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we do not know the perfection of judgment, considering what seems good to God to be in every way good and wise, confessing in this the sweetest defeat and being crowned for such ignorance according to the great apostle Paul; who said, "For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away," we then knowing perfectly, as we ought to know, and all rising as perfect, just as the Apostle says again; "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." 7.81 Again they will raise a difficulty for us in this, how one who is small in body rises perfect, and how the maimed and the lame, or one who has had one of his members cut off, rises whole and most complete; let him hear from us both scripturally and naturally that just as God, having taken the rib of Adam, which was a very small member of him, and built it into a perfect woman, having supplied what was lacking by an ineffable reason, and just as a married couple is often united, being blind or having a member cut off, and that which is born from them is born whole and healthy, so it must be believed, or rather understood, concerning the resurrection from the dead, that we are being reborn from the tombs in a better birth than from the womb. 7.82 I will also describe for you, most beloved, the shape of the heaven and the earth and of the firmament in between, and the tabernacle constructed by Moses, which is also a model of the entire cosmos, and moreover the much-vaunted sphere of those outside, so that you may know also by sight itself that both the divine Scripture and the Christian proclamation speak in harmony with the shape, but are completely alienated from the sphere of those outside. Fitting passages from the divine Scripture concerning the shape of the heaven and the earth 7.83 "In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth"; He mentioned these as containing, indicating also the things that came to be within them at the same time, and again; "And the heaven and the earth were finished, and all the host of them," as if they were again containers and all their host were within them, and again; "For in six days God made the heaven and the earth and all things in them," as if again all things were within them and they were containers, and again; "And God rested on the seventh day from all his works, which God had begun to make," as if He both began to create and ceased creating, and again; "This is the book of the generation of heaven and earth," as if to say; This book recounts the generation of the whole cosmos, which is described within heaven and earth. 7.84 And again concerning the shape Isaiah says; "Who has established the heaven as a vault and stretched it out as a tent to dwell in"; having said "as a vault" concerning the first, and "stretched it out as a tent" concerning the second, clearly he speaks of it as a house, where some dwell, that is, encamp. And again David; "Stretching out the heaven as a curtain," speaking of the firmament; and he says "as a curtain," as if the coverings from above covering the tent, of whatever kind they might be, whether of hair or of cloth; for `derris` are properly called the coverings from above that cover the tent, indeed he adds; "Who covers his upper chambers with waters," speaking more clearly of a roof and of the firmament itself. 7.85 Concerning the heaven being joined to the earth, he says thus in Job; "And he has inclined heaven to earth; and it is poured out like earth as dust; and I have joined it like a cube of stone," signifying that it is inclined to the earth and is joined like a cube from below, as if it were four-cornered. 7.86 Concerning there being nothing under the earth, he says thus in Job; "Who hangs the earth upon nothing," as if it has nothing underneath it, likewise again in the same book; "Upon what are its rings fastened?" as if there is nothing underneath, in which it is fixed. But in David he says thus; "You have founded the earth upon its own stability," meaning upon itself

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κρίσεως τὸ τέλειον οὐκ ἐπιστάμεθα, τῷ Θεῷ τὸ δοκοῦν πάντως καλὸν καὶ σοφὸν λογιζόμενοι, ὁμολογοῦντες ἐν τούτῳ τὴν ἡδίστην ἧτταν καὶ στεφανηφοροῦντες ἐπὶ τῇ τοιαύτῃ ἀγνοίᾳ κατὰ τὸν μέγαν ἀπόστολον Παῦλον· "Ἐκ μέρους γινώσκομεν, φήσαντος, καὶ ἐκ μέρους προφητεύομεν· ὅταν δὲ ἔλθῃ τὸ τέλειον, τὸ ἐκ μέρους καταργηθήσεται", τελείως τότε γινωσκόντων ἡμῶν, καθὼς δεῖ γνῶναι, καὶ τελείων πάντων ἀνισταμένων, καθάπερ πάλιν λέγει ὁ Ἀπόστολος· "Μέχρις οὗ καταντήσωμεν οἱ πάντες εἰς τὴν ἑνότητα τῆς πίστεως καὶ τῆς ἐπιγνώσεως τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, εἰς ἄνδρα τέλειον, εἰς μέτρον ἡλικίας τοῦ πληρώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ." 7.81 Πάλιν δὲ ἀπορήσουσιν ἡμῖν ἐν τούτῳ, πῶς ὁ μικρὸς τῷ σώματι τέλειος ἀνίσταται, καὶ πῶς ὁ πηρὸς καὶ ὁ χωλός, ἢ ὁ ἀποκεκομμένος ἓν τῶν μελῶν, σῶος καὶ πληρέστατος ἀνίσταται· ἀκουσάτω παρ' ἡμῶν καὶ γραφικῶς καὶ φυσικῶς ὅτι ὥσπερ ὁ Θεὸς λαβὼν τὴν πλευρὰν τοῦ Ἀδὰμ σμικρότατον αὐτοῦ μέλος οὖσαν καὶ ᾠκοδόμησεν αὐτὴν εἰς τελείαν γυναῖκα, τὸ περισσὸν ἀπορρήτῳ λόγῳ ἀναπληρώσας, καὶ ὥσπερ συνάπτεται τὸ ἀνδρόγυνον πολλάκις τυφλὸν ὂν ἢ ἀποκεκομμένον καὶ τὸ τικτόμενον ἐξ αὐτῶν σῶον καὶ ὑγιὲς τίκτεται, οὕτω πιστευτέον, ἤτοι καὶ νοητέον, ἐπὶ τῆς ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστάσεως ὡς ἀναγεννωμένων ἡμῶν ἐκ τῶν τάφων κρείττονα γέννησιν ἤπερ ἐκ μήτρας. 7.82 ∆ιαγράψω δέ σοι, προσφιλέστατε, καὶ τὸ σχῆμα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ τοῦ κατὰ μεσόθεν στερεώματος, καὶ τὴν σκηνὴν τὴν διὰ Μωϋσέως κατασκευασθεῖσαν, ἣ καὶ ἐκτύπωμα τυγχάνει παντὸς τοῦ κόσμου, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τῶν ἔξωθεν τὴν πολύφημον σφαῖραν, ἵνα γνῷς καὶ δι' αὐτῆς τῆς ὄψεως ὡς ἁρμοδίως τῷ σχήματι καὶ ἡ θεία Γραφὴ καὶ τὸ χριστιανικὸν κήρυγμα διαλέγεται, τῆς δὲ ἔξωθεν σφαίρας παντελῶς ἀπηλλοτρίωται. Παραγραφαὶ ἁρμόζουσαι ἐκ τῆς θείας Γραφῆς περὶ τοῦ σχήματος τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆσ 7.83 "Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν"· τούτων ὡς περιεκτικῶν ἐμνημόνευσε συνσημάνας καὶ ἔσωθεν τούτων τὰ ἅμα αὐτοῖς γενόμενα, καὶ πάλιν· "Καὶ συνετελέσθη ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ καὶ πᾶς ὁ κόσμος αὐτῶν", ὡσανεὶ πάλιν περιεκτικῶν αὐτῶν ὄντων καὶ παντὸς τοῦ κόσμου αὐτῶν ἔνδον αὐτῶν ὑπάρχοντος, καὶ πάλιν· "Ἐν γὰρ ἓξ ἡμέραις ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς", ὡσανεὶ πάλιν ἔνδον αὐτῶν πάντων ὑπαρχόντων καὶ περιεκτικῶν αὐτῶν ὄντων, καὶ πάλιν· "Καὶ κατέπαυσεν ὁ Θεὸς τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν ἔργων αὐτοῦ, ὧν ἤρξατο ὁ Θεὸς ποιῆσαι", ὡσανεὶ ὅτι καὶ ἤρξατο δημιουργεῖν καὶ ἔληξε δημιουργῶν, καὶ πάλιν· "Αὕτη ἡ βίβλος γενέσεως οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς", ὡσανεί· Αὕτη ἡ βίβλος διηγεῖται τὴν γένεσιν τοῦ παντὸς κόσμου, ἥτις περιγράφεται ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ γῇ. 7.84 Καὶ πάλιν περὶ τοῦ σχήματός φησιν Ἠσαΐας· "Ὁ στήσας τὸν οὐρανὸν ὡς καμάραν καὶ διατείνας αὐτὸν ὡς σκηνὴν κατοικεῖν"· τὸ μὲν "ὡς καμάραν" περὶ τοῦ πρώτου, τὸ δὲ "διατείνας ὡς σκηνὴν" περὶ τοῦ δευτέρου εἰρηκὼς δηλονότι ὡς οἶκον λέγει, ἔνθα οἰκοῦσιν, ἤγουν κατασκηνοῦσί τινες. Καὶ πάλιν ὁ ∆αυΐδ· "Ἐκτείνων τὸν οὐρανὸν ὡσεὶ δέρριν" περὶ τοῦ στερεώματος λέγων· "ὡσεὶ δέρριν" δὲ λέγει, ὡσανεὶ τὰ σκεπάσματα τὰ ἄνωθεν σκέποντα τὴν σκηνήν, οἷα δ' ἂν εἶεν, εἴτε τρίχινα εἴτε ἱμάτια· δέρριδες γὰρ κυρίως καλοῦνται τὰ ἄνωθεν σκεπάσματα τὰ σκέποντα τὴν σκηνήν, ἀμέλει ἐπιφέρει· "Ὁ στεγάζων ἐν ὕδασι τὰ ὑπερῷα αὐτοῦ", σαφέστερον καὶ στέγην καὶ περὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ στερεώματος ἐξειπών. 7.85 Περὶ τοῦ κεκολλῆσθαι τὸν οὐρανὸν τῇ γῇ οὕτω φησὶν ἐν τῷ Ἰώβ· "Οὐρανὸν δὲ εἰς γῆν ἔκλινε· κέχυται δὲ ὥσπερ γῆ κονία· κεκόλληκα δὲ αὐτὸν ὥσπερ λίθον κύβον", σημαίνων ὅτι κέκλιται εἰς γῆν καὶ κεκόλληται ὡς κύβος κάτωθεν, ὡσανεὶ τετράγωνος. 7.86 Περὶ τοῦ μηδὲν εἶναι ὑποκάτω τῆς γῆς οὕτως φησὶν ἐν τῷ Ἰώβ· "Ὁ κρεμνῶν τὴν γῆν ἐπ' οὐδενός", ὡσανεὶ μὴ ἔχουσαν ὑποκάτω τι, ὁμοίως πάλιν ἐν αὐτῷ· "Ἐπὶ τίνος οἱ κρίκοι αὐτῆς πεπήγασιν;" ὡσανεὶ οὐκ ἔστι τι ὑποκάτω, ἐν ᾧ πέπηγεν. Ἐν δὲ τῷ ∆αυῒδ οὕτως λέγει· "Ἐθεμελίωσας τὴν γῆν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀσφάλειαν αὐτῆς", ἵνα εἴπῃ αὐτὴν ἐφ' ἑαυτὴν