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| The Shape of God in Man.
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Chapter
XIX.—The Shape of God in Man.
And Simon said: “I should like to
know, Peter, if you really believe that the shape of man has been
moulded after the shape of God.”1306
| 1306 Lit.,
“of that one, of Him.” [The chapter is peculiar to
the Homilies; comp. xvii. 7, 8.—R.] | And Peter said: “I am
really quite certain, Simon, that this is the case.” And
Simon said: “How can death dissolve the body, impressed as
it has thus been with the greatest seal?” And Peter
said: “It is the shape of the just God. When, then,
the body begins to act unjustly, the form which is in it takes to
flight, and thus the body is
dissolved, by the shape disappearing, in order that an unjust body may
not have the shape of the just God. The dissolution, however,
does not take place in regard to the seal, but in regard to the sealed
body. But that which is sealed is not dissolved without Him who
sealed it. And thus it is not permitted to die without
judgment.” And Simon said: “What necessity was
there to give the shape of such a being to man, who was raised from the
earth?” And Peter said: “This was done because
of the love of God, who made man. For while, as far as substance
is concerned, all things are superior to the flesh of man,—I mean
the ether, the sun, the moon, the stars, the air, the water, the
fire—in a word, all the other things which have been made for the
service of man,—yet, though superior in substance, they willingly
endure to serve the inferior in substance, because of the shape of the
superior. For as they who honour the clay image of a king have
paid honour to the king himself, whose shape the clay happens to have,
so the whole creation with joy serves man, who is made from earth,
looking to the honour thus paid to God.
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