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- confessions
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- 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.