Summa.
Confessions
Chapter 1. He Calls Upon God, and Proposes to Himself to Worship Him.
§1I call upon you, my God, my mercy, who made me and have not forgotten me though I forgot you. I call you into my soul, which you prepare to receive you through the longing you inspire in it. Do not abandon me now as I call upon you, since before I ever called you came first and persisted with growing intensity through many kinds of voices, so that I might hear from afar and turn back and call upon you who were calling me. For you, Lord, have erased all my evil deeds so that you would not repay my hands through which I fell away from you. You have gone before all my good deeds so that you would repay your own hands through which you made me. Even before I existed, you were. I was not there for you to grant existence to. Yet here I am through your goodness that went before everything you made me to be and everything you made me from. You had no need of me. I am not such a good that you are helped by me, my Lord and my God. I do not serve you as if you would grow weary in acting or as if your power would be diminished by lacking my obedience. I do not worship you as one cultivates land, as if you would be neglected if I did not worship you. Rather, I serve and worship you so that I might be blessed by you, from whom comes my very existence as one who can be blessed.
Chapter 2. All Creatures Subsist from the Plenitude of Divine Goodness.
§2Your creation exists from the fullness of your goodness. The good that brings you no benefit would not exist unless it could be made from you. It does not equal you. Yet because it could come from you, it was not lacking. What did heaven and earth deserve from you? You made them in the Beginning. Let spiritual and physical nature speak. Let them say what they deserved from you. You made them in your Wisdom so they would depend on you even while unformed and shapeless in their kinds. Each went toward excess and toward great unlikeness to you. Unformed spirit was better than if it had been a formed body. Unformed matter was better than if it had been nothing at all. So they hung unformed in your Word. But your Word called them back to your unity. It gave them form. From you, the one supreme good, all things became very good. What did they deserve from you to exist even as unformed things? They would not have existed at all except from you.
§3What did physical matter do to deserve that it should exist at all, even as something invisible and unformed? It could not have existed unless you had made it. Therefore it could not deserve to exist, since it did not exist to begin with. What did the early stage of spiritual creation do to deserve that it should at least drift in darkness like the abyss, unlike you? It could only be converted to you who made it through that same Word. It could only be illuminated by you to become light. This light was not equal to you, yet it was shaped according to the form that is equal to you. For a body, existing is not the same as being beautiful. Otherwise it could never be ugly. Likewise for a created spirit, living is not the same as living wisely. Otherwise it would be unchangeably wise. But it is good for the spirit to cling to you always. Then it will not lose through turning away the light it gained through turning toward you. It will not slide back into a life like the dark abyss. We too are spiritual creatures in our souls. We turned away from you, our light. We were once darkness in that life. We still struggle with the remains of our darkness. This will continue until we become your righteousness in your Only Son, like the mountains of God. For we were your judgments, like the great abyss.
Chapter 3. Genesis I. 3 — Of Light, — He Understands as It is Seen in the Spiritual Creature.
§4When you spoke in the first conditions"Let there be light and there was light,"I understand this fittingly as referring to the spiritual creation. There was already some kind of life that you would illuminate. But just as it had not earned the right to be the kind of life that could be illuminated, so too when it already existed, it had not earned the right to be illuminated. Its formlessness would not have pleased you unless it became light. This happened not by existing but by gazing upon the illuminating light and clinging to it. Therefore both its living in some way and its living blessedly owed everything to your grace alone. It was turned through a better transformation toward that which cannot be changed for better or worse. You alone are this unchanging reality because you alone simply exist. For you, living and living blessedly are not different things. You are your own blessedness.
Chapter 4. All Things Have Been Created by the Grace of God, and are Not of Him as Standing in Need of Created Things.
§5What then would you lack for the good that you are to yourself? This would be true even if these things were completely nonexistent or remained formless. You did not make them from any need. You made them from the fullness of your goodness. You restrain them and turn them toward form. But this is not so that your joy might be completed by them. You are perfect. Their imperfection displeases you so that they might be perfected by you and please you. But you are not imperfect. You do not need to be perfected by their perfection. Your good Spirit moved over the waters. He was not carried by them as if he found rest in them. Those in whom your good Spirit is said to find rest are the ones he causes to find rest in himself. But your incorruptible and unchangeable will moved above. It is sufficient in itself for itself. It moved above that life which you had made. For that life, to live is not the same as to live blessedly. It lives even while drifting in its own darkness. What remains for it is to turn toward him by whom it was made. It must live more and more beside the fountain of life. In his light it will see light. It will be perfected and enlightened and blessed.
Chapter 5. He Recognises the Trinity in the First Two Verses of Genesis.
§6Look, the Trinity appears to me in a mystery. You are my God. You, Father, made heaven and earth in the Beginning of our wisdom. This Beginning is your Wisdom born from you. It is equal to you and eternal with you. It is your Son. We have spoken much about the heaven of heavens. We have spoken of the invisible and formless earth. We have spoken of the dark abyss. This abyss represents the wandering failings of spiritual formlessness. It would remain so unless it turned to him from whom came whatever life it had. Through illumination it would become beautiful life. It would become his heaven of heavens. This heaven was later made between the waters above and the waters below. I now grasped the Father in the name of God who made these things. I grasped the Son in the name of Beginning, in whom he made these things. I believed the Trinity was my God, just as I had believed before. I searched for this in his holy words. Look, your Spirit moved over the waters. Behold the Trinity, my God: Father and Son and Holy Spirit, creator of all creation.
Chapter 6. Why the Holy Ghost Should Have Been Mentioned After the Mention of Heaven and Earth.
§7But what was the reason, O true light, that I bring my heart to you? Let your teaching not be empty. Scatter the darkness of my heart. Tell me, I beg you by the love of mothers. I beg you, tell me what was the reason. Why did your Scripture first name heaven and the invisible and formless earth and darkness over the abyss? Only then did it name your Spirit. Was it because your Spirit needed to be introduced this way? It had to be described as moving over something. This could not be said unless something was first mentioned that your Spirit could be understood to move over. Your Spirit was not moving over the Father or the Son. It would not be correct to say it was moving over something if there was nothing for it to move over. Therefore something had to be mentioned first that it could move over. Then your Spirit had to be mentioned in the only fitting way. It had to be described as moving over something. Why else was it fitting to introduce your Spirit except by saying it moved over the waters?
Chapter 7. That the Holy Spirit Brings Us to God.
§8Now let anyone who can understand follow your Apostle when he says that your love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. He teaches about spiritual things and shows us the most excellent way of love. He bends his knees before you on our behalf so that we might know the surpassing knowledge of Christ's love. Therefore from the beginning the most excellent One was carried above the waters. To whom shall I speak? How shall I speak of the weight of selfish desire that drags us down into the steep abyss? How shall I speak of love's lifting power through your Spirit who was carried above the waters? To whom shall I speak? How shall I put this into words? These are not physical places where we sink and rise again. What could be more alike yet more different? These are emotions. These are loves. The uncleanness of our spirit flows downward through love of worldly cares. But your holiness lifts us upward through love of true security. This lifts our hearts to you where your Spirit is carried above the waters. Then we come to that most excellent rest when our soul has passed through waters that have no substance.
Chapter 8. That Nothing Whatever, Short of God, Can Yield to the Rational Creature a Happy Rest.
§9An angel fell. A human soul fell. They revealed the abyss of every spiritual creature in deep darkness. This would not have happened if you had not said from the beginning,"Let there be light."Then light was made. Every obedient intelligence of your heavenly city clings to you. It rests in your Spirit who moves unchangeably over everything changeable. Otherwise even the heaven of heavens would be a dark abyss in itself. But now it is light in the Lord. Even in the miserable restlessness of fallen spirits who reveal their own darkness stripped of your garment of light, you show clearly how great a rational creation you have made. Nothing less than you can satisfy it for blessed rest. Therefore it cannot even satisfy itself. You, our God, will illuminate our darkness. Our garments come from you. Our darkness will be like midday. Give me yourself, my God. Restore yourself to me. Look, I love you. If this is too little, let me love more strongly. I cannot measure how much love I lack to reach what is enough. I want my life to run into your embrace. I want it never to turn away until it is hidden in the secret place of your face. I know only this one thing. It goes badly for me without you. This is true not only outside myself but also within myself. Every abundance that is not my God is poverty to me.
Chapter 9. Why the Holy Spirit Was Only Borne Over The Waters.
§10Were not the Father and Son also carried above the waters? If they were there as bodies occupying space, then the Holy Spirit was not there either. But if they were there through the unchangeable excellence of divinity above all changeable things, then the Father and Son and Holy Spirit were all carried above the waters. Why then is this said only of your Spirit? Why is it said only of him? It is as if there were a place that is not a place. Of him alone it is said that he is your gift. In your gift we find rest. There we enjoy you. Our rest is our place. Love lifts us up there. Your good Spirit exalts our lowliness from the gates of death. In good will there is peace for us. A body strives by its weight toward its proper place. Weight does not tend only downward but toward its proper place. Fire tends upward. Stone tends downward. They are driven by their weights. They seek their proper places. When oil is poured under water, it rises above the water. When water is poured over oil, it sinks below the oil. They are driven by their weights. They seek their proper places. When things are not properly ordered, they are restless. When they are ordered, they rest. My weight is my love. By it I am carried wherever I am carried. By your gift we are set on fire and carried upward. We burn and we go. We ascend the ascents in our heart. We sing the song of degrees. By your fire, by your good fire, we burn and we go. For we go upward to the peace of Jerusalem. For I was glad when they said to me,"We will go into the house of the Lord."There good will has placed us so that we want nothing else but to remain there forever.
Chapter 10. That Nothing Arose Save by the Gift of God.
§11Blessed is that creature which knew no other state. Though it was once something different, it was lifted up by your gift that flows over all changeable things. The moment it was made, it was raised up without any delay of time by that calling in which you said,"Let there be light, and there was light."In us there is a distinction of time. We were darkness and we become light. But in that creature it was declared what it would be only if it were illuminated. It was spoken of as though it had first been unstable and dark. This was so the cause might appear by which it came to be otherwise. That cause was its turning toward unfailing light to become light itself. Let whoever can understand this do so. Let him ask you for understanding. Why does he trouble me as though I could enlighten any man coming into this world?
Chapter 11. That the Symbols of the Trinity in Man, to Be, to Know, and to Will, are Never Thoroughly Examined.
§12Who can understand the almighty Trinity? And who does not speak of it, even if they do speak of it? Rare is the soul that knows what it is saying when it speaks of the Trinity. People argue and fight about it. No one sees this vision without peace. I wish people would consider these three things within themselves. These three things are far different from that Trinity. But I tell them where they may exercise themselves and test themselves. I tell them where they may feel how far they are from understanding. I speak of these three things: to be, to know, to will. I exist and I know and I will. I exist as one who knows and wills. I know that I exist and that I will. I will to exist and to know. Let whoever can see how inseparable life is in these three things. Let them see the one life and one mind and one essence. Let them see the inseparable distinction, and yet the distinction that remains. Certainly this stands before each person. Let them look within themselves. Let them see and tell me what they find. But when someone discovers something in these things and speaks of it, they should not think they have found that which is above these things. They should not think they have found the unchangeable one who exists unchangeably and knows unchangeably and wills unchangeably. Is there a Trinity there because of these three things? Or do these three things exist in each single thing, so that each contains all three? Or is it both in wondrous ways, simply and in multiple ways? Is it infinite within itself as its own end? Is it that by which it exists and is known to itself and is sufficient for itself? Is it unchangeably the very same thing in the abundant magnitude of unity? Who could easily think such thoughts? Who could speak of this in any way? Who would rashly pronounce anything about it in any manner whatsoever?
Chapter 12. Allegorical Explanation of Genesis, Chap. I., Concerning the Origin of the Church and Its Worship.
§13Go forward in confession, my faith. Speak to the Lord your God:"Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord my God, we were baptized in your name, Father and Son and Holy Spirit. In your name we baptize, Father and Son and Holy Spirit."For among us too, in his Christ, God made heaven and earth—the spiritual and fleshly parts of his Church. Our earth was invisible and formless before it received the shape of teaching. We were covered by the darkness of ignorance. You disciplined mankind because of wickedness. Your judgments are like the vast deep. But because your Spirit moved over the water, your mercy did not abandon our wretchedness. You said:"Let there be light. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near.""Repent. Let there be light."Our soul was troubled within us. We remembered you, Lord, from the land of Jordan and from the mountain equal to you but made small for our sake. Our darkness displeased us. We turned to you. Light came to be. Look—we were once darkness. Now we are light in the Lord.
Chapter 13. That the Renewal of Man is Not Completed in This World.
§14Yet we still walk by faith, not by sight. We were saved by hope. But hope that is seen is not hope. The deep still calls to the deep. But now it calls in the voice of your waterfalls. Even the one who says"I could not speak to you as spiritual people but as fleshly ones"does not yet think he has fully grasped it. He forgets what lies behind. He stretches toward what lies ahead. He groans under his burden. His soul thirsts for the living God like a deer for flowing streams. He says"When shall I come?"He longs to be clothed with his dwelling from heaven. He calls to the lower deep. He says"Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."And"Do not be children in your thinking but be infants in evil so that you may be mature in your thinking."And"O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?"But now he speaks not in his own voice but in yours. You sent your Spirit from on high through him who ascended to the heights. He opened the floodgates of his gifts so that the river's flood might make your city glad. The friend of the bridegroom sighs for that city. He already has the firstfruits of the Spirit within him. But he still groans within himself. He waits for adoption as a son and the redemption of his body. He sighs for that city because he is a member of the bride. He shows jealous care for it because he is the friend of the bridegroom. His jealous care is not for himself. In the voice of your waterfalls, not in his own voice, he calls to the other deep. In his jealous care he fears. He fears that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, their thoughts might be corrupted from the purity that belongs to our one bridegroom, who is your Son. What is that light of direct vision? It comes when we shall see him as he is. Then the tears that have been my bread day and night will pass away. No one will say to me daily"Where is your God?"
Chapter 14. That Out of the Children of the Night and of the Darkness, Children of the Light and of the Day are Made.
§15I cry out: My God, where are you? Look, there you are. I breathe in you for a little while when I pour out my soul over myself in a voice of rejoicing and confession. This is the sound of one celebrating a festival. Yet my soul is still sad because it slips back and becomes an abyss. Or rather, it feels that it is still an abyss. My faith speaks to my soul—the faith you kindled in the night before my feet. It says: Why are you sad, my soul, and why do you trouble me? Hope in the Lord. His word is a lamp for your feet. Hope and endure until the night passes away. This is the night that mothers the wicked. Wait until the Lord's anger passes. We were once children of that anger. We were once darkness. We still drag the remnants of that darkness in our body. Our body is dead because of sin. Hope until the day dawns and the shadows are removed. Hope in the Lord. In the morning I will stand and contemplate. I will always confess to him. In the morning I will stand and see the salvation of my face. He is my God who will give life even to our mortal bodies. He does this through the Spirit who lives in us. This Spirit once moved mercifully over our dark and shapeless interior. From this we have received a pledge during our pilgrimage. We are already light. We have been saved in hope. We are children of light and children of day. We are not children of night or darkness. Yet that is what we once were. In this still uncertain human knowledge, you alone divide between them and us. You test our hearts. You call light day and darkness night. Who else distinguishes us but you? What do we have that we did not receive from you? From the same lump of clay you make vessels for honor. From that same clay others are made for dishonor.
Chapter 15. Allegorical Explanation of the Firmament and Upper Works, Ver. 6.
§16Who else but you, our God, made for us this firm foundation of authority over us in your divine Scripture? Heaven will be rolled up like a book. Now it stretches over us like a hide. Your divine Scripture holds higher authority now that those mortal men have died who delivered it to us through their service. You know, Lord, you know how you clothed humans with skins when they became mortal through sin. In the same way you stretched out the firm foundation of your Book like a hide. You placed your harmonious words over us through the ministry of mortal men. Through their very death, the solid foundation of authority in your teachings spreads high above all things below. While they lived here, this authority was not stretched out so high. You had not yet stretched out heaven like a hide. You had not yet spread the fame of their death everywhere.
§17Let us see, Lord, the heavens that are the work of your fingers. Clear away from our eyes the cloud with which you have veiled them. There is your testimony. It gives wisdom to little ones. Complete your praise, my God, from the mouths of infants and nursing babies. We know no other books that so destroy pride. We know no other books that so destroy the enemy and defender who resists your reconciliation by defending his sins. I know nothing else, Lord. I know no other words so pure that persuade me to confession like these do. I know no other words that so soften my neck to your yoke. I know no other words that invite me to worship you freely. Let me understand these things, good Father. Grant me this as one placed under you. You have made them solid for those who are placed under you.
§18There are other waters above this firmament, I believe. These waters are immortal. They are separated from earthly corruption. Let them praise your name. Let the heavenly populations of your angels praise you. They have no need to look up at this firmament. They have no need to read and learn your word through study. They see your face always. There they read without the syllables of time what your eternal will desires. They read and choose and love. They read always. What they read never passes away. By choosing and loving they read the very unchangeableness of your purpose. Their book is never closed. Their scroll is never rolled up. You yourself are this book to them. You are this book eternally. You have appointed them above this firmament. You made this firmament firm above the weakness of the lower peoples. Here below we must look up and learn your mercy. Your mercy declares you in time. You made time itself. In heaven your mercy endures, Lord. Your truth reaches to the clouds. The clouds pass away. Heaven remains. The preachers of your word pass from this life to another life. But your Scripture extends over the peoples until the end of the age. Heaven and earth will pass away. But your words will not pass away. The scroll will be rolled up. The grass over which it was stretched will pass away with its glory. But your word remains forever. Now it appears to us in the riddle of clouds and through the mirror of heaven. It does not appear as it truly is. Though we are beloved by your Son, what we will be has not yet appeared. He looked through the nets of flesh. He won us over and set us on fire. We ran after his fragrance. But when he appears, we will be like him. We will see him as he truly is. To see him as he is, Lord—this seeing is not yet ours.
Chapter 16. That No One But the Unchangeable Light Knows Himself.
§19You alone know who you are because you are completely yourself. You are unchangeable. You know unchangeably. You will unchangeably. Your essence knows and wills unchangeably. Your knowledge exists and wills unchangeably. Your will exists and knows unchangeably. It does not seem right before you that unchangeable light should be known by changeable things that are illuminated in the same way that it knows itself. Therefore my soul is like land without water before you. Just as it cannot illuminate itself by itself, so it cannot satisfy itself by itself. The fountain of life is with you. In your light we will see light.
Chapter 17. Allegorical Explanation of the Sea and the Fruit-Bearing Earth — Verses 9 and 11.
§20Who gathered the bitter ones into a single fellowship? They all share the same goal of temporary and earthly happiness. This is why they do everything they do. Yet they are tossed about by countless different anxieties. Who could do this, Lord, except you? You commanded that the waters be gathered into one place so that dry land might appear. The dry land thirsts for you. The sea belongs to you. You made it. Your hands formed the dry earth. The bitterness of human desires is not called the sea. The gathering of waters is called the sea. You restrain even the evil longings of souls. You set boundaries for how far they may advance. You ensure that their waves break upon themselves. In this way you make the sea through the authority of your rule over all things.
§21You water the souls that thirst for you with a hidden and sweet spring. These souls appear before you and stand apart from the sea's fellowship with a different purpose. The earth yields its fruit. It does yield its fruit. At your command, Lord their God, our soul sprouts works of mercy according to their kind. We love our neighbor by helping with bodily needs. We carry within us the seed according to likeness. We suffer alongside others because of our own weakness. We help those in need the same way we would want help if we needed it. This happens not only in easy matters like seed-bearing grass. It also happens in the protection we offer with strong might like a fruit-bearing tree. This means being generous to rescue someone suffering injustice from the hand of the powerful. This means providing the shelter of protection with the solid strength of righteous judgment.
Chapter 18. Of the Lights and Stars of Heaven — Of Day and Night, Ver. 14.
§22Yes Lord, yes, I pray to you, let truth spring up from the earth just as you cause it to happen and just as you give joy and power. Let justice look down from heaven. Let there be lights in the firmament. Let us break our bread with the hungry. Let us bring the homeless poor into our house. Let us clothe the naked. Let us not despise those of our own household. When these fruits are born on earth, see that it is good. Let our temporary light break forth. From this lower fruit of action, we obtain the higher word of life in the delights of contemplation. Let us appear like lights in the world. We cling to the firmament of your Scripture. There you debate with us so that we may divide between things intelligible and things sensible. This is like dividing between day and night. This is like dividing between souls dedicated to intelligible things and souls dedicated to sensible things. Now you are not alone in the secret of your judgment as you were before the firmament was made. Then you divided between light and darkness. But now your spiritual ones are also placed and distinguished in the same firmament. Through your grace made manifest throughout the world, they shine upon the earth. They divide between day and night. They mark the seasons. The old things have passed away and behold new things have come to be. Our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night has passed and the day has drawn near. You bless the crown of your year. You send workers of kindness into your harvest. Others have labored in what is to be sown there. You also send workers into another sowing whose harvest is at the end. Thus you grant the desires of those who wish. You bless the years of the just. But you yourself are the same. In your years that do not fail, you prepare a storehouse for the passing years. By eternal counsel you give heavenly goods upon earth at their proper times.
§23The Spirit gives some people the word of wisdom like the greater light. This is for those who delight in the clear light of truth, as if in the beginning of day. The Spirit gives others the word of knowledge like the lesser light. Still others receive faith, gifts of healing, workings of miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, or various kinds of tongues. All these are like stars. One and the same Spirit works all these things. He distributes to each person individually as he wills. He makes the stars appear in their manifestation for the common good. The word of knowledge contains all the sacraments. These vary with the times like the moon. The other gifts of knowledge that follow are mentioned like stars afterward. They differ from that brightness of wisdom in which the aforementioned day rejoices. They belong to the beginning of night. These gifts are necessary for those to whom your wisest servant could not speak as to spiritual people, but as to carnal ones. Yet he speaks wisdom among the mature. The natural man is like a little child in Christ, a drinker of milk. Until he grows strong enough for solid food and strengthens his sight to look upon the sun, let him not have his night abandoned. Let him be content with the light of the moon and stars. You discuss these things with us, our most wise God, in your Book, in your firmament. You do this so we may discern all things by wonderful contemplation. Yet we still see them in signs, in seasons, in days, and in years.
Chapter 19. All Men Should Become Lights in the Firmament of Heaven.
§24But first wash yourselves and be clean. Remove wickedness from your souls and from the sight of my eyes so that dry land may appear. Learn to do good. Judge for the orphan and justify the widow so that the earth may sprout grass for food and fruit-bearing trees. Come and let us reason together, says the Lord, so that lights may be made in the firmament of heaven and shine upon the earth. That rich man was seeking from the good teacher what he should do to gain eternal life. The good teacher speaks to him, whom he thought was only a man and nothing more. But he is good because he is God. He tells him that if he wants to come to life, he should keep the commandments. He should separate from himself the bitterness of malice and wickedness. He should not kill, not commit adultery, not steal, not bear false witness so that dry land may appear and sprout honor for father and mother and love of neighbor. He says,"I have done all these things."Why then are there so many thorns if the land is fruitful? Go and uproot the woody thickets of greed. Sell what you possess and fill yourself with fruits by giving to the poor. You will have treasure in heaven. Follow the Lord if you want to be perfect, joined with those among whom he speaks wisdom—he who knows what to assign to day and night so that you too may know so that lights may be made for you in the firmament of heaven. This will not happen unless your heart is there. This likewise will not happen unless your treasure is there, just as you heard from the good teacher. But the barren earth was made sad. Thorns choked the word.
§25You are a chosen people, the weak of this world, who left everything behind to follow the Lord. Go after him and confound the mighty. Go after him with beautiful feet and shine in the heavens. Let the heavens declare his glory, dividing between the light of the perfect—though not yet like the Angels—and the darkness of the little ones who are not despised. Shine over all the earth. Let the day blazing with sun speak forth the word of wisdom to the day. Let the night glowing with moon announce the word of knowledge to the night. The moon and stars give light to the night. But the night does not darken them, because they illuminate it according to its capacity. Behold, it was as if God were saying"Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven."Suddenly there came a sound from heaven like a rushing mighty wind. Tongues appeared, divided like fire, and settled upon each of them. They became lights in the firmament of heaven, holding the word of life. Run everywhere, holy fires, beautiful fires. You are the light of the world. You are not under a basket. He to whom you have clung has been exalted, and he has exalted you. Run forth and make yourselves known to all nations.
Chapter 20. Concerning Reptiles and Flying Creatures (Ver. 20) — The Sacrament of Baptism Being Regarded.
§26Let the sea conceive and give birth to your works. Let the waters bring forth creatures with living souls. By separating the precious from the worthless, you have become the mouth of God. Through you he speaks:"Let the waters produce."Not the living soul that the earth produces, but creatures with living souls and birds flying above the earth. Your Sacraments creep forward, O God, through the works of your holy ones. They move between the waves of this world's temptations. They baptize the nations in your name and in your baptism. Among these works great wonders have been accomplished like mighty sea monsters. The voices of your messengers fly above the earth near the firmament of your Book. That Book has been set over them as their authority. Under it they fly wherever they go. There are no languages or speeches whose voices cannot be heard. Their sound has gone out into all the earth. Their words have reached the ends of the world. For you, Lord, have multiplied these things by blessing them.
§27Am I lying or mixing things together without proper distinction between the clear knowledge of these things in heaven's firmament and the physical works in the churning sea beneath heaven's firmament? Those things whose understanding is solid and fixed without the growth of generations shine like lights of wisdom and knowledge. Yet the physical operations of these same things are many and varied. One thing grows from another and multiplies in your blessing, O God. You have comforted the weariness of mortal senses so that in the mind's knowledge, one thing may be shaped and expressed in many ways through the body's movements. The waters brought forth these things, but in your word. The needs of peoples estranged from your eternal truth brought forth these things, but in your Gospel. For these very waters cast them forth, and their bitter sickness was the reason these things proceeded in your word.
§28All things are beautiful because you make them so. But look—you who made all things are beautiful beyond all telling. If Adam had not fallen away from you, the salt bitterness of the sea would not have poured forth from his womb. This is the human race—deeply curious, stormily proud, and flowing without stability. Then your ministers would not need to work their mystical deeds and words in bodily and sensible form among these many waters. The creeping things and flying creatures come to my mind now. Men are soaked and initiated by these creatures through bodily sacraments and remain subject to them. Yet they would make no further progress unless the soul came alive spiritually at another level. After the word of initiation, the soul must look toward completion.
Chapter 21. Concerning the Living Soul, Birds, and Fishes (Ver. 24)— The Sacrament of the Eucharist Being Regarded.
§29Through your word the earth produced not sea creatures and birds, but the living soul. The earth was separated from the bitter waters by the dry land that emerged. This earth no longer needs the baptism that the nations require. It needed baptism when it was covered by waters. No one enters the kingdom of heaven except through the way you established. This living soul does not seek mighty wonders to create faith. Some will not believe unless they see signs and miracles. But the faithful earth has already been separated from the bitter waters of the unbelieving sea. Tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers. The earth you founded upon the waters does not need the kind of flying creatures that the waters brought forth at your word. Send your word into the earth through your messengers. We tell of their works, but you are the one working in them to produce the living soul. The earth brings forth this soul because the earth causes them to act within it. The sea caused the creatures and birds under heaven's expanse to act. The earth no longer needs these. Yet it eats the fish lifted from the deep at the table you prepared before believers. The fish was lifted from the deep to feed the dry land. The birds came from the sea but multiply over the earth. Human unbelief caused the first evangelical voices to arise. Yet believers are encouraged and blessed by them many times each day. But the living soul takes its beginning from the earth. It profits only those who are already faithful to restrain themselves from loving this world. Their soul becomes alive to you when it was dead while living in pleasures. Those pleasures are deadly, Lord. You are the life-giving pleasure of the pure in heart.
§30Let your servants work in the earth. Let them not work as they do in the waters of unbelief. There they announce and speak through miracles and sacraments and mystical voices. There ignorance is the mother of wonder in fear of hidden signs. This is how faith begins for the children of Adam who have forgotten you. They hide themselves from your face and become an abyss. Let your servants work instead in the dry land separated from the whirlpools of the abyss. Let them be an example to the faithful by living before them and stirring them to imitation. This way people hear not only to listen but also to act. Seek the Lord and your soul will live. Let the earth bring forth a living soul. Do not conform to this world. Hold yourselves back from it. The soul lives by avoiding what kills it by pursuing. Hold yourselves back from the savage wildness of pride. Hold back from the lazy pleasure of lust. Hold back from the false name of knowledge. Let the beasts become gentle. Let the cattle become tamed. Let the serpents become harmless. These are movements of the soul in allegory. But the arrogance of pride and the delight of lust and the poison of curiosity are movements of the dead soul. The soul does not die by lacking all movement. It dies by departing from the fountain of life. In this way it is taken up by the passing world and conformed to it.
§31Your word, O God, is the fountain of eternal life. It does not pass away. Therefore that departure is restrained in your word when we are told"Do not be conformed to this world."Let the earth bring forth a living soul in the fountain of life through your word by means of your evangelists. This soul contains itself by imitating those who imitate your Christ. This is according to its kind because the emulation of a man comes from his friend."Be as I am,"he says,"because I also am as you are."So there will be good beasts in the living soul through gentleness of action. You commanded this when you said"Complete your works in gentleness and you will be loved by every person."There will be good cattle that have no excess when they eat and no want when they do not eat. There will be good serpents that are not harmful for hurting but wise for being cautious. They explore temporal nature only as much as is sufficient so that"eternity may be clearly seen through the things that have been made."These animals serve reason when they are restrained from deadly progress and live and are good.
Chapter 22. He Explains the Divine Image (Ver. 26) of the Renewal of the Mind.
§32Look here, Lord our God, our creator. When our desires are restrained from love of this world—desires that were killing us through wicked living—our soul begins to live through righteous living. Your word through your Apostle is fulfilled:"Do not be conformed to this world."Then follows what you immediately added:"But be transformed by the renewing of your mind."No longer do we live"according to kind"—imitating our neighbor who went before us and living by some better person's authority. You did not say"Let man be made according to kind."You said"Let us make man in our image and likeness"—so that we might"test what is your will."For this reason that steward of yours who"begets children through the Gospel"did not want to keep them always as infants fed with milk and nursed like babies. He says"Be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may test what is God's will—what is good and acceptable and perfect."Therefore you do not say"Let man be made."You say"Let us make man."You do not say"According to kind."You say"In our image and likeness."When the mind is renewed and beholds your truth with understanding, it needs no human teacher to imitate its own kind. With you as teacher, it tests for itself"what is your will—what is good and acceptable and perfect."You teach the one now capable to see the Trinity in unity and the unity in Trinity. Therefore when you speak in plural—"Let us make man"—it is nevertheless added in singular:"And God made man."When you speak in plural—"In our image"—it is added in singular:"In the image of God."So man"is renewed in knowledge of God according to the image of him who created him."Having become spiritual, he"judges all things"that ought to be judged."But he himself is judged by no one."
Chapter 23. That to Have Power Over All Things (Ver. 26) is to Judge Spiritually of All.
§33The one who judges all things has power over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air. He rules over all cattle and wild beasts. He controls all the earth and every creature that crawls upon it. He accomplishes this through the understanding of his mind. Through this understanding he perceives the things of God's Spirit. Otherwise man is placed in honor but does not understand. He becomes like senseless beasts. He is made similar to them. Therefore in your Church, our God, according to your grace which you gave to it, we are your handiwork. We are created for good works. This applies not only to those who rule spiritually. It also applies to those who are spiritually subject to their rulers. You made mankind male and female in this way through your spiritual grace. In this grace there is no male and female according to bodily sex. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. Therefore spiritual people judge spiritually. This includes both those who rule and those who obey. But they do not judge spiritual knowledge that shines in the firmament. It is not proper to judge such sublime authority. They do not judge your Book itself, even if something there does not shine clearly. We submit our understanding to it. We hold it as certain that even what is closed to our sight is spoken rightly and truthfully. Thus even though man is already spiritual and renewed in knowledge of God according to the image of Him who created him, he should be a doer of the law. He should not be a judge. He does not judge that distinction between spiritual and carnal men. These men are known to your eyes, our God. They have not yet appeared to us through works so that we might know them by their fruits. But you, Lord, already know them. You have divided them. You called them in secret before the firmament was made. The spiritual man does not judge the turbulent peoples of this age either. What business does he have judging those who are outside? He does not know who from among them will come into the sweetness of your grace. He does not know who will remain in the perpetual bitterness of impiety.
§34Therefore the man you made in your image did not receive power over the lights of heaven. He did not receive power over the hidden heaven itself. He did not receive power over day and night which you called forth before heaven's foundation. He did not receive power over the gathering of waters which is the sea. But he did receive power over the fish of the sea and the birds of heaven and all cattle and all the earth and all creeping things that creep upon the earth. For he judges. He approves what he finds to be right but disapproves what he finds to be wrong. He does this in the solemn sacraments by which those are initiated whom your mercy searches out in many waters. He does this in that ceremony where the fish is presented which the devout earth eats after it is lifted from the deep. He does this in the signs of words and voices subjected to the authority of your Book. These fly about as if under the firmament through interpreting and expounding and discussing and disputing and blessing and calling upon you. These signs burst forth and sound from the mouth so that the people may respond"Amen."The cause of all these voices being spoken with the body is the abyss of this world and the blindness of the flesh. Through this blindness thoughts cannot be seen. Therefore it is necessary to make noise in the ears. So although the flying creatures multiply above the earth they still draw their origin from the waters. The spiritual man also judges. He approves what is right but disapproves what he finds wrong in the works and conduct of the faithful. He judges their alms as fruitful earth. He judges the living soul with its tamed affections in chastity and fasting and holy thoughts. These come from what is perceived through bodily sense. For he is now said to judge concerning these things in which he also has the power to correct.
Chapter 24. Why God Has Blessed Men, Fishes, Flying Creatures, and Not Herbs and the Other Animals (Ver. 28).
§35But what is this? What kind of mystery is this? Look how you bless humans, Lord, so they will grow and multiply and fill the earth. Are you hinting at something for us to understand? Why didn't you bless the light that you called day in the same way? Why not the firmament of heaven? Why not the luminaries or the stars or the earth or the sea? I would say that you, our God who created us in your image, intended to give this gift of blessing specially to humanity. But you blessed the fish and sea creatures in the same way so they would grow and multiply and fill the waters of the sea. You blessed the birds so they would multiply over the earth. I would also say this blessing belongs to those kinds of things that propagate themselves through reproduction. But I would say this if I found the same blessing given to shrubs and bushes and land animals. Yet"grow and multiply"was not spoken to grass and trees. It was not spoken to beasts and serpents. All these things increase through reproduction just like fish and birds and humans. All of them preserve their species.
§36What then shall I say, my light, Truth?"This is empty? This was spoken in vain?"Never, Father of mercy. Far be it from your servant of the Word to say such a thing. And if I do not understand what you mean by this utterance, let those better than I use it well. I mean those more intelligent than I am. You have given each person wisdom according to their measure, my God. But let my confession also be pleasing before your eyes. In it I confess to you that I believe you did not speak these words without purpose, Lord. I will not be silent about what this reading suggests to me. This is true. I see nothing that prevents me from understanding your books' figurative sayings this way. I know that the body can signify many things that the mind understands in one way. I also know that the mind can understand many things that the body signifies in one way. Look at the simple love of God and neighbor. It is expressed bodily through countless sacraments. It is expressed in countless languages. In each language it is expressed in countless ways of speaking. This is how the offspring of the waters grow and multiply. Pay attention again, whoever reads these words. Look at what Scripture declares in one way. Look at what the voice proclaims:"In the beginning God made heaven and earth."Is this not understood in many ways? Not through the deception of errors, but through kinds of true understanding. This is how the offspring of human beings grow and multiply.
§37So if we think about the actual natures of things literally rather than allegorically, the command"Increase and multiply"applies to everything that grows from seeds. But if we treat these words as figurative language, which I believe Scripture intended, since it certainly didn't assign this blessing only to sea creatures and human offspring without purpose, then we find multitudes in spiritual and physical creations alike. We see them in heaven and earth. We see them in righteous and unrighteous souls, like light and darkness. We see them in holy authors through whom the law was given, like the firmament established between the waters. We see them in communities of bitter peoples, like the sea. We see them in the devotion of faithful souls, like dry land. We see them in works of mercy for this present life, like seed-bearing plants and fruit trees. We see them in spiritual gifts revealed for the common good, like the lights of heaven. We see them in emotions shaped by self-control, like living souls. In all these things we find multitudes and abundance and growth. But we find that special kind of increase and multiplication where one thing can be expressed in many ways and one expression can be understood in many ways only in physical signs that are given and in spiritual realities that are conceived in the mind. We understand physical signs as the generations of the waters because of the necessary causes of fleshly depth. We understand spiritual realities conceived in the mind as human generations because of reason's fertility. Therefore we believe you said"Increase and multiply"to both types, Lord. In this blessing I recognize the power and ability you granted us to express in many ways what we have grasped in one way. I recognize the ability to understand in many ways what we have read expressed obscurely in one way. This is how the waters of the sea are filled. They move only through various meanings. This is also how the earth is filled with human offspring. The earth's dryness appears in devoted study. Reason rules over it.
Chapter 25. He Explains the Fruits of the Earth (Ver. 29) of Works of Mercy.
§38I want to speak about what your Scripture teaches me as I follow it, my Lord God. I will speak without fear. I will speak truth as you inspire me to speak what you wanted me to draw from these words. I believe I can speak truth only when you inspire me, since you are truth itself and every human being is a liar. Therefore whoever speaks lies speaks from his own nature. So to speak truth, I must speak from what is yours. Look, you have given us every seed-bearing plant and every tree with seed-bearing fruit for food. You gave these not only to us but also to all the birds of heaven and beasts of the earth and serpents. But you did not give these things to fish and great sea creatures. We have said that the fruits of the earth represent works of mercy shown allegorically. These works meet the necessities of this life from the fruitful earth. Devout Onesiphorus was such earth. You showed mercy to his household because he often refreshed your Paul and was not ashamed of Paul's chains. The brothers did this same thing and bore such fruit. They supplied what Paul lacked from Macedonia. But how it grieves me that certain trees did not give him the fruit they owed. This is where he says:"At my first defense no one stood by me. All deserted me. May it not be charged against them!"These things are owed to those who minister rational teaching through understanding divine mysteries. They are owed to them as human beings. They are owed to them as living souls who offer themselves as examples of complete self-control. They are also owed to them as flying creatures because of their blessings that multiply over the earth. Their sound has gone out into all the earth.
Chapter 26. In the Confessing of Benefits, Computation is Made Not as to The Gift, But as to the Fruit, — That Is, the Good and Right Will of the Giver.
§39Those who find joy in these things are nourished by such food. But those whose god is their belly do not find joy in them. The fruit is not found in what the givers provide. The fruit is found in the spirit with which they give. I can see clearly why the man who served God rejoiced. He did not serve his own belly. I see this and I congratulate him greatly. He had received gifts from the Philippians. They had sent these through Epaphroditus. But I can see the true source of his joy. He is nourished by the same source that brings him joy. He speaks truthfully when he says this:"I rejoiced magnificently in the Lord because you have finally blossomed again in caring for me. You had this care before. But you had grown weary."These people had withered from long weariness. They had dried up from bearing the fruit of good works. He rejoices because they blossomed again. He does not rejoice because they relieved his need. This is why he continues with these words:"I do not say this because I lack anything. I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself. I know how to live with little. I know how to live with abundance. I have been trained for every situation. I know how to be satisfied and how to go hungry. I know how to have abundance and how to suffer need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me."
§40Why then do you rejoice, great Paul? Why do you rejoice? What feeds you, man renewed in the knowledge of God according to the image of him who created you? What feeds you, living soul of such great self-control? What feeds you, swift tongue speaking mysteries? Such food is owed to creatures like these. What is it that feeds you? Joy. Let us hear what follows."Nevertheless,"he says,"you have done well by sharing in my affliction."This is why he rejoices. This is what feeds him. They did good to him. It is not because his distress was relieved. He is the one who says to you,"In tribulation you have enlarged me."He knows how both to abound and to suffer want in you who strengthen him."For you also know, Philippians,"he says,"that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you alone. Even to Thessalonica, both once and again, you sent to my needs."He now rejoices that they have returned to these good works. He delights that they have sprouted again like the reviving fertility of a field.
§41Does he rejoice because of his own needs? Because he said"You sent these things for my needs"? Does he rejoice for that reason? No. Not for that reason. How do we know this? Because he continues by saying"I do not seek the gift itself, but I seek the fruit."He learned from you, my God, to distinguish between the gift and the fruit. The gift is the actual thing that someone gives when they share these necessities. Like money, food, drink, clothing, shelter, or help. But the fruit is the good and righteous intention of the giver. The Good Master did not simply say"Whoever receives a prophet."He added"in the name of a prophet."He did not simply say"Whoever receives a righteous person."He added"in the name of a righteous person."In this way, the first person will receive a prophet's reward. The second person will receive a righteous person's reward. He did not simply say"Whoever gives a cup of cold water to drink to one of these little ones."He added"only in the name of a disciple."Then he said"Truly I tell you, he will not lose his reward."The gift is receiving the prophet. The gift is receiving the righteous person. The gift is offering a cup of cold water to the disciple. But the fruit is doing these things in the name of the prophet. In the name of the righteous person. In the name of the disciple. Elijah was fed by the widow with the fruit. She knew she was feeding a man of God. She fed him for that reason. But he was fed by the raven with only the gift. The inner Elijah was not being fed through the raven. Only the outer Elijah was fed. And he could have been destroyed by the lack of such food.
Chapter 27. Many are Ignorant as to This, and Ask for Miracles, Which are Signified Under the Names Of Fishes And Whales.
§42Therefore I will speak what is true before you, Lord. Unlearned and faithless people receive your children to refresh them bodily or to help them in some use of present life. These people need the sacraments of initiation and the great works of miracles to be initiated and won over. We believe these are signified by the names of fishes and sea creatures. But these people do not know why this should be done or what purpose it serves. Neither do those people truly feed these others. Nor are these others truly fed by them. Those who serve do not work from holy and right intention. Those who receive do not rejoice in what is given to them because they do not yet see its fruit. The soul feeds on what brings it joy. Therefore the fishes and sea creatures do not eat the foods that only the earth produces. This earth has been separated and set apart from the bitterness of the ocean waves.
Chapter 28. He Proceeds to the Last Verse, All Things are Very Good, — That Is, the Work Being Altogether Good.
§43You saw, God, all the things you had made. Look how very good they were. We too see these things. Look how very good they all are. For each kind of work you performed, when you commanded it to be done and it was done, you saw that this thing and that thing was good. I have counted seven times where it is written that you saw the goodness of what you made. This is the eighth time. You saw all the things you had made. Look - they were not only good but very good, as if they were all together as one. Individual things were merely good. But all things together were both good and very good. Beautiful bodies teach us this same truth. A body made from all beautiful parts is far more beautiful than the individual parts themselves. The whole is completed by the most harmonious joining of its parts. Yet even those parts taken one by one are beautiful.
Chapter 29. Although It is Said Eight Times that God Saw that It Was Good, Yet Time Has No Relation to God and His Word.
§44I paid careful attention to discover whether you saw seven or eight times that your works were good when they pleased you. In your vision I found no periods of time through which I might understand how often you saw what you had made. I said:"O Lord, is not this Scripture of yours true, since you who are truthful and truth itself have given it forth? Why then do you tell me there are no times in your vision? Yet this Scripture of yours tells me that on each individual day you saw that what you had made was good. When I counted them, I found how many times this happened."To these questions you answer me, since you are my God. You speak with a strong voice in the inner ear of your servant. You break through my deafness and cry out:"O man, what my Scripture says, I indeed say. Yet Scripture speaks in terms of time. But time does not touch my Word, because it exists in equal eternity with me. Thus what you see through my Spirit, I see. Just as what you speak through my Spirit, I speak. And so, though you see these things in time, I do not see them in time. Likewise, though you speak these things in time, I do not speak in time."
Chapter 30. He Refutes the Opinions of the Manichæans and the Gnostics Concerning the Origin of the World.
§45I heard this, my Lord God. I drank in a drop of sweetness from your truth. I understood that certain people hate your works. They claim you made many things because you were forced to do so. They say you built the heavens and arranged the stars under compulsion. They claim these things were not truly yours. They say these materials already existed somewhere else and came from another source. You simply gathered them together and assembled them and wove them together. You were building fortifications for the world after conquering your enemies. You wanted this construction to bind them so they could never rebel against you again. They say you neither made nor assembled other things at all. They point to all flesh and the tiniest living creatures and everything that holds the earth with roots. Instead they claim a hostile mind and alien nature created and formed these things in the lower regions of the world. This nature was not created by you and stands opposed to you. These people speak madness. They do not see your works through your Spirit. They do not recognize you in your creation.
Chapter 31. We Do Not See That It Was Good But Through the Spirit of God Which is in Us.
§46Those who see things through your Spirit—you are seeing in them. So when they see that things are good, you see that they are good. Whatever pleases them because of you—you are pleased in them. What pleases us through your Spirit pleases you in us."Who knows the things of man except the spirit of man that is within him? So also no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we might know what has been given to us by God."I am prompted to ask:"Surely no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. How then do we also know what has been given to us by God?"The answer comes to me that what we know through his Spirit—even so, no one knows except the Spirit of God. Just as it was rightly said,"It is not you who speak,"to those who speak in God's Spirit, so it is rightly said,"It is not you who know,"to those who know in God's Spirit. In the same way it is rightly said,"It is not you who see,"to those who see in the Spirit of God. So whatever they see as good in the Spirit of God—they themselves do not see it as good, but God sees it as good. It is one thing for someone to think that what is good is actually evil, as I mentioned before. It is another thing for a person to see that what is good is good. Many are pleased with your creation because it is good, yet you do not please them in it. They want to enjoy the creation more than you. But it is yet another thing when a person sees that something is good, and God sees in that person that it is good. In this way, he is loved in what he made—he who would not be loved except through the Spirit he gave."For God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."Through this Spirit we see that whatever exists in any way is good. It comes from him who does not exist"in some way"but simply is what he is.
Chapter 32. Of the Particular Works of God, More Especially of Man.
§47We give you thanks, Lord. We see heaven and earth. This means the upper and lower parts of the physical world. It also means spiritual and physical creation. In the beauty of these parts that make up either the whole mass of the world or all creation entirely, we see light made and divided from darkness. We see the firmament of heaven. This might be the primary body of the world between the spiritual waters above and the physical waters below. Or it might be this space of air that is also called heaven. Through this space the birds of heaven wander between the waters that are carried above them as vapor and that fall as dew even on clear nights. They wander between these waters and the heavy waters that flow on the earth. We see the form of gathered waters across the fields of the sea. We see dry land. It is either bare or shaped so that it would be visible and organized. It is the foundation for grasses and trees. We see the lights shining from above. The sun serves the day. The moon and stars comfort the night. By all these things the seasons are marked and signified. We see humid nature everywhere made fertile with fish and sea creatures and birds. The thickness of air that carries the flight of birds grows dense from the rising of waters. We see the face of the earth adorned with land animals. We see mankind set over all unreasoning living things according to your image and likeness. By your very image and likeness, that is by the power of reason and understanding, humans are placed in authority. Just as in the human soul one part rules by deliberation and another part is subject to obey, so also in bodily form woman was made for man. She has the same nature of rational understanding in her mind. Yet by the sex of her body she is subject to the male sex. This is just as the appetite for action is subject to conceiving from the reason of the mind the skill for right acting. We see these things. Each one is good. All together they are very good.
Chapter 33. The World Was Created by God Out of Nothing.
§48Let your works praise you so that we may love you. Let us love you so that your works may praise you. These works have beginning and end in time. They have rising and setting. They have growth and decay. They have form and emptiness. Therefore they have their morning and evening following one after another. Some of this happens hidden from view. Some happens clearly visible. Your works were made from nothing by you. They were not made from your own substance. They were not made from some substance that was not yours or that existed before. They were made from matter that was created together with them. You formed this matter's formlessness without any gap of time between creation and forming. The raw material of heaven and earth is one thing. The formed appearance of heaven and earth is another thing. You made the raw material from absolutely nothing. You made the world's appearance from this unformed material. Yet you made both at the same time. You arranged it so that form would follow matter with no delay between them.
Chapter 34. He Briefly Repeats the Allegorical Interpretation of Genesis (Ch. I.), and Confesses that We See It by the Divine Spirit.
§49We have also examined why you wanted these things to happen in this particular way and to be written in this particular order because of their symbolic meaning. We saw that each thing is good and that all things together are very good. This is true in your Word and in your Only Son. Heaven and earth represent the head and body of the Church in your predestination before all time without morning and evening. But when you began to carry out your predestined plans in time you did this to reveal hidden things and to bring order to our disordered lives. Our sins weighed down on us. We had gone away from you into deep darkness. Your good Spirit moved over us to help us at the right time. You justified the ungodly. You separated them from the wicked. You established the authority of your Book between those above who would be teachable to you and those below who would submit to them. You gathered the community of unbelievers into one conspiracy. You did this so that the efforts of the faithful would become visible and so they would prepare works of mercy for you. They distributed earthly resources to the poor to gain heavenly things. From there you lit certain lights in the firmament. These were your saints who possess the word of life and shine with high authority distinguished by spiritual gifts. From there you produced visible sacraments and miracles and spoken words according to the firmament of your Book to instruct unbelieving nations. The faithful were also blessed by these things that came from bodily matter. Then you formed the living soul of the faithful through ordered emotions by the strength of self-control. From there you renewed the mind that submits to you alone and needs no human authority to imitate. You renewed it according to your image and likeness. You subjected rational action to superior understanding like a woman to a man. You wanted fruitful works for the future to be provided by these same faithful people for temporary uses. These works are necessary for all your ministries to perfect the faithful in this life. We see all these things and they are very good. This is because you see them in us. You gave us the Spirit by which we could see these things and love you in them.
Chapter 35. He Prays God for that Peace of Rest Which Hath No Evening.
§50Lord God, give us peace, for you have already provided everything for us. Give us the peace of rest. Give us the peace of the Sabbath. Give us the Sabbath without evening. This most beautiful order of very good things will pass away once each has completed its proper course. Morning was made in them, and evening too.
Chapter 36. The Seventh Day, Without Evening and Setting, the Image of Eternal Life and Rest in God.
§51The seventh day has no evening. It has no sunset because you made it holy for eternal duration. After your works that were very good, you rested on the seventh day even though you made them while at rest. The voice of your Book speaks this beforehand to us. We too will rest in you on the sabbath of eternal life after our works. These works are very good because you gave them to us.
Chapter 37. Of Rest in God Who Ever Works, and Yet is Ever at Rest.
§52Even then you will rest in us just as you now work in us. That rest of yours will be through us just as these works of yours are through us. But you, Lord, always work and always rest. You do not see in time. You do not move in time. You do not rest in time. Yet you create temporary visions and time itself and rest that comes from time.
Chapter 38. Of the Difference Between the Knowledge of God and of Men, and of the Repose Which is to Be Sought from God Only.
§53We see these things you have made because they exist. But they exist because you see them. We see from the outside that they exist. We see from the inside that they are good. But you saw them completed in the same place where you saw them yet to be made. We were moved to do good at a later time. This happened after our hearts conceived from your Spirit. But at an earlier time we were moved to do evil by abandoning you. You, however, God who alone are good, never ceased doing good. Some of our works are good. They come from your gift, but they are not eternal. After these works we hope to find rest in your great sanctification. But you are good and need no good thing. You are always at rest because your rest is yourself. What person will enable another person to understand this? What angel will enable another angel? What angel will enable a person? Let it be asked from you. Let it be sought in you. Let the door be knocked at you. In this way it will be received. In this way it will be found. In this way it will be opened. Amen.