VISIO QUARTA, cap. LXXXI
The Earth Tempered by the Sun
The earth is ordered so that the sun tempers it in every place.
The earth is positioned in relation to the sun's course in such a way that it is tempered by the sun in every place of its own.
The Soul Imbued by the Leaping Spring
The soul tempered by wisdom is imbued by God and walks in discernment, illuminated in holy works as the earth is by the sun.
So also the soul that has been tempered by wisdom is imbued by God — the leaping spring — through its drops, so that in the streets of discernment and of the saints' desire, knowing God, it walks, and for the sake of love it leaves behind the taste of its own sins. But the person who acts according to the desires of the soul through that soul with holy works is illuminated, just as the earth is illuminated in all its duties through the sun.
The Human Likeness to the Earth
A human being, made in the likeness of the earth, may receive either the hardness of stones or the fruitfulness of a garden according to character.
Because a human being, made in the likeness of the earth, may have bones without marrow like stones, and bones with marrow like trees; and so, according to the quality of his own character, he may receive through signification either the hardness of stones or the pleasantness of a flowering garden or a fruit-bearing orchard.
Read the original Latin
Terra enim ad cursum solis sic posita est, ut in omni loco suo per ipsum temperetur. Sic et anima, quae cum sapientia temperata est, per guttas salientis fontis, qui Deus est, hominem imbuit, ut in plateis discretionis et sanctorum desiderium, Deum cognoscendo, ambulet et propter amorem ipsius gustum peccatorum suorum relinquat. Sed homo qui secundum desideria animae operatur, per eam cum sanctis operibus, quemadmodum terra in omnibus officiis suis per solem, illuminatur.
Quia homo in similitudine terrae factus ossa sine medulla lapidum vice, ossa cum medullis vice arborum habeat; et quod secundum qualitatem morum suorum, vel duritiam lapidum, vel amoenitatem horti floridi seu pomerii fructiferi per significationem recipiat.
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