed 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); and good cattle, which neither if they eat, shall
   they over-abound, 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 search 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 prevailing upon us, they live, and are good.
     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-living; and begun to be a living soul, through good living; and
   Thy word which Thou spokest 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 neighbour
   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
   what Thy will is. For to this purpose said that dispenser of Thine
   (who begat children by the Gospel), that he might not for ever have
   them babes, whom he must be fain to feed with milk, and cherish as a
   nurse; be ye transformed (saith he) 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,
   that acceptable, and perfect will of Thine: yea, 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 is man renewed in the knowledge of God, after
   the image of Him that created him: and being made spiritual, he
   judgeth all things (all things which are to be judged), yet himself is
   judged of no man.
     But that he judgeth 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 he perceiveth the
   things of the Spirit of God; whereas otherwise, man being placed in
   honour, had no understanding, 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 grace spiritual, where, according to the sex
   of body, there is neither male nor female, because neither Jew nor
   Grecian, neither bond nor free. -Spiritual persons (whether such as
   are set over, or such as obey); do judge spiritually; not of that
   spiritual knowledge which shines in the firmament (for they ought
   not to judge as to so supreme authority), nor may 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 truly spoken. For so 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, or 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?
     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 those
   Sacraments by which such are initiated, as Thy mercy searches out in
   many waters: or in that, in which that Fish is set forth, which, taken
   out of the deep, the devout earth feedeth 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
   into the ears; so that, although flying fowls be multiplied upon the
   earth, yet they derive their beginning from the waters. The
   spiritual man judgeth also by allowing of what is right, and
   disallowing what he finds amiss, in the works and lives of the
   faithful; their alms, as it were the earth bringing forth fruit, and
   of the living soul, living by the taming of the affections, in
   chastity, in fasting, in holy meditations; and of 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.
     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; nor the firmament of heaven, nor the lights, nor the
   stars, nor the earth, nor the sea? I might say that Thou, O God, who
   created created us after Thine Image, I might say, that it had been
   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.
     What then shall I say, O Truth my Light? "that it was idly said, and
   without meaning?" Not so, O Father of piety, far he 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 spokest not so in vain; nor will I suppress, what this
   lesson suggests to me. For it is true, 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 neighbour, 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 offspring of the waters increase and multiply. Observe
   again, whosoever readest this; behold, what Scripture delivers, and
   the voice pronounces one only 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.
     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 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 affections 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 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 depth 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.
     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 willedst 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,
   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.
     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 that yield them, are the 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 yet I perceive why he
   rejoiced. For whereat he rejoiced upon that he fed; for, speaking in
   truth, I rejoiced (saith he) 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 now
   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, not 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; every where 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
   strengtheneth me.
     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 we what follows: notwithstanding, ye have well done, that ye
   did communicate 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
   that he knew 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.
     Was it for his own necessities, because he said, Ye sent unto my
   necessity? Rejoiceth he for that? Verily not for that. But how know we
   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; 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 a prophet, to receive a righteous man, to give a
   cup of cold water to a disciple: but the fruit, 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.
     I will then speak what is true in Thy sight, O Lord, that when
   carnal men and infidels (for the gaining and initiating whom, the
   initiatory Sacraments and the mighty workings of miracles are
   necessary, which we suppose to be signified by the name of fishes
   and whales) undertake the bodily refreshment, or otherwise succour Thy
   servant with something useful for this present life; whereas they be
   ignorant, why this is to be done, and to what end; neither do they
   feed these, nor are these fed by them; because neither do the one do
   it out of an holy and right intent; nor do the other 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.
     And Thou, O God, sawest every 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 madest 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 altogether. For
   severally, they were only good; but altogether, both good, and very
   good. All beautiful bodies express the same; by reason that 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; notwithstanding that the members severally be also
   beautiful.
     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 then 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 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; like as what ye speak by
   My Spirit, I speak. And so when ye see those things in time, I see
   them not in time; as when ye speak in time, I speak them not in time."
     And I heard, O Lord my God, and drank up a drop of sweetness out
   of Thy truth, and understood, that certain men there be who mislike
   Thy works; and say, that many of them Thou madest, 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 raisedst up the walls of the universe; that they, bound down by
   the structure, might not again be able to rebel against Thee. For
   other things, they say Thou neither madest them, nor even
   compactedst them, such as all flesh 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 recognise Thee in them.
     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 to us of God. And I am
   admonished, "Truly 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 ill which is good, as the
   forenamed do; another, that that which is good, a man should see
   that it is good (as Thy creatures be pleasing unto many, because
   they be good, whom yet Thou pleasest not in them, when they prefer
   to enjoy them, to Thee); and another, that when a man sees a thing
   that it is good, God should in him see that it 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 is, is good. For from
   Him it is, who Himself Is not in degree, but what He Is, Is.
     Thanks to Thee, O Lord. We behold the heaven and earth, whether
   the corporeal part, superior and inferior, or 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, whether that primary body of the world,
   between the spiritual upper waters and the inferior corporeal
   waters, or (since this also is called heaven) this space of air
   through which wander the fowls of heaven, betwixt those waters which
   are in vapours borne above them, and in clear nights distill down in
   dew; and those heavier waters which flow along the earth. We behold
   a face 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 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
   that 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 conceive the skill of right-doing
   from the reason of the mind. These things we behold, and they are
   severally good, and altogether very good.
     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 was before,
   but of matter concreated (that is, at the same time 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.
     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 Only-Begotten, 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; and Thou didst justify the ungodly,
   and dividest them from the wicked; and Thou madest the firmament of
   authority of Thy Book between those placed above, who were to he
   docile unto Thee, and those under, who were to be subject to them: and
   Thou gatheredst 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 that 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 vigour of continency: and after
   that, the mind subjected to Thee alone and needing to imitate no human
   authority, hast Thou renewed 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.
     O Lord God, give peace unto us: (for Thou hast given us all things;)
   the peace of rest, the 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.
     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, resting the seventh
   day, although Thou madest them in unbroken rest, that may the voice of
   Thy Book announce beforehand unto us, that we also after our works
   (therefore very good, because Thou hast given them us), shall rest
   in Thee also in the Sabbath of eternal life.
     For then shalt Thou rest in us, as now Thou workest in us; and so
   shall that be Thy rest through us, as these are Thy works through
   us. But Thou, Lord, ever workest, and art ever at rest. Nor dost
   Thou see in time, nor art moved in time, nor restest in a time; and
   yet Thou makest things seen in time, yea the times themselves, and the
   rest which results from time.
     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 there,
   when made, where Thou sawest them, yet to be 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 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 Thou 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 in Thee, knocked for at Thee; so, so shall it be received, so
   shall it be found, so shall it be opened. Amen.
                            GRATIAS TIBI DOMINE