Chapter 5 [IV.]—God Alone Can Teach Whence Souls Come.

Now with respect to the question between us, I confess to your loving self116    Dilectioni tuæ. I greatly desire to know one of two things if I can,—either concerning the origin of souls, of which I am ignorant, or whether this knowledge is within our reach so long as we are in the present life. For what if our controversy touches the very points of which it is enjoined to us, “Seek not out the things that are too high for thee, neither search the things that are above thy strength; but whatever things the Lord hath commanded and taught thee, think thereupon for evermore.”117    Ecclus. iii. 21, 22. This, then, is what I desire to know, either from God Himself, who knows what He creates, or even from some competently learned man who knows what he is saying, not from a person who is ignorant of the breath he heaves. It is not everybody who recollects his own infancy; and do you suppose that a man is able, without divine instruction, to know whence he began to exist in his mother’s womb,—especially if the knowledge of human nature has so completely eluded him as to leave him ignorant, not only of what is within him, but of that also which is added to his nature from without? Will you, my dearest brother, be able to teach me, or any one else, whence human beings at their birth are ensouled,118    Animentur = “are furnished with their animæ.” when you still know not how it is that their life is so sustained by food, that they are certain to die if the aliment is withdrawn for a while? Or will you be able to teach me, or any one else, whence men obtain their souls, when you are still actually ignorant whence bags, when inflated, get the filling? My only wish, as you are ignorant whence souls have their origin, is, that I may on my side know whether such knowledge is attainable by me in this present life. If this be one of the things which are too high for us, and which we are forbidden to seek out or search into, then we have good grounds for fearing lest we should sin, not by our ignorance of it, but our quest after it. For we ought not to suppose that a subject, to fall under the category of the things which are too high for us, must appertain to the nature of God, and not to our own.

CAPUT IV.

5. Nam fateor Dilectioni tuae, quantum attinet ad istam quaestionem, unum de duobus valde cupio nosse, si possim, vel de animarum origine quod ignoro, vel utrum pertineat ad nos hoc nosse cum hic vivimus. Quid si enim ex illis rebus est, de quibus nobis dicitur, Altiora te ne quaesieris, et fortiora te ne scrutatus fueris; sed quae praecepit tibi Dominus, illa cogita semper (Eccli. I, 22)? Verum hoc nosse cupio, aut ab ipso Deo sciente quod creat, aut 0527 etiam ab aliquo docto sciente quod dicat, non ab homine nesciente quod anhelat. Infantiam suam quisque non recolit, et putas hominem nisi Deo docente posse cognoscere, unde in matris utero vivere coeperit; praesertim si usque adeo illum adhuc lateat humana natura, ut non solum quid intus habeat, verum etiam quid ad eam forinsecus accedat, ignoret? Itane, dilectissime, tu me docebis aut quemquam, unde homines nascentes animentur, qui nesciebas adhuc usque unde viventes sic alantur, ut illo alimento paululum subtracto continuo moriantur? Tu me docebis aut quemquam, unde homines animentur, qui nesciebas adhuc usque unde utres, quando inflantur, impleantur? Utinam quemadmodum nescis unde origo sit animarum, sic ego saltem scirem utrum mihi in hac vita sciendum esset. Si enim ex illis est altioribus, quae inquirere scrutarique prohibemur; timendum est ne hoc, non ignorando, sed quaerendo peccemus. Neque enim propterea non esse de illis altioribus putare debemus, quia non ad Dei naturam pertinet, sed ad nostram.