Item de tribus libris vitae.
The Three Books of Life
The author introduces three levels of spiritual teaching: the work of man, the work of God, and the wisdom of God.
For the sake of the Word, we have prescribed three books for you: the first, which is the work of man; the second, which is the work of God; the third, which is not the work of God, but the wisdom of God, through which God makes all his works. Name them, then: the work of man, the work of God, and the wisdom of God.
The Vanity of Human Works
Drawing on Ecclesiastes and the Psalmist, the author demonstrates that all human labor under the sun is vanity of vanities.
Let us see what kind of comparison can be drawn among these. Surely when Solomon had looked at the works of men and considered them, he said this: Vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities, and all is vanity.✦ What more does man have from all his labor, which he labors at under the sun?✦ So it was not enough for him to simply say 'vanity' once, unless by doubling it he repeated: Vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities, and all is vanity. And rightly so. For if, with the Psalmist testifying that 'Every living man is vanity,' rightly is the work of man not only called vanity, but vanity of vanities.✦
The Endurance of God's Works
In contrast to human vanity, all of God's works endure forever and cannot be added to or diminished.
Yet what he thinks about the works of God he makes clear a little later, saying: I have learned that all the works God made endure forever.✦ We can add nothing to them, nor take away anything from what God has made — so that he may be revered. What has been made — it endures.
Comparing Human and Divine Works
The author presses the comparison further, showing that human works amount to nothing beside God's, and that even time itself is negligible compared to divine eternity, leading into a reflection on the Word.
What then am I to say? If I should want to compare human works with the works of God, am I to say that a human work amounts to something — or to nothing? When something is considered on its own, it seems to be something; when it is compared, it seems to be nothing — because it is immeasurable, how far it falls short in the comparison. Yet if, rising higher, you compare the work to its Maker, you will still find that any span of time, set against the eternity of the divine nature, counts for even less. So it is also with the Word.
Read the original Latin
Verbi gratia, tres tibi libros praescripsimus; primum qui est opus hominis; secundum qui est opus Dei, tertium qui est non opus Dei, sed sapientia Dei; per quam facit omnia opera sua Deus. Dic ergo opus hominis, opus Dei, et sapientia Dei. Inter haec qualis sit comparatio videamus. Certe Salomon cum respexisset ad opera hominum et considerasset ea, ait sic: Vanitas vanitatum, vanitas vanitatum, et omnia vanitas. Quid habet amplius homo de universo labore suo, quo laborat sub sole? Non ergo satis fuit ei solum modo dixisse vanitas, nisi congeminans repotisset: Vanitas vanitatum, vanitas vanitatum, et omnia vanitas. Et bene. Si enim testante Psalmista: Vanitas est omnis homo vivens; merito opus hominis non solum vanitas dicitur, sed vanitas vanitatum.
De operibus autem Dei quid sentiat paulo post manifestat, dicens: Didici quod omnia opera, quae fecit Deus perseverent in aeternum. Non possumus eis quidquam addere, nec auferre, quae fecit Deus, ut timeatur. Quod factum est, ipsum permanet. Quid igitur dicam? Si opera hominum cum operibus Dei comparare voluero, dicam aliquid opus hominis esse, an non? Quando consideratur aliquid in se esse videtur, quando comparatur nihil esse videtur, quia inaestimabile est, quantum in comparatione superetur. Si tamen altius ascendens opus factori suo comparaveris, minus adhuc invenis esse omne spatium temporis comparatum aeternitati deitatis. Sic etiam est de verbo.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Eccl.1.2 — Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
- ↩Eccl.1.3 — What profit has a man from all his toil that he labors under the sun?
- ↩Ps.39.5;Ps.144.4 — Make known to me, LORD, my end, and the measure of my days—what it is—that I may know how fleeting I am. Ps.144.4 — Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.
- ↩Eccl.3.14 — I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever; nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it. And God has done it so that people would fear before Him.
De Arca Noe Morali et Mystica (On the Moral and Mystical Ark of Noah) companion
Keep the ark under construction
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