successions of the ages are not demonstrated by this. For the day of the Lord, he says, is great and illustrious. And again: "Why do you seek the day of the Lord? It is darkness and not light." Yet for those who are worthy of darkness, it is indeed darkness. But Scripture knows that that day is without evening, free from succession and end: which the Psalmist also called the eighth, because it is situated outside this seven-day time. Wherefore, whether you say day or age, you express the same meaning. So if that state is called a day, it is one and not many; if it is called an age, it is certainly unique and not multiplex. Therefore, in order to transfer our thought to the life to come, he called it one day, which is an image of the age, the first fruits of days, coeval with light, the holy Lord's Day, honored by the resurrection of the Lord. There was, therefore, evening, he says, and there was morning, one day. But indeed, the words concerning that evening, being overtaken by the present evening, impose here an end upon our discourse. May the Father of true light, who adorned the day with celestial light, who cheered the night with the bright rays of fire, who prepared the rest of the future age with spiritual and perpetual light, illuminate your hearts in the knowledge of the truth and preserve your life unhindered, granting you to walk honestly as in the day, that you may shine like the sun in the glory of the saints, for my own exultation, in the day of Christ, to whom be glory and empire for ever and ever. Amen.
HOMILY III. On the firmament.
1. The works of the first day, or rather of the one day, have been commemorated. For God forbid that we should take away from it the dignity which it possesses by nature, as it was brought forth separately by the Creator and not numbered in the order of the others. However, since the discourse of yesterday has already recounted the things that were done in it, and since the exposition, having been divided for the hearers—as the morning nourishment of souls—A has reached us, we rather show by this the difference of states and diverse things, but not the delimitations, limits, and successions of ages. For the day of the Lord, he says, is great and illustrious; and again: "Why do you seek the day of the Lord?" And this is darkness, and not light. But it is darkness, B clearly, to those who are worthy of darkness. Since the Word knows that day to be without evening, without succession, and without end, the Psalmist also called it "eighth," because it lies outside this hebdomadal time. So that whether you say "day" or "age," you will speak the same meaning. Whether, therefore, that state is called a day, it is one and not many; or whether it is called an age, it would be singular and not a component of a series. Therefore, in order to turn the thought toward the life to come C, he named the image of the age as one, the first-fruits of days, the contemporary of light, the holy Lord's Day, honored by the resurrection of the Lord. "And there was evening," he says, "and there was morning, one day." But indeed, those words concerning that evening, being caught by the present evening, bound the discourse for us here. May the Father of true light, who adorned the day with heavenly light, who gladdened the night with the rays of fire, who made ready the rest of the age to come with intellectual and never-failing light, shed light D upon your hearts in the knowledge of the truth, and keep your life unhindered, granting you to walk becomingly as in the day, that you may shine forth, as the sun in the brilliance of the saints, for a boast to me, in the day of Christ, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
HOMILY III. On the firmament.
1. The works of the first [day], or rather of the one [day], have been recorded. For let us not take away from it the dignity which it has in its nature, having been brought forth by itself by the Creator, and not having been numbered in the ranking with the others; save that since the discourse yesterday went over the things that came to pass in it and divided the C explanation for the listeners—the morning food of souls, and the evening refreshment—it now passes on the second [day's] wonders.
I say this, not referring to the power of the one who explains, but to the grace of the things written, which by nature possesses the quality of being readily accepted and is gentle and dear to every heart of those who prefer the truth to the plausible. In accordance with this, the Psalmist also, presenting most emphatically the sweetness that comes from the truth, says: "How sweet are your words to my throat, more than honey to my mouth" (Ps. cxvii, 105). Yesterday, then, as far as was possible, having gladdened your souls with the discussion concerning the words of God, we have met again today on the second day, to contemplate the wonders of the works of the second day. B But indeed, it does not escape me that many artisans of the mechanical arts, who with difficulty procure their food for themselves from their daily labor, are standing around us, and they are cutting short our discourse, so that they may not be drawn away for too long from their work. What shall I say to them? That the portion of time lent to God is in no way lost, but is repaid by Him with great interest. For whatever circumstances bring hindrance to their work, these the Lord will remove; and He will grant physical strength, cheerfulness of mind, ease in transactions, and prosperity for one's whole life to those who prefer spiritual things. And even if in the present, things hoped for do not turn out according to our expectations, the teaching of the Spirit is at any rate a good treasure for the life to come. Remove, therefore, from your heart all anxiety for your livelihood, and gather your whole self to me here. For there is no benefit in the presence of the body if your heart is occupied with acquiring earthly treasure.
C 2. *And God said: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and let it be dividing between water and water* (Gen. 1, 7). Already yesterday we heard the words of God: *Let there be light*. And today: *Let there be a firmament*. But the present words seem to have something more, in that the discourse did not remain in a bare command, but also declared the reason why the structure of the firmament is required, while it says: *That it may be dividing between water and water*. First then, let us take up and inquire: How does God speak? Is it after our manner, so that first the form of objects is imprinted on the intellect, D and then, after the image has been conceived in the mind, one's own
significations proper and appropriate to each are chosen and announced? And then, having delivered the conceived thoughts to the service of the vocal organs, does He manifest the internal thought through the impression on the air, in accordance with the articulated motion of the voice A? And how is it not fabulous to say that God, in order to declare His own thoughts, needs such a circuitous process? Is it not more pious to say that the divine will, and the primary impulse of the intelligent movement, is the Word of God? Scripture, however, describes and outlines this very thing through an encompassing of words, so that it may demonstrate that He did not will for the creature to be made merely, but to be brought into the light through some associate and partner in His work. For He could have, as He spoke in the beginning, spoken of each thing individually: "In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth"; then: "He made the light"; then: "He made the firmament." But now, by introducing God as commanding and conversing, Scripture silently indicates the One whom He commands and with whom He converses, not out of envy of knowledge toward us, but by inflaming us with desire, through the traces and impressions of the mystery that He presents to us. For what is obtained by labor is received with joy and carefully guarded; whereas, things easily acquired are possessed with contempt. For this reason, by a certain way and order, He leads us to the knowledge of the Only-Begotten B. And certainly, there was no need for vocal speech for an incorporeal nature, since the things that had been thought could be communicated with Him who was the associate and partner in the work. Why, therefore, was there a necessity of speech for those who could make each other participants in their own counsels by thought alone? For voice is for the sake of hearing, and hearing is for the sake of voice. But where there is no air, nor tongue, nor ear, nor winding passage referring the sounds to the perception stored within the head, there is no use for words; but the communication of the will occurs from the very thought of the mind, so to speak. Wherefore, as I was saying, in order that our mind might be awakened to the investigation of the Person to whom this speech is directed, this form of discourse has been wisely and skillfully adopted.
3. It must be inquired, in the second place, whether the firmament is something else apart from that heaven C which had been made in the beginning—which itself was also called heaven, and whether, in short, there are two heavens; a position which those who have philosophized about the heaven would prefer to lose their tongues rather than admit as true. For they posit that there is one heaven, and that it is not of such a nature that a second, or a third, or a multiple heaven could be added to it, since, as they think, the whole substance of the celestial body D has been consumed in the constitution of the one.
Such, then, are the imaginings of those who bring in an unbegotten matter to the Creator, led on from a first myth-making to the subsequent falsehood; but we ask the wise men of the Greeks not to mock us A before they have reached an agreement among themselves. For there are among them those who declare that the heavens and the worlds are infinite; and when those who use more weighty arguments and geometric proofs refute the incredibility of this view, and demonstrate by geometric necessities that it is not in the nature of things for another heaven to come into being besides the one, then we shall even more B rightfully laugh at their linear and artificial trifling—if, seeing bubbles arise from the same cause, whether one or many, they nonetheless doubt about a multiplicity of heavens, [asking] whether the creative power suffices to bring them into existence. We consider their power and magnitude to differ in no way from the concave moisture that swells up in splashing fountains, when we look C toward the preeminence of the power of God. So that their argument about what is impossible is laughable. But we are so far from doubting a second heaven, that we even seek for a third, to the sight of which the blessed Paul was deemed worthy. But the Psalm, naming the heavens of heavens 38, has also given us the notion of a greater multitude. And surely these things are not more strange than the seven circles in which the seven stars are, by the consensus of almost everyone, acknowledged to be carried, which they also say are fitted one D into another, after the likeness of jars inserted into one another. These, they say, being carried in a direction opposite to the universe, with the ether being divided by them, give forth a certain well-sounding and harmonious tone, so that it surpasses all pleasure in melodies. Then, when those who say such things are asked for the proof provided by the senses, what do they answer? [They say] that because of our initial familiarity with the sound, having been accustomed to it from our very birth, we are deprived of the sense [of hearing it] by the long exercise of hearing; just as those who are continually struck by the noise in coppersmiths' shops. To refute the sophistry and hollowness of this, which is so clearly manifest to everyone upon first hearing, is not for a man who knows either how to spare time or how to consider the intelligence of his hearers. But leaving the affairs of those outside to those outside, we return to the ecclesiastical discourse. There has, however, been stated by some before us, lest
The children of the Greeks...
should say A that this is the generation of a second heaven, but rather an explanation of the first, because the creation of heaven and earth is delivered there in summary, but here the Scripture delivers to us more elaborately the mode by which each thing has come to be. But we say that since both a different name and a distinct function of the second heaven are delivered, this is distinct from the one which was made in the beginning, being of a more solid nature, and providing an exceptional service to the whole.
B 4. *And God said: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and let it be dividing between water and water. And God made the firmament: and God divided between the water which was under the firmament, and between the water which was above the firmament.* But before we touch upon the meaning of the written words, let us endeavor to dissolve the objection brought forward by others. For they ask us: if the body of the firmament is spherical, as the eyes themselves testify, and if water is of such a nature as to flow away and slide down on all sides from the heights, how could it have been established upon the gibbous circumference of the firmament? C What then shall we answer to this? First of all, that even if something appears to us round according to its internal concavity, it is not at all necessary that its external surface should also have been fashioned according to the manner of a sphere, or that the whole should be perfectly turned on a lathe and smoothly and evenly rounded; since we see stone roofs of baths and the structures of buildings built in the shape of a cavern, which, although they are rounded into a semicircle in terms of their internal appearance, often have a smooth and flat surface on the upper parts of the roof. Neither, therefore, on account of this matter let them make trouble for themselves, nor let them provide it for us, as though we were unable to hold the water in the upper parts.
It would be consequent, however, to say what the nature of the firmament is, and for what cause it was ordered to hold a certain middle place between the water. D Scripture is accustomed to use the name of "firmament" for those things that are preeminent in strength and power; as when it says: *The Lord is my firmament and my refuge*; and: *I have established the columns of it*; and that: *Praise him in the firmament of his power*. And indeed, philosophers call this body "firm," by which they mean something solid and full, which is so called in order to distinguish it from the "mathematical." Now, that is "mathematical" which consists only in dimensions, existing in breadth, I say, and depth, and height.
But that is "firm" in which, besides dimensions, there is also hardness and resistance. Furthermore, Scripture is accustomed to call what is strong and inflexible a "firmament," so that it uses this very word often even when it wishes to designate air that has been greatly condensed, as when it says: "Establishing the thunder" (Amos iv. 13). For Scripture called the "firming of thunder" the solidity and resistance of the spirit which, being enclosed in the hollows of the clouds, produces by its violent eruption the noises that accompany thunder. And now, therefore, we believe that this term has been applied to imply a solid nature capable of supporting slippery and easily dissolved water. And not at all, because according to common assumption it is thought to have had its genesis from water, are we to suppose that it is right to think it is similar to frozen water, or to some such material that takes its beginning from the filtration of moisture, such as the nature of crystal—which they say is transformed by an excessive freezing of water—or the nature of the "specular" stone B which forms among metals. And it is a transparent stone, possessing a peculiar and most pure clarity, which, if found accurate according to its own nature, neither eaten away by any decay nor split by fissures extending to its inner parts, appears in its splendor almost like the air. We do not, therefore, liken the firmament to any of these things. For it is truly the mark of a childish and simple mind to have such opinions about heavenly things. Nor, however, because all things are in all things—fire in the earth, air in water, and likewise one thing in another among the rest—and because none of the elements subject to the senses is pure and unmixed, excluding all association either with the medium or with the opposite, do we therefore dare to say that the firmament is fashioned either from one of the simple elements or is a certain mixture of these; C since we have been instructed by Scripture to allow our mind to imagine nothing beyond what has been granted. Nor let that point escape us either as unimportant: that after God gave the command,
A “Let there be a firmament,” it is not said simply, “And there was a firmament,” but, “And God made the firmament;” and again, “And God divided.” Hear, you deaf, and see, you blind. And who is deaf, unless it be he who does not hear the Spirit crying out with such a great voice? And who is blind? He who does not see such clear proofs regarding the Only-Begotten. “Let there be a firmament.” This is the voice of the initiating cause. “And God made the firmament.” This is the testimony of the creative and formative power.
5. But let us return the discourse to the continuation of the explanation. “Let there be,” he says, “a division between water and water.” B Boundless, as it appears, was the outpouring of the waters, covering the earth from every side and hanging suspended above it, so that there would seem to be no proportion at all between these and the other elements. For this reason, it was said earlier that the abyss had encompassed the earth on all sides. We shall, however, provide the reason for their abundance in what follows. Surely none of you, not even those who have a very well-trained mind and who look acutely at this mortal and flowing nature, will attack this opinion as if we were proposing things impossible according to reason or fictitious; nor will anyone demand of us that we investigate upon what fulcrum the nature of the waters has been made firm. For by that same reasoning by which they draw the earth, which is heavier than water, from the extremities and place it suspended in the center, by that same reasoning, surely, they will all agree that that infinite water was also compelled to rest around the earth, both because of its natural impetus downward, and because of the equal weight from every side. The immense nature of water, therefore, was poured around the earth, yet not having a proportion to it, but far exceeding it, as the great Craftsman saw the future from the beginning and ordained the first things for the sake of the subsequent need. What need, then, was there for the water to exceed beyond what can be said? Because the substance of fire is necessary for the universe, not only for the ordering of terrestrial things, but also for the completion of the whole. For the whole would be mutilated if it C were lacking one of these—the greatest and most essential of all elements. Now, these are opposed to each other and one is destructive of the other: fire is destructive of water when it prevails in power, and water of fire when it prevails in quantity. D
It was necessary, however, that there should be no sedition between them, nor any occasion given for the dissolution of the universe through the total failure of either. A The Governor of all things so apportioned the nature of moisture that it might resist until the determined limits of the world’s constitution, while the fire is gradually consumed by its force. And indeed, He who arranged all things by weight and measure (for the drops of rain are numbered by Him, according to Job), knew for how much time He had destined the world to endure, and how much fuel was needed to be prepared for the fire. For this reason, there was such an abundance of water in the creation. B Indeed, no one is so far removed from life as to require reasoning to be convinced that fire is necessary to the world; not only because the arts by which our life is preserved all stand in need of the activity of fire—I mean weaving, shoemaking, building, and agriculture—but because neither the sprouting of trees, nor the ripening of fruits, nor the generation of land or water animals, nor their nourishment either could have subsisted from the beginning or continued for any length of time, if heat were not present. Therefore, the creation of heat is necessary for the constitution and endurance of everything that comes into being; and the abundance of water is necessary for the unceasing and inevitable consumption of the fire. C Furthermore, the water is necessary because the consuming force of the fire cannot be at rest or avoided.
6. Examine all creation, and you will see the power of heat in all things that come into being and pass away, dominating them. For this reason, much water is poured out over the earth, carried beyond what is seen, and furthermore, sown throughout the entire depth of the earth. D Hence come the abundance of springs, the gatherings of wells, and the streams of rivers, both those that are torrential and those that are perennial, so that moisture might be preserved in many and various storehouses. Now, from the East, from the winter solstice, flows the river Indus, the greatest stream of all riverine waters, as those who have recorded the circuits of the earth have recounted; from the middle of the East, the Bactrus, and the Choaspes, and the Araxes, from which the Tanais also branches off and flows out into the Maeotian marsh; and in addition to these, the Phasis, flowing from the Caucasian mountains, and countless others from the northern regions are carried into the Euxine Pontus. On the other hand, from the summer sunsets, beneath the Pyrenean mountain, flow the Tartessus and the Ister: the former is discharged into the sea beyond the Columns, while the Ister, flowing through Europe, pours into the Pontus. And what need is there to enumerate the others which the Ripaean mountains produce,
A which are situated far beyond the deepest part of Scythia? Among which is the Rhodanus, along with infinite other rivers, themselves also navigable, which flow past the western Galatae and Celts, and the barbarians neighboring them, all of whom empty into the western sea. Others from the south, from the upper regions, pass through Ethiopia; some come to our sea, while others are emptied into that which lies outside the navigable ocean; such as the Aegon and the Nyses, and he who is called Chremes, and furthermore the Nile, which is not even like other rivers in its nature, as it floods Egypt like a sea. Thus is the place of our habitable earth encompassed by water, bound by vast seas and irrigated by myriad perennial rivers, through the unspeakable wisdom of Him who arranged that a nature contrary to fire should be difficult to consume. Yet there shall be a time when all things shall burn with fire, as Isaiah says when he speaks to the God of the universe: "Who sayest to the abyss, Be desolate, and I will dry up thy rivers." Wherefore, put away the wisdom that has been fooled, and receive B with us the doctrine of the truth, unlearned indeed in speech, but stable and firm in knowledge.
7. Therefore, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and let it distinguish between water and water. It has already been said what the name "firmament" signifies in Scripture. It does not at all mean a nature that is resistant and solid, endowed with weight and resistance. Otherwise, the earth would have more rightfully claimed such a name for itself. But because the nature of the superior bodies is fine and rare, and cannot be grasped by any sense, He called this a "firmament" by comparison to those things which are most fine and C beyond the reach of sense. Consider for me, then, a certain place gifted with the faculty of distinguishing moisture, which transmits the fine and filtered moisture upward, but sends the thicker and earthy part downward, so that from beginning to end the same temperament may be preserved, as the moisture is removed D part by part.
A You distrust the quantity of water, yet you do not look to the quantity of the heat; which, even if it be small in size, is capable of consuming much moisture by its power. For it attracts the adjacent moisture, as a cupping-glass demonstrates; but it consumes what has been attracted, following the image of the light of a lamp, which, by drawing up the adjacent nourishment through the wick, quickly consumes it by transformation. And who doubts that the ether is fiery and burning? If it were not kept in check by the necessary decree of Him who created it, what would have prevented it from setting everything ablaze and burning up the things adjacent, consuming all the moisture in existing things at once? Therefore, atmospheric water arises when the place above is clouded over by the upward vapor—which rivers, springs, marshes, lakes, and all the seas throw off—so that the ether may not ignite B everything and seize upon it; especially since we see this sun in the summer season often leave a damp and marshy region completely moistureless and dry in the briefest moment of time. Whither, then, has that water gone? Let those who are so clever in all things show us. Is it not clear to everyone that it was dissolved and consumed by the heat of the sun? Yet those men say that the sun is not even hot; so much leisure do they have for talking. And observe upon what demonstration they rely, as they fight against the evidence. Since it is white, they say, in its color, and not reddish, nor yellow, for this reason it is not fiery in its nature; but they also say that its heat arises from its rapid rotation. What do they gain for themselves from this? That the sun might be thought to consume none of the moisture. But as for me, even if what is said is not true, yet I do not reject it, as it confirms my own argument. For it was said that the quantity of waters was necessary because of the consumption caused by the heat. But it makes no difference whether it is hot by nature or has the heat by affection, C in regards to producing the same effects upon the same materials. For whether wood, rubbed against itself, kindles fire and flame, or whether it is burned by a flame already lit, the end results from both are equal and similar. Yet we see the great wisdom of Him who governs all things, moving the sun from one place to another, so that, by not lingering always in the same places, it may not harm the order of nature through the superabundance of heat.
A Observe, moreover, whether those who hold this opinion do not contradict themselves—those, namely, who say that the sea does not overflow because of the rivers, due to the consumption wrought by the sun, and, furthermore, that it remains salt and bitter because the fine and potable parts are consumed by the heat. This indeed happens most of all by that discerning power which the sun possesses, by which it carries away what is light, while it leaves behind the thick and earthy part, like a kind of silt or sediment; from which it results that bitterness, saltness, and a desiccating quality belong to the sea. But those who say these things about the sea, changing their opinion again, assert that there is no diminution of the liquid caused by the sun.
8. *And God called the firmament heaven* B; so that, while this appellation is properly applicable to something else, this also participates in the name through similarity. We have often observed that this visible place is called heaven, on account of the density and continuity of the air, which falls clearly under our vision, and because, being visible, it is deemed worthy of the name of heaven, in instances where it says: *The birds of heaven*; and again: *The things flying according to the firmament of heaven*. Such also is the expression: *They ascend even to the heavens*. And Moses, blessing the tribe of Joseph, imparts blessings C *from the ends of heaven, and from dew, and from the risings of the sun, and from the conjunctions of the months, and from the top of mountains and eternal hills*: for the place surrounding the earth D clearly.
A receives blessings, as the region around the earth is made fruitful through the good order of these. But also in the curses upon Israel, "The heaven," He says, "which is over thy head, shall be brass." What does He mean by these words? An utter drought and lack of the aerial waters, through which the fertility of fruits exists for the earth. When, therefore, it speaks of dew or rain being brought from heaven, we understand the waters which have been ordered to occupy the region above. For when vapors are gathered B about the heights, and the air is condensed by the compression of the winds, when the moisture that was previously dispersed in the cloud, vapor-like and thin, approaches itself, drops are formed, which fall downwards by the weight of the accumulated volume; and this is the origin of rain. But when the moisture is dissipated by the force of the winds, and reduced to foam, and then, having been cooled to the extreme, is altogether congealed, the cloud being broken, snow descends. And in general, according to the same reasoning, it is possible for you to see the entire nature of moisture forming around the air above our heads. And let no one compare out of curiosity the simplicity and unadorned character of our spiritual discourses C with the refined discourses of those who have philosophized about the heaven. For by as much as the beauty of chaste women is to be preferred to that of harlots, by so much do our discourses excel those from without. For the latter bring persuasion to their arguments by constraint; but here, the truth is presented naked and devoid of artifice. And what need is there for us to labor in refuting their falsehoods, when it suffices for us, having compared their books one with another, to sit as spectators of their war in great leisure? For neither fewer in number, nor inferior in dignity, but even far superior in loquacity, do they refute the opinion contrary to their own—the ones who claim that the universe is burnt up, and D that it lives again from certain seminal reasons which remain in the burnt-up things; whence they also introduce infinite destructions and regenerations of the world. But they, being severed to both sides of the truth, find for themselves turnings into error from here and there.
9. But there is also a discourse for us against certain writers regarding the separated waters, who, under the pretext of anagogy and higher understanding, have taken refuge in allegories, saying that spiritual and incorporeal powers are tropologically signified by the waters; and that the superior ones have remained above the firmament, while the evil ones have settled below in terrestrial and material places. For this reason, they say, even the waters that are above the heavens praise God; that is, the good powers, worthy because of the purity of their governing faculty to...
A render praise to the Creator. But the waters below the heavens are, they say, spiritual wickednesses, which have fallen from their natural height to the abyss of wickedness; and these, being turbulent and seditious, and surging with the tumults of the passions, have been called "sea" because of the instability and inconstancy of movements arising from the will. Rejecting such discourses, therefore, as comparisons of dreams and old wives' fables, let us understand water as water, and let us accept the separation that took place by the firmament according to the reason already offered. B Indeed, even if the waters established above the heavens are sometimes brought forward to praise the common Lord of all, we do not on that account suppose them to be of a rational nature. For the heavens are not living beings simply because "they declare the glory of God," nor is the firmament a sentient creature simply because "it proclaims the work of His hands." And if someone says that the heavens are the contemplative virtues, and the firmament the active powers that effect what is seemly, we accept this discourse as cleverly fashioned, but we will not altogether grant it to be true. For by this logic, dew, and frost, and cold, and heat—since they were commanded by Daniel C to praise the Maker of all—would also be a certain spiritual and invisible nature. But such a manner of speaking, if it is accepted in these passages by those who are wise in a spiritual way, fulfills the laudation of the Creator. For not only does the water laid up above the heavens, which is decorated with special honors because of the excellence inherent in it from virtue, pay praise to God, but also, "Praise Him," it says, "you who are from the earth, dragons and all abysses." Therefore, even the abyss, which those who use allegories have cast into the worse part, was not seen as despicable and to be rejected by the Psalmist, since it was invited into the common chorus D of creatures; but even that, according to the principles inherent within it, harmoniously completes the hymn to its Maker.
10. *And God saw that it was good.* The things made by Him do not in any way bring pleasurable delight to God, nor is the recommendation of beautiful things to Him the same as it is among us; but that is beautiful which is perfected and absolute according to the reason of art, and which contributes to the utility of the end. He, therefore, having set before Himself the manifest target of the things that come to be, reviewing the individual things—as they fulfill the end—according to the principles of His own art, approved them. For if the hand by itself, or the eye privately, or each of the [next page continues...]