|
33. But that he judgeth all things 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
discernment 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 accorded unto it, since we are Thy
workmanship created in good works, there are not only those who are
spiritually set over, but those also who are spiritually subjected to
those placed over them; for in this manner hast Thou made man, male
and female, in Thy grace spiritual, where, according to the sex of
body, there is not male and female, because neither Jew nor Greek,
nor bond nor free. Spiritual persons, therefore, whether those that
are set over, or those who obey, judge spiritually; not of that
spiritual knowledge which shines in the firmament, for they ought not
to judge as to an authority so sublime, nor doth it behove them to
judge of Thy Book itself, although there be something that is not
clear therein; because we submit our understanding unto it, and esteem
as certain that even that which is shut up from our sight is rightly and
truly spoken. For thus man, although now spiritual and renewed in the
knowledge of God after His image that created him, ought yet to be
the "doer of the law, not the judge." Neither doth he judge of that
distinction of spiritual and carnal men, who are known to Thine eyes,
O our God, and have not as yet made themselves manifest unto us by
works, that by their fruits we may know them; but Thou, O Lord,
dost already know them, and Thou hast divided and hast called them in
secret, before the firmament was made. Nor doth that man, though
spiritual, judge the restless people of this world; for what hath he
to do to judge them that are without, knowing not which of them may
afterwards come into the sweetness of Thy grace, and which continue in
the perpetual bitterness of impiety?
34. Man, therefore, whom Thou hast made after Thine own image,
received not dominion over the lights of heaven, nor over the hidden
heaven itself, nor over the day and the night, which Thou didst call
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, but
disapproveth what He findeth amiss, whether in the celebration of
those sacraments by which are initiated those whom Thy mercy searches
out in many waters; or in that in which the Fish Itself is
exhibited, which, being raised from the deep, the devout earth
feedeth upon; or in the signs and expressions of words, subject to the
authority of Thy Book, such signs as burst forth and sound from
the mouth, as it were flying under the firmament, by interpreting,
expounding, discoursing, disputing, blessing, calling upon Thee,
so that the people may answer, Amen. The vocal pronunciation of all
which words is caused by the deep of this world, and the blindness of
the flesh, by which thoughts cannot be seen, so that it is necessary
to speak aloud in the ears; thus, although flying fowls be multiplied
upon the earth, yet they derive their beginning from the waters. The
spiritual man judgeth also by approving what is right and reproving what
he finds amiss in the works and morals of the faithful, in their alms,
as if in "the earth bringing forth fruit;" and he judgeth of the
"living soul," rendered living by softened affections, in chastity,
in fastings, in pious thoughts; and of those things which are
perceived through the senses of the body. For it is now said, that he
should judge concerning those things in which he has also the power of
correction.
|
|