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| Why God Has Blessed Men, Fishes, Flying Creatures, and Not Herbs and the Other Animals (Ver. 28).
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Chapter XXIV.—Why God Has Blessed
Men, Fishes, Flying Creatures, and Not Herbs and the Other Animals
(Ver. 28).
35. But what is this, and what kind of mystery
is it? Behold, Thou blessest men, O Lord, that they may “be
fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth;”1389
in this
dost Thou not make a sign unto us that we may understand something?
Why hast Thou not also blessed the light, which Thou calledst day,
nor the firmament of heaven, nor the lights, nor the stars, nor the
earth, nor the sea? I might say, O our God, that Thou, who hast
created us after Thine Image,—I might say, that Thou hast willed
to bestow this gift of blessing especially upon man, hadst Thou not
in like manner blessed the fishes and the whales, that they should
be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the waters of the sea, and
that the fowls should be multiplied upon the earth. Likewise might
I say, that this blessing belonged properly unto such creatures as
are propagated from their own kind, if I had found it in the
shrubs, and the fruit trees, and beasts of the earth. But now is it
not said either unto the herbs, or trees, or beasts, or serpents,
“Be fruitful and multiply;” since all these also, as well as
fishes, and fowls, and men, do by propagation increase and preserve
their kind.
36. What, then, shall I say, O Thou Truth, my
Light,—“that it was idly and vainly said?” Not so, O Father
of piety; far be it from a minister of Thy word to say this. But if
I understand not what Thou meanest by that phrase, let my
betters—that is, those more intelligent than I—use it better,
in proportion as Thou, O my God, hast given to each to understand.
But let my confession be also pleasing before Thine eyes, in which
I confess to Thee that I believe, O Lord, that Thou hast not thus
spoken in vain; nor will I be silent as to what this lesson
suggests to me. For it is true, nor do I see what should prevent me
from thus understanding the figurative sayings1390
| 1390 See p. 92, note 1, above. | of Thy books. For I know a thing
may be manifoldly signified by bodily expression which is
understood in one manner by the mind; and that that may be
manifoldly understood in the mind which is in one manner signified
by bodily expression. Behold, the single love of God and of our
neighbour, by what manifold sacraments and innumerable languages,
and in each several language in how innumerable modes of speaking,
it is bodily expressed. Thus do the young of the waters increase
and multiply. Observe again, whosoever thou art who readest; behold
what Scripture delivers, and the voice pronounces in one only way,
“In the beginning God created heaven and earth;” is it not
manifoldly understood, not by any deceit of error, but by divers
kinds of true senses?1391
| 1391 See p. 189, note 2, above. | Thus are the offspring of men
“fruitful” and do “multiply.”
37. If, therefore, we conceive of the natures
of things, not allegorically, but properly, then does the phrase,
“be fruitful and multiply,” correspond to all things which are
begotten of seed. But if we treat those words as taken figuratively
(the which I rather suppose the Scripture intended, which doth not,
verily, superfluously attribute this benediction to the offspring
of marine animals and man only), then do we find that
“multitude” belongs also to creatures both spiritual and
corporeal, as in heaven and in earth; and to souls both righteous
and unrighteous, as in light and darkness; and to holy authors,
through whom the law has been furnished unto us, as in the
firmament1392
| 1392 See p. 199, note 3, above. | which has
been firmly placed betwixt waters and waters; and to the society of
people yet endued with bitterness, as in the sea; and to the desire
of holy souls, as in the dry land; and to works of mercy pertaining
to this present life, as in the seed-bearing herbs and
fruit-bearing trees; and to spiritual gifts shining forth for
edification, as in the lights of heaven; and to affections formed
unto temperance, as in the living soul. In all these cases we meet
with multitudes, abundance, and increase; but what shall thus “be
fruitful and multiply,” that one thing may be expressed in many
ways, and one expression understood in many ways, we discover not,
unless in signs corporeally expressed, and in things mentally
conceived. We understand the signs corporeally pronounced as the
generations of the waters, necessarily occasioned by carnal depth;
but things mentally conceived we understand as human generations,
on account of the fruitfulness of reason. And therefore do we
believe that to each kind of these it has been said by Thee, O
Lord, “Be fruitful and multiply.” For in this blessing I
acknowledge that power and faculty has been granted unto us, by
Thee, both to express in many ways what we understand but in one,
and to understand in many ways what we read as obscurely delivered
but in one. Thus are the waters of the sea replenished, which are
not moved but by various significations; thus even with the human
offspring is the earth also replenished, the dryness1393
| 1393 See sec. 21, and note, above. | whereof
appeareth in its desire, and reason ruleth over it.
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