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The creation
of terrestrial animals.
1. How did you
like the fare of my morning's discourse? It seemed to me that I had the good
intentions of a poor giver of a feast, who, ambitious of having the credit
of keeping a good table saddens his guests by the poor supply of the more
expensive dishes. In vain he lavishly covers his table with his mean fare;
his ambition only shows his folly. It is for you to judge if I have shared
the same fate. Yet, whatever my discourse may have been, take care lest you
disregard it. No one refused to sit at the table of Elisha; and yet he only
gave his friends wild vegetables. I know the laws of allegory, though less
by myself than from the works of others. There are those truly, who do not
admit the common sense of the Scriptures, for whom water is not water, but
some other nature, who see in a plant, in a fish, what their fancy wishes,
who change the nature of reptiles and of wild beasts to suit their allegories,
like the interpreters of dreams who explain visions in sleep to snake them
serve their own ends. For me grass is grass; plant, fish, wild beast, domestic
animal, I take all in the literal sense. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel."
Those who have written about the nature of the universe have discussed at
length the shape of the earth. If it be spherical or cylindrical, if it resemble
a disc and is equally rounded in all parts, or if it has the forth of a winnowing
basket and is hollow in the middle; all these conjectures have been suggested
by cosmographers, each one upsetting that of his predecessor. It will not
lead me to give less importance to the creation of the universe, that the
servant of God, Moses, is silent as to shapes; he has not said that the earth
is a hundred and eighty thousand furlongs in circumference; he has not measured
into what extent of air its shadow projects itself whilst the sun revolves
around it, nor stated how this shadow, casting itself upon the moon, produces
eclipses. He has passed over in silence, as useless, all that is unimportant
for us. Shall I then prefer foolish wisdom to the oracles of the Holy Spirit?
Shall I not rather exalt Him who, not wishing to fill our minds with these
vanities, has regulated all the economy of Scripture in view of the edification
and the making perfect of our souls? It is this which those seem to me not
to have understood, who, giving themselves up to the distorted meaning of
allegory, have undertaken to give a majesty of their own invention to Scripture.
It is to believe themselves wiser than the Holy Spirit, and to bring forth
their own ideas under a pretext of exegesis. Let us hear Scripture as it
has been written.
2. "Let the earth bring forth thee living creature." Behold the word of God
pervading creation, beginning even then the efficacy which is seen displayed
to-day, and will be displayed to the end of the world! As a ball, which one
pushes, if it meet a declivity, descends, carried by its form and the nature
of the ground and does not stop until it has reached a level surface; so
nature, once put in motion by the Divine command, traverses creation with
an equal step, through birth and death, and keeps up the succession of kinds
through resemblance, to the last. Nature always makes a horse succeed to
a horse, a lion to a lion, an eagle to an eagle, and preserving each animal
by these uninterrupted successions she transmits it to the end of all things.
Animals do not see their peculiarities destroyed or effaced by any length
of time; their nature, as though it had been just constituted, follows the
course of ages, for ever young. "Let the earth bring forth the living creature."
This command has continued and earth does not cease to obey the Creator.
For, if there are creatures which are successively produced by their
predecessors, there are others that even to-day we see born from the earth
itself. In wet weather she brings forth grasshoppers and an immense number
of insects which fly in the air and have no names because they are so small;
she also produces mice and frogs. In the environs of Thebes in Egypt, after
abundant rain in hot weather, the country is covered with field mice. We
see mud alone produce eels; they do not proceed from an egg, nor in any other
manner; it is the earth alone which gives them birth. Let the earth produce
a living creature."
Cattle are terrestrial and bent towards the earth. Man, a celestial growth,
rises superior to them as much by the mould of his bodily conformation as
by the dignity of his soul. What is the form of quadrupeds? Their head is
bent towards the earth and looks towards their belly, and only pursues their
belly's good. Thy head, O man! is turned towards heaven; thy eyes look up.
When therefore thou degradest thyself by the passions of the flesh, slave
of thy belly, and thy lowest parts, thou approachest animals without reason
and becomest like one of them. Thou art called' to more noble cares; "seek
those things which are above where Christ sitteth." Raise thy soul above
the earth; draw from its natural conformation the rule of thy conduct; fix
thy conversation in heaven. Thy true country is the heavenly Jerusalem; thy
fellow-citizens and thy compatriots are "the first-born which are written
in heaven."
3. "Let the earth bring forth the living creature. Thus when the soul of
brutes appeared it was not concealed in the earth, but it was born by the
command of God. Brutes have one and the same soul of which the common
characteristic is absence of reason. But each animal is distinguished by
peculiar qualities. The ox is steady, the ass is lazy, the horse has strong
passions, the wolf cannot be tamed, the fox is deceitful, the stag timid,
the ant industrious, the dog grateful and faithful in his friendships. As
each animal was created the distinctive character of his nature appeared
in him in due measure; in the lion spirit, taste for solitary life, an unsociable
character. True tyrant of animals, he, in his natural arrogance, admits but
few to share his honours. He disdains his yesterday's food and never returns
to the remains of the prey. Nature has provided his organs of voice with
such great force that often much swifter animals are caught by his roaring
alone. The panther, violent and impetuous in his leaps, has a body fitted
for his activity and lightness, in accord with the movements of his soul.
The bear has a sluggish nature, ways of its own, a sly character, and is
very secret; therefore it has an analogous body, heavy, thick, without
articulations such as are necessary for a cold dweller in dens.
When we consider the natural and innate care that these creatures without
reason take of their lives we shall be induced to watch over ourselves and
to think of the salvation of our souls; or rather we shall be the more condemned
when we are found falling short even of the imitation of brutes. The bear,
which often gets severely wounded, cares for himself and cleverly fills the
wounds with mullein, a plant whose nature is very astringent. You will also
see the fox heal his wounds with droppings from the pine tree; the tortoise,
gorged with the flesh of the viper, finds in the virtue of marjoram a specific
against this venomous animal and the serpent heals sore eyes by eating fennel.
And is not reasoning intelligence eclipsed by animals in their provision
for atmospheric changes? Do we not see sheep, when winter is approaching,
devouring grass with avidity as if to make provision for future scarcity?
Do we not also see oxen, long confined in the winter season, recognise the
return of spring by a natural sensation, and look to the end of their stables
towards the doors, all turning their heads there by common consent? Studious
observers have remarked that the hedgehog makes an opening at the two extremities
of his hole. If the wind from the north is going to blow he shuts up the
aperture which looks towards the north; if the south wind succeeds it the
animal passes to the northern door. What lesson do these animals teach man?
They not only show us in our Creator a care which extends to all beings,
but a certain presentiment of future even in brutes. Then we ought not to
attach ourselves to this present life and ought to give all heed to that
which is to come. Will you not be industrious for yourself, O man? And will
you not lay up in the present age rest in that which is to come, after having
seen the example of the ant? The ant during summer collects treasures for
winter. Far from giving itself up to idleness, before this season has made
it feel its severity, it hastens to work with an invincible zeal until it
has abundantly filled its storehouses. Here again, how far it is from being
negligent! With what wise foresight it manages so as to keep its provisions
as long as possible! With its pincers it cuts the grains in half, for fear
lest they should germinate and not serve for its food. If they are damp it
dries them; and it does not spread them out in all weathers, but when it
feels that the air will keep of a mild temperature. Be sure that you will
never see rain fall from the clouds so long as the ant has left the grain
out.
What language can attain to the marvels of the Creator? What ear could understand
them? And what time would be sufficient to relate them? Let us say, then,
with the prophet, "O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou
made them all." We shall not be able to say in self-justification, that we
have learnt useful knowledge in books, since the untaught law of nature makes
us choose that which is advantageous to us. Do you know what good you ought
to do your neighbour? The good that you expect from him yourself. Do you
know what is evil? That which you would not wish another to do to you. Neither
botanical researches nor the experience of simples have made animals discover
those which are useful to them; but each knows naturally what is salutary
and marvellously appropriates what suits its nature.
4. Virtues exist in us also by nature, and the soul has affinity with them
not by education, but by nature herself. We do not need lessons to hate illness,
but by ourselves we repel what afflicts us, the soul has no need of a master
to teach us to avoid vice. Now all vice is a sickness of the sold as virtue
is its health. Thus those have defined health well who have called it a
regularity in the discharge of natural functions; a definition that can be
applied without fear to the good condition of the soul. Thus, without having
need of lessons, the soul can attain by herself to what is fit and conformable
to nature. Hence it comes that temperance everywhere is praised, justice
is in honour, courage admired, and prudence the object of all aims; virtues
which concern the soul more than health concerns the body. Children love
your parents, and you, "parents provoke not your children to wrath." Does
not nature say the same? Paul teaches us nothing new; he only tightens the
links of nature. If the lioness loves her cubs, if the she wolf fights to
defend her little ones, what shall man say who is unfaithful to the precept
and violates nature herself; or the son who insults the old age of his father;
or the father whose second marriage has made him forget his first children?
With animals invincible affection unites parents with children. It is the
Creator, God Himself, who substitutes the strength of feeling for reason
in them. From whence it comes that a lamb as it bounds from the fold, in
the midst of a thousand sheep recognises the colour and the voice of its
mother, runs to her, and seeks its own sources of milk. If its mother's udders
are dry, it is content, and, without stopping, passes by more abundant ones.
And how does the mother recognise it among the many lambs? All have the same
voice, the same colour, the same smell, as far at least as regards our sense
of smell. Yet there is in these animals a more subtle sense than our perception
which makes them recognise their own. The little dog has as yet no teeth,
nevertheless he defends himself with his mouth against any one who teases
him. The calf has as yet no horns, nevertheless he already knows where his
weapons will grow. Here we have evident proof that the instinct of animals
is innate, and that in all beings there is nothing disorderly, nothing
unforeseen. All bear the marks of the wisdom of the Creator, and show that
they have come to life with the means of assuring their preservation.
The dog is not gifted with a share of reason; but with him instinct has the
power of reason. The dog has learnt by nature the secret of elaborate inferences,
which sages of the world, after long years of study, have hardly been able
to disentangle. When the dog is on the track of game, if he sees it divide
in different directions, he examines these different paths, and speech alone
fails him to announce his reasoning. The creature, he says, is gone here
or there or in another direction. It is neither here nor there; it is therefore
in the third direction. And thus, neglecting the false tracks, he discovers
the true one. What more is done by those who, gravely occupied in demonstrating
theories, trace lines upon the dust and reject two propositions to show that
the third is the true one?
Does not the gratitude of the dog shame all who are ungrateful to their
benefactors? Many are said to have fallen dead by their murdered masters
in lonely places. Others, when a crime has just been committed, have led
those who were searching for the murderers, and have caused the criminals
to be brought to justice. What will those say who, not content with not loving
the Master who has created them and nourished them, have for their friends
men whose mouth attacks the Lord, sitting at the same table with them, and,
whilst partaking of their food, blaspheme Him who has given it to them?
5. But let us return to the spectacle of creation. The easiest animals to
catch are the most productive. It is on account of this that hares and wild
goats produce many little ones, and that wild sheep have twins, for fear
lest these species should disappear, consumed by carnivorous animals. Beasts
of prey, on the contrary, produce only a few and a lioness with difficulty
gives birth to one lion; because, if they say truly, the cub issues from
its mother by tearing her with its claws; and vipers are only born by gnawing
through the womb, inflicting a proper punishment on their mother. Thus in
nature all has been foreseen, all is the object of continual care. If you
examine the members even of animals, you will find that the Creator has given
them nothing superfluous, that He has omitted nothing that is necessary.
To carnivorous animals He has given pointed teeth which their nature requires
for their support. Those that are only half furnished with teeth have received
several distinct receptacles for their food. As it is not broken up enough
in the first, they are gifted with the power of returning it after it has
been swallowed, and it does not assimilate until it has been crushed by
rumination. The first, second, third, and fourth stomachs of ruminating animals
do not remain idle; each one of them fulfils a necessary function. The neck
of the camel is long so that it may lower it to its feet and reach the grass
on which it feeds. Bears, lions, tigers, all animals of this sort, have short
necks buried in their shoulders; it is because they do not live upon grass
and have no need to bend down to the earth; they are carnivorous and eat
the animals upon whom they prey.
Why has the elephant a trunk? This enormous creature, the greatest of terrestrial
animals, created for the terror of those who meet it, is naturally huge and
fleshy. If its neck was large and in proportion to its feet it would be difficult
to direct, and would be of such an excessive weight that it would make it
lean towards the earth. As it is, its head is attached to the spine of the
back by short vertebrae and it has its trunk to take the place of a neck,
and with it it picks up its food and draws up its drink. Its feet, without
joints, like united columns, support the weight of its body. If it were supported
on lax and flexible legs, its joints would constantly give way, equally incapable
of supporting its weight, should it wish either to kneel or rise. But it
has under the foot a little ankle joint which takes the place of the leg
and knee joints whose mobility would never have resisted this enormous and
swaying mass. Thus it had need of this nose which nearly touches its feet.
Have you seen them in war marching at the head of the phalanx, like living
towers, or breaking the enemies' battalions like mountains of flesh with
their irresistible charge? If their lower parts were not in accordance with
their size they would never have been able to hold their own. Now we are
told that the elephant lives three hundred years and more, another reason
for him to have solid and unjointed feet. But, as we have said, his trunk,
which has the form and the flexibility of a serpent, takes its food from
the earth and raises it up. Thus we are right in saying that it is impossible
to find anything superfluous or wanting in creation. Well! God has subdued
this monstrous animal to us to such a point that he understands the lessons
and endures the blows we give him; a manifest proof that the Creator has
submitted all to our rule, because we have been made in His image. It is
not in great animals only that we see unapproachable wisdom; no less wonders
are seen in the smallest. The high tops of the mountains which, near to the
clouds and continually beaten by the winds, keep up a perpetual winter, do
not arouse more admiration in me than the hollow valleys, which escape the
storms of lofty peaks and preserve a constant mild temperature. In the same
way in the constitution of animals I am not more astonished at the size of
the elephant, than at the mouse, who is feared by the elephant, or at the
scorpion's delicate sting, which has been hollowed like a pipe by the supreme
artificer to throw venom into the wounds it makes. And let nobody accuse
the Creator of having produced venomous animals, destroyers and enemies of
our life. Else let them consider it a crime in the schoolmaster when he
disciplines the restlessness of youth by the use of the rod and whip to maintain
order.
6. Beasts bear witness to the faith. Hast thou confidence in the Lord? "Thou
shalt walk upon the asp and the basilisk and thou shalt trample under feet
the lion and the dragon." With faith thou hast the power to walk upon serpents
and scorpions. Do you not see that the viper which attached itself to the
hand of Paul, whilst he gathered sticks, did not injure him, because it found
the saint full of faith? If you have not faith, do not fear beasts so much
as your faithlessness, which renders you susceptible of all corruption. But
I see that for a long time you have been asking me for an account of the
creation of man, and I think I can hear you all cry in your hearts, We are
being taught the nature of our belongings, but we are ignorant of ourselves.
Let me then speak of it, since it is necessary, and let me put an end to
my hesitation. In truth the most difficult of sciences is to know one's self.
Not only our eye, from which nothing outside us escapes, cannot see itself;
but our mind, so piercing to discover the sins of others, is slow to recognise
its own faults. Thus my speech, after eagerly investigating what is external
to myself, is slow and hesitating in exploring my own nature. Yet the beholding
of heaven and earth does not make us know God better than the attentive study
of our being does; I am, says the Prophet, fearfully and wonderfully made;
that is to say, in observing myself I have known Thy infinite wisdom. And
God said "Let us make man." Does not the light of theology shine, in these
words, as through windows; and does not the second Person show Himself in
a mystical way, without yet manifesting Himself until the great day? Where
is the Jew who resisted the truth and pretended that God was speaking to
Himself? It is He who spoke, it is said, and it is He who made. "Let there
be light and there was light." But then their words contain a manifest absurdity.
Where is the smith, the carpenter, the shoemaker, who, without help and alone
before the instruments of his trade, would say to himself; let us make the
sword, let us put together the plough, let us make the boot? Does he not
perform the work of his craft in silence? Strange folly, to say that any
one has seated himself to command himself, to watch over himself, to constrain
himself, to hurry himself, with the tones of a master! But the unhappy creatures
are not afraid to calumniate the Lord Himself. What will they not say with
a tongue so well practised in lying? Here, however, words stop their mouth;
"And God said let us make man." Tell me; is there then only one Person? It
is not written "Let man be made," but, "Let us make man." The preaching of
theology remains enveloped in shadow before the appearance of him who was
to be instructed, but, now, the creation of man is expected, that faith unveils
herself and the dogma of truth appears in all its light. "Let us make "O
enemy of Christ, man.O y of hear God speaking to His Co-operator, to Him
by Whom also He made the worlds, Who upholds all things by the word of His
power. But He does not leave the voice of true religion without answer. Thus
the Jews, race hostile to truth, when they find themselves pressed, act like
beasts enraged against man, who roar at the bars of their cage and show the
cruelty and the ferocity of their nature, without being able to assuage their
fury. God, they say, addresses Himself to several persons; it is to the angels
before Him that He says, "Let us make man." Jewish fiction! a fable whose
frivolity shows whence it has come. To reject one person, they admit many.
To reject the Son, they raise servants to the dignity of counsellors; they
make of our fellow slaves the agents in our creation. The perfect man attains
the dignity of an angel; but what creature can be like the Creator? Listen
to the continuation. "In our image." What have you to reply? Is there one
image of God and the angels? Father and Son have by absolute necessity the
same form, but the form is here understood as becomes the divine, not in
bodily shape, but in the proper qualities of Godhead. Hear also, you who
belong to the new concision and who, under the appearance of Christianity,
strengthen the error of the Jews. To Whom does He say, "in our image," to
whom if it is not to Him who is "the brightness of His glory and the express
image of His person," "the image of the invisible God"? It is then to His
living image, to Him Who has said "I and my Father are one," "He that hath
seen me hath seen the Father," that God says "Let us make man in our image."
Where is the unlikeness in these Beings who have only one image? "So God
created man," It is not "They made." Here Scripture avoids the plurality
of the Persons. After having enlightened the Jew, it dissipates the error
of the Gentiles in putting itself under the shelter of unity, to make you
understand that the Son is with the Father, and guarding you from the danger
of polytheism. He created him in the image of God. God still shows us His
co-operator, because He does not say, in His image, but in the image of God.
If God permits, we will say later in what way man was created in the image
of God, and how he shares this resemblance. Today we say but only one word.
If there is one image, from whence comes the intolerable blasphemy of pretending
that the Son is unlike the Father? What ingratitude! You have yourself received
this likeness and you refuse it to your Benefactor! You pretend to keep
personally that which is in you a gift of grace, and you do not wish that
the Son should keep His natural likeness to Him who begat Him.
But evening, which long ago sent the sun to the west, imposes silence upon
me. Here, then, let me be content with what I have said, and put my discourse
to bed. I have told you enough up to this point to excite your zeal; with
the help of the Holy Spirit I will make for you a deeper investigation into
the truths which follow. Retire, then, I beg you, with joy, O Christ-loving
congregation, and, instead of sumptuous dishes of various delicacies, adorn
and sanctify your tables with the remembrance of my words. May the Anomoean
be confounded, the Jew covered with shame, the faithful exultant in the dogmas
of truth, and the Lord glorified, the Lord to Whom be glory and power, world
without end. Amen. |
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