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| Chapter IV.—Human Arts as Well as Divine Knowledge Proceed from God.
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Chapter IV.—Human Arts as Well as Divine Knowledge Proceed from God.
Homer calls an artificer wise; and of Margites,
if that is his work, he thus writes:—
“Him, then, the Gods made neither a delver nor a ploughman,
Nor in any other respect wise; but he missed every art.”
Hesiod further said the musician
Linus was “skilled in all manner of wisdom;” and does not
hesitate to call a mariner wise, seeing he writes:—
“Having no wisdom in navigation.”
And Daniel the prophet says,
“The mystery which the king asks, it is not in the power of the
wise, the Magi, the diviners, the Gazarenes, to tell the king; but it
is God in heaven who revealeth it.”1843
Here he terms the Babylonians wise. And that Scripture
calls every secular science or art by the one name wisdom (there are
other arts and sciences invented over and above by human reason), and
that artistic and skilful invention is from God, will be clear if we
adduce the following
statement: “And the Lord
spake to Moses, See, I have called Bezaleel, the son of Uri, the son
of Or, of the tribe of Judah; and I have filled him with the divine
spirit of wisdom, and understanding, and knowledge, to devise and to
execute in all manner of work, to work gold, and silver, and brass, and
blue, and purple, and scarlet, and in working stone work, and in the
art of working wood,” and even to “all works.”1844
And then He adds the general reason, “And to every understanding
heart I have given understanding;”1845
that is, to every one capable
of acquiring it by pains and exercise. And again, it is written expressly
in the name of the Lord: “And speak thou to all that are wise in
mind, whom I have filled with the spirit of perception.”1846
Those who are wise in mind have a certain attribute
of nature peculiar to themselves; and they who have shown themselves
capable, receive from the Supreme Wisdom a spirit of perception in
double measure. For those who practice the common arts, are in what
pertains to the senses highly gifted: in hearing, he who is commonly
called a musician; in touch, he who moulds clay; in voice the singer,
in smell the perfumer, in sight the engraver of devices on seals. Those
also that are occupied in instruction, train the sensibility according
to which the poets are susceptible to the influence of measure;
the sophists apprehend expression; the dialecticians, syllogisms;
and the philosophers are capable of the contemplation of which
themselves are the objects. For sensibility finds and invents; since
it persuasively exhorts to application. And practice will increase the
application which has knowledge for its end. With reason, therefore,
the apostle has called the wisdom of God “manifold,”
and which has manifested its power “in many departments and
in many modes”1847
—by art, by knowledge, by faith,
by prophecy—for our benefit. “For all wisdom is from the
Lord, and is with Him for ever,” as says the wisdom of Jesus.1848
For if thou call on wisdom and knowledge with a loud
voice, and seek it as treasures of silver, and eagerly track it out,
thou shalt understand godliness and find divine knowledge.”1849
The prophet says this in contradiction to the knowledge according to
philosophy, which teaches us to investigate in a magnanimous and noble
manner, for our progress in piety. He opposes, therefore, to it the
knowledge which is occupied with piety, when referring to knowledge,
when he speaks as follows: “For God gives wisdom out of His own
mouth, and knowledge along with understanding, and treasures up help
for the righteous.” For to those who have been justified1850
| 1850 [A passage much
reflected upon, in questions of Clement’s Catholic orthodoxy. See
Elucidation VI., infra.] | by
philosophy, the knowledge which leads to piety is laid up as a help.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
