XXXIIII. Verba Sapientiae.

XXXIIII. Verba Sapientiae.

Who has measured the height of heaven, the breadth of the earth, and the depth of the abyss? Whose understanding is such? The world is tossed about by fire, wind, and air, and every creature lies hidden within it. The heavens, indeed, are established above this world with all their adornments. And who is the person that can transcend this with any vision? The breadth of the earth, along with the surrounding waters and those that flow above the abyss, is like being in the middle of this globe; yet no one can comprehend it. The Abyss, along with all its wonders, is like the end of this world. And who is the person that can reach the end of it? What good is it to you if you gain the whole world but lose your soul? But a person lives beneath this world, and is surrounded by its influence. Therefore, a person cannot progress beyond their own understanding. For creatures are in the power of God just as the heart is in a person; a small part compared to the rest of the body. So, the creatures are small; but the power of God is great and incomprehensible. For all creatures that are in heaven, on earth, and in the abyss cannot comprehend, discern, or finish God. But all wisdom comes from God, who rules; because God, with wisdom, has predestined all things and has arranged them in the universe, which He again discerns with that same wisdom. For wisdom itself is heavenly, and it has gained understanding through knowledge; it has circled the heavens in its royal ministry, and it has traversed the earth with service and the building up of every creature's necessity, and it has penetrated the abyss, just as a steward does, who allows nothing to perish of what is present. But wisdom is the eye of God, with which He foresees and observes all things; and before Him, the most beloved friend is in the delightful embrace of His love, with whom God has arranged all things. In this wisdom, a person is called like the height of heaven, because he rules over all creatures through knowledge, which is the eye of wisdom. But he is also like the breadth of the earth, since he has the capacity for desire and choice. How? What a person desires delights them; and thus, by desiring, they long for it, and according to their will, help will be there for them in their needs; for if they call upon God, they will be aided by Him. But if someone has turned to the Devil, he meets him with an evil suggestion. A person also has desires based on reason and choices based on taste; but whatever they desire or long for is not fulfilled by their own power, but by God's permission, since He created humanity. Just as a person can do many things, they also have desires and choices through which they ask for many things. And because the Devil deceived the first man, he also seduces him many times through the suggestion of Eve. A person is like a deep abyss when they turn away from a good desire and invoke the devil, for then the devil takes on their desires according to what the person wants at that moment, and God allows this to happen. However, when a person entangles themselves in good desires, so that they do good works, which sometimes go beyond mere duty, they do not abandon all good, but rather pass over it through a kind of neglect; then God does not allow this person to perish, because they had a good desire within them. But the Devil doesn't trust this man to fulfill the desires of his flesh, because he knows that he doesn't want to abandon God. But this man is not the depth of the abyss; rather, he is a storm that sometimes strikes in the sun and sometimes wraps itself in dark clouds. And who can measure this contempt, that a man who was appointed above all the works of God has forsaken God and imitates the Devil, who lost his own glory by opposing himself to God in pride and perished? Who can measure this destruction, that a person has forsaken God and chosen the worst tyrant, namely the Devil, instead of God?