4. What the Ways of the Kingdom of God Are. and First of the Sensible Way

THE fourth point is, " Through straight paths." Now let the reader perceive that the Lord has led back the just man by straight paths. The ways by which the Kingdom of God are arrived at are threefold. The first way is bodily and sensible. The second is merely natural. The third is supernatural and divine. The first, I say, is the external, sensible way, to which belong four elements, and three heavens, each one of which the Lord has adorned as it befits it. And this is the last sensible kingdom and trace, and as it were, palpable similitude of God. For these things were created and adorned for the necessary uses of men, so that these things, having been seen and considered, concerning all and with all, he may be faithful and serve his God and praise Him together with them.

The lowest Element of Earth God made, and adorned with numerous fruitbearing herbs and trees of diverse kinds for the needs and use of men, and in the same way with various and many kinds of animals which should serve man, andoverallof which he him self rules. The second element of the Waters He made, flowing about and penetrating the land in different ways, and even bringing to it a kind of beauty ; and He adorned them with many kinds of fishes, and diverse beings which should be for food for man ; and finally He prepared this element by many modes of purifications for the necessity of men.

He created also the third element of Air, which is an ornament both to Earth and Waters, so that it should be lustrous and clear with the light of heaven. For not without corporeal light can any exterior colour or species be discerned by the senses or distinctly recognised. To this element a manifold variety of birds affords no mean ornament.

Finally He made the fourth element of

Fire, which upon the other three inferior elements bestows their fecundity ; since without Fire nothing either in the Earth or in the Waters or in the Air can either increase, or pursue its life, or preserve that life when it has it. These are the four elements of which all earthly things are compounded. But besides these God made the lowest Heaven, that is the Firmament, by which at the same time all the elements are beautified, since by its impulse all inferior creatures are moved, live and grow. Moreover He adorned it with the manifold brightness, excellence and grandeur of wandering stars, and the stars which rule over " nature ; the highest part of it is poured forth and shines in the supreme clearness of the sky.

He made also the Middle Heaven, which is called Pellucid or Crystalline, not that it is a crystal, but on account of its clearness. This Heaven together with the splendour of the Highest Heaven, is an ornament to the Firmament, and is adorned with brightness ; the highest part of it is called First Moveable, since it is the source and beginning of every movement both of the heavens and of the elements. To this First Moveable the planets, the courses of the sky, and all the elements are annexed, and all corporeal nature works in accordance with its influence. But no created thing without reason can rule over a rational creature, nor can the First Moveable itself, since that has the power of controlling for itself the course of the sky and all nature, and of existing above the whole movement of nature, as far as it is contrary to its own virtue. Finally He created the Highest Heaven, which is a kind of pure and simple brightness, absolutely immoveable, the source, beginning and basis of all corporeal things and which embraces in its spherical or circular revolution all heavens and all elements, and is higher, wider, greater, and more profound than all other corporeal things ever made by God. This Heaven God has adorned for Himself, for angelic spirits and holy men ; for the corporeal, created clearness is dependent on the spiritual uncreated brightness, which is the Most High Nature of God. Moreover these corporeal things are this Heaven itself, to gether, with all things which it embraces in its own circuit beneath itself. And this is the external, sensible Kingdom of God, which each one whatsoever in his own degree and endowment ought to consider and contemplate, for which to praise God and devote to Him his due service. These things which are situated below the Firmament, can be seen by the eyes, or per ceived by the outward senses ; but the things above the Firmament may be imagined by the inward senses, or examined by reasonable consideration. But where the corporeal heavens determine, there even imagination and all the senses, both internal as well as external, fail likewise ; for where that which which is corporeal has its bound ary, there also every sense determines ; for there is no sense at all which can comprehend God nor angel, nor the soul, because they have neither appearance nor shape. So far let it suffice to have spoken of the first or sensible way.