{"id":"01KJR8Q6KP84FX433HF384D9AE","cid":"bafkreibiju4dbgf425hudaccv5yhlquyxzogkuj2whhxgelhd2msczswuy","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":584333,"char_start":576576,"chunk_index":81,"chunk_total":89,"estimated_tokens":1940,"source_file_key":"confessions","text":"multipliedst them by blessing.\r\n\r\nSpeak I untruly, or do I mingle and confound, and not distinguish\r\nbetween the lucid knowledge of these things in the firmament of heaven,\r\nand the material works in the wavy sea, and under the firmament of\r\nheaven? For of those things whereof the knowledge is substantial and\r\ndefined, without any increase by generation, as it were lights of wisdom\r\nand knowledge, yet even of them, the material operations are many and\r\ndivers; and one thing growing out of another, they are multiplied by Thy\r\nblessing, O God, who hast refreshed the fastidiousness of mortal senses;\r\nthat so one thing in the understanding of our mind, may, by the motions\r\nof the body, be many ways set out, and expressed. These Sacraments have\r\nthe waters brought forth; but in Thy word. The necessities of the people\r\nestranged from the eternity of Thy truth, have brought them forth,\r\nbut in Thy Gospel; because the waters themselves cast them forth, the\r\ndiseased bitterness whereof was the cause, why they were sent forth in\r\nThy Word.\r\n\r\nNow are all things fair that Thou hast made; but behold, Thyself art\r\nunutterably fairer, that madest all; from whom had not Adam fallen, the\r\nbrackishness of the sea had never flowed out of him, that is, the human\r\nrace so profoundly curious, and tempestuously swelling, and restlessly\r\ntumbling up and down; and then had there been no need of Thy dispensers\r\nto work in many waters, after a corporeal and sensible manner,\r\nmysterious doings and sayings. For such those moving and flying\r\ncreatures now seem to me to mean, whereby people being initiated and\r\nconsecrated by corporeal Sacraments, should not further profit, unless\r\ntheir soul had a spiritual life, and unless after the word of admission,\r\nit looked forwards to perfection.\r\n\r\nAnd hereby, in Thy Word, not the deepness of the sea, but the earth\r\nseparated from the bitterness of the waters, brings forth, not the\r\nmoving creature that hath life, but the living soul. For now hath it no\r\nmore need of baptism, as the heathen have, and as itself had, when it\r\nwas covered with the waters; (for no other entrance is there into the\r\nkingdom of heaven, since Thou hast appointed that this should be the\r\nentrance): nor does it seek after wonderfulness of miracles to work\r\nbelief; for it is not such, that unless it sees signs and wonders, it\r\nwill not believe, now that the faithful earth is separated from the\r\nwaters that were bitter with infidelity; and tongues are for a sign, not\r\nto them that believe, but to them that believe not. Neither then does\r\nthat earth which Thou hast founded upon the waters, need that flying\r\nkind, which at Thy word the waters brought forth. Send Thou Thy word\r\ninto it by Thy messengers: for we speak of their working, yet it is Thou\r\nthat workest in them that they may work out a living soul in it. The\r\nearth brings it forth, because the earth is the cause that they work\r\nthis in the soul; as the sea was the cause that they wrought upon\r\nthe moving creatures that have life, and the fowls that fly under the\r\nfirmament of heaven, of whom the earth hath no need; although it feeds\r\nupon that fish which was taken out of the deep, upon that table which\r\nThou hast prepared in the presence of them that believe. For therefore\r\nwas He taken out of the deep, that He might feed the dry land; and the\r\nfowl, though bred in the sea, is yet multiplied upon the earth. For of\r\nthe first preachings of the Evangelists, man's infidelity was the cause;\r\nyet are the faithful also exhorted and blessed by them manifoldly, from\r\nday to day. But the living soul takes his beginning from the earth: for\r\nit profits only those already among the Faithful, to contain themselves\r\nfrom the love of this world, that so their soul may live unto Thee,\r\nwhich was dead while it lived in pleasures; in death-bringing pleasures,\r\nLord, for Thou, Lord, art the life-giving delight of the pure heart.\r\n\r\nNow then let Thy ministers work upon the earth,--not as upon the waters\r\nof infidelity, by preaching and speaking by miracles, and Sacraments,\r\nand mystic words; wherein ignorance, the mother of admiration, might\r\nbe intent upon them, out of a reverence towards those secret signs. For\r\nsuch is the entrance unto the Faith for the sons of Adam forgetful of\r\nThee, while they hide themselves from Thy face, and become a darksome\r\ndeep. But--let Thy ministers work now as on the dry land, separated from\r\nthe whirlpools of the great deep: and let them be a pattern unto the\r\nFaithful, by living before them, and stirring them up to imitation. For\r\nthus do men hear, so as not to hear only, but to do also. Seek the Lord,\r\nand your soul shall live, that the earth may bring forth the living\r\nsoul. Be not conformed to the world. Contain yourselves from it: the\r\nsoul lives by avoiding what it dies by affecting. Contain yourselves\r\nfrom the ungoverned wildness of pride, the sluggish voluptuousness of\r\nluxury, and the false name of knowledge: that so the wild beasts may be\r\ntamed, the cattle broken to the yoke, the serpents, harmless. For\r\nthese be the motions of our mind under an allegory; that is to say, the\r\nhaughtiness of pride, the delight of lust, and the poison of curiosity,\r\nare the motions of a dead soul; for the soul dies not so as to lose all\r\nmotion; because it dies by forsaking the fountain of life, and so is\r\ntaken up by this transitory world, and is conformed unto it.\r\n\r\nBut Thy word, O God, is the fountain of life eternal; and passeth not\r\naway: wherefore this departure of the soul is restrained by Thy word,\r\nwhen it is said unto us, Be not conformed unto this world; that so the\r\nearth may in the fountain of life bring forth a living soul; that is,\r\na soul made continent in Thy Word, by Thy Evangelists, by following the\r\nfollowers of Thy Christ. For this is after his kind; because a man is\r\nwont to imitate his friend. Be ye (saith he) as I am, for I also am\r\nas you are. Thus in this living soul shall there be good beasts, in\r\nmeekness of action (for Thou hast commanded, Go on with thy business in\r\nmeekness, so shalt thou be beloved by all men); and good cattle, which\r\nneither if they eat, shall they over-abound, nor, if they eat not, have\r\nany lack; and good serpents, not dangerous, to do hurt, but wise to take\r\nheed; and only making so much search into this temporal nature, as may\r\nsuffice that eternity be clearly seen, being understood by the things\r\nthat are made. For these creatures are obedient unto reason, when being\r\nrestrained from deadly prevailing upon us, they live, and are good.\r\n\r\nFor behold, O Lord, our God, our Creator, when our affections have\r\nbeen restrained from the love of the world, by which we died through\r\nevil-living; and begun to be a living soul, through good living; and\r\nThy word which Thou spokest by Thy apostle, is made good in us, Be not\r\nconformed to this world: there follows that also, which Thou presently\r\nsubjoinedst, saying, But be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind;\r\nnot now after your kind, as though following your neighbour who went\r\nbefore you, nor as living after the example of some better man (for Thou\r\nsaidst not, \"Let man be made after his kind,\" but, Let us make man after\r\nour own image and similitude), that we might prove what Thy will is. For\r\nto this purpose said that dispenser of Thine (who begat children by the\r\nGospel), that he might not for ever have them babes, whom he must be\r\nfain to feed with milk, and cherish as a nurse; be ye transformed (saith\r\nhe) by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good\r\nand acceptable and perfect will of God. Wherefore Thou sayest not, \"Let\r\nman be made,\" but Let us make man. Nor saidst Thou, \"according to his\r\nkind\"; but, after our image and likeness."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJR8NK5DAD726FMQ6JCHGZ5R","peer_label":"confessions","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJR8M0JHPZXCPKJ34HTYXSWW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJR8R5M8VXDW8Z6YHQTCPK14","peer_label":"god","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_being","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:15.995Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RFCDPZS6MKEQKJRDHSDK","peer_label":"adam","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"biblical_figure","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:15.995Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RFQC8XQS6FXZB3PEF433","peer_label":"christ","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"religious_figure","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:15.995Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RN5ZJKVPVH92M5400136","peer_label":"sacraments","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"religious_rite","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:15.995Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RN5XCPC4ABJV7J91RE5W","peer_label":"gods word","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:15.995Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RN6AW9KXXSMXTED62CTJ","peer_label":"the gospel","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"religious_text","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:15.995Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RNABY95TACXSXD6DWW21","peer_label":"living soul","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"spiritual_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:15.995Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RN8ST99VYTHVME8QHTPZ","peer_label":"human race","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:15.995Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RNTSQ3A8YTHD60G5JSHX","peer_label":"the faithful","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"group","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:15.995Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RN93A0BQRW407FVNXXBR","peer_label":"gods ministers","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"religious_role","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:15.995Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RNSPKSZS0TMDZYM9A6HP","peer_label":"kingdom of heaven","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"religious_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:15.995Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RNV3HH36502GBYSFXQ6A","peer_label":"infidelity","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"spiritual_state","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:15.995Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RNPPMT7WHCMPVX4QDN65","peer_label":"baptism","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"religious_rite","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:15.995Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RP2N0JXE4XP9JKQHQDEJ","peer_label":"dead soul","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"spiritual_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:15.995Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RNYKMYPV9WA8C48AHNP6","peer_label":"love of the world","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"spiritual_state","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:15.995Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RPCZJ32SHS6PB0QXM2CX","peer_label":"vices","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"human_trait","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:15.995Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RPDXE62JJSVAWSFAB0V8","peer_label":"renewing of the mind","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"spiritual_process","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:15.995Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RPFHP96X4AEKWKQB0KKE","peer_label":"wild beasts cattle serpents","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:15.995Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RPAYEX88YC0GH9SKXETS","peer_label":"the apostle","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"biblical_figure","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:15.995Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-02T21:54:25.014Z","ts":"2026-03-02T21:55:17.057Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}