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47- Thanks to Thee, O Lord. We behold the heaven and the
earth, whether the corporeal part, superior and inferior, or the
spiritual and corporeal creature; and in the embellishment of these
parts, whereof the universal mass of the world or the universal
creation consisteth, we see light made, and divided from the
darkness. We see the firmament of heaven,' whether the primary body
of the world between the spiritual upper waters and the corporeal lower
waters, or because this also is called heaven- this expanse of
air, through which wander the fowls of heaven, between the waters
which are in vapours borne above them, and which in clear nights drop
down in dew, and those which being heavy flow along the earth. We
behold the waters gathered together through the plains of the sea; and
the dry land both void and formed, so as to be visible and compact,
and the matter of herbs and trees. We behold the lights shining from
above, the sun to serve the day, the moon and the stars to cheer
the night; and that by all these, times should be marked and noted.
We behold on every side a humid element, fruitful with fishes,
beasts, and birds; because the density of the air, which bears up the
flights of birds, is increased by the exhalation of the waters. We
behold the face of the earth furnished with terrestrial creatures, and
man, created after Thy image and likeness, in that' very image and
likeness of Thee (that is, the power of reason and understanding) on
account of which he was set over all irrational creatures. And as in
his soul there is one power which rules by directing, another made
subject that it might obey, so also for the man was corporeally made a
woman? who, in the mind of her rational understanding should also have
a like nature, in the sex, however, of her body should be in like
manner subject to the sex of her husband, as the appetite of action is
subjected by reason of the mind, to conceive the skill of acting
rightly. These things we behold, and they are severally good, and
all very good.
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