Awe

Passages

Every passage tagged with this emotion in the Vela corpus. Search the body text, narrow by source or register, click through to a book’s profile to see how the passage sits with the rest of the work.

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• From Wild (2012)

  I walked to the natural food cooperative, the front of which the radical youth of the lower Pacific Northwest had made into something of a daytime encampment, gathering on the grass and sidewalks in front of the store. Almost immediately, I spotted another of the men I’d seen up at Toad Lake—the headband man, the leader of the pack who, like Jimi Hendrix, called everybody baby. He sat on the sidewalk near the entrance to the store holding a little cardboard sign that had a request for money scrawled in marker across it. In front of him there was an empty coffee can with a smattering of coins. “Hi,” I said, pausing before him, feeling buoyed to see a familiar face, even if it was his. He still wore his strange grubby headband. “Howdy,” he replied, obviously not remembering me. He didn’t ask me for money. Apparently, I exuded the fact that I had none. “You traveling around?” he asked. “I’m hiking the Pacific Crest Trail,” I said to jog his memory. He nodded without recognition. “A lot of people from out of town are showing up for the Dead festivities.” “Are there festivities?” I asked. “Tonight there’s something.” I wondered if he’d convened a mini–Rainbow Gathering at Crater Lake, like he’d said he’d do, but not enough to ask him. “Take it easy,” I said, walking away. I went into the co-op, the air-conditioned air so strange on my bare limbs. I’d been in convenience stores and small tourist-oriented general stores in a few of my resupply stops along the PCT, but I hadn’t been in a store like this since I’d begun my trip. I walked up and down the aisles looking at things I couldn’t have, stupefied by their offhand plenitude. How was it that I had ever taken these things for granted? Jars of pickles and baguettes so fresh they were packed in paper bags, bottles of orange juice and cartons of sorbet, and, most of all, the produce, which sat so brightly in bins I felt almost blinded by it. I lingered, smelling things—tomatoes and heads of butter lettuce, nectarines and limes. It was all I could do not to slip something into my pocket.

• From The Decameron (1353)

  "It is a seemly thing, dearest ladies, that whatsoever a man doth, he give it beginning from the holy and admirable name of Him who is the maker of all things. Wherefore, it behoving me, as the first, to give commencement to our story-telling, I purpose to begin with one of His marvels, to the end that, this being heard, our hope in Him, as in a thing immutable, may be confirmed and His name be ever praised of us. It is manifest that, like as things temporal are all transitory and mortal, even so both within and without are they full of annoy and anguish and travail and subject to infinite perils, against which it is indubitable that we, who live enmingled therein and who are indeed part and parcel thereof, might avail neither to endure nor to defend ourselves, except God's especial grace lent us strength and foresight; which latter, it is not to be believed, descendeth unto us and upon us by any merit of our own, but of the proper motion of His own benignity and the efficacy of the prayers of those who were mortals even as we are and having diligently ensued His commandments, what while they were on life, are now with Him become eternal and blessed and unto whom we,--belike not daring to address ourselves unto the proper presence of so august a judge,--proffer our petitions of the things which we deem needful unto ourselves, as unto advocates[29] informed by experience of our frailty. And this more we discern in Him, full as He is of compassionate liberality towards us, that, whereas it chanceth whiles (the keenness of mortal eyes availing not in any wise to penetrate the secrets of the Divine intent), that we peradventure, beguiled by report, make such an one our advocate unto His majesty, who is outcast from His presence with an eternal banishment,--nevertheless He, from whom nothing is hidden, having regard rather to the purity of the suppliant's intent than to his ignorance or to the reprobate estate of him whose intercession be invoketh, giveth ear unto those who pray unto the latter, as if he were in very deed blessed in His aspect. The which will manifestly appear from the story which I purpose to relate; I say manifestly, ensuing, not the judgment of God, but that of men. [Footnote 29: Or procurators.]

• From History of the Christian Church: The Complete Set of Eight Volumes (1858)

  Articles on the Christian Ministry by Sanday, Harnack, Milligan, Gore, Simcox, Salmon, and others, in "The Expositor," London, 1887 and 1888. § 59. The Christian Ministry, and its Relation to the Christian Community. Christianity exists not merely as a power or principle in this world, but also in an institutional and organized form which is intended to preserve and protect (not to obstruct) it. Christ established a visible church with apostles, as authorized teachers and rulers, and with two sacred rites, baptism and the holy communion, to be observed to the end of the world.694 At the same time he laid down no minute arrangements, but only the simple and necessary elements of an organization, wisely leaving the details to be shaped by the growing and changing wants of the church in different ages and countries. In this respect Christianity, as a dispensation of the Spirit, differs widely from the Mosaic theocracy, as a dispensation of the letter. The ministerial office was instituted by the Lord before his ascension, and solemnly inaugurated on the first Christian Pentecost by the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, to be the regular organ of the kingly power of Christ on earth in founding, maintaining, and extending the church. It appears in the New Testament under different names, descriptive of its various functions:—the "ministry of the word," "of the Spirit," "of righteousness," "of reconciliation." It includes the preaching of the gospel, the administration of the sacraments, and church discipline or the power of the keys, the power to open and shut the gates of the kingdom of heaven, in other words, to declare to the penitent the forgiveness of sins, and to the unworthy excommunication in the name and by the authority of Christ. The ministers of the gospel are, in an eminent sense, servants of God, and, as such, servants of the churches in the noble spirit of self-denying love according to the example of Christ, for the eternal salvation of the souls intrusted to their charge. They are called—not exclusively, but emphatically—the light of the world, the salt of the earth, fellow-workers with God, stewards of the mysteries of God, ambassadors for Christ. And this unspeakable dignity brings with it corresponding responsibility. Even a Paul, contemplating the glory of an office, which is a savor of life unto life to believers and of death unto death to the impenitent, exclaims: "Who is sufficient for these things?"695 and ascribes all his sufficiency and success to the unmerited grace of God.

• From History of the Christian Church: The Complete Set of Eight Volumes (1858)

  The whole Old Testament is a type and prophecy of the New. "The law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (1:17). Herein lies the vast superiority of Christianity, and yet the great importance of Judaism as an essential part in the scheme of redemption. Clearly and strongly as John brings out the opposition to the unbelieving Jews, he is yet far from going to the Gnostic extreme of rejecting or depreciating the Old Testament; on the contrary "salvation comes from the Jews" (says Christ to the Samaritan woman, 4:22); and turning the Scripture argument against the scribes and Pharisees who searched the letter of the Scriptures, but ignored the spirit, Christ confronts them with the authority of Moses on whom they fixed their hope. "If ye believed Moses, ye would believe me; for he wrote of me. But ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?" (5:46). John sees Christ everywhere in those ancient Scriptures which cannot be broken. He unfolds the true Messianic idea in conflict with the carnal perversion of it among the Jews under the guidance of the hierarchy. The Johannean and Synoptic Discourses of Christ. 4. John gives prominence to the transcendent Discourses about the person of Christ and his relation to the Father, to the world, and the disciples. His words are testimonies, revealing the inner glory of his person; they are Spirit and they are life. Matthew’s Gospel is likewise didactic; but there is a marked difference between the contents and style of the Synoptic and the Johannean discourses of Jesus. The former discuss the nature of the Messianic kingdom, the fulfilment of the law, the duty of holy obedience, and are popular, practical, brief, pointed, sententious, parabolic, and proverbial; the latter touch the deepest mysteries of theology and Christology, are metaphysical, lengthy, liable to carnal misunderstanding, and scarcely discernible from John’s own style in the prologue and the first Epistle, and from that used by the Baptist. The transition is almost imperceptible in John 3:16 and 3:31. Here we reach the chief difficulty in the Johannean problem. Here is the strong point of sceptical criticism. We must freely admit at the outset that John so reproduced the words of his Master as to mould them unconsciously into his own type of thought and expression. He revolved them again and again in his heart, they were his daily food, and the burden of his teaching to the churches from Sunday to Sunday; yet he had to translate, to condense, to expand, and to apply them; and in this process it was unavoidable that his own reflections should more or less mingle with his recollections. With all the tenacity of his memory it was impossible that at such a great interval of time (fifty or sixty years after the events) he should be able to record literally every discourse just as it was spoken; and he makes no such claim, but intimates that he selects and summarizes.

• From Under the Banner of Heaven (2003)

  TWENTY UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN Civil libertarians have consistently insisted on America’s sacred duty to make the country a place of unprecedented religious tolerance. Faced however, with the realities of religious pluralism— multiplying sects and excessive fervor for seemingly bizarre religious tenets—they have reacted with something short of enthusiasm. R. LAURENCE MOORE, RELIGIOUS OUTSIDERS AND THE MAKING OF AMERICANS In his day, John D. Lee was renowned not only for his role in the Mountain Meadows massacre but also as a gifted healer and oracle. He cured many an ailing Mormon by the laying on of hands. Numerous Saints were awed by the accuracy of his prophecies—and never more so than on the occasion of his final prediction. According to a family memoir, shortly before Lee was executed he prophesied, “If I am guilty of the crime for which I am convicted, I will go down and out and never be heard of again. If I am not guilty, Brigham Young will die within one year! Yes, within six months.” On August 23, 1877, exactly five months after Lee’s death, Brigham was overcome with fever, gastrointestinal cramps, diarrhea, and vomiting. Six days later “The Old Boss,” as Lee called him, was dead, most likely from a ruptured appendix. Brigham had hoped that offering up Lee for sacrifice would appease the Gentile powers in Washington and win the Saints at least a modicum of relief from the hounding of federal minions. He was sorely mistaken. From the time

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  PREFACELO, these things that have been said are but a part of his ways; and whereas we have heard scarce one little drop of his speech, who shall be able to look upon the thunder of his greatness? (Job xxvi, 14.) It is the nature of the human mind to gather its knowledge from sensible things; nor can it of itself arrive at the direct vision of the divine substance, as that substance is in itself raised above all sensible things and all other beings to boot, and beyond all proportion with them. But because the perfect good of man consists in his knowing God in such way as he can, there is given man a way of ascending to the knowledge of God, to the end that so noble a creature should not seem to exist altogether in vain, unable to attain the proper end of his existence. The way is this, that as all the perfections of creatures descend in order from God, who is the height of perfection, man should begin from the lower creatures, and ascend by degrees, and so advance to the knowledge of God. Of this descent of perfections from God there are two processes. One is on the part of the first origin of things: for the divine wisdom, to make things perfect, produced them in order, that the universe might consist of a complete round of creatures from highest to lowest. The other process belongs to the things themselves: for, as causes are nobler than effects, the first and highest products of causation, while falling short of the First Cause, which is God, nevertheless are superior to the effects which they themselves produce; and so on in order, until we come to the lowest of creatures. And because in that roof and crown of all things’ (summo rerum vertice), God, we find the most perfect unity; and everything is stronger and more excellent, the more thoroughly it is one; it follows that diversity and variety increase in things, the further they are removed from Him who is the first principle of all. Therefore the process of derivation of creatures from their first principle may be represented by a sort of pyramid, with unity at the apex, and the widest multiplicity at the base. And thus in the diversity of things there is apparent a diversity of ways, beginning from one principle and terminating in different terms. By these ways then our understanding can ascend to God.

• From Fragments (7)

  Its whole large hall with bronze is brightly beaming, Its roof bedecked with flashing helmets gleaming, Grim tools of war. White crests of horses' hair Nod at their tops, a treasured pride to wear For warriors on their heads. Upon each wall The pegs by flashing greaves are hidden all, Against swift darts a brazen bulwark strong. And by new linen corslets, and a throng Of curved shields and of Chalcidian blades. Tunics, and belts, and other warlike aids. These can we not forget and e'er must heed, Since once we undertook this martial deed. LESSER MARTIAL FRAGMENTS THE STATE'S TOWER OF STRENGTH (41) A tower of strength for every state, So are its mighty warriors great. DEATH IN BATTLE (42) Who dies in war. His lot is fair. 68 Alcaeus THE TERROR OF THE ENEMY (43) They crouched before him as small birds do, When an eagle suddenly comes in view. A PRAYER FOR VICTORY (44) Immortal gods, we pray that ye Grant to us the victory. THE GOD OF WAR (45) Thee, Ares, we revere. Through whom comes murderous fear. ACHILLES (46) Achilles, thou who dost command O'er those who dwell in the Scythian land. AJAX (47) O Ajax, gallant scion of Cronos' royal son, Achilles only greater fame than thou hast won. 69 Lyric Songs of the Greeks HELEN AND THETIS (48) To Priam and all his sons a bitter end Because of evil deeds the gods did send. O Helen, thou didst cause their ire, Which sacred Troy laid low with fire. Not like to thee that beauteous maiden was. Led homeward by the son of Aeacus From Nereus' halls to Chiron's home, Whither all blessed gods had come. Invited guests, they to the wedding thronged. For which the noble Peleus' heart had longed. The blissful union with the maid. Who was the fairest Nereid. Within a year the hero of greatest might Was born, who icnew the tawny steeds to guide. But, battling for Helen in the fray, Phrygians and city ruined lay. TO CASTOR AND POLLUX (49) Come hither, ye mighty sons of Zeus And Leda; Olympus leave behind, Your flashing home. With gladsome mind. Castor and Pollux, appear to us. 70 Alcaeus Ye who traverse the whole expanse Of the earth and over the spacious seas On your swift-footed steeds, ye save with ease All men whom to meet chill Death did chance. On the tops of the well-benched ships ye leap, Gleaming af^r in the murky night. As ye land on its cables ye bring a light To the swift black ship which sails o'er the deep. TO APOLLO (50) To thee, Apollo, glorious king, Son of mighty Zeus, I sing. TO HERMES (51) O ruler of Cyllene, hail. My lyre Doth me to celebrate thy birth inspire. How Maea, on hallowed mountain-tops adored. Met Cronos' son, the universal lord. TO ATHENA (52)

• From Under the Banner of Heaven (2003)

  who swore they had actually “seen and hefted” the “golden bible” convinced their friends and associates to become “Mormonites,” as the Latter-day Saints were initially called. When the Mormon Church was formally established in April 1830, it claimed some fifty members. A year later the membership exceeded one thousand, and fresh converts were arriving all the time. Suitably awed that God had chosen Joseph to receive the gold plates, converts had no trouble believing his assertion that his new religion was “the only true and living church upon the face of the earth” or that The Book of Mormon was an essential update to both the Old Testament and the New Testament. They were taught that it was an even newer testament, which provided a more accurate and complete account of sacred history. Joseph explained that in the first century after the crucifixion of Jesus, the Christian leadership had taken a wrong theological turn and had led the church astray. Calling this blunder the “Great Apostasy,” he divulged that virtually all Christian doctrine that had developed thereafter—Catholic and Protestant alike —was a whopping lie. Fortunately, The Book of Mormon would set the record straight and restore the true Church of Christ. There was an appealing simplicity to the book’s central message, which framed existence as an unambiguous struggle between good and evil: “There are two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations.” The Book of Mormon appealed, as well, because it was so thoroughly American. Most of its narrative was set on the American continent. In one of the book’s most important moments, Jesus Christ pays a special visit to the New World immediately after His resurrection to tell His chosen people—residents of what would become America—the good news. Moroni delivers the golden plates to a quintessentially American prophet—Joseph—who later receives a revelation in which God lets it be known that the Garden of Eden had been located in America. And when it is time for Jesus to return to earth, He assures Joseph, the Son of Man will be making His glorious arrival in that same corner of America. But perhaps the greatest attraction of Mormonism was the promise that each follower would be granted an extraordinarily intimate relationship with God.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  [66] It can thus also be verified that the reward of the king is honour and glory. What worldly and frail honour can indeed be likened to this honour that a man be made a “citizen with the Saints and a kinsman of God” (Eph 2:19), numbered among the sons of God, and that he obtain the inheritance of the heavenly kingdom with Christ? This is the honour of which King David, in desire and wonder, says (Ps 138:17): “Your friends, O God, are made exceedingly honourable.” And further, what glory of human praise can be compared to this, not uttered by the false tongue of flatterers nor the fallacious opinion of men, but issuing from the witness of our inmost conscience and confirmed by the testimony of God, Who promises to those who confess Him that He will confess them before the Angels of God in the glory of the Father? They who seek this glory will find it and they will win the glory of men which they do not seek: witness Solomon, who not only received from the Lord wisdom which he sought, but was made glorious above other kings. CHAPTER 10 WHAT DEGREE OF HEAVENLY BEATITUDE THE KING MAY OBTAIN[67] Now it remains further to consider that they who discharge the kingly office worthily and laudably will obtain an elevated and outstanding degree of heavenly happiness. [68] For if happiness is the reward of virtue, it follows that a higher degree of happiness is due to greater virtue. Now, that indeed is signal virtue by which a man can guide not only himself but others, and the more persons he rules the greater his virtue. Similarly, in regard to bodily strength, a man is reputed to be more powerful the more adversaries he can beat or the more weights he can lift. Thus, greater virtue is required to rule a household than to rule one’s self, and much greater to rule a city and a kingdom. To discharge well the office of a king is therefore a work of extraordinary virtue. To it, therefore, is due an extraordinary reward of happiness.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  I answer that, some of those who believe the statements of Scripture about angelic apparitions, say that an angel never assumes a body: thus Rabbi Moses who holds this view, says that all the apparitions of angels related in the Scriptures, are prophetic, i.e. imaginary visions, the seer being either awake or asleep. But this does not safeguard the truth of Scripture: because the very expressions used by Scripture indicate what things are genuine facts and what are prophetic visions. Thus when we are to understand an apparition to be a mere vision, it employs words denoting a vision; for example (Ezech. viii, 3): The spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven and brought me in the vision of God in Jerusalem. Wherefore it is clear that when a thing is simply stated as a fact, we are to take it as such: and this applies to many apparitions in the Old Testament. We must admit then without any qualification that the angels do sometimes assume a body, by fashioning a sensible body, and offering it to external or corporeal vision: even as at other times by producing forms in the imagination they cause themselves to appear in imaginary visions. This is fitting for three reasons. First and chiefly, because all the apparitions of the Old Testament were ordered to that apparition whereby the Son of God appeared visibly on the earth, as Augustine says (De Trin. iii, 11, 12). Wherefore since the Son of God took to himself a real body, and not an imaginary one as the Manicheans pretended, it was fitting that the angels also should appear to men by assuming real bodies.—A second reason may be gathered from the words of Dionysius in his letter to Titus. Thus he says there that among other reasons why in the divine Scriptures divine things are made known to us under sensible signs, there is this—that the whole man may be perfected by participating as far as possible in divine things, by grasping the intelligible truth not only by his intellect, but also by perceiving it in sensible nature by means of sensible forms which are images as it were of divine things. Hence in like manner seeing that angels appear to man in order to perfect him, it is fitting that they not only enlighten his intelligence by intellectual vision, but also that they profit his imagination and exterior senses by imaginary visions, namely of the bodies they assume. Wherefore this threefold vision is mentioned by Augustine (Gen. ad lit, xi, 7, 24).—A third reason may be that although the angels are by nature above us, it is possible for us by grace to attain to equality and fellowship with them—They will be as the angels in heaven (Mt. xxii, 30). Hence in order to give proof of their companionability and kinship in our regard, they conform to us, in so far as it becomes them, by assuming a body: and thus by assuming what is ours, they enable our minds to rise to what is peculiar to them: even so the Son of God by descending to us, raised us to things divine.—As to the demons, when they transform themselves into angels of light, they endeavour to deceive us by, doing what the good angels do for our profit.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  (3) Thirdly, there are the benefits for the receiver. In this Sacrament the worthy receiver is made deiform, that is to say, by the grace of goodness or by the imitation of Christ he is made in a way like God. St. Ambrose says, ‘Because the Lord Jesus is partaker of Godhead and of flesh, thou also who dost receive His Body art made partaker of His divine substance by that food.’ The substance of God is goodness. Thus, therefore, to partake of Him in this food is by grace to be likened to the goodness of God. But grace is the flowing of God’s goodness into the soul, by which, being likened to God, it becomes pleasing to Him and worthy of everlasting life. So great is the bountifulness of God that it is not enough for Him in this Sacrament or in this food to enlighten the intellect, heal the will, gladden the memory, strengthen our whole nature in good, and join us to the mystical body; but, further, He makes us like Himself—here by grace, and hereafter by glory. Beyond that we cannot go. The Voice of the Holy Ghost About the food of man; My Flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood abideth in Me and I in Him. As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth Me, the same also shall live by Me. St. John 6:56–58. I. The greatness of God’s bounty: (1) The magnificence of His gift; 1. Inanimate and irrational creatures; God created man of the earth, and made him after His own image … and gave him power over all things that are upon the earth. Ecclus. 17:1, 3. Let Us make man to Our image and likeness. Gen. 1:26. Who made the great lights … the sun to rule the day … the moon and the stars to rule the night. Ps. 135:7–9. The sun and the moon and all the stars of heaven … which the Lord thy God created for the service of all nations. Deut. 4:19. That you may be the children of your Father who is in Heaven, who maketh His sun to rise upon the good and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. St. Matt. 5:45. He left not Himself without testimony, doing good from Heaven, giving rain and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. Acts 14:16. What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that Thou visitest him? Ps. 8:5. 2. The holy Angels; Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to minister for them who shall receive the inheritance of salvation? Heb. 1:14. I say to you that in Heaven their Angels always see the face of My Father who is in Heaven. St. Matt. 18:10.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  For by a man came death, and by a man the resurrection of the dead. And as in Adam all die, so in Christ all shall be made alive. 1 Cor. 15:21, 22. Behold I tell you a mystery. We shall all indeed rise again; but we shall not all be changed: in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise again incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 1 Cor. 15:51, 52. We must all be manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the proper things of the body, according as he hath done, whether it be good or evil. 2 Cor. 5:10. Pains shall take hold of them.… Every one shall be amazed at his neighbour; their countenances shall be as faces burnt. Isa. 13:8. They shall go out and shall see the carcasses of the men who have transgressed against Me; their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be a loathsome sight to all flesh. Isa. 66:24. In the day of judgment He will visit them: for He will give fire and worms into their flesh, that they may burn and feel for ever. Judith 16:21. They that are learned shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that instruct many to justice as the stars for all eternity. Dan. 12:2. Then shall the just shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. St. Matt. 13:43. After six days Jesus taketh to Him Peter, and James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart; and He was transfigured before them. And His face did shine as the sun, and His garments became white as snow. St. Matt. 17:1, 2. Being turned I saw seven golden candlesticks, and in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks one like to the Son of Man; … and His face was as the sun shineth in his strength. Apoc. 1:12, 13, 16. Dearly beloved, we are now the sons of God, and it hath not yet appeared what we shall be: but, we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. 1 John 3:2. N. Pharao awoke, and slept again, and dreamed another dream. Seven ears of corn came up on one stalk, full and fair; then seven other ears sprung up, thin and blasted. Gen. 41:4–6. 1. The blasted ears; Behold I come against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will discover thy shame to thy face, and will show thy nakedness to the nations, and thy shame to kingdoms.… There shall the fire devour thee; thou shalt perish by the sword.… Thy destruction is not hidden; thy wound is grievous. Nahum 3:5, 15, 19.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  THAT IT IS NOT A MARK OF LEVITY TO ASSENT TO THE THINGS THAT ARE OF FAITH, ALTHOUGH THEY ARE ABOVE REASONNOW those who believe this truth, of which reason affords a proof, believe not lightly, as though following foolish fables (2 Pet. 1:16). For divine Wisdom Himself, Who knows all things most fully, deigned to reveal to man the secrets of God’s wisdom: and by suitable arguments proves His presence, and the truth of His doctrine and inspiration, by performing works surpassing the capability of the whole of nature, namely, the wondrous healing of the sick, the raising of the dead to life, a marvellous control over the heavenly bodies, and what excites yet more wonder, the inspiration of human minds, so that unlettered and simple persons are filled with the Holy Ghost, and in one instant are endowed with the most sublime wisdom and eloquence. And after considering these arguments, convinced by the strength of the proof, and not by the force of arms, nor by the promise of delights, but—and this is the greatest marvel of all—amidst the tyranny of persecutions, a countless crowd of not only simple but also of the wisest men, embraced the Christian faith, which inculcates things surpassing all human understanding, curbs the pleasures of the flesh, and teaches contempt of all worldly things. That the minds of mortal beings should assent to such things, is both the greatest of miracles, and the evident work of divine inspiration, seeing that they despise visible things and desire only those that are invisible. And that this happened not suddenly nor by chance, but by the disposition of God, is shown by the fact that God foretold that He would do so by the manifold oracles of the prophets, whose books we hold in veneration as bearing witness to our faith. This particular kind of proof is alluded to in the words of Heb. 2:3, 4: Which, namely the salvation of mankind, having begun to be declared by the Lord, was confirmed with us by them that heard Him, God also bearing witness by signs and wonders, and divers … distributions of the Holy Ghost. Now such a wondrous conversion of the world to the Christian faith is a most indubitable proof that such signs did take place, so that there is no need to repeat them, seeing that there is evidence of them in their result. For it would be the most wondrous sign of all if without any wondrous signs the world were persuaded by simple and lowly men to believe things so arduous, to accomplish things so difficult, and to hope for things so sublime. Although God ceases not even in our time to work miracles through His saints in confirmation of the faith.

• From Fragments (7)

  To the swift black ship which sails o'er the deep. TO APOLLO (50) To thee, Apollo, glorious king. Son of mighty Zeus, I sing. TO HERMES (51) O ruler of Cyllene, hail. My lyre Doth me to celebrate thy birth inspire, How Maea, on hallowed mountain-tops adored, Met Cronos* son, the universal lord. TO ATHENA (52) Athena, hail, dread war-sustaining queen. Thou who on Coronea's meadows green Before the temple tarriest ever. Alongside the Coralius River. 71 Lyric Sonffs of the Greeks TO ATHENA (53) O goddess, thou our scattered host of men Inspire with courage and collect again. ATHENA (54) May thy maiden lead, To complete this deed. EROS (55) Most dreaded him of all the gods Did sandalled Iris bear. His father was wild Zephyrus, With locks of golden hair. POSIDON (56) Posidon at that time not yet The briny sea had in commotion set. THE NYMPHS (57) From Aegis-bearing Zeus, they ween, The fair Nymphs trace their origin. 72 Alcaeus HEPHAESTUS (?) (58) Not one Olympian god but he Could us from these our troubles free. GNOMiE AND PROVERBIAL EXPRESSIONS BEWARE OF THE RUBBLE-STONE (59) If thou from gravel and loose silt Willt move a stone wherewith to build, If then thou showest no proper care, Of injury to thy head beware. MONEY MAKES THE MAN (60) Aristodemus ohce upon a time, they say, In Sparta spoke the following saying wise: Tis money makes the man,*' and truly: no one may. If he be poor, to honor and influence rise. POVERTY (61) A grievous evil hard to endure is Poverty, With Sister Helplessness all crushing easily. 73 <( ) Lyric Songs of the Greeks NOTHING FROM NOTHING (62) With nothing naught Is ever bought. GUARD THY TONGUE (63) If thou speak'st all that thou mightst desire, Thou wilt hear what thou mightst not admire. LOVE THY NEIGHBOR (64) To those of us who are near thee never To cause vexation thou endeavor. WOE TO THE MAIMED (65) The deaf, the maimed, the lame, the blind, These does vexation always find. COWARDICE (66) In the breast of a deer Noise is replete with fear. 74 Alcaeus THE SWINE BRISTLES (67) The swine again a little Doth with excitement bristle. THE ROCK OF TANTALUS (68) Aesimides, a mighty rock Over our heads our way doth block. A FRIEND WORTHY OF HOSPITALITY (69) A fine porker and kid to a friend like thee To serve, is a custom kept up by me. AN ANCIENT STORY (70) Thus, you know, the story goes, From our fathers which arose. TO THE LIMPET (71) O limpet, daughter of the sea And of the hard precipitous rocks, Thou puffest up with vanity The young, whose empty pride us shocks. 75 Lyric Songs of the Greeks NO NEED OF WITNESSES (72) I need no witnesses to show All this which by myself I know. OBSTINACY (73) E'en though from somewhere else he came, Thou wouldst say from yonder all the same. DAZED (74)

• From Under the Banner of Heaven (2003)

  gathering scheduled for August 8. It appeared to be a fait accompli—until Brigham Young and the rest of the apostles suddenly showed up on the night of August 6, just in time to put the brakes on the anti-polygamists’ scheme to install Rigdon as Joseph’s replacement. On the morning of August 8, 1844, the faithful of Nauvoo assembled to hear Rigdon and Young each explain why he should be the new Mormon leader. Rigdon argued his case for ninety minutes, with passion, but failed to persuade his fellow Saints that he was God’s clear choice for the job. Then it was Brigham’s turn to address the crowd, and an astonishing thing was said to have occurred, leaving no doubt about who would be the next prophet. “Brigham Young arose and roared like a young lion,” recalled John D. Lee, “imitating the style and voice of Joseph, the Prophet. Many of the brethren declared that they saw the mantle of Joseph fall upon him. I myself, at the time, imagined that I saw and heard a strong resemblance to the Prophet in him, and felt that he was the man to lead us.” Numerous Saints who witnessed Brigham’s address (and even greater numbers who didn’t) swore that he underwent an incredible transfiguration as he spoke, temporarily assuming the voice, the appearance, and even the physical stature of Joseph, who was a considerably taller man. After such a performance, Brigham had no trouble convincing most of those present that he should be their next leader, and thus did he become the Mormons’ second president, prophet, seer, and revelator. It is interesting to speculate about what would have happened had Brigham’s return to Nauvoo been delayed thirty-six hours, which might have allowed Rigdon to commandeer the helm of the church. One can safely assume that Mormon culture (to say nothing of the culture of the American West) would be vastly different today. In all likelihood the Mormons would never have settled the Great Basin, and LDS polygamy would have died in the cradle. As Rigdon’s own son John observed, the Latter-day Saints “made no mistake in placing Brigham Young at the head of the church. . . . If Sidney Rigdon had been chosen to take that position the church would have tottered and fallen.” Like Joseph Smith, Brigham Young had been born poor in rural New England, where the brouhaha of the Second Great Awakening made a lasting imprint on his consciousness. He was baptized into the Mormon Church in 1832, at the age of thirty-one, and quickly became one of Joseph’s most loyal

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  FOREWORDLo, these things are said in part, of his ways: and seeing we have heard scarce a little drop of his word, who shall be able to behold the thunder of his greatness? (JOB 26:14). FOR as much as the human intellect acquires knowledge in a manner conformable with its nature, it cannot by itself arrive at an intuitive knowledge of the divine substance in itself, since the latter infinitely transcends the whole range of things sensible, nay all other beings whatsoever. Nevertheless, seeing that man’s perfect good consists in his knowing God in some way, lest so noble a creature should seem to be utterly void of purpose, through being unable to obtain its own end, man has been given the means of rising to the knowledge of God. For, since all the perfections of things come down from God the summit of all perfection, man begins from the lowest things and rising by degrees advances to the knowledge of God: thus too, in corporeal movements, the way down is the same as the way up, and they differ only as regards their beginning and end. Now this descent of perfections from God presents a twofold aspect. In the first we look at it from the viewpoint of the origin of things: since divine wisdom, that there might be perfection in things, established a certain order among them, so that the universe might be made up of the highest as well as the lowest things. The second aspect is that of the things considered in themselves; for, since causes rank higher than effects, the things caused first fall short of the first cause, namely God, while they transcend their own effects, and so on until we come to those things that are caused last. And because in God, the summit of all things, there is found the most perfect unity; and since the more a thing is one, the greater its power and worth, it follows that the further we recede from the first principle, the more do we find things to be diversified and varied. Consequently the things that proceed from God must needs derive unity from their principle, and multiplicity from the ends to which they are ordained. Accordingly from the diversity of things we consider the diversity of ways, as beginning from one principle and terminating in different things.

• From The Decameron (1353)

  What and how many and how orderly disposed were the plants that grew in that place, it were tedious to recount; suffice it that there is none goodly of those which may brook our air but was there in abundance. Amiddleward the garden (what was not less, but yet more commendable than aught else there) was a plat of very fine grass, so green that it seemed well nigh black, enamelled all with belike a thousand kinds of flowers and closed about with the greenest and lustiest of orange and citron trees, the which, bearing at once old fruits and new and flowers, not only afforded the eyes a pleasant shade, but were no less grateful to the smell. Midmost the grass-plat was a fountain of the whitest marble, enchased with wonder-goodly sculptures, and thence,--whether I know not from a natural or an artificial source,--there sprang, by a figure that stood on a column in its midst, so great a jet of water and so high towards the sky, whence not without a delectable sound it fell back into the wonder-limpid fount, that a mill might have wrought with less; the which after (I mean the water which overflowed the full basin) issued forth of the lawn by a hidden way, and coming to light therewithout, encompassed it all about by very goodly and curiously wroughten channels. Thence by like channels it ran through well nigh every part of the pleasance and was gathered again at the last in a place whereby it had issue from the fair garden and whence it descended, in the clearest of streams, towards the plain; but, ere it won thither, it turned two mills with exceeding power and to the no small vantage of the lord. The sight of this garden and its fair ordinance and the plants and the fountain, with the rivulets proceeding therefrom, so pleased the ladies and the three young men that they all of one accord avouched that, an Paradise might be created upon earth, they could not avail to conceive what form, other than that of this garden, might be given it nor what farther beauty might possibly be added thereunto.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  This threefold knowledge is indicated by the words of Job quoted above.—The words, These things are said in part of his ways refer to the knowledge in which our intellect rises to the knowledge of God by the way of creatures. And because we know these ways but imperfectly, he rightly adds in part: since we know in part, as the Apostle says (1 Cor. 13:9). The words that follow, And seeing we have heard scarce a little drop of his word, refer to the second knowledge, wherein divine things are revealed to our belief by way of speech: because faith, as it is said, is by hearing, and hearing is by the word of Christ, of which it is also said (Jo. 17:17): Sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth. Wherefore, since the revealed truth in divine things is offered not to our sight but to our belief, he rightly says we have heard. And whereas this imperfect knowledge flows from that perfect knowledge whereby the divine truth is seen in itself, when revealed to us by God by means of the angels who see the face of the Father, the expression drop is appropriate: hence it is said (Joel 3:18): In that day the mountains shall drop down sweetness. But since not all the mysteries which the angels and blessed know through seeing them in the first truth, are revealed to us, but only a certain few, he says pointedly a little. For it is said (Ecclus. 43:35, 36): Who shall magnify him as he is from the beginning? There are many things hidden from us, that are greater than these: for we have seen but a few of his works. Again the Lord said to his disciples (Jo. 16:12): I have yet many things to say to you: but you cannot bear them now. Moreover these few things that are revealed to us are proposed to us figuratively and obscurely, so that only the studious can succeed in understanding them, while others revere them as things occult, and so that unbelievers are unable to deride them. Hence the Apostle says (1 Cor. 13:12): We see now through a glass in a dark manner; wherefore Job adds significantly the word scarce, to indicate difficulty.—When he goes on to say, Who shall be able to behold the thunder of his greatness? he is referring to the third knowledge, whereby the first truth shall be known as an object not of belief but of vision, for we shall see him as he is (1 Jo. 3:2), wherefore he says behold. Nor shall a small portion of the divine mysteries be perceived, but the divine majesty itself shall be seen, and the entire perfection of good things: hence the Lord said to Moses (Exod 33:19): I will show thee all good; wherefore he says rightly greatness. Nor will the truth be revealed to man obscurely, but made clearly manifest: wherefore our Lord said to His disciples (Jo. 17:25): The hour cometh when I will no more speak to you in proverbs, but will show you plainly of the Father; hence the word thunder is significant as indicating manifestation.

• From The Story of My Experiments with Truth (An Autobiography) (1927)

  In this way they were put at ease, and instead of harassing me they gladly availed themselves of my and my co-workers’ co-operation in regulating the crowds. But it was an ocular demonstration to them of the fact that their authority was shaken. The people had for the moment lost all fear of punishment and yielded obedience to the power of love which their new friend exercised. It should be remembered that no one knew me in Champaran. The peasants were all ignorant. Champaran, being far up north of the Ganges, and right at the foot of the Himalayas in close proximity to Nepal, was cut off from the rest of India. The Congress was practically unknown in those parts. Even those who had heard the name of the Congress shrank from joining it or even mentioning it. And now the Congress and its members had entered this land, though not in the name of the Congress, yet in a far more real sense. In consultation with my co-workers I had decided that nothing should be done in the name of the Congress. What we wanted was work and not name, substance and not shadow. For the name of the Congress was the #bete noire# of the Government and their controllers the planters. To them the Congress was a byword for lawyers’ wrangles, evasion of law through legal loopholes, a byword for bomb and anarchical crime and for diplomacy and hypocrisy. We had to disillusion them both. Therefore we had decided not to mention the name of the organization called the Congress. It was enough, we thought, if they understood and followed the spirit of the Congress instead of its letter. No emissaries had therefore been sent there, openly or secretly, on behalf of the Congress to prepare the ground for our arrival. Rajkumar Shukla was incapable of reaching the thousands of peasants. No political work had yet been done amongst them. The world outside Champaran was not known to them. And yet they received me as though we had been age-long friends. It is no exaggeration, but the literal truth, to say that in this meeting with the peasants I was face to face with God, Ahimsa and Truth. When I come to examine my title to this realization, I find nothing but my love for the people. And this in turn is nothing but an expression of my unshakable faith in Ahimsa. That day in Champaran was an unforgettable event in my life and a red- letter day for the peasants and for me. According to the law, I was to be on my trial, but truly speaking Government was to be on its trial. The Commissioner only succeeded in trapping Government in the net which he had spread for me. 141CASE WITHDRAWNThe trial began, The Government pleader, the Magistrate and other officials were on tenterhooks. They were at a loss to know what to do. The Government pleader was pressing the Magistrate to postpone the case.

• From History of the Christian Church: The Complete Set of Eight Volumes (1858)

  Augustin (De Consens. Evang., Lib. I., c. 6, in Migne’s ed. of the Opera, tom. III., 1046) assigns the lion to Matthew, the man to Mark (whom he wrongly regarded as an abbreviator of Matthew), the ox to Luke, and the eagle to John, because "he soars as an eagle above the clouds of human infirmity, and gazes on the light of immutable truth with most keen and steady eyes of the heart." In another place (Tract. XXXVI. in Joh. Ev., c. 8, § 1) Augustin says: "The other three Evangelists walked as it were on earth with our Lord as man (tamquam cum homine Domino in terra ambulabant) and said but little of his divinity. But John, as if he found it oppressive to walk on earth, opened his treatise, so to speak, with a peal of thunder .... To the sublimity of this beginning all the rest corresponds, and he speaks of our Lord’s divinity as no other." He calls the evangelic quaternion "the fourfold car of the Lord, upon which he rides throughout the world and subdues the nations to his easy yoke." Pseudo-Athanasius (Synopsis Script.) assigns the man to Matthew, the ox to Mark, the lion to Luke. These variations in the application of the emblems reveal the defects of the analogy. The man might as well (with Lange) be assigned to Luke’s Gospel of humanity as the sacrificial ox. But Jerome’s distribution of the symbols prevailed and was represented in poetry by Sedulius in the fifth century. Among recent divines, Bishop Wordsworth, of Lincoln, who is in full sympathy with the fathers and all their pious exegetical fancies, has thus eloquently reproduced the cherubic symbolism (in his Com. on The New Test., vol. I., p. xli): "The Christian church, looking at the origin of the Four Gospels, and the attributes which God has in rich measure been pleased to bestow upon them by his Holy Spirit, found a prophetic picture of them in the four living cherubim, named from heavenly knowledge, seen by the prophet Ezekiel at the river of Chebar. Like them the Gospels are four in number; like them they are the chariot of God, who sitteth between the cherubim; like them they bear him on a winged throne into all lands; like them they move wherever the Spirit guides them; like them they are marvellously joined together, intertwined with coincidences and differences: wing interwoven with wing, and wheel interwoven with wheel; like them they are full of eyes, and sparkle with heavenly light; like them they sweep from heaven to earth, and from earth to heaven, and fly with lightning’s speed and with the noise of many waters. Their sound is gone out into all lands, and the words to the end of the world." Among German divines, Dr. Lange is the most ingenious expounder of this symbolism, but he exchanges the symbols of Matthew and Luke. See his Leben Jesu, I., 156 sqq., and his Bibelkunde (1881), p. 176.